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In an article published by Psychology Today, author Ray Williams writes about the affects of Facebook on a persons self-esteem and sense of self with an emphasis on Facebook's connection to narcissistic behaviors. The article references a study done at York University, which found that among Facebook users between the ages of 18 to 25, the people who used Facebook the most tended to have narcissistic personalities. In his research, Williams also found competing data that suggested Facebook may in fact boost self-esteem. Because the phenomena of social media is still so new to us, it is difficult to come to finite conclusions about the affects of social media. Williams, Ray. "Do Facebook and Other Social Media Encourage Narcissism?." Last modified June, 19th 2013, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201306/do-facebook-and-other-social-media-encourage-narcissism.

The new science of social networks is demonstrating how personal interconnections can affect our health. Ideas and habits that influence health for better or for worse can spread through social networks in much the same way that germs spread through communities. Komaroff, Anthony. "Social networks can affect weight, happiness." Harvard Medical School. December 16, 2011.

I started my media archeological dig in hopes of finding out when the icons of social media sites (tumblr, facebook, etc) started appearing on websites of official news sites. I chose Salon.com somewhat arbitrarily. Surprisingly, I discovered that salon.com was not always the property of today's news and entertainment magazine. As it turned out, the URL originally belonged to "Salon dot Com a Cyber Community," a hub of salon and beauty professionals, and was established as such in 1997. The oldness of this site is prominently paraded in the design --- brightly and variously colored text against a black background, words underlined to denote hyperlinks, lines of text centered to (presumably) maintain order-- while avoiding the headache of working with framesets and tables in web design of this era. No images. There is a broken link up top, a 'counter', based on surrounding information. The use of the term "cyber" to characterize this community is another bit of faded jargon linking the site to the 1990s. During that decade, the 'cyber' prefix was affixed to many people, places and things to signal 'new media' status. Some versions of this site also link to an "E-Zine," another trope of remediation, aimed at association with 'e-mail', most likely. It seems that some point in early 1999, salon.com shifted to the Salon Media Group, and the early versions of the web magazine that persists to this day appeared (tables and css in effect!)

Marshall Mcluhan's assertion that "we shape our tools and then our tools shape us" mentioned in class, echoed again in the Nicolas Carr reading this week. Here's a handy web version of Mcluhan's influential text from 1964. Mcluhan's quips, probes and puns were quite popular in the 1960s, resonant then with a youth culture immersed in 'new media' and the social-political intersections thereof. In the 1990s, as the so-called 'digital revolution' ramped up, Mcluhanisms were prominently re-surfaced. There are not chapter titles provided in this rendition of the book, so you might want to cross-reverence a table of contents elsewhere. On the other hand, you can use the 'find' function of your browser to seek out sections on a variety of media from the spoken word to the printing press, money, roads, clothing, comics, telephones, television and much more! First part is theory, second part case studies. "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Marshall Mcluhan (1964)" Accessed January 30, 2014. http://www.lab404.com/242/understanding_media.html

Paper commenting on the effects that Social Media might have on children. The paper seems to focus on the lack of development children have emotionally, coupled with the act of participating, sharing and communicating through social media. These types of interaction at a young age have the potential to cause embarrassment and regret. Clinton, Chelsea and Steyer, James. "Is the Internet Hurting Children?" Cnn Opinion. http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/opinion/clinton-steyer-internet-kids/

One of several excellent online collections of Data Visualization endeavors. Browse the many different categories, keywords, authors and approaches to comprehending 'big data'. Along with aesthetic variation along the metaphorical to modernist continuum, there are many new media trends covered. Those of you exploring social media in your final research paper may well find this useful reference, too! Visual Complexity. Last updated February 19, 2014. www.visualcomplexity.com/vc. Accessed April 6, 2014

The Circle by David Eggers is an interesting take on social networks and the possibility of a future dystopia cyber landscape. It is about a young woman who starts working at a facebook/google like company called The Circle and looses her private life her job. This novel is similar to design fiction in presenting what could possibly happen in the future, but in this case it is a negative view. If you are interested in context collapse, social media, communication and interaction this book is really interesting. I have linked to a 45 minute audio recording in which David Eggers reads a excerpt from his book. Here is a better summary of the entire story if you like the exerpt: "When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world-even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge" E

Eggars, David. The Circle. Knopf, 2013.

