The New Web 3.0.... Extra Credit

After evaluating web 2.0 and 3.0, as well as looking at how the internet has been evolving over time, I think that web 3.0 will continue to advance and work even better for the users with time. As society has progressed technology has gone through so many changes and advancements. We now use technology for so many aspects of our everyday lives. It does at certain points seem as though we have become completely dependent on technology now. In my opinion I agree with Kelly in that the machines are an extension of humans and not the opposite as Mcluhan claimed. Kevin Kelly discussed his opinion on the connection between humans and machines which was opposite of what Mcluhan discussed.

In the article “How Web 3.0 Will Work” by Jonathan Strickland he discusses how the new web 3.0 could work for us and show many changes. He begins by using an example of someone who wants to go out to see a comedy movie and then to dinner afterwards. Changes that web 3.0 could offer us is the ability to do what we would call “one stop shopping.” With web 3.0 we could possibly enter in the question “I want to see a funny movie and then eat at a good Mexican restaurant. What are my options?” Strickland says that the new internet will be able to analyze this question and the possible answers and filter out results which directly apply to your question. He goes on to discuss the possibility of the web 3.0 acting almost as a personal assistant, in that the internet will be able to learn and pinpoint things that the individual user is interested in. The internet is going to get increasingly interactive as it continues to improve. In the future of web we may not need to choose what we are interested in or looking for but the web may be able to do this for you.

The author claims that in order to understand where web 3.0 is going, we need to see what the web has evolved from but web 2.0 is not very widely understood. One of the main characteristics of web 2.0 is the ability for users to alter certain websites in which you can post or edit the information to add your opinion or point of view. There are also now many website in which users create the content, such as youtube, blogs, Wikipedia, etc. Also, the popularity of social networking websites has exploded in the past century. Some of the most popular websites currently are Facebook and Twitter which are social networking websites. Web 2.0 is also characterized by the ability to access it anywhere without any wires or cords allowing wireless connection on many other technology devices, not just computers.

In “Web 3.0” by Cade Metz the changes of web 2.0 to web 3.0 are discussed. Web 3.0 is also called the Semantic Web which is a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, which is the inventor of the World Wide Web. Although the web 3.0 has many positive effects, there are many people who are very skeptical of the changes of the internet. These people are generally not interested in keeping up with the new developments and feel left behind with all of the new changes. These people are generally people who do not support any technological advancement.

In my opinion the new advancements in the current web 2.0 will allow for much easier use of the internet. Although no one can pinpoint exactly what web 3.0 will allow the users to do or the specific changes that we will see compared to web 2.0, we do know for sure that there will be a lot of changes with web 3.0. It is amazing to look at how quickly and how much the internet has evolved just in its short time being so widely used. The World Wide Web was first started just about 20 years ago and we have already seen so many changes, especially within the last couple years.

Internet has quickly become one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. The internet allows for communication throughout the world without the high costs of phone calls or traveling in order to see someone who is across the world. Not only can you now email or instant message someone, you can video chat through any of the numerous mediums through the internet. The internet allows for instantaneous communication but without the high costs and it is a universal system throughout the majority of the world.

Being a communication major following the positives and negatives and the constant changes of the internet is very relative and interesting. The internet, as discussed before, allows for a lot of great communication abilities. I think that the new web 3.0 is very interesting and offers the users great advantages. The people who do not keep up with the changes with technology are really doing themselves a disfavor. The advantages of not only the internet but other technology reach every part of daily life. I do not however think that we should too heavily depend on them, however, we should just use them to our advantage while still maintaining the more traditional ways of life, such as communicating face to face. There is no way to predict the exact changes that we will see with the Web 3.0 but we can only look forward to it and learn the new ever-changing ways of the internet.

Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly begins by discussing how they used to think that the new internet could be compared to TV, but they soon realized how wrong that was. The internet now is much more interactive than TV ever was or will be. The internet now allows for posting and adding of information to it constantly by users of the internet, so not only does the internet give the users information, but users can also give the internet information. TV's do not allow for the users to interact with the technology and it is just a simpler form of technology. Internet on the other hand can be manipulated by the user depending on how they need to use it. We can use the internet for things that we need it for and it is not predetermined the way the TV is with shows on at certain times. In a way the users revolve around the TV and the internet revolves around the users.

