This blog will be about the chapter Reappraising the Residual in the book Spreadable Media by Henry Jenkins. The chapter starts out by talking about how YouTube is an item that has a hand in grassroots but otherwise no longer commands the attention of commercial interests. Chicken McNuggets are then brought into the picture. This was content that was generated and spread through the digital gift economy and eventually used directly by a company as promotional material.  A user generated a rapping video about the mean. The original clip was posted to YouTube and then McDonald’s became known of it. They used the original clip but added some title cards and added a tag line at the end.  This is a perfect example of how spreadable media can travel through both market and social exchanges and in both directions.

   

            The chapter then bring up the interesting point of if we could decided that some things bear a market value and others did not, there would be less tension over the worth of something. Services and goods do not necessarily possess market or nonmarket characteristics. The value and conditions are assigned to goods and services, which is in the context of the exchange. A bottle of wine, for example, is brought to a dinner party of the hostess as a thank you. The value of the wine is communicated in the price. It is a big no-no if the price tag is left on the bottle and the person receiving the gift sees it. When I worked at Bath and Body Works, I always tried to remove every price tag when I wrapped gifts. It’s a politeness that is understood. Some people would request I removed the tag and others simply did not seem to care. Either way I always felt as if it was a must.

 The price one does spend on a gift matters as well. People, whether they admit it or not, take notice in the investment made. You never want to give a gift and come across as looking cheap. Spending a certain amount on someone communicates your feelings. If you are not close to someone and you're invited to a baby shower, you may just put some money in a card. If your best friend is getting married then you will spend more money on an extravagant gift. When going to a birthday party, you want your gift to look well balanced and as if time and effort went into it. You do not want to look bad in front of other guests and the celebrated individual.  When I give a present, I try and make it look well balanced and as if it I put a lot of thought into it. I never want a gift to look skimpy. It is simply a Southern thing.

The topic of eBay and Antiques Roadshow are discussed. eBay allows buyers and sellers  to directly negotiate prices. Antiques Roadshow relies on experts who estimate market value. My opinion is that eBay is more practical and relatable. The public is actually naming prices and bidding. When it comes to the Antiques Roadshow, they are having an expert throw
 out numbers when in reality will 
anyone honestly pay that much?

      YouTube is reappraised daily. People go through content and decided which is worthy enough to share and which is not. Other social medias can be reappraised as well, such as: Facebook. Every picture and post is an option to repost or to disregard. The book mentions that some videos on YouTube may stay in a certain confined niche and some others like the Susan Boyle movie can circulate across the world.  The term “fast culture” really hit home with me. Today’s culture is clearly the word "fast". We are always going and staying one step ahead. With the social media, Twitter, a rumor can spread like wildfire. Pictures and videos are like lightning in today's world. One may post something and one hour later it can have 1,000,00 hits.

  

    Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes was written by Don Tapscott in 2006.  It does a great job in exploring how companies in the early 21st century have used mass collaboration and open-source technology to be successful. Wikinomics is based upon four general concepts: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally. Business outsourcing can also be used as an extension of mass collaboration in the business environment. It is broken down into a organized business body brought in specifically for a function or a mass collaboration that relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve or solve a problem.

      To touch on the four ideas, we will start with the idea of openness. It is not only open standards and content but also being transparent with finances and having an attitude that accepts external resources. Peering is more of a collaborative forum. Sharing is a less proprietary approach to products, properties, and knowledge. Lastly, acting globally involves embracing the idea of globalization and ignoring the boundaries of being physical and geography at all levels.

       There is a quote I would like to include that I found to be very interesting insight and has a great practical view! "Collaborative research is any research project that is carried out by at least two people. It happens in many ways, and is more common in some fields than others. Working with others on a research project can have several benefits, but there can be drawbacks as well." Wise Geek Website Many times each separate individual involved can do extensive research and can collaborate wonderfully by combining their strengths. The main goal is to usually divide the work of writing the results and navigating the publication process. Other times one can receive the burden of doing everything. This is when collaborative research is not in the best interest. Some may not put as much effort or time into finding the true information and will settle for what will do. 
       
