Communication

Baby Carrots, the Internet, and The Filter Bubble

Why would a web service filter the information that I see?

The information created in the entire history of humanity until 2010 is the same amount of information created online every two days. To filter that vast set of information, web companies have adopted the, “if you like this, you’ll like that” approach to curation.

What started as a tool for presenting product preferences quickly became a model for presenting information, says Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble. Today’s holy grail of web curators: Relevance.

We are each surrounded by a membrane of filters that determine what information comes in and what is left out. We are unaware of the processes that determine these filters.

Three challenges presented by this filter bubble include:

The Distortion Problem
The “like” concept creates a bias. It’s easy to like a marathon, but not so easy to like genocide in Darfur. That doesn’t mean the news is not relevant.

Balance
Filters diminish balance. We want to see news about Justin Bieber, but that needs to be balanced with news about Afghanistan. We eat the junk food we crave but we should target the nutrition we need.

A Matter of Control
We are putting increasing power in the hand of computer algorithms to tell us what to view. Editors used to serve as gatekeepers to information. The Internet swept away gatekeepers. The new gatekeepers are code. These new gatekeepers don’t even have the pretense of civic ethics that the old gatekeepers did.

What can be done?

1. Algorithm Ethics: Data sorts need to cause us to encounter multiple points of view.
2. Filter Literacy: Ats we consider digital literacy, we need to consider our knowledge of the filters.
3. Baby Carrots: Because people’s information environments are much more personalized, we need to ensure that the “nutritious snacks” make it through the filter bubble.

“We need the Internet to be as good as we hoped it would be.
And it won’t if we’re stuck in a bubble of one.”
- Eli Pariser

What’s Next, and Why it Could Matter to You, with Amy Webb

They’re not just scary trends that invade our privacy. Even frightening tools can be used for good. Amy Webb of Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency, highlighted three current trends that could be made relevant to community foundations at the Knight Foundation Media Learning Seminar.

1. Social discovery. Tagging, or captioning, pictures with hyperlinks occurs across social media sites. Tagging currently creates networks of facial recognition that allows search based on facial images. Even though this is scary on one hand, on another it could allow for vast networks of help or support.
2. Mobile data. Everyone who uses mobile phones and tools on the phone is being tracked. Mobile phones can reveal biometrics, bus arrival times, and serve as predictors of personal preferences for marketing research. Lots of information can be collected via mobile technology and can be used to pinpoint a community’s areas of need.
3. Gamification. “We start from the point of view that we should teach people stuff, and they are inherently not fun.” Rules of gamification: what is the purpose? Players must believe in the purpose of the game. It must create good vibes – that positive outcomes occur for actions. It must be inherently social. It must have a clear beginning and end or levels.
   Instead of gamifying everything, bring elements of gaming to ongoing work.

Download a complete set of Webb’s notes here, with case studies that could be implemented for each.

Does Technology Impact our Health?

Bobby DeMuro, who has been hosting The Bobby DeMuro Show on WBT Radio every Sunday evening since fall 2011, tackles current issues related to public health. This week’s topic: Does technology impact our health?

Bobby hosted me on tonight’s show alongside Jason Silverstein, Jon West, and others to discuss current issues in media, technology, and society. My section of the show covered the ways that technology intersects with communication, advocacy, and health.

I answered questions from DeMuro surrounding the impact of technology on health, the relationship between technology and society, our “need” to be connected, the growing digital divide, and future predictions about society’s reliance on technology.

My message was one of the continued need for digital literacy. We each have a responsibility to use technology wisely, by carefully assessing the information we discover and creating information that is accurate and reliable. We each need to take responsibility for the information we share, and we have to learn how to collaborate with our communities through technology as well as in person.

Listen to or download the full interview on media fire

Thanks to Bobby DeMuro for bringing this topic to the Charlotte airwaves and for inviting me to be a participant.

For more information about the Bobby DeMuro Show, visit http://bobbydemuro.com/work/wbt/

Google, Wikipedia black out over SOPA

Even though the widespread and unconfirmed Internet shutdown scheduled for today has not yet happened, major websites are using their own typical strategies to spread the word about SOPA. SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261) currently in process in the US House of Representatives, was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) on December 16, 2011. It has received loud protests from many in the social media industry including noteworthy sites such as Wikipedia and Google.

