the dumbest generation

via Don Tapscott’s grown up digital

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got the message? describing social media | shuaism

It is useful to consider the culture of different social media sites in terms of everyday scenarios. This really helps to demystify the uneasiness that exists around new media. Shuaism blogger Josh Peters shares his take on social media, and this is what he got:

Twitter – It’s like a large cocktail party and everyone brought their computers. Everyone is sharing pictures, videos, articles, links and there are discussions constantly going. You can follow any of the conversations / people you find interesting and just ignore the rest.

FaceBook – It’s a bit like a big house party. You show up and the first thing you do is find someone you know and then they introduce to people they know and so on. There are people playing games in different rooms of the house, people are holding groups discussions and the whole thing is ran by a very attentive host that tries to introduce you to new people and games or activities to enhance your experience.

MySpace – It a lot like High School. The profile is much akin to your high school locker. Pictures of your friends, bands, books, all the stuff you like is plastered all over the front and people decorate them in often gaudy expressions of themselves. There are “study groups” where you can discuss things you like or don’t like, a place to play games and even find some of the businesses you like getting involved. This is a very ME based site but don’t disregard the value there. If this is the crowd you want to target then it’s the place for you.

LinkedIn – A business mixer / meetup. People are exchanging their opinions and advice on business and what’s happening. Q&A sessions and group discussions on business issues are being discussed, and you can leveage your contacts to meet more contacts.

Delicious – Your own personal refernce library filled with the information you’ve ever found useful and you can share it with other people, organize it and network with people who are interested in like subjects.

via shuaism

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a genealogy of generation. generation what? | new york times

It all began in a quotation Ernest Hemingway attributed to his Paris patron, the poet and salonkeeper Gertrude Stein. On the title page of his novel “The Sun Also Rises,” published in 1926, he quoted her saying to her circle of creatively disaffected writers, artists and intellectuals in the aftermath of World War I, “You are all a lost generation.”

In the cultural nomenclature after that, the noun generation was applied to those “coming of age” in an era. Anne Soukhanov, U.S. editor of the excellent Encarta dictionary, observes, “Young people’s attitudes, behavior and contributions, while being shaped by the ethos of, and major events during, their time, came in turn to represent the tenor of the time.”

via generation what? | new york times

In this fascinating article, William Saffire traces the genealogy of the word “generation” and illustrates the complex cultural origins that contribute towards our understanding of its meaning today.

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meaning, significance, knowledge and power

With every change in the way we communicate in our culture there is a new struggle over meaning, significance, knowledge and power. Old rules and orders cannot be applied perfectly under the new regime of communication and thus formations of power are under threat from these new forms of expression.

P.David Marshall; New Media Cultures

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