Information R/evolution
April 27, 2008
Another stirring video ethnography of the Web from Michael Wesch, anthropologist of mediated cultures and creator of The Machine is Us/ing Us.
This one looks at the material redefinition of information in the digital participatory age.
Posted by Daniel in : Research, Social Software, Technology, VisualizationAdd a comment
Black Google saves energy
November 8, 2007
An interesting and effortless opportunity to practice personal sustainability, care of EcoIron and Rising Phoenix Design.
Consider a simple calculation:
- According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts.
- At 200 million queries per day, Google (white), is displayed about 550,000 hours per day.
- Black Google would save 750 megawatt-hours a year.
If Google is your homepage, try using this instead.
Promote energy-efficient web design. Go black.
Posted by Daniel in : Ethics, Links, Society, Sustainability, Technology4 comments
Google hits the streets
May 29, 2007
Here are a couple of adjacent images from Google’s new ‘Street View’ in GoogleMaps.
As of this writing, you can walk the streets of New York City, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami–maybe more. The automated stitching of panoramas from different days and times makes for some high-tech surrealist photography. Continuing the twisted translation of reality into the Googleverse…. Just wait until these are fed by realtime surveillance/web cameras and the most-recent geotagged Flickr photos.
Posted by Daniel in : Geo, Links, Social Software, Technology, VisualizationAdd a comment
The Machine is Us/ing Us
February 9, 2007
From Professor Mike Wesch at Kansas State University: a four-and-a-half minute video that brilliantly and succinctly summarizes the evolution of the Web to date and points the direction for its further growth.
To echo Roy Pea, who sent me the link, this is perhaps the best example of using a YouTube video to educate that I’ve ever seen. The video is a work-in-progress and you can give your feedback directly to the creators at their blog.
Posted by Daniel in : Links, Research, Social Software, Society, TechnologyAdd a comment
Our dwindling connection
December 1, 2006
A recent study using data from the 2004 “General Social Survey,” reports that
“Americans have one third fewer close friends and confidants than two decades ago, and the number of people who have none has more than doubled.”
Are Americans more disconnected now than they were twenty years ago? Have they retreated into their selves? (or their cells? (or their cell ph.s?)) Has the connection dwindled? We know people can and do form intense and authentic emotional bonds over digital media like IRC, the web and World of Warcrack. Have the close confidants of a large segment of the population (teens and younger, mostly) moved to a “virtual” category that didn’t have a bubble on the General Social Survey?
Probably.
While the data showed a drop in confidants who are friends or who are family members, there was a far greater drop-off in friends. So close friendships are dwindling — or is it consolidating? All we know is: networks of trust and kinship have grown more sparse.
What are the ramifications of such dramatic social change? Bradley Heinz suggests
We’re becoming more self-referential by relying more on family. In our growing isolation, I see a genetic analogy: our waning social exposure is like inbreeding…
To take the analogy further, fewer social contacts equal a reduced mutation rate of family belief and value systems. Children more closely resemble their parents sociologically. Back into the family fold.
But if the real reason for this anomaly in the GSS data is due to the rise of virtual confidantes, then the mutation rate might actually be on the rise due to globally expanded social exposure. Children raised from birth with internet access whisper secrets into ears thousands of miles away.
So where do you fall? Who and where are your confidants?
Posted by Daniel in : Networks, Research, Society, Technology1 comment so far
