..on pedagogy

Yay Math

I found this to be a qualitative article on pedagogy to which I relate.

A Change in Christmas

This graph below says something about the change in the celebration of Christmas.  See the report for the Pew Research Center for more information.

Sociology Chat: Sociology of Race, Crime, and the Case of Trayvon Martin...Event 3, part 2

More resources on this topic can be found here. Below is the archive of the live chat held on Twitter. Just click Replay.

Sociology Chat: Sociology of Race, Crime, and the case of Trayvon Martin...Event 3, part 1

More resources on this topic can be found here. Below is the archive of the live chat held on Twitter. Just click Replay.

Sociology Chat: Sociology of March Madness/Sport..Event 2, part 2

Sociology Chat: Sociology of March Madness and Sport (Event 2, part 1)

Sociology Chat: Covered Live! Event 1, part 2

Sociology Chat: Covered Live! Event 1, part 1

Sociology Chat

Happy to introduce a new little project/endeavor:  it's the Sociology Chat.  This will be a live twitter chat occurring twice on Wednesdays, twice a month.

The first scheduled live chat will occur February 22nd at 9:30am CST and again at 7pm CST.

Please visit the link above for more about the live chat via Twitter.  Each session will be archived here at The Sociology Blog.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Spring 2012 is here!

It's funny.  I looked at my last post here at The Sociology Blog (see directly below).  It mentioned my intent to grow the blog.  The fact of the matter is that the Fall 2011 was nothing short of beastly for me.

What I've also realized is that not everything I do or like to do has to flow only through this blog space.  I have many services I maintain, and most all of that can be accessed now through my homepage.  Click here or visit the "My Website" link above.

Just as in the past, I'm using the following quite a bit.  I'm including these as links directly to content that I've made available to everyone.

In short, as the revised introduction at the top of this page says, I'm going to use this blog for the meantime as historical record.  With my family life (married with three young children), school work and other interests, I just don't find the time and perhaps not the interest to regularly maintain this blog; at least for now.

Again, I curate and am very active with the following services.  You'll see some things when you click them.  Feel free to engage with me.  I'm a regular Twitter user.

Google Reader

Twitter

The Sociology Interest Links

YouTube

Presentations and other resources


http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Well, hello everyone.  I sat looking at the front page of The Sociology Blog, again considering what should be the next steps.

The good news is that I've never been more inclined to approach the idea of long form writing with this much energy.  It's funny though, because this Fall 2011 semester I have more on my plate than ever before.

However, there is also much more to offer in the form of commentary, ideas, and I continue to feel the need to share more.  I suppose my recent adoption of Google+ has affected this new found need; rather this new found need of a long time felt need.

I've struggled in recent years with content for this blog, not that there wasn't enough content, but I've also been keenly interested in teaching, the classroom environment, social networking and social media, areas of interest that perhaps have been out of the perview of "sociology".  Aside from the fact that those ideas may or may not be out of the perview of sociology, I've decided to use this particular blog space to present ideas not just related to sociology, but also education, technology, and related topics.

So my intent is to allow the blog to grow with me.  I think that will benefit the blog, me, and perhaps the online community.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts.


http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

We the People, Social Media, and Qualitative Research

Today a small group of folks pulled together our existing resources and took on the innovative task of tweeting and blogging a local civic engagement event.  Using our laptops and cellphones, we live tweeted/blogged a local civic engagement event sponsored by AmericaSpeaks and the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro.

The event brought together nearly 300 locals to discuss local issues centered around Education and the Economy. (A participant guide from the event can be found here.)  This was the second We the People event held in my hometown of Owensboro, KY, the first one being in 2007.

Our local group consisted of four folks (me, Steve Metzger, Jessie Schartung, and Michelle Montalvo).  I set up an event of Cover it Live at the Owensboro Blog.  The interface was free, very easy to use.  After talking with Mary Lauran Hall with AmericaSpeaks the day before, we set everything up and organized ourselves to pull this off late in the afternoon the day before the event.  This came upon us quite spontaneously.

I'd like to devote the remainder of this blog post to addressing some insights from the process, with its implications on citizen journalism and qualitative research.

