Presentation Links:
Vogue Black: Racism or Inspiration
Internet Racism – Recent exchange among two white college students at the University of Minnesota-Duluth about an African American student.
Additional Reading:
Arizona Immigration Law Angers Mexico
Replacing Katie Couric with a White Dude
Brent – Online interactions make us behave differently then we normally would do. Passing as other people, not portraying ourselves. Newer generations share more than older generations.
Neil – Advantage of Smart Phones: Narrowing the Digital Divide. Cell phones and Internet-ready smart phones are narrowing the access portion of the digital divide around the world and that is a good thing. Really good examples on how 3rd world countries and its citizens are using phones to help others as well as themselves. What happens if a 3rd world person loses a phone or it breaks? What were the old methods? Are there any cultural issues with narrowing the divide? Are some groups having an issues with this?
Josh – Internet activism is a necessary tool for physical activism in the real world. Mobile phones and internet as activism tools. Virtual communities are a tool to contribute towards activism, same with facebook. People can group together to create events, post information. What are some limitations for internet activism as a tool?
Dan – Virtual Communities, and its effects of virtual community on meatspace. Learning principles of video games are enhance in online environment, and this enhance many account for an increase of the number online gaming community members.
Affinity Group principle – not based on race, gender, ethnicity is an interesting idea because most things are based on these things, could it be the neutral space that underrepresented people are looking for? Other reason for growth are good, and how the reasons (such as access) can change who is available to become part of these affinity groups.
Lee – Cyber-activism; Youtube has revolutionized political activism and, in doing so, it has uniquely contributed to the perpetuation of hate, however inadvertently.
It seems that Lee is focusing on how Youtube perpetuates hate propaganda and how instead of being able to increase activism, it weakens it because it allows people to post hate information in video through a global venue. How can we learn to work in facts rather than emotions when we deal with race and hate?
- Cybercrime – There are lot of ways that we can share information, allowing people to use our information for cybercrimes, as opposed to how people can steal our information in real life. How can we solve these issues? Privacy issues are a big deal, how does grandma keep herself safe? Do we focus on users keeping themselves safe or is it better for the source to work on these issues, does or should the law come into it? Also how does the law treat these types of crimes as opposed to real life threats, theft, etc.
Angel – Bridging the Digital Divide (Concepts of Games in Education). Bridging the digital divide where students need to become actively involved in learning how to use new technologies which can be accomplished by applying the concepts of video games in education.
Access – how do we make sure everyone has access? I didn’t see much information about that part in your presentation, that’s what I asked anyway.
Creating content – Lego League
Active problem solvers – building games RPG maker
Derek – Bridging the Gap – Mobile technology is positively affecting the digital divide by providing solutions to issues of accessibility while exposing userse to the power of virtual communities.
I think that 3rd world countries are more likely to have mobile phones rather than pcs, they are less expensive to deal with, portable, and shareable. How small can the digital divide get with this technology?
Kristen – Program Hope – Educating kids about cyberbullying. How do you get kids to care? What if kids feel the digital divide and how to help them deal with things.
Deena – Free Speech
Michelle A. – Human Computer Interaction – transitioning from real to virtual (and the other way) will make the virtual, reality. I thought it was interesting to see how they are improving interfaces in order to merge better in our real life. What I’d like to know more about is how people are transitioning, because having a good interface will help, but how do they mentally start blurring the line between reality and virtual life. For me, the line started blurring when I started gaming, because of the relationships built in-game, and how real life events creep into gaming activities. I also wonder if the hardware is equipped to deal with disabilities.
Brittany – New Media Direct Marketing – How marketing is changing because of mobile tools. Since cell phones are more popular globally than laptops/pcs, I think that this marketing solution will be the place to watch. Text pages are almost a ubiquitous part of cell phone services, and location-based gaming is changing how people feel about sharing their location. I think that people were freaked out at first when they learned about the GPS locater within their cells, but now people feel like they are more in control if they can turn that information off. I think privacy issues are a good focus about this topic because of the ability to sell people’s information. Mobile technology still needs work because there needs to be a web standard.
Mark – World of Warcraft- Catering to a bigger population has caused problems within the community because now people have to learn how to play a game. The breakdown of community practice has changed the way the game is played, and has decreased the community within the game. I would focus on all the reasons that the changes made a difference, and maybe why they changed it.
Chris – Community fragmentation. It seems that communities are becoming cliques, where new developments are restricted because they don’t accept people with different opinions. How are communities that are not fragmented handle this differently?
Quiet Mark – Cyberspace allows environmentally concerned citizens be more aware of current environmental issues. There are some good examples of how cyberspace has helped people be more aware and be more involved, but are there repercussions for this type of involvement? What are companies doing to response to online accusations and how are they showing that they are environmentally aware. Sometimes the companies are just doing lip service, some are actually doing something, are there sites that explain what works and what doesn’t.
