Book Review: "Makers: A New Industrial Revolution"

I found it really hard to sum up all that I wanted to in just two minutes. I wish I had a little more time to establish ethos. I think it made me think a lot more of how people were going to receive my message via video as opposed to my consciousness when I'm just writing something. There's more of a vulnerable element to video as opposed to text as well. Overall it was an interesting experience and I would be interested in trying it again for another project maybe. Hope it was informative!

Belated Thoughts on the Video Reviews

I have really been enjoying watching everyone's book reviews! It's fun to see different approaches to this assignment. I've been thinking tonight about our conversation in class today.

Dr. Burton asked us to think about how doing our textual Goodreads book review differs from a video book review. I've been thinking about how on Goodreads, I'm just a voice in a sea of many voices, adding my support or discouragement towards a book. Whoever reads my review on that website knows nothing about me or my credentials. They don't have much to go off of other than my word. In a YouTube review, however, as soon as a viewer presses play on your clip, they immediately begin to form conclusions and ideas about who you are as a person and how valid your opinion is. We've talked about that before in class and it was something that I completely forgot about when preparing for my video review. While we all LOVE to look at a blank wall behind the speaker and all that dim, dungeon lighting, I wish I would have put more thought into how I can promote the book using not only my voice, but my surroundings as well. I know that the ideas and content matters more, but it's still really interesting to think about…

What do you think? I'm curious to see if you would be more willing to watch a clip and trust the speaker if they had a more visually appealing video. I think I would!! Definitely. If that is the case, then maybe we should learn more skills with video making if we are bringing that medium into book reviews and other purposes.

On a side note, I found this blog where the author gives 7 ways we can promote a book through using Vine. It focuses primarily on promoting a book that you write yourself, but it can still apply to any book. It caught my attention, because Vine is known for its videos being rather short and concise. It gives ideas for reviewing the book as well as promoting it.

Video Review for "Youth Online"

So, here's my video for Youth Online! I think the experience of making a video was more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Not because it took a lot of time or because I had to edit (neither of which were the case) but because I kept stumbling over my own words! I had a hard time choosing exactly what I wanted to say out of the plethora that I had thought of for my own written review. I think it turned out alright in the end, but I seriously took probably 8 takes before I decided, "Whatever. This will do just fine!" I hope you guys enjoy it! It's a little over 2 minutes, but I'm hoping that since a lot of other people went over, I won't be penalized too severely :)

Video Book Review Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail"

Here is my video book review of Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. It's not amazing, but it's my 29th take, so what can you do? Doing a quality video book review is harder than it looks!

My Video Book Review for "Grown Up Digital"

I just finished my video book review on Don Tapscott's book, "Grown Up Digital."

I've never done a video blog or book review before, so it was a new and interesting experience for me!

I'll be honest, I felt extremely awkward for the first 10 takes or so (I wish I could have made a blooper reel). I didn't want to have a set script I read off of, but the temptation was to then wander and go off on tangents about the book when I was reviewing it. I had to organize my thoughts and keep things simple. It wasn't too different from my written review, but I did discuss new things not mentioned in Goodreads. My biggest challenge was keeping it short and concise. I'm used to being told to have my book reviews or reports be a lot longer, so that was more difficult for me.

 I'm not skilled at all in making videos, so I felt disappointed that I wasn't able to create something with more visual appeal, but I worked with what I had…. even if that's a blank wall behind me.

By the end of it, I actually really enjoyed it. Aside from the initial awkwardness, I like being able to freely talk about a book as if in conversation.

"Makers" Book Review

Photo by moleitau

Chris Anderson has done a wonderful job in creating room for the "Do It Yourself" (DIY) Movement in the tangible, atom-based economy, which he points out is much larger than the world of online marketing. Anderson argues that the Maker Movement is picking up speed with today's digital resources and furthermore, he gives it a space to flourish. The basics of Anderson's premise include 1) the digital use of DIY to create product designs, 2) getting social feedback/crowdsourcing, and 3) sending designs to small manufacturing companies that can produce and customize based on your project's demand.

Anderson's ideas are big and as he walks you through the different things to consider while becoming a Maker/entrepreneur, his ideas become more and more convincing through his narrative. His personal experiences and experimentation in the Maker Movement is rather inspiring and does not seem too far-fetched. His understanding and research in the modern economy we interact with gives great context to where the Maker Movement fits and how it can be effective. I especially found it fascinating that through simple technologies found online and within computer software can create something remarkable that can then be actually produced in the real world.

The Maker Movement is depicted as inherently social. Anderson emphasizes through his personal and practical experiences, the success that has come from what may have been before deemed "hobbyists." These amateurs have come together to create something that is not virtual at all and has given them the experience of experts.

I loved this book and was hooked from the beginning. The practical applications of Anderson's theory of the Maker Movement is inspirational and is seemingly attainable. I enjoyed applying his theoretical concepts to different companies and finding amazement in the success stories of real-life examples. Although I have never had any dreams of pursuing entrepreneurial feats, I feel this book has given me inspiration to be a creator and make something meaningful. I'm definitely convinced that digital DIY, social collaboration, and customized manufacturing services will change the way we do business in the future.

Online Identity

I finished the book Youth Online, and I really enjoyed it. The book talked about the way teenagers interact and develop online and why that doesn't have to be a horrible things. It draws a lot of parallels with the way teenagers act in the offline world in comparison to how they behave online. I was really enraptured with the ideas it presented Some of the things the author talked about really strikes a core in me and a lot of it will help me with my final project.

