My personal assistant.

As I read this weeks reading I couldn't help but think of my Iphone 4s

The reason that I thought of my phone, was because with the technology I am able to limit so much as far as what information that I see. Smart phones allow people to download apps based upon their interest. For me I have games, wallpapers, and of course social media as main apps on my phone. I don't have certain apps like the example of not having baseball or the news. I only select apps I want based on my interest. I think smart phones have further extended our ability to choose what we want and allows us to do this right at the edge of our fingertips.

Do you think customizing and limiting information is a negative thing? Or do you think that this allows us to get more in tune with the things we actually enjoy?

Social Media Filters

Filtering networked media is becoming more common. Social media is often critizied for being noisy, so filters have been developed to avoid the clutter of information to make networked media more personal. Like “The Daily Me” stated, the power of a free society gives people the power to filter out unwanted material.

Facebook

Facebook actually builds their network in a way that increases noise (news feed). To solve this problem, go here http://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/lists, then create a list, and add names to the list.

Twitter

Twitter lists are a wonderful way to segment your Twitter network. Create your lists, Then the next level is to start a Hootsuite or Tweetdeck account and search for keywords within those lists.

 

Google+

Google caught on that users want to filter, so they built it into their site. Simply utilize the circles function in a similar fashion as you would Twitter lists or Facebook lists. 

Pew Internet Study: Social Networking Sites and Politics

Thought some of you may find this interesting:

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Social-networking-and-politics.aspx?utm_source=Mailing+List&utm_campaign=bbf925955f-SNS_politics_alert03_12_2012&utm_medium=email

Networked Media: Democracy in Action or the Blind Leading the Blind?

It was Sustein's writings this week that really caught my attention. In particular, the idea of "the Daily Me" seemed to speak most to the touchpoints we all have with networked media on a daily basis. Sustein's "Four Big Problems" corresponds well to "the Daily Me," as I will elaborate on here briefly.

While reading through these texts, I thought of a few salient examples from my own interaction with "the Daily Me" recently.

- First of all, I think we have all seen the "KONY2012" video circulating around the internet, growing in popularity at explosive rates. I have not watched the video, but I have been impressed by its effect on people I know, and more importantly, of course, on my Facebook and Pinterest pages. I think that, in a sense, the example of the KONY2012 video illustrates what Sustein was saying with the notion that "a well-functioning system of free expression must [expose people] to materials that they would not have chosen in advance" (p. 8, "The Daily Me"). Think of it this way: Without networked media, what are the chances that KONY2012 would have been viewed by so many people?

As a side note, I wonder how affective pure exposure is in the sense of mobilizing democratic action. Again, I think KONY2012 is a good example; we will see how long its lifespan on social media lasts, and if any government intervention at all will occur because of its popularity.

- Secondly, I offer the recent example of the fervor over the birth control mandate. After a few days of seeing it on the news and--more frustratingly for me--my social networks, I found myself increasingly polarized on the issue, something that I had not previously sought out discussion on. I began to filter the messages I received from the media so that I would not need to hear the differing opinions unless, of course, I felt like being angry that day. I feel like this not only exemplifies what Sustein was saying about the increasingly common nature of people to filter out only the messages they want to hear and agree with, but also Sustein's notion of the "Four Big Problems."

Because I chose for a time to only attend to news items on the mandate that aligned with my particular opinions on the issue, I feel that I encountered those Four Big Problems. Certainly, when people filter their life so as to only encounter messages that agree with their beliefs, amplification is an issue: polarization ensues, and we encounter egocentric bias. Hidden profiles are also extremely salient here, as people tend not to want to disclose information they have that might go against the group, especially on such a heated topic. Cascades and groupthink are also at play in the formation of the Daily Me, because who--for example--would go against such a reputable source as Fox News?!

After reading and reflecting on Sustein's writings, I believe that the internet often exacerbates these problems rather than resolves them, as I encountered with the mandate example. Although the internet could provide a multitude of varying information and opinions on the topic, I tended to pay more attention to results that conformed to my own particular beliefs.