Julie said, “Not looking for environmental badness- what is that one key thing that you found that makes things different from the past”.
Sarah – Presenting yourself differently in cyberspace – she argues that social networking identities are not an extension of their “meatspace”. I think people are restricting themselves, but I think there would be a better example, like a girl “cross-dressing” as a guy online, using an avatar that doesn’t look like them, maybe choosing an avatar with a different race/gender, and explain why they do it. There is definitely a time-issue, where time-stamping becomes an issue. I wrote this during class, but you (the reader) will not interact with it until later, and maybe by then I’d have a different perspective.
Cassie- Social networking sites in the classroom. Using social networking sites to enhance learning in different content areas for students AND teachers. More opposition examples, maybe parents having issues, taking the time to monitor comments to blogs. Share more about specific skills that improve because of using social networking sites, and also about access, will not having access at home.
Beau – Gaming has changed our culture, people are always gaming because how we are working with ubiquitous devices such as cell phones, computers. I think that it is interesting that it has taken so long for gaming to become a part of work-related situations such as his surgery example.
James – he argues that the brain works the same when learning as when we are playing games. He uses the example of braille writing and using a gaming controller. I think he has a good example, but it would be even better if he used an example that is more relatable, maybe how people learn to drive and understand the controls of a car or learning to choose ripe fruit, by touch, sight, etc.
Hans – Social networks can be used to bridge the gap between the digital divide and make it easier to interact because our friends use it, thus we want to use it as well. I think it would be interesting to learn more about how we can get more people to have access, one way is through cell phones, which is how the rest of world deals with it, and maybe some information on ways.
Spencer – Do games generate better soldiers? I believe that gaming does help with some of the mental/physical aspects of games, but Spencer seems to understand that there are a lot of physical differences that can’t be replicated in a game (at least at this point).
In our Thursday class, instead of discussing the readings, we watched Lorena, Sheila, Maurice and Corrinda present their topics and some of their initial findings.
Lorena presented on communication in China, a hot topic, especially since they hosted the last Olympics. China is known for its internet censorship and monitoring, which is something that we all have to think about even though our country doesn’t say it censors or monitors us, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t doing it. I think one of the more intriguing aspects to her topic is how China got to that point, and how the government got that policy to be accepted by its citizens. That could be a lesson for us, since our government tends to do things, get in trouble later policy (see POW example). I also thought that the statistics on who does the censoring was interesting, in particular that self-censorship is the highest type of censorship. I see myself doing self-censorship in my blog all the time because I don’t feel comfortable stating my business in a public forum, not because “I” feel uncomfortable (I’m definitely TMI-girl), but because I get in trouble with others for sharing too much. In my small way, I’m learning to be careful about what I share, otherwise I’d be posting every day about my life (like I used to).
Sheila’s topic was on gender roles, I agreed with Julie, the Penguin idea was more interesting than the information about the social networking sites. If it were me, I’d go into how people perpetuate the gender roles, or maybe who regulates it, and why. I also wonder if there are any popular games that have options for something other than male/female, I would think that fantasy or sci-fi games would have something like that. Also, since most gaming developers are male, does that mean that they are the ones who force the gender roles or are they forced to do it because their game might not be popular (or get criticized for it).
Maurice’s topic hit close to home, my web development position was created to help get more information on water management on the internet for PNW growers. My last project was getting water management calculators on a mobile site so people who are out in the field can figure out what they need. Although it isn’t a cell phone application, it applies because more information is going online so growers can control their costs better. Maurice talked about having information about weather, there are also online resources for rainfall, and recommended water usage for crops online, although they aren’t mobile, I wonder if it is just a matter of time for our area to get caught up with them.
It’s too bad that we won’t find out about Corinda’s lesson plan on mixing gaming with learning. The toy industry keeps trying to create interesting toys that are educational and fun, but they always seem a bit dorky, even as a child I didn’t want to receive an educational toy. Her presentation reminded me that even I can get excited about something like a simple matching game, and then I started mentally criticizing the game interface. I think the interface should be easier to deal with, definitely less steps and some way to deal with mistakes better. I would even add the name of the dinosaur so you could learn it better, kids who can’t read would hear their parents say it, right? I could see the possibilities as a developer, maybe I need to get into this field, haha.
Kathleen discussed how the internet is changing the way we see political candidates. Although I am horrifically lazy about politics, I was interested in how social networking worked in the elections, especially how badly it can be for someone who messes up, and how younger generations got back into the voting loop because someone decided to use social networking techniques instead of the regular tactics. I think there has to be more information on the differences though, we know that old school techniques are usually television ads with mud-smearing tactics, rallies, phone calls, etc. Now we have facebook, youtube videos, twitter, etc., but are people still being negative or are they competing in a different way? There are still a lot of similarities between the old and new techniques, but maybe showing how newer technology tools made old tactics work might give additional supportive arguments.
