JOMC191 Fun

Community presentation

2005-12-08T01:54:00.000-04:00

Almost done, only the home page left to edit...here's what i've got so far:

Myspace Music Community Study

Wikipedia Tightening rules

2005-12-05T17:13:00.000-04:00

Carrying on from Karen’s post earlier in the week, after discovering some libelous and false information posted on the site, Wikipedia has decided to tighten its rules for posting. It’s interesting especially considering Jimmy Wale’s discussion with us earlier this semester and his view that loose posting guidelines were beneficial to community building.

-dan

Star Wars

2005-12-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

For all you dorks out there...Wookiepedia

RSS Hacking

2005-12-03T17:16:00.000-04:00

I've never heard of this before. Apparently, hackers are hijacking podcasters RSS feeds and then holding a podcaster hostage, threatening to divert the podcast elsewhere unless the podcaster pays money. I think this newfangled mode of extortion will continue to increase due to the ease and profitability of doing so. Obviously, some sort of extra protection needs to be developed for RSS feeds if this is possible.

Myspace Records

2005-12-02T23:06:00.000-04:00

Well Myspace Records, an offshoot of the incredibly popular Myspace is fixing to release its first record on the label - a compilation of previous released tracks. Similarly, Pure Volume's successful record label has released a few compilations featuring artists popular on the website. This trend of online music communities branching out and releasing physical, real world CDs shows great strides in the role of online communities and the music business. We'll see if they get corrupted as much as major labels are.

AOL and Blog Ads

2005-11-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Looks like AOL is going to face some difficult decisions.

With their user base falling due to cheaper, faster service providers, it seems that AOL has turned to advertising to boost revenue. This means ads on AOL hosted blogs and online journals.

Sounds like a good idea?

Problem is, AOL's devoted base that remains doesn't like these ads, saying it infringes on their desire for privacy and personalization of their home pages.

This leaves AOL in a sticky situation. They have to make money, but they don't want to alienate their customers even more than they already have. But it seems like they don't want to listen. Their response?

"The decision to implement banner advertising on AOL Journals is consistent with our business and advertising practices," AOL spokeswoman Kathie Brockman said in an e-mail.

AOL better work to find a way to reach a common middle ground acceptable to both parties. Their business plan is failing as it is.

I wonder if Europe and Asia have these sorts of problems

2005-11-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

We covered the prevelence of text messaging in Europe and Asia as compared with America. We know that because of the infrastructure overseas, coupled with the pricing system (it's actually cheaper to send texts), Europe and Asia experience much higher levels of texting. America, as a nation, lags behind due to unfair pricing and unreliable delivery systems.

And yet teenagers here still manage to fuck it up.

I reckon this is due to the intrinsic irresponsibility of young people over here. But texting while driving? It just seems stupid to me. I wonder if Europe and Asia experience similar problems. I wonder just how many text messaging-driving related deaths per year there are. Whatever the number, it's kind of rediculous that ANYONE would think this is a good idea.

Good Job DTH

2005-11-26T11:23:00.000-04:00

I think it's a great idea that the Daily Tar Heel decided to profile blogs on the front page of Wednesdays paper. (Although it was quite possibly the least read paper of the year due to the break) Pointing out that UNC gives every student free webspace is a great idea since so few students I've talked to even know this existed. Best thing was, they even quoted our own Professor Jones:

“Blogs are their own steroids, they can be just as good or bad as anything.” — Journalism professor Paul Jones (I also direct ibiblio.org, a digital archive run jointly by UNC-CH and the Center for the Public Domain.)

However, it needs to be pointed out that they really didn't go indepth on anything and the story was kind of a filler. But they tried. A for effort.

Recovering from the flu = tons of free time.

2005-11-22T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I’ve been sick a lot this semester as you guys have inevitably noticed, butlying in bed all day has its advantages: it gives me a chance to surf the internet and find random things.

Take for instance this software that allows me to add RSS feeds to my iPod, and then automatically syncs every single one of them. I was amazed by this as I was searching Wired News, but then I read the last line.

Like everything cool, it only works with a Mac.

I'm a dork

2005-11-19T17:10:00.000-04:00

So I admit it, I'm a huge huge dork. I love comic books. Not DC of course, I mean Superman? He's a joke. "Oh look at me, I'm fly, and I'm strong and I shoot lazers out of my eyes and i'm good at everything" Woo...theres a guy to root for. I'm actually a Marvel Comics fan, because their heroes are flawed.

Anyway, I've taken the next step into full-blown dorkdom. I've joined a message board for all things comics. Newsarama is a site I go to on a daily basis for my daily dose of dork. Not only do I get news and information, but I also get to interact with others that share my passion, and make me feel a little less ashamed of my dirty secret hobby.

Orangepedia?

