Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Putting Twitter’s World to Use
“Twitter reverses the notion of the group,” said Paul Saffo, the Silicon Valley futurist. “Instead of creating the group you want, you send it and the group self-assembles.”
Reminds me of Shirky's book...the revised edition one day will have to include twitter!
Putting Twitter’s World to Use
Reminds me of Shirky's book...the revised edition one day will have to include twitter!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Surfing the net at work for pleasure
I decided to post anyway so if you read in the email...well, you can see it again!
A recent study of 300 people in Australia appears to show that taking short, online breaks during the workday helps to give the mind a break and allows for better concentration and focus.
Surfing the net at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels and helps make a more productive workforce, according to a new University of Melbourne study.
Dr Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in ‘Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.
“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” he says.
“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.”
According to the study of 300 workers, 70% of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB. Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites. Playing online games was the fifth most popular, while watching YouTube movies was seventh.
A recent study of 300 people in Australia appears to show that taking short, online breaks during the workday helps to give the mind a break and allows for better concentration and focus.
Surfing the net at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels and helps make a more productive workforce, according to a new University of Melbourne study.
Dr Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in ‘Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.
“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” he says.
“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.”
According to the study of 300 workers, 70% of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB. Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites. Playing online games was the fifth most popular, while watching YouTube movies was seventh.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
MySpace Photos Lead to Child Porn Charges
A TEENAGER is facing child pornography charges after posting nude photos of herself on her MySpace page...did she have her settings to private? Does it matter?
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25249886-5014239,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25249886-5014239,00.html
Master's Degree in Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
Why didn't my academic adviser tell me about this?
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25262077-5014239,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25262077-5014239,00.html
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Privacy and Social Networking Sites
Social Networking Sites (SNS) have been a topic of interest at my house for quite some time. I have mentioned on a few occasions that I have teenage girls with both MySpace and Facebook accounts. I have tried my best to convey to them both the good and the bad of SNS. It is our (my wife and I) opinion that parents should educate and mentor their children in the use of SNS and not forbid it as an evil, dangerous, thing like some parents do. I think that it can be used as a healthy communication and expression tool for teens (and even adults at times). Therefore, the goal of parents should be to help their children to use SNS and the Internet responsibly.
However, many parents are clueless or only hear the negative stories in the news. Then they either do not help their children develop or they panic and say, “You will NOT have a SNS account at all!” Well, those kids only find other ways (go outside the home) to get their accounts and while their parents boast, “MY kids do not have a MySpace or Facebook account” their kids are doing it anyway with no parental guidance.
So then we have the issues that the article “Privacy and Social Networking Sites” discusses concerning the debate of what is private and what is not. While I think that we should work out those issues, ultimately what I have told my children and students is not to ever depend on privacy settings. Basically, my philosophy is that if you put something on the Internet consider it “public” and potentially global regardless of privacy settings. My thinking is that if you only publish photos, movies, text, etc. that you are okay with anyone seeing then there will be no issues. When you publish something that you only want to be private and that can have incriminating or embarrassing results in the wrong hands, there is always the risk that unintended eyes may view it.
Keep it safe on your space...or be prepared to face the consequences...you may win the legal battle, but at what expense?
However, many parents are clueless or only hear the negative stories in the news. Then they either do not help their children develop or they panic and say, “You will NOT have a SNS account at all!” Well, those kids only find other ways (go outside the home) to get their accounts and while their parents boast, “MY kids do not have a MySpace or Facebook account” their kids are doing it anyway with no parental guidance.
So then we have the issues that the article “Privacy and Social Networking Sites” discusses concerning the debate of what is private and what is not. While I think that we should work out those issues, ultimately what I have told my children and students is not to ever depend on privacy settings. Basically, my philosophy is that if you put something on the Internet consider it “public” and potentially global regardless of privacy settings. My thinking is that if you only publish photos, movies, text, etc. that you are okay with anyone seeing then there will be no issues. When you publish something that you only want to be private and that can have incriminating or embarrassing results in the wrong hands, there is always the risk that unintended eyes may view it.
Keep it safe on your space...or be prepared to face the consequences...you may win the legal battle, but at what expense?
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