Oct. 27, Apple Tools

Social Media: Updates October 27, 2010

I spent hours in the Apple Store today at two workshops, looking at the new MacBook Air, and upgrading my MacBook to Snow Leopard so I can upgrade iWorks and iLife. A big part of this age of computers is staying current and constantly upgrading software and the machines themselves. There is pleasure with Macs as the large screens are so inviting and high definition and designs on products as well as the environment there is an experience that is energizing. I asked several Mac assistants about security issues as that have been in the news a great deal, and one said yes there are issues and safeguards but today people are just going ahead with all sorts of info and not worrying. So, personal and business are separate issues and viewed differently by most savvy people. The ability to do so many interactive things with various media is indeed more captivating and encourages experimentation.

I went to tow workshops and learned something about Pages, which is Mac’s word processing and layout program. It is so much more fun than Microsoft Word!! The second workshop was on Keynote, which is Mac’s PowerPoint presentation program. Perhaps with new developments in adding media to text presentation, presentations, which we have all been to that are so boring and uninteresting, can be much more alive and engaging. One can add music, images, and movies by clicking and dragging and dropping into templates. These programs can do things and have features that Word does not, so, a possible problem might be in exporting. It is possible to share as a PDF, or a Word document, and more, but not all features can transfer. Mostly it seems fine if one adjusts settings and knows what projectors will be available for a presentation. I am going to try and learn these as it does seem as if things have gotten much more user friendly. The recipient has to have QuickTime. These is a general limit to file size which is 5mgs. The file can be saved to iWorks which is web based and can be password protected, but available to others who have that.

Pages is part of iWork which contains Keynote and iLife as well and these make up Mac’s productivity programs. The two parts of Pages contain the work processing, its Word, and Page layouts, which allows all sorts of uses such as newsletters, flyers, business cards and more. Inserting photos in text used to be so hard and now it looks easy, I will experiment and see. The charts and pie graphs are amazing in going from 2D to 3D and for example, exploding a pie chart for emphasis. Another example, which appeals to me as a sculptor is that you can have cylindrical bar graphs in metallic colors that can be rotated! It could be that I am just getting familiar with these, but I did my Pilot Study having to invent some things that were clunky and hard and these seem more visually exciting and offer many more choices in how things look and convey information. The good news is that Apple apparently has video tutorials on iWork at apple.com.

How I might use these and other programs that we have been investigating takes time and is often a distraction from doing the necessary research and thinking of the content that needs focused attention. Putting them together down the road promises to be much more visually oriented and captivating if this learning can be applied effectively. Making it fit together seamlessly is indeed a challenge and pushes one to think and make things differently and in innovative ways. The raw source material and one’s own creativity, motivation, and message are still at the heart of it.

Oct. 23: News Stories: Social Media

Social Media News Stories: The New York Times October 23, 2010

Helft, M. (2010). Marketers Can Glean Private Data on Facebook. pp.B1, B2.

According to Helft who reported that two “academic studies”, one from India and one from Germany, demonstrated the possibility that even though Facebook is a secure site that does not allow sharing of personal information, advertisers may still able to find information. Advertisers seek such information so as to selectively target their adds to likely customers. It appears that if a user clicks on an advertisers link they are identified as a likely candidate for further adds in this area. Such information on personal characteristics as sexual orientation, age, religion, political views, or relationship status were mentioned as possible data that could indirectly be obtained or “uncovered” through various manoeuvers. This journalist referred to another article this week in the Wall Street Journal that brought up similar concerns about Facebook. Facebook has acknowledged that they have looked into their vulnerabilities and have had problems where information about their users and their users friends has been inadvertently shared with advertisers. It was mentioned that MySpace had similar problems with such information being obtained by advertisers wanting to target customers although that “violated” their policies as well.

It seems to me that although sites attempt to be secure, there is a large question as to whether it is possible for them to do so and even think of the many ways creative advertisers, kids, or hackers can be anticipated or stopped in cyberspace.

October, 18:

Eligon, J. & White, R. (2010). A Juror’s Blog Chronicle Stirs an Age-Old Question. p. A12.