Kelly goes on to discus some dramatic statistics related to the use of internet in today's society. One of the most striking of the statistics was that there are around 100 billion clicks per day on computers and the internet. Another remarkable statistic is the amount of energy and electricity the internet uses. Around 5% of global electricity is used by the internet now. He gives numerous other statistics as well. There are around 2 million emails sent per second! When I consider how many emails I send per day it does not seem too crazy when thinking about how many millions of people use the internet at all times.

In my opinion I think that we do not realize how dependent we are on the internet as a main source and tool for communication. It allows communication to happen almost instantaneously and because society is so past paced now we really depend on fast communication. We no longer have the patience or time to use more traditional forms of communication which may take longer to use. When we think about it the forms of communication we use have continuously evolved to make the transit time shorter and shorter. Letter writing is an older and more traditional form of communication. As society got more fast paced we used telephones to communicate most often, which caused the blow up in popularity of cell phones, allowing people to be contacted no matter where they are. Now internet and emailing is available on cell phones, allowing for communication through the internet no matter where you are and also allowing for multitasking while sending emails or communicating with someone.

Kelly goes on to discuss how new technology is not instantly important but becomes important when others use it as well. It takes popularity in order for a new technology to become important because if only one person is using it then they have no one else to communicate with using it. He uses the example of a fax machine when talking about this subject. The first person to get a fax machine had nothing to do with it until someone else got one. I've never really thought about this way of thinking before because to me it seems that new breakthroughs seem to catch on so fast that there is not an in between phase. So to me, this aspect of Kelly's debate seems irrelevant and besides the point.

Another aspect that Kelly discusses is his point of view on Mcluhhan's arguments. Kelly developed his own opinion which he called Mcluhhan reversal. He thinks that instead of machines being an extension of humans that it is vice versa, humans are an extension of the machines. I think that I agree more with Kelly's point of view than the Mcluhhan argument. Humans are the ones using and developing the machines so humans are the ones taking advantage of machines and technology. I think taht Mcluhhan emphasizes that machines control humans too much, although we have become very dependent on technology and machines, we are the ones in control of them.

Web 3.0

As the internet continues to evolve and invade into our daily lives and into mainstream society we cannot escape the need to put use to it. Web 3.0 will continue to improve in many different aspects. Its prevalence in society is an obvious aspect in which we will see it improve and grow. The internet has now become completely necessary for not only social communication but also business. I also think that web 3.0 will improve in its content. Although more people can post and add content to the internet and there is a certain amount of credibility lost due to the ease of adding information, there is a huge increase of information readily available to internet users.

Also the ease of being connected to the internet is constantly improving. There are so many tools now available to us that allow anyone to connect to the internet remotely and with no difficulty. Due to the prevalence now the cost is also continuing to lower and become more affordable. The web will also learn from us, the users as well. Now the web is more interactive and it is not just a one sided process. We, as users can enter information onto the web and it can also provide us with a lot more information.

There are negative aspects of the evolving web 3.0 as well though. With the ability to post and search anything that you want on the internet now we lose our individuality and identities. It becomes harder to be an individual when everyone has the ability to post anything they feel. You are no longer unique in your opinions and thoughts. Also, because the internet is so necessary now people who cannot use and take advantage of it will be left behind and missing out of a major part of society.

The internet is now much more than just a tool for society. It is a necessary component of everyday life. Without being connected to the internet we lose out on very important information that now is being communicated to us through the internet. Print is going down in terms of popularity and more people look to the web for information. I think that in the future we will be solely reliant on the internet for most of our vital information.

I think that the Web 3.0 is going to happen whether people are happy about it or not. The prominence of the internet now is unavoidable. Protesting or disagreeing with the use of the internet will not go to any use. The internet serves so many very important functions in society and will only to continue to get more and more important. The best way to adapt to the presence of the internet is to learn and use the internet as the tool it is meant to be. I think that due to the ease of adding information to the internet and web there will need to be new regulations developed though, in order to maintain the credibility of information on the internet.

Here is an article that I found relating to the web 3.0 debate:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30.htm

Digital Illustration

Digital Illustration Proposal

1. To accompany my essay of amateur vs. professional quality production content I thought a collage of many images would be describe the debate. I will use many different images which represent either tools for the production industry or examples of production content from both amateur style or professional content. I don't think that one image will be able to describe all of the different aspects of the debate. It is a very complicated debate with many different issues and views pertaining to the topic.

