Favorite Reading and/or Concept

My favorite reading and concept was one of the main readings and concepts I also found most interesting was on Ellis's article on Be who you want to be iand how the articles discusses how identity is portrayed online through our Facebook comments, pictures, and statuses. This was my favorite reading and concepts because I did not used to think how much of an impact our identity has based on our profile comments and pictures and statuses. Every time we post a certain comment or picture or status, we are portraying a certain identity that our audience gets to see. I have always been cautious on what what goes on my Facebook profile because I know if I put a certain comment or status or picture on my wall or a friend's, I am portraying my identity to my audience a certain thing. I like my profile to be a somewhat clear extension of what I am face to face because I don't want to portray myself to be something that I may not be or give my audience a different impression of me. The beauty of Facebook and other social networking sites I have noticed and believe is that, when we are friends with people we may not get to see often or are acquaintances with and we get to interact with them online and get to know them better through SMS, I find it to be very helpful and convenient. I chose this concept and like it because I am able to get a more clear and concise meaning of why people portray themselves online the way they do and why they give the audience that certain identity on themselves.

What I've learned/Favorite/Least Favorite Thing

What I have learned from and throughout this class that there is a lot more to technology than meets the eye. Before this class, I was not aware of how mig of an impact certain techonlogies have had on our society in the past and currently. I have learned abour identity and Facebook, the evolution of media, how online social networking sites have an impact on individuals socially and virtually and face to face interaction. My favorite thing about this class was well everything from the articles which were all very fascinating to creating a different blog post on each question related to the article and then being able to see what our classmates have to say on the article and being able to comment on their blog. When some of the readings were more challenging to interpret and understand more than others, it very helpful to be able to see what the classmates thought of the article(s) and it helped me to have a more clear understanding on the articles. I don't really have a least favorite thing about this class. The only thing I found to be challenging at times were how some of the articles were pretty long and detailed. It made it hard to comprehend everything. However, detail in articles is always helpful as well so we know exactly what the author is trying to state. The only thing I believe can be improved in this class is how some of the readings are a lot longer than others and sometimes were challenging to keep up with and follow. However, all the articles were all fascinating and I learned something new I never knew before on new media.

Interesting concepts/readings

One of the main concepts and readings I found most interesting was on our very first course article on Katie Ellis "Be who you want to be: The philosophy of Facebook and the construction of identity, because before this article and this course, I never really thought of how identity is shaped from the virtual world. I did not think how big of an impact our social networking sites especially Facebook can portray our identities based on our status updates, our pictures, and comments on our friends’ walls and pictures as well. I also found The Evolution of Media to be interesting because this article made me more aware of how different types of technologies have evolved over time. I didn't realized how big of an impact the typewriter had in the past generations and how it has faded away over time.The reason why I think this concept/reading is interesting is because the idea on how identity is portrayed through how we communicate to our friends online through our Facebook profile. I have always noticed that a lot of people I am friends with online for example from high school and my good friends have told me this as well that, people sometimes give this certain impression of themselves online so they will feel more accepted and portray themselves to be a certain way virtually, however when you meet or see that individual in person, they may not be the same person they portray themselves to be online. I found that concept and reading to also be beneficial to me as well since I am now more aware of why individuals portray themselves online the way they do and the identity they are portraying.

Do You Suffer From Facebook Addiction Disorder?

http://www.allfacebook.com/do-you-suffer-from-facebook-addiction-disorder-2011-04

Right when I saw the title of this article, I found it so ironic because it is so true. I have had discussions with people about being addicted to Facebook(this was back a few years ago). I felt when I first started having a Facebook even within that first year and second year, when I was a freshman and sopohmore in college, since Facebook was "the the hing" to do, all my roommates were on it, including myself. I had no idea why I became addicted. I found the list in this article to test if one has FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder) was pretty neat because it helps the reader to really assess themselves and their habits and think about how often they use Facebook. Today, I do not go on my Facebook everyday. I have learned to control my addiction because I realized if I could not control whether I go on Facebook once or how many times a day, that my life would be centered on my laptop (I'd be in the virtual world more than the real, physical world). I definitely believe FAD exists amongst so many individuals on a daily basis, and this article was not only fascinating to read about FAD however also very informative.

