Group items tagged

Why Google should be afraid of Facebook -- what I really got out of this article was that Google guesses what people like / want / need based on what they search -- Facebook knows because the user enters it, from people posting on each other's pages to what "like" buttons they click (making interests pages instead of just search terms was a huge change since now companies that own a product people like can now interact with their users on a way more personal basis.)

I'm not sure about this either, Amanda, Isn't the internet big enough for both types of companies (and many more).

The internet is big enough for all sorts of companies, but in a competition to figure out your customer base as quickly and as detailed as possible, Facebook definitely has an edge that Google is lacking right now. Well, outside of scanning your Gmail for keywords to apply to the ads they show you...haha

Social informatics is not explicitly mentioned in this article. However, I think it gives us direct insight into crafting our own definition of the term and its application. Bates looks at the overall domain of information science, and how we, as members of that discipline, can break free of the idea (which may have changed a bit since its writing in 1999) that there's no content to LIS education and practice, just structure (i.e., the core of our profession is to organize other discipline's information). Most applicable to our discussion, at least in this point of the semester, seems this excerpt: "In comparison to other social and behavioral science fields, we are always looking for the red thread of information in the social texture of people's lives. When we study people we do so with the purpose of understanding information creation, seeking, and use. We do not just study people in general. The rest of the social sciences do various forms of that. Sometimes this can be a very fine distinction; other times it is very easy to see. In communications research, a cousin to our field, the emphasis is on the communication process and its effects on people; in information science we study that process in service of information transfer. For another example, there are social scientists today who are observing people doing collaborative work through new types of networked systems in the field of computer-supported co-operative work (CSCW) . The sociologist or social psychologist identifies and describes the network of relationships and the social hierarchy that develops under these circumstances. They may examine the impact of technology on those social relationships and on the work of the individuals involved. The information scientist, on the other hand, follows the information the way Woodward and Bernstein "followed the money" in their Watergate investigations. That's the red thread in the social tapestry. When we look at that social hierarchy, we ar

I thought this was an interesting article after all of our discussions this past week. Is there a limit to our growing networks?

I liked this article, too. I think the reason some of my friends on Facebook have an excessively high number of friends is for business. I wonder how many people with a high number of friends actually communicate with their "friends". It makes me think about Qraig's post "It's all about me". People with that many friends can't possibly be connecting with all of those people; rather, I think it is more likely they post updates on themselves.

Yup, after Qraig's post I realized how much of facebook is about "me." I know that this is a good avenue of connection, but really the majority of what I see from my "friends" is all about themselves!

So while this *is* a humor article and not necessarily safe for work, I thought it would be good to share because it specifically talks about how social media and consumer computer technology affects people's sense of well-being.

Now I know why the 21st century was making me miserable! I sure could use some more annoying people in my life. This article really points out the downside of technology-enhanced socialization!

I would have called it "7 reasons the 21st century is making us more xenophobic and intolerant."

Another product of social media - insta-internet star! BTW, Rebecca's Black's video is now up to over 159 million views and the song was covered on Glee!

Now I see how people on youtube make money...I didn't know they paid per view...makes sense.

I think that this is one of the great benefits of social media. People have a chance to make something of themselves without spending millions of dollars in advertisements. It's not just about celebrity status, but more importantly, people can create businesses or help causes using these cheaper tools.

I'm interested in the idea of digital privacy (or lack thereof). It seems nobody is particularly worried about their privacy online, and I'd like to learn a little more about this

Um, I can't think of a more bone-chilling phrase than "cyberwar."

Steig Larsson made hacking look pretty cool. But it's interesting to think about how much is possible in the hacking world that we tend to forget about since our everyday use of technology has been so woven into our routines. Just saw this article and I found interesting to see the many sides of hacking: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/06/hackers-how-and-why-they-hack I always make fun of my dad for being a computer hypochondriac -- he always thinks that someone is hacking into his computer, so he has a million anti-virus and security programs (a combination which I think is actually destroying his computer). But it is a valid concern, though I think you have to just find a balance for your privacy since in extreme cases, your privacy can be a bit restricting.

Posting this to test Diigo...also because it was a GREAT find - a current study that provides information for both my digital storytelling project AND my group project on ethics....Here's a summary of what it's about. Also was wondering if "Sribd" is another sort of Diigo? The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, published by the MIT Press, present Findings From current research on how young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. The Reports result from research projects funded by the MacArthur Foundation as part of its $50 million initiative in digital media and learning. They are published openly online (as well as in print) in order to support broad dissemination and to stimulate further research in the Field.

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.

Someone I know just asked me to sign up for a Pinterest account. Anyone ever hear of it before? According to the site, "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests." I think I'll give it a go.

Thanks for sharing -- this looks fantastic! It's got that great gawker atmosphere, just sharing good stuff. And kind of a way to collect things you like without actually having them. Cool.

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?

Really great working paper on trolling in a feminist forum -- what do communities do when outsiders attempt to derail conversation by intentionally trying to start arguements and cause rifts in the community.  A case study of two incidents within the same message board.

Oh rad! I was thinking about focusing on trolling specifically for my project. I've actually done a little research on Anonymous/4chan too if you ever want to share sources!

Started laughing when I saw that they did a study on trolling, so I had to read the article. Really interesting piece on technology and gender.

