So far I have three articles reviewed and I'm in the process of three more. Right now my thesis looks like this: Online social networking tools lead to stronger weak networking ties in result creating leadership.
Quality of Relationships
In the article, “The quality of online and offline relationships: the role of multiplexity and duration of social relationships”, Gustavo Mesch and Ilan Talmud tackle the enormous task of bridging the gap between previous research in regards to the “effect of the Internet on existing relationships” and “online-only ties” (2006, p. 137). Mesch and Talmud (2006) argue, “that the quality of social relationships is dependent on duration and diversity of topics and activities carried together” (p. 137). Overall Mesch and Talmud (2006) discovered, “the closeness to a friend is a function of social similarity, content and activity multiplexity, and duration of the relationships” that “friendships originated in the Internet are perceived as less close and supportive because they are relatively new and online friends are involved in less joint activities and less topics of discussion” (p. 137)
Mesch and Talmud’s (2006) study was conducted as part of the annual national youth survey by the Minerva center for Youth Studies at the University of Haifa. The data for the study was collected between June and October of 2004 which covered a representative sample of 1,000 households. Of the 1,000 households contacted, 987 adolescents participated in the study. The average age of the respondents was 15.52 and the mix of girls versus boys was 48% to 52% respectively (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 140-141).
The survey used was constructed of questions relating to social and demographic characteristics of the individuals, sociodemographic characteristics of their closest friend, types of resources exchanged, and degree of perceived closeness to each friend. In addition, the survey asked for the names of six close friends as well as provide information on the friend’s age, gender, place of residence, and whether or not the friend was met for the first time at school, through extracurricular activities, in the neighborhood or online (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 140).
A few of the tools of measurement used to quantify the data was dependent variables of intensity of friendship, mulitplexity, strength of ties, and similarity. Intensity of friendship was determined by asking the “respondents to state how long they had known each friend” (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 140). Multiplexity was broken down into two parts, content and activity and two different scales were built to measure this. Content multiplexity was derived from asking the individuals to indicate frequency of topic of conversation between them and their friends on school, parents, family, friends, sports, personal problems, music and TV programs, romantic relationships, and dress and fashion. Activity multiplexity was indicated by asking the individual the activities they did with their first friend. Strength of ties was measured by questions on a 5-point Likert scale which referred to how close the individual felt to their first friend, how important they were to them, how much they would ask for help from them and how far they trusted them. Similarity was broken down into three parts and measured by propinquity, age, and gender. Propinquity was measured by place of residence of first friend and so was age and gender (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 140-141).
The findings of this study found, “partial support for the association of social similarity and various measures of relational intensity and content of relationship” (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 146). As previous studies had stated, Mesch and Telmud 2006) found, “that gender similarity and propinquity were positively related to the duration of friendship”, “adolescents of the same sex reported knowing each other longer” and residence “in the same location reported the same” (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 146-147). On the other hand, “in all the models measuring intensity and content of the relationships the origin of the relationship was found to be significant” (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 147) and confirmed their argument. Mesch and Talmud (2006) found, “Adolescents with an online friend reported that this friend was known for a shorter time than face-to-face friends, they discussed fewer topics, and they participated in fewer shared activities” (p. 147). According to Mesch and Talmud (2006), “The finding seem to indicate that online friends play a reduced and probably more specialized role in the lives of (the adolescents) than face-to-face friends at extracurricular activities and parties” (Mesch & Talmud, 2006, p. 147).
The Role of Strong and Weak Network Ties
Sarah L. Jack (2005) in the article, “The role, use and activation of strong and weak network ties: a qualitative analysis” demonstrates how the aforementioned aspects of both strong and weak network ties play out in an entrepreneurial setting. Jack (2005) uses a “qualitative ethnographic approach to explore in-depth the networking activities” and “aims to enhance understanding about the role of ties, how they are used and activated for business activity” (Jack, 2005, p. 1233).
Jack (2005) selected fourteen individuals, from the Highlands of Scotland, through the use of theoretical sampling from an initial group of forty. According to Alvesson and Skolberg (2000, p, 27) “theoretical sampling has two main steps” (as cited by Jack, 2005, p. 1240. Jack (2005) first minimized the differences between the groups by “identifying basic categories” and then maximized the differences “to enable the researcher to investigate these category properties in their greatest possible range and begin weaving them together into a more substantial theory” (Jack, 2005, p. 1240). The original forty respondents were interviewed and these interviews were used to “recognized and test emerging themes” (Jack, 2007, p. 1240).
The methods used by Jack (2005) were ethnography and interviewing. According to Gill and Johnson (1997) the ethnography used was “based on what are termed as ‘naturalist modes of inquiry’ such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews, within a predominantly inductive framework” (as sited in Jack 2005, p. 1239). According to Jack (2005) ethnography “allowed a rich body of contextual information to be collected from a wide range of primary sources and it provided a guiding framework for research” (Jack, 2005, p. 1240). In addition Jack (2005) states, “This material represented a resource for comparison with, and triangulation of, the emerging research themes and addressed the broader theoretical issues” (Jack, 2005, p. 1241). The interviews conducted were “based on a semi-structured schedule which contained specific areas on which respondents were questioned at length”. In order to keep with the ethnographic methodology, Jack (2005) conducted the interviews “wherever and whenever possible: chatting over a cup of coffee, lunch or a drink at the local pub, chance meetings on the street or in a local shop, community events and get-togethers” (Jack, 2005, p. 1242). All of the interviews varied in length from a couple of hours to over six and helped to “triangulate the data by clarifying meaning and identifying different ways in which the phenomena could be seen” (Jack, 2005, p.1242).
Once the data was collected it was sorted for analysis. The interviews were “taped and transcribed, field notes were collated and observations were written up” (Jack, 2005, p. 1242). “The ‘raw’ data was then written up in ‘cases’” which provided a way to “sort the rich data that had been gathered through documents, interviews, observations and discussion” (Jack, 2005, p. 1242). The cases were then analyzed and compared, “to determine categories and general patterns of activities; each incident was continually compared with others within the emergent categories to refine both description and explanation” (Jack, 2005, p. 1242). Finally, themes were derived from the literature and the data was examined for details relating to these themes.
Jack (2005) findings “propose that it is strong ties that are activated by the entrepreneur to draw information and resources into the business” (Jack, 2005, p. 1252). In addition, Jack (2005) states, “the data also highlights the complex nature of networking. It seems that the nature of networks is about the links and bonds that form the foundations of the network and shape its actual structure” (Jack, 2005, p. 1254). Jack (2005) applies Granovetter’s strong and weak tie hypothesis to the findings and questions the way ties are defined as well as indicates the defiencies in this hypothesis. Jack (2005) writes, “for instance, differentiating ties in terms of interaction, looking to weak ties for diversity and opportunities in resources and information and perceiving networks built predominantly on strong ties to be inefficient” (Jack, 2005, p. 1254). Jack (2005) believes future research needs to be done in order to consider the “actual function and utility of network ties” (Jack, 2005, p. 1245).
Weak Ties in Networked Communities
Andrea L. Kavanaugh, Debbie Denise Reese, John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson, (2005) in Weak ties in networked communites, explore how both strong and weak social networking ties across groups are more effective for collective action. Kavanaugh et al (2005) state, “Communities with ‘bridging’ social capital (weak ties across groups) as well as ‘bonding’ social capital (strong ties within groups) are the most effective in organizing for collective action” (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 119). Kavanaugh et al (2005) believe using communication media such as the Internet enhances the capability to educate community members and to organize for collective action. Ultimately, Kavanaugh et al (2005) look to prove that people with weak (bridging) ties across groups have “higher levels of community involvement, civic interest, and collective efficacy than people without bridging ties” (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 119).
Kavanaugh et al (20005) used a survey questionnaire to a stratified random sample of 100 households in Blacksburg and Montgomery Counties, Virginia. The households were stratified based on education level, Internet use, and location. When the household had accepted to participate, each member completed a survey questionnaire (modified for younger participants) and a group interview was conducted. The adult survey questionnaire inquired about community involvement, organizational memberships, level of organizational participation, Internet use, social circles, collective efficacy, psychological attributes, significant life changes and basic demographics. Out of the nine categories of questions used, six research themes emerged: community involvement, activities and/or interests, collective efficacy, Internet behavior and effects, social networks and psychological scales.
Community involvement was organized into three topics of community involvement, community attachment and local organization affiliation and roles (leader, member, attendee). Each topic used a frequency scale, ranging from never or almost never to several times a day, over the past 6 months. A typology of aggregating variables related to common constructs was created and then the correlations on the variables for each construct were run through reliability tests. The Internet use was measured including amount of use (number of hours in a typical day) as well as the type and frequency of online activity over the past 6 months. The use of measurement was a frequency scale ranging from “almost never” to “several times a day”. The participation in local groups and organizations was measured by asking the participants to write down the name of each local organization in which they were involved and then the role they served, choosing from a list given including attendee, member, financial contributor, and/or leader, within that organization. From this, the participants were then broken down into two categories of bridges (members or leaders into or more organizations) and nonbridges (members or leaders in one or no organizations). Lastly, community efficacy was measured by a 13-item scale where each item pertained to a key area of community challenge and/or achievement. The directions was to rate the community’s ability to achieve each goal listed and the 5-point scale used was not well at all, not too well, somewhat well, pretty well and very well (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 122-123).
Kavanaugh et al (2005) found, after all data was analyzed, “the average number of local organizations with which respondents are affiliated is 2.4 groups” which was just above other studies and shows “two local affiliations to be about average” (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 123). Kavanaugh et al (2005) also found, “just under half of respondents are classified as bridges” and “just over half of respondents are categorized as a ‘nonbridge’ (Kavanaugh et al (2005), p. 123). In addition, Kavanaugh et al (2005) found, “Leader bridges report a higher number of weak ties (acquaintances) than both member bridges and nonbridges, and they e-mail a higher percentage of acquaintances than either member bridges or nonbridges do. Member bridges also have a higher number of weak ties than nonbridges, and email a higher percentage of acquaintances than nonbridges” (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 124).
