Course Reflection March 8, 2007

The most important thing I learned in this course was learning about all the new technologies available to us and the many uses for them. I found it to be very beneficial to be able to create our own blog sites and voice our own opinions on them as many politicians and other people do as well.  Though the discussions in class were very interesting and informative I would have liked to have been able to spend more time appling what what we learned by having more hands on activities. I really enjoyed the structure of the class and how you opened it up to all the students to make sure you weren’t the only one lecturing the whole time. Making a class interactive like this makes it much more appealing than rather sitting through a 2 hour lecture of purely taking notes. I found the topics on technical aspects to be the least interesting because I found them hard to follow most of the time. I have never been that interested in how something works as much as I probably should be.

VoIP March 2, 2007

After searching through the different options offered through Vonage and Speakeasy I found that they both offer services at my current location and both would allow me to keep my current number. Speakeasy had me enter my address and then continued by giving me a phone number to call to pick the right plan for me. I think it would be more appealing to people if they showed more information about the plans offered on the website rather than making you call a number. People tend to like the convenience of having the information in front of them rather than making the extra effort and potentially having to spend unnecessary time on the phone listening to a sales pitch. I found that there plans come with a broadband service starting at $83.90. Vonage provides more information with the plans and prices included and the different equipment choices. There plans start at $24.99 and you would receive the equipment free after the rebate. 

I found this assignment to be quite easy as the websites provided me with the information I was looking for.  Though these services come at a much smaller price than what I pay for my cell phone currently I don’t see myself subscribing to these services any time soon. I find the convenience of my cell phone to be much more effective for me than resorting to my computer every-time I need to make a phone call. 

Week 9 Readings February 27, 2007

This idea of phone-internet communication is a very interesting thing. I spend so much of my time already on my computer and rely on the use of the Internet daily but find it hard to imagine using my computer as a way of communicating over the phone too. I can see how VoIP could become a huge competition to other phone companies if they don’t step up and come up with a similar idea. I find the idea of using my computer as a phone would be a hassle since we have the convenience of just picking up our compact cell phones to make a call rather than the hassle of getting out my computer and turning it on every time I needed to make a call. Though this does have its disadvantages I believe that a lot of the advantages will cater greatly to peoples needs. The issue of cost I believe is a big factor and I think people will find this to be a much better investment rather than paying what can many times be very expensive phone bills. Also it would be very nice to always have access to land lines even when you are out of town. Discussion questions: Why would people choose to use VoIP over cell phones?Have a great number of people already changed to VoIP?

Week 8 Readings February 20, 2007

When reading the article “Wireless Revolution and Universal Access” I had a hard time following it sometimes with all the technological terms. Though I did find it to have a lot of useful information that I hadn’t previously known anything about. I found it very interesting to read the entire WLAN glossary and learn about all the different terms and there meanings.  I especially found it great that we are trying to make it possible for people in other countries to have access to the Internet as we do. I never thought about the fact that we truly have the upper hand in being able to access the internet basically anywhere anytime and that there has become a gap between us and other countries because of it. I think it is really important that we are attempting to move forward on this issue and  have taken into account that money is an issue and want to make sure that it is at a price in which can be achieved. I find it to be important that we all have an equal chance of having internet access even if it is not the most current technology because cyberspace is a public space and we should all have the chance to use it.  Discussion Questions:What could be some possible negative effects of having universal access?Will access to the internet be truly effective for developing countries?

Reflection of Newspaper Inventory Assignment February 20, 2007

When doing the newspaper inventory assignment I found the organization of sites to be very different from one another. Though of the four newspapers I viewed they were all clearly organized and easy to navigate through the site. Having a blog index makes things much simpler when looking for a specific blog rather than having to scroll through them all like you have to with some newspapers.  I was surprised to find of the four papers I viewed only one had citizen blogs. I would think that they would be more popular since other peoples views are sometimes the most interesting.  I found the FOX site to be especially hard to navigate and was suprised it was not organized better. I searched for a long time just to find if it even had blogs. Overall I found this assignment to be very interesting and think that we could still do more work in better organizing these sites.

Article Presentation February 20, 2007

I found this to be very rewarding getting to share views and personal experiences with other members of the class. Through them and my own research I have learned a lot about how and why teens have embraced sites like Facebook and MySpace and I’m fascinated by how teens display their public selves on these sites. It is amazing to think that teens are now gathering on sites like these to socialize after school instead of actually physically meeting like we all used to.  With our generation it is interaction that has begun to count. They want an Internet experience that is a give-and-take, information sharing experience. The day of just logging on to the Internet and reading pages of text or looking passively at pictures is over. We can do that with print media and television. This generation wants to have an interactive experience and to be more involved with the web and its uses.

