4. Ignorance is Bliss

Hope everyone had a great weekend (I'm still depressed about Kobe's game winner vs the Celtics today but ill save that for another time).

This week the Boss will discuss articles by Duncan Riley and Andrew Keen where each author takes an opposing view of the internet and web 2.0.

I want to start off by saying I completely agree with Duncan Riley. I believe he is a little harsh towards Doris Lessing, but feel as though he wanted to make his position clear. I believe that Doris Lessing is just one of those old people that is stuck in their ways and is ignorant to the power of the internet. She probably thinks the internet is only social media and meaningless blogs (which to an extent it is) but what Doris is forgetting about or ignorant to are the numerous benefits that the internet gives us. The internet provides users with infinite amount of knowledge at their disposal along with the ability to share ideas and compare views. There are so many people in the world who know about certain things that they would have never known about if not for the internet.

In regards to Andrew Keen, I see him as an author who is taking a bold stand against a popular tool (the internet/web 2.0) in order to make himself relevant and maybe even make a couple bucks with his new book. For example, he starts his article off with a bragpost about how he was on The Colbert Report and implies that Colbert is a web 2.0 elitist as well while giving no evidence that this is so. He seems to really relish in his elitist views.

Keen argues that the internet provides less accurate and reliable portrait of the news than professionally edited newspapers, encyclopedias, or books which is something I completely disagree on. Most news stories on the internet have been cross referenced so many times by numerous sources that they are just as legitimate as information in print.

Keen appears to want to transform the internet into a closed gated community where people won't be google-ing for answers but they will search on Mahalo.com and DoneRight.com (professional search engines). He tries to forecast that expertise on the internet is going to be the next big thing which I applaud him for but he should really check out my blog post last week about crowdsourcing (I know, bragpost) and how the wave is only getting bigger.

***We must also keep in mind that Lessing and Keen are both authors so it makes sense that they would have negative views of the internet because the internet allows people access to so much stuff that odds are less people are going read their books, which probably annoys them to some degree.

In the end, I believe we should embrace the evolution and the power of the internet because it can be used as a great tool giving users limitless opportunities to make a positive impact on the world.

The Boss is done for now, time to cry myself to sleep over that Celtic's loss. We da best.

3. Riding the Wave of Crowdsourcing

The boss is back after a tiresome but very fun weekend. This week I want to discuss a controversial term which is creating a lot of buzz: crowdsourcing.

I read Dan's Wood's article The Myth of Crowdsourcing along with Jeff Howe's Is Crowdsourcing Evil? The Design Community Weighs In. I found both articles to be very interesting.

I must say that I disagree with Dan Wood's opinion on crowdsourcing. I agree that individuals come up with ideas/concepts but crowdsourcing can be a very valuable tool. It allows for a large number of people to collaborate and contribute to improving an idea. The more people that are able to think about an idea the better the solution will be to almost any problem. Crowdsourcing also allows for easy access to feedback on ideas.

I do not think that crowdsourcing is evil. I understand why graphic designers are angry about crowdsourcing websites and that it makes their jobs more difficult but businesses are always looking to lower costs and this is just another way to cut costs.

I'm still not sure if crowdsourcing is just a fad or if it's here to stay but it's an intriguing concept that I'm sure will keep stirring up controversy.

Bossssssssssssssssssssss. OUT.

2. Social Capital, Six Degrees, and SNA

What's good y'all? Hope everyone is enjoying their extended weekend thanks to the great Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, I read two very interesting articles related to evolution in social networking and how to adapt and manage this change in the workplace. The articles are listed below with links:

Improving Your Ability to Share and Connect (Mark Zuckerberg on the Facebook Blog)

I understand that Facebook will continue to evolve over time and the amount of information available to users will increase as well. These are things that Facebook must do in order to stay ahead of the competition but here is a question that I want to pose:

At what point in this evolution will there be TOO MUCH information available to users? Are we at this point now with the Live News Feed?

I can log on to Facebook right now and know what most people did last night just from the live news feed which is a little creepy. I understand that people don't need to update their status' with what they did or plan to do but the live news feed makes everything a little too easily accessible...can you imagine the next updated and improved live news feed?

In the end, users will have to adapt or decide if they want to continue with social networking. My guess is that they will choose to adapt.

Clive Thompson on Real-World Social Networks vs. Facebook 'Friends'

Reality mining is an intriguing science that is so precise due to the massive amounts of information available. It is able to predict actions in daily life based on the frequency and date of an event.

When will businesses start taking full advantage of reality mining? Does this violate the rights of employees? I know that I wouldn't want my boss to know everything I did every single day. I think it would create anxiety in the work place thus creating a negative environment.

I have no problem, however, with reality mining being used to help predict the spread of disease outbreaks, social trends, and other hidden phenomena.

Alright thats enough from the Bosssssssss for this week. Peace.

1. The Intro

Welcome everyone!

My name is Drew and I am a senior from American University. I am writing this blog for my ITEC Social Media class and it will be updated weekly. Academic Integrity : "On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own"

Hope you enjoy!