tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69844640021406011012024-03-19T12:45:45.950+01:00Medieteknik-exjobbpargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-55312808035477082452012-01-12T14:03:00.002+01:002012-01-12T15:15:54.133+01:00Competitive programming/programming competitions.<div>I am myself collecting material about "competitive programming" and programming competitions (which to some extent can be compared to competitive computer gaming, or "e-sports" - see <a href="http://medieteknik-exjobb.blogspot.com/2011/12/e-sportsprofessional-computer-gaming.html">thesis proposal here</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>My own study focuses on a competition which is called <a href="http://cm.baylor.edu/welcome.icpc">the International Collegiate Programming Competition</a> (ICPC). It is the "world championships in programming" for university students and they represent their universities in three-person teams. I will present my preliminary results <a href="http://game.itu.dk/index.php/Beyond_Sports_vs._Games_workshop">at a workshop</a> about (competitive) computer gaming and sports later this spring.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are however many aspects of competitive programming and programming competitions that I myself don't explore and invite anyone who is interested in this topic to get in touch with me so that we can formulate a suitable thesis topic together.</div><div><br /></div><div>For some more information and ideas, see:</div><div><br /></div><div>- <a href="http://danielpargman.blogspot.com/2011/10/competitive-programming-competitions.html">My initial thoughts</a> about competitive programming and programming competitions.</div><div>- <a href="http://danielpargman.blogspot.com/2011/11/programming-competitions-as-e-sports.html">My proposal</a> to the workshop (which as accepted).</div><div>- The <a href="http://game.itu.dk/index.php/Beyond_Sports_vs._Games_workshop">workshop invitation</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Literature:</div><div>- There isn't much written about competitive programming. There is some written on competitive computer gaming and much written about (competitive) sports. But please keep your eyes open for T. L. Taylor's upcoming book "<a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12799">Raising the stakes</a>: E-sports and the professionalization of computer gaming" (MIT Press Feb-March 2012).</div><div>. </div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-20701643887164002122011-12-21T13:46:00.001+01:002012-02-01T16:29:20.390+01:00Transmedia storytelling.<div>The idea of telling stories in several different platforms in parallel has been called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedia_storytelling">transmedia storytelling</a>". It has become increasingly popular, with books becoming movies and movies becoming book series. Or comic albums. Or computer games turning into books or movies - or books and movies turning into computer games. Or board games. And so on. I recently even saw that the popular board game "Settlers of Catan" <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Settlers-Catan-Rebecca-Gable/dp/1611090814/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">had been turned into a book</a>!</div><div><br /></div><div>One example of transmedia storytelling is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_(franchise)">the Matrix universe/franchise</a> which was documented in a chapter in Henry Jenkins' book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Convergence-Culture-Where-Media-Collide/dp/0814742955">Convergance culture</a>: Where old and new media collide". </div><div><br /></div><div>Another example is the the popular real-time strategy game Warcraft and the popular online game World of Warcraft expanding into book series, comics, board games, collectible card games as well as an upcoming movie (info on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft_(series)">the Warcraft universe/franchise here</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>But those traditional forms of mass media are just the beginning though as there are also dedicated users/fans out there who extend these stories/universes by producing their own (user-created) contents such as for example <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction">fan fiction</a> (literature), podcasts and other materials.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>In terms of World of Warcraft, there are a number of popular (amateur) podcasts being produced such as "The Instance", "WoW insider", "All things Azeroth", "World of Warcast", "Blue Plz", "Rawcast" and "In the world".</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In this thesis proposal you are free to explore the media franchise/universe of your choice. The specific research question will be formulated together with your advisor (me).</div><div><br /></div><div>- A good start would be to read Henry Jenkins book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Convergence-Culture-Where-Media-Collide/dp/0814742955">Convergence culture</a>" and also make a visit to the <a href="http://sfbok.se/">Science Fiction bookstore in Gamla Stan</a>.</div><div>- Also have a look at Giovagnoli, "<a href="http://www.etc.cmu.edu/etcpress/content/transmedia-storytelling-imagery-shapes-and-techniques">Transmedia storytelling: Images, shapes and techniques</a>" (2011) which is available online for free.</div><div>. </div><div><br /></div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-76837122874439561532011-12-19T17:28:00.003+01:002012-02-22T09:43:05.697+01:00E-sports/professional computer gaming.<div>Computer gaming is not just a leisure activity, but has been "sportified", professionalized and commercialized during the previous decade. There are nowadays leagues and computer gaming/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-sports">e-sport</a> competitions as well a some professional computer gamers and many hopeful wannabes. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was the advisor of no less than two bachelor's theses about different aspects of <a href="http://danielpargman.blogspot.com/2011/05/this-years-media-technology-bachelor.html">the commercialization of computer gaming</a> last spring; Croona and Bleichner's "<i>Starcraft: A spectator sport for a wider audience?</i>" and Kjellnäs and Virtala's "<i>The economy around professional e-sport players, with a focus on Counter-Strike</i>". </div><div><br /></div><div>I also did a study of my own some years ago. It resulted in a 2007 paper called "<i><a href="http://www.digra.org/dl/db/07313.16293.pdf">Exploring E-sports</a>: A case study of gameplay in Counter-Strike</i>" (pdf file).</div><div><br /></div><div>I will also attend a workshop on sports and games/e-sports in the spring, although my own presentation will not be about competitive computer gaming per se, but rather about <a href="http://danielpargman.blogspot.com/2011/11/programming-competitions-as-e-sports.html">competitive computer programming and programming competitions</a> (students who are interested in writing about this topic are of course also welcome to get in touch with me!). </div><div>Students who are interested in e-sports can have a look at the list of almost 20 examples of topics of interest in <a href="http://game.itu.dk/index.php/Beyond_Sports_vs._Games_workshop">the workshop invitation</a>. Do note that the topic of this specific workshop happens to be <i>computer</i> <i>games + sports</i>. By altering that formula, other topics could also be possible to explore, e.g. <i>computer</i> <i>games + hacking</i> = (game) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod_(video_gaming)">mods</a> and modding culture, lan parties (like <a href="http://www.dreamhack.se/">Dreamhack</a>) and <a href="http://danielpargman.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-hackathon.html">hack days</a>, programming competitions (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest">ICPC</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TopCoder">TopCoder</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Jam">Google Code Jam</a>) etc. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you are interested in computer games there are <i>many</i> possible topics that could be explored in this area. I will personally have more ideas and suggestions after having attended the workshop in mid-february 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Literature:</b></div><div>I might complement this online thesis proposal with a literature list at a later point. Do start by having a look at my paper and at Croona and Bleichner's 2011 bachelor's thesis (linked above). Also keep your eyes open for T.L. Taylor's forthcoming book "<a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12799">Raising the stakes</a>: E-sports and the professionalization of gaming" which is slated to be published in March 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is a <a href="http://tltaylor.com/teaching/e-sports-and-pro-gaming-literature/">reading list on e-sports</a> that T.L. has put together.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a <a href="http://mindgamesconsulting.wordpress.com/">Finnish Ph.D. student's blog about e-sports</a>, "Mind games: Exploring the mental edge in e-sports". Do note the collection of links at the bottom of the page.</div><div>.</div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-84993449987662579242011-12-18T22:26:00.002+01:002012-02-22T12:56:08.625+01:00Impact of social media on social behavior<div><div>.</div><div>At a seminar in my course on social media, a student talked about the experience of going to a job interview and being interviewed by someone who was a graduate from "his" educational program a few year earlier. The interviewer:</div><div>1) had checked him out in Facebook in advance (is that strange or normal nowadays?)</div><div>2) mentioned that they shared the same taste in music at the meeting (that <i>must</i> be strange, right?)</div><div><br /></div><div>The fact that the interviewer <i>knew</i> and <i>referred</i> to his taste in music to him <i>felt</i> strange. This anecdote led to a discussion at the seminar about "Facebook etiquette" or "social media etiquette". See also <a href="http://nextbison.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/why-linkedin-is-creepy-asymmetry-of-visibility">this blog post about</a> (the lack of) "social translucence" in LinkedIn.</div><div><br /></div><div>I made the connection to Joshua Meyrowitz 1986 book "<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/No-Sense-Place-Electronic-Behavior/dp/019504231X">No sense of place</a>: The impact of electronic media on social behavior</i>". While it was possible 100 years ago to "know" some about the lives of others through literature, it was neither very easy nor very wide-spread. Meyrowitz' argument is instead that television (the "<i>electronic media</i>" that his book title refers to) has made it possible for vast numbers of people to "know" (or to think they know) about the lives of others through the magic of television drama. We can thus nowadays "know" what it's like to fight a war (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Brothers_(TV_miniseries)">Band of Brothers</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Kill_(TV_series)">Generation Kill</a>) or live a life of crime (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopranos">The Sopranos</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Anarchy">Sons of anarchy</a>), to be a policeman (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_wire">The Wire</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shield">The Shield</a>) or sit in a prison (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_(TV_series)">Oz</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Break">Prison break</a>), to live a life of glamour in New York (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City">Sex and the City</a>) or in suburbia (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Housewives">Despearate housewifes</a>), to work for the president of the US of A (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing">West Wing</a>) or to be hit by the recession (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeds_(TV_series)">Weeds</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad">Breaking bad</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_(TV_series)">Hung</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Meyrowitz' more general examples were that nowadays and through television:</div><div>- Women can know more than ever before about the lives of men (and vice versa).</div><div>- Children can know more than ever before about the lives of adults (sex, marital problems, divorce, economical problems etc.).</div><div>- Ordinary people can know more than ever before about those in power (politicians, captains of industry etc.).</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes we don't have a "true" picture of those other groups, but we still <i>feel</i> we know a lot about other people and we still know a lot more than what was possible in former times. But the knowledge Meyrowitz refers to is general knowledge of different groups of people (women and men, policemen and criminals, rich and poor people etc.), but nowadays you can also know a lot about <i>individual persons</i> by searching on the Internet. Meyrowitz wrote a book about the impact of electronic media (TV) on social behavior. The question in this thesis proposal is "what is the impact of social media (Facebook etc.) on social behavior?".