Week 6 Reading Responses

            Even though this was not the central focus of his work, what really struck me in the ‘Blogs’ reading by Dan Gillmor was his comment about how news organizations misrepresent/warp information for mass audiences. He attributes this back to the consolidation of news organizations and then later to corporate ownership. I think the fact that so many news outlets are owned and managed by corporate giants is a big problem in our society that often gets over looked. People typically don’t think about how this effects all of the information we are presented. In reality the news organizations warp how we see the world, and if the organizations are all managed by one headmaster then we are really only seeing the perspective of one man/group. This could be dangerous and keeping us from obtaining well-rounded information. Yet amidst this flawed system, blogging has surfaced and, I believe, is working to right the wrongs. People now have a way to openly discuss issues which are relevant to them, and if news organizations are going to try and deceive the public they are either going to have to be very discrete about it or they will get called out. This is one implication blogging has had on our society and the information we are fed on a daily basis. Blogs are keeping our media outlets truer to their word and holding them up to high standards.

            In regards to the ‘NPR’ article I think the increasing demand for podcasts reflects a general trend in society: The need for personalization. People now want their favorite shows to be on their schedule not the stations, which are responding by giving the listener exactly what they want. We as a group are moving away from the static and inadaptable to the fluid and dynamic lifestyle. I was pleasantly surprised to read that NPR is now incorporating non-traditional shows into their podcasts, such as the “Youthcast”. I think this is a very smart move for them and puts them one step ahead of the competition, who is simply podcasting their traditional shows. I would predict that over the next few years podcasting will becoming even more popular and soon we will be able to log onto itunes and download a much more diverse array of  casts.

Questions:

Who/What would you consider to be todays “Muckrackers” in our present society?

Would you say that blogging is diminishing the importance/power of more traditional journalism? Or are blogs simply making traditional journalism appear to be even more official and credible amongst a sea of amateurs?

Over the next few years, do you think companies will be able to track podcast downloaders? What types of non-invasing technology would allow them to do this?

Add a comment January 29, 2007

Scholarly Journal- class workshop

I found my article under the “Communications Abstracts” Database on the UW libraries site. I typed in “Illegal download* ” and it returned many abstracts/articles. The one I picked is titled “Sharing or Piracy? An Exploration of downloading behavior” by Larose, R; Lai, Y; and lange, R.

It came out of the source “Journal of Computer Mediated Communication”

Volume 11,  no. 1, pp. 0-0  in 2005

1 comment January 23, 2007

Week 5 Response- Changing Media Market

          Reading Andersons’ “The Long Tail” article made me realize the true impact of online sharing/buying. Until this week I thought downloading music and movies online was simply a way for lazy people, like me, to get good entertainment without having to leave their chair. In reality it very well may, according to the article, reshape the notion of “hit driven economics” and expand it to older/less known creations. I couldn’t help thinking of how I first started to use Kazaa when it initially came out. I used it exactly how
Anderson describes, to download songs that I hadn’t heard in ages but had once been my favorites. Thinking back on my own experiences it makes sense that there would be an ever expanding market for those practically forgot or ignored works that no longer appear in stores.

         The “Markets are Conversations” article I appreciated due to it’s straight forward nature and honesty. The main point I extrapolated from the piece was that marketers need to have respect for the buyer, appeal to their needs and communicate with them on a personable level. My favorite “number” was the one about how the buyers know more about the product than the manufacturers, and the companies should probably listen to them for this reason.  I often feel this way. As users we are the ones who have to deal with the product on a daily basis and if the marketers would listen to our complaints/suggestions/conversations about the product I am sure they would gain a lot of valuable insight. As online communication increases between “networked markets” I think we will begin to see a shift in the way organizations go about producing products as they begin to take into account the reactions from the consumers.

       In regard to this weeks question, communications scholars should study the open source software movement because this is what the economy is heading towards being based on. If marketers can hone in on how consumers are behaving within open source software they will be able to target them better and sell the most desirable products.

Questions:

In reference to
Anderson’s article: In the future what do you predict song/movie prices will be online? Do you think they will be raised to please producers or lowered to please consumers?

In reference to
Anderson’s article: How will/might the trend of people wanting to view alternative/non-hit list films effect movie theatre showings?

Over time, do you think the fate of bookstores will be similar to that of music stores? Will we begin to see closures as books are made electronic and places like Amazon.com flourish?

Add a comment January 23, 2007

Man Becoming Machine

I thought Donald Norman had an unique view of the man vs. machine relationship in his “Being Analogy” article. I liked how he compared man’s capabilities to those of a machine and I was surprised to see that, in many cases, man had better qualitites. I feel like society and people in general have lost touch with this reality due to the fact that we live in such a “machine” world. But when you really think about it, as Norman demonstrated, people do have numerous specialized skills that set us not only apart, but above the competing machines. He also changed my opinion that adding “machines/technology” to our lives is always for the better. He gave two great examples of how this can actually be a change for the worst. The first being that technology has given us a sense of continual urgency in our lives, and second that it can actually ruin what he calls “games” which were intended for natural people to play. What came to mind when he gave the sports example was how some athletes will take enhancement drugs to improve their performance. Now I know steroids and such aren’t what typically comes to mind when you think of machines, but I think of it as an artificial advantage which has been created/manufactured by machines and technology. These types of machine-created drugs are an example of how it moves the game “beyond the abilities of humans” and allows people to perform in a super-human manner, in the end ruining the game.

The second article, “Short History” by Bruce Sterling I found to be informative and surprising. I have heard this “time line” of the internet many times, yet I am always amazed at how far it has come in such a short time. One thing mentioned in the article that got my attention was how Sterling said that it was the “most important scientific instrument in the late 20^th century”. At first this surprised me, simply because I tend to think of the internet as only being a social device and a way for me to spend all my savings in ebay. But in reality it has had an enormous impact on every aspect of life and area of stud, apparently especially in science.

