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In light of our discussion this week on the social web, this article challenges the dominant history of the internet suggesting that the true social web started in the 1990s with link sharing. Today, the vast trove of social traffic is essentially invisible to most analytic programs. The author calls it the "DARK SOCIAL."

Here is a graphic that captures a visual history of scrollbars from 1981 to the present. I point out the trend towards making the scrollbar less and less noticeable, with fewer graphical details to signal to users its function given its progressive ubiquity. The scrollbar is the visual equivalent of "More informaiton, please!"

An interesting site focusing on the evolution of visual communication. The author takes you through communication via rocks and caves, the printing press, the computer etc...It's an interesting read as it allows us to thoroughly understand how communication tools progressed at the speed of light since the Latin typographic system. 

I haven't seen this film, but it seems like  it is a great take on the intersection between semiotics, and the coercive aspects of visual culture! From reading the description it might attempt to tackle some of the issues we've been focusing on in all three core courses. "BEWARE OF IMAGES is a feature-length, animated documentary about the history of visual representation. The movie explores the intricate relationship between the technology, regulation and social effects of mass media. "

"We just made history." That Nov. 5, 2008 tweet from the campaign of Barack Obama capped off the first presidential election of the social media age. Four years earlier, Howard Dean had begun to reveal the power of the Internet for fundraising and organizing in his losing effort, but it was the 2008 Obama campaign that really demonstrated social media's power to be transformative of the political process. And yet, social media as we know it today was in its infancy.

Recollect essentially saves your entire digital social media trail so you never lose any post, photo, check-in or anything else all in one handy dandy place. It's like a massive dropbox for your entire social media history. What does this say about us as users that we can't stand the thought of losing anything online. This massively gives me the creeps.

Interesting article about Microsoft's latest IE package. Comes with a "do not track" option to deflect advertising companies from potentially tracking your online browsing history. Interesting to see how this may affect ad-sponsored sites...