Qualitative insights

Social media and social networking tools are disruptive tools in the media-sphere.  Particularly in our local community, social media and social networking tools are still largely viewed as new and for entertainment purposes.  Social media and social networking tools are primarily open, accessible, and can be implemented by anyone with the initiative to learn how to do so.  Pulling together these tools to document and regard an event of this type is not entirely difficult, but it does take some thinking and planning.  I have been working in this fashion in various ways for several years.  We like to think that as a result of our process that we not only documented the event live, but we were able to give lasting insight into the minute-to-minute, stage to stage process of dialogue and deliberation of participants during this event.

Usually during We the People events the first draft of information received is the draft final report handed out at the end of the day.  During our project, we were able to document quotes, feelings, raw ideas and beliefs of participants as they shared those in the moment, in dialogue and discussion with other members at their particular tables.  While this information served as a social media component because it was live, the real benefit is that this information is also archived, giving organizers, staff, researchers of the process particular insight into the emotional give and take often experienced as participants delve deeply into local issues.

The AmericaSpeaks were nothing but extremely supportive of our work during the event.  We obtained a .pdf copy of the initial final reports immediately after they were distributed to participants.  We shared that online and made it publicly available to anyone.  Part one of the document can be found here, part two can be found here.

This is significant as it relates to qualitative assessment and analysis.  We live in a culture (societal and in the academic community) that largely focuses on quantitative information: giving us the overarching view with little attention to detail and the quality of feeling of individuals and small groups.  By organizing qualitative research as we did with this event, we now also have the added dimension that gives depth of context to the results from the day long town meeting.  Therefore, this process can be used not just for documenting a live event for those unable to be physically present, but this process should also been seen as adding another layer of context to the overall town meeting and the results derived by the participants.

In our particular effort we worked to provide rich media, including photos, audio, and video accounts of activities occurring in the moment.  There are variations of intensity that can be conducted in documenting an event live.  Given our very quick turnaround on organizing for this event, we were unable to strategically plan how we would do the live tweeting/blogging.  In future instances, this would be an aspect to have better control.  Some particular options are having members of the team focus on specific activities.  For example, one person document via photos, others via text, others recording and uploading video.  The beauty of the Cover it Live interface is that those moderating the interface can include content from the outside.  In our case we did pull in this rich media as we were able to, including tweets from not just our small staff, but tweets from the AmericaSpeaks and tweets from the few participants that were tweeting from time to time.  We also brought in other content on the web, relevant to the event.  So for example we posted the participant guide so online participants could follow what was being covered in the physical setting.

Reach
The Cover it Live web based software does include stats.  Given our limited time for marketing, we did not expect that our live event would garner a whole lot of outside participation.  But keep in mind we also approached this as an effort of documenting the day, so it will be hard to tell how often the event (which is archived on the Owensboro Blog) will be viewed later.  In fact we do expect that qualitative insight into the day can be had by viewing both the archived Cover it Live instance and the backed up tweets from the day (found here).

During the event it appears we had around 20 people actively engaged in commenting and viewing via the Cover it Live interface.  During this particular event there was not much effort of online participation in the event via our interface.  We were unable to design the interface in such a way this time around, but options are available where such an effort could gain more traction and significance for online participants if established and communicated well in advance of the day of the event.  AmericaSpeaks does have experience in linking several physical locations at the same time, incorporating a collaborative web component to do so (or like service).

Below is the archived event on Cover it Live


In our effort each of the team members tweeted to their followers and posted links to our information on Facebook.  In total we theoretically have a reach of at least 1500 followers; people from all over the world, national, statewide, and not just locally.  So there is some consideration that needs to occur about the impact of such a reach, the impact of the process as it ripples through social media.  How many folks will research this process?  How many will read recommendations on live tweeting/blogging an event and using the data for further qualitative analysis via this particular blog post?  These are very relevant in the face of the reach and impact of social media and its content, and the utilization of data for for research and ultimately procedural and policy implications.

Notes on process
We were mobile with our approach.  We established our "base of operations" on a back table, essentially sitting down and connecting with our laptops.  Although I haven't mentioned, it's hopefully obvious we had a local wifi network established via the technical capacity of the AmericaSpeaks folks.  This was a must for us to do our work.

