The debate that we had in class was whether or not craigslist should have regulation on what is posted. Some people in our class said that it would be a good idea to have posts checked, either kept or removed, depending on what the truth is. A good reason for having a system of regulation is to reinforce good behavior and to avoid being scammed while you are searching for what you want on craigslist. The article that i posted mentions how people are using craigslist for illegal activity such as advertising prostitution or the selling of illegal drugs. This comes to the second part of the debate where some students in our class say that it should not be regulated. Because of the free access and use of the site, some students in our class say that it should not be regulated and that there is no means to do it. I think that there should be some sort of regulation, meaning that there should be a computer that searches for key words that sound like a scam and remove that post.
K
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wikipedia Summary
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia in where you can find information that you do not even imagine. This encyclopedia is made by its users. Since it was launched in 2001, millions of articles had been created in different languages. Anyone with access to the internet can edit or add an article. But this liberty that this website gives to its users can be a bad thing. Many people can edit articles to favor them or their companies as the article mentioned. There is a big controversy because many companies are editing their articles deleting information and that is why now there is a program to identify where the edition of the article is coming from. Although this program gives that information it cannot be known who did it. I think that it is good that the website locks some articles as we could see in class to prevent the alteration of the information. People can write false information and as a consequence of this Wikipedia cannot be reliable on. We can do some research on Wikipedia but we must have in mind that the information can be incorrect so we should have other sources to verify it.
Assignments for Tuesday, April 1
1. Claudia and Kyriakos will post their summaries by tomorrow at noon. Comments should proceed as usual.
2. Please read articles posted by Juan, Semone, and Germanas about Second Life.
3. Read pages 25-42 in Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture
2. Please read articles posted by Juan, Semone, and Germanas about Second Life.
3. Read pages 25-42 in Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture
Important April Dates
April 1: You must meet with me by this date if you want to revise your first paper.
April 10: First draft of paper #2 due
April 17: Final draft of paper must be emailed to me by midnight of this date.
If you would like to visit the writing center before submitting either of these drafts, please make your appointment well in advance.
April 10: First draft of paper #2 due
April 17: Final draft of paper must be emailed to me by midnight of this date.
If you would like to visit the writing center before submitting either of these drafts, please make your appointment well in advance.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
MSN Space Summary
One big reason made MSN Space become so popular is probably because of the massive uses of MSN Messenger all over the world. It connects the space straight to people’s messenger. Just click on one friend’s name, people can see the newest updates in their friend’s MSN Space. MSN Space is not only a usual blog for people to write everyday journals. It is actually a multifunction online personal space for people to learn, have fun, and communicate with each other. There are just so many things to do with the MSN Space. Unlike many other blog spaces, MSN Space provides various templates and designs for people to choose and decorate their own spaces. Users can randomly change the way how their spaces look as they wish. Almost anything, in the space, MSN will allow users to play around. From the smallest mouse pointer to the whole background design and templates, if users have enough knowledge of HTML then they almost can do anything with their space. Even set their personal picture as the background. In fact, I learned my own HTML skill from building up my MSN Space. It even helped me got an A in my computer science class. Also MSN Space is a place can keep users’ privacy efficiently. Users can choose whoever they want to share their spaces with. They have options to open their space to everyone or just few friends or only to themselves. Overall, to me MSN Space is really a great place to keep on with my daily or monthly journals while having lots funs with.
MySpace Summary
MySpace is a social networking site which in three short years has became one of the top five most visited sites in the US. Unlike its predecessors, for one example Friendster, MySpace did “not have pre-conceived notions about how users wanted to interact with the site”. The users of the site were given the freedom to choose why and how they wanted to use the site. “MySpace listened to user feedback and quickly iterated the product [the users requested] with rapid development cycles.” At the users request MySpace added applications like blogs, comment boards, message boards and IM (Instant Messaging). MySpace became very popularity among teenage users because of its freedom and attentiveness to their users. As more and more teens joined MySpace it caught the attention of large corporations who were interested in it as more than just a social networking tool. These large corporations recognized the potential of social networking sites as great marketing tools. Corporations started paying for advertisement space on MySpace. Today there are advertisements everywhere on MySpace; there are even restrictions on the users prohibiting them from blocking these ads.