Journalists Eligon and White reported on a juror, Bruce Slutsky, who used a blog to talk about his experience of being called and serving as a a juror in a civil case before the State Supreme Court in Queens court. A lawyer in Texas happened to see his blog and became concerned that he had violated protocol by blogging and revealing too much in his dialogue of laying out his frustrations with the slowness of the process and a details about what was happening in the court room. Although the judge presiding did not find this to be the case when it was brought to his attention, the questioning and uninvolved lawyer from afar did bring up the fact that jurors are not allowed to do research on the Internet on Google, Facebook, or Twitter about the case. This brings up an issue that could potentially need to be defined more extensively now that people are using the Internet to talk about their daily experiences openly and publically. This juror felt that he had done nothing wrong, which brings up the question of who decides out there in cyberspace and do we need more or less watchdogs and regulations and is this even possible?

Another article on the front page of the Business Section, Determined to Crack the Social Code (pp. B1, B8) by Claire Cain Miller addresses the issue Google faces in trying to compete with social sites, particularly Facebook, which supposedly prevent search engines used by advertisers from gaining access to personal data. Googles’s Buzz is their entrée into the social networking world hasn’t done for them what they hoped and they are researching something more effective. One problem brought out here was that emails where automatically available when on Buzz, this was changed. According to this report, Google’s Linkedin and Twitter allows “ information their friends have published online can appear in search results” (p. B8). They mentioned that only a few Google account holders have set up these accounts. This gives me pause as Linkedin is billed as a professional site and it was my understanding that you had to allow people to be part of it. U-Tube is also a Google site and one of the ways Google had developed to obtain information. This article points out that many people are now asking their friends for information that they might have gone to Google to find before the popularity of social sites, particularly Facebook, have gained so much use by preference. It appears that there is fierce competition our there and isn’t there enough room in cyberspace for companies to specialize in different areas of client’s interests, or does one site have to do all things for all people??

again about the art shows

Susan: Social Media Class Oct. 20, 2010

I want to remind and point out again for the second time several art shows by women artists on now in NY City. Their scope and feel is very much that for me that of the reality of today’s world of multiple sources, cross-referencing, network interactions. I will hopefully make a voice thread with some artists works and ask for your comments. I want to get you this info now while the work is viewable and on gallery websites with more images and information. Since many of you are artists as well as creative arts therapists I thought you might be interested.

Sarah Sze installation is at: info@tanyabonakdargallery.com

Joyce Kozloff ‘s show, “Navigational Triangles”, of paintings is at: info@dcmooregallery.com www.dcmooregallery.com

I saw Joyce’s show today and was struck by her layering of visual information using mixed media and her continued use of maps from all historical periods and cultures. Three large paintings use maps of Pakistan, Iraq and the areas around from different time periods and juxtapose these with painting of the cosmos, i.e. maps of galaxies based on NASA images, and the history of wars and conflict from all times and cultures are embedded in this and much of her work which is colorful and beautiful to look at and political as well. Other works in the show are based on her photographs of the Chinatowns in the US, info from Google Maps, and cutouts from found on her trips. She combined these with her own drawings, some of old maps. The press release of the show mentions “visual clutter” of the kitschy stuff for sale from China and the overload of inexpensive clothing that is everywhere. Joyce says that her “project is about the exchange” and the intermingling in America of imported goods which become “artifacts” “dislocated from their origins” in much the same way that American pop art made it’s way around the globe in the 50’s and 60’s. This phenomenon of material goods being traded has been the way of the world and now we are faced with information transporting ideas, styles, goods, and much more on the web. Is this our cosmos?? Are we now going to clutter our air space and how far out? Does it touch the Stars?

Another observation that I have is that major museums have been doing blockbuster shows of older, “safer”, historically recognized artists in order to increase their audiences and please their supporters and funders, but artists working today do reflect what is in the air and possibly what we are all trying to get a handle on in our own ways. Just as the information out there has grown unbelievable large, so have the number of artists and tools available for right brain creatives as well as left brainers.

Social Media in the News..Oct. 17,2010

Social Media Journal blog: October, 2010

Lots of Interest Nationally and Internationally on Expanded Possibilities for the Internet in the News daily.....