2005-11-19T17:03:00.000-04:00

I was browsing some posts on orangepolitics, when i came across a proposal to start a wiki for all things Orange County, NC. Well turns out they already started one. The Orangepedia is fairly new, and defintely a work in progress, but I think its a great start in building a tighter online community. Stemming from the sucess of orangepolitics, I can't help but think this will catch on as well.

Is it worth it?

2005-11-19T16:56:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here and wondering how much maintaining a blog is worth if no one reads it. Take for instance my blog. No one reads it. Every comment I have is from some bot or some spammer advertising for something else. No one gets anything from it.

So I wonder...what do I get from maintaining it? A sense of satisfaction? A sense of closure? I really don't know. It just seems like a weird sense of voyeurism knowing that I'm essentially keeping a diary that just about anyone can stumble across. Which, while its appealing in its own sense, is kind of a strange payoff.

But I guess I'll keep writing anyway.

Google Blog

2005-11-12T22:08:00.000-04:00

I found out that Google has an official blog, the Googleblog. Surprisingly,they use blogger. Well I guess its not that surprising, they bought Pyra labs awhile back, right? Anyway, just found it interesting that Google decided that an official blog, separate from the Google site, was a good idea.

Judy Miller and Blogs

2005-11-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

For those of you who actually cared about the Valerie Plame investigation/Judith Miller contempt charge/journalistic shield law, it turns out that Judy Miller has a blog. I mean, for a woman who's the most talked about journalist at this time, it's only natural to have one, but her blog is actually one of the worst I've seen. It's nothing but a publicity machine to spew out her own ideas and gives no chance for audience interaction. On top of that its poorly designed, and makes me want to fall asleep looking at it. But hey, its a blog right? And its probably better than this one. When i figure out how to edit html (never) i'll change the links on the side.

Bloggers Breaking the Law

2005-11-08T16:50:00.000-04:00

I found this interesting.

Apparently, two teenage bloggers from France and Germany are being investigated for helping incite the riots currently going on. I'm interested in seeing what type of effect it will have on the blogging community if these two are charged with anything.

Wow...

2005-11-05T19:40:00.000-04:00

I thought I had seen it all.

Conservative TV and Radio Host Sean Hannity has a new service on his site called "Hannidate" which provides a place where "like conservative minds can meet up!" Apparently his online dating service is a hot commodity right now.

I had to laugh a little.

Exhibition Game

2005-11-05T19:34:00.000-04:00

Last night's exhibition game was a first for me. Even though I had tickets, I got home too late to go. I was at work, and pissed that I couldn't get to the game, so i looked for it online, but to no luck. Then I went to Inside Carolina and got on the message board and got a play by play updated by people who were actually at the game with their computers, posting on the boards as it happened.

Isn't technology great?

NC State dettering community building

2005-11-03T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I knew it was going to happen. In fact, I posted earlier about problems students have been getting into with the facebook. Now NC State has cracked down on underage students with pictures on internet accounts showing them drinking.

Today's Daily Tar Heel warns students against placing comprimising pictures and information on the internet, especially since UNC has said that it would take the same actions as State did.

I wonder what type of dettering effect, if any, these policies have on online community building at our schools?

UNC Miami game

2005-10-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

So I'm watching the UNC/Miami Football game. We started off amazing, but now we've taking a turn downhill. Miami just scored three straight touchdowns to go up 34 to 16. We haven't scored this half. Its really quite sad.

But I'm not alone in my misery. Besides Matt Baker, who's getting destroyed, there are thousands of Heel fans collectively experiencing misery and posting at an online community at the same time. Inside Carolina is one of my favorites sites to visit. The message boards there are amazingly funny to read, and it makes it easy to keep up with recruiting.

Roger Mcguinn

2005-10-29T15:05:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Roger McGuinn is an amazing guitarist. Very creative, very influential, and definitely worth checking out Monday. I mean, come on, he was in the freakin' Byrds!

Apparently he's also a blogger. Hmmm...looks like he's copied my amazing layout.

The Age Gap

2005-10-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Just a funny andecdote from dinner at my parents' house last night. I think it illustrates the technology gap that exists with older folks.

My mom, a well educated, 50 year old professional woman, asks me how I keep so up to date on politics. I tell her that in addition to print, tv, and radio, I frequent numerous political blogs online.

She asks me what a blog is.

Don't get me wrong, I believe my mom's extremely intelligent, but with all the talk in the media about blogs, you think she'd have picked up on it. However, this is the woman I had to teach how to double click a mouse and who still has problems with it so...

Anyway, I tell her what one is, in the most basic sense and she still doesn't get it. She asks me if AOL is a blog because its homepage is constantly changing.

Looks like its hopeless.

