More on blogging

A link in the curriculum in webct is to Blogging thoughts:
personal publication as
an online research tool. It's a useful and interesting read about where how blogging developed and how it's being used. Of particular interest is the way that it's being used by researchers as a research journal and a storage space for links. For this purpose I find blogging very useful, blogging anything I find online so that it can be found later.

What's also interesting in this reading is the quote from one of the founders of blogger, Evan Williams, who suggests that blogging is all about frequency, brevity and peronality.

To me, the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity, and Personality. (..) This clarification has evolved over time, but I realised early on that what was significant about blogs was the format — not the content.1 - Evan Williams

The encouragement here is not to attempt to get blogging right but rather make a start and massage things into shape as you go.

Freedom of speech and anonymity on the Internet

Was just browsing around online, following links from one site to another and I came across this article:

http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp54.pdf

(^ please copy paste if you like...I forgot how to embed the link -.-;;)

I guess with the Internet, a lot of people take for granted that they can say whatever they want, especially under assumed names or pseudonyms. (I'm probably one of them, but nothing harsh as far as I know XD)

This paper looks into freedom of speech laws and how it relates to material posted on the Internet, with references to the First Amendment and all that (super brief summary, I'm sorry).

So anyway. Should we be allowed to post provocative material under pseudonyms on the Internet and practice so-called freedom of speech? Or should there be some sort of regulation that forces us to identify ourselves with our real names or other forms of formal identification?

I was just reminded of an article I included in my issues report. In South Korea, the popular online portals Daum and Naver are requesting users to sign in with their social security numbers (identification numbers) before they leave comments so they can track the users and their comments.

I don't know about you guys but to my experience and from what I've always read, there have always been many netizens in Korea who like to leave super harsh comments online...so maybe that's why Daum and Naver are enforcing this rule. But what about normal every day websites?

How altruism, innovation, and commerce is bridging the digital divide

It's almost a given that, unless altruism and capitalism line up, people will go hungry and miss out on even the most basic of human needs. And that's why the One Laptop per Child project started by Nicholas Negroponte may be struggling. However, as reported on CNN Money, there may be an even better alternative to bridging the digital divide. Through some clever use of software and an $11 device, even the most basic computers are being set up to as servers to support the needs of up to 7 different users. It's an ingenious development, but here's the financial rub. The OLPC organisation is a not-for profit, which has, to this point battled against some stiff opposition. On the other hand the makers of these new devices, NComputing, is a for-profit company - and they've just won a contract to get computing into the hands of 100, 000 kids in Macedonia. The company that's won the installation contract is a Chinese company who is also expected to do well out of the deal.

It just goes to show that, altruism, innovation, and commerce can at times be very productive bed fellows.

Google Shared Stuff

Google Shared Stuff

If you're anything like me and find "stuff" on the net that is really interesting, you'll forget where it was after an evening of clicking and reading, reading and clicking. It can be so frustrating and so inefficient. So here's something that can help. It's another method of social book marking and gives you an easy to use way of storing and reading all those amazing web pages you thought would be perfect as a reference for your next assignment.

Enjoy.

Piracy

Well I guess I've always bought the albums of bands I like - but that is because I respect their art and think that should be supported financially (as I am in my profession). But when it comes to a film, I don't hestitate to buy a pirated copy overseas, and while I haven't downloaded anything off the internet in the way of TV and film, now I don't see why not. I think I like the fact that the Internet is bringing big business (by that I guess I mean advertising companies) to their knees and not have the control of the value of a show to the degree it has now. Programs are so awash with someone selling something, that I think it automatically detracts from any real type of cultural experience. Programs have turned into commercial dribble - because that is exactly what is funding them. Maybe the Internet will change this direction of programming for something a little more educating/engaging???

But here is an article that looks at the good of not regulating piracy to firmly, or it might have a negative affect on the industry (both music and film) and would limit innovation. Found it quite interesting, on how they express that intellectual property cannot be regulated and controlled like material property. Check it out if you're interested.

