Richard's Blog » web-research http://richardshow.org/blog Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:00:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 The Machine is Using Us http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/16/the-machine-is-using-us/ http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/16/the-machine-is-using-us/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:36:18 +0000 Richard http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/16/the-machine-is-using-us/ Eleven months ago, Mike Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University created a video called “Web 2.0 .. The Machine is Using Us” and posted it on YouTube. As I type, the video has been viewed more than 4 million times.

There are a number of interesting and provocative points about the web brought up in the video, but the thing that makes it so interesting (and popular) in my view, is the way he presents the information which, of course, supports his points, in that he is using the rich media and wide distribution enabled via the web.Some of the most interesting issues he touches on in the video are: the nonlinear nature of hypertext as relates to traditional linear text; the notion of separating content from form via xml/xhtml, and its implications; automated data exchange via xml, affording sharing of information among diverse sources; and, finally, the inherent social nature of the web.

]]> http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/16/the-machine-is-using-us/feed/ 7 Survey on the Future of the Internet http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/15/survey-on-the-future-of-the-internet/ http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/15/survey-on-the-future-of-the-internet/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:02:16 +0000 Richard http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/01/15/survey-on-the-future-of-the-internet/ I just took this survey on the Future of the Internet, as part of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. I was not invited, but heard about it from the Association for Internet Researchers list serve. I recommend that you take the survey if you are an active web user. First, of course, you help a very worthy and interesting project. Second, the scenarios they present as possibilities for the future are very interesting and thought provoking. For example, will people, in general, become more tolerant as a result of reduced privacy? Will digital rights management, and the intellectual property laws, become even more draconian in the future, or will new economic models emerge? Apparently, the survey has been conducted previously, by polling many important stake holders, with some interesting results.

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