GoodBye

Well I would first like to thank dave for a great class that was motivating and really got me to understand blogging and the internet better as a whole. My sister and I both use firefox and love it and I now know how to blog, use flickr, delicious, and wikipedia. I know I will need to know those in the future. Coming to the conclusion of the class I did many things to help out with the moma Ipod tours. First off I was a key person in coming up with the idea of the interviews realizing that our first ideas would have been hard to achieve and finish on time. I helped to come up with how the interviews would be conducted using scanned pictures from the Moma and what types of individuals we would use to capture both knowledge of art as well as humour. Unfortunately I was not able to participate in the interviews because I was not assigned that task, I would have loved to have been a part of that. I did however promote the casts through handing out flyers at school and surrounding colleges. I thought that this was a great project and helped me to learn how to promote and collaborate with others. I hope everyone has a great summer and I hope to see all of you next year. Thanks.
-Danielle Alberico

Linux Vs. Walmart

After watching both films, the documentary on Linux and the Frontline special on Walmart I am surprised at how much these companies depend on other sources for their success. I am also surprised to know that many of the products are made in other countries and these other countries employ workers there more than in America.


The documentary on Linux was very interesting yet sometimes confusing. I understand most of the concepts and what it is trying achieve but I do not understand how the system works exactly. The documentary was also very funny and reminded me of the Cluetrain Manifesto with the sarcasim, and the idea of the underdog winning. The opening sequence is funny because it proves that these middle class head honchos that run these companies know nothing compared to these scruffy hackers that spend most of their time and energy on the internet. The Linux company has been around for quite awhile and this was the first time I have ever heard of it. The aspect of Linux that makes it unique from the rest is that is freely distributed.


The special on Wal-mart was also extrememly interesting. It also proves the problem with hierarchy in businesses and how the people on top make the most money due to low cost of products and workers overseas. The people they employ are willing to work for low wages and except these jobs helping the people on top to make billions of dollars when they make close to nothing. This whole aspect goes back to the balance of power and the problems with this. the company makes so much money by our large consumerism and then paying little to nothing to employees. When I think about this is sickens me. You think because Wal-Mart has cheaper prices that it helps to save people money when in fact it does not. The lack of job opportunity for such a large company (the Largest company according to (www.fastcompany.com)is astonishing. The website also talks about outsourcing products from overseas. This again brings up the problem with consumerism in America. The way we spend money is outsourcing and causing many problems in other countries. Our large spending effects the entire world and puts many people, businesses, and sources out of production. Anah Shah author of Behind the Consumption and Consumerism in America, states "Today's consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change - not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs - today's problems of consumption and human development will worsen".


laura , Julia, and Jean all make very good comparisons between both Linux and wal-mart as companies, as well as the key aspects in their success. I found this material interesting but at times a little repetitive in order to make a bias point.

The Long Tail

Now this is something I found very interesting. The Long Tail, a diary on its way to a book, which describes the term and the way in which it is used, is a great place to understand business and economic models. The site provides a way for people to express their concern of the damage the internet has had on television, radio, and music sales. This has been an on-going problem for the past five years and I feel soon it will be nonexistent because our society will adapt to these changes.


Alexis makes great points on the importance of the Long Tail. Businesses make money on every product they sell even if the product is not in high demand. These uncommon products keep business alive and prosper. I feel that this is true with all businesses. Movie theaters stay open due to all the movies they show including the ones that do not sell the most tickets, same thing with delis and stores. Chris Anderson, who came up with the term and is in the process of publishing a book on the topic, concentrates on the Long Tail of internet companies. He uses some examples such as netflix and Amazon.com. I can see how this works with Amazon.com because there are so many products sold and a wide variety of products. There is still a high demand for less known books and movies especially sought out through the internet.


Many companies think that if they get rid of products with low demand that they are going to save money but they may be losing money. Although these sales are low they keep the business flowing when the high demand products/new products are lacking. I think that businesses would be more successful if they replaced products quickly and kept a smaller amount of low demand products in stock. According to the global issue website Americans spend about eight billion a year on cosmetics, twelve billion on perfume, and 5 billion on cigarettes. Having a large amount of cosmetics, perfume, and tabacco will keep sales high. This is why a company like Wal-Mart is successful because they carry everything from food, to alcohol, to cigarettes and clothing. It has both low and high demand products selling non-stop. Other students that make great comments on this topic are Meghan, Jessica, and Laura.