An article in the NY Times written by Tanzina Vega talks about the much larger risks of privacy issues that will be much more likely with the new “Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5” (p.1). As I am not that familiar with this new language that is referred to as a “Web code, the fifth version of Hypertext Markup Language used to create web pages”(p.1), I suggest that you read this for yourself as many of us are doing research and working where confidentiality is an issue. The new language will make it easier to browse and view larger multimedia content and get your email, but what are now known as cookies that allow links to one’s interests and more may be just the tip of the iceberg. The new code will apparently allow information history to stay available for longer periods of time so personal info could be more easily gotten by experts. This is worth reading just to be aware as things are moving so fast.

Vega, T. (2010, Monday, October 11). Web Code Offers New Ways To See What Users Do Online. New York Times, International, pp. A1, A3.

I learned in conversation with the writer of the CNN blog called Political Ticker, which must be aimed at a younger audience who tweets that Twitter is seen as a professional information source. Now I am paying a bit more attention to it and a recent article in the NY Times on Oct. 11^th on the front page of the Business Section called, After Building a Huge Audience, Twitter Turns to Ads to Cash In. The chief executive of Twitter, Dick Costolo, who was the head of the ad section, is pictured and pleased about their launching last spring of “Promoted Tweets”. The way this works is that the advertisers, who have gone from 6 to 40, pay the site to have their add appear at the top of the search results. It appears that advertisers pay for keywords that surfers are likely to use and when someone searches and clicks on their link, forwards it on to someone, or replies to it, that is when they pay for the service. Their research has found that 5% of people might do this as compared to fewer than 1% who would click on a display add. An advertiser can buy for $100,000 a day from “Promoted Trends” to have their name show up in the most discussed topics list.

The question posed by the writers Clair Cain Miller and Tanzina Vega is whether Twitter will move further into advertising which looks likely and will be as successful at it as Facebook, Doubleclick and Google. Apparently Twitter, which two years ago had three million readers, now has 160 million users. These authors mention several examples of companies who have used advertising on Twitter, Coca-Cola used it during the World Cup and found that people wanted simple explanations not complicated ones, for instance. Advertising which is costly for companies and reaching people on Twitters which is free and popular may have a way to go to work out results for companies and ease for surfers. Personally, I am astonished how quickly advertising has invaded sites and how in your face it is with animation and design. I think this is all just beginning and will only grow in huge proportions, as there is a lot of money to be spent and made.

Miller, C. C. & Vega T. (2010, October 11). After building a Huge Audience, Twitter Turns to Ads to Cash In. The New York Times, Business Day, e.g., pp. B1, B4.

On Another More Fun Note: In the TALK section in the NY Times magazine section, which is all about design and designers in Milan on Saturday, Oct. 16^th, p. 82, an online site founded by Federico Marchetti called: Yoox.com is mentioned. This seems to be the first site for high-end clothes and accessories, which are discounted. I haven’t been there yet, but this trend seems to appeal to well known designers as a way to move stock after the season to people who are too busy to shop or don’t want to or are looking for a deal. This has been taking off in the US and now if Italian designers are willing to do this it may get around some obstacles.

Silva, H. (2010, Sunday, October 17). The Italian Jobber. The New York Times Magazine, p. 82.

Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010

There is so much talk in NY with the opening of the movie “The Social Network” which tells the story of the Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook. The Sunday Styles section of the New York Times has an article on the first page, Hey, That’s Me Up On That Screen by Jenna Wortham. The author mentions man founders of various start-up companies who are in the twenties and their hip names for their sites. Apparently, they could not wait to see the film and lined up for special openings. Somewhere else it said that this film had made over $50 million in the first week. This is the second weekend.

I saw the film today and have a hard time finding any empathy for the Mark in the film who was supposedly very close to the Mark I real life. All the names were real names and the lawsuits and info true and information in the public domain. What is surprising to me is that all are in their twenties still and that this happened at Harvard in the class of 2006. How computer savvy so many are and their quickness in being able to work with codes and the mechanics of the internet is mind blowing. In just our class investigating some tools hopefully for research I am astounded in how many are out there and so much more that is just connecting with who knows who is out there. The fact is you don’t know whom you are exchanging info with unless you are very aware of privacy issues and block access, and often it is easy to venture forth out of curiosity and not realize how to protect your information. I now understand that anything you blog to the public is forever out there and you cannot take it back, edit it, or erase it. There are companies now that are hired to try to get info that one does not want out there “scraped” off the web, very costly. See the movie and I’d like to hear responses, I understand they are buzzing on many sites as I write this.