Overall, Kavanaugh et al (2005) states, “the data show that people who act as weak ties (bridges) between groups are better educated, more informed, and more extroverted (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 127). The research by Kavanaugh et al (2005) shows that individuals considered “bridges” have “higher levels of activism, trust, community involvement, participation, civic interest, and community attachment” (Kavanaugh et al (2005) p. 127). Lastly, Kavanaugh et al (2005) found, “Leaders or members of multiple groups, serving as weak social ties across diverse groups, use computer networking to exchange information an ideas across diverse groups, thereby increasing the pace and scope at which communities can educate and engage citizens and act collectively to solve problems” (Kavanaugh et al, 2005, p. 130).
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
What is a glitch?
The article titled The aesthetics of failure: “post digital” tendencies in contemporary computer music, is about the mishaps in the creation of new music which has ultimately created the new music. Basically the by product of the invention is actually the invention. In addition to this the more basic something is the better it sounds and the more it catches on with others.
Three key ideas are the inspiration, the idea and the tools. The inspiration for the new art was looking past the subject and shifting the focus “from foreground to background (for instance, from portraiture to landscape painting), it helped to expand their perceptual boundaries, enabling them to capture the background’s enigmatic character”. The idea then became the glitch, which was an “emergent genre that consciously builds on these ideas”, the ideas being the expansion of perceptual boundaries. Finally the tools, “computers have become the primary tools for creating and performing electronic music, while the Internet has become a logical new distribution medium.
The most challenging concept form me throughout this article was the idea that if this new type of music is very hard to understand and accomplish in addition to each piece of music is very short what is the attraction to it?
Are these individuals who use these “ ‘devices’ such as absinthe, narcotics, or mystical states to help make the jump from merely expanding their perceptual boundaries to hoisting themselves into territories beyond these boundaries” leaders? Why? If these are not the leaders then who are?
The tools in this concept is the computer and the internet which are the tools which are used in my topic of social networking. Without these tools this art form as well as my topic of social networking would not be in existence and it is important to see that. Sometimes the idea is not enough but the tools which lend a helping hand are very influential.
Loving the ghost in the machine is very similar to the first article in regards to the term glitch and how it is used to create. The difference being here that the glitch is something of a higher power and to catch it in all it’s glory, being that of it’s original state, is the only time in which one can experience it wholly. The glitch is to be praised and treated as sacred.
The three key terms in this piece are machines, refrain and deterritorialization. The machine is, “a system of interruptions or breaks” which is “cutting and redirecting the energetic flows of preconscious world, which can be thought of as an infinitely assemblage or machines acting upon other machines upon others etc”. All in all the machine creates the glitch which creates the art. Secondly, the refrain is the idea “that illustrates the constantly shifting nature of relations between territorialized or habitual milieu and the chaos of the outside forces”. All in all the refrain is the common factor which in music would be the rhythmic element. Lastly, deterritorialization, “flattens down the hierarchical organiaiotn of music into a rhizome” and this is done by recording. Recording of music or “sound processing technology” has “helped in breaking with the traditional musical notation and the ideal of a pure musical from”.
The most difficult aspect for me to grasp in this piece was idea of desiring a machine. I understand wanting the next newest and greatest piece of technology in order to create a new piece of art but can it be taken so far as to be called desired?
A few questions I would like to further explore would be if the technology keeps making it easier for people to deterritorialize the art will there still be leaders in the industry? What type of deterritorialization will it take to become a leader? Can there be too much deterritorialization?
I think this article is very closely related to my article in the same ways as the previous with the idea of the computer and internet being the medium for social networking. I also believe this now deterritorializes the idea of social networking both in time and over space making it a very accessible and easy thing to do. The question still arises though about the leader, who is now the leader of these types of groups? Is there even a leader?
Three key ideas are the inspiration, the idea and the tools. The inspiration for the new art was looking past the subject and shifting the focus “from foreground to background (for instance, from portraiture to landscape painting), it helped to expand their perceptual boundaries, enabling them to capture the background’s enigmatic character”. The idea then became the glitch, which was an “emergent genre that consciously builds on these ideas”, the ideas being the expansion of perceptual boundaries. Finally the tools, “computers have become the primary tools for creating and performing electronic music, while the Internet has become a logical new distribution medium.
The most challenging concept form me throughout this article was the idea that if this new type of music is very hard to understand and accomplish in addition to each piece of music is very short what is the attraction to it?
Are these individuals who use these “ ‘devices’ such as absinthe, narcotics, or mystical states to help make the jump from merely expanding their perceptual boundaries to hoisting themselves into territories beyond these boundaries” leaders? Why? If these are not the leaders then who are?
The tools in this concept is the computer and the internet which are the tools which are used in my topic of social networking. Without these tools this art form as well as my topic of social networking would not be in existence and it is important to see that. Sometimes the idea is not enough but the tools which lend a helping hand are very influential.
Loving the ghost in the machine is very similar to the first article in regards to the term glitch and how it is used to create. The difference being here that the glitch is something of a higher power and to catch it in all it’s glory, being that of it’s original state, is the only time in which one can experience it wholly. The glitch is to be praised and treated as sacred.
The three key terms in this piece are machines, refrain and deterritorialization. The machine is, “a system of interruptions or breaks” which is “cutting and redirecting the energetic flows of preconscious world, which can be thought of as an infinitely assemblage or machines acting upon other machines upon others etc”. All in all the machine creates the glitch which creates the art. Secondly, the refrain is the idea “that illustrates the constantly shifting nature of relations between territorialized or habitual milieu and the chaos of the outside forces”. All in all the refrain is the common factor which in music would be the rhythmic element. Lastly, deterritorialization, “flattens down the hierarchical organiaiotn of music into a rhizome” and this is done by recording. Recording of music or “sound processing technology” has “helped in breaking with the traditional musical notation and the ideal of a pure musical from”.
The most difficult aspect for me to grasp in this piece was idea of desiring a machine. I understand wanting the next newest and greatest piece of technology in order to create a new piece of art but can it be taken so far as to be called desired?
A few questions I would like to further explore would be if the technology keeps making it easier for people to deterritorialize the art will there still be leaders in the industry? What type of deterritorialization will it take to become a leader? Can there be too much deterritorialization?
I think this article is very closely related to my article in the same ways as the previous with the idea of the computer and internet being the medium for social networking. I also believe this now deterritorializes the idea of social networking both in time and over space making it a very accessible and easy thing to do. The question still arises though about the leader, who is now the leader of these types of groups? Is there even a leader?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I Love Star Wars!
In order for any industry to survive there needs to be both a consumer and a producer and the film industry is no different. In addition to the consumption of a product or good there are always individuals who are trying to get the goods for cheaper and again the film industry cannot escape this. In the world of ever converging media the film industry has hit a wall when it comes to amateur film makers/fans wanting to take their creative energy a step further and immerse themselves in the world of what they are a fan of. Not only do they want to stifle the piracy and copyright infringement on the one hand but on the other they encourage the fans to continue to be fans. It cannot be said better than, “Marketers have turned our children into walking, talking billboards who wear logos on their T-shirts, sew patches on their backpacks, plaster stickers on their lockers, hang posters on their walls, but they must not, under any penalty of law, post them on their home pages” (p. 138).
This piracy and copyright infringement has become more of an issue due to mass media convergence. Within this convergence culture, “everyone’s a participant – although participants may have different degrees of status and influence” (p. 132). Although individuals may participate there is a distinction between this and interactivity. “Interactivity refers to the ways that new technologies have been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedback” (p. 133). This participation and interactivity would not have become such and issue if it was not for the Web. The Web, “has become a site of consumer participation that includes many unauthorized and unanticipated ways of relating to media content” (p. 133).
Overall all the concepts in this reading were well thought out and explained thoroughly but the one issue I could not seem to grasp was that of the role the film companies play in all of this. On the one hand they say they want the fans to participate and be creative but at the same time the fans have to tread lightly as to how they actually portray their creativeness. I understand the issue with the piracy and copyright infringement but how can the film companies then state they want the full following of all their fans?
Are the film companies being too strict with their policies? Are the film companies too confusing to the fans? What is a better way to deal with this media convergence to make both sides of the fence happy?
The idea of fan clubs for different causes coming together online via the internet is a type of social networking group. This type of tie can either be considered strong or weak depending on the individuals who maintain the tie and how closely or how much distance they would like to keep from the other fans. In addition these ties whether they be weak or strong have a great significance in the formation of the group and how it is maintained through the individuals.
This piracy and copyright infringement has become more of an issue due to mass media convergence. Within this convergence culture, “everyone’s a participant – although participants may have different degrees of status and influence” (p. 132). Although individuals may participate there is a distinction between this and interactivity. “Interactivity refers to the ways that new technologies have been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedback” (p. 133). This participation and interactivity would not have become such and issue if it was not for the Web. The Web, “has become a site of consumer participation that includes many unauthorized and unanticipated ways of relating to media content” (p. 133).
Overall all the concepts in this reading were well thought out and explained thoroughly but the one issue I could not seem to grasp was that of the role the film companies play in all of this. On the one hand they say they want the fans to participate and be creative but at the same time the fans have to tread lightly as to how they actually portray their creativeness. I understand the issue with the piracy and copyright infringement but how can the film companies then state they want the full following of all their fans?
Are the film companies being too strict with their policies? Are the film companies too confusing to the fans? What is a better way to deal with this media convergence to make both sides of the fence happy?
