We are relying on social media to fight our wars and solve our global problems. I thought this was a pretty powerful image illustrating what's happening today.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Social Media Revolution
We are relying on social media to fight our wars and solve our global problems. I thought this was a pretty powerful image illustrating what's happening today.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
From Food Stamps to Billionaire? (Fondling with Facebook)
I'm not gonna lie, when I saw this title, I thought that this was just another stupid article about someone winning the lottery or something to do with investing really well in stocks.
Turns out...I was slightly right! Facebook is clearly trying to take over social media; and while some may think that they already have, I feel that Facebook's flaws outweigh their successes.
It wasn't a surprise to me that Mark Zuckerburg wanted to gobble up another person's successful creation...
Turns out...I was slightly right! Facebook is clearly trying to take over social media; and while some may think that they already have, I feel that Facebook's flaws outweigh their successes.
It wasn't a surprise to me that Mark Zuckerburg wanted to gobble up another person's successful creation...
I just thought this was an interesting article about, yet, another attempt of Facebook trying to "showoff."
URL: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140220175451-108843352-is-whatsapp-worth-19bn-it-is-to-facebook-and-here-s-why?trk=tod-home-art-list-small_1
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
MADD vs. SADD (sl)Ac(k)tivism
I compared the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization to the Students Against Destructive Decisions organization. From a first glance,
I immediately can see that SADD doesn't really use a lot of social
media to project their cause. It's more of an organization that tries
to lure the customer to the website and hope that they find out what
to be educated on. I've noticed that a lot of good information about
SADD is hidden within links. Its overall view is pretty broad while
MADD gets to the point. As a DTC major, I like to find information as
soon as possible. MADD has an ideal homepage with everything you need
to know. It has pictures and descriptions of events that you can get
involved in, links that take you to where you need to be instead of
an irrelevant link and it's just generally more informative than
other organizations. Your connection to social media is also on the
homepage just in case you're the type of person who is into digital
media or likes to be notified about events via social media; like me!
Long story short, the MADD homepage has all you need, with little
obligation to explore more thoroughly to find the answers to your
questions. The SADD organization is...well, SAD. It's like a corn
maze and you may just get lost if you don't know where you're going
or what exactly you're looking for.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Blog Post #2 prt. 1
After browsing through my group's organization, I noticed that they have a blog. My group chose to
research MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). The blog that they had on their site showcases a
call to action about keeping the streets safe and has different stories about teenagers who died in car crashes because of drunk drivers. I feel that with this blog, users are able to share it with others even if it is only through email. However, there are other ways that this organization aims to get the word out: social media. On the home page, they have an option for you to get involved, stay connected via email and learn more about the organization by connecting to Facebook, Blogger, Twitter and LinkedIn. Using these social networks, they will reach a great number of people; and they have! So after reading about what this organization is about and what they do/have done, I do agree that online activism matters. Sending letters to people or putting ads in the newspaper isn't enough. With technology getting better every year, it literally is the best way to get people's attention and make a bold statement about what you want to accomplish.
research MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). The blog that they had on their site showcases a
call to action about keeping the streets safe and has different stories about teenagers who died in car crashes because of drunk drivers. I feel that with this blog, users are able to share it with others even if it is only through email. However, there are other ways that this organization aims to get the word out: social media. On the home page, they have an option for you to get involved, stay connected via email and learn more about the organization by connecting to Facebook, Blogger, Twitter and LinkedIn. Using these social networks, they will reach a great number of people; and they have! So after reading about what this organization is about and what they do/have done, I do agree that online activism matters. Sending letters to people or putting ads in the newspaper isn't enough. With technology getting better every year, it literally is the best way to get people's attention and make a bold statement about what you want to accomplish.
Filter Bubbles
I'm starting a project on 'Filter Bubbles' and I am pretty interested on the topic. The concept of 'filter failure' sort of relates to this. I thought it was a good topic to discuss.
Here's the link I viewed of the TED talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsjQLB_jTBA
After watching the TED talk, I thought it was pretty interesting. What I got from it was that we all want privacy and we all filter some of our results. However, there are cookies that are saved wherever we go on the internet and we are limited to the results we get back when we search something on Google or Bing. Filter bubbles are creating an isolated safehouse for each individual person. In the TED talk he said that two people could search for the same thing and get totally different results. When I first heard that, I thought it was ridiculous. After being introduced to that knowledge, I was finally skeptical about the internet in general and what I put out on the net.
Searching the web is something that we do to communicate or research a topic. We are unaware to what or how much information is being filtered. I think Pariser is telling us to beware because the more we filter, the less connected we are. He says that we need the internet for just that reason. We need to have some control and if we don't, we're going to be consumed by technology and be stuck in a "web of one." I think to improve online filter bubbles, companies need to allow the user to know what is being passed through the cracks of the internet every time they search for something.
If we don't become more aware and companies don't take action to let web users know what is being passed through web searches, society will come to a stand-still and each individual person will not be able to connect with others as conveniently as they should. Filter bubbles will cause a digital divide that is so great, that our own families will become disconnects with one another.
Searching the web is something that we do to communicate or research a topic. We are unaware to what or how much information is being filtered. I think Pariser is telling us to beware because the more we filter, the less connected we are. He says that we need the internet for just that reason. We need to have some control and if we don't, we're going to be consumed by technology and be stuck in a "web of one." I think to improve online filter bubbles, companies need to allow the user to know what is being passed through the cracks of the internet every time they search for something.
