Online social media
jtoney | August 12, 2013This post was co-authored with Eric Berger, science writer at The Houston Chronicle.
It's been nearly two decades since Carl Sagan, the great science communicator, died.
Since that time public trust in science has eroded, and no one has emerged as Sagan's clear successor. At the same time popular culture is littered with faux science ideas, from anti-vaccination fervor to documentaries on mermaids and mega-sharks.
What the world needs, then, is a great communicator of science who can connect with large audiences, liberal, moderate and conservative, to help explain what science is, and the…
jtoney | April 23, 2013It was an unexpected journey, from the George W. Bush Shake, the Barack Obama Hug to the Harlem Shake.
Appreciation from the President of the United States is one of the highest honors any American can receive. No, it wasn't me, but the best part is that it was one of our students.
I have been very fortunate in my own education having learned from two mentors awarded the National Medal of Science (Prof. Tobin J. Marks and Prof. Stephen J. Lippard.) Each received a hearty handshake from President George W. Bush. Perhaps some of my work in their labs helped get them there, along with a…
jtoney | April 6, 2013It is a feeling of unbelievable joy. We have all felt it, at one time or another. For me, it is at its most palpable in a concert or a sports event with tens of thousands of fans. Initially, everyone is milling about, chatting, texting, a thousand unconnected specks. Then there's a moment capturing everyone's attention - a touchdown, a band jamming with pure, raw energy - and, in an instant, everything changes. Those specks converge into a single, connected, joyous crowd. Differences, stress, arguments, angst, worries fade away.
Social media has figured out how to harness this ineffable…
jtoney | June 19, 2012
Kean University Graduates 2012
At my Commencement Speech to the Class of 2012 at Carteret High School this Thursday, I will deliver something like this:
Class of 2012: You need to fail more …. take chances …. Reach.
Let me explain.
After hearing my bio, some of you might think of that person who has succeeded at anything. You may know someone like that. He can earn A’s without much studying, letter in a varsity sport without much sweat. Life seems easy, because he never faces defeat or failure. I am not that person. I am lucky enough to be a leader in higher education because I worked…
jtoney | May 18, 2012
So it's official. I now own a portion of Facebook, even if it's a very tiny fraction of the some 240 million shares now on the market today, the initial public offering.
The opening price this morning was at $42 per share, but even before they went on the market, some wealthy investors were already jockeying for their own piece. In one extraordinary case:
From the Wall Street Journal:
Knight Capital Group, one of the biggest aggregators of US retail share trading, is seeing orders for Facebook come in from brokerage firm clients -- including one from an investor willing to buy the stock…
jtoney | January 28, 2012Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com
I've been following use of social media in freedom of speech throughout the Arab Spring...but something is going on in Oakland, California that deserves some attention.
About the live feed:
Global Revolution brings you live stream video coverage from independent journalists on the ground at nonviolent protests around the world. The channel officially started on September 17, 2011 with occupation of Liberty Square in downtown Manhattan, NYC and was the first livestream channel to cover occupy wall street protests. Since then…
jtoney | January 18, 2012
Can a plant send tweets for water? It is possible, using a "do your own biology" approach.
From Mashable:
From SparkFun:
Botanicalls Kits let plants reach out for human help! They offer a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates to your mobile phone. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love. It comes as a kit so that you can hone your soldering skills (or teach someone else) while you build a line of communication between you and your houseplant!
This kit comes with everything you need to get your plant…
jtoney | December 19, 2011
Yes, earning a degree from MIT can be costly. Believe it or not, MIT has been offering free course materials for ten years now. If you're an educator, and you're not familiar with their extraordinary OpenCourseWare, you're missing out. One hundred million people so far have learned from this free open source.
OpenCourseWare, a free online publication of nearly all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate course materials. Now in its 10th year, OpenCourseWare includes nearly 2,100 MIT courses and has been used by more than 100 million people.
MIT announced today that OpenCourseWare was just…
jtoney | December 9, 2011
Tahrir Square, February 9, 2011. Photo source.
This article was co-authored with Jessica Wyndham, a human rights lawyer.
As we mark Human Rights Day 2011 on December 10, it is impossible to ignore a clear theme that has emerged during the year -- the use, misuse and abuse of technology in support and in violation of human rights. While innovative means exist to apply technology to promote human rights, there are serious questions about the legitimate role of government in restricting access to some technological advances as well as the obligation to prevent the development and/or misuse…
jtoney | November 29, 2011This article was co-authored with Dr. Morad Abou-Sabe', President of the Arab American League of Voters of New Jersey.
