Kasey McLaughlin
“an essay that extrapolates Weinberger’s evidence and claims and applies them to a specific discourse community.”
How the Internet has changed the critique/idea of perfection on art
The Coloring Table in my kindergarten class was always a place of competition. As I made the rough decision between a light pink and a yellow for the skin color of an abstract rendition of my mother, my friend Andrew held up his and Peter’s pictures and asked me, “Which is better?”. Now, as I sat in my first Art History course of college, my teacher compared slides of two famed works of art and asked the class the same exact question. The lesson she was trying to delve into questioned how we determine, have determined, and will determine how a drawing, sculpture, sound, or action is considered a “tour de force”.
What piece is better, the one displayed on the walls of MOMA, or the painting hanging in the walls of a wealthy art collector in the Upper West Side? One could wonder why the art collector paid thousands upon thousands for a canvas with two lines of color on it, while a man from Nowheresville, USA might chisel a perfect replica of the empire state building from a tree trunk and it is sold for $29.99 at the local souvenir store. Much has to do with where and who the art is being made for. Many artists will never be as lucky as the one who sold his work to the wealthy art collector. This is why so many have taken their creative genius to the masses. After all, selling 100 sculptures for $29.99 is a better bet than spending a lifetime wishing to be discovered by the editors of NY Arts Magazine.
Canadian film director hit the nail on the head when he explains the difference between today’s art and that of the past: “ Art forms of the past were really considered elitist. Bach did not compose for the masses, neither did Beethoven. It was always for patrons, aristocrats, and royalty. Now we have a sort of democratic version of that, which is to say that the audience is so splintered to its interests.” Where is this modern day idea of art displayed for the masses (not to be confused with the idea of “art for the masses” behind the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Bauhaus school) nowadays most seen? The Internet.
With online journals, virtual tours, and places like YouTube.com, where anyone can show off their creative abilities to the world at the click of a mouse, the Internet has become a melting pot of diverse art. Therefore the question of “Which is better?” holds even greater weight. The Internet allows for much more leeway granted to the artists on judging what is “good” art and what is not. David Weinberger states in his novel Small Pieces Loosely Joined, that perfection is now “just a measure of how good a thing is”. From this statement we can conclude that the better and object/artwork is, the closer it is to perfection. Weinberger uses a “perfect circle” as an example of perfection. A perfect circle is understood by most as one with “no straight lines or squiggly curves”(Weinberger 77).
Most people can grasp the idea of a perfect circle, and can differentiate a “good” circle from a “bad” circle by noting what is visually closer to perfection. When this idea is applied to more vague visuals, such as a painting or sculpture, it is necessary for the critic to be more open-minded. With discourse communities for artists to relate to one another online, there is more opportunity to learn different viewpoints and share with one another.
Back to the visuals that have no known “perfect” form to be defined by and compared to, using the example of one artist/blogger- Barney Davey. Davey claims that negotiation is the key to success as an artist. In a professional artist’s case, the “better” artwork is commonly considered the most expensive art. He evens makes the bold claim that it is just as important as perspective or color theory. On certain occasions, he explains the method to selling artwork his gallery would use:
Rather than let a disappointed buyer attempting to negotiate such a piece leave empty handed, we would endeavor to show them some items that we thought held great value and were under priced. We might make that transition like this, “That artist’s work is in great demand and the firmness of the prices shows it. We do have some artists that we feel show great promise and whose work is priced to show appreciation if our evaluation is accurate. Can I show you some of his pieces?” (“The Fine Art of Negotiation”)
By making it sound as if the buyer is getting a deal, he takes advantage of their lack of knowledge to obtain more money. In real life when one goes to buy Davey’s work, he will not outwardly state that he is selling you a piece of artwork for $3,500.00 for the sole reason that he knows he can persuade you into buying it. On absolutearts.com however, he feels free to share his knowledge with less successful artists. Much of this has to do with the distance. Barney Davey, businessman that his is, would never share his talent for negotiating with the competing galleries down the block, yet what harm would it do to help out an artist halfway across the country?
