The Social Moose

And Signing Out, For Now

2009-05-11T21:33:00.003-04:00

Well, the final exam is over and done with, so I already said goodbye to everyone in the class in person, and I just posted the grades, so that pretty much wraps things up for the Social Moose. It's been great fun and great learning, and I thank you all for a splendid semester, and wish you all the best of luck!

This is The Social Moose signing out, for now...

Celebrity Twitter Overkill

2009-05-11T21:30:00.001-04:00

How could I not post this?

The Social Moose Thanks BJ Emerson and Tasti-D-Lite

2009-05-11T21:22:00.003-04:00

Back on April 27, we were delighted to have BJ Emerson of Tasti-D-Lite as a guest speaker in our class, not the least because he brought us free samples. It was marvelous to hear him talk about his own experiences and approaches to social media in a business context, and we were fortunate that he allowed us to video his talk. It's not possible to present the class in its entirety, but here are some excerpts from his time with us:

And so, the Social Moose, aka the Spring 2009 Interactive Media class at Fordham University thanks BJ Emerson and Tasti-D-Lite for a delicious discussion of social media!

Reflecting Moose

2009-05-11T11:46:00.003-04:00

Prior to taking Interactive Media I never appreciated the full capabilities of Web 2.0. After reading and discussing the innovations to cyberspace, it's amazing to see how far the technology has come in such little time. I think about other forms of media that have progressed over hundreds of years while the Internet essentially evolved in a couple of decades.

Social networking is the current fad in the cyberspace community. I find it fascinating how essentially our entire country is trying to figure out how to utilize this new phenomenon. You have the American people, celebrities, and corporations all adapting to this new way of utilizing technology. I'm curious to see how long this sensationalism lasts. I've learned to respect Twitter and all of its capabilities, but I'm not entirely comfortable with how much attention it's receiving. I'm cautious about the amount of time my generation spends on the computer. There are more and more reasons to constantly check your profiles and there are also so many different ways to check. The Internet is at the touch of our fingers and I wonder how much that pulls us away from reality. While I respect technology, I'm also wary of its consequences. I'll be curious to see how it all plays out.

Social Moose Goes YouTubing

2009-04-28T16:59:00.005-04:00

For our final class, we did some interviews for YouTube, and here are the results:

fordham circle

2009-04-28T15:07:00.003-04:00

In my attempt to look for a job, I visited the Career Services office at Fordham today. Unfortunately they were little to no help. I was hoping to get into contact with some alumni from Fordham to network and possibly inquire about job openings in the New York area. Unfortunately the "database" they offered me was over four years old. They reccommended that I try their new social networking site called Fordham Circle. I set up an account and provided important information for my profile. However, when I attempted to upload my resume, it didn't work. Also, I tried searching for communication/media jobs in New York and THREE jobs/people showed up. I am almost positive there are more than three people/jobs in the New York area (!!!) I talked to one of the directors at the Career Services office about Fordham Circle and she informed me that I would not have full access to Fordham Circle until a few months after I graduate. Major fail Fordham. Major fail.

starts somewhere around 1:20

2009-04-28T14:44:00.001-04:00

Twitter featured on TV....

2009-04-28T14:38:00.003-04:00

Last night, i was watching the Big Bang Theory on CBS and throughout the episode, twitter was mentioned. Leonard. one of the characters, read from his Iphone, that Howard Walowitz was twittering...

TV sitcoms are very popular sources of advertisements, sometimes free, which reach out to the community, especially when a large part of the people are watching...

the beginning of the end

2009-04-28T14:01:00.002-04:00

This past semester has shown me a lot of insight into the online community. Since the beginning of college I have used the internet less and less, and with the help of the class I have been influenced by many social mediums I was not aware of like twitter, myspace, and blogging such as our blog The Social Moose. From my prior blogs where I have smashed twitter- Im a big fan. And I thank the class for making me use it, despite my past online prejudices, of hating computers. Well im about to leave for class, see everyone there, and REMEMBER "the medium is the message"!!!!!

My experiences with interactive media

2009-04-28T13:39:00.007-04:00

Reflecting back on the semester, I have learned some valuable lessons throughout it. The computer has become the medium for my exposure to virtual reality as stated in our textbook in our chapter on Cybertime. One is very broad but I think valuable : be open to experiencing new networks outside of my comfort zone. Up until now, I have only connected with people that I knew personally, but this class has exposed me to learning things about new people from networking sites I have never thought twice about joining. Visits from individuals such as Paul Young have taught me how important networking sites could actually become in our careers. For instance, LinkdIn, is a great example of that. Upon joining LinkdIn, I have searched for people I could possibly know through Fordham and even my previous employers. I have then stumbled upon people I never knew were connected to either.
Looking at social networking from a less professional aspect of it now, I think exposure to sites such as Lastfm.com has really helped expand my iTunes list because once again, I was exposed to songs I wouldn't typically listen to but found as a recommendation from an international listener ( I love international music!).Pandora is also a great site, but the music recommendations are chosen by the website and not other users. Speaking of recommendations, I now started using a heavily advertised by Facebook but helpful site called LivingSocial where my friend's recommendations on books, movies, etc. are constantly updated and help me make a decision based on their judgement. Furthermore, sites such as Twitter not only expose me to updates of my friends but virtually anyone who has Twitter. I am now following a number of celebrities and sometimes listening to their recommendations on books and movies. MySpace, on the other hand also has exposed me to some great bands where I can learn more about their music, their preferences and recommendations all while listening to a couple of their tracks.
I believe that the net has anything that a person is looking for. I have learned about many great cooking websites from our classmates as well as networking sites from other classmates. Watching videos about how technologically advanced we have become has lead me to believe that interactive media has become a necessity in today's economy to follow.
***I would just like to add for you all to start using this search engine : www3.hoongle.org -> every time you do 20 grains of rice will be donated to malnourished children!

My Final Send Off

2009-04-28T13:22:00.002-04:00

Hello my fellow moose, this is my final send off to the class, and i am sorry that it had to come to an end. I enjoyed every minute I had in Interactive Media, from twittering to my celebrities without a response to talking to strangers on Omegle.com... I never really knew about social networking and new media until I took this class, and to my surprise, it was actually interesting. I appreciate all of you, or to whomever read some of my posts, but i hope we can still keep it going after college. This way we can all check in on how everyone, including you Lance, is doing. Graduation is around the corner and I wish all of you seniors the best of luck for now and in the future. Thanks everyone for everything, and follow me on twitter if you haven't so we can keep in touch; my username is DK_All_Day. Yes, i will follow you back, unlike Tony Hawk or P.Diddy haha! I'll see you all soon, so lets all have fun this last class, and look forward to the future...Sincerely, 1 social moose.

Reflections

2009-04-28T11:10:00.006-04:00

Taking a look back at the beginning of the semester - this was the blog post I came across - this blog post described my media usage at that time:

The internet is an endless source of information and resources. My daily usage of the internet consists of checking email, at least several times a day, checking facebook, and mostly doing some type of research. Three out of my five closest friends currently live outside of New York, one of them is just several hours away by car, while the other is overseas. Checking email frequently allows us to have conversations and communicate with each other on a regular basis. Even though it may be difficult for us to talk on the phone because of time differences, and schedule conflicts - emailing each other regularly makes us feel that in one way or another everyone is quite close. Also, I help come up with different projects for local youth groups, so many a times I spend my time doing research --> looking at other organizations and figuring out how they do what they do, looking for team building activities, and other useful information for youth group leaders. Throughout the day I tend to check the New York Times website regularly to get my daily dose of news. Additionally, I use the internet to instant message friends, check bank statements, and buy books.

Moreover, when the class first started out - we were instructed to blog about our social networking usage on a weekly basis. However, for me - from a week to week basis - it did not change too much from the initial blog post. Thus, I refrained from writing that I visited the same social networks this week as I did last week, but rather found different social networking sites and shared the interesting ones with everyone in class. Over the semester, I came acorss anobii, ning, friendfeed, italki, etc. And I came to realize that you can find social networking websites for almost any type of commonality or interest. Some of the students in the class also posted their findings - and shared websites about Twitter like twazzup, twitpic, along with flickr, living social, digg, TED, and slashdot, to name a few. It was interesting to visit these websites, look at what they have to offer users, and learn about the amount of people on these social networking websites.
Everyday - i continued to check my email several times a day and went on facebook once or twice a day. After we all signed up for Twitter in class, I started to check that once or twice a week. At first, I couldn't quite believe I was using Twitter, but as time went on I started to like it. We also signed up for MySpace, but I had a difficult time getting used to it. Even though I checked it about once a week and made an effort to making my profile page look a little bit exciting, I still had a hard time trying to get used to it. However, by visiting the websites the students posted - I learned about what is out there. There are a few well-known social networking websites - that most of the people are on, but it was interesting to see how many other types of social networking sites there are out there. People use social networking websites for different reasons - some to connect with their friends, others to market themselves in the business world. However, everyone uses social networking websites for the same purpose - to make connections with others and to feel a sense of belonging. I also learned about blogging. In the past, I had to blog once a week for my internship and sometimes it was fun while at other times it wasn't. Nevertheless, blogging about the readings for the class, being able to read about other student's understanding of the reading, what they found important - was a good way to learn the material. Not only, was I able to share my thoughts about the reading, but I could learn from the students - because sometimes I may have overlooked something.

So - all in all - my media usage has changed- I've become more aware of and learned about other websites and in addition to the websites i went on when the class first started - i also regularly check twitter and myspace.

New Site

2009-04-28T10:04:00.003-04:00

Found this new interactive site that is similar to digg.com in that users submit the content but unlike digg, the editors choose which stories get on the front page. Warning for everybody: this is a site is kind of directed towards nerds as their slogan reads "News for nerds. Stuff that matters".

Anyways, the site was really fast in posting that story about the swine-flu virus and twitter being partially to blame for the panic that is currently being spread about it. Check out the article here: Twitter done killed us

Here is another cool posting that I thought you guys might enjoy. It is a video about this new speakers that are the size of paper. Check it out here: So tiny wow!!!

So check it out, slashdot.org. Cool site for both the nerd and aspiring nerds.

Also, found this great video on ted.com. This may be kind of contraversial but the name of the video clip is "Do schools kill creativity?"

Sir Ken Robinson references an idea brought up in the "did you know" video Profesor Strate showed us. He says that we have no idea what the future is going to looks like so how can we educate our kids and prepare them for it? To answer his own question he responds, "creativity is as important as being literate... and I think we squander our kids creativity too much."

Anyways, check out the video for the full scoop on why education is bad for creativity:
Education and creativity.

Alright. Fun times.

swine flu infects twitter

2009-04-27T20:12:00.003-04:00

The recent outbreak of swine flu has not only taken 100s of lives already, but it has terrified millions around the world. Today, CNN.com reported that Twitter is partially to blame for false information and scares in certain parts of the country and world. This is just another example as to why we cannot trust Twitter as a news source. One quote from the article read,"This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction, because it's just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information," said Brennon Slattery, a contributing writer for PC World. "The swine flu thing came really at the crux of a media revolution." While Twitter seems to be a harmless form of micro-blogging, it aids in the spread of terror during drastic times like these. See the full article here.

Demi Moore uses Twitter to help prevent fan's suicide

2009-04-26T12:51:00.006-04:00

As mentioned before in class, I really think it is Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher that blog all the time, judging from an article in this post. Since I follow them on Twitter, I observe what they write and it sounds very personal and I think only they could write that (as opposed to hiring their PR person to do the work). Furthermore, I began to think about the impact that having 30,000+ "followers" on Twitter could have, especially now that most people have the postings sent to their phone. I think Twitter's ability to do that surpasses the impact on getting people's attention as compared to Myspace. Alhought Myspace is accessible through the phone, I have not seen an option where people could receive updates of others sent directly as a notification to their phone. Hence, not getting immediate attention. So, even though you may have 30,000+ friends on Myspace most people do not know what you're promoting unless they CHOOSE to click on your site and check it out.The site does have a great ability to draw someone in with the music and decor, which Twitter does not provide as extensively. Also, Twitter is very popular with the tiny URL's which usually leads you to a site that the person wants to draw your attention to. Myspace is not popular with using the tiny URL's-- it is actually most focused on 'updating your mood'.
To wrap this up, I basically wanted to state how today's busy society doesn't allow for us to spend a lot of time 'viewing' people's site and reading an often extensive autobiography about them to get to know what they're about. We want to glance, read, and move on. Twitter was wisely constructed.
Here, I found an interesting article that was brought to my attention by a tiny URL from one of my Twitter friends. It is basically about the impace that Twitter interactions actually could have on people.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Demi Moore uses Twitter to help prevent fan's suicide
Apr 3, 2009, 06:08 PM | by Alynda Wheat

Categories: Current Affairs, Movies, Web/Tech

A "tweet" may have saved a Demi Moore fan's life, CNN reported today. The actress, whose Twitter blog has some 380,000 fans, received an online threat from a woman who said she was "getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn't waste time." Moore responded to the grim statement with the comment "Hope you are joking." The unnamed 48-year-old woman's suicide threat was traced to a San Jose, Calif., home, where she was taken into custody for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. Moore, who was in southern France where husband Ashton Kutcher is shooting the crime drama Five Killers, later informed her Twitter followers that the San Jose police were in control of the situation, and that she was "very torn about responding or retweeting that woman's post but felt uncomfortable just letting it go."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I read this article I thought to myself, if this lady has posted the same thing with the same amount of friends on Myspace would Demi Moore pick up on it? Would it be brought to attention by someone else? I guess we'll never know but all I know is I'm glad she seen it.

Twitter on my mind

2009-04-23T12:10:00.002-04:00

I just found this article on CNN.com about how scientists discovered a way to link Twitter to the brain and to, essentially, post what you are thinking without actually typing. I thought this was a good connection between Twitter and the new technology we learned about in the TED video. Check it out.

Brain-Twitter project offers hope to paralyzed patients

Adam Wilson posted two messages on Twitter on April 15. The first one, "GO BADGERS," might have been sent by any University of Wisconsin-Madison student cheering for the school team.

The brain-computer interface allows people to compose a tweet by focusing on the desired letter.

His second post, 20 minutes later, was a little more unusual: "SPELLING WITH MY BRAIN."

Wilson, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, was confirming an announcement he had made two weeks earlier -- his lab had developed a way to post messages on Twitter using electrical impulses generated by thought.

That's right, no keyboards, just a red cap fitted with electrodes that monitor brain activity, hooked up to a computer flashing letters on a screen. Wilson sent the messages by concentrating on the letters he wanted to "type," then focusing on the word "twit" at the bottom of the screen to post the message.

The development could be a lifeline for people with "locked-in syndrome" -- whose brains function normally but who cannot speak or move because of injury or disease.

Wilson and his supervisor, Justin Williams, made the breakthrough last month after hearing a question posed on the radio. Watch how the new technology works »

"Wouldn't it be great if you could Twitter just by thinking about it?"

That query sparked what Williams called the "a-ha moment."

"We can do that," said Williams, an assistant professor and the principal investigator at the lab in Madison, Wisconsin. "We can do that tomorrow."

In the end, it wasn't quite "tomorrow," Williams said, but Wilson had written the software to link existing technology with Twitter "within a couple of days" of starting on the project in March.

He sent Williams his first "tweet" -- or message -- from the brain-computer interface on March 31.

"I had set up my phone to get Twitter updates, and I walked in my door and got this message, and I knew it was really possible," he told CNN by phone. "My wife was sitting there, and I showed her the message and she immediately got excited about it -- and it's rare that I come home from work and she gets excited about what I have been doing."

That's because using the brain to post Twitter messages is potentially much more than an academic exercise or a party trick -- it could help paralyzed people communicate.

"These are people who have ALS, like Stephen Hawking, or they have a brainstem stroke, or a high spinal-cord injury," Williams explained. "There is nothing wrong with these people's brains. It's a normal person, locked into a lifeless, useless body." (The British physicist Hawking has ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.)

Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from locked-in syndrome, Williams estimated.

Many of them want just the kind of ability the brain-Twitter project seems to offer, said Kevin Otto, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University in Indiana.

"The interesting thing about this project is they are directly addressing some of the patient desires," he said. "A lot of people think [locked-in patients] want to walk and want fancy prosthetics, but a lot of times what they want are bladder control and basic communication skills."

Otto, who was not involved in the University of Wisconsin project, called it "a very important incremental step to take two existing technologies and marry them together like this."

Williams had been working on brain-computer interface technology "for many years," he told CNN, before the idea to use Twitter.

"The technology we were developing was 10 or more years down the line, so we started wondering, 'Is there something we can do now?' "

His lab at the University of Wisconsin -- like those at Brown University, Purdue and the Wadsworth Center in Albany, New York, among others -- is developing ways for locked-in people to communicate. Projects range from manipulating a cursor on a computer screen to operating a robotic arm, and they can include devices physically implanted into a brain.

But the Twitter project has a lot of advantages, Williams said.

"Twitter fits so many of our needs and patients' capabilities," he said. "Their first interest is in being able to communicate in a normal fashion, and at a distance."

Twitter is simpler than e-mail, he said.

"If I am locked in and I want to e-mail someone, the format is all wrong. You have to be able to select recipients and group them, copy, paste, send. ... We don't think about that much as normal people, but it can become unmanageable.

"Twitter takes care of all those things. They just have to get [the message] to a location where people can come and find it," he said.

Locked-in people communicating by tweet might have followers who don't even realize they are disabled, Williams said.

"Nobody's going to notice that the person at the other end is disabled. They might not have any idea. And that might be very empowering for people," he said.

The interface is not unlike the method the French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby used to dictate his novel "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" -- later turned into a movie -- after a massive stroke left him paralyzed except for his left eyelid. Bauby's caregivers recited letters of the alphabet; he blinked when he heard the one he wanted and they wrote them down.

The brain-Twitter application flashes letters on a screen while the user, wearing a cap fitted with electrodes, concentrates on a letter.

"When the letter that you are concentrating on flashes, we can pick that up," Williams said.

Williams declined to say how soon the interface could be available commercially, noting it has not yet been used by anyone with locked-in syndrome.

"I'd hate to speculate about things being on the market," he said. "Adam [Wilson] is going to graduate in May, and his next role is to start preclinical trials with subjects in New York and Germany."

