The Google Transparency Report (I know, RIGHT?!)

Once a year, google releases what they call their "Transparency Report," which is - well - a report detailing some statistics about data they release to governments of the world. It is at once fascinating, amusing, and potentially terrifying.

Some interesting tidbits:

• content removal requests by the U.S. alone were up 70% from last year
• number of data requests made by the U.S. were also up 29%
• The U.S. Government made 5,950 total data requests on 11,057 user accounts (not really sure how those add up...)
• Google complied with 93% of those data requests

Here's a link to the full report. Play around with some of the features (the map is particularly cool) and see what data looks like. How this relates to our class is that we're about to start examining how the public and private spheres of users' lives start to integrate as we participate in digital media. Should they? Shouldn't they?

Social media and upcoming class disucssions

Heard an interesting article today on NPR's Marketplace Tech Report about President Obama's election campaign and its use not merely of social media but of their use of social media aggregate sites, sort of the social media of social media. The article claims that previous campaigns have been characterized by increased social media presence (Twitter feeds and FaceBook pages abound...), but that the Obama campaign's use of media aggregate sites - specifically Tumblr - is a new development in political strategy.

So, what these aggregate sites do is allow users to post links to inforrmation they find interesting. You read something out on the interwebs somewhere; you grab the URL and head over to your favorite aggregate site and post the link up, in the hopes that other people out in the real world will also find it interesting. Look at you; you're a journalist?

Actually, the really interesting thing (to me, at least) is that these aggregate sites are a pretty big part of the idea of "going viral," a phrase we now throw around haphazardly like we say, "I 'googled' it" or "Eh, that's been 'photoshopped'." These aggregate engines give a MUCH wider range of users access to information they might not otherwise have found, and THAT'S the real trick in something going viral: superbroad, superfast exposure.

Here's the Marketplace article - including a button to listen, in case you don't want to read, slacker - and here are some links to some of the more popular aggregate sites like Digg, Tumblr, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and Delicious. These are really just a tiny handful of the aggregate sites out there, mind you.

Texas Book Festival

Nothing new here, but just an online reminder that the amazingly-awesome Texas book Festival is going on this weekend (Oct. 22-23). Check out their calendar page if you're looking for something free and fascinating this weekend.

Metal and insight into the record industry?

So, on Thursday, my ENG 2353 class will talk about music (and a little TV) and the implications of those media converging with (existing despite?) the interwebs. Serendipity (zing!) perhaps provided me an article today featuring Mark Hunter, the lead singer of Ohio-based metal band Chimaira and his views on some of the challenges created by (among other things) that convergence.

It's definitely a subjective view, but I think that he offers some potential insight into a set of industry-wide trends. His claims go beyond merely the convergence of these media, but he does talk specifically about the internet's impact on music - genre notwithstanding. Also, I'm interested in the fact that Hunter is a frequent tweeter.

Anyway, food for thought.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011. R.I.P.

Steve Jobs died yesterday, and I'm surprised at the sincere since of loss I feel. I mean, I'm not incapacitated by sadness or anything. However, as I think of the technology on which I regularly depend - important things and toys alike - and when I think about the story of the man, of the company, perhaps even people I know who work or worked for the company, I have to admit, I recognize the massive impact Jobs had on us as a culture, and I don't think that's an overstatement.

I'd almost guarantee that, if you're reading this (although nobody is) you regularly (currently, at this instant) use technology that Apple essentially developed. Beyond the obvious paradigm shifts of devices like the various i-devices (Pod, Pad, Phone, TV, your brain, etc.) Apple's development of GUIs essentially paved the way for every other interface protocol in existence. Use Windows? Guess where the idea originated. Like Android? Guess where they got their ideas about intuitive interface, and perhaps open-sourcing their OS so a world of developers could make great apps for users? You use computers of any make/model? You use stuff (or versions of stuff) that Apple probably pioneered.

Jobs was a visionary, and - yeah - I know titles like visionary have become a little hyperbolic. Really, though, the magnitude of his impact on our world is massive and meaningful. I didn't know the guy, but I actually will miss him in a way. R.I.P, Steve Jobs.

In case, your're interested, Gizmodo (duh) has some great retrospective stuff posted about Jobs. Check it out.