The idea of fan clubs for different causes coming together online via the internet is a type of social networking group. This type of tie can either be considered strong or weak depending on the individuals who maintain the tie and how closely or how much distance they would like to keep from the other fans. In addition these ties whether they be weak or strong have a great significance in the formation of the group and how it is maintained through the individuals.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
What's dead?
Why the Digital Computer is Dead
In this article Chris Chesner shares his thoughts on why he believes the digital computer is a misnomer. Chesner goes in to explaining the definition of computation, “The suffix ‘-puter’ is related to the Latin putare, for pruning, cleansing or reckoning. So computing brings things together and cleans them up for use in estimations. It takes data – literally ‘givens’ – and extracts them from the contexts out of which they were gathered” (Chesner, p. 3). Chesner believes the more correct way to look at this medium is to see that “what makes new media new is that they media powers of invocation: powers to call things up” (Chesner, p. 1).
In order to justify Chesner’s new word for this medium, invocation, he goes on to write about the three orders of innovation which explain in more detail why this word is more applicable than digital computer. The first order is fetch execute cycle which, “abstracts switchings to a point where individual invocations interleave and merge into a constant stream. With millions of invocations per second, early 21st century invocational devices have become platforms for all manner of mediated events: well beyond calculating equations, invocational media are called upon to support an enormous range of cultural practices: reading, writing, viewing, playing, conversing, controlling and so on” (Chesner, p. 9). The second order is invocationary act and refers to the users of the invocational devices and are “largerly unaware of most of the lower level processes that allow them to achieve their tasks at hand” ultimately having to deal with “the trade off between power and precision” (Chesner, p. 9). Chesner articulates this with the following example, “When I start using a new program I have to take some time away from my immediate task to learn how to use its features” and “I am called away from my usual duties by the software until I become competent to invoke what I want when I want it” (Chesner, p. 9). The third order refers to a “collection of cultural assumptions, discourses, ideologies or symbolic and material resources” which provide great anxiety for individuals when concepts like “artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and artificial life” are thrown into the mix.
I believe Chesner makes a good argument as to why digital computer is dead but I would really like to know why this term has not caught on and would like to discuss further why this is. Could it be a cultural issue, an ethical one or is this too thought out and precise that individuals are scared of it and do not like the idea of change.
A few questions I would like to put forth are: Are we ready for a term as Chesner describes or are we too scared of it? If we where to change over to this term would we have to educate all as to why or would they be excepting enough to trust the new name was the best for this medium?
This topic brings great relevance to my thesis because I am dealing with online social networking and the ties it creates for individuals. It makes me stop and think if we were to deem the digital computer as dead then how does online social networking fit into this new term of invocation? What exactly is online social networking invoking and how does it relate to the data elements of invocation as discussed in the article? This is great food for thought.
The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
Walter Benjamin writes a very difficult piece on how reproduction of art is producing new art. Benjamin is basically saying that technology lends a wonderful hand in reproducing art so now instead of having to travel to a certain city or spot to see a piece of art it can now be bought in a reproduction of itself and placed in a home. Even though on the surface this may seem like a wonderful thing Benjamin believes the more something has been reproduced the integrity of it or it’s ‘aura’ either lessens or transforms.
The aura of something, Benjamin explains, “We define aura as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes a mountain range on the horizon or a branch which casts its shadow over you, you experience the aura of those mountains, of that branch” (Benjamin, p. 7). In addition the exhibition value of a work of art “becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental” (Benjamin, p. 10). The exhibition value of a piece of art changes depending on the audience in which is experiencing it and Benjamin believes this is due to the creation of photography and film because they make it possible to bring the art to the individual instead of making the individual go to the art. Lastly Benjamin believes the cult value of a piece of art “retires into an ultimate retrenchment: the human countenance. It is no accident that the portrait was the focal point of early photography” but “the cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a last refuge for the cult value the picture” (Benjamin, p. 11).
One of the challenging aspects of this article for me was how do we encourage art and keep the original ‘aura’ of it but still make it possible for others to enjoy. With the reproduction of art at a vast rate and the creation of additional forms reproduction and sharing such as creative commons, which allows individuals to get around copyright infringement, how do we still get to preserve the ‘aura’?
How do we preserve traditional art and it’s aura as well as exhibition and cult value but still be able to reproduce for all to enjoy?
Is it possible to make traditional art replicable without stifling it?
This is a relevant topic to my thesis of online social networking because many individuals may form ties between each other based on some type of art they have experience. If the art was examined in person and the individual was able to experience the aura first hand and go back to an online social networking group maybe this experience can be shared with others. There may be a possibility that if the art was not experienced the same way as others in the group that the ties between the individuals may be weaker. In the end the weakness of the ties may be a good thing but you will have to read my paper in order to find out why.
In this article Chris Chesner shares his thoughts on why he believes the digital computer is a misnomer. Chesner goes in to explaining the definition of computation, “The suffix ‘-puter’ is related to the Latin putare, for pruning, cleansing or reckoning. So computing brings things together and cleans them up for use in estimations. It takes data – literally ‘givens’ – and extracts them from the contexts out of which they were gathered” (Chesner, p. 3). Chesner believes the more correct way to look at this medium is to see that “what makes new media new is that they media powers of invocation: powers to call things up” (Chesner, p. 1).
In order to justify Chesner’s new word for this medium, invocation, he goes on to write about the three orders of innovation which explain in more detail why this word is more applicable than digital computer. The first order is fetch execute cycle which, “abstracts switchings to a point where individual invocations interleave and merge into a constant stream. With millions of invocations per second, early 21st century invocational devices have become platforms for all manner of mediated events: well beyond calculating equations, invocational media are called upon to support an enormous range of cultural practices: reading, writing, viewing, playing, conversing, controlling and so on” (Chesner, p. 9). The second order is invocationary act and refers to the users of the invocational devices and are “largerly unaware of most of the lower level processes that allow them to achieve their tasks at hand” ultimately having to deal with “the trade off between power and precision” (Chesner, p. 9). Chesner articulates this with the following example, “When I start using a new program I have to take some time away from my immediate task to learn how to use its features” and “I am called away from my usual duties by the software until I become competent to invoke what I want when I want it” (Chesner, p. 9). The third order refers to a “collection of cultural assumptions, discourses, ideologies or symbolic and material resources” which provide great anxiety for individuals when concepts like “artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and artificial life” are thrown into the mix.
I believe Chesner makes a good argument as to why digital computer is dead but I would really like to know why this term has not caught on and would like to discuss further why this is. Could it be a cultural issue, an ethical one or is this too thought out and precise that individuals are scared of it and do not like the idea of change.
A few questions I would like to put forth are: Are we ready for a term as Chesner describes or are we too scared of it? If we where to change over to this term would we have to educate all as to why or would they be excepting enough to trust the new name was the best for this medium?
This topic brings great relevance to my thesis because I am dealing with online social networking and the ties it creates for individuals. It makes me stop and think if we were to deem the digital computer as dead then how does online social networking fit into this new term of invocation? What exactly is online social networking invoking and how does it relate to the data elements of invocation as discussed in the article? This is great food for thought.
The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
Walter Benjamin writes a very difficult piece on how reproduction of art is producing new art. Benjamin is basically saying that technology lends a wonderful hand in reproducing art so now instead of having to travel to a certain city or spot to see a piece of art it can now be bought in a reproduction of itself and placed in a home. Even though on the surface this may seem like a wonderful thing Benjamin believes the more something has been reproduced the integrity of it or it’s ‘aura’ either lessens or transforms.
The aura of something, Benjamin explains, “We define aura as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes a mountain range on the horizon or a branch which casts its shadow over you, you experience the aura of those mountains, of that branch” (Benjamin, p. 7). In addition the exhibition value of a work of art “becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental” (Benjamin, p. 10). The exhibition value of a piece of art changes depending on the audience in which is experiencing it and Benjamin believes this is due to the creation of photography and film because they make it possible to bring the art to the individual instead of making the individual go to the art. Lastly Benjamin believes the cult value of a piece of art “retires into an ultimate retrenchment: the human countenance. It is no accident that the portrait was the focal point of early photography” but “the cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a last refuge for the cult value the picture” (Benjamin, p. 11).
One of the challenging aspects of this article for me was how do we encourage art and keep the original ‘aura’ of it but still make it possible for others to enjoy. With the reproduction of art at a vast rate and the creation of additional forms reproduction and sharing such as creative commons, which allows individuals to get around copyright infringement, how do we still get to preserve the ‘aura’?
How do we preserve traditional art and it’s aura as well as exhibition and cult value but still be able to reproduce for all to enjoy?
Is it possible to make traditional art replicable without stifling it?
This is a relevant topic to my thesis of online social networking because many individuals may form ties between each other based on some type of art they have experience. If the art was examined in person and the individual was able to experience the aura first hand and go back to an online social networking group maybe this experience can be shared with others. There may be a possibility that if the art was not experienced the same way as others in the group that the ties between the individuals may be weaker. In the end the weakness of the ties may be a good thing but you will have to read my paper in order to find out why.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Podcasting
Reading 1
In the podcast, How creativityis being strangled by the law, Larry Lessig talks about how new technology is being brought about and it is unable to be used to it’s fullest potential due to the fact of the hinderance of laws. Ultimately, Lessig, would like to believe if all individuals were able to use their creativity in conjunction with the technology the possibilities would be endless. One of the key ideas brought about by Lessig’s talk was that of the ReadWrite technology and how the internet revives this thought. In addition this revival brings about the “amateur culture” which is not that of the inexperience but rather the production of something based solely for the love of it rather than the necessity of it. A second key idea was the law not greeting this technology with open arms but instead coining the individuals who are using the technology more as copy right infringers or better yet trespassers. Lessig believes that common sense has not been used to enable this new form of creativity. Lastly, the third key idea was the solution to technology advancing through creativity is the artists need to not be so private with their ideas and creations but allow others to use the ideas as stepping stones and go further with them to create bigger and better things.
