Final Blog, Course Overall Tuesday, Mar 6 2007

For me, the most important thing was learning and becoming more familiar with different types of technology.  I found it very valuable to learn how to create a blog and what positive and negative impacts there are with this new type of communication. Making the podcast was definitely a stretch for me and I also found that project to be very beneficial to my learning.

I think that we covered a lot of material in this course and I feel very satisfied with what I have got out of it.  The one thing I thought we might learn how to do, which I think may have been valuable, would be to create and design a website.

The topics that were least interesting to me where the really technical things that I was just so unfamiliar with.  Sometimes it was difficult for me to even grasp the concept because I simply didn’t understand what it was talking about.

Overall, this course was excellent for me in that it really made me step out of my comfort zone and be immersed in many new things.

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VoIP Thursday, Mar 1 2007

After looking at Vonage and Speakeasy I discovered that their services were available for where I live.  I chose a plan through Vonage that would cost me about 25 dollars a month, which is much less than what I am paying now.  However, to purchase the equipment I wanted it would be a one time cost of about $50.  Speakeasy was also more inexpensive than my current cell phone plan, with a cost of about $55.95 each month.  

The Vonage website was a little more difficult to navigate through to get the results that I was looking for because I first had to provide my phone number and not my address.  However, I do not have a landline so I did not want to give my cell number because I didn’t think it would be of any use.  It was more convenient on the Speakeasy website to find quickly if the service was provided at my residence.

Both of the websites provided a great deal of information on their services and were pretty easy to navigate through. However, I still do not see anything that would make me want to switch from my cell phone, except maybe the price, and I don’t see these services becoming the next big thing, simply because the cell phone can do much of what VoIP can and even better.  And I’m willing to pay more for the pure convenience of my cell phone.

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The new and improved telephones Thursday, Feb 22 2007

Voice Over Internet Protocol was a term I was unfamiliar with before reading the article for this week. However, after learning about what it is I realized I have heard of it before, but never new the name. Of course I am familiar with the hilarious Vonage commercials and I have always wondered what exactly it is, and now I know.  VoIP seems to be a really great thing in general as an improvement over telephone landlines.  There are features that I find would be extremely beneficial.  Such as: if you are to travel you will always have access to a home phone, there can be unlimited calls and usage for a fee that is way less that cell phone prices, check voicemail via the web, etc. There are tons of features just like this that blow regular phones away.

Even though there were numerous disadvantages listed in the reading about VoIP I still think that it will replace regular phone service. The phone service available now seems like one of the only thing that hasn’t been greatly improved on throughout the years, until now. These advancements seem like they adapt to the needs of everyday people.

There is one thing that I may just not understand. I don’t get why people would go for this over a cell phone.  The only benefit to me for VoIP versus a cell phone would be the price. And while VoIP seems way better than traditional phone service, it seems to pale in comparison to cell phones. Everything VoIP can do, cell phones can do too, and I would argue better, not to mention that cell phones have a ton of features that VoIP doesn’t have.  So it is puzzling to me as to why people would go for this over a cell, or why they would need it in addition to a cell phone.

Discussion Questions:

1. As I mentioned above, why would people choose VoIP over a cell phone, or why would they need VoIP in addition to their cell?

2. How large is the market for VoIP, and will it continue to have a market with all the developments being made for cell phones, i.e. blackberries etc.?

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reflection of newspaper assignment Thursday, Feb 15 2007

The newspaper websites that varied greatly between one another.  The number one most annoying thing the website could have was forcing me to register.  I do not want to do that, just let me look at your information, not to mention I almost never give truthful information about myself.  I saw also some disorganization among the sites.  One of the main things I noticed was a certain cite would be thoughtful and organized and then, when it came to interactive parts, such as the blogs, it was very disorganized and completely different from what I had seen before.  The sites need to learn how to have continued organization throughout their page, otherwise it is very frustrating.  I was surprised at how minimal many of the advertisements were, which is always a good thing.  I am most drawn to a site if it is clear and organized, if it looks at all messy I am very turned off, that is one recommendation I would have for all the sites.  And of course, in the aforementioned statement, no registration!