But Williams said he is excited about the development.

"We were interested in seeing what we could do right now to help people," he said. "The field has come far enough that we need to start getting to people in their homes."

"Most Informative (and Entertaning) Money-Related Bloggers" according to MONEY magazine

2009-04-22T23:25:00.006-04:00

I was recently flipping through my May issue of Money magazine and I've come across an interesting article on about who Money magazine considers the most entertaining and informative of the money-related bloggers and I've immediately thought of our class. I've come across great recommendations for helpful and cool sites from my classmates but I haven't come across recommending bloggers or sites of that sort which could help our often, poor selves. So with no further adieu, here are the four major players and where you may find them :) :

Tyler Cowan: marginalrevolution.com
Mr. Cowan in the article is described as an economics professor at George Mason University and also a MONEY contributor.He discusses many issues that are economic and behavioral so I've observed that most of his blog is commentary on the crisis that we're in.

Brad DeLong: delong.typepad.com
Mr. DeLong is a Berkeley economics professor and when Clinton was president he was the deputy assistant Treasury secretary. He appears very liberal and as Money magazine described " you'll get a vigorous defense of liberal-leaning, interventionish economic policy, plus vivid prose." I think that paints the picture.

Paul Kedrosky: paul.kedrosky.com
Mr. Kedrosky is a venture capitalist vet and he uses his blog to point to interesting economic ideas around the web. Out of the four bloggers mentioned in the article, I found him the most helpful to me and what I'm looking for. I love the following quote that I think suites Mr. Kedrosky's approach and descriptions well on his take on global finance :"It's kind of like a traffic accident where the parts are still flying through the air.And when it comes back down, it's going to be very different."

Barry Ritholtz: ritholtz.com
Mr. Ritholtz is the CEO of a quantitative research firm. He points out what he thinks is a misleading economic statistics and what he sees as the government's "criminal" bailouts of financial giants such as AIG. In other words, he's blunt and to the point and to me, that's very important when I'm looking at someone's opinion, on especially most importantly, monetary situations.

GroupTweet

2009-04-21T15:38:00.005-04:00

In class we were talking about group tweeting - while this website does not allow people to categorize their tweets according to different groups - family, coworkers etc. The site does allow users to post their tweet - once it is sent to the group account - any member of the group can comment back. It kind of seems like a private message board.

This is what it says on their website, GroupTweet:

So how does it work?

GroupTweet piggy-backs on the Twitter service via the Twitter API. Setting up a Twitter group is simple:

Create a new Twitter account specifically for your group (e.g. initechwebdevs or smithfamily). If you want to make this a private group, make sure that updates are protected in the settings.
Register your group's new Twitter account at GroupTweet.com
Tell all group members to follow the group account you created at Twitter. Note that the group account must also follow the group members. (If updates are protected, you will need to approve each follow request)
Members can broadcast a message to the whole group by sending a direct text to the group's Twitter account. For example: 'D initechwebdevs Just committed the latest code to the repository'

That's it! GroupTweet is constantly listening for direct texts sent to your group's Twitter account. When a direct text is received, GroupTweet instantly publishes it as a tweet from the group account. Since all of your group members are following the group's Twitter account, they will each receive the message. Easy-peasy!

Have not tested it out as of yet...

Twitter directories

2009-04-21T15:17:00.002-04:00

We've been talking in class about if Twitter had groups. There are a couple websites which come to mind. One of them is Twitter directory called We Follow. It tells you the most popular tags, and then you can pick one and it will show you all the Tweets about it. For example, if you click #music, JOhn Mayer is the first one to come up, and it tells you how many followers they have. It also separates Twitters by news, celebrities, comedy, and even things like travel.
Another website I found is called Twitter Campus... although I have found numerous problems with it. It seems as if the website is kind of new, because for some reason I can't seem to figure out how to add Fordham to the list. It does say thought that Emerson has the most amount of students on Twitter... hmmm, we should beat them Ashton Kutcher style!

Celebrity Backlash As Oprah Joins Twitter

2009-04-21T14:28:00.001-04:00

Oprah Winfrey, one of the world's most powerful celebrities, has faced a web backlash after becoming the latest star to join Twitter.

Oprah Winfrey is the latest star to join microblogging site Twitter

The American talkshow host sent her first "tweet" on Friday and has already amassed more than 350,000 followers.

But users of the microblogging community have blamed her popularity for causing the site to slow down.

Some estimates suggest hundreds of thousands new users may have joined Twitter after Winfrey promoted it on her TV show.

Her profile has also allegedly been the target of a 'worm attack' - which hijacks users' profiles and sends rogue tweets from their accounts.

It has spread messages mentioning Winfrey and actor Ashton Kutcher in what appears to be a deliberate attack on celebrities with profiles.

So far, Winfrey has used her page to chat to celebrity friends including Demi Moore, inform fans what she is eating and talk about her dog.

Follow @SkyNews on Twitter

But users seemed to turn on the famous interviewer, claiming her popularity was overwhelming the site and making it hard to use.

Twitter founder, Evan Williams, who appeared on Oprah the day she launched her feed, was forced to publicly deny the problem was caused by her profile.

He told followers her arrival had a "huge effect" on Friday but his team "kept it under control".

"Site slowness today had nothing to with @Oprah," he insisted.

Users have mocked Winfrey's slow arrival on Twitter by proclaiming they were "here before Oprah".

Other stars who have become popular on Twitter include P Diddy, Stephen Fry and Hugh Jackman.

Cops have Philip Markoff, suspected "Craigslist Killer" of model Julissa Brisman, in custody

2009-04-21T14:14:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: Fiancee of the suspected 'Craiglist Killer' says he's innocent.

Boston cops on Monday night branded a 22-year-old med student engaged to be married as the "Craigslist Killer" who murdered a pretty New York masseuse and attacked at least two other escorts in hotels.

Philip Markoff, a Boston University student who lives in Quincy, a harborside town 10 miles south of Boston, will be arraigned on murder charges on Tuesday.

Cops said the brainy blond doctor wanna-be, who grew up in upstate Sherrill, N.Y., and went to SUNY Albany for his undergraduate studies, has no rap sheet, but they think he has preyed on sex workers for a while. Police begged other victims to come forward.

"He is a predator," said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. "There may be other victims out there, and we want to help you."

Markoff, who was arrested after cops tailed him for several days, will be charged in Boston Municipal Court with the murder of Julissa Brisman.

The slain 26-year-old New Yorker advertised her services on craigslist and was shot in a posh Boston hotel last Tuesday.

Markoff also will be charged with kidnapping and robbery in an attack four days earlier in another luxury Boston hotel on an exotic dancer who advertised online.

Police believe last Thursday's armed robbery of a Las Vegas hooker in a Rhode Island hotel is also connected.

Markoff, the son of a Syracuse dentist, is engaged to marry Megan McAllister, a fellow med student he met while they were at SUNY Albany. A Web page devoted to their planned wedding later this year recounts how they volunteered together at an area emergency room and enjoyed their first date on Nov. 11, 2005. McAllister could not be reached for comment.

Brisman's mother was glad to hear there was a break in the case, but she was too distraught to talk.

"Her mother was very pleased, but when she saw the pictures [on TV], she broke down and was just crying. We turned it off. You have no idea how fragile she is," said family friend Mark Pines. "It is great that they found him, but it's not going to bring back our girl."

Cops credited "high-tech leads and old-fashioned shoe leather" for the arrest. Cops stopped Markoff at 4 p.m. Monday as he drove south of Boston on Interstate 95, Davis said. He agreed to come in for questioning and was arrested at headquarters.

The break came hours after police released new security camera photos showing the clean-cut, 6-foot-tall suspect strolling casually to and from the three crime scenes peering into his BlackBerry.

The new pictures were taken last Thursday in the hallway of a Warwick, R.I., Holiday Inn Express, where a prostitute who advertised on Craigslist was tied up and robbed at gunpoint.

Markoff is expected to be charged in that attack, too. Cops say Markoff's first known attack was April 10, when a 29-year-old woman who advertised as an exotic dancer on craigslist was attacked at Boston's Westin hotel. She was bound and robbed of her debit card and $800 in cash.

Four days later, Brisman was shot multiple times in a 20th-floor room of the Copley Marriott, apparently because she fought the thief's attempts to restrain her with plastic handcuffs known as "zip ties."

Residents of the sprawling 800-unit High Point apartment complex where Markoff rented a third-floor flat earlier this year mostly described Markoff, who was on the golf and bowling teams in high school, as an average Joe, but several said there was something not quite right about him.

"The guy was friendly enough. He'd say hello when you saw him and he supposedly had a girlfriend," said John Uva, who has lived in the building for two years.

"But he was never really around much, and there was a creepy factor to it."

Does anyone still go to Twitter.com anymore?

2009-04-21T13:00:00.002-04:00

Twitter.com has been my favorite social networking website i've used since we have started class, but it has got to the point where I do not even need to goto the site anymore. Applications like Tweet-Deck, TwitterBerry, Twitter-rific, and Tweet-Genius, have made it so easy for us to micro-blog without having to actually goto Twitter.com. Tweet-deck, still a beta version, allows us to see everything on our Twitter (@ replies, DM's, Favorites, Other's updates) without having to goto the actual website. Is it going to slow down the amount of people that visit Twitter.com though? I am not sure, but it sure is making the site more enjoyable. Although some celebrities with thousands of followers tweet about tweet-deck crashing on them, users like us (with little followers) can enjoy it without any problems.

I like to use the combination of Twitterberry (on my phone) and Tweet-Deck (on my computer) for connecting with Twitter. I am posting this to show you guys the possibilities outside of Twitter.com, so that you are fully able to connect without having to goto your Twitter! Could we make something better than Tweet-Deck or Twitterberry? Probably!

This class, for me, is showing me that I have the potential to make the next best thing when it comes to microblogging sites, regular sites, and social networking websites etc. We, as a class, must just put our minds in to it, and we too can be the next great Internet developers!

facebook is #1

2009-04-21T02:26:00.004-04:00

Top Ten Reviews, a website that claims to "do the research so you don't have to," rated the top ten social networking websites. They claimed Facebook was number one, while MySpace took second, and Bebo third. Some others on the list were Friendster, hi5, and orkut. This website gave important information about each social networking site, and even rated dozens of features for each site.

The review stated the minimum age to join, which ranged between 13 and 18, and the percentage of users under 18, which ranged from 4% - 54% (Bebo.com). Although I have not visited each of these sites, it would be interesting to know why some sites require you to be 18, while others only require a 13-year age minimum.

The review also indicated what features were included on the websites and which were not. They looked at profiles (i.e. photos, url, friends), security (i.e. privacy, block users, report abuse), networking (i.e. instant messaging, groups, mail), search (i.e. by name, by keyword, browse), and support (i.e. FAQ, user forums). Some of the features that were incorporated into all of the the top ten sites were an international community, photos, post comments, friends, groups, privacy, blocking, and reporting abuse. These seem to be the most basic standards for a social networking website. I was surprised at the fact that not every site was multi-lingual, had mail, or instant messaging. And, while every site had groups, you could not necessarily create your own group.

After looking at the article, I'm tempted to check out the websites for myself. I'll let you know what I find next week in class! To check out the article for yourself, click here.

Tweet Police

2009-04-21T01:56:00.002-04:00

Twitter is making headlines recently as it is becoming a more widely-used form of social networking. Not only are regular joes and celebrities getting twitter accounts, but so are police departments. As CNN reported, police departments have been using twitter to report everything from road closures to suspect descriptions.

Fortunately for police and the public, news is immediate, and the public does not have to wait 24 hours to hear it in traditional mass communication. Twitter is an efficient way to spread the news to the public. With new budget cuts on the rise, twitter offers police departments a cheap alternative to other forms of police reports.

On the contrary, Twitter as a form of news can be a bad thing. Twitter is limited to 140 characters, so the police are somewhat limited in what they can say. While they could post multiple tweets, it is hard to know, how many is too many? Police do not want to bombard the public with news, as it may lessen or worsen the severity of an issue. There is also the concern that the public might flock to a crime scene once a tweet is posted.

All in all, I think that police departments should use tweets with limitations. They should not rely on tweets but also report news in traditional media. It is great that organizations like police departments are embracing new technology and ideas.

Twitter Addict

2009-04-20T22:27:00.003-04:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been getting more and more into twitter. For some reason every time I am able to use a computer with internet, I HAVE to look on twitter!! As of lately more of my friends have been joining and tweeting me, so I almost feel better about myself. But the truth is I am an ADDICT!! I cant use a computer without looking at twitter! No matter what people say I have a problem! I feel like a drug addict waiting for my next fix, waiting for the next tweet!!

In class we have seen numerous films on twitter all making fun of how crazy people are that use twitter. So I have been on a quest to look for a video that can make me feel more normal and not like a total nut. And I have finally found it--

For the people who have similar addictions, your not alone! and its OK

I also just started using twazzup a search engine for twitter uses a real time stream of updatesn showing top tweets and a list of top tweeted stories and topics.

features- list of official twitter users who have tweeted about a certain subject which allows twazzup users to follow people they think are interesting

YES I AM AN ADDICT AND I NEED HELP!(damn twitter forever)

MySpace + Journalism

2009-04-20T20:39:00.003-04:00

An article I came across...

MySpace launching citizen journalism site

Partners with sibling Fox News for uReport hub

By Mike Shields, Mediaweek

April 20, 2009, 05:54 PM ET

MySpace has partnered with corporate sibling Fox News to launch the MySpace uReport community, a new hub within the social-networking site designed to showcase journalism produced and contributed by average citizens.

Fox News launched its uReport program two years ago on the heels of similar initiatives from CNN (iReport) and MSNBC (First Person). Each program encourages average users/viewers to contribute photos and videos of breaking news events. From time to time, user-submitted material was used on-air during Fox News broadcasts.

Now, Fox News is looking to unearth citizen journalists within the vast and likely younger-skewing MySpace community. Initially, the new uReport channel is soliciting content from users for the pre-set categories USA, World, Entertainment and Politics -- while enticing them with the possibility that their photos or footage will be used by Fox News or Foxnews.com. Any user can upload content, though Fox News staffers will curate and edit what content makes it onto the MySpace uReport community -- as well as the network's own properties.

Besides user-generated fare, the new channel also serves as a promotional platform for Fox News, featuring links to profiles of Fox News anchors and hosts like Greta Van Susteren and Bill O'Reilly.

I was looking at news articles about social media and I came across this one. Apparently, according to Hollywood Reporter, MySpace is partnering with FOX News and launching a uReport community. This website will celebrate journalism of the average citizen. Users can upload pictures and videos to supplement current news - the article mentions that their content may be aired on FOX News. Even though uReport will celebrate the talents of the average citizen or aspiring journalist - I think websites like this - raise a real concern. The question becomes: How important is news anyway? If anyone can post something they consider newsworthy - sometimes it is good: local communities may benefit by knowing what is going on in their neighborhood, while learning about other things going on in the world. Sometimes - newscasters may leave some newsworthy information out of the news and people may be able to fill in the blanks through uReport. However this poses a question - how effective are journalists? are newspapers, television newsports and radio broadcasts necessary? While some may argue no, I think they are still important today. People look towards those mediums to find out what is going on in the world, even if a website like uReport allows people from across the world to share and spread news.

Ashton Kutcher battles CNN for Twitterer of the Century

2009-04-19T21:22:00.007-04:00

So if you have been living on mars or in Indiana for the past week, then maybe you haven't heard that Ashton Kutcher, everyone's beloved prankster, challenged CNN to see who could be the first to reach a million followers on Twitter. The winner would donate 10,000 mosquito nets and the loser 1,000 on World Malaria Day. Well, CNN's twitter account "cnnbrk" came up short even after holding the lead for a substancial time. Kutcher's account "aplusk" crossed the one million mark around 2:13 a.m. on Friday (4/17) morning, according to CNN. It took CNN's feed til 2:42 a.m. the same day to reach a milli. Aside from how weird it is for a person to challenge a corporate news company to see who can get more followers, the publicity surrounding the bet did create a lot of buzz for Twitter and for World Malaria Day.

Oprah Winfrey, the inventor of hugs, kisses, and motivational posters staring kitty cats, joined up on Twitter, and also pledged to give 20,000 mosquito nets on World Malaria Day. Not to be outshined by Kutcher, CNN, God or anyone else that gets in her way, Oprah obviously had to double the highest pledge amount. I know that it sounds like I really dislike Oprah and this whole publicity stunt by these celebrities, I do have to admit that there will be probably be a record amount of mosquito nets donated this year. CNN upped the ante and pledged 10,000 even though 1,000 was agreed upon by the loser. Ryan Seacrest couldn't miss out on all the fun so he too pledged to donate an undisclosed amount of nets. All in all, Kutcher did manage to get a whole lot of mosquito nets donated with just a little social networking and a computer.

As a side note, Oprah is definitely getting ready to take over Twitter as she had around 73,000 followers before a single Tweet went out. Bullsh*t. Someone follow me already. I'm just sour because I am incredibly jealous that only 36 people want to know that "I like to rock the party," which was my last tweet, but 73,000 pepople want to hear Oprah say "hello." Why do you have to be famous or incredibly good at social networking to get lots of cool followers? I guess I should work on forcing freinds to join up so that I feel like someone is actually listening. I just wish Tony Hawk followed me back, because he is the man. Oh well, watch out for Oprah, she catching on. Sorry for ranting, I just want to be loved on Twitter.

Domino's Effects

2009-04-15T01:07:00.002-04:00

I'm just providing the links here, check it out at your own risk:

The Domino's Effect from Social Media Today

and

the response from Domino's: An Update to Our Valued Customers

Responses are welcome!

cursebird

2009-04-14T16:51:00.002-04:00

This is pretty funny! not only can you basically search for anything on Twitter, but there is even a website called Cursebird. Not sure why the things I post are usually so ridiculous... but I think this is pretty funny. It tracks every curse that people use in their Tweets and automatically puts them on the site right after they've been Tweeted... haha. You can even search for your own username and it'll tell you exactly what curses you've said and give you a ranking! I've never sweared! Just something fun I thought I'd put up.

The Story of the Internet

2009-04-14T14:29:00.000-04:00

OK, just a quick note here, to say that this video is really well done, and I like the way it shows how a number of different developments in different kinds of technologies, in different nations, and at different times, all came together to form the internet. Really impressive work!

