Sorin Adam Matei
Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.
Topical news on social media, web culture, digital humanities
Google’s announced plans to build 1 Gigabyte broadband networks seem to play the same role as Google‘s threats of yesteryear to bid for WiMax frequencies. The FCC is planning to propose a new national broadband plan, which would make accessible to most…
The FTC Logo, Image via Wikipedia Facebook is on the hook. Privacy advocates complained to the FTC that Facebook’s decision to make most of your actions public by default is a form of deceptive practices. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a…
After being overtaken by Google in the later part of 2008, Yahoo now is passed by Facebook. During the last year Facebook doubled its traffic, while Yahoo remained largely stationary. 133 million unique visitors in Jan 2010. From Mashable: Facebook is now…
Tired of having to stay logged into Facebook to utilize the chat function with your friends list on the site? Ever forgotten the need to be logged in to the site and signed out while you were chatting with someone? Well, Facebook…
Android phone users are now offered a free downloadable application available in the Android Market. Similar to an application already available for the iPhone, this new (and official) WordPress app for Android allows users to write and edit posts for their blog. Once downloading…
Gang Signs on the Web creative commons image by JL! via Flickr Gang members use social media to organize payback missions or to snuff out snitches. A Washington Post article cited by Gawker and dugg 172 times reports that gangs regularly use…
iPad Apple Tablet Will Ship 10 Million in 2010 WOOOOOW! Ambitious….
LinkedIn is a Web 2.0/social networking site that many are familiar with. The site centers around finding and organizing one’s connections and getting better connected in the professional realm. The site recently announced it will be enhancing its social networking experience. It…
The Looking into the past Flickr gallery and project uses a simple and effective trick. Take a period picture, find its location, go there, hold the picture at the right distance from the camera and from the landmark depicted in it, make…
The iPad launch video clip A roundup of Apple iPad reviewes The New York Times gave it ample space, asking however some pointed questions: Mr. Jobs, a consummate showman, presented the iPad to an enthusiastic crowd of around 800 employees, business partners…
Image by cattias.photos via Flickr The Apple iPad will be a glorified iTouch, with better connectivity. First off, it will have no camera. None whatsoever. (Although there are people who say that there are some camera kits available) Then, no GPS whatsoever…
Image via Wikipedia Lifehacker picks this little tid-bit of insight from Inc: You might think that involving a bunch of people in every company meeting and email keeps everyone on the same page. In reality, it's a productivity killer that hinders rather…
David Pogue, the technology columnist/blogger for New York Times believes that the announced Apple tablet, the so called iSlate, will contain at least one element of surprise and will not be just a tablet. Or so we can hope. But my gut…
The Uniqueness of Humans We are not unique? Is organized crime the only differentiator for humans? Or figuring out how to get the banana when the boss is around? This presentation, featured by TED, makes you wonder what is to be human…
Cover via Amazon Sequel to two successful media epics, “Googled” delivers some major insights–the search giant might not be as strong as it seems–yet it does not raise above “competently executed.” Overall tastes like a reasonably well cooked dish following a well…
Image by pamhule via Flickr Google claims, albeit in a rather veiled way, that a hacking attack on its servers that originated in China was inspired or supported by the Chinese authorities. A pointed paragraph in the Google announcement sends the readers…
All links below will bring up a floating You Tube clip, courtesy Apture… NY Times reviews the e book explosion at CES 2010, including the Lenovo detachable screen e-100 notebook and plasticlogic’s que (649), ultralight reading device. Bokeen, at 249, is highlighted…
Image via Wikipedia The inside view of how Wikipedia works This article presents an interview with Angela Beesley, Elisabeth Bauer, and Kizu Naoko. All three are leading Wikipedia practitioners in the English, German, and Japanese Wikipedias and related projects. The interview focuses…
Augmented reality replaces virtual reality as new tech shibboleth. Since mid 2009 augmented reality has become a favorite search term on Google. The advent of touchscreen mobile phones with GPS and cameras such as the iPhone and Android phones is giving rise…
On Wisconsin My down the hall colleague, Glenn Sparks, is not just a great scholar, but also a theramin builder and performer….