When it comes to my opinion of the Man vs. Machine relationship I would have to agree with Normans ending statements which were that machines and men should work together but should not be warped into one another. And it is when they harmoniously assist one another that the best benefits are reaped.

Questions:

In the future, how do you think machines/computers will be modified to become more “human”?

If the internet has come so far in the last 40 years, what will it look like in the next 40?

Do you think at some point in time all phone calls will go through computers? And if so, what would the effects of this be?

Add a comment January 20, 2007

Internet Censorship? I think not. (Jan 16th)

When it comes to monitoring the Internet I think we need to consider who/what could do it. According to “How Internet Infrastructure Works” by Jeff Tyson, the Internet is composed of numerous networks which communicate in unique ways, resulting in the Internet. The most interesting point in this article is that the Internet is not owned by anyone, doing so would be an almost impossible feat. The only type of “monitoring” that currently is taking place (done by the Internet Society) is keeping track of the functionality of the Internet, and not necessarily the content that is being posted (Howstuffworks.com). In my opinion, due to this basic infrastructure, the WWW has gotten to the point that it is unrealistic to imagine any organization managing the entire thing. It is simply too complex and intricate. Individual will censor content through purchasing software such as the “webroot” which claims it “protects our children” from inappropriate content (Google Search Ad). Individuals will have to be responsible for filtering their own Internet. And also due to the nature of the internet’s design I believe that people will continue to have the freedom to publish anything they desire, since no one is there to deny it. Overtime I predict both trends of increasing levels of information and distribution of personal censorship software.

1 comment January 17, 2007

Week 3 Blog for Monday Jan. 15

            My life is greatly affected by information, especially that which comes from the internet. I would have to admit that I get the majority of my news, facts and just general information from websites and “Todays News” windows which pop up upon logging into my AOL account. The internet provides a quick, easy way for me to get the most important/interesting bits of information on a variety of topics all in one place. I also use the internet to look up certain things such as directions, company websites and wellness information, which is where I can relate to Nelsons article “It Will Cost You”. I sometimes feel what he describes as “information anxiety”, where I will be trying to get certain information and get stuck with a bunch of random results of little or no value. I also get frustrated by Solock’s idea that the internet is like a “Hall of mirrors”, in that when trying to get information I feel like I am simply being led from site to site and never actually am able to locate what it is I am searching for. But even with this occasional frustration and anxiety I still enjoy the freedom the internet provides for me to do my own research. And I feel like the more I use the internet the less frustrating it becomes due to the fact that I am getting better at pin-pointing exactly what I need to type in to get the results I need.

            My first reaction to Solock’s “Internet” article was that it was targeted toward a completely different generation than my own. Essentially growing up with the internet, I feel like the suggestions and tips he gives are very elementary and are directed to older generations who have not had as much experience with the WWW. I can typically look at a web page for a few seconds and determine whether or not the information on it will be legitimate. This is a skill which, I think, a lot of my generation possesses. As time goes on I predict that search engines and companies will make their web pages even easier to navigate in order to appeal to all generations and to the abilities of all users.

Questions:

How useful do you think features such as Googles “Catched” phrases are when trying to locate specific information? Do you think other search engines will try to mimic this feature?

Is there any realistic way for the internet to get all of the “useless/outdated” information filtered out of it?

If so, whose job would it be to do this? The author him/herself? One corporation? Could we even leave it up to a person to monitor this? Or would that give them too much influence over what we get exposed to and what we do not?

6 comments January 10, 2007

Week 2 Blog Questions

Why were things like the glasses ,described by Bush,with the attached camera never actually invented?

Why was Math mentioned as a starting point in two of the articles?

What type of new Medium will replace TV’s? The idea of replacement was introduced in the Remediation article.

Add a comment January 9, 2007

Week 2 Blog- Jan 8, 2007

There were a few things that jumped out at me as I did the readings for this week. After reading the ‘Mediamorphosis’ article, which outlined in great detail the historical advancements of many technologies, I realized how naive I have been about the internet. I had never realized how long computers (1940′s) and the internet (1969) have been around and the amount of time it has taken to get them to the stage they are at today. Yet even considering this I feel like they have really only taken off in the past 10 years or so. I think the instigator of this sudden change was the general public. It was when households got computers and the general public began surfing the web that the internet and personal computer began to get shaped into what they are today. The same trend occurred with the telephone, where its’ uses weren’t realized until the public began using it for social reasons. Another point that got my attention was in the “Remediation” article when Bolter and Grusin talked about how the internet is effecting social change. This is a great point I had never considered, yet I consider to be true. I believe that the internet is allowing for a “citizen based democracy” to form. Since it is now simple to share your thoughts and opinions I think a lot of social change will arise from users coming together and demanding reforms instead of leaving it up to the government.

The first thing I thought of when Bush introduced his idea of the “Memex” was, sadly enough, Wikipedia. The way he was describing linking articles/terms and creating “trails” of your research reminded me of how works on Wikipedia have highlighted words which are linked to similar articles so you can investigate a topic from many different sources. It even sounded similar to a simple search engine like Google, where you type in a word and it does all the searching for you. As it turns out it seems like Bush was on track with his prediction, the one major difference being that “Memex” took up an entire desk, whereas a device with internet/computer capabilities can now fit in your pocket.

Add a comment January 6, 2007

Hello world!

So this is my blog, and even though it is just a class assignment, I still have the right to make it pretty! Enjoy the nice colors and my very insightful reflections…

1 comment January 4, 2007