Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

At Wired, Nicholas Carr, previewing his upcoming book, The Shallows, writes:

What kind of brain is the Web giving us? That question will no doubt be the subject of a great deal of research in the years ahead. Already, though, there is much we know or can surmise—and the news is quite disturbing. Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, and educators point to the same conclusion: When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning. Even as the Internet grants us easy access to vast amounts of information, it is turning us into shallower thinkers, literally changing the structure of our brain.

Read the whole piece here.

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Image-conscious youth rein in social networking

Friday, May 28th, 2010

AP’s Martha Irvine writes:

What’s that? A young college grad lecturing her elders about online privacy?

It might go against conventional wisdom, but a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is adding fuel to the argument that young people are fast becoming the gurus of online reputation management, especially when it comes to social networking sites.

Read the whole article here.

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Researchers study behavior in social networks

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

At SF Gate, Benny Evangelista writes:

Research scientists Cameron Marlow and D.J. Patil have unprecedented windows into the social interactions of people around the world.

Marlow is manager of a data science team for Palo Alto’s Facebook Inc., which has more than 400 million members who come to socialize online.

Patil is chief scientist and senior director of product analytics at Mountain View’s LinkedIn Corp., which has more than 65 million members of a social network that concentrates on building professional relationships.

Read the whole article here.

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