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Thursday, January 22, 2009
Metcalfe's Law
Shirky, pages 26-31: After looking at Figure 2-1 and reading about the complexity of groups and organizing go to this link (interesting):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law
Hey, we also look at Wikipedia in Chapter 5 and this is on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law
Hey, we also look at Wikipedia in Chapter 5 and this is on Wikipedia.
Journalist and Photographer
"If anyone can be a publisher, then anyone can be a journalist." (Shirky, p.71). Well, it does indeed seem to be so, huh? Within a matter of minutes, I am typing these thoughts, proofreading, spellchecking, and then uploading to the web for instant global circulation. Well, only the people in this course will probably read this in reality. However, it is no doubt a fact that the content is available global for anyone who would care to read it. I can't imagine much interest, but you never know and it IS possible! While some professional journalists are bloggers, one does not have to be a professional journalists to blog, thus publish, thus a "journalist"!? Well, something like that...
Okay, speaking of "professional," I found it extremely interesting that in the "United States, the IRS defines a professional photographer as someone who makes more than $5k a year selling his or her photos." (Shirky, p.75). Well, my brother-in-law just sold photos of himself and a deer he recently killed to a magazine for $500...so he is in on his way!
Considering photographs, the text mentions Flickr and the platform it provides. I have always found it to be quite awesome the number of photos one can find in a subject of choice on sites like Flickr. Depending on how the images are tagged, one can search a number of topics and find not only numerous images, but often of good quality. A friend recently sent me some photos of bicycles in the snow and ice. This stimulated a sudden interest for me to see more photos like this. I spent a few minutes and found more photos that anyone could imagine. I also looked tonight for the topic of inauguration photos...as you can imagine there were many! Not surprising for such a popular event, however, there were so many different perspectives. Not so long ago one would have relied on photographers staged in various locations and then selling to magazines and papers (and in recent history, websites). Now we have millions of amateurs and available photos as soon as a computer and Internet connection allow for an upload.
Okay, speaking of "professional," I found it extremely interesting that in the "United States, the IRS defines a professional photographer as someone who makes more than $5k a year selling his or her photos." (Shirky, p.75). Well, my brother-in-law just sold photos of himself and a deer he recently killed to a magazine for $500...so he is in on his way!
Considering photographs, the text mentions Flickr and the platform it provides. I have always found it to be quite awesome the number of photos one can find in a subject of choice on sites like Flickr. Depending on how the images are tagged, one can search a number of topics and find not only numerous images, but often of good quality. A friend recently sent me some photos of bicycles in the snow and ice. This stimulated a sudden interest for me to see more photos like this. I spent a few minutes and found more photos that anyone could imagine. I also looked tonight for the topic of inauguration photos...as you can imagine there were many! Not surprising for such a popular event, however, there were so many different perspectives. Not so long ago one would have relied on photographers staged in various locations and then selling to magazines and papers (and in recent history, websites). Now we have millions of amateurs and available photos as soon as a computer and Internet connection allow for an upload.
Change (term of the year?)
Change, the one word use most frequently during the past election year. People cried out for "something different" to break with the status quo. There are numerous ways that you can define this "change" that was implied. Some would argue if this is a good idea or not. Is it change for the better? Change for the sake of change? Or as the implication was intended, change for the better or to depart from ways that were not working.
Having established the idea of change, one thought of political change that was only discussed in the techie circles and maybe a few news stories was the new change in campaigning methods. We discussed in this class briefly, but the connection that was made to young voters (the digital natives and even some digital immigrants) by text messaging and connecting to the Facebook and MySpace demographics was beyond what most could have anticipated. Sure the idea was to get votes, but who would have guessed how powerful this effort would be?
Maybe Shirky could have? Shirky mentions that "Group action gives human society its particular character, and anything that changes they way groups get things done will affect society as a whole. This change will not be limited to any particular set of institutions or functions. For any given organization, the important questions are 'When will the change happen?' and 'What will change?' The only two answers that we can rule out are never, and nothing." (p. 23).
I just hope that I can replace the "change" I have with paper bills! :-)
Having established the idea of change, one thought of political change that was only discussed in the techie circles and maybe a few news stories was the new change in campaigning methods. We discussed in this class briefly, but the connection that was made to young voters (the digital natives and even some digital immigrants) by text messaging and connecting to the Facebook and MySpace demographics was beyond what most could have anticipated. Sure the idea was to get votes, but who would have guessed how powerful this effort would be?
