HW 13: Saying Why Business Matters

In “Blogs will change your Business,: by Stephen Baker and Heather Green it talked about how blogs affect businesses and the impact on communication that is not business- or profit related. I think that blogging on communication that is not business- or profit- related is more important in my view because it is about yourself and it is a way that allows you to express your own feelings and make your own statements on certain topics or issues. With blogs that express your own communication you can be shy and keep to yourself during school and then once you are in your own comfortable world you can be outgoing and wanting to share the truth about how you feel. Blogs overall allow you to express who you are and gives other people a sense of understanding the true person insides you. An example of this is you are getting very aggravated and brought down about an issue that is emotional to you, but there is no one you are comfortable talking about the topic faced to face with, so instead you can go on your blog and make a post about the issue and get your true feelings out and let other comment and give you advice on the way you should be feeling.

HW 11: Applying Chapter 6m to "Making Global Voices Heard"

In Kline and Bursteins ‘Making Global Voices Heard’ an interview with Rebecca Mackinnon I chose to view and read the blog The Kenyan Pundit (http://kenyanpundit.com/.) The blog is based in Kenya and talks about the growth of blogs there and how more and more people are coming to read them daily. Other mothers who relate to her are commenting on her blog. It is typically being followed by older women who can share stories and tips to make Ory’s life a little easier. In the interview it gives you a good description about what the blog will in tale and what to expect when you first visit the site. It stated that they are using the blogs to criticize mainstream press which is true because in the blog they do and other people are commenting the way they feel about it too.
Not everyone will agree with me on how I feel that giving advice to others will help enormously even through the internet and not knowing them any better I believe that it is amazing how people are so open to try and make other people’s lives better. Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that not everyone is always open to help each other and making fun of the mainstream media isn’t always good and may start trouble with other bloggers, I feel that it is very helpful and even if you disagree everyone has their own say in how they feel and what they want to get across.

HW 9: Applying Graff Chapt 4 to Huffington

I chose to write and reflect about Arianna Huffington Interview, “Punching Holes in Faded Mirrors” from Kline and Burstein’s Blog! The article talked about why the blogosphere is such a vital part of the media industry and how she hopes that the Huffington Post will aide to many different issues. There were many different statements she made that I agreed with and also a few that I disagreed with. I agree that with blogs enormous amounts of people have become their own reports because my experience when writing these blogs is kind of like you have your own say and you are able to write and say what you feel in the way you want it to come across to for other readers confirms it. Another thing I agreed with was that she said blogs are like open nature of forums being connected because on one blog it could have four or five links to other peoples blogs with the same topics or even websites which have more information on the topic and sometimes even pictures to make it more clearer and grab you attention in.
Although I agreed a lot, there was a few I disagreed. I disagreed with Huffington’s view that the mainstream media put the topic off to the side and ignored it while bloggers kept going until the issue was over, because as recent research has shown, the media will always follow a topic for months even if it only appears on a two second clip, there are hundreds of reports for new channels designated to a certain topic. Another thing I disagree with when she said that mass media can only focus on one story at a time, because on the news there are a few top headlines and they spend a certain amount of time on each and have the other news on after. There are always different top headlines and the important ones appear for weeks at a time.

HW7: Applying Graff, Chapter 3 to "My So-Called Blog"

I feel that kids should be able to talk online and post what they want to without having their parents monitor everything they said. If their parents are watching every word that their children say they might not state everything they want to because they don’t want to get in trouble or be judged differently by their parents. If you don't have your own say on what you feel you really aren't fully being yourself and your holding some of you back. Even if you are shy or don’t have a close friend you feel comfortable with your journal is somewhere you can go to and just say how you feel and express your opinion. It is somewhere you can go and vent about how you feel towards a certain situation and it just feels good sometimes to get it all out and see what other people will respond to what you said. In Emily Nussbaum’s article, “My So-called Blog,” Nussbaum stated how this is true by saying:
She called the journals a boon for shy students and admired the way they encourage kids to express themselves in writing.
(Kline and Burstein 359)
Although some people might express a little too much on their journals it’s a good way for the ones who don’t have anyone to talk to get their opinions out there or even vent when they are having a troublesome day.

HW 6: Interest statement for semester long project

My interests in social computing technologies I am most interested in email and email lists, instant messaging, and social networking services. I’m interested in email and email lists because so many people rely on email to keep them connect with family and friend who live so far away but what to keep up to date on everything. Instant messaging because all my friends are always on it all the time and I really would like to know what is behind the whole makeup. And social networking services because basically without facebook and being at college it would be pretty impossible to keep in touch with all my friends who went away to other states for school.

The kinds of empowerment that I am most interested in are overcoming sexism because I feel that gender still plays a huge role in our everyday lives and I personally don’t feel that it is 100% fair. Overcoming ageism because I feel that the older generations seem to look down on us as a group and stereotype that we are all like that without actually getting to know us on a first hand basis. And also religious intolerance/barriers between people or different religions because I feel as if people judge you on the beliefs you have and if you believe something different they have to think differently about you also.

