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I think “remix ethics” could be positively influential to the public sphere in a number of ways. For instance, it could help scientists and others collaborate and come up with answers to many questions about both medical and other issues. “A researcher can no longer be assured of free access to relevant work by others.” (Rheingold, 244). Remix ethics could correct this problem. Another example is that it would allow for education, all the way from elementary to university. It is especially hard and expensive for libraries and schools now to get what they need to help educate, partially due to copyright issues. I mentioned this before, but ebooks often come with a check out limit, a time limit, or just a crazy price.
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One affordance in video, is that you can communicate both visually and verbally at the same time. This works well for both types of audiences and you can also let the text follow with the speaker (like in subtitles). I think this is useful for clarification as well. It is harder to misunderstand something when you can read and hear it at the same time. I like subtitles because I can remember something I’ve read more easily than something I only heard.
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I can identify with myself with two of the online behaviors listed. The first, “Those who know how to manage their boundaries.” I have both my tweets and Facebook statuses protected. I also am only friends with approximately 80 people that I knew personally or semi-personally on these sites (especially facebook as it is a bit more revealing). I learned very early on that I shouldn’t be revealing my personal information on social media and although I am not as cautious as some, I am more cautious than most. I think this is important because anything that goes on the internet, can never be taken back.
The second behavior I identify with myself is “Those who manage their time well, especially strategic multi-taskers.” While, the fact that this post is late doesn’t show it, I manage my time with strategy and multi-tasking. The book mentions specifically not getting lost on the internet. I do this very seldomly, and tent to get on the computer with a purpose unless I have free time. I’m also a huge fan of to-do lists.. and lists in general. I use them to manage my time when my life gets hectic.
I think this list gives good information on what type of person is most successful, especially with the technology we have now. People who can use the internet successfully, have at least a couple of these characteristics, and thus, it gives good advice on how to become successful by changing traits.
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The video I chose is a Minute Book Report of 1984 by George Orwell. I had trouble figuring out what I wanted, by while doing this I figured out that I wanted something that kept the audiences’ attention, but also provided an analysis. What I like about this video is that is does that, but also flows and is not disrupted. Also, I enjoyed that it wasn’t just someone sitting in front of a camera, occasionally throwing up pictures and talking.
1984 by George Orwell Minute Book Report
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This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by
sbloxton.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by
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What interested me most about the Blown to Bits, Chapter 4: Needles in the Haystack, is the theme of connection through the internet. Genealogy has exploded in the past few years and the internet really helps people to connect both with their past family and family they don’t know currently exists. Last semester I had an English class focusing on immigration and we went to the library to learn how to find our relations. First, they taught us the value of the google search. The chapter mentions that this is a relatively knew form of control over the internet, since originally it was more focused on universities and basically an online library. There are other databases on the internet, however, that are still library like. I think this is particularly important, because the hierarchy does exist in some places, so not all of them.
I also found the section about forbidden knowledge being available at a click to be interesting. This impacts us in a variety of ways, both negative and positive. The medical information, for example, can be used by unprofessionals and result in harmful self diagnosis. But, it can also be used by unprofessionals to help suggests solutions that they doctor may not yet know about since science develops so fast. I think we should all be mindful of what is biased and unbiased when on the internet and this section sparked this thought.
– Shay
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Writer/Designer Chapter 4
I thought I would write about Writer/Designer as we haven’t discussed it much and I really enjoy the book. This chapter of Writer/Designer is all about sources and copy right issues. I found the information on choosing a source and determining its ethos to be very informative. In previous classes when I have been told about choosing sources, we were mostly only told to avoid Wikipedia and the other basics. What I like about this section is that it takes both motive and diversity into account. The motive of the source and who writes it definitely changes its reliability. Another part of this chapter that I found interesting is the distinction between a source and an asset. I had never heard the term, asset, used in reference to a source. Basically an asset is the part of the source you use in your project. I find having a term for this to be useful. The chapter also mentions how the digital age is constantly in update and how “Things on the web disappear.” I agree that things are constantly updating, but things on the web never disappear, as other readings have discussed. The first thing we now learn about the web is that things never go away. Copyright is also a huge section in this chapter and it certainly cleared some things up for me about fair use and citations. The purpose, nature, amount, and market effect must all be taken in account when dealing with fair use; I had no idea that it was this complicated before reading the chapter. The source citing information I found to be extremely relevant to our projects. I never thought about the citations needing to be styled in a way which suits the genre of the text and I found the finding a lost dog analogy to be really helpful. I wish I had read this chapter before I did the sources in my rough draft, because I’m definitely going to be editing them quite a bit.
