whatknows's blog

This week on gnovis, the use of media (from the hipster glasses to old-school Museums) was the topic. We have filtered the Fools to bring this week's wrap-up.

On gnovis

Lauren tackles the ephemeral and ever changing tastes of the hipster. "Asking how the modern hipster came to be begs many questions around the diffusion of cultural meaning via new media technologies, the paradoxes inherent with trying to create a counter-culture within a capitalist model, and whether a true counter-culture is even possible at this moment in Western society given our increasingly globalized world." I was particularly fond of her historical account of the changing definition of the term on UrbanDictionary.com.  Read More »

Attention thesis writers: Your life just got easier. If you are using the MLA citation system, please note that URLs are no longer required in your bibliographies.

Yes, you read that correctly. Down with URLs!  Read More »

On gnovis...

In her debut post on gnovis, Venessa Miemis wrote about the potential impacts of social media and geospatial technology on social change: "Local level real-time mapping is making the world a seemingly smaller, more transparent and manageable place. The information it provides, like any map of value, helps us understand the patterns and relationships within our surroundings and gives clues about what action to take to achieve desired results."

For the rest of the week, busy thesis writers began to introspect on how their projects related to CCT, and each other.  Read More »

It is a question as old as the fail whale itself: Why do we Twitter? Yesterday, the Valley Wag asked this question in a scathing critique of the usefulness of this service. Earlier this month, David Pogue of The New York Times in his for-the-masses review described it as a "time drain" and "one of those ego things." Yes, it is the season for critiquing Twitter.  Read More »

Sometime last year, my friend Brett was reflecting on the difference Internet access on his cell phone had on his day to day life: "In the past, when I would go run an errand, I would figure out where the store was, figure out how to get there, and then hop in my car. These days, I just leave the house and let my phone tell me where to go and how to get there."  Read More »