The Future of Media

2005-10-23T14:27:00.000-04:00

So I was scrolling through blogs, just minding my own business when I came across this.

Apparently, Ryan Seacrest, of American Idol fame is being positioned to take over for Larry King when he retires. Not that Larry embodies journalistic excellence, but this move seems to dumb down news simply to attract younger, hipper viewers.

But this says a lot about a dying genre. TV news seems to be on the way out, and they're doing everything possible to cling on and revive it. But this move points out the absurd levels they're willing to reach in order to gain viewers. Get someone with some journalistic experience, not some glorified DJ with pretty hair.

On a different note, I think I'm doing Myspace as my community study. Their music part of the community has become so successful that Myspace is branching off into a record label. That's pretty exciting. It shows that the commmunity not only is thriving, but evolving into something completely new. We'll see how it works out.

Blogging Wilma

2005-10-22T02:35:00.000-04:00

With all the trouble that Hurricanes Rita and Katrina caused areas of the U.S., I'm sure people are paying much more attention to the threat of Hurricane Wilma. Blogs are a good way to keep up to date with all the breaking weather info. My favorite happens to be this one. A quick google search for "Hurricane Wilma blogs" reveals close to 10,000 hits, so obviously, its catching on.

A little late

2005-10-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

For some reason, this is news to ABC7.

It says a lot about mainstream acceptance and recognition of blogging as a viable media tool when years after it's creation, blogging is being heralded as a brand new discovery.

I had a good laugh.

On the topic of podcasting...

2005-10-16T23:24:00.000-04:00

Has anyone tried the new (relatively speaking anway) podcasting services offered by iTunes? Apparently you can just subscribe to any podcast, most of them free, plug in your iPod, and the new broadcast will automatically be updated each time a new show is released. I think it's a good start in mainstreaming (to the less tech-savvy)the idea of podcasting. The majority of the public doesn't have any clue what a podcast even is, let alone how to use one. Making it easier and more streamline to subrscribe to a podcast is an important step in promoting more widespread use of this technology.

Top 100 blogs.

2005-10-09T17:10:00.000-04:00

Hey, real quick post...over at CNET, they just released their list of the top 100 blogs on the internet. It's a real interesting list.

Blogsome sucks

2005-10-09T11:45:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, and suggestions on what I should do to get Blogsome to work? I've enabled java, i've allowed it security clearance, and i hit reload everytime. But nothing works.

Jimbo Wales 2

2005-10-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

As Jimbo was comparing wikipedia to the British constitutional system, I started wondering if having a list of unwritten conventions ever became problematic. Then today I went on one of my favorite sites, Fark, and saw that they had opened up a thread to discuss conventions of the website, and get answers from moderators about all sorts of issues. I guess every now and then things just get way to complicated and a community gets way too big to handle unwritten conventions.

Jimbo Wales

2005-10-07T23:40:00.000-04:00

I loved the Jimbo Wales talk, especially the behind the scenes look at the running of Wikipedia.

However, I wish he would have visited the topic of wikiuniversity. I would love to know how he envisioned the idea panning out. Somehow it seems like too great of an undertaking. And the credibility issue would have been fun to talk about.

Maybe next time.

The facebook sells your information

2005-10-03T16:21:00.000-04:00

Blogsome seems to hate my computer. No matter what privacy settings I change or whether or not java is enabled, I still can't seem to be able to post anything on the class blog. I just now got a setting that allows me to post comments.

Regardless, thefacebook stats post interested me. I got in on thefacebook a couple weeks after it came to UNC. It was hard finding anyone from school on it at first. However, word of mouth spread it like wildfire. Within 2 weeks, 100 people on my buddylist had facebook me! links in their profiles.

But does the rapid rise in popularity of these online communties bode poorly for future prospects of some of the less savvy members?

Who knows. But recently some University of Missouri students have been warned against joining and creating facebook groups dedicated to professors they want to sleep with and other topics that lack judgement.

Here's a really interesting article regarding online accountability, especially regarding the facebook. Interestingly enough, some researchers predict a lot of current student will be embarrased by their online trail when they enter the job market.

What really surprised me was the fact that thefacebook sold your personal information to companies. This accounts for all the spam i've suddenly started receiving.

Fark

2005-10-01T15:35:00.000-04:00

So among my favorite sites that i visit on a daily basis is a website called Fark. Here I can get a wide variety of hilarious news, serious news, and random conversation. As long as i look past the occasional porn link, thinks are good.

What's cool is that it's become an internet phenomenom. It makes the news fairly frequently, recently for trying to purchase the naming rights for a day to the arena in Boston.

Basically, is a community of several hundred thousand web users. All links are submitted by users, and greenlighted by a high ranking group of these users. Users meet in real life by throwing "Fark Parties" in popular hangouts in certain towns.

