Last Day of Class

This semester in Communications 200: New Media and Communications, I have learned a copious amount of knowledge about media. First I would like to state that my favorite activity done in this class was the final project. I helped to create a remix by combining movie scenes with dialogue from another movie. I have always wanted to learn how to do this while watching other similar videos on YouTube. Now because of this class I have successfully managed to achieve this.

In this class I have been introduced to a lot of new websites and media tools. For example, I created my first twitter account and I have begun to blog. WordPress was very easy to use and I would recommend the site to others. When I spoke to my dad about having to blog every week, he told me to learn this new skill because blogging is becoming more and more popular with spreading information and media. The same is similar with twitter. What I also like about blogs is that I can find other blogs that are similar to mine and read about what others have to say. Another project our class had done was a “technology fast” for two days. This experiment made me realize how dependent I am on TV, my phone, the internet, and music.

Throughout the semester we have been reading Douglas Rushkoff’s book Program or be Programmed. Rushkoff basically explained that we know how to use a computer but we do not know how to program it. We depend on “qualified” people to do this for us. At the beginning of the year we watched a video called Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier.  It shows young Korean children using computers. I was already aware that other countries are ahead of the United States when it comes to technology but this greatly surprised me when I saw children at the age of 6 already learning how to use a computer. I didn’t start to take computer classes until 7th grade in Middle School. Other topics I have learned more about are the issues with hacking and the basic steps in creating a website.

Furthermore, what I liked about this class was talking about how we use technology but we do not entirely know how it works. This has been an issue stressed deeply for all students. However, I do not think it will change the way that I personally will use my technology from now and into the future. From the start, I have never been engrossed in technology: my computer with its basic programs along with my iPhone is all that I care about. Nevertheless, this class has taught me that we all depend too much on technology. Instead of face-to-face conversations, we depend on texting and facebook. Thus this class helped to reevaluate myself and to do a better job in interacting personally with others.

 

The Evolvement of the Internet

Technology continues to evolve and progress every year. For example, in order to get to the iPhone that the majority of us now own, the telephone had gone through some drastic changes. First, people had to write letters to one another and wait a year for a reply, then came the telegraph, next came house phones connected to cords, finally the first cordless mobile device, and now apple technology. The telephone is just one example of how technology has evolved and will  continue to change in the near future.

However, the phone is an easy example to explain the evolution of technology. I will be focusing on how the internet could possibly evolve in the future. Initially designed as a government project, the internet has evolved to what it is today. We listen to music and watch movies online. We also use the internet for research and to read the news. According to the article “The Future of the Internet,” the ongoing development of speed, bandwidth, and functionality of the net will continue to cause fundamental changes to how our world operates for decades to come. I believe that in the future, possible 3D can be introduced to the internet since it is currently being introduced to TVs. Another example is audio net surfing. With that all you would have to do is speak to your internet. There is currently a little bit of that now with the phone but it does not work very well all the time. Another important change that I hope will happen is better security and protection as a result of hackers.

Here are two websites that I have discovered about the internet that proved to be interesting.

Google is worried about the future of the internet

This article explains how the Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, believes that the freedom of the internet is under threat from the government. He claims that the crack down on the internet can “stifle innovation.”

6 predictions for the future of the internet

Some of these predictions are quite funny.

 

 

 

 

 

LambdaMooooooo!

What LambdaMoo is all about

Before this assignment, I have never heard of LambdaMoo. I find the name itself quite strange to say and write. I had even asked my friends and family if they had ever heard of LambdaMoo and everyone just gave me a strange look and said “No.” Nonetheless, while reading “LambdaMoo: An Introduction” I have discovered that it is a virtual world chat room. You can navigate to all type of different rooms and interact with other people. If you are quite serious about this website, you can create your own personal character that defines who you are or what you wish to be. However, when you are talking to people who are living all over the world it is important to be aware because false facts and negative truths are always present on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An image example of being able to be “outside” on LambdaMoo.

When I signed up I had just made a guest character to explore LambdaMoo. It was interesting but it did not excite me in any way. I have never liked chat rooms or talking to strangers over the internet and therefore find it quite spooky.  I like to have everything private over the internet, including my facebook. I also think that it is quite sad how people are trying to develop relationships over the internet when you can accomplish this in the real world.

However, as Douglas Rushkoff states in his book Program of Be Programmed, more people are learning to socialize and make friends through interfaces and networks rather than in person (146).  Despite this, interacting over the internet is becoming more popular because we depend on the internet to “make sense of our world, get the most done, and to have the most fun” (112). Many claim that talking through the internet is easier to do but I believe that this hinders our communication skills. Being able to talk face-to-face should still be an important quality.

