"...the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that takes into account their interactions with institutional and cultural contexts."
Rosenbaum, H. & Sawyer, S. (2000)
so I have collected articles, videos and images that discuss and explore the impact that various technologies have on modern society, how it has helped shape our identity and the way in which we work as human beings. I place particular focus on aspects of the internet and the interactive nature of Web 2.0
I chose to a blog as my medium because I feel it is a social document of the 21st Century, and a reflection of the things that I am commenting on, which is appropriate. The themes that bring the material I have collected together under the umbrella of Social Informatics are conveyed through the use of tags. I have focused primarily on internet-based objects and services because I feel that the virtual space is where society is heading at the moment, and because there are a lot of interesting things happening on the world wide web that are currently affecting pockets of society. In addition to this, I also feel that gadgets such as mobile phones (and by extension, smart phones) and e-books and e-readers are things that have changed or are changing our lives right now, so are part of the social informatics sphere.
Some of the tags used in my blog are:
- communication: new technologies are affecting the way we communicate with other people, and I feel this is an important part of social informatics.
- online communities: the advent of Web 2.0 has fostered online communities, which consist of people who are geographically dispersed, who are able to come together on the web through a love of the same things, like some sort of fandom. It's a whole new kind of community that has been made possible through modern technology.
- google: a growing internet shark that is rapidly taking over our lives.
- mobile phones: a technology that has almost become a vital part of life in the past ten years. It has had a massive effect on how we communicate and see the world, and is important when discussing social informatics.