Folksonomy

Folksonomy is a very important term today involving terms and language used on the internet. The term is fairly new and means something socially created. I learned that it was coined by a man named Thomas Vander Wal. I am impressed at the way we as individuals have become so involved with the internet and how some know more than others. We have become a generation of folksonomies. Tagging is something we have become accustomed to with both flicker and delicious. These new meanings are soon to be understood and used by many. Its a way to communicate more fluidly and fast. That is one of the main aspects of the internet, fast communication.


Both Deanna and Joy make great comments on how folksonomies are original because they are created by people for the people. It is almost in a sense a new language. New words and phrases are developed to make information sharing quicker. For example, many people know that when someone writes in all caps, its described as "screaming". This is known by many internet and computer savvy people. I find myself "tagging" all the time. I will tag my photos and blogs with short quick descriptions and those somehow become staples for the images. This may or may not have a positive effect. Jessica really helps to understand folksonomy in a way the websites I looked at did not. Tagging is explained great on this website I found and it really promotes it as something for people to use to be able to define themselves through their own language.


This makes me think of a recent conversation with my sister tonight. We talked about some of the language we use that is made up and not in the dictionary. It all started when we went out to a bar and I was wearing a shirt I refered to as a muumuu. My sister kept saying that I had made it up but I kept reasuring her it was a real word. Finally she was reading a magazine where a man was pictured wearing a "muumuu". We came to the conclusion, her misunderstanding was because there are words people use that are not real words. For us its the word "grody". Has anyone ever heard this word used before? My friend says that she only hears my sister and I use it therefore its a made up word. We traced the origin of the word back to my father and that he had turned "gross" into grody. Anyways, that was a little off topic but it all comes back to tagging and the way people use their own language to describe and create unique meaning.

The Cluetrain Manifesto: Chapter Three

Locke continues to develop great ideas and concepts in Chapter Three of The Cluetrain Manifesto. I enjoy the quote he uses in the introduction to the chapter. It gives the reader a better understanding of where he might go in the text, and continues his idea of the voice. He is great with relating back to his previous material on the world wide web. The way Locke introduces his new idea for chapter three with his explanation of sculpting is interesting. Many people do this in life. They compare something very close to them in order to understand other aspects of life. If you ever talk to an actor they explain the way it helps them in everyday life, such as job interviews, relationships, and interaction with hierarchy. I believe in this ideal. We incorperate our passions and desires into our ordinary tasks in order to further ourselves. It's hard at first to see the similiarities between a sculpter and a web designer but after Locke's explanation it starts to make sense.


Locke describes how the human voice animates its mood, feeling, and imagination. This is extremely true and hard to achieve while enganged in something else. "Talk is cheap. The value of our voices is beyond mere words. The human voice reaches directly into our beings and touches our spirits." This is positively true. Our voices do not lie. Our tone, inflation, facial expression express a lot more than just words.


In this chapter Locke starts to get extremely repetitive. Alexis makes a valid point of how the text gets confusing and tedious. Joy also makes me understand the way Locke restates his idea so much that it creates boredom with the readers. Yes, Chapter three could have been cut in half without so much repetition, making the same points. He is starting to beat a dead horse. Anyways i find his ideas interesting and accurate.

The Cluetrain Manifesto: Chapter Two

After reading Chapter Two I have found that Locke's points seem to broadan on the importance of the internet. In the first chapter he seems more detailed with his explanations, more on topic. I feel he makes valid points with his idea of the human voice and our use of our voices today. I feel that in some ways our society has gotten use to not using their voice to its full potential. We too often rely on articulation through literature than diolgue. I feel that this will turn into a larger conflict. Because so much can be done through technology, communication using our real voice has diminished. This can have a scary effect, especially with new generations relying on this type of communication.