2. I plan on using photoshop for my collage. I think that the Photoshop tools better suit my needs for my image. The tools in photoshop that I plan to use would be the magic wand and the magic eraser. I also would do many different layers due to the number of images that I plan to put together within my collage. After I make the collage of all the items on different layers I will merge all of the layers onto one single layer so that it will be easier to deal with on illustrator. I am going to take the collage of images and upload it to illustrator on which I will add words in order to better describe the images around the exterior of the image.

3. I envision it to be many different images all put together to look somewhat of one image. I think that the many different aspects of the debate between amateur vs. professional quality content is very difficult to display with only one image. The collage of images will help to show all of the different aspects and examples of the debate. The words outlining the collage will also help to describe all of the different aspects which will be shown within the collage.

Professional vs. Amateur Content

Although the use of the web is so popular in society now, I don't think that production value will continue to drop. I think that all there will always be some amateur user-generated content used in production but there will always be professional and high quality production content. In terms of television and commercials I think that certain products will call for a more personal or amateur look due to the content, but there will certainly always be a need for high quality content. Because professionally produced content will always be necessary in society it will always remain in the lead and dominate the production business.

User generated or amateur content is finding a new place in our society and getting more and more present in all types of media. Websites such as youtube.com, Wikipedia.com, blogs, etc. are now being emulated in media such as commercials, reality tv shows, and even in movies. These types of media are trying to emulate a homegrown or amateur look. Some examples of these are movies such as paranormal activity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDNjFJUyUz4) or commercials such as Sonic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjY9VGEUdGs). We are seeing more and more products looking similar to this in all types of media.

In response to this amateur and “homegrown” looking content the professional content is continually being rewarded and we can see this in their popularity. Our society calls for high quality products and our knowledge and ability to produce those high quality goods is getting better and better. Production content is no different and society demands high quality content. Professional production teams are gaining popularity and continue to improve. We can see the improvements in recent movies such as Avatar, or even Alice in Wonderland. The production quality in these movies and many others is exceeding any expectations and continually improving. But, I also think that the amateur user-generated content will get better over time as well. This can be proven by comparing the user-generated content produced ten years ago compared to content being produced now.

Technology has played a large role in the capabilities of amateurs producing user generated content competing with professional content. As technology advances it allows "amateurs" to have better tools in order to produce material that is closer to a professional quality. High quality technological tools are available to everyone all over which can allow for anyone to produce a better quality product. Through these technologies and practice people can produce content that competes with professional quality content.

I think that the advancement in technology affects both professional and amateur produced content though; the professional quality content is improving as well. As said before, society is constantly demanding high quality content. The comparison between amateur and professional is always relative to each other. Both user generated content and professional content being generated is constantly improving and evolving as technology continues to improve.

As discussed in The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War over the Future of Media (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1921) each serves its own purpose. Although user generated content is becoming so popular it serves its own purpose and is not necessarily the same as professional quality content. Blogs and user generated content gives us a personal and more informal perspective, but professional content has an upper edge on amateur content because of the reliability and higher quality.

I do not think that amateur user-generated content is the norm in production and I do not think that it will become the norm in the future. In terms of the most popular media available now, the majority is professionally produced and not "amateur" style. Award shows such as the Academy Awards, Emmy's, etc, showcase media which is top notch and the best produced, this does not normally include amateur produced media or even “homegrown” emulated content. Although we may see many commercials or reality tv shows which may appear as user generated content it is not the leader in the production industry. Professionally produced content is being rewarded and as a society we are always looking for the best. Although some amateur emulated media may find its way into the mainstream it will not take over the industry.

User generated and amateur production and professional production content have their own purposes in main stream media. I think that amateur or “homegrown” content is becoming more popular in media but I do not think that it will take over and professional production content values will drop. Our society will always demand high quality products and although amateur and user generated content serves a purpose it will not take over. We will use both types of content and they will both continue to improve but in different ways and measurements.

Illustrator image

Project 3 Proposal

Although the use of the web is so popular in society now, I don't think that production value will continue to drop. I think that all there will always be some amateur user-generated content used in production but there will always be professional and high quality production content. In terms of television and commercials I think that some things will call for a more personal or amateur look due to the content, but there will certainly always be a need for high quality content. Because professionally produced content will always be necessary in society it will always remain in the lead and dominate the production business.

