http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/fashion/14facebook.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
While surfing the New York Times online, I came across an article discussing the aging of facebook. Since I myself am a facebook user, I was curious to find out what the writer had to say concerning older users on the popular social networking site. John Schwartz, the author, tells the story of forty-eight year old Amy Waldman who recently joined facebook. When she told one of her friends about it, Mrs Waldman was informed that since she was over 40, she was "facebook creepy."
I think this brings up an interesting point of who defines socially acceptable rules of age limits to social networking sites. From my experience, I have heard many college students speak of older facebookers with annoyance. It's as if they believe Facebook is strictly a college networking site, not intended for the average person. It is obvious that their views of the direction of facebook are not in line with its creators, especially with the advent of regional networks. Facebook is all about networking, whether it be around college, religion, georaphical location, or other points of interest. So why should older users not be allowed to network with their peers? Facebook reported that over forty percent of its users are older than twenty-five and/or are out of school. As facebook grows, college students will become the minority on Facebook, so why not just accept the new crowd? I believe college students should adjust to this new influx of older facebookers. I think in time they will discover that the trend will not affect them in the least bit.
The author also reported on a 73 year old man with over 1,600 friends on facebook. Althouth the man was popular NPR announcer Karl Hassel, this still proves that facebook networking is for young and old alike
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Racism
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/09/11/net_hate/index.html
This web page talks about the racism that the United States shows toward Muslim and Arab people. Just because some people of those races did something bad does not mean that every single one of them are bad. Janelle Brown, the author of the article talks about Craig's List which is San Francisco Bay's largest online community. Craig's List is supportive of the non-racist view, but many people say extremely racist things on it. One person said "Purge our society of these rodents." How horrible is that! To speak of people in terms of rodents is absolutely horrible. No human begin no matter what has happened in the past should be thought of in those terms. Murders happen every day that deal with white and African American people and the whole race is not looked at as murders so why should the Muslim and Arab races be looked at in that way. Don't get me wrong I know that there are many people of those races that hate Americans and dream about doing bad things to them, but not all of them are like that. Furthermore, I'm sure that there are tons of Americans who look at Muslim and Arab people and want to hurt them, but not all Americans are that way. I think, to end violence, we need to end hatred. We have forgiven the Germans for the Holocaust; it is now time to forgive these races for their mistakes. Also written on the page was a warning to Muslims and Arabs to leave the country for their own sake. There is no reason what so ever to punish someone that has been living in the United States, maybe their whole life, and who had nothing to do with anything that has been happening. If they live in this country, most likely they are patriotic and love it here. This means that they most likely would not do anything to harm their fellow Americans. Another comment made in this article was that they wanted to annihilate any country that wronged America. This goes back to the fact that we can not punnish an entire race for something that a group of people did. On a lighter note however, someone posted the comment "The only antidote to terrorism--hate-- is love." This is such a wonderful comment and it is my view point on the whole matter. The only way to end all of this crap is to forgive and forget. Without these two components the world will be at war forever.
Overall, this website brings to attention some major issues online about war and racism. It talks about a blog site that has a wide variety of users: some who hate Arabs and Muslims, and some who don't. I feel like this makes a better site. It is just an interesting way to look at things that are going on in and outside of our country.
