Just Like Me, Only Better!

Just Like Me Only Better

Avatars are everywhere. Online forums, video games, message boards, almost every single avenue of online interaction will allow you have to have a picture of yourself or an avatar.  Take this blog for example.  We were allowed to create a screen name and put a picture if we’d like.  Those are all representations of ourselves in some sort. My sn: jossshhhuaa, is just a weird way to spell my name.

In the article, the spent a lot of time focusing on how different aspects of self are represented through avatars. More specifically how each different ethnicity perceived beauty and represented them online.  As a Filipino, having light skin is a perception of beauty, especially to females.  Many females that I see online will make their avatars light skinned characters. 

However, one area where I like to make different characters is the Wii.  I construct different people based on my imagination and what personalities they have.  Typically, most of my Wii avatars fit many of the racial stereotypes, but you don’t have to judge me on that ;)

Anyways, I had fun reading the article. Hope you did as well.

Jossshhuaa

Community Media

Community Media

This article was a very well written and touched on a lot of important issues dealing with our communication and sense of democracy.  The first main point I picked out of this reading was that community media allowed everyone to participate.  The author stated that people have created so much of their own media with the use of the Internet.  The next step would be to allow an avenue of participation for everyone to take place in the decision making process.

An Oxford professor named Stephen Coleman created a model called E-democracy which does just that.  Allowing participants to utilize technology and fully become a part of the democracy process would be amazing.

For now, as the article states, media is used for a variety of other purposes.  One such purpose is political slander. A lot of media attention and effort is focused on exploiting the actions of politicians.  A great recent example would be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new child.  He received a lot of bashing and ridicule as that story became public.  

The more important concept I received from the article is that community media shows us that not everyone thinks the same.  Hopefully with more implementation of community media, people will become more exposed and tolerant of different ideas. Then maybe finally, people can put their pride aside and agree to disagree, and finally work together as a true democracy. 

Uses and Gratification

Uses and Gratification

This article discussed a lot of concepts that many people who use SNS know about, but many times are over looked.  The article states that the primary use of SNS is keeping in touch with friends and family.  This is true in many cases and in my use of SNS personally.  Another use of SNS that people overlook frequently is people use SNS to gain information about other people.  Its funny how little people realize that what they post can be seen on everyone’s newsfeed on Facebook.  Without even trying, I am able to see the breakfast someone had and that they are feeling pissed off that day.  Then when you approach and mention something about their life, they act as if you have cyber stalked them. It’s a ridiculous phenomenon that happens all the time. 

The article discusses many other social gratifications that can be found through MySpace’s top 8, amount of comments or likes, and the over all responses to their profile.  All in all, SNS is a great tool for communication and information as long as it’s used responsibly. 

-Jossshhuaa!

The medium is the message

The medium is the message

This was an extremely hard article to read. I was only able to understand, and really grasp a few concepts of the reading.  Hopefully with more research and reading of other student’s blogs I’ll be able to pull the gold nuggets out from the article. However from what I do understand from the article, I do agree with what he is trying to say.

The first thing that struck out to me was the fact that an electric light has a message.  It’s a medium that conveys a message because we all share some underlying meaning behind that.  All other signs that we drive by everyday convey a message, that to many other people may mean nothing.  Another example would be a carpool lane diamond painted on the road.   To anyone who doesn’t drive, its just a painted white diamond, to drivers it means you have to have multiple people in the car to be in that lane.  It’s a simple concept that is often overlooked daily. 

Another concept I was able to understand was his good and his bad concept of objects and mediums.  It can be directly related to the Chinese philosophy of ying and yang.  Everything has a good and a bad, it all depends on how the user uses it.

All in all, McLuhan had many great concepts.  It was just a really dense read that I’ll be sure look into more for the exam this week.

Jossshhuaa!

Consequences of Social Networkin

The article titled, “Consequences of Social Networking” was a very interesting read.  Being a communications major, I have done many projects regarding the uses and gratifications of social networking. Many of the issues addressed in this article were supplemental to past literature and research I have done.  I will surely cite this article in my next classes as well. (Thanks professor)

On my response to the article:  I felt that this article had a lot to offer in analyzing the emptions and feelings associated with ONSS. The four social properties that were presented early one were anxiety, self-esteem, body image, and extroversion.  Acar gave us several definitions, hypothesis, and rating scales on which he could judge the level of these behavioral queues from each participant.  It’s interesting to note that my past research and agreed with his hypothesis.  He noted that those who were more extroverted, had more positive sense of body image, and had higher self-esteem were found to have more friends, accept more strangers as friends, and use ONSS for more purposes. 

