A VIRTUAL DEATH AND A REAL DILEMMA:

A VIRTUAL DEATH AND A REAL DILEMMA:

I have never heard about the Kaycee blogging hoax until now.  But for a joke to last over two years and affected that many people is significant.  I don’t know how I would have reacted to the whole situation.

The article did bring up two main perspectives.  There is the first perspective of the skeptic who questions everything and does not believe in blogs and online communities being true and sincere. The second is the optimistic that’s views the hoax as a lesson to be learned.  Though the blog did fool many people, it allowed them to become motivated and feel hope for her. If fairytales and bring people together, then why not online blogged stories.

I think if I were one of the readers of the blog, I would be the more skeptical view.  I hardly ever care about what people post on Facebook or blogs already.  It’s just too much information about their life that I don’ really need to know.

-Jossshhuaa

Blogging: self presentation and privacy

Blogging: self presentation and privacy

This article was a very fun article to read. I can only imagine how much work it took to survey and study so many people’s blogs, their comments, and their opinions on it.  I can really appreciate this study because of the fact that our generation has become the prime users of this technology. 

I felt that the author’s focus on the different types of privacy was a very important section of the paper. Personally, I felt like the definitions were very exact and gave a clear sense of boundary found in their study. I utilize the expressive privacy a lot in my blogs and social networks.  People don’t need to know that much about me.

I also enjoyed how the author took time to categorize the purpose of the blogs and gave examples of each category.  It’s amazing to see how much information people are willing to release publicly on the internet.  I particularly enjoyed the comment on page 13 saying, “I’ve been leery of writing about anything that might undermine my credibility in his eyes.”  As a martial arts instructor, I find that I have to really watch what I post to not loose the respect of my students.

Overall this was a great read and I look forward to reading more like this one.

-Jossshhuaa

The End of Books

The End of Books

Robert Coover presents a great article depicting the manly changes and challenges resulting from hypertext.  Coover defines hypertext as the next wave of technology after the printed book.  He also notes that it will have an enormous impact on our culture in the areas of literature, education, criticism, and scholarship (Coover, 706).  This is significant because this marks a giant shift in the way media and literature is consumed.  Bookstores all around the nation are closing down and e-books are gaining in popularity.  The ease and mobility of hypertext create many benefits that a traditional printed book cannot touch.  Though there are critics who argue that reading will lose the touch and smell of a new book, but it is clear to see how the future is moving to digital technology and hyperbooks. 

One interesting point that Coover makes is that the transition from writing traditional books to hyperbooks differ. Writers are forced to learn new software, implement new sharing and editing techniques and many more.  I found it very un-encouraging that authors had to move all their work to digital copies and learn new programs to create their works.  Yet by the time their work was completed, updated software was released and their works had to transferred over again.  It’s a wasted process that does not support the literature industry well.  

Overall I felt that this article gave great insight to a writer’s perspective on changing technology and literature.  Since I have never written or paid much attention to books, it was eye opening to take a journey into Coover’s experience of literature evolution.

-Jossshhuaa

Social Media Exploration Project

Hey class. So I found it a bit challenging to find a topic that interested me highly about social media and that had a lot of relevant research.  Since social media is a fairly new topic, scholarly articles and research is a real pain in the butt to find. Haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my topic and can relate to it.

Research Question:

How has user uploaded video websites impacted the society's communication and behavioral processes?

I picked this topic because I am an avid Youtube user. Anything from how to guides, videoblogs, or just random videos that are entertaining I love to watch.  Yet I never thought of the countless videos on youtube as a way of communication. As I looked closer I realized that I was wrong.  Youtube is a great way of broadcasting information, communicating through comments, video responses and countless other forms of interaction.  Being able to analyze communication through the media of Youtube I hope to find out how it affects the way people communicate and how much impact it has on their communication and behavior. 

Here’s a video I found of another student from a different university very vaguely explaining communication on Youtube.

I guess it would be fair to say….RATE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE! LOL! Chow for now!