I do feel that in our everyday lives people constantly try to manage every detail. Familys try to manage their relationships with eachother, businesses try to manage their employees and money, Schools try to manage their students and classes, everything is managed whether we except it or not. Management in todays society is a large part of how we live our lives. Management and mismanangement in business is an important aspect of whether or not that business is successful. We rely heavily on management to acchieve certain goals, and if something goes wrong we blame it on what weant wrong with the management. How many times do you hear that a business failed due to its management? Everything goes back to how it was run and organized. Deanna makes a great point that although the internet gives us another way to communivate it can be devious. Communication through email, AIM, and other types of internet communication can have various misunderstandings. Communication using our real voices can be understood through tone, facial expression, and mood. This is hard to accheive through reading others work. People are always looking for new easier and faster ways to communicate to others. "The spiritual lure of the Web is the promise of the return of voice." This is extremely true. One of the most intrigueing parts of communication through the web is the return of the voice. Gaining a response through the internet is an uplifting ideal whether its an email, reponse to a question, post by another person regarding your comment, or an instant message response. There is a certain feeling of acheivement when we get a reponse through the web. It's the feeling of instant gratification, since we do not have to wait for delivery upon hours, day, or weeks.


Locke makes me question whether management=professionalism. This is an interesting concept because many aspects of business are conceived through management. One very interesting site I came across is PMI, Project Management Institute, an institution which concentrates on management to upkeep business. PMI is an organization which deals with the upkeep of government opportunities and instill its employees with management techniques in order to keeps things in order. The organization is a global network working solely through connection of the internet. The website explains that the organization is a way to share ideas, "PMI membership opens up a world of opportunity – sharing ideas and experiences, accessing industry information, attending seminars and workshops on leading-edge topics, increasing your professional exposure through networking and project participation, and gaining leadership experience." It is a great example of what Locke points out as how our society concentrates on management as a way to further their careers, family, and everyday life. Yes everything cannot succeed in being managed but everything in some way or another is attempted to be managed. Check out Alexis' blog where she comments on the importance of blogging. This is a new way to share ideas and comments, as well as including other ideas in our own.


Lock concludes chapter two stating the web is a way for us to express ourselves in an entirely different way. Long live the web and its ways of communication. The internet continues to develop new ways of communication with video, voice, and email. There are new ways of contacting old friends through websites and organization helping it easy to upkeep communication. Long live the web.

The Cluetrain Manifesto:The End of Business as Usual

After reading The Cluetrain Manifesto by Christopher Locke, I was shocked to find negative thoughts towards the article. This guy makes not good but fantastic points about the problems with businesses, and states the advantages with the use of the internet. Locke is animated throughout with use of movie quotes and straight to the point. "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto, and we might as well get used to it". I loved his sarcasm, because it shows how easy it is to understand what corporations turn into complicated bullshit. Not to be harsh, but this is the same crime Joy committed, OVERANALYZING. Sometimes statements are not meant to be explained. You either understand or you don’t. Joy comments on his statement about how you turn on the television and see www.haveanotherbeer.com, its not meant to be taken literally. It means that now consumers are still pushing their products down consumers throats like they always have. Everything is being advertised through the internet as well as the past ways, TV, telephone solicitors, billboards, PLUS websites. But there is a problem with this. Corporations needs to figure out new ways to advertise through the internet. I don't think the point of the article was to explain the history of the internet, but rather prove what problems have been developing over the years in poor command and control.


Sorry Joy, but businesses do not continue to get bigger but have been hit hard by the use of the internet. Especially music businesses, many people have been laid off and whole corporations have been shut down. Yes NEW businesses have developed and grown, but these are because adapted to our culture's use of the internet for entertainment, education, communication, and business. Locke points out how the internet has helped to changed the balance of power from wealthy upper class white males to a larger range of individuals with no limit to age, race, class, or social status. This proves true with younger individuals developing internet businesses such as Napster and Kazaa. www.bbc.co.uk is a great article explaining the advantages of the internet and the changes in power. Throughout the reading I found that many of his theories about the internet and the effects of the internet over the past years, are accurate. The difference in business since the growth of the internet has changed tremendously and Locke proves it with his many examples.


