Review: Four books concerning Web2.0 media

Cooper, S. D. 2006: Watching the watchdog: Bloggers as the fifth estate. Spokane: Marquette Books.

Levinson, P. 2009: New new media. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

O’Neil, M. 2009: Cyberchiefs: Autonomy and authority in online tribes. London & New York: Pluto Press.

Rettburg, J. W. 2008: Blogging. Cambridge & Malden: Polity Press.


I’ve recently read these four books dealing with different aspects of the web 2.0 world, the common thread through all of them being that they each either touch on or concentrate on the place of blogging in the current netspace. It’s difficult to compare them in terms of content and reliability, because they each have something to offer in terms of content, however my own point of view and personal areas of interest render at least two of them worthy of steering the gentle reader well clear of.

It is these two which I will deal with first.

Read the rest of this entry »

2009 In Social Media

european commission report on web2.0

announced on a sociology of computing mailing list recently, a comprehensive report on the implications of social networking. have only scanned through the report as yet, but it looks of interest.
The European Commission JRC, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies released a comprehensive report on social and economic implications of Social Computing [aka Web2.0, social media].

‘The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy’
(Eds.) Yves Punie, Wainer Lusoli, Clara Centeno, Gianluca Misuraca and David Broster Authors: Kirsti Ala-Mutka, David Broster, Romina Cachia, Clara Centeno, Claudio Feijóo, Alexandra Haché, Stefano Kluzer, Sven Lindmark, Wainer Lusoli, Gianluca Misuraca, Corina Pascu, Yves Punie and José A. Valverde

Report (a large .pdf document also avaliable from…)
News release

This wide report covers different thematic areas. In addition to a cross-cutting analysis across areas in
Ch1: Key findings, Future Prospects and Policy Implications

It contains thematic analysis:
Ch2: The adoption and Use of Social Computing
Ch3: Social Computing from a Business Perspective
Ch4: Social Computing and the Mobile Ecosystem
Ch5: Social Computing and Identity
Ch6: Social Computing and Learning
Ch7: Social Computing and Social Inclusion
Ch8: Social Computing and Health
Ch9: Social Computing and Governance

Buzz Lightyear and Web 2.0

Interest in collaborative technologies gets a rocket pack?

Join Federal Computer Week and Jeanne Holm, chief knowledge architect at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for an informative eSeminar:

Cross-agency collaboration

Federal Computer Week will present an eSeminar with Jeanne Holm, chief knowledge architect at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an eSeminar at 11 a.m. Wed., Oct. 28, where she will discuss how technology can be used to increase innovation and collaboration within government agencies.

In the past few months, the government has accelerated its adoption of Web 2.0 tools. Much emphasis has been given to public-facing blogs, but government agencies are equally focused on enhancing their internal communications. While security concerns remain a barrier to adoption, several agencies have embraced collaboration tools, tapping the ideas and insights of their workforce and creating new spaces for dialogue and engagement.

This presentation will address:

– Tools and technologies currently being used;
– The importance of providing access to common platforms across the agency;
– The role of culture and change-management in fostering collaboration;
– How to find ways to engage the public and facilitate an open exchange of ideas;
– Barriers to collaboration – including security concerns – and best-practices for overcoming them; and
– Creative solutions that NASA has employed – such as holding meetings in SecondLife – to explore the future of collaboration.

Following the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. The entire eSeminar will be made available in an online archive.


As Frank points out elsewhere, this is coming a little late to the party…

Let’s hope that change-management can engage the culture securely. But is holding meetings in SecondLife a “solution” or an experiment? I guess we’ll have to tune in to find out…

What the Trend?

What the Trend?

Find out what’s trending on Twitter and why. For each trend, we give you a quick explanation of WHY it’s trending (these blurbs are edited by you!) You can also see the latest tweets, Flickr photos and news stories.

example: Why is #nmatl popular right now?

First trend: about 2 hours ago | Last trend: about a minute ago | Last defined: about 2 hours ago | Link: http://wttrend.com/7872

NMATL stands for the New Media Atlanta Conference: Social Media for Business, Sept 25, 2009. http://newmediaatlanta.com/

The 46 Stages of Twitter

The 46 stages of Twitter
1. Hear the word Twitter. Scoff.
2. Hear it again from someone else. Scoff again.
3. Hear about famous celebrity who is apparently “On Twitter.” Scoff, but make mental note to check it out.
4. Log into Facebook to comfort self.
5. Sign up for Twitter.
6. Give up because it seems dumb.
7. Loudly criticize others on Twitter.
8. Follow @johncmayer, @aplusk, @rainnwilson, @wilw, @mrskutcher, @oprah, and one other person you actually know.
9. Post tweet that is a variant of: “Trying out this Twitter thing.”
10. Attempt to dig a little deeper into Twitter.
11. Notice rampant usage of words: “Tweet,” “Twitter,” “Twitterverse,” “Tweetie,” “Tweetdeck,” and something called “RT.”
12. Scoff again, this time in confusion.
13. Tell friends you “tried that Twitter thing, but didn’t get it and it’s stupid anyway.”
14. Log into Facebook because that site at least makes sense.
15. Read story about Twitter somewhere.
16. Log back into Twitter.
17. Try to avoid saying Tweet, Twitter, Twitterverse, Tweetie, Tweetdeck, and ReTweet.
18. Respond to @rainnwilson.
19. Curse self for fanning out.
20. Log off for 4 months.
21. Come back, just to see.
22. Post something relatively funny.
23. Get RT’d.
24. Discover that RT means ReTweet.
25. Make it your life mission to get RT’d.
26. Install Twitter app on your phone.
27. No longer ashamed to say “I’ve gotta Twitter that.”
28. Attend events with the sole intention of “Tweeting” them.
29. Pray to get RT’d.
30. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
31. Close computer.
32. Open computer. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
33. Think in 140 character sentences.
34. Compulsively check phone all day every day.
35. Tweet that you compulsively check phone all day every day.
36. Alienate actual people in your life in an attempt to impress ones you don’t know.
37. Lose weight because you forget to eat.
38. Place phone by bed so you can check first thing in the morning.
39. Defend Twitter to the death from detractors.
40. Hear self, and vaguely recognize that you have become “That Guy.”
41. Feel like, and start to behave like River Tam.
42. Vow to quit Twitter to preserve sanity.
43. Read this and change mind.
44. Think to self, “I should twitter that.”
45. Recognize irony.
46. Twitter it.

purloined from Shane Nickerson. Good comment thread to original post.

Music-making Gadget – iNudge

iNudge. Another flash musical toy. It’s neat, yet would be better if it provided a longer matrix.


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