Another aspect of the article that really intrigued me was his findings that women typically had more friends than men.  I find that hard to believe, especially with todays generation of college aged students.  (I wish the publishing date of the article was visible) But it seems as though it should be equal.  Many of my friends, both male and female, have lots of friends that they have casually met at a party, gotten introduced to, or are interested in.  In my opinion, the amount of friends a person has depends on how socially active the person is, and who they want to let into their social circle.

Overall, this was a great article and I look forward to reading more.

-Jossshhuaa

Quality of Online Social Relationships

This article focuses on the strength of online relationships and how they are compared to communication and strength of face-to-face relationships.   In a general sense, the article concludes that face-to-face communication is much stronger and effective than any computer mediated form of communication.  I found it interesting that the article mainly states that people feel closer and more connected to people they see face-to-face than those who they communicate through an electronic basis.  Face-to-face communication allows a person to see the other, interact, read body language, and the response is immediate.  Electronic forms of communication lack these instantaneous feedback queues that provide lots of information during a conversation.

However, this article was written ten years ago, and much has changed since then.  Skype and other forms of video calling have allowed face-to-face communication to become a reality through electronic devices.  Notes, documents, and many more can be shared instantly, just as if someone was talking to another face to face.  Technology has become so advanced that this type of communication is talking swarm in the business world.  I would love to see this article updated to take into consideration video calling and its changes it has made in perception to electronic communication. 

The Written Word: From Printing to the Internet

This article is very informative and interesting.  The different modes of communication is something we use everyday, yet take for granted.  Personally I use convinces such as instant messaging, video calling, and e-mails every single day, yet I never take the time to figure out how they originated. 

One concept that I found very interesting was the invention of paper.  Paper is a common modern commodity that no one ever thinks about.  Yet, it changed the way people communicate drastically.   I can only image what would not have been invented and created if it weren’t for paper. 

Another concept in the article was physical delivery.  It constantly amazes me how I can order something from the UK or Asia and it arrive at my doorstep in a week or so.  I can only imagine the amount of hours and time it took to set up a system that can almost flawlessly consistently transfer packages around the world.  From bike messengers to airplanes, the mode of delivery and communication is impressive.  I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future of communication.

Holograms anyone?

Man-Computer Symbiosis

The Man-Computer Symbiosis article was a very interesting read discussing many different uses of the computer.  There are a few things I found particularly interesting.  

The first was the discussion of the speed miss match between a man and the computer.  The author notes that the speed of the computer is much too fast for one man to handle.  I found true in some cases.  Everyday as I use a computer, it amazes me how useful and quickly it is able to process data almost instantaneously.  Earlier in the article the author also mentions how man is able to input a few data sets and endless pages of results are able to come from the computer effortlessly.  Computers really do make many processes faster and more efficient.

Another concept that interested me from the article was the voice recognition capabilities of computers.  I can only imagine the large amount of work that was put into creating those programs.  The author notes that it takes at least five years to create a program with only a 2000 vocabulary set.  I find it extremely impressive that a machine without functioning ears, can listen to voice and code it into data that it can understand. 

It seems as the potential uses of computers are limitless.  I can’t wait to see how computer functions will evolve into in ten years. 

Be Who You Want To Be

Hey Class!

I'm sure you found this article as interesting as I did.  One thing I learned from this article is can easily shape their image or perception of their online identity.  The statuses I post, the pictures I tag, and all the other applications of Facebook all have an impact on my online identity. 

         One interesting thing I found about this article was the fact that pictures portray a certain message.  This is completely true, especially when related to the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  People pick a certain profile picture in hopes to illicit a certain feeling and or though about themselves. I recently attended the SJSU undergraduate research conference where a woman from Santa Clara University presented her project on why college women chose their profile pictures.  Her results concluded that woman pick their profile pictures to show a high level so sociability.  They chose images of themselves that made them seem attractive, fun and outgoing. Her study was interesting as it related to a topic many people are familiar with.  I know the images I choose as my profile picture are chosen to imply a certain message or feeling. 

Introductory Post

Hey Comm 131P

My name is Joshua and I'm really excited to begin this class. Here's some basic information about me!
-I am Communication Studies major graduating this Fall! WOOH!
-Martial arts and basketball are my favorite sports!
-I can eat ice cream all day every day!


Thats the basics of me. Have fun reading my blog and leave a good comment. Hopefully I can get back to yours!