5000 Days of the Web

I think that Kevin Kelly really makes an interesting point about how much has occurred on the web in only 5000 days. There is so much going on and so much information readily available that it would have been impossible for someone to even imagine 10 years ago. Its gotten to the point where the capacity of technology can match that of that of a human brain. The more interesting point is what will happen in the future. With technology having advanced to the point that it is at, imagine what advances the web could make. The fact that we are hearing things about creating a second internet is an example of how radical the changes have been. It really is hard to believe how many things have changed and how things that will continue to change. While I do think that there are some negatives to depending too completely on the internet, if it is more reliable for us, there really isn't anything wrong with us sticking with the most reliable way to do things.

Web 3.0

I think that the movement from Web 2.0 to 3.0 means a few different things. On change is that I think that more and more, the web will become a vehicle for face-to-face video chat rather than the text communication that we use today. Also, I think that the ability to learn things on the web will increase and more people will use the web as an educational tool. More importantly, I think the web is moving towards a more segmented, more personal environment, where, instead of uploading content to one site that holds all that content, I think people will rely more on their own websites. They will upload information to their own site rather than to some other site, such as youtube.

Midterm Illustrator Component

1. The one image that I most would like to include in my illustration is the Wikipedia logo. I also want to include images and trace them in illustrator. The reason for this is I think it is important to get the message across about what I am making better in my midterm project.

2. For the project I will be using live tracing, cut and pasting, as well as masking for the images in the collage. This will help paint the picture of how people continue to try and improve wikipedia.

3. I envision my finished product being some sort of image, centered on the wikipedia logo with images surrounding it or with techniques applied to the image that will cause a viewer to infer that the project is about making Wikipedia better. This could involve cleaning or polishing the logo or having it appear shiny or new and improved. I also want it to involve people on their computers and convey the message that all people can try and help improve wikipedia, for better or worse.

Midterm Wikipedia Project

For my midterm project, I decided to select three Wikipedia articles that I felt needed editing. I would change them, cite the source from which I got my information and track the page to see if any changes were made. The first page that I decided to edit is in regards to Human Growth Hormone treatment for athletic enhancement. In this article there is only a small section regarding the use of HGH in relation to quicker recovery from injury. This seemed to contradict my belief of the effects of HGH and I checked this in a document called the Mitchell Report, a report released in 2007 regarding steroid use in Major League Baseball. Sure enough, the report stated that players believed HGH helped them recover from injuries. Its interesting to wonder why this was not in the Wikipedia article. The Mitchell Report was very high profile report when it was issued and I would think someone would note this in the article. The obvious conclusion could be that MLB, trying to put this incident behind them, was trying to make sure there was as little mention of it on the site as possible. Whether this is on their own or together with Wikipedia is anyone's guess.
Before: The biggest benefit an athlete gets from using HGH is its anabolic effects on the connective tissue within muscles.[4] These effects “may promote resistance to injury or faster repair [but] would make the muscle no more capable of force generation”.[4] HGH can make an athlete better equipped to avoid or recover from a sports injury.
After
The second article I examined was on Title IX, the law passed to try and ensure equality in athletics for men and women. The article lacked any real statistics regarding the increase in participation in women's sports. Through some research, I was able to find a study that noted increases in participation in women's sports. I added these statistics and cited the source that I found. It is interesting to wonder if any Anti-Title IX groups were putting pressure on Wikipedia to keep this out of the article because the statistics I found seemed significant, yet they were not in the article.
Before It is difficult to characterize the impact of Title IX on athletics in an unbiased way.
Advocates cite increases in female athletic participation.[24][25][26] Critics note that such increases might have occurred in the absence of legislation.A 2008 study of intercollegiate athletics showed that women's collegiate sports has grown to 9,101 teams, or 8.65 per school. The five most frequently offered college sports for women are, in order: (1) Basketball, 98.8% of schools have a team, (2) Volleyball, 95.7%, (3) Soccer, 92.0%, (4) Cross Country, 90.8%, and (5) Softball, 89.2%.[28]
After
The third article that I viewed was on the Olympics and I examined the section regarding the effects of television on the Olympics. The section talked about how television revenue from the Olympics increased. It did not mention how these increases in revenue had begun and I was able to find some sourced information about how the revenues had started their increase. In this situation, I think that the lack of information is simply due to a lack of research.
Before: Viewership increased exponentially from the 1960s until the end of the century. Worldwide audience estimates for the 1968 Mexico City Games was 600 million, whereas at the Los Angeles Games of 1984, the audience numbers had increased to 900 million; that number swelled to 3.5 billion by the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.[76]
After

Midterm Project

For my midterm project, I decided to that I am going to help edit Wikipeida. I think that this would be a very interesting opportunity, as well as a somewhat rewarding one. With so many people using Wikipedia these days to find out information and expand their knowledge of subjects, I think it would be interesting to help people in this pursuit by correcting or adding to some of the articles on the website.

