Week 13

Well this is the last post for DIGC202...it's kind of sad. We discussed the 'Internet of Things' this week and it was an...interesting...topic. I think that it is really cool how everyday objects can be incorporated with the internet. I think it would be cool to have a refrigerator that knows what is inside of it, but the Ericcson video personally creeped me out. When I saw it the first thing I thought of was the Disney Channel Original Movie, Smart House. In the movie the house is 'smart' and can communicate with the family. The house cooks dinner, cleans, and eventually develops a personality. The house thinks it is part of the family and evolves into a holographic image. It just takes over everything and they have to shut it down. Yes, having our everyday items connected to the internet may seem cool, but what if they do evolve? I don't want my house to revolt on me. Maybe it would be OK if some things were connected to the internet, but I do not think it is necessary for everything to be connected to the internet. My house should not have a personality I can socialize with.

Week 12

OK, Apple vs Google. Well I am currently typing on my MacBook Pro, my iPod Touch is charging, and I think(?) I want an iPhone when I get home. When I was going into my first year at Uni in the States, I received a letter saying that all Communications majors should buy a Mac laptop. All of the computers I use at my Uni in the States are Macs. I love using my MacBook. I really can not use a PC laptop for the life of me. I just get all confused with them. Macs are just easier for me to work on and all of my Uni work at home goes over well when I use a Mac. I guess I am a Mac person.

However, this lecture really got me thinking. I know some of my friends and family have Android phones and they are not bad. I just don't like using them because I do not know how....I am not comfortable with them. If I bought my own Android phone, I am sure I would get used to it though. Then there is the App Store business. I always knew that Android apps were cheaper/free compared to Apple apps, but I never realized there were so many more Android apps. This changes things. Not only does Android have cheap apps for a poor college student like myself, but they have more. Maybe I will want to invest in an Android phone when I get home. This means freedom I guess. Comfort vs freedom...I have always been the one to choose comfort in every situation. However, after my amazing study abroad experience I think when I go home I will be choosing freedom and hopefully a new Android phone will be in my pocket.

The conclusion I am going with is that the debate of Apple vs Google will continue in my mind. I think Android phones will overtake iPhones, but I think that the iPad will dominate the tablet market compared to Google. When it comes to computers I will always choose my MacBook, but everyone has their own opinion on that.

Week 11

This week was the case study about the Arab Spring. Since this is the same topic as my final paper, I guess I have a pretty strong opinion about the revolutions and how social media came into play.

Actual human beings started the revolutions, not social media. Social media did however make the revolutions much larger. Prior to social media protesters and activists had to rely on old forms of communication; radio, letters, phone, TV, word of mouth, for example. Social media allowed the entire world to see what was happening during the revolutions in real time. Citizens of the countries were filming the protests and riots with their phones and cameras and uploading them straight to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The revolutions immediately got world-wide attention and most of the revolutions were successful for the countries. Without social media the citizens in the countries would not be able to post their thoughts, opinions, and videos of what was actually happening around them. I agree with what Ted said in class, the videos that these citizen journalists are uploading are much more valuable than the videos that are seen on television. TV cameras would not be able to get the shots that the citizens can see.

Also, I want to point out another thing Ted mentioned in class; the women who are leading the protests. I myself am not really a feminist, but I have done a few readings about the women in the Middle East and North Africa and the fact that they are actually leading revolutions is astonishing. They will defiantly be in history books one day. It surprises me that men are allowing the women to lead the protests and it also surprises me that men allow the videos of the women leading the protests online, but if it gets word out to the world about the revolution then I guess they do not care.

Week 9

How do I feel about hacking? Well it kind of freaks me out. I do not have a firewall, I do not have any virus software; I have a Mac. I thought I was protected. I believed the rumors saying "Macs can not get a virus." Well after the class discussion, I fear for the protection of my computer. What do I have floating around on my computer right now? Can someone see everything that I am doing?