Of course, taking a big picture perspective, we might say that the bias of electric technologies has been towards greater convergence of technologies and services--this is a point McLuhan made decades ago, and Mumford before him. It's not that the internet was inevitable, there are many different ways that things could have worked out. The evolution has been dynamic and fluid, and chaotic, like a stream, but like a stream, it has followed a certain, unmistakable direction.

Digital Nation

2009-04-14T14:18:00.003-04:00

In my documentary class we came across an interesting program on PBS. For their Frontline series there are a couple of documentarians and media analysts who are creating an interactive documentary called Digital Nation about our nation's dependency on the internet and other forms of media. The project explores how technology affects our daily lives. It stems from a documentary aired on PBS in 2008 called Growing Up. It followed teenagers and their interactions with the media. I thought that this project goes really well with a lot of the topics we've covered in class so far.

I highly suggest checking out the PBS Frontline Digital Nation website and watching the videos.

This weeks reading

2009-04-14T13:32:00.002-04:00

The opening chapter of the book explains how people have become connected with other through the use of cyberspace while becoming less social in the everyday world. Despite people constantly updating their status online and using the internet to talk to people all over the world, people are becoming less interactive in the real world. I believe that more people using the internet and cyberspace is setting real world interaction back. With more and more people growing up online and living their whole life's using the internet, people become less inclined to have social interactions in the physical world. To further help this argument of people becoming less interactive in the physical world, David Alsberg's death is used. By being part of cyberspace Alsberg had created real relationships that could be "as rewarding as their face-to-face friendships.

The next chapter goes more into cyberspace being a part of the human body. By using machines to look at images and other mediums, cyberspace becomes an extension of the mind. This theory of computer being an extension was first seen through the use of science fiction. People becoming one with computers to be able to perceive that they are part of cyberspace (virtual reality) I believe Phelan states it the best that "the paradox of cyberspace, which enhances the illusion of images as reality because we can move and change the images and thus are deluded into thinking we are effective in the real world."

Thoughts on The Reading

2009-04-07T11:52:00.003-04:00

Chapter 1 explained how people are becoming more and more connected but at the same time more alone. Even though people are emailing, interacting with others through social networking websites, blogging and updating their status' regularly to keep their friends and family informed about what is going on in their lives, people are increasingly becoming distant from others. The more we interact with computers, the less we are interacting with others. This chapter mentions how people do not even know their neighbor's name several times explaining that even though people communicate more they seem to have forgotten the fundamentals of social interaction - the physical aspect of meeting others. The argument of whether or not people are interacting with each other less and less can go both ways. People go to work, spend time with their friends and family, and go to school - all of which involve social interaction. I do not think interaction with others via cyberspace has eliminated the physical contact that people have, but rather extended it through an additional medium. However, social interaction has definitely changed due to cyberspace. People connect with each other through the internet and to an extent that has decreased physical interaction. Oftentimes we will just send an email instead of making a phone call. Could that be because we do not have time? because its more convenient? because it avoids direct confrontation? It could be a combination of all. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that there are people out there - our neighbors do have names. Chapter 2 focused on cyberspace and stated that cyberspace involves: people controlling devices through computers that give them the feeling of feedback as if the devices were parts of their own body, suggesting that the cyberspace is an extension of the self. This chapter also mentions the convergence of technologies. Through various forms of technology people can take pictures, watch videos, dictate to their computers, read books digitally and many other things. The reading explains that cyberspace content is "non physical" only to the extent that people do not interpret messages, designs and commands. Moreover, language itself is meaningless without the interpretations of the minds. Hence, suggesting at cyberspace involves a physical medium aside from that one that includes the wires, computers and everything else in between that connects millions of people across the world to each other.

My uncle Bob

2009-04-07T11:47:00.001-04:00

A part of the readings reminds me of my uncle Bob (for privacy reasons I made up a pseudonym for him). The reason I bring him up is that I noticed a significant difference in the way him and I communicate with people. For example, when we go out to places, he always seems to get into a conversation with a random stranger or if we are at a restaurant, with the person serving us food. These conversations rang from the weather, to business and even very personal discussions. This surprised me because I had always grown up in a family, and even a societal time where one kept to him or herself.

For example, I grew up in and around NYC nearly my whole life so I would spend a lot of time in the city. When I would go out or take the subway, everyone kept to themselves and I rarely bothered anyone. Sure I got into the occasional conversation with a stranger but for the most part, I felt it was rather difficult to spark up a conversation with a stranger unless the social situation was conducive to do so.

My uncle on the other hand did not play by the same rules. He was raised with a community that let down there social walls and talked freely to one another. He looked at every situation as a way to interact with people. He was not limited by social stigmas that inhibited face to face contact with people. Grumpert & Drucker write:

“Once upon a time, not so many years ago, people could go out into the city lights when the fancy struck them, when they had nothing better to do, when it occurred to them that it might be fun to be with others. They wandered out to the square to talk... to the park to stroll among others... to the public realm to vanquish loneliness, discuss politics, or simply talk. But it is no longer that time past, and old and familiar have become hostile and menacing”.

Because the “familiar” has now become hostile, many of us have reverted to digital communication to get our social fix. We feel less anxiety through cyber communities that break down the sometimes scary social boundaries necessary in the real world:

“there is something seductive about electronic communication with others, and we in the United States have begun to rely on mediated communication and even to prefer that mode to the old, particularly because it is safe, forgetting that there are qualitative differences between the two (Grumpert & Ducker)”.

We are losing the desire to interact face to face, something my uncle managed to avoid doing. He kept the old way of communicating and did not have the option of digital communication to fulfill his basic human need for social interaction. So what does it all mean?

I think the answer is very unclear and will be until this digital age plays itself out a little further. But I can speak for my own experience and say that I think there is a real danger for people who rely too much on digital communication to lose the ability to interact in the real world. Because of the ways in which we communicate on the net is so different from face to face interaction, spending too much time online could cause a type of social disability. Beyond this, I just think that real contact with human beings is necessary for people to be happy.

online addiction

2009-04-07T11:39:00.003-04:00

Blackboard on the iPhone?

Here's an article about how there are applications in the works for Blackboard. This could be pretty useful to students and teachers alike. By the way, I love this website, it's a blog about new apple products. Lots of stuff about the next iPhone :)

I also thought I'd share something I found to be interesting. Last class when we shared what was new in our online worlds, I didn't really have anything to say because I had given up Facebook and Twitter for a week. It made SUCH a difference! I never realized how much time I really spent on the two. I allowed myself to be so distracted from doing work, class, and even from face-to-face communication. I didn't slip up at all during the week, but even the smallest things made me want to just check my notifications. Really stupid things; like I went to a party and knew there had been pictures put up of me and I wanted to see them... so dumb. It reminded me of something that chapter 1 said about playing alone on the Internet and chapter two when it talked about online addictions. Even though I'm talking to my other friends and even famous people through Twitter, it is still time wasted where I could be doing something productive or hanging out with others. When I think of how much time I have probably spent alone in my room at my computer, it's kind of scary! I'm making connections to others, but at the price of losing connections to those who are right here in front of me! I definitely think that by giving up my social networking, even if only for a week, has helped me to see where my priorities are. There really is too much information! Facebook and Twitter help me to get to know people who I don't even really care about, yet I am addicted to that information. It is just so easy to press refresh that I can't help but look and see what new information is available. Nowadays there is even a website for those addicted to the Internet and want recovery! I am so curious as to where this Information age is going. What if there really is too much meaningless information as Postman suggests? I can only wonder about the future.

Friend Feed

2009-04-07T10:08:00.004-04:00

As I was reading about social networking websites I came across:

Friend Feed
I just signed up for it - so as of now i do not know much about it yet. But as I'm exploring it, I've discovered - that the website links together Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr and about 56 other services. These websites range from providing status updates, to sharing pictures and videos, bookmarking, news and a few other random things.

Google may be buying Twitter??

2009-04-06T21:52:00.002-04:00

So I've read a few articles lately that have talked about Google buying Twitter, and I am not too sure what to think about it. This article has been my favorite so far. Google could make Twitter more mainstream than it already is, which may not be a bad or good thing. Looking at it from a negative perspective, Twitter, if bought out, could be loaded with advertisements and other non-sense that could almost make it unbearable compared to what it is now. On a positive note, it could attract a lot more businesses/news stations etc. to join and expand the network of people and information. The article i just posted talks about why Twitter could be so valuable right now, and this is my favorite quote from it:

"Twitter's real value is in search. It holds the keys to the best real time database and search engine on the internet, and Google doesn't even have a horse in the game."

In my honest opinion, I didn't realize Twitter's actual value until I read that statement. It would only make sense for a massive company like Google to actually buy it out and put it into the hands of the masses. I've read about and even followed some news stations and companies/brands on Twitter that send you updates daily and that is what I believe Google is after. I believe they'd like to be in control of Twitter's information, like how people interact with brands, with news stations, and with everyone in general. I know I've seen our own professor, Lance Strate, interact on Twitter with Magic Hat, a lovely brewing company, and to me, that is pretty interesting. When has there been a time when you can interact with a company that you may like or dislike at any time of the day, and most likely get a response back. It's all really coming to me how much Twitter was actually worth and how much it is worth now. It also makes me think as a young soon-to-be college graduate, how could I/We create the next Twitter or the next Myspace? I really need to get started on this ASAP if I want to be the next youngest millionaire ha-ha... Lets all pray that the idea comes to one of us before the end of this semester, and we too can become the next Internet/Business pioneers. I say we all split profits! Any Takers?

The Social Petridish

2009-04-06T13:35:00.005-04:00

As Rheingold stated, the Internet is a medium with virtual communities, like micro-organisms that grow in petri-dishes. Cyberspace has its own rules, it is unharnessed. It seems as though our generation has adapted a culture unfamiliar to other generations. It is not like years ago when our grandparents disproved of our parents listening to Rock N' Roll. The Internet has had much greater of an affect on our lives and the way that we communicate, learn, and live. There has been such an impact that, even if our grandparents and parents refuse to use and understand the Internet, they are coming into a time when the must make the Internet a part of their lives.

This summer, I worked at Samsung Experience, a show room of media related products such as phones, mp3 players, etc. We had 10 computers available to customers with free access to the Internet. In order to use the Internet, the customer had to type in their email in order to log into the computer. It was shocking to me the number of people who did not have email addresses. They tended to be the older crowd. One guy that came into the store looking to use a computer did not know how to use the keyboard. He didn't even know how to put a space between words. All he wanted to do was Google his name, so I helped him out. It's crazy that the idea of the computer was completely foreign to him...and it's 2009.

Cyberspace is such an unfathomable concept. It is more than what we might think it is. It is logistically and relationally more than just the relationship between the user and the computer. The Internet itself exponentially grows each and every year. I remember a commercial several years ago stating that there were over 33,000 websites on the Internet. Today, there are millions of websites and billions of web users. While the expansion of the Internet is a positive thing, we may begin to see more of the negatives in the near future. Almost all information that is put on the Internet is public. Advertisers will surely take advantage of this in the future. They will use detailed psychological profiles to narrow in on their target demographic. This is a scary realization, but the power of the Internet is unstoppable.

Celebrities on Twitter

2009-03-31T18:51:00.001-04:00

For this post, I'll just send you over to my blog, where I incorporated the article Dom brought to our attention into the post: Celebrities on Twitter.

Twitterdee and Tweeterdum

2009-03-31T16:17:00.001-04:00

Twitter is once again in the news. Hollllaaaa

Twitter does it again. This time Twitter outshines the powerhouse social networking site Facebook based on its yearly growth. The CNN story reports that between February '08 and '09, Twitter's users jumped from 475,000 all the way to 7 Million according to Nielsen NetView. That's just one year with a 1,374% increase in users. I can't even imagine what the statitistics will be next February.
Nevertheless, the interesting part of all this is the comparison to Facebook who reached 65.7 millios users, with a growth of 228%. So if my general arithmatic isn't as bad I remember it being, that would put the amount of Facebook users just below 30 million. Considering that in just one year Twitter went from under half a million to 7 million, it seems like Twitter could certainly contend with the amount of users of Facebook in a just a couple of years.

By comparison, Facebook grew 228 percent, to 65.7 million users, during the same period.

saw a 1,374 percent jump in unique visitors between February 2008 and February this year, up to 7 million from only 475,000, according to

come to see HEAT this weekend!

2009-03-31T15:22:00.003-04:00

I have been performing with Expressions Dance Alliance for the four years I have been at Fordham. It is a student run dance group that puts on a performance once a semester. This weekend (April 3rd and 4th) we are putting on our spring show entitled HEAT. It is at 8pm in Collins Auditorium both Friday and Saturday. $3 with Student ID, $8 without. I hope everyone can make it!! The clip below is a preview of one of the Hip Hop pieces I choreographed with another senior. It is the last number in the show and it will definitely get the crowd moving!

April Fools - Conficker

2009-03-31T15:17:00.002-04:00

April Fools is tomorrow and there is quite a bit of news going around about a virus, Conficker, that is expected to attack computers tomorrow.

I found an article on CNN:

How will the April Fools' computer worm affect you?

Take a look. It will be interesting to see whether this supposed attack will be successful or not.

Users Call Skype App For iPhone 'Buggy'

2009-03-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

The Channel Wire

March 31, 2009

Users Call Skype App For iPhone 'Buggy'

The Skype application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch is available in the iTunes store Tuesday, bringing the VoIP capabilities to the Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

According to the iTunes store, the Skype application has already been reviewed 1,376 times and has an average rating of 3.5 stars. Already many of the user reviews written on launch day are negative, with users calling the app 'buggy' and complaining about crashes.

One user, identified as Klaudosky writes in the iTunes store customer review section that the Skype app should be considered a beta release. Reviewer Golalmo also says that the app crashes upon launch, asking "Did anyone at Skype actually try to use this app?"

In addition to crashing at the launch of the app, other users are finding that phone calls placed with Skype aren't lasting long. PatrickPatrick wrote in a review of the application that the duration of calls lasted up to 60 seconds.

"Crashed repeatedly, usually within 30 to 60 seconds of starting. Powered down the phone to see if it made a difference. It didn't. I'll give it a second try next update."

Jasmer tried doing a soft reset after experiencing problems with the Skype App.

"I have done a restore and a soft reset on my iPhone. This still crashes. Over and over and over again. C'mon we waited forever to get this? Please fix it"

Of course, not all users are having a bad experience with the app. MonkSEALPup and Casualfacebooker, among others, don't appear to be having any issues using the application.

ApolloXI urged users to calm down, noting the recent release of the application.

"Give it time. You have to remember that this application came out only but a few hours ago! This is going to happen with any application this big and popular. If [Skype] doesn't send out a patch within a day or two that works, then complain all you want."

According to the iTunes Store, the Skype app is in version 1.0.1.

Skype; The Computer Phone Becomes Available on the Iphone

2009-03-31T14:07:00.003-04:00

The popular Software program known as Skype was unveiled as a free Iphone application today. For those of you who have never used Skype, it is a download-able program which allows a person to use their computer as a phone to call people around the world, or down the street. Not only can a person converse openly through their [built-in] computer mic, but they also can video chat with a person if both computers are equipped with a webcam. Instant messaging is also available through the Skype service.
The program which has a simple interface on a computer has morphed itself to appear much similar to the interfaces of many Iphone Applications. It's Iphone features include the ability to filter contacts by sorting them alphabeitcally or by who is currently online and available to chat.
Skype is predominantly used for keeping in touch with friends or family that currently reside in a different country or far away region. The reason ofcourse being because Skype uses your own internet connection to place a call. The person calling or recieving does not have to pay the hefty chrages incurred for calls placed across the globe.
Personally, I use the program to keep in touch with friends studying abroad, the ability to keep in closer touch with those induviduals through my mobile phone will only further the diminishing digital divide between my peers abroad and myself. I have not yet been able to download the application just yet, for some minor glitch concerning my Itunes account, but this application will undoubtedly be the very next thing I download for my phone.

Twouble with Twitters

2009-03-31T14:06:00.001-04:00

A while back, I was checking my e-mail, and I found a link to a YouTube video that was sent to the Media Ecology Association listserv. The video is called Twouble with Twitters, and is described simply as, "A young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away." And here it is:

Media Ecology Meets Futura (reposted from my blog)

2009-03-31T14:04:00.000-04:00

So, back in August I was interviewed about media ecology for the Brazilian television channel Futura. The interview was videotaped at Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, and it being a beautiful day, we went outside in the late afternoon and sat on a bench and did the interview outdoors.

The interviewer, Tania Menai, a Brazilian native residing in Nova York, asked me questions in English, then asked them again in Portuguese, and I answered in English. Later, the English-language questions were edited out, so that it appears as if Tania is asking the questions in Portuguese, I'm understanding them perfectly, and then responding appropriately, albeit in English. You gotta love when they make you appear to be smarter than you really are! Ah, the magic of editing.

She was especially interested in media ecology, which I was very happy to talk about, and she had a particular interest in Neil Postman's work, which was just great. And we talked quite a bit about new media as well.

The interview was broadcast on November 7, 2008, but it was only recently that Tania got me a recording, and I was able to upload it to YouTube, broken into three parts--the segment in its entirely is about half an hour.

And that's about it. I'll just embed the three videos and leave you to watch it for yourself.

And with that, I will just say, Até logo!

The Television...so 5 minutes ago

2009-03-31T13:50:00.006-04:00

Each and everyday, I go online at least ten times checking my email, Facebook, twitter, CNN.com etc. Without these outlets I would not know what was going on in the world. Without Facebook, I wouldn't have learned that Bernie Mac had died, and without CNN.com I wouldn't be able to keep an update on the ever-evolving economy. However, this lifestyle is quite different from that of my parents or grandparents. My parents get their news through 24 hour networks and other news programs on the television, as do my grandparents. That being said, how can we determine what medium offers "presentation to the masses?"

