Blog Post 1 - Web Sphere Analysis

Foot contends that it is important to archive and preserve the bits of content and the experimental dimension of site interactions online to understand cyber culture through web sphere analysis. Web sphere analysis is the analysis of the relationships between the producers and users of we materials, mediated between the structures of website’s hyperlinks. Foot explains that this concept is the act of studying the objects and themes related to websites to understand the hyperlink context and archive the metadata of present and past analysis.

It becomes very difficult to use web sphere analysis when it comes to social media sites. While yes, there are a vast number of hyperlinks on social media medians, the problem is that there are so many different producers and consumers of content compared to a one topic website that gathering and analyzing data from them would be a much larger headache. Where a single topic website focuses one thing with possibly different consumer views, social media has many different producer views, objectives, outcomes, etc. along side the consumers.

With the invention of hash-tags you would think it would help organize things in the social media jungle. While this has indeed help consumers find content faster it also gives producers unlimited power of how they categorize and preserve content. With the ability to create any hash-tag the producer wants, it makes analyzing links impractical. A solution to this could be social media websites to only allow specific tags, and thus funneling links into bigger more constructive pools.

The premise and structure of social media websites is connecting with people and while their goal is to connect you with people with similar interests and views, this is not always the case. The 9/11 examples that Foot uses explains this well in that web sphere analysis is changed through social networking sites because of it becomes a system of links and personal interests. Furthermore, information I feel gets lost with SNS making it difficult to use it for WS analysis. With so many producers, it would be just difficult to make sense of the data and understanding which producer made what.

I feel the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing is an excellent event to compare with the post 9/11 productions and I see individual producers voicing their opinions even more. Social media has not advanced enough in the way they control data to accommodate for its high pool of content producers.  If anything the marathon bombing would have more individuals announcing their personal views than 9/11 since SNS has grown so much since 2001, I mean its why Twitter is as popular as it is, people like voicing their opinions and it’s as easy as ever to accomplish this.  Thinking about it makes sense though, if there is a major travesty, disaster, or event in the world where do you go, to a stand-alone news website or government page? Most likely you find out more about it from Twitter, Facebook, or some other social networking website that has many more producer insights.

Blog Post 2 - Is Multitasking Possible

Clifford Nass was a researcher at Stanford University who analyzed how well humans actually multitasked with technology in our daily lives.  His research showed that although a lot of people think they are good at multitasking, his tests showed they we are not as good as we think. He conducted a study where he had to subject groups; those who do a lot of multitasking, and those who do little. His results suggested that individuals who frequently use multiple media approach fundamental can multitask information-processing activities differently than those who consume multiple media streams much less frequently…those who infrequently multitask are more effective at volitionally allocating their attention in the face of distractions (Ophir, Nass, Wagner, 2009).

I do agree with Nass with the idea that people do indeed think that they are good at multitasking in their lives. For example as I write this paper I am listening to music, switching back and forth between articles, checking email, and have Family Guy playing in the background. I know with so many distractions in front of me that I can’t possibly have one hundred percent attention to this paper at all times, however I do think multitasking is a beneficial attribute to our workforce.

In a world with countless information being exchanged, digested, and spat back out, I would argue that it is near impossible to not multitask in today’s cyberspace environment. I believe time is the biggest enforcer of multitasking, its time that determines whether we do this paper now or another assignment for a different class. Its time that makes us choose to not read an entire article but snippets from multiple sources, not knowing if reading from just one information source will be sufficient enough to complete the task at hand. With respects to time, I feel that humans are excellent at multitasking. With time being such a scarce resource, we must try and find only the most important information out there through various technological mediums.

To further show my beleif that we are increasing our powers in the multitasking spectrum, I found a TED talk that backs up my argument. Gabe Zichermann explains that the new generation today are multitasking far better than their parents had to while playing video games. The example that he gives is that early game systems only had one or two buttons to communicate controls to the game. whereas in today games such as World of Warcraft, there is upwards of 30 different keys plays are using simultaneously while talking and listening (If you are interested in the TED talk).

Nass said that we are, “distracting ourselves to death”. I believe that we are doing the opposite in that technology has actually expanded our ability to live our lives the way that we want. Although Facebook has made great strides in creating identity on the web, the vast majority of the Internet is still very ominous. Where people have the opportunity to portray themselves however they want. Furthermore, I believe that the internet has made social communication stronger even in real life interaction because the accessibility to information the web brings people. It is much easier to stay up on current events, know the current score to games, and keep your finances in order all before breakfast.  

“Always On” is the concept that an individual is always connected to the Internet through technology. Meaning that they’re always connected to their peers, their work, etc. This is an interesting idea for me personally because I don’t think it is just black and white. There are days when I am talking to multiple people on my phone, checking email and social media on my computer, and listening to music on my Ipod. There are also the days where I barely look at my phone, don’t turn on my computer, and enjoy being cut off from all the media. I believe it depends on what that particular day has in store for us. Do we have a ton to get done? Or do we have a relaxing day ahead of us?

Nass’ statement that “we cannot possibly multitask, the sociological literature proves this” is accurate to a degree. In my life, if I am having a genuine conversation with someone I will put my phone away because I was brought up that it is rude to not give someone your full attention when they are addressing you. However, I can think of times when I am sitting around with my friends and someone asks me a question where I was to involved with my phone to give them an answer.  I feel that woman have multitasking forced onto them through cultural views the worst. Like we mentioned in class, a working woman with a family is not only expected to focus on her work, but also take care of children, cook, and clean the house traditionally.  With this example I do agree highly with Nass in that it does not see possible that women could juggle so many tasks at once.  

Me, Myself, and I

My name is Cody Nelson and I am currently a Senior at Washington State University where I am pursuing an Economics degree. I am very intrigued by all kinds of technology but mostly web technologies and how it has evolved from its creation.