Under the bill, copyright holders and law enforcement agencies would have greater ability to fight cases of online copyright infringement.

Proponents of the bill say that it would better protect intellectual property and the rights of content creators, including artists, musicians, graphic designers, photographers, and writers. Opponents of the bill suggest that it could violate first amendment protections of freedom of speech.

One of the more controversial components of the bill surrounds the ability of courts to order injunctions that could effectively shut down offending websites. Websites that allow users to post user-generated content (like YouTube, Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia) could be concerned that a single user could post copyrighted information to YouTube, for example, and a court could order that the YouTube website be temporarily shut down. As a result of this concern, several websites discussed having a choreographed Internet blackout today. But, after the House Judiciary Committee indicated work would continue on SOPA, not today, but rather in February, talk of the blackout fizzled.

Nevertheless, Google took the opportunity to give a voice to SOPA opposition. Using its now traditional method of changing the logo, here’s what appeared on Google’s website today:

Screen shot of www.google.com, January 18, 2011

And Wikipedia’s blackout looks like this:

Screen shot of Wikipedia black out, January 18, 2012

Find out more about the various viewpoints:

• Wikipedia’s SOPA initiative
• Google’s “End Piracy, Not Liberty” Campaign
• SOPA – The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261)
• Representative Lamar Smith

Ballin’ on Burris – Journal of Critical Incidents

Dr. Steve Cox and Dr. Brad Brooks, of the McColl School of Business, and Dr. John A. McArthur, of the Knight School of Communication, at Queens University of Charlotte collaborated on a publication in the 2011 edition of the Journal of Critical Incidents. The journal, one of three case study journals published annually by the Society for Case Research, publishes real-world decision points with attached teaching notes.

The article, titled “Ballin’ on Burris,” focuses on the Coordinated Management of Meaning, a practical theory in communication. The incident depicts a decision point for a chief operating officer of a university who faces a critical decision that pits two constituences against each other along generational lines.

Dr. Steve Cox is an associate professor and director of undergraduate programs in the McColl School of Business. Dr. Brad Brooks is an associate professor of marketing in the McColl School of Business. Dr. John A. McArthur is an assistant professor and director of undergraduate programs in the Knight School of Communication. All three are members of the faculty at Queens University of Charlotte.

Facebook Etiquette, according to Dear Abby

Dear Abby, the well-known advice column, has finally dealt with the etiquette of posting photos on Facebook.

In her column on December 11, 2011, Abigail van Buren responded to a reader who was concerned about photos taken of her that ended up online.

The gentle reader, who calls herself “Camera-Shy in Pennsylvania,” described her personal weight gain and hair loss that resulted in her discomfort with her photos being placed on social media sites. The central issue in her question was:

Despite any of her fears about her own body image, Camera-shy’s question is a valid one that all of us must grapple with in the new public, yet seemingly private spaces of social media. When we choose to post the images of other people, we have to be sensitive to repercussions, both positive and negative.

Abby’s answer was a common one in the social media world: “Contact the person who took and posted the picture and ask that it be taken down from the Facebook page.”

In a digital environment, we should all feel comfortable asking others to take down photos of us. In return, we should also not be offended if we are asked to remove a photo we posted of someone else. These are skills and reflections of digital and media citizenship, of being a good friend and a thoughtful user of technology.

Voices in Strategic Communication and Social Media

Strategic communication in the digital world can be advanced by quality research like that presented in a public relations division session at the National Communication Association 2011 Annual Conference in New Orleans. Practitioners might better be able to target particular demographics utilizing social media based upon the work found here.

A Strategic Framework for Targeting Generation Y via Social Media
Melissa Dodd and Shannon Campbell, University of Miami

Using Tapscott’s (2009) eight norms to define Generation Y – freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed, and innovation – researchers conducted a longitudinal study to assess how generation Y recieves and interprets strategic communication messages from organizations. The study suggests that generation Y’s expectations and corporate marketing practice do not match.  Practitioners overestimate the use of blogs and forums whereas generation Y privileges social networking sites [Kudos to Ms. Dodd for an engaging Prezi presentation. View it here].

