I must say the finding an article or issue that concerns computer mediated communication was easier than I could have ever imagined. While in the tub this afternoon, I opened the USA today only to find an article about a woman named Teresa Phillips (left), who is from a small Kansas town. Phillips started an online networking web site called Graspr that is specifically designed for people to increase their knowledge. It’s a huge library of how-to video’s submitted by 1,200 producers. Phillips had a question that she had a hard time finding an answer too once, and came up with the idea for this website. She had a vision for an easy and affordable way for people to become smarter.
Now Phillip’s website is not the only one out there. Apparently, there are many other websites that are attempting to be open forums for how-to videos. Much like many of the social networking sites that we have looked at in class, Graspr gives viewers an opportunity to message each other, post and reply to posts on each video, and learn more about the contributor. One of the more unique things about this site is the opportunity that it gives viewers to edit and make their own videos better before submitting them.
I think that Teresa Phillip’s project is significant to what we have been talking about in class because of her story and the story of the website. She was raised on a farm, knew nothing about computers or networking, and has made millions by starting this site only a year ago. Phillips did earn her bachelors and go on to join the military and then worked with Yahoo for several years before leaving to start Graspr. The online business was started late 2006 and has already earned 471 million dollars since then. It just proves that people today are looking for an easy way to be better at something. Some of the videos are of mindless, simple things while others are very complex and educational. The website is also very user-friendly and provides opportunities to constantly improve the videos as well. People can comment and make suggestions on a better way to do something. I’m willing to bet that, like many other non-relational intended websites, relationships of both a romantic and non-romantic nature have been formed in this site.
1 comment:
i think that this is a really cool idea! It reminds me of YouTube and the Vehix car facts commercial all rolled into one! I know that I have used the Vehix educational videos to learn more about hybrid cars and how to save gas.
I must say that Phillips just found something that people did not realize they needed. I think that eventually that is how we will be learning, by educational videos that appear on line. I know that help videos are a lot easier to read than help books!
I definitely think that people have bonded over wanting to learn more. How could they not? At this website they are looking up similar interests, or looking up similar activities that they need help in.
Now I know where to go next time I get stumped on how to do something!
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