Group items tagged

This (long) report discusses the use of ICTs in the medical field, primarily IN the human body

I'm not sure if I would characterize this topic as being part of social informatics. Cochlear implants, insulin pumps, and spinal chord devices, just to name a few of the devises, do have interactive measures with the human body. However, social informatics is the study of how ICTs affect people's relationships and aspects of their social contexts. Although these devises influence the lives of their users, this article mainly discusses the ethical implications of using these technologies and the regulations that need to be developed to standardize use.

Well, interestingly enough, some of my undergrads over the years have been fascinated by RFID implants and the ethical implications of those actions. It is possible that a simple little think like an insulin pump, or any kind of pump would have an impact on one's actions and lifestyle. See this amazing talk by Charity Tillman-Dick: http://www.ted.com/talks/charity_tilleman_dick_singing_after_a_double_lung_transplant.html

University of Oxford Social Informatics Researcher

People used to use the Internet to try on personalities and express themselves freely. Now it may be a corporate trap. Social robots sometimes supplant people. The author comments on "the banalities of electronic interaction" and how we don't interact in meaningful ways. However, some studies have shown than facebook users, for instance, have greater social capital.

we're actually going to read a bunch of Turkle's stuff - I really like her work

various concerns that affect its use

I have used Marcus P. Zillman as a resource in previous papers for school so I was intrigued when I saw this HUGE list of social informatics and networking websites that he had compiled. He also writes for LLRX a highly regarded Law Librarian e-zine here: http://www.llrx.com/authors/398

Wow, this list is huge. Problem with a list like this is I wonder how often it is managed, to make additions and remove URLs that don't exist anymore.

In many ways, this is just one more pundit (and we know how much attention they can get by being contrary), but he does provide a counterpoint to much of the enthusiasm over the democratizing effects of social media.

An antidote about how Twitter can be used by consumers to give immediate reviews of a business and likewise how a business can use Twitter to rectify a situation with a customer immediately. Handy real world application of Twitter!

Author finds that young people do care about privacy, but are more concerned with social privacy, rather than institutional privacy. "Contrary to much of the rhetoric in the debate around online privacy, the use of Facebook is not necessarily a choice free of coercion, nor are the reasons for sharing information on the site simply about self-obsession or exhibitionism." Rather it is a dominate expression of online identity and a way to communicate with peers. This is following one of the important points of Wesch - that there is no opting out of new media once the community starts to participate.

A study out of Israel revealed that the greater amount of time teenage girls spend using social networking the more likely their chances are of developing negative body images and eating disorders.

Adam Gopnik wrote on overview on many of the issues we are discussing this week in last Monday's New Yorker. I haven't read the article as closely as I would like yet, but I noticed many familiar names.

This site is the best I've found so far in my search process. It provides tons of links to Social Informatics Highlights, Blogs, Associations, Sources, and Related Fields.

There is a lot of information on this site and it is very helpful.

i've come across this site before in an earlier iteration. I still am up in the air about the perspective and resources. I'll have to give it a more careful read.

I do not know what type of comment I should add. Probably the best thing to write is a question - how seriously do you think one should take the idea of being a citizen of a virtual country?

Honestly with all of the society games available online I'm not surprised that this idea has not gained more popularity. Most social networks are full of people who just want to belong. This is the perfect way to belong to something and aid in the creation as well.

The chapters in this volume explore the theoretical, design, learning, and methodological questions with respect to designing for and researching web-based communities to support learning. The authors, coming from diverse academic backgrounds (computer science, information science, instructional systems technology, educational psychology, sociology, and anthropology), are frank in examining what we do and do not know about the processes and practices of designing communities to support learning.

Another ICT article

nothing like ICT related article hot off the press!

I found a similar article from the UN sharing how cell phones and texting was used during a recent election in Kenya to limit riots and other unsafe activities. Though not used for either candidate the initiative did save lives and destruction of public areas by quickening the response times of police.

The internet being cut off in Egypt is just unprecedented. What are people reading and what sources are they following? Here's an interesting article about how it was turned off: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/egypts-internet-blackout-unprecedented.html also, it's interesting how one small company is still providing service and how people with international calling plans can use foreign dial-up providers. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/despite-severed-connections-egyptians-get-back-online/70479/

This site documents the public response to internet phenomena (e.g., smiling dogs, phrases, viral videos).

This is fascinating to me. Some years ago I have read Richard Dawkin's The selfish gene (http://www.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary----Introduction/dp/0199291152/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296232952&sr=1-3) and the Idea of Memes, using us, humans, to reproduce and evolve was quite amazing. I would also recommend Susan Blackmore's The meme machine (http://www.amazon.com/Meme-Machine-Popular-Science/dp/019286212X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296232884&sr=8-1), it was interesting for me. Yes, it falls under the "popular science" category, and her pseudo)scientific style could be a bit irritating; but overall there were some interesting ideas. P.S. I did not get the hyper-linking to work for me. I would appreciate some clues :-)

scientismic - a new term?

My sister in law works for Blue Cross in NC and sent me this to invite me to join. I did not join, but I'm completely fasicnated to see how this type of social networking grouped around medicine and health will work out. Yes, WebMD and other SN's related to health exist, but this one is directly sponsored and supported by a health care company.

I wonder how much of this is about collecting information about attitudes and values (notice it starts with a potentially inflammatory question). Why would this group be better than any other forum out there? What is the real motivation, I wonder.

A repository for activities, people, and opportunities related to the field of Social Informatics. It includes foundational documents of the field and a complete bibliography of Kling's work

I think I plug this every year in a class, but it is a conference for library developers. Essentially the coders and hackers who represent those most likely to bring theory to production regarding many of the ideas that come out of Social Informatics. I've gone to 2007 to now and its very interesting on many levels.