I also think that the amateur user-generated content will get better over time. This can be proven by comparing the user-generated content produced ten years ago compared to content being produced now. As technology advances it allows "amateurs" to have better tools in order to produce material that is closer to a professional quality. I think that this works both ways though, the professional quality content is improving as well so the comparison between amateur and professional is always relative to each other. Both content generated is constantly improving and evolving as technology continues to improve. With more tools to produce content it becomes easier and easier if you know how to correctly use the tools.

Another argument Amateur user-generated content is not the norm in production and I do not think that it will become the norm in the future. In terms of the most popular media available now, the majority is professionally produced and not "amateur" style. Award shows such as the Academy Awards, Emmy's, etc, showcase media which is top notch and the best produced, this does not normally include amateur produced media. As a society we are always looking for the best and although some amateur emulated media may find its way into the mainstream it will not take over the industry.

Due to the changes to the production content it will cause both amateur and professional producers to improve their content. They will now need to compete with each other in order to gain popularity.

Social Media and Web 2.0 and Transparency in Social Media

1. Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional prodution values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??

I don't think that production value will continue to drop. I think that all there will always be some amateur user-generated content used in production but there will always be professional and high quality production content. In terms of television and commercials I think that some things will call for a more personal or amateur look due to the content. Almost as though the content was caught accidentally, as in a The Sonic commercial or Paranormal Activity movie, these are real people in a realistic situation. But this does not mean that all content will need to emulate this amateur look. Professionally produced content will always remain in the lead though and dominate the production business. Although some media will try to emulate amateur content often seen on the web I do not think that this will take over the industry. Amateur user-generated content is not the norm in production and I do not think that it will become the norm in the future.

Sonic commercial ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjY9VGEUdGs )
Paranormal Activity Trailer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDNjFJUyUz4 )

2. Find a news article and write down tags you would use to define what the article is about. Now goto Digg or another tagging site and see how others have tagged it. What did you learn from the differences or similarities in tagging?

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/02/22/general-toyota-recall_7375159.html?boxes=Homepagetopnews

My Tags:
Toyota
Recall
Subpoena
President Akio Toyoda
auto industry
safety issues

Digg Tagged:
criminal investigation
automobile
Securities and Exchange Commission
Los Angeles
House of Representatives
Wayne State University
management consultant
conference
fine line
Tokyo Stock Exchange


I had the main concepts as tags and I figured that some of the more important names, such as the president and themes throughout the article would be tags but I learned that this is not necessarily true. The more well known and important names and topics were tagged as opposed to main themes. There were also a couple of tags that I would not have picked out as one of the main themes or ideas throughout the article.

3. Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world? Why?

I think that now because Facebook and Twitter are so popular that transparency has become even more of an important issue in the social media world. The internet allows for all kinds of transparency issues, someone can pretend to be anyone or anything else through sites such as these. This causes all kinds of accountability issues and honesty issues. Companies can be reflected negatively and it is completely out of their control but it is important to maintain control over their information and content through these websites. It is far easier to read someone when face to face than through the internet. There is no way to check out someones accountability through the internet and far harder to find the direct source of the information. I'd say that in the offline world it is easier to deal with transparency than in the online world.

The Persuaders

"The Persuaders" begins by questioning the increase in the amount of advertising we typically encounter in our daily lives. How would you assess the amount of advertising you see? Too much? Too little? Just right? In your view, what difference does it make to know that people today see much more advertising in their daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago?

In our daily lives we are constantly being bombarded with advertisements. As society continues to move forward we, as a group, are becoming far more materialistic. This is proven with the amount of advertising we are subjected to every day. In order to really make an impression with advertisements it takes either shock factor or repetition. The advertisements feed off of each other so in order to compete to get their message or product out they need to advertise as much as their competitors. I personally think that it is too much advertisement right now. If the main objective of advertisements was to produce the best ad and not the most often shown ad we could decrease the repetition and possibly increase the message within the advertisement. There are so many outlets for advertisements now. They are everywhere we look; on the television, internet, newspapers, magazines, on the sides of menus, billboards, on top of taxis, etc. We cannot escape advertisements in today's society, it has definitely increased in our daily lives since 20 or 30 years ago and I believe that if we continue like this it will only increase more.

Where are things headed in the future? What are some possible scenarios that could play out as far as the direction that future persuaders may take their marketing techniques.

