Final Post

I think that the most important thing that I learned in this course over the quarter, was the relationship between new technologies and the market place. Whether that be adoption rates, or how the market promotes new technologies, and how new technologies are packaged for consumers. The reason why this seems so important is that this awareness will make me a more concious consumer throughout my life time. It also gives me a chance to be competitive in the business world. If I continue to pursue advertising, having a basic understanding of the relationship between the product and market will definitely help.

I wish it were possible to spend more time learning and perfecting the skills of creating websites, posting power points, files and such. I think that more time to practice these skills would allow them to become more second nature, and once again, those skills would make me more competitive in the business world, as the Internet is being completely integrated and absorbed into the business world.

I think least interesting to me were all the technical readings about how the technology works. I like to be able to use the technology, but quite honestly, it doesn't interest me to know the intricate details of how they work.

All in all, I really enjoyed this class. I love the real works applications and that I can take the things that I learned and incorporate them into my everyday life. It's one of the first times I felt that what I was learning directly applied to my life outside of school!

Week 9: VoIP

I think that cable and telephone networks will have to expand to incorporate VoIP technology in their services, but I don't think the current networks will really be threatened by VoIP. Jeff Tyson and Robert Valdes bring up a good point in their How Voice-over-IP Works article about reliablility. If a computer is unable to support the conversation, whether it be power failure, virus, or processor drain, the call is lost. As of now those aren't concerns with our current telephones. Also, I think that we have become depenent, and enjoy the idea of mobility (i.e. cell phones), VoIP greatly reduces this mobility. And finally, with VoIP, I feel like it might be quite easy for calls to be intercepted and transcribed (from analog to digital might make this easier) in the hands of someone who shouldn't have the information. I know that phone lines can be tapped now, but it would be so much easier for hackers to get their hands on personal information and private conversations. So for now I think the current cable and telephone networks have nothing to worry about, except expanding what they offer to include VoIP so that they may remain competitive in the future.

Week 7: In class assignment

Assignment:
For both websites of Maria Cantwell and Mike McGavick:
- Note first impressions
- Detail opportunities for interaction with voters
- Pick an issue that is important to you and find candidate position. How hard/easy was this task? Which candidate provides the most thorough explanation?
- Which candidate do you trust more? Why?

Maria Cantwell:
Cantwell's website is easy to navigate, but a bit simplistic. Her office address,phone number, and e-mail address are available so that you might contact her. There's also a place to send quick comments, and concerns. Highly visible on her website are also links to contribute to her campaign and volunteer.
Cantwell's website makes it a bit hard to find information on her views on certain issues. For example, if I want to know about her stance on affordable tuition, it would require that I send an e-mail, letter or call, and that could mean that a response would not be necessarily timely. On this website, Maria's view points on issues is very static.

Mike McGavick:
While McGavick's website is a bit harder to navigate at first, the complexity is mostly due to the fact that he provides much more information. He provides a bio, his postition on current issues, as well as multimedia clips. His website appears to be constantly updated, and personal (by personal I mean that he appears to be the one offering information and answering questions). Here there is plenty of opportunity to contact and correspond with McGavick. He not only provides an office address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address but also his home address. Also, he has a link to his updated blog, in which people can post comments and ask questions. And much like Cantwell, he offers a link to donate and volunteer for his campaign.
In contrast to Cantwell's website, McGavrick's makes it easy to search specific topics, and in fact, I was able to find some education-related information.


Conclusion:
While I trust and would side with Maria Cantwell, this is due to previous knowledge of her stance on issues, and her previous work. If I were to make a decision stricktly on their website, I thought McGavrick's was much more personable and interactive, and I might be persuaded to join his campaign.

RSS lab

Part 1:

BBC.com
27 RSS sections
-Front page
-world (29 feeds)
-UK
-Business
-video (8 feeds)...etc.
-free RSS

seattletimes.com
47 RSS feeds
-seattletimes.com
-business and tech
-columnists
-entertainment and the arts
-sports...etc.
(each gets much more specific w/ sub categories)
-Free but registration is required for archives
Sponsored Blogs:
-food: 19
-travel and outdoor: 6
-health

Part 2:

No results for "Steven Colbert" under "truthiness" or "funny stuff" and the most results in a general search occur when the "authority slider" is set at "a little authority".