An Analysis of the World’s Top 100 University Internet & Facebook Presences
Sheila M. McAllister, Monmouth University

Using the dialogic theory of public relations, Dr. McAllister assessed if and how universities are using Facebook to create online dialogue. The dialogic theory of PR has five overarching tenets – mutuality, propinquity, empathy, risk, and commitment - that organize the relationship between an organization and its publics. Kent & Taylor (1998) developed five principles to enable dialogue on the Internet: (1) usefulness of information, (2) ease of interface, (3) conservation of visitors, (4) generation of return visits, (5) “dialogic feedback loops” or opportunities for two-way communication.

The researcher assessed university websites and Facebook pages of the top 100 universities, according to US News and World Report’s 2009 list. Universities seemed reticent to incorporate dialogic feedback loops in websites or on Facebook, with less than 50% utilizing the feedback possibilities available through social networking. Instead, most are using digital media as a one-way “push” tool for information. McAllister suggests that the interactive potential is not being utilized because organizations “cannot or will not commit to dialogic communication because of the inherent risk involved.”

Digitalization and its Impacts on Publics: The Role of Digitalization on Communication Behaviors Among Publics
Alessandro Lovari, University of Siena (Italy), Soojin Kim, Kelly Vibber, and Jeong-Nam Kim, Purdue University

Researchers examined the impact of digitalization on civic conversation. To begin, they classified publics based upon the technology they used to participate in civic conversations:

• inactive publics - do not engage in civic communication;
• analogical publics - used only traditional media (radio, television, newspaper) to interact with civic issues;
• hybrid or multichannel publics - use and switch between traditional and digital media to interact in civic issues; and,
• digital publics – use only digital media to engage in civic participation.

One astounding finding was that in their survey, 85% of the interviewees fell into the inactive category. In the active publics, the analogical public was the oldest, the hybrid public was generally middle-aged, and the digital public was the youngest. The hybrid public had the highest level of civic participation, but the technology utilized made no difference in the overall level of civic knowledge. The analogical public and digital public were statistically equal in measures of civic knowledge and both were higher than inactive publics.

Effects of Corporate Online Communication on Attitude and Trust: Experimental Analysis of Twitter Messages
Ji Young Kim & Jin K. Hammick, University of Florida

Researchers assessed corporations’ Twitter use to assess relationship ties that corporations used in Twitter messages with their publics. Using a 2×3 between-subjects factorial design, researchers looked at the difference between communal and exchange messages along three levels of interactivity (high, medium, and low). The effects of these differences on participants’ attitude toward and trust in a supermarket brand. The research suggests that both the content and the function of online communication should be considered by brands. For example, customers might be more likely to build a positive attitude toward a brand that they percieve to be engaging in two-way communication.

Twitter and Teacher Behaviors

Does Twitter influence student perceptions of teacher behaviors? As part of a session surrounding new and emerging technologies in instruction, I presented my research (co-authored with Kristen Bostedo-Conway) on Twitter’s role in the classroom at the National Communication Association 2011 National Convention in New Orleans, LA.

We conducted this research in Spring 2010 to better understand the role of Twitter in the classroom. Our findings give preliminary evidence that student-instructor interaction on Twitter has a relationship with student perceptions of teacher behavior. Most interestingly, students’ perceptions of a teacher’s non-verbal immediacy was heightened by out-of-class Twitter use.

These findings, the full text of which is under review for publication, have inspired us to continue this research into Twitter uses in the classroom.

Below is our handout from the convention which contains the research abstract and demonstrates the correlations identified between standard measures of student perceptions of teacher behavior (instructor credibility, content relevance, and immediacy) and instructor and student Twitter use:

e-Books, Tenure and Promotion

“The ‘Publish or Perish’ model in academia might be missing a third ‘P’ - Profit,” says Mel Odom, a successful e-book publisher and faculty member at the University of Oklahoma.

Odom, alongside Michael Kent of the University of Oklahoma and Lisa Schreiber of Millersville University, led a pre-conference on e-publishing at the National Communication Association 2011 Convention in New Orleans, LA.

Academics have made careers out of giving their research and editing skills to publishing houses for little or no return. But what would happen if academics started publishing their work for wider distribution and higher return?

