What does the DoD and Abortion Have In Common?

 

(This picture is shameful, I know.)

That is the question, but what is the answer?

I recently entered the wonderful world of wikiscanner (alliteration intended), and unfortunately, I got lost in the heap. The multiple IP addresses threw curve balls at me and the random user names did not provide comfort for me, either. My personal assessment- I think wikiscanner could use some new “skin,” to provide a much better aesthetic appeal.

Anyway, after I pierced the epidermis of the controversial wikiscanner, a sense of awkwardness came over me. I felt like I had just stepped into someone else’s business- but hey, we’re talking about the world wide web, here. I wanted to know which organizations were fighting in the wiki editing ring, so I typed “Planned Parenthood,” “National Abortion Federation,” and National Right to Life in the wikiscanner search field. To my surprise, an evident wiki brawl was not occurring in this sphere. So, I decided to search for “abortion” – the more general term- believing that these organizations were likely feuding in this realm. I was shocked.

Let’s play a game. Is 214.13.4.151 the IP address for Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, or the National Right to Live? -Wrong. You lose. This is a trick question, and I failed it the first time I played, too. I conducted a quick search of this IP address, which was registered to the Department of Defense. “Hmm, odd,” I thought. What’s the abortion got to do with the DoD and vice versa? Maybe some DoD employees got bored in their spare time, I thought. Or perhaps “defense” entails defending and/or protecting a woman’s body? Am I pulling strings here or am I on the right track? I mean defense = protection on all accounts, right? Marvin Gaye asked, “what’s going on?” And so did I.

Is some employee from the DoD is playing around on Wikipedia? Whoever it is, they are making significant changes to the wiki page on abortion, and all signs point to someone who is perhaps pro-life. The problem? Aren’t wiki pages supposed to be NPOV? The DoD wiki contributor inserts words and phrases in the description of methods of abortion such as “violent,” “crushing of the fetal child’s head,” “to ensure the fetus is killed,” “right of an unborn child to live,” and strategically edits the placement of the word “controversial” in the page. The edits of the DoD user imply that he or she could be against the concept of abortion, or the user just rather prefers to be very explicit about the act of abortion (yea, sure). Earlier edits of the page show contributions from a variety of different users, who are at odds with the DoD on the NPOV of the edits. However, this debate is quickly squashed by the DoD user who victoriously succeeds at controlling the edits of the page. The In Wiki World, the last user standing is probably the most persistent one.

Again, what is the DoD doing on the “abortion side” of the wikisphere making 1,674 edits surrounding the concept of abortion? I’m baffled- well, maybe- then, on the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t be asking these questions because someone could be listening (wink, wink). I think Virgil’s allowing us to enter a realm where we are allowed to witness controversial debates that participants within might wish to censor. There was a debate taking place on the wiki abortion page, but the DoD user won, hands down. Maybe one of our presidential candidates will proclaim, “Our government will not only use funds to protect our homeland, but also to protect what happens between a woman’s legs!”

Scribes and Scribblers: Wikistory

Scribble

I felt like a scribe amongst scribes and scribblers as I carefully edited the contents of my hometown’s wikipedia page. As corny as it may sound, I felt a sense of joy as I attempted to meticulously edit and make contributions to the already existent page. Why was I so careful and so joyful about my wiki venture? Because I was actively writing facts, history, and deleting wiki vandalism- I was one with history. I am one with history. ((sigh of relief))

Let’s be real here. American history was documented by educated white men with white curly wigs and lots of land, money, and power. As for myself, I am none the latter. As I edited the wiki page, my wiki page (I feel a sense of ownership here, now), I felt like a real historical contributor. I felt the desire to be as accurate as possible. I even purchased some (expensive) books about the little known history of my hometown. I dropped a tear (well, almost) as I read about the hidden facts of my small town, which I would reveal to the wiki world.

Wikipedia is truly amazing- but, who is this master editor, I say? Who is this one-who-filters-and-disposes-of-wiki-crap? Who is this one-who-edits-all? I’ve noticed alot of errors on wikipedia pages, and I was astonishingly pissed when I saw wiki-vandalism on my hometown’s wiki page. Why did the master editor(s) miss this? I felt violated. I wondered how long the deliberate inaccuracies had been there. I wondered, who would waste their precious time jacking up wiki pages. I concluded: bored idiots- but then, I thought I was being too harsh. Instead, I’ll call these people, “the scribblers.”