Tencent Summery
In 1998, Pony Ma, the co-founder of China's hosttest Internet company created the "QQ"which has reached more than 100 million users, or nearly 80 percent of the market.Tencent is also worrying the Chinese government, which strictly regulates the Internet and is wary of the Web’s ability to mobilize huge online political communities or perhaps to nurture underground economies. A few weeks ago, Q-Coins available which allow customers to shop online for games, music and even virtual furniture. It also an example for the convergence culture because it just use as the massenger at first, now Tencent combines aspects of the social networking site MySpace, the video sharing site YouTube and the online virtual world of Second Life, it make America’s biggest Internet companies, like Yahoo, Google and eBay, have largely flopped in China.Tencent earns the bulk of its revenue from the entertainment services it sells through the Internet and mobile phones. Next, in the United States, roughly 70 percent of Internet users are over the age of 30; in China, it is the other way around — 70 percent of users here are under 30, according to the investment bank Morgan Stanley. Furthermore, in 2006, the Q-cooins rised the profit of Tencent from 200% to 221%. Finally, the article wrote about the Pony Ma. I like his logion:“There are a lot of opportunities in the market now,” he said. “The leader of the market today may not necessarily be the leader tomorrow.”
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Assignments for Thursday, March 27
1. Dennis, Melody, and Hugo will post summaries of our discussion by tomorrow at noon. The rest of you will comment before our next class.
2. Read articles posted by Kryiakos and Claudia.
3. Finally, read Solove's Chapter 2 to page 43.
2. Read articles posted by Kryiakos and Claudia.
3. Finally, read Solove's Chapter 2 to page 43.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
So You Want to Be a Blogging Star?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/technology/personaltech/20basics.html?_r=1
Here is another interesting story about blogging, just for fun.
Even your dog has a blog
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/21/dog.blog/
Here is another interesting story about blogging, just for fun.
Even your dog has a blog
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/21/dog.blog/
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Paper #2: Digital Communities
Paper Guidelines
Your paper should be 4-5 pages in 12-point Times New Roman font or equivalent. You should have at least two outside research sources and a properly formatted bibliography in MLA style. Your paper must have a thesis statement with supporting evidence. As you begin your research, please think of one of the following questions as a way to frame your argument:
1. How have social networking sites brought up issues around privacy? Do you think these sites are in violation of people’s privacy? Why or why not?
2. Some critics of online communities say these spaces encourage anti-social behavior? Do you agree with this criticism? Why or why not?
3. Digital communities have received some attention recently because of fraudulent and/or criminal activities on the sites. Do you think online communities encourage this kind of behavior or make certain behaviors more prevalent?
4. Cyber Neighborhoods have allowed for what some observers call “interactivity” or "convergence culture"—opportunities for participants to mix various media (graphics, video, ARGs). How has interactivity changed the way people communicate and/or view entertainment?
5. Cyber communities have been applauded for democratizing access to information and the dissemination of knowledge. Do you agree that the internet is more democratic? Why or why not?
(Questions may also be added depending on issues that come up in class discussions.)
Your paper should be 4-5 pages in 12-point Times New Roman font or equivalent. You should have at least two outside research sources and a properly formatted bibliography in MLA style. Your paper must have a thesis statement with supporting evidence. As you begin your research, please think of one of the following questions as a way to frame your argument:
1. How have social networking sites brought up issues around privacy? Do you think these sites are in violation of people’s privacy? Why or why not?
2. Some critics of online communities say these spaces encourage anti-social behavior? Do you agree with this criticism? Why or why not?
3. Digital communities have received some attention recently because of fraudulent and/or criminal activities on the sites. Do you think online communities encourage this kind of behavior or make certain behaviors more prevalent?
4. Cyber Neighborhoods have allowed for what some observers call “interactivity” or "convergence culture"—opportunities for participants to mix various media (graphics, video, ARGs). How has interactivity changed the way people communicate and/or view entertainment?
5. Cyber communities have been applauded for democratizing access to information and the dissemination of knowledge. Do you agree that the internet is more democratic? Why or why not?
(Questions may also be added depending on issues that come up in class discussions.)
