Abelson, Chapter 2: In a well-publicized news story, a man was caught “on camera” exiting a "gentleman's club" when Google photographed him for their StreetView project. He later sued Google because the revelation was unhappy news to his wife. Do you think Google is in the clear when they photograph the view from streets in your neighborhood?
Answer: I remember reading several news stories in recent months and years about people taking issue with Google videotaping their neighborhood streets for this project. I personally have no problem with this project – in fact, I think Google Earth and streetView are going to and have already proven to be incredible tools for our society as a whole. I will offer two ethical theories to cover why the man exiting the “gentleman’s club” has no grounds to sue Google and should only be upset at himself.
The first ethical theory is the Universal Principle. This theory states that you should only do things that you would be fine having projected all over the news, meaning an action that you would not be ashamed to have your wife or mother know about. The second theory is the Utilitarian theory. These projects by Google are being created for the greater good of our society. They are in motion to help us and offer useful tools – imagine being in Hong Kong and being able to show your co-workers your home and neighborhood back in Atlanta. Following the utilitarian theory, Google is providing a great good to theoretically everyone in the world who has Internet and is only hurting those that are doing things that they are embarrassed to have those close to them know about.
I think that, as long as it is legal to photograph people, or Google blurs them out if not, Google should be in the clear as they are not harming, but helping society.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
"Community of Practice"
Shirky, Chapter 4: Consider the concept of a “community of practice.” How can such a community offer opportunities for learning?
Answer: Shirky talks about how people are always reading so much information that is not intended for them – but they still receive it. In chat rooms, other peoples’ Facebook walls, Youtube comments, Flickr comments and other related forms of communication, there is certainly plenty opportunity for learning. When we take in so much information at basically all times, there is certainly room to learn – it can not be avoided. I feel like every day, when I look at Facebook or comments on CNN news articles or Youtube videos, I learn something new. It may be people talking to other people and not directly to me, but as shirky says, when you post private conversation comments on public forums, it becomes public information and public knowledge. While most often there is nothing knowledgeable or intelligent transferred between people in these conversations, plenty of times there is. This is why there is certainly an opportunity to learn in a community of practice. The large wave of information sticks to us and we advance our knowledge and experiences through this visual process.
Answer: Shirky talks about how people are always reading so much information that is not intended for them – but they still receive it. In chat rooms, other peoples’ Facebook walls, Youtube comments, Flickr comments and other related forms of communication, there is certainly plenty opportunity for learning. When we take in so much information at basically all times, there is certainly room to learn – it can not be avoided. I feel like every day, when I look at Facebook or comments on CNN news articles or Youtube videos, I learn something new. It may be people talking to other people and not directly to me, but as shirky says, when you post private conversation comments on public forums, it becomes public information and public knowledge. While most often there is nothing knowledgeable or intelligent transferred between people in these conversations, plenty of times there is. This is why there is certainly an opportunity to learn in a community of practice. The large wave of information sticks to us and we advance our knowledge and experiences through this visual process.
Invisible Social Networks
Shirky Chapter 4: If Shirky is right, and we’re headed to a period where social media tools like YouTube, Flickr, and social networks like Facebook become “invisible,” what’s the impact on things you spend money on as consumers? Books? Movies? Music?
Answer: Whether people believe it or not, marketing does have a serious impact on the things we humans choose to buy while eyeing the wide range of available items on grocery store, convenience store, or department store shelves. A lot of it is cognitive. Just like shirky said in Chapter 4, we used to view dignified forms of media communication such as television, newspaper and radio. Nowadays, we are experiencing a strong new wave of communications media in the form of websites such as Flickr, Youtube, Facebook and Myspace. Shirky argues that this is not advancing our communication capabilities and standards, but holding them back by ruining them with unregulated, undignified, poor-spelled online postings.
As far as how this new invisible consumer marketing goes, I feel that this will strongly affect how we spend our money. The availability of these tools online will holdback what we spend our money on. These days, people don’t need to spend money on books, movies, and music because people post all of them online for free on sites such as Youtube and Hulu.com.
Answer: Whether people believe it or not, marketing does have a serious impact on the things we humans choose to buy while eyeing the wide range of available items on grocery store, convenience store, or department store shelves. A lot of it is cognitive. Just like shirky said in Chapter 4, we used to view dignified forms of media communication such as television, newspaper and radio. Nowadays, we are experiencing a strong new wave of communications media in the form of websites such as Flickr, Youtube, Facebook and Myspace. Shirky argues that this is not advancing our communication capabilities and standards, but holding them back by ruining them with unregulated, undignified, poor-spelled online postings.