The World Wide Web

I found this article to be quite fascinating on "The World Wide Web" because it described and answered questions I have had on this subject for awhile now. However, a few main ideas I picked from this article was what D3 defines, which pertains to ideas of all sorts of information from different references how they can be retrieved, also the address system (URI) which is what has made everything in technology possible, HTTP which is the "network protocol" which is used by W3 servers, HTML whichis "markup language" for every W3 client required to understand, and in accordance to the text, " is used for the transmission of basic things such as text and other on-line help information across the web. Last but not least what the W3 defines is the body of data that is available on the internet that we are able ro access"(1994, 793). I found defining W3 main ideas to be helpful and interesting because I learned the main reason(s) why and how the World Wide Web is so imperative in our society.

A Virtual Death & A Real Dilemma

I found this title alone to be quite fascinating and an interesting read. Right when I saw the title which is about "Identity, Trust, and Community in Cyberspace" I was excited to read this article because I believe that it is not only imperative to know and be aware about what goes on in cyberspace however to also know the hidden "dangers" such as how identity, and trust, and community all can have a big impact and affect to an individual in the cyber world. I found the story on the death of Kacee Nicole Swenson to be very interesting, helpful,sad, and touching because throughout the phase of her life that was coming to an end while she was battling leukemia, how she gained so many more friends through her blog posting chronicling how she was doing. Then when I saw she never existed that is where I saw trust, and identity come into the picture. I felt while I was reading this article, it was a suspense book, that I could not wait to hear what was next. What I learned from this article and how it was helpful was that through this woman Debbie's fake person blog post, it makes us more aware to be careful that anything online may not always be real, even though it seems real. It is important that we are careful on how we choose to portray our identity online and how trust especially in cyberspace is a big issue, so we need to be able to read and see between the lines when it comes to computers, trust, identity, and communication amongst cyberspace.

N.Y. Mom Left Suicide Note On Facebook

http://www.allfacebook.com/n-y-mom-left-suicide-note-on-facebook-2011-04

The news media I chose was about a New York mom who left a suicide note on Facebook. Before 25 year old LaShonda Armstrong(the New York mother), drove her minivan into the Hudson River on Tuesday, which killed herself and her three of four kids, first managed to post an update on her Facebook account. In her update post she apologize for her actions and wrong doings of the action she was about to commit.
She wrote: “I’m so sorry everyone forgive me please for what I’m gonna do…. This Is It!!!!” The message was posted to her page through her Blackberry, and was written at around 7:13 pm Tuesday, half an hour before the "fatal plunge."
I chose this article because this woman bascically posted her suicide note/appology via her Facebook right before she was committing her action. She not only killed herself, but killed three of her four children. I was appalled when I saw she took not only her own life but her childrens'. My heart goes out to her relatives and hope that her one child that survived will be at peace soon, and have a home and is cared for.

Blogging: self presentation and privacy

I found this article on Blogging and self presentation and privacy to be quite fascinating and the author made some valid points as well. I really enjoyed how three different privacies were discussed which were informational privacy, accessibility privacy, and expressive privacy. Informational has to do with one's control over their privacy and assesses the content the blogger chooses to use. Accessibility has to do with physical proximity, how it "protects against traditional privacy violations, such as a house being wiretapped, or a family consistently being watched by a neighbour's telescope" (Information & Communications Technology Law, 2008,5). The third of the privacies discussed was expressive privacy which discussed how people choose to act freely upon social interactions and interactions. Another main idea and section I noticed in this article and that I found to be intriguing was Table 2 on page 9 which showed reasons why people blogged and the main reason was to show(document) personal experiences and share them with others. I personally agree with this because I know people who want to start blogs and pursue them because they want to express things going on in their daily lives that they find are imperative and what to share it with others and hope others can relate to what they are discussing. I believe that is a great idea, because one of bloggin's main purposes is an outlet for people to talk about things they want others to see and try to make a difference, to have others see it from their point of view, so that they can possibly relate to it, and believe in something.

