The Social Implications of New Technology + Audio Podcasting

The rise of "user-generated content" has given strength to the idea of "publish then filter" that Shirky writes about. Social outlets like blogs, Flickr, and Youtube serve as re-creative tools that spread user-generated content. With the help of these tools, anyone can share anything and this creates an endless amount of "public" content.

The term public in Web 2.0 is a rather complicated idea. Once something is posted on the internet, there is the assumption that it is for everyone to see and is addressing everyone. What Shirky argues is that much of user-generated content is, in fact, not speaking to a general audience. User-generated content can be seen as not being content at all in this case, and "those of us who grew up with a strong separation between communication and broadcast media" may find the idea of public content being not so public hard to accept. Prior to user-generated content, everything that was made public was filtered before being published. Therefore, if something was published, it was meant for the world to see. With the the advent of new social technologies such as blogs, something that is published is not always relevant to everyone.

Every blog starts off small but has the potential to grow. What motivates people to blog is not just the relationships they form with fellow bloggers but also the desire to perhaps gain a bigger audience. Of course, there are people who merely blog for leisure, but something as simple as a blog can go a long way. In the discipline of design, starting a blog can be a helpful way to promote the designer and his/her work. The audience will start small but with time and commitment, more and more readers will join the audience.

KirbyCast!

I made my first podcast for SOCS300. It's pretty horrible but I had fun singing with my brother!! Oh how I love the cracks in his voice. Hahaha.

Peer Production + Wikis and Wikipedia

The existence and maintenance of Wikipedia can been seen as a true web2.0 phenomenon. First seen as an idea that would never work, it is now integrated into the lives of everyday Internet users. If one wanted to learn more about a certain topic, it is very likely that he/she would search it up on Wikipedia. As a matter of fact, Wikipedia pages are usually one of the top 5 links that will appear on search engine results.

One reason why Wikipedia managed to work so well was the "spontaneous division of labour" that Shirky mentions (118). An article only needs to be started and contributions will be made by numerous individuals who are or feel they are knowledgeable in the subject.

The type of motivation that influences contribution is not of monetary value; it is the existence of inadequate material that motivates individuals to feel the need to change the articles. Shirky argues that people are more likely to make improvements on something that is done poorly rather than make something great from scratch. In addition, the feeling of being able to offer your own knowledge without being restricted is a strong one. The freedom that Wikipedia gives to its users creates a form of radical trust. Being able to freely operate within a given space creates some structure to the site without placing too much control over users and content.

The constant editing and adding of information makes an article "a process, not a product" (119). The main reason why Wikipedia is going to stick around for awhile is that it never gets finished. It is its imperfect quality that will maintain its survival. Perhaps it utilizes well our weakness: constant dissatisfaction. Human being's innate desire for perfection may just be the very reason why people continue to read, re-read, edit, and re-edit Wikipedia.

New Technologies, Modes of Production and Opportunities + Social Bookmarking

Shirky addresses the Internet as a new ecosystem that has hit the world by surprise and has changed the way information is published. No longer do we ask whether or not something is worth publishing; we ask, "Why not?" (60) This is partly due to the freedom that the web has created. With an endless number of outlets for the spreading of information, such as weblogs, anything can be covered by anyone. The result is the "mass amateurization" that Shirky speaks of.

Surely you can imagine how the flow of information can be endless. As users of the web then, how do we select what to read and what not to read? A simple way that I'm sure all of us do, is to read according to relevance. Relevance creates interests and as a result, people with common interests form groups or networks that Shirky has mentioned in Chapter 1. At the simplest form, groups come together to socialize and eventually to collaborate and produce.

In the realm of fashion blogs, which I am an avid reader of, there is this existence of sharing and collaboration. Fashion bloggers rely on each other to create content. There is this mutual understanding that information and images are meant to be shared and re-posted. All it requires is some "netiquette". I believe it is passion that brings people together. In this case, the love for fashion allows people to be so willing to socialize.

This is also highly apparent in design too. I notice the continuing increase of people who are willing to share design ideas and resources. There are numerous design professionals who voluntarily share there knowledge with the world through the web. Professionals connect with amateurs; "instead of mass professionalization, [what is created is] the process of mass amateurization." I see good in this, because if someone wants to create art, write about fashion, or design, why can't they?

Rhizomes and Social Tools

With the advent of technology, there has been the rise of new tools to connect people together. Prior to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter etc., gathering large groups of people together relied on the most traditional tactic: the organization. The organization runs on the management structure to coordinate members of the group, and this form of hierarchy survives because there is a pay out for the members. Clay Shirky states that with the manesfestation of new social tools, activities that would be deemed too costly for organizations to carry out could happen through a new form of coordination created by such tools.

In the second chapter of Here Comes Everybody, Shirky mostly discusses the advantage of the photo sharing website, Flickr. Flickr has become a great outlet for a diverse range of people. It is not only about displaying the photos one has taken; it is about a new form of sharing and connecting. Shirky gives a multitude of real life examples about Flickr that prove this whole new level of human interaction.

During my second year at Emily Carr, we had a final project that required about 40 students to source 4 images each. The goal of the project was to have groups of 3 students use this pool of images to develop a concept and create a publication or website based on the derived concept. The first issue was how we coul allow to all 40 students to access 160 images easily. Of course, we used Flickr to do the job. Flickr's simple interface and tagging abilities helped create an easy, efficient, and fool-proof way for students to share and navigate the images. Since we only had to use 48 images out of the 160, Flickr was a great way to view the screen quality images before going into the Emily Carr server to download the high resolution ones. Also, I cannot stress how vital the tagging system was to this project. Each student tagged the photos with various information that allowed quick and easy search.

Needless to say that without Flickr, it would have been almost impossible to compile all the images in such an efficient manner. I believe it is the simplicity of Flickr that has made it so popular; anyone can use it. People are not intimidated or bound to a complicated interface.

It's Still Summer! It's Still Summer!!!

Even after the first week of classes, I seem to still be in denial.

What is so great about a Blackberry? I think if I had one I would be on that thing 24/7; I'm already glued pretty tightly to my iPhone. I think there is something about cellphones that make people feel more comfortable and less lonely...