We Live In Public

Watching the trailer from the documentary "We live in public" made me reevaluate if the Internet was a revolution or complete destruction of society. These Internet metaphors were brought up at the very beginning of this course and going into it we knew that there were going to be some positives and negatives about the Internet. Imagining what the entire documentary was like made me want to stray away from the Internet completely. I do not want my life on the Internet and enjoy having my private space and backstage personality. However I do realize that this is the extreme situation and not something that has to occur if you participate with others on the Internet. I thought the documentary was beneficial to show in class because it gives us some perspective on how the Internet rules our lives. Looking back to other topics we covered in class I became extremely positive about the potentials of the Internet. This new media class taught me a lot about what the Internet has to offer. There are endless websites that aid to your music, movies, and news tastes. Personalization has allowed the Internet to be your own place to communicate and learn things and you do not have to be so overwhelmed. I really enjoyed new media class, it was completely relevant to everything that is happening today and gave me more insight on what to expect from the Internet.

Presentation April 8

Links from my Presentation: Internet and Democracy

Is the Internet interfering with Democracy?

Cass Sunstein: too much personalization

—A need for unanticipated encounters and common experience, reinforce Public Forum Doctrine.

— Social Cascades: a certain set of beliefs becomes even more extreme with a large group-expand and feed off one another.

David Weinburger

—Is the Internet closing off ideas?

—“echo chambers” “ repeating, reinforcing the same ideas.

—Same divisions among people in society.

—Enabling people to say things online that they would be “forbidden” to in public.

Internet and Democracy Lessons Learned Forum

—The Berkman’s Internet and Democracy Project at Harvard University: —http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/internetdemocracy Blog about the Forum:http://corinnadigennaro.com/2009/03/09/the-internet-and-democracy-lessons-learnt-and-future-directions-of-research/

—People are going to watch, search, read about what they want. Despite personalization the Internet does show contrasting views.

—http://www.helium.com/debates/133941-is-the-internet-good-or-bad-for-democracy/side_by_side?page=8

Cyber attacks

This week we discussed cyber terrorism. I didn't really realize that this topic was so prevalent in today's media until I read about Google's current situation with China. Google is one of the top search engines worldwide. Because of censorship laws, Google must censor the search results in China. Topics such as Tawaiin and Tibet do not come up when searched. There are Google offices in China that do all this censoring to comply with the Chinese government. Recently Google has reached problems in its relationship with China. Google is the third most popular search engine in China. They still must compete with other company's but it would be a major loss if Google pulled out. There have been cyber attacks on Google made by Google employees themselves. I read more about the case on Google's own blogspot.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

Analyzing the Internet

This week in class we examined how the Internet affects democracy. Cass Sunstein is convinced that the Internet is enabling is to be single minded and giving us more tools to only see one spectrum of issues. David Weinberger made an interesting point that questioned if these echo chambers of reinforcing the same ideas "have always existed on land". I was shocked that he brought that issue up. It seems like most of the articles in class discuss all these new found problems that have arose as a result of the Internet. Weinberger's statement got me thinking that all these so called problems with the Internet are the same problems society has always dealt with just with a modern twist. There have always been issues of class, race, politics, etc and with the Internet these issues can be voiced in a different way. This goes back to the "glass house" which we learned about earlier in the semester. Frontstage and backstage personalities have always existed just in different environments. Before people would use their frontstage personality in front of strangers, superiors, or unknown situations and their backstage in front of their closest acquaintances. Susnstein was concerend about this line of frontstage and backstage and Internet but it really has always existed.

In realtion to democracy I do not think that people are any more or less single minded since the Internet. If you have a particular viewpoint you ususally stick to news stations, articles, and people who agree with you the same goes for the Internet. I think that the Internet has the capacity to expose people to wider views. Everyone is constantly logged on and there is always new additions to it that there is must some way to expose people to all viewpoints.

