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.