It really blends online community with real life community.

At work

2005-10-01T13:11:00.000-04:00

I really think Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to get with the program. Instead of accepting blogging as a useful tool for interoffice, and to a greater extent, a way to interact with the public, the company seems to trample any efforts to blog on the company dime.

Two weeks ago, the company updated its webfiltering software to block any blogging software. So now the list of things i can't view when I'm at work includes porn, hate sites, and blogging sites.

It just doesn't make sense.

Blogging/Dogging?

2005-09-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

So as we read more and more about the blogosphere and all the great chances for citizen journalism it provides-all the positives it has to offer-we must ask ourselves, "Is it catching on with the public?"

And the answer, at least in Britain, is no.

According to a recent survey, a survey of British trendsetters shows that 90% don't have any clue what a podcast is, and 70% have never heard of blogging.

Reuters ran a story that many people interviewed thought the interviewer was talking about dogging, the practice of watching couples have sex in a semi-public area.

I guess the best quote to sum up the findings is:

"Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean."

Read the whole article here.

Go Tar Heels!

2005-09-24T15:38:00.000-04:00

I'm watching the game as I'm writing this. The Tar Heels just pulled off the victory in the heart of wolfpack territory. Congratulations

Company Websites

2005-09-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

Last night was great fun.

I spent way too much money and stayed out way too late, despite having work at 7:30 the next morning.

I work at Blue Cross Blue Shield in the Tape Library, which is even less fun than the name lets on. I'm officialy called a Tape Librarian, which adequately describes what I do. I keep up and maintain their vast library of data tapes.

But all of this really does have a point. The company pays me to basically look after back ups of back ups of customer information. BCBSNC strives to be customer friendly and accessible, and to keep the consumer's interests the primary focus. However, looking at Blue Cross Blue Shield's corporate website, you get a sense of distance and inaccessibility. I mean, sure it looks nice and it's fairly easy to navigate, but its still one way communication. For a company that prides itself on providing service to its customer group, its website fails miserably.

How to fix this? I suggest some form of a blog or message forum where company higherups post and answer questions. Doing so would provide a service comparable to the type of service the company strives to provide.

The Final Word?

2005-09-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

After reading Monday's article by the editor of the Daily Tar Heel, I was left with a few questions that i want to pose.

In it, editor Ryan Tuck decides to put an end to the paper's public response to the controversy surrounding Jillian Bandes now infamous editorial, "It's sad but racial profiling is necessary for our safety".

This makes me wonder: Is it okay for newspapers to deny printing letters to the editor about specific subjects, solely on the newspaper's descretion? Writing a letter to the editor has always been a time honored way to get the public's voice heard over the din of the media. I personally think it's dangerous to deny the public this outlet.

However, the Daily Tar Heel Blogs will still be up and running. Is this an appropriate outlet for the public? Is it enough?

I'm not sure that it is. While the idea of using blogs as a way to allow the public to participate in journalism is a very appealing idea, it is still new. It lacks the visibility a printed letter to the editor posses. Not to mention you have to sift through hundreds of spam posts to get to what you want.

I think the DTH did the public a disservice.

These sick days are killing me

2005-09-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

Once again, I missed class because I was sick. This is going to be the death of me. Between work every morning, and class every afternoon, I'm just exhausting myself. I've used up all my absences for the majority of my classes so far.

But on the brighter side, the Carolina game is this weekend. While we'll probably lose, it'll still be fun.

Get up to the minute updates at UNC's official athletic site.

Political Blogs

2005-09-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

Trying to watch C-SPAN or any other various news channel in order to gain any insightful information about the John Roberts proceedings can be a very daunting and time consuming process. That's why I get most of my information from various online political blogs.

Here are three of my favorites:

1) Instapundit.com
2) Wonkette
3) The Drudge Report

Enjoy.

Still playing catch up

2005-09-12T17:49:00.000-04:00

After being sick last week, I'm still trying to catch up with this class. If someone could fill me in on what was covered, I'd really appreciate it.

But with all the talk about blogs as the savior of the media, I find it interesting to observe the role blogs played in covering Hurricane Katrina.

As traditional media struggled to figure out how exactly to cover the devestation, bloggers swiftly filled the news void with eyewitness accounts and continuously updated information. In fact many traditional affiliates in the New Orleans area were forced to evacuate the area and turned to blogs to provide up to the minute coverage.

The Associated Press reported:

"With the mainstream media struggling with the logistics of covering the story, the blogs came into their own, providing gripping first-hand accounts from some riding out the hurricane, posting updates on the flooding situation and helping put people in touch with stranded relatives.

Television stations like CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans, which was forced to evacuate its studios due to rising waters, turned to its own blog Tuesday to offer a continuous stream of bulletin updates."

The whole article can be found here.