Jessie, myself, and my mother as volunteer

Because we were pulling in tweets with a certain hashtag, we were able to take our mobile phones out amongst the tables and mobile blog/tweet.  I found it intimate to listen to quotes from tables and directly tweet those; these ended up in the Cover it Live interface and were backed up as previously mentioned.  It still is rewarding to go back and view the quotes that we pulled in from participants in the moment.  This data is from participants in deep conversation with others, considering ideas and sharing those perhaps in a very rare safe and inviting environment.

These are some initial thoughts that seem to be bubbling up as I continue to reflect on this process.  Below was the initial debrief that our local tweet/blog team shared.

New Groups function on Facebook

Purpose of Groups

I'd recommend using groups for a close network of friends, family, or for a trusted network of colleagues or those with similar interests.  There needs to be a dimension of trust and dependability of members to get use out of this function.

When Group participation starts to become active it does become apparent that information needs to be better aggregated for easier access.  There still is not much structure for aggregating information via the Group.  This however can be achieved by using outside services such as Google Apps and then linking that content back into the Group.

Currently you can add Posts, Links, Photos, Videos, Events, and Docs to Group members.  You can also conduct Group chat.

Privacy

Multiple administrators can be added to a Group.  The administrator(s) can decide to make the Group one of the following:

• Open: members and content is public
• Closed: members public and content is private
• Secret: members and content are private

Notifications

This is a very important function to gain control of as soon as you join a Group. When you are in the Group, you'll see the "Edit Notifications" icon towards the top right. You can choose your notification options there. Note: if you do not want email notifications make sure you uncheck the box at the bottom. If there is a lot of activity in the group you will receive a large number of notifications both in your Facebook notification feed and your designated email inbox if you have not deselected the appropriate boxes.

• Facebook notification:  when you perform activity in the Group and someone replies or interacts with that activity, you will receive a notification via the traditional Facebook notifications tab on your main Facebook page

Group chat
The group chat allows you to chat with members in the Group that are currently online. At this stage note that all conversations held in Group chat are available for all members to see.

Therefore, Group chat should be relegated to casual conversation, with more specific interaction taken to individual chat or email.

Wall Posts

At current wall posts are the only way to develop interaction in a thread like manner. However, there are no threads in this new version of Groups. In order to get collaborative use out of this Groups function I'd recommend that people begin with the Wall posts function: post something. This helps to get interaction, exchange, and collaboration started.

I'd recommend that after a wall post develops much interaction with value added content, that perhaps it then is copied and pasted in to a Document so it can be better referenced over time.

As activity in the Group increases it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with general information that flows in and out of the Group through wall posts.  This information needs to be better managed.  As previously mentioned, this may better be addressed by using outside services such as Google Apps and then linking into the Group.  The Group can also use the Docs function, highlighted below.

Docs
The docs function allows members of the Group to create standing, editable documents.  This function has a very easy to use interface.  Docs are also available and can be accessed on the right hand side of the Group page.


Adding members
Once you are at the Group page the web address can be copied and emailed, tweeted, etc.. to anyone and they can click that link and request an invite to be added to the Group (the user has to have a Facebook account).  The administrator will have to approve.

All members of a Group can invite other members.  Therefore, you really should have a clear understanding of the purpose of your Group and who you want to invite.  That fact alone means you should have a handle on your trust, dependability, and willingness to collaborate with potential Group members before they are invited.    To repeat, all members of a Group can invite new members.  You do not have to be an administrator to invite new users.  Pick your members wisely.



Leaving the Group
You may find that you have randomly been added to a Group.  You can easily opt out of the Group by choosing "Leave Group" on the right hand side of the Group page.  However, once you leave you have to be reinvited to be added to the Group.

Hurricane Katrina: 5 years later

Thanks to @jmmeij for sharing!

Bicycling into the heart of the flood: A Hurricane Katrina remembrance

Facebook VP cites lots of sociology

Pizza Preacher Returns

on the heels of Dr. Laura's racist rant:




--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

mLearning: Mobile Devices as Research and Teaching Tools

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

mLearning: Mobile Devices as Research and Teaching Tools

This entire presentation with links (no audio) can be viewed and is available for download as a Google Presentation here: http://bit.ly/bwnbn9

View more from Chad Gesser.

