All together now…

The readings for this week caused me to look into just how much we are making the Internet and Web 2.0 work for us. Castells article noted how we must harness these new innovations for boost growth in productivity, or else our recent advancements will not be reaching their full potential. I was especially interested in the three fundamental features that he cited as essential for this new economy: the growth of productivity through knowledge, global competitiveness (increasing market share) and the new organizational form–networking. One section where these two were combined for a cause that is very novel is when Castells mentioned that in this “culture of innovation” businesses would have to be sharing new information as opposed to hiding it. This defeated my traditional vision of the competitive business model and capitalism, but opened my eyes to greater capabilities. During my work this summer at the sustainability firm, BrownFlynn, I did get a sense that those in favor of sustainability and sustainable practices were all on one team. I never once heard any one mention a competitor–it was all in the name of furthering the cause. Perhaps this new attitude, as specified by Castells, is one of the main reasons Green has been able to get so far. Although competitiveness (especially on a global level) is still one of the essential features of a successful economy, perhaps there is a more unified goal in this. Perhaps we are really seeing ourselves as one human race, with one Earth.

On a more personal note, Lohr’s article “Smartphone Rises Fast From Gadget to Necessity” definitely hit home for me. Since my past two mobile phones have been Smartphones I find myself incredibly attached to the idea of being constantly connected. It really does feel as though you are carrying your entire world in your pocket, and “it’s part of me now, an appendage”. What does this mean for our face-to-face social interactions? We all know those people who will sit at a party and text the entire time, are we no longer satisfied with the company we are in currently? These new networking capabilities make it easy to constantly be connected to someone else or some other place. As in the Web 2.0 video I posted last week, we are going to have to rethink much more than we expected.

-Emily