How would the world look like without twitter?

For the course Business Information Technology we had to write ten blogs which had to be related to our study ‘Business Communication and Digital Media’. This will be my last blog (for now). I would like to conclude this series of blogs with an infographic of what the world would be like without Twitter.

Thanks you followers, I was delighted…

                             Source: HubSpot

The solution for a long distance and long lasting online relationship

You have finally met your perfect man, but there is one problem…. he lives on the other side of the world. Too bad! Or not?
       An online relationship has several advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are that you do not have to react immediately on the demands of your online partner, you can think about your answers and if you have a fight you can just turn off your computer. There are also some disadvantages, but the most important disadvantage is the lack of (physical) intimacy. But now there is a solution! The University of Electronic Communication in Tokyo has developed a machine with which you can kiss somebody online.
       How does this work? Both partners should have the device in their mouth, which supposed to be the tongue of the partner, and this device copies the movements of the tongue. The machine also record how you kiss. Currently, the device can only copy the movements of the tongue, but scientists have the intention to imitate every elements of the kiss, even the taste, the breathing and the moistness of the tongue. So, with this device there will even be more advantages to start an online realtionship. If it is a bad kisser, you can remove the machine easily and you will not have the inconvenience of a stubbly beard.
         This machine will bring you the perfect long distance and long lasting online relationship! Maybe it will also be the solution for a short distance but long lasting relationship?

Is Facebook ruining students?

Is social media ruining students? This question was asked by onlineeducation.net and they gathered data from different sources to investigate this question. This research has proved that social media has both positive as negative influence on students; the outcome is not really a surprise. Students who use social media like Facebook and Twitter welcome online engagement and resources; around 75% of student respondents said they liked to do some online collaboration for class. Also, social media may have a positive impact on students’ sense of themselves in the community and 20% more of Facebook-using students felt connected to their university and community.
                Negative influences of social media on students are logical, while all the time students spend on social media they cannot spend on their study. This will negatively affect the results of the students, in fact those that multitask between Facebook and studying have 20% lower grades. A more remarkable outcome of this research is that students might actually end up feeling more depressed or lonely. Almost half of students believe they are sadder than their friends on Facebook, and 25% of college students have shown signs of severe depression in their status updates at one time or another.
                I think it is an interesting small research, but little surprising or valid. Nevertheless, after reading the results of this ‘study’ I am wondering what is the effect of blogging on the performance of college students?

Your cloud-girlfriend: It's free. Unlike your last date.

Cloudgirlfriend.com is a new site founded by David Fuhriman. On this website women (cloud girlfriends) can write down on men’s walls to make the female friends of the men jealous, which should result in the rise of the popularity of the men. Users log in on this website through Facebook and can upload pictures from attractive people to pretend that this is the user and fill out a simplistic profile. They select (on basis of all the fake pictures) someone to chat with. “We allow people to define their ideal self, find their perfect girlfriend or boyfriend and connect and interact as if that person existed,” Fuhriman says. “It can help in learning how to manage a real relationship, and they then can take it into the real world.”
                I am wondering if the look does not matter and it is just about your personality, why will you not use your own picture. How is it possible to learn from a fake relationship how you should manage a real relationship? Or are all real relationships also build on lies? And why would you build all your hopes and fantasies on something that is fake and even not you? Besides this, there are too many things that are important in a real relationship which you cannot learn on a site. How can it help in learning how to manage an intimacy interaction? It will be probably better that this is just a fantasy, while your cloud-girlfriend will be no oil painting.

ARTificial Intelligence

Prof. Dr. Eric Postma teaches about Artificial Intelligence at the University of Tilburg, one of his recent studies focuses on using computer vision techniques to detect fake paintings. In this interview we discuss this study as well as other topics that he works on that go beyond using computer vision for just paintings. One of these techniques is Facial Expression Recognition, to allow the computer to detect the nonverbal cues that humans make while interacting. One of the goals is to allow computers  to engage in a nonverbal dialog with the user. For those interested in AI and Computer Vision be sure to check out the interview!

For more information about Prof. Dr. Postma and what he’s currently working on take a look at; http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/webwijs/show/?uid=e.o.postma

Social Media revolution

There are still people in my network who are sceptical about the influence of social media (and not only in my network). If you think 'Hey she is talking to me, I am sceptical and I think social media is just a hype', watch this movie. And for all the other people who are already aware of the influence of social media, it is just a really nice movie to watch. I am sure that at the end of this movie you will be less sceptical, maybe even convinced of the fact that social media is the future, or even more convinced about this fact and that you are going to share this with other disbelievers. Viva la social media revolution!