Schreiber raised the issue of open source books, e-publishing and academic criteria for tenure and promotion. If professors write books that aren’t considered “research” under their universities’ models, the work then falls in the ”service” category.*

How does a professor meet the peer-review requirement for research** and move toward e-publication?

Respondent Bryan Crable of Villanova University suggests that the peer-review process might return to a university press model: “How is it can we use our university resources to generate conversations that are not happening in other spaces … or interactions that we are not already having?” The new university press alongside university libraries would have to focus on building community and conversation around books, not the promotion of its books or its own faculty and authors.

Respondent Robert Heath of the University of Houston calls this proposed change ”a galatial shift” for the future of the academy. Heath continues, “I’ve never sat on a promotion and tenure committee that gave any of this stuff credence. It might work for promotion to full professor, but not for tenure.” Dr. Heath is not opposed to the idea, but suggests this is a realistic interpretation of the typical promotion criteria in a climate where tenure and promotion “is only going to get more and more strange.”

A faculty member’s research is evaluated on four things: (1) quantity, (2) quality, (3) reputation, (4) impact. Respondent Maureen Taylor suggests that reputation and impact might be determined through the a journal’s ISI rating, peer review reputation**, acceptance rate. Articles can be cross-checked through the Web of Science or Google Scholar and double-checked to see who is citing the work and what awards it has won. “Self publishing is unknown territory,” she says. “The peer-review process** becomes hidden.”

How does Taylor suggest that faculty utilize self publishing in a tenure and promotion case?

“You need to provide information to make the case for impact in self-publishing,” she says.

For example, Downloads of an e-book can be counted and measured. Blog impact aggregators can measure impact for public scholars. Encouraging student participation in the creation, promotion, or evaluation of content can add to a tenure argument. Any hidden review processes should be revealed. Included information could also explain why self publication was the best way to reach the target audience and list a concrete plan for the target impact.

One final excellent recommendation for faculty members wanting to invest in e-publishing: “Gain agreement from your chair, dean, and others in the school about the value of self publishing,” says Taylor. “And,” quipped Heath, “making sure it’s on university letterhead is probably a good idea.”

* Professors and other faculty members are typically evaluated on three criteria: teaching, research, and service. Each university sets its own standards for faculty tenure and promotion in relation to these three areas.

** Typically, to be classified as “research” in a university setting, projects must be reviewed by experts in the field. The process of having one’s research reviewed is called “peer-review.” Peer-review is a standard practice for articles that are included in most journals, books published by academic publishing houses, and textbooks.

e-Books and the Changing Dynamics of Publishing

The front page of this morning’s USA Today Money section heralded the importance of e-books and the high quality of digital book readers in an article by Edward C. Baig.

The early beginning of the e-publishing industry can be traced back to July 4, 1971, when Michael Stern Hart founded Project Gutenburg. Forty years later, with the release of Amazon’s Kindle and Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, e-Books recently outpaced print editions of mass market paperbacks in percentage of overall sales.

Mel Odom, a successful e-publisher, Michael Kent of the University of Oklahoma, and Lisa Schreiber of Millersville University, led a pre-conference on e-publishing at the National Communication Association 2011 Convention in New Orleans, LA.

For colleges and universities, books have become a costly barrier to access and student retention. According to the panel, estimates of average book costs at universities range from $700-$1100 per student. Book rental programs have attempted to address these rising cost, but often do not serve the student. Even though the issues of author credibility continue to swirl in the debate surrounding e-publishing, e-books might actually give instructors and students access to multiple choices of authors, book cost, and formats for their learning, says Schreiber.

One model to be considered, says Schreiber, is the production of open source course textbooks and websites. These could be used by students across universities for free. Schreiber’s current effort is an online public speaking open source book project.

For authors, e-publishing can provide the opportunity for wide distribution of texts and increased royalties, as well as the opportunity to tailor and update content regularly, say Odom. No longer are authors built through contracts with publishing houses.Rather, they can generate their own audience. Kent has created an audience of those who would likely e-publish from Mac to Kindle and PC to Kindle.

Presenters offered specific tactics for publishing to Kindle, Nook, and print-on-demand (POD) models. In addition, Kent discussed using Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign in addition to online book development tools.