Let’s get viral

Viral videos have become popular in a very short time so it is no wonder that the presidential candidates have decided to incorporate them into their campaigns.  If talk is what they are trying to ignite then the job is done.  One cannot mention viral videos without thinking of Hilary Clinton’s Sopranos parody.  We have all heard the uproar that the ending to the popular HBO series brought, so why not incorporate that into a campaign.  If you can broaden a campaign while generating buzz and laughter, then you have accomplished a great deal.  People are talking about the videos and that is all you can ask for.

Blogging is good for your health

Not only is blogging good for your health (or so two doctors from Eide Neurolearning Blog claim), but apparently it is also good for business. “Naked Conversations” by R. Scoble and S. Israel demonstrates that blogging can help revive a company with a declining reputation. Despite Microsoft’s immense success, customers continued to view them as evil. “Often perceived as predatory and heartless, Microsoft has a reputation for ruthlessly rolling over competitors, wrestling in courtrooms against government prosecutors, and exposing its customers to security flaws and frustrating glitches” (Scoble & Israel, p9). Fortunately for Microsoft, blogging became their salvation.

Blogging is not only good because it is a cost-efficient way to market yourself or your company, but it is good because it helps you stand out from the millions of other companies, employees or experts. The excellent thing about blogging is that it gives an otherwise standard company a human twist. If you can have employees from your company put themselves out there for two way communication with the people you do business with, then your customers are getting to know you beyond the office. The best blogs I have read are not ones that are perfectly put together and well-written, but the ones that reveal a little something about the author.

Building trust with the people you do business with is essential for a long-term relationship. Although one cannot get coffee or go to dinner with every potential client, blogs have become a substitute. Instead of happy hour with customers, another venue for information exchange has become available for customers to get to know the people they entrust their business to. As Scoble and Israel point out, blogging makes communication more efficient because it is a two-way process. Instead of a static homepage which rambles on about what the company can do for you, blogs can replace them as a way of showing what each employee can do.

Despite the success that blogging has brought Microsoft and other companies the word “blog” still carries the stigma of being idle chatter with useless information. Gary Stock, chief technology office for Nexcerpt, Inc. was quoted as saying “more and more people have more text to type, and may not have anything authoritative to say – they just throw up characters on the screen.” Although excessive blogging can one day lead to an abundance of not so useful information, we must understand that this is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we are able to choose what blogs we view or ignore. The only thing that blogs promise is an opportunity to hear everyone. Blogs promise an opportunity to turn a web site into a person. It helps us feel more connected by more than the static “About Me” section.

Managing Change

Here is an interesting article that further examines B.J. Pine and J.H. Gilmore’s article “The Experience Economy.” Managing change is an interactive marketing web site that examines economic changes so it is rather fitting that they discuss this article.

Back to reality

I have to say I have never been one to be attracted to fantasy games like Second Life.  For this reason, I was not very excited when I found we had to participate in one of these games.  Surprisingly, I was not impressed.  Although it was different being Tiffany Anatra (my second life character), I had no idea what to do with her after we entered Avatar Island.  So after spending almost a half an hour practicing her gestures, I decided it was time for a new wardrobe.  Although the selections were quite limited, I was able to find something that I thought she looked good in.

My only criticism is that Second Life is definitely not for dummies.  You have to have some kind of experience or someone to help you through the process.  I basically had to figure everything out on my own and it was not easy. Althoough it was an interesting experience, I do not think I will be a regular Second Life resident.

Utopia as a promise

“Nature And Significance of Play As A Cultural Phenomenon” by J. Huizinga is an interesting piece.  Although Huizinga focuses on the play element in culture, I think the most interesting part here is looking at play as a “significant function” (Huizinga, 1).  Of course all play means something.  Certainly, the term “play” is not limited to children’s play but also extends to the things adults do to unwind.  Play can mean anything from kick ball with a bunch of ten year olds, to a card game with forty year olds.  Play is anything that creates an escape from the demands of our everyday lives.  As I was reading this article, it made me wonder why we need play.  Because, yes, I believe we need it.  I also believe it is a significant function, needed to fill the emptiness that regular life can not. 

Movies, for example, are my play.  A good movie is my escape.  After asking myself what my play was, I found that my answer focused more on the act of watching than the content of the movies.  Getting lost in the lives of others, rather than the actual plot, is what is important to me.  The activity itself is meaningful as an escape from school, friends, my relationship and whatever else is going wrong that day.  Like any other play, however, the movie ends and real life resumes. 