The most difficult concept developed in this podcasting was individuals and the law turning their heads to copy right infringement and laws. The laws were put into place for a reason and even though they may be hard to get around in order to use the technology to it’s best capability they are there to protect the individuals who were creative enough in the first place to create.
A couple of questions regarding this podcast are is there another way to get around the laws in order to still foster the creativity without being illegal and do the laws need to be changed in order to allow the creativity or is the creativity already brought about and we are not doing a good job to seeing it.
This reading does indirectly relate to my topic and brings more questions to mind for me to look into. In thinking about social networking and teenagers in regards to online relationships and how weak or strong the ties are maybe there is a missing link of creativity that is being brought about by these ties which is being overlooked. Maybe it’s not about the weak or strong ties between the relationships but more so how creative the individual is being and do these ties bring out more creativity because the individuals are now able to find others who have the same ideas and thoughts through the use of the internet and the online social networking sites.
Reading 2
The article, The Changing Face of Workplace Learning, speaks to the point of training in the workplace and how it is ever evolving. The new wave of workplace training is podcasting and or vodcasting. Podcasting is the idea that employees can download a training session straight to a their PC or in an effort to be more mobile the podcasts can be downloaded to a portable MP3 player such as an IPOD or in some cases a mobile phone or Blackberry. This change in training techniques enables companies to attack all angles of training needs especially in key areas such as the sales force whom are constantly on the go and outside of the office, ultimately unable to receive the traditional type of training in a classroom setting.
One key idea brought out by the reading is the notion of Tivo-ing the radio so anyone who would like to listen to a podcast can do it on their own time instead of at the specific time it is being presented. The idea of Tivo-ing the radio is brought about by the “format’s time-shift capability” which “enables more productive load-balancing during the workday, and the ability to listen on the go while driving to client meetings or work, walking the dow, or running on the treadmill, transforms downtime into constructive time”. A second idea is people being on the move and tailoring the technology to fit the need. Once the mobile learning strategy has been integrated then decisions like, “how long should the podcasts be? How frequently will they be produce? What format best addresses the audience, the company’s culture, and its business needs?” Depending on the answers to the above questions helps to define how the technology can be best used in each individual company’s learning experience in addition to tailoring it specifically to the culture. Lastly, a third key idea is creating a culture which promotes the idea of using podcasting outside of the workplace and on personal time. In order to adopt podcasting as a way of teaching the company needs to motivate the individuals to “devote their personal time to work” and this can be achieved by “a significant change in the company culture” which “means creating a completely new approach to learning”. This idea is a must if podcasting even has a chance of surviving as a way of learning.
The most difficult concept to grasp in this reading was the idea of turning the podcasting and vodcasting over to employees. I understand this approach brings about a type of realism to the employees but I can also see how this can be a liability to the company and would like to explore further how companies deal with this issue.
A couple of questions I would like to explore further is what type of culture does it take to adapt a type of learning technique as this and how would a company go about enforcing this technology on the individuals especially on the older generation who may not be as technologically savy.
This reading particularly relates to my topic of social networking in the fact that through this article a lot of networking takes place in this technology. Especially through the idea of doing podcasting with a follow up blog set up to address any additional questions or concerns an individual may have through listening to the podcasting. This would be a prime area of other individuals who have the same issues to talk them out through the blogging and then form a bond of some type. The point I would like to see through further is whether or not this bond is a weak or strong tie and is something I am currently investigating amongst teenagers but would like to seek out further in the future.
In the podcast, How creativityis being strangled by the law, Larry Lessig talks about how new technology is being brought about and it is unable to be used to it’s fullest potential due to the fact of the hinderance of laws. Ultimately, Lessig, would like to believe if all individuals were able to use their creativity in conjunction with the technology the possibilities would be endless. One of the key ideas brought about by Lessig’s talk was that of the ReadWrite technology and how the internet revives this thought. In addition this revival brings about the “amateur culture” which is not that of the inexperience but rather the production of something based solely for the love of it rather than the necessity of it. A second key idea was the law not greeting this technology with open arms but instead coining the individuals who are using the technology more as copy right infringers or better yet trespassers. Lessig believes that common sense has not been used to enable this new form of creativity. Lastly, the third key idea was the solution to technology advancing through creativity is the artists need to not be so private with their ideas and creations but allow others to use the ideas as stepping stones and go further with them to create bigger and better things.
The most difficult concept developed in this podcasting was individuals and the law turning their heads to copy right infringement and laws. The laws were put into place for a reason and even though they may be hard to get around in order to use the technology to it’s best capability they are there to protect the individuals who were creative enough in the first place to create.
A couple of questions regarding this podcast are is there another way to get around the laws in order to still foster the creativity without being illegal and do the laws need to be changed in order to allow the creativity or is the creativity already brought about and we are not doing a good job to seeing it.
This reading does indirectly relate to my topic and brings more questions to mind for me to look into. In thinking about social networking and teenagers in regards to online relationships and how weak or strong the ties are maybe there is a missing link of creativity that is being brought about by these ties which is being overlooked. Maybe it’s not about the weak or strong ties between the relationships but more so how creative the individual is being and do these ties bring out more creativity because the individuals are now able to find others who have the same ideas and thoughts through the use of the internet and the online social networking sites.
Reading 2
The article, The Changing Face of Workplace Learning, speaks to the point of training in the workplace and how it is ever evolving. The new wave of workplace training is podcasting and or vodcasting. Podcasting is the idea that employees can download a training session straight to a their PC or in an effort to be more mobile the podcasts can be downloaded to a portable MP3 player such as an IPOD or in some cases a mobile phone or Blackberry. This change in training techniques enables companies to attack all angles of training needs especially in key areas such as the sales force whom are constantly on the go and outside of the office, ultimately unable to receive the traditional type of training in a classroom setting.
One key idea brought out by the reading is the notion of Tivo-ing the radio so anyone who would like to listen to a podcast can do it on their own time instead of at the specific time it is being presented. The idea of Tivo-ing the radio is brought about by the “format’s time-shift capability” which “enables more productive load-balancing during the workday, and the ability to listen on the go while driving to client meetings or work, walking the dow, or running on the treadmill, transforms downtime into constructive time”. A second idea is people being on the move and tailoring the technology to fit the need. Once the mobile learning strategy has been integrated then decisions like, “how long should the podcasts be? How frequently will they be produce? What format best addresses the audience, the company’s culture, and its business needs?” Depending on the answers to the above questions helps to define how the technology can be best used in each individual company’s learning experience in addition to tailoring it specifically to the culture. Lastly, a third key idea is creating a culture which promotes the idea of using podcasting outside of the workplace and on personal time. In order to adopt podcasting as a way of teaching the company needs to motivate the individuals to “devote their personal time to work” and this can be achieved by “a significant change in the company culture” which “means creating a completely new approach to learning”. This idea is a must if podcasting even has a chance of surviving as a way of learning.
The most difficult concept to grasp in this reading was the idea of turning the podcasting and vodcasting over to employees. I understand this approach brings about a type of realism to the employees but I can also see how this can be a liability to the company and would like to explore further how companies deal with this issue.
A couple of questions I would like to explore further is what type of culture does it take to adapt a type of learning technique as this and how would a company go about enforcing this technology on the individuals especially on the older generation who may not be as technologically savy.
This reading particularly relates to my topic of social networking in the fact that through this article a lot of networking takes place in this technology. Especially through the idea of doing podcasting with a follow up blog set up to address any additional questions or concerns an individual may have through listening to the podcasting. This would be a prime area of other individuals who have the same issues to talk them out through the blogging and then form a bond of some type. The point I would like to see through further is whether or not this bond is a weak or strong tie and is something I am currently investigating amongst teenagers but would like to seek out further in the future.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Article 1
The Quality of Online and Offline Relationships: The Role of Multiplexity and Duration of Social Relationships.
The focus of this study was personal relationships during adolescence in which the thought was the social relationships outside of the family expand and their quality is linked to various behavioral outcomes. The study looked at the social similarity, homophily, and quality of social ties, the duration of the relationship, and the multiplexity of the relationship. The study was part of the annual national youth survey conducted by the Minerva Center of Youth Studies at the University of Haifa. The data was collected between June and October of 2004 and covered a representative sample of 1000 households in Israel.
The findings of the study provided partial support for the association of social similarity and various measures of relational intensity and content of the relationship. In addition the study confirmed the argument that adolescents with an online friend reported the friend was known for a shorter time than face-to-face friends, they discussed fewer topics and they participated in fewer shared activities. Overall the findings indicate that online friends play a reduced and probably more specialized role than the face-to-face friends at extracurricular activities and parties. Finally, the study found that online friends tend to be perceived as less close than face-to-face friends and this is due to the dimension of time and topic of discussion. The reasoning behind this is face-to-face relationships tend to be holistic and not restricted to particular activities and topics where as online relationships are restricted to nonpersonal topics and not everyday activities which causes the online relationships to be perceived as less integrated in the daily life of the individuals and as more distant.
This article will be a good basis for me to start my argument that online social networking has weaker ties and is not as beneficial as face-to-face relationships amongst teenagers. I plan to use this article more extensively in my final paper.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20790468&site=ehost-live
Article 2
A Review of Online Social Networking Profiles by Adolescents: Implications for Future Research and Intervention.
The study implemented in this paper explored content posted by and interactions that took place by adolescents on online social networking profiles. The sample for this study was 100 randomly selected profiles authored by adolescents who where between the ages of 16 and 18. The content was coded by identifying rich thematic elements which were included family and social issues, risk behaviors, disclosure of personally identifiable information and frequent peer interaction.
The outcome of this study was very inconclusive because it raised more questions then answering the question it set out to prove or disprove. Observing the adolescent behavior within an online network supported the notion that profiles are rich in behavioral data as related to the development and individuation. The review of the profiles indicates the necessity fro more analysis on profiles to determine the importance of adolescent behavior and peer interaction as it relates to social relationships, risk behaviors, special interests, extracurricular activities and family dynamics.