Good Morning New Horizons

Facebook is everywhere

Facebook is everywhere


--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks | Video on TED.com

Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks | Video on TED.com

Ole Miss flash mob

another reason why flash mobs are so cool--and--why college is so cool

Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty (from TED 2007)

Perceptions of discrimination

Some interesting polling data on perceptions of discrimination.


http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=943

Durkheim and Anomie � The Social Lens

Durkheim and Anomie � The Social Lens

Be Afraid…Be VERRYY Afraid…(not) � The Social Lens

Be Afraid…Be VERRYY Afraid…(not) � The Social Lens

Issues of Health and Health Care Reform � The Social Lens

Issues of Health and Health Care Reform � The Social Lens

Homosexuality: more than just preference � The Social Lens

Homosexuality: more than just preference � The Social Lens

McDonaldization and Starbuckization

Posted McDonaldization and Starbuckization over at the Social Lens.

Who Are You?

Posted over at the Social Lens blog.

For the Love of...Consumerism

Posted over at the Social Lens blog.

Facebook and Connection

Posted Facebook and Connection over at the Social Lens blog.

A Girl Like Me

Posted A Girl Like Me post over at The Social Lens.

Social Interaction and Technology

Just made this post over at The Social Lens: Social Interaction and Technology.

State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic [PIC]

Came across this graph via Twitter today. A good breakout of the demographics of Internet use.

State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic [PIC]

Sport and Society

Just posted over at The Social Lens

Sport and Society

Allow me to introduce..the Turtleman

Just posted this over at the Social Lens.

Language: from coke to Coke

Just published this blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/language-from-coke-to-coke/

Symbols: Meaning and Interpretation

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/1062/

A Call for Immediate Disaster Response

The events of the past week in Haiti have been unbelievable. The complete destruction wrought by the earthquake has made an underdeveloped nation rely on far less than nothing.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I watched in agony the incredibly slow response of national and international assistance to a human population in need. Many of us throughout the world are witnessing and reliving the agony of a slow response to a human population that is desparate and strugglng to survive.

There are two projections that I'd like to call to our attention: 1) the global population is expected to rise from 6.5 billion to near 11 billion in the next 100 years; and, 2) global warming is expected to result in a highe number of catastophic events and with greater intensity and impact.

Our state, national, and international responses need significant attention and investment, a new strategic focus is in order to meet the needs of an evergrowing global population that will continue to fall victim to an increasing number of powerful disasters.

A legitimate reponse time of 7 days is unacceptable. The international community, while it's ciizens and institutions come to help in times of desperate need, has to get immediate response organized, distributed, effective: now. We must start thinking about waves of response. Emergency medical care, water, and food must arrive within 36 hours of the event. Necessary equipment and so on arrives 48 hours after, 3 days, etc. We do not seem to be prepared for what will become more and more common: natural disasters.

The work of groups such as the Red Cross and others is not in question. It is time for both the public and the private to step up and better organize a response strategy to address what the future holds for people and the planet: an increasing number of disasters which will require more resources, quicker response, in the efforts to adequately meet the coming tidal wide of human need during times of crisis.

The global population is expanding, and our planet is sick and getting sicker. How will we plan and respond?

The Sociology of Avatar

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/the-sociology-of-avatar/

Haiti: poverty and disaster

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

Haiti: poverty and disaster � The Social Lens

A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Good take on recent population shifts (or lack thereof) in the US.

A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Planet Slum

I came across this very intriguing photo essay entitled "Planet Slum" today via Sociological Images on Twitter, found on the Foreign Policy website.

This is reminisicent of the work of Jacob Riis.

http://is.gd/5KOFv

New Year, new opportunities

Greetings with a New Year to colleagues, friends, students, and followers!

I was really pleased to look back on 2009 and see that I had indeed increased the amount of blogging for the year. There is no doubt that my Twitter use greatly influenced that change, along with the purchase and robust use of my iPhone.

This year, particularly over the course of the next six months, my blogging will continue to increase as I add blogs to six sections of sociology, in addition to a partnership that I have with Pearson Education to blog at The Social Lens.