Game Change

As I read the Barney article, I kept thinking about the new movie about Sarah Palin called, Game Changer:

"Whether it is post-Habermasians attempting to flesh out the exacting demands of discourse ethics and the sort of public spheres necessary to support deliberative practices, critical media scholars painstakingly documenting the pathologies of capitalist, patriarchal, and racialized political economies that condemn media systems to democratic failure, or the countless political actors who struggle daily to materialize something resembling fairness, diversity and integrity in the media environment, on thing is clear:  the road to democratic justice is paved with more and better information and communication" (p. 91).

 So I'm posting videos of the trailer and a Chelsea Handler interview with Julianne Moore (the actor who played Palin).  I really only want you to watch from 1:33 to 2:40 on the Julianne Moore and Chelsea Handler video.

Basically this movie, Game Changer, brings to light the problem with "movie star" politicians.  Is our political system truly paving the road to democratic justice with "better information and communication" when elections tend to favor candidates with the most charisma, stage presence, and good looks?  Especially in the 2008 election when the media catered to the theme of diversity. Is information really valuable when we risk electing uninformed individuals to represent and manage the future of our country?

This quote from the Barney article also reminded me of a YouTube video my dad sent me with his constant warnings of the demise of the world thanks to upcoming generations who "don't know anything."

"To imagine that the potential of the computer age for democracy lies in the accessibility of information to individual citizens and voters who will be moved by the millions to petition and to vote more wisely than ever before is to imagine what will not be -- and it is to exercise a very narrow democratic imagination in the first place" (p. 92 - 93).

...the real message lay not in the behavior bit in the collective action.

"...the real message lay not in the behavior but in the collective action." (Faster and Faster, p 167)

This partial sentence really got me to thinking about the power of group action over individual action. I thought to myself first about how this is human instinct. Just remember when you would try as a child to plea your case to your parents about needing a piece of candy saying "but my sisters want one too...I'm not the only one.". Then my mind went to how the newest devices allow us to create a "group" so efficiently these days. The article had many great examples of how groups are used for political or protest reasons. I was trying to think of another way in which we are using collective action to make change...

The only thing that comes to mind is the creation of what id call "reaction groups" on social networks -- like Facebook. we see a lot of groups pop up after disasters (i.e. shootings, tornadoes, etc) pleasing for donations and support, or local tragedies (i.e. children with cancer, families with out-of-work parents, etc.). It seems that the "virtual collection" of these people is what makes the biggest impact (awareness, perhaps?), versus the actual purpose of the group to provide aide. Maybe I'm stretching this a bit, but doesn't it seem that when you run across a "reaction group" on Facebook you give it the proper thought and consideration regardless of whether or not you choose to larticipate in their cause?

I was trying to think of an example that fits well with the passage above regarding the collection of like-minded people as the threat, not the group's action itself. Like I said, this might be a stretch in that regard.

What do you think? And can you think of any other/better examples of collectives that garner action?

Stand at Attention.

I really liked this piece, personally. Bias implied.

I have been contemplating this idea of "attention" recently (before the article), and have been trying to apply it to some of my social activities.

As a reference point, this old song crept into my mind:



This one is a bit more problematic for me. Particularly the song in juxtaposition to the choice of scenes. But, that's the point:



"...skillfull management of attention is the sine qua non of the good life and the key to improving virtually every aspect of your experience, from mood to productivity to relationships."

One area in which I've been focusing attention is on my leisure time. I enjoyed the personal section on the details of her year with cancer in that I found it highly approachable with regards to savoring the everyday. Appreciating a walk or a movie or a comment like "Have a Nice Day."

I've trying to savor some "down" time. Specifically... (wait for it) bowling! So, I hit the lanes every Friday. Order a pitcher of spirits and bowl and chat with my friend.

As an exercise, I've been focusing on all the component parts (technique) of bowling so as to learn hook or curve bowling, just for fun. Here it is in slow motion, both a 4 and 5 step approach.



Anyway, nothing special or dangerously erudite, just a personal reflection on attention. Bowling has actually helped me set good boundaries with time away from responsibilities and giving "attention" to tecnhique has been good practice.

Responsible Journalism

A friend shared this link with me and I thought it was relevant to many discussions we have (aside from being pretty awesome).

This group is setting out to reinstate long-form journalism, and I think it's fantastic. They make some really valid points about news today... rapid-fire bits of info that pepper our sense, reaching us through a haze of advertisements that are trying to compete with the news. (There's some irony there, I think... advertisers might like to think they are piggy-backing off of a news site's reach and simply giving people access to information they might want, but really they are also doing everything they can to distract from the main news. And news sources eat it up for the revenue - almost all sites have ads above content.)

