The reading this week week by Castells was interesting. I found it somewhat difficult to read, lack of focus probably, but it was still interesting. I do not know much about networks and the size of them amazes me. The fact that everyone can communicate globally is quite remarkable. I also thought it was interesting how he talked about civil society being reconstructed at local and global levels through networks filled with activists. It is amazing how people can communicate almost instantly over the internet and networks and plan something that will change the course of the future. Also, the power aspect of networks is interesting. The power within a network is always changing, and I think that is a good thing! After reading Lauren's post she had me thinking about "cyber bullying." It is terrible that people get harassed daily over networks and many young people do not know how to handle the situation and can cause harm to themselves. Hopefully with the power in networks constantly changing, people who are harassing others can be stopped.
Yes, it is astonishing how a network, even a social network, can change governments. I even discovered Osama Bin Ladin was dead via Facebook. One of my teachers at Roger Williams took a poll in class and out of 20 students, 18 of them found out Bin Ladin was dead via a social network. The other two discovered he was dead via another social media. It amazes me how fast information can travel over a network and the impact it can make on lives.
Te amazing thing from my perspective is that only a generation ago 18 out of 20 would have heard of the dead of OBL through TV, and the remainder through a newspaper or radio.
ReplyDeleteGood post. Firstly, I like how honest you are in your blog. Next I also am pretty amazed at how people can communicate globally. Its pretty amazing to think how our kids are going to communicate in 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Internet embeds people’s life, even become “second life”. Focus on teenage group; they are more easily impacted by uploaded information on the internet. As you said “young people do not know how to handle the situation and can cause harm to themselves”. A case which happened in England, two ten years-old children killed two two years-old children; because of the two ten years-old kids watch too much violence videos, they even did not realized how horrible the consequence is. I was shocked by this news and I start to think how deep media could impact young people? I doubt that family and society should responsible for this issue rather than only blame media.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how far we've come from letters written by hand, to now instant messages. I suppose with all new freedom comes new ways to abuse it, and ways to succumb to it. Sad but true. Seems social networks have not only connected people around the globe, but has led to people using it for purposes that would be deemed inappropriate and well illegal to some extent.
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