It is this feeling of distance that make many other artists more comfortable sharing their thoughts and work with one another via the Internet. When an artist displays a controversial piece in their home, or in a local gallery, there is the fear that those who may disagree with the idea of the piece will harm them or make trouble for them. Out on the Internet, one can get their view across through art without the fragility of having it on their own turf. A prime example of the overconfidence a person has when posting art online versus displaying it for the public in real life is a video reportedly filmed by a non-resident Indian in New York. An enormously controversial video, this is a taping of a man dressed to look like the highly revered Mahatma Gandhi. The Gandhi look-a-like is shown on YouTube pole dancing and making crude gestures. India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are trying to keep the YouTube site blocked from their nation because this video was agreed to showcase “bad taste” (Information Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi). While action may be taken by the country to censor this video, the artist’s safety is salvaged and identity not revealed. Whereas if this man had displayed his dance in the streets of New Delhi, there is a good chance he would be hurt.
While the ability to create art with no identity behind it is a comforting aspect of the Internet, it teeters between being a good thing and a bad thing. Those offended by the Gandhi video would view this freedom as unhealthy for the public. At the same time, some may enjoy this freedom because it allows more art to be seen. To some, it is worth viewing a couple horrendous “masterpieces” to come upon mind-expanding art that you would not have found without the Internet. Weinberger compared this idea with real life very astutely when talking about search engines: “Let’s say that #14 on the list has the information you’re looking for. Success! And yet from another point of view, this has been an embarrassing failure: if someone asked you a question and you gave thirteen wrong answers before hitting the right one, you would not be filled with a warm sense of accomplishment…we understand that we are asking a search engine to…find precisely the ones we want…and don’t take longer than two seconds to do it.”(Weinberger 75-76) Time is of the essence to us and the Internet saves time.
If more art is seen in a short amount of time, we obtain more information to compare and are prone to opening our minds to new ideas. The people dining at the Esplanade Plaza on a warm March evening were witnesses of a “happening” that would give them the chance to open their eyes to new types of art. A “happening” is a performance art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work (WIKIPEDIA?). They watched as artist Andrew Wielawski returned to the plaza to completely destroy a lovely sculpture he made the previous year. The idea was that there would be an interesting performance of art in the destruction of the object considering people’s reactions and other factors. It was an artistic experiment, which turned out quite well. In the end he had given away pieces of the broken sculpture to inquiring guests. While some people scoffed at the nonsensical destruction, others were awed by how it brought the group together and created an appreciation for the piece. Thanks to absolutearts.com, Wielawski was able to share this with others that would find his story interesting. Many replies came in blogging about how intrigued they were with his conclusion. Some even said that he had inspired other artists to create similar happenings. If these said artists expand on Wielawski’s idea, that will be a growth for the art world. With the convenience of this discourse community for artists to read about and expand on ideas, we are on the track to more and more new art. This creates more to compare, raising the bar to a higher standard for the creative genius, even if we have to sort through some offensive videos first.
-ONLine Art COMmunities
-people with no art background judge art by their own preference tastes-but how are these tastes created? How does the internet allow for a narrowing down of personal preference??
