Internet Babies

2009-10-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Internet, once a realm arguably made for adults, is now the domain of children. Not that kids own it technically but we've definitely got more of them online than the older folks. A whole generation growing up on the Internet definitely has its pro's and cons. While an article like http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2005/04/67142 shows how an MMO game like Second Life can benefit people beyond just the entertainment aspect of the the game, there could be a negative side to that as well though not mentioned in the article. It talks about the game being used to help people with cerebral palsy and autism, and to teach people about business, but can't it be used to simulate gang violence , or teach anarchists how to make explosives as well? Just as the internet can cut through regular communication barriers to bring people together for good, it can also lead to bad, like the suicide website/network that led to the suicide of the boy in the Front Line documentary about kids on the Internet. Just as people can have secret lives and sides to them that others don't know about, the internet makes this even easier for people. This creates a whole new situation in the arena of parenthood because kids have access to the possibility of this secret life as well, and though its not bad to have privacy, sometimes its unhealthy when one is dealing with a whole nother' world and no one else (one's family and friends in the "real" world) knows anything about it. Not just kids but even adults, we may think we know what's okay but who's to say we won't fall like Alice into the rabbit hole? And would we think to call out for help or even know to for that matter? Its a cold cold world and there are some dark things out there.

It's the Network Stupid

2009-10-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Facebook. Myspace. Blogs. Twitter. Blackberry. Iphones. Our world is filled (littered would seem to downplay the power of these tools) with technology designed to keep people networked. I'm sure noone underestimates the power of networking but do people understand the power that we have in our hands? Obama sure did, that's how he won the presidency, powered by his social networking juggernaut. O's campaign centered around the social network of the internet and network technologies. His databases were run so well and his volunteers so many that the task of getting out the vote was not a massive labor for a small group of workers, but rather an easy task that everyone could get involved in. The people hired to work for his campaign ensured that people could get involved easily, and this easy involvement would spur on others and so on. Viral internet videos , Twitter, the whole thing was an unstoppable political juggernaut, raising unprecedented amounts of campaign funds. Though we may not be able to base his victory entirely on his focused use of social networking, it is something to take into consideration when we compare his campaign to other candidates (even before the presidential election) like Hillary and McCain, whose use of social networking was pretty shabby compared to Obama's. Obama's message of "Yes we can" emanated to the people and he got the people to get involved and feel like they were a part of this great change through social networking all the way to the micro- level. Whether he follows through on his promise of change, the strategies Obama employed are sure to be a harbinger of a new form of campaigning. It'll be interesting to see what the next election year and the year/months leading up to will be like being that by then social networking technologies will be even more engrained into daily life in the United States. Victory to the one with the most Facebook friends! Just kidding.

It's Just Begun

Internet Babies

It's the Network Stupid