Suckers this way

Social Networks Popularity (Lynch, 2011)

As social networking becomes an ever increasing part of our on-line lives, some news this week must surely raise concerns over how much personal information is left on-line. Linkedin has been hacked with over 6 Million users passwords on the list. An interesting spin off, Osborne(2012) invites users to enter their passwords to see if they are on the list. Get real you may work for the Guardian but seriously? You want me to type in my password to a site? What a great way to collect additional passwords. Needless to say I didn't put my password in but I thought I would try with 'bollocks' instead (forgive my French). Surprisingly it was on the list. So someone out there is using this as there password on linkedin, amazing.

Passwords like this are so predictable my password is much better its 'HyrJ3t%23a' very difficult to hack because its not a word, has upper and lower case and a non standard character. Now are you thinking 'the idiot has just put his password on a website', well I will leave you to ponder over that but if you check it you will find it has not been hacked - YET.

There is no doubt the trend in social networking is on the rise and as Lynch (2011) graphically represents Linkedin is up there with the best. I am off to change my password now I think.

References
Lynch,L. (2011) ‘How college professors use Facebook’, Schools.com, April 27[online], http://www.schools.com/visuals/college-professors-on-facebook.html (08 Jun 2012).

Osborne, H.(2012) ‘LinkedIn hacking: a timely internet security reminder’, The Guardian, 7 June 2012 , [online] http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/jun/07/linkedin-hacking-internet-security (08 Jun 2012).

Social values wiki users adopt, are they really any different?

This activity falls straight in the middle of my tutor group having to prepare fro a group work activity next month, they are in the process of setting rules for group work which will involve the production of a Wiki.

”…plainly put, a wiki is a website where anyone can edit anything anytime they want” (Richardson, W. 2009) 

What is interesting when you consider the rules the groups have set is the way they all seem to focus on social rules. The main focus of the discussion was on:- 

How often members were expected to log into the system
How decisions were to be made
What would happen in the event of problems

There was very little discussion about how to use or behave with respect to the wiki itself. Was this because certain things were taken for granted or were they overlooking this aspect of the activity. As a group they will compile a number of pages together; there are issues that need to be considered.

The creation of the wiki will unfold as they progress as a group, they need to trust each other that the contents added will be original or referenced properly and there will need to be acceptance and value put on each others contributions.

The task of the wiki will need to be made clear and the individual tasks set to the group members will need to be clear, possibly stated at the top of each page.

Is it acceptable to keep correcting the language, is it not best to get the ideas on the wiki before the polishing commences.

It is important that the combined efforts of the group are acknowledged and the responsibility for the production is shared. If this is to be made available to a wider audience then there will need to be willingness to share a collaborative effort and trust each others opinions and values.

It suddenly becomes more complex and similar to any other social event, there are differing characters and a wide variation on opinions some how all the differences have to be moulded together to agreement in the form of a webpage open for all to see; interesting lets hope its not a controversial subject or it will never reach an end.

No doubt there will also be the same social satisfaction when the event is completed and a feeling of mutual pride at its completion and the overall experience in the same way as a combined team drive towards a common goal, ready to move on to the next event. This will only be possible if all members have made a contribution otherwise there will be a number of negative issues to address. Why has one person not contributed as much or met his targets being a common problem. However if the measures are in place to reward the efforts and encourage the less active then the next task may well be improved upon.

Not too dissimilar to a normal team it’s just an online event. The rewards are obvious though,
‘wikis can extend their reach far beyond departmental or organizational limits, expressing the interests of virtually any community’ (Lamb, B.2004).

The enrichment brought to the event then can be quite diverse and opinions very varied a small price to pay for this is the need to adapt the social skills accordingly, taking into account different cultures, feelings, opinions and needs of our wider audience in order to be rewarded with a much wider perspective and valued contribution to the ever increasing electronic media available on the web. 

References
Richardson, W. (2009) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms Corwin Press

Lamb, B. (2004) 'Wide open space: wikis, ready or not', Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October), pp. 36-48. Available from: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (accessed 07April 2010).

CA 5.2 - Is Perkins view of modern society justified?

The third social revolution (Perkin)

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=264620

In the current climate I would agree with Perkin but I don't think it is as straight forward as this. He states the major trends to justify his argument, which include:

High living standards for all
The rise of service industries
Class into hierarchy
Meritocracy
The incorporation of women
The welfare state
The centrality of higher education
The rise of the giant corporation
The global economy.

It is difficult to argue that this is not the case however, is it really this clear cut? We are in no doubt a society that entrusts the running of the country to the learned occupation, although democratically selected. Whilst we hear we are in a classless society not many people would agree. We are also driving more of the younger generation towards universities complete with student loans and long term debts. City workers still seem to get fat bonuses despite the fact that we are in a recession.

A network society is a society that is shaped around a number of social and media networks such as facebook and twitter. There is no doubt that these networks are becoming increasingly a way of life for many people. The millennial student has grown up with technology experiencing a positive economy during their school years whilst they have also seen the introduction of a safety to an extent that is perhaps wrapping them in cotton wool. To an extent we could consider our society to be a risk society, constant reminders of the greenhouse effect and how humanity is destroying the world, implies a society increasingly preoccupied with the future.

There is also no doubt that modern society has become very dependant on information. There is a need to create, record and manipulate data in an electronic form in all we do. A vast amount of data is being stored and manipulated for all sorts of dubious reasons and we are like it or not becoming dependant on this information. Is it however a significant economic, political, and cultural activity?
 
There are elements of a risk society, information society and certainly a network society encompassed in the overall picture making it difficult to argue any of these being the predominant one. As to the future? I'll leave that to the learned occupations I think, with tongue in cheek.