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Vegan Recipe Websites
Site purpose: The purpose of the site in general is to inform readers of recipes and techniques revolving around vegan food.
Background: Each website features a primarily white background with black texts. One website, PPK, also adds a pop of colors (red, orange, and gold) to offer contrast. Peas and Thank You has light blue text headings; Oh She Glows also offers a light blue title. VeganYumYum offers not contrasting colors.
Navigation: Each site has a different form of navigation. PPK has a bright navigation bar on the top, but also sections of navigation around the page. Both Peas And Thank You and VeganYumYum offer a navigation tab on the side and continuous scrolling. Oh She Glows has a navigation bar on the top and some navigation on the side.
Use of Words: The word usage helps the reader to successfully cook a meal, but also entices the reader to cook the authors foods with phrases like “fulfill your wildest dreams.” The authors also use humor and personal stories to connect with their audiences. Titles are often witty.
Author: Each page provides information about the author with about or cookbook sections and pictures of the author and their families are often posted.
Use of images: Most image usage is of the author, the food, or the supplies needed for cooking. Images are used for step-by-step instructions and to show the reader the end product. Both PPK and Oh She Glows use eye-catching images for their logos as well.
Each of these websites are intended to promote a product (recipe, book, etc) and to teach the readers how to cook vegan food. I use the techniques in Writer/Designer to look at each aspect of these websites to understand how and why the pages were designed. I compared and contrasted each website to form the list above.
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I definitely think that copy right issues have become more complex in the 7 years since B2B was published. Our technology has advanced quite a bit since then and the government has had to change its entire system to combat hacking as well. Smart phones have advanced to the point of carrying around actual computers, e-books and e-readers have become increasingly popular, and companies like Netflix and Pandora have emerged. All of these new technologies have certainly challenged our laws.
Netflix is a good example of what was starting to hit off at the end of the chapter, one fee for unlimited usage. Hulu and Pandora are similar examples, although they do have some free (with advertisement) songs, movies, and tv- shows, they also have fees for better services. But some questions arise with this… Is it illegal to share an account? If you use the free products, but don’t listen to the advertisements or download an advertisement blocker is that illegal? As these services become more advanced technologically, these questions will become more complex.
I also think it’s interesting that print media, has less copy right issues than technological media. For example, you can rent books at a library for free without watching advertisements and if you own a book you can lend it to someone without penalty. This is mentioned in the chapter. However, as someone interesting in potentially becoming a librarian, I wonder what this has in store for libraries. For example, it is very hard to acquire an e-book for a library. They often have limits to how many times they can be read, some have yearly fees, and others cost insane about of money.
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While Rheningold’s techniques are specifically used for online websites and information, I do think that they are beneficial for print sources as well. First and foremost he recommends searching the author and determining credibility and authority. To use this is for Chapter 2 in Rheingold’s book, I searched Rheingold in Google and Bing (as he advises using more than one search engine. Multiple sources confirmed his authority and credibility on the subject. Next, I searched four of the people he mentioned during the chapter, and checked his sources. These all seemed credible as well. He mentions triangulating is his chapter, and more than three sources confirmed what he was saying and his credibility. I didn’t see any grammatical errors, design issues, and his work is recent. In a course, I have learned that professors themselves often consider the authors credible before assigning the book, as well. Thus, I feel it is appropriate to trust him to be an author with authority and credibility. The informal style of writing and the organized structure make the book itself seem trustworthy and also helps with experience and engagement. By actively engaging with the text, you can inform yourself and retain the information.
