Running Wild

One very interesting development from the internet that really intrigued by was when we learned about OSSGs and WIKI. I found it interesting that people have turned such a random and chaotic place such as the internet into somewhere where people can go onto to find information or help. Truthfully I would rather get my information from educated people in person, but often nowadays I find myself and others going onto the internet to find answers to there problems. The reading by Martin Tanis and by other authors we have read have already described the precautions you must take when finding information online so I will no talk about it here, but what I have found is that besides really sketchy OSSGs, sites such as WebMd and Wikipedia offers very reliable information. What I find even more interesting is that a site such as Wikipedia which can be edited and rewritten by anyone is so well constructed and the information there is very reliable. Also sites such as ask.com, and yahoo answers, a place where people can post there questions much like a forum, can almost always get back reliable and helpful answers.

The reason I find this to be very interesting is to be honest I think most people who post on the internet are sadly extremely childish, and well most of the time morons, and what they post most of the time is just mainly trash. What I am talking about for example is sites such as youtube, or any online forum. Most of the time you see rediculous comments that are just simply trash. (you guys know what I am talking about and I am not going to post it here) I am sure that for sites such as Wikipedia there need to be numerous mods. to edit and make sure the things posted are not simply trash and the information is valid, but I as surprised that the site is not overrun with these kind of comments that overun youtube.

A site that I found that interested me probably the most was a site called 4Chan. On this site there is a box where you can upload any picture, and comment and you are given a random number and you can post anything on the site so that everyone can see it and really your identity is completely anonymous. The reason that I bring this site up is because I kind of think that it is the perfect example of both the trash and the intellectual side that the internet can provide. The main 4Chan site is set up into different forums (ex. health, sports, random...etc) and surprisingly even though users are givin complete anonymity and have the freedom to post whatever they want wherever they want, most people follow these suggested guidelines and what people post most of the time is very helpful. Then again when scrolling through the posts I also find those trash comments and pics such as nude pictures.

Another site that I found somewhat interesting and is constructed sort of like wikipedia was a site called urbandictionary.com. On the site people can post there definition of words (mostly slang and acronyms) and I find a lot of the definitions for words hilarious but at the same time it is the correct slang that is used by a lot of people. There is also a up/down system kind of like the like/dislike system that facebook uses so that people can give feedback on how good the definition of the word means. 

Overall I find that from the idea of OSSG's and forums the internet has evolved infinitely into a vast pool of information. It is a great place to go on and find quick information, but ultimately I would always check the information later on because you never know how accurate the things you get off the internet really is. I dont really think these "childish" behavior of people to post trash on the internet well ever change but hey if you can stand to filter out all the trash, you can always find something useful.

Remix Culture

     Remix culture to me is a very interesting concept. The idea of taking things from the past blending and changing it a little to create something new that could be considered even better then the old is a concept that I believe defines most of human advancement in culture and technology. Being able to build on old concepts, inventions, and ideas helps these ideas to become more efficient, overall better and could even lead to a brand new concept all together. The example from the movie that we watched was how the invention of the printing press lead to a snowball effect of new inventions and had such an instrumental impact on how people communicated and shared information there after. I believe that some people fail to realize the impact that the remix culture could have on our society. Remix culture is not just about remixing movies, songs, or even books like we learned in class, but remix culture could also change ideas and technology. What I mean by this could be explained at by looking at the telecomunication technology that humans have devised. First it started off as a few circuits boards, servers, and a bunch of wiring but then it was reinvented and in a way "remixed" into the idea of the cell phone. After this it exploded and was reinvented or in a different term "remixed" over and over again each time adding and changing little things here and there such as adding music, games, Internet, cameras...etc Many other inventions that we have all created could also be seen in such a way. Remix culture is a great tool that aids in peoples innovation and thinking.
     I do not agree with a lot of the copyright law that are placed on almost everything that is created now because it greatly hinders the advancement of new ideas. A great example was from the the movie where it talked about how hard it is to publish and do research on a scientific journal because of all the copyright rules that one has to abide by before proposing a plan to a research. This alone I believe is something that will hold back the advancement of human medicine greatly. I am currently a biology major in college and I know the rigorous steps in someone has to go through before proposing an idea for a lab. Like the movie stated if copyright laws could be rewritten and people are able to build onto other people's ideas there would be numerous breakthrough in medicine. It is to bad that the culture today is more focused on what they can earn from there idea instead of what impact there idea can have on human society. This I believe is the main reason people and big companies do not want the copyright laws to be rewritten. A great example of this would be the music industry. The main majority of artists know that they have to make most of there money now from concerts and not from sales of there songs which most of the profit goes onto the labeling companies anyways. It is really the labeling companies who are trying to fight the pirating of songs which I believe is just plain stupid. Their job is to literally profit off of other artists ideas and really are not out to protect the artists ideas in the first place but to protect the money that comes from that idea.
     With the huge change in culture, and the concept of remix culture becoming more and more prevalent, I believe that people will learn to realize that there need to be a change in copyright laws, and there need to be much more leniency toward people who "remix." If not we will be stuck with the old and really who really likes the old, its all boring and well...just plain boring.

Technology and Social Interaction

With the spread of so many new technology, I believe it has definitely changed the way we socially interact. With technology today it is not a necessity to meet someone face to face anymore, but we can communicate through numerous forms of communications now such as conferencing over web-cam, email, skype, face time over the iphone etc... Overall I believe that the spread of technology has had a very positive impact on my everyday interaction with other people, but can also have a negative impact on peoples ability to interact socially face to face. I believe this because interaction over the internet most of the time will be txt based which is much different then talking to someone face to face. With txt based system of communication people can create there own character and carefully choose words to construct there own online image. This can be a positive if someone has a speech impediment but can also be a negative because if someone talks to others only on a txt based system all there life they will not be able to communicate regularly with others face to face. This could really cripple some people socially. But with even more recent technology I believe that this problem will slowly be solved. With more and more convenient ways to chat face to face over the internet or phone. This way people can have the convenience of meeting someone anytime anywhere, but also have the ability to speak with each other as if they were meeting face to face. My take on meeting people via the internet is that there is really nothing wrong with that. The only thing I hate about this is that sadly there are many childish, stupid, and even predators on the internet that people have to look out for. I know of many people who have meet there boyfriends/girlfriends through the internet and they are happy with each other and after meeting in person have had a regular relationship like any other. Also with the internet it also preserve many of my friends relationships. This is because as many of you know being in college means you meet people from all around the world and also means that some people have to move away from there home and there family/boyfriend/girlfriend. With the ability to talk to people over the internet it make communicating with others much easier. I believe that it is fine to meet and get to someone online, but meeting someone in person is also very important. You can only do so much with technology and while face to face over the internet may be one way to make things more personal, nothing is more personal then meeting someone in person. There really does not need to be any more focus on building more real/public spheres because there are already infinite places where people can meet face to face, and it is up to us to decide whether or not we want to make the step to meet someone in person instead of over the internet.