~ Tweet Tweet ~

Twitter: In Plain English – a short video introducing Twitter and why it has become so popular. I recommend watching it.

When Twitter was first created and started becoming popular with celebrities, such as Oprah and Ashton Kutcher, it had not appealed to me. Why would I want to know that Oprah Winfrey is about to go out for a walk or that Ashton Kutcher is going to eat toast? Plus, I have a facebook and reading a person’s status on a daily basis is enough for me.

However, as part of my homework for my communications class, I have finally created a Twitter account. It is very easy to use which makes me happy. I do not like complicated websites that take forever to set up, but Twitter was very quick and simple. Julian Dibbell in her article “Future of Social Media: Is a Tweet the New Size of a Thought?” wrote that “for many, Twitter’s steady stream of one-line updates – “microblogging” – is a low-maintenance way to feel connected to family, friends, [and] celebrities.”

Since I normally rely on facebook for my information, photos, and conversation, I did notice something different about Twitter that I liked. Not everybody has a facebook account, especially athletes and celebrities, but majority of them have a Twitter account. As a hockey fan, I can now follow my favorite hockey players and organizations, such as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks, more easily.

I also like how tweets have a limit: 140 characters or less. By “forcing users to commit their thinking to the bite-size form of the public tweet” people are more willing to read something that is shorter. In the past, books “[have] been the ideal, default form of the written word.” However, as technology is rapidly expanding and becoming a major part of our lives, it has become difficult for some people to focus on reading a long book. With Twitter, readers are more likely to read a short tweet that is also compelling or funny.

However, broadcasting your personal status on a regular basis may not be for everyone. I like Twitter because I have some friends who have an account. I can also remain up to date on organizations. For example, I am currently following Amy Creyer’s Twitter on Chicago’s Street Style. She had recently made a visit to my class and talked about her blog. I visit her blog on a weekly basis and thought it would be cool to also follow her on Twitter.

My twitter account is @AnnaBuchanan19…

Wikipedia is a “Miracle”

How much do I use Wikipedia? I use it every day. When I want learn about something or someone, need to find some basic research, take a sneak peak at a plot of a movie or book, or am just plain bored, I go straight to Wikipedia. The placement of Wikipedia is also very smart. When you google a person or an event, a Wikipedia page is one of the first to pop up. For example, when I was googling Lisa Kudrow, her Wikipedia page was the very first link.  According to the article “Know it All” by Stacy Schiff from The New Yorker, it claims that “Wikipedia can aspire to be all-inclusive.” This states that Wikipedia has articles on everything; such as baseball, American Idol, George Clooney and other celebrities, and world events such as Japan’s Tsunami. Furthermore, “anyone with internet access can create a Wikipedia entry or edit an existing one.” This has created problems because there are many false facts, errors, or obscenities on Wikipedia. Therefore, as the numbers of users increase so too does vandalism. Many believe that Wikipedia should have stronger surveillance and editorial oversight.  I agree with stronger editorial oversight because while reading about something, I want all the facts to be 100% correct with correct grammar.

Recently, I have signed up for a Wikipedia account. My project was to look for articles of topics that I know something about and make edits to these pages, such as correcting the spelling, grammar, or to provide new information. As I was cruising around Wikipedia, it was actually difficult to think of articles that I could fix or improve. I did searches on celebrities but you are unable to edit any information in order to protect their information. There have been occasions when a celebrities’ information had been tampered with. For example, Miley Cyrus’s Wikipedia page said that she had died and claimed that Justin Timberlake had lost his home for failing to pay federal taxes.

In the end I settled with the “Miracle on Ice” Wiki page. I chose this because I am an avid hockey fan and I did a project on this Olympic event:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_ice.

There are thousands of changes made to a Wiki page, so it was difficult to find any mistakes. However, I did add extra detail in the ‘Soviet and American teams’ and ‘Preparing for Gold Medal Round’ section. Someone had written that the Soviet players were “amateurs” which was entirely untrue. I had changed that to “professional adults.” I also included how Herb Brooks’ goal was to build up stamina for his players in order to keep up with the Soviets through all three periods. These were the major changes I made. The rest were minimal, such as adding commas.

Using and editing Wikipedia was not at all difficult. It all depends on how much you know and which sites can be edited.

The link above presents a youtube step-by-step tutorial on how to create your own Wikipedia article.