</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Method:</b></div><div>- Read Meyrowitz' book carefully while all the time thinking of what "equivalent" but updated questions for today would be. What are the similarities and what are the differences when reading Meyrowitz book but thinking and applying it to the present situation (e.g. replace TV/electronic media with Internet/social media).</div><div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Do a study based on qualitative interviews. Let your readings in the area guide you as to what questions you should ask your informants. It would probably be best to interview young social media users (e.g. high school or university students or perhaps younger professionals).</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Do note that <a href="http://medieteknik-exjobb.blogspot.com/2011/12/para-social-facebook-relationships.html">there is different-but-similar thesis proposal available here</a>.</div><div>.</div></div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-54849988977608428172011-12-15T17:09:00.002+01:002011-12-20T17:25:39.781+01:00Para-social Facebook relationships<div>.</div><div>I have had a longtime interest in so-called para-social relationships, i.e the perception that you have a relationship with someone (a celebrity of some kind) even though you have never met that person in real life. A para-social relationship is a <i>one-way relationship</i> that has been <i>(mass) mediated</i> <i>by</i> radio or (most often) <i>television and movies</i>. People (fans) can feel they have a relationship or even a "special" relationship to an artist (actor, singer), a sportsman or perhaps a politician. Which they of course don't have, since they have never met. Or do they? </div><div><br /></div><div>The term "para-social interaction" was coined in 1956 by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in their article "<i><a href="http://www.participations.org/volume%203/issue%201/3_01_hortonwohl.htm">Mass communication and para-social interaction</a>: Observations on intimacy at a distance</i>".</div><div><br /></div><div>So what are the <i>implications</i> of "para-social Facebook relationships" that we can have with people who don't actually really know us, i.e. when it <i>feels like</i> you know someone because you have checked up on or followed that person on Facebook and even though he/she doesn't know who you are? What happens when, at a party, you already know the name and the face of a friend's friend - even though he/she has never met you and has no idea of who you are? Do you pretend not to know him or mention that you "know her" from Facebook? This example is based on an issue that came up in a seminar discussion on my course on social media, and most students stated that they (would) <i>pretend</i> not to know/recognize the other person. To not do so might feel creepy, "stalkish" to the other person. What happens in the opposite situation - when they know who you are, but you don't know them? Or when (if) both "know" each other although they had never met before (physically).</div><div><br /></div><div>With social media (Facebook) you can keep tabs on a friend's friend; you can follow them on Facebook, read what they do and watch pictures from their latest vacation or party without them ever realizing it. The border between following someone on Facebook and stalking them online can sometimes be fine...</div><div><br /></div><div>So what happens when social media (Facebook) allows us to have para-social interaction (interaction <i>as if</i> we are friends/acquaintances even though it is a "one-way relationship") with <i>ordinary</i> people who are not celebrities and who have no reason to expect others to know them or to know about them? What does Facebook do to the concept of para-social relationships, and what do para-social relationships <i>do</i> to the whole concept of relationships in the age of ubiquitous social media? How do people reason about these issues and concepts? What do they feel is the proper "etiquette" in terms of these issues?</div><div><br /></div><div>Beyond "relationships" with persons who have never met us, we can also have "relationships" with people we once knew but no longer keep in touch with. We can follow someone on Facebook and <i>feel</i> like we (still) have a relationship with her and like we "keep in touch" with him by reading what he did yesterday. But feeling as if we (still) have a relationship must surely be an illusion if we never speak on the phone and never meet for a cup of coffee, right? How do (young) people reason about these issues?</div><div><br /></div><div>We thus have three cases:</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- "Traditional" para-social relationships with celebrities that are mediated through mass media (radio, tv, movies).</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Facebook-mediated para-social relationships with non-celebrities/friends of friends - people we feel we have a relationship to even though we have never met then.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Facebook-mediated para-social relationships with former friends - people we feel we have a relationship with even though we in fact don't meet them (any longer).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Method:</b></div><div>For someone who wants to write a thesis on "para-social Facebook relationships", I suggest the following methods (to be discussed depending on the question you will explore):</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Search for and read as much as you can about "traditional" para-social interaction/para-social relationships and what has been written about para-social interaction in the age of the Internet/social media.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Think about and analyze similarities and differences between traditional and Facebook-mediated para-social relationships (this will be your "theoretical contribution" to the field).</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Do a study based on qualitative interviews. Let your readings in the area guide you as to what questions you should ask your informants.</div><div><br /></div><div>The exact research question that you will explore and appropriate methods to explore this question should be discussed with your advisor (me) before you start your work. The emphasis should be on the changing character of para-social relationships in the age of the Internet and social media. How do informants feel and think about these issues? When (in what situations) does para-social (imagined?) relationships create problems? How are these problems solved? Or can they instead solve what <i>used</i> to be a problem, but isn't any longer?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Literature:</b></div><div>- There are numerous studies and articles about para-social relationships. Search for and read those that seem suitable. </div><div>- There are also books on the phenomenon, for example Richard Schickel's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Intimate-Strangers-Celebrity-Richard-Schickel/dp/1566633176/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_11">Intimate strangers</a>", Sherry Turkle's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Together-Expect-Technology-Other/dp/1459609026/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1">Alone together</a>" and Fredrik Strage's "<a href="http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=912709877X">Fans</a>".</div><div>- The theme has also been treated in movies such as (for example) "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fan_(1996_film)">The fan</a>" and "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_Driver">Taxi driver</a>".</div><div><br /></div><div>Do note that <a href="http://medieteknik-exjobb.blogspot.com/2011/12/impact-of-social-media-on-social.html">there is different-but-similar thesis proposal available here</a>.</div><div>. </div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-54151402698595547522011-11-01T12:43:00.006+01:002013-03-15T14:13:13.767+01:00Grönt distansarbete i Sverige<div>
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Nya sätt att använda informations- och kommunikationsteknologier (ICT) hyser potentialen att göra det möjligt för fler personer att anamma en mer ekologiskt hållbar livsstil. Det verkar troligt att telependling och <a href="http://www.industriarbetsgivarna.se/arbetsgivarfragor/distansarbete">distansarbete</a> [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommuting">telecommuting</a>] i kombination med "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downshifting">downshifting</a>" - att man går ner i arbetstid och samtidigt väljer att prioritera en enklare, långsammare och mindre materiell livsstil - skulle kunna göra dem möjligt för fler personer att bosätta <i>utanför</i> istället för <i>inuti,</i> och/eller <i>i mindre</i> snarare än <i>i större</i> städer.</div>
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Detta förslag är brett och inkluderar tre separata exjobbsförslag:</div>
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1) En bred inventering av distansarbete och telependling i Sverige idag och under de senaste decennierna. Fokus ligger på en litteraturstudie av visioner och utfall samt på att genomföra en enkät, förslagsvis genom att ta kontakt med större statliga institutioner med personal i hela landet (t.ex. Försäkringskassan, Skatteverket etc.).</div>
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2) En smalare studie med fokus på "gröna distansarbetare". Istället för att fokusera på distansarbetare i största allmänhet (enligt förslaget ovan), ligger fokus i detta förslag istället på att hitta och kartlägga "<i>rurala distansarbetare med en grön agenda</i>". Den grupp kan preliminärt definieras som 1) distansarbetare som bor på en mindre ort eller på landsbygden, 2) som jobbar hemifrån minst en dag i veckan (eventuellt har man även gått ner i arbetstid) samt 3) som skäl till detta har en "grön agenda" (spara klimatet, minska sin energiförbrukning i vardagen och sitt CO2-fotavtryck etc.). Fokus i detta exjobb ligger på att genomföra det detektivarbete som det innebär att identifiera och hitta denna specifika grupp distansarbetare samt att genomföra en enkät med denna grupp.</div>
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3) Samma som förslaget ovan, men utgåendes från ett mindre antal kvalitativa intervjuer (snarare än genom att sprida en enkät).</div>
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Litteratur:</div>
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- Torbjörn Lundkvist (2010), "Visioner om IKT i arbetsliven: Från distansarbete till arbete när som helst och var som helst?". Arbetsrapport från Institutet för Framtidsstudier (2010:14). <a href="http://www.framtidsstudier.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110112162049filFuX6Rfn2C9eC78yrR6Zl1.pdf">Tillgänglig online</a> (pdf). </div>
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- Bill McKibben, "<b>Deep economy</b>"</div>
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- Lerner, T. "<a href="http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=9185465933">Hejdå ekorrhjule</a>t"<br />
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Kontaktpersoner:<br />
- Jorge Zapico, zapico(a)kth.se<br />
- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
Jorge Zapicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00657459949779148530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-16949730890936888922011-03-15T09:53:00.012+01:002015-06-09T09:33:27.581+02:00Astroturf robot wars.<br />
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Internet is great, and nowadays (with web 2.0), Internet has become not just the greatest library the world has ever seen, but also a social space. It is now possible for ordinary people to spread information and discuss any and every issue with like-minded people (or with people whose opinions differ from yours). It has been said that "freedom of the press is limited to those who own one", but nowadays anyone can own their own printing press in the form of a computer with an internet connection. Any person can thus set out and attempt to become an opinion leader by starting a blog or a podradio show of her own.</div>
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The possibilities for open discussions, honest attempts to weigh different sides of an argument and to deliberate and reach a conclusion have never been as good as they are now. But not everyone plays by the rules. In any issue where large organizations or corporations are involved, where partisan interests are present, and where commercial interests are at stake, it might not be in everyone's best interests to encourage open discussions on the Internet. It might in fact be in the interests of some actors to <i>derail</i> such online spaces in order to control, manipulate or shut down a discussions where the answers seem to go in the "wrong" direction (for example threatening large commercial interests).</div>
