Week 2. book chapter and my reflection

 Today, I read Chapter 9 of Rainie and Wellman (2013). It was about Networked Information.

<Summary of the book chapter>

  • Information wants to be networked. It is meaningful only when it is connected to other people or information, not where it is conveyed in a one-way manner.
  • An example from the 16th-century published Talmud: annotations and notes could be written around the original text, similar to “reply” systems on online platforms.
  • Memex: a device to store and find increasing amounts of information easily by using tags and connecting through trails.→ influenced Google search algorithms and digital networked information.
  • Triple revolution: the development of social networks, the internet, and mobile devices. It led information to grow exponentially, people to have a tendency to find niche information rather than popular content, and other people’s reactions and reviews to be a new indicator of reliability.
  • Information acceptance became a multistep process. Readers actively communicate, share, and verify information, instead of accepting it uncritically.
  • Networked information has three privacy problems: Surveillance (governments or companies censor information), Coveillance (individuals search other people), Sousveillance (individuals observe institutions)

<My thoughts>

It makes sense that information is networked; it is connected to each other like neurons, with people sharing and spreading the information to others. For example, when I share a meme with my friends and one of them mimics or slightly changes it—even though it is in text format in a group chat—it becomes our shared sympathy. We understand and laugh even when we hear only a partial word in the meme, as it connects us. Information has its own meaning when it is networked. (Meme might not be information, though.) Additionally, thinking of coveillance—one of the privacy problems—networked information could be useful for preventing crime by checking suspicious people’s backgrounds or criminals’ residence locations. At the same time, it could lead to crime, such as online stalking, as mentioned in the book. Honestly, I don’t want other people to see my information when they search for my name, so I never make myself visible on my personal social media or other online platforms. I never share my daily life or information that might identify me. I think it is always good to be cautious in this era where people are all connected to other people’s information directly and indirectly.

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