Thoughts on Media Related to Crowdsourcing

I learned quite a bit from the related media links at the end of the “What is Crowdsourcing?” powerpoint, though I should initially disclose that the learning experience was at times just as unpleasant as it was enlightening.

Before I get into what I deemed “unpleasant,” I want to first address the Jimmy Wales TED talk from 2005. I learned much more than I thought I would from this twenty minute clip; Wales is a very articulate man and clearly an excellent leader. Though some of what Wales discusses was known to me on a very basic and uncertain level (i.e., I knew a little about the community and Wales’ role), after watching the clip I realized that I didn’t know that much about Wikipedia after all. Even though I’ve been using this revolutionary tool for the past 8-10 years (or longer?), I’ve taken for granted the beautiful simplicity of it’s design and the “company’s” masthead. 

Despite how warm and fuzzy Jimmy Wales made me feel, I was brought down to a completely non-fuzzy level while reading the words of Stephanie Krasnow. Perhaps “Panting for Breath on a Virtual Shore” is so frightening because it rings true - Krasnow’s words, as well as the words she borrows from Freud and McLuhan, paint a eerie yet accurate portrait of humanity’s socio-bio-cultural merge with technology (yes, socio-bio-cultural). Usually, an author that takes such a harsh and unrelenting (albeit somewhat passive) tone towards a particular subject annoys me. This was certainly not the case with Krasnow. For some reason, her unforgiving diagnosis of the internet-addicted washed over me in waves of stark reality. I realized that I was not only in the midst of this insanely rapid phase of evolution, but I just barely glimpsed the time before it began; rather, I grew up throughout the beginning of this process, and so this perspective of the merging of man and machine reaches me on a deeper level. Though the statistics and research found in the two articles, “Does the Internet Make You Dumber/Smarter?” helped balance out Krasnow’s heavy narrative, I must say her article left me refreshed, depressed, and enlightened. 

Constructing the Universe: Reviewing Chapters 3, 4, and 5

Reviewing excerpts from Chapter 3:

One of the first things that struck me while reading chapter three was a particular tendency of the author’s writing style. Starting the chapter with various archaic quotations does well to establish a cohesive context for Three being a historically significant concept, but things change quickly. As the author begins explaining the history of Three, his historical references and heady terminology make for a very interesting, albeit occasionally confusing, narrative. In other words, most of what the author is saying makes sense and is well grounded, but there are instances in the text that leave me slightly confused (for example, describing the triangle as “the first shape to emerge through the portal of the vesica piscis, the first of the Many”). In a way, this is a good thing; it challenges me to do further research whenever I come across a term or historical reference I’m unfamiliar with. 

As the author begins to describe all the ways in which Three has significance or symbolic relevance to humans, his examples flow forth like a frothing fountain of fresh facts. Really great stuff, and the flow of the structure is smooth and fast paced. As the content gets more complex (as with the discussion of color and light), the pacing slows and examples are explored a little more in depth. Most of this content was very new to me, and I think my mind may have been most blown at this point in the chapter: in particular, the various ways in which different ancient societies and cultures used the triangle. 

Reviewing excerpts from Chapter 4:

While I did appreciate the myriad examples of how “the square is an obvious symbol of fourness,” the overpopulation of these phrases in such a short amount of space ultimately lends to the corniness of the author’s voice. The author does continue to write in this way, giving a constant stream of examples, but the quotation marks are removed after this initial paragraph and the following sections are easier to take seriously. One thing in particular I like about this chapter is the author’s attention to a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and historical narratives when shaping the context of Four. I’m thinking this is a trend that will continue throughout the following chapters.

Reviewing excerpts from Chapter 5:

I especially liked the introduction paragraph in this chapter. I feel that Five is a little more complex than the first four numbers, especially with its relation to universal life and the Quintessence, so I was impressed with how well the author introduced the concepts in a concise manner. I’m certainly noticing a trend with the author’s approach: I like that he consistently addresses well-known examples of the number, such as how we relate stars to achievement or success, before diving into the more dense and less well known examples (like the appearance of Five in nature). I also liked the end of chapter five, and found the section dealing with the regenerative structure of the pentagram to be especially enlightening.