infoverse

This last post is a place for you to talk about something of interest to you through the course of the semester. It can be related to class discussions, blog posts, your book, your project, or anything related to the class. Has anything changed how you look at information? Do you feel ready to find information in today’s internet-heavy media environment?

Alternatively, if you’d like, you can comment on crowdsourcing.

This is just a reminder that as long as class is scheduled tomorrow, we’ll continue with the our course schedule as planned with group presentations/displays. If the snow meant you couldn’t travel to meet as a group, contact Kevin and me as soon as possible. Let us know if you have any questions!

We talked a bit about publishing today. A writer that I really admire, Cory Doctorow, gives away his books for free (and still sells copies, too). His website makes a good case about why he gives away works for free, and how you can donate money to him. What do you think about his approach? Does this make you more/less/the same amount likely to read his works? What do you think would happen if more writers started publishing this way? Any other thoughts?

Today we talked about transparency in the business world. This is related to our privacy discussion from our last class. Businesses that are transparent might find that there are significant benefits and drawbacks from sharing information online, just as we find in regards to sharing our own personal information online.

Transparency in business is growing. This is an important aspect of today’s information environment because it means that you can find out a lot more about companies when you are applying to work with them or if you have questions about their products and services. It also means you might be charged with helping your company be transparent in your future jobs.

Take a minute to read The See-Through CEO from Wired Magazine. Can you see reasons that this trend is important for your lifes? Why is this an important factor to consider when thinking about research in today’s information environment?

Hi all. Yesterday we discussed the evolution of the Internet, how quickly things change, what they might become. Today, Facebook turns five. This isn’t a discussion post, but feel free to comment if you want to reflect on how Facebook has changed how you do things, what you expect in terms of relationships, communication, and the internet, or what you would like to see Facebook do next. If you’re a bit nostalgic, you can see old versions of Facebook in their photo album.

As we talk about managing information and the changing information environment, please take five minutes to watch this video and comment on something of interest within it.

In the Phaedrus, Plato illustrates Socrates’ arguments against writing. (This is one of the reasons that you won’t find anything written by Socrates.) Socrates argued, through story, that writing diminishes the memory, among other things. However, today, most people would probably assume that someone who couldn’t write wasn’t educated.

Are there similarities you can see with today’s technologies? Any that might make us less smart? Any that might make us smarter?

I just made a handout on Zotero for another class, and thought it might be helpful for you all, as well. Here it is (in case you’re interested!):

View this document on Scribd.

Our goal here is to keep politics and political parties out of this discussion as much as possible, and instead focus on general societal changes:

You’ve probably heard about Obama’s desire to keep his Blackberry and email accounts. This is the first time we’ve really had a president who used and relied on technology and email in this way. Clinton was elected in the early days of email so it was really a nonissue and Bush chose to give up his personal email address when he entered office. Obama has made it clear he depends on access to his Blackberry.

In addition to this, we saw major changes to the whitehouse.gov website today. You can see the before and after, if you’re interested. This is what the website looks like today:

Notice in the lower left corner: the whitehouse has a blog. Very recently blogging has been treated as a fringe activity, and is often not taken seriously. How does the inclusion of a blog on the whitehouse website potentially change the role of blogs in media? Is there anything that stands out or is missing from the whitehouse blog? What would you expect from a government that makes use of such media?

We’ll be meeting in ZSR 476 (the classroom we met in on the first day of class for the first few minutes of class) on Thursday. We’re going to meet here so that you can go ahead and get started on some work with your group. If you have questions about how to find the room, feel free to ask at the circulation desk when you first come in the library or the reference desk on the 4th floor.

Kevin and I will get there half an hour early in case you want to do your group milestones then. If that doesn’t work for you and/or your group, let us know, and we’ll find a better time. We’ll need to know the project you have chosen, the research question you’re answering, and the timeline you project for completing different tasks throughout the semester.