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One way to manipulate the public discussion is to jumpstart an astroturf campaign, i.e. a "fake grassroots movements" that is paid for by some corporations with an interest in affecting the public opinion. Andrew Roswell's writes in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Green-Backlash-Subversion-Environment-Movement/dp/0415128285">Green backlash</a>: Global subversion of the environment movement" (1996): </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
”<span style="font-style: italic;">Since its inception in 1983, the Citizens for Sensible Control of Acid Rain has spent over $7.5 million attempting to defeat acid rain legislation, without a sensible citizen in sight, just some large electricity companies.</span>”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Other examples of organizations and networks that try to steer public discussions in pro-corporate directions are organizations such as the "Information Council on the Environment" (funded by among others the National Coal Association) and "The Climate Coalition" (funded by Exxon, Shell, Texaco, BP, Ford, GM, DaimlerChrysler).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The definition of certain key terms are not totally clear in this thesis specification, i.e. that is something that you would need to think some about yourself. Several terms overlap such as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing">astroturfing</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)">spam</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)">trolling</a>", "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack">denial-of-service attacks</a>" (DOS). Furthermore it is not totally clear what the most salient (and dangerous) characteristic(s) of astroturfing is; what exactly makes astroturfing immoral and dangerous? Is it the fact that people get paid to pretend to be "ordinary citizens"? Or that the activities in question are systematic? Or instrumental (instead of "authentic")? Or that the goal is to silence and supress discussions or certain opinions?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The background and description above could result in several different directions for a thesis in this area. Here are two examples, the first being more oriented towards technical issues and the second being more oriented towards content issues:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Astroturfing through persona management software</b></div>
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<b>------------------------------------------------------------------------</b></div>
<div>
Map technical tools and software that is nowadays used to impersonate an army of "ordinary citizens" to create the impression that there is major support for an opinion (that for example a corporation "might happen" to hold). Not much is known about the "persona management software" that is used and the questions are thus many, for example:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
- What kind of technical knowledge and technical infrastructure is needed to create and run persona management software? </div>
<div>
- How do these tools actually work? </div>
<div>
- What kind of firms (PR? Computer security?) offer services in this area? </div>
<div>
- What services do they offer more specifically? </div>
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- Does cloud computing already provide all the services needed? </div>
<div>
- Are dynamic IP addresses sufficient, or are other technical services or measures needed to reduce the "traceability" of these efforts? </div>
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- How can websites "defend" themselves against "cyberspammers" and astroturfers who use persona management software? Or can't they defend themselves with anything less than a de-anonymization of Internet?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Astroturfing in action</b></div>
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<b>-------------------------------</b></div>
<div>
Analyze a corpus of material and try to discern systematic efforts to control the public exchange of opinions. One example is the Swedish-langauge energy, economy, climate and ecology site <a href="http://stallom.se/">Ställ om</a> that was run by the Swedish Television (SVT) and was active for a period of 10 months. The site produced 300 articles but was unfortunately "infested" by a relatively small group of vocal opponents who questioned anything and everything about each and every article, as well as the very site itself (including its very existence). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
- Were these people "ordinary citizens" with strong opinions or were they payed off to patrol and "kill" the discussions on the site? </div>
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- What indicators of a systematic approach can be discerned in the more than 5000 comments that were made over the better part of the year that the site existed? </div>
<div>
- Are there reasons to believe that the sustained effort was the result of high-tech "spammers"?</div>
<div>
- Are there other sites or movements in Sweden or elsewhere that can be linked to Astroturf campaigns and funding from corporate interests?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Sources:</b></div>
<div>
<b>------------</b></div>
<div>
Four shorter columns by British journalist and author <b>George Monbiot </b>are a good starting point for reading up on the subject:</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">--- </span>On <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2011/02/23/robot-wars/">astroturf robot wars</a> and software for impersonating an army of "ordinary citizens" on the web (Feb 2011).</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">--- </span>On <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2010/12/13/reclaim-the-cyber-commons/">astroturf campaigns</a> trying to control who and what is being heard in the cyber-commons (Dec 2010). </div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">----</span>How the tea party movement was jump-started by <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2010/10/25/toxic-brew/">fossil fuel lobbying seed money</a> (Oct 2010).</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">--- </span>On <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2009/12/07/the-real-climate-scandal/">systematic disinformation</a> that is spread by corporations with political agendas and money to spare - but hiding behind innocent-sounding organizations that do their dirty work (Dec 2009).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
- A Daily Kos article about "<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-UPDATED:-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All">persona management software</a>".</div>
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- A Guardian article on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks">US military use</a> of such software. </div>
<div>
- A long article from The New Yorker on the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all">Koch billionaire brothers "covert" political operations</a> and a more general portrait of <a href="http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/67285/">David Koch</a> and the family's history. </div>
<div>
- On China's "<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7783640.stm">50 cent army</a>" of Internet commentators (so named for the small kickback they receive for each post they make).</div>
<div>
- (Astro)turf wars. A documentary movie and <a href="http://astroturfwars.org/">a companion website</a>. </div>
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- An early (2004) text from Wired about "<a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/google.html?pg=7">content spammers</a>".</div>
<div>
- A <a href="http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2011/03/climate-denialist-comments.html">well-formulated example</a> of (yet another) blogger who succumbs and turn the switch on (some) commenters who comment in "bad faith" and who <a href="http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2011/03/comment-moderation-turned-on.html">might be paid</a> to spam his blog.<br />
<br />
- On the ethics of attention: On <a href="http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2012/04/20/the-tweetbomb-and-the-ethics-of-attention/">tweetbombing</a> and a follow-up blog post about using <a href="http://socialmediacollective.org/2012/05/24/the-ethics-of-attention-part-2-bots-for-civic-engagement/">Twitter bots</a> to affect/manipulate public opinions (rally for civic engagement). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
- Beniger, James (1987). "Personalization of mass media and the growth of pseudo-community". Communication Research, Vol.14, No.3, pp.352-371.<br />
<br />
- The Atlantic (Oct 2013), "<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/russias-online-comment-propaganda-army/280432/">Russia's Online-Comment Propaganda Army</a>"<br />
- The Guardian (April 2015), "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/putin-kremlin-inside-russian-troll-house">Salutin' Putin</a>: inside a Russian troll house"<br />
- Climatecrocks.com (blogpost, Oct 2013), "<a href="http://climatecrocks.com/2013/10/22/trolls-r-us-how-fox-news-sock-puppets-spam-comment-threads/">Trolls R Us</a>: How Fox News Sock Puppets Spam Comment Threads"<br />
- The Conversation (Oct 2013), "<a href="http://theconversation.com/astroturfing-the-climate-wars-five-ways-to-spot-a-troll-19011">Astroturfing the climate wars</a>: five ways to spot a troll"<br />
- The Guardian (July 2009), "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/jul/08/climate-denial-astroturfers-pseudonyms">Climate denial 'astroturfers' should stop hiding</a> behind pseudonyms online"<br />
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>In Swedish:</b></div>
<div>
<b>-----------------</b></div>
<div>
- <a href="http://derspringer.blogspot.com/2010/07/svart-mandag.html">A blog post</a> about a relatively awkward attempt by a political party to Astroturf an issue. The blog post also refers to the successful <a href="http://www.studiototal.se/">Swedish PR firm Studio Total</a> who have pulled off Astroturf campaigns that mix commercial and "artistic" ambitions to "tell stories" (or to confuse the general public). One example is the <a href="http://blackascot.blogspot.com/">Black Ascot</a> blog. The PR firm in question, Studio Total, was portrayed in a longer article in the magazine Filter (<a href="http://www.magasinetfilter.se/artiklar/filter-17-10.aspx">#17, Nov 2010</a>).</div>
<div>
- An article from Expressen, "<a href="http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.2178085/dold-lobbying-bakom-fejkad-folkstorm">Dold lobbying bakom fejkad folkstorm</a>" and a good comment about "<a href="http://stardustsblogg.blogspot.com/2010/11/cyberbalkaniseringen-i.html">Cyberbalkaniseringen i kommentarsfältens kloaker</a>".</div>
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- A text about how to recognize astroturfers; " <a href="http://www.newsmill.se/artikel/2008/11/30/alliansens-vanner-ar-inte-grasrotsarbete-utan-astroturfing">'Alliansens vänner' inte gräsrotsarbete utan astroturfing</a>".</div>
<div>
- A text on <a href="http://www.alliansfrittsverige.nu/2010/10/svt-ljog-om-lobbyism-under-valrorelsen.html">Astroturfing at SVT</a> (Swedish Television)</div>
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- A short but right-on-spot analysis of <a href="http://begrundatoplitat.blogspot.com/2010/10/nar-karnkraftivrarna-kokar-over.html">pro-nuclear astroturfing</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Books:</b></div>
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<b>----------</b></div>
<div>
- "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Republic-com-2-0-Cass-R-Sunstein/dp/0691133565">Republic.com 2.0</a>" by Cass Sunstein argues for the danger of being able to filter out opposing points of view.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This thesis topic <a href="http://www.xjobb.nu/Formedla-exjobb/VisaExjobb/?exjobbId=51984">has also been published on</a> the national thesis pool ("Nationella Exjobb-poolen").<br />
