Information and Networks

The three network laws are Sarnoff’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law, and Reed’s Law. Sarnoff’s Law has to do more with ratings and shares. It is when the value of the network increases linearly with the number of people on it. This applies to traditional broadcasting like television and radio. Metcalfe’s Law has to do with communication networks. It is where a communications network has “n” members and each member can make “n-1” connections. They subtract one, because you cannot count yourself. For this law the value of a communication network increases roughly by “n^2.” The bad things about this law is that the value isn’t defined and it assumes all connections are equal. Reed’s Law has to do with social network affiliations. It claims that utility of a network with “n” members increases exponentially or “2^n.” This explains the power of social networks and various groups that form because of network affiliations. I agree mostly with Reed’s Law, because it applies to what is going on in today’s society with Social Networking. Also Sarnoff’s Law just focuses on traditional media and does not include online networks and Metcalfe’s Law assumes all connections are equal when they are not. I think those are two huge disadvantages to those laws. Five years from now I think people will get their information by searching for it on their devices. I think that everything electronic will be able to connect to the internet, including televisions. Even now, gaming systems can connect to the internet to play other gamers across the world and you can tell when you friends are “online.” Right now everything is going digital. Books are being published online and readers can just download all their favorite books to their kindle. That’s just one of the many devices that can hold tons of information and you can also search anything you want from the device. I think as time progresses our society will become almost completely digital.

Why We Blog

Blogging has never been something that has interested me and this is my first time blogging. I’ve always wondered why people blog and this reading really helped me better understand. Some blogs get more views than others and I’ve never understood why. Reading this helped me realize that through friends or colleagues and links or posts, blogs are found. Then the more a blog is shared, the more popularity it gains. It is interesting to learn that some, but not all, bloggers post every day. I always thought of blogs as an online daily diary, but some people only post once a month. It was nice to find out that not all blogs are just like a daily diary. Some are about things like AIDS and heart disease. I never thought about bloggers using personal codes of ethics for what they post. This could possibly be one of the reasons that readers keep coming back to the same blogs, because they know exactly what to expect from each blogger. There is a lot more thought put into blogs than I originally expected and I was surprised to learn that there are five major motivations for blogging. Documenting one’s life is when a blogger uses their personal experiences.  Other blogs can provide comments and opinions. Some express deeply felt emotions. While another might articulate ideas through writing. Another type of blog might form and maintain community forms. Blogs can be used as much more than I originally thought and there are so many different motivations for blogging.

First Blog