Social Informatics

Social Informatics Researcher, who was noted in the first week, Oosteeven, is involved in this research effort. I have not studied in detail yet, but this looks interesting.

This article discusses SXSW-Interactive, the technology portion of the festival. This is the festival where Twitter was first launched in 2007. Theme so far: the blurring of real life and online life is happening. Other topics discussed: web 3.0, asymmetry of privacy, biomimicry (designing technology to mimic nature), work/life balance. Clay Shirky also gave a presentation on social media and revolution: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/12/sxsw-2011-clay-shirky-social-media

Is browsing anonymously possible?

Not surprising that FB is behind this one... it's interesting that it took the national media's attention to change it: "Facebook plugged this leak of personal information, but only after the problem was given prominent coverage in the Wall Street Journal. When the leak was highlighted by computer scientists in August 2009, nine months earlier, Facebook took no action."

Should internet addiction be in the DSM?

Interesting! I am convinced that any compulsive behavior might fit the DSM- not sure if they even need to claidfy the outlet (internet, food, gambling, etc).

Sherry Turkle's "alone together" is called a "self-help book" - i thought that was funny. I guess it's hard to say if internet addiction is the primary problem or if its compulsive behavior or depression. Not sure.

Changing view in anthropology attributes social cooperation/social learning and tools (first as weapons) as characteristics that set humans apart from other primates. See also http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/science/11kin.html

And here's the report itself. I look forward to reading this with a critical eye.

The people that bring you Sesame Street now bring you some pretty incredible statistics on internet use by the five and under set. Doesn't Sesame Street have an on-line presence?

Interesting talk- makes a good counter-argument to those who only see social media and the internet as disconnecting us or increasing depression. Like my best friend I can see clearly how the internet and having a 'voice' can be helpful :)

Not an article but an ad I saw while watching a TV episode online. It struck my interest because it's main point was that media has changed how kids do homework and spend their time but parenting hasn't changed with it. There are many articles and discussions for parents that I felt were relevant to our course.

Fascinating defensive of new social media in journalism and a critique of those who miss the good old days. Reminded me of the book "The Good Old Days, They Were Terrible". from the article "At an individual level, I think the "distracted Americans" scare will pass. Either people who manage to unplug, focus, and fully direct their attention will have an advantage over those constantly checking Facebook and their smart phone, in which case they'll earn more money, get into better colleges, start more successful companies, and win more Nobel Prizes. Or they won't, in which case distraction will be a trait of modern life but not necessarily a defect. At the level of national politics, America is badly distracted, but that problem long predates Facebook and requires more than a media solution. "

danah boyd is quoted (name capitalized).

"the dating site had been used over the past couple of weeks as a clandestine location to exchange information and words of encouragement regarding the citizen uprisings in Libya."

How to buy status/reputation.

A fascinating look "under the hood" of the technology used to collect the massive amounts of personal data that is created via social media. After givng an overview of the companies involved and how they achieve this, the article examines some of the ethical issues involved.

And so artificial intelligence type software is now threatening the livelihood of those in the legal profession. I have a friend who's a paralegal doing the type of work these "e-discovery" software programs can now do. I wonder if he's been aware of this kind of technology developing. I also wonder what will come next....

I love the note about library closings being equivalent to child abuse!

Zimmer discusses how language will become more technologically mediated.

I think this is an exciting new direction for the column!

The first major prison riot orchestrated via contraband cell phones.

This is a nice feature by the NY Times on what is going on in the mideast. I like how they combine a regularly updated summary written by the Times next to a live twitter feed of what is happening in each country. It's a nice combining of citizen and traditional journalism.

Corporate America uses social media for advancing its services. Now organizations need to write policies on appropriate use of it tools to protect the company and its employees.