While generations before me might disagree, I find the Internet to be the more accessible and reliable medium for news and mass information. Unfortunately, studies show that only a minority of the population/world is actually online. How can we account for the millions of people (who seem to be 55+, lower education, lower income, etc.) who do not have immediate access to the Internet? The government has attempted to make big attempts to broaden the usage of the Internet through the implementation of the Digital Divide Summit (1999). The government hopes to push the wide usage of the Internet because they see it as an "economic emergency." In Chapter 10, Dance says that many people think of the Internet as the "major driving force of economic growth." It is unfortunate that the government is typically slow in its push for certain changes in our nation/economy. Especially in a time where we need major economic change, maybe a focus on making Internet a norm in our lifestyles would give the economy the push it needs to get out of this recession.

In my opinion, the Internet has several advantages over television. The Internet is a haven for public thought and opinion. Our society relishes in this outlet for free speech. While some things should be censored, most of the content on the Internet is not. This is both a good thing and bad. But it does help that you can find almost anything on the Internet. I find it especially good that you can surf the web, read the news, and check your email without disrupting commercial breaks. While there are advertisements, they do not take away from the actual content on the web. Unfortunately, advertisers use every aspect of television to sell their products (i.e. product placement), which causes you to question the validity of the content.

In the future, we will come to find that television is dead. In fact, each year, television viewership decreases because everyone watches their shows online. I probably watch about 30 minutes of television a week, but I spend many more hours watching my favorite shows online. While the Internet is rising in numbers, and seems to be more useful in daily life, we must remember that we are faced with a whole new set of issues concerning privacy and publicity. As Rushkoff said, "we cannot let ourselves be fooled into thinking that simply having the right to select our data with the click of a computer mouse instead of a TV remote means we have won the Information Arms Race."

Control of Cyberspace

2009-03-31T13:47:00.005-04:00

The use of Harvard Yard is a perfect analogy for the control of cyberspace. By paving over the newly made paths of the students, they are "in favor of decentralized control by emergent popular habits," which is much like cyberspace. I believe that Michael Benedikt gives the best interpretation of cyberspace, being "a common mental geography, built in turn, by consensus and revolution, canon and experiment." There is no single entity controlling cyberspace, it is controlled by the social interactions of millions of independent individuals. The reason for no single entity controlling cyberspace is because it consists not only of material things but non-material components, such as relationships among individuals and the cybercultural contents of their heads. I believe that no single entity will ever control cyberspace because it is a form of world wide communication where millions of users have some type of say in control. Another great quote is by Douglas Rushkoff who speaks of cybercapitalism-" who's going to own the new electronic frontier?asked the squatter. Who owned the last frontier? replied the cattle baron." This quote goes very well with the question of control over cyberspace because no one has ever controlled cyberspace and no one will ever show control! With that there can be no use of copyright infringement in cyberspace because nothing is tangible. Copyrights can not be controlled because it is on a medium that has infinite information.

Am I the promoter of death?

2009-03-31T12:31:00.002-04:00

All three articles dealt with control of cyberspace and the content on it but the thing that stood out for me was Rushkoff’s article. What he basically says is that major companies are trying (with al lot of success) to turn the Internet into a one way portal where goods/information are given to viewers. By doing this the companies hope to control the distribution outlets from where these goods/information is traded. This, in Rushkoff’s mind is bad news because the Internet is about two way communication and growth. By hindering this part of the Net we are not allowed to evolve.

The above point is very valid and the way he writes is poignantly lyrical, canvassing his opinion in beautiful language. But it made me wonder about my communications major because in many ways, I’m being trained to be the big company he warns about. I learn everyday how to decode the signals and trends going on around me. This skill can be used to ride the waves of the market, influence public opinion and to stop positive change if it was economically beneficial. Aren’t these the alarm bells Rushkoff talks about when he says, “Coercion and influence are simply the pushing of a fixed point of view. In this sense, the coercer is promoting death.”?

On the other, I believe Rushkoff is illuminating the reality of the situation. For those of us who gain the skills to influence, it is our responsibility to become aware of the potential to stop positive change and use these tools for the betterment of all. Rushkoff states, “Because the chief agents of change are interaction and communication, these will be the activities that the enemies of evolution will want to keep in check”. In others words, in order for us to fight for evolution we must utilize the Internet’s ability to interact and communicate.

However, the staple of today’s online world where interaction and communication are utilized is social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs (to mention but a few). Is he implying that we create more sites like these that further interaction and communication? Because if he is, I think it could help fight the Internet from turning into a “shopping mall” but where is the incentive?

On the monetary side there is still a lack of economic incentive for people to create these sites. For example, while blog sites do offer some creative ways to earn income from user popularity, the reality is that only a very small number are able to achieve this. Even for those who do get some money from their blogs, most of the time the earnings pale in comparison to the amount of man hours one puts into a blog. So the question I’m asking is why put thousands of man hours into something that will most likely have a minimal return in monetary value, if any at all?

The immediate response to my own question is that people receive personal value from getting feed back from their blog posts. People feel like they are listened to and enjoy the social environment. However, the only way to fight back agianst the “coercers” is to start sites like facebook where interaction is opened up to huge volumes of users. But from what I hear, facerbook is earning some money from it’s advertisements but this is not yielding a profit margin that major investors are looking for (I could be wrong on this point).

What I am trying to say is that we need big companies to find ways to spur spending on the net and if this means a loss in communication/interaction then so be it. Especially in these hard economic times we need create new ways to spur economic growth. Therefore, companies finding out our habits and utilizing this knowledge is not always a bad thing. So maybe me joining a big company and finding ways to use the communication skills I learned at Fordham to "trick" the public into giving up their cash is alright. In the end, who says there can’t be a balance between big company influence and the communication/interaction that the Internet was built on.

Cyberspace and Control

2009-03-31T12:05:00.004-04:00

The reading for this week focused on who controls cyberspace. Chapter 3 started out with an analogy, comparing cyberspace to the Harvard Yard and then explained how cyberspace, unlike the Harvard Yard, involves more than just physical space. Also, the chapter suggests that cyberspace is divided into two classes, namely, those that value of cyberspace and inherently good, and an end in itself; and those hat see cyberspace as a means to a particular end. Chapter 4 explains the issues of control with cyberspace. With so many users from around the world, how does a person or an entity regulate something like the Internet? How does someone enforce copyright laws in cyberspace? Two possible solutions proposed in this chapter were limited protection combined with a rather extended period of protection, or broaden protection combined with a ore limited period of protection. Cyberspace brings up a concern about the control and freedom. The amended Copyright Act of 1976 explains that, "Copyright protection subsists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression." However, with cyberspace it is difficult to apply and enforce this law it is increasingly difficult to find fixed, predictable, and tangible shapes. The chapter provides four reasons with examples to explain why enforcing copyright laws will be difficult: it is difficult to police who copies what and distinguish whether or not it is authentic, the concepts of originality and authorship are making less sense in the context of digital expression, it will not work for economic reasons, and because the structure of the Internet is constantly changing. Chapter 21 provided anthropological examples and examples from religious history to explain how information campaigns depend on concretizing living myth with fixed data.The chapter explained how when a public relations person describes a group of people as a targeted market removes communication with equals from the equation. Similarly, advertising focused on creating needs rather than fulfilling needs.

yikes...

2009-03-31T11:40:00.002-04:00

So, I admit, I've been a little bit bad when it comes to blogging lately. Buuut, I'm making up for it right now by talking a little bit about last weeks reading along with this one.
An interesting fact I read said that the Internet continues to have an annual growth rate of 124%... wow. If the Internet continues to experience such growth there really is no limit as to where it could end. In fact the textbook also said that "Cyberspace has no known natural limits." I find this to be an extremely interesting idea that kind of connects to what we read about this week about who could possibly control such a giant amount of information. With the history of other innovations of our past eventually being controlled by the government or monopolies, it is very possible for such a thing to happen to the Internet. I don't think that this should be allowed though. Would it even be possible to control something with no range or end in sight? Copyright is one attempt to protect and control different parts of the Internet. The Internet allows anyone in the world with a connection to have a equal voice, meaning that everything we publish becomes a commodity. While I do believe that protection from unfair duplication is a good idea, I think that not everything on the Internet needs to be censored. The government definitely should not regulate the Internet, it was built with few barriers and it should stay that way.
Another interesting concept in last weeks reading was the idea of the Digital Divide. While this weeks reading talked about the possibility of us having to pay for services on the Internet, I thought that this was generally a bad idea. If there is already a digital divide between those with and those without Internet (probably because many cannot afford it), how can we start talking about making people pay for the simple things online? Even if everybody had the Internet, it still wouldn't mean that everyone would use it, it's simply not attractive to everyone... another reason why the Internet would be hard to regulate.
One thing I thought that was actually funny about the reading, and a little criticism I have came from chapter 21 which referenced Melrose Place as a show that young people watch in groups! Melrose Place was a show that was popular during the 90s! I think it's a little strange that we're learning about new social networking and media while reading a book that seems to already be so outdated. Did you know there are talks of a NEW Melrose Place (kind of like the new 90210)? This definitely makes it a little hard to relate to the text book, and I am curious to see what the authors of the chapters would say about their topics nowadays.

Listening to: Eve 6- Think Twice

LivingSocial.com Review

2009-03-26T12:48:00.010-04:00

As usual, during the week I check out sites such as Facebook,LinkdIn and MySpace, along with Twitter. Lately, ever since Facebook undertook some changes, I started to see different "Highlights" on the right side of the Facebook main page. I think that the section is incredibly important for advertising different sites and programs.For instance, I realized that 17 of my friends are part of a site called www.livingsocial.com. I like to look at the site as a Zagat that goes well beyond restaurants and pubs. At LivingSocial, you can keep track of what you like, discover new things to try, and find out what your friends enjoy, all in one place. As described on Facebook to introduce people to it, it's stated that:
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer. As the most comprehensive interest-based online community, LivingSocial is now helping more than 7.5 million users catalogue their interests, seamlessly integrating with Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, hi5, and Orkut.

Maybe I'm wrong but it appears to me that when I signed up for www.livingsocial.com that it's geared towards iPhone users since it automatically asked me to transfer information from an iPhone(which I don't have).Other than that it's basically like a poll for people to take on their favorite movie, beer, etc. and others can view it. Afterall, word-of-mouth is the most effective advertising isn't it?!
----------------------------------

Other than www.livingsocial.com,I've been looking for new music. As usual, I use Pandora which I love because I leave it on when I do not have time to look for music and just do things around the house. But after last class on March 24, I wanted to check out www.last.fm and I love it!!!! It's a wonderful site where you get a lot of feedback from users just like you who share similar music tastes as you. I've come across many international users which I think is an interesting way to communicate with people throughout the world, not to mention being exposed to music I would not typically hear to Z100 or KTU.
----------------------------------
I must add that this class has exposed me to sites I would not have looked for myself. Thanks to everyone for the interesting postings!

That's how I beat Shaq

2009-03-24T15:44:00.001-04:00

I just found this article about celebrity tweeting. Thought I'd share since we talked about it in class several times.

Times Article

TWEETER....

2009-03-24T14:40:00.000-04:00

Tweeter is a Twitter Interface that allows you to post new tweets through Facebook, automatically updates your status whenever you tweet (from anywhere), and view tweets from your Facebook Network.

To get started you'll need a Twitter Account.

Then, go to the settings tab and set your twitter username and password (we DO encrypt and store this information **). Once set, you can post tweets directly through Tweeter.

Soon after setting your username, you'll notice a new follower called "fb_tweeter". That's us, so don't block it!!

This is a fully functional beta release, so please don't hesitate to offer suggestions or bug reports.

Features

Friends Timeline
Lists all tweets from your facebook friends who are also Tweeters. This listing is cached, so it'll still work when Twitter is down - but won't be updated until twitter is working again

Tweeters Timeline
Lists all tweets from all Tweeters. This listing is also cached like the Friends Timeline.

Facebook Profile Links
When Tweeter shows a Tweeter's tweet, it shows their Facebook picture and links to their profile. The same goes for @person's links. If the person is a Tweeter, it will link to their profile. Otherwise, it will link to their Twitter profile.

Post Tweets
If you give your twitter username AND password (which are encrypted and saved in our database **), you can post new tweets directly through Tweeter.

Update Status
Updates your status whenever you Tweet (from anywhere)

Prepend Status
Tweeters can have their status automatically prepended with text of their choosing.

Filter Tweets
Allows you to use regular expressions to filter out tweets you don't want added to your status. Can also use plain words to filter as well.

Reply Page
For any Tweeter's tweet, clicking the "since" date will show the tweet page with a reply form ready for immediate response. (94)

Paging
Can now view the history of Tweeters' tweets. (95)

Twitter Status
If we're having trouble connecting to twitter, we'll show when we made our last successful connection (122)

Facebook Status Change Sends Tweet
(not currently working due to recent changes on Facebook - we hope to have this resolved soon) ***
When a Tweeter manually updates their Facebook Status, Tweeter can send out a new tweet to Twitter (108)

** Note about password storage
Don't worry if you don't like giving out your password. We don't like having to ask. For starters, our settings form submits over a secure connection to our servers and we encrypt the password before storing it in our database. Ideally Twitter will eventually add oAuth or some equivalent so we won't have to do so.

*** Note about latest issues
Facebook Status => Twitter. I personally miss this one as it's one of the reasons I wrote this application in the first place. The new changes to Facebook have included closing access to users' status. I, for one, definitely appreciate everything FB does to protect our privacy, but in this instance they seem to be over-limiting. Obviously there are some of us who WANT our status to be accessed so it can be made public. FB doesn't seem to allow permission to READ a person's status, though oddly enough they offer access to WRITE a person's status.

I've tried to contact the FB people about this through forums and emails and haven't heard much of a way to resolve this. I've left the issue open as I figured it might be resolved during their change-over, which has been active for about 3 months now.

At any rate, I honestly hope both these issues are resolved shortly. I wish it were my own fault, as then my apology would be better given by solving the problem.

Some interesting social networks...

2009-03-24T11:38:00.003-04:00

I came across:

Zorpia.com
The typical social networking website - kind of like MySpace and Facebook - but it has a lot more international users, or so it seems. The one thing I found interesting - was the option for a Royal Membership. If you pay $17.95 then you will be able to: see who viewed your homepage, Ad-free homepage & browsing, Homepage styling w/ javascript, Unlimited messaging, Full access to user profiles, Show/hide online status, Show/hide friend list, Anonymous browsing for 12 months.

Ping.fm
This website allows you to update all of your social networks in one shot. Even though they are in their Beta session, they support at least 30 networking sites.

Eight - Eleven

2009-03-24T11:07:00.005-04:00

Even though I've learned about the origins of the Internet, it was only after the reading for this week that I learned about it in detail. It was interesting to see how ARPAnet and USENET both came about around the same time; what their purpose was and how it eventually became a place for public discussion. A few researchers came together to work on a project for the Department of Defense, the project being ARPAnet. The scientists that were excluded in the ARPAnet project did their own research to create a similar computer network and created USENET. As explained in the text, cyberspace expand as information grows - and has no natural limits. The reading also focused on the Information Superhighway, the name was very popular in 1995. Chapter 9 elaborated on the government's vision for the internet. The Information Infrastructure Task Force Report in 1993 stated:

People could live almost anywhere they wanted, without foregoing opportunities for useful and fulfilling employment, by "telecommuting" to their offices through the electronic highway: The best schools, teachers, and courses would be available to all students, without regard to geography, distances, resources or disability.

However, with all plans there were many questions --> what it would be like? how will people navigate through and socially interact with others? We can start to see some the answers today.
Moreover, the reading mentioned the digital divide and the risks related to the internet. The digital divide section addressed the issues and concerns with making internet available for all, while also mentioning the various channels of communication the internet opened up. The risk chapter talked about children and how to regulate something like the internet. The rating system, RSACi desgined by Donald F. Roberts a communication professor at Standford, was intended to rate video games, but in 1999 more than 100,000 websites were using this standard. As explained in Chapter 11, the web is a medium in its infancy. Just like there were concerns when other forms of media were introduced to the public, people were concerned when the internet started gaining popularity. Nevertheless, parents conrol and set limits on what their children do, and many of them use filtering software to regulate what websites their children can and cannot access.

Fun Times :)

2009-03-24T10:46:00.018-04:00

I thought it might be cool to post about some of the cool things I found on the Net that relate to our class. Ok. Here we go.

1) A site I believe everybody should be checking out is TED. The tag line at the top of the page is "Ideas worth Spreading". The main function of the site is to introduce users to the TED conferences which brings together the best and brightest minds together to talk about innovation and the future. It basically is a place where geniuses talk about their ideas and inventions. The talks range from science, technology, space, design, education.... pretty much anything worth studying about.

To highlight this site, I chose a video that recently came out describing a new type of techonolgy that brings the interactive nature of the computer on the go. If you watch any video, try and watch this.

Think about the possibilities the machine could have when it is further developed. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out TED for hundreds of videos like this.

2) Like I mentioned last class, Vimeo is a fun social media website that allows you to share and upload high res videos. The cool thing that makes it different from youtube is that the community at Vimeo is one of semi professional and professional video artists. This means you get higher quality content if you are into film, graphics or even just entertainment. Here is an example of the videos on Vimeo (it want let me embed the videos so just click the pics):

As you can see, vimeo has videos for those interested in film, entertainment and informative videos. Check it out some time.

3) I love food so here are two sites I recommend for those of you who are interested in cooking.

The first is an open source food site called nibbledish.

Yummy. This is a kind of social network site where users from all over the world can create a profile and upload their own recipes. It became very popular and now has thousands of recipes created by everyday people like you and me. This means that the instructions are clear cut and easy to follow. I just tried the following recipe and oh my GOD! It was amazing (click on image for recipe):

Another site for those of you who are feeling a bit adventurous is maangchi. Because I grew up eating Korean food (my mother is Korean) I have always tried to cook it for myself but failed miserably. At first, I thought it was because I was just a bad cook but realized I just needed clear cut instructions on how to do it. Enter Maangchi's website. Basically, Maanchi's site is a blog slash video diary a Korean mom put up explaining in detail how to make great Korean food. Her instructions are very clear cut and she even explains how and where to buy weird Korean ingredients you will never find in any American shopping center. Here is a recipe of my favorite Korean dish I made the other day (click on image for video recipe):

(oddly enough, the video is hosted on Vimeo)

Alright. Hope you enjoyed the links. Happy Times and two thumbs up :)

Into the Social Matrix (reposted from my blog)

2009-03-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

In previous blog entries, I've mentioned my friend Paull Young, a social media expert working in the public relations field. The first entry came after he spoke to my Interactive Media class at Fordham University a year ago, and it was entitled The Professionalization of Social Networking, and it was followed by Social Media on Social Media. Of course, you will want to review those posts before continuing... Well? Okay, maybe later then.

