Sorin Adam Matei
Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.
Yesterday, a new site launched a beta version with the aim of helping users plan informal gatherings. Go Tribal allows users to sign up, identify what days they are free and what they might like to do with friends, and then create plans…
Cover via Amazon Are we too connected? Is social networking online changing our behavior? The the worse? USA TODAY believes so…. The changes can be vexing, but there is precedent. The arrival of new and improved media almost always foments behavioral changes.…
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to login to any computer and be able to access all your music, pictures, documents, and passwords to all your social networking services? Well, soon (hopefully) you’ll be able to. This is the whole idea…
Submitted by "Adrienne Hall" on October 22, 2008 to the On-line Interaction and Facilitation Seminar, Fall 2008, Purdue University, Dr. Sorin A. Matei via the I Think Blog. Abstract This essay attempts to begin explaining how participation in online social interactions impacts…
Now any site can offer custom recommendations to everyone… Pluggable social networking… MyTrybe
Following a story on the Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Blog I’ve run into YouNoodle.com a social networking site for entrepreneurs and educators. Lots of mashups and some interesting applications. The site still needs some improvement and the communication tools improved,…
Submitted on November 26, 2007, to the On-line Interaction and Facilitation Seminar, Fall 2007, Purdue University, Dr. Sorin A. Matei via the I Think Blog (http://www.matei.org/ithink) Abstract: The widespread expansion of communication technology over the past century has resulted in a marked…
Amazon.com’s eInk technology is here. It is a wireless (piggybacking the phone network) device that can store or access remote content (books, blogs, etc.). The device costs something as well as the service, but is a valliant leap forward after the several…
It’s not a joke. Video social networking got religion! GodTube.com
Facebook Grows Up: Can It Stay Relevant? – Kaplan College Guide – MSNBC.com Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue – On Tuesday, July 31, Shara Karasics world came to a temporary halt. Facebook was down. She could not follow the fortunes and foibles of…
Young dog trainer Zak George, posts a little starry-eyed manifesto about the role of You Tube in changing our future (and in the process the past gets changed, as well). Since its posting last week the clip has been seen by 350,000…
How can the Third World receive internet access? This is a cool project from First Mile Solutions was forwarded to me a few months ago by a friend who specializes in extending internet access to individuals in Third world countries. Essentially they…
Front Porches and Public Spaces: Planned Communities Online Susan Huelsing Sarapin Comm. 632: Online Interaction Professor: Dr. Sorin Matei November 19, 2006 Introduction Where else today but in the cost-effective frontier of cyberspace can the average person construct a community?1 With widespread…
Wegner’s Communities of Practice concept is rooted in seven design principles. All good online communities, which are variants of communities of practice, should keep them in mind: 1. Design for evolution Design elements should be catalysts for a community’s natural evolution. As…
By Susan Huelsing Sarapin Submitted on October 22, 2006 to the On-Line Interaction and Facilitation Seminar, Fall 2006, Purdue University Dr. Sorin A. Matei via the I Think Blog (http://www.matei.org/ithink) Introduction Today, people all over the world are connected, or “tethered†(Turkle,…
What is Elgg? (It’s being used at MIT.) Described by its founders as a ‘learning landscape’, Elgg provides each user with their own weblog, file repository (with podcasting capabilities), an online profile and an RSS reader. Additionally, all of a user’s content…
Authority and expertise has changed. Weinberger’s chapter on “The Hyperlinked Organization†in The Cluetrain Manifesto (2004) and his chapter on “Knowledge†in Small Pieces Loosely Connected (2002) both talk about how authority no longer means what it used to mean. There are…
a version of this article was published in the Romanian language national daily “Evenimentul Zilei” Dresden, one of the former East German cities reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 has been finely restored over the past 15 years. A…
New media and emerging technologies continue to change not only our communication (Gunn, 2006; Jones, 2006), but also our relationships, our work, and our communities (Contractor, 2006; Walther, 2006). At the same time, our societies and organizations – i.e. the bodies within…
Nosh Contractor gave an interview to PRI’s To the Point on the virtues (and fallings) of online communication. The interview starts 24 min 30 sec into the show. Details about the topic.
Lorraine Kisselburgh This week, Noshir Contractor introduces a rich array of information in discussing communication networks, new grid infrastructures, and social networking tools that can be leveraged to strengthen our communities – whether social, work, virtual, or even “exoticâ€. What follows are…
The chapter “The Sad Irons†in Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power illustrates not only the interplay between culture and technology but also the consequences of lacking connection to a technological network (Caro, 1982). Due to geographical…
A warm “Welcome!” to Steve Jones, who gave us a wonderful intro the the big Whys? related to Communication Technology. I am looking forward to his talk tomorrow, on the impact of New New Communication technologies. As you start posting your stuff…
After my third attempt in the last three years and a day wasted on scouring the web forums, UBUNTU rules. I installed the latest addition to the Linux universe on my personal desktop. Despite a harebrained installation glitch (you are asked to…