Websites to Ponder While Contructing a New Media Comm Page

Media Comm @ other schools

NYU
(blogs, videos, quick easy access)
MIT
(rss feed)
Loyola
(Video presentation)
Columbia School of Journalism
(great slide show, big pictures, news, RSS feed, quick access to info)
George Washington University
(An example of what our site should NOT look like)


Webby Award Winners
(full list of winners here.)

http://www.ted.com/ (Winner for Best Navigation/ Structure)

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sections/view/9 (Winner for Education)


Web 2.0 Summit

http://en.oreilly.com/web2008
(Uses many of the applications that were talked about in the Summit)

Some Web 2.0 applications

http://www.flickr.com/
(one of the best online photo management and sharing apps)

http://www.vimeo.com/
(an extremely sleek video sharing site)

http://www.youtube.com/

http://twitter.com/
(a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time)

Podcasts on iTunes

http://digg.com/
(social news)

Examples of other excellent Website Designs

http://cssmania.com/galleries/2008/11/

"Not Your Father's" Media and Communications Website

The internet is in an ever-evolving atmosphere. Less than a decade ago there was no such thing as YouTube, Twitter, or Digg. Today, these "Web 2.0" applications are spreading like wildfire on the internet. In "Not Your Father's Internet" the argument is made that youth are demanding more of these interactive apps when it comes to politics. They want candidates to engage with them through new media. However, a gap is present between what youth are looking for and what campaign organizations are providing. A similar chasm can be seen in the Muhlenberg College Media and Communications website.

There is no sense of interactivity in the department's web page. As new age internet users we want the ability to change, update, and produce content on the net. So, I propose the addition of more "communicative, creative, and social uses" of the net onto the department page. A specific example of this would be to include an RSS feed to a department blog. Students would be able to comment on postings and submit their own content. Bringing the user into the process of producing and manipulating the content of the site will increase traffic and hopefully bring about easier access to important information. Of course, there is always the problem of privacy as presented in Digital Natives. How much information about students should be put onto the internet? This is a question that will take serious deliberation. The first step, however, is to change the website in a way that it conforms to the desires of the new youth web culture.

The Code on the Cover of the Numerati

I have finally found the code on the cover of the Numerati! It took a few google searches but the numbers that are boxed off are a longitude and latitude of somewhere in New Jersey.

Google maps points the location to:


View Larger Map

Muhlenberg Media and Comm. Department Mission Statement

The link to the statement is here:

The Mission Statement

Barack Obama’s Top 5 technology promises

I found this article online and I thought it was pretty relevant to our class discussions on New Information technology and politics.

Included is a list of president-elect Barack Obama's top 5 technology promises. Net neutrality, broadband penetration, and privacy are among them.

Barack Obama’s Top 5 technology promises

A Discussion of the OpenNet Initiative

As an American, I feel that I am bit spoiled. I have hot running water 24/7, delicious food to eat, and abundant opportunities to speak my mind. One way in which I exercise my right to free speech is through the Internet. I would say that the Web is the most powerful tool I have access to. It's hard to imagine life without it. However, there are parts of the world that do not have this luxury. The goal of the OpenNet Initiative is to "identify and document Internet filtering and surveillance, and to promote and inform wider public dialogs about such practices." Believe it or not, there are countries in the world that severely restrict their citizens from the intellectual super highway.
Before the recent war, Iraq was a country where speech was censored and Internet use was severely limited. Today, however, there are over 100 internet cafes located in the country thanks to the American occupation. There is no evidence of content filtering whatsoever. Iraq is not completely free from restriction though. The country's president may declare martial law at any time and seize information from computers or the net. In the years to come it will be interesting to see how the new government in Iraq deals with its citizens internet use.
I looked at two other countries on the OpenNet Initiative website- India and North Korea. These are two countries at almost complete opposite sides of the internet filtering spectrum. India participates in some selective filtering for security, but its internet use remains largely open. Of the websites blocked there are many inconsistencies. The blogging community in India is actually very involved in keeping its countries internet filter free. This would never be seen in a country like North Korea.
North Korea is referred to as a "virtual blackhole" in cyberspace on the ONI website. Only a small minority of social and political elites are allowed access to the internet. The government regulates almost all information and communication inside the country. It citizens have never known the awesome power of the unfiltered net.

