Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Wonderful Wiki
Wikis are an extremely useful tool with high potential and are constantly being viewed and updated by many users around the world. A wiki as described by Leuf in 'The Wiki Way' "...is a freely expandable collection of interlinked Web 'pages', a hypertext system for storing and modifying information - a database where each page is easily editable by any user with a forms-capable Web browser client" (Cunningham and Leuf, 2001). As wikis allow its users to freely create and update information one has to question how reliable this information actually is and who monitors what is being added and deleted?
A wikis success all depends on "...whether there's an active, diverse, and sufficiently intelligent community of users" (Bruns, 2008). At a glance there are three main issues that coincide with wikis: wrong information, vandalism and marketing entries.
In many universities, students are not allowed to use wikis as part of their research as the articles on the site are not of a scholarly nature. Although this is true there is good information out there of sites such as Wikipedia. Daniel Nations (2008) is a program specialist who believes wikis “…can be a great form of quick reference, but before you rely too much on an entry, it can be a good idea to verify the information.” Many contributors can post information both unintentionally and intentionally and one must be careful with the use of the information provided by wikis.
The wiki is inherently democratic and allows web collaboration without accounts or passwords. This all seems too easy however editing wikis in this fashion causes your IP address to be recorded publicly in the edit history. Creating an account conceals this information. This has created a way to stop vandalism on wiki web pages. "Anyone can play... Only good players have the desire to keep playing" (C2, 2003).
Wikis can also be used for displaying information on not only historical facts and figures but is also used as a marketing strategy for some artists/celebrities. Entries on stars or politics seem to be very biased and omit particular information. This is an issue when trying to gather as much information as you can, both good and bad.
Many of these issues deter people from using wikis as a source of information however that fact that anyone can change or shape an entry is the very thing which makes a wiki a wiki. Reliable information is an issue however even experts can be wrong. I don’t think we embrace wiki’s or use them to their fullest potential; instead we tend to focus on the negatives which I believe is a shame. Collective knowledge is definitely better than the opinion of one or two professionals.
References:
Bruns, A. 2008. Wonderful wikis?. http://snurb.info/node/797 (Accessed April 17, 2008).
C2. 2003. Why Wikis Work. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyWikiWorks (Accessed April 17, 2008). Cunningham, W. and B. leuf. 2001. The Wiki Way: quick collaboration on the web. Boston: Addison – Wesley
Nations, D. 2008. The Downside of Wikis. http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/wiki_downside.htm (Accessed April 17, 2008).
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Online Communities - Do we share too much?
Whether I'm trying to start an assignment, complete one or research for it, my mind always seems to be distracted and I find myself checking Facebook for the latest gossip, photos and upcoming events. It seems to have become a very habitual thing in my life, an addiction if you like. When Facebook first came out I was very hesitant to become a member as I tended to use the Internet as a form of procrastination and this would just exacerbate the situation. However despite my concerns I ended up joining the social networking website - if you can't beat them, join them. Although it has become a form of procrastination to some extent, it also allows me to interact and connect with people I wouldn't normally speak to on a daily or weekly basis.
Along with Facebook’s (and many other communities) ability to connect you with others, one has to question in online communities...do we share too much? Photos and personal details can be accessed by anyone from prospective employers to stalkers and there has been expressed concern about the potential abuses of social networking technology - abuse by participants and the media.
One particular story in the news which deals with the media’s abuse of Facebook is the recent publicity on Australian swimmer 'extraordinaire' Stephanie Rice. Her Facebook page was a hot topic of conversation as the content she had created and posted (pictures of herself in costume) was deemed inappropriate for a representative of Australian Swimming. The Daily Telegraph stated that "HAPPY snaps of Stephanie Rice partying have been deemed too raunchy for Swimming Australia, with all of the swimmers ordered to block public access to their Facebook pages" (Saurine 2008). A few harmless photographs shared with friends, family and the public were turned into a commotion overnight.