Search: "popular culture"
-tags: popular-culture, politics, media, cool news...
-blog finder: 135 related blogs found
-pop matters
-Faustas blog
-Progressive U

12,103 results for www.blogcritic.org (a lot of authority)

15,267 results for pop matters (a lot of authority)
3 results for faustas blog (very little authority)
40 results for progressive U (little authority)

a google search for blogcritics.org only turned up one result

Week 7: Politics and the Internet

I thought it was interesting that the very week that we start to talk about politics and the role that the internet plays in politics, I recieved a "friend request" from Jamie Pederson who is running for the state House of Representatives for the 43rd district. His entire profile is dedicated to his campaign, as well as providing personal information. Normally I reserve my "myspace" strictly for friends (as in people I know personally) but the ingenuity of this candidate imediately caught my attention, and I felt he deserved support. This is the first time I have ever experienced online campaigning, (and perhaps in the future I'll look back on the days when I wasn't bombarded with requests for candidate support on the internet) and I think that is an extremely intelligent and creative way of building a campaign. First of all, creating an online profile allows the candidate to be precieved as personable, relateable, and human. Second, it allows the candidate to not only create a following of supporters, but also create a massive network of people to view his profile, and essentially his entire campaign, and finally, it allows him to find those "unaligned voters" as mentioned in the Scheiber article, and try to sway their vote in his direction. And, if this candidate should win, I would hope that his profile would be dedicated to the work he does in the House of Reps. so that he might truely represent the people.

So what does the Internet mean for politics? It not only means that we have the opportunity to reach a wealth of political information, but it also means that candidates can reach the people. One idea that I disagree with in the "Role of the Internet in National and Local Media Use" article, was the suggestion that the internet really won't affect how people recieve their information about local politics. I think that any informationt that the internet provides is additional information on top of what is already relayed in newspapers, so I think that the role of the internet is still important, and should not be underestimated.

Discussion Questions:

What do you think about the role the internet plays in local politics?

How do you foresee the future of the relationship between the internet and politics?

Do you think the internet will help to maintain or strengthen the relationship between the politician and the people as I suggested, or will the internet increase the gap between the two? Explain your reasoning.

Week 6: Blogs and Podcasts

What I think is most interesting about blogs and podcasting is this notion of “bottom-up” communication. While blogging may require more work from the reader in terms of sorting information and deciding what is credible information, the idea that two heads (or in this case thousands of heads) are better than one (referring to individual reporters) may hold true. We as a society have the opportunity to become much more informed than we already are, due to a wealth of information at our fingertips. What’s more, the information provided in blogs and personal podcasts is the true definition of freedom of speech. Those who publish their own thoughts, opinions, and versions of the news are not stilted by the same regulations as those in established media forms.

Implications that these forms of media could have on established media, include the necessity for established media to accommodate for the individual’s voice to be heard. In order to compete and survive, established media must tailor to public demand as blogging and podcasting do. These media forms allow people to receive their information for little cost, and they receive information on the same topics from ten different angles or view points.

The idea that blogging and podcasting are media forms not focused on market penetration and profitability are important to the public as well. This allows for real “grassroots” reporting as mentioned in this week’s article. It’s nice that the public’s demand for these media outlets, has sparked interest and made them available, before anyone has really figured out how to make money off of it. While the idea for profit is out there, that’s not the main focus of these media technologies, making communication their real focus and intention.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think that established media forms will suffer in the wake of the establishment and public adoption of these new media outlets? Why or why not? If yes, how?

2. I was just personally wondering if visual advertising during the initial download of podcasts, rather than recorded in the podcast itself was plausible, and if it had potential as a valid form of advertising. Why or why not?

3. How do you think blogging and podcast will affect the future of how we receive news and information? How might it affect the future of communication in general?

Week 6: Blogs and Podcasts

What I find so interesting about both of this weeks articles, is that there is a definite theme of "information for the people". I love the idea that blogging really is a method of "bottom-up" communication, because really, two heads (or in the blog world, thousands of heads) are better than one (referring to the individual reporter). While this does mean we have extra work to do, by organizing all the information and deciding what we want to accept as credible, it also gives us the opportunity to get information from all angles, and really, might lead to a better informed population.

