About ELAINE CHOO
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Over the course of this semester, what we have discussed in class about filter bubbles and has made me more aware of how much information I’ve given out in the past. Due to the discussions that we had in class about filter bubbles and how websites gather cookies from the sites that I have visited, I have taken practical steps to ensure that I break out of that filter bubble. I believe that the information that I provide when I browse online should only be disclosed to me. I understand that it’s part of the marketing for those websites and brands that I look at, but at the same time it’s my personal information and it should be to up to me who I would like to share it with. It has made me realize that I may have been too carefree with my personal information in the past.
But now, the steps that I have taken to ensure that I don’t end up in a situation where I am giving up more sensitive information than I really should be, is by frequently clearing my cookies. From the video that we watched in class, I know that even when I do clear my cookies there is still a good chance that it doesn’t do the trick completely. Therefore two other steps that I have also taken are to clear my web browser more frequently and to change my web browser settings. My web browser settings have been set to blocks regular sites and third-party sites from setting any data. Hopefully all these steps will prevent me from being trapped in a filter bubble in the future. Also if there are any more steps that you think that I should be taking to prevent being trapped in a filter bubble please share!
I just read an article from the New York Times about bots. You can read it here. You may be asking yourself the question “What are bots?” or “What about bots?” Well, in this article, the bots that are referred to are the online bots. This meaning, those that you may have befriend on Facebook, Twitter etc…
Turns out, you can buy friends and influence! Can you believe it? Like in the Generation Like video we watched, the power of likes, re-tweets, follows etc… are all a form of currency in this generation. The amount that you get can mean multiple things such as popularity, attention and power. It makes me wonder if all these popular pages on Facebook, or Twitter accounts with millions of followers are actually mainly composed of these bots.
This article touches on how you can buy these followers, the popularity of even the power to sway others. These online bots are disguised as real humans. They camouflage themselves into our social media and act as humans do – posts realistic updates, responses etc… Quite scary if you ask me. It’s said that different people use bots, and that they’re not illegal, it being illegal only depends on how you decide to use these bots. Politicians use them, celebrities, heck maybe some of your more popular friends on social media are using them! Really, how many followers can one person really have?! (kidding, if you’re super popular!)
Bots can be bought, made by programs which you can purchase, but can also be made from scratch. How you use them is up to you. My questions are, would you pay for bots? If you would for what reason? Is this something we should worry about? or just accept that it’s become part of this generation, like how likes and re-tweets are.
I found an article on Techdirt which you can read here, about new clauses in contracts that are made by General Mills. This new clause may come as a shocker to many of us, since it’s about receiving retribution from the company on any of it’s cereals.
In this article, the main focus is about how General Mills, the company that produces multiple brands of cereal and other products like Bisquick or Betty Crocker has entered new clauses in the agreements between the consumer and company. Meaning, that when the consumer agrees to purchase the product, like the product on Facebook, obtain coupons from the company or even enter their sweepstakes, the consumer is actually agreeing to give up their right to sue the company for any complaints they may have. Instead they must try to mitigate any issues through emails.
I believe that this is going to the extreme to avoid litigation cost that they may incur in a possible law suit for any reason that may surface. This caught my eye when I read about how if the consumer “likes” the cereal page or the page of any of their products meant that they were giving up their right. Especially since we just watched the video on Generation Like, which talks about the power of likes. This goes to show that, even brands like General Mills are conforming to this generation of likes, and using this social norm and currency to their advantage.
My question are, do you think their actions are too extreme and unnecessary? Is one of the consequences of generation like or just a side affect that no one expected to happen especially since generation like seems to be more focused on a different basis?
Generation Like a documentary, explores the concept of “Like” currency. Groups and many individuals that have embraced this new concept in our social media age were highlighted and have exposed the idea behind this phenomenon. As described in the documentary, the concept of “like” is no longer the same. Instead it has become a representation and a currency for what the world thinks of you and what you represent.
I find the idea of likes as currency is quite interesting in the sense that you can do so much more with how much people like you and having it visible to others. It was always apparent to me what likes could do, but what this documentary pointed out about the extent that it can reach surprises me. How something so simple as a like on a photo or a page can trigger a series of events that have a large impact is just surreal. As explained by Rushkoff everything is intertwined. How many likes you have, what you like, who see’s it all and who actually controls this currency are all linked in one way or another. Digital marketing plays a huge part in this. Tyler Oakley is a great example. Tyler has millions of fans on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc… What he likes, how many people like him and the brand marketers are all interacting with one another. As explained by the founder of The Audience, when Tyler likes the same thing that another person likes, who also likes him it becomes a double endorsement for the brand. This then is linked to how the brand may reach out and reward in a way, for this interaction. A interaction all based on likes.
