For a group presentation in class, I was part of the group that presented various examples of online communities. Since I'm an avid user of social media, I decided to chose Twitter as the primary focus of my part of the presentation. I showed a video of the history of Twitter, the technology behind it and a quick example how the internet is powerful: #alexfromtarget.
Overall, I was intrigued at just how many online communities there are. Alec and Colin spoke about gaming, Jin spoke about Facebook, Ling spoke about WeChat and Juyong spoke about Online Shopping. These online communities all exemplify this virtual world we live in.
I love my Nike Fuel Band. It keeps me motivated to get moving, specially on days that I just don't feel like working out. The idea behind this amazing piece of equipment is easy: you wear it everyday and it tracks your movement to produce statistics of your overall health and goals. Little did I know that this little piece of rubber I wear everyday is somewhat embedded on me. It's a little piece of artificial intelligence. What I head Professor Fry explain the reason behind this (I believe he used Fitbit as an example), it freaked me out a little. I am one of those who believe that eventually technology will outsmart humans. I grew up watching movies such as A.I., The Terminator and I, Robot. After watching those movies, it creeps me out to think that Cyborgs will soon take over the world. Hopefully I will not be living by then. Anyway, back to my Nike Fuel. I find it fascinating that it truly is a little piece of A.I. embedded on me.
Now, on a more business perspective, I've learned that my Nike Fuel band is used as a form of Gamification. What is gamification you ask? It's the application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of activities, and are used as online marketing technique that encourages engagement with a product or service. Most people do not know but we are using products and services solely to generate more profit for organizations! Is that just not ethical? Watch the video below to get an idea of what I mean:
What's interesting is that about half a billion people do not even know they're using it! Calling all Candy Crush addicts - you're one of the top groups that fall victim into this marketing technique. But no matter how much of this gamification is made known to society, people still use it. Like how I still use my Nike Fuel Band. It's my little piece of A.I. that is providing Nike my statistics for data they can use to generate new innovating ideas and so forth.
The word community can be interpreted into many things. It can be relatable to a neighborhood community, a town or church. Online communities are very similar; in that those who are part of online communities possess some sort of similar characteristics or interests. For instance, I am part of an online community related to health and fitness. Within that online community, people are able to share posts about exercise routines, healthy recipes and motivational stories and photos. Members join because the content appeal to them and the interaction they have with each other are of the same interests. Any idea can be evolved into something that creates a community and any person is able to create it.
I believe the title says it all. It must've been so exciting for new companies back then to envision their place on the world wide web. A place they thought would bring their creative idea out quicker into the world. A place that would soon bring them lots of profit. Similar to the extinction of the dinosaurs, the extinction of all those who heavily participated in the dot-com bubble quickly too became knocked out by a force that no one saw coming. Unfortunately, that's all what business is. The dot-com bubble sort of reminds me of Facebook's IPO failure. What we can learn from all of this is that although a value of a company seems exceptional, with a blink of an eye, things change and you may end up with nothing.
As I watched the StartUp documentary, I was amazed at how a simple idea - govWorks.com - grew into something extraordinary in a short period of time. What was more extraordinary was how quickly govWorks.com failed. While the internet is something that is encrypted into our everyday lives, it's interesting to see just how a company, particularly a website, is produced.
I had mixed feelings of whether I agreed with the decisions Kaleil and Tom made. Nevertheless, I was rooting for them to overcome their adversities and achieve the successful company they had envisioned. But of course, happily ever afters happen mostly in fairy tales. I mean, I don't think Cinderella's fairy god mother would've had enough magic in her wand to turn things around for Tom and Kaleil. But enough about Disney fairy tales. With every success there is struggle. With the way the Dot-Com bubble turned out, it was obvious how govWorks.com would eventually end in tragedy. Okay, maybe tragedy is a word that over dramatizes the entire documentary. But that's exactly what the entire documentary was - drama. Drama between Tom and Kaleil, drama between their lawyers and even drama with their business partner, Chieg Cheung.
The most saddening, yet not surprising, aspect of the documentary is how the number of employees grew from 8 to over a hundred and back down to about 20 (I don't remember exact numbers). Again, as I said at the beginning of this blog, it's extraordinary to see how quickly the company fell apart. The idea of govWorks.com was something simple, yet, something different. With the amount technology has changed today, I wonder if govWorks.com would've been successful had they waited a few more years to create it. I guess we'll never know.
As a kid who grew up in the 90s, I laughed hysterically throughout this video. I remember seeing this video in the late 90s and everyone I knew - family, friends and classmates - thought it was both informative and exciting at the same time. It's interesting seeing how teens react to the video today and as I look back at this moment in time, I definitely am more appreciative of the technology we have today.
I LOVED creating a web page using simple HTML. As a Junior last year at UWT, I took "Principles of Web Design" as one of my Communication course requirements. During that course, I learned how to use Dreamweaver and the basics of HTML and CSS. Interestingly, I did not know that I can create a simple HTML page using the TextEdit application on my MacBook. Because I had knowledge of HMTL and CSS prior to this assignment, it was easy for me to create this simple webpage. However, before I was a student in Principles of Web Design, I always felt a sense of frustration when I tried to create a webpage design for the very first time.
It's fascinating how far webpages and designs have grown. The design and concept of a webpage is essential when attempting to create a design that is successfully strong in communicating the information.
The idea of e-commerce has skyrocketed into a common everyday practice in society. From clothing to toys and even jewelry; almost everyone at one point in time, has made a purchase via online. But I, along with many online savvy shoppers, may wonder what things in particular we would never buy on the internet.