This web page talks about the racism that the United States shows toward Muslim and Arab people. Just because some people of those races did something bad does not mean that every single one of them are bad. Janelle Brown, the author of the article talks about Craig's List which is San Francisco Bay's largest online community. Craig's List is supportive of the non-racist view, but many people say extremely racist things on it. One person said "Purge our society of these rodents." How horrible is that! To speak of people in terms of rodents is absolutely horrible. No human begin no matter what has happened in the past should be thought of in those terms. Murders happen every day that deal with white and African American people and the whole race is not looked at as murders so why should the Muslim and Arab races be looked at in that way. Don't get me wrong I know that there are many people of those races that hate Americans and dream about doing bad things to them, but not all of them are like that. Furthermore, I'm sure that there are tons of Americans who look at Muslim and Arab people and want to hurt them, but not all Americans are that way. I think, to end violence, we need to end hatred. We have forgiven the Germans for the Holocaust; it is now time to forgive these races for their mistakes. Also written on the page was a warning to Muslims and Arabs to leave the country for their own sake. There is no reason what so ever to punish someone that has been living in the United States, maybe their whole life, and who had nothing to do with anything that has been happening. If they live in this country, most likely they are patriotic and love it here. This means that they most likely would not do anything to harm their fellow Americans. Another comment made in this article was that they wanted to annihilate any country that wronged America. This goes back to the fact that we can not punnish an entire race for something that a group of people did. On a lighter note however, someone posted the comment "The only antidote to terrorism--hate-- is love." This is such a wonderful comment and it is my view point on the whole matter. The only way to end all of this crap is to forgive and forget. Without these two components the world will be at war forever.
Overall, this website brings to attention some major issues online about war and racism. It talks about a blog site that has a wide variety of users: some who hate Arabs and Muslims, and some who don't. I feel like this makes a better site. It is just an interesting way to look at things that are going on in and outside of our country.
Pandora
If you have never been to Pandora.com, it is a very unique and interesting website, especially for music lovers. Pandora offers a wide variety of music to listen to—pretty much any type of music you can think of. However, Pandora is unique because while you cannot download the music, you can listen to the music for free. It’s actually more like a radio than just a music player. It’s really pretty cool because what you do is give them the name of an artist that you particularly like, and Pandora will begin by playing a song from that artist. The next song may or may not be from that artist—usually it moves on to a different artist. However, the song by the next artist is very similar in style to the artist you began with. For example, by typing in Ben Folds—whose style is largely centered on the use of the piano, the next song will be similar, probably with a song centered on the use of the piano.
It’s really very fascinating. I have personally used Pandora many times and it has led to some new artists, which have quickly been added to my lists of favorites. The site allows you to add as many different “stations” as you want. If you don’t like a song that Pandora gives you, you can rate it with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and you can skip to the next song. By rating the songs you listen to, Pandora quickly learns what types of music you like to hear, and eventually you will only hear music that interests you personally.
Pandora is different from most online music sites in that Pandora is completely legal. A lot of music websites struggle with the legality of their music offered—especially those websites that offer music available for download. Sometimes this music is unlawfully downloaded and creates legal issues with the owner’s of the song’s copyright. However, because of the streaming nature of Pandora’s offered songs, listening to them raises no legal issues, because Pandora already owns the right to broadcast them. Basically, Pandora is just like a radio—except it’s more like an interactive radio.
Pandora is a great website for music lovers. Instead of immediately going to iTunes and downloading an artist, why not first go to Pandora and see you like that style of music first? Check out Pandora.com, it’s a great and innovative website.
It’s really very fascinating. I have personally used Pandora many times and it has led to some new artists, which have quickly been added to my lists of favorites. The site allows you to add as many different “stations” as you want. If you don’t like a song that Pandora gives you, you can rate it with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and you can skip to the next song. By rating the songs you listen to, Pandora quickly learns what types of music you like to hear, and eventually you will only hear music that interests you personally.
Pandora is different from most online music sites in that Pandora is completely legal. A lot of music websites struggle with the legality of their music offered—especially those websites that offer music available for download. Sometimes this music is unlawfully downloaded and creates legal issues with the owner’s of the song’s copyright. However, because of the streaming nature of Pandora’s offered songs, listening to them raises no legal issues, because Pandora already owns the right to broadcast them. Basically, Pandora is just like a radio—except it’s more like an interactive radio.
Pandora is a great website for music lovers. Instead of immediately going to iTunes and downloading an artist, why not first go to Pandora and see you like that style of music first? Check out Pandora.com, it’s a great and innovative website.