I also am looking at expanding the topics that I cover, and developing a range of content. The content will range in quality as well, as my dive into Twitter has impressed upon me the possibilities with content. Some posts will be more developed, some won't.

I continue to work to integrate a variety of services which house my content, and am currently developing a local project which will exhibit that same type of integration. I hope to speak and post more about that within the next few months.

So let's welcome the New Year, keep our sociology eyes open and aware, and further the introduction to sociology and our perspective on the world in which we live.

Chad

Corporate, retail driven society

Today is New Year's Day. Christmas was just a week ago.

By the way, Happy Valentine's Day!!!




--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

How the Internet Enables Intimacy

An introductory presentation regarding the sociology of social networking and relationships. Just more reason to embrace the possibilities and to not shut it away.

Networked Learners-from the Pew Internet Project

A look at the demographic profile of digital natives in the U.S.

Networked Learners (MVU Keynote)

View more presentations from Pew Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Center.

Whitening the Resume

Quite a thought provoking NYT's article about race, identity, and opportunity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/weekinreview/06Luo.html?_r=1

How do we feed a City?

Fantastic presentation, illustrating social significance of food, commodity systems, colonialism, growth of cities, and urban development.

Might give a little perspective on the role of food in your community. Watch all the way to the end...

Gaming: Fake achievement

Below is an interesting self analysis of sorts regarding the psychology of achievement in videogaming.

This is also interesting as an illustration of Mead's work on the social significance of play and games.

http://www.pixelpoppers.com/2009/11/awesome-by-proxy-addicted-to-fake.html

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Free Food inspires

so Chik Fil A is offering a free meal deal for a year, or something...people are camping out for this??




--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Interactive Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880

Very interesting analysis of changes in immigration over time

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html

From the New York Times, "Who's Hurting the Most?"

Fantastic look at the current unemployment rate by demographic category.  Some telling numbers.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/whos-hurting-the-most/

Episode 10: The Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Social Isolation and New Technology

The following report contains a reassessment of the role of technology
in fostering connections and social networks.

Appears the use of technology has exceeded normalization, and is
becoming an important aspect of communication and ongoing connection?

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1398/internet-mobile-phones-impact-american-social-networks

Industrial production: Great Depression vs. Great Recession

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/the-story-so-far-in-one-picture/

False Advertising

Since when did vehicles "Improve the Environment"? Do they repair the ozone, clean up the rivers, reduce pollution?

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

...another ethnic faux paux?

I'm proud to announce the debut sociological insight from my brother Nick Gesser, who snapped this pic recently in nearby Jeffersonville, IN. Take a look at the wording at the top of the sign on the left. He told me he did a double take when he saw the sign, and practiced a little bit of mobile documentation himself!



http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Episode 9: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Google Wave Review 5

Making Information via Waves Useful

First off, if you are not using Wave or are not familiar with how it works, this post might be difficult to understand.

Something I have been wrestling with for several days is making the use and product of Waves useful (see Google Wave Review 4). The labeling and/or tagging what are called blips is important to prevent duplication; and more importantly, to allow the categorization of information and knowledge.

Here is why this is important. There are several Waves centered around the same topic and discussion; sometime with duplicate users. Why...continue...to...duplicate? For the sake of conversation, ok. But there needs to be an manner in which like information can also be shared across Waves.

I know tagging within a blip is a lot to consider, so perhaps the ability of the Wave creator to categorize groups of blips, comments, etc...? Then a "bank of tags" or something of the like could be housed. Think del.icio.us Users over time can then consolidate information via tags, house them privately etc...

And think about this: haven't seen this idea yet. How about integrating the "Add This" or "Share" function in blips, Waves? That way an entire conversation could be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc...?

I believe the Groups: Final Solution Wave was getting at this notion of categorization of information, but the focus in that Wave became in the form of groups.

However, information, discussion, ideas, etc... also have to be grouped in order to have functionality as that knowledge relates to other knowledge, and how it's useful for people.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Google Wave Review 4

Collaborative Tool?

I currently use Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Blackboard, and a blog (and other things, believe it or not), and while Wave at this point is very interesting, I could not in this form use it productively with my Sociology students.

