Clay Shirky on New Book “Here Comes Everybody” – Youtube
video file
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Clay Shirky is a social media theorist and an associate
teacher with Tisch
School of the Arts in the
Interactive Telecommunications Program. In this Youtube video, entitled “Clay
Shirky on New Book “Here Comes Everybody” Shirky speaks about his newly
released book, Here Comes Everybody: The
Power of Organizing Without Organization. The presentation was hosted by
the Berkman Center
for Internet and Society at Harvard
Law School
on February 28, 2008
Shirky begins with the focus of his book, ‘multiple
audiences’ setting the tone of the presentation and video. He discusses in
depth the affects of the internet on society in relation to the forming of
groups and group action; discussing the four patterns contributing towards
group creation and action; sharing conversation, collaboration and collective
action. Technology and the internet providing a set of tools that engages and
enables individuals to create groups; communication within these groups becomes
easier and more widespread as a direct result of the technology. Unlike Howard
Rheingold in the video file, “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution” who
focuses on how technology allows more free writing and “every desk top being a
printing press”. (Rheingold, 2002, np) Shirky discusses the influence the
internet has had on forming groups and how group action can than influence
real-time reaction by coordinating what has now become known as flash or smart
mobs. “Media becomes a place where groups can come together and achieve some
sort of shared goal rather than just a source of information is ... observable
now and is going to become widespread.” (Shirky, 2008, np)
Another concept mentioned by Shirky and echoed by Rheingold
is the power of the people when they speak about ‘technology and how technology
has influenced free writing and group action. Shirky discusses the power of the
people and how people / groups can alter how the market is looked at when they
are brought together for a common goal whether it access to Anime or passing a
bill of rights for air travellers.
In 2008 smart mobs may have been in their infancy but Shirky
was very astute when he predicted they would become widespread due to online
technology and the ease of creating groups for collective action.
Clay Shirky on New Book “Here Comes Everybody”. [Video
file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_0FgRKsqqU
Rheingold, Howard. (2002).
“Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution.” MIT World. [Video file]. Retrieved
from: http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/22
Participative Pedagogy for a Literacy of Literacies by Howard Rheingold
Howard
Rheingold is a “writer, artist and designer, theorist and community builder”
who specializes on virtual communities and the implications of modern
communication mediums i.e. the internet. (TED, n.d.) This essay Participative Pedagogy for a Literacy of
Literacies is one of nine essays written by communication theorists for a book
compiled by Joi Ito. (Link http://freesouls.cc/essays/03-howard-rheingold-participative-pedagogy-for-a-literacy-of-literacies.html)
Rheingold begins this essay by discussing the impact the web
has had on human sociality by amplifying human connections with online social
networks creating virtual communities, virtual communities with like-minded
people from around the world. Introducing cyberculture studies as an academic
discipline within a variety of fields like “sociologists, anthropologists,
historians, psychologists, economists, programmers and political scientists.”
(Rheingold, 2011, paragraph 4) As online usage increases patterns emerge, these
patterns are studied and eventually influence software design. “One particularly useful affordance of online
sociality is that a great deal of public behavior is recorded and structured in
a way that makes it suitable for systematic study.” (Rheingold, 2011, paragraph
5)
In Rheingold’s words the internet makes it possible for
individuals to act together in new ways with people from around the world. As
these individuals create and/or join virtual communities they influence the
world around them with their collective actions. Rheingold also discusses the phenomena
of online volunteering where individuals willingly answer each other’s
questions, design software; participate online with blogs, wikis, social
bookmarking, file sharing, and social networks without fiscal reward. The
internet has made it easier for individuals to contribute, “While the old story[9]
is that people are highly unlikely to cooperate with strangers to voluntarily
create public goods, the new story seems to be that people will indeed create
significant common value voluntarily”. (Rheingold, 2011, paragraph 7)
Participatory media has made it easier for people to
contribute online as individuals or as a collective. Participatory media gains
power from the value associated with the usage. In closing Rheingold states,
“Such literacy can only make action possible, however−it is not in the
technology, or even in the knowledge of how to use it, but in the ways people
use knowledge and technology to create wealth, secure freedom, resist tyranny.”
(Rheingold, 2011, paragraph 12)
Howard Rheingold Profile. TED: Ideas Worth Sharing.
