What Caught My Eye Today

If You Use the Web, You May Have Already Been E...
"We are getting people to help us digitize books at the same time they are authenticating themselves as humans," von Ahn says. "Every time people are typing these [answers] out, they are actually taking old books or newspapers and helping to transcribe them."

Who knew that we're working even while we're logging into a website! I have to admit that this is a novel and obviously a very productive idea. But, I don't think completely understand how this works. Aren't they supposed to be validating what we enter? And if that is the case, shouldn't someone or a computer have already "decrypted" the letters??

Is Google Making Us Stupid?
And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I agree to this, but only in part. Very rarely do I take the trouble of reading every word of a resource online. I'll first scan to see if it has what I want or interests me. Then, I may or may not give it a second or third read. But, does that mean it's making us stupid? We're processing far more information faster. We don't need to spend hours poring over a book to realize that it's not what we were looking for. We can search for exactly what we want, get much more information, filter the information faster, and (I believe) process the information better. I believe that the Internet has played a large and effective role in enhancing self-learning. Sure we generally skim through the surface, but the important point is that if something really catches our interest, we make it a point to read it through completely. We'll bookmark it, add our own comments, go back to it when we have more time or when we need the information again. The point is if the Internet was only about skimming through stuff and not analyzing and understanding the information we really want to, this post wouldn't have generated so much discussion in the first place.

Andrew McAfee
I don’t see why everyone shouldn’t be following in our footsteps. We’re amused when we hear about companies banning sites like Facebook at work. You hear things like "it is a distraction to workers", so are you banning cell phones because Facebook has a great app that resides on mobile devices, what’s stopping them from accessing it there? Often we hear, "aren’t you concerned about confidential information being put on Facebook (or the internet in general)?", our response is "if someone wants to release confidential information about your company maliciously they will find a way to release it". Ironically, since people tend to use their real names on Facebook posting confidential information is the least of our worries, it doesn’t take much to track who posted what and when. We also hear "aren’t you afraid that if all your employees are on Facebook that recruiters will start poaching your best talent?", our response is "if you create a corporate culture that embraces the fact that your employees are people and gives them numerous ways to not only contribute but help shape both the direction and the image of the community they are part of then we trust that we will always have an engaged workforce." We started this off by saying every employee in our company is a PR person, a marketer, a developer, etc.., We want everyone that wants the opportunity to get involved.

Facebook as a company intranet? That's very interesting. But, does it work for Serena only because of the way their company is structured? I know there are organizations where not only will the management consider it to be a waste of time, but the employees themselves probably won't want another "task" added to their workload. But, it could just be a matter of time. Once people realize the benefits and the need for Web 2.0 implementation, the use and participation will grow further. The managements will benefit from the "free" marketing, while the employees will benefit from developing closer friendships and support groups at work. As far as "wasting" time goes, it's hard enough to find enough time to finish your work for the day, will someone really spend hours doing this stuff for fun if they have other more pressing tasks to complete?

I'm registered on a few social networking sites. And I don't really get the time to log in or message my friends that often. But, I will NEVER delete my account on these sites. Simply because these sites have put me back in touch with a number of my long-lost friends. I still dont keep in touch with them regularly, but if I feel like talking to any of them at any time or if they want to get in touch with me, we know there's a way for us to do that...wherever in the world we might be.