At current there is just not added value as a collaborative tool beyond what the aforementioned tools provide for me. It is sooooo freeform, which is good to a point. Beyond that the information seems to get lost, individual Waves themselves fall apart. There are no logical endpoints. Humans just are not ready to alter interaction and communication effectively in this way.

I see Wave could be a lot like Twitter: a core product is made best by add ons, extensions, and third party apps.

I believe Wave could be used for creative thinking, on the fly input. It is so difficult to massage/guide/facilitate the flow of input, information, and the formation of knowledge utilizing Wave.

Perhaps implementing a tag/keyword function within blips would help. There are so many things that can be suggested that likely will be addressed via extensions, etc...

What is meant by using Google Wave as a collaborative tool? Collaboration needs to be defined. Does it mean two or more people getting in a Wave and having free flowing, interaction that is essentially melded? Does collaboration mean two or more people interacting that leads to the formation of ideas and subsequent knowledge? How does the information and ideas become categorized? How is knowledge connected to other knowledge?

The categorization of ideas and formation of knowledge here is incredibly disruptive in the format of the Wave. Google Wave is difficult to grasp because it is not how humans interact in a face-to-face or virutal environment. At current, and I know it is ever changing, for me it is very disorganized; so much that it is not very useful for building knowledge and learning.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Google Wave 3

Functionality

A popular theme, as expected, on Google Wave that I've noticed amongst a group of educators is the functionality of Wave.

Beyond the fact that it has bugs (slow, locking up), much discussion in the educator section (some found here) is how could Wave be used in the organizational setting.

Amongst the ideas: wikis, customer service, advising, and discussion boards.

A standard that is bubbling up is the number of people suitable to make a Wave useful. I participated in one Wave that had over 400 people, and it stopped just short of chaos. Early on participation in the Wave was robust, but after a very short time hundreds of messages can appear in the Wave, and it simply becomes impossible to keep up with. Hence, that Wave came to a grinding halt.

Talking about functionality at this stage of Wave is perhaps a bit moot as we begin to see bots, gadgets, and extensions being built for Wave. Just as the Twitter core was developed, Twitter did not gain a wider spread use until extensions, apps, and third party services tapped into its API (think Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop, Twitpic, etc...).

At current it appears many of the "Wave extras" are being built for the internal Wave.

As with Twitter, I'm curious to see how third party services extending the functionality outside of the Wave into websites and peripheral internet use will grow the idea of Google Wave: communication and collaboration.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Google Wave Review 2

Why Collaboration is a sticking point

It will be very interesting to see what informal and formal situations will guide the use of Google Wave.

Given the heightened nature of interaction, how often, and how deep will participants Wave?

There's no question that social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter have filled a gap of connection for nearly every cohort, at least in US society.

But what about the depth of interaction, the willingness to "work together" on not only relationships, but informal and formal projects? At a basic level, will users get together via Google Wave to plan a night on the town, a short field trip, or share images, video, and other artifacts regarding an event or experience?

For organizations that thrive on collaboration of ideas and projects, an adoption of the Google Wave "system" into their existing communication structure would be ideal. This potential that I garnered from watching the initial Google Wave video struck me as profound.

That indeed might be what is needed for users to experience the possibilities as it relates to meaningful communication with strangers and significant others alike. I just don't know that people have a willingness or desire for the type of communication that Google Wave can afford. Yet.

Will casual use over time by participants result in enough of a critical mass that Google Wave could have the type of benefit regarding human communication and collaboration that would come near its potential? Likely only on a community (both real and virtual) by community basis at first.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Google Wave Review 1

Well, I was fortunate enough to get a Google Wave invite last night, and I spent about 4 hours playing around with it.

Here are some initial thoughts. After "waving" with three people, what struck me the most was the sense of melding of communication. When in a "wave", you can see what the other person(s) is typing in real time, you can be typing at the same time, and you can enter into another one's comments as they are typing to address something that perhaps you find in the middle of their sentence.

That is an extremely interesting notion, one that will take a while for folks to become comfortable with. After waving for a bit, and because of this, I at least got a sense of fulfillment. I waved with three people that I had never met before, and the openness and willingness to share was something very "cool", maybe extraordinary.

I use the word extraordinary intentionally, because I believe a significant issue with using Google Wave will be the willingness of others to engage and collaborate with others. Thus overcoming this barrier could point the way to collaboration on an unprecedented level. That to me is very exciting.

