Post #3

In Chapter 4, the discussion of organization leads to the mentioning of rules that apply to lists and their creation. Rules such as "A list is a list of something" and it is "compiled for a reason" direct how we organize the things in our lives. For me, the playlists I use to keep my music in order work because I've established criteria for how they should be compiled. "All time favorites" doesn't adhere to a single genre, but rather the reasoning that all of these songs are ones that I personally like.
Another person could organize this music in a completely different manner, dividing such playlists into categories not based on preference but on the actual, objective qualities of each song. For instance, someone could sort tracks by genre, artist, year, etc. which would most likely make it easier for any given person to pick up the iPod, sort through the playlists, and find a song they want to hear.
The way I organize my music into playlists is based almost entirely on personal preference rather than the genres and so on that describe it. It shows that I value having groups of songs based on my opinions of them, whether they are old favorites or new ones I'm starting to like, and that characteristics of the track play a lesser role in my method of organization.

Post #2

One of the main points I took away from the first couple chapters was the three different "orders of order." While the first order simply organizing things by putting them in their physical location (books on shelves, etc.), the second order uses more a catalog-based system in which a directory points to the thing, which is grouped in ways such as alphabetizing by subject. The third order represents the web and its storage of information. Just as the title implies, everything is miscellaneous and therefore a specific things need to be able to be found based on not just one form of criteria but on an infinite number of categories which define it. For example, a book about basketball in 1983 could be found by looking up the sport itself, the year in discussion, or even simply books, since it fits all of those criteria.

Music is one area where I like to have a set form of organization. I create playlists such as "New songs" or "Old favorites" which are made up of a variety of genres, artists and tracks. This organization works better for me than having to search by the specific artists or some other criteria since my music selection doesn't necessarily fit into those categories, rather generalizing with the title of "Old favorites" allows for the widest possible description of the music in that playlist. I believe that digitized music fits into the mold of the third order of orders because there are so many different ways in which people can find one specific track, making the first two orders seem almost obsolete at least in this example.

Blog #1

I think one of the most interesting ideas presented by this discussion on Web 2.0 is the understanding that the people, not just the companies, are creating important web applications through their involvement and submission of data. Without these members and contributors, web apps don't have any new information to work with and sites like Wikipedia and Facebook would no longer function properly. I would love to be a technical writing editor so it is an intriguing thought that a majority of the writing on popular websites is contributed by the general public, not the businesses themselves. Hopefully there's still plenty of information on the professional side to be examined and edited, but still, this transition to Web 2.0 has had an effect on how information is presented online.

Even though its been around for awhile now, Pandora is one of my favorite web applications because I use it constantly and it has become a part of my everyday life. There has to be some very complex algorithms directing the application's selection of music based on the user's input and the connections made between genres, songs and artists are an impressive display of the power the web has to bring together all different types of media for the user's benefit. Though other applications are making great leaps forward into the "web squared" era, there's still not too much that's more exciting than when Pandora introduces a new artist that you wouldn't have known about without the use of this web application.