HUMN 306 – Week Six

What is the role of filtering in the social media production? In this chapter where it talks about the social media’s “publish-then-filter” (98) system, Shirky raises this question. Now that almost everybody can publish just about anything easily in the net often for no cost, I often forget that there is also a filtering process entailing a publication. However, unlike in traditional media where the role of filtering is to make sure only the ‘best stuff’ out of the rest gets to be published, here we see communication and self-editing as a new way of filtering. As Shirky states, when people “share their work in an environment where they can also converse with one another” (99), the content of their work becomes open to questions and discussions. Anybody can freely express their opinion – be it not being in agreement with what the author is talking about, adding their knowledge into the story, doing some kind of corrections, while the ‘publisher’ can in turn giving others any feedback. However, there is often no exact indication which tells us whether to believe certain content or not knowing that most of them have not gone through any official filtering. This thus is the reason why Shirky claims the social media to be messy compared to the traditional media or in “the real world [where it] affords us many ways of keeping public, private, and secret utterances separate from one another” (89). It is because the same as how we personally become our own publishers, we become our own editor.

HUMN 306 – Week Four

I like to think of Flickr as “simply a platform” (46). It only provides the Internet users with empty picture showrooms – to ‘hang’ their explorations, masterpieces, documentations up for others to see – at no cost. Its existence may have motivated many photographers to take (more) pictures, but it does not in any way attempt to organize or direct people to take these pictures. The function of Flickr is fully generated by its users. These participants are who have made Flickr into something more than a mere photo storing place. From amateur to professional photographers take advantage of the free service to publish their photos for a variety of reasons: to convey messages, to promote, to share. Because it only takes seconds to upload, it makes Flickr one of or possibly the easiest place to find pictures for our personal purposes. For this week practicum for example, to complete the task of remixing photos, music or hacking something, I was continually automatically directed to Flickr while searching for pictures on Google. Unlike in newspapers or magazines where we can only see a limited selection of pictures of a particular topic – knowing how it would have been impossible to publish them all -, Flickr has granted most photographers’ wishes in the way that now not only the best and pre-selected photos get to be published. Everybody can be their own publisher. However, sharing tends to leave participants to remain as mere participants. Although it is said to “[create] the fewest demands on the participants” (49), compared to cooperation, sharing in fact does not require an ongoing conversation between one user to the other. There is less “sense of community” (50) created in the activity.

HUMN 306 – Week Three

When I read about the Geek Squad agents making use of Battlefield 2 to communicate and share tips among themselves, it reminded me of an article I once read in a teen magazine. It talks about how most of the time, the most brilliant ideas come out when we are not particularly making a time to look for it. When the brain is relaxed and not being forced, it is when ideas start to flow and the energy to be productive is at its maximum. The workplace (although in this case is not a wiki) that Robert Stephens has created is non-hierarchical and not rigid that this leaves his agents with freedom and lots of room to be creative. The main key here is “continuous process of innovation and improvement that keeps the agents motivated to perform at their highest level” (242). I cannot remember the page number, but I remember this has something to do with managers not having to force their workers to do something they do not want to do. The need of a wiki, however, has been recognized by many smart companies around the globe. Not only is it a place for people to collaborate, but its encyclopedia-like form also enables companies to document everything in an organized way and thus leads in the decrease in email volume. It is amazing how someone could initiate an idea and a thousand other employees will develop or even stir it in a completely different direction. I think people are actually more comfortable to convey their idea in this way (through writing and not face to face, that is) because in real world they may filter their ideas more as a result of the fear of being disrespectful, of giving wrong ideas, of being misunderstood, et cetera. In wiki, they no longer have to worry about these things because by then a ten or hundred others could easily and quickly use the edit button. The elimination of the hierarchical structure will result in a quicker solution to a problem and let the employees focus more on what matters the most.

HUMN – Week Two

In these two chapters, Tapscott and Williams emphasize on the great advantage of presenting “portfolio of open innovation approaches” (120) up on virtual marketplaces like InnoCentive or yet2.com to companies and to the rest of the Net users. These places, or the term ideagoras, provides a quicker and a more effective way for companies to find potential individuals to solve their problem without the need to hire every one of them. This innovation is solely inspired by the idea that there are always more capable person out there outside the company’s circle. This week, I am also introduced to Creative Commons where I can obtain different kinds of licences for my work.  I think by doing this – showing to the world what I have in store and attaching labels that tells others what they can do with them – I’m initiating the possible “transaction” (110) between myself and a million of other net users. However, I see that this book focuses more on the promising opportunities this new means (obtaining external ideas and solutions through ideagoras) will bring companies rather than explains the benefits individuals like us will get in return. I think this method of waiting with open hands chosen by companies benefits the company in the same fashion as, say, a boss of a restaurant having a long list of people ready to take the call-in shift only whenever needed so as to prevent paying an extra waitress every time the business turns out to be slow. This my relating it to a real life experience leads me to wonder if some of the most active contributors out there may feel any slight of unfairness by the realization that their hard work is what brings the company a fortune and that “[they] may never get personal credit for their contributions” (122). This fear of being put at a disadvantage is what often hinders me from fully giving my trust in sharing my artwork.

HUMN306 – Week One

The Net today contains an incredibly vast space with diverse rooms where producers and consumers can interact with each others. Borrowing Tapscott and Williams’ term, most of the ‘gardens of content’ no longer have walls built around them. There is unlimited information, skills, knowledge continuously being shared in the Web. The Net Generation no longer corresponds to the old notion that hard-obtained information should be guarded and that by sharing it to the public would mean the end of a business, instead most companies today do their business by the idea that they will be at more advantage by being open to their customers. Trust is the main key to the effective collaboration between sellers and buyers in the way that consumers can rest assured that this is a win-win situation and they are not being deceived by any means. Prior to purchasing a novel, for instance, we are given the opportunity to read a chapter of it – sometimes the whole content of the book is published online by the author –, to read the reviews written by fellow readers, as well as to post our thoughts in return after completing the book. As said by Tapscott and Williams, the consequence of this openness is the “the new era of globalization” (28). The barriers that hinders one to easily interact with another and that leave many rooms stay locked have been broken down to enable internet users to roam freely from one ‘room’ to the other and to ceaselessly benefit one another through this mass collaboration.