Sorin Adam Matei
Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.
Purdue University Fall 2017 Meeting time: Tuesday – Thursday, 12 – 1:20 PM, BRNG 2275 Office hours: BRNG 2140, 2:15 – 4 PM T-Th and by appointment Instructor: Sorin Adam Matei, smatei at purdue edu According to the site Alexa.com, which tracks…
Big data is seen by many as a panacea, while many are skeptical of its ability to solve our most pressing problems. What is the real problem with big data? Blind empiricism. All…
New York Times reports that a successful YouTube broadcaster with 1,000,000 subscribers to multiple channels, who posts at least 20 new video segments a week may expect a little bit more than 100,000 dollars a year in revenue. This is about $10…
From The New York Times: CULTURE AND CONTROL: Pushing China’s Limits on Web, if Not on Paper “Murong Xuecun, a popular Chinese novelist, often runs afoul of censors, which has pushed him to become a vocal critic of censorship in China and…
Amazon’s investment in the new Kindle Fire, which includes almost free access to books that it bought on its own dime, seems to be for the long haul, which although a surprise, might or might not work. “Amazon is giving away books,…
The federal gas tax, which amounts to about 18.4 cents a gallon, is set to expire and it needs a special act of Congress to be renewed. The tax was created to fund the Federal Highway Administration and to maintain the inter-state…
ABC News published footage from Osama bin Laden mansion and released dramatic pictures of the bedroom where the final stand took place. Blood covers the ground and the bed. The inside of the building is nicely furnished. Electronic devices and appliances are…
Following a tip received by CIA in August 2010, the US intelligence community determined that Osama Bin Laden is located in Abbottabad, in North-West Pakistan, about 100 km North of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. He was found, in a “mansion” and killed…
The end of Moore’s law and it’s economic effects https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/20/0413224/Michio-Kakus-Dark-Prediction-For-the-End-of-Moores-Law?from=newsletter#commentlisting Links: 0. http://slashdot.org/my/journal 1. http://www.salon.com/technology/computers/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/03/19/moores_law_ends_excerpt How much radiation can your body absorb? https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/20/1422238/A-Handy-Radiation-Dose-Chart-From-XKCD?from=newsletter#commentlisting Links: 0. http://xkcd.com/radiation/ Which are the world’s premiere science cities? https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/20/1648254/Citation-Map-Shows-Top-Science-Cities?from=newsletter#commentlisting Links: 0. http://arxiv.org/abs/1103.3216 1. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/2154-citation-map-shows-top-science-cities.html
Image via Wikipedia And make money in the process. The Atlantic Monthly has succeeded in this arduous task by injecting itself with a good dose of start-up mentality. The Atlantic, the intellectual’s monthly that always seemed more comfortable as an academic exercise…
Image via CrunchBase Could this be a sign of the time? New York Time thinks social media so central to its effort that it insists that all of its editors and writers think “socially”… Earlier this week, New York Times Social Media…
Does the old fashioned newsroom still matter? Image via Wikipedia This is a learning module for the class Contemporary Social / Mass Media Theory taught at Purdue University by Sorin Adam Matei Agenda setting theory was proposed in the early 1970s by Maxwell McCombs and…
Viv Magazine believes it is, as this NYTIMES article suggests. According to its website, VIVmag offers insight, advice and authentic stories to inspire and motivate women in their quest for a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Smart and vital, VIVmag readers know the…
One clip shows a girl interpreting math terms as dance moves. Another features a guy flying a small remote-controlled elephant helicopter that he made around his backyard. Are these just random YouTube videos? Not quite. These videos are actually submissions students made…
Mosul image via Wikipedia The Iraq War, now in it’s sixth year, has produced its own literature. Brian Turner was focused on staying alive, not poetry, when he served as an infantry team leader in Iraq. But he quickly saw that his…
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…
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…
Image via Wikipedia “The conscious, brain-based memories that we humans set so much store by are not the only memories out there.” Think of our immune system for a minute… And then, get ready to learn about plant memories. Truly poetic… via…
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…
NOTE: Auletta’s Googled has been reviewed on this site, as well, by Sorin Adam Matei. Image via Wikipedia Michiko Kakutani reviews Auletta’s latest media book (author also known for “Three blind mice” and “World War 3.0). “Googled” points both to Google‘s successes…
NYT makes “deletionst”–as in “someone who deletes Wikipedia article on a daily basis”-a notable phrase… In the Wall Street Journal, Julia Angwin and Geoffrey A. Fowler reported on a dramatic decline in the number of Wikipedia editors (down by more than 49,000…
Image via Wikipedia P2P software used for sharing music is not only a huge problem for copyright holders, but also a gigantic privacy problem for its users. It is an even bigger information security for their employers. Did you know that some…
Image via Wikipedia The One New York Times initiative aims to bring the power of quasi open source development to media company that sits on one of the most amazing piles of content in the world. In it’s own words ” You…