The Advantages of Social Networking Sites

According to the article “What Students Don’t Know,” teenagers do not know how to properly research. They also rarely ask librarians for help, even when they desperately need help. Why does this happen? The reason is because students only think that librarians are good for pointing to different stacks in the library. As a result, student’s study habits are worse than before. When finding research, Google is the first website to be overused. Students nowadays prefer simple databases to find information and answers. However, students do not know how to properly research on Google in order to gain good sources that are reliable. As Andrew Asher says, “Just because you’ve grown up using Google doesn’t mean you know how to use Google as a research tool.” As a result, students suffer from headaches and frustration as thousands of links pop up when they are not researching a topic thoroughly.

This week, my class has been discussing the ways in which new media often requires new literacy to use them successfully. The topic that I have chosen to research on is the impact that social networking sites have on teenagers. However, I am focusing on the positive aspects, not the negative.  So many people focus mainly on how social networking sites harm teenagers. I will be focusing on facebook because that is the most used site for teenagers and adults. By exploring Google, Google scholar, and Loyola’s online library, I have managed to find reliable research to back up my claim on how facebook can create positive aspects for teenagers.

I had to narrow down my topic while searching through these online sources. By narrowing down my topic, I was able to produce reliable and high quality research. This also helped to avoid a headache that comes when performing research. On Google, I began with “Social Networking Sites.” This brought up thousands of sites and spoke of all types of social networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, and blogs such as Xanga. I then tried googling “Social Networking Sites positive qualities.” This produced results that were more descriptive to my topic. Also it focused on only the positive qualities, not the negatives. Last, I typed in “Facebook – positive aspects.” By being clear about your topic and narrowing down your results to be more descriptive, you will be able to do thorough research.

From Google I found this site: http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/a-social-society-the-positive-effects-of-communicating-through-social-networking-sites/. It claims that communication is encouraged amongst teenagers.

From Google scholar I found two sites: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397308000713 and http://nms.sagepub.com/content/10/3/393.full.pdf+html. These sites claim that there are more advantages to social networks such as entertainment (music), job searches, being up to date on news and events, being able to portray yourself in a different light, and instant feedback. For example, I can always find out what kinds of concerts are occurring. I “liked” United Center’s facebook page so I am always up to date with events happening. Without it, I never would have realized that Madonna is coming to Chicago for two days. Also I like it because it is easy to share fun links and youtube videos with all my friends.

From Loyola’s online library I found this: http://www.sibm.edu/FacultyResearch/pdf/samvad2.pdf#page=18 . This site also proclaims how teenagers can gain confidence and make tough decisions that are difficult offline.

Therefore, the reason why I like having a facebook is because I can stay in contact with my friends who all attend different colleges, show off your talent of photography or musical skills, and express what type of person you are.

The Internet is Not a Playground

The Myspace Moral Project

Recently with a partner, I had to read an article called To Catch a Predator – the Myspace Moral Panic. It discussed how myspace had become an issue for young teenagers. Privacy is now no longer an issue for young teens. They are posting private information such as their home addresses, where they work, and even their phone numbers. This moral panic even brought about a TV show called To Catch a Predator, which became popular. Furthermore, the internet had become dangerous for young children and teenagers. There are issues of “cyberporn” and pornography that are in easy reach of children.

I had gotten my first myspace when I was in 7th grade. I had many friends in 8th grade who all had a myspace so it made me very curious as to what this site was. When my parents found out, they were absolutely furious. They demanded me to quickly delete it and to never make another one again. They then went on to explain to me how dangerous having a myspace is because there are a lot of creeps who search around myspace. However, I was a rebellious child and ignored my parents. I ended up creating another myspace and kept it until I conformed to facebook in high school.

The article explains how there are 50,000 online predators. This was deemed to be false because there was no evidence found on this fact. It is known as a “goldilocks figure.” Also, it was stated that one out of five kids are approached online by a predator. This too was thrown aside. It has decreased significantly to only 3% of kids. Thus, this “myspace moral panic” is not an actual moral panic at all.

For entertainment, I recommend the movie Trust, directed by David Schwimmer. It is about a young teenage girl called Annie, who receives a computer on her birthday. Over the months she develops a relationship with a boy called Charlie. He sends her false information about himself but she remains naive and ignorant. This movie is a good example of how strangers should not be trusted on the internet and should be completely ignored. You do not want what happened to Annie to happen to you, or your future children.

 

 

Digital Harrastment

There are people who believe that the computer has made life easier for us all. To this statement, I would also agree to it. Articles, movies, and music are now at our fingertips. Yet with this comes disadvantages to our society.

Facebook is now the world’s most popular networking site. We can share photos, talk to friends, and be up to date with everything. As a college student, I personally like facebook because I can stay in contact with friends who attend different colleges.  Despite this, I believe that facebook poses as a dystopian threat.