As far as how this new invisible consumer marketing goes, I feel that this will strongly affect how we spend our money. The availability of these tools online will holdback what we spend our money on. These days, people don’t need to spend money on books, movies, and music because people post all of them online for free on sites such as Youtube and Hulu.com.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Blog Comments
I posted comments in response to Nicholas Fischer's and Laura Hefty blog posting on Skirky Chapter 3 - how to I find an answer to a personal question.
Citizen Journalism
Glaser Article: Can you find any examples where "citizen journalists" have failed miserably to report accurate news? And if you do find examples (you should), does this make the concept of amateur journalism a bad thing? Why or why not?
Answer: The perfect example to show how destructive amateur journalism can be is the one mentioned in the second article about Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health. One foolish made up news story on a user-generated news site temporarily caused a multi, multi million dollar loss in equity value. This is the downside of widespread blogging and citizen journalists. Whether people trust a source or not, something like the Steve Jobs story can cause such a panic that people with sell off their stock just in case it might be true.
I can not find specific other examples because ever search I make comes up with the Jobs story. One thing I did notice as a trend across many articles and blogs is that citizen journalism should be regulated. I personally think that citizen journalism is a great thing. When you turn on CNN and see that there is a story about a tornado in Kansas and then attached to the story their is an iReport video from a half mile away from the twister, it shows how useful this grass roots movement is. As far as the terrible things it has the capability of causing, this needs to be fixed. Amateur journalism is certainly something that will only continue to grow in the future, as it should. With that said, it needs to be regulated. We can not allow people to get hurt, physically, emotionally, or financially by people that are held to know standard or responsibility.
Answer: The perfect example to show how destructive amateur journalism can be is the one mentioned in the second article about Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health. One foolish made up news story on a user-generated news site temporarily caused a multi, multi million dollar loss in equity value. This is the downside of widespread blogging and citizen journalists. Whether people trust a source or not, something like the Steve Jobs story can cause such a panic that people with sell off their stock just in case it might be true.
I can not find specific other examples because ever search I make comes up with the Jobs story. One thing I did notice as a trend across many articles and blogs is that citizen journalism should be regulated. I personally think that citizen journalism is a great thing. When you turn on CNN and see that there is a story about a tornado in Kansas and then attached to the story their is an iReport video from a half mile away from the twister, it shows how useful this grass roots movement is. As far as the terrible things it has the capability of causing, this needs to be fixed. Amateur journalism is certainly something that will only continue to grow in the future, as it should. With that said, it needs to be regulated. We can not allow people to get hurt, physically, emotionally, or financially by people that are held to know standard or responsibility.
Where I Find Answers
Question: You have an important personal question you’d like answered. Explain the procedure for getting your question answered and why this method appeals to you (you don’t need to get specific, but let’s assume the answer does not require specific expert knowledge, as from a doctor).
Answer: Most importantly, since this is a personal question and you can not search it online, I would go to a person who's answer I know I can trust. Information can get confused so easily and people may be confident in their answer and convince you they are correct when in reality this is not true. I would only ask a person who I felt comfortable hearing the answer from and knowing that I have this problem.
This method appeals to me because by doing this, I know I can get credible information to help answer my question and also stay within my comfort zone in doing so. There are certain things often about yourself that you don't want displayed on a billboard. That is why I choose this method. You will get the job done, feel safe and trusting of the person helping you and also know that this issue does not have to leave the two of you.
Answer: Most importantly, since this is a personal question and you can not search it online, I would go to a person who's answer I know I can trust. Information can get confused so easily and people may be confident in their answer and convince you they are correct when in reality this is not true. I would only ask a person who I felt comfortable hearing the answer from and knowing that I have this problem.
This method appeals to me because by doing this, I know I can get credible information to help answer my question and also stay within my comfort zone in doing so. There are certain things often about yourself that you don't want displayed on a billboard. That is why I choose this method. You will get the job done, feel safe and trusting of the person helping you and also know that this issue does not have to leave the two of you.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Trant Article
Question: Many organizations waste time and money researching answers to questions already answered or creating content that may already have been done by others within the organization. What shortfalls of social tagging does Trant identify that might prohibit a searchable tagging system to be a successful aid within an organization such as a business or school?
