Time to Socialize Social Media (aside)

The introduction to this article reminded me to a video I saw, Who Moved My Cheese. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDNhEYpBPbY). I refer to this video as people are not accustomed to change (as well as everyday change and practical life adaptations).

The general population is not accustomed to change, which could explain their resistance to the idea of a "government-run" social media space. You also must consider that a "government-run" social media space may sound off-putting because many people do not have enough trust in our government to uphold those responsibilities. However, if that space was handled like the USPS and advertised as that, it may change consumers' minds. As touched on in this article and in A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix, Facebook uses you to increase their profit and knows a lot about you, "Including your facial characteristics". "The postal Service may not collect or maintain information describing how individuals exercise their rights protected by the First Amendment". This would change Facebook's actions entirely and would keep your personal and confidential information, personal and confidential.

Currently, "law enforcement only needs a subpoena (a writ ordering a person to attend a court) to make companies turn over electronic documents". This means what you say on Facebook can be used as incriminating evidence much easier than it would if Facebook was government-run. In a (postal-style) government-run Facebook, the FBI must be administered a warrant before they can read your information.

When viewing the contrast, you must remember that, "The Postal Service bears a responsibility to the American people, social media companies only bear a responsibility to their shareholders/investors". You must also consider that if companies' objective is to maximize profit, this could mean exploiting you as an individual.

Inevitably, it is up to the consumer to make the decision, or if they care, on how they are being tracked. Some may think, with the aid of social media, that 'Big Brother' is now aided by 'Big Sister' too, 'Big Sister' being social media. Your information is accessible to a wide variety of entities, some of which you do not know. Changing to a more structured and confidential social media space may be what is best for the overall population's privacy and protection, but they must be willing to accept change.

A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix: What's Actually Getting Shared and How You Can Opt Out (aside)

I always knew that Facebook monitored what I (and the public) did on its site, but I did not know that they monotor, track, relay information, and group me into categories so other marketing companies can target me through my online behavior.
For some people, this is an intrusion on their privacy. For others, they may not care or think the personalized advertisements are beneficial. However, you must consider this in an evolutional viewpoint, and what will come next with information-gathering tactics.

Facebook was obvious, but what I did not see coming was the fact that loyalty card programs, "create a long data trail of our everyday purchases". Personally, I do not see this as too bad of an action if they are not selling my personal information. Used constructively, the inforamtion they retrieve from me could serve my lifestyle better. This is seen in the case of the CDC tracking down cases of salmonella, or if they informed me when I can get a regularly-bought product for a cheaper price. As long as these companies keep my personal information confidential, and do not sell it, I am ok with that.

After reading this passage, I was curious as to who/what companies partake in these data-tracking loyalty rewards programs?

I also would like to know how Target knows how to target (pun intended) expecting mothers before they showed signs of pregnancy, and their means of doing that? This could be both a good thing as you could inform these mothers-to-be, as well as an intrusion of privacy.

Is this information gathering and privacy intrusion an issue among other developed countries, or just here in capitalist-America?

I also decided to opt-out of the Datalogix information gathering, mainly because I want to see if there is a noticeable change with my online experience. I also am not comfortable with either Facebook or Datalogix profiting from my behavior as I am somewhat annoyed at how far capitalism has reached into the cracks of society (with regards to following and tracking my online behavior)

Opt out link: https://www.datalogix.com/privacy/

From the World Brain to the World Wide Web (Aside)