I am a dinosaur like Megan... I champion long-form literature and journalism, and you don't want to get me started on my thoughts about reading online:) I'm actually interested in doing doctoral research in this area and I'd love to start a nonprofit someday or work with an organization already working to change ever-decreasing interest in long-form reading, especially in youth. Relating to our articles, I think dedicating this time is becoming increasingly difficult. "Choosing the Focused Life" talked about essentially working out our brains to be able to focus better, which is great, but I think that will only get more difficult as the media environment continues to develop. In Nick Carr's "The Shallows", one prominent graduate from Florida said something to the affect of this: "Why would I ever read a book again when I can just Google it?"

Is long-form reading a lost cause? I see benefits, and research has proved them, but is there any chance of making people (especially youth) see that? And is it something developing cultures should think about as the skip the print era and go straight to digital? How will their individual development differ?

Random thoughts from a late night, short attention span

Our generation can’t pay attention. http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/29/10534621-millennials-benefit-and-suffer-from-hyperconnected-lives-report.

 “Those who are growing up in "today’s networked world and counting on the Internet as their external brain will be nimble analysts and decision-makers who will do well," some experts told Pew [researchers]. But others "expect that constantly connected teens and young adults will thirst for instant gratification and often make quick, shallow choices."

Richard Lanham’s “Stuff and Fluff” mirrors this sentiment. With the advent of the Internet and Web 2.0, he describes the seemingly perpetual challenge facing current advertisers, marketers, bloggers and social media enthusiasts alike—which is, how do you break through the clutter and get noticed? Information, after all, “doesn’t seem in short supply. Precisely the opposite. We’re drowning in it. There is too much information to make sense of it all”  (p. 6).

This then, I think, raises the question as to whether we can ever really have too much information. Sure, democracy is nice, but are we better off unplugged and in the dark at some point? I, personally, have struggled to write this blog among the competing forces of Facebook and Bethenny Ever After that are calling my name. 

Also interesting to me, though, was Lanham’s early questions about the validity of the information sources today. Gone is the era of beloved “antiques”—as “the hunger for stuff is paralleled by a hunger for style” (p. 3).

A likely culprit here: The iPad. (Damien gasps). Society’s one-stop-shop for all things life, news, social media, and Words With Friends related these days—what else do we need? Devices like this have increased, distracted and diversified our consumption of information. Sure, we might still access the New York Times online--but the stories compete with random, intrusive and irrelevant commentary at the bottom of the page. Music info might originate from NPR, but we only see it from a biased RT on Twitter. Many of us often find the screens littered with live updates from the 2 seconds we set the device down. Info. is. everywhere.  

Ending personal thought: I was recently made fun of for buying a tangible CD instead of purchasing the digital copy of the album on iTunes/Spotify. Now, I like the "collectible" nature of the shiny, durable CD case (WITH the lyrics and fold out poster included, of course). In a world where we are all so addictively IV-ed to technology and electronics, am I (and, likely Lanham) the only dinosaur that still does this? Same with books--do the words not seem more real when you're thumbing the actual paper pages?  

…Looks around the silent room awkwardly. Ok time for this loner to go!

A little experiment

With all this talk about networked media in the past few weeks in this class and my marketing class, I decided to do a bit of a personal experiment. After grocery shopping at Hy-vee, I noticed while bringing in my groceries that my milk had leaked all over my trunk. Upon go inside and checking my receipt, I also noticed that the cashier had also charged me for the wrong kind of grapes (not the sale one that I bought), meaning my grapes cost me a whopping $7.

After discovering this, I tweeted a relatively harmless post showing my disappointment:

"Just went to @hyvee. They charged me for green grapes instead of red and the top of my milk fell off in my trunk. #fail :("

Within six minutes, I had this response for Hyvee's twitter account:

"Could you please tell me which location this happened? Thank you!"

I tweeted back the location and a couple days later received this tweet:

"I have spoken with the store director. Please email us for details. Thank you!"

After emailing them, I received an email from the store director apologizing for my negative experience and offering a refund of my grapes and reimbursement to have my trunk cleaned!