Online Gender Gap
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4555370.stm
I found an interesting site discussing the gender gap online. The author states, "Gender divisions persist online, but it is no longer about whether more men or women use the net." A study done by the Pew Internet Project found interesting differences in the way men and women use the Internet. The study found that just as many women as men use the internet in today's society. The gap arises in the way men and women choose to use the internet.
The study found that men like the internet because it gives them an opportunity to try new ways to do things. On the other hand, women use the Internet mainly for communication purposes. Women use the email feature more often than men. Men tend to use email when they want to stay in contact with an organization. On the other hand, women use email to stay in touch with friends and relatives.
Men like the new opportunities the Internet offers. They tend to use the Internet to try new technologies and participate in recreational activies, such as fantasy sports leagues. They also use the Internet for information about sports, weather, and news. A woman's use of the Internet focuses more on email and information about health and religious information.
There is a commonality when it comes to the internet. Both men and women enjoy and utilize the convenience of the Internet when it comes to mundane tasks, such as paying bills.
I am not the least bit surprised by the findings of this study. I believe the results are accurate and precise. For the most part, men are always the first to jump at the opportunities that arise from technology. From my own experiences with the Internet, men do not care as much about the communication the Internet offers. They care more about the features the internet offers, such as fantasy sports leagues and the availability of information. On the other hand, women, including myself, thrive on the communication feature of the Internet. I constantly use the Internet to email friends and family. I update them on what is going on in my life, and they do the same for me. The internet has enabled an ease in communication, and I believe women value this ease more than men.
One can no longer argue that there is a gap in the number of male and female internet users in today's society. It has been found that just as many women as men use the Internet. However, there is a gap in the way men and women choose to use the Internet.
I found an interesting site discussing the gender gap online. The author states, "Gender divisions persist online, but it is no longer about whether more men or women use the net." A study done by the Pew Internet Project found interesting differences in the way men and women use the Internet. The study found that just as many women as men use the internet in today's society. The gap arises in the way men and women choose to use the internet.
The study found that men like the internet because it gives them an opportunity to try new ways to do things. On the other hand, women use the Internet mainly for communication purposes. Women use the email feature more often than men. Men tend to use email when they want to stay in contact with an organization. On the other hand, women use email to stay in touch with friends and relatives.
Men like the new opportunities the Internet offers. They tend to use the Internet to try new technologies and participate in recreational activies, such as fantasy sports leagues. They also use the Internet for information about sports, weather, and news. A woman's use of the Internet focuses more on email and information about health and religious information.
There is a commonality when it comes to the internet. Both men and women enjoy and utilize the convenience of the Internet when it comes to mundane tasks, such as paying bills.
I am not the least bit surprised by the findings of this study. I believe the results are accurate and precise. For the most part, men are always the first to jump at the opportunities that arise from technology. From my own experiences with the Internet, men do not care as much about the communication the Internet offers. They care more about the features the internet offers, such as fantasy sports leagues and the availability of information. On the other hand, women, including myself, thrive on the communication feature of the Internet. I constantly use the Internet to email friends and family. I update them on what is going on in my life, and they do the same for me. The internet has enabled an ease in communication, and I believe women value this ease more than men.
One can no longer argue that there is a gap in the number of male and female internet users in today's society. It has been found that just as many women as men use the Internet. However, there is a gap in the way men and women choose to use the Internet.
Design Portfolios--http://www.veen.com/jeff/archives/000935.html
Design Portfolios
To be honest, it took me a while to catch on to what okaydave.com was all about. I seemed like a whole lot of random stuff, and I could not really understand the connection. After I spent some time viewing Dave Werner’s site, I realized that he is an artistic genius. His site includes many of his lifetime design projects. He combines his creations and ideas allowing the viewer to explore his most impressive developments. His website explains what is important to him and how he got where he is today.
