SISummer11

maybe it's obvious...but i think it's confusing how online/digital/social are often used interchangeably, such as social networking/digital networking. so many terms...and many of them probably end up meaning the same thing anyway. trying to get those nuances

Great video! Common Craft is always so helpful.

Ummm...I'm thinking class trip to Scoopville!!!!

I also thought this was an easy and helpful way to explain the definition of social media. As I am researching on the web, I'm finding that the same words are describing different things, and different words are describing the same things. It's getting me a little confused!

this is a great interview with Turkle and illuminates situations that many of us face on a daily basis. brings to mind the moment when you're with a group of friends and everyone is checking their phones! no way to win: not answering a text is rude, but texting while out with others is rude too. our attention spans are stretched to the limit--we're barraged by social comments, yet usually socializing while alone.

"Technology can make us forget important things we know about life." So true! Sometimes I feel so connected that I'm not even paying attention to the reality around me. In so many ways technology is amazing, but there are some negative consequences that we need to be aware of as well.

Awesome!

:) In so many ways, so true!

great find! This falls into the social/psychological category of technology that we will soon address.

Love this. It made me think about this interview with Kurt Vonnegut: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcriptNOW140_full.html Starts connecting with this toward the end of the interview, specifically this part: DAVID BRANCACCIO: There's a little sweet moment, I've got to say, in a very intense book-- your latest-- in which you're heading out the door and your wife says what are you doing? I think you say-- I'm getting-- I'm going to buy an envelope. KURT VONNEGUT: Yeah. DAVID BRANCACCIO: What happens then? KURT VONNEGUT: Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.

I think this diagram is very true - I have trouble finding information for Brookdale Community College all the time ... and I work there! Colleges, like many organizations, are so bureaucratic that the important stuff gets left off the home page and is buried somewhere. Organizations can be chaotic sometimes!

I was browsing through some new books at the library today and stumbled on Brooke Gladstone's "The Influencing Machine." It's an illustrated (graphic novel style) approach to how media has developed and our interactions with it, but she includes some commentary on Carr's ideas when she discusses technology. It's a good book to browse through, and from what I read quickly, she gives some positives and negatives of technology's impact.

Mary - a graphic novel, you say? I love graphic novels -- I wonder why she chose that format, though?

The "Find the Future Game" looks cool too.

That is a really interesting article!

I think that this idea is fascinating. I may have to do a bit more research about relationships and social media for our project.

This is really interesting on its own, but more so considering the covert negative PR campaign Facebook ran against Google recently: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/facebook-google-smear/

I particularly like the dead sea scrolls metaphor. Google, the archaeologists, have done well to index what has been produced and stored online; but social media act like the forces of a rapidly changing environment, rendering what has been produced and indexed things of the past - fossils, as it were. Drawing from Amanda's summary, Google does well to present documents of possible interest, but social media do much better to record users' interaction with them.

I met a woman who owned 2 mastiffs in a petstore. One of her dogs was so popular (he was a therapy dog) that he indeed DOES have his own fb page: http://www.facebook.com/people/Quincy-Mastiff-March/100001660537460 At first I a bit weirded out but then it really started to make sense because this does seriously has a following and she uses his personality to teach kids about animals, connect with folks for whom he's used as therapy dog, etc. It actually turned out to be really interesting! And WOW, that dog is really one of the most gorgeous, kind beasts (and this boy is HUGE) I've ever met.

And...that dog has WAY more Facebooks friends than me...sigh. But, I am okay with that. At least he's doing something great. :o)

My cousin's cat, Ben, has a FB page and so does my sister-in-laws dog. Ben's so popular around our town (he just wanders) that half the town is friends with him. I think its a bit wierd, but I find it highly entertaining when I get FB posts and messages from Pepper the dog.

I love this sentence, "The term "Social Informatics" emerged from a series of lively conversations in February and March 1996 among scholars with an interest in advancing critical scholarship about the social aspects of computerization..." I always wanted to be part of a lively conversation. :o)

I first came across this "trolling" term when I had to sign up for Second Life for one of the first classes I took. What an introduction to Social Media that was!

Thanks -- this is good. It's interesting that they seem to recommend a more pro-active stance towards trolling. It feels somewhat counter-intuitive to me, but some of the best forums I participate in are pretty seriously moderated with little tolerance for the inane or offensive.

I should note that this isn't necessarily done to be inflammatory or to attack someone, but some people do this "for fun." I think it's "fun" when you're a younger teen trying to be snarky (in his eyes at least). From what I gather the "fun" is in making people jump through hoops for you. Kind of like poking the glass of the fishbowl and making the goldfish freak out.

Thank you for this, Amanda! I'm thinking about doing my project on interactions in niche online communities (like Reddit, fitness forums, and the mommyblog world), and trolling is a phenomenon that I definitely want to explore.

Updated tag roll http://eden.rutgers.edu/~ctavlin/SI_TagRoll.html

First Monday is an excellent find and really good resource. I suggest you all just o in there and browse the previous issues -- you will find LOADS of ideas and information there that may inform your final project interests.

Here's a little video about Lady Gaga's online presence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMz7go8_ywA

I'm not that familiar with entertainment and social media, but I do realize the powerful influence it has within that culture. After reading the article you posted, I was even more surprised! I like that fact that someone no one knows anything about has a chance to live their dream by these social sites. It almost makes it more fair instead of someone with just money becoming famous.

i'm a pop music/culture nut, too! i love the contradiction of how gaga tries have such a detached, robotic stage presence (for example i read somewhere that she doesn't even want to be seen drinking water on stage so she doesn't appear human), yet she is so accessible through facebook and twitter, and makes her anti-bullying campaign relatable with personal examples. she definitely found ways to use facebook and twitter to her advantage, and has dedicated followers all over the world because of it. there's so shortage of content for fans to obsess over.

http://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2011/05/12_v_gagaletter.pdf For your perusal. Gaga compares herself to librarianship.

that's amusing. but naturally, not everyone would agree: http://blog.libraryjournal.com/annoyedlibrarian/2011/05/18/five-ways-lady-gaga-is-not-a-librarian/ actually this article^ should annoy librarians more than gaga's piece, in my opinion. also, this is the video the article references.....i highly suggest watching it if you haven't seen it already. a friend sent it to me when i got accepted into the program...i didn't know whether to be excited or frightened about what i'd just gotten myself into... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98