I believe that like currency is the key for business like Taco Bell as mentioned in the documentary. This key can clearly separate the winners and losers from all of this- those who have more like than others and receive endorsements by brands are the winners. At the same time, those who reigning in this like currency are being exploited in a way that they not be aware of. Like the girl who started a YouTube page for singing. Even her mother hated to admit that certain moves will generate more like whether you like it or not, it’s not under your control.
Teens nowadays, those who grew up in this culture are fully aware of the implications that a “like” has. They want to be liked, it’s become the social norm. They know what gets people to like them and what doesn’t work. However, I don’t think that they pay much attention to the negative implications. Which can cause outcomes to go either way depending on what they are.
Watts and Strogatz in their article “Collective Dynamics of ‘Small-World Networks” has cited 27 other sources. The subjects of the 27 articles cited by them can be characterized as math and sciences. Watts and Strogatz’s article has been cited by 8709 other articles. It is popular amongst the Physics multidisciplinary sciences with a record count of 1622 citations. Along with the physics multidisciplinary sciences would be the computer sciences with 135-303 citations. The articles that cites this article the least are in the environmental and biological sciences category with less than 150 citations. The top three authors that cited the paper were Chen, Gr, Wang, BH and Zhou, T. The statistics of the pattern of citations predicts that the numbers will only go up as time passes as it already looks that way.
- -# of sources that cited them : 8709
- -top 3 authors that cited the paper :CHEN GR,WANG BH,ZHOU T
- -cites the most : physics and science
- -cites the moderate amt: computer science
- -cites the least: environmental and biological sciences
The issue that we would ideally like to raise awareness about is cancer. A lot of people are aware of what cancer is but not a lot know how much their help and donation can do for the cancer patients and their families.
In order to spread the word about Relay for Life, the social media platforms and social tools that we would like to use are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, school online news letter, the Ticker and other organizations in the school.
The pros of the social media platforms that we have listed: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube:
- Many of our peers use them. Our generation and society in general check these platforms frequently throughout the day. This makes it easier for people to gain awareness in a short amount of time.
- The word can be spread to those we don’t know by reposts, shares and likes by those we can reach on these social media platforms.
- All three of these platforms utilize hash tags allowing it to be more convenient and easier to group ideas and people together.
- Notifications that can be used to remind individuals about the issue and the related events that may be taking place in the future.
- A video can be created to conceptualize the issue which may be more appealing for the viewers than having to read a flier or look at a picture.
The cons of these social media platforms are:
- Not everybody has access to these platforms or have the knowledge to use these platforms.
- Many people may see the notification or the post but don’t bother to take a second look since it may not necessarily peak their interest.
- It can be seen to target more of the younger generation that are more adept to the new social networks.
The pros for social tools such as school newsletters and organizations are:
- Everyone has access to a free newsletter and school newspaper in print or through email.
- Many school organizations have individuals that are in different clubs and groups.
- The individuals that are in multiple organizations and can spread information on the issues and the events easily. When individuals are intertwined in different organizations they form bonds with others and can make connections between the issue and those in their network.
The cons about these social tools:
- Not everyone reads the newsletters and most either don’t take a newspaper or they either toss them right after receiving them.
- Some members may not have attended the meetings when the issue is brought up.
- Not all organizations give brief overviews of what may have happened in the last meeting if someone had missed a meeting.
Certain communication tools such as Myspace and Tumblr would not be a communication tool that we would choose to advocate our issue because the internet has trends. In order to maximize the number of people we can reach to we need to keep up with internet trends. Not a lot of people are using Myspace and Tumblr, and quite frankly these types of communication tools and platforms are not idea to spread the word. It may be used for social networking but it’s not ideal since it’s mostly for friends and reposting images.
Organizing for this issue in the days pre web would have been more difficult. We would resort to word of mouth, posters or fliers. This would mean that we wouldn’t be able to reach out to a larger range of people. The extent of how much we would be able to do to advocate for this issue would have been limited to how much people are willing to spread the word by mouth, how many are actually willing to take the time to listen and accept the fliers or read the posters.
