Blog #5

"The meaning of a particular thing is enabled by the web of implicit meaning we call the world" (170).

I think pages 169 and 170 explain that quote really well; we cannot define one specific object if we have not defined the objects surrounding it. We have unspoken knowledge of some things which helps us to constantly gain new understanding of what surrounds us.
This quote reminded me of the way I used to look up definitions in the dictionary and had to constantly look up new words to grasp the meaning of the original one. My mom had to often give me a simplified definition before I understood. Being young, I had in many cases not been exposed to the implicit (or even explicit) meaning of things in the world. Even now I need to expand my research to grasp the meaning of things such as politics.

In the third order of order one object is characterized and organized not based on the first letter of its name compared to another. It's organization often relies on its connection to the other object, Weinberger describes the connection such as the tag California bringing up pictures of San Francisco, San Jose and the Golden Gate (167). Even without the California tag on a specific picture, we know (implicitly) that San Francisco is in California, therefore many of us would not take the time to tag it as such.

For my drawing I chose to "illustrate" Enya's song Flora's Secret. I'm not sure I did such a great job making the implicit explicit, but I tried to focus more on how I connect to the song; to link this song to me a computer would have to know that I'm from a foreign country (Enya's "foreign island"), that my Grandparents' hometowns remind me of long green grass and blue skies and that my own hometown is full of willows.

Willow: http://dracoart-stock.deviantart.com/art/Willow-Tree-2-22158486
Field: http://eirian-stock.deviantart.com/art/BG-Dandelion-Field-152980595

Blog #4

One of the first things that caught my attention when reading Weinberger was the quote "every time you organize matters in one way, you are disordering them in others" (88). From past chapters and the What Is Web 2.0 and Web Squared articles we've read it was understood that going beyond first and second order of order allows a digital organization that places items into multiple places, "hang information from as many branches as possible" (Weinberger, 103).

An aspect of the digital world I'm very interested in is the idea of users working together to create a workable place for each and every single person. The use of tags is a life-saver in many situations when searching for a specific website, picture, or book title. In What Is Web 2.0 O'Reilly discusses Wikipedia and Flickr where each user brings in his knowledge and experience so others can reach specific information. Wikipedia and Flickr are discussed in Everything is Miscellaneous as well, all editors in Wikipedia create hyperlinks to other pages creating a web (or tree) within the website. The use of tags in Flickr (and a majority of other sites) allows for individual labeling of information; as a user you look for specific things that will lead you down a path no other user would have followed.

The section "The Rise of Real Time: A Collective Mind" discusses the use of hash tags in Twitter allowing users to follow a specific channel without the distraction of "useless" information. Weinberger talked about hash tags as well when describing the lists that can be created in Delicious. Using hashtags facilitates the finding of information but once again it allows easier sharing between users of the Internet. I suppose O'Reilly and Batelle summarize it quite well in Web Squared when they write "many people now understand this idea in the sense of 'crowdsourcing,' meaning that a large group of people can create a collective work whose value far exceeds that provided by any of the individual participants" (2).

Blog #3

The books on my shelves could be organized a number of ways; from chapter 3 of Weinberger books used to be organized by size in libraries to make the most of shelf space, that could be one way for me to reorganize, that's the way we organized the books on our table on Tuesday.
I know my mom would prefer for me to have them organized alphabetically by authors rather than broken up by categories and then organized within these categories. I'm guessing that when she's looking for a specific book she has to go through one shelf, then another, then another until she finds the correct category of books.
Of course the books could also be organized by genre: fiction, non-fiction, fables, fairy tales, adventure, etc...
I could intermix my French and English books, it wouldn't make much of a difference to me, I read both just as well so why do I still make the distinction?

Blog #2

The introduction and first two chapters of Weinberger's Everything Is Miscellaneous discuss the way we organize things; what I found most interesting is the distinct ways we have of organizing things based on what they are, what they do, and what their importance is. Weinberger begins by describing the way things are put away in a Staple store in order to make shopping as easy as possible for each and every shopper. He brings up the fact that items have certain material limits and can therefore only be placed in one location. This limitation disappears when an object is digitalized; a book that can only be found in one location in a store can have endless categories when found online. Users help in this categorization, adding information on where to find the object, and tags so they reach even more users.
The alphabetization of things and its controversy is a big part of Chapter 2, individuals trying to find ways to organize the world we live in and making it understandable to each and everyone of us. Weinberger insists on the fact that there are different ways to organize things, from letters to encyclopedia to planets. I enjoyed the section describing the way the Periodic Table of Elements went through a number of changes before becoming what it is today.

One thing I attempt to keep organize is my bookshelves back home. I have a shelf for hardbacks, and English classics; one with the Harry Potter series and a few of my personal, favorite books; a third shelf with a collection of French books my mom brought along when we moved here; another with paper-backs I've bought myself; one with more educational books from past university classes and a last one with French comic books. All of these are organized by their author's last name; I'd never quite thought why I organized them that way, considering for my French books, I don't know half of the authors, I'm just used to the way my mom used to have them organized before they became mine and have kept them this way. When I look for a specific title I know exactly where to find them; having them organized any other way would have me a bit confused.

Blog #1

In O'Reilly's and Batelle's article, the idea that was the most important to me is the way data recognition and someone's ability to find patterns in user data is often recognized by employers. They also discuss the way information changes constantly and web applications have to stay on top of things and changing their content. I hope to become a web designer, creating websites for clients will require me to include elements in my products that will be easy to change, for instance a Twitter feed, or some way for users to interact with my original clients. As far as seeing patterns, if a number of readers/users are not satisfied with the look of the website and therefore prefer to visit some other site, it will be my job to notice that trend and fix it to the best of my abilities.

I'm a member of the deviantArt community and they are constantly changing their website to accommodate the thousands of individuals who visit the site every day. Very recently, they have put into beta testing a new way to categorize the art that is being submitted daily; instead of the artist having to search through endless categories to correctly label their work, the site now gives suggestions based on the title given to the piece, or by typing a word like "frog" into a search box. The site will then give you categories like "photo/.../animal" and lets you pick from a more restricted list.
I haven't submitted to deviantArt since this has been in place but when I do, I'm sure it will be incredibly useful, thanks to search options that are becoming "smarter".