-how this has economically changed art and its future implications
-democracyJ
-mass…messy internet.. anything allowed
-weinberger perfection
-medium-→ media
-convenience
-go into video art/ “happenings”
- Technology has brought down the cost of recording
-back to artist being discovered- how people have a better shot at it through the internet rather than hoping some bigwig finds their piece on vacation to the middle of nowhere.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
Analysis of Source for Unit 3 essay
SITE: http://www.nyartsmagazine.com
The NY Arts Magazine is a popular source for almost all interested artists in Manhattan, as well as thousands of readers internationally. The creators of this site and published magazine have superb credentials. The founder of the magazine, Abraham Lubelski, is an American Contemporary artist, a renowned lecturer, a curator, and a panelist. He owns his own gallery in Manhattan and has had articles written about his exhibits in both Life and People magazine. He is known internationally and is highly regarded in the art world, as are the people who work for him in this magazine. The purpose of the site is to create an easier way to access artwork and gallery openings and reviews on art in NY. While the magazine is a great investment, the website offers the same information yet is free, and has archives of everything so you don't have to hold onto mounds of old magazines that take up space. It is also way easier to navigate the site than it is to navigate the magazine. If you want to see something from May 2005, you just type it into the search box in the site. The convenience is what makes this site better than it's hard copy twin.
The NY Arts Magazine is a popular source for almost all interested artists in Manhattan, as well as thousands of readers internationally. The creators of this site and published magazine have superb credentials. The founder of the magazine, Abraham Lubelski, is an American Contemporary artist, a renowned lecturer, a curator, and a panelist. He owns his own gallery in Manhattan and has had articles written about his exhibits in both Life and People magazine. He is known internationally and is highly regarded in the art world, as are the people who work for him in this magazine. The purpose of the site is to create an easier way to access artwork and gallery openings and reviews on art in NY. While the magazine is a great investment, the website offers the same information yet is free, and has archives of everything so you don't have to hold onto mounds of old magazines that take up space. It is also way easier to navigate the site than it is to navigate the magazine. If you want to see something from May 2005, you just type it into the search box in the site. The convenience is what makes this site better than it's hard copy twin.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Notes on Ch. 4 of "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
PERFECTION
-Hallmark vs. hippie card company
-perfection is appreciated in real-life, imperfection is liked on the internet
-flute player demo in class
-Saturn dealership example... words like "rest assured", yet online on a blog people will post more honest and not as sugar coated points of views/answers
-example of how standards for perfection are lower on internet
- search engine: #14 is the one you want... great! You found it!
- real-life: 13 wrong ones until you got a right one? Not good.
-question of what is perfection (bunk bed chat)
-constant use of odd metaphors and examples comparing humans to animals and such to emphasize the imperfection of the human race
-Management in the Web versus management of the Hoover Dam-opposites
-Hallmark vs. hippie card company
-perfection is appreciated in real-life, imperfection is liked on the internet
-flute player demo in class
-Saturn dealership example... words like "rest assured", yet online on a blog people will post more honest and not as sugar coated points of views/answers
-example of how standards for perfection are lower on internet
- search engine: #14 is the one you want... great! You found it!
- real-life: 13 wrong ones until you got a right one? Not good.
-question of what is perfection (bunk bed chat)
-constant use of odd metaphors and examples comparing humans to animals and such to emphasize the imperfection of the human race
-Management in the Web versus management of the Hoover Dam-opposites
Notes on Ch. 3 of "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
TIME
-"We're not even close to getting there"-- maddening idea of holding on to the "Now"-- every moment the "Now" is gone (Spaceballs in class)
-stubborness of people to stick to sequential time, whereas on the Web, time is not sequential, it is just moments.
-is time faster or slower on the web? (7X multiplier theory) whatever you want it to be? you create time just as you create space
-DMV line example: online you get kicked off you can't lose your spot, and on the web you can come back to it at any time that is CONVENIENT FOR YOU
-"threads"-chatroom example of a 60 second chatrrom conversation, only can be followed if you understand it but definitely stretches out time
-comparison of the short explanation on a hard day in teh real world versus a day spent online-so much more done in time because so many things can go on at the same time
-Heraclitus... can't put your foot in the same river twice and everything is always in flux (the fleeting idea of "Now")
-"We're not even close to getting there"-- maddening idea of holding on to the "Now"-- every moment the "Now" is gone (Spaceballs in class)
-stubborness of people to stick to sequential time, whereas on the Web, time is not sequential, it is just moments.