So, anyway, Paull recently came back to the Bronx to give another talk to this semester's Interactive Media class. Which was great, I might add. And this time, he taped the talk because he was asked to do a video lecture for students at his alma mater, Charles Sturt University in Australia. As he writes on his blog, Young PR, in a post entitled An Introduction to Social Media for Undergrads:

Last week I visited Lance Strate’s class at Fordham University on the same mission, so I took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. While Bathurst and The Bronx have nada in common aside from alliteration, the principles of social media unite PR students around the world.

You can read the entire blog post, it's not very long, by clicking on An Introduction to Social Media for Undergrads and you'll find that it includes the video of the lecture, which Paull posted on Vimeo (an alternative to YouTube that allows for longer videos), but being as always public service-minded, I'll embed that video right here for your convenience:

Paull Young on Social Media from Paull Young on Vimeo.

So, take a little time and enjoy the talk, and the outrageous Aussie accent while you're at it! And while we're on the subject, Time-Warner Cable's local news channel, New York 1 (channel one on local systems in NY and NJ), ran a story on social media that also featured an interview with Paull Young, and his colleague and boss Rob Key (who I met along with Paull last year), from the PR firm called Converseon, Inc., or in Twitter-speak, @converseon. Unfortunately, they won't allow me to embed the video report (how old school, how old media Time-Warner is, and to think that they once were buoyed up by Atari videogames, and later became known as AOL-Time-Warner!!!!). So, I'll just have to give you the link and trust in your good graces to go over to their site and watch the news report: Cleaning Up Your Cyber Image For Employers. There is some text on that site, so I can give you a quote to let you know what it's about:

Learning how to cleanup your online presence is an imporant step in staying ahead of the game when it comes to potential employers. NY1's Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.
Sure it's called MySpace, but nothing about it, or any other social networking site, is really yours. The photos, status updates and videos you post on the World Wide Web are there for the whole wide world to see, and while the whole wide world may not be looking, potential employers are.

"More and more employers are beginning to use Google and are becoming more adept at using social media to help find information about both current employees and potential employees and perspective business partners," said Converseon CEO Rob Key.

Key's company, Converseon, is a social media agency that helps companies manage their online reputation. Key says the first step to cleaning up your cyber-image is to do a Google search.

"Look at Google images, go to YouTube and search for your name there as well, you will be amazed at how many places you may end up that you don't know," said Key.

We then get to the point about how a new medium defines, and redefines who we are, our identity and our selves:

Key says when it comes to the web, job seekers need to see themselves as products being promoted. The more content you create for yourself, the more control you have over the impression you give an employer.

"You can find my blog where I've been writing for several years, you can find my linked in profile which is really my very professional CV online, you can find my Twitter page, you can find my YouTube videos," said Converseon Social Media Strategist Paull Young.

Young says while it's okay to have fun with these sites, his Twitter page announces that he is very handsome and intelligent. He adds it's important to know your audience.

On Twitter today, a number of folks have commented on the description of Paull as "very handsome and intelligent." Leave it at that. Anyway, he goes on to note the breaking down of barriers that is characteristic of all electronic media:

"Your mum could read it, your employer or future employer could read it and your significant other could read it. If all those things are fine, then you shouldn't have any problems," said Young.

But when it comes to the question of what is the role of public relations in the new social media environment, here's the answer:

While accentuating the positive is easy, eliminating the negative can be tricky. Key says you can contact the owner of a site and ask politely that the unflattering material be removed and he says you should take advantage of built in security features that allow you to untag yourself from photos posted by others. This enables you to control your image, rather than letting other people define who you are, a definition that can come back to haunt you.

"When it's digitized, it's there forever so something you do at 18 at a college party may likely be here in 10 or 15 years. It's kind of like that tattoo you got one night and years later you are going to regret that you have it, but it's going to remain there," said Key.

And there you have it. But don't take my word for it, go and get it straight from the horses' mouth. And tell them I sent you!

If Life Were Like Facebook (reposted from my blog)

2009-03-12T15:13:00.000-04:00

What if Facebook interactions were turned into real life interactions? By acting them out, this hilarious skit helps to underline the artificial and obnoxious quality of some aspects of social media, and technologically mediated interactions in general.

Not that I don't want you to friend me on Facebook...

About Facebook (reposted from my blog)

2009-03-12T15:12:00.000-04:00

So, let me start off by saying that I'm not a big fan of Facebook, and I'll tell you why. But first let me acknowledge that the opinions expressed here are my own, and not those of the management of Blog Time Passing...

...wait a minute, wait a minute... I am the management of Blog Time Passing, so this is, in fact, the official position of this blog. But I do recognize that my opinion may not be your opinion, nor am I trying to persuade you to come around to my way of thinking. And I also acknowledge that Facebook appears to be the most popular social networking site right now.

Popularity, of course, implies nothing about quality. Back when videocassette recorders were introduced to the consumer market, there were two competing formats, VHS and Betamax. When I started working as a salesman in a video store in the early days of this new medium, back when I was a graduate student (wonder if anyone remembers Video Shack?), VHS was outselling Beta by two to one, and Beta disappeared within a couple of years. VHS won out, even though Beta was actually the superior format, quality-wise. The same thing has gone on in the home computer industry as, for example, the Commodore Amiga was superior to the early Macintosh computers (both used the Graphic User Interface and a mouse), while Windows is a vastly inferior operating system to the Macintosh OS, but is far and away the best selling, no matter the inroads that Mac has made over the past year or so.

So popularity is not an argument in support of Facebook. But I will also acknowledge that Facebook is the most popular form of computer-mediated communication among my students. They tell me that they check Facebook before looking at their email (if they look at their email at all). They also admit that almost all of their interaction there is with people they already know. Many of them feel creeped out when they get friend requests from strangers.

To be honest, I can't imagine what life will be like for the younger generations who will now remain in touch with everyone they meet forever, through Facebook or whatever media take its place in the future. Previously, transitions such as the move from high school to college, or into a work environment, or geographical relocations, all presented opportunites to more or less start over, and reinvent oneself. Now, we leave a long trail or long tail behind us, one that we can never fully shake. It's total recall! This may be comforting in some ways, but leaves you in the position of growing up in a small town where everyone knows all about you from the day you were born, and in the position then of living in that same small town all your life. This relates to Marshall McLuhan's observation, almost half a century ago, that on account of electronic interdependence we live in a global village.

For those of us not native to this digital environment, for us digital immigrants so to speak, the situation is a bit different. We wind up connecting to people that we have not heard from for many years, not having maintained contact when that would have required actual effort on our parts, along the lines of telephones calls and letter writing. So there is this new drive to reconnect, which has its charms and gratifications, and certainly can rekindle old friendships and relationships, especially if the loss of contact was due to situations and circumstances beyond our control, or at least that we had limited control over. And once contact was lost, it would take extraordinary effort to reconnect, especially if the other person has moved. But renewed contact also can be awkward, and ultimately result in reminding us that there were reasons why we drifted apart in the first place (this is not about anyone in particular, in case any of my old reconnected friends are reading this).

Anyway, what I was getting at is that my students find Facebook to be very much in their comfort zone, as of all the social networks out there, Facebook is about familiar and safe connections, while the other networks are more about, well, networking, meeting new people, expanding your contacts, etc. This is risky, yes, that's the trade-off, as psychologist Abraham Maslow noted long ago, safety vs. growth. We learn the most from people we don't already know. For that matter, network research shows that we gain the most from people we don't know well, for example in job hunting--that's known as the strength of loose ties. And for me, my other social networks, MySpace and Twitter, have provided great oppportunities for meeting new people, for growth and learning and networking, as opposed to Facebook.

Of course, I could pursue a more aggressive strategy of networking on Facebook, but another problem I have with the site is its Terms of Service. Simply put, they claim to own everything you put on Facebook, every word you type, every picture you upload, etc. Now, I question whether this would ever hold up in court, but who wants to have to go to court in the first place? And I question whether they could actually enforce such terms, especially given that this is diametrically opposed to the bias of the medium, which is all about sharing--let the spice and the information flow! But it does have a chilling effect, to use an old legal/policy phrase, and it's offensive on principle.

There was a recent uproar, as you may know, when Facebook changed its Terms of Service to say that they also own everything you put there even if you delete it, or delete your profile, and they also said they own everything you link to. There was so much anger generated by this that a few days later they backed off and reverted to their old Terms of Service, which still says they own everything you put up there, just not forever.

Now, they do say that the ToS doesn't mean what it says, that it means something else, but any good general semanticist will tell you that what counts is what the words say, not any inferences that anyone draws about them. When you assume... well, I try to avoid making an ass out of anyone, especially myself. And furthermore, as any good New Yorker would say, I don't like their attitude.

By the way, speaking of Facebook's Terms of Service, here's a marvelous editorial cartoon by Jeff Koterba of the Omaha World Herald:

Neil Postman would've loved that! He always used to point out how all these gadgets and media, from televison on, were great time wasters.

Anyway, getting back to why I'm not a Facebook fanboy, the thing about Facebook is that it is very clean and orderly, closed and safe, the profiles are very quiet, homogenous, with relatively little room for personalization. MySpace, by way of comparison, is much more open and chaotic, and more in tune with the do-it-yourself ethic of the online world. Profiles are customized, so are blogs, it's all very noisy and creative, full of spam and scams and phishers and the like, and full of creative activity--it's a great place for artists, musicians, poets, etc. Twitter, while minimalistic in certain ways, allows for more personalization that Facebook, and is full of hustle and bustle--it's a great place for intellectuals. Neither one makes any claim to own your words, pictures, or soul.

Facebook is very middleclass, and that's the secret to its popularity. To make an analogy, Facebook is like Fabian whereas MySpace and Twitter are more like Elvis. Or in more recent terms, Facebook is like Vanilla Ice, MySpace and Twitter are like, uh, well, you know, real rappers (if I say Public Enemy or Puff Daddy I know I'm dating myself, I just don't know rap very well, but I know full well the sanitizing process that gives us Ice Ice Baby). Ok, how about this, Facebook is like American Idol, as opposed to real rock stars. Facebook is just so very bourgois! It's whitebread, Twitter is rye, MySpace is pumpernickel. Facebook is the suburbs, MySpace is the wild frontier, Twitter is the big city. I could go on, but I'll stop here and add a bit more in another post. Oh, and do feel free to send me a friend request on Facebook, I don't mind. Or on MySpace. Or follow me on Twitter. And of Blog Time Passing of course!

6 Ways How I let my Twitter work for me

2009-03-12T14:34:00.002-04:00

So I found something kind of like what Emily just posted, except about Twitter instead of blogging. A lot of people in class haven't really been able to get into Twitter and I think it's because a lot of people don't really see what the point is. On Digg (which I've gotten into thanks to Ian) I found this blog: 6 Ways How I Let My Twitter Work for Me It's really interesting and actually really helps. There were some things I never knew about Twitter while using it that I found to be pretty cool. For example, you can find search every link that people have tweet by using something called Tweet Deck. Pretty neat. It also tells you how to get people who have a lot of followers to follow you. Check it out!

Blogging vs. Twitter

2009-03-12T01:53:00.003-04:00

I found this great site Problogger.net. It features a number of blogs that give some great insight and advice about blogging as a hobby or professional career. This article gave pros and cons to Twitter and Blogging and I thought it was very interesting since we have been working with the two mediums so much. Also, the comments are great too. Click here to check it out!

Know Your Medium--Know Yourself (repost from my blog)

2009-03-10T20:20:00.000-04:00

So, this was just a little tidbit that came to me while I was twittering away recently, so let me reiterate:

Know Your Medium

Know Yourself

or maybe I should use archaic language to make it sound better?

Know Thy Medium

Know Thyself

Take your pick, either one works for me. And I suppose I could leave it at that, keep it all oracular and aphoristic and, well, mcluhanesque, but then again maybe it's worth saying a little bit more about what this means.

Let's start with the second part. The admonition to know yourself was said to have been written outside of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, back in ancient Greece. No one's quite sure who first said, perhaps old Socrates himself, or one of the pre-Socratic philosophers and Ionian physicists such as Thales or Heraclitus, or maybe it was that old mathematician Pythagoras. Although the Oracle at Delphi is mentioned in Homer's epic poetry, and no doubt originates in the oral culture of ancient Greece, the addition of these words, and perhaps the Temple itself, is a product of a literate mindset. Indeed, it is not possible to know oneself without a mirror of some sorts. A mirror image allows us to reflect upon and become self-consicous of our looks. A mirror image of one's mind allows the same to happen regarding our thoughts, and this is exactly what writing provides. The written word lets us spill our thoughts out on a physical writing surface, freeze them to view and review, and it is only in this way that you can begin to know your own mind. Without writing, there is little capacity for introspection.

Writing then gives rise to the notion that we might have an individual self, a self that is distinct and separate from any other, not bound up inextricably in one's family and tribe, but a single self like a single cell. You might say that writing gives us a self to know, but having done so, we do not automatically set about knowing that self. To do so requires extra effort, additional consciousness raising.

Most media work in this way, extending and externalizing part of ourselves, as McLuhan makes clear in Understanding Media. Each medium, then, lets us learn a little bit more about ourselves, lets us see a different angle of ourselves. But even more basically, each medium lets us create a different self altogether, and every new medium leads to the creation of a new kind of self.

At this point I should probably invoke the perspective known as symbolic interaction, pioneered by George Herbert Mead, popularized by Erving Goffman. From this point of view, we do not have one true self, but rather many different selves, each one true in its own way. You are a different self, in large part because you play a different role, in different situations, for example, when interacting with parents, or when interacting with friends, or when interacting with lovers, or when interacting with coworkers, or when interacting with teachers, or when interacting with children, etc.

Each and every role we play is a self we create for ourselves, and we are the sum of the roles we play, the sum of the selves we construct. As H. D. Duncan has put it, we have a parliament of selves.

Each situation also involves a different relationship, and to bring in now the relational theory of Paul Watzlawick, our selves are defined in our relationships. They never exist in isolation. I can only play the role of teacher if there are students who will accept me in that role, and play their complementary parts in the relationship. They play an integral part in defining me as my teacher-self.

So, now, each medium is also a situation, as Josh Meyrowitz has argued in No Sense of Place, and each medium is also a relationship, as Kenneth Gergen shows in The Saturated Self. So, for each medium that you interact through, you construct a different and new role and self (albeit one that may be similar to others in your repetoire). When you are working with social media, this is very obvious at the moment you create a profile for yourself, but the process doesn't end after the profile is finished. In fact, it has only just begun. You create your self though your subsequent communication behaviors, as your relate to and interact with others. This connects, then, to my previously posted point that You Are What You Tweet.

So, in order to know which self you are at any given time, you have to know which medium or media you are communicating within. And to fully know that self, you have to know that medium well, to understand its nature, its biases, its impact and its effects--its media ecology, so to speak.

So, if you know your medium, you can also know yourself, or at least know one part of yourself, and that may be more than many people know... and if nothing else, certainly, it's a start!

An Interview About My Blog Time Passing (repost from my blog)

2009-03-10T20:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I was recommended, by my friend Paul Levinson I suspect, for an interview on bloginterviewer.com. So I went over to their website, filled out the online interview, and voila, I've been approved and my interview, complete with link to this website, is listed over there. The URL is http://bloginterviewer.com/television/lance-strates-blog-time-passing-lance-strate in case you were wondering (you were wondering, weren't you?)

So you can click on that hot and hyperlinked URL above, or on this pretty picture below, which they also provide. And like a great many things online, they play the rankings game, so you can actually vote for, or against my blog if you go over there. I know I don't have to tell you what the right thing to do is, of course.

Information Theory and Communication (repost from my blog)

2009-03-10T20:17:00.001-04:00

So, one of my old Fordham students, John Farrelly, recently sent me an e-mail alerting me to a video online on vimeo (similar to youtube), which turned out to be an educational film from 1953 about communication from a distinctly information theory-based perspective. It's by Ray and Charles Eames, entitled A Communication Primer. The subjects covered in the film are topics I always used to cover in my introductory classes (I haven't taught one in a number of years, though).

Communication as a discipline, and Communication Departments as a feature of institutions of higher education are for the most part a product of the postwar era, post-World War II that is, so we're talking late 1940s and beyond--for example, Fordham's communication department was created in 1946, combining radio, journalism, and theater. And information theory and cybernetics, two related concepts coming out of MIT and forming a theoretical framework based on science, mathematics, and engineering, were embraced early on as the basis of a legitimate science of communication. Not quite a paradigm, by the sixties more psychological perspectives were taking hold, especially those rooted in Rogerian/cliented-centered/humanistic therapies.

But information theory and cybernetics remained part of the basic curriculum in communication back when I was an undergraduate major in the 1970s, and for some time after that. However, it seems that their presence was on the decline, and the textbooks that I used did not give them adequate coverage, not at all. Of course, I was able to make up for that in lectures and class discussion, but I have to wonder how much of this tradition has been lost over the years?

I say lost, and it truly is a loss, because this theory group has something important to contribute to our understanding of communication, and to our understanding in general. This material was also part of the basic curriculum for the old media ecology program, even though it was not directly connected to the work of Mumford, Innis, McLuhan, Havelock, Langer, Ong, Ellul, or any of the others--one notable exception being James Beniger's brilliant work, The Control Revolution; also worth mentioning is Jeremy Campbell's Grammatical Man.

Additionally, these ideas informed the work of folks like Gregory Bateson, Paul Watzlawick, Erving Goffman, Edward T. Hall, Ray Birdwhistell, whose work cut across anthropology and psychology--there were collectively known as the Palo Alto group long before Palo Alto became known as Silicon Valley. Relatedly, information theory and cybernetics provides a foundation for systems theory, and the more recent concepts of chaos, complexity, and autopoiesis. Order and chaos are mediated by information. This all goes back to Claude Shannon's information theory, popularized by Warren Weaver, and to Norbert Wiener's cybernetics.

