Slideshow: Should Facebook Be Banned at Work?

Similar to our discussion in class today, this “slideshow” gives the pros and cons of allowing Facebook/other social media at work.  Give it a once over…

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Should-Facebook-Be-Banned-from-Work/

Stephanie’s Follow-Up Question on Blog! Discussion Today

I am reposting this: Stephanie asked a question on a different thread, and I wanted to place it front and center.  I’m sorry we didn’t have room for it to come up today in class, but it will be first on our agenda for Monday.  Here’s her post:

(Stephanie writes I didn’t get a chance to say what I wanted to say about what we had to read for today, but I really wanted to. On page 249, there was a paragraph that I completely disagreed with. I am looking for more thoughts on this paragraph because I may be interpreting it the wrong way. The second full paragraph talks about blogging your life and how it can benefit you. It suggests that the number of people that go to a therapist “just to talk to someone” might go down. I disagree, there is something to be said about professional therapy. And it goes on to say that “one must assume that the more people appraise and document their lives, the more purposefully those lives will be lived.” That statement makes it sound like that is the case for every scenario. However, I think too much time spent on the computer might have the OPPOSITE effect. What does everyone else think about that? Anyone even notice that paragraph?

Illegal Movie Piracy by College Students Overestimated

Here’s an article I’d like you to read, and then we’ll discuss as a class.  Illegal file-sharing, digital rights management, and how industries try to control itellectual property.  This article is about how the statistics used to show that college students were stealing movies was wrong:

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/01/29/green

The Movie Industry’s 300% Error

By Kenneth C. Green

“A week ago today, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued what had to be a hugely embarrassing news release acknowledging that an aggressively promoted and widely cited research report commissioned by the MPAA in 2005 significantly overstated the Internet-based peer-to-peer piracy of college students: “The 2005 study had incorrectly concluded that 44 percent of the motion picture industry’s domestic losses were attributable to piracy by college students. The 2007 study will report that number to be approximately 15 percent.” The MPAA release attributes the bad data to an “isolated error,” adding that it takes the error seriously and plans to hire an independent reviewer “to validate” the numbers in a forthcoming edition of an updated report….”

Read more at article and post your comments here:

Social Networking-what is it and who cares?

And I guess what I mean here is the academic study of social networking, including how it works for business, leadership, politics, culture, etc.  It has evolved as a field of study outside of those disciplines, but I would be remiss as an instructor if I didn’t point it out as meaningful to the web 2.0 “revolution.”  Here’s a good link to get us started talking on it:

http://web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com/the_social_graph_issues_and_strategies_in_2008.htm

“One of the hottest topics in the online world in the last couple of years has been the growth of social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace, as well as the addition of a social element to existing user experiences.  Despite riding several waves of hype, it’s now clear that the social networking space will only get hotter in 2008 according to most watchers.  Social software has come fully into its own as of 2008 — for all appearances permanently — and understanding the reasons for this rapid rise as well as figuring out how to leverage it best is the job of everyone who wants to make the most of the Web 2.0 era….”