I hope that one day, far into the future, all the citizens of Earth will be allowed access to the Internet. The communication between societies, I believe, would bring the human race closer together. We are so far away from this dream now, but if it is accomplished the possibilities are endless.

Reaction to "Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem) "

We all know of Google as the company that has been innovating the Internet for years. Their search tools are extraordinary and offer virtually limitless results. This is why it is so surprising to hear of Google censoring its search engine in China. Clive Thompson's article "Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem)" presents a wonderful look at this situation though. As an American it is very hard to accept censorship of free speech. It is something that our democracy thrives on. China's Communist party does not enjoy the idea of citizens speaking out against those in power. As a result, many websites have become banned in China. Code and other types of routing techniques were put into place to accomplish this. A few years ago, Google became of these sites.

Google faced a very hard decision when it tried to adjust its site to China's laws. Option one was to accept the slow-downs that China had imposed on the site from censoring and loose market share. The other option was to put servers in China and accept copyright laws. The later is what Google choose to do.

At first we might think that Google betrayed its core values by giving into China's censoring. However, Google's thought process actually has some merit to it. By censoring its search results Google could provide fast search results and spread information even better. Really, this is what the internet is all about-The spreading of idea's and information as quickly as possible.

You might say that no matter what, China's citizens are still living in a censored world. This is very true, but the Chinese know this. Many are scared to go against their government. They want an internet where they know they won't have to worry about being put in jail.

I find the most interesting aspect of this article to be the idea that the internet has already changed Chinese society so much. Chinese bloggers can express most of their opinions freely. This freedom of thought is a starting point for better things to come. We may be upset with what China is doing with the internet, but at least the Chinese have a medium with which to connect and share ideas...

...and, in the end, ideas have more power than any government will ever possess.

A 'Virtual' Class in Second Life

This past Friday I experienced my first online class in the online RPG "Second Life." It was interesting to say the least. The first thing I noticed was convenience. I woke up, rolled out of bed, turned on my PC and became immersed in a world of infinite possibilities. I flew into my class room after 'teleporting' from a virtual island. There is no way I could ever say that sentence in the real world without turning some heads.
The best part of my online class however was the manner in which it was conducted. Students sat in a circular fashion and answered questions from the professor in an open forum style. Everyone had a voice and no one was restricted by having to raise their hands. Discussion brought about new questions and interesting new ideas.
There were some downsides to this online adventure though. Our classroom was not private and any person could enter our discussion if they stumbled upon us. I believe there was an option to buy a private room, but that would not have been necessary for our purposes (It seems as if this virtual world cannot hide from the reaches of capitalism).
Overall, this classroom experiment went very well. Education is not limited to just brick and mortar anymore. Instead, we can rely on the powers of technology and the internet to connect ourselves and our minds. However, we must realize that the only way for this to happen properly is with some sort of 'code' to structure how we learn online. This is what Lawrence Lessig talks about and it is what we will continue to discover as time passes.