And of course, back when Shannon, Weaver, and Wiener were all coming up with this stuff, there was no such thing as computers. At least, not as we know it. The word computer referred to a person who performs calculations. The first calculating machines were just being developed at the end of the Second World War, and telephone systems were the height of complexity, and had much to do with the origins of information theory. And yet, this was the beginning of digital technology, binary code, and the like. This clearly can be seen in this film.

So, while there is entertainment value in the 1950s era documentary style, really, it's okay to laugh if you feel the urge, there is also something important to be learned about the new media, the digital media, yes, the participatory media, from this film. So, take a look:

I should add that between the time that John brought this video to my attention, and the time I got around to writing this entry, the video was removed from vimeo. Disappointing, to be sure, but I was not prepared to abandon the effort, so I did a google search for "Eames' A Communications Primer" and found it still available on http://www.archive.org/details/communications_primer (and there seems to be an option to download the film on a menu on the lefthand side). Hopefully, this video will still be there by the time you're reading this. If not, well, that's life on the electronic frontier.

CYBERTIME

2009-03-10T13:27:00.002-04:00

The text defines Cybertime as a "computer functioning both as a clock- keeping, measuring, and producing time both for the outside world and its own internal microworld- and as a medium-generating "virtual time" through stories, games, and audiovisual presentation." I do not believe in either of these statements regarding Cybertime, because despite having this "virtual time" in a game or story in virtual reality, the outside world's time does not correspond with this virtual world. To further explain myself I would like to bring up the game World of WarCraft, where there is a similar clock in the game representing your time in this Virtual Reality. Despite having the same time basis as the real world; an hour is 60 actual minutes. The clock does not correspond with the outside world, if your playing for two hours in the game it might be two hours later but it is not two o'clock in the after noon. The only thing I agree with this concept of Cybertime, is based on the relativity between the real world time and cybertime.

Plato's Moose Cave

2009-03-10T12:00:00.003-04:00

After reading all of these different passages on virtual reality, I find it interesting that VR hasn't affect popular culture yet. A lot of these scholars wrote about the uses and concerns of VR in the early 90s and over a decade later it still hasn't really come to fruition. The only thing I can think of that VR really has excelled in is with the medical fields. With the way technology has advanced since the early 90s you would think that VR would have been one of the things to come out it. However, I feel like at this time no one is really interested in creating a virtual world to rival reality.

In my opinion, the other mediums we have now (internet, television, etc) are already turning millions of people into couch potatoes. Society has made it so if you don't want to leave your house, or room for that matter, you don't have to. So if someone is already capable of furthering themselves from "reality," why would they want to go any farther. There are computer programs such as Second-Life, that make it possible to create a character of yourself and dive into other worlds. So this Cave that Plato suggests we live in is already there. People are able to enjoy the shadows with the mediums we already have without VR.

I think that VR hasn't come to fruition yet because there are a lot of restrictions in its capabilities. Like Zettl points out, the motion and movement is limited through hand and head movements from a fixed place. With the Internet, you can move about anywhere in the world now. To have to stay in one area, such as your basement, or even worse a place outside of the home, would be extremely burdensome. I agree when he says, "we watch rather than enter the displayed environment."

Reality: Worst Game Ever

2009-03-10T11:55:00.025-04:00

I can’t help but be reminded of the great film Tron when I think of cyberspace and cybertime. It reminds me of my youth when anything was possible (For those of you who are not familiar with the movie Tron, it is about a guy who gets trapped inside a computer game):

-----------------Click image for link to Tron Trailer---------------

But as I contemplate the innocent fantasies that movies like Tron conjure up, I come to realize reality is less lyricle and more like this :

My point from the above illustrations is that cyberspace can create a cyber-reality, a pseudo-reality in the sense that it tries to imitate our physical world. The problem is that this pseudo-reality can affect time and space, blurring the lines between our physical world and the world of wires. As professor Strate points out, “Immersed in the microworld, time seems to slow down relative to the outside world”. He then goes on to highlight a statement from Rifkin in his 1987 book, Time Wars:

“The really good video game players are able to block out both clock time and their own subjective time and descend completely into the time world of the game…they become victims of a new form of temporal schizophrenia, caught between two distinctly different temporal orientations”.

What Strate is alluding to and Rifkin states is that cyberspace has a different time then our physical world and this difference can have profound affects on our human behavior. I can completely relate to this because one of my friends has had an issue balancing cybertime with everyday time (by this I mean time based on a 24 hour period and the calender). My friend used to play world of war craft online. It was not unusual for me to be over at his apartment at 6 in the evening and come back the next day and see him still on the computer. I would protest that he was spending too much time on a stupid game but he felt like no time had passed at all. The cybertime created by cyberspace warped his sense of time in the physical world. The same thing happens to people who love facebook. They can spend hours browsing facebook and feel like minutes have gone by. This can have negative consequences.

My friend who lived on cybertime, spending it interacting with people via the world of war craft lost valuable human relationships. He became distant from many of his friends and almost lost his girlfriend of over 5 years. And what did he get for all this time spent online? An online game character that is well known around the globe and pseudo friendships with people he has never even met face to face (I call these friendships pseudo because none of them embody the characteristics of a true friendship which entails sacrifice, patience, loyalty etc.).

For the people who spend too much cybertime interacting with people on facebook, there is a real possibility that they will prefer this form of interaction over face to face communication. This in my opinion can be corrosive to the human experience of friendship because they lose out on the intimacy that physical interaction embodies. There is also a tendency for online communication to be short and to the point. This kind of communication is great for simple interaction but deep friendships are built on more. They need time, patience, comprehension and more then just a few words.

Disclaimer: When I talk about the negative affects of cyberspace and cybertime I have been referring to extreme cases. These are people who might already have some social “defect” prior to there engagement with the online world. All cyberspace does is help nourish this “defect”. There are plenty of people who manage there cybertime appropriately and build long lasting friendships via the web. What I am saying is more of a warning to keep things in equilibrium. Professor Strate says it best:

“We need not lose touch with the one-dimensional, but instead can use it (cybertime) as an anchor to a more stable and coherent sense of time. What is needed is a balance…”

Denver Business Journal Article

2009-03-10T11:03:00.002-04:00

I found something interesting about social networking and how its overtaking email....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 8:02am MDT

Study: Social networks overtake e-mail

Denver Business Journal - by Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Propelled by the growth of Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., social networks are now more popular than e-mailing on the Internet, according to a Nielsen study.

Nielsen said "member communities" are now at 67 percent participation while e-mail is at 65 percent.

The study found that of Internet users throughout the world, two-thirds visited a social networking site last year. Of those, Facebook is the leader, with visits every month by three of every 10 Internet users, the Nielsen study reports.

In fact, Facebook had a 168 percent increase in users, the study said, while LinkedIn had a 137 percent increase.

The biggest growth spurt for Facebook has been in the category of users from 35 to 49 years of age.

Cybertime

2009-03-10T10:25:00.004-04:00

This week's reading focused on the concept of cybertime. It was quite an eye opener because up until now I did not really think of the concept of time in relation to computers or virtual reality. Time is something distinct from computers, but as this reading explains, computer also have a sense of time. Real time is characterized as being relative, formed by physical pace, continuous, infinitely divisible, tied to the rhythms of nature and human perception, monochronic, and refers to the time of the physical universe and human perception, but also to the interface between computer's present and the present physical world. On the contrary, cybertime is absolute and independent of the microworld, digital, atomistic, quicktime, based on hyperspeed, polychronic, and encompasses real time as one of its temporal modes. With cybertime a computer can be performing several functions at the same time. Additionally, there is a need for everything to be instantaneous. Computers measure time to mili and nanoseconds and this influences people to expect everything immediately. The reading suggests that we may find ourselves living in "global time," because of the speed at which information can be transferred.
Along with the notion of time, there is also the concept of space in computers. Hypertext is multidimensional and thus allows the reader to navitage through space. The hypertexual network of links represents different moments in time. Computers allow the stimulation and experimentation with the concept of multidimensional time. Computers examine everything through a binary code of zero's and one's and does not have a dimension. As Norbert Wiener explains, the ultimate goal is to reduce the degrees of freedom of zero. In a microworld people can easily move from one dimension to another, making it metadimensional.
Computers also allow us to store information, and change the notion of history. We can keep records of everything from credit card payments to parking tickets, and pull up these records years later - computers change the concept of storing information and its retrieval. This also raises a concern amongst people about leaving an electronic trail. Additionally, computers models can help predict the future, and in some cases this can be a bad thing. The example mentioned in the reading was if a computer projected a stock market crash, investors may easily become nervous enough to make it happen. This is one of the drawbacks of computer prediction, because it may result in self fulfilling prophecies.
Communication via the internet even occurs in the past. For example, the emails we receive are sent in the past but there is a notion of communicating in the present. In cybertime the lines distinguishing time as part of the past, present or future, tend to blur. Some suggest the computer space is a dream or mythical space wherein which our second self dwells. The computer can alter our sense of community by creating a form of liquid tribalism, allowing people to join and leave online communities are frequently as they would like.

The other reading explained cyberspace to be a collective concept, and defined as the diverse experiences of space associated with computing and related technologies. Cyberspace has several orders of space including Cybermedia Space (aesthetic, informational, interactive), Physical, Conceptual, Perceptual, Paraspace, and Spacetime. These are the different orders of space, most of which people overlook. I think this reading was particularly interesting because it emphasized the different types of space computer mediated communication involves -- often times we do not even think about space in this way.

Twitter-mania

2009-03-05T13:22:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to update my twitter more often and in doing so I've learned about TwitPic and Qik. TwitPic allows you to upload a photo and share it on Twitter. Qik is a website specifically created for mobile video. Twitter is a very popular application for iPhones, Blackberrys and other smart phones that are able to access the Internet. It is easy to upload a video onto Qik and share it on Twitter, in the same fashion that you would share a picture through TwitPic.

In Living Color

2009-03-05T12:56:00.006-05:00

More than ever, the Internet is attempting to create a “virtual reality” experience: from simply interacting with someone instantaneously through AIM or a social networking site, to Second Life. Second Life allows people to create an avatar and live, virtually, a second life. While some avatars represent the user and both their physical looks and their lifestyle, the site is actually created so people can live a life they only dreamed of. MTVs “True Life” featured a girl was extremely shy but wanted to be a singer. She used Second Life to put on concerts and gatherings so that she could perform without seeing a “real” audience and getting nervous.

The Internet has yet to offer a virtual reality experience (incorporating all five senses) on a fully public level. However, some have pushed for Digital Scent Technology, which:

“intends to change the interactive entertainment experience. The idea is to scent-enable movies, games, music, animation, or any digital media. Create a more immersive and captivating environment for your audience. Smell reaches out into a new, visceral dimension, transporting viewers, gamers, and music fans into the realm of the senses. Atmosphere, mood, emotion and characters can all be enhanced with scent.” (Learn more about this by clicking here)

I think this is an amazing invention and should be incorporated into computers, game systems, and televisions for daily use. I think that the additional sensation of smell would help advertisers attract costumers. Advertisers already attempt to draw in customers using sight and sound stimulation. Adding scent to a commercial, especially for food would certainly draw in more consumers.

Plato's cave, VR, and South Park

2009-03-03T13:14:00.002-05:00

I believe that Plato's cave could be used for all situations and all new technologies, even though that his theory goes so well with Virtual Reality. I am very intrigued by Zeitl's claim of "as prisoners in Plato's cave, we willingly restrict our vision by putting on a helmet that displays only a world of shadow." This is so true! I know even now with basic video games that peoples lives are entirely wrapped up in video games. Look at World of War Craft where thousands of people's lives are entirely taken up in the game, there is even a currency that you can buy on ebay to give your online character more experience. This is the epitemy of Plato's cave, where people sit at there computer for endless hours making a virtual reality character stronger and bigger while there real lives are at a standstill. The best depiction of people living in VR is South Park's episode Make Love not WarCraft

VR and us

2009-03-03T12:50:00.002-05:00

Today’s readings covered virtual reality. In particular, Bolter talks about the notion that VR is different from text because it allows us to “experience the world as others do, not to retire from the distractions of the world to discover oneself as a thinking agent”. VR allows us to experience through “identification and empathy” what other people go through. As technology rapidly advances, the lines will blur between the differences in a VR world vs. the real world. When this is possible, our ability to legitimately say, “we walked a mile in another mans shoes” becomes reality. The implications this could have on mutual understanding and prosperity are limitless.

There are also practical, real world applications for VR. Zettl mentions the ability VR has in training pilots or medical students. This technique will enable users to learn unhindered from the worries that come with real world consequences.

The idea that we can escape real world consequences brings up a possible important drawback of virtual reality: Could the lack of responsibility that accompanies the VR realm bleed over into the real world? Some argue that spending to much time in a world without repercussions to actions could cause some users to take this habit into there everyday practices.

This is a debate that has been going on in the videogame industry for years. Numerous lawsuits have appeared that attack creators of videogames, accusing them as the cause behind select youth behavior. Although they claim this link, few if any lawsuits have ever been decided in the favor of the plaintiff simply because there is no conclusive evidence that videogames cause violence. But as technology advances and blurs the lines between reality and pseudo reality, will these lawsuits begin to have relevance? Will the reality experienced in the VR realm be so authentic that users will not be able to tell the difference from what is real and what is not? Time will only tell but if technology continues to advance at the rate it is now, we will all found out soon enough.

Not a fan of Virtual Reality...

2009-03-03T11:36:00.003-05:00

I know virtual reality video games have existed in some form for a while now, but I can't wait to see what kind of games will come out in the future. I can see it now, a virtual reality gaming system with all games in 3D. An interesting idea from Larson is that, "The medium will make "time fly" because it captivates its interactants by involving all five sense allowing the audience to engage in "Virtual participation."' This will, in a sense, create an entire other life. By losing track of time in some kind of VR, it will be as if our real lives are put on pause for our virtual ones. The problem is though, you can't pause real life! If there were some kind of system that was similar to real life, I feel as if it would be much easier to get sucked in than the video games of today. VR also calls our concept of authenticity into question. With a life of fake decisions to make without any real consequences, I can't help to wonder what that would do to real life. In VR you are engaged in all five of the senses but with a computer. This must change the relationships you have with the people and objects in your actual life. Another issue with VR is that you could learn things that might be harmful to society. For example, if VR eventually became some kind of a video game system there would be shooting and killing games (like all systems). With the sense of such reality in VR, wouldn't this be like teaching someone how to kill? Maybe VR should stick to helping people to learn things, or games like flying a plane instead of replacing our face-to-face interactions with each other.
Part of learning in life is making decisions on your own and facing the consequences that comes with these decisions. It's part of growing up! By replacing these experiences with a computer screen it will be really hard to learn anything in life. While I do love video games, I enjoy the experiences of real life more and would not give them up for an illusion that could possibly take away my individuality.

Virtual Reality and Text

2009-03-03T09:34:00.006-05:00

The reading for this week focused on different aspects of virtual reality. Chapter 7 specifically focuses on text in multimedia, internet, and the redefinition of the self. Most of virtual reality consists of graphics and a very limited amount of text. According to Bolter, "this new technology of representation is playing a role in the redefinition of self: It reenforces other popular and elite pressures to replace the autonomous ego as a cultural ideal." Moreover, the computer disrupts and destabilizes linear text, which has also been a feature of art throughout the 20th century (Bolter). Bolter explains that the media are means of representation and self-presentation. Thus, they call for a redefinition of the self.
With electronic technology there are two mediums of presentation and representation, namely, writing and visualization. While text in a book is stable and has one voice, electronic writing is unstable and polyvocal. More than one person can comment on electronic writing and make changes as often as he or she would like, Wikipedia is a prime example of this. Virtual reality, uses illusion to convince the viewer that he or she is occupying the same visual space as the objects in view (Bolter). However, virtual reality gives the viewer control of his or her own spatial perspective. VR gives the viewer more power in that the viewer becomes the director, the viewer can choose which direction he or she wants to explore the virtual space. When one goes to watch a movie, you watch the movie from the perspective it was filmed. With virtual reality, the viewer has the ability to pick the direction and perspective to examine the virtual space with. This enables the viewer to learn about different perspectives.
Essentially, one is experiencing the world as others do. The virtual self denies its own identity, and its separateness from others and the world. People learn through identification and empathy.

Virtual reality has the ability to provide people with different perspectives, and learn through identification and empathy. People are active participants of what is going on in the virtual space, and they can choose whichever direction they want to go in. Virtual reality, can be a powerful learning tool, if used in the right way. Hypothetically speaking if medical students used virtual reality to practice their surgeries and procedures on, they would be able to experience the consequences of their actions, without actually harming someone if something did go wrong.

The other two chapters analyzed virtual reality in different ways. Chapter 5 mentioned three dimensional representation, motion and sound, and explained how virtual reality displays use these elements to enhance the presentation of virtual space. Additionally, this chapter explained some of the concerns with virtual reality, including extreme human behavior, lack of accountability, and the question of escaping our environment. Chapter 6 describes virtual reality as the ultimate in intrapersonal communication, and thus capable of further driving Western humanity further inward. The virtual scene allows a person to be on the inside looking around, rather than being on the outside looking in. With virtual reality, the person must decide to look one way or another, and his or her actions determine the potential and subsequent paths ot follow. One concern mentioned is that people begin to think that the drama in virtual reality is drama that resembles life. The distinction between fantasy and reality becomes blurred as participants engage in virtual reality.

Social Networking & Children

2009-03-02T21:24:00.006-05:00

At one time or another during our lives, someone has told us that engaging in media (be it television, internet etc) is bad. I found an article about social networking and children from The Washington Post so I thought I'd share. Lacy argues that social networking, involves an extension of one's real identity, instead of creating an identity - and so it may be good for children.

Why Social Networks Are Good for the Kids

Sarah Lacy

TechCrunch.com
Tuesday, February 24, 2009; 7:05 AM

The other day I asked somewhat tongue-in-cheek whether Tom Friedman had ever visited Silicon Valley. Today, I'm wondering if Lady Greenfield has ever used a social networking site.

The professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln College, Oxford and the director of the Royal Institution has the United Kingdom up in a tizzy about the idea that Facebook, Bebo and Twitter are warping their children's minds.

She warned that social networking sites are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilized, characterized by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize and a shaky sense of identity.

