Group items tagged

I have now become fascinated with how celebrities use social media. As with anything, they aren't like us and really have to take some sort of precautions when posting tweets and photos...Well, they should anyway...I'm looking at you Courteney Love! Seriously though, there is now an actual business called WhoSay that helps celebrities control their online images. The article says, "A company called WhoSay - a little-known start-up with a clientele that is anything but little known - offers similar services, but grants ownership of the images to the stars themselves." It's another interesting facet of how social media is changing even the way celebrities must handle their image. Operating in "stealth mode" since last year, WhoSay runs from the Los Angeles office building of the Creative Artists Agency, which represents a Rolodex of household names, including Mr. Hanks. His WhoSay site includes "copyright Tom Hanks" branding and a stack of fine print at the bottom asserting his legal ownership of all content, placed against warnings of "fines and imprisonment" for improper use.

This is fascinating. Brings to mind things like "trending" and data mining." Is that what this company is doing?

Politicians should be all over this company.

Has anyone read this book? I started it a few days ago. Noticed that reviews, like the one I linked to, were skeptical. Basically, Carr, who is a journalist, not a scientist, cites studies on brain plasticity and research that the brain changes in response to actions to conclude that the way we read and synthesize information online has changed the way we think (for the worse). I like how the NYT review puts new technology in a historical perspective.

Well, if I had to take a guess, I think she did it since one of her main points is that media isn't an external force outside of our control -- we can shape it, caring about it enough to respond and filter it. With a graphic novel, the images draw you in because they're abstract; the reader plays an active role by seeing themselves in the images and connecting all the images/words together to make it make sense. It engages so many of our senses at once. I love what Scott McCloud has to say about this, and the following talk that he gave actually relates more to how comics have been impacted by technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXYckRgsdjI

The idea that media has the potential to shape how we reason reminds me of Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan. As an undergrad, I was basically obsessed with Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and the idea that some forms of media -Postman was especially thinking about TV- are inherently shallower than other forms and that the predominant medium tends to set the standard of what makes a good argument. Anyway, I wanted to find a YouTube video of Postman but instead found a really good video of Mike Wesch talking about Postman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09gR6VPVrpw&feature=related

I am a big pop music/culture nut. Always have been...probably always will be. So, when I really started thinking about social media and all its uses, I began to wonder...who out there uses social media to it's fullest potential. The answer was obvious. Lady Gaga! When I did a quick search on Lady Gaga and social media, I got a lot of hits. But I wasn't surprised. She is the master when it comes to sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yes, she is out there wearing meat dresses and making fun songs, but it's her presence on social networking sites that I feel has really catapulted her to super stardom. What do you all think?

hmm. is it gaga or her p/r team creating the image? Is her voice really hers? How do we know?

I am sure it is more her "team" then her herself. But, still...it's rather impressive.

I always liked this article when I was linked to it some time ago. The author succinctly describes why so many people get very excited about social media but end up doing some very not smart things with that technology. This particular author is a little snarky but I think he gets to the point about how we need to present ourselves on the Internet, rather than just putting ourselves out there "as is."

I make it my personal obsession to erase as much of my online presence as possible.

@Daniel, for any reason in particular?

This happened a few days ago now, but I forgot to post it until I went to talk about it in my journal this week! From the article: "Over the course of three days in June, artist Kyle McDonald captured the faces of Apple patrons in two of the company's Manhattan stores. He did this by installing a program on computers in the stores, which automatically took an image every minute." His idea was that the photos constituted an art project about what people look like when they engage with technology. The Secret Service confiscated his computers after an Apple Store employee traced where the photos were being transferred to. I thought this was interesting because it's an example of visual surveillance of people's physical presence/actions in public spaces like Greenfield talks about, rather than surveillance of their digital actions, which so much of the literature focuses on. I definitely think the artist's project constitutes a violation of the privacy of the people whose photographs he took, but I can't help thinking it's also a really fascinating project that wouldn't work if people knew their photo was being taken in that moment.

Lessig starts with a story about a documentarian and the specter of litigation in that community of practice when it comes to fair use and clearing images, sounds, etc. in documentary filmmaking. He goes on to consider how to reframe copyright: "[W]e need an approach that recognizes the errors in both extremes, and that crafts the balance that any culture needs: incentives to support a diverse range of creativity, with an assurance that the creativity inspired remains for generations to access and understand."