One does have control over the tempo of each Wave. However, the norms around "how to Wave" are completing up in the air at current. I believe that establishing common norms around "netiquette" was a useful framework to better assist everyone in knowing proper and improper manners and actions of interaction for forums, discussion boards, and now found in text messaging. Some of that will obviously be carried over into Google Wave, but nothing more at current exists regarding Google Wave.

Why is this important? Because users are "playing" with Google Wave trying to determine what it is, and more importantly, what is it for. The most significant potential use, as I see for Google Wave, is collaboration. This then is why I see collaboration as a major issue. With Google Wave, people have the chance to collaborate at a pace and without barriers in ways that I have never seen or participated.

So at current, for me at the very very early stages of using Google Wave, is that it is a very open medium for communication and collaboration. I sense that many with Google Wave accounts really like it, but just do not know how, under what circumstances, and the what to expect when one engages with others in a Wave.

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

mLearning: Mobile Devices As Research, Communication, and Teaching Tools

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mLearning: Mobile Devices As Research, Communication, and Teaching Tools

View more presentations from Chad Gesser.

Episode 8: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

A McDonaldized Landscape

The original pic can be found with blog post by Stephen Von Whorley here: http://is.gd/3BG4K

What you are looking at are all McDonald's restaurants plotted in the U.S. The greatest distance between 2 McDonald's is 107 miles in South Dakota.



--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Strangers, Presentation of Self, Private and Public Spaces

This week in Intro to Soc we have been discussing Georg Simmel's work on Strangers the Sociology of Space.

We've also been discussing the tenets of Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis.

I was pleasantly surprised....wait, THRILLED when Ricky Lax sent me an article from the Las Vegas Weekly about a little "experiment" he conducted at the Town Square.

Too funny!

http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Did You Know 4.0

Episode 7: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

A Five Year Old Learns the Alphabet

Discussion in our Introduction to Sociology class today centered around symbols and the social construction of language.

What you see below is the effort of a five year old kindergartener concentrating diligently on constructing her letters. Not too far to follow is linking these symbols to construct words. Understanding their meaning will begin to occur over the next few months as well.



--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Global Military Spending

Found at the Visual Economics website: http://is.gd/28cdS






--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Episode 6: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Cumberland Presbyterian Church: really..really?

In my hometown, religious sayings and "inspirational quotes" are quite the norm.

But this? Does this overstep the boundaries of acceptable denominational messages?




--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Episode 5: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Episode 4: Pizza Preacher

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Community College focus? Finally!?

Obama's community college proposal frankly is good public policy. #DavidBrooks outlines why and it's potential. http://is.gd/1Dleh

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

College achievement

Data piece: 50% of those entering college for a degree don't make it.

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Teen Technologies July15 2009

Teen Technologies presentation, July 15, 2009

Teen Technologies July15 2009

View more presentations from Chad Gesser.

Education gap: not much change

Education achievement gap narrowing in South, growing in North.

Implications of group identity? Instiutional effects?

http://is.gd/1zIsJ

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

"2009 or 1909?"

A good look with some sociological examination of discrimination at the private pool in Philly http://is.gd/1zJ6V

--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Some success with ocal greening efforts

In the article below, local officials highlight successful efforts at
cost savings and reduction in the use of energy.

City government signed on to a "Cool Cities" initiative, already
meeting the Kyoto Protocol standards.

While recycling efforts continue to be stonewalled and minimal, it is
encouraging to see these efforts and progress.

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15980/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=7RE8H4pw

Smartphones, Social Media, and Sociological Research

Social media is obviously changing the landscape of the production of information in our world.

What has not been discussed much in the sociology is the role that information technology, particularly mobile technology, can and will play in sociological research.

I have experimented with the use of smart phones in my personal and professional life substantially over the past six months. I started out with the LG Vu and then upgraded to the iPhone 3G. What I will discuss below can largely be applied to current smart phones on the market (obviously combined with the appropriate data plan) that allow the following:

* the function to take photos
* the ability to text message (SMS)
* the ability to record audio and/or video

The sharing of such information/or research depends on the user's capacity to upload that information to be shared with others. A smart phone along with a the proper data plan can unleash the sociological imagination in anyone's world.