Online Games: Money generator or Mental drugs for kids

Hi everyone, I am doing a research on online game in another unit as well. Check here for something other people discussed about. Comment what you think about online games, it will be fun.

To Vincent Lee: this is post for you as well, you can start another post to ask other questions. I am sorry for taking the first post about games.

Torrent Freak

It is not hard for you guys to google for BitTorrent. However, I found this site is collecting all bittorrent related news and articles. If anyone interested, please check TorrentFreak site for latest news and archives about BitTorrent.

Technical Support in Medieval Times

For some fun....

Technical Support in Medieval Times How to use a book.

The Future of Citizen Journalism

AlterNet: MediaCulture: The Future of Citizen Journalism

Interesting article about the ways new media businesses are being created using a pro-am model where citizen journalists combine with professional journalists to produce news that appears on OhmyNews.com. On would imagine that this would be a cheaper way to produce news, be possibly more reliable/raw/real, and provide a democratising effect on society.

Citizen journalism

Hey everyone,
Know its up on the site pretty late, but if anyone gets a chance to look at this before my presentation tomorrow, then check it out. Just raises some questions about citizen journalism which my topic is on...and whether its friend or foe????

Listening Post: Rory O'Connor Reports from the OhmyNews Con

Twitter - addictive, trivial and growing fast

Introduction

What is Twitter?

It's a world-wide phenomenon that lets people post short messages of a maximum of 140 characters in response to a simple question - "what are you doing?". Users can send these messages via IM, mobile phone, from the Twitter web site, or via a number of applications that feed and publish tweets.

demo

How is Twitter being used?

• Staying in touch with family and friends. A hybrid between email, IM, and text. Provides a rich context for offline interaction and a sixth sense for what's happening in peoples lives.

• Reporters use it to break news, to announce headlines that may be reported in more detail on the Internet, radio, TV and print.

• Bloggers and businesses use it to promote themselves and create a dialogue with their followers. See Barack Obama and author and tech guru Robert Scoble. Drives traffic to their sites.
  

Why does Twitter exist?

Reasons for Twitter's popularity.

• Attention crash, brevity rules - people want the attention of others - the quicker the better

So having attention is very, very desirable, in some ways infinitely so, since the larger the audience, the better. And, yet, attention is also difficult to achieve owing to its intrinsic scarcity. That combination makes it the potential driving force of a very intense economy.

• Growth of mobile technologies requiring shorter messages - shorter but more often

• Rise in social networking - we filter what we want and don't want
  

• Fascination with the trivial - Perez Hilton

• The speed of life is increasing exponentially with the growth in population. This includes the felt need to stay in touch.
• Stimulation addiction with a twist. Twittering is like the cocaine of blogging or e-mail but refined into crack.

  Substance abuse is something visible. Psychological addictions are caused by wanting to hang onto or enhance positive feelings and stimuli, like winning in gambling, playing computer games or projecting whatever personality you like in chat rooms.

Not everyone's a fan

Some criticisms may be the result of a lack of understanding of the way Twitter works:

dezzychick - hopefully finding something to do tonight. (Good luck! Hopefully one of your friends will Twit “hopefully finding something to do tonight” and then the two of you can see each other Twits and put 1 and 1 together to realize that goodness, the two of you might be able to hang out!)

and

Twitter is a bad, bad thing — not just because of what it does, but because of what it says about all of us and our need to be connected. Twitter's whole existence is based on the premise that we aren't yet in touch with one another quite enough.

And that may be because critics haven't immersed themselves in the technology:

So why has Twitter been so misunderstood? Because it's experiential. Scrolling through random Twitter messages can't explain the appeal. You have to do it — and, more important, do it with friends. (Monitoring the lives of total strangers is fun but doesn't have the same addictive effect.)

So what?

• Very low penetration in Australia compared to US - opportunity for students to become an expert in blogging and micro-blogging before the wave hits.

• Once the hype dies down it may simply become useful.
• New features such as grouping (friends, family, colleagues) may make Twitter more usable
  
• How will Twitter respond to competitors such as Pownce, Dodgeball, and Tumblr
• Another part of the confusing web 2.0 jungle - making sense of it all