Digg, as some of you may be aware of is a type of social media site where interesting stories/pictures/videos are submitted too this site digg.com and these stories are subsequently "dugg" up (voted up), or buried (voted down). This then informally separates what users believe to be the best/ most popular stories that end up on "the front page"; it allows users of the site to dictate what they think are the most interesting stories to share with other users.
Digg Dialogg on the other hand employs this "digging" tactic to converstations with famous people. The community is alerted that some form of celebrity will be interviewed in the coming weeks, questions are submitted and then users can "digg" the questions they think would be most interesting to ask the celebrity..
Recently Kevin Rose, founder of digg.com interviewed Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails using the most popular questions submitted and "dugg" by users of the site. The result was a very interesting, in depth 40 minute interview with Reznor, the questions are very enthrawling and you one can tell there was a lot of effort put into the content of the questions, bringing a more interesting facet to the art of interviewing, as all of the questions are submitted by different people and semi-democratically voted on.
The interview can be found here, if you have time to kill, it is a very interesting interview.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Facebook and the Workplace
In class we discussed the issues of employers checking up on their perspective employees by using Facebook to get a more personal look into the lives of the people who they might employ.
An invasion of privacy? An unnecessary step that transcends the relationship between employer and employee and the interview process? Perhaps...
But what happens when Facebook is used on an everyday basis as factual evidence, evidence that can be used against you in the work place.
We all have pictures on Facebook that we wouldn't necessarily share with our Grandparents, but what happens if this information is used against you.
I read an article a few months back of an Australian employee who took a sick day (the company need not know it was because he was hung over) however, his manager saw on his Facebook status that he was playing hookie from work because he was "still trashed".
Is this too far? Should the manager turn a blind eye? As his contract states that he does not need medical note for missing one day of work...
The article can be read here.
An invasion of privacy? An unnecessary step that transcends the relationship between employer and employee and the interview process? Perhaps...
But what happens when Facebook is used on an everyday basis as factual evidence, evidence that can be used against you in the work place.
We all have pictures on Facebook that we wouldn't necessarily share with our Grandparents, but what happens if this information is used against you.
I read an article a few months back of an Australian employee who took a sick day (the company need not know it was because he was hung over) however, his manager saw on his Facebook status that he was playing hookie from work because he was "still trashed".
Is this too far? Should the manager turn a blind eye? As his contract states that he does not need medical note for missing one day of work...
The article can be read here.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Net Neutrality... Is it coming.
Read this article about the recent announcement Time Warner Cable has made to its customers in selected parts of Texas, North Carolina and New York.
Time Warner Cable plans to announce a 40 GB cap to Internet to customers in selected areas. To put this into perspective 40GB is about the amount of watching 9 hours of high definition video online. This may seem like a lot but for customers who download music, surf the internet regularly on multiple computers or play Xbox/playstation on line, it is not a lot of content allowed to be downloaded. Customers who go over will be charged an additional $1 for each GB they go over.
Because this is such a new story it will be interesting to see how the how the company will react when the public begins its backlash. Is this censoring of the amount of information ISP's are sending the beginning of an even bigger issue of net neutrality as we discussed in class? Should TWC be allowed to charge their customers in this mannor? Should there be a law against it or should the free market reign over issues such as these...?
Time Warner Cable plans to announce a 40 GB cap to Internet to customers in selected areas. To put this into perspective 40GB is about the amount of watching 9 hours of high definition video online. This may seem like a lot but for customers who download music, surf the internet regularly on multiple computers or play Xbox/playstation on line, it is not a lot of content allowed to be downloaded. Customers who go over will be charged an additional $1 for each GB they go over.
Because this is such a new story it will be interesting to see how the how the company will react when the public begins its backlash. Is this censoring of the amount of information ISP's are sending the beginning of an even bigger issue of net neutrality as we discussed in class? Should TWC be allowed to charge their customers in this mannor? Should there be a law against it or should the free market reign over issues such as these...?
Omegle.com
Omegle.com
Alright, so this is a new site that I stumbled upon recently. It is a very simple, straight forward site with so many interesting facets that touch upon things that we've talked about in class.
It is completely anonymous so you have no idea who you are talking to. Basically the site just pairs you up with someone else using the service and you begin to talk. I have yet to have any interesting conversations with anyone for the three times that I have tried it. The conversations I have had have been so juvenile, I thought about posting some of the more meaningful conversations I've had, but they have yet to materialize yet.
I'm actually afraid to have a meaningful conversation with someone because they can leave unannounced and I just think it would be weird giving out further contact information on this type of medium.
Try it out. Maybe post some interesting conversations you've had or some experiences...
Alright, so this is a new site that I stumbled upon recently. It is a very simple, straight forward site with so many interesting facets that touch upon things that we've talked about in class.
It is completely anonymous so you have no idea who you are talking to. Basically the site just pairs you up with someone else using the service and you begin to talk. I have yet to have any interesting conversations with anyone for the three times that I have tried it. The conversations I have had have been so juvenile, I thought about posting some of the more meaningful conversations I've had, but they have yet to materialize yet.
I'm actually afraid to have a meaningful conversation with someone because they can leave unannounced and I just think it would be weird giving out further contact information on this type of medium.
Try it out. Maybe post some interesting conversations you've had or some experiences...
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