After I explored what Dave Werner’s design portfolio, I also found another website with tips for creating a good portfolio. The website I found was http://www.veen.com/jeff/archives/000935.html. It was created by a man named Jeffrey Veen. Because our English class has viewed a design portfolio, I think it is important for us to have an outside opinion on what makes a good one. Veen emphasizes the importance of keeping the website easy for the viewer to navigate through. He also stresses the value of finding a happy medium between creativity and accessibility. Veen says that the designer needs to have a creative way of displaying their work; however, it is important to avoid unnecessary complications. He says that the main purpose of allowing the viewer to see the designer’s work is lost if the website is so complicated that it is hard to navigate. Another one of Veen’s points stresses the importance of keeping the images large enough to be seen easily. He thinks that the designer should explain his or her process of creating in order to allow an outsider to be able to better understand what is actually going on. His final tip for design portfolios is to display examples of work done for the enjoyment of the designer rather than only displaying projects done for school or a job. In the design portfolios that he views, Veen wants to see designers who are passionate about what they do, rather that those who just do what they have to do to get by.
I think that website is relevant to our class because it allows us to look at okaydave.com in a new way. After reading Veen’s website on design portfolios, no longer are we outsiders to this new form of advertising and displaying one’s artistic abilities. We can use the criteria that Veen presents in order to analyze Dave Werner’s website from a more knowledgeable perspective.
I feel like Dave Werner’s portfolio would definitely meet the standards for design portfolios put forward by Jeffrey Veen. Werner’s website is creative and interesting, but is still formatted with user-friendly navigation. The portfolio allows the viewer to easily access his work, and to also understand his motives behind each project while its visual appeal keeps the viewer engaged. Using the information about design portfolios presented by Veen, I feel like okaydave.com is an excellent representation of the work of Dave Werner.
To be honest, it took me a while to catch on to what okaydave.com was all about. I seemed like a whole lot of random stuff, and I could not really understand the connection. After I spent some time viewing Dave Werner’s site, I realized that he is an artistic genius. His site includes many of his lifetime design projects. He combines his creations and ideas allowing the viewer to explore his most impressive developments. His website explains what is important to him and how he got where he is today.
After I explored what Dave Werner’s design portfolio, I also found another website with tips for creating a good portfolio. The website I found was http://www.veen.com/jeff/archives/000935.html. It was created by a man named Jeffrey Veen. Because our English class has viewed a design portfolio, I think it is important for us to have an outside opinion on what makes a good one. Veen emphasizes the importance of keeping the website easy for the viewer to navigate through. He also stresses the value of finding a happy medium between creativity and accessibility. Veen says that the designer needs to have a creative way of displaying their work; however, it is important to avoid unnecessary complications. He says that the main purpose of allowing the viewer to see the designer’s work is lost if the website is so complicated that it is hard to navigate. Another one of Veen’s points stresses the importance of keeping the images large enough to be seen easily. He thinks that the designer should explain his or her process of creating in order to allow an outsider to be able to better understand what is actually going on. His final tip for design portfolios is to display examples of work done for the enjoyment of the designer rather than only displaying projects done for school or a job. In the design portfolios that he views, Veen wants to see designers who are passionate about what they do, rather that those who just do what they have to do to get by.
I think that website is relevant to our class because it allows us to look at okaydave.com in a new way. After reading Veen’s website on design portfolios, no longer are we outsiders to this new form of advertising and displaying one’s artistic abilities. We can use the criteria that Veen presents in order to analyze Dave Werner’s website from a more knowledgeable perspective.
I feel like Dave Werner’s portfolio would definitely meet the standards for design portfolios put forward by Jeffrey Veen. Werner’s website is creative and interesting, but is still formatted with user-friendly navigation. The portfolio allows the viewer to easily access his work, and to also understand his motives behind each project while its visual appeal keeps the viewer engaged. Using the information about design portfolios presented by Veen, I feel like okaydave.com is an excellent representation of the work of Dave Werner.
MySpace Bands- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11114166/
Unknown bands are now becoming superstars, all due to the popularity gained on their MySpace band profiles. A recent article on MSNBC’s website discussed the growing trend of band’s creating MySpace profiles.
Bands are drawn to MySpace profiles because they are free, easy to design, and allow many viewers. MySpace is now the third most visited website; I’m sure that beats out how many people watch Fuse TV a day.
