Open-Source Media

The media does an excellent job with providing current and latest new. Professional journalists are well equipped and trained to write all of our daily articles. In the United States we have no restrictions or censorship and the media is free of expressing any opinion or event. Some nations didn’t have the privilege of enjoying unrestricted media and broadcastings from all over the world. In Egypt, for example, the president Ali censored and regulated all of the information being fed to its citizens because he wanted to keep his government ideas within his nation and keep other ideas from entering Egypt. Nourediine Miladi expresses in Turnisia: A media led revolution?, that citizens from Tunisia, “migrate every night via satellite TV to the rest of the world. Global TV broadcasting, headed by Al Jazeer, has become the refuge of people who look for uncensored information” Restricting information to people is taking away their natural rights. We all have the right to adapt, read, and practice anything we desire. After many organized riots and protest the government realized that they were using social networks like Facbook, Twitter, and YouTube to expand, inform, and organize events. Again in Miladi’s Turnisia: A media led revolution?, it describes the hacking and overseeing of internet data by the government, “Error 404, an error message that comes up on computer screens whenever someone’s account is hacked, became known to activists as ‘Ammar 404’, taking the name of the government’s internet censor.” In Egypt it went to the extreme of shutting down the internet in order to stop citizens from organizing, but more importantly it took away their access to a public space.

On that note, professional journalist and media companies provide great information from all over the world. However, the problem with this is that even though they provide neutral information all of these articles are only written by those few professionals in our nation. Essentially, it is partially biased, biased by the company’s goals and objectives. The evolution of media is going to take us into open-source media. Instead of simply having media websites provided by journalist, ordinary users can post and ad news. The way it works is by allowing people to write their own articles without having any certification, simply go online and type. Similar to any open source it will be controlled by users and it will allow rapid updates on specific news/events. Willis and Bowman discuss in WeMedia that the web gives you the tools and all you need is your thought, “Armed with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always-on connections and increasingly powerful mobile devices, the online audience has the means to become an active participant in the creation and dissemination of news and information” (Willis and Bowman). Allowing people to participate in our newsfeed will increase our participation in our “global village”. For example, in your Facebook your news feed updates so fast that sometimes you feel like you have been shadowing people. Media feeds will allow us to have a constant flow that will keep us current on our topics of choice.

Limiting our Internet Connection

            As McLuhan would say we are becoming a “global village”. This idea refers to the fact that broadcasting, telecommunications, internet, or any form of communication is transforming our society into one big community. Things like the internet allow us to connect and speak with people in real time. Essentially this connection will allow the stream of media, information, broadcastings and it will make it accessible to anyone in the world. However, the problem is that there are more people who are not connected which causes this global village to have walls that exclude many from participating. Recently the internet is becoming much more accessible, for example smart phones are becoming more powerful and grant you instant connection to a browser. Also, a lot of these phones become hotspots giving you a connection to the internet anywhere where you have coverage. Specifically here at San Jose, VTA is planning on launching a new feature on all their busses and trains, WiFi. These are perfect examples of how the internet is becoming more accessible and cheap. The city of San Jose has been talking about providing a public internet connection via WiFi to a given radius in Downtown San Jose. This will allow a connection for people who don’t have access or can’t afford to have an internet provider. One of the things that the Obama administration is working on is on expanding and providing the use of technological resources. Part of their plan is to implement the use of computers and internet in schools, undeveloped areas, and low-income families. However, the down side to this is that it’s estimated to cost between 30 to 350 billion dollars.

            Recently our biggest internet providers like Verizon, Comcast, Bell South have been talking about limiting our access to the internet and instead of providing full access to the web they will sell us packages that will include different amounts of access. For example, an entertainment package will grant you with access to YouTube, ESPN,FOX Sport, etc. In a article written by Jeff Chester, The End of the Internet?, he describes the reaction Ed Whitacre, CEO of AT&T, “Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment, and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!” Limiting our access is simply a form of making money. Doing this will only limit the accessibility and since we are still a developing society launching something like this will stop or slow down the adaptation of those new to the internet. Moreover, in this same article it later states, “Without proactive intervention, the values and issues that we care about—civil rights, economic justice, the environment and fair elections—will be further threatened by this push for corporate control.” (Chester, Jeff) The internet has become one of the fundamentals tools for research, media, and education. Limiting its power is like forcing us to see the world through a small tube. From a business perspective companies like Google make their money by having ads and promoting other companies, but with a limited connection not everyone will be able to access Google resulting in fewer visits and less money. If you are interested in reading about these topics/issues please visit this link, http://www.thenation.com/article/end-internet  

Media Diet

 

February 2011
	Mon		Tue		Wed		Thu	Friday
	14 Internet:2hrs-facebook,camino, HW assignments. Television-30min: Discovery Channel Reading: 21/2hrs:Required readings	15 Internet-11/2: Facebook,camino TV-0min Reading-1hr: RequiredReading Studying- 6hr: Textbook &Notes		16 Internet-1hr: Facebook,Craigslist, Camino TV-1hr: Documentary Reading-5hrs: Essay, Books, Primary Sources		17 Internet-2hrs Facebook,You Tube, Amazon, ebay TV-3hrs: Discovery Channel, Action Movie Reading-1hr Reading Assig		18 Internet-1hr:Amazon, Camino, Youtube TV-3 hrs: Action Movie, Science Channel Reading- 1hr: HW Assig,

