One man's trash is another man's treasure

While I did enjoy reading Mr. Shirky’s book, I found much of it to be redundant.  I liked that I was a heck of a lot easier to comprehend than Benkler's book and I thought that the opening and epilogue chapters were strong; I found the stuff in the middle quite repetitive of the last chapter.  But upon thinking about it, this could have been a means of driving the collaboration point home. 

In this last reading we did I thought there were some unique points made.  I liked the small world part because it is true that this happens in life all the time.  This ties in then to how it is about how many kinds of people you know and not just who you know.  When we have these small world happenstances we then have the opportunity of broadening our network to people other than just in our area of expertise. 

Another valuable bit related to these connections was the whole “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” concept.  By knowing people outside our field we can talk about various things and share ideas to where we can collaborate to make the idea a reality.

Finally, it must be important, because Shirky brings up the publish then filter idea again.  And this time what I took away from it is that the whole collaboration concept allows for redefinition and enhanced knowledge of certain sites.  From this I thought of Facebook and how it started out as just a thing for Harvard students then eventually grew to the world.  I’m sure Zuck knew it could be big just not how big.  The Facebook team is always putting stuff out there and testing the water and then adjusts its site according to feedback from users among other things.  However just because it is new doesn’t mean it is better.

Here Comes Everybody

After reading the first few chapters in Clay Shirky’s book the only questions I had thus far stemmed from the case in the first chapter

1  Why wouldn’t Ivanna just have the first phone disabled if she had the information back from the phone company.  (and sidenote why would you only have your wedding plans in your phone?)

2  Yeah there probably were some ethical problems that came up with the website and what not but where do you turn to when the police wont help?

I like reading about cases and what the outcomes were and if there were ethical concerns. I am not sure if there are more scattered through out the reading but it was a pretty good hook to start the book. 

I also think the title is pretty interesting “The power of organizing without organizations”  Generally I think that most people like to participate and share things when it is on their own time, something they care about or when they want to have a voice and be heard.  I think this might be the point of his book but I guess I will have to read more to find out!

The Wealth of Networks2

I wish I could say that I have some comments on the points that Benkler is making.  However, I don't understand this book, it is a real thinker, like the Stitch Bitch article we had to read in Motley's class.  I wish i could keep up with what he was trying to say and I think that discussing it in class will help a lot.

One of the main things that I got from the reading is economics.  Benkler seems to assume that we are all economists or at least have a good grasp on the idea.  I however do not fall in to this assumption.  Economics and I do not get along, you could say we have a mutual dislike for each other.  This I think is where my main problem of not understanding lies.  I think it would have been best for Benkler to include an example  of what he is talking about by putting it in terms other than economics.  I can appreciate that he understands economics and wrote a scholarly book but I like the idea of designing for the lowest common denominator like what we learned in the other theory class--just because you don't use big words doesn't mean you are not smart.

Anyway, stepping down from my preaching stand, I did find the part about Wikipedia kind of interesting.  Wikipedia gets a bad rap for being inaccurate because it is and editable encyclopedia.  And sure it is not always good information but it is a good starting point for research.  I like the idea of Wikipedia because it is editable by anyone and in the sense of creative commons, this way we can get an idea of how society collectively pieces together information rather than having someone tell us what it is (even though there is merit to that too); there is value to collectively defining life.

The Wealth of Networks

Well from first glance of this book it seems to have several good reviews.  I am assuming that the book is about how technology has grown and changed so much and has changed our society.  I get the feeling that this author intends to show how this "wealth of networks" our society is so involved in is a good thing.  I really enjoyed the quote from John Stuart Mill in the beginning about how human nature isn't a set thing it is always changing, I really think that this helped set the tone for the book.  By looking at the contents of the book, I gather that Benkler is planning on showing the pros and cons of how media/networks has affected various parts of society like economy, freedom, justice etc but then potentially show how the pros could outweigh the cons.

ARG-it isn't just pirate speak

Well after some time researching what an Alternate Reality Game is I have found that I am still pretty unclear.  Like does World of Warcraft count as an ARG? is Second Life an ARG? or are they just MMORPGs? or just some virtual world that poses a social environment? My assumption is that most ARGs offer an educational value like http://willyoujoinus.com/energyville/ a game that offers education on oil resources and the environment.

However I did see some games that were more entertainment value rather than educational.  For instance when I Googled alternate reality games, well a lot of definitions came up, but I stumbled across an ARG for the show LOST.  It was basically just another way to market the show but for avid Lost watchers it is a way to become more active viewers and participate in the show.  The Lost ARG, and the Halo ARG both featured hidden codes on sponsoring commercials where fans and players alike logged on to wherever and entered the code for the next clue.

I guess my final thought, or question rather would be are ARGs synonymous with simulated reality?

Arguing Reality

While I have a hard time seeing Jane McGonigal's point on many things, and it was a struggle to come up with, I was able to see her point, somewhat, about the benefits of games (however this was before she tried to justify saving the world by playing 10, 000+hours of World of Warcraft)
1. I can see how games can be good team building and motivating experiences and opportunities
2. I agree that games can satisfy one of our basic needs for happiness
3. Games are good mental stimulators--a workout of the mind
4. Games can promote a healthy competition and create bonds between family and friends
5. Games can make mundane activities go by faster

Where I think she lacks some is...
1. I cant see how sitting in a room playing W.o.W can cure obesity
2. How will playing a massive single player online game (what she talks about in the end) or playing an MMORPG in your room alone, help facilitate social interaction?
3. how will playing games help solve world hunger or poverty, perhaps if she gave more example or showed results or something it might help clarify
4. how will failing in the virtual world, where there are no consequences and you can regenerate a new life if you die, help us learn from our mistakes we make in the real world and how we deal with those consequences?
5. how will spending so much time online gaming affect the family/home life?

"Spit, Spot!"

Mary Poppins, the originator of turning work in to a game to make it go by faster. 

While I haven’t agreed with much of what McGonigal has said thus far, finally I can agree with her, and Mary Poppins of course, that by making something a game or playful competition, we are more likely to do the work rather than view it as an unpleasant chore.  But it is not all fun and games and some tasks should be not be taken lightly, obviously but at least now I can see one point to her argument.