Bands are now seeing MySpace as a way to bridge the gap between fans. I myself have visited many of my favorite bands’ profiles, and I find that they are much cooler and personal than the band’s website. I feel like I can connect with new bands by listening to their music and looking at pictures from the concerts and everyday lives of the members. New bands can be found by searching name, genre, location, or keyword. Successful bands such as Audioslave have previewed entire albums on MySpace before the release date. Features such as video and audio allow fans to experience new music from their favorite artists.
Many find MySpace to be more successful than competitiors because of interconnectivity. Any genre of music can be found in one place. When a user looks at a band’s profile, they can find music, video, concert dates, pictures, and information. You can also add the band as your friend, and find who else likes the band.
MySpace allows bands to market themselves for free. Songs can be downloaded, concert dates are announced, and marketing promos can all be listed on one profile. Bands can also market each other by listing other bands on their top friends or posting links to the other profiles.
Even large bands, such as Dashboard Confessional, have felt gratification through MySpace profiles. You can get a virtual picture of fans, and get loads of wall posts praising music. A counter is added to the pages to show how many songs have been downloaded per day.
A MySpace anniversary concert was recently held, bands could interact with the millions of fans they considered their friends on MySpace.
MySpace has recently joined with Interscope Records to form MySpace Records. This record company will feature new and well-known bands the music world of MySpace fans. Indie music is particularly popular on MySpace Bands, so I’m sure many of the three or four signed bands per year will be Indie bands.
As long as record labels and producers do not begin to abuse MySpace profiles, MySpace will continue to lead the search for new and popular bands.
I think this topic would be a very interesting thing for our class to investigate. From personal experience, I agree that MySpace is a great marketing tool and a way to become closer to bands. MySpace has introduced newly popular bands to our society, such as: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and My Chemical Romance. Almost every person in our class has probably looked at a band’s profile or at least listened to their music. It is truly revolutionizing the music industry.
Bands are drawn to MySpace profiles because they are free, easy to design, and allow many viewers. MySpace is now the third most visited website; I’m sure that beats out how many people watch Fuse TV a day.
Bands are now seeing MySpace as a way to bridge the gap between fans. I myself have visited many of my favorite bands’ profiles, and I find that they are much cooler and personal than the band’s website. I feel like I can connect with new bands by listening to their music and looking at pictures from the concerts and everyday lives of the members. New bands can be found by searching name, genre, location, or keyword. Successful bands such as Audioslave have previewed entire albums on MySpace before the release date. Features such as video and audio allow fans to experience new music from their favorite artists.
Many find MySpace to be more successful than competitiors because of interconnectivity. Any genre of music can be found in one place. When a user looks at a band’s profile, they can find music, video, concert dates, pictures, and information. You can also add the band as your friend, and find who else likes the band.
MySpace allows bands to market themselves for free. Songs can be downloaded, concert dates are announced, and marketing promos can all be listed on one profile. Bands can also market each other by listing other bands on their top friends or posting links to the other profiles.
Even large bands, such as Dashboard Confessional, have felt gratification through MySpace profiles. You can get a virtual picture of fans, and get loads of wall posts praising music. A counter is added to the pages to show how many songs have been downloaded per day.
A MySpace anniversary concert was recently held, bands could interact with the millions of fans they considered their friends on MySpace.
MySpace has recently joined with Interscope Records to form MySpace Records. This record company will feature new and well-known bands the music world of MySpace fans. Indie music is particularly popular on MySpace Bands, so I’m sure many of the three or four signed bands per year will be Indie bands.
As long as record labels and producers do not begin to abuse MySpace profiles, MySpace will continue to lead the search for new and popular bands.