What would our world look like if every company were connected to its consumers in this way? Would we be more satisfied shoppers, or would we simply continue to expect more and more from those we do business with? As our world becomes more and more networked and instantaneous, will small businesses that do not have the capacity to keep up with this ever-changing technology be left behind?

Focus Matters.

“You cannot always be happy, but you can almost always be focused, which is the next best thing.” 

                                                                                                                          -- Gallagher, Winifired

The article “choosing the focused life” reminds me of the topic I had last semester in Interpersonal Communication class. Talking about divorced family and its influence, there are significant differences among different people when they deal with divorce-related issue. This article makes me think that for those people with negative attitude towards divorce and feel depressed about it, changing their focus might be a good way.

In China, majority of people feel shamed about telling people their family divorce. People in the divorced family sometimes will be judged unfairly, which negatively affect the children’s life.  I think in western countries, such kind of issue also exists. After reading this article, I am thinking, although divorce sometimes is not the perfect solution of the marriage or family, society at least do not have to focus on judging those people too much. Once people do not focus on such disappointing issue so much, the influence it caused will be reduced correspondingly.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaRtqrlGy8

Gil Scott-Heron was a member of the Black Panther movement in the 1970s.  He was a soul and jazz poet that focused on spoken word.  This is probably one of his most famous works where his call to action is to act now and stand up to the prejudice and racism in society.

I have seen several other takes on his words, about the revolution will not be televised, but tweeted, updated and checked-in. Eluding to the social media tools of today to start a revolution.  I think Scott-Heron was spot on, about the revolution not be televised, but how we see revolution today is much different than Scott-Heron would have ever dreamed.  He passed away last summer and I wonder what his thoughts were to the rise of Twitter and Facebook in revolutions like the Arabic Spring.

Be Still and Pay Attention!

"Attention's selective nature confers tremendous benefits, chief of which is enabling you to comprehend what would otherwise be chaos. You couldn't take in the totality of your own experience, even for a moment, much less the whole world. Whether it's noise on the street, ideas at the office, or feelings in a relationship, you're potentially bombarded with stimuli vying for your attention. New electronic information and communications technology continually add to the overload. By helping you to focus on some things and filter out others, attention distills the universe into your universe." This passage from the Gallagher reading is starred and underlined in my copy. This article came at just the right time for me. I've been reading and meditating on this concept ever since our discussion last week regarding the "space of flows." Someone I know well, believes silence is not only golden, but imperative. I read this passage in his blog last week. "Constant sound has a way of slowly draining the body, mind, and spirit of some of its most salient elements. As it pertains to sound, when we head down the slope of 'more is better,' I fear we often neglect to ask where we’re headed. The soul of humanity was not wired for constant frenzy or stimulation. When we ignore this inherent wiring, we become wounded in some of our deepest and most significant places. The thing is – we don’t often realize the damage until later, and then it is often difficult to subdue. It is similar to someone who gets “so busy” doing something, that hours later they realized they’ve skipped meal(s), and they are starving. I am confident we recognize the sensation of physical hunger – I’m not nearly as confident we recognize our spirit’s cries for nourishment." (used by permission) 


Gallagher goes on to talk about two ways of focusing: bottom-up attention and top-down attention. She quotes a David Brown Op-ed piece from 2008 to describe Tiger Woods' ability to focus. I've attached a link to the entire piece here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/opinion/17brooks.html Clearly, things have changed for Tiger and I suggest those have changed his focus. However, the point remains.

My question to you and myself is how do we tune out the noise? I have a friend that has given up NPR for lent. Unusual right? I mean, NPR? Really? Her explanation, "I am hoping the extra quiet will lead to greater introspection and reflection on spiritual matters." When I asked if NPR was the loudest thing in her life, she said, "Not the loudest, the noisiest." Maybe that's the answer. Maybe we ask ourselves, "what is the noisiest thing in my life and do I have the courage to give it up?" 

Quick Decisions

I read Shirky’s “Faster and Faster” right before boarding my flight from Minneapolis back to Omaha this weekend.  I showed the gate agent my ticket while still thinking about the passengers from Northwest Airline’s flight 1829 and “Three hours passed, then four.  The lavatories began to smell, then clog, then leak.”