Podcast Update February 13, 2007

I am currently working on finding relevant information to use for my podcast on the medias influence on girls body images. I haven’t begun any of the recording because I am not quite sure of the process of how to do it.  I will hopefully begin recording next week after our lab on thursday.

Discussion Leader February 13, 2007

This article talked about today’s college students, known as the millennial generation and their use of Myspace and Facebook as a social network. Critics say this idea of social networking is redefining the real meaning of communication, identity and community. Social networking is adding to student’s social lives, they are able to blend private information in a public space enabling them to socialize with everyone around them. Critics bring up the notion of whether or not these social networks are ruining personal communication. Researchers agree that students don’t actively consider the sites as social networking but more so as a fun way of killing time. Despite the physical interaction, social interactions still exist. Student’s research others profile, picking up information about peoples personalities, interests and characteristics.  A study at UNC-Chapel Hill examined Facebook usage at schools and found that the top four reasons student’s use it is for is social utility, directory, diversion and voyeurism.  The most appealing feature of these social networks is how sites allow individuals to experiment with identities. There is this opportunity for students to market themselves to peers, which sometimes might not be fiction as much as a way to market a perfect perception of themselves. We can think of profiles as digital bodies in that you are always aware of your audience. Millenials have an overall higher trust in society and institutions, which is why they publish intimate details about themselves for the world to see. The difference between generation x is that they had email when they grew physically apart but millennials have instant messaging and these sites such as Myspace and Facebook.  Social networking sites will continue to play a major role as millennials continue to build the online and real-world communities of tomorrow. I found this to be very rewarding getting to share views and personal experiences with other members of the class. Through them and my own research I have learned a lot about how and why teens have embraced sites like Facebook and MySpace and I’m fascinated by how teens display their public selves on these sites. It is amazing to think that teens are now gathering on sites like these to socialize after school instead of actually physically meeting like we all used to.  With our generation it is interaction that has begun to count. They want an Internet experience that is a give-and-take, information sharing experience. The day of just logging on to the Internet and reading pages of text or looking passively at pictures is over. We can do that with print media and television. This generation wants to have an interactive experience and to be more involved with the web and its uses.

Studinski, David. (2006) MySpace, Facebook change how generation communicates. Daily News, 8. Retrieved January 28,2007, from

http://web.lexisnexis.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/universe/document_m=1196089e72d7e531b84ffe459eb5f63e&_docnum=10&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkVb&_md5=656fef9f4835fa606d7fa9a787488bc6

Week 7 Readings February 13, 2007

 I  personally have just used the television when it comes to being informed about elections and never thought to use the internet. When reading these articles it became clear that the internet has become one of our biggest resources and has become a huge opportunity for politicians to get there name and pitch out to the public eye. We use the internet for everything else today so it only makes sense to be able to view candidates websites. Down to the layout of the website has become crucial in presenting themselves. It is amazing how much detail there is put into a site and so many errors that can be made but not always seen unless looked into carefully as Kathy did. I agree with Kathy when she talks about the things to take into account with the website such as placement, color, etc. because this is for the public to be using so the politicians want to make sure it is not only visually appealing but easy to navigate. I always knew that we were victims of being persuaded because that is what the politicians have to do to get our vote but it was a real eye opener to read the article by Scheiber and that we resort to things such as lemonade stands to bring in more people.

 Discussion Questions: If television created this generation of politicians, what will the internet do to the next generation of politicians?Is political information online as accurate as on television?

Week 6 February 6, 2007

The NPR article opened my eyes to how there has become this popular demand for podcasts. Until I took this class I didn’t even know what a podcast was. I find this idea of podcasting radio stations to be very effective in that the audiences now have the option of listening to there favorite radio stations even if they can’t when it is aired. This is reaching a larger audience because it is giving people the chance to fit this into our busy lives because we can fit it into our own schedules. 

Blogging has created a chance for people to share their own opinions on the traditional form of media but I think it is still crucial for us to have accurate news sources because blogging can be done by anyone and is not always going to be legitimate information.  With the ever-changing forms of media and the continued option of convenience we have begun to read news online versus the print form so I wonder if blogs will take over the old form of news?

 

Discussion questions:

Will be able to track podcasting? If so how will we do this?

Will blogging begin to take over the traditional form of news?