Indi Bloggie

The World Wide Web’s role on collective consciousness: With special attention in our personal lives, education, and in business.

Introduction

There is no bigger collective than the World Wide Web. In today’s world we are all connected. From the children here in Boone, North Carolina to the middle aged factory workers across the world, the internet has given society the ability to connect on a very personal level. We are able to keep up with friends through applications such as Skype, Facebook, and Myspace. We are able to share intellectual knowledge and scholarly work through programs such as Google Scholar. In addition, the collective conscious created within the economic world has opened wonderful opportunitiy and is easily a multi-billion dollar business. However, with many things, there is another side to this internet collective. There is a very real, very dark side which spans all three aspects; personal, educational, and economical.

Collective Consciousness in our everyday lives

Personally, I am a member of Facebook. Initially, I joined for social reasons; updating the latest photos from a big weekend, writing funny “wall posts”, etc. It was, and is, a great resource and media tool for people to get to know each other as well as interact. On the other hand, in recent years applications such as Facebook and Myspace have proven to have negative aspects as well. An article by Kari Putterman from the Maryland Community Newspaper Online:

“Yet, the easy accessibility poses a double-edged sword. Many career-minded students are cancelling their Facebook accounts for fear they will be rejected from a job, internship or college based on something a friend posted on their walls or pictures of them partying”.

Just like any media, there is opportunity and there danger. For those who are deeply involved, there is more risk. There are more dangerous situations than someone not getting a job too. In Journal 4, we discussed the internet crime of harassment which influenced a 13 year old to commit suicide. The sad truth is that through our own consciousness, we, as a society, have created a dark side. My best advice is to not put oneself out there as much, especially within the social scene via the internet.

Educational and Scholar consciousness

The internet’s collective within academia is amazing! What better example than what I’m doing right now! Take a senior level IDS class and put it on the internet; brilliant. This is just one small example of the opportunity in which our collective has succeeded. John Markoff, from the New York Times, quotes Anurag Acharya, head engineer of Google Scholar:

“Google as a company has greatly benefited from academic research and this is one of the ways we can give back to the community,".

Countless other applications and programs are offered online. Hell, full college educations are obtainable online. So, what’s downside? One of the main issues with any material online is authenticity. One on end, as my collective as a student I like the fact that I can get additional research and information on material for school. However, if I was the author of certain material I would be upset and offended if a student purposely plagiarized using my work.

Economical and business collectiveness

I can personally attest to the collective consciousness in the field of business. I personally own two websites:
www.yellowdogent.com
www.musiconthemountain.net

I have two hired employees which work full time on my viral marketing campaigns. It is essential for me to advertise and market myself as well as possible, reaching all demographics, appealing to the masses. On this end, I have an obligation to uphold an ethical standard and make sure, through my services such as selling $40 tickets or $15 T-shirts to customers, is done in an ethical and moral way. In doing all of this I have created a community, A VERY LARGE COMMUNITY, that knows me, my company, my festival due solely to the internet!

The Future

The future of technology and the amount of different groups within academia, business, and our personal lives are endless. I hope we can see the oblivious dangers and prevent them; as well as take each new technology with a grain of salt and caution.

Bibliography:
1. New York Times Online
David Borboza, International Business
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E2D9143EF932A2575BC0A9639C8B63
2. New York Times Online
John Markoff, Google Plans New Service for Scientist and Scholars
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/technology/18google.html?th
3. http://www.gazette.net/stories/083006/montyou124631_31940.shtml