Although this study had no profound or concrete findings on what I am trying to study it does show that further research needs to be conducted on this topic because it is not directly apparent.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=33026178&site=ehost-live
The Quality of Online and Offline Relationships: The Role of Multiplexity and Duration of Social Relationships.
The focus of this study was personal relationships during adolescence in which the thought was the social relationships outside of the family expand and their quality is linked to various behavioral outcomes. The study looked at the social similarity, homophily, and quality of social ties, the duration of the relationship, and the multiplexity of the relationship. The study was part of the annual national youth survey conducted by the Minerva Center of Youth Studies at the University of Haifa. The data was collected between June and October of 2004 and covered a representative sample of 1000 households in Israel.
The findings of the study provided partial support for the association of social similarity and various measures of relational intensity and content of the relationship. In addition the study confirmed the argument that adolescents with an online friend reported the friend was known for a shorter time than face-to-face friends, they discussed fewer topics and they participated in fewer shared activities. Overall the findings indicate that online friends play a reduced and probably more specialized role than the face-to-face friends at extracurricular activities and parties. Finally, the study found that online friends tend to be perceived as less close than face-to-face friends and this is due to the dimension of time and topic of discussion. The reasoning behind this is face-to-face relationships tend to be holistic and not restricted to particular activities and topics where as online relationships are restricted to nonpersonal topics and not everyday activities which causes the online relationships to be perceived as less integrated in the daily life of the individuals and as more distant.
This article will be a good basis for me to start my argument that online social networking has weaker ties and is not as beneficial as face-to-face relationships amongst teenagers. I plan to use this article more extensively in my final paper.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20790468&site=ehost-live
Article 2
A Review of Online Social Networking Profiles by Adolescents: Implications for Future Research and Intervention.
The study implemented in this paper explored content posted by and interactions that took place by adolescents on online social networking profiles. The sample for this study was 100 randomly selected profiles authored by adolescents who where between the ages of 16 and 18. The content was coded by identifying rich thematic elements which were included family and social issues, risk behaviors, disclosure of personally identifiable information and frequent peer interaction.
The outcome of this study was very inconclusive because it raised more questions then answering the question it set out to prove or disprove. Observing the adolescent behavior within an online network supported the notion that profiles are rich in behavioral data as related to the development and individuation. The review of the profiles indicates the necessity fro more analysis on profiles to determine the importance of adolescent behavior and peer interaction as it relates to social relationships, risk behaviors, special interests, extracurricular activities and family dynamics.
Although this study had no profound or concrete findings on what I am trying to study it does show that further research needs to be conducted on this topic because it is not directly apparent.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=33026178&site=ehost-live
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Article #1
1. What does the author mean by political polarization?
Political polarization, to the author is the idea that the web provides so much information an individual is now capable of finding information on any topic therefore creating more of a divide between all sides of the issue.
2. What are your thought about the statement, "Governments feel they are royalty to some
degree"?
I think there is a certain air of royalty that emits from the government but royalty is established based on blood lines and even though in the government many of the individuals come from blood lines in which have ties to government in the past there is always a chance of a non-blood line individual making it into government. I think the government is charged with a big job of keeping the people protected and in doing so they have to make very difficult positions and are held responsible to know all sides to every issue in order to make the best decision. I think because the everyday people may not be as educated on all topics and issues they are quick to judge the government and it’s decisions.
3. Do you agree/disagree with the statement, "We've literally experienced an information tsunami-but more information does not mean better decisions"? Why?
I completely agree that we have experienced an information tsunami and that it does not mean better decisions. When a person is faced with a choice between black and white they have to choose on or the other but when there is black, white, grey and red how do you know which to choose? The more choices and information given the harder it is to figure out which one is the best.
4. The author states that "the very technology that is meant to solve problems merely makes people more emotional-not more reasonable". Give an example of a real life digital convergence that can be viewed to make people more emotional.
Blogging is a perfect example of people becoming more emotional due to digital convergence. People can start a blog for any reason, for example a former co-worker of mine had triplets three years ago and she started a blog so everyone could follow the progress of the triplets. It turned out one of the triplets was diagnosed with being profoundly deaf and had cochlear implants. Through her blog she was able to express all the feelings she encountered during the journey she has embarked upon and was able to gain support from other people who have children with the same condition as well as others who could not be near to her but could show their support through blogging.
Article #2
1. The Web has been a platform for the creation of a wide and unanticipated variety of services. Name one of the commercial services and how you apply the service to your daily/weekly routine.
I use Google on a daily basis in both my work and home environment. I use it to search for answers to questions I may have or to search for help on applications I am using in the business world that I may be unfamiliar with.
2. What does the author mean by "Semantic Web"? How does this effect the future of convergence?
The Semantic Web is a way to link data from web pages more effectively. This way pages can be linked based on the data they hold not necessarily on key words like how it is today. By linking the data in a more effective way the web will be more able to converge and become a very powerful tool.
3. The future of the web has created substantial privacy challenges which are barely addressed by our current privacy laws. What are your thoughts on new data integration? Is the thought of this legal?
The new data integration will cause more transparency for the individuals who produce and this leads to a big privacy issue. On the other hand it may lead the individuals to be held more accountable for the information which is published by them and in the end making the web a very powerful tool. I do not see any legal issues behind making the web and individuals who post more transparent unless you get into personal information. I know I would not want all my personal information out there for everyone to see so I would like to think that type of information would stay protected, if not then the legality of it would kick in.
1. What does the author mean by political polarization?
Political polarization, to the author is the idea that the web provides so much information an individual is now capable of finding information on any topic therefore creating more of a divide between all sides of the issue.
2. What are your thought about the statement, "Governments feel they are royalty to some
degree"?
I think there is a certain air of royalty that emits from the government but royalty is established based on blood lines and even though in the government many of the individuals come from blood lines in which have ties to government in the past there is always a chance of a non-blood line individual making it into government. I think the government is charged with a big job of keeping the people protected and in doing so they have to make very difficult positions and are held responsible to know all sides to every issue in order to make the best decision. I think because the everyday people may not be as educated on all topics and issues they are quick to judge the government and it’s decisions.
3. Do you agree/disagree with the statement, "We've literally experienced an information tsunami-but more information does not mean better decisions"? Why?
I completely agree that we have experienced an information tsunami and that it does not mean better decisions. When a person is faced with a choice between black and white they have to choose on or the other but when there is black, white, grey and red how do you know which to choose? The more choices and information given the harder it is to figure out which one is the best.
4. The author states that "the very technology that is meant to solve problems merely makes people more emotional-not more reasonable". Give an example of a real life digital convergence that can be viewed to make people more emotional.
Blogging is a perfect example of people becoming more emotional due to digital convergence. People can start a blog for any reason, for example a former co-worker of mine had triplets three years ago and she started a blog so everyone could follow the progress of the triplets. It turned out one of the triplets was diagnosed with being profoundly deaf and had cochlear implants. Through her blog she was able to express all the feelings she encountered during the journey she has embarked upon and was able to gain support from other people who have children with the same condition as well as others who could not be near to her but could show their support through blogging.
Article #2
1. The Web has been a platform for the creation of a wide and unanticipated variety of services. Name one of the commercial services and how you apply the service to your daily/weekly routine.
I use Google on a daily basis in both my work and home environment. I use it to search for answers to questions I may have or to search for help on applications I am using in the business world that I may be unfamiliar with.
2. What does the author mean by "Semantic Web"? How does this effect the future of convergence?
The Semantic Web is a way to link data from web pages more effectively. This way pages can be linked based on the data they hold not necessarily on key words like how it is today. By linking the data in a more effective way the web will be more able to converge and become a very powerful tool.
3. The future of the web has created substantial privacy challenges which are barely addressed by our current privacy laws. What are your thoughts on new data integration? Is the thought of this legal?
The new data integration will cause more transparency for the individuals who produce and this leads to a big privacy issue. On the other hand it may lead the individuals to be held more accountable for the information which is published by them and in the end making the web a very powerful tool. I do not see any legal issues behind making the web and individuals who post more transparent unless you get into personal information. I know I would not want all my personal information out there for everyone to see so I would like to think that type of information would stay protected, if not then the legality of it would kick in.
***Update to last Blog***
Thesis Statement: I am exploring the effects of online social networking among adolescents in order to find out if this type of social networking creates strong or weak ties between the adolescents and how this ultimately affects interpersonal and face to face social networking at later stages in life.
Links to articles:
MySpace Generation:
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/detail?vid=29&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=19025357
Adolescents on the Net: Internet Use and Well Being.
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/pdf?vid=27&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108
Links to articles:
MySpace Generation:
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/detail?vid=29&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=19025357
Adolescents on the Net: Internet Use and Well Being.
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/pdf?vid=27&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108
Sunday, March 1, 2009
So…after presenting my topic in class last Tuesday I realized it was so lame and out dated! So I decided on something new, along with talking to Dr. Xia, and settled on a topic around social networking. I have not narrowed my thesis down totally yet but like the idea of social networking it’s pros and cons and how that effects teenagers who are constantly “plugged in”. I found two articles which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and they really made me see this phenomenon more clearly.
First, I read The MySpace Generation by Jessi Hempel, which was the cover story for the December 12, 2005 issue of Business Week. The article basically states that the newest generation of youngsters is called Generation @. These individuals see the Internet as an access point for creating new forms of social behavior. This new form of behavior blurs the distinctions between online and real-world interactions and overall the young generation largely ignores the difference between the two. This thinking is very different than that of adults who see the Web as a supplement to their daily lives. They tap into information to buy books or send flowers but for the most part their social lives remain rooted in the traditional pone call and face-to-face interaction.