CNN's Ivan Watson talks to John King from Cairo about his exclusive interview with Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim. {February 9, 2011}
The Egyptian revolution of January 25th, 2011 created widespread euphoria of the kind only wide-eyed optimists enjoy. It was a moment in Egypt's history that should never be forgotten. It evolved naturally after six decades of oppressive military rule of Egyptians who had - almost - given up hope of any chance for change. Increasing…
jtoney | July 20, 2011
Fourteen year old internet sensation Rebecca Black just released a follow up video "My Moment" after her debut of "Friday" that went viral with more than 167 million views. Attention at this scale landed her a spot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a music video with Katy Perry, "Last Friday Night".
Such opportunities for seemingly instant fame can affect these teens, and pre-teens, in a profound way: IRL (In Real Life)...
Rebecca Black has had to endure the backlash of cyberbullying after her first video.
And Black, 13, certainly never anticipated the social media uproar, mainstream…
jtoney | July 5, 2011
A Reading in the Salon of Mme Geoffrin, 1755
Madame Geoffrin's 18th Century salons, as a gathering place for public discourse, are regarded as Renaissance versions of online social networking. Such collective knowledge and discussion has found numerous creative uses, including fresh approaches to improve public health.
In this case, NIH scientists are searching for new uses of old drugs - those already approved by the FDA for a particular illness by mining large databases and sharing their data, a 21st century version of Madame Geoffrin's salons - speeding up the process of drug discovery…
jtoney | June 30, 2011
Photo source.
The blogosphere can be a strange world for writers, offering vistas as broad ranging and fickle as human nature itself. Bloggers relying on pageviews for sustenance, even those who do not, face the challenge of attracting as many readers as possible, sometimes at the cost of becoming an uncivil "woo meister," provocateur or even worse, a demagogue.
From my first post at "Dean's Corner," I wanted to avoid these potential traps and to simply share what I love about science, sometimes bringing to light mistruths or misrepresentations - at least in my opinion. So,
I blog for…
jtoney | May 20, 2011
Online social media played a major role in the 2008 Presidential election and is already looming large in the early stages of the 2012 Presidential bid. Newt Gingrich made a dramatic statement recently about Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal:
"I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate," he said when asked about Ryan's proposal.
Such a provocative statement created a media firestorm, begging for a press release from Mr.…
jtoney | March 21, 2011In honor of Twitter's 5th birthday today!
Sentence Lengths of British Public Speakers
1598-1940
Notice a trend here? It appears that the "sound bite" was emerging more than 70 years ago.
Since the average word has about 5 characters, Francis Bacon's sentence length needed at least 360 characters - too long for a Tweet. In contrast, Winston Churchill's average sentence can fit at about 120 characters - room to spare for Twitter's limit of 140.
Adapted from R. J. Hoyle's article "Decline of Language As a Medium of Communication," The Journal of Irreproducible Results, pp. 134-135 (1983).…
jtoney | March 1, 2011Teaser for "Black Beach" from Fourth World Media, LLC on Vimeo.
Video.
I recently wrote about "oil-eating microbes" and the lack of evidence that they will offer a solution to cleaning up the environmental nightmare that began last April after the BP oil spill.
What will BP's "black beach" burden become?
I believe that new technologies will guide us towards a solution and hope that it will provide enduring lessons that will prevent such an environmental disaster from ever happening again. As is now commonplace in regions in crisis, online social networking can serve as a powerful tool in…
jtoney | December 23, 2010
Stephen Rees' Flickr photostream
My email Inbox is a nightmare. It currently has hundreds of unread messages, a combination of unwanted solicitations, complaints and demands upon my time and resources. It is a seemingly Herculean task to manage it in my attempts to focus on top priorities.
Today, I received something very curious, at least to me: the subject line indicated that someone had sent me a "warm eCard". It was one of those electronic Holiday "cards" wishing me a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, accompanied by the mandated holiday music track (think elevator music).…
jtoney | December 1, 2010
ejbSF's Flickr photostream
My office is often a flurry of activity with students coming with a wide array of questions. Whenever possible, I respond to their questions via email. Last Fall, one of our students expressed dismay when I told her I would respond to her request with an email.
"Email, Dr. Toney? That's so old fashioned."
After some thought, I realized she was right. After all, I sent my first email message sometime before the class of 2014 was born (in the early to mid 1990's), so it should be no surprise that this form of communication could be seen as quaint.
It is…