Free the Avatars

After reading the artcile, "Just you me, but better" (or something like that), I decided to do more research into the world of avatars.  I have never actually made an avatar befor.  I was never into the SIMS game or really looked around online for alternative worlds where we would find these avatars.  This article discusses how one company wanted to make it so that you didnt have to create a seperate avatar with every internet world you would join.  You would create on avatar and he would travel with you from site to site.  It seems like the real world, when you go to knew places and meet knew people, you build relationships that carry with you no matter where you go.  You have a reputation and people know you you are ven if you venture out of you home town.  It seems that this is what they are trying to accomplish with the avatars.  I do feel that this will make people more accountable to how they behave online.  You cant hide behind multiple avatars that all look the same.  This is one step further in technology to try to make cyber world like the real world.  You guys should take a look at this artcile from the New York Times, it is pretty interesting :)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/free-the-avatars/?scp=1&sq=Avatars&st=Search

Just Like Me, Only Better

This was a really interesting article, but what I thought to be the most interesting was the results of the study.  Results stated that the avatars examined basically went with the idea of "white Beauty"... Long straight hair, large breasts, full lips.  Naturally this is not what everyone looks like ( only a very small portion does) so they are obviously misrepresenting themselves online.  I thought it was interesting how they looked at other nationalities to compare.  Some stayed true to their natural features but made the changes they thought would make them more desirable online.  Having an avatar gives people the sense of having a new identity, maybe what they feel is a better identity from their actual one.  I think some of this is really unfortunate; the fact that people feel that they will be more "popular" or "desirable" by creating a fake version of themselves.  I have never made an avatar so I am not really familiar with the process.  I do have a Facebook, and honestly, what you see is what you get.  I dont alter my images to make me seem like someone different, and I say what I want to say. I may be selective with some things, but overall people get an idea of who I really am as a person. 

Community Media

I really enjoyed this article.  Community media is very important in our society.  Being a citizen of the USA entitles us to the right to express our oppinions, and using the media to do so is a great way to educate people and rally people together for a cause.  Community media has played a very significant role in forming our society and promoting change.  I really liked how the artcle talked about representation and used the example of the Fresno radio station, the only black orientated radio.  They were able to promote themselves through the radio to help inform their community of what changes needed to be made on a civil rights level.  As much as national and international news effects us, our community is what we are immediately assosiated with.  In order to make changes in our local governments, we need to express the changes we want made, and get our community to me informed.  This article was very interesting and it is something that more people should take part in.

New Facebook Feature

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/facebook-allows-people-to-subscribe-to-friends/?scp=1&sq=facebook%20subscription&st=cse

Uses and Grats

After getting a better understanding of what this class is all about, I was wondering if this article was going to show up.  I used this very article for another research assignment investigating the reasons why people use Facebook and what they get out of it.  I have my own theories as to why people use sites like Facebook and Myspace.  I believe people use it to keep in contact with their friends and family but also use it as a form of entertainment; to pass the time in their day.  One of the key things that the article noted was that SNS is a convenient form of communication, and I completely agree with this statement.  Being on Facebook, it eliminates the time issue and coordination issues when communicating.  You can easily and quickly send someone a note just to let them know that you are thinking about them, and hundreds of people are at your finger tips to talk to.  I really liked how this was a focus group type of study and that this article provided readers with actual quotes from that study.  One of the other common reasons people use SNS is to be able to express themselves freely.  It seems easier to express your opinions online (on a profile) rather than state your opinions in person.  This article really does a great job of explaining what people get out of SNS and I can definitely relate with alot of the results. 

The Medium is the Message

I really thought this article was interesting.  The article basiclaly explains how the medium of something is the message.  This immdiately makes me think of the diferent ways we communicate and how even the simle choice of which medium to use says alot.  For example, by chosing to text message, the medium suggests that I want to communicate quickly, or maybe it cn have a negative message like I dont really care to talk to this person face to face or over the phone so I will just text them.  At the beginnign fo the article, McLuhan talks about electric light.  He states that, "for it is not till the electric light is used to spell out some brand name that it is noticed as a medium,"(McLuhan, paragraph 4).  I really liked how he explained how electric ight itself is the medium.  We could be using other sources for light but we dont think of electricity, we think of PG&E, or Philips light bulbs.  This artcile really made me more away of the different ways we choose to communicate and why.  The examples that he used really helped clarify his ideas. 

oops i forgot to post my link to my last message :)

Here is the link:


Court: Cyberbullying Threats Are Not Protected Speech
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/cyberbullying-not-protected/#more-14437

