Entry #4 : A Quarter of the Way Through

The Myth of Crowdsourcing 

Mr. Woods is a bit of a downer. I love the notion, even if it is possibly false, of crowdsourcing being this wonder filled idea of strangers coming to gather to solve and/ or create. Woods' business POV seems to say the that the idea of crowdsourcing is false because the "crowd"  is really just a group of nerds who have more knowledge than the public therefore are not the "crowd". Even nerds  (using this term respectively) can be a crowd. Directory states a crowd as

a large number of people gathered together, typically in a disorganized or unruly way.

 even if those people are geniuses and in it for themselves they are still the "crowd", disorganized thinkers. People working together on a project created by someone else. So yes, crowdsourcing can be very specific for certain projects but there is no need to dismantle the "crowdsourcing" umbrella title. Crowdsourcing and innovation are peanut butter and jelly.  Even if the innovation is under completely selfish reasons, that idea of innovation is what fuels and keeps the "crowd" working.

2 Reasons Why the Term "Crowdsourcing" Bugs Me 

Grams, too is a downer but in a good way. You have a idea and "money" (or any incentive) you will get content creators working, as Grams states, in a factory. But if you put effort into building a community on strong beliefs the factory workings soon follows. A bit too idealistic for me. Cause if you have ever tried to get people to join a "crowd" or "community" based solely on beliefs/ideals then you know how few participates you'll receive. And those participates will often be like minded creating more a cult less of a crowd. Incentives are necessary to build a crowd // ideals are necessary to maintain it. 

Entry #3 : There is No Escaping Now

Panting for Breath on a Virtual Shore

I feel a bit uncomfortable......which is a weird feeling for me. I don't quite get the man/machine/eroticism analogy. What I do get is this notion of how interconnected we are with the internet, especially my peers. That is why I refer to it as the interwebs, because it is just that, a web! A web that catches you, traps you, and even if you manage to escape it for a while pieces still stick to you like glue (similar to those  surprise spider webs). Constant up-keep of ones internet persona (guilty as charged) is seeming to become more in important to most than actual living. Brain scrambling is sure to follow with such habits. I wish there was a way for someone to hold a giant mirror to our faces and show us how ridiculous we are being sometimes. On the other hand, we also are doing GREAT things with this web and discouragement can hold awesomeness from happening. Is too much of a good thing bad? 

Speaking in Memes

I believe we should "memeified" even more!  A political event, sport scandal, or "dramatic"  news coverage is enough negativity to put someone into a lifetime of depression. Memes can speak volumes (often louder than a hour long video) while maintaining a sense of sanity. Also memes hold this sense of unbiasedness/satire forgiveness (yes one can agree or disagree but its just a silly picture).  Appealing to the ever so shorting attention-span of the 21st century. Yes, this political *insert problem here* is important but seeing constant comments/video/etc. content on it often makes me want to just shut it out....keep scrolling. A meme can grab my attention because it is based in fun. A meme can get people  thinking, really....it can.I do semi disagree with this whole idea that memes can't go reviral or resurge, a meme concept develops in layers, every new layer makes it gain in popularity.  But I maybe misunderstanding the concept because parts of this article went way over my head.  oh look a meme......