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Access for all! Wednesday, Feb 14 2007

This weeks reading was about providing universal Internet/computer access to everyone, everywhere.  Many of the topics discussed where very interesting, and numerous new terminology was presented.  For example, before reading this I was not familiar with the words Simputer or Sinsamut and abbreviations such as VAN or WLAN.  So I learned a lot from this chapter in that respect.

I found it very inspiring that people are working so hard to try and level the playing field between people and countries when it comes to access of the Internet.  It is so important in many ways.  One way that I especially found inspiring in the reading was the domino effect it can have.  Internet and computer access not only helps with education, but also with medical needs, and even with phone service. It seems like one improvement just improves the next.

This is a topic that I am particularly affliated with because my dad’s work it very related. He works for a company called Bridges to Understanding.  Not only do they try to provide Internet and computer access to children in countries all over the world, but they then try to connect children in one country to children in another. For example, he recently went to a small village in India and set up computer programs where children in the classrooms there would make computer videos for the kids incertain U.S. classroom and vice versa. They would also communicate to each other via cameras on the computers. By doing this, and getting young children in contact with each other, the hope is that one day the next generation will understand one another better and hopefully end cultural misunderstandings and one day even wars.  This is all because the computer and Internet is able to bring these children a “computer screen” away from one another.  I am only mentioning this because it just seemed like something that was valuable to note because it is similar work with that of this week’s reading.

Discussion Questions:

1.  Are there any downsides to universal access? Does everyone need/want it?

2.  What are other potentional benefits of having universal access? Will it also be beneficial for people who already have access?

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com presentation group 4 Tuesday, Feb 13 2007

 The article I read really made me think about the never-ending uses of the Internet. This Journal article was about how political terrorists groups use the Internet to make themselves stronger and more powerful. It was interesting to me to learn this week about how U.S. politics have used the Internet to their benefit, and most people do benefit from this plethora of information. However, I never thought about how terrorists organizations benefit from this as well.  The article outlined the 5 major uses of the Internet for terrorists.  These 5 core uses were: information provision, financing, networking, recruitment, and information gathering.  All of these are uses I am familiar with, but I never thought about how terrorists utilize the Internet to advance these 5 things.  It was definitely an eye-opening article.

The experience overall was very good. The class seemed to respond well to my presentation and the article I chose.  The students engaged in interesting and valuable conversation about the implications of this article.

Link to powerpoint:

http://students.washington.edu/jct4/com300/Powerpoint_com.ppt

Source:

Conway, M. (2007) “Terrorism and the Internet: New Media – New Threat?”Proquest.  7 Feb. 2007.

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podcast update Tuesday, Feb 13 2007

I am still doing the topic of body image issues with young women and how the information overload in today’s world has contributed to this.  I am going to use a song from Coldplay and a quick clip from utube of young girls discussing their food and self-esteem issues. I am arguing that the media and the enormous amounts of information available to young people today can cause serious issues with one’s body image and self-esteem. I have not begun recording my voice yet, but I do have my music and video clip.

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Campaigning with the Internet Wednesday, Feb 7 2007

Before reading for this week I had never really considered the monumental impact Internet had made on campaign elections.  This is stupid of me because Internet has been an enormous force within the past few elections and I have used it during these elections, but never actually thought about the impact. I found the juxtaposition of the two websites incredibly interesting. But I was struck by the numerous mistakes that both the websites made. They have some of the most intelligent and powerful people working on these sights, so how are there mistakes of this size so often made? It makes me wonder if they are mistakes, or if they are purposeful. I thought it was ridiculous that Bush had such high technology on is website and yet so many of his voters live in very rural areas. It makes me think that he doesn’t care about the rural voters enough to cater to them, and he just expects they will continue to vote for him.  It seems like his website might just be tailored to trying to persuade people, and not caring about the party faithfuls.

