Gift Economy in sociolgy is an interesting concept to understand. There are different aspects of this economy and they include, identity, ongoing interactions, and history. The public good which when its shared does not produce its quality. With the public good we realize that it is generalized reciprocity, and within our group we hope for change. For example, with identity in the gift economy, one will be more likely to do a random act of kindness for someone that they know. We have all see those bumper stickers that say, "Do a random act of kindness today." This relates to the gift economy.
After reading about the history of the gift economy it was interesting to see how much has changed since 21 years ago with the economy and its ways. Richard Barbrook stated, "How has the hi-tech gift economy evolved since 1998, when the paper was written? This article was a product of its time. When I originally wrote The Hi-Tech Gift Economy, the Net was still a novelty for most people even in the developed world. Nearly 8 years later, using this technology is no longer something special. This means that it is impossible to understand my article without remembering the bizarre moment in the late-1990s when so many pundits believed that the Net had almost magical powers. Led by Wired, dotcom boosters were claiming that the Net was creating the free market only found up to then in neo-classical economics textbooks. Inspired by post-modernist gurus, new media activists were convinced that humanity would soon liberate itself from corporate control by escaping into cyberspace." (Barbrook 1).
The gift economy is not a new term. People have heard it throughout their life in different scenarios. Some of us understand that the gift economy can be related with the internet and the giving of one to another without expecting a type of payment in return. The web continues to be this type of machine that sucks all information up and bonds it together to help people like us who surf it and want to recieve knowledge and information.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Social Capital
Social capital is a difficult concept. It is not how we are used to thinking about how capital is accumulated. You aquire social capital through communiation. You have to strengthen and sometimes even weaken relationships. You build things called communication pathways through social capital. It is about the amount of connections you have, where it comes from. Social capital is not a concrete thing. It is an effect that merges through social interaction. The effect can be deployed, but it is quite interesting because unlike financial capital where you can spend 50 dollars and have nothing after, with social capital if you spend it, then you have more.
One blog spoke about social capital and the Influence of Social networks which was interesting to see what others thought. The author states, "Someone once asked me if reputation is interchangeable with Social Capital. Yes and no. To me, reputation is merely a dimension of Social Capital, not truly interchangeable. Social Capital is much more complex and includes:
connections, reputation, influence, bridging capital - the number of connections you have across to different industries, social strata, etc.
bonding capital - the depth of your close connections (how close and how much you could ask of your connections) (Hunt 1).
I believe this is a good point to include because one needs to understand the concept before he/she can express it.
Through sociotechnical capital opportunities emerge. It is through this where we learn about sociotechincal capital. Emotional support and value should also be included when discussing this term. Shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil are types of shows that emotional support and value are all included. In the audences of these shows, they have to all have something in common, and that provides the opportunity for sharing and trust.
One blog spoke about social capital and the Influence of Social networks which was interesting to see what others thought. The author states, "Someone once asked me if reputation is interchangeable with Social Capital. Yes and no. To me, reputation is merely a dimension of Social Capital, not truly interchangeable. Social Capital is much more complex and includes:
connections, reputation, influence, bridging capital - the number of connections you have across to different industries, social strata, etc.
bonding capital - the depth of your close connections (how close and how much you could ask of your connections) (Hunt 1).
I believe this is a good point to include because one needs to understand the concept before he/she can express it.
Through sociotechnical capital opportunities emerge. It is through this where we learn about sociotechincal capital. Emotional support and value should also be included when discussing this term. Shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil are types of shows that emotional support and value are all included. In the audences of these shows, they have to all have something in common, and that provides the opportunity for sharing and trust.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Cyberspace
John Coate's essay with Cyberspace and Building an Online Community explains the online community and what it consits of. Coate states, "The first two entries of "community" in the American Heritage Dictionary call it 1.) a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government; and 2.) a group of people having common interests. If you believe the "space" part of "cyberspace," and you consider that a Terms of Service for use of an online service could be called a kind of government, then #1 works in the online realm. Second, consider that "common interests" are the only real reason that people get online to communicate, then #2 works well too. Make a hybrid of these two and it gives a pretty good working definition of "online community" (Coate 1). So, what does this definition mean to an online community. Its definition is strong meaning that the space could be the "cyber space."
Today, we see so many different online communities like second life, many people are now on twitter, facebook, and the previous big hit was facebook. Many find it easier to communicate through the computer because it is not that there is a face to face conversation, rather you are online and you could be technically who you want to be. As the essay states, being online attracts open minded independent people. It is for people who love wordplay, language and writing.