On the topic of the "Civic Hacking" reading, I agree that if people are not interested in politics, moving politics online is not going to interest them. If a state representative is not available to meet in person, what makes you think he is available to answer his email, Twitter, or Facebook? There are already forums online that citizens have made about politics and government. I think those forums are working fine. Let's use the example of walking your dog in a restricted area. Are you going to go online and email a town representative asking if you can walk your dog in the area? It will probably take days if the representative even answers you at all. You could also go to an online forum and ask who else wants to walk their dog on that land. You will most likely get a response quickly from residents and together you could come up with a solution for the problem.

Week 8

As a journalism major in the US, I have actually studied citizen journalism before. Citizen journalism scares me somewhat because it is possible that citizen journalism can take over and there will be no need for professional journalists. I certainly hope that is not the case because I would really like a job when I graduate. I do think that professional journalism will need to be around to validate sources. When someone posts on a citizen journalism site, they need to back up their facts. Unless they were an eye-witness, they need a credible source or many people will not believe them.

Now just because I am scared of citizen journalism does not mean that I don't like it. I actually think it is fantastic. It even gives professional journalists something to bounce their ideas off of. I find the iReport feature on cnn.com amazing. People can post what is happening around them and interact with other people about their own story or stories of others. There are also the comment boxes on online newspapers. I think that they are fantastic and will hopefully help keep newspapers alive a little longer. It is just like the old days when someone would write a letter, only this gets published directly online.

Week 7

The long tail concept made complete sense to me this week. Amazon would make their most money selling books from niche markets. If I am looking for a specific book, I usually head to Amazon, not to my local bookstore. I do love bookstores, but I know that they will not have it and will probably have to order it. I know that I personally can't be bothered to drag myself to the bookstore just to be told I could have done the same thing online at home. So what does that mean for the future of bookstores? Well, look at Borders. I had a Borders five minutes from my house and just before I left to come to Australia it closed its doors. I honestly didn't know why until we discussed the topic in class. Maybe Borders should have been paying attention to the technology more and created something that would have given them a chance at survival. Barnes and Noble at least has the Nook.

E-Readers are extremely handy to have, and I know many people that love them. I also know many people that hate them and want to feel a solid book in their hands. I personally think that e-readers are awesome, but they bring up the topic of media convergence again. The new e-readers can browse the web now and some even have pop-up advertisements. Is it a good thing to converge the two together or should the e-reader be simply for just books?

Week 6

Currently I am using my cell phone (not a smart phone, because I am too cheap to buy one while I am in Australia for five months), my computer, my iPod, and I am occasionally taking breaks to look at the pictures I took yesterday on my camera. I have three windows open on my computer and one of the has five tabs. That is a lot of stuff going on.

However take a look at media convergence. Let's start with my iPod. I have an iPod touch. It has music, movies, TV, photos, and games. I need to upload everything on to the device, but it is one device that stores almost everything I need. (Well it could use some more space, but that is a different story). Let's say I have an iPhone. The iPhone takes pictures, makes phone calls, sends texts, is a media for viewing movies and TV, and you can play games. Not to mention you can buy or download an App for almost anything. This is media convergence at its finest.

Companies are also involved with convergence. Look at Disney for example. They do movies, TV, music, merchandise, games, everything. I feel like even their stars are forced to be diverse. Take Miley Cyrus, she acts, sings dances, has a clothing line, comes out with toys; she has and does everything.

I think media convergence is a good thing. I like how there are so many uses for one device. Although I think eventually there is going to be nothing left to converge. I don't really know what is the future of media convergence. In class we talked about how in Futurama they came out with the EyePhone. It would be cool to have the information available right in our brain, but it also made me think of Wall-e and when all of the humans were riding around in their chairs with the screens in front of their faces. They never looked at the world around them because they were too busy looking at the technology. I do NOT want to end up like this. There is a point where the technology goes too far.

Oh, and this is slightly random, but I think that Apple TV is one of the coolest things ever. You just hook up the device, and you can stream music, movies, TV, Youtube, etc on your TV. I personally really want one haha.