Week 9: Post your Blog Entries as Comments to my Main Post Each Week

[on Wednesday, Oct. 27, I emailed you the digital readings for next week. If you didn't get them, email me for them. Read Turner; skim Katz]

Post by Sunday (10/31! next Sunday!) at midnight.

Here's some links related to how our network society is changing our social world:

0-21-2010 20:18
Location tracking App stirs dispute
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/10/117_74987.html

Monitoring how Twitter users are feeling can predict the stock market three days in advance
By Niall Firth
20th October 2010
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1322133/How-monitoring-Twitter-users-feeling-predict-stock-market-days-advance.html#ixzz13FPKIUJA

Facebook 'accidentally outing gay users' to outside firms through targeted ads
By Niall Firth
22nd October 2010
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1322916/Facebook-accidentally-outing-gay-users-advertisers.html#ixzz13FPQQLLt

And another fascinating statistic:

1. Mark Whitaker

2. Internet Sector of British Economy Larger than Most Others

Who would have thought 20 years ago this would happen? These years are a very novel development, just as Castells argues.

---------------------------

Internet accounts for 7.2% of British economy: study
Oct 28 05:28 AM US/Eastern

The Internet contributed 100 billion pounds (155 billion dollars, 115 billion euros) to the British economy last year, about 7.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a report showed Thursday.

The sector is bigger than the construction, transport or utilities industries in Britain, according to the study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which was commissioned by the British arm of Internet giant Google.

The research also predicted that by 2015, the British 'Internet economy' is likely to grow to 10 percent of GDP, eclipsing the financial sector.

"The Internet is pervasive in the UK economy today, more so than in most advanced countries," said Paul Zwillenberg, a partner with BCG in London.

"Whether they are driving international expansion, improving their interactions with customers or the efficiency of their supply chains, UK companies are increasingly embracing the Internet's potential."

Much of the growth is driven by consumption, the majority of it online spending but also what consumers spend on getting access to the Internet, while the rest comes from government spending, private investment and exports.

The study found that about 62 percent of adults, or 31 million people, have bought goods or services online so far this year and collectively they spent about 50 billion pounds last year on goods or travel.

More than 19 million out of a total of 26 million British households have an Internet connection and broadband access has doubled since 2005.

Overall, Britain was ranked sixth among major economies on the BCG "e-intensity index" which judges the reach and depth of the Internet, after Denmark, South Korea, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands.

---
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.cc58070f3f3b3257db047a1b6231a166.421&show_article=1

If you want to look at the report yourself, it is here:
http://www.connectedkingdom.co.uk/downloads/bcg-the-connected-kingdom-oct-10.pdf
[Particularly for South Korea's rankings]

Week 8: No Blog This Week; Work on Mid-Term

I emailed the class the mid-term a few hours ago. If you didn't receive it, contact me via my preferred email at mwhitake @ ssc.wisc.edu.

As a treat, appropriately through the network society itself, see the person who has researched this topic more than anyone, Manuel Castells. Learn more about him at the following links:

Conversations with History: Manuel Castells (2001)
58:18 min

"(UCtelevision, February 15, 2008 [when it was uploaded, this was filmed in 2001) "On this edition of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler welcomes social theorist Manuel Castells, Professor of Sociology and Professor of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, to discuss identity and change in the network society. Series: "Conversations with History" [6/2003] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7234]"

Text of the interview here:
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/castells-con0.html

Week 7: Post your Blog Entries as Comments to my Main Post Each Week

Post by Sunday at midnight.

Week 6: Post your Blog Entries as Comments to my Main Post Each Week

Post by Sunday at midnight.