[Web4lib] The Universe Is Not Flat >>> Let The Conversations Continue >>>

[gerrymck]

Preface

In April 2005, the first edition of  The World Is Flat: A Brief History of
the Twenty-First Century >>> "... an international bestselling book by
Thomas Friedman that  analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st
century [was published]. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a
level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an
equal opportunity. As the first edition cover illustration indicates, the
title also alludes to the perceptual shift required for countries, companies
and individuals to remain competitive in a global market where historical
and geographical divisions are becoming increasingly irrelevant."

While some may concur with Friedman, the World and the Universe Is Not Flat,
As They Say In France >>> Au Contraire >>>.

The World And The Universe At Any And All Levels and Dimensions Exhibit
Dynamic Variation / Diversity / Etc. ; It /They Are Not Monolithic Or A
Single Dynamic Phenomenon  >>>

The Well-Known Bell (And Others) Curves Graphically Represent The Wide
Variation in Nature >>>

Part I

"In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution, or Gaussian
distribution, is an absolutely continuous probability distribution whose
cumulants of all orders above two are zero. The graph of the associated
probability density function is “bell”-shaped, with peak at the mean, and is
known as the Gaussian function or bell curve."
[Image]

The Red Line Is The Standard Normal Distribution

As In Life, As There Is (More Or Less On Ther Internet/Web), There Are Some
Individuals That Are More Active/Engaged Then Others >>>

Part II

Jakob Nielsen, The Smartest Person On The Web, In An October 2006 Alertbox
Posting Documents What Many Have Probably Observed >>>

Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

Summary:

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute,
9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the
action.

All large-scale, multi-user communities and online social networks that rely
on users to contribute content or build services share one property: most
users don't participate very much. Often, they simply lurk in the
background. When you plot the amount of activity for each user, the result
is a Zipf curve, which shows as a straight line in a log-log diagram.

In contrast, a tiny minority of users usually accounts for a
disproportionately large amount of the content and other system activity.

User participation often more or less follows a 90-9-1 rule:

• 90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don't contribute).
• 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate
their time.
• 1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can
seem as if they don't have lives because they often post just minutes after
whatever event they're commenting on occurs.

Soooooo .........

In A NutShell > A Few List Members Contribute Most Of The Postings To Any
Given e-List

AND I Am Among Those Few >>>

Indeed > Overall My Blogs Are Ranked In The Top Five (5) Perecent And A Few
In The Top One (1) Percent And Higher (Based On Technorati Rankings)

AND

BTW: Traffic On My Blogs Is Much/Much Greater Than SiteMeter Indicates >>>
The New Blogger In Draft Stats Document Significant Visitation >>>

For Example >>>

Since June 1  2010, There Have Been More 140,000 Collective PageViews Of
Postings On My  _Spectrum > Mobile Learning, Libraries, And Technologies_
Blog As Of Today (08-19-10)

Soooooo .........

Please Don't Diss Me For Being Actively Engaged >>> Or Because I Have Broad
Interests

Believe It Or Not > I Do Only Post Items That I Believe Are Relevant Or
Could / Might /Should Be Of Interest To My Colleagues

It's Not About Me : Many Of My Posts Highlight The Work Of Others >>>

BTW: While The Percentage Of Our Colleagues Who Read E-Lists Is Declining,
In Favor Of Social Media >

WebJunction Survey > Library Staff Report Their Use of Online Tools > 2009
vs. 2010 > Academic vs. Public

[snip]

A Significant Portion Continue To Do >>>

Soooooo .........

If One Does Not Wish To Receive My Posting, There Are Several Options As I
Note In A Previous Post

DeDup > Removal Of Duplicate E-Mail Postings > An Idea Who Time Has Come?

[
http://ref-notes.blogspot.com/2010/08/dedup-removal-of-duplicate-e-mail.html]

While I Do Believe In Leprechauns [:-)] (And Actally Did See Their Houses On
Inishmore, The Largest Of The Aran Islands, One Of The Island Groups Off The
Coast Of County Galway, Ireland, In 2009), I Don't Believe In Silos.

Let The Conversations Continue >>>

[ http://bit.ly/9BkgWt ]

JOY !

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

Follow Me On Twitter > http://twitter.com/GMcKBlogs

"It's Not About Publication; It's About Ideas"

[ http://bit.ly/bb6uW7 ]