As for podcasts, again, this media technology is the really the result of public demand. I think it's interesting that public demand is forcing this technology to become more prominent, before anyone has really decided the best way to market this technology and make money off of it. What a novel idea that we are not just another marketing opportunity, but a population which is demanding to be informed!

As for the implications that blogs and podcasting may have on established media, I think that established media may have to open their doors to the public, and allow the public voice to be heard, if they want to compete with these new emerging technologies. Blogging and podcasting are allowing people to get their information from a variety of sources for little or no cost. And while established media do provide information in a convienient form, which really requires very little work from it audience, the news we tend to recieve from these sources is not really "full coverage". The rules and regulations imposed by the government as to what can and can't be aired or printed don't apply to the individual who can really take full advantage of the meaning freedom of speech.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think if it weren't for the public demand, that companies (such as NPR) would really pursue podcasting as a media outlet? why or why not?

2. In regards to the advertising dilema of podcasting, what do you think about advertising during the initial downloading, rather than as a part of the podcast itself? (this is just personal curiosity)

3. In what ways do you think blogging and podcasting could potentially alter the way we communicate, recieve news, or pave the way for new technologies in the future?

Week 5: open source software movement

I think that studying the open source software movement is extremely important because it is completely changing how we communicate. One idea that I thought was very interesting was the notion of "bottom-up" communication, rather than "top-down". Both articles by Levine, Locke, Searls, and Weinberger and Moore suggest that bottom-up communication is empowering those at the lower end of the totem pole, so-to-speak. And Moore's article seemed to express a sense of global unity, empowering all people and human rights, regardless of where they come from. So another reason to study this communication, is to understand how we process and deal with such high volumes of communication. Furthermore, if our world is that much smaller now, how do we deal with communication differences/ misunderstandings due to cultural differences?

Other reasons to study the open source software movement are that it has completely changed how we communicate with others in terms of what is appropriate. I for one believe that as a whole we have become extremely informal. For example, we might address those with authority more casually, or slip internet jargon into everyday face to face conversation. This movement has changed the way we communicate with one another in drastic ways, and it's important to understand how it has changed, and what this means for how we communicate ideas to others, whether it be face to face, or now, via internet.

Discussion Questions:

1. In what ways do you feel that this type of communication is empowering?

2. Do you think that cultural clashes and misunderstandings, may be more prevalent due to communication via the internet? How might these be dealt with and/or resolved?

3. What types of situations can you think of, where "proper" communication style has changed drastically?

Week 4 Reading: Man/Machine Relationship

I think that the Man/Machine relationship is an interesting concept, and I feel as though Norman makes valid points analyzing our analogous/digital differences, and how this makes for a bad combination. But I don't entirely agree with Norman. Sure, at times we experience difficulties with our man made machines, I believe that, like we have evolved, our machines are evolving as well. Take for example, his explanation of the tape recorder versus digital recording. We might now consider tapes and tape recording the cavemen of audio technology. Despite the difficulties we encounter with machines, we too are creatures of evolution, and are evolving with our machines. Sure this takes time, but as we progress, the purpose of our machines (to assist in daily tasks, and to make life easier) becomes more apparent. When Norman says "We are compliant, flexible, tolerant. Yet we people have constructed a world of machines that requires us to be rigid, fixed, intolerant" I want to believe just the opposite. Perhaps the construct of machines are rigid, fixed, and intolerant, but they are allowing us to become more compliant, flexible, and tolerant, allowing us to take our whole lives wherever we go.

As for the Zuckerman and Mclaughlin piece, and "keep it simple stupid", talk about information overload! To the layman, the inside workings of the internet seem vastly complicated even though we use it daily! But I also think that the daily activities for which we use the internet, are in themselves, extraordinary, and man should be quite proud of all that has been accomplished through the invention of machines.


Discussion Questions:

1. According to Norman, "We live in a technology-centered world where the technology is not appropriate for people. No wonder we have such difficulties...and the worst part is, we did it to ourselves." Do you agree with this, or do you believe that the machines we have created make life easier? Explain.

2. Taking into account both articles, do you find machines/the internet to be effiecient? why or why not?

3. Do you believe that Zuckerman and McLaughlin would disagree with Norman? Explain your reasoning.