WordPress…interesting.

Hi.  My name’s Krystal. I don’t know if we’re supposed to introduce ourselves or not, but I always feel weird if I don’t.  And since the questions are always the same, or along the same vein at any rate, I’ll answer those first day of class questions, and then I’ll get on with the hard-core blogging. Or at least with the responding to the readings.  I’m not really sure that’ll be considered hard-core.

So, from the top: I’m a Taurus on the cusp of Aries.  Kidding. Well, that’s true, but doesn’t exactly have any bearing on 691, now does it?  This is my second semester with UH’s LIS program, and I’m moving into my fifth month in Hawaii.  (I’m from Michigan, outside of Detroit if you’re wanting a visual, and I’m thoroughly enjoying not being in the midst of a Winter Weather Advisory every other day.)  I’m fairly certain I want to do work in conservation and preservation, but I’m ok exploring my options at the moment.  I know I’m not on the school librarian/media specialist track…other than that, well, we’ll see.  I’m taking this class for several reasons, among them the fact that I enjoy social computing in general and want to learn more about it past the free time level, and the fact that I see the world becoming more and more interactive, in an internet sort of way, and I don’t want to be left in the lurch not understanding the newfangled web 2.0.

With that whole expanding my horizons goal in mind, I picked WordPress because…well, it’s pretty.  Seriously, though, I’m down with their design philosophy and I haven’t used it yet despite my best intentions, so this was a perfect excuse. Plus my friend started a Tech Writing blog a few months ago and was impressed with them, and she’s a good judge of usability (and design, for that matter), so I followed her lead.  At the moment, I know the blog’s got that grating color of blue for the header, but as soon as I work my way around, that’ll change.  On the other hand, if you’re just getting the feed, I don’t think you see the page.  But it’ll bug me if I leave it.

OK, who I am, how long I’ve been in the program, which track, why I’m taking the class…if there’s anything else you’re wanting to know about me, ask away.  Or if you have any brilliant WordPress insight, feel free to share.

week 1

There was this book I had to read as a freshman in James Madison (…which probably means nothing to non-MSU people, because most MSU people didn’t know what Madison was. It was the College within the University that focused mostly on political stuff. I was an International Relations major for two years before I realized I wasn’t going to be a politician or policy adviser. I switched into Telecom, and then Professional Writing, if you were curious. /tangent) called Bowling Alone.  Honestly, it was a fairly forgettable book. The Federalist Papers were more interesting. But there was one thing that stuck with me after I was done reading, although I’m not sure it’s what I was supposed to get out of the thing.  The author spoke about how people were becoming more and more cocooned in their own lives, encased in technology and engaging less with other people.

Which is a concept I took issue with at the time, and still do.  Admittedly, yes, watching TV, playing Guitar Hero, and surfing the internet are individual sports. But they don’t have to stay that way.  Technology lets these things, usually done alone, become group activities.  Ask Jericho fans if they watch TV in a vacuum.  Well, watched. It’s over now, but a group of strangers managed to get together, mostly virtually, and convince a network to put their show back on the air.  You’re missing half the fun if you don’t talk to someone about Lost the day after they move the island, or about BSG when they reveal the final Cylon.  Rock Band grew out of the idea that Guitar Hero would be more fun if everyone could play together.  And I don’t think there’s a site I regularly visit that doesn’t have substantial user-added content (even if it’s just in comment or forum form).  Technology isn’t tearing us apart, it’s pulling us together.

The interesting thing to me though, is that online communities seem like baby RL communities.  People are still trying to figure out the rules and regulations, how to make virtual space worth inhabiting.  The LambdaMOO debacle (academically fascinating, emotionally disturbing) really illustrates that.  People come together and create a community, one that by its very nature seems to prevent order and discipline, and try to work out a way to keep it from descending into chaos.  Ultimately, one guy had to step up to the plate, and I think that seemed to be Keen and Tenopir’s big issue with Web 2.0–there isn’t one guy to step up to the plate and take responsibility.  There isn’t even a plate.

I think that’s the key to social computing as a concept. It’s not just the technologies and the communities, but how people build and use them, and why.  Social networks, social software, and online communities are all aspects of social computing, but there is also an intensely individual and personal aspect to the concept that gets left out of those specific aspects.  Through this class, I’m hoping to learn not just more about the mechanics of social computing, but also more about how social computing can improve individual’s experiences, online and in real life.