Week 7 Review

This past week we presented on a specific social media website in groups, and were able to view the other groups' presentations. This was really good because it gave me a perspective on the class through Dr. Kinghorn's eyes. It is difficult to get up there, use the outdated school technology, and make sure everything runs smoothly and is educational yet also entertaining. I have increased respect for certain!

One thing that we've been talking a lot about is online shaming. I think that it is terrible for parents to shame their kids online... this take public embarrassment to a new and unnecessary level. Hearing about the suicides that occurred after online shaming was very sad.

Another thing we talked about was sharing TMI (too much information). This just makes me want to stop sharing anything online, because I came to the conclusion that it is all for attention. On the other hand, now I see social media in a new light. I see it is an opportunity for my voice to be heard. When other people post informative things, I am more likely to read it. Because of what I've watched in this class, when I see something online now I have more of an understanding of why it's there, what it is, and it's impact on myself and others.

It's interesting to learn about how because it is free, we are not the consumers but what is being advertised. This makes me especially wary to share things online. Also I like the idea that the consumer has changed but sometimes the advertisements have not. This is because often I really feel like advertisements have no effect on me anymore. 

Week 6 Review

This week was so fun! I loved talking about viral videos and watching them in class. It is interesting to learn what makes a video go viral. One interesting thing we did was compare Gandhi's work to that of a young Utah Mormon. They both fasted in order to try to make something happen. The question Dr. Kinghorn asked us was what made one effective but the other not so much? The answer lies in their support network. Gandhi had already done things that had gained him many followers and people who cared about him. When Gandhi fasted, it had a big effect. When young Mr. Meacham fasted, nobody cared except maybe his family, fiancee, and a few close friends.

Read more here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/utah-man-vows-fast-utah-bans-gay-marriage-article-1.1565872

Another thing I thought was very useful to watch was the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoWK83S1QB0

It really made me think about what I think Social Media is doing to society. Is it a fully bad thing? Children learn by using ipads and such, and I can save a lot of time through various apps on my mobile device. I even have an app that will record all my nutrition for the day...all I have to do is scan the label on my food and it will tell me how much of each vitamin I am consuming. I can use MAPS to find my way places, and I don't have to worry about looking up directions beforehand.

However, the toss-up with this is the fact that in addition to saving time, these devices contain social media. The common consensus seems to be that social media, while useful in moderation, can turn out to be a big waste of time.

I feel ever more conflicted about this. What should I do for my children? If I keep them away from technology, they will become social recluses. Even when they are with others, they will not be able to fit in because that's what a big part of our lives technology is. So if anything, I feel sort of distressed now.

Week 5 Reflection

Week 5 Reflection!

Dr. Kinghorn is back this week! My favorite thing we discussed this week was probably the concept of "slacktivism". It's awesome to have a class on social media being taught by someone who is actively involved in social media. One thing that I really like is that this class is always changing and evolving. If a student mentions something that they noticed, such a a video that went viral, or a site that promotes slacktivism, we will just go there straight in the class! This really allows the class to be dynamic. It is also good because each of the students are at a certain age where they are all probably very involved in social media, and consequently have much to contribute.

http://www.briankinghorn.com/examining-slacktivism-on-the-anniversary-of-bringbackourgirls/ (Links to an external site.) 

So, above is our instructor's own website, which contains an article he wrote about slacktivism. This is helpful because it teaches us how we should start to process our own thoughts, and also gives an example of how we as students might begin to express ourselves online.

I think slacktivism is a really good thing. I think that if we can't fly to a location or pay to support a certain orginazation, if we raise awareness, other people who do have the means to help will be more likely to do so.

Reflection from 4th Week

Reflection from 4th Week

     So we didn't have Dr. Kinghorn with us at all this past week! However, on Tuesday we had the opportunity to meet with out groups, which was very beneficial. When we met in our group, we were really able to have a good discussion about Facebook. Facebook is the topic our group was assigned to present. I never realized how effective class could be without a teacher! Sorry Dr. Kinghorn! IT was just interesting to see how we all have different knowledge and can teach one another--after all, we each have experience with both Psychology and especially with social media. We were also able to just get a bunch of technical stuff done, like assigning specific parts to individuals. That way we can each have an area of focus when we present.


     On Thursday, we had a guest lecturer. That was actually a really interesting lecture, because we learned a lot about Darknet. I had never heard the term "darknet" before.

A darknet is a private network that is intentionally hidden and inaccessible without specific software, configurations or authorization. These can be F2F networks (usually for file-sharing) where connections are made only between trusted peers (sometimes called "friends")^[2] or anonymity networks such as Tor. The Dark Web is the most commonly known subsection of the Darknet which is also part of the Deep web — the part of theWeb that is not indexed in standard search engines.^[3]

Darknets for F2F file-sharing are distinct from other distributed peer-to-peer networks as sharing is anonymous (that is, the IP addresses of peers are not publicly shared).^[4]

Even though I had never heard the term "darknet" before, I realized something. I was familiar with a darknet. I have a "techie" younger brother who seems to know everything about computers. He has a whole network of friends he's met online through World of Warcraft and a whole host of other things I'm sure I'm not aware of. When I was younger, my brother invited me into a file sharing system. He told me that you can only get in if you are invited, and you can literally get anything you want from this file sharing net--movies, expensive software...anything! It sounded great to me. He taught me about the peer-to-peer file sharing. My brother said that you need to upload as much as you download, so you always have a ratio of "1". On your profile it shows your seeding to downloading ratio, and anything less than 1 is a really disgraceful thing. So my brother was always "seeding", or uploading. Anything he downloaded, he would seed right back into the system. Of course I do not use this because it is illegal, but it is interesting to have been on the other side. I've been to the dark side!