The End of Books

I found this article to be very resourceful as well as I agree with the author how since we live in a technologically driven society today, that hypertext(computer generated) instead of novel based, is beating all of our books nowadays. I never really used to look at texts on the computer as "hypertext"; I have usually just called them online articles and databases. What I learned and found helpful and interesting from this article was that, with hypertext, we focus as writers and readers on structure and according to the text,” in hypertext, multivocalism is popular, graphic elements, both drawn and scanned, have been incorporated into the narratives, imaginative font spaces have been employed to identify various voices or plot elements..." (The End of Books, 1992, 707-08). I found this explanation on what is incorporated in hypertext helpful and interesting because I did not realize that hypertext consists of different forms of elements such as song lyrics, charts and graphs, dictionary entries, anything we can think of and books can contain the similar things, however unlike hypertext, not one book can contain everything hypertext can on one computer. If a book consisted of everything hypertext can, it would not be called a book, or if it would, it would be a very thick book. So overall, I felt an example of what this article was discussing, made me think of how popular eBooks have been becoming the past few years because they not only save paper however I believe I heard it is a little less expensive to pay or rent for in relation to textbooks themselves. The thought of e-books reminded me of the title of this test which was "The End of Books." I think novels themselves will still exist however I'm curious how long newspapers even the best selling ones, if they'll even be outdated by the internet articles.

7 Things You Should Never Share On Facebook

http://www.allfacebook.com/7-things-you-should-never-share-on-facebook-2011-04

Navigating Technomedia

I found the title alone to this article to be very appealing and fascinating because when I hear, read, and see the word "technomedia" I think of technology and media put together, which is what technomedia is however there are different parts with each that combine together to make all the devices and gadgets we had in the past centuries and today, in the 21st century. Actually one of the main ideas I got from this article was what technomedia is and and how as stated by Phillip Brey, "Technology made modernity possible" (Navigating Technomedia, 1). Another main idea from the article was how broadcast evolved, even today as mentioned in the text, broadcasts are competing with podcasts (Navigating Technomedia, 14). I also had no idea that one of the reaosns why the television was created was because it created a "transparent world"(16), and it was a means of entertainment, citizens keeping up with world and local news. It created a whole new social media device that is now one of the most successful entities to technomedia today because of how much it has evolved as well. For example, I remember when growing up in the 90's, we did not have digital cable where we can see what a movie was about by pressing a button that also changed the channel at the same time. We did not have ondemand where we can watch new movies that were just in theater. Nowadays, we have a variety of new media in just television alone, there are so many different things to choose from when having a hd tv or just digital cable, we would need to spend hours watching tv to see all that is being offered. I like how there are free movies offered through comcast and free tv shows part of our plan. I like being able to watch my favorite shows and catch up on episodes I did not get to watch. Technomedia is overall a very fascinating and resourceful topic to be aware of and know how it has changed and grown over the years.

Personal Dynamic Media

I found it fascinating how much of an impact the invention of the Dynabook has had and still has on our society. Who would have thought something the size of a notebook can store so much from our own personal knowledge to basically what the ipad stores and does today? What I learned and found helpful and interesting was how in the article, it mentioned how the kids love it because "they are in control, the feeling that they are doing real things rather than playing with toys or working out assigned problems...."(Kay, A., & Goldberg, A. Personal Dynamic Media, 394).I never thought of why kids like the ipad so much or all these newest technological gadgets because kids are always growing and they get bored with generic things such as toys. However, kids love video games; they love something challenging to play with, so one can imagine why kids would enjoy the Dynabook because it was something new, they get to control what happens, like the wii game system. I just found that part of the text interesting. I also found the animation and music part of the Dynaboook to be quite intriguing because based on the images showed in the article, the animation and music aspect are very interesting and helpful to be aware of what the modern version of the Dynabook (ipad) are and how this latest new part of technology has evolved and where it all began.