Answer: Trant names several reasons why searchable tagging systems may not work out as well as some proponents say it will. First, she mentions one potential downfall is the relativistic natural of socially-created tagging systems. That is, often information is retrieved, but perhaps it is more by chance than intention. Secondly, she notes that, through studies, it is shown that their is a large amount of inconsistency that is inherent in user-created vocabulary. A large amount of terms that people may use as keywords are bounds to be used differently than how other people use them and perhaps just inconsistently over time. One other issue she mentions is synonymy and polysemy. Polysemy, meaning the fact that there are different meanings of the same word, will cause problems by returning completely irrelevant search results half of the time while searching for a tagged word that is polysemous.
Answer: Trant names several reasons why searchable tagging systems may not work out as well as some proponents say it will. First, she mentions one potential downfall is the relativistic natural of socially-created tagging systems. That is, often information is retrieved, but perhaps it is more by chance than intention. Secondly, she notes that, through studies, it is shown that their is a large amount of inconsistency that is inherent in user-created vocabulary. A large amount of terms that people may use as keywords are bounds to be used differently than how other people use them and perhaps just inconsistently over time. One other issue she mentions is synonymy and polysemy. Polysemy, meaning the fact that there are different meanings of the same word, will cause problems by returning completely irrelevant search results half of the time while searching for a tagged word that is polysemous.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Problems With a Hierarchical Organization Chart
Interestingly, as stated in the book using the Western railroad analogy, an organization's management needs grow faster than the size of the organization. I feel that organizations, especially large and rapidly growing ones, do need a heirarchical organization chart in order to both define the power structure and establish channels of communication. One of the problems that these management mechanisms can cause though is that it cause the organization as a whole to be too rigid. These are put in place and meant to be followed, but they cause an organization to lose perhaps one of the most important tools for success - flexibility. Perhaps a more cross-departmental, non-hierarchical communication system would allow an organization more flexibility and would allow it to be more efficient in the long run. A very large organization with a hierarchical organization chart may put itself into a situation where certain people only talk to certain people and never get a chance to speak to others at all levels, high and low, and in all other departments of the organization. Another thing that this type of structure can do is cause issues with the accuracy of the information being communicated. When people have to pass along information to different levels, information will undoubtedly get messed up from time to time, which can lead to serious problems.
A Group That I Am a Member Of
Question: Describe a group you are a member of (online community, church, job, etc.) and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?
Answer: I am in a fraternity here at JMU that consists of roughly 30 members currently, but we expect about 10-15 new members this semester. We put on many events, such as parties and philanthropy, and doing so takes a lot of work and planning that require communication among all members. We have an executive board that is elected every spring for one year terms, consisting of a president, VP, treasurer, scribe (secretary/recorder) and several other positions. These are the people that we literally call "management." They are in charge of ultimately making decisions and dealing with both the university and our nationals in Charlottesville, but they consult the entire fraternity daily on important issues.
Our main tool of communication is through Gmail. Gmail is not only e-mail, but the best way to do e-mail because of how you can do threads. We communicate multiple times daily through Gmail as it gets to every members' eyes so rapidly when we use this format. Another way that we communicate and make decisions is our weekly meetings at the main fraternity house on either Sunday or Monday nights. At these meetings, our exec board will take turns bringing up the important issues for the week under their office, and then we will all together discuss the issues behind every upcoming event and then ultimately come up with a decision - usually by vote.
Answer: I am in a fraternity here at JMU that consists of roughly 30 members currently, but we expect about 10-15 new members this semester. We put on many events, such as parties and philanthropy, and doing so takes a lot of work and planning that require communication among all members. We have an executive board that is elected every spring for one year terms, consisting of a president, VP, treasurer, scribe (secretary/recorder) and several other positions. These are the people that we literally call "management." They are in charge of ultimately making decisions and dealing with both the university and our nationals in Charlottesville, but they consult the entire fraternity daily on important issues.
Our main tool of communication is through Gmail. Gmail is not only e-mail, but the best way to do e-mail because of how you can do threads. We communicate multiple times daily through Gmail as it gets to every members' eyes so rapidly when we use this format. Another way that we communicate and make decisions is our weekly meetings at the main fraternity house on either Sunday or Monday nights. At these meetings, our exec board will take turns bringing up the important issues for the week under their office, and then we will all together discuss the issues behind every upcoming event and then ultimately come up with a decision - usually by vote.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Main Role of Social Networks
Question: If managers aren’t important anymore towards the formation or control of groups using online tools, what do you consider the main role websites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, or MySpace have provided newly emerging groups?