      One example that I can think of personally is when I attend the promotions meeting for Cumulus Media, which includes the stations Kicks 101.5, All News 106.7, and The Walk 98.9. At the beginning of the meeting, everyone has to bring to the table their ideas for upcoming events and remotes.  Some people need a little more tweaking, so it's everyone else's job to collaborate and throw ideas out on how to close that point. By the end of the meeting, they have gone from a vague idea to an entire lengthy proposal with every detail enclosed. Sometimes, when the meeting is over and it is more informal, then more of the magic happens, when we are just having conversation. One idea will be said and another individual will comment, and it will snow ball into a remote or event.

        In class, we learned about how Wikipedia is a collaborative effort. Anyone and everyone can sign in and edit whichever topic they please. There are different opinions when allowing who the freedom to edit. One of the co-founders insisted that credentials must be a requirement to edit the Wikipedia pages but points have been made that a random 17 year old may know more than the individual with the credentials.
       Allowing the general public to edit and contribute can play into the discussion about the site that Dr. Wilson was discussing. Geni is an online family tree. Geni Website Anyone can link their family and findings to some one else's. It helps in expanding the knowledge and making the growth possible. These people helping the expansion are not necessarily licensed researchers but the general public who may truly have the right facts and can contribute valid information.

      Collaboration is so crucial to allowing things to be discovered and improving. From cyberspace to business meetings, collaboration is what brings things together and makes them possible to exist.

      An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures by Pramod K. Nayar is what this week's blog will be about. The chapter begins by saying "cyberspace" is literally "navigable space." An example that allows me to picture this statement is simply surfing the web. You are "surfing the space." You can type in anything, go to different pages, and post whatever you like, anywhere you like. It is space that is free to you to do whatever you please and go in whichever direction you want.
      "It is the product of social interactions and relations, generating its own forms of identity and politics, and embedded in local, historical, and global cultures/contexts."

      "A public sphere is a space of community and social interaction in cyberspace," Which translates just as a community such as a neighborhood but just online.They also say, "that cyberspace is a fiercely contested zone, where ideological battles are played out between commercial interests and justice movements, neo-cons, and radicals, businesses and environmentalist, the state and civil society." For example, Linkedin is a social networking site that allows people in professional occupations to build a list of contacts and compete with one another. Youtube, would be another example of how people insert their opinions and battle with others. These two sites have taken the internet into a field where one's opinions become fact in their own eyes. 

      I think the fact they bring up about how cyberspace "co-evolves with every material, bricks and mortar-spaces. Thus, cities are increasingly structured to accommodate cabling, wired sections, transmission towers." Today, it is a necessity that every building has Wi Fi. People will choose one hotel over the other just so they can have internet access. We are redesigning buildings and cities so we can tap into cyberspace.

      Global communication has united far spaces and brought the unknown into the world of the known. Religion has done this greatly, which can be seen in Christianity. This religion used the benefits of printing to make cheaper copies of the Bible. This then allowed news to travel, leading to the alteration of people's faith. The age of digital technology and computer networks has weaved its way in, allowing temples in India to text prayers, as well as Jews to download prayers onto their phones by a service called "Psalms in His Palm."

       Cyberculture exists because of areas such as: engineering, labor markets, and technological construction enables it to exist. Stated earlier, " cities are reorganized to enable new technologies and new corporate entities to emerge and differential salaries alter consumer patterns, rentals, real estate markets, and social relations." Our society now functions and bases it's core decisions on cyberspace, which places a lot of weight on this digital culture.

       The technology of e-mail is brought up as well. It began in 1970 and is a social process; a mode of interaction. The amazing thing about e-mail is that people do not need to be online at the same time in order to communicate, but it is at their disposal to check and reply at their convenience. E-mail has changed the way people communicate all over the world; From business to relationships, E-mail has changed the ways that ideas are presented and ideologies invented. It's free, convenient, efficient, can be archived, and can address many people at once. E-mail can also be linked to your smartphone, making it all the easier to use. So you can reply to emails while in the car, on the bus, or sitting at home in front of the television. Think of how many emails are sent daily; 249 billion a day, meaning that 2.8 million are sent per second. Email Facs

Those that are very fond of cyberculture see the virtual communities as an answer to what they think is the public interaction dying out in this modern era. People see that it could possibly get back to how it use to be with returning to sharing common values but many believe that the online discussions and arguments are what make the progress on the ground. I do think it is sad that people go to the internet to solve problems when they work in the cubicle beside the person that could solve the problem. Why is this digital culture the tool that actually makes things happen?