I read this article on Techdirt.com about this law suit against an anonymous commenter in Philadelphia. This anonymous commenter, apparently made a comment about John J. Dougherty, who is the head of a powerful electrical company in Philly. The commenter was being sued for defamation because he referred to Dougherty by his famous name Johnny doc, and called him a pedophile. The lawsuit demanded that the website which the comment was found- Philly.com, give up the name of the anonymous commenter. The website had the information but refused to provide it. Instead, the website contacted the commenter informing him/her of the lawsuit and promptly deleted any traces of the commenters account on it’s website.
What I found interesting about this article is, although the website was not being sued by third party actions, it still took the task of deleting any traces of the user. But the plaintiff was still able to search up the username before any traces of it was removed from the site. The username was searched on the web and had multiple hits on different sites, in which they eventually found the biographical information of the commenter. The users name “fbpdplt” stood for “Fire Boat Philadelphia Pilot. The user was registered on Sailnet.com, where it revealed that the user was a past fireboat pilot.
This brings me to how there is no such thing as anonymous. If a person really wanted to find the identity behind an anonymous user he/ she could. It can be done by tracing IP addresses or as simple as on the web. This goes to show that what you put on the web will stay on the web, even if you delete it. There is no such thing as “delete” on the web.
My question is, do you think that people realize that there is no such thing as anonymous? Is there such a thing as anonymity on the web? If so, does it imply that there are no consequences for the actions done on the web through this because he/she believes that he/she is being protected by this anonymity?
Content & Design
- What content is uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
>The comic strips and crossword puzzles are only available in the print edition of the paper. In addition to that, on the print edition the headline is on the front page. But on the web edition, the homepage provides excerpts of the different news stories available. That way you can see which story appeals to you more.
- What features and functionality are uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
>The web edition has the search bar and has additional photos related to a story that’s may not be shown on the print edition due to the limited space. Also, in the print edition only selected stories have colored photos.
- What can you do with the print edition that you can’t do with the web edition? what can you do the the web edition that you can’t do with the print one?
>With the print edition, you can physically hold it and fold it accordingly to whichever story you want to read. In the web edition, as mentioned before you can easily search with key words for articles, it’s easier and more convenient for those who prefers to read on their tablets and laptops. In addition to that, the web addition provides access to older editions of the newspapers you might’ve missed. You can also share the link to the article that you are reading through other sorts of social media plugs such as Facebook by liking the page. You can also comment on the article on the web edition.
- How would you compare overall the design aesthetic of the two?
>The overall design for the web is more aesthetically pleasing since you can refine your searches through the tabs. Also you don’t have to constantly flip through multiple pages to finish the article, in most cases it’s about 2-3 pages.
Relationship between the NY Times and readers
- What evidence can you find about ways that the web edition is received/responded to by readers online (both on the NY Times website and elsewhere on the web)?
>You can find out about the ways that the web edition is responded to through the comments that may be left on the website. Not only through the comments on the actual webpage itself, but also when the readers share the story on social media such as Facebook. On Facebook you can see who has shared the link and who has liked or disliked the article. You can also tell by how many people shared the link to the article.
- What if any evidence can you find that the readership of the print edition is not the same as the web edition?
> There was an article that talked about the differences between the print edition and the web edition of The New York Times. You can read it here. One of the differences that the article highlights is how much content is available on the print edition vs. the web edition (specific content vs. everything that the paper reports on). There is also a page in the print edition that features a selected reader’s, submitted comment that is published.
Prensky, Marc. “Our Brains Extended.” Educational Leadership 70.6 (2013): 22-27. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Database: Academic Search Complete
I recently read an article on yahoo news about how a Ukraine protester tweeted as she got shot by a sniper rifle. You can read it here! Olesya Zhukovska is a medic in the Ukraine. She’s apolitical and was in the protest to be with the people. The reason for the protest was, the government decided to stop their ties with the EU and instead seek financial help from Russia. The citizens saw this as an outrage and began to protest. Zhukovska was walking around with her friends, but note that she was wearing a white cross symbolizing that she was a medic. The government was targeting any journalist that had press badges and or medic symbols on their clothing. When Zhukovska got shot in the neck, she tweeted ” I’m dying” along with a photo of her bloody neck as she was being moved away.