The master editor(s) of Wikipedia and the genuine common folk contributors must beware of the scribblers, because they ruin the validity in open source communication. They make people laugh at the thought of wikis and they make wiki contributors look like little monkeys throwing poo at one another- no, this is not a bad analogy. Scribblers can ruin good wiki pages and they give wikis a bad rep, period.

I think I’ll give French Connection U.K. a call so they can print shirts labeled:

FCUK Scribblers

I think the scribblers will get the hint, don’t you?

Wanted: New Media Experts

 New media

As I have been perusing popular job search websites such as craigslist.com, hotjobs.com, and careerbuilder.com, I’ve noticed that many businesses and organizations are seeking “new media professionals,” “new media experts,” “social media experience,” “Facebook gurus,” or “digitally-minded people” (I swear I saw that last one!) . Think about this:

Company X is seeking new media professionals.

Company X wants Y professionals to have Z years of experience.

Z = 5+ years.

Okay, so the above examples were not needed to prove my point. However, let’s think about this, really. What does new media and experience have in common? Five years? I think not! If new media is what it is, new media, then is it really necessary to have years and years of experience on your belt? That which is new media is changing, evolving, and advancing each day, and who’s likely to know about this stuff? Likely, some tech kids sitting up their rooms right now, thinking of the next big social networking web apparatus. So, what’s my recommendation, you ask? Hire the tech kids! Just kidding. I really think some of these businesses and organizations need to take some time to reflect on the job description and the reality of the experience needed for some of these new media positions. Okay, okay so a bachelor’s degree should be required- or should it? I take that question back as I am biased to higher education and I have loans to prove it- but, you get my drift…

Crap! I’m broke in my Second Life, too.

I just recently penetrated the world of online gaming; and yes, it is a world of its own indeed. But not like far, far away and stuff. It’s like a really, really big world of its own right here- like super big.

Anyway, I must admit that I feel pretty alien to this world, largely because I am still smitten over the original Super Mario games and Playstation’s Crash Bandicoot series. Maybe, its because I am still amused over the idea of having a raccoon tail attached to my buttocks that could make me glide or fly at long distances. Or perhaps, its because I really like the idea of beaming floating peaches at my enemies, as I grab my third African mask and scream “Boogla, boogle, boogla!” Heey. Wait a minute. Is Crash culturally insensitive? Of course, not! LOL. He’s a bandicoot, for Pete’s sake! WWBD? <—insert What Would (a) Bandicoot Do? here.

So, I experimented with the online game-but-not-really, Second Life, today. Yet, I will have to experience the game at another point in my real-life-first-life-only-life, because Second Life doesn’t want to play with me. Darn out-of-date technology. Maybe its because I don’t have a Mac. I haven’t even began to truly experience my Second Life, but already I’m finding out two important things: 1) It’s hard to get your foot in the door and 2) I’m already starting off broke. Damn! Why do I want to play in this world again? It’s reminding too much of this one ((shudder)). Really though, I’m just trying to have fun, dap some millionaires, chill, lax, and par-lay, and already I’m being asked for money! Sorry everyone, drinks will NOT be on me this weekend. I’m too busy begging for freebies in my Second Life!

I tried to play at americasarmy.com but for some reason (as I speak slowly and check the corners of my room), the game kept taking over my computer. Weird. Scary. Ironic. I just don’t know how I feel about the Army using video games for advertising and recruitment. At first, I want to say it seems a little inappropriate and out-of-line, but if it works… And clearly, the Army’s not the only one doing it. Hey, anyone want a Coke?

This is the Shape of Our Age

A more thoughtful Long Tail.

“Bottom Line: A Long tail is just culture unfiltered by economic scarcity.”

We want variety. People want variety. This is certain. Things become less relevant when everything is relevant. How will this affect business? Well, big business becomes less lucrative, unable to provide the type of variety that is in demand. Does that make sense? I mean, this has to be impossible if the variety that is in demand is infinite variety, right? Of course. Heads spinning, yet?

Businesses, to stay in business, must focus on niches. Which niches? I guess it depends on how much money a business wants to make. Random example. Let’s take bubble gum pop music, for example. The niche: teeny boppers. Is this niche a large one? Ridiculously huge. Hypothetically, I will enter the business of production and sales in the teeny bopper market in order to receive the greatest return. Anything wrong with that? Just the volatility of the teeny bopper market. But hey, great risk yields high return. What happens when the teeny boppers grow up, put filtered ipods in their ears, and pass it to their posterity. Damn. Sorry business, teeny bopper niche go bye-bye.