Here's a collection of the NSA slides, revealed by Edward Snowden by way of the Guardian news. The slides detail the various pervasive and invasive methods of surveillance, tapping into phone and social media networks, as orchestrated by the National Security Agency. This is the internet-of-things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. Also, as discussed in class, the layout and design of these slides is often horrendous, complicating or obstructing clear communication of information. "NSA Prism program slides" The Guardian News. Published Friday 1 November 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document. Accessed April 6, 2014

Looking back onto the history of Myspace, the design of the site 10 years ago, in 2004, does look very dated and old. Within today's digital world, simplicity seems to be the dominating characteristic of most online spaces. Myspace circa 2004, however, floods the viewer with link options for browsing, blogging, gaming, listening and other avenues. The color-scheme and grid implementation also seem very elementary. The overall appearance of the site almost has a corporate feeling to it. As though the user might be signing onto their company's server, or company discussion board. Myspace was very link-heavy, though blocks of text are absent from the homepage. The only images that are presented are links to member's profiles, and a few advertisements. Within the abundance of links, many of them do work, and take you onto another part of the website. There aren't any interesting features that require any sort of tinkering to get working on the homepage. A few clicks can take you to the music page, where one would assume that they could listen to some tunes, but they would be sadly disappointed. Many of the featured bands haven't updated their sites since 2005, and their music players don't load. One of the blocks within the homepage reads "cool new people", a headline that I immediately remembered, and made me feel embarrassed all at the same time. The use of the word "cool" seems forced when looked at in this context today, and is not current in the slightest. There also seems to be an abundance of exclamation points within small blocks of text near the bottom of the page, which again, feel forced. Nothing stayed the same between 2004 and 2014. The new Myspace is geared entirely towards music, and seems to almost completely abandon many of the social aspects that they once pushed so relentlessly. The Myspace logo stayed mostly the same, though small differences could be detected.

Thanks this is a fun site for consideration. Early presence in the social network genre, displacing Friendster, then displaced itself by Facebook, only to adapt, as you point out, to a predominantly musically centered audience. I find this interesting to think about in relation to many other user-generated content sites, which have, it seems, ramped up the 'social' aspects in recent years --- survival and resistance--- The excessive use of 'cool' and of exclamation points is perhaps irony long since faded in effect?

Documentation of one of several "satellite art" projects that emerged in the late 1970s and early 80s. Artists taking advantage of residency opportunities with NASA to access various telecommunications networks! Here a project of Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, a platform for this duo's query "what can people separated by distance do together through technology?" --- this 'sculpture' is fascinating to me in the ways that it illustrates the allure of contact, the social practice of technology. Of course the novelty-spectacle of an activity that is now commonplace is also humorous! "Excerpts from a Hole-in-Space - the mother of all video chats" posted by Larry Press March 15, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMVtE1QjaU Accessed February 7, 2014

Comparing the site in 2007 to the way the site is now in 2014, it definitely looks dated and like it is still in the process of being developed. The thing that sticks out as looking the most dated and out of place is the "ways to shop" menu on the left side column that features large and stylistically ill fitting icons with their category names. In comparison to the current version of Etsy that is designed and branded with aesthetics in mind, the basic homepage layout and awkward use of color and icons make it appear bare and the lack of style or design suggest the brand was still new and had yet to develop a distinctive style.

Yes, I see what you mean ---the old site seems a product of the Web 2.0 craze, a rather non-descript template, while the icons , older still, whiffs of geocities sites even! It's interesting to see the development of Etsy's brand as well as to speculate on what other factors were at play. Emerging in mid 00s, it might be fun to trace out other 'genres' of Web 2.0 that bear influence on Etsy's aesthetic genealogy---online auctions? social networks?

Radical Software was created in the 1970s by Beryle Korot, Phyllis Gershuny, and Ira Shneider to create a network of video sharing. This site has PDF files of the Eleven issues published and distributed by Radical software between the years 1970 and 1974. The website also provides the history of The Raindance Corporation which was created in 1969 by a radical media activist and artist by the name of Frank Gillette. The general Idea behind Raindance Corporation was to created a collection of works and ideas for "implementing communication tools in the project for social change." The website also discusses in detail the intent of Radical Software and fight towards creating a world of free and accessible information.

thanks, this is an excellent example of primary source document, the actual artifact providing visual detail of its historical context that escapes easy translation. This site is equipped with a well organized search and browse function, too!

This beautifully animated four-minute mini-film provides a simple yet profound response to a poignant question: What is the connection between social networks and being lonely?

Nice! This is very powerful example of critical media practice. Augmenting traditional rhetorical appeals and persuasive gestures with the affordances of digital animation and sound design.

This website catalogs the growing trend of utilizing animated infographics to convey information. Not only is it becoming necessary to continuously filter the great amounts of data we experience into slick new ways of perceiving, a database that houses these new tools of perception becomes useful. Of particular interest to me is the combination of database with social media on vizualizing.org - the site hosts contests and challenges to better suss out interesting new designs in organizing information.

This audio-visual overview of the Internet of Things was published by IBM's Social Media cohorts in 2010. Combining voice-over and well crafted, legible motion graphics, it provides a summary of the underlying concepts of the Internet of Things. In 2004, when Bruce Sterling was first writing about spimes, he mentions the Internet of Things, a then emergent infrastructure linked to build out of RFID enabled gizmos, and eventually, perhaps, spimes. "The Internet of Things" posted by IBMSocialMedia on March 15, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk Accessed March 21, 2014