Another beautiful day and experiencing some technical issues, laptop froze and had to restart it but now having network connectivity issues, ah the joys of technology, as we say in Qatar "It is what it is." Well read a couple more articles that I had printed previously so I'll comment on those in two separate entries. The first article I read was the blog page about the "Relationship Economy" wherein the author describes what he sees as the trend in consumerism.He starts out with the time frame the economy peaked, then goes on to describe how every aspect involving human activity became marketable like consumer products. Goes to describe how the media highway transformed from a one way road to a crowded two way road it is today. It mentions how barriers are collapsing in all aspects of the world and publishing is specifically mentioned in that it is getting easier to share information with other people. It goes on to mention that the Consumer Economy is on its way out and is being replaced by what the author refers to as the Relationship Economy which works very differently. Consumers are purchasing less and sharing more as the author says to reconnect and create a sense of community. Companies are now building "authentic relationships"with their clientele and not as a consumer relationship. In this relationship economy what becomes paramount between the customer and the company is trust, companies that are struggling to maintain a market share or consumer base will try to control and manipulate which is viewed as untrustworthy to the customer. There are many things the initial thought process was that corporations would build these but the trend is that these are now being created by a collective of people at a very low cost. This abundance changes the face of business where supply and demand no longer have a major role. Today according to the article it is more based on trust, whom you trust and who trusts you, this is the so called Relation Economy. The rest of the article is more about attending a conference and what will be presented at the authors talk. I see the changes that is referred to in this article and that the times are changing, but still has to account that the article is still five years old and there may be more trends or changes to the way consumers behave. Overall I found it very insightful, I believe he may be onto to something but times keep changing and we need to keep with the trends. Are we lead into this trends by way of manipulation, in other words is this the path the corporations want us to follow? More to think about.  

Another book review this time of Gary Hall's book entitled Digitize This Book! The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now, which looks at the world of publishing online. allowing for open access to publishing for everyone particular scholars at universities.The book looks at what may be involved to have an open access publishing from a university, the politics and administration that is required to effect such a change. The book according to the reviewer says that changes need to be made in order for there to be open access to publishing. There is reference that scholar's are the pawns in the institutions ways of doing things, maintaining their intellectual authority. There is a discussion that Wikipedia when quoted is met with scorn, blogging as well is not accepted as a means of sharing information. it goes on to describe hurtles in academia and that there are alternatives that are available which would open the floodgates of online publishing. Again the information herein is by technological standards outdated, the book itself was published in 2008, again there may be some information that can be utilized today but one really needs to way the information out to see if there is any value within it in todays digital age.  

Reading the book review by Lisa Spiro of the book Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure and the Internet by Christine L. Borgman. Spiro begins by sharing what the book is about and how it makes sense of the digital transformation that is occurring within research and communication by examine the key components used. She goes on to provide a brief breakdown of the chapters and what each one consists of by providing a brief breakdown of the content of each chapter. The book itself appears rather comprehensive as it cover s everything from the technical dimensions  through to how the scholarly infrastructure should be built with everything in-between including copyright policies to data collection. There is a look at how scholars collaborate and how and why they do or do not. there is a balanced view of scholarship within a digital format. It is mentioned the strength of the book is also the weakness that being the broad scope it takes on. There is not much information in the book about blogging as a form of communication within a scholarly field. Overall I would say that the book does sound like a fairly good reference tool for the scholar in todays digital society. Although the book may be lacking in some areas it may provide information for others. The digital age is ever changing and by the time a book gets published some of the material may be already out of date. Although there are contributions that change at a much slower rate then say the technology, I believe the book can have some value as a reference book, but one has to look at it closely to determine the extent of it, this was written in 2009 and we are already six years farther ahead in technology. Technology changes at a faster pace then we can write and publish it, unless of course it is published online, but again it still may be too little too late in the ever changing digital world.     

The blog article "Giving Up Control in the Era of Open Business" was interesting in how it addressed the issue of how the entertainment industry was trying to control who and how music and video was dispersed over the internet. It speaks about "Trojan Mice" which are spokespeople from the industry who take a stand that provokes a challenge in the status quo. In the article Kevin Spacey is mentioned as a "Trojan Mouse" someone who spoke out about how the industry may indeed have to give up control to their audiences or risk losing them. The blog post was about the speech that was made and how the industry needs to re-look at how they think and do business. The conclusion is an encouragement to find the trojan mice within your own industry and to empower them to create changes.    

Reading the article entitled "Blogging and Academic Identity" by Heide Estes who introduces the article with "Writing in different platforms has to do with matters of identity." This caught my attention, she continues to say that as a blogger she has adapted a different persona, in this case a public one that she would be comfortable with family, friends and colleagues reading. She goes on to say she uses the blog as a platform to share ideas and opinions she is uncomfortable addressing in person. I question this as if she is using her own identity and addresses an issue she may be confronted with it outside the blog page if someone read it then brought it up when they see her. She goes on to describe her blog page is in two parts, once where she wears the environmentalist hat and one where she wears the disability hat. She goes on to share that she has negotiated to transition to online teaching should she be unable to teach due to her disability. She mentions that to share about her disability is emotionally, professionally and ethically difficult for her, I respect that but on the other I respect her more for sharing it as if she should experience an episode of the disability then people would know how to react and assist her. She goes on to describe how the blog can be an effective tool in communicating thoughts and ideas, and how she can use the blog to describe living with a chronic illness/disability and address environmental issues as well, at times bring ing the two together. She continues with how using the blog has influenced her academic pursuits and aided her in different scholarly contexts. I like the comment in the conclusion how academics should spend time writing for non academics as academia is a language on it's own, to be able to write to non academics opens up a whole new audience in which to share and learn from. From the first part of the article where she describes developing a blogging identity, I see how she has separated her identity into what is described in the conclusion a public identity and a academic identity. 

the article by Menachem Wecker titled Should You Share Your Research on Academia.edu? was interesting, the number of profiles on the site is quite substantive and with more and more joining each month. This a site where academics can post their own work, but some publishers don't like it when authors publish their work with an online source. There were some demands by publishers to remove work from the site but that had since stopped and it was a small percentage of the authors that were affected. The question remains should one publish their work online, I think that is a decision that needs to be thoughtfully and carefully made. One must look at both the pros and cons of publishing online, weigh it out and then make an informed decision. The article just mentions the appeal of reaching a greater audience but does not go into any legal or copyright procedures so one must use due diligence before subscribing and contributing to Academia.edu or any other website to publish. That is the message I take away from the article, to use due diligence when looking to publish online, which I believe is being very prudent and wise.

Now time to play catch up on the blog site, I am still not much of a blogger and after reading the articles on blogging, well still not sold on the whole idea, but I need to keep an open mind on the value that a blog may add. So let me look at section one, the mind map. A mind map can be a very useful tool and then again it can lead to more confusion. For me I like a mind map that is short, concise and to the point, which gets the idea that is presented across. A mind map should be easy to follow with the flow or movement of the map making sense. I have seen mind maps that are beautiful how shall I say pieces of art, lots of graphics, pictures, very colourful, just beautiful. The drawback is sometimes the flair for the artistic takes away from the idea the map is to portray. I find my eye is drawn more to the art work then to the message or idea that is being presented. Maybe that is me and I just need to focus on what is being rather then the artwork on the map. There are many different sites that provide a software package at a cost to develop and use mind maps so you really need to see what is out there and then decide which one works the best for what you want. But past that it is a very effective tool to show direction and flow of a subject or topic. I think these can be a great adjunct to any topic or subject to assist in creating a better understanding of it.