Businesses face great challenges in evolving society. The goal of business changes. The purpose of Big Business becomes obsolete. But, they won’t go down without a fight. And, we won’t either. We’ll scream “we want variety!” We want VARIETY! That is, until someone or entity comes along and convinces us differently. And who or what will that be?

Mass Collabo, Wiki Wiki, Mass Collabo

Stop! Read it again. Yes.

Now read it again.

Okay. You are an official old school DJ! (Crowd cheers!)

So, that was my very corny way of demonstrating how cool I think mass collaboration really is. Where am I going with this? No freaking where, really. I think mass collaboration is one of those things that it is just inevitable. With our very wired and extremely connected global communities that are being created everywhere, every second, we now have the apparatus for mass collaboration i.e. Wikipedia. This is pretty darn cool! I’m contributing to wikis with people from across the globe! I don’t know these people!

Of course, certain contributions will be more significant than others. Duh. Inevitably, the questions of “what is credible?” and “who is credible?” will arise and make us question very nature of credibility itself. Finally, we find ourselves encumbered in endless philosophical discourse – which I find quite stimulating and intriguing – that ultimately conclude in metaphysical existential inquiries! However, at the end of the day, we will visit our wikis and make friends with our co-contributors. We will agree to disagree, and get on with our lives. Yet, we may feel a bit bothered by the possibility of inaccuracy, but we will move on with our lives, nonetheless.

Can we trust Wikipedia and the lot of wikis? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I still think we will constantly arrive at the question of “who is the omnipotent author-editor?” of some sorts, and I don’t think we should be looking for that person-entity. We must face it! Mass collaboration, wikis, and all that forces us to reposition human knowledge as we know it. What does it mean “to know?” -this is an ultimate question. I think we must all position ourselves in socratic thought for a moment and proclaim that indeed we are are all fools. The truth ( or that which is credible) will raise itself, and it will be known. If truth does not emerge as such, then untruth will. We must face that fact, as well. Wiki, wiki right? Or wiki, wiki wrong? –Official DJ status.

Ya-who? Just Google it.

That day did come for me.

The day when ask.com didn’t roll off my dainty fingertips. The day when I stumbled upon search.com, immediately felt uncomfortable, and blew imaginary dust off of my computer screen. The day when superpages.com became less relevant. The day when I uttered “Ya- who?” and chuckled as if I had been brainwashed.

I love my Yahoo mail account. I can’t get rid of it. I hold onto it like my “Daisy Dukes” tape and my elementary school “Camp So and So” shirts. At first, I didn’t know what @gmail.com meant. I thought it was a phone or cable service email account. I was so, so wrong. They made me do it. They made me get a Gmail account. They knew what it would do to me. Oh, them!

I spit “Just Google it” like wildfire (please imagine me rapping this, pun intended). There are so many ways to say it. So many emotions to put to it. That would be a great video series. How people say “Google it.” It’s an addictive phrase. You can make people feel really stupid when they ask you a question about anything. Google it + expletive makes it really seep in with them. Try it. But, only with your close friends, or you will offend someone.

Google didn’t just transform our culture. Google jumped into us like Patrick Swayze jumped into Whoopi on Ghost. Bad analogy, but good enough for me. Google started walking around with us, becoming everyone’s best friend. Google is the most popular kid -in the world. Google’s walking around giving everybody high fives and dappin’ people up and saying “wassup” -in a million different languages. Google said bye-bye Gayle, I’m Oprah’s NEW best friend. Google said “I’m Rick James, B@#!” and we laughed like it was the first time we heard it. Google’s got on the Jordan’s that will never come out.

We recognize that Google may get rid of privacy as we know it, but we are too busy Googling to care that much. Ariel view of the Cruise’s house, anyone? Wait, that’s my house?! Heey….wait a minute…..

Confessions of a Blog Virgin

I was going to call this Confessions of a Blirgin. But, I didn’t think people would get it. Hehe.