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<b>Contact person:</b></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-23327450389085901012010-10-12T11:05:00.004+02:002010-10-29T13:13:03.062+02:00Money and economy in and around online games.<div>The computer game industry is still growing fast. One of the major successes of the last decade has been the so-called massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, of which the most well-know game is World of Warcraft (WoW) which passed <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?101007">12 million players</a> as of October 2010. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are however many other games with hundreds of thousands of players each, and several games in Asia with millions of players (for example: EverQuest, Guild Wars, The Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer Online, Star Trek Online, Star Wars Galaxies, EVE Online, Age of Conan, Project Entropia, Ragnarok II, ROSE, Final Fantasy XI, Rohan, Atlantica Online, MapleStory, RuneScape, Tibia, Habbo Hotel, Second Life and so on).</div><div> </div><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MMORPGs">Here is a list</a> of 200 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). </div><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_MMOGs">Here is another list</a> of "free" MMO games (no up-front costs to play).</div><div><br /></div><div>Many of the games listed above charge subscribers a fee of around 100 SEK/month (€10/$15), but other games explore a variety of other payment models, including playing for free but paying for purchasing in-game content etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>In these games, thousands of players can be connected to a virtual world at the same time and spend hours there ever day fighting, exploring, trading, socializing, loving, dancing, conversing, conspiring, cooperating, grinding, hating or killing each other. <a href="http://www.time.com/time/interactive/entertainment/gangs_np.html">See this text</a> for an example of how immersive these games can be (and note that it was written almost ten years ago, in 2001). These games are technically complex and the social interaction can easily become even more complex. They raise may questions of which some of them have to do with money and economy. There are three types of economies in and around these games:</div><div><br /></div><div>- <i>The game industry economy</i> (<a href="http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2002/06/53118">here is an example of an (old) text</a> analyzing the MMO game industry economy). There are many games, many developers, many publishers, many players and a lot of money in the MMO business. But there is also a lot of competition and many costly, failed projects.</div><div>- <i>The in-game economy</i>. How do you design an economy for an online game that doesn't have runaway inflation or other "internal" economic problems? Some game companies have hired economists to help them design good, robust economies that help create vibrant (tamper-proof) environments. There has also been several in-game scams and economy-threatening bugs that players have used, threatening the integrity, the economy and the fun of other players. </div><div>- <i>The economy <b>spanning</b> the world inside and outside the game</i>. This is the difficult-to-grasp world where money and "virtual assets" flow between the game world and the real world. This is the gray area where:</div><div><ul><li>someone can break into your account and "steal" the virtual objects your game character has amassed.</li><li>a Swedish student can have as a summer job to "play" an online game and end the summer by selling off the assets he has developed.</li><li>gamers in third-world sweatshops have as a job to create virtual assets and sell them off to Americans or Europeans that have more money than time.</li><li>the same low-paid gamers provide the service of "leveling up" the character of someone living on the other side of the Earth. </li><li>a game company can sell a virtual space station at an auction where <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/virtual-madness-pixelated-space-station-sells-300000-hard-cash">the winning bid was 330 000 US$</a> (yes, it's true).</li></ul></div><div>All of the three economies above are interesting (i.e. possible to write a thesis about), but the most mind-bending and thought-provoking aspects of these games clearly happen when the real and the virtual world meet (collide?).</div><div><br /></div><div>In a "classic" (2001) report, "<a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828">Virtual worlds</a>: A first-hand account of market and society on the cyberian frotier", economist Edward Castronova concluded that if Norrath (the mythical virtual "country" you are in when you play EverQuest) had been a real country, it would have been the 77:th richest country on Earth in terms of gross national production per capita (2226 US$/person and year). This would have placed Norrath right after Russia. </div><div><br /></div><div>As of today (Oct 11, 2010) there are over 60 characters/accounts for sale at a price of 2500 SEK or more on the premier Swedish auction site <a href="http://www.blocket.se/hela_sverige?ca=11&q=WoW%20konto&st=s&st=u&st=b&l=0&sp=1&o=6&w=3">Blocket.se</a> - and that's just for World of Warcraft accounts.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a wealth of articles and texts available on this topic and I might post some of them here at a later point in time (although I haven't kept up with recent research in the area). Anyone interest in this topic, can for a start search for and read texts by Edward Castronova, Vili Lehdonvirta, Dan Hunter, Greg Lastowka and Julian Dibbell. Another excellent resource is Lehdonvirta's <a href="http://virtual-economy.org/">Virtual Economy Research Network</a> (especially check out "Bibliography" and "Research links"). Also please check out the blog <a href="http://terranova.blogs.com/">Terra Nova</a> (where all of these authors and many other virtual worlds researchers hang out). If you read Swedish, please also check out some of the master's theses <a href="http://medieteknik-exjobb.blogspot.com/p/finished-theses.html">already written on the topic</a> that I have supervised.</div><div><br /></div><div>Your task is to, within the framework of your thesis, explore an issue having to do with money and economy in and around online games. Since the area is wide, further discussions must be held to further delineate and specify a suitable research question of <i>your</i> thesis. </div><div><br /></div><div>Possible research methods could for example include one or a combination of the following methods: literature study, read/analyze interaction on discussion fora or auction/commerce websites, interview people or do a survey, play an online game (methodically), some lighter (script) programming etc.</div><div>.</div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-45217283859455030722010-10-10T23:27:00.007+02:002013-03-15T14:15:06.150+01:00ICT use in the post-modern city.<br />
<div>
Most of us take for granted that the future will be like the present, only "upgraded"; with better, faster, more technically advanced etc. Most assume that iPhone or Android smartphones, together with their games and apps, will continue to become more widespread, more advanced and more useful together with the rollout of next-generation infrastructure and mobile phone services; that 3G networks (2001) will be followed by 4G networks (2011-2013), then by 5G networks (≈ 2020) and later by 6G and 7G networks. All in all, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is progressing towards a golden age in the coming decades.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
But a growing number of scientists and activists however point at <a href="http://www.ifg.org/events/Triple_Crisis_Speakers.pdf">the triple crisis</a> (economy, ecology, energy), and imagine a radically different future based on stagnant growth or even de-growth/decline (because of a negative spiral between factors such as climate change, overpopulation, water scarcity, food production, peak oil, recession without end, social instability etc.).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
If we posit a scenario where economic growth is slow to return (or absent, or negative), and unemployment will continue to be high, the future use of computing will for a gradually larger segment of the population consist of inexpensive portable computing equipment (laptop/notebook computers, smart or not-so-smart cell phones) and wireless internet access. So what if that future of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing">ubiquitous computing</a> and ubiquitous information services can be found in a city that has already experienced major challenges and slow decline for decades? What if the future is already here and its name is... Detroit? Detroit - the center of the American auto industry - stood at its zenith in 1950 and was at the time the 4th largest city in the U.S. Detroit has fallen on hard times since then and has lost fully half (!) of its population in the 60 years since then. Furthermore:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
- The U.S. government had to bail out two the three Detroit-based American carmakers in 2009 (General Motors and Chrysler).</div>
<div>
- One in five houses (40 000!) are empty or abandoned, and property prices have fallen 80% during the last three years.</div>
<div>
- In the end of 2009, the official unemployment number was 27%, but Detroit's mayor admitted that the real unemployment rate was closer to 50%.</div>
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- One third of the adults, and half the children in Detroit live below the poverty line.</div>
<div>
- Poor people in the city (some who don't have cars) even have problems buying food, as major supermarkets chains have closed many of their stores in the city.</div>
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- Almost half of all adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate.</div>
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- Detroit has a legacy of drugs, crime and violence.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
At the same time, people have banded together and started to grow their own food in the city, on abandoned plots. Detroit's 875 "food gardens" and the grassroots movement around them have made the city into the capital of "post-modern" urban agriculture.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
If, as some fear, we are entering a long period without significant economic growth, or with de-growth/recession (by some called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Long-Descent-Users-Guide-Industrial/dp/0865716099/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286780765&sr=1-1-fkmr0">The long descent</a>" or "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Long-Emergency-Converging-Catastrophes-Twenty-First/dp/0871138883">The long emergency</a>"), could Detroit in fact be a <i>precursor</i> of a fate that awaits more cities, and a <i>pioneer</i> in how to rebuild a city? Taking into account all the challenges Detroit faces above, the question for this proposed thesis becomes:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>What can be learned from Detroit that might give us hints about computing conditions and practices in the "city of the future"?"</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
More specifically, <b>what are the computing needs and the computing uses among people who live in Detroit's low-income areas?</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Some sub-questions that follow from these two questions are for example:</div>
<div>
- What kind of technical infrastructure exists in Detroit?</div>
<div>
- How do people use ICT (and for what)? How do they learn to use it? How do they afford it? </div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- What services are available, and what services are popular in a city like Detroit?</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Do people use social media? For what? To reach out to others, to learn and to improve their situation? Or "only" for entertainment purposes?</div>
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- How important is ICT to people in Detroit?</div>
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...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Computers and smartphones are not expensive compared to houses or cars. It might be the case that <i>some</i> people who live in low-income areas will have a relatively high disposable income, but that their needs will look very different compared to the needs of the "ordinary consumers". What <a href="http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/02/products-and-services-for-permanently.html">innovative products and services</a> can fill the (unmet) needs of an urban underemployed underclass - a group that might perhaps even grow in size in the future:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"<i>Laptops with wireless Internet access has made it possible for a homeless person to run an Internet business or a software company, manage an investment portfolio, or contribute to an international scientific collaboration. Any of these things can now be done from an Internet cafe or a public library, or, in fine weather, even a bench in a city park or a tent at a campground. Cell phones make it possible to give radio interviews and participate in teleconferences from just about anywhere</i>" (Orlov, 2010).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Method</b>: This kind of study has to be planned extensively beforehand (including mailing and setting up meetings), and then executed "on the ground", in a particular city. That city <i>does not</i> have to be Detroit, but it should be a city that has faced (some) of the same challenges that Detroit has (although perhaps to a lesser degree). A possible choice could for example be a city in decline in another part of the U.S, in England, <a href="http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/svar-byggbaksmalla-i-irland-1.1193635">Ireland</a>, former East Germany or elsewhere (with high unemployment). Some suggestions are for example:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleroi">Charleroi</a> in the French-speaking part of Belgium. As a steel- and mining town, the city is now characterized by unemployment, poverty and dependency on social welfare systems ("bidragsberoende"). The city has been called "the ugliest city in the world" and urban safaris are organized to watch the decay. Also infamous home of the kidnapper, paedophile and serial killer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux">Marc Dutroux</a>. Especially suitable for the French-speaking student.</li>