Locke outlines business as early as Henry Ford and points out the changes with command and control since then. I feel that this article is important because it highlights a very important idea. The idea is that we as consumers are becoming smarter and more in control due to the internet. The internet has helped us to do this by educating us, enabling articulation of knowledge more efficient. I feel that this is very true. We as a society have more power over what we buy, read, and experience. Through the internet we are able to read reviews and have questions answered immediately. We also have a wide variety of options and products. This seems to scare businesses who have had hidden agendas and motives. Through the internet consumers have been able to become smarter about what they spend their money on. Another important aspect of the internet as a mass market is that it gives us the opportunity to communicate with a wide range of people. Yes, it is much different than earlier markets, but this is what businesses today need to adapt to. Technology continues to changes as well as individuals needs and wants. Locke points out that now we have knowledge. Over time, business has become more complicated than single product-lines and simple processes. What he's trying to communicate is that altogether the internet has significantly changed the market place and for business to grow and prosper the old ways have to change according to how we communicate today :The World Wide Web.

Assignment # 3

After reading "Unmade in America: the true cost of a global assembly line - Essay" many things came to my mind. First off, the problem with Command and Control is that we as a country are too indecisive. We as a society cannot decide whether something is truly good or bad for us. The explanation of globalization in two key points show this. The two arguments are:


(1) Globalization is good because it spreads what is good in America, such as a liberal approach to business, and McDonald's.
(2) Globalization is bad because it spreads what is worst about America, such as a liberal approach to business, and McDonald's.


We as a society are so indecisive and out of control that we cannot come together and figure out what is truly "good" or "bad" for us. How many times have you heard that McDonalds is a positive place, where family's come together and enjoy dinner. Then how many times have you heard that McDonald's is a negative place because it serves unhealthy food? McSpotlight highlights the problems with McDonalds as a corperation. This deals with both command and control of too many distributers uneducated on the effects of its food. I myself have heard both of these arguments many times. The author points out this problem and how our country wastes needed time on things that most of the time do not add to our growth as a nation. This is an outcome of poor command and control.


Another problem which is pointed out by the author is the communication problem. Because of the hierarchy of power there is a lack of communication between certain groups of people. This is where I think we need a large change. There should be some communication between the higher placed groups and the lower placed groups in general. I say this because, how many of us have played the telephone game. As a child you do not understand the true importance of this game. You sit in a circle and start with a message. The message is then sent around the group and at the end you have a totally different message all together. This is exactly what happens in large corperations and businesses.


The author also shows how so many companys rely on foreign countries to construct the product. This slows down production because of the travel and also the state of the country manufacturing the product.Alexis points out key arguments made by the author on command and control. Joy
makes a good point with the problem with the command/control model, pointing out that using outside sources slows down production.

Logan Fleck: One Crazy Chick

So, It's Saturday night and I have not left my apartment all weekend because, yes, I am very sick. Logan is right that yes, I have a whooping cough. I cannot sleep because I am congested and snot drips down my face. That may have been a little too much information, but whatever. Let's just say that I am very excited because in less than three weeks, I will be on a beach in Jamaica. Guess who will be on the beach with me? That is correct, Logan Fleck.


I also just downloaded Firefox and it is better than what Dave described. It works like a charm with no annoying pop-ups. I think my computer has a mad virus because it randomly shuts off.


Another thing that aggitates me is that my idea was stolen. I had this idea that if you are a chronic drunk dialer (me), that there should be a way to not let someone dial a certain number after a certain time. That would totally take care of the problem and the feeling of waking up in the morning remembering that terrible phone call. Well there is a new feature starting to try and prevent this, started by an Australian Company.

Funny Stuff

I have been reading different posts and getting a pretty good idea about each person. First I want everyone to read how Logan fell down and bruised her patellas. Please if anyone knows what that is please comment on my posting. I am hoping this Logan is Logan Fleck, because this would be so something she would do and then say.



Secondly I liked Deanna's comments on the lyrics website cause this is something I always go to. I love to see what actual lyrics are to songs so that when people sing along and mess up I can catch them. I LOVE when people sing the wrong words. Actually I have stopped telling people that they are wrong cause its better for them to continue when I know they're wrong.



Elana's got it right with imdb.com, love it.