Shirky analyzes how the publish-then-filter method of social media works despite the high failure rate. He indicates that successful social networking tools use its users to indicate the direction that the tool needs to take in order to be successful with its users (235).
Meetup is the first example of how the developers left the choice of which groups would be available to users, to the users. When Meetup first started, I checked it out to see what was available in Pullman, WA, which was where I lived at the time. At that time there wasn’t very many groups available, so I created a blogging group in hopes of finding similar-minded people in Pullman. Since very few people were blogging at the time, there wasn’t any response and the group was dissolved. Even now there are only a few groups in Pullman, a scrapbooking group and a college Republicans group. In this case, it shows how a failure within the system didn’t have an effect on the tool itself, it handled a potential new group by allowing people to see it, and when nobody responded, it dealt with it in a user-friendly way. Instead of having an empty or low-interest group available in the system, which takes up system resources and fills searches with empty groups, Meetup focuses on its active groups, which in turn encourages interested users to join active groups. The benefit of allowing users to choose what is available is that the developers don’t need to monitor the system and ensure that active groups are still active, and they don’t have to research what would interest users, since people change their hobbies all the time with new technologies and trending interests.
Shirky’s second example focuses on the Opensource movement started by Linus Torvalds, and how that business model worked to create an operating system that rivals Microsoft in the server business (239). Like the Meetup website, Linus didn’t restrict the developers on what they wanted to work on, and didn’t promise to implement all the suggestions that came his way. What he did do was provide the framework for the project, and gave people a reason to work on it because he chose to work with a software license that would keep everyone’s work free. Since he didn’t limit the vision of what the OS could do by giving a specific idea of what he wanted, which made the project seem feasible, rather than scaring people off with a grand vision.
Although collaborative work can be a recipe for success, it is important to differentiate the difference between an unorganized mob and a group collaboration. There is typically a focus for the group to work on, and people genuinely need to be invested in the collaboration. Many of the examples are based on groups that have an interest in a specific topic, and use virtual communities as well as social networking to share information with others, as opposed to keeping it secretive, and working alone. Shirky’s example compares how a small Canadian lab managed to find the genetic sequence of SARS before a large country like China because they utilized collaboration tools, instead of depending only on their resources.
Since social networking tools are becoming a ubiquitous way for people to collaborate and share information, businesses should look into the possibility of expanding their network in order to increase their resources if it works for their product. Other companies would benefit more if they allowed their users and developers to have more control over the direction of the business. Google has a policy of allowing its developers to work on side-projects that interest them in order to mine new ideas and decrease the failure cost of producing a new product on a large scale. Companies should always consider the cost of failure, but they shouldn’t let it keep them from creating innovative ideas through collaboration.
Works Cited
Shirkey, Clay. Here Comes Everybody. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
I’m usually oblivious to Internet-enabled activism and political actions in mainstream media, mostly because I’m not convinced that my voice will be heard. Even though we have discussed how social networking and virtual communities can spread information like wildfire, beyond my own personal life, I haven’t had a close-to-home experience until this past month. I’ve managed to stay out of those situations because I was concerned that it might reflect on me in a permanent way with potential employers, or the people I care about. Despite my initial caution, I decided to do something for once, and stand up for my beliefs in a way that made sense to me, even if it might not be a big deal to someone else.
My track record hasn’t been that great with Facebook events, it is really easy to get people upset over details that initially seem unimportant, and I can almost empathize with the guy who create a event for WSU Pullman students, basically a theme party called “Vatos Lokos”.
“Vatos Lokos Party
Type: Party – Mixer
Start Time: Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 9:00pm
End Time: Monday, March 29, 2010 at 9:00am
Location: PullmonsterDescription: Not everyone in Pullman is going to be lucky enough to hit up the beautiful beaches of Mexico over spring break. So whats the best way to combat both the post spring break blues AND the withdrawal symptoms those of us who were in Mexico will be feeling? You guessed it … a VATOS LOKOS themed party. Here is the deal, The goal of this party is to successfully spread ONE single theme across the ENTIRE Pullman campus. This means Frats throwing a vatos lokos themed party/mixer this night, anyone throwing a house party use the theme on this night, hell we even want the youngsters drinking in the dorms to dress up like Mexican thugs. Also anyone willing to have random people at their house again (Thanks again to the hosts of the sweater party!) shoot me an
email with your address and i will group email the locations so everyone knows where to go. So everyone dress up like your favorite type of Mexican gangster Wife beaters, house shoes, zoot suits, mexican cowboy or whatever the hell you think is appropriate. If you dont know what a mexican gangster looks like check out the pics below! Lets make this a big one! Any and all help in planning/ loko runs/ and hosting will be GREATLY appreciated! (Yeah im talkin to you guys at the underground!)Confirmed Guests
This event has 113 confirmed guests” (http://stfuconservatives.tumblr.com/post/435764301)
After that was posted, I saw a facebook status message from one of my friends who was asking us to spread the information, reminding me a lot of the first chapter of Shirky, where a guy started a social networking feud with a girl who didn’t return his friend’s lost phone. The guy basically let all his friends know about the problem, tracked down the girl, held the police accountable and made such an uproar that the girl ended up returning the phone and having the police get into her business. In this case, many people shared the message with others on Facebook while others sent a copy of the event and its link to the WSU president.
