...To be continued

Now that I am no longer taking the class that required me to keep this blog I have the option to delete what I have written. I could erase my school work and have it lost to the depths of the internet forever. I have chosen not to do this.

For now, my ramblings will stay open for all to see. Who knows where I will go from here...

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.