Comments on: So(cial)… it’s looks like Google Reader is making some changes

By: Peter Boumgarden

Peter Boumgarden — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:31:27 +0000

Matt
Good point here… I wonder how many people taking your strategy it would take to tip the system in a more efficient manner.

By: Matt Crest

Matt Crest — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:19:25 +0000

This is a concept I’ve been thinking about lately as well. There’s a relatively new website called undrln (http://undrln.com) that is a sort of Digg or Reddit for design articles. They’ve made a conscious effort to keep the articles that get listed of a certain quality (think “Design Theory and Business” vs “25 Sweet Photoshop Tricks!”).

As a visitor to undrln I’ve made a change in how I use the site. Because I want it to be a success and a valuable resource, I’ve become very selective in the articles I “vote up” or “like”. A sort of self moderation that can make the whole system better…but only to a certain extent. It only works if the people you ‘follow’ or a good segment of the user base buys into the idea of quantity over voting with the herd.

Good article Peter. Cheers.

By: Peter Boumgarden

Peter Boumgarden — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:02:44 +0000

good point carrie… sometimes i have even not ‘shared’ an article for fear of people thinking it directly represents my view. maybe i should just care less about what people think of me

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:47:23 +0000

I think this is why the ‘like’ function is actually a bit troubling (note: I’m more familiar with its use on facebook than google reader). I think most people view a ‘like’ as ‘Carrie has posted this article because this represents her view-point well and she *likes* what the author has to say.’ Although that may often be the case, it isn’t always true. Sometimes I post an article not because I agree with the author, but because I think it is worth reading, for any number of reasons.
Maybe there should be ‘read’, ‘skim’, ‘skip’ tags instead.

By: Peter Boumgarden

Peter Boumgarden — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:01:56 +0000

yeah. good link

that is a really good point. looking at my blog list, I really do filter by authors I think are interesting, i.e. authors who (for the most part) have a very similar view to my own.

I guess one has to be intentional about building in diversity, if thats a value. Its hard to interact with diverse views because we are forced to understand why people think/ believe different things that we do, especially to the extent we see them rationally holding to these views. i think its a good thing, but really hard to do well… and can make us less secure in our own opinions.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:55:22 +0000

I’m curious whether this really exposes you to more diversve viewpoints or is just another way to fine-tune The Daily Me.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/opinion/19kristof.html