Week 9 -- 28 November - Snow Day!

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Blog Assignment #1
Think of some piece of technology that you have recently purchased or a piece of software or feature of an existing piece of technology that you have recently started using. (For example, I recently upgraded my version of MSN Messenger.)

Think about why you made this decision - what factors caused the "adoption."
Now - talk about your experience ... and then think about the theories
we've talked about in class. Which theories help explain your behavior?
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Since beginning MCDM I bought a new laptop and had one of my friends from a Microsoft family set it up. He insisted on installing Opera 9.0 to avoid problems that come with the Microsoft Explorer, agreeing that avoiding viruses is a good idea, I decided to join the Opera community.

My experience has been positive…that is until the past week…I began having trouble connecting to wireless, opening email, websites and video stream…the screen screamed (not literally) error, error! So, I downloaded Explorer 7 which works just as well…I’m sure my Opera trouble came from the secret Microsoft monopoly police told to catch non-Explorer users (just joking!).

The decision to switch to Opera models the five steps (Knowledge, Persuasion, Decision adopt/reject, Implementation, Confirmation) of the Everett Roger’s Linear Innovation-Diffusion theory (process by which innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system). I was informed of an alternative, Opera, through my social circle and persuaded to adopt it. However, after difficulty using the new browser, I became an “un-gratified” user, and thus as an unintended consequence resulted in my returning to the critical mass (point at which enough individuals have adopted an innovation so that the innovation’s further rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining) Microsoft Explorer.

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Blog Assignment #2
This one is more fun, possibly more so for us old folks than you youngsters. :)

How have you used information/communication technologies over the course of the past 2.5 days -- since snow began falling on Sunday. How has the ubiquity of the Internet changed your behavior? In other words, in some pre-Internet storm/event ... how did you communicate? How did you learn about the storm/event?
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The past couple days I have been sick and indoors semi-away from life, weather and technology (sad, sad) – missing out on the fun snow days I remember, back when my family moved from Seattle to the middle of nowhere (or so I thought at the time, we live in suburb-boonies i.e. unincorporated King County, close enough to the city but far enough to feel out of touch with civilization at times) and the few neighborhood kids on our hill would trek through the woods for snowball fights, angel and snowman making after eagerly listening to the radio and TV report that school was cancelled!

Normally I learn about a storm/event after the fact, by being in it, or beforehand from my dad’s cautioning (he is a daily viewer of the TV news), a storm is coming, be prepared! In Washington I’ve learned to wear layers, ready for any weather…the only reliable forecast is “dark through the evening, with widely scattered light in the morning, and the possibility of showers 24/7”. Because I live in the techie NW I should have a PDA or latest Microsoft gadget to check weather but I don’t, I check the sky for clouds or no clouds and hardly carry an umbrella (a native Seattleite). With the exception of my 7th grade science class which had a tower cam at our school feeding weather pictures to the Internet and local news, today was the first time I checked the weather online (after seeing blankets of white outside, I wanted to find out how many more pretty snowflakes might fall…I didn’t find a number for that but rather the temperature, hourly forecast and driving conditions). This proved to be a convenient experience provided the electricity and wireless were still connected; I plan to use this feature for the remainder of winter in hopes of finding more days to use my ski pass.

Today my communication behavior was relatively the same, telephone calls (relatives and supervisor from work telephoned to see how I was doing, surviving sickness and snow and I phoned out to cancel appointments), in-person communication (being stuck at home I was privileged to listen to my dad’s stories of road ice, random drivers and frozen water pipes) along with computer connection (com class online – I could definitely get used to virtual/telecommute on snow days!).

Week 8 -- 21 November - Online Media

Reading:
We The Media
Group 4 - Chapter 7, The Former Audience Joins The Party
Everyone - Chapter 12, Making Our Own News

Assignment:
General reaction to Gillmor's thesis: anything new for you? What do you disagree with? What are the implications for the media, politics, governance for the US and the world?