Retrieved from www.ted.com/speakers/howard_rheingold.html
Rheingold, H. (2011). Participative Pedagogy for a Literacy of Literacies. In ITO, J.(Eds.), FREESOULS captured and
released. Retrieved from http://freesouls.cc/essays/03-howard-rheingold-participative-pedagogy-for-a-literacy-of-literacies.html
Lawrence Lessig’s
Blog
Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur": BRILLIANT!
Posted May 31,
2007
Lawrence Lessig
is a Professor of Law with the Harvard Law School. Lessig is highly regarded
due to his work with copyright issues regarding electronic applications. Within
this blog post Lessig reviews the book The
Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture by Andrew
Keen. (Link to Lessig’s blog post here http://www.lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_the_cult_of_the_amateur.html)
Essentially
this blog post is about online copyright issues and a rebuttal towards Andrew
Keen for his comments about Lessig in the book The Cult of the Amateur (Link to book here http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Amateur-Internet-Killing-Culture/dp/0385520808)
Keen is not a supporter of participatory literacy criticizing the accuracy and
validity of online publishing by amateurs. “The lesson he [Keen] teaches
is one we should all learn -- to read and think critically” (Lessig, 2007)
In the Extended
Entry, Lessig addresses a few sections in the book where Keen attacks him, his
views and role within the copyright and creative commons issues. Covering
issues from piracy, to traditional meaning. One idea this book review does
bring to the forefront of the online participatory literary is the importance
of being critical of the information one reads. Rheingold’s interview with
Adora Svitak echos this concept as she provides a few tips for children to
determine the credibility of a website, “researching the authors is a good step”.
(Rheingold & Svitak, 2010)
In closing
Lessig supports online creativity and mentions, “What Keen misses is the
value to a culture that comes from developing the capacity to create.” (Lessig,
2007)
Lessig, Lawrence. (2007, May 31). “Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur": BRILLIANT!.” [Blog post]. Retrieved from: http://www.lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_the_cult_of_the_amateur.html
Rheingold, Howard. (2010)“Adora Svitak: A 12 Year
Old on Digital Literacy." [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://vlog.rheingold.com/index.php/site/video/adorasvitak-a-12-year-old-ondigital-literacy/
Part 2
I was
impressed with a lot of the articles and video clips chosen especially The
Grand Rapids LipDub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPjjZCO67WI) reviewed by
Glenn; it is an excellent example of collective action illustrating the power
of the people when they have a common goal. James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing,
the Harry Potter
inspired ebook by George Norman Lippert reviewed by
Hillary is very intriguing. I will be reading this ebook when I have some free
reading time. Self publishing is a topic that interests me and in my cyber
travels I found a website called Issuu – You Publish (http://issuu.com/explore)
that enables people and publishers to produce ebooks.
Theresa’s review of Homeless Hotspots brought up the issue of
ethics and the ethical use of online programs, mobile technology and social
media. The ethics surrounding the internet and usage of mobile technology and
social media is quite relevant as online communication increases globally. There
is a mirage of opinions about the Homeless Hotspots project but the two primary
positions are exploitation of the homeless or viable meaningful employment for
homeless.
The KONY 2012 video clip that went viral a few weeks ago was
reviewed by Kim, Glenn and Liz. Kim brought up the idea that if something is
well-designed and communicates a message we, the public are swayed; “Despite the fact I think as a public
we are less naïve than perhaps a couple generations ago, we can still be swayed
by a well-designed and communicated message.” (Denstedt, March 11, 2012) I
think a correlation can be drawn between a well-designed website or podcast or
magazine and physical beauty. We as a society are attracted to beauty
regardless of the form. Raj Persaud wrote an article for the Financial Times that
expresses society’s attraction to beauty and correlated it to intelligence and health.
Basically we are attracted to beauty and well-designed visuals that communicate
a message.
Resources
Denstedt, K. (2012, March 11). Kony 2012 Second Text for Assignment 2 [Web log comment] Retrieved
from http://nmnonline.blogspot.ca/2012/03/kony-2012-second-text-for-assignment-2.html
Homelesshotspots.org.
(2012). Collaborators. Retrieved from http://homelesshotspots.org/
On eve of James Potter sequel, Harry Potter fan fiction
heats up: Unlikely author poised to keep the story alive. (2008, July 15). PR
Web. Retrieved March 15, 2012 from
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1080574.htm
Persaud, R. (2005, April 30). Science rewrites the rules of attraction. Retrieved from http://www.sensualism.com/beauty/attraction.html
“The Grand Rapids LipDub.” (2011, May 26). YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPjjZCO67WI
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