Georgia Police Use Facebook To Talk To Cop Killer

http://www.allfacebook.com/georgia-police-uses-facebook-to-talk-to-cop-killer-2011-03

The newsmedia article I chose was on how Georgia Police Use Facebook To Talk To Cop Killer. Jamie Hood who is the suspect for shooting and killing Senior Patrol "Buddy" Christian last Tuesday has been investigated and been communicating through the county's police department's Facebook through it's wall posts an comments. The Athens-Clark police department of Georgia have been investigating this suspect named Jamie Hood because they mentioned through their Facebook account to him, if he turns himself in, he will not be killed and face the death penalty. However, Hood feels since he had left prison 2 years ago after facing 12 years in prison for armed robbery ans is now found guilty of killing a police officer, the odds are against him. Even though, the police department states that is not true and that they will stick to their word.

I just found this article fascinating and useful because the police department of that county decided not only to create a Facebook account to communicate with the suspect however also as a means for members of the community to express their feelings about the whole case and express their condolences to the police officers family members.

From Computer Power and Human Reason

When I saw first started reading the article and came across the program ELIZA that was created, I found that not only fascinating but also clever. I thought it was neat to hear that the inventor of ELIZA chose the name because it had to do with language analysis program to "converse" in English as stated in the article(Weizenbaum, 369). To me the program ELIZA sounded more like a programmed communicative based robot than being referred to a language analysis program. That is also one main idea how Weizenbaum created this program to test scripts as a set of rules. The context of language changing and understanding was also addressed in the article and what I found helpful and interesting out of this article was an actual script discussing a conversation based script which could be found on page 369 as well. Overall, I found this article to also be very informative on coming to an understanding on how computers came about to understand language throough the databases and how "human reason" came into place as well.

Second Life

When I first saw and read this article and viewed the images in it, I immediately thought of the "Sims" game(s) and how males and females are portrayed in a virtual setting. How women are portrayed even in Second Life has to do with feminity and how females are looked at and portrayed in society and how that shows in the virtual world as well. What I learned and also found useful and helpful in this article was how gender can be affected even amongst avatars and in SL and not just amongst humans in reality. I found it fascinating that gender even in a virtual environment is correlated how our society views and perpetuates women, to be feministic and show skin. I found the images in this article to not be so surprising because even in reality, all the magazines we see, females are looked at as a commodity, as sex symbols. Not all females agree to that portrayal in society, in which this leads to males having to feel obliged to not agree with what society and in the virtual world how females are being portrayed because nowadays in the 21st century, gender is still a rising issue especially when it comes to jobs and the media, however overtime, since more women are rising on top and proving themselves to be more independent than ever before, men have more respect for them, well usually, and in a way have no choice than to accept the gender roles.

Facebook Users Who Are Under Age Raise Concerns

Right when I saw this news article, I knew it was going to be a fascinating read because the first sentence of the article drew me in right away. The name of this article is Facebook Users Who Are Under Age Raise Concerns and the first sentence that blew me away stated, "The fake I.D. has gone digital, and spread to elementary school." I felt that sentence alone set the stage and tone of this whole article. I completely agree with this statement and how this article discussed as early as being in the third grade, kids are getting facebook accounts and lying that they are 15 years old. What was the most skeptical point to me in this article and a true statement was that parents of a kid in an elementary mentioned, they are authorizing their son/daughter to create an account so they don't have to risk the fact of them lying about it if they were not allowed to. One individual mentioned and tied into the fact, imagine if these kids are lying about their age on facebook, imagine about underage drinking. I felt that was a valid point however, a good skepticism to address because the saying "don't believe everything you read on the Internet is true and accurate", is proven to be correct in this article. I thought this article was very informative and a helpful source to be aware of because under age users are becoming more frequent than they ever were before because of how fast paced and technology driven our society is. Social conformity is on the rise as early as pre-teens. I just thought that was good to be aware of.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/technology/internet/12underage.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Techhnology and Society

The society we are living in is all about technology. Whether it is dealing with the newest addition of the iPhone, ipad, apple computers, the new T.V. shows especially the ever growing MTV hit, "Jersey Shore", computer games, etc. We live in a world where technology is what we thrive for, and if we are not up to date on certain technological advances, we fall behind in education, work place, and other things as well.

