A look into the crystal ball....

Hi class,

Next week for our final lecture we will look into a "crystal ball" so to speak and consider some people's predictions and future possibilities. I've included some links below here for you to browse.. pick a couple that interest you and skim them. This will give us some ideas for discussion!

The future of crime?

Is virtual theft a crime in the real world?

The future of reading?

Are we reading less, and is technology to blame?

The future of the Internet?

A poll and a video on many possibilities for the future of technology.

The future of books?

Will the Kindle replace paper books?


The future of music?

Chris Anderson argues that only the "sale of plastic discs" is hurting.

The future of mobile?

Will we be connected and available 24/7, as mobile devices get "smarter"?
Also, Google announced that they are going to roll out an open source cell phone operating system called "Android". What will that mean for privacy - when a company that retains search records also will be able to track who you call as well as your geographical location?

The future of privacy?

Will we have RFID chips inside us? Here is another article on the same topic...

Is technology changing rapidly? Or is it a false perception, as Bob Seidensticker argues in his book, Futurehype: The myths of technology change?

Have a good holiday and see you on Monday!

Web 2.0 Scheduling Tool

I found out about this neat little scheduling tool called Doodle which is great for setting up meetings. It works best when you want to find a time when everyone can meet together or to do a simple poll to find consensus.

Even though it isn't meant to be used this way, I'm going to try to use it in order to set up time slots for you to meet with me. Not sure if it will work well, but I'm going to test it out in class tonight!

New link: http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=hkum2buqzbiwkgrw

Research about Wikipedia

I heard a story on public radio about a new research study just released about Wikipedia, and that study led me to a couple others. Here is a summary of them:

• An ongoing study at the University of Minnesota found that only 1/10 of one percent of Wikipedia editors accounted for 44% of the "content value" of the site (meaning content that ends up being permanent).
  

• The same study found that 42% of errors on Wikipedia were caught before anyone saw them (they have anti-vandalism bots) and that your overall chance of encountering an error of any type on a Wikipedia page is .0037%

• A study by MIT showed that the median of the survival time of all types of misinformation on Wikipedia was 90 minutes... but that there are "outlier" articles that survive longer in error without detection.

• Finally, a study by researchers at Dartmouth showed that anonymous one-time wikipedia contributors had the best quality of contributions overall. The contributions of "power" contributors increased in quality over time. Sociologists are interested in what motivates anonymous users to contribute - what they "get out of it".
  

What does it mean that so few Wikipedia users are editors, and that even fewer editors are major contributors? Does the low error rate reassure you, or do you think that it is not low enough given Wikipedia's reach?

A new kind of news?

Today a new website called MinnPost launched. Their tagline is "a thoughtful approach to news", and the writers are mostly former Star Tribune and Pioneer Press reporters. They have implied that they want to be "deeper" than print newspapers have become, and more accurate than blogs. It will be interesting to see what the site becomes - right now there aren't a lot of stories posted.

I found one interesting section in the editor's note on the page: "MinnPost.com will publish Current Posts, which have the informality of blogs but are always based on original reporting by our journalists." I wonder why they don't just say that they are blog posts? That is what those sections look like to me. It seems like they are blogging, but are trying to shy away from the term by calling it something else.

A similar website started up a couple weeks ago by the former editor of the Citypages called The Daily Mole. However, it is much more like a blog and seems to have a more humorous/ weirder approach to news.

Does this mean something new for news journalists? Is it the beginning of the end for the old-fashioned print newspaper? I'd like to hear your opinion on these new sites if you get a chance to visit them!

Link to MPR story about MinnPost.

p.s.. the lower image is from one of my favorite movies - does anyone know what movie it is? :)

Citations

Hi all,

I mentioned last week in class that there are software options out there that help writers manage citations. I wanted to test drive some of these, but unfortunately only had time to read about them. But here are a few I read about, and if you've tried them, I encourage you to comment about your experiences!