The “Experience Economy,” according to B.J. Pine and J.H. Gilmore, is a force to be reckoned with.  Is this a surprise though?  Today, unlike many years ago, the question is not only whether your product is good, but if buying or receiving your product was enjoyable.  Experiences, like play, give individuals a moment to reflect.  They give people a reason to remember.  Memories make us who we are and there would be none without experiences or play.  The experience economy and internet games such as Second Life and Halo, serve as a playground where experiences and play collide.  Play and experiences take place in a sub-world.  The restaurant, Disney World, and the park that you go to for picnics are all transient worlds that belong to our sub-conscious.  We visit web games and third places not only for a break from life, but at times, a break from ourselves.  So the one thing the readings all have in common is that the fantasy that is play, the experiences we value and web games serve as a kind of coping method that is necessary for success in our “real” lives.

Where I get my news

The most interactive news source, in my opinion, is MSNBC.com.  Not only does it have blogs where people can voice their opinions on whatever they see fit, but they have areas such as “meet the press in your area” where they go around interviewing newsmakers from different areas.  This is why I mainly get my news from msnbc.  I love that it gives you the opition to watch video versions of sdome stories.  I think it is important to give people who are more visual the opportunity  to pick what they want to view.  It is also well known and well trusted. As I was pondering this question, I suddenly realized that, as crazy as it sounds, I have not picked up a news paper in years.  I am definitely an internet baby.  The only news I watch on television is entertainment programs like “Extra” or “Entertainment Tonight.”  I know some people can not start their morning without their morning paper but newspapers have never been able to keep my attention.

News and truth

I was trying to find an excerpt from Walter Lippman’s book “Public Opinion” but had no luck. However, I did find this article on wikipedia that gave a nice summary of the book. My favorite part is when he talks about news and truth. This goes back to my blog that not everyone can successfully distinguish the two.

Richard Jewell is a perfect example. Richard Jewell, who is best known for being accused of the 1996 Olympic bombing, has spoken vividly about the damages the media’s scrutiny has had on his life. Not only did they put him on trial in front of the entire country, but the media treated him like he was guilty from day one. Because the media treated Jewell like he was guilty, the public also treated him that way. Everyone thought he was the “Olympic bomber.”

This is why truth and news must be distinguished. “News and truth are not the same thing, and must be clearly distinguished. The function of news is to signalize an event, the function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts, to set them into relation with each other, and make a picture of reality on which men can act” (Lippman, p.108). It may have been a fact that Richard Jewell was a suspect. It may have been a fact that the police thought he was involved in the bombing. However, Jewell was just a suspect and revealing his name and treating him as if he were already convicted was not good journalism.

We can’t all be journalists

What is journalism for? This is one of the many questions commonly debated among society and journalists. Because journalism has a tremendous impact on public opinion, many view it as a powerful tool. It is viewed as a tool that can influence the decisions and opinions of millions of people. Others, however, believe journalists are just there to report the facts.

Having said that, the alternative online news sites discussed in “Wikinews: The Next Generation of Alternative Online News?” by Axel Bruns, create a more inclusive and diverse atmosphere for current events. An atmosphere that is not reserved for editors and reporters to filter what is fed to the public, but one that provides access to the abundance of information in society. “Then this is not so much due to a diminishing interest in news as such, but has much more to do with the popular realization of the shortcomings of professional journalism especially in an increasingly agglomerated commercial environment” (Wikinews, p.1).

Commercialization is only one of the reasons many have chosen to turn to alternative news sources as a place to get information. I have heard countless people complain about how disconnected they feel from the media. Journalists have to make sure their biases or personal interests do not get in the way of their journalism. This obligation is sometimes overlooked by journalists who let their own personal interests become a priority. Recently, I watched a film in another class entitled “Why America Hates the Media” and I could not help but think of it as I was reading the article. In this film, reporters have been accused of using the “revolving door.” The revolving door is when a reporter constantly switches from being a politician to being a reporter. These journalists benefit from using the revolving door because they get financially compensated by lobbyist groups to report on their behalf. This is one of the reasons why citizens have lost some confidence in the media. They find it hard to trust journalists because they feel they are not catering to their needs. Some reporters (such as the ones discussed in “Why America Hates the Media”) grow out of touch with the people that read their news.

