Game of attention

Just got a comment and a request to visit a a blog.
Very nice looking female - as I am an old "fart" - I just can't help thinking that it might have been an attempt to lore me to XXX sites:-)

So blogging is one channel of marketing? We are compiting for attention and readers.

One note for the "game of communication".

Hit me with a "blog"

I just had to set up the possibility to use Trackback. This gives bloggers a change to let me ja all the readers of this blog to know, when they are blogging about a similar subject.

This is a presentation to NSCS2005. If any of the partisipants are blogging and using Trackback, "ping" me.

ping serious+games social+network social+computing

Blogging vs forum as a tool for dialogue

I have been trying to set up a trackback for Blogger. It is possible, but you need to change the site to your own server. When playing with computers I have learnt not to fix something that is working. (this blog is working.) I have only about two weeks until this blog (“game”) ends – so I will not fix this blog.

BUT I think that Trackback
will give blogging a dialogue flavor. Why use blogging as dialogue, when there are forums and BB that are made for discussion?

My experience is that forums and BB tend to have short comments and readers are oriented towards a very specific theme – like 3D programs and 3D max character animation in Finland… I might be wrong, but I think it is very difficult to get a forum working. I think that it might be possible to start a forum after getting to know some people and to solve a "simple" problem. By simple I mean clear and well defined. (Might be hard to crack, but easy to work with.)

In blogging the most important thing is expressing your own ideas. In future I hope to get comments – like trackbacks from other bloggers who are just expressing their ideas, but want to “ping” me to say that – Hey, this might interest you too.

Check the social machines too.

trackback continuous+computing dialogue games social+networks learning

Let's play - hit me with a link

Just visited "naked Conversations". There are tips on how to blog. I don't agree on everything - as I don't want a big audience - I want a right audience:-) Dialogue on the issues I am interested in. BUT looks like it's all about doing the work and research!

citizen+journalism

Let's play - hit me with a comment

One goal is to speak you mind. Tell others what you think – but why?
For me it is to get attention and hopefully to learn. Expressing thoughts makes thinking more structured.

Some how the audience – readers affect our thinking and also presentation of our ideas. We will change our way of telling by our expectations of our audience. (And their reactions. This is very true in standup comedy – why not in factual writing?)

So one goal for the game of communication is to get an audience – imaginative or real, passive or actively participating. In this experiment I have tried to get an audience by emailing scholars and publishing technorati “tags” – and also by writing comments to other bloggers. (Just like the idea that you get letters, if you send letters.) By being active you will get responses.

At the moment I have more hits to this site than otherwise. Estimate is based on hits to my other sites. I have 5 times more hits than two months ago. (Hit counter shows 120 hits to this site and that means about 50 – 60 different visitors.)

Why is there no comments?

• Is it summertime and not for serious thinking?


• Is the structure of writing – unstructured and hard to comment on?


• Is there nothing unique or controversial to comment?


• Is the subject uninteresting? – Who cares?


• Or is this still hidden from people that could have something to contribute?

game mediated+communication communication collaboration socialnetwork learning

Talking to TV-characters

I really believe that dialogue makes us understand things better. We have to construct our representation and understanding and test it by sharing. Very important part of gaining more information is that communication is not very accurate. We understand only 10% what others mean. These misunderstandings lead to testing our thinking and possible new solutions or points of views.

If the game on communication is dialogue, this experiment of building a presentation is not working. (And same problem is with most of blogs – everyone is writing, but not many are continuing the discussion. (It’s often about advertising ones own blog or expertise – kind of telling others that I know that or that I have done it all ready.)

When I started this presentation my aim was and still is, to play with an idea that – writer publishes what they want – and reader reads what they want to read. AND it might not be the same things, but how do we make both of them happy?

Well again the first presumption is that by tagging we can write “info cloud” – or make our message easier to be found. This might be a object for discussion. In a way this does not work. It is not enough to have an interesting subject as it is not enough for communication to have the right technology.

