I was glad to see a discussion brought up about the age of the article for this week's reading. I actually wrote a note in the margin that says "Information becomes 'out of date' so quickly. 2007? Too old!"
Before moving on to the more recent blogs, I wanted to mention a little tidbit from this article that stood out to me personally. Under the section about "The Toolmakers", the author brings up how customer ratings can weed out dishonesty. I have become so used to referencing sites that have user reviews that I find myself a little distrustful of those that don't. For example, I like to cook, so I read a lot of recipe websites and blogs. While I don't base my decision to try a recipe solely on what reviews say, I do read all the comments first. I find it really helpful to see that others have tried it and what their suggestions might be ("Too much cumin!" or "I substituted frozen spinach for fresh and it worked well.") It's gotten to the point that I'm hesitant to try something if no one has reviewed it yet. The same goes for products on Amazon or eBay sellers. User comments and reviews have become very important to me when using websites as a resource.
Moving on, in reviewing the more current blog postings associated with this week's reading, I was excited to find an entry that directly relates to the literature review I'm doing for this class. The topic I will be looking at is how people use social media and social networks as a tool for social change. On the O'Reilly Radar blog, there is an entry from June of 2009 about the use of Twitter during the Iranian elections. In a nutshell - "While it is amazing to see individuals using technologies such as Twitter to sidestep repressive government censorship, Twitter has also made it easier for observers, a world away, to become active participants in an unfamiliar political system at times taking vigilante action against the server infrastructure of a nation-state." I'm sure this will most likely come up again and again as I get further into my lit review, and I'm excited to learn more about it. I've had a vague knowledge about social networking and how it can be used for social change, but now that we've been actually able to see it in action more and more in the last few years I'm excited to look into the specifics of it. I'll definitely be bookmarking this blog entry!
The one thing about Amazon reviews (and sites that feature user reviews in general) is that it is so easy for content creators - like, say, the author of a book - to create a number of fake Amazon accounts and give themselves five star reviews in order to artificially inflate their overall rating and make their product appear to be more popular than it actually is.
ReplyDeleteOn the flipside, someone could create a number of faked negative reviews in order to make a product appear less popular ... Let's say a restaurant owner has a competing business across the street, so he goes to Yelp and manufactures a bunch of one-star reviews about how their food is awful, their service is slow, etc.
You just can't trust anybody! ;)
Alessandro, that is an interesting observation. Although I'd guess MOST of the reviews are genuine, there is a proportion that are the owners/creators etc. "advertising" or their competitors denigrating. It is a not uncommon practice in the world of iPhone apps, though my partner's company has resisted it. But once, someone wrote a really nasty (and incorrect in many details) review on one of the apps she did...and signed it with their company name (they were a competing company). I suppose if one is going to do that sort of thing it works better anonymously, since many of the other reviewers called them on it.
ReplyDeleteBut once, someone wrote a really nasty (and incorrect in many details) review on one of the apps she did...and signed it with their company name (they were a competing company). I suppose if one is going to do that sort of thing it works better anonymously, since many of the other reviewers called them on it.
ReplyDeleteThat just made me think of something else (although I'm certainly not accusing your partner of doing this) ... What if Company A created an app and posted a negative review of that app, but "signed" it as their competitor Company B? That way, Company A generates a ton of bad publicity for Company B ("Oh, how could you try and falsely deflate your competition's rating, that's poor form!"), even though Company B had nothing to do with it!
Ooh, it's so insidious! ;)
Interesting topic on how reviews and postings can affect popular opinion. You may remember a month or so ago a report on the national news concerning a high school senior who wanted to take a certain girl to the prom? He posted his invitation on a brick wall of the school using enormous cardboard letters that could be easily removed...but because of a zero tolerance policy about defacing school property he was suspended for a few days and barred from attending the prom.
ReplyDeleteWithin the last week, I heard on the radio that there was such an international frenzy on Twitter about the situation that the principal retracted the barring and he WAS allowed to attend the prom (with the girl of his dreams)!