It’s just insane what people do in situations in like these. I’m talking about, taking out your phone and tweeting something and putting up a photo of yourself when you were just shot in the neck. It just goes to show how connected we really are with social media and how even in the most dire situations we still have time to Tweet, Instagram or even post something up on Facebook. However, in a way it’s amazing how our social need to share everything with everyone virtually drives us to do the craziest thing. Do you think that you would’ve done the same thing and tweeted? Do you think that this is a sign that social media plays a larger role in our lives that we had anticipated and or were aware of?
Recently during the Superbowl, Coca Cola had a new commercial for their popular product Coke. This new commercial for this long loved american brand had an iconic american song; America the Beautiful- but with a twist. The commercial had the song sung in multiple languages which sparked quite the outrage in “true” Americans. Many tweeters, tweeted comments towards Coca Cola claiming that America the Beautiful is an American song, and that it should be sung in “american”. Not only were there many racial slurs thrown in the mix about the cultures and ethnicity’s that took part in the said commercial, but many tweeters stated that they were disgusted with what brand had done. They also stated that they would never drink Coke again due to this commercial. My question is, are social media outlets a domain in which people can freely speak their minds or in reality just virtual places that breeds hatred? It seems like social media outlets like Twitter, who utilizes hash tags are making it easier for narrow minded individuals to gather those alike with negative outlooks on various topics and ideas and spreading them like wildfire. Should we have a filter on these social media outlets to determine what is and isn’t appropriate? But on what level can we do this? You can read some of these comments here.
Professor Guest teaches Intro to Anthropology at Baruch College, specifically on the topic of “new Chinese immigrants to america and the transformation of New York’s Chinatown.” According to Baruch Colleges profile on Prof Guest. it says that “Guest was awarded a B.A. summa cum laude in East Asian Studies (Chinese Language and Culture) by Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Anthropology by the City University of New York Graduate Center.” In addition to that he has been awarded with a number of academic awards and prizes, some of which are for: Social Science Research Council Dissertation Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Fieldwork Training Grant. Prof. Guest also has 2 published books, God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York’s Evolving Immigrant Community (NYU Press, 2003) and Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit For A Global Age, (Norton 2012). To read more about what his books are about and what topics he is currently able to discuss click here.
When I think about the library, I think of all the computers that are on the second floor and how it is nearly impossible to get a seat. I think about how nice it is that the school finally got scanners, hooray! I think about those chairs on the fifth and fourth floor that everyone keeps sleeping on. Didn’t they hear the rumor about bedbugs?!
Comments:
"I absolutely love Michelle Phan, and the other two YouTuber's who also have ads up. I'm subscribed to all three! I just think it's amazing what they do- turning their hobby into something more tangible and into a real business. Especially Michelle Phan. I remember when she first started out, and i agree with how you said that it reminds you of Steven the skateboarder. It's crazy how uploading a few videos of you doing something you love can open up a million opportunities. This goes back to how powerful likes actually are. A lot of YouTuber's like Michelle and probably Steven have experienced people thumbing down their videos and making comments that they are "sell outs" because they are teaming up with brands. This action of thumbing down a video can be just as powerful as liking someones post or video and Michelle, and Steven are only some of the few examples of those who have used social tools to their advantage and have succeeded despite the negativity thrown towards their way."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post The Make-up Millionnarie"I love that you made a post about this. I've seen a lot of buzz about this but didn't know that the team did a silent protest. Like we mentioned in our presentation different types of protest can be effective depending on what the issue is and what time of impact and reaction you are trying to accomplish. From the article that you posted about, i believe that it was a great way to display how they felt. I don't think that Donald Sterling will admit that he was wrong about what he said, but i do think that this protest is effective in causing reactions and recognition for the issue at hand."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post LA Clippers Silent Protest"I think that this is the norm for our generation especially with the number of things you can do on the internet. I definitely agree that a lot if not most of us turn to the internet for answers to any questions or issues we may have- this includes myself, it's just a lot easier than looking in books and what not. Like we have spoken about in class, the internet has become a tool that many of us have access too and has just become a place where everyone can share their ideas and or opinions. And especially with the millions of users, you are bound to find the answer to whatever it may be. Also, what you said about how it has created a community that is beneficial to everyone is true even though there are many who believe that their negativity is necessary, we can consider this one of the positive outcomes of the internet and social media tools in general."