After boarding my packed flight, the flight attendants closed the doors and our captain welcomed us aboard… an announcement followed shortly by disappointing news that our fuel latch was broken and that the flight attendants would need to unlock the main cabin doors.  Our delay was expected to be 30 minutes.  There were three passengers behind me – a Creighton law student, a UNMC student working on both a medical degree and a business degree, and a cooperate consultant.  The three agreed that the UNMC student was to blame for our bad luck.  Apparently, he was once on a plane that sat on a runway for 8 hours before being cleared for take-off.  The cooperate consultant could not believe that the passengers of the UNMC student’s flight did not get compensated by the airport in some way.  The student responded with “eh.”

The student’s grunt of apathy really made me think about one particular issue presented in the article – social media allows the more apathetic and the more timid to become protesters in their own right.

“Faster and Faster” really showed the changes that social media can force to come about – from a Passengers Bill of Rights for airline customers to college banking overdraft fees, from democracy activists in Cairo to flash mobs in Belarus.  Shirky showed that the speed and power of social media really can be used for positive social changes.

I think that the amplification of the less dedicated and more timid (or fearful) voices of change seems like a great power.  However, is there anything we should be concerned about by the ease with which online petitions can be signed?  Gleick’s “On Internet Time” reminded me of those FedEx commercials (see below) – but if we’re all expected to make decisions at this fast of a rate, are we really thinking?  Or are we just going with the flow?  (I’m also just thinking about a protest that high school students participated in when I worked in another school district 6 years ago… the cause was worthy, but many participants didn’t really get the purpose for the protest.  When the TV news crews interviewed these particular students, they ended up making their cause seem less cohesive.)

New Era of Warfare

In the "Fluff and Stuff" article, the author describes how the "video game universe aims to make players into acute and swift economists of attention." This combined with the "real-life military training migrating into electronic theater, as well as military weapons poses some interesting possibilities. Apparently, the combination of sophisticated information, gaming (in a sense) and military warfare is already happening.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57390124/stuxnet-computer-worm-opens-new-era-of-warfare/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Stuxnet: Computer worm opens new era of warfare

By the fall of 2010, the consensus was that Iran's top secret uranium enrichment plant at Natanz was the target and that Stuxnet was a carefully constructed weapon designed to be carried into the plant on a corrupted laptop or thumb drive, then infect the system, disguise its presence, move through the network, changing computer code and subtly alter the speed of the centrifuges without the Iranians ever noticing. Sabotage by software.

O Murchu: Stuxnet's entire purpose is to control centrifuges. To make centrifuges speed up past what they're meant to spin at and to damage them. Certainly it would damage the uranium enrichment facility and they would need to be replaced.

Kroft: If the centrifuges were spinning too fast, wouldn't the operators at the plant know that?

O Murchu: Stuxnet was able to prevent the operators from seeing that on their screen. The operators would look at the screen to see what's happening with centrifuges and they wouldn't see that anything bad was happening.

We know from reverse engineering the attack codes that the attackers have full, and I mean this literally, full tactical knowledge of every damn detail of this plant. So you could say in a way they know the plant better than the Iranian operator.

Coffee Shop Culture

From: http://www.cleveland.com

When reading this week's articles, especially "On Internet Time" by James Gleick (1999), I kept thinking back to this article I read last week about how coffee shops will take over our world as we become less physically social and operate more solely on our laptops.  The article, from December 2011, is called "In the Future Everything Will Be a Coffee Shop" by Stephan Gordon.  He writes about how our workplaces and universities and book stores and retail stores will become coffee shops as we can do more on our laptops and become more connected to our laptops.  It will be fascinating to watch how retail environments and work places evolve to fit the more connected atmosphere.


Gordon links to an excerpt of a presentation by the fascinating Steven Johnson (find more about him here) talking about the beginning  of "coffee house culture."

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn: Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education

In less than a decade, social media has had a tremendous impact on the world around us. Businesses of all sizes can leverage platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to build large, engaged communities, raise awareness and drive footfall. Equally, social media empowers consumers to make smarter decisions, engage with brands and demand better customer service.

Social media is also playing a significant role in the education system, with many schools and universities eager to adopt the use of these tools in the classroom. Managed correctly, these channels can be a great boon for students. But poor understanding of the medium can result in a low level of maintenance and interaction, which can be detrimental to student satisfaction and engagement rates.
Bottom line? The best practices for the use of social media are as relevant in education as they are in business or anywhere else – do it properly, or don’t do it at all.