Because teenagers are constantly plugged in companies are finding ways to cash in on this new form of social networking. They are starting companies based on this activity, like MySpace and Facebook, but the owners of these companies are now older than their users and they are having a hard time keeping up with what to do in order to keep the company thriving. The owner of the online community of Buzz-Oven made the hard decision to pass down the torch to a younger version of himself in order the keep Buzz-Oven thriving. As of the time of this article being published that was the right decision but they individual who somewhat replaced him did have the capability to black list the owner if one wrong thing was done and doing that over the internet reaches many individuals simultaneously.
I understand that this article may be outdated and we have come further than what is being talked about but the newer stuff is so new it hasn’t been written about and I find this very fascinating.
The next article I chose was Adolescents on the Net: Internet use and Well-Being by Kaveri Subahmanyam and Gloria Lin. The paper examined the relationship between adolescent online activity and well being which included a study of 156 adolescent participants between the age of 15 and 18.4. The participants were surveyed on the their access to and use of the Internet as well as measuring loneliness and perceived social support. Previous research suggests that the extent of adolescents’ Internet use places a concern that this use displaces activities important for adolescent development such as physical activities and social interactions with peers that occur in face-to-face contexts and over the phone. Ultimately, the authors believe that the displacement of adolescents “real interactions” with peers and family may substitute weak ties for strong ones.
Overall the researchers found some indication that participants who reported receiving less support from their parents were more likely to have met an online acquaintance and to have become good friend with him or her. They believe their findings to be related to the participants perception of their relationship with online acquaintances could have been due to one of two reasons which were the weakness in nature of the ties and the participants unrealistic perceptions about friendships and relationships. It seems that the researchers have not come to any profound or concrete findings but do highlight the need for more research on this topic of adolescents and development in conjunction with the Internet.
These two articles talk about how prevalent social networking in adolescents is and how it has changed from face to face to online. This is a good indicator as to how the adolescents will act when put in the work force and have to deal with individuals face to face on a daily basis. I hope to find more linkages and articles talking about this to study it further in my paper.
Links to articles:
MySpace Generation
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/detail?vid=29&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=19025357
Adolescents on the Net: Internet Use and Well Being.
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/pdf?vid=27&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108
First, I read The MySpace Generation by Jessi Hempel, which was the cover story for the December 12, 2005 issue of Business Week. The article basically states that the newest generation of youngsters is called Generation @. These individuals see the Internet as an access point for creating new forms of social behavior. This new form of behavior blurs the distinctions between online and real-world interactions and overall the young generation largely ignores the difference between the two. This thinking is very different than that of adults who see the Web as a supplement to their daily lives. They tap into information to buy books or send flowers but for the most part their social lives remain rooted in the traditional pone call and face-to-face interaction.
Because teenagers are constantly plugged in companies are finding ways to cash in on this new form of social networking. They are starting companies based on this activity, like MySpace and Facebook, but the owners of these companies are now older than their users and they are having a hard time keeping up with what to do in order to keep the company thriving. The owner of the online community of Buzz-Oven made the hard decision to pass down the torch to a younger version of himself in order the keep Buzz-Oven thriving. As of the time of this article being published that was the right decision but they individual who somewhat replaced him did have the capability to black list the owner if one wrong thing was done and doing that over the internet reaches many individuals simultaneously.
I understand that this article may be outdated and we have come further than what is being talked about but the newer stuff is so new it hasn’t been written about and I find this very fascinating.
The next article I chose was Adolescents on the Net: Internet use and Well-Being by Kaveri Subahmanyam and Gloria Lin. The paper examined the relationship between adolescent online activity and well being which included a study of 156 adolescent participants between the age of 15 and 18.4. The participants were surveyed on the their access to and use of the Internet as well as measuring loneliness and perceived social support. Previous research suggests that the extent of adolescents’ Internet use places a concern that this use displaces activities important for adolescent development such as physical activities and social interactions with peers that occur in face-to-face contexts and over the phone. Ultimately, the authors believe that the displacement of adolescents “real interactions” with peers and family may substitute weak ties for strong ones.
Overall the researchers found some indication that participants who reported receiving less support from their parents were more likely to have met an online acquaintance and to have become good friend with him or her. They believe their findings to be related to the participants perception of their relationship with online acquaintances could have been due to one of two reasons which were the weakness in nature of the ties and the participants unrealistic perceptions about friendships and relationships. It seems that the researchers have not come to any profound or concrete findings but do highlight the need for more research on this topic of adolescents and development in conjunction with the Internet.
These two articles talk about how prevalent social networking in adolescents is and how it has changed from face to face to online. This is a good indicator as to how the adolescents will act when put in the work force and have to deal with individuals face to face on a daily basis. I hope to find more linkages and articles talking about this to study it further in my paper.
Links to articles:
MySpace Generation
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/detail?vid=29&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=19025357
Adolescents on the Net: Internet Use and Well Being.
http://athena.rider.edu:4055/ehost/pdf?vid=27&hid=116&sid=1c60b682-25d3-457f-aee5-7d33f137f78b%40sessionmgr108
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Podcasting for training purposes
The topic I have chosen to research further is podcasting. Up until this class I was unfamiliar with all the possibilities that podcasting brings to the table and after the last session I realized this is a technology that I am letting pass by without looking to what it can do for me. After reading a few articles I decided to use the following, Just-in-Time Training by Elizabeth Agnvall and The Changing Face of Workplace Learning by Anders Gronstedt.
The piece by Agnvall speaks to the point of we have podcasting as a technology why not cash in on this idea and put it to good use within the organization. Oddly enough many companies have already started doing this in the form of training sessions. Agnvall goes on to state, “While experts agree that mobile training will never replace traditional face-to-face learning—just as e-learning has not replace classroom instruction—movile devices can be added to the toolkits of corporate training” (Agnvall 2006, p. 68). Agnvall believes the employees who benefit the most from this tool are mostly the sales force because they are always on the go and do not have the time to sit in front of a computer during the day or take time away from selling to go to an all day training session somewhere. Agnvall goes on to recognize the technology is evolving and video will be the next addition to the podcasts. Finally Agnvall states, “As the systems become more robust, people will be able to add more interactivity, the lessons will become longer, and [employees] will create courseware—These are going to be the standards for mobile learning” (Agnvall 2006, p. 71).
Gronstedt’s article speaks to a lot of the same aspects as Agnvall’s but adds how to determine what type of podcasting will work for different organizations and how to get your employees excited enough about it to welcome podcasting with open arms. Gronstedt believes the more entertaining the podcasts are the more employees will be attracted to them. Grondstedt goes through the steps of creating an effective podcast, entertainment, format, length and frequency, and turning over the control to the employees. Ben Edwards, IBM’s director of new media communications, says the following about entertainment in podcasts, “There’s definitely a premium on entertainment—we model programs on radio and TV formats, so our shows refect the reality of the media landscape outside of IBM” (Gronstedt 2007, p. 22). The length of a podcast is based on the type of message you are trying to send. Grondstedt suggests a sales training session should be no longer than 15 minutes and whiteboard “vod” (video podcast) be no longer than 5 minutes. The frequency also depends on the type of organization and where the organization houses the podcasts. For example a larger organization may have the capability of putting out more frequent podcasts were as a smaller company may not. Overall Gronstedt, like Agnvall, does not believe podcasts will take the place of training as we know it now but will be an extension and reinforcement.
After reading the two articles I decided the following for my thesis:
I am researching podcasting as a training technique within the work place because I would like to find out the success and adoption rate in order to understand how podcasting is evolving into an extension of training as it currently stands within the work place.
Podcasting, in this instance, is converging the typical style of training with the technology of video and radio to broadcast to many individuals either simultaneously or to archive for when an individual has the opportunity to listen to it or en some cases watch as well.
The two articles I briefly summarized earlier directly relates to my topic because they speak to how podcasting is currently being used within the organization and how it can be better used to effectively broadcast training for all employees to use. I believe this type of training would greatly improve an organizations training style but I need to research it further in order to understand it more thoroughly and find out the most effective way to do so.
The piece by Agnvall speaks to the point of we have podcasting as a technology why not cash in on this idea and put it to good use within the organization. Oddly enough many companies have already started doing this in the form of training sessions. Agnvall goes on to state, “While experts agree that mobile training will never replace traditional face-to-face learning—just as e-learning has not replace classroom instruction—movile devices can be added to the toolkits of corporate training” (Agnvall 2006, p. 68). Agnvall believes the employees who benefit the most from this tool are mostly the sales force because they are always on the go and do not have the time to sit in front of a computer during the day or take time away from selling to go to an all day training session somewhere. Agnvall goes on to recognize the technology is evolving and video will be the next addition to the podcasts. Finally Agnvall states, “As the systems become more robust, people will be able to add more interactivity, the lessons will become longer, and [employees] will create courseware—These are going to be the standards for mobile learning” (Agnvall 2006, p. 71).
Gronstedt’s article speaks to a lot of the same aspects as Agnvall’s but adds how to determine what type of podcasting will work for different organizations and how to get your employees excited enough about it to welcome podcasting with open arms. Gronstedt believes the more entertaining the podcasts are the more employees will be attracted to them. Grondstedt goes through the steps of creating an effective podcast, entertainment, format, length and frequency, and turning over the control to the employees. Ben Edwards, IBM’s director of new media communications, says the following about entertainment in podcasts, “There’s definitely a premium on entertainment—we model programs on radio and TV formats, so our shows refect the reality of the media landscape outside of IBM” (Gronstedt 2007, p. 22). The length of a podcast is based on the type of message you are trying to send. Grondstedt suggests a sales training session should be no longer than 15 minutes and whiteboard “vod” (video podcast) be no longer than 5 minutes. The frequency also depends on the type of organization and where the organization houses the podcasts. For example a larger organization may have the capability of putting out more frequent podcasts were as a smaller company may not. Overall Gronstedt, like Agnvall, does not believe podcasts will take the place of training as we know it now but will be an extension and reinforcement.