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post Turn to the internet: It will solve your problems."This article is really interesting in the fact that for once that someone realized how attached we all have become to our smart devices. It's not just our cellphones,it's our iPads, tablets and our computers. A lot of have probably said that we are too attached to our devices and that we couldn't live without them- me being one of them. However, admitting how attached we are is only the half of it. This person took the next step to actually do something about it in order to really reconnect with the world. And what you said about how even when we are surrounded by people and are not physically alone, many of us are still on our phones. It's kind of ironic and i believe that maybe we all need an intervention of some sort."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post Too attached to our phones"I'm guilty of relying on our web browsers to remember some of my important information such as passwords for certain sites. My main web browser has always been Google Chrome at home, but at school since we only have Internet Explorer and Firefox to choose from I normally opt for IE. I never really thought that anything like this would happen with the whole security breech that Homeland security would be advising us to use different web browsers. I guess we can consider this a negative outcome of how much our generation and society in general now a days rely on social media sites. And the amount of trust we put into them with information and access that we really should re think such as Dropbox as you mentioned. I know that a lot of people use Dropbox which syncs with our computers and hand held devices. Maybe it's time for everyone to really rethink how much access we want all these applications to have."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post Do Not Use Internet Explorer!"I think that you make a great point about how technology enables this type of interaction to be the norm thus decreasing the actual physical interaction a person may have with their pet. I think that technology overall now and in the future will weaken the bonds we have with other people especially with how people get into doing the same thing over and over again that it eventually becomes permanent. This meaning that if people get used to interacting with others from afar for so long they may forget what actual physical interaction may be and the differences between that and technological interaction. This can be the same for the interactions a pet owner may have with their pets."
posted on May 4, 2014, on the post Pets and Technology"I feel like the blue tooth ring is more of a luxury than a necessity for our everyday lives. As technology advances it seems that it's allowing us to become more lazy in terms of doing tasks such as texting. In addition to that, how awkward would you look if you were drawing in the air in public? Some of these new advancements in technology seem to be allowing us to be more disconnected from doing the actual task. Doing things such as texting or making a phone call have become less personal now that companies are making it "easier" for us to do so such as writing the texts through hand gestures in the air."
posted on Mar 10, 2014, on the post Smart Phones, Smart Watches, Smart .. Rings?"I think that you're right about how much of our information we should actually put on the internet. I know personally, I'm guilty of shopping online. Sometimes I really don't think about what could potentially happen-bad I know! I think that your post has brought to my attention that I and all of us in general should really be careful. I've heard of so many cases where people had their credit cards accounts hacked and how they got their information stolen. It also brings me to when we use our debit/ credit cards in store- the target situation on black friday. Can you believe it? Even a big chain store like Target got their system hacked, and had more than half of their client list credit information stolen. It's scary knowing that one click or even one swipe could potentially be so dangerous."
posted on Feb 21, 2014, on the post Cyber-crime"I absolutely agree with everything that you've said in your post. Many people are vlogging now a days, and a lot of them seem to believe that it's okay to make a video about absolutely anything. I don't think a lot of people understand that, just because you have the power to create content that can be shared on the web mean that you should share everything. I think that the internet should be censored in some ways but it's difficult to determine the guidelines in which it should be. I understand the whole free of speech thing, but there are exceptions to everything- like the video that you mentioned about the racial jokes. Its sad to see that something so great- the internet, be abused by people who believe that it's in the palm of their hands and that they are able and should use in without thinking things through fully."
posted on Feb 21, 2014, on the post Too much sharing?"I definitely believe that this is a very innovative idea. Every brand has promotions but this definitely takes the cake. Social media as currency for samples of their products is just genius! They're already going to give out samples somewhere, but making it an exchange for promotion is going out of the box. Other companies will definitely follow on in this social media as cash currency for better promotion. Promotion is revenue in this case. Just imagine, if they were already giving out free samples somewhere but there was no guaranteed promotion for them, how much are they losing comparing to if they do it as an exchange? Especially since hash tags seem to be all the rage on many popular social media outlets."
posted on Feb 8, 2014, on the post Pay with Tweets and Pictures"I'm glad it's a myth! I've been so afraid to sit on the chairs that I always see people sleep on. If I could buy all new furniture for the library I would want to get an actual sofa, more of those big chairs and tables with actual charging spots for our phones and laptops. Right now I believe the only way to charge your devices is to unplug one of the plugs underneath the table since it's usually all plugged up for the desk lamps."
posted on Jan 30, 2014, on the post seats, scanners and bedbugs"I only read on my ipad too! I always feel like I can't really read in the library though. I like your picture, if only we could really do that."
posted on Jan 30, 2014, on the post Love?