This infographic from Online Universities takes a look at the pros and cons of social media in education. Essentially, it’s nearly all pro… as long as the school is making the necessary effort.
 By: Shea Bennett

Being more connected, but in a vulnerable way

 “The unavoidable delays in volleys of business communication before fax, before FedEx, and before E-mail, served as pauses for thought. A lawyer could reconsider a rash piece of mail while it was in the stenographer’s out-box. Decision could ferment during accidental slow periods.” (On Internet Time, Gleik)

While it is true that “being connected” promotes shared awareness among people, and makes collective actions of physically dispersed groups more feasible and powerful (Faster and faster, Shirky), “connectedness” also makes us more vulnerable in terms of dealing our personal relationship. That’s why I really like this this passage above in the Gleick article because it sharply points out the drawbacks that the seemingly perfect advanced technology and communication tools have brought to our lives, especially in small group relationships.

“Connectedness” is a direct result of the development of social tools that enabled us to do everything in a speedy manner; it is also a central theme of today’s societies and lives. We want everything as fast as possible, because we think we have more important things to do than spending time waiting, for anything. We think we are more productive and efficient this way. However, have we really done more meaningful things using the time we saved from leaving a Facebook message (instead of making a phone call) or online shopping (instead of shopping in stores)? No. We just leave more Facebook messages and shop at more online stores.  As Gleick says “The sate of being connected makes them more efficient –maybe even more nimble. Sadly, it also makes them feel busier – maybe even overloaded.” The simplification of life facilitated by technology is not always a good thing.   

As for as I witnessed, the sate of being connected also makes our interpersonal relationship vulnerable. People check out their boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s Facebook page everyday and get fidgeted if they see some “suspicious” or “vague” replies, or tagged photos, or simply “friend requests”. We get annoyed when friends don’t reply our text message within ten minuets. The other day, I just got a little angry with my dad because I waited for thirty minutes to Facetime with him but he couldn’t connect to wifi. How did we become such impatient and insecure while ten years ago, we could wait for a week to speak with our parents over the phone or wait for months for an oversea postcard to arrive. It is true that we are more connected, but such connectedness, while amplified our network with others, also weakened our bond with the ones that really matter to us. 

The Hawthorne Effect and Facebook

I laughed out loud (LOL - sorry, couldn't resist) when I read the section about the Hawthorne Experiment (pg. 10) in Lanham's "Stuff and Fluff," especially when considered in the context of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Lanham wrote, "when we are observed in our work, we socialize it" (pg. 10). I would argue that this "theatrical self-awareness" is exacerbated by websites such as Facebook, where some individuals actually allow how they believe people on Facebook would react to something control what they do or how they present themselves. It seems that climbing to the top of Mt. Everest is not enough for personal satisfaction alone, indeed if a photo of said person posing on the top of Mt. Everest is not attainable and able to be posted on Facebook (along with a tweet to cap things off) then a good portion of satisfaction from the experience is lost. It seems like because people know "everyone is watching" ("everyone" here meaning their Facebook friends and twitter followers) they carefully craft how they want to appear to others through what photos they post and what they choose to say online. Corresponding with this argument is Gleick's "On Internet Time" article where he discusses the "Simplify Your Life" movement (pp. 89-90). It seems like people are constantly trying to simplify and get back to nature in a sense, yet they go about doing this by consuming boundless amounts of networked media articles, hints, and tips on how to simply. And let's not stop there - one must also announce on Facebook and Twitter that one is simplifying his or her life and include Foursquare check-in's of shopping at Ikea and Bed Bath and Beyond for closet organizers and storage boxes (including photos of each new item purchased).

Below is an interesting graphic article on the "Facebook Effect," a.k.a, is social media ruining students? It argues both the positive and negative side of such social networking use. But, when students are heading to the library simply so they can post on Facebook that they are in the library (and then proceed to spend their time in the library reading their peer's reactions to such a post) I argue that we could have a problem (although the optimist in me would believe the majority of these students would actually get some studying accomplished).

http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/facebook-effect-college.jpg

Dissecting the Social-Media-Powered News Cycle

The Guardian's new TV spot that features the classic story of the Three Little Pigs and how it might play out in the era of modern journalism.

Read the AdAge story here.