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Author Archives: Gustavo
Posts: 5 (archived below)
Comments: 6
No more GOOD or EVIL than a MIRROR is BEAUTIFUL or UGLY
There have been endless articles on the internet, as being a force of good or evil, one of them warn us “If you are not perplexed, you should be. As the web becomes ever more widespread, infiltrating our lives and shaping what we think is possible, we are increasingly unnerved about what we might have unleashed. Will it promote democratic collaboration and creativity? Or will the web be a malign influence, rendering us collectively stupid by our reliance on what Google and Wikipedia tell us being true, or, worse, promoting bigotry, thoughtlessness, criminality and terror?” Sunday Times. I certainly believe we’ve seen all of the above. However; as I read in a blog, “The internet’s powerful force is just a medium of communication and is no more good or evil than a mirror is beautiful or ugly.” In the specific case of the social software applications, they enable users as “agents of technological change” to explore, learn, discover, organize, publicize, etc. The way I see it the internet is the greatest invention of our generation.
The complexity of the human race has being analyzed from every possible angle, and it seems that the urge for communication responds to the need for self-preservation, security, pleasure, reproduction, belonging, validation and love as the main drivers of our social behavior. In general, the changes we are seeing today in our society have a common ground, and that has to do with what make us human. “According to Nietzsche, man is determined by the play of vital forces and attractions and not by the reason.” For instance, I sometimes try to understand the Internet as if it was some kind of a new powerful machine that has come and engulfed us, or a force that it has made itself comfortable among us, an entity that is here to stay and has opened the gates to our unlimited potential and bounded only by our imagination. It give us powerful tools, as it cannot act on its own, so it is our call what we do with it, evil or good, make your choice.
People are flocking to the social networks, for many reasons. Most are good reasons, such as staying in constant touch with dear family and friends, catch up in latest trends, for an opportunity to make new friends, hang out, flirt etc. Some individuals’ main purpose is to capitalize and profit from those seeking social contact, others want to spread their gospel plus many more reasons impossible to list. However, these network publics, as anything around us, are being transformed where the line between “private and public” is increasingly unclear. Like they say a world where things are “public by default, private when necessary.” Dmlcentral,
As we approach the end of our Social Communication course, we have discussed and analyzed the significance of communication both digital and non-digital, and the ways they are affecting our personal and professional lives. Furthermore, We’ve discussed how the new tools of social media are transforming the way we do business as we have come to know it. As we have engaged in discussions, and written about it, we’ve have witness how the internet is shaping the way we communicate and share information. Our speech or communication by speaking, writing with the aid of symbols, gestures and so on, have aided us to fulfill our natural needs to achieve a more fulfilling existence.
The internet has shaken and collapsed the availability of information structure that supported the cost of communications, where it seems that there is nothing we can’t do; the commodity of information is available to the masses at almost no cost. “Today information on steroids has become a surplus commodity. It chases you, hounds you, beeps, vibrates, pops up, invades and permeates every waking moment.” Asian conversations
Everyone is a media Outlet. Clay Ahirky.
The invisible technologies of Goffman’s Sociology From the Merro-Go-Round to the Internet>
Danah boyd. (2010). “Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances.Dynamics, and Implications.” In Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (ed. Zizi Papacharissi), pp. 39-58.
On the Human Being and Being Human What Is a Human Being?
http://www.asianconversations.com/PrintVsWeb.php
http://dmlcentral.net/blog/danah-boyd/public-default-private-when-necessary
Posted in Assignment 5, Uncategorized
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Well the word is out; the social media craze is calling the shots on the job market, or is it?
“Do you Facebook? Do you Twitter?” That is not a question that I would have prepared for when interviewing for a job just a couple of years back. However, as we all know, things are changing so fast that we barely have time to catch up, and that may be an understatement. Everywhere you turn all you hear these days is Facebook here, Facebook there, or Twitter here, Twitter there and so on…. It is in our personal lives, jobs, political campaigns and religious gatherings. I remember my mother saying that the priest at her local church interrupted a sermon to answer a call and say to the caller that he was busy. The amazing thing was that the young priest put the phone on vibrate, and she said that they could hear the humming until an assistant removed it despite of the priest’s frowning. The president credits some of his success to Twitter, Facebook and texting.
I wonder, how is all this new technology helping the job market? Some are quick to say, well, you can network easier to find out about openings, look them up, and to forward your resume. There is no question that all that is great, but are their jobs being created? I don’t think so, but that is just my opinion. There have been many articles on the issue of how great social media can help those looking for a job, and also that we all have to include social media skills in our resume for better employment opportunities. But I ask again, where are the Jobs?
