Location-Aware Aplications.

How does the use of location-aware applications change our experience of the world?

-eg. Facebook ‘check-ins’ or location tags, Foursquare.

-is location-awareness a momentous development or merely a passing fad?

Location-aware applications such as Facebook and Foursquare provide a connection of users to a physical place. They are applications that ’employ location awareness in order to visualise the physical location of the nodes of a social network’. (De Souza e Silva & Frith 2010, p. 487) This is possible through factors such as ‘check-ins’ or ‘location tags’, and highly changes ones experience of the world. They provide users with not only the ability to locate one another, but also to digitally annotate physical space. They can use community based concepts to potentially alter the perception of an urban space. ( De Souza e Silva & Frith 2010) Furthermore ‘By populating a map of surrounding space with like-minded people, LSMN’s can turn every path into a social, hybrid meeting space, further altering the nodes-paths network relationships’ ( De Souza e Silva & Frith 2010, p. 492), ultimately changing ones experience with the world.

Location-awareness cannot simply be described as a passing fad; the linking of information to physical places can be sourced right back to 1996. While its increased popularity has sky rocketed since the release of the GPS in 2008, twelve years on from it’s origins, it can only be assumed that with the development of more advance technologies, there will be an increasing popularity as these applications advance along side them. ( De Souza e Silva & Frith, 2010)

 References.

De Souza e Silva, A. & Frith, J. 2010, ‘Locative Mobile Social Networks: Mapping Communication and Location in Urban Spaces’, Mobilities, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 485-505.

The Digital Divide.

How are mobile phones being used differently in the developing world?

Are mobile phones the technology that will bridge the digital divide?

The developing world sees many factors being changed, added, removed or used differently, and that is no exception to the mobile phone. With more mobile phones in the developing world than the developed, (Harrington, 2012) it proves just how easily accessible they are. Not only do mobile phones provide a communication tool within existing social and professional networks, such as within the office, they also allow for access to a wide audience. With all members of society having realistic access to mobile phones, they can be seen as a major contributor to the developing world, where income and status does not determine choice of device. (Harrington, 2012)

Access to technology is a major factor dividing civilization and countries all over the world. Formally known as the digital divide, is consists of those who do have access to technology, such as the internet, and those who do not. (Smith, 2010) Ultimately this is concerned with social issues of power and inequality, seeing the higher your status and/or income, the better technology you attain. However, this is not evident when it comes to the mobile phone. (Smith, 2010) With easy access for all, affordable prices, and being readily available, mobile phones may very well be the technology to bridge the digital divide.

References.

Harrington, A 2012, Encyclopaedia of Social Theory, Taylor and Francis, Hoboken.

Ling, R & Horst, HA 2011, ‘Mobile communication in the global south’, New Media & Society, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 363–374.

(Smith, 2010)

Smith, C., W. 2010, ‘Digital Divide Defined (Hint It’s Not About Access)’, Digital Divide Institute, accessed on October 7 2013. http://www.digitaldivide.org/digitaldivide/digitaldividedefined/digitaldivide.html

HELP BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN AMERICA BY DONATING TO TECH GOES HOME, AND HELP MANY STRUGGLING FAMILIES.

Social Media Privacy

I don’t think we can expect to have privacy if we use social media. Even though we might privatise all of our social media settings. For instance when Facebook updates it website all your privacy settings can reset them self to share all of our pictures, status updates, wall posts etc. This goes to show how social media ‘privacy’ settings are really monitored by social media companies. Although we think our settings are all on private it doesn’t mean that no body can access our information. When we sign up to social media sites during the registration we all tick the ‘I agree to the terms and conditions’ box which has pages and pages of information which most if not all of us do not read. In the terms and conditions it will most likely state that third parties will be sold this information. So if you think you’re private you certainly are not. When I manage my privacy in particularly Facebook I do ensure that my privacy setting are only limited to my friends, however you need to be smart with what you post online. I do not show where I live or where I work because I think that is extremely personal information. I also am weary of the pages I like and what I post on my news feed or the wall of my friends.

Facebook makes it impossible to be 100% private.

Is Google Making us Stupid?

I don’t think google is making us stupid, however I do think its making us a lot more lazy. The main reason is that the word ‘google’ is now used as a verb. A lot of us are becoming more reliant on the search engine rather than doing it the old-fashioned way and using books and journals to research, so yes it has affected our ability to concentrate because we will always chose to ‘google’ something rather than finding books or journals to do research. I believe we are becoming digital narcissists with social media because you can portray to be something that you’re not in the cyber world and in person be completely different. On Facebook especially people do a lot of things for attention such as posting photos, checking in and creating controversial status updates.

Remix in Social Media

Creativity has changed vastly in the era of social media. Social media is a place where members add to the culture by creating and re-creating the already existing culture around them, or in other terms, remix.

The remix of idea is often criticised as being unoriginal and stealing. It can be argued that it breaks terms of copyright. But when does one idea really come as purely original? It does not. For centuries people gain ideas from others, and elaborate to create their own pieces of work. Whether that be in art, music, writing, design or even social media. All idea stem from someone’s previous idea.

For example, Star Wars was based on Joseph Campbells’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heavan comes from Spirit’s Taures. Furthermore, it is evident that no idea is completely original, it is just a remix of a previous work of some kind.

A fantastic 4 part independent mini series called Everything is a Remix is available to watch on vimeo. It goes further in depth into this topic with an engaging visuals to keep you giggling along.

 

CHECK OUT THIS CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ONLINE VIDEO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MAKING AN ONLINE VIDEO.

The History of Social Media

All three group member’s first experience with Social Networking Sites was the popular MySpace, along with MSN Messenger, as teenagers. MySpace was the first site which attracted teenagers on a broad level and the need to ‘keep up’ with social peers caused MySpace to take off. None of the group members use MySpace anymore bit instead chose to move to Facebook when the site became widely popular. All three group members also integrate their social media experience over a number of sites, including tumblr, youtube, twitter and instagram just to name a few.

Over the years Social Networking Sites have adapted to user’s changing needs. Original SNS were set up with the idea of dating, such as Match.com and Six Degrees, later SNS were set up to have both broader and more specialised purposes. Nabster was a music downloading site. Social sites such as MySpace and Facebook became about keeping in contact with friends. Flickr is for photographers, Vine is for video makers, linkedin is for professionals and the list goes on.

The earliest SNS sites such as Sixdegrees were often unable to function simply as they weren’t able to keep up with the technical demands of running such a heavily trafficked site but since the evolution of the internet Social Networking Sites now tend to fail when they are unable to keep up or adapt to the changing need’s of the user. Despite the fact that MySpace is not accessed as often as the equivalent site Facebook, MySpace’s ability to recognise that their site was being used by bands, meant that they were able to adapt and create MySpace Music which has helped the site not only survive as a social network by thrive in a particular area.

 

CHECK OUT THIS TIMELINE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HISTORY.

Social Media 2013

Ella Rowe, Michaela Colahan and Andrew Mansour sharing their thoughts on Social Media.