The mind pool is also an important topic talked about in Coate's essay. He states, "The mind pool: When it works right, an online gathering is a kind of organized mind pool. Everyone picks each other's brains. The informal nature of online conversation encourages people's amazing generosity in sharing the things that they know. It's a potluck for the mind" (Coate 1).
Everyday there is a new person who visit the online community to get a taste of the virtual world. Many people become addicted which continues for an ongoing period, and they even start lives through the internet, which is known as the website second life.
In conclusion, it is a topic that seems very new to people, but the internet is not virtually as new as everyone thinks. It does have a history and many do not know about.
Today, we see so many different online communities like second life, many people are now on twitter, facebook, and the previous big hit was facebook. Many find it easier to communicate through the computer because it is not that there is a face to face conversation, rather you are online and you could be technically who you want to be. As the essay states, being online attracts open minded independent people. It is for people who love wordplay, language and writing.
The mind pool is also an important topic talked about in Coate's essay. He states, "The mind pool: When it works right, an online gathering is a kind of organized mind pool. Everyone picks each other's brains. The informal nature of online conversation encourages people's amazing generosity in sharing the things that they know. It's a potluck for the mind" (Coate 1).
Everyday there is a new person who visit the online community to get a taste of the virtual world. Many people become addicted which continues for an ongoing period, and they even start lives through the internet, which is known as the website second life.
In conclusion, it is a topic that seems very new to people, but the internet is not virtually as new as everyone thinks. It does have a history and many do not know about.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Putnam's Studies
Robert D. Putnam studied many different aspects of the social structure and conducted different studies in places like Italy. Putnam had a strong feeling on social structure and believed that, one needs social skills to move up with capital. The social structure is constituted by people. Putnam believed that if one does not like their social structure, it is not that that they disapprove rather the people in that social structure. "Social capital is key to high institutional performance and the maintenance of democracy" (Putnam). In Putnam's book which he wrote after studying in Italy consisted of,"The the performance of twenty regional Italian governments since 1970, which were similar institutions but differed in their social, economic and cultural context. They found that regional government performed best, holding other factors constant, where there were strong traditions of civic engagement" (Wikipedia). The book was titled, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy.
One author by the name of LaPalombara stated, "Overall, Roger Putnam's book tends to "reinforce the conviction of those in Italy who believe that ... the regional reforms of the early 1970's have been largely a failure." (LaPalombara 550) At the same time, he is servicing the larger debate on democratization by forwarding his own views on civic virtue as a motivator for the success of democratic institutions. While some criticism is leveled against his theories, reviewers tend to respect and value his conclusions, if not wholly accept them" (LaPalombara 550).
There is plenty of information from this study that Putnam recieved after studying some of the democracy work from modern Italy. In conclusion, Putnam has also written other books like Bowling Alone which has to do with how their is a lack in civic, social and political life since the 1960's which was also a big hit of Putnam. Putnam is also involved with recent activity taking place and has spoke about how Britain may have a British Obama.
One author by the name of LaPalombara stated, "Overall, Roger Putnam's book tends to "reinforce the conviction of those in Italy who believe that ... the regional reforms of the early 1970's have been largely a failure." (LaPalombara 550) At the same time, he is servicing the larger debate on democratization by forwarding his own views on civic virtue as a motivator for the success of democratic institutions. While some criticism is leveled against his theories, reviewers tend to respect and value his conclusions, if not wholly accept them" (LaPalombara 550).
There is plenty of information from this study that Putnam recieved after studying some of the democracy work from modern Italy. In conclusion, Putnam has also written other books like Bowling Alone which has to do with how their is a lack in civic, social and political life since the 1960's which was also a big hit of Putnam. Putnam is also involved with recent activity taking place and has spoke about how Britain may have a British Obama.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
"The Daily We," Filters, and Everything in Between
After reviewing the article, "The Daily We," there were alot of instances that came to my attention in terms of technology and some of the caution behind technology and its filters. In society the two spheres that first come to mind are the public and private sphere. The public as in the word is open to the public where everyne can acess your information, whereas the private sphere is only for a select group who are within the private sphere.
Through the internet today people are learning alot more then what they knew many years ago, but this technology is also opening new doors. Today, you can access your bank account, credit card account, television bill, house mortgage, and many other expensive private things through the web. So, what's saying that the information that you're looking at is not being looked at by the government or in fact anyone in general.