<li>The recently built ghost town <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesena">Seseña</a>, or some other city or city district/neigborhood in Spain. Seseña was portrayed in DN on Oct 23 (in Swedish) and i specially suitable for the Spanish-speaking student.</li>
<li>Kemijärvi in Finland with extreme unemployment after paper and woods industries have shut down.</li>
<li>Listen to part of NPR Planet Money's podcast (<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/09/27/140855057/the-tuesday-podcast-four-in-one">#309 September 27, 2011</a>) on "<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/03/15/134432054/a-shrinking-city-knocks-down-neighborhoods">A shrinking city knocks down neighborhoods</a>" on how a city in decline tries to solve its problems.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Money for travel, accommodation etc. is unfortunately not included in this thesis topic suggestion, but can hopefully be applied for from a scholarship of some kind (I can help some with the application).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Literature:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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A must-read:</div>
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- Orlov, D. (2010). "<a href="http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/02/products-and-services-for-permanently.html">Products and services for the permanently unemployed consumer</a>". Cluborlov (blog). </div>
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On poverty in Detroit/the U.S, see:</div>
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- Temple, J. (2010). "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/mar/10/detroit-motor-city-urban-decline">Detroit: The last days</a>". The Guardian, March 10. </div>
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- The article on Detroit's unemployment numbers, "Nearly 50% of Detroit's workers are unemployed" is not online any longer but can still be found (syndicated) <a href="http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-17-2009-2010-trends-year-of.html">inside this (long) blog post</a>. </div>
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- Reuters (2010). "<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6465E220100507">Food stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record</a>". Reuters, May 7. </div>
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- Deparle, J. and Gebeloff, R. (2010). "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/us/03foodstamps.html?_r=1">Living on nothing but food stamps</a>". The New York Times, January 2. </div>
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On urban gardening in Detroit, see:</div>
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- Runk, D. (2010). "<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Gardening/2010/0428/Detroit-leads-the-way-in-urban-farming">Detroit leads the way in urban farming</a>". The Christian Science Monitor, April 28. </div>
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- <a href="http://www.detroitagriculture.org/">Detroit Agriculture Network</a></div>
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- <a href="http://www.greeningofdetroit.com/">The Greening of Detroit</a></div>
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- <a href="http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG">EarthWorks Urban Farm</a></div>
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- <a href="http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/">Detroit Black Community Food Security Network</a></div>
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- <a href="http://www.detroitfoodpolicycouncil.net/">Detroit Food Policy Council</a></div>
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- <a href="http://www.clas.wayne.edu/seedwayne">SEED Wayne</a></div>
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- <a href="http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/">Detroit Eastern Market</a></div>
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More general on the 2008-2009 economic crisis and its effects in the U.S.:</div>
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- Cortright, J. (2008). "<a href="http://www.ceosforcities.org/files/Driven%20to%20the%20Brink%20FINAL.pdf">Driven to the brink</a>: How the gas price spike popped the housing bubble and devalued the suburbs" (.pdf). CEOs for cities.</div>
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This thesis topic has also been published at the national website <a href="http://www.xjobb.nu/Formedla-exjobb/VisaExjobb/?exjobbId=51233">Exjobbspoolen</a> [The Thesis pool]. <br />
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- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-22290264416012607772010-10-01T06:53:00.001+02:002010-12-12T11:25:23.854+01:00The 99 - Islamic transmedia comics/stortelling.<div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sCN_AoIlYGlM3-XsGSWEEPBWtim6seDxeoE2JaZPqINW95_sELn-vx9brklfdZEeeVnZFh8lQTuuPaQiRKgohUcjYSTLLfoo2JkFSDv2uGbQvjf9p_beMj6Bsf8CLRFDYr3zwxixshs/s1600/the99.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 156px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sCN_AoIlYGlM3-XsGSWEEPBWtim6seDxeoE2JaZPqINW95_sELn-vx9brklfdZEeeVnZFh8lQTuuPaQiRKgohUcjYSTLLfoo2JkFSDv2uGbQvjf9p_beMj6Bsf8CLRFDYr3zwxixshs/s400/the99.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523400790730273826" /></a><div><br /></div><div>"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedia_storytelling">Transmedia storytelling</a>" creates large fictive "worlds", or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_universe">fictional universes</a>, where fans can spend time both with the TV series, the movies, the comics, the books, the computer games etc. </div><div><br /></div><div>Henry Jenkins has describe the phenomenon in his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Convergence-Culture-Where-Media-Collide/dp/0814742815">Convergence culture</a>", where he uses "The Matrix" as an example, and as the topic of one of the book chapters. The Matrix started out as a movie (1999), and later expanded into comic books, video games and animation. The staunchest of fans consume all of these media forms as well as spend time online discussing it, and perhaps even creating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction">fan fiction</a> that extends the stories further (although it is a contested practice).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This thesis topic proposes a study of "The 99", a comic book featuring a team of superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion. These comics are the brainchild of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti, US-based clinical psychologist. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_99">From Wikipedia</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div>"<i>The 99 are ordinary teenagers and adults from across the globe, who come into possession of one of the 99 magical Noor Stones</i> [...] <i>and find themselves empowered in a specific manner</i>. [...] <i>The 99 series aims to promote values such as cooperation and unity throughout the Islamic world</i>."</div><div><br /></div><div>Based on Jenkins and others' work on transmedia storytelling, how can <i>The 99</i> be understood and analyzed in a world that holds such a wide diversity of contested and conflicting views about Islam and muslims? What does the emerging media empire of <i>The 99</i> look like (there is for example already a <i>The 99</i> amusement park!)? Where is <i>The 99</i> published, where is it popular, who reads it, and has it had any measurable real-world impact? </div><div><br /></div><div>Further questions, as well as further discussions about the research question will be discussed between advisor (me) and the student in question (you). I expect the student who wishes to write a thesis on this topic to be muslim (or, very knowledgeable about Islam).</div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal;font-size:16px;"><b>Literature:</b></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div>- An article from The Atlantic (May 2010), "<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/05/super-muslims/8014/">Super muslims</a>", is a good introduction to <i>The 99</i> as well as The Atlantic's "<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/04/comic-belief-when-islam-inspires-superheroes/38775/">Comic belief: When Islam inspires superheroes</a>" (April 2010).</div><div>- An article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz (Februar 2009), "<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/muslim-comics-superheroes-battle-radical-islam-1.270230">Muslim comics superheroes battle radical islam</a>".</div><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_99">Read the Wikipedia page</a> and then follow up and check out the Notes, References, External links and In the news.</div><div>- <a href="http://www.the99.org/"><i>The 99</i> official homepage</a>.</div><div>- Naif Al-Mutawa gave <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/naif_al_mutawa_superheroes_inspired_by_islam.html">an 18 minutes long TED talk</a> on July 2010 that also gives some background to his own motivation for creating <i>The 99</i>.</div><div>.</div></div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-44844263208031306992010-06-01T09:40:00.020+02:002013-03-15T14:15:26.130+01:00Social medier och hållbarhet.<br />
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Sociala medier slog igenom stort stort under århundradets första decennium och vi blev alla bekanta med MySpace, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, World of Warcraft, Flickr, Twitter, Spotify, bloggar, diskussionsforum och många andra verktyg och tjänster på internet.</div>
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Många företag och studenter känner sig nu kallade att fundera över hur sociala medier kan komma till nytta i arbets- och näringslivet. Detta exjobbsförslag utgår istället från en till synes enkel fråga: <i>hur kan sociala medier kan "göra världen bättre"?</i></div>
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Upptäckten av nya oljefyndigheter toppade under 1960-talet och har sjunkit varje decennium sedan dess. Utifrån att det kan ta tre eller fyra decennier från upptäckt till exploatering ser det nu ut som om vi har <a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php">en del rejäla utmaningar</a> framför oss under detta och kommande decennier. Till dessa utmaningar tillkommer även en tilltagande hotbild kring klimatförändringar och en ökad frekvens av extrema väderfenomen. </div>
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Det är självklart svårt att sia om vad en sådan framtid (klimatförändringar, minska tillgång till billig energi) kommer att betyda för oss och för samhället. Vissa menar att det (åtminstone på kort sikt) inte kommer att betyda så mycket, emedan <a href="http://efteroljan.blogspot.com/2008/09/olja-av-gunnar-lindstedt-2005.html">andra förutspår omvälvande förändringar</a>. Jag är intresserad av de senare och mer specifikt är jag inom ramen för detta exjobbsförslag intresserad av de personer som redan idag försöker ställa om sina liv för att möta kommande energi- och klimatkriser. Här tänker jag specifikt på "<a href="http://transitionsweden.ning.com/">omställningsrörelsen</a>", det vill säga den svenska delen av den ur England sprungna <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns">Transition Town-rörelsen</a>. Denna rörelse grundades av Rob Hopkins så sent som för fem år sedan (se även hans bok "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Handbook-Dependency-Local-Resilience/dp/1900322188/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275463442&sr=1-1">The transition handbook</a>: From oil dependency to local resilience" samt denna 16 minuter långa <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2009/11/transition_to_a.php">TED talk-film</a>).</div>
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Vad annat sociala medier än gör kan vi vara säkra på en sak - <a href="http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/">de sänker tröskeln</a> och undanröjer hindrena för att organisera sig. Sociala medier har varit ett viktigt verktyg i omställningsrörelsens formation och snabba tillväxt i Sverige under de senaste ett-två åren. </div>
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Jag är intresserad av att undersöka vilken roll sociala medier har haft för rörelsens tillkomst, dess tillväxt och i dess dagliga funktion. En hypotes är att social medier både tjänar som ett (för detta nätverkande syfte alldeles utmärkt) verktyg, men också som en metafor eller förebild för hur ett framtida småskaligt decentraliserat samhälle kan fungera. Hur tänker omställare kring teknik i allmänhet och datorer, informationsteknologi och social medier i synnerhet? Hur går en vilja att lära sig småskaliga och lågteknologiska lösningar inom vissa områden ihop med datorer, internet och sociala medier inom andra områden?</div>