According to the article we read called The Technology and the Society, by Raymond Williams, a few key aspects on technology and society were pointed out. First, the versions of cause and effect in technology was discussed. For example, one point highlighted from this section in the article was that television was "invented as a result of scientific and technical research. Its power as a medium of news and entertainment was then so great that it altered all preceding media of news and entertainment" (Williams, 1972). Although television may have been created and invented for scientific research also mentioned in the article, as a society, we have perpetuated television as one of our biggest forms of entertainment. Without television, we would not be able to watch the daily news, watch ESPN, watch our favorite tv shows. I found this article to be extremely informative as well because it gave the history behind television and technology and why it was invented and how the purpose of it being created, has been altered over the years.

Just Like Me Only Better

When I read the abstract and introduction to this article, first thing that came to mind on avatars was the recent movie that hit theaters "Avatar" and how it originally came from and refers to representing "divine characteristics,independent of the limitations of time and space" as the article stated. What I learned and also found interesting and helpful at the same time was the ideas mentioned as the online representation of the self and the relation to Goffman and how to Goffman, face-to-face interactions provide the greatest communication "bandwith." I found the discussion on e-mails fascinating as well because through e-mail, the embodiment of the self is also showed, as well as on networking sites as well. However, as we have learned from previous articles before as well, online interaction is needed, but face-to-face interaction offers the more clear and concise interaction amongst the in relation to representing the self.

ALERT: Don't Click 'My Top Stalkers' Postings

Community Media

I found this article to be quite fascinating because of the author's approach towards community media. One of the main points mentioned in the article that helped me to understand what community media was about was in the wrap up of the article ("Keep Talking") section, where the author mentioned "One of the most important aspects of community media is that anything can happen"(194). That made me think of our Communication Studies department's main motto, "the possibilities are endless."

Another key point I noticed in the article was self-expression and self-representation. I thought it was interesting how the idea of democracy was discussed in this article, and it was not about government as a democracy, however more so how people in a democracy, a community represent themselves through different forms of media and in person as well. That all links to how when we represent ourselves, what type of image are we addressing, what we want others to see. Same with community media, as we have been discussing through online social networking sites, such as Facebook. The use of community media is really imperative to understand because how we represent ourselves on our profiles, can give others a certain image. We also have to be aware every time we post a comment, a status, a picture, how that will affect our overall network of friends and ourselves.

Uses and Gratifications

I'll never forget when Facebook became an epidemic during my senior year of high school and the summer before freshman year of college. I'll never forget how excited and nervous I was when I received an e-mail on whom my seven roommates would be on campus. Within a week of getting the names and contact information, about five of the girls had already Facebooked me and I got a taste of what each of them were like. This article mentioned how students would use Facebook and even MySpace to friend their new and potential roommates when they enter college. That is why I found this article to be fascinating and well stated on the theories mentioned.

What I learned from this article was how uses and gratifications theory is defined and how it "can be viewed as a psychological communication perspective which focuses on how individual mass media and other forms of communication such as interpersonal communication to fulfill their needs and wants"(Rubin, 2002). I just had to directly quote it because this definition gives us a clear clarification and definition on how uses and gratifications relate to communication and how it ties into these two imperative networking sites.

What I found interesting and useful about this article were the results (the five themes) used to answer the question in the article: "To what extent do young adults use social networking sites (MySpace and Facebook) to fulfill their need and wants?" The five themes were efficient communication, convenient communication, curiosity about others, popularity, and relationship formation and reinforcement. I couldn't agree more on these five results (themes wise) because I know I, myself used MySpace back in the day, because it was popular and it was convenient. However, I use Facebook for all of the above five stated themes for the most part. This article made me more aware of what uses and gratifications are and how they relate online communication with these two networking sites.