University of Illinois has only received 7% of its state budget allocation and the interim president announces that its professors will be furloughed (a form of salary cut or partial unemployment). It is a move on a par to UC’s catastrophic budget…
Chosen by MSNBC, the best 2009 YouTube videos include Susan Boyle at Britain got talent, whose Amazon.com CD was an absolute bestseller Dentist doped kid – David at the dentist Funny JK wedding dance YouTube’s 2009 star was Susan Boyle, the frumpy…
Image by dewfall via Flickr New York Times reflects on an emergent turn toward higher emphasis on “skills” in American colleges. Is this desirable? Should we abandon philosophy departments? How about math? THOMAS COLLEGE, a liberal arts school in Maine, advertises itself…
Image via Wikipedia Wikipedia articles that are controlled by a small group of editors that coordinate their work closely seem to be of higher quality. This is one of the main suggestions made by Kraut an Kittur, whose work was previously featured…
A list of influential books on designing successful social media strategies. Gillin – Social Media Marketing and New Influencers Safko – Social Media Bible Weinberg – Community Rules Brogan – Trust Agents Connor – 18 rules for community engagement Qualman – Socialnomics…
Janet Napolitano, the Secretary for Homeland Security, explains the failure. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The explanation might or might not stand scrutiny. Many have pointed to the fact that the recent terrorist attempted attack…
Image via Wikipedia Chris Lake, at econsultancy, culled from the web several excellent examples of how big corporations train their empolyees to deal sith social media interactions. Here are just three examples: IBM Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your…
Multitouch is out, near touch is in…. The BiDi Screen is an example of a new type of I/O device that possesses the ability to both capture images and display them. This thin, bidirectional screen extends the latest trend in LCD devices,…
What is Google Chrome OS? A little on the simple site, but it’s official… Google OS to come next year. The word of the day is “stateless”… The OS is the web browser… The question is if services like Google Docs will…
Warming trends over the past 400000 years indicate periodinc cooling and warming periods Image via Wikipedia What if there was a way to make happy all those involved in the global warming debate? McKitrick, who wrote Taken By Storm, a book that…
Simmel – Image via Wikipedia by Sorin Adam Matei Professor, Purdue University citation: Matei, S A (2019). Communication as social form. [Online]. Available at: https://matei.org/ithink/2009/12/13/communication-as-social-form-an-autoecological-perspective/. Introduction: What is communication for? What role does communication play in society? Although it is quite obvious…
Will search engines married to pay per click programs be the victim of their own success? And will they in the process drag the web down with them? According to these two articles, from Wired and Read Write Web, the Internet is…
Image via Wikipedia Publishers Weekly issued its 2009 best book list. The choices, made out of 50,000 volumes, are at times quirky and cute, but overall the list offers a solid image of who is who and what was (and still is)…
The past is not always a foreign country. It is the the same country, only a little different. This collection of pictures, taken by the historian Patrick Elie, illustrates how little has changed in Normandy since 1944. This wonderful photo gallery complete…
Image via CrunchBase Apple is catching up, although RIM still dominates the business market, especially that of secure email. Paul Carton, Director of Research at ChangeWave Research, reported yesterday at investorplace.com that Apple iPhone is gaining steadily on BlackBerry’s market share, a…
Image via Wikipedia The total amount raised by Barack Obama online represents a majority of his 2008 electoral funds. Time to take stock of this reality and think about it for the next electoral cycle. Barack Obama raised half a billion dollars…
Digital Literacy: Index value in age groups Top 5 European countries ordered by digital literacy levels (2003) Denmark UK Finland Austria Spain Data is quite old, I was wondering what does it look like today? Sources: SIBIS GPS 2002, SIBIS GPS-NAS 2003…
Image via Wikipedia European Union has developed a number of socially conscious frameworks for spurring on adoption and implementation of information technologies in all fields of life. This is especially important as Europe is extremely diverse, covering IT landscapes as diverse as…
Google Chrome now supports an extension gallery, just like Firefox. For now only 18 extensions are available. We can’t wait to see what else is in store. via Chrome Extensions Gallery Officially Opens. Related articles by Zemanta Google Chrome for Mac and…
Image via Wikipedia The Bits Blog reviews the current situation in the United States when it comes for tagging places with 2d codes. If you walk past the gift shop of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or Meltdown Comics…
Image by melancholic optimist via Flickr A very interesting list of beliefs people commonly hold about energy. # Myth: Most of our energy comes from oil. Reality: Oil represents less than 40 percent of our energy use. # Myth: Most of our…
On December 7 we remember the surprise Japanese attack that turned World War 2 into the greatest military conflagration of all time. On this day it is worth remembering Walter Lord’s wonderful book, Day of Infamy. View Larger Map
Image by Getty Images via Daylife The New York Times just launched a new way to read the paper’s stories online. With Times Skimmer, which first launched as a prototype application earlier this year, the New York Times is trying to bring…
When we launched Visible Past a few years ago, there was very low interest in geographic wiki applications. Geo wikis are editable sites that interact with mapping services. (For details, see the Read Write Web covergage of our Visible Past Virtual Omaha…
Image via Wikipedia Alan Wachtman, a Fletcher School alumnus, notes and critiques China’s embracing of Lincolnian unity rhetoric In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Abraham Lincoln’s stance on national unity during the U.S. Civil War and his opposition to the institution…
Image via Wikipedia An interesting thought about applying Goffman to online phenomena. A student of mine, Christina Kalinowski, wrote an excellent master thesis on the same topic. Will follow up with more soon. Let me start by shining a light on an…
Jay Nordlinger, from National Review strongly recommends “Digital Barbarism” manifesto inspired by Churchill’s motto “I am all for your using machines, but do not let them use you.” In Helprin’s own words “What follows is an affirmation of human nature versus that…
Wired: Gadget Lab via Amazing Software Turns Cheap Webcam Into Instant 3D Scanner.
Image via CrunchBase In major setback, CrunchPad, the touch-only computer tablet that wanted to be what the much rumored Apple Tablet should’ve been, is killed on the launchpad. The tablet was developed as a challenge launched by TechCrunch, a popular geek blog,…
Image via Wikipedia To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that will explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to…
Image by lucykimbell via Flickr Modern Language Association provides this guide to evaluating digital work for promotion and tenure in the academic world. The main criteria it proposes are: accessibility reviews expert consultations dissemination through conferences and publications linkages assessment deposit plan…
Henry Markram Image via Wikipedia Ridiculous pretense building upon pipedream smoke, this is the feeling a recent fight between computer scientists working on brain simulations seems to communicate. Two scientists have been pursuing the dream of simulating a simple mammalian brain (neurons,…
Graph illustrating Moore’s law Image via Wikipedia Purdue researchers set foundations for next generation CPUS. Without smaller wires and transistors the triumphal march described by Moore’s law (computing power as measured by number of transistors per chip will double every 18 months)…