I particularly have used images and texts across a number of platforms, and have integrated nearly all of these platforms to be accessible at any one point. For example, I currently actively use The Sociology Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, and YouTube. At the same time, I have each of these linked to the other through a Netvibes website.

The real beauty of using the smart phone for exploratory sociological research and the cross platform of sharing information is the role the smart phone can play in the daily living of the researcher, student, or simply out of freelance interest.

There have been several examples where I have been able to bring a current, real time experience to bear via the social networking/media sites mentioned above. These in turn have been brought into the classroom and have given students a very real connection of applying the sociological imagination in real life, providing an example of using mobile technology for research, sharing that information across many channels and amongst many potential audiences, and reflecting with others (in and outside the classroom) regarding individual/group behavior and it's particular role in the social setting.

How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck

How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck

Talk about timely! This better highlights the exercise we did in class regarding a basic needs budget.

Shared via AddThis

Social Networking and Connection

Came across this article today, and was quite intrigued by the suggestion of division of social networking tool use based on social class and possibly race.

Does Social Networking Breed Social Division? - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com

Facebook Aging

Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older. - http://bit.ly/X7RYq



--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Episode 3: Pizza Preacher

at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com

Krugman on Malthus

#Krugman on Malthus: goes wayyyyy ol' school with reflections on population growth, technology, and subsistence

http://is.gd/1oNR5

Race, politics, and pop culture

Data presented from a CNN Opinion Research poll highlights the connection between race, politics, and popular culture.

What other factors can account for the marked differences?

Jobless Rate at historical high

Bad news about this data is that we are near historical jobless rates. The trend from previous downturns suggests that we are near the bottom, and perhaps a turnaround is not too far off.

...pulled from The Daily Dish, Chart of the Day, Andrew Sullivan: July 2, 2009

--Via mobile bloggin'

Episode 2: Pizza Preacher

Episode 2 of the Pizza Preacher

--Via mobile bloggin'

The Wal-Mart Virus

This video was brought to my attention by a current soc student.

These are always interesting, but keep in mind we always have to question the reliability and validity of the information.

How would we verify the accuracy of the video?

Thanks WL!!

Gay Rights vigil

This evening I saw the Voices for Equality group (gay rights) holding a peaceful candlelight vigil in front of KWC.




--Via mobile bloggin'

Sociology of Twitter

The Sociology of Twitter, Video Interview with Liz Pullen from ReadWriteWeb on Vimeo.

Sociology of collective behavior: Iran crisis

The following link provides an excellent early assesment into the
sociology of group formations

Iran Election Crisis: A Social Media Timeline http://bit.ly/NXSPI"

Do Facebook Friends Provide the Same Support As Those In Real Life?

This article recently appeared in Newsweek.  This speaks to the impact of virtual community and personal well being.

"Do Facebook Friends Provide the Same Support As Those In Real Life?"
http://bit.ly/1ag4Dg - More info: http://bit.ly/1ag4Dg+

Sociological Images » “Rules and Regulations for Public Dance Halls”

Found this on one of the Contexts' blogs.

Stay tuned for a related upcoming assignment!!

http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/06/11/rules-and-regulations-for-public-dance-halls/

Sent from my iPhone

Twitter use better defined

The analysis of Twitter gets better defined as the media and general
public seeks to better understand the depth and impact of the "Twitter
phenomena".

On the news, talkshows, and all across the media, defining the use and
purpose of Twitter continues to be inaccurate and largely misunderstood.

What is Twitter for?

http://mashable.com/2009/06/10/twitter-users-inactive/

Sent from my iPhone

Near naked yard work

...so I'm pretty aware of my surroundings, and not a lot surprises me...

But seeing this guy a few blocks from my house today, mowing his grass in briefs (underwear), was something of a surprise.

--Via mobile bloggin'

McWordsmiths

I just wonder how long it took to derive this elegant phrase found on the box of a Big Mac; AND how much the creator got paid?

See any other elegant food phrases that provide the aesthetics to make the food go down easier and to take your thoughts from the potential for heart disease? Snap a shot with a caption and send it to me to post: chad.gesser@gmail.com