Discussion about MySpace and DOPA

It’s an interview that discusses the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA). Its very interesting: http://www.danah.org/papers/MySpaceDOPA.html

Filed under: Social Media

Crowdsourcing

I have used IStockphoto for at least 5 years now, and all of a sudden their business model gets a new name: Crowdsourcing. Instead of "outsourcing" to countries like India or China, Crowdsourcing relies "on the spare processing power of millions of human brains" from people that might live down the block or half-way across the world. Essentially, a bunch of amateurs get together on an Internet site and produce products that other’s can lease for a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional. I personally always thought that IStockphoto had some great stuff, and at only $1 a picture, it was certainly affordable (even to a poor college student!). Apparently this idea has spread:

"Technological advances in everything from product design software to digital video cameras are breaking down the cost barriers that once separated amateurs from professionals. Hobbyists, part-timers, and dabblers suddenly have a market for their efforts, as smart companies in industries as disparate as pharmaceuticals and television discover ways to tap the latent talent of the crowd. The labor isn’t always free, but it costs a lot less than paying traditional employees. It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing."

View the full Wired article here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html

Filed under: Thoughts

Dissertation topic

Last semester I came up with an idea for my theoretical foundations class, and I thought it was a bit silly. My adviser totally loved it though, so now it has turned into my dissertation topic. I am going to be studying the social construction of knowledge on social bookmarking sites. I think I am mostly going to be concentrating on delicious. I am not sure exactly where this research will take me, but I am going to be writing a grant proposal to NSF in the summer. Since no one has actually done any significant research on social bookmarking, I am totally starting from scratch here which is a bit daunting to say the least. Good thing I have a few *years* to work on it. I think I will need all the time I can get!

Oh and I have recently (as in today), downloaded a desktop blog client, which I think will help me be a bit more posty. I usually have lots of things to post over the course of the week, but I hate logging into the web interface because its slow and clunky. So this is me taking Qumana for a spin, and hey its free, a poor PhD student couldn’t ask for more :)

Filed under: Academic Research

Save the Internet

Here is a video: The Death of the Internet?

Here is a petition:
Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality–the Internet’s First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn’t have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites–including Google, eBay, and iTunes–must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress’ effort to gut Internet freedom.

You can do your part today–can you sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here

I signed this petition, along with 250,000 others so far. This petiton will be delivered to Congress before the House of Representatives votes next week. When you sign, you’ll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress.

Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that circulate on the Internet, explained:

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site’s traffic has precedence over any other’s…Whether a user searches for recipes using Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend’s MySpace profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user’s web browser with the same priority. In recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid carpool lane.

If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites ranging from Google to eBay to iTunes either pay protection money to get into the “fast lane” or risk opening slowly on your computer. We can’t let the Internet–this incredible medium which has been such a revolutionary force for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech–become captive to large corporations.

Politicians don’t think we are paying attention to this issue. Together, we do care about preserving the free and open Internet.

Please sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Internet freedom. Click here

Thanks.

Filed under: Thoughts