Next, is the topic of filters. The author, Cass R. Sunstein, of the article, "The Daily We" states, "I want to raise a note of caution. I do so by emphasizing one of the most striking powers provided by emerging technologies: the growing power of consumers to "filter" what they see. As a result of the Internet and other technological developments, many people are increasingly engaged in a process of "personalization" that limits their exposure to topics and points of view of their own choosing. They filter in, and they also filter out, with unprecedented powers of precision" (Sunstein 1). This is where I believe we see the biggest problem. This creates that feeling of disbelief and feeling that there is something always behind the scenes that is probably not being shown.
Our communications market seems to be at a utopian level meaning we have democratization which is only one aspect of it, compared to the pessimist approach which looks at inequality, loss of atonomy, commodification etc. We have more of a utopian level through our communications market so everything is open to one another.
Group polarization is, "The idea is that after deliberating with one another, people are likely to move toward a more extreme point in the direction to which they were previously inclined, as indicated by the median of their predeliberation judgments. With respect to the Internet, the implication is that groups of people, especially if they are like-minded, will end up thinking the same thing that they thought before—but in more extreme form. Group polarization is a human regularity, but social context can decrease, increase, or even eliminate it" (Sunstein 4). This is occurring every day on the internet.
The media has amazed humans since its beginning roots, but as technology continues to grow with media and everything else around it, we are amazed and sometimes almost scared on how much it can actually do.
Through the internet today people are learning alot more then what they knew many years ago, but this technology is also opening new doors. Today, you can access your bank account, credit card account, television bill, house mortgage, and many other expensive private things through the web. So, what's saying that the information that you're looking at is not being looked at by the government or in fact anyone in general.
Next, is the topic of filters. The author, Cass R. Sunstein, of the article, "The Daily We" states, "I want to raise a note of caution. I do so by emphasizing one of the most striking powers provided by emerging technologies: the growing power of consumers to "filter" what they see. As a result of the Internet and other technological developments, many people are increasingly engaged in a process of "personalization" that limits their exposure to topics and points of view of their own choosing. They filter in, and they also filter out, with unprecedented powers of precision" (Sunstein 1). This is where I believe we see the biggest problem. This creates that feeling of disbelief and feeling that there is something always behind the scenes that is probably not being shown.
Our communications market seems to be at a utopian level meaning we have democratization which is only one aspect of it, compared to the pessimist approach which looks at inequality, loss of atonomy, commodification etc. We have more of a utopian level through our communications market so everything is open to one another.
Group polarization is, "The idea is that after deliberating with one another, people are likely to move toward a more extreme point in the direction to which they were previously inclined, as indicated by the median of their predeliberation judgments. With respect to the Internet, the implication is that groups of people, especially if they are like-minded, will end up thinking the same thing that they thought before—but in more extreme form. Group polarization is a human regularity, but social context can decrease, increase, or even eliminate it" (Sunstein 4). This is occurring every day on the internet.
The media has amazed humans since its beginning roots, but as technology continues to grow with media and everything else around it, we are amazed and sometimes almost scared on how much it can actually do.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Technological Innovations and Common Pool Resources
In the country of the United States we are using many technological innovations. Today, we are not running into problems with things like energy because we are always finding ways to create fuels for the machines were creating and the the resources it needs, but the problem is the waste from these resources such as the emission of fossil fuels causing global warming and other environmental problems. While this continues, humans are at danger and it can only be getting worse. It seems that technical solutions only create more problems with the standpoint that we are at. The proper way of looking at certain situations is not through technical solutions, but to rather analyze where the problem starts and work with it from there. It would not be beneficial to try to solve the problems without analyzing them. The situation has to be observed and studied and see where the problem starts and then to work with the conflict. In a free social networking site such as facebook, it seems to be a website where we can just share our information freely until we may need to pay for it a few years.
In topics like Common Pool Resources, we are going to do what is best for us. One example we used was the prisoner diagram. The zero-sum game means someone is always going to lose. As rational actors we are often playing this game. After talking about this topic, one can think of many situations that he/she has been in where they face a situation like this. But, this is a problem and is there any way out of it? You can try to increase information to try and promote change. Some people form institutions in order to solve a collective problem through a collective action. This is always most often a possibility to help out.