The geographical areas I am most interested in are the US because that is where we live every day. And another one is North America because it is us and we are surrounded by it all the time.

HW 5b "I Blog, Therefore I Am"

In David Kline’s “I Blog, Therefore I Am” on the first page the third paragraph there is a quote between two people talking about what a newspaper actually was and he insists that the newspaper was killed by decades of mediocrity, in which the younger generations now have no reason to even open the newspaper. I believe that this is not true because there are many teenagers out there who open the newspaper on a daily basis to see what is going around in the world and keep up to date with the current events. There are even some kids out there who just open the newspaper to read the comic strip and nothing else.

I reject this statement because once a week my hometown comes out with a newspaper about everything that went on in the town and also the most important national events, every week I read the paper when we receive it and I almost look forward to it, to find out what went on in the world I live in everyday and see what the upcoming events are. To my I believe that the newspaper is still out there for the new generations and if it is in front of us we tend to pick it up and read what on the cover attracted our attention.

HW4: "The Voice of the Customer"

In this blog i am responding to Kline and Burstein's "The Voice of the Customer."

The other night I was in my friend’s room and happened to come across a magnet of the Hummer logo. To me the Hummer is an inferior car for a big man with a lot of money and is pretty intimidating. The car shows that you are adventurous and ready to take on anything that comes your way. In order to drive a hummer you have to have enough money to pay for the amount of gas needed. I feel that a hummer is a serious car and not anyone can drive a hummer. The typical stereotype for that car is a built man with muscles who is very into himself and usually works in the construction field.
On the Hummer blog it shows the cars climbing mountains and a pack load of people all smiling and having a great time. The blog shows that if you drive or own a Hummer you will go on crazy trips and always be having fun no matter where you go. The cars have some sort of outdoor equipment attached to the top of the roof which shows that you are very athletic. If you drive a Hummer you will never be bored and always have a great time. Everyone in the pictures seems to be so happy and enjoying themselves.
I feel that Hummer does a very good job with delivering that promise because one of my friend’s drives a Hummer and he is always on the go with his kayak. No matter where we are he is always will to park on an incline or huge hill and he is the one that will take us driving off roading after it rains all day. His personality fits the Hummer driver because he is always smiling and always ready to do something crazy and spontaneous. So, I feel Hummer’s promise is shown very well in their customers.

http://www.hummer.com/hummerjsp/home.jsp

HW 3: Toward a More Participatory Democracy

This blog I am responding to chapter 1 in Blog! Toward a More Participatory Democracy by David Kline. The chapter was based on how the media has a critical effect on politics today. The media we face every day is controlling the world and it manipulates the mass media. I’ve always believed that blogging was a way to gain more information and give you reasons to believe that something should be the way it was besides the feelings you felt. Bloggers today have such a dramatic impact on the American political scene. Frank Barnako stated that he felt no one really reads blogs and he felt as if they wouldn’t have an effect on the political elections. Political bogs were the most popular in the 2004 presidential election and the top 10 bogs had over 28 million visits from readers on average. Blogs were known as, “A genuine alternative to mainstream news outlets, a shadow media empire that is rivaling networks and newspapers in power and influence.”
I feel that what Kline states in this chapter is very true. At the same time I believe that blogs have a positive outcome and give you other ideas about a certain topic, I also believe that there might be some negative side effects meaning that they may change your mind and the way you actually feel and have you believe what they think because to you it sounds better regardless if you believe it’s true. Political blogs are coming up all over and they inform us about the society we live in and what we each feel is going to happen when a certain figure takes the stands.
Political bloggers have given us thrilling and new opportunities for more engaged voters to restructure this country’s political outlook for the better. It is proven that political blogs are on the uprise and more people are reading them every day to improve their knowledge and see how their peers are also feeling about the topic. In 2004 there was a total average of 33 million blogs readers in the US.

HW 2: Burstein's 12 key ideas

I'm responding to David Kline and Bursteins's Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is changing politics, Business, and Culture.

Burstein stated 12 key ideas about blogging and I feel that I most connect and interest with the second one which was that ‘Blogs are particularity interesting because they marry so much personality and attitude with this complex mix of software technology.’ I think it is amazing how a blog can contain so much information and you can gain an enormous amount of information on one topic from just a single page. A blog enables you to show your creativity and lets you stress the exact way you feel towards a certain topic. With all the options you have on your blog to change the background, layout and have it any way you want lets you show who you are and gives the readers a sense of understanding who you are and what your personality is like.

To me I think that is enabling us to keep in touch with long lost friends and holds together the bond of friendship no matter the distance apart. Blogs allow you yourself to post a certain topic and state how you feel and allows other readers with the same interests to comment the way they address the topics giving you others ways to look at the same situation outside the box.

Blogs are changing the world around us. Everyday more and more people make a blog about their everyday life such as a journal or even about a topic in society that is on their mind at a certain time wishing to gain more information. Before we know it we will be getting all our needed information from a certain blog.