I'm not a psychologist, nor am I a parent, so let me start by saying she might be right that these sites are harmful in some cognitive way. But I think she's wrong to assume social networking is devoid of a cohesive narrative and long-term significance. I can see where she's coming from, but like a lot of people who don't actually use these sites, she's missing a fundamental shift from Web 1.0 chat room days to Web 2.0 social networks: Real identity.

We no longer go to the Internet to interact with some shadowy user name where we pretend to be someone we're not. Ok, maybe people on Second Life do. But sites like Facebook and Twitter are more about extending your real identity and relationships online. That's what makes them so addictive: The little endorphin rushes from reconnecting with an old friend, the ability to passively stay in touch with people you care about but don't have the time to call everyday.

Facebook makes me a more considerate friend because I now remember people's birthdays. Over Geni, I stay in touch with my niece who I used to see once a year, but is now helping me map out our family tree. Via Twitter, my parents and in-laws know everything happening in my life so that when I call home, we have substantive conversations, not the awkward, So,..whatcha been up to?? variety. In dozens of cases, these sites have made my real human relationships longer lasting and more substantive. They have actually given me a longer narrative, because it has rekindled friendships with dozens of people with whom I'd lost touch.

Greenfield may well have a point when she argues that the young brain can't handle over-stimulation of fast action and reaction. But isn't that the same argument we've been making about all technology and entertainment for decades now? Indeed, I'm of the MTV generation and all those fast cuts and blaring sounds were supposed to warp my brain long ago. (I know some TechCrunch commenters who would argue it has) Everything has a trade off, and I'd argue the benefits in communications, education and collaboration of the Web far outweigh the negatives, and indeed give us greater benefits than we get from TV or Guitar Hero.

I do share one concern with her: Whether over saturation online leads to a lack of empathy. This is something that is being debated throughout the blogosphere right now. As we all become public personas in our own sphere we're increasingly subject to the same abuse, scrutiny and haters that actual celebrities have to deal with. Such anonymous venom is, after all, why you are reading a post from me on TechCrunch right now.

But I'm hopeful that the direction social networking is headed in is the answer to this, not the problem. As more of our social graphs move online, via Twitter or Facebook, the more the same social pressures of the real world come to bear. Compare anonymous YouTube comments with Twitter comments. Generally, Twitter is more kind and substantive, especially among users who Twitter under their real names. Now compare that to comments on Facebook. Almost all of the comments on someone's photo, video, status are supportive and empathetic, because the site has mimicked real world relationships and with that real world pressures.

My thoughts:

The last part that Lacy mentions - about comments being empathetic - is an important one. Since these websites reflect real world relationships and pressures - it may seem to enhance and improve a child's development. Even though some may argue that social networking websites may lead to less empathy - i think it depends more so on the type of social networking website. Facebook and Twitter use real names - and users comment on each others pictures, videos, and notes - extending the real world connection. While some may see this as a good thing, many argue that over saturation will lead to a lack of empathy. Ultimately, it depends on the user. People use social networking websites to connect with old friends, promote their company, or just make new friends. The purposes for which people use social networking websites will determine whether or not they are benefitting from this type of interaction with others.

Hypertext: the convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology

2009-02-24T16:10:00.001-05:00

Roland Barthes describes an ideal textuality that precisely matches that which has come to be called computer hypertext -- text composed of blocks of words (or images) linked electronically by multiple paths, chains, or trails in an open-ended, perpetually unfinished textuality described by the terms link, node, network, web , and path: "In this ideal text," says Barthes,

the networks [réseaux ] are many and interact, without any one of them being able to surpass the rest; this text is a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can reach, they are indeterminable . . . ; the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language" (emphasis in original; 5-6 [English translation]; 11-12 [French]).

Like Barthes, Michel Foucault conceives of text in terms of network and links. In The Archeology of Knowledge , he points out that the "frontiers of a book are never clear-cut," because "it is caught up in a system of references to other books, other texts, other sentences: it is a node within a network . . . [a] network of references" (23).

Like almost all structuralists and poststructuralists, Barthes and Foucault describe text, the world of letters, and the power and status relations they involve in terms shared by the field of computer hypertext. Hypertext , a term coined by Theodor H. Nelson in the 1960s, refers also to a form of electronic text, a radically new information technology, and a mode of publication. "By 'hypertext,' " Nelson explains, "I mean non-sequential writing -- text that branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an interactive screen. As popularly conceived, this is a series of text chunks connected by links which offer the reader different pathways" (0/2). Hypertext, as the term is used in this work, denotes text composed of blocks of text -- what Barthes terms a lexia -- and the electronic links that join them. Hypermedia simply extends the notion of the text in hypertext by including visual information, sound, animation, and other forms of data. Since hypertext, which links one passage of verbal discourse to images, maps, diagrams, and sound as easily as to another verbal passage, expands the notion of text beyond the solely verbal, I do not distinguish between hypertext and hypermedia. Hypertext denotes an information medium that links verbal and nonverbal information. In this network, I shall use the terms hypermedia and hypertext interchangeably. Electronic links connect lexias "external" to a work -- say, commentary on it by another author or parallel or contrasting texts -- as well as within it and thereby create text that is experienced as nonlinear, or, more properly, as multilinear or multisequential. Although conventional reading habits apply within each lexia, once one leaves the shadowy bounds of any text unit, new rules and new experience apply.

WHAT IS HYPERTEXT??????

2009-02-24T16:08:00.001-05:00

Hypertext is text which is not constrained to be linear.

Hypertext is text which contains links to other texts. The term was coined by Ted Nelson around 1965 (see History ).

HyperMedia is a term used for hypertext which is not constrained to be text: it can include graphics, video and sound , for example. Apparently Ted Nelson was the first to use this term too.

Hypertext and HyperMedia are concepts, not products.

Hypertext and my online habits in the past two weeks

2009-02-24T13:46:00.003-05:00

Hypertext is "a characteristic product of the late age of print, (and) it is deeply ambiguous." And like "Roland Barthes's notion of text- a dynamic network of ideas, indefinite in its boundaries and mutable over time." Unlike textbooks, hypertext gives a new age of print where there can be numerous web pages posted to a hypertext. Each web page within the hypertext can show you seperate ideas given by the author, through the use of different websites. Not only can each hypertext have many ideas and pages posted within it, but as Roland Barthes's talks about it can be changed throughout time. Where as a textbook can change its text through a series of new editing and publishing, hypertext only needs a push of a button to be changed.

Despite having this mass information within the internet there are many downfalls. My main downfall, that many of my classmates have posted on, is based on the person reading a hypertext and there level of procrastination. With a textbook you don't have many distractions except for the outside world, while with hypertext the internet is a distraction. By having everything and anything online, it is hard not to browse on ebay or music websites before reading an assignment online.

During the past few weeks I have found two new blogging sites I have never seen before. One of these sites is Zooped.com, very similar to myspace where people can sign up a have there own profile pages where they can acquire friends or look for people to follow them. The main difference for me is that the news feed is much more in depth and that zooped.com is a social network specifically used for business, music and personal BLOGGING. its all about blogging

Then I found a site that I fell in love with and I have been using everyday since I joined the site. Its called hypem.com, this site follows all music blogs around the web and based on a certain set of criteria posts the best songs written about on these different sets of blogs. I have already found a lot of music I have never heard of and now im really into it.

Just joined flickr and I love it!!

2009-02-24T11:35:00.015-05:00

I just joined this new site most you probably already heard of called Flickr.com. Flickr is an interactive social network connected via the love and passion of photography. What is great about this site is that you can upload a certain a mount of pictures for free and share them with friends all across the world.

Now I know what you are thinking; facebook can do this as well. This is true, but the great thing about flickr is that nearly everything on their website is covered under the creative commons licensing. This type of copyright has multiple variations to it but put simply, the user has the option to put his/her content on Flickr for everyone to use and share. This means you can upload and use it without infringing on copyright law. The crazy thing is that all of people on flickr do choose to put their content up for everyone to use and the majority of the photos on Flickr are AMAZING!!

What does this mean? Because I work in a video production company we are always in need of a great image for a green screen backdrop or for a promo video we might do for a company. In the past, we always were in fear of breaking copyright law by using someone’s photo without authorization. But now with Flicker, you can check under each photo and see what type of CC (Creative Commons license) they have and make sure you are not in violation of copyright infringement. This makes my job a whole lot easier.

Flickr is also great because it is a vast community of people who love photography and will take the time to comment on your work. This is a great way to network with other people and also to get feedback and critiques on your art. Cool stuff.

Ok. Flickr is great. Check it out. It has some really amazing photos some of which I have posted below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Does online reading "spoil" us?

2009-02-24T11:33:00.001-05:00

The way we communicate via written word has evolved. Just like a species that is at the mercy of its environment, so too is text. With the advent of the Internet, written words were thrust into a new environment and the old characteristics that helped it survive in the past were cast away. The survivors left over adapted new ways to deal with this environment and through the process of elimination emerged a new form of an old communication.

One of these new adapted forms of text is hypertext. This type of written word has changed so much, it might even be called a new species of written word. Gibson writes, “Hypertext is not simply more text, or text arranged differently. It is qualitatively different from traditional text and engages us in qualitatively different activities”. For instance, through every hyper link one can not only engage in text but also a plethora of media. One could click on the word “Obama Inauguration” in Wikipedia and be sent to a video of his speech the day he gave it. This creates an entirely different form of communication.

But what does it all mean? Being able to have a vast source of information at the click of a button allows users to browse through an immense amount of information without ever having to leave the comfort of their PC. This information is also available in different media forms that give multiple dimensions to the learning experience. Video, photos and sound create an almost 3D learning environment impossible to replicate in book form.

But above beyond this, the name of the game is speed. We expect all of this information fast and efficiently because of the nature of hypertext. Its very structure promotes speed because knowledge is but a mouse click away. This type of learning experience can be beneficial, but I argue it also has its drawbacks.

Growing up in a generation immersed in online writing and hypertext, I find that we sometimes tend to be “spoiled” with the ease of online reading. Because the hyperlink is always available, we become less patient and are easily distracted, wondering through a vast amount of information without paying much attention to it. This creates in us distaste for anything online that isn’t quick and easy. Paglia writes, “Online articles that sustain reader attention beyond the first page are those… that take the telegraph as their ancestor. Simplification and acceleration are the principles”. This “simplification and acceleration” trains us to intake only the information that is fast and easy. If it is too complex or long, we click back or on another link to satisfy our desire for something less daunting. This form of information intake makes the thought of reading an entire novel sluggish and boring. We therefore intake bit-sized information packets rather then gain a deeper understanding about what we read.

This begs the question, “Is this a good thing”? Although it is hard to make judgments about something that is new and still evolving, I would say the benefits outweigh the cons. Even though reading has spoiled us I do think the availability of such a vast amount of text is overwhelmingly going to help humanity rather then harm it. People are not all “spoiled” when it comes to online reading and for those who still have the proclivity to take in information with patients; online reading becomes a gold mine. Overall, text online opens up a vast amount of possibilities that was previously unavailable and the question of consequence will have to wait until its affects begin to show more clearly.

customized social networking

2009-02-24T11:20:00.002-05:00

Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are more general, these few websites are based on common interests:

anobii
this site is especially for booklovers. Once registered you can create your own bookshelf, take a peek at what other people have on their bookshevles, and also write comments about the books

italki
this site is for people interested in learning a foreign language. you can choose to teach or to learn and connect with people who are also trying to learn a different language

couchsurfing
from their website: CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding.

Traditional vs. Hypertext Classroom

2009-02-24T10:58:00.004-05:00

The reading for this week focused on the differences between traditional and hypertext classrooms. Traditional textbook classrooms involve learning through reading a particular text. As mentioned by Gibson, scholars read textbooks to engage in a debate about the information presented, whereas students primarily read textbooks to gain entry into that discipline. Moreover, while the textbooks provides valuable information to the student, the textbook to an extent is authoritative. Thus, traditional classrooms are not very interactive. Generally, communication is one way, flowing from professor to student. Additionally, some textbooks do not encourage self reflection. On the other hand, hypertext allows students to read material, comment on it and even take it a step further by encouraging students to come to their own conclusions about the topic. Hypertext often includes primary sources, providing students a first hand experience of the information, and thus leaving room for self interpretation. According to Gibson, many students may not seem interested in conducting further research to answer their questions, but when a body of literature is at their fingertips, students may readily explore the material. Hypertext connects the material, links to other texts, commentary, criticism, and even to other disciplines, giving the students a variety of options to supplement their learning with.

This class is an example of learning through hypertext. The class blog provides everyone a chance to voice their opinions and thoughts about the reading, while leaving room for comments. Everyone has a different way of examining the reading, and thus blogs about something they found important. The interactivity of this class allows everyone to learn from each other. Moreover, everyone also writes about different social networking websites they come across. As a result, everyone else can explore these websites and draw their own conclusions about them. Even though the last section of the reading explains that it is too early to draw conclusions about the hypertext classroom, by participating in a class that provides us this opportunity, we can better understand how the reading applies to our everyday lives.

The Internet and My Experience--a learning device or a wicked distraction?

2009-02-23T19:59:00.002-05:00

Is the Internet a learning device or is it a wicked distraction? I believe this has been debated for quite some time and I feel I should share my opinion with you fellow moose and to everyone else out there in cyberspace!

Ever since I’ve been going to school, computers have been in or around the classrooms. Computers and the Internet have played a key role in my life, and yes, I know, that may sound sad, but it really is not. I first began to use the Internet when I was in 3^rd to 4^th grade; our teachers used to show us educational programs and fun applications that we slowly, but surely became addicted to. It was something new! We were always excited to be able to go in to the computer lab and play around, but it is not like how it is today. The Internet as you all know now is not new. It now plays an integral part in almost every child’s life. The younger generation (pre-teens and early teenagers) is now raised on the Internet. Children as young as 10 and 12 years old have Myspace’s and update them daily. They use the Internet in school to learn, but when they get home (in most cases), it is used as a social networking device. How is it in the classroom nowadays though? I know I bring my computer to mostly every class I have, depending on the teacher’s preference, but I use it to ultimately take notes. Yes, I know I do go on the Internet and fool around, but I use it mainly for the classes I take. I know that is not always the case for everybody though. This is why a tremendous amount of teachers are upset with their students who use computers in class. They feel that the students are not paying attention to them, and who’s to say they are actually wrong. Both parties (students/teachers) have rights to do what they want, so there really is no one to blame, but what we do on the Internet outside of class is where the real controversy begins.

People use the Internet to learn things! Yes, it’s true despite what some believe! From watching tutorial-videos on websites to reading informational blogs, people are learning through the Internet everyday. The Internet, to me, is an endless source of information that never runs out of memory. Why would we, as students and regular people, not use this tool to it’s fullest potential. Of course there are people who only use the Internet for nonsense, but it is a place for everyone and anyone who needs information and even comfort from socializing! The Internet can be both a learning tool and a distraction, and who is to say either or is bad? Sometimes we need to learn and sometimes we need to be distracted! In my opinion, you can only judge whether the Internet is good or bad in certain situations. I’d say the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to the Internet acting as a learning tool, but I do agree it can act as a distraction as well. We just need to use it correctly in order to see it in the right light.

So far, over the course of this class, I have been joining different social networks, but I am looking to do more with the Internet because of it. I may be starting up a social networking/Live-stream Broadcasting network site for musicians with a few of my friends. I will let you know as more develops, but I really want to see how far we as social moose and as new age “cyborgs” [haha] can take it. Be well my fellow moose, and I will see you all on cyberspace…

the Internet and learning

2009-02-23T17:48:00.003-05:00

According to Paglia, "The computer has literally reshaped the brain of those who grew up with it, just as television and rock music reshaped the brains of my baby-boom generation..." I 100% agree with this statement. We grew up with computers and now they are more important than ever... important enough for a class about them! Every part of our future is going to be effected by the technology that we embrace and develop. If the Web is ever-expanding then by the time we're 30 it is hard to imagine what could be possible. It can literally hold a never ending amount of information about anything and everything. This means that we have knowledge at the palm of our hands. With one click of a mouse we can learn about anything we want. This convergence of the Internet as an Encyclopedia can truly bring together anybody with a computer. Anything we are interested in learning about can also be discussed with people all around the world. We can get the perspective of a colleague, friend, professor, someone from another country, anyone with Internet access, etc.
With the vast amount of information that the Internet holds, it only makes sense for it to be used more and more in classrooms around the world. With hypertext linking one to many different sites about the same information anything can be covered. Gibson suggests, "It contains more, covering the ground that could be covered by hundreds of books in a single hypermedia package." Students no longer have to go to the library and look through many different books looking for specific information. We can now just type something into a search engine and find information a million times easier. Of course there is always the question of figuring out if a website is legitimate. In my Digital Media and Cyberculture class we learned that there are five different criteria for evaluating websites. You have to look for: accuracy, authority, coverage, currency, and objectivity.
Gibson also goes into detail the idea of the Internet vs. traditional textbooks. I believe that this is a tricky discussion. While the benefits of using the Internet in the classroom can be obvious, there are also many negative effects. Without a normal textbook filled with simple words on a page, I think that it is more difficult for students to soak in the information that they need to know. Even though textbooks don't engage students in self-reflection and are not always given an opportunity to question what they are reading, it is much easier to concentrate on a textbook. I definitely think when I am highlighting something it gives me more of a reason to try to understand what I am reading. When it comes to the Internet, distraction and procrastination is a lot easier. In fact, just before writing this entry or whenever I struggle to think of what I want to write next, I'll head over to Facebook. Sometimes I'll be on for just a minute, other times I'll just get sucked in and could be on for as long as half an hour! I also feel as if it is so much harder to read something online. If I have a big reading assignment on E-Res I'll always print it out because I feel as if I need control over what I read.
There of course are benefits to hypertexts as well. Users are able to become authors and linkers. They can respond to the text and question the author by becoming authors themselves. For the first time, students can have some sense of control in the classroom. Who knows how the classroom will change once we graduate, but I'm sure it will definitely be geared more towards the Internet.

Listening to: The Beatles- Penny Lane

2009-02-23T13:36:00.003-05:00

As i was reading the reading for class, i came across the name Jay David Bolter. just thinking about it, text has taken a road for change over the last few years. no longer do people have to wait for newspapers to come out in the morning about news that happened the previous day. If need be, you can read about it online, on webzines for example, which publish information and stories constantly.

