Changes in Technology = Changes in Communication

Clay Shirky suggests “publish first, filter later.” With forms of microblogging, such as Twitter, this is very easy to do. Twitter allows its users to publish whatever they want within the 140 character limit. Twitter users can publish a thought, information, their whereabouts, anything! They can publish as many times as they want.

With regards to Twitter and other forms of microblogging, I think Shirky is suggesting we should publish as much as and as frequently as possible. I think he wants us to publish a great amount of material, whatever we want, and not worry about whether or not it is important or is going to be read.  Then, I think he wants us to go through everything and filter out the unimportant things or things that have no relevance.

It really is just amazing how “new forms of sharing take hold.” Shirky discusses how many steps it took to share a newspaper article years ago. From cutting an article out to labeling an envelope, many steps had to be taken. Now, sharing an article is easier and cheaper. A person no longer has to pay to read or share and article. With articles being published on the Internet, a person can copy and paste the article and share it not with just one friend, but with many friends via e-mail.

I am very curious as to whether or not these “new forms of sharing” have increased or decreased the amount of sharing taking place. Since it is so easy to access articles on the computer, do people really send them to one another? Are they more likely to tell a friend to read an article or actually send the article?

With microblogging sites such as Twitter, sharing has taken on an entirely different meaning. People are sharing important information, such as breaking news, but they are also sharing unnecessary information such as when they finished writing a paper.

While sharing has definitely become increasingly easier, faster, and cheaper, has it become better because of these “new forms?”