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As We Close Guantanamo, Remember Milgram’s Studies

January 27, 2009 By 2 Comments
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One of my favorite blogs, Cognitive Daily, posted an article reviewing the publication of a study by Berger replicating the famous experiments by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s and 1970s. Milgram's experiments tested obedience to authority by having a study volunteer administer electric shocks to an anonymous participant under the direction of a person in a lab coat. If you aren't familiar with the study, read the Cognitive Daily account. Berger's study was done about two years ago and the results were statistically insignificantly different from the original study. As recently as two years ago, people were still willing to fry the hell out of someone if a guy in a lab coat told them it was okay. As I read this article, I could not help but think about all the abuses of power we have witnessed in the last several years, from the Patriot Act to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo. I remembered my father's favorite cartoon from Pogo with the now infamous lines: "We have met the enemy and he … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Politics & Policy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Digital Storytelling: Asynchronous Journeys

January 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I was doing some research for an online course I'm teaching at Fielding Graduate University in Digital Narrative and Emerging Technologies, and came across this absolutely brilliant video called "The Bus" by photographer Daniel Meadows. It is beautifully produced, but has an incredible tenderness and humanity. Meadows teaches and researches Digital Storytelling in the U.K. Here is how he describes digital storytelling: Digital Stories are short, personal, multimedia tales. Written with feeling and in the first person there's a strictness to their construction: 250 words, a dozen or so pictures, and two minutes is about the right length. Considered narratives which subject themselves to strictures of form tend to elegance. Digital Stories -- when properly done -- can be tight as sonnets: multimedia sonnets from the people. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education Tagged With:

The Lifespan Approach to Social Networking Tools

January 16, 2009 By 3 Comments

Pew Internet & American Life Project researcher Amanda Lenhart reports in Adults and Social Network Websites that the number of adult Internet users who have taken up social networking has more than quadrupled since 2005. (Chart from USA Today.) This isn't surprising if you consider the way conversations have moved toward social media as a marketing tool in lieu of a mere social connection with friends.  Networks have properties that defy traditional linear ways of thinking about market reach and targeting users, so growth should follow exponentially. In October, another Pew researcher reported on how the Internet and cell phones have become central components of family life.  It's not possible to have digital connectivity central to family life without adults engaging in digital networks. We can think about media devices as a progression, using a lifespan approach to technology adoption.  First you crawl, then you walk....Cell phones may not be the first thing that comes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Positive Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

Website Hijacking to Spread a Message of Protest

January 10, 2009 By 5 Comments
Hijacked by Protesters

The power of media to distribute information to a wide audience makes "stealing" media an effective method of disrupting or redirecting information flows.  The Media Psychology Research Center homepage was hijacked yesterday by a Gaza protest group.  (Thanks, Larry, for the heads up!)  I have included a thumbnail of the intruding page below.  The page, as you can see, is an angry display of outrage with photographs of people, mostly children, ripped apart (literally) by bombs and artillery attacks.  The frustration and anger in the page was palpable even if the graphic display was rudimentary (i.e. no graphic design team had been hired to assemble the message.)  At the same time, about half-way down the protest page was a small message: "Don't worry.  Nothing of your files deleted." I found that kind of charming amidst all the chaos.  Once I had overcome my panic given my lack of technical expertise in solving such problems and found a solution … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Culture & Society, Politics & Policy Tagged With: , , , ,
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