New Media Studies Autoblog, Summer 07

These facebook applications are so cool! Tonight I downloaded the booze application, where you can send drinks to your friends, and your friends can send you drinks back. You can see your drinks in your own mini-bar. Fun stuff. Too bad they’re not real! hahaha Well, you can actually redeem drinks that your friends have sent you, although I’m not sure how to do that yet. I must do some more research. There is also a really neat one about amazon. You can download the app and send your friends real “gifts” from amazon.com. So, for instance, when Harry Potter 7 comes out tomorrow night, I could send someone the book on facebook through that application. I think I’m becoming obsessed with this facebook stuff, but whatever, it will make my project more fun!

Original post by Ashley

On Monday, we were all discussing Ashley’s idea of creating a Facebook page for the class. Many ideas were thrown out (see? there’s that phrase again) and I thought I’d recap a couple. These are more thematic than technical, but I think this Facebook thing has huge potential.

Page rather than group, because we want flexibility of content.
This will serve as an online community for the members of this class. Even after the class is over, we can stay in touch and continue to exchange ideas and engage in discussions.
Even more exciting is the potential for new members! Future members of this class can join the community and expand the circle of students actively involved in this exploration. Students taking new media courses at other colleges will be able to join us too, until we have a huge community of students thinking, discussing, and creating.

What better way to further online […]

Original post by arynna

I think I can finally connect a few thoughts I was having last Thursday.
Web 2.0 is all about connections between people and interaction in the online environment. It involves creation of new content in addition to simple acquisition of available information. But what about the cabinet in the short story we read? It automatically knows what Bishop wants. Right now we input information into a computer and use it to find what we want. The computer does the work for us, but we still have to tell it what we want. Is it possible to have a computer that performs the exact functions we want without any input from us? I know it sounds outlandish; after all, wouldn’t that be bordering on the psychic? Perhaps not. There are already programs in existence that use minimal input as a starting point for extensive retrieval of desired information, even when inquiries are […]

Original post by arynna

I knew I wouldn’t be able to quit the blogging for long. I had a few hours before class, so why not? ICHC simply must be talked about.
What is?
I Can Has Cheezburger? (ICHC) is a WordPress archive of cleverly captioned photographs of cats and other animals. As of today, the archive holds about 860 captioned pictures and grows at a rate of about three pictures a day. These pictures are collected throughout the Internet or captioned and uploaded on the spot via the Cheezburger Factory. Once submitted, visitors can comment on and rate the hilarity of a picture on a scale from 1-5 cheezburgers (as opposed to stars). They can also tag, save and share pictures using ubiquitous Web 2.0 utilities like del.icio.us.
Roots and lolculture
It all began when a couple of guys on the Internet found this image you see to the right. Its humor was so simple yet so […]

Original post by humanisticmystic

I am going to make a facebook page for the class as part of my project (in addition to a powerpoint with information about facebook). I have finally decided! I was thinking about all the neat things that I can add to it, since there are a million and one applications for it now (music, graffiti, videos, gifts, quizzes, etc), and quotes, pictures, friends, groups, and blogs.
I’ll put a link up here when it’s finished so you can add it!

Original post by Ashley

“Try It Again.” This infamous (or not) line uttered by one fictitious character named Selden Bishop in Clifford D. Simak’s short story entitled “Immigrant”, in which Selden encourages one of his peers to “Try It Again” after she unknowingly uses her mind powers to stop a glass in mid air from shattering onto the floor. What does it mean to be urged/encouraged to try something unknown? Does it shed new light? Does it allow you to see something in a different perspective? Acquire a new skill/knowledge/power within yourself? Follow a path lead by curiosity? Is this what we need in order to make computer/human symbiosis a plausible and actual thing?
Do we need the curiosity to keep on trying to figure out a way where computers and machines can work together to accomplish some greater good, unlock something that will better society? Will we retreat with fright when this idea of […]

Original post by Peanut!

Yup, it’s time for a blog break. There’s always something interesting to review in the Internet world, but it’s time I focused all my New Media brain power on this project for a while. So, Serena, I give you permission to critique the culture and linguistics of I Can Has Cheezburger. In the mean time, I’m going to figure out how to really cultivate intellectual discourse on the Internet. I’ll report back in a few days or so.

Original post by humanisticmystic

Every tool represents a human purpose. In Immigrant, the cabinet is a major tool. It is programmed to have the ability to interact with humans. I think it represents a human purpose because it does pretty much everything a human can do so it is like a servant (but without negative connotations, since it was designed for that purpose). It has the ability to read what people are thinking so it can better serve them. It can talk and offer advice. In the story, it helps to connect and advise Bishop. I think the cabinet is fascinating because of everything it is capable of doing, especially because it acts as a sort of mirror, reflecting Bishop’s thoughts and ideas.

Original post by Ashley