During that time I decided to repost my friend’s message to my Google Buzz and to my facebook status, so more people could see it, even though I didn’t get any reactions or comments from anyone. Since nobody seemed to notice, I decided to go a bit further and sign up for some of the news-sharing social networking sites like digg and hotfeeder. I figured there wasn’t much of a chance that anyone would see it, but I wanted there to be a permanent record that this did happen. A student created a group against the Vatos Lokos parties on facebook, and people who had an issue (and some who had an issue with the people who had an issue) joined and a discussion was started. The event creator apologized and the group ended up changing its name to WSU Students Against Racist Theme Parties, and changing its description to something less inflammatory. By Monday, March 8th, WSU posted an announcement about how WSU planned to deal with the event (since it was related to fraternities and sororities), and had the event deleted.
It was quite anticlimatic, and the only news agency that mentioned the event was the Moscow-Pullman newspaper (subscription needed), even the Daily Evergreen (the college newspaper) didn’t bother to post anything about the it.
“Facebook note: Washington State University Fraternities Plan a Week of Anti-Mexican Persecutory Actions.” stfuconservatives.tumblr.com. Tumblr, 10 March 2010. Web. 31 March 2010. <http://stfuconservatives.tumblr.com/post/435764301>
“Theme party being promoted to WSU students on Facebook draws racial concerns.” right-mind.us. Moscow Education (Idaho), 8 March 2010. Web. 31 March 2010. <http://right-mind.us/blogs/moscoweducation/archive/2010/03/08/72623.aspx>
“Theme party being promoted to WSU students on Facebook draws racial concerns.” hotfeeder.com/politics. Web. Hot Feeder, 8 March 2010. <http://www.hotfeeder.com/politics/theme_party_being_promoted_to_wsu_students_on_facebook_draws_racial_concerns_2404327>
“Vatos Lokos Theme Party Being Promoted to WSU Students.” digg.com/political_opinion/. Digg, 8 March 2010. Web. 31 March 2010. <http://digg.com/political_opinion/Vatos_Lokos_Theme_party_being_promoted_to_WSU_students/who>
“WSU Addresses Concern About Vatos Lokos Parties.” thedivision.wsu.edu. WSU, 9 March 2010. Web. 31 March 2010. <http://thedivision.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=1206>
The creation of tools to help people connect on the internet have also increased the ability of people to connect offline. Shirky discusses how the tools do not change the human need to congregate and meet with each other, which is what occurred when people use virtual communities. Even though people were connecting with people from different areas using a virtual community, they started to use online tools to contact people that had the same interests. He discusses how Meetup.com was meant to bring virtual communities together in real life, but the trends showed that it wasn’t just about what was popular with society, it was focused more on whether the groups had traditional support or not. The Meetup founders found that non-traditional groups like witches were more popular on Meetup because it was hard for members to find people with unique interests. It makes sense that people might find it harder to find people with similar interests if the topic is something sensitive or personal, such as alternative lifestyles.
I also thought that Meetup would be more popular with large groups on topics on religion, popular culture and politics. I was surprised that Meetup was very popular with virtual communities, because as a gamer, I typically don’t meet any of the people I play online games with. I have however, met with some of my fellow gamers at a game-specific convention one time, but that was because I was heavily involved in the game, both as a player and as a person who volunteered their time to work on the game.
One thing I’ve learned over the semester is that even if people are involved in virtual communities, they seek face to face contact with their community but organizing a meeting can be difficult when people live so far away. Meetup helped people by allowing their users to be grouped by region, interest and event, so if you are living in a big city, the chances that someone with a similar interest in the same region might be high, while someone who lives out the boonies can plan on a trip to an appointed place to meet with other people with the same interest.
Facebook, a popular social networking site utilizes a similar method in their Event modules. Although it’s on a smaller scale, it allows people to invite people to events that are going on in their lives. The Event module allows the user to hide/show event information based on whether you want people to see your event or if you want it to be a surprise or a secret. Facebook also has Fan and Groups pages that allow people to join groups of people with similar interests, and it lets people (with the correct permissions) post information about events, share information and share commentary on shared interests on a global scale (or smaller), as well as posting the Fan/Group information to a person’s page so anyone who has permission can see that information and learn more about the person (as well as allow viewers to see the group if they are interested in it).