-is time faster or slower on the web? (7X multiplier theory) whatever you want it to be? you create time just as you create space
-DMV line example: online you get kicked off you can't lose your spot, and on the web you can come back to it at any time that is CONVENIENT FOR YOU
-"threads"-chatroom example of a 60 second chatrrom conversation, only can be followed if you understand it but definitely stretches out time
-comparison of the short explanation on a hard day in teh real world versus a day spent online-so much more done in time because so many things can go on at the same time
-Heraclitus... can't put your foot in the same river twice and everything is always in flux (the fleeting idea of "Now")
Notes on Ch. 2 of "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
SPACE
-"McCollough Effect"-similar to an optical illusion... last for days though. Bill Cheswick (ex-Internet security guru) tricks you and just says type in "Cheswick"- not magical, just the browsers doing their job.
-He showed an image of fireworks or chaotic starbursts-- "This is a map of the Internet"
-the Net organized by clusters of connections, "space freed of geography"
-Tim Bray of Yahoo.. different map of Net
Ches vs. Tim = the global network that enables the Web vs. the Web = hardware vs. Web sites (software)
Is the Web spatial? yes
Is it measuring spacial or living spacial? Measuring in measuring link to link and memory and such. More living though because it is created and embodied by our thoughts and experiences.
-"Am I a Document?"
-3-D
-not a container where space is filled-- space is created-- can get as large as it wants to
-"McCollough Effect"-similar to an optical illusion... last for days though. Bill Cheswick (ex-Internet security guru) tricks you and just says type in "Cheswick"- not magical, just the browsers doing their job.
-He showed an image of fireworks or chaotic starbursts-- "This is a map of the Internet"
-the Net organized by clusters of connections, "space freed of geography"
-Tim Bray of Yahoo.. different map of Net
Ches vs. Tim = the global network that enables the Web vs. the Web = hardware vs. Web sites (software)
Is the Web spatial? yes
Is it measuring spacial or living spacial? Measuring in measuring link to link and memory and such. More living though because it is created and embodied by our thoughts and experiences.
-"Am I a Document?"
-3-D
-not a container where space is filled-- space is created-- can get as large as it wants to
Notes on Ch. 1 of "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
A NEW WORLD
Michael Ian Campbell-18-from FLA-1999 finished comm. College- “Soup 81” on AOL talking to 16-f-Erin Walton from Colorado (Columbine)- they didn’t know each other... he threatened her to not go to school the next day. She got scared-he went to jail and couldn’t use the Internet for 3 years.
Tells how he is bidding on quilts on Ebay and that whole process. Then explains the disconnects between the Internet and real world:
Space-links not based on contiguity but on human interest-no “near, far”
Time-all based on what suits us
Self- can choose your identity
Knowledge- he learned about quilts through his searches (in “human voice”)
He compares us to settlers and the Internet is our new world
-new world means new people
-not physically moving, but changing
-knowing more people
-learning new aspects to our personalities
therefore, web has not been hyped up enough
1995- Carnegie Mellon gives computers to 93 pittsburgh families… studies written in New York Times show they loose some communication and socialness
later on in the Navy and Xerox ad other places –crackdowns on email abuse
NYU expelled John Paul Dennings after comments of a gun in May 2000- sent to mental institution
New Hampshire state legislature Tom Alciere running in Nov 2000 kicked out for crazy websites about suicide, drinking laws, mandatory school attendance
^not really that rare “anomalies” … look at positives
Mike O’Dell- UUnet- hard hitting in life –easier to chat through email because he didn’t have to be right.
“bytes in flight”
-woman complaining about flood as if life hadn’t held up its part of the contract
Hoover Dam- masterpiece of management and engineering
Compared to Web-unmanaged and therefore successful
Human spirit at ever loosel
Michael Ian Campbell-18-from FLA-1999 finished comm. College- “Soup 81” on AOL talking to 16-f-Erin Walton from Colorado (Columbine)- they didn’t know each other... he threatened her to not go to school the next day. She got scared-he went to jail and couldn’t use the Internet for 3 years.