If we don't become more aware and companies don't take action to let web users know what is being passed through web searches, society will come to a stand-still and each individual person will not be able to connect with others as conveniently as they should. Filter bubbles will cause a digital divide that is so great, that our own families will become disconnects with one another.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Blog Post #1
Given the readings you've done so far this semester, what are the most important takeaways? List and describe any terms, concepts, issues, or questions you feel are crucial to these first three weeks.
Thinking back on the last few weeks this semester, I think that one of the most important takeaways is that technology isn't all that bad. After reading the article, "It Takes a Village to Find an iPhone," it is clear that social media can help rather than harm. This is just one story, however. There are countless others that explain that technology can do a lot of harm, but I think that we need to acknowledge technology's successes with the same energy as criticizing it when it helps us. In addition to Shirkey's article, I think that the concept of race is another important issue to discuss. I never understood how race and technology related to each other, but given the context of a story like the one about the "lost" iPhone, I believe that race was definitely an issue. I can definitely see how a person's race and class can make someone think that they don't deserve the latest and greatest technology such as, Apple products.
Another good takeaway was our discussion about the Google algorithm. I think it's important that we "wake up" and realize that our web surfing isn't all that private. Why are we seeing ads on Facebook that we are interested in? One may say that they never even looked up that certain product. The system of the search engine is a biased one. In any case, we all want to find what we are looking for with the least amount of clicks as possible. What I'm inferring is that Google noticed this demand and probably tweaked their algorithm to where it doesn't matter what you search, the most popular and favorable results will show up on the first page. No one will be willing to travel to the 10th page of results to find something. Thinking about this issue gets me to ask, "How different are we from each other?" Given the technology in today's day and age, we are all connect in one way or another. Our acquaintances may not be mutual, but through multiple people and/or sources, we know each other. That's the power of technology right now.
Our discussion on the history of information is another good takeaway. I think that EVERYTHING is information; our sense of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight all give us information. It's amazing walking around campus now that I have this knowledge of acquiring information. It's hard for me to walk from point A to point B without seeing several people on their phones/iPods. I am a victim of this, however, but I do not have an addiction; which I find quite disturbing. It's one thing to quit a video game because you've been playing too long, but it's a completely different story when you quit your job because you've been playing too long. There are multiple ways to acquire information. A lot of these ways doesn't have to involve technology. Being that we are so immersed in the technology life as of late, I don't think it will be possible to find alternatives. Kids will still be playing video games, adults will still be scheduling their lives on their iPhones. However, if we take some time to interact with each other to talk about technology face to face, the time we take talking to each other through a screen can be decreased significantly.
Given the above stated reasons, one can conclude that technology has definitely affected us in a negative way because most of us base our whole life on it. Nonetheless, we should also give light to the fact that technology has created a positive impact on us and has given us the advancements to accomplish great feats.
Thinking back on the last few weeks this semester, I think that one of the most important takeaways is that technology isn't all that bad. After reading the article, "It Takes a Village to Find an iPhone," it is clear that social media can help rather than harm. This is just one story, however. There are countless others that explain that technology can do a lot of harm, but I think that we need to acknowledge technology's successes with the same energy as criticizing it when it helps us. In addition to Shirkey's article, I think that the concept of race is another important issue to discuss. I never understood how race and technology related to each other, but given the context of a story like the one about the "lost" iPhone, I believe that race was definitely an issue. I can definitely see how a person's race and class can make someone think that they don't deserve the latest and greatest technology such as, Apple products.
Another good takeaway was our discussion about the Google algorithm. I think it's important that we "wake up" and realize that our web surfing isn't all that private. Why are we seeing ads on Facebook that we are interested in? One may say that they never even looked up that certain product. The system of the search engine is a biased one. In any case, we all want to find what we are looking for with the least amount of clicks as possible. What I'm inferring is that Google noticed this demand and probably tweaked their algorithm to where it doesn't matter what you search, the most popular and favorable results will show up on the first page. No one will be willing to travel to the 10th page of results to find something. Thinking about this issue gets me to ask, "How different are we from each other?" Given the technology in today's day and age, we are all connect in one way or another. Our acquaintances may not be mutual, but through multiple people and/or sources, we know each other. That's the power of technology right now.
Our discussion on the history of information is another good takeaway. I think that EVERYTHING is information; our sense of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight all give us information. It's amazing walking around campus now that I have this knowledge of acquiring information. It's hard for me to walk from point A to point B without seeing several people on their phones/iPods. I am a victim of this, however, but I do not have an addiction; which I find quite disturbing. It's one thing to quit a video game because you've been playing too long, but it's a completely different story when you quit your job because you've been playing too long. There are multiple ways to acquire information. A lot of these ways doesn't have to involve technology. Being that we are so immersed in the technology life as of late, I don't think it will be possible to find alternatives. Kids will still be playing video games, adults will still be scheduling their lives on their iPhones. However, if we take some time to interact with each other to talk about technology face to face, the time we take talking to each other through a screen can be decreased significantly.
Given the above stated reasons, one can conclude that technology has definitely affected us in a negative way because most of us base our whole life on it. Nonetheless, we should also give light to the fact that technology has created a positive impact on us and has given us the advancements to accomplish great feats.
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