Information By Crowds: DC Inside

As I posted on my first blog, it is true that there is lack of specialty on web-based information. Knowledge provided from anonymous people is too huge and groundless, so sometimes unbelievable rumors threat truth on the Internet. However, let me explain my experience. In our class, ITEC 335, we post our opinion on our blog every week. As you know, I am exchange student and my first language is not English, so I cannot write academic essay well. However, blog posting in this class does not require accuracy of grammar and form, so it makes me possible to do posting confidently and freely. I think information on the Internet is same with my experience. We can write and express our creative and different opinions through free way of Internet blogging, and sometimes, it can be theme of academic research.

In Korea, there is a site named DC Inside. At first, it was for exchange information about digital cameras. People could read review and comment about new digital cameras on this site. During writing and commenting about cameras, people started talk about weird gossips, and the creator of the site made several bulletin boards, called Gallery, and it became Korea’s one of the biggest web communities. These days, there are numerous galleries such as digital equipments, game, spots, universities, districts, stocks, automobile, vessel, law, composite photograph, even presidents, politicians, insect and parasites, and the categories are still updated. The main characteristic of this site is creating and culture beyond conception by exchanging information and thinking, with specialty, by amateurs. They use their own languages, like “햏” (it means nothing, and it is not even Korean; they just type it by combining some Korean characters)

However, they make big stream even on academic world. There are many essays and papers about DC inside. Scholars say that it’s so surprised, because people who don’t have academic degrees on fields’ research on their interest, and accumulate lots of database, and exchange them with their opinions. Bulletin board themselves can become books about special themes written by amateurs. It means by using Internet, information saved in everywhere can be gathered together and shown to all over the world, not only by few of elites, but by many crows. Therefore, many people so called elites study about DC Inside’s success case, and their form of cyber community.

I presented unfamiliar site, DC Inside. I don’t’ know well about many American sites, but I think there are plenty of sites based on free opinion of ordinary but different people (if you know that kind of sites, please tell me by comments! I wanna go there.) I think people who insist future of digital world depends on elites are wrong, because every field can be a theme of study, and they are not belong to special someone, but belong to everyone living in everywhere. I believe that strong points based on diversity of source of information and efforts to overcome negative effect of amateurism of Internet are motive power of over the web 2.0 generation.

Open Innovation and Diversity

I am posting it after reading these two articles

NPR: Big Firms Eye “Open Innovation” For Ideas
Social Networking Forces Changes in Customer Service


When I read these two articles first, I thought that it is ridiculous, because most of people who provide answers on the Internet is not experts, but amateurs. It is weird that companies get information from non-experts. This is because it may lead the company to failure. However, I remembered that me, myself also do Googling or search blogs when I have problems in my life.

This is my experience. I am not good at computers, so when I have a problem with my personal computer, and if the Internet is still connected, I search for the problem on the Internet, without hesitation. As you know, many portal sites provide question and answer function, so I can find the solution for my problem. Sometimes, it is much better and faster than asking for people who are very good at dealing with computers, or going to customer center.

I think this is because of diversity, and the Internet made it possible to realize. By using Internet, people from all over the world meet at one virtual place. We can use collection of knowledge experienced by different age and countries. We can use their thoughts and experiences creatively, because all of them have different political, economical, social, and cultural background.

And also, people know many other people. I think it is related to what we discussed about last Wednesday. When we have problem, we can solve it by getting help from people around us. In succession, when we see a person on a web site who have problem I went through, we can give him/she a tip to solve. It is making connection between two groups; it means that the knowledge and information known by our group can be shared to other group by me and other user who is in other group, by Internet. Therefore, without going to go to customer service center, we can solve problems by faster and easier way.

The more social networking, the more neccesity to doubt

After reading "Six Myths about Informal Networks - and How to Overcome Them" and Clive Thompson on Real-World Social Networks vs. Facebook 'Friends'

I read some materials about social networking in business and facebook. According to the articles, informal networks are very important, not only in the field of business, but also on the Internet networking.

We are living in the world with numerous networks. They include not only about the Internet sites like Facebook or networks in the real world like the networking in the business, but also the Internet sites we surfed to fine some information, the people we meet on campus, and the world we live. There is lots of information from anonymous people, just we heard or seen in the Internet or something, and which are from somewhere we even cannot remember.

The problem is that no one can be sure to the information on conversations, on the Internet, in the world. I think this is because there are too many informal networks, and we receive information from them without filtering. In a Korean movie, “Castaway On The Moon,” there is a woman who has many blogs which pretend to belong to pretty girls, in different age, and different face. The girl is not satisfied with herself, so she makes many blogs and fine gorgeous pictures from other blogs to copy and paste to her virtual blogs. All of the stuff in her blogs is not real, from the owner to the pictures. I thought this movie while I was reading the material about facebook, because it is possible to be in the real world. A posting about “I am reading a book” doesn’t mean that s/he is really reading a book. We cannot believe from stuffs in blogs to even the person has it.

It was some drastic example, but it can be occur in the real world. In a company, too many informal networks can bring about grapevine, which means groundless rumor between employees, so that it can affect to them negative effect. This is due to the fact that information from someone can be tortured during it is delivered, or someone can spread intended rumor to other people in the company. By the characteristic of social networking, the final receiver of the information cannot know the first person who gave the information, and sometime, no one can do it. This can be fatal to performance of employees, by affecting on social relationships in the company.

Hello everyone!

Hi :D
My name is Soyoung Kim, from South Korea. I am an exchange student, and I am junior, majoring in Business Administration. I cannot speak and write English well, because it's not my first language, so I'm trying to improve my English skill.

This blog is for my ITEC335 class at American university, and it's truly on my own.

Nice to meet all of you, and see you!