The way I see it, is that there are many more advantages for the corporations to benefit from social media, as they use the employee’s social networks to promote their brands. It is a brand new and complicated issue that will take some time to evaluate where it is going or how it will help the average worker. Where do we draw the line when it comes to our personal and our professional lives? How far corporations will go to promote, introduce and sneak their brands into our social networks? Do you want this new great application?.. Hmmm, if so, we need the keys to your life and those in it. These days our relatives and friends are being nicely packaged and sold to the best bidder.
The social Media corporations are thriving; their growth has been impressive, considering our crumbling economy. It’s all over the news, record profits for the big corporations, paralleling the social media giant’s growth… is there a connection here? Or is it just the product of my sociology courses gone wild?
The Times magazine has an interesting article written by Zackary Karabel and in it, it says: “Billions of dollars in investment capital are being spent on these ventures, and if we are to have a productive future economy, that capital needs to grow the economic pie — and not just among the elite of Silicon Valley and Wall Street.” Times magazine. So, here we are, busy polishing our social network skills to spread the corporate gospel to our friends and families.
Technology has shaped our society since the beginning of time, and it will take some pain to get adjusted to the new wave of communication advances. The new wave of social media industries are definitely not creating proportional employee demands as it is expected for their earnings and growth, so there is something wrong here that we must look into. The relationship between corporations and consumers is being shaped thorough a new social media rage to the disadvantage of the American worker, increasing the huge gap between the “haves” and the “have not”.
I believe that is a recipe for social disorder, where ironically, social media may just come to the rescue.
http://www.dermundo.com/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2062464,00.html
Posted in Assignment 4
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I wonder who is watching me now, the IRS?
Target advertising has been a nuisance for as long as I can remember. But I never had this eerie feeling that someone is watching me, trying to figure out and lure my next click. Some may say that I am just paranoid. However; when I click to search for a particular item that I may be interested in buying or just to get some info for work, school, family, personal etc. then I get bombarded with companies trying to sell me whatever I was clicking for. If I look for a an airfare, book, TV, vitamins etc. then for sure I’ll get plenty of companies offering me great deals on every single item that I clicked for, to a point that is not just annoying but uncanny. It tells me that all my moves are being recorded and being this a sort new technique, I would imagine that as time passes the data collection will only get better, and more invasive considering the fast technology advances, which makes it impossible for me to predict the consequences. I do not want to see a flood of ads pertaining to my last clicks. It reminds me of like being in the middle of a third world country’s market, with hundred street vendors chasing me, watching my every move trying to get my money by tricking or persuading me into buying whatever they are selling. I learned my lesson to stay away from the likes, Clicking on them is a sure way to open the gates to a flood of vendors, it’s just like having a big neon sign saying “dumb customer here” come quick! Before he spends the money somewhere else.
“A study of California adults last year found that 85 percent thought sites should not be allowed to track their behavior around the Web to show them ads, according to the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley, which conducted the study.” The New york Times ”To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You,” by Louise Story. In this article, there is some data that backs the claim that advertising agencies are hungrier by the minute to find out as much information about you as possible. One may say, so what is the big deal. Well, I am perfectly aware that there is not much any of us can do to stop it, but just think that soon these companies will have enough information on us to do as they please, just like the credit score agencies. What stops them from gathering info on you? And what can some crazy fanatic plot against a particular group. Our personal info can also be used to deny employment, deny health insurance if preexisting conditions, etc. There is so much more to say on this issue, but the fact that the “Internet giants have spread their reach by acting as intermediaries that place ads on thousands of Web sites, and now can follow people’s activities on far more sites” The New York Times. Is nonetheless concerning in my opinion.
“Taking information without asking and then profiting from it……It’s a federal offense for anyone to open your mail…in the old country they open your mail and they knew all about you.” Time “Your data for sale”. This argument has some weight that would seem to me that our government should be monitoring these activities more cautiously. Many lives can easily be ruined if their reputation is left to these advertising agencies to classify you as a trouble maker, party animal, shopaholic, porn junkie, how much time you spend on the internet and looking at what… etc.