I want to make sure this blog is only to our class, can our professors verify this and remind us about how to check for this????

The movie was disturbing due to several characters and their lack of moral judgement, which verges on more than just illegal decisions, but on lack of ethical standards. It can be said that standards have not yet been established for the internet, so?? Why not endanger people, ruin people, and take advantage of people?? These are the questions and concerns that a glimpse into this world where it takes an obsessive mentality?? and a willingness to maneuver at all costs for the new game and the money. I have worked in schools where this is a great tool for gathering information of all kinds and curiosity and creativity can be explored in exciting ways, but some of the games are atrocious and dangerous to young and old minds as well. I will stop now on this and say that I hope to find ways to use tools for research that will be useful, artistic, and imaginary and will not compromise issues in therapeutic situations. I think this is a special area and needs parameters.

Wortham, J. (2010, Sunday, October 17). Hey, That’s Me Up On That Screen, The New York Times Sunday Styles, e.g., pp.1, 8.

New York women artists showing now

October 16, 2010

I want to inform classmates about several art shows that are going on now in New York as the work very much connects with the subjects we have been discussing concerning the culture of today and the influence of social media. Several artists whose work I have known seem to be visually absorbing the vast interplay of cross referencing, hybridizaton of forms, and mapping of various sources in their art forms. I will be trying to do a voice thread so that you can comment on your thoughts about works that I will update as I see art shows.

One artist, Sarah Sze, can be seen by going to the gallery web site and clicking on current exhibition. I will say more about this on Voice thread soon, I hope. There are images of her installation there and I have taken some pictures as well which I will try to figure how to make available to you. http://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/

Another artist, Joyce Kozloff, has been making collage paintings which include many references, such as: constellations, images for different cultures, story elements, masks, ect. in her large canvases or constructions in globe forms and in prints. Go to the gallery site and see her images. She is an early feminist painter with a rich history.

Joyce Kozloff at DC Moore http://www.dcmooregallery.com/index-2.htm

The following site claims to be the first art newspaper on the net and it is possible to go to a twitter site to comment on it as well.

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=41399 this is a twitter http://twitter.com/artdaily

Is anyone interested in art exhibitions in New York?? Some of you may be coming to the Art therapy conference in November??

I will start a voice thread on some other these artists who in my mine embody and concretize in their work the idea of communication in our times, I would like to get comments for you.

Oct. 12th Journal

October 12, 2010

The references to social media are so ever present that I can hardly keep up with all of them to even mention here.. and I want to grasp them. The New York Times is full of articles daily that I cut out and collect, but want to mention a few. On the first page of the Arts section there is an article on a young violinist, Sarah Chang, who cancelled her violin performance that was to be with The Detroit Symphony Orchestra because of comments on Facebook. Apparently orchestra players went on strike against the management and she felt caught in the middle. She seems to have been very disheartened and drawn into a fight that had nothing to do with her talent or music but used her and revealed personal information about her on the web. It seems that she felt threatened and maybe was in some way, so she did not go there.

This brings up a CNN special that I saw over the weekend on Cyberbullying on the occasion, four, of several recent suicides of students due to being attacked on emails, cell phones. Some were college, some high-school, and a middlescholler. Having worked in several middle schools over a ten-year period even before this bullying with media devices, I am saddened to see the huge use and effect on children and adults as well. Youth are so vulnerable to being singled out or being different and not included that I am disturbed to think that they can be badgered anonymously and constantly. On the CNN program they had a reformed bully speak and he said he had no idea how harmful it was, but just liked the power he felt and would not have stopped it unless confronted and made aware, luckily he felt empathy. I am reminded of the groups I did and how effective they can be over time in hearing what is going on and getting involved in helping those being bullied. Several youg people felt this would not stop as there was no way to stop texting bullying and other media means of harassment. Adults need to be aware and involved and initiate action and not just let kids work it out themselves. The recommendations from a psychologist and several others knowledgeable in behavioral sciences were to have permanent programs in the schools, starting the earliest years and continuing, that dealt with the school as a whole community. Everyone had to be involved, from the principal, all the teachers who needed instruction, as well as parents. I know this is true, first hand and unfortunately felt many principals did not understand the problem or mental health issues and denied and avoided any problems. The results can be disastrous as we are seeing. Funding for mental health professionals to be in the schools, where children spend so much of their time, has practically dried up and is not seen as a priority. Funding after 9/11 did bring a lot to the surface in lower Manhattan, which included many projects and China town with lots of poor immigrants.