Reaction(s):
In the chapter “Making Our Own News,” Dan Gilmor introduces the Internet as the “most important medium since the printing press…anyone can be a writer…and for a global audience (216),” something he describes as “more democratic” and “messy.” This is so true, in a world where the net is the printing press for all people where the audience can play an active role through mail lists, web sites, blogs, SMS and RSS (listed as innovative tools that overturn a top-down hierarchy) and where anyone can write the news – trusted sources become an issue. Having learned about Wikis through this class I discovered the collaborative contributions which make up Wikipedia “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” in conversation with some friends, not all had realized that. One person’s response was, “That’s horrible! I’ve been using this for school and any random Joe can write something?!” Not until describing how it could mean people are likely to edit out misinformation, did my friend see some restored benefit in Wikipedia. Gilmore quotes a Wikipedia founder defending its trustworthy, neutral tone “The only way you can write something that survives is that someone who’s your diametrical opposite can agree with it (149).” This is definitely an example of a format where the audience is more engaged; they make the news and check it too.

Open and free information transforms “Big Media.” Gilmore uses his book as an example of what he views as a “creative commons” where “some rights are reserved,” challenging the traditional copyright license by making it available for free download on the web. I agree that as a business model, it may be beneficial for the potential of more circulation, however whether that translates into more money is questionable. Only time will tell, Gilmore mentions that technology change occurs so fast that it is difficult to keep up but that is the fun part – “the conversation continues.”

Implications:
In the chapter “The Former Audience Joins the Party,” Gilmore writes about the big deal in blogging. He discusses bloggers who reported what the news lacked on Iraq and how it is a great source for non-profits and alternative media, even suggesting a future business model where citizen’s will fund journalists to investigate and blog the news they want to hear. Will this change the newspaper and “Big Media” establishment in the US?

One of the most interesting and exciting Gilmore assertions is on the “evolutionary and revolutionary” potential of blogs: “American’s protected by the First Amendment, can generally write blogs with few consequences. However, in country after country where free speech is not a given, the blogosphere matters in far more serious ways. This is the stuff of actual revolution (140).” In strict repressive regimes, Persian or Chinese weblogs for example, can bring free speech to citizens forced to live in silence. While blogging can come with consequences such as being jailed, it offers hope for some voices to be heard. Can the Internet provide free speech to the world? Will it be the Gandhi of the Information era for political and government change?

Week 7 -- 14 November - Activism Politics

Group 4 - Reading:
Netizens: An Anthology, The Net and the Future of Politics: The Ascendency of the Commons . FOCUS On pp1-5, 10-12, 15-22, 24-25

Assignment:
Synthesize reading(s) and supplement discussion material with at least one additional reading per group member. Blog, a reaction to the assigned reading(s)* that includes a short abstract (with link) of the supplemental resource. Posts are due 6 pm day of class.

Netizen’s transcribes the two-week November 1994 Virtual Conference on Universal Service and Open Access to the Telecommunications Network (see NTIA) as an example of public and open discussion to examine e-government.

Views on Internet and democracy:
• 19th Century Political Theorist, James Mill – democracy as desirable but impossible to maintain.
• Recent Scholar Professor Christopher Lach –is the press and modern journalism equivalent to a public forum for representative government?
• Traditional town meeting limitations – is everyone allowed to speak?
• At the conference – Internet identified as a public good.

Optimism at the conference:
“The development of the Internet and of Usenet is an investment in a strong force towards making direct democracy a reality. These new technologies present the chance to overcome the obstacles of preventing the implementation of direct democracy…Usenet newsgroups are discussion forums where questions are raised, and people can leave comments when convenient, rather than at a particular time and at a particular place…newsgroups and mailing lists prove that citizens can both do their daily jobs and participate in discussions that interest them within their daily schedule (2-3).”

Over ten years later government net uses are still being envisioned…UW Professor Philip Howard quotes in his book on page 36 about digital democracy:
“The general public will have ready access to government information and services over their computers. The internet will be an agent for democracy, as each community has an electronic town hall…citizens will vote from home by computer on daily and weekly issues which are raised by their elected representatives (Bainbridge 2003, 320).”