• If you have Office 2007 there is support for MLA and APA citation styles. Microsoft has a tutorial on their support blog. I don't think you can import from sources like library databases.

• There is also a free Firefox add on called Zotero, for those of you who use the Firefox browser. It looks like it may import citations and I've heard good things about it....

• I've also heard recommendations for easybib and Citation Machine. There may be others, so let me know if you have recommendations!

The Social Web

Well, long time - no update.

BUT - perhaps it is because I've been spending all my time flying around Second Life!!

(-only kidding-)

BUT these social websites have been in the news a lot lately. One of you mentioned to me at an early class meeting about a recent study that found a difference in the social class of MySpace and Facebook users. Facebook users are supposedly wealthier and more educated than Myspace users. This recent Time article mentions that study, and also states that many people use and manage multiple social sites. It will be interesting to see if people continue to keep up with the different sites, or if they will start choosing only those that "fit" them most closely.

CNN and Reuters recently opened Bureaus in Second life, according to this article in Media Week. Reuters is using an embedded "real life" reporter, while CNN is using "citizen journalists."

I haven't been back to explore more of Second Life since my small foray Monday night for the class. What do you think? Is it worth my time to check some more places out? I could go to the library reference desk at Info Island, explore the digital Sistine Chapel, or even visit a digital pub. OR I could hang out in my First Life, where I seem to have plenty to keep me busy these days!

Questions on Copyright & Trademark

Hey,

I've done a little digging on a few questions that came up in class. The first question was about Marilyn Monroe's image.

I found an article mentioning a battle between heirs of a celebrity's trademarked likeness and the copyright owners of the media. A famous celebrity can have their image be a trademark owned by their heirs.. but the person who took a photo of them might be the copyright owner of that photo. If a perfume company wants to use the image on their label - do they need permission from the trademark holder or copyright owner? Confusing! It sounds like there is a bill in congress to change the current laws..

The second question was about images of products "blurred out" on re-runs of television shows. It appears that this often happens when a television show has negotiated a deal for product placement. However, the rerun of the show may be on a different network than the original one, and with different sponsors. If the product placement is for Coke, but the show's sponsor is Pepsi, the product will be blurred out. Also, it could be that the show never struck a licensing deal with that company in the first place. Some products may not want to be associated with a particular tv show or movie. I found an article talking about how Coke did not want to be associated with the movie "Grease" and a poster had to be blurred out. It is also why in Ghostbusters they had to make up a fake product "The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man", because no real product wanted to be associated with that scene.

Like I said in class - intellectual property laws and rights can be confusing but interesting! Now I better quit blogging and go drink a cold, refreshing Coca Cola. Ahhhh... ;)

Blog Action Day

According to the Star Tribune, today is the first ever Blog Action Day, where over 15,000 bloggers are all blogging about the environment. Interesting idea. It goes back to that question though -- can blogging can be a useful form of activism, or would people do more good if they got away from the computer and volunteered in person? It says at the website http://blogactionday.org/ that they will be picking a new theme each year, and that major companies like Google and Wells Fargo are supporting it. I think you can also have your blog listed on their site if you participate.

If the environment is a theme you like, maybe you can join the movement by posting about it today.

Change in the music industry

As follow up to some of our discussion from last week, here is an article about major artists leaving their record labels or selling to fans directly.

Will it work for them? What about new artists and bands that are small and not well known?

Jonathan sent me a link about an artist who was discovered because of myspace. The music industry is in turmoil, but I still am not sure the major labels will go away entirely. What do you think?

Myanmar, censorship, and the Internet

There is an interesting story on the ABC news website about censorship and the way news moves across the Internet.

The government of Myanmar has been trying to suppress news of the protests & crackdowns in the country. However, amateur videos have been showing up on YouTube, and an ABC correspondent filed a report using his cell phone.

Now the question is:

Will this footage make a difference? What do you think?