Ratings and the wisdom of the crowds (?)

This article on Technology review discusses an issue that I thought about before, but never actually tested. I am thankful to those who empirically study the ratings on websites such as imdb and amazon.

According to the article, the ratings on such sites do not really reflect the wisdom of the crowds. Rather they are reflections of the wisdom of a few biased individuals.

If you look for reviews the same day a particular movie is on screen, you will find the ratings higher compared to a few weeks afterwards. It is rather fun to experiment on that. Those who see a movie the day of its release may have been waiting for it for a while. Without any conspiracy theories, having positive feelings towards an item (movie/book/new technology) influences the way humans make judgments. I like those passionate judgments, but it would be good to easily differentiate whether an item is ranked high because it is really good, or because Mr. X has a special childhood story about it.

From the same article, I agree with Niki Kittur that providing more information about the participants' review patterns is a way to make people differentiate between wisdom of the crowds and of biased few. This idea futher incorporates technologies into wikis and rating systems.

What I do with the available technologies is (not to wait a few months to buy a book or watch a movie, but) to look at multiple review sites (using my digital literacy skills, if you will) and actually read the comments that people make justifying their ratings. Yet I am excited about new (yet fair and democratic) methods and technologies of ratings assessments.

From Blogs to the Theaters Near You

Julie and Julia is a pleasant movie about cooking, blogging, and connecting. It is based on real people and life stories. I have watched it over the summer and thought about it for a while, from an MTS perspective.

Julie Powel creates a personal blog to start the Julie/Julia Project. Her blog becomes a way to connect with Julia Child (an amazing woman who introduced French cooking to America), with her many followers, and with herself.

When you are writing a blog, like Julie Powell's personal blog, you are opening your diary to the world. It is not only a matter of writing consistently, or using a personal language, or walking your followers through a goal with you. I think it is the combination of all. People have commented on her posting and Julie Powell developed a relationship with and care for all the strangers who were thinking about her once in a while.

Movies on Computer Games

Watching movies is one of the best things to do during a dissertation break. I am even more delighted when movies incorporate video games into its content.

Many many years ago, I watched Brainscan (1994). The movie is about a teenager playing a video game that goes real and bad. Even back then it made me think about the distinction between reality and virtuality. I also thought commanding your computer with your voice was very neat.

Yesterday, my sister recommended me a Belgium movie, BenX. She watched it from Netflix. It seems to have a much more humanistic perspective on video games. It focuses on the relationship between an authistic teenager and role-playing games. Watching it is on my list of things to do.

Another movie is on theaters now: Gamer. I am not very sure about that one. It does not have very good reviews, but out of curiosity and at a moment of weakness, I may watch it too.