There has to be more motivation for dialogue than interesting subject and software that able communication. We have personal motives and we need to feel that those motives are fulfilled by our commitment to the discussion. (Most often it is our need to get attention and approval.) I also use term “social dominance game”. We like to take part in discussions with known, public figures or authorities – or people that we like to think that are experts in the field. (You can figure out why I call it “social dominance game:-)

BUT can we have a monologue and find our own feedback from other sources to make a dialogue? I think this has happened to me. I am writing, but finding related views from other’s blogs. So I am in dialogue with people with out getting any comments.

This gives a feeling of empowerment – writing so that no one reads is dull, but writing for your self, but having a “discussion” with a “television screen” is much more fun. (You know that some people talk with tv-characters- this is the similar, but it just has a minimal possibility that the famous TV-character might reply.)

socialcomputing citizen+journalism communication

Power and sharing

I blogged about "Attention as power" and "Donate a link" at DVreport. Writing is connected to discussion about "Social Machines". Just trying to understand where the enegry comes from to this virtual super-hero:-)

Brainiacs - part 4

Nodes – in social machines

My first assumption was that a social machine, aca human grid, neural network is a community, where members know each other or are conscious of existence of a particular character. (Not knowing, but recognizing a name, nickname or something.)

BUT it looks like socialcomputing has made it possible to be included in a “social machine” or use the power of a “social machine” with out personal communication. It is enough to use tagged messages and smart search engines. Any one can benefit from socially collected knowledge. (This relates to the idea that communities and networks need a social object to work together. In a way common goal might be enough to motivate a co-operation with out ever developing in to a community.)

I think that we have different roles in different social machines. (We use many networks and have different degrees of commitment. This is the same as in my previous message on McLuhan Global/Glocal.) I did not think so much about the motivation and reasons for different roles. Why do we communicate? Why are we a member of a “social machine”? Why share a link? or any piece of information?

I have an experiment going on a blog called “Health and Wellness” http://akatemia.blogspot.com I am asking people to share their links on online videos about exercising at www.blinklist.com and tag them as “XO”. This started yesterday and no links are share yet:-)

Question is what is an interesting subject to build a community or a social machine for? If you want a big, powerful machine, you should look ideas from journalism. There are criteria for good news. I think that same criteria ably for building a community.

I am not a traditional journalist, but more like a citizen journalist so I can write about issues that I feel interested in. I am confident that people that share similar interests will find this blog in future. I am not changing my issues according to what might be of public interest. (That’s for those who make their living out of blogging or journalism. I don’t mean that if you make a bug, you have to sell out. More like when your not selling, it’s not an issue.)

socialcomputing ContinuousComputing socialnetworking socialsoftware

Some brainiacs – part 3

Social networks and collective thinking makes a human grid that is a powerful character. Wade Roush has titled this as “Social machines”. A very good article.

One comment on the article was about the power of a network:

"Bob Metcalfe that the value of a network increases as the square of the number of nodes in the network."


Power of a network is one value, but to put the power in use, we need to control and direct it. The effectiveness of the “social machine” comes from the tools we use for co-operation. (Good tools are invisible and we don’t need to use energy on technology.)

Power of network is a little different than raw energy. In human grids the power comes from the interest of people. So power comes from people that have similar goals. I would compare this to idea of dialogue. In Dialogue you need some common ground to be able to exchange thoughts, but also a “container”. Container is a metaphor that means that people need to be committed to a goal so that they keep together even though they disagree. In many cases in dialogue people tend to get frustrated and discussion “boils”. Container needs to be able to handle the pressure.

Power of a network needs a “container” – the strength of the commitment of the participants defines the container.

I need to write about my understanding of a network or a community. We live in a global world and I don’t know the people that are reading this blog. This gives a feeling of universal communication.

We are members in many networks and one way of categorizing them is by our commitment.
1. Universal network – we all are members
2. “Me” – I as a unique individual (and chif of my tribe)
3. Trusties – about 20 persons of family and most trusted friends
4. Tribe – about 150 people with intensive communication (Different interests)
5. Contact network – about 1000 people that are in some kind of contact with me.

This is a verson of McLuhan’s glocal village. (Global, but understood that it does not mean that we are connected with everyone all the time.) Human grid or a network is not a fixed, staple structure. Members come and go and their activity varies.

socialcomputing ContinuousComputing socialnetworking socialsoftware