Privacy is a major issue online that many users face. The storage and use of the information is also a cause for concern. According to Vallance (2008), once users deactivate their account on Facebook the information still remains accessible on Facebook’s computer. The content is still available until the user goes onto his/her page, logs in and deletes all profile content. This is quite useful if you were to reactivate your account but why would you want to if you were going to delete it in the first place? Not many people are aware of this process of deletion and who can really be bothered? If you think about all the information that is posted hourly/daily/weekly etc there is too much to delete. Information on other people’s profiles still remains there even after you delete your profile and who wants to go through all their ‘friends’ pages and delete it?
The case of the controversial Beacon advertising program also seemed to be a heated discussion in 2007 where the broadcast of users’ online purchases was available to friends in their networks (Greenberg 2007).
There are many privacy issues that are yet to be resolved. Users of the Facebook networking site (and many other online sites) must ensure they take into consideration what they are allowing others access to. Information is power and can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. I believe that many users assume that posting personal details and content online is a harmless activity. I am of the opinion that many are too nonchalant and that we do post too much personal information online.
References:
Greenberg, A. 2007. Facebook’s Overblown Privacy Problems. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/12/05/facebook-beacon-opt-tech-internet-cx_ag_1205techfacebook.html (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Saurine, A. 2008. Stephanie Rice's Facebook pictures censored. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23468911-5001021,00.html (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Vallance, C. 2008. Facebook faces privacy questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7196803.stm (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Along with Facebook’s (and many other communities) ability to connect you with others, one has to question in online communities...do we share too much? Photos and personal details can be accessed by anyone from prospective employers to stalkers and there has been expressed concern about the potential abuses of social networking technology - abuse by participants and the media.
One particular story in the news which deals with the media’s abuse of Facebook is the recent publicity on Australian swimmer 'extraordinaire' Stephanie Rice. Her Facebook page was a hot topic of conversation as the content she had created and posted (pictures of herself in costume) was deemed inappropriate for a representative of Australian Swimming. The Daily Telegraph stated that "HAPPY snaps of Stephanie Rice partying have been deemed too raunchy for Swimming Australia, with all of the swimmers ordered to block public access to their Facebook pages" (Saurine 2008). A few harmless photographs shared with friends, family and the public were turned into a commotion overnight.
Privacy is a major issue online that many users face. The storage and use of the information is also a cause for concern. According to Vallance (2008), once users deactivate their account on Facebook the information still remains accessible on Facebook’s computer. The content is still available until the user goes onto his/her page, logs in and deletes all profile content. This is quite useful if you were to reactivate your account but why would you want to if you were going to delete it in the first place? Not many people are aware of this process of deletion and who can really be bothered? If you think about all the information that is posted hourly/daily/weekly etc there is too much to delete. Information on other people’s profiles still remains there even after you delete your profile and who wants to go through all their ‘friends’ pages and delete it?
The case of the controversial Beacon advertising program also seemed to be a heated discussion in 2007 where the broadcast of users’ online purchases was available to friends in their networks (Greenberg 2007).
There are many privacy issues that are yet to be resolved. Users of the Facebook networking site (and many other online sites) must ensure they take into consideration what they are allowing others access to. Information is power and can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. I believe that many users assume that posting personal details and content online is a harmless activity. I am of the opinion that many are too nonchalant and that we do post too much personal information online.
References:
Greenberg, A. 2007. Facebook’s Overblown Privacy Problems. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/12/05/facebook-beacon-opt-tech-internet-cx_ag_1205techfacebook.html (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Saurine, A. 2008. Stephanie Rice's Facebook pictures censored. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23468911-5001021,00.html (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Vallance, C. 2008. Facebook faces privacy questions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7196803.stm (Accessed April 12, 2008).
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Technocultures
Technoculture: The interactions between, and politics of, technology and culture.
Still to be finished.
Still to be finished.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The longtail culture
The acquisition of obscure products forever seems to be a challenge however the creation of online sites such as Amazon, iTunes and Netfit (just to mention a few) have enabled people to tap into these niche markets.
Companies have discovered that the distribution and inventory costs allow them to realize significant profit. This is achieved by selling small volumes of hard-to-find items rather than selling large volumes of items which are popular (Wikipedia, 2008).
References:
Wikipedia. 2008. The long tail. http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/The_Long_Tail (Accessed March 22, 2008).
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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