Now there are many issues that come up where privacy is no longer around. After searching through blogs and analyzing other's opinions on technological innovations I was not very surprised about what I dug up. I found an article that discussed how easy it is for people to snoop through private information on the computer and anything such as images, words, etc. Today, as technology grows, we often can run into privacy problems as shown in this article on technological innovations.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
In topics like Common Pool Resources, we are going to do what is best for us. One example we used was the prisoner diagram. The zero-sum game means someone is always going to lose. As rational actors we are often playing this game. After talking about this topic, one can think of many situations that he/she has been in where they face a situation like this. But, this is a problem and is there any way out of it? You can try to increase information to try and promote change. Some people form institutions in order to solve a collective problem through a collective action. This is always most often a possibility to help out.
Now there are many issues that come up where privacy is no longer around. After searching through blogs and analyzing other's opinions on technological innovations I was not very surprised about what I dug up. I found an article that discussed how easy it is for people to snoop through private information on the computer and anything such as images, words, etc. Today, as technology grows, we often can run into privacy problems as shown in this article on technological innovations.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sociology of the Mass Media
I really appreciated Dana Boyd's article on social websites such as Myspace.com. Myspace according to Boyd is fascinating but it also has potential risks and it is not good to underestimate them. Personally, from experience many of my friends use sites like Myspace and Facebook, and often almost all of their "friends" are not their real life friends. It is an online social site so, they feel that by having many friends then they could be popular by having a bunch of friends. Often these people are referred to as, Myspace whores because of the amount of friends that they have on their page.
But, it seems as if teens are unaware of problems on Myspace such as, sexual predators, mental stress problems from the site. Today alot of predators try to get their victims in anyway possible and if they could get them through Myspace then that is their attack.
Through Myspace, there is no protection of identity anymore although. People could see all pictures and often they will comment on one another and eventually hope for a comment back. Overall, these types of things occur everyday, and now it is not through Myspace so much, rather Facebook. Privacy sometimes seems like a word that could be forgotten soon beacuse we are starting to see everything with no boundaries on online sites like Facebook, Myspace, Google, Youtube and many others.
After reviewing some of the article written by Boyd, I wanted to also look at anothers feelings on Facebook and this is what I found. The blogger includes alot of detail.
http://blog.compete.com/2009/03/05/facebook-terms-of-use/
But, it seems as if teens are unaware of problems on Myspace such as, sexual predators, mental stress problems from the site. Today alot of predators try to get their victims in anyway possible and if they could get them through Myspace then that is their attack.
Through Myspace, there is no protection of identity anymore although. People could see all pictures and often they will comment on one another and eventually hope for a comment back. Overall, these types of things occur everyday, and now it is not through Myspace so much, rather Facebook. Privacy sometimes seems like a word that could be forgotten soon beacuse we are starting to see everything with no boundaries on online sites like Facebook, Myspace, Google, Youtube and many others.
After reviewing some of the article written by Boyd, I wanted to also look at anothers feelings on Facebook and this is what I found. The blogger includes alot of detail.
http://blog.compete.com/2009/03/05/facebook-terms-of-use/
Friday, March 6, 2009
Selecting Social Network
When selecting a social network I think it is safe to say that there are a few things that a person looks for before they decide to associate with that social network. These qualities that some look for when deciding on a social network are: 1.) Are these people actually going to be your friends and are they trustworthy to be? 2.) One accepts certain social networks because they may feel awkward if they reject it and they see the people with whom they rejected in the near future and it may be a sense of feeling awkward or rejection. 3.) When deciding a social group, one may want to see if that group will help them expand their social network and also maybe the group could expand their network because of what it offers. Many others have their different perspective on what determines their decision on a social group, but overall I feel it should be about what is most suitable for you and the network one can mostly relate too. A few social networks could be things like, neighborhoods/work, clubs/associates, and church.
In conclusion after reviewing social networks I thought that it is very important to get another's perspective on social networks and networking because we all have different beliefs and ideas and it is important to understand others views of networks.
http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/what-makes-the-different-social-networks-tick/
In conclusion after reviewing social networks I thought that it is very important to get another's perspective on social networks and networking because we all have different beliefs and ideas and it is important to understand others views of networks.
http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/what-makes-the-different-social-networks-tick/
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wikipedia Article Edit (Follow up)
After just submitting my last post, it seems that someone has already deleted my post leaving this message,
"Welcome to Wikipedia. The recent edit you made to the page Football (ball) has been reverted, as it appears to be unconstructive. Use the sandbox for testing; if you believe the edit was constructive, please ensure that you provide an informative edit summary. You may also wish to read the introduction to editing. Thank you. J.delanoygabsadds 20:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)"
It is very interesting to see how quick someone could remove your post because it was literally posted 5 minutes ago, if that. So, I think this shows the importance of the internet and how frequent someone may be online right there to delete your comment if it seems to be irrelavent.