True Life: I Have Digital Drama

I have always loved watching MTV's series "True Life". Each episode focuses on a particular character trait, hobby, addiction, or other characteristic a group of people have. It follows on the individuals and how they deal with their so called "problem" and what they are doing in their lives to fix and deal with it. I was really surprised when I stumbled upon an episode showcasing people dealing with "Digital Drama"

The episode featured two couples in which the use of cells phones, bbm, facebook, and email affected their love relationships. One story showed a girl and guy dating. They did not trust one another because the guy in the relationship was extremely Facebook active and talked to girls via Facebook. His constant Facebook activity angered the girl because she did not like the fact that he was commenting on other girls' photos, walls, etc. This reminded me of a topic we earlier discussed about personal relationships and online relationships. Having a digital relationship with someone is extremely easy. You can always be connected to them using your cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone, or laptop. Having a real interpersonal relationship is where it gets difficult. This couple was having issues because the girl was addicting to her Blackberry and he was addicted to Facebook. These technologies can be useful in personal relationships as a means of communication but they can not be the sole thing tying it together.

Watching the fights occurring on the show made me realize just how much we rely on technology. The couple actually broke up because the girl who was constantly on her Blackberry was being updated about all of the Facebook activity her boyfriend was doing. It seems like if we are not connected to the Internet or to one of our digital devices everything will go haywire.

Search Engine Optimization

First of all I just want to begin in saying that I've already tried to post something but my Internet unexpectedly quit. That shows how incompetent I feel about the Internet and how I constantly feel behind about all the new applications...

Anyway I was talking to my parents over break about being a Media Studies Major. They instantly got excited and began asking questions about this class in particular because I mentioned that we are studying the Internet. They both work in the business world and are forced to be up the times and conform their companies into new age technological savoy ones. My Mom has been trying to figure out way to market the insurance agency she works at. She understands that word of mouth and advertisments in magazines are not going to cut it anymore. She me introduced to search engine optimization.

Search Engine Optimization is having your link appear at the top of the result page when you try to find something on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Why do these certain sites appear? Are these sites more accurate than others? How do you get your site to appear to close to the top? Everyone only searches to the top five something sites anyway so businesses want to get there sites as close to the top as possible. If someone searched Insurance Agencies Progressive and AIG would most likely appear. These are national agenicies that pay to be on top and have the recognition to be so far up top. However a smaller agency is able to gain such status. The results page responds to a websites activity. If you want your business to frequently appear in a search engine's results you must update your site regularly, blog, and have a certain number or hits.

There is now so much to consider when thinking about the Internet. It seems like each day there is a faster way of doing something, a hipper site, and constantly new applications. If I'm behind now who knows what tomorrow will bring?

School Laptops

The documentary we watched last week made me realize just how much technology is changing everything. It sh0wed a Middle School in which each student had their own Macbook computer that they used all day in school and for homework assignments. I could not believe that a public school system would offer something like this. The documentary went into the school and showed just how active the laptops were in a classroom setting and throughout the school.
One teacher brought up the issue of learning in the long term. He said since the invention of the Internet student do not have to learn through a book they can always rely on the Internet for answers. This is a new way of learning. Another teacher discussed how in the past student were taught to memorize and learn through a text book and lectures now students are taught by interacting especially via Internet. Since coming to college I have done a lot more school work and studying via Internet. Most of my assignments are submitted through email and a paper copy is unnecessary. Almost all assignments are posted on Blackboard and most submitted that way as well. The Middle school has the right idea creating a learning environment around computers because that is how the rest of the world is running.
Another good point that was brought up during the documentary was the issue of distraction. The Vice Principle of the school said he spent most of his time monitoring what the kids were actually do in class with their laptop. He said that they take photos of themselves, play games, or have instant message conversations with their friends. I do not think that having access to a laptop in school creates anymore distraction than when I was in Middle school. In any classroom setting kids have the opportunity to stray away from the lecture. When I was in Middle school everybody passed notes to each other, did homework for others classes, and doodled probably just as much as the kids with the laptops do other things. I think that incorporating laptops into a school setting is a great way for kids to become experts at technology and prepare them for the future.