 

“Overall, it is notable that most alternative online news sites rely heavily on their user communities for their coverage of news and current events” (Wikinews, p.2). The perfect solution, then, would be for citizens to become responsible for their own news. I have a little problem with this. Walter Lippmann said it best when he said a good journalist should know how to separate news and truth. Yes, Joe Smith may have the ability to publish words and pictures by his cell phone, but is he able to separate fact from truth? Facts mean nothing without context. Today, citizens use journalism as a means of accessing the information they need to understand their world. Facts without a clear understanding of the context do not fulfill the service of keeping a society well-informed. Also, man’s picture of his world is sometimes misleading. Outside messages are affected by internal beliefs, stereotypes and preconceptions. Although it is clear that people are unhappy with traditional forms of news media, it is unclear, however, if these alternative community based sites are the solutions to this problem. I do not necessarily see websites like Wikinews being a complete replacement of regular news, but I do see it as giving voices to the voiceless. A place where citizens can have ongoing discussions of what interests them, not what an editor at a newspaper says they should discuss.

“Democracy and Filtering” by Cass R. Sunstein makes an excellent point. How are we supposed to be challenged if we are not exposed to other ideas and opinions? Although filtering makes us feel connected with other people with similar ideas, how are we to grow as people if our ideas are not challenged? How do we know what we believe in if our beliefs are not confronted?

Alternative news sites such as Wikinews not only gives voices to the voiceless, but they also serve as democratizing instruments making sure our lives are not too filtered. On these sites, we hear the voices from other perspectives, opening our eyes to a world beyond ourselves.

Working Together… When Apart

Here is a short video of Linda Gratton, professor of management at The London School of Business talking about the use of virtual teams in large companies such as Nokia.  She explains how companies like Nokia form teams of up to 120 people all lover the world to do business.

Out of Sight Out Of Mind

Virtual teams scare me. Why? Because even traditional co-located teams make me nervous. You never know what your team mates will be like. Will they be smart? Will they be outgoing or not have any input? How many slackers will I get this time? These, along with many others, are the questions that run through our minds when it is time to work in groups. So how am I supposed to feel when I learn I’ll be on a team with five other people that I will only communicate with through some technological device? Talking to my friends on line is one thing. But actually working with others to obtain a common (most likely important) goal is asking too much.

Virtual Teams

Like personal virtual relationships, virtual teams have a hard time. A virtual team (also known as a Geographically Dispersed Team) is a group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose. They also share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Geographically dispersed teams allow organizations to hire and retain the best people regardless of location.

The reading “Working Smart: A Web Book for Virtual Teams,” by J. Lipnack and J. Stamps, is another example of how technology is taking over our lives. Another example of how there seems to be no excuse for not being able to accomplish anything. Need to develop a team for an upcoming presentation but your best experts are dispersed around the world? Then form a virtual team. Not only are the members not physically present in the same location, but they are dependent on internet technologies even more than before. This would require a more adaptive group of people in order to have a successful virtual team. There are definitely advantages in having virtual teams as opposed to traditional co-located teams but my concern lies within the disadvantages.

Virtual

Because members of virtual teams are always changing, it would be rather difficult to build any trust or commitment let alone any accountability. Many could argue that there is no accountability in virtual teams, after all, out of sight means out of mind. It definitely takes a unique set of people to put their trust and commitment in a group that they have never had face-to-face interactions with. Where is the motivation when you do not have enough of a relationship with your team members to care how your work affects their performance? Naturally, as humans, we are able to be responsible enough to carry out the tasks which we know we are accountable for. However, is this the case when we do not know our team mates. Is this the case when our team mates are “represented by a list of names” (Stamps, Lipnack p. 196)? Sandy on a piece of paper is different from the Sandy I met at the coffee shop last week.

Technology

As I mentioned earlier, it would take a rather resilient set of people whom can adapt to many different forms of technology to make a successful virtual team. My concern here is the focus on technology and adapting that may take away from successfully executing tasks. Virtual teams can fail more often due to lack of technology skills and function.

Looking at the virtual team as a whole rather than a collection of the individuals that make it up is one way to see the reliability and efficiency of a virtual team. The members may be transitory and there may not be a way to hold anyone accountable for anything, but the simple aggregation of expertise not restricted by geographical constraints is a phenomenon that can not be ignored.