Cyberbullying

 I chose to write this post about cyberbullying after reading about the consequences that social networking can have on an individual. This article talks about how cyberbullying is not considered to be free speech and that it can have serious consequences. Most people use their social networking site to communicate and stay in contact with other people. Some use it as a medium to express themselves and this can become an issue. As the article explains, this one boy had posted a video of him singing and other people wrote terrible things as a response. What people dont realize is that verbally abusing people online have the same consequences as it can have in person. I remember the case of the girl who thought she was talking to a boy that she liked online, when really it was a mother, and she said horrible things to her. As a result, the girl killed herself. People need to be selective with what they post to people on facebook and other social networking sites. You cant hide behind your computer and your words in the cyber world can have the same negative effects in the real world.

Consequences of Social Networking

I really enjoyed reading this article as I recently did a research project on this subject last semester.  Similar to this study, I wanted to see if a person's personality and body image plays a role in how they use their social network profile.  To refer back to this article, I am not surprised that majority of the students who took the survey had a Facebook profile.  I do believe that a social networking system and real life are completely different and that people display more confidence and openness on sites like Facebook so they don't care as much if they add more friends.... The more friends on Facebook the better you look (o so it seems).  In the real world, people do not have a network of 300 friends.  I really liked how this article broke different factors of social networking use down by gender, anxiety levels, extroversion, etc.  The results concluded that extroversion was the major factor when looking at a person's social networking size.  This does not surprise me since people who are already confident and outgoing in person, probably have the same confidence (if not more confidence) online.  I do believe that sites like Facebook are a great source for those more shy people to branch out and find like minded people.  I also thought it was interesting how the second highest finding for social network size was based on gender.... Us women sure do like to socialize ;)

The Quality of Online Relationships

I really liked this article (alot more than the man computer symbiosis).  This is a common thought, we cannot create relationships by only communicating online.  This articles looked at two studies that tested if computer mediated communication is effective personally as well as in the workplace. The one that I thought was interesting was the study conducted with the bank.  I do agree with the results that in a work environment, it is sometimes ineffective and harder to get work down and communicate strictly online.  I do feel that using email is an effective way to keep co workers in the loop and having quick conversations... but there is no way that someone could hold a meeting and use only email.  The other advantage to using the Internet for work is that it helps bring people into your network.  If you are working behind a desk all day you will not have the opportunities to meet people or build work relationships.  I do agree that only having online based relationships is not the way to build upon those relationships.  The Internet should just be an additional tool to improve your interpersonal relationships but not replace face to face communication.  A combination of face to face, talking on the phone, and emailing  (or using a social networking site) can help sustain a relationship. 

Seniors take classes to learn how to use Facebook :)

The article I selected is from All Facebook, (I figured this would be a good lace to get this weeks article since Facebook has been a big topic this week).  This article discusses how senior citizens are taking classes on how to use Facebook.  Universities as well as Senior citizen homes are offering the classes.  According to the article using social networking sites like facebook helps reduce depressions and helps with memory loss.  This article really stuck out to me because all of my grandparents are on facebook and it has been a great experience for them.  They have found long lost family members and friends and it has really opened a new world of entertainment and communication for them.  My grandparents have experienced first hand the shift in communication from phones that used an operator to cell phones and from typewriters to Mac Computers and surfing the web.  They have proven that they are able to learn the new technology, they just need the support and for someone to assist them, like taking a class.  Facebook is no longer a college site for students to socialize; it has expanded its demographic to reach people of all ages; and I think this has really opened the communication possibilities for everyone.  Here is the link to the article; take a look :) http://www.allfacebook.com/popular-with-seniors-classes-on-how-to-use-facebook-2011-09

The Written Word

This article examines they way our communication has evolved over time.  Like the beginning of the article states, communication can not strictly be face to face and we need another way to communicate effectively and overcome the time and distance complications.  The article shows that the written word dates back to ancient wall carving to the shift to papyrus and later paper.  The article explains the transition into the first newspaper, and how newspapers have evolved from print to text on the Internet.  Not only has our communication changed from print to telephone, but the article explains how new technology has become the more convenient way of communicating, like using email for example.  I find it really interesting how time has fazed out some of the ways we communicate.  For example, newspapers are shutting down because people no longer want to read an actually newspaper, but find it more convenient, and even environmentally friendly to use the Internet to get their information.  Technology has completely changed the way we communicate, it makes everything happen instantaneously which makes it so popular.  This was a very interesting article.