User Profile
Name
Bob O'Flaurghty
Age
29 years old
Location
Brooklyn, New York
Occupation
Graphic DesignerThe Scenario:¹ As Bob goes through an average day he wants to get information on certain news items and topics.

When Bob wakes up in the morning he makes his coffee and sits down in front of his computer, he opens up Google News to see what the latest headlines are. Since Google News is a computer-generated news site,² he knows he will not experience any bias from any particular publisher as far as what stories are most important. The hierarchy of the page allows all of the stories equal importance (unlike the newspaper), so he can browse until he finds a story that seems interesting.

He selects an article entitled "Busy Day at Court Handling Sect's Children," he looks at the links to sources where he could read the same story and decides that his best bet is The New York Times. He clicks the link. Once on The New York Times website he begins reading. About half way through the article talks about the "Yearning for Zion ranch," Bob has never heard of this before so he clicks the link to learn more about this ranch. There he is able to see an image of the ranch along with several other stories about the ranch, he is satisfied now that he can put an image with a name and clicks the browsers back button to return him to the browser to finish reading the article. (more...)

If you have time any free time on your computer, outside your traditional routine, check out this archive of web 2.0 companies that have brilliant ideas on how to make your life a little easier, but will probably disappear in the next few years.

These entrepreneurs understand our problems and are solving them individually, but how do they get incorporated into our daily routine, when they are so... distant? Let me explain further.

Trying the Jott Trot.

Upon first glance, in the sea of beautiful fresh logos, I chose Jott, whose tagline is "Voice-Powered, Hands-Free Messaging and To-Do Lists," sounds pretty useful. The site is nice, so I went a little further. One tutorial movie later, it became very apparent that it is a solution to a problem that isn't really a problem to most people, but does offer some amazing features that, after registering and testing it out, is quite useful.

I registered quickly, and had my account. Connected my mobile with my Jott account, and then liked my Jott account with my Google Calendar account. This was awesome because if these new technologies can't link to something "standard" like Gmail or Facebook, users will forget to use it

The Countdown Begins.

Even being sick and sounding very nasal, Jott recognized my spoken statement, and placed it on my google calendar in the right day and time slot. Amazing. This technology is able to flow into the mobile phone realm, but how long will this market be around before every mobile IS a computer with internet? The registration and linking of accounts was more difficult than my dad could handle, so it's targeting the same demographic that is eagerly waiting for gen 2 of the Iphone. Jott is now in my mobile however, and I will probably play with it for a week or so, but that might be it until I discover how it works with other steadies in my routine.

The whole process took about 40 minutes, including testing and playing. And then I was back to the site, searching for the next big thing. Do you see the problem here?

Win Me, or Confuse Me?

Time-management and convenience is a web epidemic that is hot right now, but making one process more streamlined does not necessarily make room for other stuff. And as companies try and out-tech the competitor, they loose the average consumer in their race, and suddenly only the young web-saavies can make use of their product. It is truly innovative stuff, I just want to see how it gets to everyone and into the average Joe's routine. That is the underlying question that needs to be answered. Comment if you have an answer.

With the recent public launch of Hulu a couple of weeks ago I started to think about what effects Internet TV will have on our culture and our lives. People are slowly relinquishing their television sets as their primary way of watching network content. Online video and Internet TV sites are giving people a venue through which to be social, communicate and interact about what they're watching in different way.

Sites such as Hulu, Brightcove, YouTube, and Break allow users to rate each show/video, ask questions, and encourage social interaction. All of these sites allow the audience to share their videos with friends in many different ways (embedding video, email, IM, etc). But if the way by which we interact about television shows is changing, I wondered what will happen to the water cooler? (more...)

In our culture today the internet and technology have become an ever present force in our lives. Whether were waiting in our car during rush hour, talking on a cellphone to a friend, using the internet to retrieve our email or setting our home security system we have come to embrace some aspect of technology in our lives. This has made our society one that expects outcome at a moments notice and wants information pertinent to them at any time, anywhere they are.

As the Internet has developed it has in some ways allowed us to reclaim knowledge. Information that once would have been a chore to find or limited to those doing scholarly research is now available to anyone at anytime from anywhere. Unlike the information that may be provided to a person by news media, a library or a school, a Google search could yield several different hits on a topic all from different points of view. This kind of access to information gives a power to the average person that they haven't had before. The advent of Web 2.0¹ (yes I know it's a cliché) has in many ways restored their voice and individuality.

Possibly one of the most important things that Web 2.0 does is 'harness the power of a collective intelligence' and embrace the 'wisdom of the crowd'². While this may seem like an easy thing to overlook, many of the websites we use today exemplify these two things. Some examples might be Amazon, Wikipedia, Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Not only did Web 2.0 set out to collect and harness our intelligence but it also embraced the idea that people (and that means anyone) have a voice that should be heard. Blogs have allowed the average person to publish their thoughts, feelings, opinions and knowledge online for the world to see. Ideas, concepts, philosophy, journalism, writing, and art are all methods of expression and intelligence that are no longer limited to those who have a degree in their respective subject matter or to those with the money to publicize their thoughts. Blogs have in so many ways made truth, intelligence, ideas and expression a level playing field. And while there is a slight learning curve for those who are less familiar with technology, our culture is beginning to change because of this.

News Media
The internet has given people the power of choice back to the 'audience', they can now seek out the news that is important to them. News media networks such as CNN are adapting to suite a new breed of audience. Projects such as iReport embrace the 'collective knowledge' of their audience empowering them to submit news stories that are important to them.

Politics
Social media has completely changed the way the average citizen has the power to change their country through politics. The recent presidential campaign of Barack Obama has in many ways set a new standard for citizen involvement. By using various social media websites Obama's campaign allows people to campaign for him without ever leaving their couch via buddy icons, YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. This new form of advertising allows any citizen the power to support Obama and promote Obama, even if they don't get out of the house and vote for Obama. By harnessing the voices of individuals he has created a buzz³ that could potentially land him in the White House.

The point is, the citizen is much less limited today as far as the reach of their own personal message goes than they ever were before. What used to be considered the audience is no longer the audience anymore, it is a voice that expects to be heard.

The world of Web 2.0 is also the world of what Dan Gillmor calls "we, the media," a world in which "the former audience", not a few people in a back room, decides what's important.

-A quote from Tim O'Reilly's article What is Web 2.0?²

I expect watching the influences of these ideologies extend further into our culture will be an interesting experience. It is possible that media 10 years from now will look nothing like the media we know now as the citizens media grows.