Categories
-Context 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities

Email Lessons We Wish We Didn’t Have to Learn the Hard Way

unequalEmail is a necessary part of everyday life today. This cartoon-illustrated article outlines many of the most uncomfortable aspects of email, and provides suggestions for minimizing discomfort.
waitbutwhy.com/2013/12/11-awkward-things-about-email.html

Categories
-Inventing the Future 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.5: Inventing the Future: The Invisible Information Infrastructure

The Internet Isn’t Just for People Anymore

TTED_interspecies_internethe Internet was conceived as a way of connecting computers, but its inventors quickly realized that the Internet was a way of connecting people. Now one of those founders, Vint Cerf, is working with Peter Gabriel, Diana Reiss, Neil Gershendfeild, and others to bring dolphins, bonobos, elephants, and other species into the Internet community. This TED talk gives us a peek at the early stages of a research project that could profoundly change our relationship with non-human inhabitants of our planet—and possibly other planets.
ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_in_progress.html

Categories
-Context 11.1 Where Computers Work 11.2 Technology and Job Quality 8.4 The Network Advantage 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.2 Inside the Web

Collaboration on Collaboration

why_we_collaborateThe Internet makes it possible for people to collaborate on a massive scale, working together to accomplish tasks that might otherwise be impossible. The world of online collaboration is changing rapidly—and changing our lives in the process. Many TED talks and NPR podcasts have helped us to understand the applications and implications of collaborative technology. In this fascinating radio program, TED and NPR collaborate to explore collaboration by combining excerpts from several TED talks with interviews and commentary.
www.npr.org/2013/07/13/197986218/why-we-collaborate

Categories
-Cross Currents 13.3 E-Business 2.0: Reinventing Web Commerce 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities

A Human Statue Talks about Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding—funding a project by asking many people for small contributions—has exploded in popularity because of Internet tools and social networks. Crowdfunding is being used to fund high-tech ventures, microbusinesses, charities, and artistic expressions. In this entertaining, moving TED talk, musician Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls talks about a dimension of crowdfunding that’s rarely discussed: the emotional connections that happen when we ask friends, fans, or strangers for what we need. She argues that Internet tools aren’t as important as our attitude about asking.
ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html

Categories
-Updates 13.3 E-Business 2.0: Reinventing Web Commerce 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 8.7 Social Networks

Crowdsourcing the Car

The Internet naturally lends itself to peer-to-peer communication and commerce. In this short TED talk Robin Chase explains how she’s using technology to make car sharing easy and profitable.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/12/10/166890714/forget-the-register-stores-use-mobile-to-make-sales-on-the-spot

Categories
-Inventing the Future 1.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow Never Knows 4.4 The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection 7.5 Inventing the Future: Embedded Intelligence and Ubiquitous Computing 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 8.6 Inventing the Future: The Mind-Machine Connection 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

Will Your Phone Read Your Mind in 2016? Ask IBM

asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/12/the-next-5-in-5-our-forecast-of-five-innovations-that-will-alter-the-landscape-within-five-years.html
As noted in Chapter 1’s Inventing the Future, predicting the future isn’t easy. But when the predictions are backed by one of the world’s biggest technology innovators, they’re worth considering. In this short, clever video, IBM describes and illustrates “5 in 5″— five technological breakthroughs that could reshape our lives within five years.

Categories
-Context 15.2 Natural-Language Communication 15.4 Pattern Recognition: Making Sense of the World 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities

Giving Ten Seconds to World Literacy (Without Knowing It)

www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration.html
If you use the web, you’re almost certainly part of a global team that’s digitizing the world’s books, one word at a time. How are you helping digitize one hundred million words each day? In this entertaining, mind-expanding TED talk, Luis von Ahn explains how a group of researchers created reCAPTCHA and turned one of the web’s big time-wasters into a crowdsourcing project involving ten percent of the world’s population. He also describes an emerging project to apply the same visionary approach to language translation.

Categories
-Cross Currents 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 5.4 Beyond the Printed Page 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities

Social Media and the Stories They Can’t Tell

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are overflowing with stories of real people living real lives. Or are they? This thought-provoking article by Paul Ford takes a hard look at what’s missing in the stories people tell through social media. This is one of the best pieces we’ve seen on the changing roles of social media and traditional journalism.

Categories
-Cross Currents 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas

The Network of Hate

The Internet is a marvelous medium for free-flowing discussion and information sharing. But it can also be an amplifier of hatred and rage—especially on sites where opinions can be posted anonymously.

Categories
-Multimedia 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities

Is There Social Life After Death?

What happens to your online identity after you die? This short TED talk explores this question and suggests some answers.