Ever heard of Web 2.0?

No one has ever downloaded a new version of the internet have they? The answer should be quite obviously no. The term simply gives name to the idea that the internet has changed quite a bit from the 1990's. During this time web pages were primarily passive in that users solely had the ability to view content and not interact with it. This changed around the beginning of the 21st century. Both Adobe and Java are the primary developers of the technology that was required to make the internet a two way street. This allowed the level of social interaction that we have from the internet today. It is impossible to measure the effects this has had on us but one could confidently say that this allowed our society to reshape the way we educate, interact and view ourselves.

Layout of a class focused on online interaction

The effects these changes have had on education may in fact have happened so quickly that we are unable to determine the side effects and socially change accordingly. Lack of interest and focus in more traditional classroom settings have been blamed on this development, although it is hard to establish a direct link. Although curriculum's may need serious overhaul with an increased online classroom presence it can easily be argued that the positives out way the benefits. The additional more timely feedback students can receive is invaluable. In addition students that were limited to social interaction based on geographical location no longer have that restraint. Research and interaction on an international level are areas that many schools, particularly those of higher education are incorporating into their programs.

Illustration of the concepts included within the term "Web 2.0"

The level of social interaction that takes place has caused the creation of a cyber persona for most people who have access. This typically takes form in Facebook accounts or other social networking sites. Once again this is something that we many not have fully adjusted to socially as many controversies have been talked about in the media, particularly those involving cyber bullying. 

Online social interaction is something that we have become used to yet don't quite fully understand. Regardless, this new form of engagement in the form of blogs, posts, uploaded photos and videos and of course Tweets redefines community and our entire form of expression.

Augmented Reality

Over the next few years we will be treated to the steady perfection of augmented reality. The idea of AR is to take a computer generated "layer" of information and place it over a live view of ones surroundings. 

Several AR applications already exist for smart phones although they are still imperfect. They have many features and can be used for a variety of different searches. LAYAR is one of the most popular and is available for both Apple and Android operating systems. It has a selection of "layers" that allow users to do location based searches for almost anything. One of the most useful I have found is the apartments for rent search although it is best used within a large city.

Google is said to be working on their own version of AR which will incorporate the already released Google Goggles app.  The technology they are developing will be able to recognize specific objects or locations just using equipment that is already in all smartphones. The app can already be used to identify bar codes, artwork, landmarks, labels, and of course wine labels.  One of the uses that Google has said it is planning is plant leaf recognition software for.... plant people I guess. Regardless the concept is pretty cool and we will see it be perfected in the next few years.

Personally I see one of the more successful applications for AR is its use with instruction. Today if someone wants to know how to build, fix, or do pretty much anything chances are there is a video of exactly how to do it on You Tube. In the not too distant future most of us may be turning to AR for this particular issue. Below I have included several videos that are great examples of exactly what I am talking about.

How to assemble IKEA furniture.

 

Although I feel like BMW mechanics should already know how to take apart one of their own cars, this video is one of the best illustrations.

Matt Mills of Aurasma, demonstrates their version of AR and its uses.

Stumble!

The term "social bookmarking," isn't the proper term to describe randomly clicking through the internet with the intent of wasting time. This of course is my personal opinion which may have something to do with my choice for favorite "social bookmarking" site. The big three sites that are involved in this category are of course Digg.com, Stumbleupon.com and reddit.com.

  No one ever became anything special by making something that is supposed to be simple more complicated. That being said, both digg.com and reddit.com over complicate the process of me having tons of irrelevant information thrown at me based on my interests. Stumbleupon.com has the perfect platform to deliver this in the most user friendly way. You literally select your interests from a huge selection of topics that include everything from Artificial Intelligence to Zoology and literally everything in between. Following these five minutes of your time, the only additional effort you need to put into your newly found pass time is clicking the STUMBLE! button (below).

 Personally, the layout of reddit looks like it got lost in the 90's and the process of finding something interesting makes you feel like your actually there. Although digg.com has a much more updated layout you still have to do some digging (HA) before finding articles on specific topics as the site is not that organized. In fact it kind of looks like the internet threw up on a page. Despite Reddit's large dedicated following I would still recommend Stumbleupon to anyone who wants to kill an hour or two before work or class.

The Stomping of MySpace

By 2006 only three years after its creation, MySpace was the most visited website for both The United States and the world. This popularity was short lived as Facebook quickly dominated any online competition with its massive following.

Total lack of both adaptability and innovation: When their numbers started to decline nothing really changed. The website's layout which was already too complex for its own good never underwent any major changes until its ownership actually did something. NewsCorp's management can be seen as a contributing factor to this as the staff had little interest in investing money back into the site. This seemed to be the direct opposite of Facebook's policy as they were undergoing dramatic changes on a somewhat regular basis and regularly investing for long term growth. Another contributing factor to this was that Facebook had decided seek outside help for designing apps that created a new level of interaction with users.

How bad was NewsCorp's gamble to cash in on the social networking boom? Well in 2005 MySpace was bought for $580 million. It was then sold in 2011 for only $35 million.

Facebook on the other hand seems to be only gaining more popularity. It's closest competition is now Twitter and Linked In, both of which don't offer near as many features as Facebook does. The site is continually under going upgrades, most recently the "timeline" feature streamlines uploads into a more organized photogenic way.

Despite the disappointment of Facebook's move public the site continues to grow, surpassing 1 billion users in October of 2012. During its growth, Facebook has also made a continual effort to buy up companies that offer features that Facebook did not already have, such as the purchase of photo sharing app, Instagram in April of 2012.

With an ever growing number of tools such as instant messaging, video calls, market place, photo timeline, and groups in addition to an ever growing number of businesses that place themselves on the site, Facebook seems to be avoiding any fate similar to MySpace... for now.

