Introduction to Web 2.0

Here is another data-related YouTube video, which is less humorous than the previous post, but very compelling.  It was created by Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University.  In under 5 minutes the video introduces you to the concepts of digital text, html, xml, and the Web.  It also shows how the second generation of the Web has evolved to facilitate communication and sharing among online users.  What I really like about the video is how it raises important questions about the impact of the Web on society, touching on many topics that I cover in my Informatics courses.

Watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

I should also point out that the videos from this post and the last one were brought to my attention through the IASSIST listserv.  This is a great professional organization for the social science data community.

Medieval Help Desk

Here is a little computer humor.  The Norwegian Broadcasting Company produced a skit called “Introducing the Book” where a medieval scholar calls the “help desk” for assistance with his technology upgrade from the scroll to the book.  It was one of the most popular videos on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek.

Introduction

I developed an academic web site last year to have a place to put information about my teaching and research activities at UAlbany.  Due to some time and technical limitations, I haven’t been able to develop that site quite the way I had planned.  Now I have decided to try a new approach that I hope will save me some time and also allow me some additional functionality.  I decided to experiment with WordPress since I could create Web pages and a blog on one site.  While I’ve maintained a personal blog for almost a year now, I haven’t been blogging much about professional life and academia.  Lately I have run across several interesting things that I’ve wanted to share with students and colleagues (e.g., sites, books, new publications, etc.) and this has tempted me to start a new blog dedicated to professional issues.  It will take a little time to get this site updated, but here is my latest presentation of self on the Internet.