Friday, March 21, 2008
Facebook Summarization
Facebook is a social networking site. Many users use it on the site. In general, I think Facebook is good for socializing with friends you know. However, for the research of my article, it demonstrates a fact that some people wanted to deactive the Facebook account, but it takes long time to get rid of the membership. Also, it forced some people had to choose legal action to break free. As a result, while the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers still keep copies of the information for the uses’ accounts. Indeed, many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network. So, do you want your information stay on internet forever? In this article, I think it is time to think about the privacy. Since the Facebook has copy right for users’ information, I think maybe its time that people change the contract of agreement with Facebook, of becoming a member, that Facebook does not have the right to use the information it can/do gather from its content for any other use. In addition, I think it is dangerous to put on your true information on the website. In the article, there was a story about “Mr. Das, who joined Facebook on a whim after receiving invitations from friends, tried to leave after realizing that most of his co-workers were also on the site….The last thing I want is people going on there and checking out my private life.” obviously, Mr. Das is a good example to demonstrate that he didn’t want his co-workers seeing things about his private life. When he tried to delete some information he wrote about, he finally find out that it was hard to delete them. In this case, who’s fault? I guess some people would say he is so stupid by putting some true information on the Facebook However, this is not just one case, and it could happen to other one. For example, some students also put some true information on the Facebook. Their first purpose was likely to make the site look interesting and let their friends known about him/her well. Indeed, I believe people should take responsible to post something that you really want to share to your friends and set the limit to choose who you want to share. Don’t share your information with strangers. Furthermore, I think people should think about twice before you post when you wrote something on your friends wall because other strangers can see them, too.
Furthermore, we watched the video in the class, I feel it is common sense that CIA investigates people’ life, it is not serious if you don’t do anything wrong. Beside the Facebook, phone taping is another way that they watch us, so we don’t need to scare a lot. In conclusion, people should be smart enough to protect your privacy by modifying the privacy settings in Facebook, and make the Facebook with your social networking life better.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
In Facebook, Investing in a Theory
Facebook is an evergrowing very popular site that is attracting people all over the world. In the article "In facebook, investing in a Theory" it talks about how not just people who want a blog go to facebook, investors go their also. Many investors like Microsoft who was considering investing $500 million dollars in facebook when facebook was only 3 years old. Other companies as well including advertising companies invest in facebook, and they can expose their ads to thousands of people who go on the website everyday. Facebook is making profits for a lot of different people as well like Lance Toluda, who is the owner of Super Wall, this lets people post messages. In the article is his quote that say that if someone were to write him a check for $10million he would say "Forget it". This is proof that facebook has grown tremendously. As an Egyptian immigrant I use facebook to connect with people back in Egypt. The article I chose explains how the many features and "widgets" attracts people to Facebook. People can really display their individual personalities through Facebook. A comment that was made in class today was that before you can look in a person's room to see their style, now you just have to look in their Facebook to get a feeling of who they are. The general class agreement was that Facebook is a fun activity to do when you are bored and have nothing else to do. Most people like it because it is easy to communicate with your friends and the features are really fun. I believe that our class discussion really shows why facebook has been so successful. It is something that you can use to interact and even find friends and family you have not seen for a very long time. I love facebook very much and will continue to use it everyday.
Facebook Summary
Facebook is a great example of convergence of media. You can now post pictures, videos, and games on your Facebook pages. This is on top of messages and posts that you can send to your friends. Facebook has the ability to bring people together. There are also some issues with Facebook. Qin posted an article that describes how it is very difficult to erase your info from your page. When you deactivate your page all your info is still in the Facebook server. Another problem people have with Facebook is the time that is wasted. Are people less productive because they can go onto Facebook during work or school? Some people view it as something they can do when bored while others view it as a distraction. I personally think that people who procrastinate will always do that and although Facebook is one of the ways in which to accomplish that, it is not at fault. Facebook can also be used to the advantage of companies to get information out to the public or to try and gather info on what people are interested in. Another advantage of Facebook is that it gives you the ability to find people that you haven’t seen in a very long time. We asked if it is considered rude to ignore someone who sends you a message on Facebook and if it is changing social rules. I think that although it is rude to ignore someone it is not so much different then ignoring someone in person and therefore is not really changing social guidelines. But it was brought up that while it is very unlikely that you will run into a past friend on the street, it is much easier to find someone on facebook and therefore there is a lot more to ignore.
