To wrap up this course--and this blog--I started thinking about some overarching themes that ran through the semester. Of course, one of the most obvious ones that came up in almost every discussion was the idea of disruption. But what I found most interesting was a quote that Professor Robinson brought up a few times in class.
We discussed Kranzberg's 1st Law that technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral. There will always be unintended consequences that come along with the terrain of new technology, and these consequences are circumstantial. We can take our class's blog forum as a perfect example of this. Some technological advancement that one person sees as having extremely negative consequences can be seen by someone else in an entirely different light. We can't make any broad generalizations about any new technology. A perfect example of this is Sherry Turkle's view that cell phones are causing us to be "alone together" since we are so attached to them, but cell phones have also allowed us to be able to more easily connect to more people than ever before.
So, depending on the circumstance, the result of a technological advancement can have a certain type of consequence that it wouldn't have in a separate context, but in no context is it neutral.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Waze
After doing my class presentation on the community based traffic and navigation app, I actually had the chance to try it this weekend. Going home from Chapel Hill, we hit some horrible traffic and I wanted to figure out how long we might be in it for. So, I downloaded the Waze app and signed in just to see if it was all it's cracked up to be.
It ended up being extremely helpful. It showed me the traffic I was in, and the length of it, by making the road display red until the traffic jam ended. I could tell how much farther I would have to go to get out of it. What was really great, though, was that it's set up so you can see other users on your screen, so you can tell there are people around you who are also on the app. They come up as mini cars on the road, and when you click on one, it tells you how fast they are going. So, unfortunately, I could see that up to ten miles ahead of me someone was only travelling at 4 miles per hour. It was a long ride home...but the point is that--even if the app didn't get rid of the traffic (that would be an amazing app)--it still let me know just how long I should be prepared to be in stand-still traffic. It was really cool to see notifications popping up that alerted the Waze user community to the traffic conditions and updates. It's a great way to get need-to-know information as fast as possible.
It ended up being extremely helpful. It showed me the traffic I was in, and the length of it, by making the road display red until the traffic jam ended. I could tell how much farther I would have to go to get out of it. What was really great, though, was that it's set up so you can see other users on your screen, so you can tell there are people around you who are also on the app. They come up as mini cars on the road, and when you click on one, it tells you how fast they are going. So, unfortunately, I could see that up to ten miles ahead of me someone was only travelling at 4 miles per hour. It was a long ride home...but the point is that--even if the app didn't get rid of the traffic (that would be an amazing app)--it still let me know just how long I should be prepared to be in stand-still traffic. It was really cool to see notifications popping up that alerted the Waze user community to the traffic conditions and updates. It's a great way to get need-to-know information as fast as possible.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Creepy Social Media
I have a post that should reaffirm the beliefs that some people in our class hold that social media is creepy. So, just as a preface to the creepy moment I just experienced, this past weekend I went to Disney World and met my boyfriend's family. Long story short, we stayed at a hotel called Melia. Now, here comes the creepy part. I'm not sure if you all are familiar with the website 9gag or not, but it is an incredibly addicting social media site that has a variety of memes, gifs, funny pictures, etc. Anyway, I'm on it all the time. Especially when I should be studying. I was on it today, of course, and as I'm scrolling down chuckling at a gif, I notice on the right side of the page where the advertisements are featured is an ad for guess what? Melia hotels! Telling me that I should book a stay now! What's weirdest to me is that I don't think I posted anything on my Facebook or any social media site about where I was going, much less what hotel I would be staying at. It's some creepy stuff. Even though it's a completely different situation, I feel like the girl whose dad found out she was pregnant from Target before he found out from her. Sometimes this personalization and behavior-tracking that comes along with media is a little too much. When a silly website I go on to procrastinate knows about a trip I took, that's where I draw the line.
Let's Not Blame the Internet
Maryanne Wolf thinks that online skimming is hurting our ability to comprehend and manage "deep reading" that is more dense than what we are used to. I don't think this is true. Sure, some people have a hard time switching from skimming light stuff online to more dense material, but that's two different kinds of reading. If you are going to read a dense novel you have to invest yourself in it and actively engage in the material. It's always been that way; I don't think the Internet has suddenly made us worse readers.
Also, as for students saying that their readings are too time demanding, I think this response is being analyzed in the wrong way. Sure, it is demanding on their time and they find themselves too impatient to finish or read it fully. But it's not because they are too used to skimming texts online, like Wolf is asserting. It's because they have so much dense reading for many of their classes and not enough time to do it all fully! That's how my experience has been, at least. I've certainly noticed, especially with having a Communication major with a Journalism minor, that most of my homework is reading. And it's not very light. (With the exception of this class, of course--we always have just the right amount of reading). So, yes, I find myself having a hard time focusing completely on one reading when I know I have three more to get through and not enough hours in the day to pore over each of them until I fully understand every single one. I think Wolf is focusing on the wrong problem.
