Adam Penenburg, a journalism professor at New York University and a freelance investigative journalist, gave a craft talk at the Bowers Writers House for the Humanities Readers Series on Tuesday, April 2. He is well known for exposing journalist Steven Glass for fabricating stories in The New Republic in 1998. The 2003 film “Shattered Glass” is based on this story. Penenburg gave a thought-provoking talk on social media and the ways in which the Internet is changing the ways we communicate and think. He also read from his book “Viral Loop.”
Penenburg has written for Fast Company, Forbes, The New York Times, Slate, The Washington Post, Wired, Economist, Inc., Playboy, Mother Jones and other publications. He has also published two novels and three nonfiction books. At the craft talk, Penenburg discussed material from his newest book on virtual reality.
Penenburg began his talk by discussing two styles of journalism: stylistic and research. As a skilled researcher, he stressed the importance of gathering all details and checking facts for a story. The best way to research, he argued, was to conduct face-to-face interviews: the more time spent with the interviewee, the better.
He continued his presentation with his research on gamification: the use of game elements and digital game design techniques to solve non-game problems. Most people are unaware that they participate in gamification every day. The audience was dazzled to learn the story behind CAPTCHA, the annoying word “game” at the end of Internet forms. CAPTCHA uses one real word and one fake word, distorted and squiggled, to test if the user is real or a computer. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University invented the test in 2000. Penenburg informed the crowd that CAPTCHA has provided other useful benefits to Internet users in recent years. The program now checks the words a computer cannot recognize and cleans up mistakes in EBook scans.
Chief CAPTCHA creator, Luis von Ahn, has also devised a way to translate the entire Internet. Duolingo.com offers free language lessons in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. While users learn a language by completing exercises in translation, they are also helping to translate Internet sites. Ideally, Duolingo will offer all major languages eventually.
Penenburg then addressed the subject of social media through what he calls “virtual reality.” He has been interested in the reasons why human beings feel the need to socialize, especially online. What Penenburg has found is that because specific shared interests draw each of us to different online communities — fashion forums, sports blogs, or sites to share creative writing — online relationships are rapidly becoming as important as physical relationships. Friendships help people to live longer and get sick less. Social media provides these same benefits, but friends need not be in the same room.
In fact, social media tends to increase levels of oxytocin in our brains. Oxytocin is the hormone released in a mother’s brain when she is breast-feeding her infant. It allows the two to form a closer bond. Males have this hormone too, but produce 30 percent less than women. There seems to be a correlation between social networking and increased oxytocin levels in our brains. Neuroeconomists are currently studying this relationship. When Penenburg participated in a medical study on these effects, the neurologists found that his oxytocin levels rose 13.2 percent after 10 minutes on Twitter!
There are downsides to online communities, such as the concept of the “Victorian masquerade ball.” Like the 19th century debauches where men and women were able to act out repressed desires anonymously, the Internet allows people to express biased, racist and hateful views without serious consequence. Anonymity online can bring out the worst in people.
At the reading, Penenburg discussed his research and read from his book “Viral Loop.” The book is a study of how online companies distribute their products. He explained the process of doubling, or how a website spreads as each new member invites more than one person to join. Penenburg informed us that viral advertising is not a new tactic; Tupperware was the first viral company. Although an everyday object for us, when Tupperware was first invented, people did not understand what it was. No one had ever seen plastic bowls with airtight sealed lids. To introduce the product to the masses, the Tupperware company employed door-to-door salesmen and held demonstrations on product use at department stores. Famously, the product caught on from people hosting “Tupperware parties” and inviting their friends to host their own parties.
Overall, Penenburg offered advice about journalism and insights into our evolving technological communications. His presentation on online relationships allowed those present to consider products they use daily from new perspectives.