OPEN

A kind of Tweetmeme / Techememe for FriendFeed…

This book looks great, but at £67 a copy I will need to wait until i am sure I will have the time to finish it…

"The contributors discuss the ways in which the Internet affects both familial and social relationships, communal and civic involvement, social capital and work patterns and lifestyle. Civic intelligence is presented as a nascent concept from which future social networks of increased public advocacy, scrutiny and action may be sourced. Other reported developments include agent-based community systems to model and support communal memory and social knowledge."

"The Internet has descended from an awesome part of the ethereal firmament to become immanent in everyday life. As it descended, the Internet developed, mutated, and proliferated, providing a multitude of computer-mediated options for people to communicate. The stand-alone capital-I “Internet” became the more widespread and complex small-i “internet”."

SD Clark Professor of Sociology in Toronto and one of the world's leading thinkers on social networks and the web.

Barry Wellman in 2001: "Computer networks are inherently social networks, linking people, organizations, and knowledge. They are social institutions that should not be studied in isolation but as integrated into everyday lives. The proliferation of computer networks has facilitated a deemphasis on group solidarities at work and in the community and afforded a turn to networked societies that are loosely bounded and sparsely knit. The Internet increases people's social capital, increasing contact with friends and relatives who live nearby and far away. New tools must be developed to help people navigate and find knowledge in complex, fragmented, networked societies."

"Brennan Carlson (Facebook and LinkedIn), a newly hired product manager at e-mail marketing firm Lyris Inc., is an extreme example. He took a highly organized, scientific approach to his job search when he was laid off from Yahoo Video last winter.
This included using custom search engines, Greasemonkey (a Firefox plug-in allowing customized Web page appearances via JavaScript), scripts running on top of Firefox, widgets, mashups, a spreadsheet and a customized Netvibes "start page" that organizes blogs, news, weather, photos and social networks. Carlson also made concentrated use of social networking sites to present himself online and to research targeted companies."

"Facebook is a social networking site that is enormously popular, but it can be a frustrating user experience. The design of Facebook leaves a lot to be desired and there are almost too many choices for things to do on Facebook. Also some of the more popular Facebook activities are trivial instead of useful – throwing sheep is an oft-quoted example."

"An expert on social, computer, and communication networks, sociologist Barry Wellman gives lecture titled, “Connected Lives: The New Social Network Operating System,” about the rise of Internet social networking. Also, Mr. Wellman outlines twelve points about how the Internet has changed everyday life."

Fiction-writing, Hemingway felt, was to invent out of knowledge. "To invent out of knowledge means to produce inventions that are true. Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him. It also should have a manual drill and a crank handle in case the machine breaks down. If you're going to write, you have to find out what's bad for you. Part of that you learn fast, and then you learn what's good for you."