Wikipedia, the world’s foremost internet encyclopedia project, has revolutionized research and collaboration as we know it. It can be edited by almost anyone with internet access, anywhere, at any time – and contains information on nearly any subject. There are many exciting features of the website, but its major selling point is that it’s a multi-lingual and comprehensive list of just about everything.
The Wikipedia site states that it has more than 1.5 million English-language entries, and eighteen foreign-language versions have more than 50,000 entries each. There are more than 250 languages represented on the site, and several DVD-ROMs have been made for commercial distribution. Its popularity is amazing, and the servers process more than 2,000 “hits” per second! (1)
Although it is a wonderful resource when seeking information on popular culture, some of its documents may be inaccurate. In 2005, the science journal “Nature” compared Wikipedia to Encyclopedia Brittanica, and found that most articles about natural sciences were similar in accuracy (2). But many documents about popular culture items and people are edited by Wikipedia members and contain inaccurate information.
Another negative issue with Wikipedia is that controversial articles are often subject to “revert wars”. Revert or edit wars are when two (or more) users repeatedly edit Wikipedia articles. This is not only a violation of policy, but also very frustrating for users. It has also recently been discovered that site administrators have blocked and unblocked articles, allowing friends and acquaintances to edit them and blocking others from doing so.
Although Wikipedia has many challenges, it has many wonderful aspects. For instance, sensitive topics can be edited to share information amongst all walks of life. If a reader deems an article to be untrue, they can “flag” it as inaccurate. At that point, volunteer editors will check facts and attempt to resolve the dispute.
As a player in popular culture, Wikipedia has emerged as a “go-to” site for information. Aside from this, it has appeared in newspaper articles, books … even popular music! (3)
I certainly think that Wikipedia is a pop culture artifact. The site’s popularity, as well as its accompanying community, continue to grow.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Assignment 5-2, part two.
QUESTION: Why does our culture reach out for heroes and celebrities? What do we gain in our lives as a result of this interaction?
ANSWER: Our culture chooses to reach out for heroes and celebrities because we are looking for a way to compensate for excitement and fantasy that we are lacking. Simply put, heroes and celebrities are a way to escape the dull and boring daily life that most Americans have. We gain a bit of an escape … a “mental vacation”, if you will.
Celebrity life is infinitely more interesting than the regular life of a wife and a mother. The daily “grind” of diapers and dishes seems to be far less interesting than the worries of choosing just the right designer jeans for the club each night, doesn’t it? So it would stand to reason that many women choose to follow celebrity life as a way to experience a wistful escape from their daily “ho-hum” life.
And I speak from experience.
One of the current “hot sites” on my hit-list is perezhilton.com, and I have to admit reading it daily. I love reading the snippets of information about the jet set, and seeing what’s “in”. Admittedly, my social status and fashion know-how has taken quite the hit since I have a job that requires a lot of energy and thought (and a child that helpfully added more than a fair amount of weight). I enjoy taking a few minutes just to see what the celebrities are up to.
ANSWER: Our culture chooses to reach out for heroes and celebrities because we are looking for a way to compensate for excitement and fantasy that we are lacking. Simply put, heroes and celebrities are a way to escape the dull and boring daily life that most Americans have. We gain a bit of an escape … a “mental vacation”, if you will.
Celebrity life is infinitely more interesting than the regular life of a wife and a mother. The daily “grind” of diapers and dishes seems to be far less interesting than the worries of choosing just the right designer jeans for the club each night, doesn’t it? So it would stand to reason that many women choose to follow celebrity life as a way to experience a wistful escape from their daily “ho-hum” life.
And I speak from experience.
One of the current “hot sites” on my hit-list is perezhilton.com, and I have to admit reading it daily. I love reading the snippets of information about the jet set, and seeing what’s “in”. Admittedly, my social status and fashion know-how has taken quite the hit since I have a job that requires a lot of energy and thought (and a child that helpfully added more than a fair amount of weight). I enjoy taking a few minutes just to see what the celebrities are up to.
Assignment 5-2, part one.
QUESTION: In many popular T.V. shows, a person is "voted off" or rejected in some way each week (The Apprentice, Survivor, American Idol, The Batchelor, etc). To what extent can you argue that this tendency is a symptom of society's adoption of a "quick fix" to solve a problem?
ANSWER: As a society, we have moved more and more towards “instant gratification”. The implementation of VRU (voice recognition unit) answering services, instant messaging services, and e-mail communication for our service providers has dramatically changed the landscape of business. It seems that the “quick fix” portrayed by reality shows is actually a true way of life for American society.
There are positives and negatives to this phenomenon. The positive aspect is the heightened expectations of the consumer, and in turn the faster pace of customer service. If a customer expects “right now” service and doesn’t receive it, than the slighted customer will tell several people (or more, through the advent of websites such as MySpace and Blogger).
Conversely, there are potential negatives to the situation as well. Since customers are conditioned to immediate service, there can be anger expressed when a problem’s resolution can take longer than expected. For instance, I am an officer with a mortgage servicing corporation. If a customer needs an answer to a dispute with their mortgage payment, it can take 45 days (or more) to get the correct answer. The reason for this is that most (if not all) of our dispute resolutions revolve around having a signed copy of their mortgage note in front of us when answering questions … and this may have to be retrieved from a local courthouse. Not to mention the fact that once the documents have been received, that’s when the research really begins. As a manager, I teach my analysts to always give the right answer – rather than the quick one – and sometimes this takes a little longer than customers expect.
Reality shows have definitely shaped society’s view on problem resolution … after all, most issues can’t be resolved within a half-hour time block (with commercials, of course).
ANSWER: As a society, we have moved more and more towards “instant gratification”. The implementation of VRU (voice recognition unit) answering services, instant messaging services, and e-mail communication for our service providers has dramatically changed the landscape of business. It seems that the “quick fix” portrayed by reality shows is actually a true way of life for American society.
There are positives and negatives to this phenomenon. The positive aspect is the heightened expectations of the consumer, and in turn the faster pace of customer service. If a customer expects “right now” service and doesn’t receive it, than the slighted customer will tell several people (or more, through the advent of websites such as MySpace and Blogger).
Conversely, there are potential negatives to the situation as well. Since customers are conditioned to immediate service, there can be anger expressed when a problem’s resolution can take longer than expected. For instance, I am an officer with a mortgage servicing corporation. If a customer needs an answer to a dispute with their mortgage payment, it can take 45 days (or more) to get the correct answer. The reason for this is that most (if not all) of our dispute resolutions revolve around having a signed copy of their mortgage note in front of us when answering questions … and this may have to be retrieved from a local courthouse. Not to mention the fact that once the documents have been received, that’s when the research really begins. As a manager, I teach my analysts to always give the right answer – rather than the quick one – and sometimes this takes a little longer than customers expect.
Reality shows have definitely shaped society’s view on problem resolution … after all, most issues can’t be resolved within a half-hour time block (with commercials, of course).
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