The amount of friends on Social network site and the relationship with your partner

Last week we discussed the Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) of Berger & Calabrese (1975) during a lecture. This theory assumes that people experience uncertainty in interpersonal relationships, and the uncertainty causes cognitive stress. So when you meet new people, you want to reduce this uncertainty by asking questions for example. We have to communicate with each other to reduce the uncertainty. Do not be afraid! I am not going to repeat the whole lecture, and the whole theory. If you are really interested, you can apply for ‘Communication and Information Sciences’ at the University of Tilburg and enroll in the course Communication Theory.

People experience also uncertainty in a long-lasting relationship. Probably, this is not really new for you, while we all know that after some years (or months, maybe weeks, days) you are not that certain about your relationship. But what do we choose? Excitement or boredom? In this case we assume that a relationship is equal to boredom. I have chosen for the exciting boredom, and I do not experience that much uncertainty in my boredom. Even though I think that I know my partner, he sometimes surprises me. A month ago, we both had a request from a girl on Facebook who we both did not know. I did not add her, he did. I was wondering why did he add her?

Parks & Adelman (1983) found out something interesting, that I did not know before. They assume that the growth of interaction on social network sites reduces the uncertainty in the relationship with your (romantic) partner. The amount of friends can reduce the uncertainty in your relationship. I thought that the amount of friends on the social network site of a man or woman made him a womanizer, and her a man-eater. But well… I was wondering why my boyfriend adds that girl to his network even without knowing her, and Parks & Adelman have given me the answer. Now I know (and you too) that I do not have to be afraid that he is looking for other girls. No, it is a positive thing for my relationship. More friends and more requests of ‘friends’ will make him more satisfied and will let grow his self-respect. Now he has 110 friends on Facebook. Is this number enough to minimize the uncertainty in my relationship?

By the way, I have 152 friends on Facebook, and I do not add everyone. I can afford that, so I am satisfied and have a lot of self-respect. He does not have to be uncertain about me.

Blogging for dummies

I am aware of the fact that I have started with the wrong blog, because I had to start with this one. At the beginning of February, my new semester started. After my first successful semester, I had to start new courses and make new assignments. This blog makes part of an assignment for the course Business Information Technology, and I have to blog about the content of my study.

In February I just started to blog, while I am a ‘blogdummie’. So last week I started an investigation to discover which criteria a blog has to meet, and I have found out that I am not even such a ‘dummie’ blogger. One of the tips was that you can use studies related to your branch (in my case: study) in your blog, which I already have done. And you have to choose subjects, which you like. Easy for me, I have to blog about my study, and I love my study. But another tip was: keep it short, it is not a thesis. My previous blogs were not really short.

Have I already told you that I am a very good student, and I learn very fast? I am and I do. So, my next blogs will be shorter, and this is the first one.

Social shopping

Social network sites as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are popular nowadays. Men have already known the next fact for a long – long time, but now it has been investigated. Researchers from the University of California have scientifically determined that women talk more than men; 20,000 words a day for women versus 7,000 words a day for men. So ladies, I can determine that we are more social than men, and that is the reason why women are more on social network sites than men (http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/women-do-more-social-networking-13671/).

Something else that men already have known for a long time is that women shop more than men do. And women do not shop only in fashionable shopping centers, but they also shop online. Women conclude more transactions and spend more money than men. The Wall Street men can be proud of us; thanks to us the crisis will end sooner!


Back to online shopping
The social aspect is important to women; they trust the recommendations of their friends, but also those of strangers. Social network sites have already been used for shopping. The integration of social network sites and online shopping is called ‘social shopping’. Wikipedia classify four categories: 
1. Group-shopping sites as Groupon, Kaboodle and LivingSocial;
2. Shopping communities as Stylefeeder and Polyvore, where people can discuss, share and shop;
3. Sites where people can ask advice from other shoppers as Amazon;
4. Social shopping Marketplaces where sellers and buyers can connect and transact as Etsy and Shoply.

Social shopping in the future
The possibilities of these sites are limited, but maybe in the future we will shop in one digital shopping street. How nice will that be to shop social with other women (and some men) from all over the world who you can ask which dress looks better on you. Can you imagine? There will be one main online shopping street without lines and with neat cleared up shops, and you do not have to pay for parking. And men, you do not have to join us for an ‘enjoyable’ shopping day. You can stay at the couch and watch (social) football.