Communication leaves Transportation

For the majority of human existence communication was tied directly to the efficiency and speed of transportation. Today, they have almost nothing to do with each other but backtrack to the 1800’s and geography was the primary antagonist to any form of communication over long distance. The invention of the Telegraph in the 1830’s changed all of this and laid the foundation for the current networks of digital communication that exist today. 

 

In the United States, confidence grew quickly in the new device following several successful demonstrations by Samuel Morse in 1844. Lines quickly spread across the country and rapidly grew from only 40 miles of cable in 1846 to 23,000 in 1852.

On October 24th 1861, the first transcontinental cable was established connecting the East and West coasts. The effects of this were immediate as demonstrated by the closing of the famous Pony Express only two days later.

The transcontinental cable also played a role in the 1861 election of President Lincoln. Union officials were eager to give Nevada statehood prior to the election, as Lincoln was the favorite. Believing that they would not have time to send the state constitution by train to Washington to be ratified, they sent it by telegraph. This was for 17 years the longest transmission ever sent by telegraph and took two full days to send.

 

 

The network grew globally as well. The first continually successful transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1866 and connected North America to the United Kingdom. This cable had the ability to transmit up to eight words a minute, which was a dramatic improvement over the ten days it would take a ship to make the journey.

 

The ability to send time sensitive information over long distances prior to it becoming historic changed many industries. Trade in particular was impacted as “near real time” information on stock prices was able to be transmitted and received by brokers thanks to the invention of the Ticker Tape machine by Tomas Edison in 1869. This increased both the speed at which trades were performed and the accuracy of particular quotes.

Journalism was another industry that had to heavily adjust to the Telegraph.  Since only a few cables ran from place to place, newspaper companies could no longer rely on their own reporters to gather and transmit information on stories, as it would be too much information for the cables to handle. The solution came in the form of cooperation as five daily newspapers located in New York City were attempting to cover the Mexican-American War. The result of this cooperation was the formation of the first wire service which would eventually become the now well known Associated Press. Due to both the speed at which transmissions could now be made and the small format they were confined to, the style of writing had to be changed. This necessitated a shift from the linear form of writing that involved a beginning, middle and end to a reverse pyramid style (5 W's) that we still sometimes see today.

 

 

 

On You Tube

When Success equals views. 

With its explosive growth in social media, You Tube has become so popular that it is almost if not totally impossible to live one day without seeing at least one video from the site. It's ever increasing popularity coupled with its ease of accessibility has allowed for a digital environment in which 8 years of video content is currently uploaded every day. With this enormous portfolio, we have a huge database to see which particular elements contribute to success on the site. In this case success is equal to the number a views a video receives. Excluding the obvious fact of making a catchy video taking the time to make sure the video is listed in the proper category with the proper tags is essential. The timing of when you upload is secondary to making sure the video can be easily found. So assuming that a video can be easily found, what makes some so popular??

Originally uploaded on July 15th 2012, the single Gangnam style by South Korean rapper Psy has received over 350 million views on You Tube.

This video, although ridiculous contains key elements that easily explain its popularity. First it's catchy as HELL. Although I may be ashamed to admit it, the song contains a fast paced digital beat that is addictive enough to erase the obvious complication of the language and culture barrier. The long-term timing of its release also assisted in boosting the view count as this type of music is becoming increasingly popular both abroad and in the United States. Now if we add to that the ridiculous "horse riding" dance performance that the rapper seems to have perfected, we have a recipe for a You Tube sensation.   

Buisness and Facebook

Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has been expanding its services reaching out to larger groups such as businesses and non profits. Almost any reasonably sized company and many smaller ones now have a Facebook page. The intention here is clear as Facebook now has almost 1 billion users making the marketing potential immeasurable. So how does Facebook get used for a business? Obviously this is dependent on the type of business that we are talking about however many common trends appear when surfing between pages. Event announcements, new product information and customer interaction appear to be common on most if not all business pages.   The most active and often most successful pages are those of companies who ask for both written and visual feedback on their products. Outdoor equipment companies such as North Face, REI and Salomon all offer customers the opportunity to upload pictures and share stories about their experiences with a specific product. Clearly, this could have either beneficial or negative effects but by asking for the public's opinion the companies have established that they have a certain level of confidence in their products. The purchase of Instagram last month further increased the ability of consumers to effortlessly submit pictures of their purchases, providing these companies with a constant stream of free user generated advertising. Because of this it can be argued that Facebook has become one of the most valuable advertising tools companies of this type have at their disposal.

Elections and Twitter

This election is the first presidential election that we can see both candidates using Twitter somewhat effectively. In 2008 we saw what happens when only one party reaches out to the millions of readers on Twitter. This time around both parties are constantly bombarding their respective followers with updates on the campaigns in addition to their views of the opposing party. What is being said you ask? Well not much. The tweets that are released by both campaigns offer little to no extra insight into their views or policies.  In fact many of the posts are clearly excerpts from speeches.  Examples of families struggling to put food on the table and workers getting laid off coupled with non specific attacks on the opposing party are all to common and say little to nothing about the candidate himself. One area that Twitter does shine is the ability to quickly spread a personal message that may be time sensitive. This would be highly effective when used for damage control. Recently one of the candidates placed himself in a hole and spent the following 24 hour news cycle trying to dig himself out of it. Not one word of this problem was even mentioned on his Twitter account. Perhaps this has to do with the permanent nature of tweets or perhaps he felt that less was more in this particular case. Either way it seems that both parties are so nervous about crossing a line that they have actually decreased the effectiveness of a tool like Twitter by not offering any additional insight into their campaigns'. From now until November it will be very interesting to see if this changes with the increasing pressure.