After reviewing my media diet I realized that I spend a lot of time using the internet, but most of the time I am reading online articles or downloading homework assignments. When I go on facebook I simply log on to check any notifications then log off. I don’t leave my facebook on and continue my work because it’s simply a distraction. As far as TV I rarely have time to turn on my set because I am so busy with work, school, and life. For example this past week I had to watch a documentary for one of my classes so I had to use my TV. Doing this made me realize how much time we spend using technology for academic purposes. Our modern education system is now more technologically oriented rather than textbook oriented. I think that compared to other people my media usage is neither heavy nor distracting. I know that a lot of people have to have their facebook on, Pandora, TV, or cell phone next them while for me I rather have nothing on, but the materials I need for my homework, essay, or project. We have begun the process of modernization again and this time we are moving into the computer and robot age. The internet is becoming more accessible and computers more affordable. It makes me wonder how the world is going to be and how different my media usage will be 15 years from now.

Technology and Social Interaction

The spread of technology has had a negative impact on our everyday face to face interaction. Technology has made us lazy in the sense that we no longer feel like we need to interact with others because we can do it through a screen. When I chat with my friends our level of conversation is very low and generally not meaningful. We are losing the ability to meet people physically. For example, one of my friends didn’t want to engage in a physical conversation until he spoke with her through facebook. The first thing that went through my mine was “Are you kidding you wimp” I feel like this social networking sites allows users to feel more confident about themselves because it acts as a security system. If someone denies your friend request then you simply more one, if someone defriends you then you won’t have to worry about speaking to them ever again, through this public space your allowed to portrait a stronger character or even the ideal person. 

Technology is making us less efficient and its making us rely on the intelligence of machines instead of our own. The way things are moving students are going to be computer smart instead of book smart. For examinations they will be tested on how fast they find the answers online instead of how well they can articulate and apply their thoughts. Humanity will essentially become obsolete and just like 1984 machines will control society and our world will revolve around what technology dictates. Before we would say that without us technology won’t exist and now we question if we will survive without technology. I understand that the purpose of innovation is to improve and make our lives better, but not to the point where we will have computers plugged in our brains. It sounds ridiculous, but if you think about it you realize that Smartphone’s are becoming an addiction and this demand to have information accessible anywhere has driven the rapid technology of super powerful phones. In the direction we are headed how will our children’s phone look, computers, will our education system continue to lower its standards?

Personally to me meeting people through online networks is not the best way to find strong relationships. You can find really cool people, but not life time friends. Even though recently it’s been shown that a majority of the couples meet on online dating sites and most of them marry. However, a lot of them divorce so it makes you wonder how “real” these sites are. Another problem with this is that people can easily lie about their identity giving you a false impression on the contrary physically meeting people will give you a true understanding of who they are. A lot of people on facebook have hundreds of friends and if you ask the user if they now everyone they will most likely know less than a hundred people. Out of those you only communicate with fifty and out of those fifty you physically interact with twenty-five and out of those twenty-five ten are real friends. 

We need to stop looking at screen and start looking at faces. Because of all these new forms of interacting, the numbers of people who volunteer dropped; people attend less community meetings, social events, school board meetings, neighborhood meetings, etc. We are all individualizing instead of coming together are one society.    

Social Networking and Privacy

I use facebook very often. It’s the best way to communicate and connect with my friends and family members. I only have a facebook account which means that it’s my only means of keeping in touch with my distanced friends. I only check my facebook whenever I have my laptop and it’s hard not to log on whenever I have access to my laptop. When I first opened my account I critiqued facebook addicts because I found it pointless to share your life on the web. However, slowly but surely I began to realize how great of a resource this social network can be in a college environment. It opens doors to more community involvement and it allows you to meet people similar to you. I also notice that if don’t contribute then people won’t connect or network with you. Part of having this facebook page is that you have to comment, post, share, and find friends in order to effectively create connections and have others connect with you. I probably spend two hours checking my facebook and texting every day.

I think that social networking, constant access, and loss of privacy brings a positive trend as a whole because it enables communication and interaction of humanity. Social networking allows you to talk to someone in real time like if they were next to you, but they are actually somewhere else in the world. Having this creates a sense of a world community because we have no constraints and information can be communicated within seconds. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a computer or internet excluding some from this world wide community. As far a privacy, we choose to be create an account and we agree to their terms so if you’re sensitive about your privacy then it’s probably not a good idea for you to use a social networking site. Another problem is that a lot of the teens think they are proficient at a technology they don’t fully understand. For example, many don’t know that you can switch your privacy settings on your facebook account or that facebook legally owns everything you publish. However, some of the drawbacks are that you feel like you’re entitled to share your information or else others won’t share with you. This causes people to leave their comfort zone which may be good, but generally it can make them more vulnerable to the outside world. I don’t recall of a time where I felt that I over-shared, but a couple of my friends had to go through some pretty embarrassing times because other friends posted inappropriate pictures of them. They allowed the publication of the pictures thinking that no one would care until they realize that they had become the biggest scandal in high school. Anytime I post something online I ask myself if it’s appropriate, can my friends and family see it, and can my boss see it.