I am already intrigued by the majority of introductory subject content. Although not too much core information was provided, it's good to know a rough (yet concise) outline of what we're expected to analyse over the coming semester. I have to say, I'm pretty excited for the Apple vs Google mobile device case study in the latter weeks. Who knows, maybe we'll get some chairs thrown or tables flipped when the two sides use their opinions to throw punches.
One thing that catches my attention is the way we're being presented with the concepts. It seems that a mind-map format for visualising ideas such as the types of network structure as well as Ted's Prezi slides themselves (would you even call them slides?) proves to be an efficient way of explaining the branching of information. Personally, I enjoy how data or concepts can be represented in one single image (infographs, anyone?). I'd like to see a lot more of this format/technique later on in lectures or even lab tutorials.
With regards to the group research project, I'm hoping I can work on something to do with the gaming category. This area proves to be extremely diverse with regards to ethics, marketing and future sporting events (read: e-sports). Off the top of my head I can already imagine researching the World of Warcraft gold farming industry in China, or the international tournaments held for StarCraft and StarCraft 2 over in Korea.
Castell's reading didn't provide me much information, whether or not it was because I didn't tentatively read the entire document (that many full stops felt like running into a brick wall every four seconds), he seemed to be too interested in examples of networks in the past & present, and finished off with a pretty weak conclusion. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how networks apply on global sociological level as well as any microsystem in today's communicative society. It's important to remember what networking was like before the mobile/internet explosion, such as theories like the six degrees of separation.
Judgments aside, I am looking forward to next week's round of content and hope my readers can provide constructive criticism on my blog. Good luck with your research projects!
