This assignment is due by Monday, February 6 at NOON. No exceptions, unless you talk with Dr. Williams.
Please read Clay Shirky's COGNITIVE SURPLUS, Chapters 2-4, and then, IYOW, share THREE specific observations Shirky makes that you find important, and ONE specific question you would ask of him about his conclusions.
Aim for 3-5 sentences for EACH observation, and make your question ONE SENTENCE and VERY precise.
- In 2003, American beef was banned in South Korea due to mad cow disease. When it was announced eventually that American beef would be reintroduced in South Korea, there were great protests, and the main demographic represented at those protests were teenage girls. They became aware of the meat issue through a site for a boy band called Dong Bang Shin Ki where there was an open forum for fans to discuss whatever they pleased. This shows how something created for one purpose (I imagine this feature of the website was mostly intended for discussing the band) can turn into a means for an entirely different event to unfold.
ReplyDelete- Edward Deci conducted a study in 1970 with Soma from which he concluded that people doing things because the things are interesting to them is different than doing things for a reward. There are two types of motivation: intrinsic (being motivated by interest) and extrinsic (being motivated by a reward). Deci's study shows that extrinsic motivation might take away from intrinsic motivation, and that rewards aren't necessarily the best way to motivate: the best motivation comes from one's interest in the task at hand.
- Having the technology to accomplish something isn't what makes us work together to accomplish things. Our human tendencies toward generosity and and sociableness are what enable us to cooperate with any number of people to accomplish a goal. That goal can be anything, but it is our behaviors rather than the technology which makes it happen.Shirky says that interpretations of this focus on the technology rather than the behavior.
Question: If you for some reason had been unable to publish books, and not get paid for any of the information you spread around the world, would you still attempt to reach people with your knowledge?
- The internet allows people to self-publish their work at the click of a button instead of needing permission from publishers. While this creates room for more average writing to get published but also makes room to take part in important conversations.
Delete- The internet also provides a space for people to easily (and comfortably) find millions of different communities and groups based on highly-specific interests that might be much harder to find through other media sources.
- Shirky explains that if you give people the freedom the participate and share, there is a good chance they will respond in an agreeable manner. But if people are given a fake freedom, where it looks like there are options but there aren't, people will rebel.
Question: What are 3 websites you check daily?
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-I realized that I am an intrinsic college student.
ReplyDeleteI love intrinsic people.
I was a Grobanite.
Extrinsic endeavors might be the only way (other than revolution) to start paradigm shifts in our culture.
-"People who work in television, make television, for your television." A wise notion.
-I now understand why the fat guy singing about pizza and lolcats on Youtube is so important to the world. He's expressing his autonomy, and competence. I shall never again ask certain questions containing the "why" factor regarding these youtubers.
Q: If the USA's public perception where to change rapidly regarding media, into that of the South Korean's way of perceiving and using media, would revolution occur sooner, and more effectively?
- The fact that a mass group of teenage girls congregated for something they are passionate about because of a local band's website is truly amazing. They were able to connect through a public forum, where anyone can post questions, and share answers. This forum doesn't limit it's users to only "gossip," they can discuss anything they like, from the latest celebrity news, to the import of American beef in South Korea.
ReplyDelete- Learning the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, intrinsic being motivation by interest and extrinsic being by reward, I know that I am very intrinsically motivated.
- "-digital networks make sharing cheap and potential participation nearly universal." With examples Encyclopedia Britannica vs. Wikipedia and being hired on the nightly news vs. blogging every night, they are showing different ways how the same information can be given to the public, except one way is completely free, and potentially easier to access.
- Following Rose's question, what means of media would you pursue?
Chapter 2
ReplyDeleteThe Internet provides a new means of communication that crosses the boundaries of previous forms significantly. Shirkey uses an example of South Korea and importing American meat, a policy the government felt fie about, but that the people rejected. The common people were able to use social media, powered by the vast connectedness of the Internet, to affect real change in their society, or at the least get the President of South Korea to admit his mistake.