As advertisements continue to get less broad and much more personal and intimate the advertisers can better target their market. I think that as far as marketing techniques they will need to continue to really reach smaller targeted markets. Instead of just putting mass amounts of advertisements out it will be more beneficial to improve the messages within the advertisements and try to reach out to the target audience for that message. The advertisements placement is one great way to reach out to select audiences, placing ads where their demographic frequents. The main objective of advertisements need to change from amount of advertising to the message and the audience of these ads.

Digital Nation Part 2

After finishing the second part of the Digital Nation documentary I realize how influential the new technologies are in our society. Not only just in the US but all over the world technology is having an incredible effect on our communication skills and norms. In Korea children are now being put into intervention programs to reduce their computer addictive personalities. They cannot remove themselves from the computer games and lose a realistic outlook and connection with the real world. The documentary specifically dealt with one camp where children were sent to reconnect with the real world and old fashioned forms of fun, playing outside, playing board games, using their imagination, etc.

In conjunction with this computer game addiction the documentary discussed these video game centers which work with army recruitment. Many people are very against this approach because video games are not a realistic view of war. I was so blown away and surprised by this new approach, it does help them to recruit new people, but children cannot fully grasp the reality of a real world war situation through a video game. Children should not have to be drawn into war by the unrealistic views of video games which is only fun and games to them.

I do however think that it is naive to think that all of these new technologies are negative and are changing children for the worst. Although technologies have definitely changed our society without a doubt it does not mean that this is a negative change. I believe that there will always be new developments and our society with constantly be changing. This does not mean that it is a bad change but it does however mean that we need to be constantly adapting to these changes so that we can use them to our advantage. Every new development we come across will have obstacles but we need to learn to use them to our advantage so that these are tools for growth and not negatives.

"Digital Nation"

After watching the beginning of the Digital Nation documentary I realized how amazingly connected our society has become. We cannot go anywhere without being connected to technology in some way. Students are now being taught how to use technology in conjunction with their education. We are constantly being ambushed with new forms and uses of technology. Given any day we wake up and begin our day with technology and continue throughout our day with technology. Throughout our day we are constantly attached to cell phones, internet, computers, television, smart phones, etc.

I also do believe that because we are constantly doing so much at one time that this generation has become a multitasking generation. We all think that we are 'expert' multitaskers although I am sure we would be better off not multitasking as much as we do, it is unavoidable now. We are never just doing one thing at a time and when we do attempt to do one task we find our mind tends to wander. With our society so fast past and constantly evolving if we do one thing at a time it is as if we are not using our time to the fullest.

In terms of multitasking in the classroom I think that there is no avoiding it. Teachers can try to prevent it by restricting use of cell phones, laptops, etc but then our minds tend to wander. It is extremely difficult for us to remain on one subject, especially during a lecture. Although there are many negative aspects to the use of technology now there are so many positives that outweigh the negatives. I cannot imagine a day without the use of technology, our society has become so attached to technology, we would be lost without it.

Final Collage

The images within the collage represent different aspects of the Blackberry phones. The backgroud of the collage shows some of the different applications in the Blackberry App World that Blackberry offers such as facebook, pandora, different games, etc. Within the collage there are multiple different blackberry phones. The Blackberry icon is in the bottom right of the picture as well. I added an image of the bbm screen which is a specific texting/instant messaging application for just blackberry users.

Web 2.0 Terms

Terms:
User generated content refers to various kinds of media content, publicity available, and produced by end users.
Long tail is a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities.
Folksonomy is a system of classification derived from practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content.
Syndication is when website materials are made available to multiple other sites.
Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, modular in nature.
Computer-supported collaboration is research that focuses on technology that affects groups, organizations, communities, and societies.
Hosted services is a type of internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible vie the world wide web.
Web applications are applications that are accessed via a web browser over a network such as the internet or intranet.
Social software encompasses a range of software systems that allow users to interact and share data. This computer mediated communication has become very popular with social sites like Myspace and Facebook.
Video sharing sites are internet websites that allows useers to upload video clips and then stores them on its server.
Wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor.
Blogs are types of websites that are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
Mashups are web pages or applications that combine date or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service.

3 Examples of Mediums

Medium 1: GPS
Content: maps, text, audio, bluetooth connections
Message: Directions and help on hand without needing any previous preparation or written directions.
Medium 2: Bluetooth Technology
Content: Audio
Message: hands free cell phone communication without pushing any buttons or having anything on hand.
Medium 3: Blackberry Phones
Content: Text, audio, internet, video
Message: allows access to multiple tools on a mobile device without a computer or home phone or any other mediums all on one small device.