Digital Nation Commentary

Here's a link to the Digital Nation video and the commentary from people about the video.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/forum/2010/02/reactions-to-digital-nation-1.html#_comform

Web 2.0 Discussion Questions

1. I think that user-generated content will continue to get better simply because technology continues to get better. Eventually user-generated content will lose its amateur look and begin to look more professional. This will eliminate this ad style because there won't be much of a difference in the quality of the professional and the amateur. Production values may remain low for a while as they match user-generated content but they will increase as amateur quality increases.
2. The article I read was off of Yahoo.com and was about the credit card reform. I would tag this article with terms such as financial, reform, interest rates, banks, credit cards and recession. The article was tagged by other people with terms such as marketing, business, smallbusiness, strategy and smallbiz. This seems to indicate to me that people tag articles with terms that have very broad meaning and relation to the article rather than more specific terms.
3. Transparency in the social media world is so important because users dont like being misled or ignored by sites. Users need to be able to trust a site or they will less inclined to use it. If they are neglected, then the site will lose business and people will be more willing to go a competitor. I think transparency is more important in the offline world because business make more money and have more business in the offline world. Also, there is more attention paid to things in the real world. Misleading customers and losing trust in the offline world could result in a very large loss of business and crisis. This is something that could ruin a business. Transparency and honesty are crucial in both situations, but I think it is more important in the offline world.

Digital Nation Extended Analysis

I dont think that there is any debate that people are spending more time now on media use then they did before. This is certainly a result of convenience with people having constant access to media. One thing that is talked about in the video is that this seems to lead to people in my generation having a shorter attention span and not being able to put together complete and extended thoughts. An example of this is how we always cut our writing up into paragraphs. The problem that I have with this example is that I feel like I have always been instructed to use paragraph in situations such as writing an essay. I think that this is simply a result of teaching rather than lack of attention span.
One thing that has been created as a result of the infusion of so much technology is programs such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. I think that the use of Second Life as a way of meeting with people without having to fly everyone to one location can be beneficial if it can be done without sacrificing productivity. I do not think that people spending enormous amounts of time on something such as World of Warcraft can be viewed as very positive. I think that getting so detached from the real world isnt really a good thing. Despite this, if there arent any real problems caused by being on the computer for such extended amounts of time, I dont think this could be viewed as something that needs to be stopped.

Digital Nation Analysis

The analysis and evidence presented in the first two segments of Digital Nation is certainly very interesting and raises a lot of questions about the way we spend our time. Everyone is constantly on their computers or using some form of media to stay in contact with friends or colleagues. People are always trying to balance these things by multitasking. With the amount of time that people spend on their computers or just using forms of media in general, if there are any problems with this behavior, it could be very widespread. This is certainly something that should be studied.
While this subject is an important one that needs to be examined, the documentary conveys how difficult it is to do so. Without conclusive facts, it is difficult to take all the opinions completely seriously. I think that most people are better at multi-tasking and balancing things then researchers give them credit for, but I also think that there are certainly people who are not very good at it. It is also certainly a concern that the amount of time that we spend using media could be harmful.
This documentary does raise some valid points. One problem that I think it has, at least through the first two parts, is that it doesn’t present both sides of the issue. The two filmmakers seem to be focusing exclusively on one side of this argument. It is always important to show both sides of the issue so that people don’t think there is only a single accepted opinion when there isn’t. Through the first two parts of the film, this is a failure by the two filmmakers.

This collage is meant to represent the content and message of the new Sony VAIO notebook. It includes all elements of a computer, as well as audio capabilities, the ability to play and store music and play Blue-Ray movies. All these elements are contained in a notebook that someone could use almost anywhere.

Web 2.0 Terms

User generated content refers to media that is created and published to the web by amateurs independently, rather than by professionals working for a website.

Long-Tail refers to the fact that most content that is available online finds some audience, regardless of how specialized or how small of a niche it may cater to.

Network as platform refers to platforms that give users unlimited space for storage and the chance to express themselves and broadcast their media however they may like.

Folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content.

Syndication refers to a practice in which material from one website is made available to several other sites.

Mass Collaboration is a group action when a large number of people work independently on a single process.

Computer supported collaboration is research that focuses technology that affects groups, organizations, communities and societies.

Social software refers to websites such as Facebook and Myspace that allow users to share information and data with each other. This can also refer to sites such as Youtube or Amazon.

Content vs. Message

For each of the three products mentioned in the last post, there is both content and message. Sony's new VAIO notebooks include content such as speech, video, entertainment, text, digitial images and audio. The message from this device is that it allows for added enjoyment of the notebook because of its improvements that resulted in better quality. A negative message might be that it is hurting the industry that manufactures DVD and Blue-Ray players. People might feel less inclined to buy something that has one function when they can buy something that has several functions.

The content for Apple's new iPad is somewhat similar to that of the VAIO, though not all details of the product have been disclosed yet. It's content will include video, as well as internet access, text, digital images and audio. The message from this product is that it will allow for added convenience when it comes to accessing the internet, reading books, listening to music or any number of other tasks.It also is a more portable computer and easier to carry. A negative message is that it may make people too inseparable from computers.

Sony's new BRAVIA televisions have content such as movies and HD images, as well as text. Positive messages from these televisions include added convenience and quicker access as a result of movies becoming available sooner. Also added enjoyment of television due to a better image. A negative message from these new televisions is that they might make people even more reluctant to get out of the house rather then simply stay in.

New Forms of Media

One new form of media that came out recently is the new Sony VAIO notebook, which now has a blue ray player. This, along with an HD screen allows it to play movies in high quality. The recently released Y series has a new LED backlit widescreen display and offers up to 8 hours of battery life.

Just recently, Apple debuted a new computer called the iPad tablet computer. The new device is larger than and iPhone, but smaller then a laptop. Users type on the device by using an on-screen keyboard and can perform the same functions as a normal computer. No information has been given regarding price or availability of the new computer.

Also, Sony's new BRAVIA television allows people to stream movies onto their TVs before they come out on disc. Viewers can watch these movies, as well as other programs, in HD. New forms of media such as these are constantly changing the technology that we have at our fingertips