I don’t think I would like my personal information stored in a FoaF file available to the public. I personally think it is taking privacy to a whole new level by using techniques such as Social Graphing. When I was researching if Facebook and Twitter have dipped in to Social Graphing and discovered some of my details in files similar to RDF/Foaf.

For example twitter provides an XML feed for details about users. You can see mine here. Facebook also provides a similar feature instead they use the JSON format. Here is the link to my Facebook details. Since Twitter uses a very public approach much more details are available about me. However Facebook is know for it’s strict approach to privacy and requires an access token to obtain further personal information about the user. This token can only be provided by the Facebook user.

Advantages

• Quick and easy connectivity between social sites
• Provides developers with new ways to interact with users
• Allow people to connect quicker and more effeciently

Disadvantages

• Data may be exploited by RDF crawlers
• Since RDF files are self describing (using schemas and vocabularies) they can be easily parsed by anyone
• May increase online harassment/stalking

For this exercise I have chosen to map the three different routes from Emerald to Brisbane using Google Maps. Click on each route to display it on the map below. This is done using a simple piece of JavaScript code located here.

Route 1 877 km,10 hours 21 mins Carnarvon Hwy and Warrego Hwy
Route 2 898 km,10 hours 41 mins Capricorn Hwy and Bruce Hwy
Route 3 920 km,11 hours 7 mins Burnett Hwy

The crowdsourcing website I have chosen to review is crowdSPRING. CrowdSPRING works by allowing people & companies to create projects with a set price. Designers then submit their samples to the project and the project owner reviews the designs. Once happy with a design the project owner then pays CrowdSPRING and downloads the design.

CrowdSPRING makes profit by charging a listing fee ($39) and also getting a 15% commission of the projects total. For example, if your project is $300 then the total cost would be $39 + $300 + $45.

The Best Job in the World campaign used three means of user-to-user interactivity to  engage with the world.

Youtube

The first was the Youtube channel where applicants created a short video detailing why they should be chosen for the job. This allowed people to view and comment on each others videos and started to spread across the Internet.

Twitter/Facebook

The Twitter feed and Facebook page also allowed users to keep up-to-date on the latest applicants and comment on each other. The winning applicant Ben Southall also has to maintain a blog as part of the agreement for taking on the job.

Trustworthiness (of the site)

Twitter’s Privacy Policy states that it does collect personal information to provide improvements to users but it does not share it without their consent. Although your personal information is not shared, by default your tweets can be seen by anyone including search engines. The only way to prevent this is by changing your Settings and enabling “Tweet Privacy”.

Reputation (of members)

Many celebrities, companies and even politicians use Twitter to publicize themselves. Twitter allows users to mark tweets as spam and they can even file a report if they think some is breaking the Twitter rules.

User interface and customization

The interface is quick and responsive due to the extended use of AJAX. For example you can easily write a new Tweet from any page by clicking on the compose button as show below. Twitter does allow you to change the design of your profile (background/colours) but this is very limited compared to other social sites.

Another cool AJAX feature of Twitter is that it can alert you when new tweets are available:

The social media site I have chosen to write about is Twitter. The main reason I engage with Twitter is to easily keep up with news and information on PC games and of course the occasional celebrity post. For example I am currently following Battlefield to keep tabs on the upcoming title Battlefield 3, iTnews to see whats happening in the Australian IT sector and Steam to see what sales they are offering on weekends.

Twitter exists for people wanting to express themselves quickly online whether it be for social, publicity or commercial reasons. It allows users to follow one another allowing them easily see their latest posts. The site definitely lives up to the expressing/publication category.