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other than these little points I picked up from the unlecture (below) the thing that stuck with me the most was the concept of the internet leaving a mark on the environment. I suppose it’s something we never really think about because so many people see the internet as a “virtual” space, that it’s not a tangible, physical thing –

but actually, it kind of is. while the internet itself is not a physical thing (unlike jen would have us believe, above) it doesn’t mean that it’s not a physical thing in some sense though as, adrian put it, internet relies on energy, if carbon energy was to disappear so would the internet. the point that he made about bandwidth having a carbon footprint stuck with me the most. that every time someone posts a cat video or a selfie, a tree somewhere is probably crying. that every time you upload or download you are destroying the ozone layer. you’re drowning polar bears. you’re making eskimos sad. so stop snap chatting pictures of your breakfast goddamn it, it’s killing the environment!

 

the internet is a limitless network with no centre – scale free network with dense hubs, will never “burst” or be “too big” – central network is something like a television station or a newspaper

scale free networks have no centre: hubs are important and are defined by how many connections you have in and out, the strength of weak ties (links to links)

six degrees of separation – ‘social media’ – loose connections – bringing the world together ‘small world’

longtail – popular over time vs popular in the here and now
mechanics of scarcity – singling out the popular things (what will sell)
there is not this problem on the internet that is why we have variety
scale free network – scarcity does not exist

long tail – best stuff is right at the end of the tail, the most diversity, need to link down the long tail so it grows