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Jag kan antingen vara handledare för detta exjobb, men det skulle också gå bra för mig att istället bara vara uppdragsgivare (t.ex. om du skriver ditt exjobb på en annan institution än CSC. För kännedom finns exjobbet även annonserat på <a href="http://www.xjobb.nu/Formedla-exjobb/VisaExjobb/?exjobbId=51987">Nationella Exjobbspoolen</a>. Det kan hända att du kommer att göra exjobbet parallellt men någon annan ifall fler är intresserade av detta förslag.</div>
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För kännedom: två exjobbare håller i nuläget (nov/dec 2010) på att påbörja sina exjobb som kommer att löpa parallellt inom detta område under vårterminen.</div>
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<b>Litteratur</b> (kan ändras löpande):</div>
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- Dokumentärfilmen "Us Now" som handlar om sociala medier</div>
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- Filmen "<a href="http://coalitionofthewilling.org.uk/">Coalition of the willing</a>" som gör reklam för idén att använda social medier för att agera i klimatfrågan.</div>
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- Jonathan Balls (2010). "Transition Towns: Local networking for global sustainability?". Undergraduate dissertation, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge. <a href="http://transitionculture.org/wp-content/uploads/Transition-Town-Dissertation-1.pdf">Här finns själva uppsatsen</a> (54 sidor, pdf), <a href="http://energybulletin.net/node/53474">här finns en sammanfattning</a> av uppsatsen och här finns <a href="http://transitionculture.org/2010/07/14/%E2%80%98transition-towns-local-networking-for-global-sustainability%E2%80%99-a-dissertation/">Rob Hopkins rekommendation</a>. </div>
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- <a href="http://transitionvoice.com/launch-issue-editors-note/">Transition Voice</a>, nystartad online-tidning för omställningsrörelsen</div>
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- Weick (1976) om "loosely coupled systems". En <a href="http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/org_theory/Scott_articles/weick_lcs.html">sammanfattning av hans artikel/hypoteser finns här</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_coupling">Wikipedia</a> om fenomenet, <a href="http://www.johnhagel.com/view20021009.shtml">implikationer för företagande</a>/näringslivet, <a href="http://soa.sys-con.com/node/439723">implikationer för (data-)systemutveckling</a>. </div>
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- Något filosofiskt (flummigt?) om <a href="http://showerinthedark.blogspot.com/2007/07/dedicated-to-ted-turner-author-of-from.html">kopplingen mellan web 2.0 och permakultur</a>. Det finns säkert mycket inspiration att hämta här ifall man bara kan avkoda/tränga in i tankarna.</div>
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- <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2010/09/the_revolution_will_not_be_blo.php">Ett blogginlägg</a> om huruvida det är "omoraliskt" att använda en dator ifall man är tveksam till hur det moderna samhället fungerar idag.</div>
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- <a href="http://transitionculture.org/2010/12/23/exclusive-to-transition-culture-an-interview-with-christopher-alexander/">En intervju</a> med Christopher ("pattern language") Alexander om TT-röreslen </div>
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- En text om <a href="http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/the_machines_change_the_work_remains_the_same/">dator-medierad kommunikation och aktivist/sociala rörelser</a></div>
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- En medryckande text som <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/lost-in-transition/73363/">beskriver TT sympatiskt</a>.</div>
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- Forskningsprojektsblogg (Lund) om <a href="http://miljosmart.kult.lu.se/">miljö och sociala medier</a>, om "<a href="http://miljosmart.kult.lu.se/?page_id=2">hur människor använder sociala medier</a> för att berätta om sina försök och sina sätt att leva mer miljövänligt"</div>
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- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-17044505043402639982010-03-09T12:40:00.008+01:002013-03-15T14:15:47.140+01:00Den gröna bloggosfären.<br />
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Detta utkast till exjobbsförslag utgår från ämnet/temat "<i>den gröna bloggosfären</i>" - men kan även anpassas för andra bloggosfärer, "den politiska bloggosfären", "de politiska kommentatorernas bloggosfär", "modebloggosfären", "sportbloggosfären", "litteraturbloggosfären", "filmbloggosfären" etc. (Jag måste dock påpeka att jag personligen är mer intresserad av den gröna och den politiska bloggosfären och i det närmast helt ointresserad av sport- eller modebloggosfären.)</div>
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Hur ser den (svenska) gröna bloggosfären ut? Kartlägg den på bredden och på längden!</div>
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En startpunkt skulle kunna vara listan med 200+ svenska bloggar som finns på bloggen <a href="http://miljobloggaktuellt.wordpress.com/">Miljöbloggaktuellt</a>. Två sätt att ordna dessa 200+ bloggar är genom att:</div>
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- Se hur många prenumeranter varje blogg har. Prenumerera själv på dem alla i Google reader och se hur många andra abbonenter som varje blogg har (eventuellt omfattar detta endast abbonenter/personer med Google-konton - vänligen kolla upp).</div>
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- Knappa in alla bloggar på <a href="http://inflytande.se/">inflytande.se</a> och se hur mycket "inflytande" de har.</div>
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Båda dessa metoder är förstås väldigt oprecisa och trubbiga, men de kan i vilket fall vara en start om man vill sålla ner listan och göra något av de 10, 25 eller 100 mest populära/inflytelserika bloggarna... Eller kan du komma på något annat sätt att rangordna dem efter popularitet/inflytande? Gissningsvis är ett inte obetydligt antal av de 200+ bloggarna ovan nedlagda eller inaktiva. </div>
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Ett möjligt sätt att gå vidare är att se hur dessa bloggar länkar till varandra (och till andra bloggar), att följa deras blogg-roll och (med hjälp av lämpligt verktyg) rita en karta över hur nätverket av bloggar ser ut i den gröna bloggosfären. Alternativt skulle kan kunna undersöka vart länkarna i själva texterna går (med hjälp av något lämpligt verktyg eller ett eget hack). </div>
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Hur "avgränsad" är den gröna bloggosfären? Gissningsvis finns det ett antal bloggar som är mer centrala och många som är mer perifära, men det är upp till dig att belägga hur ett sådant mönster ser ut. Denna inrikting på arbetet börjar också röra sig mot ett område som kallas "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=social+network+analysis&x=0&y=0">social network analysis</a>" och det finns en rik flora av litteratur om detta matematiskt-sociologiska område samt även några populärvetenskapliga böcker som handlar om nätverk och komplexitet, till exempel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linked-Science-Networks-Albert-L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-Barab%C3%A1si/dp/0738206679">Linked</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Connected-Surprising-Power-Social-Networks/dp/0316036145/ref=pd_sim_b_4">Connected</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Worlds-Groundbreaking-Theory-Networks/dp/0393324427/ref=pd_sim_b_3">Nexus</a> och <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Science-Connected-Market/dp/0393325423/ref=pd_sim_b_1">Six degrees</a>. Det finns också programvara för att rita dessa kartor och du skulle som sagt kunna rikta in ditt exjobb mot detta område.</div>
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Andra sätt att klassificera bloggarna är förstås att titta lite mer på frekvensen (och längden) på de publicerade texterna och kanske också på antalet kommentarer. Man kan även "analysera" innehållet genom att hitta verktyg som kan spotta ut "tag clouds" (men jag vet inte exakt hur man sedan skulle <i>använda</i> dessa tag clouds för att jämföra bloggar eller dra några intressanta slutsatser om den, men detta kan diskuteras - kanske är det bara min fantasi som tryter).</div>
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Fram till denna punkt har förslaget mest handlat om vertyg, metriker och kartläggning. Två andra möjliga inriktningar på ett exjobb om den gröna bloggosfären skulle kunna handla om:</div>
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- bloggarnas innehåll</div>
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- bloggarnas upphovsmän</div>
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Man skulle kunna göra någon slags innehållsanalys av (en delmängd av) bloggarna. Kanske kunde man titta på produktionen och på innehållet av en månads blogg-aktivitet? Gå vidare med tag clouds (ovan) på något sätt och analysera dem? Om man tittar på politiker-bloggar så är det självklart att man börjar med att dela in dem utifrån vilket politiskt parti personen ifråga representerar. Vilken är "motsvarande" indelning av bloggar i den gröna bloggosfären? Vilka kategorier, eller genrer av gröna bloggar finns det? (Det skulle också kunna vara en bra idé att ta kontakt med personen bakom Miljöbloggaktuellt och fråga hur och utifrån vilka kriterier han lägger till (och tar bort?) bloggar från sin lista.)</div>
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Om man istället går vidare och söker upp (ansikte-mot-ansikte, per telefon eller mail) bloggarnas upphovsmän öppnar sig många andra frågor upp som handlar om bloggens innehåll, men kanske framför allt om upphovsmannens bakgrund, motivation, drivkraft, ambition, tidsåtgång, inriktning, influenser, tankar om framtiden, drömmar etc. Varför lägger man (stort) arbete på att driva en (icke-kommersiellt) blogg? Vad får man ut av det? Finns det lärdomar att dra här som har relevans för traditionella medias vara eller icke vara?</div>
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Detta är ett utkast och ämnet är också mycket öppet för egna idéer om ett eventuellt exjobbs innehåll och inriktning. Förslaget ovan handlar lika mycket om metoder och metodutveckling (hur kan man utforska bloggosfären?) som om konkreta resultat som behandlar den gröna bloggosfären. Dessutom finns det andra bloggosfärer bortom den gröna bloggosfären som man kan välja att utforska (se ovan). </div>
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Om det redan finns en lämplig samling av bloggar så är detta en bra start. Exemplet ovan var Miljöbloggaktuellts lista på 200+ gröna svenska bloggar. Andra förlag är denna lista med ca <a href="http://www.mp.se/templates/Mct_177.aspx?number=166174">150 "gröna/politiska bloggar"</a> på Miljöpartiets hemsida samt MPs nya bloggverktyg <a href="http://mpbloggar.se/">mpbloggar.se</a> (jag vet ej hur dessa listor skiljer sig). På piratpartiet live finns det (längre ner på sidan till höger) en <a href="http://live.piratpartiet.se/">lista med 150 bloggar</a> men det verkar vara lite blandat, inte bara piratpolitik och det kan krävas att man sållar bort icke-PP-bloggar innan man går vidare med denna lista. Jag utgår från att det går att hitta motsvarande listor hos övriga partier.</div>
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<b>Referenser och länkar</b></div>
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- Forskningsprojektsblogg (Lund) om <a href="http://miljosmart.kult.lu.se/">miljö och sociala medier</a>, om "<a href="http://miljosmart.kult.lu.se/?page_id=2">hur människor använder sociala medier</a> för att berätta om sina försök och sina sätt att leva mer miljövänligt"</div>
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- Inspiration kring visualisering och dataset kan fås av <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html">denna 20 minuter långa TED-talk-video</a> av David McCandless samt <a href="https://nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/Default.aspx">denna site</a> (NodeXL) där människor laddar upp "häftiga grafer".<br />
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- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-72459040229378569992009-12-10T15:58:00.013+01:002013-03-15T14:16:10.070+01:00Koldioxidvaluta.<br />
<b>Koldioxidvaluta</b><br />
Det gängse sättet att tänka på hur vi (i Sverige/Europa) ska minska våra CO2-utsläpp handlar ofta att sätta ett pris på CO2-utsläpp. Ett problem med denna metod att det är svårt att veta vilken praktisk effekt högre CO2-skatt har. Det kan hända att t.ex. bensin (eller elektricitet) måste bli Väldigt Dyrt innan människors vardagsbeteenden förändras. ”Rika” må då klaga över högre bensinpriser (eller flygresor), men om man har tillräckligt med pengar kan man ändå köra på med sina nuvarande miljöskadliga beteenden. Förutom att metoden alltså har oklara effekter vad beträffar att nå utsläppsmål kan den dessutom uppfattas som djupt orättvist av alla de som inte har tillräckligt tjock plånbok (och som redan från början genererade minst CO2-utsläpp).<br />