A youtube video talked about the information we put on Facebook. Not only does Facebook have the right to use the info in anyway they want but they sell it to companies and even give it to the
Assignments for Tuesday, March 25
1. Qin, Raphael, and Mina will post summaries and opinions of our class discussions by tomorrow at noon. The rest of you will comment on one of their posts before our next class. You will not get credit if you don't post before class.
2. Read articles posted by Dennis, Melody, and Hugo.
3. Read Chapter 1 of Daniel Solove's The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy. Click here for the chapter.
2. Read articles posted by Dennis, Melody, and Hugo.
3. Read Chapter 1 of Daniel Solove's The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy. Click here for the chapter.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Assignments for Thursday, March 20
1. Read the articles posted by Qin, Raphael, and Mina.
2. Read the Introduction to Convergence Culture by Jenkins. You can access the book here through google books.
There's a good chance you will be quizzed on this material at the beginning of class, again.
2. Read the Introduction to Convergence Culture by Jenkins. You can access the book here through google books.
There's a good chance you will be quizzed on this material at the beginning of class, again.
Monday, March 17, 2008
CyberCommunity Schedule
Here's the schedule for presentations:
Thurs. March 20: Facebook: Qin, Raphael, and Mina
Tues., March 25: Other Online Networks: Dennis on MySpace and Hugo on Tencent and Melody on MSN Space
Thurs., March 27: Knowledge production on the net: Claudia on Wikipedia and Kyriakos on Craigslist
Tues., Apr. 1: Second Life: Juan and Semone and Germanas
Thurs., Apr. 3: Visual Cultures: Eaky on Flickr and Tamzid on YouTube
Tues., Apr. 8: The rise of YouTube: Denise on LG15, Deason on LG15
Thurs., Apr. 10: Peer Review #2: Draft of Paper #2 Due
Thurs. March 20: Facebook: Qin, Raphael, and Mina
Tues., March 25: Other Online Networks: Dennis on MySpace and Hugo on Tencent and Melody on MSN Space
Thurs., March 27: Knowledge production on the net: Claudia on Wikipedia and Kyriakos on Craigslist
Tues., Apr. 1: Second Life: Juan and Semone and Germanas
Thurs., Apr. 3: Visual Cultures: Eaky on Flickr and Tamzid on YouTube
Tues., Apr. 8: The rise of YouTube: Denise on LG15, Deason on LG15
Thurs., Apr. 10: Peer Review #2: Draft of Paper #2 Due
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Assignments for Tuesday, March 18
1. Choose 3 digital communities for presentation/research. Please email me by tomorrow at noon. The sooner you email me the more likely I am to accommodate your first choice.
2. Read U R 2 Old for Tuesday.
3. Read the articles posted by the first 2 presenters. (The articles will be posted by Sunday at noon.)
2. Read U R 2 Old for Tuesday.
3. Read the articles posted by the first 2 presenters. (The articles will be posted by Sunday at noon.)
CyberCommunities
Here are various Digital Communities:
LonelyGirl15 (or Kate Modern): www.lg15.com
Second Life: www.secondlife.com
Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com
Digg: www.digg.com
GoodReads: www.goodreads.com
Blogs: various sites
Find Satoshi: www.findsatoshi.com
Heroes: www.nbc.com/Heroes/
Xanga: www.xanga.com
Fickr: http://www.flickr.com/
Cyworld: www.cyworld.com
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm
Deviant Art: http://www.deviantart.com/
Craig’s List: www.craigslist.org
LonelyGirl15 (or Kate Modern): www.lg15.com
Second Life: www.secondlife.com
Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com
Digg: www.digg.com
GoodReads: www.goodreads.com
Blogs: various sites
Find Satoshi: www.findsatoshi.com
Heroes: www.nbc.com/Heroes/
Xanga: www.xanga.com
Fickr: http://www.flickr.com/
Cyworld: www.cyworld.com
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm
Deviant Art: http://www.deviantart.com/
Craig’s List: www.craigslist.org
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Text Generation Gap
R U 2 OLD? Please click on the link and read this NY Times article before class on Tuesday, March 18.
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