Readings 11: Reading Partner

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CEC Response: “The Social Network”

CEC Response: “The Social Network”

The Social Network tells the story of Facebook – a website created in 2004 that has completely revolutionized the way in which people connect and interact with each other. However, the movie is much more than just a story about a website. It explores Facebook’s failure and success, the weight of human relationships, the cost of success, the incarnation of ego, dignity and greed.

The movie follows the story of Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard undergraduate student who gave birth to one of the most popular and fastest growing networks in the history of mankind.  However, it is being said that “This is the movie Facebook (i.e. Zuckerberg) doesn’t want you to see.” As far as I know Zuckerberg rejected his portrayal in the movie and according to an article in The Guardian he claimed that “The Social Network has got him all wrong … apart from his on-screen wardrobe.” He was depicted as a heartless college student who created Facebook in order to increase his chances with girls and ensure his entry into Ivy League institutions. However, I am pretty sure that this was not the main reason behind Facebook’s concept. In this same article Zuckerberg made the following comment: “They [the film’s creators] just can’t wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.” Only people who are dealing with something creative can really know what he is talking about. The sheer pleasure an individual receives from simply creating art in some form is the thing that motivates people of all ages to continue what they are doing. Whether it is a drawing, a folded origami paper, a design in Photoshop, or the development of a particular website such as Facebook, the pleasure derived from the very act of creating is the same.

Despite all the controversies questioning the accuracy of the movie, I believe that The Social Network  is pretty much based on a real story. It is true that Zuckerberg actually dropped out of Harvard University, which surprised me a lot given the fact that Harvard is one of the best universities in the whole world. After completing his sophomore year in 2004, he moved to California and never returned to Harvard as a student. He was seduced by the real-world and the luring opportunities given to him by Napster’s founder, Sean Parker, who offered him a whole new world of investors by day and endless parties by night. However, in order to move to California, Zuckerberg had to leave his best friend and companion in life – Eduardo Saverin. He was there for Mark when he needed him the most – he gave him the monetary funds to get Facebook started and to maintain it in the future. However, Zuckerberg’s friendship with Parker completely destroyed the relationship they had. It is extremely sad when Eduardo visits California to see how Facebook is doing when he realizes that there is no 1 million users Celebration party, but a plethora of contracts to sign. These contracts state that his shares have dropped from 30% to no more than 0.3%.. What is more, his name has been removed from the names of the creators on the actual Facebook site. Feeling betrayed, Eduardo decides to sue “his friend” for unfairly reducing his shares of the company and taking full credit for the creation of the social network. And even though, I felt like Eduardo still seemed to care about his former friend.

There is always a cost for great success and a cost for changing the world. Often, those are paid in relationships. And this actually calls attention to the movie’s tagline – ” You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” I believe that this is an extremely appropriate saying which only complements the general idea and uniqueness of the move.

The Social Network is a story about a tale of power, betrayal, revenge, and responsibility. It is also a story explaining what happens when success literally happens overnight to individuals who are not prepared for the real life at all. It is a story that constantly brings more and more questions that every successful person should ask. How does that change NOT affect who you are? How does that fame NOT affect relationships and loyalties?

Readings 3: Who is Using Who? Crowd Sourcing, DIY

Should We Trust the Wisdom of Crowds?

In his article Should We Trust the Wisdom of Crowds, Tom de Castella discusses British attitude towards crowdsourcing. First of all, I have to say that I don’t really agree with this statement: “The IQ of a crowd is the lowest individual IQ divided by the number of people in the crowd.” I believe that every single individual, who is a part of a crowd, is competent in a different field. For instance, in each crowd (hypothetically) there will be a person good at  mathematics; there will be another one good at literature, and so on. In my opinion, all these individuals form a group, that possesses its own IQ which may exceed the IQ of a particular person in this group. Each one of these people will have something to share with the others. As anthony Williams, co-author of Wikinomics, says in the article – “For the first time millions of people can aggregate their talent and expertise”, which means that they will mutually benefit from their abilities and talents. The collective activity of the group, however, depends on how “tuned in” group members are one to another. If they refuse to collaborate with each other, they won’t be able to show their potential and ideas.
In my opinion, technology nowadays allows us “to reach a huge pool of new talent and ideas from general public”, and this is one of the beauties of crowdsourcing. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, there are some downsides. Here, in this article, the author also talks about one of the negative aspects of crowdsourcing – the embarrassment. To prove this point, Castella used the following example: years ago, the White House decided to try crowdsourcing (when Obama first came in). In order to determine what its main priorities should be, they decided to ask the public for their opinion. Legalizing marijuana came up number one. I guess that was a huge shock.. As the author says – “The problem with [crowdsourcing] is the notion of a crowd – this amorphous crowd has no individual perspective.” I completely agree with this idea about the perspective of the crowd. As I said before, every single group consist of many individuals, who have different ideas and points of view, so we can’t really talk about individuality when it comes to crowds.

Questions:
How crowdsourcing is presented in this article?
Do you think that we can talk about individuality when it comes to a group/crowd?
What do you think about this statement – “The IQ of a crowd is the lowest individual IQ divided by the number of people in the crowd.”?

About Inna

My name is Inna and I am a freshman. My major is Communication Arts (concentration – Visual Communication Design). I am an international student from Bulgaria. I’m interested in Web Design & Development. I really want to learn PHP 😀