Maybe Shirky could have? Shirky mentions that "Group action gives human society its particular character, and anything that changes they way groups get things done will affect society as a whole. This change will not be limited to any particular set of institutions or functions. For any given organization, the important questions are 'When will the change happen?' and 'What will change?' The only two answers that we can rule out are never, and nothing." (p. 23).
I just hope that I can replace the "change" I have with paper bills! :-)
Informal Organization
It is quite fascinating to me how that we are now to the point where there are so many options for "voices" to be heard. Once upon a time people joined clubs and organization with other people who shared the same interest or views. Depending on the interest and the location one lived in it was possibly difficult to find others to unite with. Now we are in a time where one can go online and within a short period of time find a myriad of options (social networks, message boards, wikis, and blogs) where they can actively participate in the sharing of information.
The cellphone story also demonstrates another aspect where groups can organize rapidly to unite for a cause. This cause may be to fight crime, raise political or social awareness, or generate support for any cause. Shirky points out that "When we change the way we communicate, we change society. The tools that society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life." (p. 17). A situation like this ten years ago would have resulted in a few lost and found phone calls and maybe an add in the classifieds of a paper. Most likely, even with the photos that were obtained, the result would have never ended as this story did.
The cellphone story also demonstrates another aspect where groups can organize rapidly to unite for a cause. This cause may be to fight crime, raise political or social awareness, or generate support for any cause. Shirky points out that "When we change the way we communicate, we change society. The tools that society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life." (p. 17). A situation like this ten years ago would have resulted in a few lost and found phone calls and maybe an add in the classifieds of a paper. Most likely, even with the photos that were obtained, the result would have never ended as this story did.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Journaling the old fashioned way
I had planned to blog more frequently, but have been journaling the "old fashioned way" with a pencil and paper. Sometimes it is easier for me to keep a pad and pencil handy and jot down thoughts and page numbers. One, I am able to keep reading while recording my thoughts. Two, if I get on my laptop, even if I use a word processor on my hard drive, it is still tempting to check emails or other online activities. If I fall into the "online trap" then I will look up an hour or so later and think "where did the time go?" and then I am off the thought of the book or readings and have to get back into that mindset.
Therefore, I have a plethora of notes from Here Comes Everybody and will soon be posting on different topics from the text. I have found it to be a quite interesting read that definitely stimulated many thoughts and reflections...more to come soon...stay tuned!
Therefore, I have a plethora of notes from Here Comes Everybody and will soon be posting on different topics from the text. I have found it to be a quite interesting read that definitely stimulated many thoughts and reflections...more to come soon...stay tuned!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Week One Readings
Well, I am tempted to summarize the readings from this week, but I am not going to. The discussion tonight in class was quite interesting and I think we covered "The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence" by Jenkins well.
We briefly started on Leander's article, but I thought that this quote was interesting “How the features of the technology interact with the human needs, expectations, beliefs, prior practice and alternative tools far outweighs the properties of the technology itself” (Bruce & Rubin, 1993, p.215). Then Leander comments that "The reasons why technologies do not work according to the ideals of developers, or do work in radically unanticipated ways, often has little to do with the tools themselves and much more to do with the relations of technologies to what we might consider the surround (Leander, p. 35). Therefore, it would appear that it is not so much the tool that is used as much as it is the human involvement. So depending on the users and their background, the technologies may produce positive or negative experiences based on social connections.
I also found the "As We May Think" artical quite interesting. Lila gave a link to the Memex, which was cool, but I also thought that the Voder, from the 1939 World's Fair was interesting too...also go to the link about "Elektro, the most famous robot of the 1930's" (watch video):
We briefly started on Leander's article, but I thought that this quote was interesting “How the features of the technology interact with the human needs, expectations, beliefs, prior practice and alternative tools far outweighs the properties of the technology itself” (Bruce & Rubin, 1993, p.215). Then Leander comments that "The reasons why technologies do not work according to the ideals of developers, or do work in radically unanticipated ways, often has little to do with the tools themselves and much more to do with the relations of technologies to what we might consider the surround (Leander, p. 35). Therefore, it would appear that it is not so much the tool that is used as much as it is the human involvement. So depending on the users and their background, the technologies may produce positive or negative experiences based on social connections.
I also found the "As We May Think" artical quite interesting. Lila gave a link to the Memex, which was cool, but I also thought that the Voder, from the 1939 World's Fair was interesting too...also go to the link about "Elektro, the most famous robot of the 1930's" (watch video):
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