Overall, it was a cool thing to try, but I was not expecting it to be removed that quickly.
"Welcome to Wikipedia. The recent edit you made to the page Football (ball) has been reverted, as it appears to be unconstructive. Use the sandbox for testing; if you believe the edit was constructive, please ensure that you provide an informative edit summary. You may also wish to read the introduction to editing. Thank you. J.delanoygabsadds 20:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)"
It is very interesting to see how quick someone could remove your post because it was literally posted 5 minutes ago, if that. So, I think this shows the importance of the internet and how frequent someone may be online right there to delete your comment if it seems to be irrelavent.
Overall, it was a cool thing to try, but I was not expecting it to be removed that quickly.
Wikipedia Article Edit
"FIFA also makes soccer balls which seem to be the best soccer balls around the world. Their dynamic structure and strict design are amazing to the game. Today everyone all over the world should consider purchase one of these balls because there is really nothing else like them around the world. Just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!"
Above is the passage that I used to edit the wikipedia page. I edited today and I will check to see how long it takes for someone to edit that post and erase. Here is the link to that wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(ball)
Since the topic of the soccer ball is not as important as topics with bigger issues and more importance, I believe it will take alot longer for someone to edit my post and erase.
Above is the passage that I used to edit the wikipedia page. I edited today and I will check to see how long it takes for someone to edit that post and erase. Here is the link to that wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(ball)
Since the topic of the soccer ball is not as important as topics with bigger issues and more importance, I believe it will take alot longer for someone to edit my post and erase.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sociology of the Mass Media (Web 1.0 and Web 2.0)
After learning about web 1.0 and web 2.0, I was very interested on the topic so I thought to research it further. A brief understanding of the topic is web 1.0 was when one had to almost have a great understanding and a degree in computers in order to work with 1.0. Its more of the human sitting in front of the computer putting in codes in order to form a website, whereas web 2.0, the form is already there and all we have to do as the user is just upload whatever we are working on. A few short years ago, in order to upload a video to sites like google, youtube, collegehumor, etc. one would have to have this great understanding of computers in order to upload the video. Today with web 2.0 we just hit the upload button as we sit in front of the computer in order to upload the material that we want. I found this topic very interesting to discuss beacause as we grow so does technology and it continues to expand every day. Each advancement in technology is just a continuous leap to something bigger and better and it seems to never stop. So, I thought I should include more information about web 1.0 and web 2.0 before I finished the blog. So here is more information on the differences between the two which another user had submitted. http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/05/web-10-vs-web-20.html
Friday, February 13, 2009
Sociology of the Mass Media about Goethe
Goethe, pronounced gur-tah or go-tay was an interesting topic to talk about. He is a philosopher, and the figure of enlightenment. He was from Germany and according to George Eliot, "he was the greatest man of letters." Along with Goethe we also learned about Gemeinschaft and Geseillschaft, where Gemeinschaft is community, clans, tribes, and status is given and you are born into it. This is also known as ascribed status. Geseillschaft is much different than this.
Goethe was one of the most important figures in German writing which is shown through his work. This blog that I am going to post is very interesting and I had never learned this about Goethe before. He actually has an institute under his name.
http://www.blogged.com/about/goethe/
Goethe was one of the most important figures in German writing which is shown through his work. This blog that I am going to post is very interesting and I had never learned this about Goethe before. He actually has an institute under his name.
http://www.blogged.com/about/goethe/
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sociology of the Mass Media
Could today's society live in a world without cell phones, computers, and other technology that continues to excel in our society? That is a tough question to answer. We have grown so accustomed to having our phones attached to us where we feel lost without them. But then we ask, how did society survive without them when there were no cell phones and computers etc. Personally I love technology, but I do not need to be around it all the times. There are some people who begin to get obsessed and addicted. Today some businesses use all internet and emails which makes less face to face communication. This is how technology can effect the society around us. Sometimes it is for the better and other times it can be a great problem.
I thought that this article was great one to use due to its relevance. http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2007/03/how_blogs_make_technology_feel.html
I thought that this article was great one to use due to its relevance. http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2007/03/how_blogs_make_technology_feel.html
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