Test Vlog

Ignighter.com: Indian dating website

For Americans seeking a relationship, whether just casual dating or looking for the love of their life, there are various dating sites to offer. The main ones are eHarmony.com, match.com, etc. However, the article I read called "Jilted in the U.S.,a Site Find Love in India" discusses three twenty-something year old men from Manhattan, who created Ignighter.com to help provide and set up members on group dates. Over time, they noticed, most of their viewers were not from America, rather areas such as Asia and India in particular. These guys noticed, although it was unplanned, members in India were growing the fastest on the site, so they decided this site would be known as an Indian dating site. Since according to this article, "Ignighter is considered India's fastest-growing dating Web site." These three determined young men would have never guessed their idea would have turned into a happy ending just for a different group of individuals. They are very happy of their success and are expanding their offices.

This article stood out to me because it shows communication in different cultures are still similar to the American culture, by singles of ages from 20-even 50's, even in India are seeking love through online sites, and not just relying on face-to face interaction. It starts with finding a potential match and then leads to that face-to-face interaction. The sites serve to help those find a potential match, however it is up to the two individuals after that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/business/20ignite.html?_r=1&ref=technology

The Medium is the Message

I have heard the phrase/term "the medium is the message" quite often over the years, however I never really knew what its' true logic of reasoning was. This article by Marshall McLuhan, in definitely gave some in depth analogies and purpose as to what the "medium" is. I felt the electric light was one of the main ideas I got out of the text. For example, when stated, "The electric light escapes attention as a communication medium just because it has no "content." And this makes it an invaluable instance of how people fail to study media at all" (McLuhan, 203). This shows how the medium in this case, it is not the content that shapes how the electric light is used, however it is medium that "shapes and controls the form of human association" (203). It is how as individuals, we choose to use the electric light and go about it. I also thought it was fascinating how McLuhan used familar lines from Shakespeare's various plays such as, "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello", etc.

An example I can think of from my personal experience is how the infamous FML site is a fan forum for people to post brief stories on how their day went horrible, or terribly wrong. This site is used for others to get a laugh, and to be entertained, as well so we all feel we can relate that, some days, are just not our days. Everyone's story being shared are different, however at the end of the day, their all pretty embarrassing, some more than others.

Consequences of Online Social Networking

Anything we do in life has its' consequences, whether it is done in face to face interaction or online and especially online. Why online especially? Once we put something online, it is no longer part of our territory, anyone and everyone can have access to it on the web. Even if we set our settings to private, there are people on the internet, who specialize in "hacking" into computers and finding information through databases. This then leads into the article on the "Consequences of Online Social Networking" that primarily the title speaks for itself. I learned how it discusses researches and measures conducted on those associated with topics such as anxiety, self-esteem, body image, gender and the statistics and preliminary results found from these studies. Social networks such as Facebook was used as a compare and contrast on how young adults view themselves in body image and self-esteem and how that is linked to how they portray themselves online.

What I found interesting and useful about this article was how under self-esteem, how hypotheses were conducted as followed, such as for example, "people with lower self-esteem will have fewer social contacts in their networks" versus "people with higher self-esteem will have more strangers (contacts who were not previously met face-to-face) in their social networks" (Acar, 68). I never really thought about Facebook and how individuals may be portrayed as to the possibility of having not too many friends may be part of self-esteem issues. I thought this whole time those who do not have many contacts/networks on their profiles are because they are only talking to people they know personally, to reconnect and they feel they do not need that networking aspect to feel better about themselves. This article gave me a new outlook and perspective that I am now more aware of.

More Convenient Made IPhones

Just when we thought we got the newest and latest edition of a type of cell phone such as the IPhone, or Blackberry, corporate beats the consumers to the chase and before we know it, there's a new, better, and more convenient product. The article I read which is called "Apple Is Said to Work on Cheaper, Smaller IPhones" discusses how Apple Inc is working on making the IPhone to be cheaper, smaller, and more convenient for patrons. Their target in consumers is for most of the public to want to use the IPhone so they will be able to beat out other Android technologies.