This is a theory about the social relationship between people and technology in the workplace. Sociotechnical theory is about optimal performance both from people and technology at work. I don't really understand how this is any different from the idea of social informatics in the workplace, except that maybe this is a systems approach. Anyway, I just wanted to point this out because the concepts seem similar to me.

Very recent Q&A with Sherry Turkle on "Alone Together" about our plugged in lives making people more lonely and distant. Interesting passage about teenage culture midway through

This really highlights one of the bad ways that technology impacts us; texting and checking Facebook are gaining precedence over socializing with people in the same room. It's depressing to think of how widespread it is.

I loved this article! I see customers at my work (a restaurant in a hotel) checking their phones all the time. One of my coworkers told me a few weeks ago that he was working when a big game was on tv. He was bartending and his bar was packed. Instead of having their eyes on the screen during the crucial moments of the game, many of his customers were sitting right in front of those tvs and ignoring them while their eyes and fingers stayed glued to their tiny phone screens, playing Angry Birds for all he knew. It was just odd, but sadly this way of life has been becoming more of the rule.

Well, someone is trying for the "librarians as info people" thing, let's see how it goes.

I never realized there were so many categories of games. Check out the video about the piano staircase, designed to get more people to take the stairs. It's an example of gamification, creating a game that encourages people to buy a product or to behave in a particular way.

Using this definition, "serious games" are the types that we would use in schools to teach a particular concept, while "gamification" is turning anything into a game. It seems to me that many of is in this class would be more interested in the idea of "serious games", unless we were trying to do some sort of public relations effort in our library, which might bring more of "gamification" into play.

I've been having some technical problems starting a new link to a US Depart. of State sponsored Serious Games Conference, so here it is: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164134.htm Further down the page is a link to live streaming of the conference. It really is starting to look like serious business..!

"ABC News' correspondent Dana Hughes reports from the Mobile Health Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. More than 5 billion people in the world today have cell phones, and they are doing a lot more than just talking." This is an article about how people use ICT to get medical care in places where they wouldn't otherwise get it.

Brian D Loader and Leigh Keeble A review of evidence on the effectiveness of initiatives providing better access to information and communication technology for people experiencing social exclusion. This literature review examines current evidence on the effectiveness of public access centres and related community informatics (CI) initiatives in providing better access to information and communication technology for people who experience social exclusion.

In one of the videos we watched last week, Wesch mentioned how students can look at the discussion page for any article on Wikipedia to get a sense of how information is being interactively constructed and contested. This article discusses the issue of self-governance in online communities with a focus on how Wikipedia is edited and the community politics behind it. I think this article makes a really useful contribution to a discussion about authority and knowledge production on the Internet. There is also a related article about the relationship between Wikipedia contributions and identity construction here.

I read (part of) an ethnography of Wikipedia last semester that was really interesting. http://reagle.org/joseph/2010/gfc/ Good Faith Collaboration by Joseph Reagle "Wikipedia's style of collaborative production has been lauded, lambasted, and satirized. Despite unease over its implications for the character (and quality) of knowledge, Wikipedia has brought us closer than ever to a realization of the century-old pursuit of a universal encyclopedia. Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia is a rich ethnographic portrayal of Wikipedia's historical roots, collaborative culture, and much debated legacy. "

Without accusing certain authors in the field of elitism, I think that Wikipedia works as it should, by serving the needs of people in the way they want it. If someone needs to look up the habits of Pokemon or William Shatner's favorite food, who are we to question their information needs?

This is a phenomenal resource for demographic analysis of internet and social media use. Please take some time too look through it.

Actually, I was just looking at a summary of a 2009 Pew Internet study that related directly to our discussion of the Wesch videos last week. The study dealt focused on the issue of whether engaging with others over the Internet causes feelings of loneliness and isolation. (Spoiler alert: they concluded that people feel more connected, not lonelier, thanks to technology.)

Looking at the Pew Internet Topics list (http://www.pewinternet.org/Topics.aspx) was also helpful in finding some background reading for my group project and also in identifying some potential areas for my final project.

Another article found in my search for information about the "global digital divide." According to the article, last week, the United Nations released a report that "argued that disconnecting individuals from the Internet is a violation of human rights and goes against international law" and that all States should seek to ensure there is "as little restriction to online content as possible." The Atlantic points out, following Wired's Threat Level blog, that the UN report came "the same day that a monitoring firm found two-thirds of Syria's Internet access has been shut down without notice." While access isn't the only factor in the digital divide on a global or a national scale (disparities in information or new media literacy is also a huge factor, for example), I agree that the availability of unfettered access as a matter of government policy is the bare minimum.

It confuses me that it can be considered a basic human right if, for a portion of the population, it's hard to access and at times, can be unreachable. Even though I know it's more what Tom said about it being a negative right, the phrasing just doesn't sit right. Either way, this is a great thing and I'm surprised it didn;t happen sooner.

I had come across this article as well in our group project research, Maggie, and I think that the UN is taking steps to bring the conversation on the right to freedom of opinion and expression into the digital age, as Tom mentions. Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, in place since 1948, states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." So in the context of the recent shutdown of ISPs by Syria, more generally the use of the Internet as a means of civic and political dissidence, and even the debate around net neutrality in this country, I agree with Maggie that the UN's approach seems to clarify and reiterate unfettered access to information.