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......

Entry #Two: The Words Continue

Jimmy Wales: The birth of Wikipedia 

Interesting to see the "origin story," as I would state it, of the great empire. I believe that Wiki does have more than one employee now....checks wiki, yes they do. I can't imagine how wiki could continue on with their ever expanding universe with just a single employee. Which brings me to the question of how can they find so many volunteers. Does the world really have thousands of people who like to edit a Encyclopedia for free? The answer to that question is complicated. What I think is, that there are thousands of people who are not only enticed by the thrill of editing articles, but also are drawn to the opportunity to provide free knowledge to all. To be that superhero teacher helping knowledge seekers and to contribute to a project who's world impact is very much understated.  As for the issue brought up near the end, wiki has not gained a good academic standing (in my personal experience) in the academic community. Heck, my advanced research logistics english professor (say that 10 times fast) spent the entire course telling us how horrible wiki is for any and all information. The way I see it, wiki is a good place for quick non-academic answers and a good place to start for academic answers. They are also masters at the craft of crowdsourcing volunteers.

Tiffany Shlain - From Failure to Innovation

It's hard for me imagine a world without internet. The year Tiffany "discovered" the internet I was born, hardwired for the new century. I share a lot with Tiffany's filmmaking beginnings. I too started as a young film enthusiast that reediting existing content to create my own content. Of course instead of old films, I used youtube videos which gave me a larger web of resources. What I take from Tiffany's talk/film is that in order to be a filmmaker you don't actually need to "make" the film. You create a concept, a notion, a abstraction, a conception and then the film that follows is simply a directed display of that concept. Easier said than done, yes, but the idea of vast community coordination to express one or many ideas is astounding.

This has nothing to do with anything.

Entry #One - The Beginning

TEDxNYED - Mike Wesch 

What I found particularly engaging about this video was Wesch's experience of media's interaction with "untouched" humans. I can complete see how something so simple as a census can change a culture so much. Heck, I remember how much a simple message board dictated my personal interaction with others in 6th grade. Yes, two different interaction stories, but they are related because media effects relationships, cultures, and learning. I also agree fully with Mr. Wesch's idea's and commentary on student learning. I received my pre-college education in a unconventional format. When I entered university, I was a bit dismayed/dumbfounded to see so many students only caring about the test and had no interest in gaining new knowledge/ asking questions.Unrelated Side note: the "social" graphic he kept displaying irritated me because of the pixelated and stretched out logos. Seeing similarities between Mr. Wesch's idea of learning and our class' approach, I am excited to see how this course unfolds. I am also a bit apprehensive as it relies a lot on the student's willingness to engage in their learning. Time and time again I see students just sitting there existing for just a letter grade, but I have full hope that this class will break the mold and produce/contribute to something awesome! 

Keynote Speaker: Michael Wesch

I found this video the most interesting (despite Wesch's dry presentation). Youtube is probably the social channel that I consume the most. It is my MAIN source of entertainment. Just like Wesch says, my web interaction is controlled (or crowdsourced) by others. If a video gets more likes, it will show up on my homepage and then I will most likely consume it. As much as I would like to believe that I "discover" video gems and web creators, the reality is the masses (and complex nerd code) have controlled how that content came to my screen. The interwebs is vast, I'm glad that my tiny selection is crowdsourced for me.

Linda Hill Ted Talk 

"A Leader's job is to set the stage but not preform on it."

I wish my "elders" (I hate that word) or people older than me would take this advise from Ms. Hill. Innovation starts from the bottom up. My peers (especially those in the same field) often feel that our voice in not heard. We are just young grasshoppers trying to "break" into the business and we feel don't have any innovated or valid points until we've climbed the ladder (brought the coffee) and gained "real world" experience. What I believe is missed out in this system is fresh, untainted, un-corporatized, ideas. Minds without experience baggage. Cause don't we all wanna work for a place that treats humans as a collective of geniuses.