I found this article to actually not be surprising because our generation is all about the rapid technological growth and how one week there's something and in a heartbeat, right before our eyes, the next best thing is out. This affects our media and the consumers because we buy it. Our generation is based off living in a technological and media driven society. I think for those who like the IPhone and touch screen, this is a perfect idea and hope it follows through and sells more than ever before.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-11/apple-is-said-to-work-on-cheaper-smaller-iphones.html

Quality of Online Social Relationships

Living in the 21st century, I have felt personally for some reason over the years, it is easier to communicate with people online rather than face to face interaction or over phone because virtually communicating with individuals means not having to deal with any awkwardness we might encounter in person, we do not talk over the individual, our overall presence does not matter, there are many factors as well. However, talking to individuals online also poses risk on not really getting to see how that individual interacts around other individuals; we may be given a false hope or acquisition on the person. One of the key points I got from this article was that we all do not realize how much we rely on interpersonal communication while using the Internet. That being said, this also leads into the second main point mentioned in the article which was the study from 1991 conducted on employees of a multi-national bank that they reported the most recent communication they had participated in, over several types of media. Overall, the study shows the respondents felt face-to-face communication was most effective for "sustaining work relationships." Phone communication came second helpful and e-mail came in third for being helpful.

Overall, I can understand the main point(s) made in this article which were, online communication was not as effective in relationships with groups, or in the work force, as face-to-face and phone communication are. I feel, and look at it, it also depends who we are talking to and getting to know and in what context. I do believe face-to-face communication gives you the feeling and sense of how the person we are conversing with acts, looks, feels. However, online, we cannot usually see and sense that unless that individual we are talking to states it or does not say anything at all. This article taught me that I should not take for granted that face-to-face interaction I used to have when I was younger before all these media devices evolved. It opened my eyes more.

Man-Computer Symbiosis

I must say I learned a lot from “Man-Computer Symbiosis”, to the point I had a little hard time following everything that was being expressed. However, I found this article very helpful and useful because it answered one of my questions I have always thought of and never got answered; “how does mankind put all this information into a computer and have millions of people being able to access millions of databases?”

Going back to what I learned from this article, I learned what the name of this article was being referred to which is, “Man-computer symbiosis is a subclass of man-machine systems. There are many man-machine systems. At present, however, there are no man-computer symbioses”(1). I also learned that there are 5 Prerequisites for Realization of Man-Computer Symbiosis, which are speed mismatch between men and computers, memory hardware requirements, memory organization requirements, the language problem, and input and output equipment. I found these 5 prerequisites interesting because I never really knew about what they were before, or how they were important and relevant until after I read this article. Now I can say I know a little information on what man-computer symbiosis is in comparison to before I read this article.

6 Pages For Viewing Super Bowl Commercials

As part of another one of my upper division classes (KIN 101-Sport in America), our Professor encouraged us to watch the Super Bowl because he wants us to be aware on how there are more commercials rather than game time each year it plays. When I saw Facebook has 6 pages worth on showing advertisements that are going to be some of the main commercials, I found it fascinating on what each of them were. However I was a little confused on the first page when it stated a lot of the companies are trying to put a stop to their commercials so they are putting them on Facebook to view instead. Even though this site says that, I do not necessarily believe that because on this first page especially it is Bud Light and I know Bud Light is always featured as a commercial in some of the main sporting games throughout different seasons and especially during the Super Bowl one of the most biggest money making events in a year, why would they want to not encourage putting their corporation in the mix? They could lose money that way. Their main claim on this page was that they would be using “social media” through Facebook to advertise their company. Another commercial advertisement on one of the 6 pages which I found hysterical was called “Cooking with Snoop” which is sponsored by Pepsi Max’s Facebook page. The page I found the most ironic and relevant was on the advertisement on Papa John’s pizza and how in this image it shows their logo and motto and how they are the official pizza of the super bowl XLV and how the Papa John’s Founder is on the ad and is throwing a football and has his signature as if he is a sports player. I found these 6 pages and article over fascinating because it shows how powerful advertisements are used as a social media to lure in patrons to want to use or buy that product that is being sold. If it was not for all the commercials in the super bowl, or the World Series, would Bud Light have as much business as it does or Papa John’s as well?

http://www.allfacebook.com/5-pages-previewing-of-super-bowl-commercials-2011-02

The Evolution of Media

Dated back to twenty to one hundred years ago and beyond, the media we know today, was not even in the same ballpark in comparison to the 20th century media. There were no computers, there was no internet, cell phones, any social networking site. If you wanted to hang out with a friend or needed to meet someone, or wanted to find out information on celebrities, everything was done by in person(hanging out with someone) and done by print(newspapers). The only way of communicating over the phone were the ones that have a knob and you have to dial it that way.

