Presentations

I really enjoyed the presentations. I was particularly interested about the campaign spending habbits. Obama clearly understood that the winner would clearly have a campaign of the next generation. The fact that he had his own blog manager showed that Obama clearly understood what had to be done. Further, his spending showed his clear knowledge of the media age and he used that to his advantage. McCain ran a good campaign, but it was about 4 years outdated. The last four year, like the next four will be, saw an explosion in the emphasis people have placed on the internet for their daily news and updates.

-Matt

class presentations

The past two classes of presentations have been really fun to watch. While Jeff, Mike, and Sam approached the presentation with a topic focused more on business, others looked at the side of monitoring and surveillance. Even though two groups did look at similar topics it was nice that we each chose different aspects and different people to interview about HWS surveillance. I really enjoyed watching Yanina, David and Jess's presentation - you put together the video in a creative, fun, yet educational way. Good job everyone... also for the people who made movies, can they put them on F8, it would be fun to watch them again!

-Anna-

Presentations

So far I've really enjoyed listening to the presentations and hearing the different things people have taken out of the class. Jeff, Sam, and I looked more at the business side of what the internet can be used for, while others mostly looked at the campaign and different surveillance concerns. I think these three ideas sum up what we have mainly focused on, or what we were most engaged and interested in.
One of my favorite presentations so far was Brandon and Gil's video that included Enemy of the State. I thought they did a great job in incorporating the overall message of that movie with the themes of our course. I liked how they interviewed other students to give us a more complete message of what everyone else feels.

-Mike

the internet then and now

the CTM got me thinking about when the first time i went on the internet was and what i used the internet for over the first few years my family had a computer, probably around '99 or 2000.

then- napster, aim, dial up, email, yahoo searches, looking at bikes with my friends and not much else

now- facebook, google, high speed, skype, ichat, twitter, a blog on every subject ever, youtube, ebay, etc etc etc...

its weird to see everything thats new and worse to think what 8 more years will look like.

tom

Social Networks Spread Happiness

Here is a pretty cool article from CNN.com that discusses the idea that if you are happy, a friend of a friend of a friend will be a little happier. I wonder how directly related this could be to things such as facebook and myspace. It mentioned facebook, but with no conclusive results.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/05/happiness.social.network/index.html

-Mike

Clue Train Comments

What I got from the remaining chapters of clue train is that the voice of the people is back and here to stay. It make sense because old habits are hard to break like command and control which has been the strategy since the beginning of the assembly line which turned workers into machines. The voice of the people is popular again because internet technology encourages open distributed speech. Instead of another hundred centuries of billion dollar propaganda how about the human voice get a chance to work. It's interesting, the main attractor to big business advertising is the propaganda, telling consumers how much they NEED this product. On the internet, the human voice is the primary attractor because it is honest and tried and true because it is information for consumers by consumers. This is the reason I personally like shopping around on the internet, because you can search for the product and then go to a yahoo question and answer site where anyone can converse and give you their opinion about buying the product.

-Abe

today's class discussion

Today's discussion was the first class in a while where the conversation stimulated a really interactive and engaging topics. The Wall Street Journal article was especially interesting to all of us, because it directly applied to us - as college students looking towards jobs and internships maybe that was why we all had such strong reactions? I particularly responded to Corey's claim that he would prefer a more black and white world rather then a grey one in which people were cut slack. I agree with both. My personality is so that I feel incredibly guilty when I don't get things done that I know I should- and get pretty annoyed when others don't feel the same way and they are allowed to get away with it. However,I have been instances where I have had extenuating circumstances where I need to be cut slack. It's hard to live in a world with so much black and white as well as grey - there needs to be some kind of balance and accountability and responsibility.

Another comment I responded to was both Matt and Yanina's point about making money. Yanina seemed to be more focused on why are we as a society picking having copious amounts of money rather than our happiness and I understand that but reflect on our current economic crisis- it seems necessary and natural that we want to maintain our quality of life, doesn't it?

-Anna-

Market Authenticity response

Businesses cannot succeed without rules because this would set the stage for all out opinionated warfare among employees. In this situation I believe communication is key because if the managers and employees are on the same page then there would be less room for the likelihood of a disgruntle employee. Employees who expect rules to be broken or to disappear are sadly mistaken because they are expecting the world to be handed to them on a silver platter. My suggestion is to have limited rules where the core things would stay intact like dress code and code of conduct but less stressful rules like lunch breaks and freedom to decorate a cubicle can be eligible for change.

-Abe

Clue Train Manifesto Chapters 1-3

I thought Chapter one was interesting because it made me think about my growing need for materialistic things. It makes me wonder, do I really need this or is it the convenience of the advertising, right place, right time. I agree that people like to talk about their crafts, it is what breaks the ice what one person may have in common with another. It perpetuates conversation because of peer to peer learning. Learning form each other makes us knowledgeable.
I agree and disagree with chapter 2. The web is a force that lures people in to it's enticing world. The ability to express ides online is interesting because we have a thrill in hearing ourselves speak, just to vent is the thrill and not so much being answered. My favorite quote from this chapter is" Our longing for the web is rooted in the deep resentment we feel towards being managed".
Chapter 3 was interesting because I agree with the statement that silence is fatal. Doing nothing is not progress. Emails, mass emails and other similar circulars are ingenious ways of not only widely spreading information but starting the conversation.

-Abe