Tells how he is bidding on quilts on Ebay and that whole process. Then explains the disconnects between the Internet and real world:
Space-links not based on contiguity but on human interest-no “near, far”
Time-all based on what suits us
Self- can choose your identity
Knowledge- he learned about quilts through his searches (in “human voice”)
He compares us to settlers and the Internet is our new world
-new world means new people
-not physically moving, but changing
-knowing more people
-learning new aspects to our personalities
therefore, web has not been hyped up enough
1995- Carnegie Mellon gives computers to 93 pittsburgh families… studies written in New York Times show they loose some communication and socialness
later on in the Navy and Xerox ad other places –crackdowns on email abuse
NYU expelled John Paul Dennings after comments of a gun in May 2000- sent to mental institution
New Hampshire state legislature Tom Alciere running in Nov 2000 kicked out for crazy websites about suicide, drinking laws, mandatory school attendance
^not really that rare “anomalies” … look at positives
Mike O’Dell- UUnet- hard hitting in life –easier to chat through email because he didn’t have to be right.
“bytes in flight”
-woman complaining about flood as if life hadn’t held up its part of the contract
Hoover Dam- masterpiece of management and engineering
Compared to Web-unmanaged and therefore successful
Human spirit at ever loosel
Notes on Preface of "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
Author worked for a software company:
-One day is shown the new technology coming out in a competitor (Mosaic, soon to be Netscape)
-links that can be taken from anywhere rather than only when someone owns both of the linked sites.
Small Pieces Loosely Joined:
“people” are small pieces… his theory is like Ms.Elk’s theory on Brontosaurus’
the new internet has loosely joined links with errors coming up but there’s a lot of them now, just not very organized/stable---What the web does--- “what once was tightly bound entities has been ripped into pieces and thrown into the air”
Web is an unnatural world not controlled by factors of nature—he asks what is true to our nature and what is only appearing to be true to our nature because it was all we had?
-One day is shown the new technology coming out in a competitor (Mosaic, soon to be Netscape)
-links that can be taken from anywhere rather than only when someone owns both of the linked sites.
Small Pieces Loosely Joined:
“people” are small pieces… his theory is like Ms.Elk’s theory on Brontosaurus’
the new internet has loosely joined links with errors coming up but there’s a lot of them now, just not very organized/stable---What the web does--- “what once was tightly bound entities has been ripped into pieces and thrown into the air”
Web is an unnatural world not controlled by factors of nature—he asks what is true to our nature and what is only appearing to be true to our nature because it was all we had?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Nevermind my first draft, I'm having a change of mind.
Okay! So after looking at the first paragraph of my draft, I realized my topic was boring and nothing unique. In class we discussed introducing new questions about social networking and creating innovative topics. I continued to research the topic and found some interesting information on girls and social networking sites. Being a teenage girl myself, it was interesting to find out that we are supposedly the most common users of social networking sites such as facebook and myspace. My essay will delve deeper into this discussion to ask why we are the biggest users, and which features appeal more to girls than boys.
These are some of the website I have found in my research:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/198/report_display.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/15drill.html?ex=1326517200&en=6badc3d6bd407b86&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
http://spotlight.macfound.org/main/entry/justine_cassell_online_disempowering_girls_users/
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/01/08/girls-dominate-the-social-networking-world
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196801997&subSection=
My one question: if I use sites about the psychology of girls and boys to further discuss this topic and speak generally a bit about how girls are socially in comparison to boys, am I straying to far from the "social network" focus?
