Knowledge Junky - reflection

I am fairly satisfied with my topic, even though it is still kind of vague. I will be dealing with the idea of open-source knowledge: peer edited social networks, made up of interested users who submit content for the approval of the community. Wikipedia and About.com have been using the method for years, making information freely available to anybody with a computer. I find this topic interesting because I want information to be available to anyone without money being involved. Thus, a motivated individual with a computer could potentially learn as much as (or more than) one in the classroom.

I think that information is sacred. Knowledge that is only available through payment, such as purchasing books or paying for college courses, is far more difficult to obtain. However, with the internet becoming easier to access every year, in libraries, internet cafes, or any place with wi-fi, specialized knowledge can be obtained by anybody without payment.

The argument could be made that classroom knowledge is of higher quality, which may be true of things such as cooking, welding, or violin. Naturally some topics translate better into a hands-on environment. Nonetheless, online resources have already changed the ways that we access vital information. In the future, we may educate ourselves using primarily online resources and databases.

Collaborative document

1. For my topic I wanted to present the idea of an online database that contains general knowledge about thousands of topics. Like Wikipedia this database could be edited by its users. The website About.com is similar, but is not peer edited. Making knowledge and information freely available on a massive scale is a very appealing idea.

2. My topic is not controversial. It's more philosophical - the idea of making information available to everybody. Until recently, one's ability to obtain knowledge about certain subjects was extremely limited. For instance, knowledge about piano tuning has always been rare and difficult to obtain. Books, university courses, and websites on piano tuning do not exist. The only way to become a piano tuner is to be an apprentice to an experienced piano tuner. With an online database of knowledge and information, rare subjects such as this could be made available.

3. I am certain that the evolution of knowledge databases online could drastically improve our ability to access vital information. Furthermore, said information can be accessed far more easily than if it was only available in book form.

Knowledge Junky Trailer

Here it is, I've finally uploaded my trailer. After a total of seven hours dealing with Quicktime and not making any progress, I have decided to use Windows Movie Maker. I managed to make this trailer in less than two hours. It's pretty rough but is still far better than anything I could have made with Quicktime.

Albini, Steve. "The Problem With Music." ActionPark. 1999. Petdance.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010. .

This article was written by Steve Albini in 1999. He is most well known for his work with Nirvana on their final album In Utero. After gaining years of experience within the record industry, he became an outspoken supporter of artist's rights. The Problem With Music outlines many of the ways in which record companies distill funds from talented musicians, meanwhile distracting them with limos, hotel rooms, fancy equipment, and 'bigshot' record producers. Albini himself only asked for $200,000 to produce Nirvana's In Utero, rather than taking an additional commission from record sales.

Boswell , Wendy. "The Top Ten Best Social Bookmarking Sites on the Web." About.com: Web Search. About.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010. .

This is a list of the top ten social bookmarking sites.

"Social Marker Blog." SocialMarker.com. Sept. 15, 2009. SocialMarker.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010.

The idea behind bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon.com or Diigo.com is to organize websites based on their relevance to one's interests. SocialMarker.com allows anyone to bookmark a website on 49 social bookmarking sites. This is infinitely easier than installing a toolbar for every bookmarking site just to help a website gain popularity.

Quicktime Trailer

I've been having troubles with Quicktime on my home computer. Whenever I open a sequence of images the "Image Sequence Settings" dialog box doesn't appear. This was never a problem on the Mac computers in class. Also I can't seem to add or edit text in the slides.

I will probably bring my computer to class for troubleshooting. If necessary I will finish my video after class and turn it in for a late grade.

Posting my rough draft would be fruitless since I can't put a time limit on any of the slides. They all basically appear at once.

Brainstorming

For the last few months I have been entertaining the idea of writing a book. It's something I've wanted to do since I was thirteen years old. However, originally I wanted to write fiction, whereas my new book idea is completely nonfiction. The idea is to compile a wealth of useful information. For instance, for the last year I have read a number of books about lie detection, which strikes me as an extremely useful skill. Paired with information about body language, the art of conversation, salesmanship, and the art of persuasion, the book's purpose would be to educate its readers in the subtle art of controlling interactions with other humans.

For my trailer I will demonstrate how the internet has changed the ways in which we obtain vital information and general knowledge. I will then show how general knowledge, such as lie detection, can provocatively change (and sometimes improve) interactions with other human beings.

*Demonstrate how skill knowledge can be obtained through the internet
*Show how a specific skill can improve interactions with human beings
*explain various lie detection techniques as an example of skill knowledge

The ecstasy of influence

This article brings up interesting points. It reminded me of ad-busting culture. The ideas surrounding ad-busting are similar: certain individuals feel that advertising, marketing, and other factors such as hollywood, have killed the human ability to produce original thoughts. Thinking has become standardized- a collection of corporate logos, phrases, cliches, and "common knowledge". Ad busters seek to make fun of the corporate world be defacing their logos, often going to extreme or illegal lengths. Some ad busters have been known to redo bilboards, morphing whatever corporate logo is present into something disturbing or comedic. For instance, a bilboard sporting the "Enjoy Coca Cola" phrase could be morphed into "Enjoy Cocaine", thus commenting on the addictive quality of caffeinated soft drinks. Even though this only vaguely relates to the above mentioned article, it manages to conjure some provocative ideas. Are we all thinking the exact same thoughts? Are our ideas really original?

To point out an interesting example, Johann Pachelbel wrote a piece of music known to most as "Pachelbel's Cannon" or "Canon in D". First published in 1919, it is often played at weddings or receptions. Strangely, the exact same chord progression used in Pachelbel's Canon has been duplicated dozens of times since, in multiple genres. "Basket Case" by Green Day, "Let it be" by The Beatles, "Crazy" by Aerosmith, "The Hook" by Blues Traveler, and many others, all use the exact same chords in the same order as Pachelbel's Canon. Comedian Rob Paravonian is perhaps most famous for his "Pachelbel rant" in which he complains about the shameless duplication of Pachelbel's chords and melody in dozens of popular rock songs. Don't get me wrong- these songs are all unique and worthy of admiration- it's simply an interesting phenomenon. Think- dozens of songwriters have written essentially the same song without realizing it- each one thought they were making something unique.