The advent of the Internet has led to a technological revolution that is having numerous, potent impacts on society at large. As Shirkey puts it, “media is the connective tissue of society” (pg44), media users have come to rely on social media to stay informed, entertained and to stay connected. The point Shirkey tries to make again and again is that the technology is the not the reason, but simply the means to these ends, that people want what the Internet and social media have to offer.
A major increase in the free time of the middle class in developed nations has led to enormous amounts of amateur work being proliferated via the Internet. Shirkey believes that these amateurs are harnessing cognitive surplus to give something to the greater community and to make themselves feel good about the thing they produced. It's a matter of opportunity and motivation, now that the opportunity to produce via the Internet has ballooned, all that is needed is the human motivation to engage with this new technology, something that hardly appears to be lacking.
Question: If motivation is key to making use of social media, is the public motivated in the “right” ways; are people more motivated to use burgeoning technology for societies benefit or their own?
Chapter 3
ReplyDeleteThe organization of Grobanites for Charity displays how new technology and social media makes it possible for the interested parties (ie the Grobanites) to form an organization to meet their goals from the ground up. Armed with the motivation to do something beneficial for society, something made infinitely easier thanks to social media, the Grobanites had goals and objectives before they had an organization to achieve those goals. These do-gooders were able to do good on a large enough scale to make a difference because they had the motivation and the Internet made it easy enough to do with a small, dedicated staff.
Experiments, like the Edward Deci's Soma game show that “payment for working with the puzzle depressed free choice for the same activity” (pg56). This means that capitalism can have a negative effect on quality and motivation: once a task becomes a job, people are less willing to do it unless there is some monetary reward. Once money is entered into the equation, people's motivation becomes broken into either intrinsic motivation (that which you do to please yourself) and extrinsic motivation (that which is done for an external reward).
Social media acts as a stimulant for people's intrinsic desires. Previously, if a person wanted to achieve a goal without monetary gains as the motivation, they would be unlikely to attempt said goal if it demanded public support (ie the task is too big for one person to manage). Social media is the ultimate coordinator, allow millions of people to be part of something with the absolute minimal cost on their part.
Question: Does the Internet and social media mean that we need redefine roles that use to be considered jobs, but that could now be performed by amateurs?
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteDaniel Kahneman is a Nobel Prize winner who forwarded the idea of “theory-induced blindness”. His assertion is basically that people are poor “economic actors” because we adhere to believes about how the world works that blind us to how the world actually works. This entire concept turns on it's head the long held idea that people in a capitalist society will work only if they are paid and that the payment was in some way tied to the significance of the work. People blind themselves to reality and only recently are breaking from this model to make use of social media tools to connect and contribute without concern for monetary gains.
The Ultimatum game (pg79) is a model for how wealth inequality functions in developed society. The theory economists had about the game involved the one with the most power and control offering the one with the least a fraction of the total monetary value, which the responder is likely to accept because it is better than nothing, even if the first individual's gains are far greater. In practice the game played out differently, as responders would deny themselves and the other any f the money if they found the terms unacceptable. This proves that relationships factor into human decision, often times more prominently than money does.
Apache is a piece of software, known as a web-server, that is absolutely essential to the continued use of the Internet. Apache itself is one of many pieces of software like this, but it is the most widely used and therefore the most important. And it is free, a bit of shareware that the developers have made free to the public, allowing programmers the world over to tweak, modify or enhance Apache. Since the software is free and available, anyone can work with it, generating hundreds of variations and in the long run, greatly improving upon the product. This system brings in a world-wide community of users and asks them to help improve the product, not for a paycheck, but simply so that the product functions better, allowing it to serve it's users better.
Question: Ostroms findings (pg84) seem to point toward a communal society that jointly manages resources as a better method of achieving goals. How does this model reconcile itself with people's deep fear of communism?