These are some of the website I have found in my research:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/198/report_display.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/15drill.html?ex=1326517200&en=6badc3d6bd407b86&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
http://spotlight.macfound.org/main/entry/justine_cassell_online_disempowering_girls_users/
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/01/08/girls-dominate-the-social-networking-world
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196801997&subSection=
My one question: if I use sites about the psychology of girls and boys to further discuss this topic and speak generally a bit about how girls are socially in comparison to boys, am I straying to far from the "social network" focus?
Monday, February 5, 2007
draft
Kasey McLaughlin
Wrt195
First Draft of Introduction
Social Networking sites have taken over the internet. Their popularity within the past few years has increased tremendously. In fact, the top ten social networking sites found in Nielsen/Netratings research have grown from an audience of 46.8 million last year to an impressive 68.8 million in April 2006! Two of the more popular of these rapidly ballooning sites are Facebook and MySpace. For many web surfers, MySpace and Facebook have become the most well known and similar sites, therefore a gateway for comparison. From newspaper articles, to blogs made by highschool teenagers, the question of which site is “better” has become a topic of debate. Where can one find the best safety features? Which layout is easier to navigate? What about their instant messaging system? The answers to these questions depend on the personal opinions of the public as well as the statistics on each sites growth and popularity.
Wrt195
First Draft of Introduction
Social Networking sites have taken over the internet. Their popularity within the past few years has increased tremendously. In fact, the top ten social networking sites found in Nielsen/Netratings research have grown from an audience of 46.8 million last year to an impressive 68.8 million in April 2006! Two of the more popular of these rapidly ballooning sites are Facebook and MySpace. For many web surfers, MySpace and Facebook have become the most well known and similar sites, therefore a gateway for comparison. From newspaper articles, to blogs made by highschool teenagers, the question of which site is “better” has become a topic of debate. Where can one find the best safety features? Which layout is easier to navigate? What about their instant messaging system? The answers to these questions depend on the personal opinions of the public as well as the statistics on each sites growth and popularity.
Brainstorming for my essay...
I've been looking at the sites I found and I think that my topic will be comparing two of the most popular social networking sites out there: Facebook and MySpace. I will be looking for more sites to compare this by every one of their functions. I also found another site I might use for some stats in my essay: http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
5th site for social networks
http://media.www.thesantaclara.com/media/storage/paper946/news/2006/02/23/Opinion/Facebook.Security.Means.Common.Sense-1629274.shtml?sourcedomain=www.thesantaclara.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com
This site is an article for the Santa Clara newspaper about the safety precautions that should be taken when using Facebook. Unlike other articles I've read that attack the dangers of social networks, this one is a less harsh approach. This author claims that common sense is necessary to be safe on Facebook. If one cannot censor they're information, she suggests choosing a stricter preference on who can view your profile.
This site is an article for the Santa Clara newspaper about the safety precautions that should be taken when using Facebook. Unlike other articles I've read that attack the dangers of social networks, this one is a less harsh approach. This author claims that common sense is necessary to be safe on Facebook. If one cannot censor they're information, she suggests choosing a stricter preference on who can view your profile.
Another site for social networks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7668788/
I found one extra site that I felt was more reliable that others I Googled, such as the wikipedia one and some blogs. This article was made as a reaction to one mother's horrifying realization that her daughter, along with many other teenagers (“about 6 million”), is exposing personal information and pictures of themselves to strangers and possible predators worldwide. Author Bob Sullivan explains how this is being done through social networks such as myspace and personal blogs. He illustrates the dangers of this practice through facts and statistics as well as through the eyes of a mother who once was saying: “Who can hurt them when you are guarding the front door?", and now claims: "(the Internet) is a bigger opening than the front door."
I found one extra site that I felt was more reliable that others I Googled, such as the wikipedia one and some blogs. This article was made as a reaction to one mother's horrifying realization that her daughter, along with many other teenagers (“about 6 million”), is exposing personal information and pictures of themselves to strangers and possible predators worldwide. Author Bob Sullivan explains how this is being done through social networks such as myspace and personal blogs. He illustrates the dangers of this practice through facts and statistics as well as through the eyes of a mother who once was saying: “Who can hurt them when you are guarding the front door?", and now claims: "(the Internet) is a bigger opening than the front door."