I’ve changed the title of my blog several times, now. I’ve written blogs on the most random of subjects. And, my stream of consciousness writing is all too reminiscent of my day-to-day battle with ADD (See Generation ADD).  But, all-and-all, I am enjoying my blog journey. I’m enjoying these naked conversations, as Scoble and Isreal so perfectly articulated- butt naked conversations- as Bart Simpson would so perfectly articulate.  I am enjoying the raw nature of the blogosphere, and the praise of authencity- blogthenticity (<–insert copyright here)- if you will, in it. I feel like a bird soaring above the sky free to splatter white crap on anything and anyone beneath it. Just kidding. I got carried away. The soaring bird + the crap = the ultimate critic. I like being a critic. It’s okay. You don’t have to laugh. That was kinda’ gross, anyway.

Scoble and Isreal are on point with the fact that “the dull should not blog.” Because, as I began my journey, I learned some valuable lessons: alot of blogs suck, most people don’t read long blogs, and yummy juicy blogs = readership. I learned some other interesting stuff too, but my disorder won’t let me remember. Why “the juicier the blog the more popular,” you say? C’mon now, that’s like me explaining why the Enquirer and Us Weekly still exist! Jeesh! And really, “juicy” is completely self-explanatory. But, for those of you who don’t know what self-explanatory is (hehe), a “juicy” blog encompasses the component of intellectual fervor in a blog to just pure gutter gossip – although, exquisitely articulated in such a way that gets audiences hooked like crackheads. Damn those catchy Britney headlines!

By starting this third full paragraph, I have just lost about a dozen readers. Damn! And, I thought I could have been a pro at this blog stuff. All-and-all, throughout my journey, I feel like Hilary Clinton (<– insert Obama link here for fairness): I found my voice! It’s humorous (hopefully). It’s raw (c’mon now if I was that raw I’d be the uncensored Popeye). It’s real (no, I am not Pinocchio, no). That’s why you should vote for me as the next president…..Oh, and it’s random. And, I like it that way.

I am really diggin’ this no blog rules stuff.

Whom Does Citizen Journalism Threaten?: Gillmor’s Good Points

We the media.

“…with the these tools in the hands of vastly more people…we can look for innovation that may come from anywhere…”

“…I never left the media, I left the traditional media company…”

“…its true that the audience of any journalist, collectively knows more than anything the journalist writes about..”

This is the citizen journalism roundtable —-> insert round table here<—— Sitting on the left of the table, are Leftists. Sitting on the right of the table, are Leftists. What’s wrong with this picture?

Gillmor’s right. Where the hell are the people on the Right? Why aren’t they sitting down at the roundtable voicing themselves? Why aren’t they blogging as prevalently in the blogosphere as the leftists, the liberals, the unsatisfied-with-their-jobbers? Whom does citizen journalism threaten? THEM! Why are we asking “where are the members of the Right”? We ask for the sake of asking itself! It’s kosher! It’s Socratic! We know the real answer and so does Dan! We the media = billion traditional media investments sitting along side John Boy the Port-o-Potty, just chillin.’ I estimate that a few hundred Upper Echelons, Top Ten Percenters, and just plain Powerful-For-No-Reasons (please note, the use of the aforementioned as nouns), literally pissed in their pants at the thought of being erased by the masses who “by definition…collectively know more than them.” This collective knowledge body is essential power. Yet, it is power in the hands of many… or any. And, this is just unacceptable for the greater interests of Right. Call me exaggerative, but where is the Right?!

Whew!

Naked PR People

Sorry, it wasn’t what you might have been expecting.

“PR people need to teach clients to love criticism.”

“PR people, if they are good, can create their own conversations…but they cannot use their blogs or any other social media to pitch their clients.”

“PR people, they need some deprogramming before they can be information resources.”

“PR needs to hear the community…and bring back to that board room what the customer wants.”

“..if you show you’re listening, people might be more polite in their complaints towards you…”

Woah. Shel has great insight on the role of PR professional in today’s society- or rather- on the virtual playground. The blog is such a useful tool for a customer. You can complain all you want. Supposedly, you are anonymous, but you can complain about a product, business, service, etcetera, nonetheless. And get this? People will probably listen to your legitimate comments and concerns. And guess what? The business, product, or service has great potential to ameliorate whichever issues. Sound cool?! Markets are conversations! Yeah!

Here is a blog bandwagon——>insert blog bandwagon<—–. Please carefully jump onto it. I will warn you, there are no rules, but there are guidelines. There are no guarantees, but possibility and potential outwiegh them. If you do not jump on this bandwagon, you will be erased. Just kidding. You just won’t have as much fun as everyone else. Plus, you will never know your virtual potential.