What I need is a fast computer with very fast internet, so that the dress which I want will not be out of order. Or I can tell my other shoppers that the dress does not fit them, and that it makes them fat after which I can order the dress. Women will remain the same, also on the ‘social’ shopping sites.

To share or not to share?

Does this sound familiar to you, teachers who want to involve their class by telling personal details of their private life? Well, I do. Sometimes they illustrate the theory by telling ‘real-life’ stories, and sometimes they just want to entertain their students. I will tell you my own ‘real-life’ stories and experiences, and not only to entertain you.

Story 1    There is one teacher who looks and talks really formal. His first two lectures were boring (I am sorry), and I was doubting if it was really necessary to visit this course every week. But I gave him a third chance, third time lucky. And during the third lecture he started telling jokes about his personal life, and about his wife. Maybe the jokes were even funnier because of his formal tone, but the lecture was much nicer. A friend of mine who was absent during this lecture (I will not mention your name) did not believe me when I told her that he was funny. So to convince her, the next lecture we went together and at the beginning of the lecture his wife ‘showed up’ again (in his jokes, not in real, that would be too personal). Honestly, I do think that the jokes about his wife were just to entertain us, but it worked! I am almost looking forward to the next lecture.
      
Story 2   Another story, another teacher. Also this teacher told us personals details about her life, maybe too many, because I do not want to hear details about her online dating experiences. And believe me, sometimes it is better to not give the impression that you are a fan of World of Warcraft and to tell which avatar you have. So during a (boring) lecture without jokes, I was wondering how far can teachers go sharing personal information with their students?

What kind of information can teachers share? 
   Fortunately for us, this subject has been investigated. In this study the perceptions of teachers about the appropriateness of self-disclosure have been investigated. The study offered several implications for the way of teaching and teacher education. According to the teachers, subjects as personal experiences of the teacher, information related to their family, personal interests are permitted to tell in class. The interviewed teachers did not permit to share subjects as political preference, religious beliefs and information about their intimate relations (sex, marriage etc) with the students. Besides the do’s and don’ts, the teachers find that sharing personal information depends on the cultural background, gender, level and the emotional status of a student. 
     By reading the lasts results of the study some questions came to mind. What will tell a teacher differently, if he has a class with only men? More blue jokes? And I am wondering what students will tell these investigators about which subjects are or are not permitted to tell in class.
     But in a general sense, I do agree with the interviewed teachers. Sometimes you can share personal information with your students, but you have to know as a teacher what you can tell and cannot tell. Hopefully for all students, all teachers will read this article and will apply the results during their lectures.

It is not our fault!

Normans' book

Do you know that feeling that you have no clue how a certain machine works? And how many times did you try to open a door by pushing, while you had to pull to open it? How many times have you bought an Ikea design and spent hours to build it? It gives you a feeling of incompetence, and we always blame ourselves. But I have got good news. It is not our fault! It is the fault of the door, the machine, and the Ikea design. Actually, it is the fault of the designer.

That was the message of one of my first lectures of User-interface design. Our lecturer gave us a considerable number of good and recognizable examples. What a relief! Now I have good arguments if my colleagues of the opposite sex laugh at me while I am having problems with the printer. They cannot say things like “You should have been blonde” anymore. No, it is not my fault. (The fact that I am not blonde is also the fault of someone else. Blame my parents).

By the way, for this course we have to read the book of Norman ‘The design of everyday things’. It is a nice book, and as a starter in the world of communication experts it gives you the right way of thinking. I think it is a ‘must read’ for designers, but I can recommend the book to everyone. It is not a study book, it is just funny to read and it will open a whole new world.  

This was just a good advice, now back to the lecture. It was good news, but like the football legend Johan Cruijf said “every advantage has a disadvantage”, and he is right. While I was listening to our lecturer I was wondering if the designer adapts his design to the users how simple sometimes a design will be. Would not that be boring? Besides, it is nice to see other people trying to understand a machine or to see them walking against a door, because they thought they had to push to open the door. It is good for the development of a human being to think before they use some machines. And if every design is so simple that everyone will understand it, too many jobs will disappear, including the one of my favorite ‘printer- help- guy’.

And girls… If we do not understand a technical machine remember that is not our fault, but the fault of the machine which was probably designed by a man.