Monday, January 29, 2007
3rd and 4th social networking site
#3: http://media.www.csucauldron.com/media/storage/paper516/news/2006/02/13/Feature/Myspace.Vs.Facebook.You.Decide-1610748.shtml?sourcedomain=www.csucauldron.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com
#4: http://backburner001.wordpress.com/2006/02/12/facebook-vs-myspace-battle-of-the-social-networks/
When searching for social networks, it was obvious that Facebook and MySpace were by far the most popular in the category. Finding these also the most interesting to me, I started searching solely for Facebook and MySpace articles. I came upon an article debating between Facebook and MySpace first on the Cleveland State University website. The author starts off explaining how "cool" myspace is and how him and his friends have it. He explains a couple helpful features it has, especially the ability to listen to almost any music in one click. This author takes a more comedic approach of explaining why he is such a fan of myspace, for example when he states that "Nothing says 'I care' like a photo of your best friend passed out on a lawn chair publicly posted for the MySpace world to see." (Obviously he sees some of the downsides to such freedom).
The "facebook vs. myspace: battle of the social networks" post was a person's opinion on why facebook wins over myspace. This author claims that they both have very similar features and usefulness. Yet when comparing more specific aspects of the networks, such as "user search utilities, profile layout, comments, and photo albums", Facebook takes the cake. This author does not neglect the opinion that Myspace has a superior instant messaging, friend request/confirmation, and biographical information layout. There are a few responses to this post, all agreeing with the writer.
#4: http://backburner001.wordpress.com/2006/02/12/facebook-vs-myspace-battle-of-the-social-networks/
When searching for social networks, it was obvious that Facebook and MySpace were by far the most popular in the category. Finding these also the most interesting to me, I started searching solely for Facebook and MySpace articles. I came upon an article debating between Facebook and MySpace first on the Cleveland State University website. The author starts off explaining how "cool" myspace is and how him and his friends have it. He explains a couple helpful features it has, especially the ability to listen to almost any music in one click. This author takes a more comedic approach of explaining why he is such a fan of myspace, for example when he states that "Nothing says 'I care' like a photo of your best friend passed out on a lawn chair publicly posted for the MySpace world to see." (Obviously he sees some of the downsides to such freedom).
The "facebook vs. myspace: battle of the social networks" post was a person's opinion on why facebook wins over myspace. This author claims that they both have very similar features and usefulness. Yet when comparing more specific aspects of the networks, such as "user search utilities, profile layout, comments, and photo albums", Facebook takes the cake. This author does not neglect the opinion that Myspace has a superior instant messaging, friend request/confirmation, and biographical information layout. There are a few responses to this post, all agreeing with the writer.
2nd article on social networks
http://news.com.com/Facebooks+Greek+drama/2100-1046_3-5895963.html
I found this online article by Zoë Barton extremely interesting because it talks about a topic not usually discussed regarding Facebook safety: the Greek system. It is apparently very risky to have a facebook profile if you are a member of a fraternity or sorority. This article specifically talks about "Rho Gammas" (the leaders in recruitment for sorority who are supposed to maintain an unknown identity in regards to what sorority they are a part of). People in this situation have to be extremely careful on how much information they lend out for younger pledges to see. In addition, the rushees have to be concerned with what information the sisters/brothers can get from facebook before they accept them. On the other hand, this website also pointed out the fact that being able to obtain the profiles of potential members makes the process of remembering and learning about them easier.
This website frightened me a bit because the end of it moved on to warn a wider spectrum of people (everyone that has a facebook account) of the dangers of having so much personal information on the web. According to Zoë Barton, there are plenty of people that can access pictures and information about you that you would not want shared: teachers, future employers, RA's, TA's, and "computer geeks", to name a few.
