Transparency, Social Media and Cultural Patterns

The Martingale Betting Strategy (A Sure Way to Always Win)

Rethink Your Concepts September 24th,2011

The martingale betting strategy ensures that you will always win one unit of your first bet but only IF you have infinite money to back it up with. If you don’t have infinite money you’ll either walk away a little positive or lose a disastrous amount.

The strategy works when there’s even odds,for example flipping a coin for double or nothing. An example:Bet $100, if you win you walk away $100 richer, if you lose you double your next bet to $200. Winning this time means you’ve spent $300 and gained $400 and can walk away with your $100. Otherwise double your bet again to $800. Keep doubling until you eventually win and walk away richer than you started.

Problem with this betting strategy lies in your bankroll,if you run out of money before winning you will lose all you own. Otherwise you’ll win a small profit depending on what chance you take on the first bet compared to how many times you can afford to lose according to your bankroll.

If you at first don’t succeed,try twice as hard!

[pic:CC-BY-NC-ND,Daniel Dale]

Copyright is for Stopping and Sealing off Creativity

transparency September 22nd,2011

The reason (c)opyright was invented was to restrict others from creating an object similar to yours. It was a way of giving creators protection and time for distribution of the creations. This system worked good when there was a very limited number of creations and distribution was slow but it’s a broken system now. In the information age we live in today most copyright act to restrict creativity by not allowing alterations or being too closely inspired by something.

A copyright seals the creative flow after the creator is finished with the work. The creative process is considered done and no further alterations should be made. The viewer of the creation is meant to only admire it. Copyright can be compared to a one-way monologue.

Objects without copyright can be considered finished as well but most of the time they’re seen as a “work in progress”. The viewer is able to interact and have a “dialogue”if they wish,taking the basic idea and altering it into something new. This new creation can in turn inspire to even more “dialogues”from new viewers.

One example on how this is detrimental to the creative process can be seen if we look at the area of culture which is supposed to be very creative and inspiring. First of all the word ‘culture’today often excludes a lot of original creations. Something on the wrong side of the norm is often called “play”,sub-culture and sometimes even vandalism. It’s seen as something that doesn’t qualify to be called ‘culture’and most of the time no value is put on it. If several contributors are involved it further complicates it by making a fuzzy line between the creator and the viewer of the work. Where does the work end and can it change from viewer to viewer?

Artists working full time with creating ‘culture’are often dependent on a certain sustenance coming from the art which might restrict them from taking “too wide”artistic liberties. Someone not dependent in the same way of the outcome of the piece is more “creatively free”and able to take more liberties. Culture should not be considered an end to a creation (enforcing a monologue with the viewer because of a copyright applied)!

[pic: CC-BY-NC-ND ,CyberCraft Robots]

Social Media in China

social media September 17th,2011

“a closer examination reveals contours shaped by a distinct Chinese Internet culture. As the Internet assumes a more central role in Chinese cultural and commercial life,understanding this landscape—with all of its perils,pitfalls,and possibilities—is vital to running almost any business in China today.”

I’m currently working on a thesis focusing on ‘organizational learning through social media in China’. This means I’m reading several research papers about social media and China. Expect a lot of posts about this area the coming few months.

The more I read and dig into social media in China the more intrigued and fascinated I get. China is far ahead the western culture in many ways. There’s not only Facebook and Twitter dominating all Social Media like in the west. In China there’s a multitude of social network services like RenRen,QQ,Sinai’s Weibo,kaixin001 etc etc.

The chinese culture means social media differs a lot from the western world. It’s described as the “entertainment highway”(not “information highway”) and crafting a good tweet is much more important than creating a great topic to discuss around. “The overall retweet percentage was around 62% for the trending topics. In contrast,for Twitter trends,the retweets form only 31% of the overall tweets for the trending topics.”

Having only one child per family this generation has been nick-named “little emperors”. They are know to be spoiled but also sensitive and simple. Many like making small differences through social participation. This together with the collectivistic society that exists in China makes Customer Service Relationships (CSR) a ‘must have’in Chinese companies.

Many more fascinating facts about social media in China and how it differs from here will be written about here in the near future. If you have a good article/post you think I might enjoy or maybe have a good contact I’d be very happy if you shared it. I can be reached on twitter:@collentine

[pic:CC-BY-NC-SA,Sprengben]