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Ett alternativ är att införa individuella utsläppsrätter (Tradable Energy Quotas, TEQs), en idé som ursprungligen formulerades av engelsmannen David Fleming i mitten av 1990-talet. Det mesta av tänket kring denna metod kommer från England, men journalisten David Jonstad har skrivit på svenska om hur denna idé skulle kunna fungera i praktiken;<br />
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Efter att man fastställt hur mycket CO2 vi kan släppa ut i Sverige får varje person ”sin beskärda del”. Något förenklat kan man säga att de som genererar mindre utsläpp genom att resa med buss och cykel kan sälja överblivna utsläppsrätter till de som använder mer genom att köra bil ofta och långt. Företagen får istället köpa utsläppsrätter på auktion och pengarna som staten får in kan användas på lämpliga projekt och CO2-reducerande infrastruktur.<br />
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David skissar ganska detaljerat på hur CO2-ransonen i praktiken skulle fungera som en parallell (energi-)valuta ”vid sidan av” vanliga pengar (ungefär som ICA-kortets bonuspoäng), men beskriver inte närmare hur detta tekniska system ska fungera eller implementeras. Den bakomliggande idén är dock att människors konsumtion obevekligen vrids i en mer hållbar riktning när CO2-utsläppen syns i plånboken.<br />
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Men hur skulle då denna CO2-valuta fungera i praktiken, och hur skulle den implementeras? Utifrån detta exjobbsförslag kan du t.ex. välja mellan att:<br />
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- Konceptuellt designa systemet som skissas ovan. Hur skulle det tekniska systemet fungera i praktiken och hur skulle gränssnittet mot slutanvändarna ser ut för att det ska vara enkelt att förstå och använda? Materialinsamling kan ske genom olika typer av ”mjuka” metoder så som enkäter, fokusgrupper eller intervjuer med någon eller några mer specifika målgrupper (rika, fattiga, gamla, unga, Stockholmare, landsbygdsbor, representanter för företag, teknikleverantörer, ”bonussystemägare” etc.)<br />
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- Konceptuellt designa system som skissas ovan, men med företag istället för privatpersoner </div>
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som målgrupp.<br />
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- Utveckla en protoyp som mer handfast visar hur någon del av detta system skulle kunna se ut/fungera i praktiken.<br />
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<b>Inläsning:</b></div>
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<li>Ett lämpligt sätt att komma igång med detta examensarbete är att köpa David Jonstads bok (”Vår beskärda del”), läsa, tänka och förbereda frågor inför ett möte med honom (han är informerad). David har <a href="http://www.effektmagasin.se/koldioxidransonering">en sida med länkar</a> vidare till många väldigt bra resurser och ett måste ifall man vill sätta sig in i denna fråga.</li>
<li>Artiklar och texter (januari 2011) om utredningsarbete om att införa TEQs i Storbrittanien <a href="http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7380">här</a>, <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/curren220111.htm">här</a>, <a href="http://www.notechmagazine.com/2011/01/uk-lawmakers-call-for-energy-rationing-with-personal-fuel-quotas.html">här</a>, <a href="http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/comment/with-fuel-rationing-on-the-way-can-it-help-18496">här</a>, <a href="http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/01/18/brits-ponder-fuel-rationing/">här</a>, <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/2011/01/18/british-lawmakers-propose-energy-rationing/">här</a>, <a href="http://www.envirotech-online.com/news/environmental-analysis/7/breaking_news/environmental_legislation_will_not_help_fuel_poor/13564/">här</a>, <a href="http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/8352-the-peak-oil-crisis-tradable-energy-quotas.html">här</a> och <a href="http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/environment/2011/01/18/quotas_would_tackle_fuel_poverty">här</a>. <a href="http://www.fleetdirectory.co.uk/fleet-news/index.php/2011/01/26/why-fuel-tokens-will-not-work-fleet-voice/">Kritik</a>. Den <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/224900/Driver-fury-at-petrol-ration-plan">våldsamma motreaktionen</a>. </li>
<li>Se vidare denna artikel om "<a href="http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/19380">carbon currency</a>" som ersättning till våra vanliga, pappers-baserade valutor.</li>
<li><a href="http://thesolutionsjournal.com/feature_article/2009-01-14-simple-market-mechanism-can-clean-our-economy">Denna text</a> handlar om hur USA borde skaffa något som liknar ett ransoneringssystem (missa inte listan med referenser heller).</li>
<li><a href="http://alternativportalen.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/kiwah-en-valuta-for-omstallningen-till-fornyelsebar-energi/">Kiwah är en valuta för grön energi</a> (jag har inte hunnit kolla in detta själv men tycker att det verkar väldigt spännande.</li>
<li>Brittiska parlamentets "Group on Peak Oil" <a href="http://www.effektmagasin.se/brittisk-parlamentsrapport-ransonering-nodvandig-inom-tio-ar">rekommenderar ransonering av fossil energi i en ny rapport</a> (januari 2011).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/opinion/09Little.html">Ett förslag på en app</a> som håller reda på hur mycket energi det gick åt för att producera en pryl. Den engelska <a href="http://www.tesco.com/greenerliving/greener_tesco/what_tesco_is_doing/carbon_labelling.page">matkedjan Tesco gör det</a> för en del matprodukter (mars 2011).</li>
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<b>Tillägg (mars 2012):</b></div>
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Det finns många andra förslag på hur man kan bygga system av olika slag för att "fixa" problemet med CO2-utsläpp. En av de mest framstående klimatforskarna i världen, Jim Hansen (NASA), förespråkar till exempel ett annat system. Ur en amerikanske kontext menar han att man borde:</div>
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<li>Beskatta CO2-utsläppen. Förslaget är att man till att börja med tar betalt 15$ per ton CO2-utsläpp och sedan höjer priset med 10$ per år. Efter 10 år är priset 115$ per ton, vilket motsvarar ett bensinpris som ökar med 1$/gallon (mindre än 2 kronor/liter). </li>
<li>Denna ökning skulle i sin tur motsvara 600 miljarder $ per år, eller någonstans mellan 2000 - 3000 $ per person och år.</li>
<li>Dessa pengar borde delas ut direkt till alla medborgare månadsvis (hälften till barn, max två per hushåll vilket då blir mellan 6000 - 9000 $ per år för en familj med två eller fler barn). </li>
<li>Utifrån den nuvarande fördelning av energianvändning i USA skulle mer än 60% av befolkningen få mer pengar i utdelning än vad de ökande kostnaderna för energi skulle kosta. Men, utifrån att priset på CO2 skulle fortsätta att stiga så måste man över tiden ta beslut som minskar deras energiförbrukning för att minska sitt CO2-fotavtryck. </li>
<li>Enligt beräkningar kommer ett sådant system att minska CO2-utsläppen i USA med 30% efter 10 år, varav en stor del handlar om energieffektivisering (bättre isolering i hus, mindre bilar, mer energisnåla beteenden i hemmen). </li>
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En av utmaningarna med ett sådant system är att se till att de pengar som samlas in <i>verkligen direkt</i> kommer medborgarna till nytta. Det finns en stor frestelse för politiker att lägga beslag på en liten del av dessa pengar och använda dessa för "lovvärda projekt" (minska statsskulden, stärka exportindustrin eller hjälpa ensamstående mödrar/missbrukare/de som står utanför arbetsmarknaden etc.) - men i så fall blir det bara ännu en skatt och det kommer människor att protestera mot (oberoende av exakt hur dessa pengar används). </div>
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Ett problem med detta förslag är att det inte på samma sätt finns ett naturligt inslag av ICT-bruk eller ICT-användning (vilket gör det problematiskt som exjobbsförslag på mediteknik eller i "angränsande" ämnen). Dock kan detta - och andra "storskaliga förslag" att ändra incitamenten för CO2-bruk i samhället - vara viktiga och intressanta att ha kännedom om och att kunna jämföra med eller argumentera mot.<br />
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- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-4000777005816118972009-12-04T17:58:00.001+01:002013-03-15T14:16:26.768+01:00Energi, IT och design.<br />
Exjobbsförslag<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Utgångspunkter:</span>- Energianvändning i bostäder och kommersiella lokaler utgör 40% av all energianvändning i Sverige och 50% av elanvändningen. Under de senaste 30 åren har mängden el som svenska hushåll använder fördubblats.<br />
- ”Den sparade kilowattimmen är den billigaste och mest miljövänliga kilowattimmen” (Maud Olofsson, näringsminister). Det är billigare att spara energi än att generera mer energi.<br />
- Genom minska el/energi-användning minskar CO2-utsläppen. Detta ligger i linje med Sveriges klimatmål.<br />
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Hur kan man då sänka elförbrukningen i hemmen? Ett problem idag är att det är svårt att se kopplingen mellan egna beteenden i hemmet och elförbrukningen (elräkningen). Vad hemma drar hur mycket? Vilka åtgärder har störst effekt? Hur meningsfullt är det att stänga av mobilladdaren jämfört med att släcka ljusen jämfört med att titta mindre på TV jämfört med att köpa en mer energisnål frys? Hur kan IT hjälpa till att lösa problem som har att göra med beteenden, vanor och värderingar?<br />
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Utifrån frågorna ovan kan man specificera flera olika forskningsfrågor som med fördel kan utforskas i ett examensarbete, till exempel:<br />
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- Undersöka människors behov, attityder och energivanor i hemmet och föreslå sätt som IT kan användas för att visualisera, ge återkoppling och öka förståelsen för energianvändningen i hemmet. Eller i förhållande till något jämförelseobjekt (grannen?).<br />
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- Inrikta arbetet mot kontor och andra kommersiella eller offentliga lokaler (snarare än privatpersoner).<br />
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- Inrikta arbetet mot att undersöka dagens och framtidens marknad genom att inrikta sig på utvecklare och teknikleverantörer snarare än slutanvändare.<br />
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- Utveckla en prototyp (t.ex. till mobiltelefon eller dator) som mer handfast visar hur (någon del av) ett system fungerar. Vore det inte trevligt att till exempel i realtid (och färgkodat) kunna få information om hemmets topp-10 energiförbrukare?<br />
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Titta även gärna på <a href="http://www.google.org/powermeter">Google Powermeter</a> för inspiration.</div>
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Även <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2010-02-01-homeenergy01_ST_N.htm">detta, om hur människor sänker sin energiförbrukning</a> när de ser att de använder mer än grannen är intressant.<br />
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Energimyndigheten har finansierat ett centrum för energieffektivisering, <a href="http://www.sust.se/">Sustainable Innovation AB</a>. Dess uppdrag är bland annat att stödja forskning och utveckling som leder till energieffektivisering i vardagslivet genom design- och IT-lösningar. Det är möjligt att det beroende på exjobbets inriktning går att leta efter en extern uppdragsgivare och förlägga exjobbet hos någon av de organisationer eller företag som är medlemmar i Sustainable Innovation AB, till exempel Telenor, Vattenfall, Riksbyggen, Göteborg Energi, ÅF, JM, Fortum och Logica.<br />
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- Daniel Pargman, pargman(a)kth.se</div>