A few main ideas that I came across in the article we read was, one being on typewriters. Although those are pretty much outdated now, close to ten to twenty years ago, the typewriter was a lifesaver on being used on the "written and printed word." My mom actually still uses a typewriter for my dad's business for certain documents and labels and it is still affective. Another main idea I found was on bulletin boards. I forgot and did not realize until the read "The Written Word", that in the work place especially, bulletin boards are used as a communication device to get a message across to either a small group of individuals or large group even. The last point I wanted to highlight from the article is, on the internet and how that too has also evolved over time. From the invention of HTML to Microsoft to e-mail, to all the information we are able to access through all the databases. I am just curious what's going to be the next form of communication.

Be Who You Want To Be

A lot of my friends and acquaintances make fun of me time to time on how many friends I have on Facebook. They’ll be saying, “how many friends do you have Mary, like over 1,000?” Truth is I do have over 1,000 friends on the networking site however that is because half of the friends are people from high school and half are from college and some are minor league baseball players I have met over the few years. The whole point on why I have so many friends is because of networking. I know this poses the fact that since I have so many friends, does that mean I hold back on putting more pictures up because I may not want that many people to be able to view my personal information? My honest answer is, even if I only had friends I truly know on the site, I would still not put more pictures and other personal information of myself because it is the internet and once we put something on the internet, it’s released into the cyber world where anyone and everyone can end up being able to view.

This then leads into what I learned from this article, and one crucial point made, I have not thought of often enough is, “Social identity [is the part of] personal identity—our sense of who we are—that comes from our group memberships and the social categories to which we belong…” (Ellis, 38). We create our identity (how we interact with others) by mixing it with our own personal identity we have already created for ourselves. How we establish what groups we are part of and what school we go to, where we work, all that plays in and constructs our overall identity. What I found interesting and useful about this article was how the author mentioned a lot throughout it how everything we do on this site, is based off our interactions with others we are friends with and when we put a profile picture up we are stating that means something to us and even though we already know how others may react to it, we still like to see what they truly have to say. This article made and helped me to be more aware of what my theory on this site or any networking site has been, which is, I know quite a few people who portray themselves differently sometimes a completely different person online in comparison to in person because they want to show to their friends how interesting and exciting they are. However, when you talk to them in person, the identity we thought they have, takes a 360 turn and really makes us question who the person really is, which one do we believe and trust more, what’s portrayed on their profile or how they are in face to face interaction or both?

Introductory Post

Hi there everyone and Happy Thursday!

My name is Mary and I am a junior Communication Studies major. I was a Business Marketing major until last Spring when I took COMM 40 and loved it and realized I wanted to major in Communication Studies instead. I have taken COMM 101C and 144F last semester. I have taken three online classes at San Jose State so far and am taking two this semester (both communication studies courses). I’ve found online classes have taught me to be diligent, disciplined, organized, and better time management skills.

I do use Facebook as a networking resource and used to have MySpace in high school. What I hope to gain from this course is how using networking sites and the different technology can influence us as an individual and as a society and how people communicate differently virtually in comparison to in person.

A little bit about me… I am a hardcore SF Giants fan, and have grown up around it my whole life. My favorite sport is baseball in general, and although most people find it to be one of the most boring sports around, I on the other hand, not only find it fascinating and intriguing, but inspiring especially since it is America’s past time. So one can imagine since this past year when the Giants won the World Series, that was the best Christmas gift any fan can want and wish for. I love being in the outdoors and love walking different places. Lake Tahoe is my favorite vacation spot, been going there every summer with my family since I was a little girl. I love people and love making others around me smile and laugh.

I look forward to getting to know everyone more throughout this semester.

-little miss daisy