This is the lead in story that tells how they are trying to solve the mystery of the silk tower. I love how they did this -- read this with your students first and then the next article for the answer. Very good writing and kudos to wired. Neat.
Science teachers will love this - a mystery of silk towers in the Amazon is finally solved. These structures went viral after someone posted and asked what they were on the Internet and now it has been discovered: a spider - although no one is really sure how.
It baffled entemologists. This whole topic is very cool because it is science but it is also social media and how the two have become inextricably intertwined. This is a great one to talk about in your science classes because there are so many ways you can go with it. So cool.
danah boyd
Microsoft Research Tech Fest, Redmond
26 February 2009
[This is a rough unedited crib of the actual talk]
Citation: boyd, danah. 2009. "Social Media is Here to Stay... Now What?" Microsoft Research Tech Fest, Redmond, Washington, February 26.