I would also like to say that I enjoyed that he made the sections relatable via the discussion on journalism and medical information. I feel that these are two things that most people have trouble fact checking and need guidance on.
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Medical information and websites are a personal topic for me. I have a lot of health issues and it took my entire life until this summer to get them diagnosed. I don’t recommend self-diagnosis, but I think googling and getting information if you continue to have problems after initial doctor’s visits is a good idea. I think context when googling symptoms is very important and that you should always seek the opinion of a doctor (or doctors if one fails in any diagnosis.) Mentioning self-prescribing, it is very difficult to get anything but over the counter medication without a visit to a doctor.
Checking the information that you find can definitely be evaluated using Rheingold’s techniques. First, you should check sources. Some information in popular “natural medicine” magazines, do not even list sources other than the author of the article. If there are sources, I would look them up and see if the studies are actually supporting what the article says they are. Secondly, when looking up medical information, I would check reliable websites first (Mayo Clinic is one) before reading blogs or magazines that are often for profit. I would also keep in mind that, unless you’ve seen a doctor and they can’t figure out what is wrong.. I wouldn’t look into any crazy diseases. First and foremost, doctors are trained to weed out the false information and make a diagnosis. Second opinions with a different doctor are also better than looking at some blog, in my opinion.
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You mention that remix ethics would allow for different types of learners to learn together, rather than just one type. I think this is really important. I mentioned in the affordances post that with video you can do both visual and verbal communication. By showing multiple types of learning styles in a classroom, I believe it also teaches students how to both learn and teach as well.
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I definitely think there are both pros and cons to digital books. I prefer a digital book when researching or for class; digital books allow you to find information a lot more quickly and easily. Paper books I find myself flipping back and forth and loosing the information I need. Having a physical copy at the same time is nice as well. However, for just reading for pleasure, I generally like a paper book unless I’m travelling. If I’m travelling, my kindle is a lot easier to transport.
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I agree that the internet requires a lot of collaboration and cooperation when communicating. It is very difficult to discuss something when the other is reluctant to speak, but I feel that our online class definitely benefits from the constant communication and collaboration. Without others, the internet would definitely not be what it is today. It’s interesting to think about the fact that the internet could have easily become a different thing altogether.
I think Wikipedia is an under-valued contribution to information and the internet. We constantly fact check each other on Wikipedia and it also shows the general knowledge of the internet. People do prank and change things incorrectly on purpose, but for the most part, the Wikipedia community really holds themselves to a higher standard than what is often assumed.
-Shay
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I think this is incredibly interesting and incredibly important as well. Everything you look at, type, or do on your computer is remembered and those who know how can retrieve this information. I watch a lot of crime shows and this is a prominent part of investigations now days. The technology can be used to find you if you get kidnapped, but also to convict you of a crime. It think it also points out that we don’t know as much about the technology we are using as we should. This technology can be both beneficial and harmful, so I think it’s best that we learn as much as we can about it all.
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I agree that copy right issues have become more complex. It is a good point that copyrighting laws fall more on the website itself than the consumer now days. I see websites get taken down all the time because of copyright infringement, but I don’t often hear about individuals being prosecuted anymore. I think movies and television shows are more of a problem than music now days. There isn’t really any use, like you said, for illegally downloading music because you can listen to it for free on Pandora or even YoutTube. I think that the more technology that we develop, the harder it will be for copyright laws to exist.
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Chasity,
I enjoyed your post. However, I would argue that this book is written both to inform, but also to make profit. I would also look at not only the motive, but if they author himself was knowledgeable and reputable in the subject. In the case, I do agree that the author is both knowledgeable and reputable in the subject. However, if he were not, the motive would not matter. I think you did this somewhat with checking sources. I also agree that the context is important and in this book, the author informs without being overly comical and in an organized manner. I think that his personal examples really tie together the subject and it’s relevance to our lives.