-jossshhuaa

Navigating Technomedia

Sam Han discusses the marvels and changes that came about through each new era of technology.  Han argues that with each new technology, the human experienced has changed.  All the elements he discussed, from printing, to radio, to television has all had an impact on the way society interacts with one another.  The same can be true with technology that is coming out now.  Video calling and other forms of recording can see has drastically changing the way people communicate.  Being able to be seemingly face to face with someone while they are on the other side of the globe is amazing.  Advances in video calling make it so easy that it can be used through mobile phones.

Another aspect of technology Han focuses on is the idea of the “live feed”.  With the invention of electricity, broadcasting, radio and television, anything that is currently happening can be streamed to be seen anywhere in the world.  With great advances of the Internet, there are countless programs and events being streamed that were impossible to be streamed before. 

I agree with Han in that every new era of technology changes the way we communicate in a major way. Especially when the technology used in the past turns into ancient history.

-Jossshhuaa

Personal Dynamic Media

It is amazing to read this article and see how people had a vision nearly forty years ago that has come true to today.  The Dynabook vision is talking about a personal labtop or netbook that exists today.  All of the capabilities of the Dynabook that Kay and Goldberg described have now come to life.  Children use it as a recreations tool and study devise, musicians and DJ’s thrive off its software capabilities, photoshop works wonders for artists, and many more. 

What’s even more amazing is how the idea of having a portable computer that could execute all these functions and be readily available and affordable for consumers did not happen until forty years later.  Yet, today technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Laser emitted keyboards and 3D television and gaming are just some of the view devices that were unimaginable forty years ago.  That is going to change and to take place with in the next twenty years I can’t even fathom.  Just the fact that the ideas of today can be a reality of tomorrow is remarkable.

What do you think is going to evolve in technology with in the next 20 years?

-Jossshhuaa

Computer Power and Human Reason

Computer Power and Human Reason

This article was an extremely interesting article that brought back images from the movie iRobot.  In that movie, technology became so advanced that robots were able to think on their own and become intelligent beings. 

This same phenomenon is seen to be starting in this article.  Having a computer that is able to be a psychotherapist is amazing.  It’s amazing to see how a programed machine can illicit so much emotion.  It’s almost as if the machine was thinking and responding for it self.  It is easy to see why people were scared of computers and machines taking over. 

The author also mentioned the poison of science.  He states that common human problems and paradoxes are being consumed by a quest to find a logical answer for them.  To an extent where wars were just another problem to be solved.  It’s a sad truth that makes serious dilemma seem like another science experiment. 

All in all this article brought up many new arguments and events that I’ve never heard of before.  Hope you found this read to be valuable like I did.

-Jossshhuaa

Second Life

At first glance, the world of second life was confusing and hard to imagine.  I then did a quick search of youtube to give a summary and visualization on how Second Life worked.

After watching this video, the world of SL became clearer to me.  The authors of the article focused only on the gender differences that were portrayed in the game.  The first aspect of their study that stuck out to me was their fear when choosing characters.  They were right to assume that choosing a certain gender and how it looked would potentially affect the way others interacted with them.  Since SL is a role playing game, the situations that happen are based on real life situations and can be more amplified than reality.  Another aspect that jumped out at me was how sexual that game is.  It is true that sex sells, and the developers must have felt a need to implement such sexual features in order to reel in more users for the game. 

All in all it seemed as the research team learned a lot  on how well role playing games mimic reality.  The interactions in the game are at many times so real. Or maybe, they are really real….

Jossshhuaa

The Technology and The Society

This article was a very difficult read, yet contained a lot of valuable information.  The most important concept that I learned from this article is the evolution of technology and it changes so much over time.  So many different types of technologies had to have developed in order to create the television we have today.  Electricity, radio, broadcasting, telegraph and countless others all impacted the evolution of television. 

Even today the television is constantly changing.  Just the other day, I was playing the Xbox 360 at my cousin’s house in 3D! Being able to put on 3D glasses and see the game come out of the television screen was amazing.  I can’t even fathom what kind of things will appear in the future. Holographic video games, television programs that surround you and make you feel as if you’re in the scene.  There is just so much more purpose and change yet to be discovered in just that one technology alone.  Looking at where television has been only increases my imagination on where television can go.

-Jossshhuaa