After reading the two articles I decided the following for my thesis:
I am researching podcasting as a training technique within the work place because I would like to find out the success and adoption rate in order to understand how podcasting is evolving into an extension of training as it currently stands within the work place.
Podcasting, in this instance, is converging the typical style of training with the technology of video and radio to broadcast to many individuals either simultaneously or to archive for when an individual has the opportunity to listen to it or en some cases watch as well.
The two articles I briefly summarized earlier directly relates to my topic because they speak to how podcasting is currently being used within the organization and how it can be better used to effectively broadcast training for all employees to use. I believe this type of training would greatly improve an organizations training style but I need to research it further in order to understand it more thoroughly and find out the most effective way to do so.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Who makes who dumb?
Can Blogs Revolutionize Progressive Politics.
The answer to the question is hasn’t it already? The article talks to blogging revolutionizing progressive politics but I think blogging has lead to more individuals learning and speaking out about politics and the knowledge these individuals have. The examples given of the individuals who where hired as campaign consultants or are consulted with on strategy because of the how involved in the blogging world they are.
Three key ideas of bloggings effects on politics are it promises to be a populist revolution, creates more participation and overcomes financial and ideological muscle. The revolution is already being seen as stated earlier with the higher of campaign staff based on the knowledge of politics through the amount of blogging that occurs from one individual creating stature. The participation is seen through all the online poles that are taken during the campaign race and I myself was constantly going online not to blogs but to websites to see which candidate was leading in which state. This type of data could only be obtained through participation of online voting and participation. The financial aspect is seen through politicians getting on and blogging themselves. This not only to gain support but also to see what people’s concerns are and to address them in order to gain more votes.
The most difficult concept in this article was about the bloggers not being diversified enough. I understand in the aspect that not all individuals have access to the internet and are capable of blogging do to that lack of access but I still feel that the diversity achieved through blogging is more so than any other type of communication or action.
Relating this to my real life situation is like I said earlier that I believe blogging has already revolutionized politics. If any Joe Six Pack can go on and blog about how they feel on a certain subject throughout the campaign trail and the candidates have the capability to see what Joe Six Pack has written then those words have the ability to change how the candidate is campaigning in addition to showing the opponent how the people feel and maybe changing their campaign style as well. I believe blogging is a very powerful tool.
Questions: How diversified are blogs and bloggers?
Does this diversity lead to differences in campaigning?
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Apparently according to the author of this article Google is making us dumb because a search engine like Google provides us with information in such a manner that it is making us sort of ADD. But I’m not really sold that the author truly believes this because at the end of the article the author writes “So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism” which to me means this thought is really not a belief.
Three key ideas are the adaptation of Google is changing the way we learn and process things, Google is making us stupid, and even though the brain is a clear example that you can teach an old dog new tricks because of Google this is now not possible.
Because of Google the way humans learn has now been changed and can be seen in this statement, “We are how we read. Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else.” Advertising has changed according to this quote, “As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations. Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets” again creating that sense of immediacy and what I like to call ADD. The author feels that this will get worse by this statement, “The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”
The most challenging concept for me is why is it not mentioned about people allowing this. Are people really that naïve to allow things like Google to change their way of thinking. Why is it that this can happen? A common phrase that I always say to people, and maybe this is because I consider myself a leader and not a follower, is if Johnny jumps off a bridge are you going to do the same thing. How can the author put all the blame on Google and not sit there an write about how people are making themselves dumb by not thinking for themselves and using a search engine like Google as a tool for knowledge instead of letting it overtake your life.
This is definitely an argument I would like to research further but put more emphasis on the user and not so much on the producer. Just because the tool is there and promoted does not mean that user should be totally left off the hook for not using the tool correctly. I believe each individual has a brain and if they choose to use it or not is their perogitive.
Questions:
Should the user be held responsible for letting themself become dumb?
Should Google be held responsible for making people dumb?
Podcasting
The podcasting piece was about how useful podcasting is. Podcasting gives a company, and individual or whoever else would like to use this technology the ability to reach a broader niche audience. Podcasting also gives the ability to archive and allow the publisher of the podcast to see who has downloaded or how many people have actually accessed the podcast. Lastly Podcasting allows for both audio and video together for a more effective message.
Key concepts are the archiving of the media so individuals can access whenever and may be very useful for something like a training session. Using the video and audio will allow for a more effective training session and the ability to go back and view as many times necessary in order to understand and use the training to it’s maximum capacity. Lastly the podcasting allows for all individuals to access and is not just limited to certain people.
The most difficult aspect for me was what if an individual does not own an ipod and does not want to, how then will they be able to participate in this type of technology. Why would a university want to keep such an interesting type of learning experience segmented from an individual who does not prescribe to the ipod type lifestyle.
Will podcasting lead to a different type of college experience?
How will podcasting change the student-teacher type of learning environment?
This was my first podcast to ever listen to and I have to say it was very interesting and I have never thought of podcasting in terms of training. I think for a company to invest money into training sessions placed in a podcast would be very cost effective and would enable all employees to received the same training from the same instructor every time. That way the employee cannot say that each individual received a different type of training. I am definitely going to look more into podcasting and how it can benefit me in my everyday life as well as bring it to my company to see if it can help with training employees.
The answer to the question is hasn’t it already? The article talks to blogging revolutionizing progressive politics but I think blogging has lead to more individuals learning and speaking out about politics and the knowledge these individuals have. The examples given of the individuals who where hired as campaign consultants or are consulted with on strategy because of the how involved in the blogging world they are.
Three key ideas of bloggings effects on politics are it promises to be a populist revolution, creates more participation and overcomes financial and ideological muscle. The revolution is already being seen as stated earlier with the higher of campaign staff based on the knowledge of politics through the amount of blogging that occurs from one individual creating stature. The participation is seen through all the online poles that are taken during the campaign race and I myself was constantly going online not to blogs but to websites to see which candidate was leading in which state. This type of data could only be obtained through participation of online voting and participation. The financial aspect is seen through politicians getting on and blogging themselves. This not only to gain support but also to see what people’s concerns are and to address them in order to gain more votes.
The most difficult concept in this article was about the bloggers not being diversified enough. I understand in the aspect that not all individuals have access to the internet and are capable of blogging do to that lack of access but I still feel that the diversity achieved through blogging is more so than any other type of communication or action.
Relating this to my real life situation is like I said earlier that I believe blogging has already revolutionized politics. If any Joe Six Pack can go on and blog about how they feel on a certain subject throughout the campaign trail and the candidates have the capability to see what Joe Six Pack has written then those words have the ability to change how the candidate is campaigning in addition to showing the opponent how the people feel and maybe changing their campaign style as well. I believe blogging is a very powerful tool.
Questions: How diversified are blogs and bloggers?
Does this diversity lead to differences in campaigning?
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Apparently according to the author of this article Google is making us dumb because a search engine like Google provides us with information in such a manner that it is making us sort of ADD. But I’m not really sold that the author truly believes this because at the end of the article the author writes “So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism” which to me means this thought is really not a belief.
Three key ideas are the adaptation of Google is changing the way we learn and process things, Google is making us stupid, and even though the brain is a clear example that you can teach an old dog new tricks because of Google this is now not possible.
Because of Google the way humans learn has now been changed and can be seen in this statement, “We are how we read. Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else.” Advertising has changed according to this quote, “As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations. Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets” again creating that sense of immediacy and what I like to call ADD. The author feels that this will get worse by this statement, “The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”
The most challenging concept for me is why is it not mentioned about people allowing this. Are people really that naïve to allow things like Google to change their way of thinking. Why is it that this can happen? A common phrase that I always say to people, and maybe this is because I consider myself a leader and not a follower, is if Johnny jumps off a bridge are you going to do the same thing. How can the author put all the blame on Google and not sit there an write about how people are making themselves dumb by not thinking for themselves and using a search engine like Google as a tool for knowledge instead of letting it overtake your life.
This is definitely an argument I would like to research further but put more emphasis on the user and not so much on the producer. Just because the tool is there and promoted does not mean that user should be totally left off the hook for not using the tool correctly. I believe each individual has a brain and if they choose to use it or not is their perogitive.
Questions:
Should the user be held responsible for letting themself become dumb?
Should Google be held responsible for making people dumb?
Podcasting
The podcasting piece was about how useful podcasting is. Podcasting gives a company, and individual or whoever else would like to use this technology the ability to reach a broader niche audience. Podcasting also gives the ability to archive and allow the publisher of the podcast to see who has downloaded or how many people have actually accessed the podcast. Lastly Podcasting allows for both audio and video together for a more effective message.
Key concepts are the archiving of the media so individuals can access whenever and may be very useful for something like a training session. Using the video and audio will allow for a more effective training session and the ability to go back and view as many times necessary in order to understand and use the training to it’s maximum capacity. Lastly the podcasting allows for all individuals to access and is not just limited to certain people.
The most difficult aspect for me was what if an individual does not own an ipod and does not want to, how then will they be able to participate in this type of technology. Why would a university want to keep such an interesting type of learning experience segmented from an individual who does not prescribe to the ipod type lifestyle.
Will podcasting lead to a different type of college experience?
How will podcasting change the student-teacher type of learning environment?
This was my first podcast to ever listen to and I have to say it was very interesting and I have never thought of podcasting in terms of training. I think for a company to invest money into training sessions placed in a podcast would be very cost effective and would enable all employees to received the same training from the same instructor every time. That way the employee cannot say that each individual received a different type of training. I am definitely going to look more into podcasting and how it can benefit me in my everyday life as well as bring it to my company to see if it can help with training employees.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
To Spoil or Not
First off, I have to say after reading the chapter on Spoiling Survivor I was left knowing so much more about the art of spoiling and why it is so intriguing to the individuals in which participate. I was left dumb founded now knowing that the individuals who play this sport put so much effort into spoiling a show like Survivor.