Message boards or forums were initially used to discuss the topic of common interest used to attract the user, whether it was a band, sports team or video game. Now, forums are being viewed as online gathering spots that can be used to organize around issues supported by the users of those forums. Through this new form of organizing, people who might have been the only individuals in their area concerned with an issue can now easily connect with others who share that concern.
ReplyDeleteSocial media and the internet allow easy access to publish user generated content. Through this approach social media inherently supports intrinsically motivated users, people who create content for their own pleasure rather than an outside reward, like money. For these people, social media acts as coordinating service allowing users to join a cause like, Grobanites for Charity, with a minimal personal cost.
Daniel Kahneman champions the idea of “theory-induced blindness”, the idea that people are poor because we have a set of beliefs that blind us from how the world really functions. What this theory is essentially saying is that people believed in the need to earn money from everything they did, which blinded them from seeing other way they could contribute to society. With the rise of social media, people have stopped putting such an emphasis on earning money and have dedicated millions of hours to cause and idea that they support with worrying about compensation.
Question: With this lack of emphasis on monetary compensations, how should our society try to implement these principles outside the social media world?
I am exhausted and delirious and have no idea whether this makes any sense or not.
ReplyDeleteShirky references Gutenberg’s invention of movable type back in the fifteenth century which not only allowed vastly greater quantities of print, but allowed the publishing of new “novel” creative works- instead of only printing the Bible and a select few classics, they began printing pornos or murder mysteries or whatever. People thought it was trash. The web is infinitely cluttered with all kinds of information, opinion, art, literature, etc. and so much of the content may seem trivial or trash. We were once fed a one sided media that seemed clean cut but now we must navigate through all the bullshit to get to the bull (which can be super frustrating). However Shirky suggests that the quality of the web content is not how we should judge value, but instead we should find value simply in the quantity of content- good or bad, professional or amateur, serious or silly. The more information that’s out there, the less editing and selecting and deceiving has taken place, so the web is a more accurate reflection of citizens than any media before, simply because it is endless and open for contribution.
Deci’s theory on intrinsic and extrinsic motives are important to consider in protecting the internet as an open forum. In our capitalist society, people are always seeking revenue through regulation. Ownership is a HUGE issue with online media and Deci’s theory inadvertently suggests that to keep the web-based media honest and wholesome, it must be as freely and loosely organized as possible. People show more interest and authenticity when they produce or participate without the external or disconnected motive of money, for their own fulfillment or the benefit of others.
Shirky emphasizes throughout the book that the internet is a creative space. People haven’t always had outlets for creativity that were public. Shirky suggests that any act of creativity- whether it be playing an online game or keeping a blog or sharing photographs with people in a network- is far better for the wellbeing of the individual and of the whole than spending that time simply consuming or say watching television. Watching television is a passive experience- the web is active and it activates people in so many ways.
Q: What are your top ten visited websites? How do you participate or consume and what are your motives?
1. Accessibility and permanence: Internet info is shared easier and lasts longer than tv. Protest movements may not always acheive everything they want, but often the leaders taking the movement’s ideas into account and admitting mistakes can be enough to appease them. Internet became more than “just a source of information and became a locus of coordination as well.”
ReplyDelete2. People who are fixing a problem (like bus companies) are dependent on maintaining that problem. The more people who sign up for something like pickup pal, the more useful it can be. The old form of media is based on “amateur consumers and professional producers” while digital media frees people to begin to do things for themselves that wasn’t possible before. In the same way buses moved helped people to commute when carpooling was nearly impossible, but pickup pal has made coordination of commuters much easier.
3. When the cost of publishing media is extremely expensive, producers will restrict what is produced before the audience sees it. Today you can just hit the publish button, there are no longer people standing as a roadblock preventing media from reaching a larger audience. Easier publication can lower quality, but it opens up new genres and forms for people to try ultimately allowing the best works in an era of abundance to surpass the best works in an era of scarcity.
Q. Can connecting people with those who think similarly create a more polarized society?