Work in the Information Age

In just a few decades, members of society have become increasingly connected with one another. From the advent of the printing press to the current Internet era, it has become increasingly harder for someone not to be connected. As Manuel Castells says, today's world is part of a new social structure-"the network society." The information technology revolution has changed so much of the way we are able to communicate and interact with one another. In fact, one area that has been greatly affected is the job market.
The so called "digital divide" is becoming larger and larger with ever computer chip created. Those from less affluent communities are being left out of the technology loop. For them, it is almost impossible to enter into a career where a basic understanding of technology is required. In Sarah Jane Tribble's article "The Social Network as a Career Safety Net" she speaks of workers utilizing social networking to create new job opportunities for themselves. Websites like Facebook and LinkedIn are now being used by workers and employers alike to find work and create new professional relationships. From a technical aspect this networking is wonderful, but from a social aspect those who do not have computer skills are being left out. Ironically, technology that is supposed to connect us is actually creating greater polarization. This networking also has other implications for workers.
Today's economy is seeing more and more of what Castells calls the "flexi-worker." The "flexi-worker" is someone who holds a job for a short amount of time then moves to another opportunity. Through networking, Companies are now increasingly seeking ways to outsource and downsize. This does not bode well for unskilled laborers.
Technology poses another question, this time for those who hold already hold jobs. Jonathan D. Glater looks at how privacy online is becoming a bigger dilema in the workplace in his article "A Company Computer and Questions About E-Mail Privacy." This piece looks at a particular case in which a man, Scott Sidell, was fired supposedly becuase of the content of emails he was sending from his private Yahoo email account at work. The controversy here is the legality of the company monitoring the private email account while Sidell was at work. Does a company have the right to do this if he is on a company computer? This is a question that will arise more and more in our "network society." Can a company use a Facebook or Myspace account to judge a potential job candidate? What sort of rights to personal technology does one have while at work? As we becoming increasingly connected with one another, we have to ask ourselves, at what point does digital life end?

Electronic to Book Readings

I am taking 5 classes in my first semester this year at Muhlenberg. They are New Information Technology, Media and Society, Religions of Japan, Statistical Methods, and Financial Accounting.

Here's how my readings stack up in terms of electronic reading versus book reading...

New Information Technology:

1 Book
All other readings are done online.

Media and Society:

1 Book
21 Online Articles

Religions of Japan:

1 Textbook
1 Novel

Statistical Methods:

1 Textbook

Financial Accounting:

1 Textbook

Technology: Our future enemy?

There is a band called The Flight of the Conchords which has a song named "Robots." The band states in their act that the song was made in order to tap "future music markets." Won't the robots need a song to celebrate to when all the humans are dead?

If you have not realized by now, The Flight of the Conchords are a comedic band. However, their seemingly harmless song actually has some possible truths to it. What if technology actually does take over our world? This is exactly what John Tierney looks at in his article "Technology That Outthinks Us: A Partner or a Master?" Tierney looks at the science fiction works of Dr. Vernor Vinge where the future is a place of constant technological bombardment and communication. Humans access knowlegde of others in an instant and communicate directly with computers. This is one of the "least unpleasent scenarios for the future" however. There is another possible outcome that could result in the destruction of the entire human race-the succes of artificial intellegence.

Hollywood has shown us what a future with super-intellegent machines can lead to. Movies like Terminator and The Matrix show a grim future where the human race is fighting for its existance against machines. It is a future that is not too far away if we do not learn how to collaborate with computers instead of using them for our every need. As Dr. Vinge says,"Imagine yourself confined to your house with only limited data access to the outside, to your masters. If those masters thought at a rate - say - one million times slower than you, there is little doubt that over a period of years (your time) you could come up with 'helpful advice' that would incidentally set you free." Wherever the future takes us, we must always rely on the ingenuity and spirit that sperates us from technology. Let us never forget that.

My Daily Technology Use

From the moment I wake until the moment I lay my head back down I constantly use technology. My alarm clock is my cell phone which I use everyday to txt or call contacts. The music from my iPod buzzes in my head for hours. The glow of the the television screen illuminates my room at least one to two hours a night. However, none of these uses of technology can compare to my computer and internet use. In the morning, I check my three different email accounts followed by my Facebook and Twitter pages. Then, I may check CNN.com or digg.com. Throughout the day this process is constantly repeated. I probably check my email every half hour when I am not in classes. In one 24 hour period I spend about 8-10 hours on a computer. I upload pictures from my camera to Flickr.com instead of getting physical prints made of them. The music on my iPod is all stored on my computer's hard drive. I even track what music I listen to on a website called Last.fm. I do a large majority of my homework on my laptop too. Heck, I work for the Office of Information Technology! I can't think of a day where I have never seen a PC. Computers have become so intertwined into my life that it would be almost impossible for me to pry loose from them. They are a source of communication, networking, news, and knowledge that has no equal in my eye.

Howdy!

Welcome to the blog of Alex Mulhearn.  More coming soon!