Spoiling Survivor speaks to the idea of virtual communities of individuals who gather to use the knowledge they know about Survivor to try and figure out what each episode will bring before it airs. In addition to this cat and mouse game that is played on the show which determines who will get booted each week, the producers play this game with the spoilers in order to prevent the spoiling but usually it is only delayed. Spoiling Survivor goes on to get inside the communities of the spoilers and leads the reader down a path to understand what makes a group of spoilers tick and how an individual gets the status of a spoiler.
In order to understand the workings of the group three key ideas have been identified as collective intelligence, brain trusts and the expert paradigm.
First, Collective intelligence is the idea that what we cannot know on our own we may be able to learn and find out collectively. The author states, “Survivor spoiling is collective intelligence in practice”. Second, brain trusts are a group of people who search for bits and pieces of information to help the spoiling. These individuals do all of their searching on secure password protected sites and do not share the information they arrive upon or figure out but dump the spoiling if and when they feel like it. Thirdly, the expert paradigm is Peter Walsh’s take on collective intelligence but adds the idea that there is a bounded body of knowledge which an individual can master. One individual related spoiling directly to an undergraduate degree in history stating, “I like to dig. I like to look at primary source information. I like to dig to the bottom”.
The most difficult concept for me throughout this reading was how could the seasoned spoilers trust ChillOne. Throughout the reading ChillOne was not always correct in the spoilings that were provided but he or she was able to distract the seasoned spoilers from continuing their normal path of spoiling the show from week to week to just paying attention to what chill one would post.
A few discussion questions I thought about are how can this knowledge of spoiling be used for other types of work and what drives the individuals to participate in the act of spoiling.
In reality I am not a fan of spoiling because I do not want to know the end before I get there. Before reading this piece I was under the impression that people who spoiled for others were just bored but in actuality it is so much more than that. The people who participate in this are out for the hunt and enjoy that more so than actually spoiling it for others.
The Reinvention of the World Wide Web is about the convergence theory and how it applies to the internet. According to this article the World Wide Web is the ultimate convergence of all forms of media. Through the article there is discussion on if this is the ultimate form of convergence or a road block in further expansion of the internet.
Three key ideas from this piece are the idea of the ‘receiver’ as a barrier to accessing the media is just as significant an issue to the Web as it was to TV and radio, the idea that if you throw more money at it the thing in question will grow and get better and media travels through a cycle of invention, access limitations, and information overflow.
The receiver being the barrier is in reference to the internet not having enough space to hold all the information which is being dispersed as well as all the individuals who access it on a daily basis. If there was infinite space than the possibilities of what could be done on the internet would be endless. With the money being thrown at the development of the internet it may eventually become as big as everyone would like it to be but is this really what needs to happen or will we be opening Pandora’s Box? In order to achieve a medium which reaches the best of it’s ability the process needs to go through the stages of invention, access limitations and information overflow and currently the internet seems to be in the access limitation stage until the bandwith issue is resolved.
After reading this piece the most difficult issue for me to swallow was the debate on whether or not the internet follows the model of radio or television and actually has a model of it’s own.
What makes the internet different that it would be considered as having it’s own model and does the solution for the bandwith issue currently exist and is not being distributed for the fear of opening Pandora’s box?
Exploring the idea of convergence theory and how it applies to the internet would be a great question to explore for a research paper. Pushing it further and exploring if the model for tv and radio and how it differs to the internet would be more intriguing.
Spoiling Survivor speaks to the idea of virtual communities of individuals who gather to use the knowledge they know about Survivor to try and figure out what each episode will bring before it airs. In addition to this cat and mouse game that is played on the show which determines who will get booted each week, the producers play this game with the spoilers in order to prevent the spoiling but usually it is only delayed. Spoiling Survivor goes on to get inside the communities of the spoilers and leads the reader down a path to understand what makes a group of spoilers tick and how an individual gets the status of a spoiler.
In order to understand the workings of the group three key ideas have been identified as collective intelligence, brain trusts and the expert paradigm.
First, Collective intelligence is the idea that what we cannot know on our own we may be able to learn and find out collectively. The author states, “Survivor spoiling is collective intelligence in practice”. Second, brain trusts are a group of people who search for bits and pieces of information to help the spoiling. These individuals do all of their searching on secure password protected sites and do not share the information they arrive upon or figure out but dump the spoiling if and when they feel like it. Thirdly, the expert paradigm is Peter Walsh’s take on collective intelligence but adds the idea that there is a bounded body of knowledge which an individual can master. One individual related spoiling directly to an undergraduate degree in history stating, “I like to dig. I like to look at primary source information. I like to dig to the bottom”.
The most difficult concept for me throughout this reading was how could the seasoned spoilers trust ChillOne. Throughout the reading ChillOne was not always correct in the spoilings that were provided but he or she was able to distract the seasoned spoilers from continuing their normal path of spoiling the show from week to week to just paying attention to what chill one would post.
A few discussion questions I thought about are how can this knowledge of spoiling be used for other types of work and what drives the individuals to participate in the act of spoiling.
In reality I am not a fan of spoiling because I do not want to know the end before I get there. Before reading this piece I was under the impression that people who spoiled for others were just bored but in actuality it is so much more than that. The people who participate in this are out for the hunt and enjoy that more so than actually spoiling it for others.
The Reinvention of the World Wide Web is about the convergence theory and how it applies to the internet. According to this article the World Wide Web is the ultimate convergence of all forms of media. Through the article there is discussion on if this is the ultimate form of convergence or a road block in further expansion of the internet.
Three key ideas from this piece are the idea of the ‘receiver’ as a barrier to accessing the media is just as significant an issue to the Web as it was to TV and radio, the idea that if you throw more money at it the thing in question will grow and get better and media travels through a cycle of invention, access limitations, and information overflow.
The receiver being the barrier is in reference to the internet not having enough space to hold all the information which is being dispersed as well as all the individuals who access it on a daily basis. If there was infinite space than the possibilities of what could be done on the internet would be endless. With the money being thrown at the development of the internet it may eventually become as big as everyone would like it to be but is this really what needs to happen or will we be opening Pandora’s Box? In order to achieve a medium which reaches the best of it’s ability the process needs to go through the stages of invention, access limitations and information overflow and currently the internet seems to be in the access limitation stage until the bandwith issue is resolved.
After reading this piece the most difficult issue for me to swallow was the debate on whether or not the internet follows the model of radio or television and actually has a model of it’s own.
What makes the internet different that it would be considered as having it’s own model and does the solution for the bandwith issue currently exist and is not being distributed for the fear of opening Pandora’s box?
Exploring the idea of convergence theory and how it applies to the internet would be a great question to explore for a research paper. Pushing it further and exploring if the model for tv and radio and how it differs to the internet would be more intriguing.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Convergence, not Divergence
Convergence Culture
Jenkins, Convergence Culture, speaks to the notion of media converging as technology advances. Jenkins states, "history teaches us that old media never die...what dies are simply the tools we use to access the media content" (p. 13). A problem with the media converging is the necessity for all individuals from different media types coming together and creating an outlet for all media to be dispersed from to ultimately make media converge.Three key ideas from Convergence Culture are media convergence, participatory culture, and collective intelligence.
These three concepts can be seen firstly when Jenkins wrote about The New Orleans Media Experience. Jenkins stated and the message set forth from the experience was: Convergence is coming and you had better be ready, convergence is harder than it sounds, and everyone will survive if everyone works together. In that summary of what occurred at The New Orleans Media Experience is exactly what Jenkins stated earlier about how media convergence will occur and what will happen when it does. Secondly the concepts are seen when McLuhan wrote about media converging in, "A process of the 'convergence of modes' is blurring the lines between media". The concept of media convergence is not a new one but is recently coming to life. Lastly the Black Box Fallacy believes all media will one day come from one black box which each individual will own and is the ultimate convergence.
The most difficult concept, which may also be the scariest for me is the idea of all media converging into a so called "black box". I am unable to wrap my head around this concept because even though this may be extremely convenient it makes it easier to be censored and may become very monotonous.
Three discussion questions:
1.) Are the younger generations enablers of media convergence?
2.) How do the industry leaders entice the population to buy into the convergence of media?
3.) Who are the early adopters and why do you believe they are the early adopters.
The Cultural Paradox of the Global Village
In Federman's piece the idea of "digitizing" oneself in order to participate in the Global Village which is the Internet. Our digiSelf is the manifestation of our identities which "exist on the web, in chat avatars, among weblogs, web page postings and other digital media" (p. 3). Each digiSelf is projected into an avatar and these avatars are both intriguing by the individuals which create them and the others which interact with them.
Three key points are the creation of the digiSelf, popular culture gains currency on the internet, and we cannot escape the effects of the Internet based on McLuhan's idea of "acoustic space".
One example of these key concepts is the weblog which enables and individual who has created a digiSelf to express anything and everything which they desire. Another example is how intriguing the Internet is and how an individual an become so enthralled by it that death can occur as did to the 24 year-old man from South Korea because he did not eat or drink for 86 hours. Lastly, the digitization of us decides who will define 21st century culture.
Discussion Questions:
1.) What is so intriguing about the internet that it causes people to break with the reality of nourishing oneself in order to survive?
2.) What is the fascination with creating a digiSelf?
3.) How is one's digiSelf different from their actual self?
Discussion of Readings
Both readings speak to the idea that media is converging and this convergence needs adaptation from the population in order to be effective. In order for the internet to become as popular as it has the population has adapted by creating digiSelves so they can participate fully in all the aspects of the internet which are available. This creation of an alternate self is a great topic which could be used for a final presentation and taking it a step further to look at how close to the person's real self the digiSelf actually depicts.
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