The book followed a basic chapter by chapter outline that helped the author explain her overall argument. She starts out with an introduction where she talks about a lot of the psychological aspects of being online and other theories in order to give the reader a basic understanding of the tools she is using to argue her point. Then she gives a basic overview of her argument in the second chapter "The Virtual Self" This is where she talks about the stereotypical "being online is like being me without the bad parts." Throughout the next chapter she introduces five young adults that are heavily involved in the online world. She has them tell their stories and uses them throughout the next few chapters as examples of the points in her argument. She touches on Youth participation, identities, literacy, and socialization in her argument for the benefit of children interacting with each other online.

This book discusses the different ways children become "themselves" throughout their teenage years. She explains how they explore their sexuality and display themselves as "who they want to be" by the use of avatars (193). It also talked about the legitimacy of online friendships and the way the children displayed themselves to others. In all, children interacted with each other the same way they would if they had been talking face to face: by trying to show the other their best self. The book also displayed how children are learning leadership skills while being online (185) as well as expressing their creative sides and learning how to connect with others in order to create creative content (130).

I think this book was extremely interesting. I wish there was a little more counterargument throughout, since this would have answered questions I routinely had while reading her argument, but in the conclusion she addresses many of those issues I had and made me comfortable in her answer. I wasn't completely satisfied, but I at least understood why she didn't deeply address the issues of pornography of child predators online. I did find that I was a little disappointed in her focus on girls in the book. As a general rule, she was fair in giving explanations on both male and female interactions online, but during the chapter on avatars she chose to focus on why girls choose certain types of avatars (dominating, sexual, equal) and what that meant. But she didn't explain why the boys might have chosen different avatars or what their motives might have been. Her focus on female sexuality made me sad simply because I would have preferred a more equal discussion. Girls are not the only ones who want to be seen as desirable and boys are experimenting with their sexuality at this stage as well.

As a general rule, I think this book did an excellent job of making its point clear and arguing it fairly. It was refreshing to read something that acknowledged the good things that children learn while interacting online, such as problem solving, management skills, cooperation, friendship, creativity, and mastery over language. While there were times that I wished she addressed a few of the downsides of being online all the time (exercise, pornography exposure, etc,) I think that she did what she could with the time allotted to her and didn't want to get too distracted from her original point. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who had the desire to learn more about youth online! It was really weird for me when I realized that the book was published in 2007. The children in the book are my age now, which helped me identify with the subjects. I had a similar childhood (with less liberties on the internet) and it made the book that much more personal to me.

Here's my goodreads review if you'd like to hear more about what I had to say about the book! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/742677240

Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail" Book Review

Here is my Goodread's review of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson:

http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/04/the_cover.html

I read the first edition of this book (yes, I know I said that I'd be reading the second edition, but Amazon messed up my order) and I thought Chris Anderson did an excellent job of explaining what he calls "the new economics of culture and commerce" through his concept of the long tail. Since I have virtually no background in economics, I appreciated Anderson's colloquial language as he explained some of the more difficult concepts. I also appreciated his use of case studies to further illustrate these difficult concepts. From these case studies, it is very clear that Anderson did plenty of research before writing this book, as well as having a good background in economics before writing this book as seen in the analysis he offers after each case study. I also loved how he didn't just focus on today's world, but also looked back at how the long tail was used to influence business models well before the internet was invented.

The chapters are broken up into specific topics which allow the reader to jump around nicely. I chose to read it from cover to cover, which allowed me to see that some concepts are repeated throughout the chapters. By doing this I got a clearer picture of what concepts are most important when doing serious business in niche/long tail subjects.

Overall the book was very well done. This first edition is a bit outdated (it's seven years old), but I think the concepts still apply today. I am hoping to read his latest edition in the near future!

"Grown Up Digital" Book Review

I read "Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World," by Don Tapscott, and here is my Goodreads review of it:

Even though I am part of the Net Generation, I've always been a little cynical when it comes to allow children and youth spend so much time on the internet or playing video games. I've been really fascinated with learning about the benefits that come from doing those things and how people are actually growing when they involve themselves in such activities. 

Grown Up Digital is a very good and informative book, with a clear message that the Net Generation is better than they get credit for. Tapscott incorporates many references to specific videos, articles, and studies that help him address his point. He also provides a lot of statistical data in graphs and study results that really help prove his point, which was great. The only downside to that is that this book came out in 2009 and his large three year research study on the Net Generation began years before that, so it doesn't really show me what is happening right now in the current year. There's no real way to get around that though if you're publishing it into a book. 

I found it very interesting, although difficult to read a lot in one sitting. I needed to break it up. Personally, I felt it was written more for the older generations that look down on the Net Generation, thinking they're lazy or not contributing to society. Personally, I learned a lot of how I am benefitting from the digital age in ways that I didn't realize. 

The beginning few chapters are geared to introduce the reader to the Net Generation and familiarize themselves. It goes through the characteristics, mentality, expectations, and behavior of the Net Gen. Then the following few chapters are spent discussing how and why we should change certain institutions to adapt to the digital age. Personally, this was my favorite section of the whole book. Then the ending chapters focus on how democracy and our government would benefit from the Net Gen, how Net Gen is making the world a better place through volunteering and serving through the internet. The last chapter revisits common questions of concern and stereotype regarding the Net Generation and Tapscott takes time to address each one. 

Tapscott really did his homework when writing this book. He has an answer for every question and provides statistical proof to back up his arguments. I really appreciated this and all of the visual graphs he includes as well that look at the Net Gen globally. 

I recommend this book to anyone. It's a great look into the digital age and how it is affecting youth in ways that will benefit them individually and in turn, benefit society as a whole.