Finally, she briefly talks about the origins of Facebook and how a Harvard student created it. When it's popularity in Harvard grew faster than expected, they decided to expand the network to other schools.
I found this online article by Zoë Barton extremely interesting because it talks about a topic not usually discussed regarding Facebook safety: the Greek system. It is apparently very risky to have a facebook profile if you are a member of a fraternity or sorority. This article specifically talks about "Rho Gammas" (the leaders in recruitment for sorority who are supposed to maintain an unknown identity in regards to what sorority they are a part of). People in this situation have to be extremely careful on how much information they lend out for younger pledges to see. In addition, the rushees have to be concerned with what information the sisters/brothers can get from facebook before they accept them. On the other hand, this website also pointed out the fact that being able to obtain the profiles of potential members makes the process of remembering and learning about them easier.
This website frightened me a bit because the end of it moved on to warn a wider spectrum of people (everyone that has a facebook account) of the dangers of having so much personal information on the web. According to Zoë Barton, there are plenty of people that can access pictures and information about you that you would not want shared: teachers, future employers, RA's, TA's, and "computer geeks", to name a few.
Finally, she briefly talks about the origins of Facebook and how a Harvard student created it. When it's popularity in Harvard grew faster than expected, they decided to expand the network to other schools.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
First Social Networking Article
http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/
This website is a basic overview of the functions and popularity of facebook via 2004. The author of this article was given a demo of the site and checked out all of facebook's features. He also talks about the people that are not students and therefore cannot log in to this site, as well as the very large numbers that have facebook and log in monthly, weekly, and 60% daily! These numbers are impressive, but since this article is from 2004 I might want to check out more recent statistics on the matter. Finally, he explains the way this company produces money, such as advertisements and sponsors.
Another part of this website as information for social networks is the list of about 200 comments. Hearing views from all different users and nonusers of facebook doesn't lend any factual information but is interesting nonetheless.
This website is a basic overview of the functions and popularity of facebook via 2004. The author of this article was given a demo of the site and checked out all of facebook's features. He also talks about the people that are not students and therefore cannot log in to this site, as well as the very large numbers that have facebook and log in monthly, weekly, and 60% daily! These numbers are impressive, but since this article is from 2004 I might want to check out more recent statistics on the matter. Finally, he explains the way this company produces money, such as advertisements and sponsors.
Another part of this website as information for social networks is the list of about 200 comments. Hearing views from all different users and nonusers of facebook doesn't lend any factual information but is interesting nonetheless.
Eubanks #4: "Return of the Drug Company Payoffs"
One would not expect much figurative language out of a New York Times article, yet I found there to be more than expected in the editorial piece, “Return of the Drug Company Payoffs”. The author of this uses narrative to sway our opinion. He is trying to illustrate his views against brand-name manufacturers in the drug company who are paying off generic manufacturers to delay the marketing of their cheaper drugs. This is not very decorative or unnecessary language, but language that helps construct our understanding of his opinion. He refers to the brand name companies’ actions with figurative words such as “underhanded”, and metaphors like “It is a costly legal loophole that needs to be plugged by Congressional legislation.” He doesn’t literally mean, “plugged”, but this implies the urgency that one feels when you need to plug something up to keep it from leaking. He also says, “huge sums of money are at stake”. Obviously, pieces of money aren’t literally at stake, but with this metaphor the reader feels the seriousness of his argument. Other phrases he uses such as “waging a valiant fight”, “ ‘bright line’prohibition”, and “clear standard” all describe the generic companies and the people who he agrees with (the FTC). Therefore, these metaphors create the sense of hard fighting and good doing to fix the evil ways of the drug monopolies. Overall, the figurative language describing the sneaky ways of the monopolies and the more kid descriptions of the generic brands and the consumers really aid the author in creating a whole piece that clearly gets across his opinion.
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