The centralized source of information, as the passage states, "is an evolutionary development in the dissemination of information". After reading this passage, it makes sense that our next step from the printing press would be an even faster paced 'information disseminator'.
H. G. Wells was on the right track when he was devising the 'World Brain', however, he was before his time. His idea of the World Brain, as explained, is very similar to what I believe to be Wikipedia.
A statement about Well's, "Wells perceived that the world was drifting into war. He believed this was because of the sheer ignorance of ordinary people, that allowed them to be duped into voting for fascist governments" Is something that I took to be very believable. I see that, myself, that as one becomes more informed, their rational thought and logic skills direct them into directions other than war. With that, I wonder if we will ever have a society that is fully informed and educated. I say that because we have this 'World Brain' at our finger tips and we do not use it to its full potential. We also see some of our society become dumber with this influx of technology that is also used to convey information. Time will tell.
Vannevar Bush was alike Wells as he too was before his time. He did however devise the Mexex 'memory extender' that foreshadowed the World Wide Web. Thankfully for Bush, he lived in the post-war era and was able to, "reflect on the role of science and technology in the post-war world". He also realized that a pressing problem would be the dissemination of information. He then was able to build a machinal machine that was "rendered for 1945 technology" which was similar to Well's idea.
Progressing from that, we find ourselves talking about J. C. R. Licklider. He fortunately had the opportunity to dabble with technology that neither Wells or bush had. He successfully helped engineer the first man-computer symbiosis  that inevitably led to the personal computer. With this man-computer symbiosis, information was able to be disseminated at a much faster pace between exuberant amounts of individuals. Both Well's and Bush's dreams were created because of this invention, but not before their demise.

While reading this passage, it lead me to think:
We have moved further from print information more as we involve technology within our lives and information records. What if, some day, we put all of our information on the 'cloud'- which is inevitably the next evolutionary development from the internet. We stray from publishing information in hard copy (or very few for that matter) and our information resides on this TAZ or this intangible place. Our civilization as we know it then perishes (similar to ancient civilizations), and this 'could' or network is no longer accessible. All of our records and information will perish as well, as my logic suggests, correct? Do you think this is a practical idea and if it would actually happen?

I would also like to know what the next 'big' step in the evolutionary dissemination of information is from the Internet. The Internet is a huge development in and of itself, and I can only anticipate what comes next.

The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change By Rita Safranek

"[Social relationships are constructed and how communication is
produced, mediated, and received] and state power becomes more porous and  there is  less control". Do you think this is true for the United States? Is there any chance something similar would happen here as it did in Egypt?


When you think of events such as the timinin square protests, Kent state, and other historical movements/protests, do you think social media would have altered the direction of these movements?  Civilian deaths would have made it to the public faster, would this prevent the governments from killing them then?

Following my last question, on a slightly different note, refer to the quote: "The Red Shirt uprising in Thailand in 2010 followed a similar but quicker path: Protestors savvy with social media occupied downtown Bangkok until the Thai government dispersed the protestors, killing dozens” (Shirky)". In this case, social media did not prevent the government from killing their own civilians. Why do you think social media did not succeed in both preventing this, and spreading the word that this happened?

If social media were to change something within this nation, what do you think it would change/influence first, if at all? (Legalization of marijuana, Gay rights, equal pay, etc). Do you think social media is practical in promoting these changes?

Netart 2009, VisitorsStudio. Netart 2008 – Conch, Netart 2004 – Ping Melody, Netart 2007 – Feraltrade

Netart 2009
Where do you [professor] see Visitors Studios going in the next few years? Is there any consideration to adapting for Wii controllers or other game consoles? Also, outside of play, is Visitors Studious used for other purposes?


Netart 2008
Can you explain web 2.0 and your (or others's) interpretation of it?

"when the last flicker comes from the last flay screen, we will understand that code is a chant to exorcize the machine, leaving the ghost (and us!) free to move on to something else"  With that, what could be the 'something else'? Attached is a video that I think 'something else' could resemble in the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38

Netart 2004
Since 2004, has Gridcosm expanded at all? From the looks of it, I cannot tell if they have or have not. Do you think there is any possibility that Gridcosm may expand into film, or is the platform not meant for that?

Netare 2007
What was the criteria for "Embodied praxis"? Can you explain how the Feral trade works exactly and why they received the grand prize for this topic?