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pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-40785442255574047232009-11-27T11:47:00.003+01:002009-11-27T12:00:41.772+01:00Bloggers and the social/mass media ecology.<div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>Thesis proposal<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>Points of departure:</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- The 20th century industrial (mass media) information economy now has competition from the 21st century networked (Internet/social media) information economy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- There is a huge volume of new ”voices” being accessible in the (social) media landscape, but are they heard? And what drives these authors to spend time on blogging/being non-commercial non-market information producers?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- What is the relationship between traditional mass media and social media?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Most blogs have few readers, many have some and a few have many. With the arrival of social media, there are now possibilities that never existed before of ”narrowcasting” news and information of any and all kinds. It is all of a sudden possible to get access to a large variety of opinions, experiences and points of view besides the traditional (few) channels available in the mass media landscape. Instead of the traditional high-cost, high-volume model, anyone can now ”own a printing press” and publish on the Internet. Most authors/publishers migh have little to say that it of general interest, but some have and thus fill the previously empty space between interpersonal and mass-media communication. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What follows are examples of possible thesis projects that are organized in clusters. Each cluster is large enough to house not just one but several possible thesis topics. You should probably contain your thesis question(s) to only one cluster.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thesis cluster1. </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Who are these non-market non-commercial publishers? What are their motivations? What does their ”careers” as amateur/semi-professional bloggers look like? How much time do they spend blogging? What are their aspirations (if any) for the future? What is their relationship to, and how do they think about and position themeselves in relation to traditional media?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thesis cluster 2</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What does the ecosystem of small, medium-sized and large nodes/hubs/blogs look like? Choose a limited, topically related area/cluster (for example a specific hobby or a specific area of interest) and quantitavely measure the connectedness of members to other member of that same cluster. Who do they link to on their blog/web page (”blog roll”) and in their texts over a set period of time (for example a month)? Which blogs are the ”small fish”, which are the hubs, are there any superstars in the area that you have chosen to study? (Is it possible to identify characteristics of hubs/superstars that make them superstars inside a topically related cluster?). Here is an example of a cluster:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="font: 12.0px Symbol"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>There is a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> cluster is (critical) economy blogs. Traditional economic journalism has sometimes been accused of cooperating a little to closely with the companies they are supposed to exaine and of not being critical enough of business and financial markets. But there are nowadays a variety of critical voices on the Internet who pick up and report on economic news from another (oftentimes critical) angle. What does this cluster of independent, critical economy bloggers look like and how does this cluster function? How do ”news” get picked up (from other blogs of from mainstream media), propagated and become commented upon within that network? </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thesis cluster 3.</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What is the relationship of actors in the traditional mass media circuit (individual journalists and editors as well as radio stations, newspapers and television stations) to social media? How do traditional actors use social media (for example a radio program with its own blog). How do they use or even link to social media sites (journalists reading (perhaps specialized) blogs to keep up with a complex issues and/or reading eye-witness reports from an area that has been hit by a disaster)? Interview journalists and editors!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thesis cluster 4.</b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">How do we as media consumers protect ourselves against this barrage of information? How do we chose our information channels in a world of abundant information? Choose one or a few blogs in a topically related cluster of you choice and try to get hold of their readers (”followers” or people who subscribe to the blog feed). What does their (traditional and social) media habits look like? What do they get out of blogs/social media that mainstream media does not/can not satisfy?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">For this thesis, <b>suggested reading</b> for getting started is:</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Benker, Jochai (2006), ”<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Networks-Production-Transforms-Markets/dp/0300110561">The wealth of networks</a>: How social production transforms markets and freedom” (read primarily part 2 of the book - <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/wealth_of_networks/Download_PDFs_of_the_book" style="color: rgb(158, 82, 5); ">the whole book is available online for free</a>)</span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- Gillmor, Dan (2006) "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/We-Media-Grassroots-Journalism-People/dp/0596102275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259319627&sr=1-1">We the media</a>: Grassroots journalism by the people for the people"</span></span></div><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-61364154940183168242009-11-20T14:09:00.000+01:002009-12-03T20:17:07.550+01:00Participatory culture, social media and business models of the future.<div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><b>Thesis proposal</b></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><b>Points of departure:</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The 20th century industrial (mass media) information economy now has competition from the 21st century networked (Internet/social media) information economy.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fans (fan culture) have appropriated mass media cultural products for decades. Nowadays they have better (digital) tools at their disposal for ”borrowing”, manipulating, creating and distributing mass culture-derived user-generated cultural products (fan films, fan fiction, game mods, sampled and remixed music etc.) than ever before.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This constitutes a threat to the business models of traditional media conglomerates. These companies struggle with questions such as:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- How can the power of participatory culture and user-generated content be unleased? </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- How can these forces at the same time be harnessed so as not to hurt or undermine the current business models and the economic results of these companies?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Technological and cultural change will always have its winners and losers. Traditional media companies can have a hard time to adapt to the new media environment while at the same time having much to lose from resisting change, clinging to traditional business models and harassing their most intense fans (who are also their best customers). The track record of the music industry serves as a deterring example.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But change will also bring winners who can navigate the landscape of evolving technologies and a new media landscape. The winners are often smaller, nimble companies that have less invested in the present business models and more to gain from experimenting and adapting new, future-oriented business models.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One example of the latter is the evolving technological, business and fan/participatory activities around <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Flint">Eric Flint</a>’s <a href="http://1632.org/">1632 book series</a>. The 1632 book series immediately spawned vibrant discussions in internet forums and later also a scene for generating, publishing and making money out of fan fiction. Besides the 10 ”official” books in the 1632 series, the <a href="http://www.grantvillegazette.com/">Grantville Gazette fan-generated e-book series</a> have picked up speed at an amazing pace. Since the first Grantville Gazette e-book was published in 2003, no less than 26 e-books have been published (as of November 2009) and the pace is currently one new e-book every second (!) month:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Grantville Gazette e-book series is presumably a commercial/business model success as fan-generated, professionally edited, but infinitly reproducible digital books (close to zero marginal cost for each copy) are sold for between 4-6 dollars each. Do note that several books are free downloads (see below)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The e-book series is also a participatory and creative success. It arose from discussions in internet forums and has allowed more than 60 previously unpublished fans-cum-authors the chance to write and publish fan fiction ”for real” (and a share of the profits).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The e-book series is also a technological success through showing how Internet technologies can be used to increase the welfare of readers, authors, as well as the bottom line for the publisher.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This thesis proposal opens up many questions regarding Eric Flint’s 1632 book series, and especially the nature of the Grantville Gazette activites. It properly speaking covers not just one, but several possible topics for masters’ theses (plural). </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The 1632 example of a more or less ”harmonious” participatory culture spans technolgical, economical and user (readers, fans, amateur author) issues. A thesis could take any of these three factors (or a combination of two of them) as it’s starting point, for example exploring issues such as:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Technology.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> What are the roles and functions of specific technologies (e-book formats, e-book readers, web pages, Internet forums, collaborative tools and Internet distribution) in the Grantville Gazette ”production system”? (Perhaps conduct interviews with legal, technology, social science experts?)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Economy.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> How did the current economic model evolve? How is money being made today (and how much and by whom)? How could money be made tomorrow? What are the keys to understanding the current business model? (Perhaps conduct interviews with publishing houses, editors, fan authors, business developers?)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">User behavior.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> What does the ”career” of a 1632 fan/amateur author look like? (Perhaps conduct interviews with the 60+ published fan authors?) How did the current production system evolve from (presumably) looser discussions about and around the books? How does this production system differ from the ”ordinary” publishing industry and from other kinds of fan fiction?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The text above just scratches the surface and enumerate just a few questions that could be posed. Feel free to suggest other questions relating to (business, technology or user issues pertaining to) participatory culture on the Internet. You are also free to suggest fan activities around other media franchises besides Eric Flint’s 1632 series as a basis of a thesis.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For this thesis, <b>suggested reading</b> for getting started is:</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">- Everything that is linked in the text above (for example <a href="http://www.blogger.com/grantvillegazette.com">grantvillegazette.com</a>)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Flint, Eric (2000), ”1632” (<a href="http://www.webscription.net/p-379-1632.aspx">free download</a> available in the following formats: HTML, Ebookwise/Rocket, Mobi/Palm/Kindle, EPUB/Stanza, Microsoft Reader, Sony Digital Reader and RTF)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Flint, Eric (ed) (2003), ”Grantville Gazette” (<a href="http://www.webscription.net/p-180-grantville-gazette-volume-i.aspx">free download</a>)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Benker, Jochai (2006), ”The wealth of networks” (read part 1 about the industrial and the networked information economy, <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/wealth_of_networks/Download_PDFs_of_the_book">the whole book is available online for free</a>)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jenkins, Henry (2006), ”<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Convergence-Culture-Where-Media-Collide/dp/0814742815">Convergence culture</a>: Where old an new media collide” (on fans and participatory culture)</span></span></p><br /></div><div>/Daniel Pargman</div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984464002140601101.post-12443219003700574612009-11-13T13:07:00.000+01:002009-12-03T20:16:52.217+01:00Om denna blogg.<div>Den här bloggen är en mötesplats. Kanske är den en "marknadsplats"? Här möts exjobbare och exjobbsförslag.</div><div><br /></div><div>Exjobbsförslagen är skrivna av lärare på avdelningen för medieteknik och exjobbarna är medieteknikstudenter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Om något av förslagen låter intressanta kan du ta kontakt med ansvarig lärare (som lade upp förslaget). Förutom konkreta förslag finns det också bredare skrivningar från lärare där de berättar om områden som intresserar dem. </div>pargmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17208443783482286491noreply@blogger.com0