What is Online Ethnography?

Online Ethnography is an online research method used to study detail or “thick description” through observation and understanding of online behavior and level of knowledge within a group of individuals with a common interest need or desire. Online Ethnographers observe the online websites, forums, or communities where the individuals in the group are talking, sharing information, experiences or providing support with a situation. Also Online Ethnographers will immerse themselves and engage directly with active members of the online communities to gain a deeper insight.

Have you ever heard of “LambdaMOO”?

I have never heard of LambdaMOO until my professor introduced it to me in the class last week. It is an free Online Community that allow users to interact with other users within the same room. LambdaMOO has been around since late 1990 or early 1991 by Pavel Curtis at Xerox PARC. LambdaMOO is required users to have a working email in order to join. Once users submit the email, the users must wait a few days before they receive a randomized character name and password. In the meantime, users can play LambadMoo as a guest. I started as a guest, so I could join LambdaMOO immediately. It was a different experience compared to other social medias I have been using. It was bit confused for me at the beginning on how to get into the room, but later it was fun to chat with other users in the same room about any thing. 

New players and guests traditionally connected in "The Coat Closet” which open onto the center of the house and in The Living room, a common hangout and place for conversation. Guest can leave any time from one room to another by typing the direction user wants to go such as “S” or “N” or “E” or “W” or “NW” and so on but the users cannot go farther or skip rooms to get to the destination. It has to be connected from one room to another room.

Come and give a try if you have not joined LambdaMOO yet. It will be more fun if you explore it yourself.

What is PINTEREST?

Recently, I was introduced by one of my friends to a new app called “Pinterest”. She recommended to download its app if I want to look for food recipes from all around the world. I have never heard of Pinterest before until she told me. I can check any thing I want by typing in the search engine of Pinterest, it will be popped out, which is similar to Google’s search engine, but it is in smaller scale. On the homepage of Pinterest, there are variety of images rather than the contents. If I am interested in food, I click on food, it will appear variety of food images and when I select on its image, it will show recipe of its food at the bottom. 

Here is the general information about Pinterest, Pinterest is a social images platform and a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home, and style inspiration, and more. Home feed is the center of Pinterest, where we will find ideas, or pins, with recommendations based on your interests. When we discover ideas or Pins we love, save them to boards to keep your ideas organized and easy to find. There is a following tab on the home page where we can discover ideas by clicking on the people we want to follow. Thus, it allows users to visually share, and pose images or videos. Users can interact with each other through liking, commenting, re-saving each other’s stuff and private messaging each other. It is a free web and app but needs to set up an account to start using it. 

Pinterest was found in 2010 and the company has received $1.5 billion in funding from 37 firms including Rakuten, Goldman Sachs, and Andreessen Horowitz. Roughly 250 Roughly 250 million users, or "pinners," use the bulletin board-like platform every month to browse and share images and other content in the form of "pins." Here it is linked: https://www.pinterest.com/barbfriedberg/investopedia/ 

I would strongly recommend to use Pinterest app, especially people who are interested in cooking and want to discover new food to cook for family, Pinterest will be your best friend.

What do you think about Google/Alphabet?

In my opinion, Google has changed people’s lives significantly through Google’s search engine and other tools. People can find information at fingertip and quickly whereas the internet is available. People used to watch TV or read newspapers or listen to radio to know the news and things happen around the globe, however, Google has brought us to a new level of accessing news and information by typing whatever we want to know in the search engine, its information will be popped up immediately. It is simple, easy to use, and free. Based on Internet Live Stats, an average people use search engine per day is 3.5 billion and 1.2 trillion per year. Here it is the link: http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/. 

Google needs to make money somehow in order to keep the company runs long-term and to provide free search engine, email service, web browser, and various online tools for users to use at work, at home, and on the go. Google’s main revenue are from advertising the products or services. I noticed that when I search for a method to release stress in several websites, there will be several kinds of products or services popped up on the top or on the sides that related to release stress. I did not bother with those advertisings because sometimes, it helped me to reach to the products that I did not know it exists.

Thus, in October 2015, Google/Alphabet changed motto from “Don’t be evil” to “Do the right thing” due to criticisms. The question is “Does Google/Alphabet really always do the right thing?” It is hard to answer its question, Google does not charge advertisers unless the users click to view its ads unlike TV, Newspaper, or Radio. Also, Google tries not to influence on users’ decision to buy the products or services that advertise through its websites. However, some people believe that Google still provides some bias information regarding ethnic, gender, and so on. So, I cannot say Google always do the right things, there are still some errors that needs to be fixed but overall, I think Google has been doing a good job.