I can only speak for myself when I say that if it ever gets to a point when the advertising agencies know all about me, just like if they go through my daily garbage and meticulously document, analyze, what I eat, how much, alcohol, smoke, magazine, prescription, discarded condoms, toilet paper, telephone numbers, receipts, notes etc. I’ll probably be as paranoid as Rockwell when he sings “I can only speak for myself that I am an average man with an average life that just want to be left alone, but why do I always get the feeling that somebody’s watching me and I have no privacy…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY
Posted in Assignment 3
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Snooping Around
Sites such as Facebook come with the extra perk of enabling us to anonymously take a peek into other people’s affairs. It is my personal opinion that besides satisfying our urge to communicate and socialize with dear friends, it also gives us an ample opportunity to snoop around into our friend’s lives and doings, such as for example; who are our friends’ friends? How close or intimate are they? How fabulous and popular their lives are? Or are they just as miserable and lonely people as we suspected all along…
Contrary to what many may say I believe that social networks such as Facebook, serve for more than just to satisfy the need to “communicate” and stay in touch with friends. According to the article Looking at Friends on Facebook Increases Pleasantness“ it says that “The researchers found that social searching — looking up a friend’s specific profile information, looking through their photos, reading messages from them — is indicative of greater use of the appetitive system.” The snooping around in my opinion has the same if not more of the incentive to visit Facebook. This added perk is hard to resist and in my opinion increases the chances to spend more and more time on line. The excessive thirst to stay on top of other people’s lives may result in situations of self-deterioration. The ease to communicate can facilitate good deeds as it can make it easier to harm others.
The quality of social interaction can impact our lives in ways that we may not even think of. For example; one of my friends, that I must make clear is not me, was not aware that his last girlfriend was sending friend request to all his friends with a photo of a young child, and many accepted without much questioning, since many times you don’t know what your friend looked like what when they were kids, and often we even do not remember their full names, so we may think we know them and say we’ll find out later. Soon enough she had enough people to start rumors and a persisting crusade to create embarrassing situations that spread like a wild fire among friends and friends of friends and somehow I found myself as an unintended channel helping the cunning plot to destroy my friends’ possibilities for a new and healthy relationship. As it turns out, and including me, people like to believe the worst on others, maybe as a measure of our own goodness.
Soon after that ugly episode, I became very suspicious and overcautious and ended up blocking access to my profile, defriending some even if that meant limiting contact and social interaction. The price is just too high to pay, and I for one treasure my serenity and peaceful way of living.
Some may say that this does not happen frequently, and I certainly would agree with it, after all living life to the fullest involves taking chances, but to what extend you’ll go trusting your privacy to a large pool of friends is hard to say. One thing is certain; I am no longer impressed with how popular you are, or how many hundreds of friends you have in your profile. However; I believe that that the more people you include in your profile the more chances for risk or unwanted situations; just keep in mind that every one of those so called “friendships” have your “ number and they can easily do a number on you.
Other people may say, I never accept friend request from anybody that is not my “real” friend then I say good for you. Others may say: that would never happen to me, my friends are the best, and they love me! When I hear that I say to myself I remember when I used to say that and to tell you the truth I honestly believed it; however; one thing is certain and that is when it hits the fan it hits everybody. I remember when I was younger and I was more involved in the friendship socializing hanging out thing, always on the lookout for fun, and when your big mouth got you in trouble, the worst that could’ve happened as nasty rumors spread was that a particular friend would come to you and say while slapping your face “I never did that with you!” and our short term memory put an end to it. Now days whatever you do and whatever anyone says about you, it’s on your permanent record for generations to come.
Restrain
Communication issues are becoming more challenging and they are impacting the quality of our daily life. Numerous issues have come to the surface, and they are not new, however, in my opinion these issues brought to light have the potential of huge benefits or damage to us, just like Lusely said “the new technology can also be dangerous,” and I agree that there are increasingly more things demanding our attention, and the way I see it, there is plenty more to come, and all this keeps our brain engaged in numerous tasks. I have a feeling that we have yet to realize how much we have not thought of in terms of technology helping us to communicate.
Furthermore; our brain has this uncontrollable thirst to keep busy, learning and in some kind of interaction or stimulation. The urge for us to communicate is ingrained in us humans, we are not fans of solitude, and communication between us validate who we are, for example, we always try to convince our friends that we are special, and to some degree better than others, and confiding in our close friends we seek endorsement, this creates a chain reaction that branches out into a million consequences, and technology facilitates the relieve of this compulsion.
Wired for Distraction? By Dalton Conley, is an interesting read, among other things it say that “when we set our mind to concentrate on something — and reactive attention, when our brain reflexively tunes in to novel stimuli. We obviously need both for survival, whether in the wilds of prehistory or while crossing a street today, but our saturated media universe has perhaps privileged the latter form and is wiring our kids’ brains differently.” Time magazine. At the end of the day it all depends on the individual, as some may say that multitasking with daily chores and communication devices is no big deal, I’ll say to that: let’s look at the quality of these tasks performed. As the increasing gadgets are here to stay and we just have to get re- acquainted to the meaning of “restrain.”
lhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2048363,00.html