Also, as for students saying that their readings are too time demanding, I think this response is being analyzed in the wrong way. Sure, it is demanding on their time and they find themselves too impatient to finish or read it fully. But it's not because they are too used to skimming texts online, like Wolf is asserting. It's because they have so much dense reading for many of their classes and not enough time to do it all fully! That's how my experience has been, at least. I've certainly noticed, especially with having a Communication major with a Journalism minor, that most of my homework is reading. And it's not very light. (With the exception of this class, of course--we always have just the right amount of reading). So, yes, I find myself having a hard time focusing completely on one reading when I know I have three more to get through and not enough hours in the day to pore over each of them until I fully understand every single one. I think Wolf is focusing on the wrong problem.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Twitter Messaging Alerts
It seems like Twitter is making changes along with Facebook. In fact, Twitter's recent change makes it look a little more like Facebook. It's adding notification alerts when someone mentions, messages or retweets a user. I do think this new addition is a good idea, but maybe Twitter should hold back on becoming too much like another social media site.
Both Facebook and Twitter are great in their own right, so why change one to make it more like the other? I like Twitter the way it originated. The point was to have a one-way status update platform, but now it's looking more like Facebook with the messaging functions. So, I guess it depends on what direction Twitter wants to take their social media platform whether this new development is ultimately a good idea or not, but I think they should make sure they are keeping themselves distinctive from other sites.
Both Facebook and Twitter are great in their own right, so why change one to make it more like the other? I like Twitter the way it originated. The point was to have a one-way status update platform, but now it's looking more like Facebook with the messaging functions. So, I guess it depends on what direction Twitter wants to take their social media platform whether this new development is ultimately a good idea or not, but I think they should make sure they are keeping themselves distinctive from other sites.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Yet Another Change to Facebook
Another update on Facebook: apparently it's planning on taking chat out of the Facebook app, forcing users to download a separate Messenger app. This sounds like another bad idea to me, and Lance Ulanoff agrees. In fact, he gives us 11 reasons why, and he doesn't hold back.
I'll let you guys read the whole article at your own leisure, but I just wanted to share a few of his reasons that I thought were great. First of all, Facebook didn't ask the public about this change. Why, after so many negative responses to their changes, would they make another one--that's even more annoying than most others--without getting their public's consent?? I don't get it.
Secondly, Ulanoff points out that this change will ultimately hurt Facebook because it will take the real-time communication aspect out of the social platform. I think this is extremely relevant. This is one of Facebook's best features! It's so easy and convenient. Why would they feel the need to separate this aspect from their original platform and make the two mutually exclusive? I think it's an extremely important part of owning a business to have the ability to know when it is smart to innovate and mix things up a bit and when it's smarter to just keep things the same--the way people like them. In this case, Facebook does not seem to have that ability.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Privatizing Facebook
Facebook is planning on updating their features, making it more private for users. According to Mashable, the new features give you the option to decide if you want your post to be open to the public or to be private, and will make the intended audience label more easily visible.
I do think this is a good idea, because people are very concerned nowadays about privacy issues--a concern that Kristin can definitely attest to. However, I don't necessarily think that it is the responsibility of Facebook to make sure that nobody posts anything they didn't want the public to see. To me, when you sign up on any social media site, you are signing a contract that you are responsible for what you post on that site. If you are concerned about something that you post being seen by someone, why not just refrain from posting it in the first place? I think that we should mediate our own privacy, not Facebook.
This isn't to say that things like people stealing your identity are the victim's fault. I don't think that's true at all. It's not like a free-for-all where if you're on social media you might get your identity stolen and you just have to accept that. That line of thinking is just unfair. But, I do think people should be aware of what they are saying and who is seeing it. If you really are that concerned with privatizing what you are saying, why post it on a SOCIAL media site when you could just tell the people you are close to?
I do think this is a good idea, because people are very concerned nowadays about privacy issues--a concern that Kristin can definitely attest to. However, I don't necessarily think that it is the responsibility of Facebook to make sure that nobody posts anything they didn't want the public to see. To me, when you sign up on any social media site, you are signing a contract that you are responsible for what you post on that site. If you are concerned about something that you post being seen by someone, why not just refrain from posting it in the first place? I think that we should mediate our own privacy, not Facebook.
This isn't to say that things like people stealing your identity are the victim's fault. I don't think that's true at all. It's not like a free-for-all where if you're on social media you might get your identity stolen and you just have to accept that. That line of thinking is just unfair. But, I do think people should be aware of what they are saying and who is seeing it. If you really are that concerned with privatizing what you are saying, why post it on a SOCIAL media site when you could just tell the people you are close to?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)