There was a lot of technical terminology that I didn’t understand in the article by Professor Gill. The dimensions provided didn’t really mean anything to me because I didn’t know what it meant.

I thought the other articles by Scheiber were also very interesting on how campaigning works and how Internet and campaigning became tied to one another.  Some of the tactics about persuading voters I found a little sleazy i.e. lemonade stands, but unfortunately, it is still done today. Except today, it is as if we are being deceived more by the subliminal messages that are on websites or commercials, etc. At least back then their intentions were fairly obvious.

Discussion Questions:

1. How did Kathy Gill chose the things she wanted to look for on the Bush and Kerry websites? And would you look at the same things, or would you pick different things to focus on?

2.  Were the mistakes on the candidates’ websites really mistakes or were they intentional?

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Guest Lecture Assignment Thursday, Feb 1 2007

I found the presentation to be very interesting.  He had some really great stories and plenty of good advice.  I really enjoy listening to people who have had a number of different experiences in their life.  And his story was interesting because he has shifted what he does from conventional journalism in a newspaper to blogging on the Internet. 

I agreed with him when he said that blogging is great for opinion and a great way to express oneself but that it does not replace newspapers.  Newspapers are still a vital part of our world and bloggers still use them as a primary source for information.  He discussed that there has been talk about how bloggers will soon rule the world and newspapers will become obsolete.  He alleviated this fear by saying that newspapers are always going to be necessary and you cannot have one without the other.  He did however mention that blogs are “shaking up mainstream media.”

I also like how he discussed the “blogging community.” I guess I never realized what kind of actitivism can come out of this blogging world.  It is an inspiring and new way to make your voice heard and get in contact with others around the world who share the same passions.

Most of my questions I had written down he answered during his presentation, but here are a couple. 

A Couple Questions:

1. What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog right now and what topics do you think would get the most attention? (I know he touched on this a little already)

2.  How common is it for bloggers to want to connect with each other and participate in some kind of activism?

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Is this a dangerous road we are going down? Thursday, Feb 1 2007

I found the article about NPR’s podcasting by Mark Glaser to be very interesting and informative.  I was actually surprised by the popularity that their podcasts has received.  I do not think I know anyone who would want to download NPR onto their ipod, but this could be because I am not the target audience for NPR.  If my mom had an ipod, and new how to use it, I’m certain it would be filled with NPR podcasts! But she doesn’t have one, and many people in her generation don’t have them either, so how is it so popular?

But that is not what shocked me the most.  What shocked me is my growing concern for this generation of people.  Everything we come across needs to be faster than the one before it and more accessible, and easier to use, and more compatible with other technology, etc. etc.  We are living an era where all we do is multitask.  Right now I am downloading songs onto my ipod, baking something in the oven, doing my homework with the TV on in the background, answering my cell and texting people, and heating up my flat iron to straighten my hair.  When I write that all down it sounds like a lot and very confusing, but this is definitely normal. 

A woman named Thomas was quoted in the article saying that the podcasts with shorter content seem to be most popular.  But by having shorter content are we missing out on the really important details? And how far do we take this? In five years will the podcast need to be even shorter to continue it’s popularity? Well at the rate we are going the answer is yes! So how short? Will we get all the news in a matter of seconds and feel worldy and well rounded? That is what scares me.  And it scares me because I am just as guilty as everyone else.  I, of course, want the information in as short of time as possible because I have a million other things to.  But this shortening of information and fast paced lifestyle just seems like we could all be traveling down a dangerous road.  I’m afraid people will get dumb.

 Discussion Questions:

1.  What are the downsides to having podcasts of important information? Is there a possibility that we are missing some vital facts to the story?

2.  In Glaser’s article he said that it is difficult to find out who is actually listening to the podcasts due to many unknown factors.  But it also said that they were looking forward to when they would be able to keep track of this information.  How would they be able to do this? And why is it so difficult in the first place, wouldn’t it be like tracking who is watching a television program?

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