Personally, clothing is something I'm always comfortable ordering online - for the reason being that I have the ability to make a return in a physical store if I am not happy with my purchase. In addition, I feel that the two things I would never purchase online include: appliances and grocery goods.
Though sites such as Best Buy, Amazon and many more, offer consumers the ability to purchase appliances online, I feel that it is a purchase needed to be made in person and one-on-one with an expert. While sites may provide detailed features of the appliances, I will never receive the peace of mind that I need to commit to making a purchase; without a sales rep (expert) to guide me with my decision. Plus, it'd be heavy to carry into my home when it gets delivered only on my front porch! And I can only imagine that I'd be spending hours trying to figure out how to successfully put it together!
Likewise, I would never purchase groceries online. Aside from my love of going to the grocery store to touch and feel my produce, I would assume that the produced ordered online is not as fresh as the produce I'd get from the store itself.
Something fascinating I found about the Derek Young's presentation is when he spoke about the Tacoma Runners. I found it so interesting that a simple tweet that began with a weekly run for a few people, has evolved into weekly running events for thousands in the Tacoma area. It shows how truly powerful social media has become and how it can be used as a tool for success. Furthermore, what happen to an individual just this past week is a great example to support this.
As some of you may have seen in the news lately Alex from Target has become a normal high school kid working at Target who unknowingly had his photo posted on twitter. (Photo source from Yahoo News)
Within a few hours, everyone has been been trying to figure out: Who is #AlexfromTarget? His twitter followers turned from 144 into almost half a million in a few hours and eventually, he even grabbed the attention of Ellen Degeneres!
It's amazing how far technology has come and how much social media has gained the power to turn a simple idea (Eg, the Tacoma Runners), into something far more grand than expected.
As I listened to Eric Hanberg's presentation, it made me aware of how everything I've ever posted online is a publication. The story he shared about privacy and Facebook is both alarming and quite unethical. He mentioned that he had posted a comment online which stated his opinion about a topic and interestingly enough, he ended up not getting hired for a job because of it.
In my communication classes, we discuss a lot of topics regarding social media and privacy. One topic that stood out to me that was very similar to Eric's experience, and it contained a woman who did not get hired for a job with an organization because of this Facebook status she posted online:
Every person conveys meaning in various ways. The Facebook status above may suggest that this woman went to a party, had one too many drinks, is hungover and possibly had allowed her children to also consume alcohol. The following week, the woman had a job interview for an organization who frequently used Facebook to "judge" their candidates. If you hadn't guessed already, because of this Facebook status, she didn't get the job. Want to know the real meaning behind her post? She was at her niece's sweet 16 party, ate the "special" entree and endured food poisoning because of it.
With many other cases that are similar to this, we can only hope that not all organizations practice the same hiring procedures. I mean, that IS what LinkedIn is for right??? More importantly, we should be well aware of the fact that whatever it is we put on the internet is published. Like Eric had mentioned, "if it's not on the internet, it never happened."
In the Machine is Us/ing by Michael Wesch, we see a form of transformation - from simple HTML to stylistic ones that intertwined form and content to be "inseparable," as the video describes. It shows how everyone that is digitally inclined, is also connected with each other. Upon viewing The Machine is Us/using Us, it sparked a memory of a documentary I watched in my Approaches to Mass Communication class called "Generation Like."
As an avid user of social media, PBS opened my eyes to an entirely new perspective of social media, marketing and the evolution of technology in general. Considering my major in Communication and minor in Business, I often am exposed to the ethics side of technology and the business side. While many people don't think twice about clicking "like" on Facebook or retweeting a tweet on twitter, businesses utilize those actions to help them generate awareness for their brands and eventually, profits. The power of technology is both fascinating and alarming at the same time. At the end of Wesch's video, he ends with the sentence: "We'll need to rethink a few things..." and one after the other, these words appear: copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetorics, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family and ourselves.
In relation to Generation Like, the word ethics stands out to me. Generation Like shows how everyday consumers are used as marketers, specially through social media platforms. With every like, share and re-tweet clicked on, we as consumers are creating awareness and profits for a brand, new movie and etc. - without even knowing it! While many consumers, specially younger individuals, thrive in the satisfaction of likes or shares, they are unaware that their actions are a form of marketing. The thought of ethics comes into mind - is it ethically right that consumers are used as marketers, commentators, innovators (the list can go on and on)? Just as the title of the video says, The Machine is Us/ing Us - we are being used as technology evolves. But are we being used or are we encouraging the machines to use us?
I remember the first moment I used the internet. I was 11 years old and was thrilled when my parents finally allowed me to explore the world wide web via dial-up internet. Excitedly, I sat on the chair, turned the computer on and waited patiently as this sweet sound connected me to the internet:
As soon as I was connected, I quickly became amazed at how I could do things such as blogging in Xanga, playing virtual billiards with people from around the nation (with parental supervision) and being able to easily download video clips, music and photos (even if it took me 30 minutes to download one photo). Reminiscing about those days when I would get upset at a sibling because they would pick up the phone during my time with the internet, allows me to appreciate how much technology, the world wide web and the internet has evolved into something that is now so common in everyday life.
I registered for TINST 207 with the reason of only needing it to satisfy my credits to graduate in June, however, the lectures have sparked my interest with the history of these technological softwares and devices. As a Communication major and Business minor, I often see both the pros and cons that come along with the constant changes of technology, and how they affect the consumers. What I want out of the class is to learn more more about technologies that allow society to use the World Wide Web, the danger it may hold for younger generations and the ethics behind it all. Cheers to a quarter of discovering the answers to my curiosities and learning how dial-up internet means nothing now but a mere memory of the past!