HYPERTEXT>>>

2009-02-23T13:26:00.003-05:00

"Web 2.0" Continued

2009-02-17T23:49:00.010-05:00

Although this is in response to my article from NY1 News about Web 2.0, I want to dedicate a post to what I have Stumbled Upon. After reading the article on NY1, on the bottom of the article I came across a line of icons I can click. As a result of this class, 3 of the 5 icons were familiar. The icons exist so you can have direct access to post the Web 2.0 article directly to the designated site. The icon lead you to the site for delicious.The second was a link for digg.The fourth was for facebook.The third and fifth icon I was unfamiliar with so I'll share my explorations of them with my fellow Social Mooses now :) :

StumbleUpon is a free service that helps you discover and share websites with others who have similar interests. The more you use our service, the more likely it is that you’ll “Stumble” across pages you like.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mixx works very similarly to Stumbled Upon.Basically, you input what you're interested in and Mixx prepares and delivers the top-rated content for you from that category, specific group, or tag.

"Web 2.0" Is Constantly Under Revision

2009-02-17T23:28:00.005-05:00

One morning, I've come across a clip on channel NY1 news about Twitter with an awards ceremony involved. NY1 News added how Twitter has expanded and how popular it has become. So I've decided to look up if they might have an article about it on the NY1 website. Upon putting "Twitter" into the search engine I can across the following interesting article especially for our class:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"09/18/2008 12:43 PM

"Web 2.0" Is Constantly Under Revision
By: Adam Balkin

"Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, these are typically the types of sites that one thinks of when they hear the phrase "Web 2.0." Though, as you'll find at the first annual Web 2.0 Expo in N.Y., the official definition for what is “Web 2.0,” it is constantly under revision. NY1’s Adam Balkin filed the following report.

“Basically, you're talking about sites that instead of publishing your stuff to the web, invite people to participate in the web. We've got about 5,000 developers, designers, internet entrepreneurs, marketers who come together to figure out what's next for ‘Web 2.0,’” said organizer of Web 2.0 Expo Jennifer Pahlka. “It's the people who are building sites like MySpace and Facebook who are mostly here.”

Friendster.com, the social networking site that helped started this whole “2.0 movement” is also constantly under revision. Its vision now, help to prevent you from having to jump from one place to the next, having to constantly start from scratch on the latest hottest spot online to connect with friends.

“It's going to be more convenient to keep in touch with people to share content, to discover content from other people you may know, and to kind of participate in multiple networks at once without physically being logged in to every single one, every minute of the day,” said Jeff Robert of Friendster.com.

But really what this conference focuses on is taking what people like about using “Web 2.0” technologies on their own time and letting them use those same technologies to be more productive at the office.

“We're seeing companies coming to us to build a social networking strategy within their internal networks that make these young people feel comfortable with their usability and with their executions and actions everyday,” said Jerry Sheer of Sparta Social Networks. “Social networking, in a large company, specifically, is about people connecting to other people who are not in their cube, in their work environment, and in a satellite office.”

And considering a new study by Hitwise, an Internet tracking company, found that social networks have surpassed porn, as the most popular spots online now, it makes sense that big companies are also hoping internal social networks will help employees feel more like part of a community while at the office, rather than just another cog in a giant wheel."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a student of CBA graduating class of 2009, I found it very interesting that large companies are now inquiring about social networks within the company. I see that as a very bright idea. The employees will no longer be limited to sharing insights with those within proximity of their cubicle.Ideas and possibly innovations will start to surface as employees converse and share ideas with each other, which will ultimately benefit the company. I see this as completely beneficial and I think it should be started as soon as possible. Personally, being a member of Twitter and LinkdIn, I spend a lot of time looking of individuals who have similar professional backgrounds to converse with. I can just imagine what a large company that sets up a network for professionals in the same field to collaborate!

Facebook TOS Response

2009-02-16T19:30:00.003-05:00

I signed into Twitter today and came across Professor State's link of an article about Facebook's TOS (Terms of Service). If you didn't happen to come across it on Twitter I'll repost it here on our blog( I hope you don't mind, Professor :] ).

"Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."
By Chris Walters, 6:14 PM on Sun Feb 15 2009,

Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later.* Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

That language is the same as in the old TOS, but there was an important couple of lines at the end of that section that have been removed:

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

Furthermore, the "Termination" section near the end of the TOS states:

The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

Make sure you never upload anything you don't feel comfortable giving away forever, because it's Facebook's now.

(Note that as several readers have pointed out, this seems to be subject to your privacy settings, so anything you've protected from full public view doesn't seem to be usable in other ways regardless.)

Oh, you also agree to arbitration, naturally. Have fun with that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: Several Facebook groups have formed to protest the new TOS:
"People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS)"
"FACEBOOK OWNS YOU: Protest the New Changes to the TOS!"
"Those against Facebook's new TOS!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 2: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has posted a response on the Facebook blog. A crude summary: "trust us, we're not doing this to profit from you, it's so we are legally protected as we enable you to share content with other users and services." His point, I think, is that there are interesting issues of ownership and rights clearance when you're dealing with content shared in a social network:

Still, the interesting thing about this change in our terms is that it highlights the importance of these issues and their complexity. People want full ownership and control of their information so they can turn off access to it at any time. At the same time, people also want to be able to bring the information others have shared with them-like email addresses, phone numbers, photos and so on-to other services and grant those services access to those people's information. These two positions are at odds with each other. There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 3: I just found this clarification posted earlier this afternoon on The Industry Standard. It was emailed to them by a Facebook representative and seems to confirm that your privacy settings trump all else:

We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload. The new Terms were clarified to be more consistent with the behavior of the site. That is, if you send a message to another user (or post to their wall, etc...), that content might not be removed by Facebook if you delete your account (but can be deleted by your friend). Furthermore, it is important to note that this license is made subject to the user's privacy settings. So any limitations that a user puts on display of the relevant content (e.g. To specific friends) are respected by Facebook. Also, the license only allows us to use the info "in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof." Users generally expect and understand this behavior as it has been a common practice for web services since the advent of webmail. For example, if you send a message to a friend on a webmail service, that service will not delete that message from your friend's inbox if you delete your account."

I've read people's responses to this post and they completely varied. Some people jokingly (?!) say that they just want to use the photos you posted on facebook against you 20 years from now. I personally don't know how to feel about it. I can't seem to see in year 2100, Facebook intentionally desiring to use the pictures I posted when I was twenty-years-old.Open of the responses from a user OrtensiaCadmium posted the following logical explaination: "That's fairly common language in terms for various sites such as Facebook. While it gives Facebook some far-reaching and scary possibilities, the basic idea is that things you upload may end up residing on servers outside of Facebook's direct control. These broad rights make it so that you can't sue Facebook for some cached content on some other server, but yes, it also means they can sell your photos or use them in advertising with no recompense to you." I must agree with OrtensiaCadmium however I might become a little cautious with what I say. It never hurt anybody, right?

need a good laugh?

2009-02-10T22:53:00.006-05:00

So I just found this HILARIOUS website and I thought I'd share it with everyone just for fun. Be careful though, if you're easily offended I would definitely not check it out. There are a lot of crude jokes and some might think it's too much information!
www.fmylife.com
It's a little bit graphic, but it's so funny! It's random people leaving comments about bad and funny things that have happened to them which leave them to think "F my life!" You can also then agree, their life is f***ed... or vote that they had it coming to them! When I read some of these things I seriously could not stop laughing. Somehow the misfortunes of others make my life seem a little bit more normal.

Listening to: Elton John- Rocket Man

online universities!!!

2009-02-10T14:23:00.002-05:00

Pheonix University Online is an online University...sitting here talking to some of my classmates about the reading for today, i realized that this has a lot to do with the reading. i just find it amazing that it can be an accredited University

Psychology of cyberspace!!!

2009-02-10T14:04:00.003-05:00

Psychology of Cyberspace!!!

E-mail may be the most important, unique method for communicating and developing relationships since the telephone. First of all, it is easy to use. People also find it familiar and safe because it is similar in many respects to writing letters - minus the annoyances of addressing envelopes, licking stamps, and trips to the mail box. Of all the methods for developing relationships on the internet, it is the most common - and perhaps the most powerful. Although friendships and romances may indeed begin in chat rooms, instant messagin, avatar communities, blogs, or other environments, these relationships almost always expand into e-mail as a way to deepen the communication. It is a more private, more reliable, less chaotic way to talk. Even when other online tools improve greatly by becoming more effectively visual and auditory - as in video teleconferencing - e-mail will not disappear. Many people will prefer it because it is a non-visual and non-auditory form of communication. After all, we don't see people rushing out to buy video equipment to accessorize their telephone, even though that technology has been available for some time. E-mail is not just electronic mail sent via the internet. E-mail communication creates a psychological space in which pairs of people, or groups of people, interact. It creates a context and boundary in which human relationships can unfold...

there's a lot more to this artiicle but its too long to post on here so feel free to check it out...i found it really interesting, the psychological aspects of email relationships...

PC Advances

2009-02-10T12:53:00.010-05:00

After reading the text I just had to check out which this 1960s computer looks like compared to what we have today.

1960 : Computers in 1960's

The computer started being used as a communication tool, which was used for programming, data manager, word processor.

2009 :World's smallest PC

In 2009, there's very little a computer cannot do. The size of the PC does not seem to have much influence on the programs that could be installed in it.

Moose Can Take Virtual Classes Too

2009-02-10T12:03:00.004-05:00

Virtual reality is something that never really took off for some reason. I remember my first interaction with a virtual reality simulator down the shore. It was a virtual roller coaster that swayed back and forth in an effort to make you feel like you're actually on a roller coaster. I remember when I got out of the machine I thought that it wasn't anything special. Since then technology has evolved but I virtual reality never caught on.

I found Patkin's idea to create Virtual Organizations very fascinating. The idea of creating this internship game for students could in fact be very helpful. I'm currently on my third internship and I feel like a program like this could have definitely prepared me for everything I've experienced thus far. I had no idea what to expect the first day I interned at Capitol Records two years ago.

I agree with Patkin when she says that "Interactivity is the critical element in computer media." While being in this virtual reality can be good practice for real life situations, it's critical to try and create human interaction during the process. I see the computer as a way to practice interacting with people in real life. When you're in front of a computer talking to someone else you have more freedom to express yourself. These types of programs can be helpful because the fear of screwing up isn't as serious. If you mess up a press release there are consequences in this Virtual Organization, but they're not necessarily real. It's when you're working for an actual company that this fear can consume you and possibly hinder your performance. I wish that colleges would look into this technology to try and prepare students for the real world.

I'm still not sure how I would feel about taking an online course. I have friends that take them at large state school's and they say they enjoy them because they can do the work when they're able to. Dr. Levinson does a good job of looking at the pros and cons of this style of education. I definitely agree with him that these types of courses can be helpful to students, but I'm just not sure if I'd be interested.

One of the appeals that I didn't think of until Levinson brought it up was the amount of writing involved. He says, "the online class requires actual writing by students if they are to have an online identity and role in the course. Thus, a highly significant subsidiary benefit of taking any online course is that it sharpens the student's writing ability." In a traditional classroom setting, there's going to be more communication through speaking your thoughts rather than writing them. I'm always looking to work on my writing skills so that would definitely be an advantage of an online course.

I'm more of an old-school learner. The only way I can comprehend what the teacher is saying is by taking notes. I find that I have a better chance of recognition when I do this. I also have a hard time reading and fully comprehending text on a computer screen. Most times I have to print the documents out and read them. My generation has a problem with is too much multi-tasking. One of the problems I could see with taking online courses is not being fully into the discussions and reading because I'll have my music blasting, television on, and I may even be instant messaging friends. When I'm in a classroom I'm stripped from most of those capabilities and I can focus more on what is being taught and discussed.

I can see the appeal of taking online courses. It enables anyone around the world to enroll into the University of their choice without having to move or uproot themselves from their comfortable environment. It also helps that the course takes a shorter period of time, normally 2 months instead of 3 or 4.

My favorite quote from this reading is from Edmund Carpenter, "Electricity makes angels of us all--not angels in the Sunday school sense of being good for having wings, but spirit freed from flesh, capable of instant transportation anywhere." This totally encompasses the idea of the internet today and it's great ability.

Listen To Your Friends - New Found Glory

Reading # 2 - Virtual Reality & Flaming

2009-02-10T11:52:00.002-05:00

The second reading was about virtual reality, as well as e-mail messages and flaming. The first two chapters focused on virtual reality and how it can enhance a student's classroom experience. Through virtual reality students can engage in various scenarios that mimic real life experiences. In this aspect, the concept of learning through virtual reality seems possible. The classroom can provide students an active way of learning the material taught. The same goes for online education because online classes can spark discussions among students who may be hesitant to participate in class. Additionally, online classes cross barriers of time and geography allowing students from all across the world to communicate and learn from each other. However, for some subject, namely the sciences, students need a practical application of what they learned in the classroom, and thus online education would not work very well for them. Even though learning through virtual reality has its benefits, what happens when people cannot distinguish between the virtual and the actual? If a student was doing mock interviews in a virtual reality setting, one could assume he or she would be well prepared for the real interview. But what if the student was more relaxed in the virtual environment, knowing that it is not real. While teaching through virtual reality may have its benefits, it also has its pitfalls.

In the reading, flaming has several definitions. While all of them are in one way or another different from each other, they are also quite similar. Essentially, flaming involves some sort of emotional outburst, and is more often than not, a negative one. A few explanations for flaming were provided, but I think all of them are equally important. The internet allows anonymity which results in a reduced self awareness and thus users believe it is okay to behave as they please because the norms of social settings do not apply online. Also, because online communication does not involve a physical presence it is impersonal and people do not have a sense of social presence. Even though flaming seems to be a result of the lack of social presence, one would think people would be a little careful about what they say online because they cannot properly interpret what others are saying due to a lack of physical presence. But then again, that might be the same reason to misinterpret a message and start flaming.

VR and Education... Let's do it!!

2009-02-10T10:56:00.002-05:00

After digesting the readings (especially Paul Levinson’s section), I realized how much I regret never taking an online course before. Many of the issues I have experienced with in class education are avoided when learning is taken into the realm of cyberspace. For example, the problem of taking notes while a professor (a better term for certain classes is lecturer) is speaking. I find that I almost always lose track of the class lecture when I am forced to take intensive notes. Being able to view notes, discussions and lectures online whenever I want, enables me to retain information far more effectively then in a classroom setting.
Beyond taking notes, being able to take classes online allows me to participate and learn whenever it is convenient for me. This is very attractive considering I work 30-40 hours a week and live almost an hour away from school. I can’t begin to express the advantages and increase in quality of life I would have experienced if I was able to take classes in the convenience of my apartment.
What seemed to be the most beneficial advantage was the way in which online education creates a sense of community. People taking an online course feel more comfortable expressing themselves when they have time to think about what they want to say. Because of this, students communicate more readily and sincerely; not only to the professor but to each other as well. This type of peer to peer communication in turn fosters friendships. Levinson writes, “Students in online courses become good friends, visit each other in diverse cities years after their online courses are over”.
Think about that! Students are able to create long term friendships without any face to face contact. You might even say that learning in this venue could be fun. If I go to graduate school, online education is something I will definitely pursue.

My Exploration into Online Communities over the past week...

2009-02-09T23:09:00.003-05:00

Over the past week I have been trying to gain more of an interest in being more active in social, online communities, and yes, it has worked! I have joined up with a bunch of new sites where I can interact with others that have the same interests; in this blog, I will show you some of them and how I perceive them.

Future Producers

This is a website where known, unknown, and aspiring music producers can interact with each other by sharing their tips, knowledge about equipment, and acapella's/instrumentals. People on here are generally pretty nice and helpful. For example, if you had a problem with a piece of equipment you just purchased, and you needed help, someone would reply to you within a day. It is a very active forum and Overall, I give it a 8/10 for the layout and easiness of use.

All Hip Hop

This is a website similar to Digg.com, but more focused in on urban music news rather than all types of news. You can join the community by registering, and then you're free to go. It is less interactive if you choose to stay away from commenting and the social aspects of it, but that is not what I chose to do. They have a media section where new, unreleased songs are posted everyday, and I choose to comment on them (if i wish) and sometimes get in active debates with people. All in all, it is good for news on music, but I would not recommend it to any of our social moose.

I also joined an acapella and instrumental forum found at Lazy Records. This one is interesting because in order to gain the ability to download public instrumentals and acapellas, you must gain rep. Rep is given to you by people if you stay active in the community. It is a tough process for those who do not stay active, but if you follow up with your posts, it is pretty easy to obtain.

Those were my adventures for the week on joining different online communities, and I feel they worked out pretty well. I ended up extending my social network online past my immediate friends, and it was not all that bad! I still remain updating on Twitter, but I am starting to give these sites a chance too! See you in cyberworld my fellow social moose.

social networking sites

2009-02-09T21:11:00.003-05:00

As I was playing around with twitter, myspace, and other social media websites, I found a few interesting ones:

Power
This website allows visitors who have an Orkut, Hi5, or MySpace profile to access everything in one place. With so many different types of social networking websites, power makes it very easy to access everything without having to go to several different websites. I tried logging on with my MySpace username but they are repairing the website or something like that, so it hasn't quite yet worked. Their website says visitors will also be able to access facebook, MSN messenger, and enjoy Yahoo and Hotmail integration very shortly.

Twitter
While exploring twitter, I came across a few interesting things.
Twittervision
This site has a map of the world, on which twitter updates are shown. So if you update your status -- a picture of you, and your updated status will show up on the map from your location.
Twitscoop
This shows the most popular words on twitter right now and is updated every few seconds.
Tweet2Tweet
Through this site you can type in the name of two twitter users and see their @ replies.

It was particularly interesting to find out how many different websites were created as a result of twitter.

Ning
This website allows you to create your own social network. I attempted to create a network, just to see what the website provides. You can create your own network, decide whether or not you want it public or private, and then do anything else any other social networking website allows you to do (upload pictures, videos, join groups, blog, write on discussion boards etc). It seems kind of like a yahoo or google group, because you can create your own name, pick you who want to add, but then again, all other social networking sites allow for that too.