I think this topic would be a very interesting thing for our class to investigate. From personal experience, I agree that MySpace is a great marketing tool and a way to become closer to bands. MySpace has introduced newly popular bands to our society, such as: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and My Chemical Romance. Almost every person in our class has probably looked at a band’s profile or at least listened to their music. It is truly revolutionizing the music industry.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Movers 2.0
http://movers20.esnips.com/TableStatAction.ns?reportId=100
I found this website, Movers 2.0, on a list of interesting websites on blogspot.com. This site shows how websites compare to others by tracking both the daily pageviews and daily reach. This site, however, deals only with websites on "Web 2.0", which are websites sites that anyone can edit with more of a personal touch, like a blog or social networking site. These sites allow you to enter information about yourself, whether by describing yourself directly or by how you write, both in your topics and writing style. These "Web 2.0" sites are the sites that we have primarily been studying and discussing, so I thought this an especially appropriate site to discuss with this blog post.
Movers 2.0 displays the ranks of these Web 2.0 sites, determined by daily viewings of each website and the total reach of the website, which is the number of users registered on the website. There are graphs to display each for every website, updated every day. Movers 2.0 uses the total number to determine both of these graphs, as opposed to other rankings that use percentage of all web users. I thought that it was really interesting that the numbers used were listed in the thousands but described as being in millions, so the daily views for websites like YouTube and Facebook are receiving billions of hits a day, with YouTube receiving nearly 20 billion hits daily. Those numbers were just staggering to me, especially since I didn't know that many people even used the Internet, though I think that number counts individual page views, so each viewer will view several pages per actual visit to the site. YouTube, though, still has likely a billion different viewers per day, if each viewer sees on average 20 pages per visit, which could definitely be much higher than actual.
You can also see which sites are moving up and which sites are moving down, hence the name Movers. This shows which sites are increasing in page views and membership and which sites are decreasing. With this information, you can see that sites like Facebook are greatly increasing in site traffic while many others are losing viewers. Once you see this, you can go much more in depth and study why sites are gaining and losing viewers. Many conclusions can be gained from this, and many potential web site creators can benefit from this information and shape their web sites to be the most appealing and draw the most viewers.
I don't know that it is vitally important that everyone checks this site out daily, but I thought it was very interesting to see how millions of people are spending their time on the Internet, or at least on the Web 2.0 sites.
I found this website, Movers 2.0, on a list of interesting websites on blogspot.com. This site shows how websites compare to others by tracking both the daily pageviews and daily reach. This site, however, deals only with websites on "Web 2.0", which are websites sites that anyone can edit with more of a personal touch, like a blog or social networking site. These sites allow you to enter information about yourself, whether by describing yourself directly or by how you write, both in your topics and writing style. These "Web 2.0" sites are the sites that we have primarily been studying and discussing, so I thought this an especially appropriate site to discuss with this blog post.
Movers 2.0 displays the ranks of these Web 2.0 sites, determined by daily viewings of each website and the total reach of the website, which is the number of users registered on the website. There are graphs to display each for every website, updated every day. Movers 2.0 uses the total number to determine both of these graphs, as opposed to other rankings that use percentage of all web users. I thought that it was really interesting that the numbers used were listed in the thousands but described as being in millions, so the daily views for websites like YouTube and Facebook are receiving billions of hits a day, with YouTube receiving nearly 20 billion hits daily. Those numbers were just staggering to me, especially since I didn't know that many people even used the Internet, though I think that number counts individual page views, so each viewer will view several pages per actual visit to the site. YouTube, though, still has likely a billion different viewers per day, if each viewer sees on average 20 pages per visit, which could definitely be much higher than actual.
You can also see which sites are moving up and which sites are moving down, hence the name Movers. This shows which sites are increasing in page views and membership and which sites are decreasing. With this information, you can see that sites like Facebook are greatly increasing in site traffic while many others are losing viewers. Once you see this, you can go much more in depth and study why sites are gaining and losing viewers. Many conclusions can be gained from this, and many potential web site creators can benefit from this information and shape their web sites to be the most appealing and draw the most viewers.
I don't know that it is vitally important that everyone checks this site out daily, but I thought it was very interesting to see how millions of people are spending their time on the Internet, or at least on the Web 2.0 sites.
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