Now with facebook, people no longer talk face-to-face with each other as much as we used to. All we do now is post on each other’s walls and wait for a quick response. Conversations that used to be held in person or over a phone are now occurring through facebook, where other people can read it. Also, seeing who broke up with who becomes all the rage. Privacy is now no longer considered a big deal for many teenagers and young adults.

Cyber bullying has also become a huge issue over facebook. Through facebook, kids are not afraid to voice their opinions or act irrationally without thinking of consequences. These kids feel stronger while hiding behind a screen. Cyber bullying was becoming a huge issue through facebook’s formspring. If you don’t know what formspring is, it’s a site where you can post anonymous questions to someone. This site soon became a hateful site when people began posting malicious questions and facts of each other. I personally have had friends who were affected by cruel questions asked to them. I believe that formspring should never had been created because it is an easy way for both men and women to talk trash about other people.

On top of this, embarrassing photos of you can be posted onto facebook.  So you know those photos of you partying, sleeping with your mouth open, or just acting plain silly? They have the potential to harm you in the near future. A photo posted on the internet will never go away. Furthermore, potential jobs in the future can disappear at the snap of a finger once you are searched through facebook. I personally do not want my future to be in jeopardy all because of a stupid photo. So think twice before you post a comment or a photo on facebook.

Below is a short commercial that is shown daily on MTV on the effects of cyber bullying, “If you wouldn’t say it, why would you write it?”

MTV cyber bullying – youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41FwxLZYkbE

Not So Delicious.

 

Come visit me at a new site I have recently created:

http://www.delicious.com/archie13

I have never heard of this website before until now and it is quite confusing on how to use. From what I have discovered after reading about it and investigating around the site, it is a place to organize the websites I visit every day and to discover other people’s bookmarks.

Sound easy? Well if you are someone like me who takes a while to understand sites such as these, then it may be confusing at first. To get started, I personally have uploaded two tumblr websites. They are both dedicated to the TV show Friends. So if you are still a huge fan of this classic show, then check out these sites, especially if your favorite character is Phoebe Buffay :]

It is your choice if you want to make what you want private or public. By making what you upload public, you can share with others what you find.

Despite its good attributes, I don’t quite understand how it is so different for what I normally do. I can simply push a button at the top of my screen and bookmark my most visited sites to my browser. By that simple way, it is quicker and you don’t have to create an account to do it. You may think that this way is less organized. Therefore, the website delicious.com would be fantastic for those who love to organize everything that you find.  However, it is to complicated for me to figure out how to use when there are simpler options.

 

 

 

 

 

A True Terminator Story: The Influence of Computers and Its Threat

Skynet – a computer system created in order to have command over all computerized hardware and systems. As a result, this system gained self awareness, a thirst for the destruction of all mankind, and began a series of movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his heyday. According to Douglas Rushkoff’s book Program or be Programmed, technology is shaping our world and the way that it works. Computers, specifically, are now being described as a “cybernetic mob” that collects human brains. But what is it that we all remain naive to? That is on how computers are programmed. Rushkoff states that we hungrily embrace all that the internet offers but we remain naive on how it works and how it affects us.

It all squarely depends on how you let the computer affect the way you think, learn, and even live. In the documentary film, Frontline: Digital Nation, it shows of young children in South Korea whom are introduced to computers at a very young age. They are taught how to use a computer in a healthy and ethical manner. Despite this, computer games pose as a threat, creating an addiction for hardcore gamers. Deaths have occurred within the country from the amount of time spent in front of a screen. While the death rate is not high, it sends a warning that the screen you are currently looking at can be harmful.

A lot of pressure has been placed on the internet that had only just been invented about 20 years ago. In the article “What’s New about New Media,” it states that, reading a newspaper, doing research or even watching TV has been dramatically changed as a result of the internet. It continues on to explain that when new media emerges in society, it is met with distrust. It is tough to break people of old habits. Now our daily functions have been dramatically altered and adapted to the presence of the internet. I am not stating that the internet is terrible thing to have in a household but it is important to not let computers to shape ourselves. We should avoid a future where something like Skynet can be in control and we become victims to our own technology.

I personally always have the urge to throw my laptop out the window. I do not deny that a computer is useful, but there is a limit to how much of it you can handle in a single day. Many have become addicted to our bright screens that we forget about our other activities. Try taking a break from it once in a while and go take a walk, play with your pet, or have a face-to-face conversation with another human being rather then through a social networking site. We must emphasize the importance of living in our real world rather then through the world of a computer game.