Monday, January 31, 2011

#4-Laws of the Jungle

When reading chapter 5 I noticed a lot of points that related to our past readings of “What is Web 2.0” and “Web Squared.” The first of which came in the first couple pages of this chapter while Weinberger talks about emptying the dishwasher which relates back to both readings. This example was not only easy to relate to, it was easy to look back and see relations between both of the past readings. Weimberger states that “...computers have become demonically good at sorting through gigantic, complex piles of information.” Not only does this help describe the first part of the reading, it relates back to “What is Web 2.0” because it basically says what web 2.0 really is. An ever growing kind of technology that can hold and sort so much information that it is scary. The rest of the passage in the reading goes over more things that relate back to the web 2.0 reading because it talks more about how we leave a lot of things up to the internet to sort and decipher leaving not much else for us to do besides use it to its potential.
After reading the first half of this chapter I realized that Weimberger really tries to focus his main points on things that us college students can really relate to. He describes his points in ways that are very basic and easy to understand which I think makes this a much more attention grabbing read.
One thing that really caught my eye in the next half of the chapter also related back to both articles. This was all about the influences that us as users have on the web and the power that we have over it. Both readings before this gave me a better understanding about the web and how it works all together. But just like the quote I used earlier the word “demonically” stands out to me. It seems that the web does continue to grow at an increasing rate because of the vast amount of users. But when does that vast amount of using backfire on us? I know this may sound confusing but I found myself unable to get that question out of my head. I just wonder if the web will ever backfire on its users all together. Any ways, the last thing that I found interesting which related back to the previous readings was all about information and how everything on the web is metadata and everything can be a label. A lot of the reading was about this and it gave me a much more in depth understanding about this topic.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

#3 Organizing Coats X 2

Honestly, if someone else had all my coats I would challenge them to organize them on a daily basis, or even organize them by seasons. But if someone were to have my coats and organize them I could see them doing it in basically the same way. I have tried to organize them in a couple different ways and even just tried putting them on wherever they fit which does work on some occasions. I imagine that someone would just put them up on hangers instead of a coat rack but I am not sure that the place where my hangers are hung could take that kind of weight. NOT joking. hahaha
I think the way that I organize my coats shows that I value a good coat for what ever the weather is. I believe that it shows that I am generally a very clean person even when it comes to having all my coats hung up or in storage so they are not just laying around.

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Organization Sensation

In the prologue and the first two chapters of Weinberger’s book, Everything Is Miscellaneous, the most interesting thing I found is the way we as people decide to organize things according to criteria such as what they are, there function (what they do), and there general importance.
Weimberger starts in the prologue by discussing the way the company Staples organizes their stores to make shopping easier for their customers. He goes over how every item has certain material limits and can only go in one area but when the items become digitalized the limitation disappears and the item can be found in any number of places. When these items are found on the internet by a person they are helping others to find them more easily whether that be purchasing it, rating it, or giving feedback on it, etc.
Chapter one goes more over organization and introduces the three levels of organization. Weinberger uses iTunes as an example and I think that made it really easy to understand. I have never thought about how organized and efficient iTunes really is and I feel like I use it just about every day. After reading about how the three levels work for iTunes I think it seems much more effective than alphabetization organization that is brought up in chapter two. Weinberger uses things such as, the encyclopedia, planets and the periodic table to describe alphabetization with organization.
One thing that I spend a lot of time organizing would be my coats and jackets. I think that I have more jackets and sweatshirts than anyone I know. I keep them on a door hanging coat rack that is in my room and I also have a bag full that I keep under my bed for different seasons and weather conditions. The ones that I keep on the coat rack go small to large from left to right with my robe always on the far right. This arrangement usually works very well for me besides when I get lazy and end up stacking a couple on my couch but that usually does not last for very long.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Web Squared...


In the area of my own future professional goals I have a couple of things in mind.  The main thing lately that I have wanted to do is work for a company such as pixar working with animation and other aspects in that specific area.  Some other things that I have wanted to pursue would be in the area of graphic design or game design with companies such as RIDE snowboards or Pop Cap games.  
The parts of this article that I found to be important and interesting would be the sections on how the web learns and also the small side section on Photosynth, Gigapixel Photography, and Infinite Image.  In the section on how the web learns I found  it interesting how different things have so called “shadows” on other sites and also how the web see’s every little piece of information as a “vote.” Every link clicked on, every piece of information submitted, every item purchased, etc. every thing is a vote on a larger scale in the world wide web.  The last thing that I found to be important is near the end of the of the reading.  It talks about how “The Web is no longer an industry unto itself—the Web is now the world.”  This is a interesting for me to think about because the more I do think about it the more true it becomes for me given web sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
After thinking about my own personal professional goals I think the part of this article that pertains to myself would be the part about how everything is a vote. If I were to create an online game people would have to first play my game and in doing so giving my game a positive “vote” saying that more people should play it.  In doing so making my game more successful and helping me further my career in that aspect.