The contrast of thinking of artistic ways to use media for art making and for imaging research in creative ways is in sharp contrast to thinking of how other minds think to use tools that are amazing in allowing communication on many levels which can be about learning and as Jenkins said in his articles and U-Tube video we are a participatory culture now with these at our disposal. This also brings to mind the Courant article on scholars using tools that make research so possible, exciting, and far reaching in it’s breadth in this age of digitalization of materials and the negative aspects of corrupting principles of scholarship. I do wonder about this, as kids in school are unaware unless their computer teacher or librarian or teacher really stresses this and calls it. How they can separate school standards and requirements and personal use and behaviors, which may become blurred as there are so many sources available.

At a recent discussion with the director of an art museum, I was interested that he said only 5 to 10% of the art history-art criticism scholarly library collection would be available in digital format. He said this was true of most museums with materials in print. Some fields perhaps will not therefore have everything available on the web. He felt books would still be needed and the past publications valuable and the bulk of knowledge and that original research would have to seek them out.

Susan: Oct. 6th: journal

It is hard to find time to keep up with myself much less all that I do! I was glad to see Gene and Lisa last week at Lesley and feel the comfort of having help at hand instead of feeling the angst of trying to figure “it” out over and over again and bumping into road blocks. Time does not mean much when you try to keep up with endless emails that have not multiplied as I am trying to keep up with a number of professional, various schools, art galleries and museums info and psychotherapy organizations I belong to and perhaps a personal note that gets buried in all else. In this economy, I am seeing that people are really getting resourceful and doing tons of workshops to try and earn some income. Therapists are finding patients cutting back or gone and they are fretting over paying for offices. Office rentals and shares are more frequent that ever. It is hard to say if people are just all figuring out how to send out info through their list serves and those are posting for each other. New York has always been known as a busy city, but now more than ever, or so it seems, professionals are speaking and charging. Also in the last few years, arts organizations have developed programs and classes for families, young professionals, educators, and art followers. Nights and weekends are packed with intellectual as well as cultural opportunities. Instant, constant, and frequent notifications flood emails and take several hours a day to keep up and clear off and flag. Does anyone know how to unflagg?? It is not by just clicking the flag?? The other thing I have noticed and find frustrating is remembering all the various usernames and passwords as they interact in ways that demand twicks. My list of them is getting longer and longer and now needs categories.

Seriously, since our class this summer I have spent whole days fooling around getting familiar with various tools at least several times and it feels like the first time when I go back to refresh myself. I have set up two blogs, which Gene and I figured out was one too many, so, I will stick to one for now. The desire to go on and on is great as the excitement at the possibilities is great that I go ahead and think that I can get back there and continue and find out that I can’t get my way back there. I have a twitter account, a facebook account, a Linkedin (?) professional account, and Plaxo account, and, many other health care or art therapy lists that I follow. The problem is that I cannot keep up with all of them and feel like I must or else. And there are all of our Lesley Class announcements, discussions, posts ect. to follow and be sure to get things in the right place. I wonder what advise we could give each other, except. Get used to it or you might miss something important. In a focusing workshop on Monday after a guided imagery that was called “clearing a space” by meditating on putting aside one thing after the next that was worrisome and sensing that feeling in the body, the leader asked what was needed? I said that I needed more time... ? to attend to these things? To not attend to these things? I am reminded how important it is to find a balance so that renewal of energies can take place while “being” somewhere else. It seems we operate on so many levels and are tapping into many all the time. For me, now I feel as if the time I devote is never enough to really see progress or feel ahead. So, that is today and now it is late and bedtime. Sweet dreams...

I want to remember to write about conversations over last weekend:

1. with a friend who is a lawyer and involved in politics on how to use social media with her professional consulting firm in Baltimore

2. with someone who writes the blog for CNN for young audiences as he is 27 called Political Ticker

3. follow up on info about designing advertising, search engines to serve clients, so that their names and info appear first when searched by the public, who is the public that is searching, and what words or language are they most likely to use to search... I would like to interview her.

I was amazed how social media and networking was a real topic of conversation on a family weekend at a fishing lodge which barely had phones and not heat.