Answer: In 2009, human beings are going to use whatever technology is available to increase the speed and convenience of social networking. In the modern Internet era, many websites have emerged that allow us to form large groups of people from all over the world, who never even have to meet each other face to face, that can accomplish great things. On Facebook for example, groups come up out of nowhere daily that spread various kinds of important missions - things such as raising awareness for Darfur, political campaigns, many types of disease, etc. Some of these groups can grow to hundreds of thousands of people in just days. Considering this information, my assessment of what the role of these social networking websites is that they exist to connect infinite amounts of people, as quickly as possible and as conveniently as possible. These websites provide large groups not only the ability to connect conviently, but they allow these groups to pass information along to all members virtually instantly.
Answer: In 2009, human beings are going to use whatever technology is available to increase the speed and convenience of social networking. In the modern Internet era, many websites have emerged that allow us to form large groups of people from all over the world, who never even have to meet each other face to face, that can accomplish great things. On Facebook for example, groups come up out of nowhere daily that spread various kinds of important missions - things such as raising awareness for Darfur, political campaigns, many types of disease, etc. Some of these groups can grow to hundreds of thousands of people in just days. Considering this information, my assessment of what the role of these social networking websites is that they exist to connect infinite amounts of people, as quickly as possible and as conveniently as possible. These websites provide large groups not only the ability to connect conviently, but they allow these groups to pass information along to all members virtually instantly.
Bad Cell Phone Pictures
Question: With so many cell phones on the market today able to take photos (and video), do you ever worry about being “captured” in a not-so-flattering moment? How would you deal with a friend who decided to share such a picture or video with others?
Answer: This is not something that I think about daily, but I have had friends who have fallen victim to situations where people take not-so-flattering photos of them on their cell phones and immediately send it down the wire to all of their friends. This is something that should worry people because of how frequently occurs and the serious negative consequences that can arise because of it.
If this were to happen to me, and it was something serious that I know for a fact my friend who took the picture and sent it to people knew that it was something that would truly upset me, it would take a lot for me to ever fully forgive that person if at all. If a friend does something like this to you and it's not just something funny that you all can laugh off, then that person isn't exactly a real friend. Depending on the gravity of the situation and how "captured" I am in a truly not-so-flattering moment, I would either never talk to them again, never talk to them again after telling them how I feel, or hopefully be able to forgive them - but probably not trust them like I did before.
Answer: This is not something that I think about daily, but I have had friends who have fallen victim to situations where people take not-so-flattering photos of them on their cell phones and immediately send it down the wire to all of their friends. This is something that should worry people because of how frequently occurs and the serious negative consequences that can arise because of it.
If this were to happen to me, and it was something serious that I know for a fact my friend who took the picture and sent it to people knew that it was something that would truly upset me, it would take a lot for me to ever fully forgive that person if at all. If a friend does something like this to you and it's not just something funny that you all can laugh off, then that person isn't exactly a real friend. Depending on the gravity of the situation and how "captured" I am in a truly not-so-flattering moment, I would either never talk to them again, never talk to them again after telling them how I feel, or hopefully be able to forgive them - but probably not trust them like I did before.
Censorship by Google and Yahoo
Unfortunately, the Chinese government is communist and controls all forms of media and therefore what their citizens will see on Google and Yahoo. I think it's wrong that they have to censor their information, as all information should be available to all people, but these companies are simply complying with governmental policies and should not bear the blame. The Chinese government is as big into propoganda as the Soviet Union was during the Cold War, and Google and Yahoo have no choice but to go along with it. Once again, I think that this situation as a whole is wrong, but I can't fault Google or Yahoo for doing only what they can legally.
These companies, when it comes down to it, will provide different search results in different countries because of relevancy. Certain keywords will be relevant to one search result in one country while they will be important to something completely different in another country. The sites are simply giving the various groups of people the information that they need, and I think that is the correct way for them to do it.
China = bad - but not because of the companies.
These companies, when it comes down to it, will provide different search results in different countries because of relevancy. Certain keywords will be relevant to one search result in one country while they will be important to something completely different in another country. The sites are simply giving the various groups of people the information that they need, and I think that is the correct way for them to do it.
China = bad - but not because of the companies.
Folksonomy
After reading the two articles, and finding out about folksonomy for the first time in the process, I realize that this is clearly the way of the future. Folksonomy takes advantage of using all of the technology that we have available to us in 2009 to make the process of organizing and retrieving information as rapid and precise as possible. Folksonomy focuses on using keywords as a means for retrieving information on various ideas versus using numbers and codes. This is clearly the best approach nowadays to organizing information as keywords are what everyone uses whether they are searching on Ebay, electronic research databases or Google.
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