Week 3 Reflection

We talked about the order of order--basically the solution for too much information that was presented in the book "Everything is Miscellaneous". According to Weinberger, the solutions are (1) Physical ordering, (2) a card catalog, and (3) digital. We talked about how us or kids these days are often taken straight to #3, they only know about digital organization. This is really true. To me, digital organization is all I want to do because it is quicker and I am more familiar with it.

I really loved how we learned about Electracy as well. "Electracy focuses on the individual state of mind within which knowing takes place." This quote really stood out to me because I didn't realize what it meant before.

Meta cognition is thinking about thinking. It's almost like reflecting on how you used to think about the world, and comparing that to how you currently think. Then you can consider what you may think about in the future, or compare your thoughts to future thoughts. I am so glad to have learned this term because I think I practice Meta Cognition all the time!

We talked about how our phones are considered an extension of our minds. We can keep knowledge on our phones that we don't have to keep in our heads. For example, we can take a picture of something so we don't have to remember it. Also we could use our phone to store numbers, or just know that we can look up information in the future so we don't have to commit that information to memory now.

"The best camera you have is the one you always have with you." So true! I am currently in Digital Tools class, so taking Psychology of Social Media goes right along with my photoshop and illustrator class. It is great to have them at the same time.

One other thing we went over in class was Crowd Accelerated Innovation. There are three main points:
1. Crowd (there needs to be people that can connect with it or there's no point in your video)
2. Light (you need to be seen, you need an audience). When you get in the "spotlight" it allows the video to be in a position where it can take off and become viral.
3. Desire (people need to want to watch it).

One article I really loved that we watched was http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/field-museum-emily-graslie-brain-scoop-youtube/Content?oid=12236428.  It talks about how a girl basically became Bill the Science Guy. We discussed how things like this happen. I really feel like it all has to do with personality more than anything else.

Learning that viral is defined by something that grows exponentially really helped me to understand it better.

Week 2 Reflection

This past week we really got into some good discussions concerning what social media is and also where it came from. I really liked learning about the history of the network. It turns out, the web is something on top of the internet, they are not the same thing. It is always awesome when you realize these kind of things. We were reading "25 Things You may Not Know About the Web on its 25th Birthday" (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/09/25-years-web-tim-berners-lee). One of the points our group (#1) had to present to the class included the point that the internet is different than the web. I really wanted to know more than what the article's short paragraph told us, so I decided to conduct a Google search. The most helpful site I found (http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/Web_vs_Internet.asp) said:

What is The Internet?
The Internet is a massive network of networks, a networking infrastructure. It connects millions of computers together globally, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with any other computer as long as they are both connected to the Internet. Information that travels over the Internet does so via a variety of languages known as protocols.

What is The Web (World Wide Web)?
The World Wide Web, or simply Web, is a way of accessing information over the medium of the Internet. It is an information-sharing model that is built on top of the Internet. The Web uses the HTTP protocol, only one of the languages spoken over the Internet, to transmit data. Web services, which use HTTP to allow applications to communicate in order to exchange business logic, use the the Web to share information. The Web also utilizesbrowsers, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, to access Web documents called Web pages that are linked to each other via hyperlinks. Web documents also contain graphics, sounds, text and video.

The Web is just one of the ways that information can be disseminated over the Internet. The Internet, not the Web, is also used for e-mail, which relies on SMTP, Usenet news groups, instant messaging and FTP. So the Web is just a portion of the Internet, albeit a large portion, but the two terms are not synonymous and should not be confused.
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I found this to be very helpful in learning the difference between the internet and the Web. The "25 Things" article also talked about the idea of the web being free for everyone. How is it that the web can be free and yet there are organizations making billions of dollars from it? Is this moral? Should Facebook and the like be forced to allow everyone free editing just like the traditional Web allows?

Class Reflection Week 1

Social media is the center of our reality right now. It was really amazing to see just how influential social media really is. In a video we watched, some interesting statistics were shared. We were told that about 61% of Facebook users log in daily. The average Facebook user spends just under an hour a day on Facebook. Almost 80 percent of people do not trust traditional advertisements. This means that online advertising is the new way to go. This is all very interesting to consider.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5mid8p4A6Eg

What really stood out to me is what Dr. Kinghorn said about not believing everything in the course. He said that this is all new and experimental, so nothing is really set in stone yet. This made a lot of sense to me, but it also caused me to think about the field of psychology in general. Is anything really set in stone? What about biology, or chemistry? Nothing seems to be able to make it past a theory... even laws are debatable in one aspect or another.

The following video is another thing we discussed in class.

https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html

This is interesting to me because of the perspective Dr. Turkle took. She seemed to believe that an increasingly digital world is a bad thing. This made me ponder a lot... is it bad to not have face-to-face human contact, or is it just different? Surely it's unnatural to us, but we do things that were unnatural to the people in the past. What about other cultures? Some families do not eat together. A traditional American household may find that fact appalling, but to some people it is not right for men and women to eat at the same table or even in the same room. Is there really a "right" way to do things?

We also discussed the idea of how social media is very young. People my age (21) have grown up with it, so it masquerades and old and experienced, but this is false. I can recall when my mom got her first email address, the day we got wifi, and even (gasp) myspace. I had my top friends and everything on myspace.

I am very excited to try out some new social media for this class!