Internet Access in Libraries:
The ALA (American Library Association) includes the Internet as part of its Intellectual Freedom policy. Libraries defend the use of the Internet for everyone and try to resist filtering, however the courts upholding CIPA in 2003 required libraries receiving public funds to limit the sites which are accessible to children.

Questions:
• How do we create a public forum through the net?
• How do we use communication technology to drive direct democracy?
• Is accessing the Internet a citizen right?

DEFINITIONS:
NTIA~ National Telecommunications & Information Administration – a former branch of the US Department of Commerce sponsored the email and newsgroup conference).

Intellectual Freedom~ Intellectual freedom is freedom of the mind, and as such it is both a personal liberty and prerequisite for all freedoms leading to action. Moreover, intellectual freedom, protected by the guarantees of freedoms of speech and press in the first Amendment, forms the bulwark of our constitutional republic. –American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom, Intellectual Freedom Manual

CIPA Children’s Internet and Protection Act~ forces libraries to filter the content of computer usage.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES:
Howard, Philip N. (2006). New media campaigns and the managed citizen. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
A University of Washington professor, Howard uses an ethnographic approach to examine the “networked computer” and “political campaign establishment.” Survey data and social network analysis provide an evolutional look at political campaigns over time from 1996 to 2004.

Lord, Catherine. (2006). Intellectual Freedom: Understanding and Supporting Access. King County Library System, Training 10 November 2006.

ALA website

Week 6 -- 8 November - Community

NOW THIS IS REAL DEDICATION TO YOUR JOB!!! (Vaun your cartoon reminded me of this…one of the reasons I avoid spending a lot of time online outside of work and school)

Reading:
"Communities in Cyberspace" - eReserve.
Chapter 18 and Conclusion, Winston.

Assignment:
What types of community have you experienced online? How have they differed from off-line communities? What characteristics of the Internet (the computing network) affect the growth, power, effectiveness of online communities?

The first online community I joined was my 4th grade classroom in 1995; we played an Oregon Trail game with everyone in the class. In middle school, I entered the world of email but only checked it by the prodding of friends who would tell me face-to-face “I sent you an email, open it!” In high school I never caught onto IM or Live Journal, the joke became if you want to get in touch with Stephanie, you better track her down personally…she’s not online and never answers her cell phone. Finally when I studied abroad I joined the group of IM users and our Euromasters email group. I joined Facebook and MySpace too with friends and relatives nagging; my 14-year-old cousin told me all her friends are online and if I am her friend then I need to have a picture, profile and music on MySpace, so she set me up with that. My 11-year-old cousin sends me online jokes. Even my mother and grandmother seem to check email more then me sending lots of forwards, links and videos from YouTube, information and more from their own email networks. Now I am linked to online spam groups!

Only through necessity (school, work and social pressure or time/distance issues) am I present in online communities. In that sense I feel old-fashioned, I have not been super active in many online communities but I am active in other groups within my community (Kiwanis, Sorority, Honor Societies, Politic & Law Groups etc.). For me, Winston’s comment may have some truth: “Beyond the hype, the Internet was just another network. This is to say its social effects could (and would) be as profound as, for example those of that far more ubiquitous network, the telephone. As profound…and as unrevolutionary (336).

However, when distance prevents face-to-face communication, online communities are great. They allow people to create loose and tight networks of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, stay in touch and even develop close relationships. I believe most people are impacted by face-to-face communication and an online community can be used to reinforce face-to-face communication (e.g. setting up meeting times or events in real life). I tried an online class once but quickly switched back to a normal classroom as I prefer a combination of communication interaction (face-to-face in addition to written and virtual).

Major differences I see online: (1) people write differently than they speak, (2) its easier to put up a façade online. Sometimes there is a place for written communication and other times spoken. Otherwise, online communities are similar to real-life communities, you only matter if you show up and participate. Like any communication, it has to be a habit. At the moment I have a habit of showing up more in face-to-face, online is just a habit I am lacking.

The Internet’s open characteristic and bridge through time and distance makes its development widespread – but its growth is only as continuous as humans will use it.