Patrick Meier-Changing the World, One Map at a Time

Patrick Meier made a comment in his video that really made me consider how I thought of humanity as a whole, and how humans connect with one another.  Meier was discussing the text messages received from people during the Haiti crisis.  The number one most used word was "please".  Meier emphasized the fact that these people had lost as least one person, if not entire families, and they are still saying please.

Not only is Ushahidi profound at mapping crises, it also maps all kinds of other things.  According to Meier, there have been more than six-thousand maps launched on Ushahidi.

Core Thoughts

Alex DuJardin

6/22/11

Core Thoughts

            After reading articles about new media technology and how it’s growing in the world, I have been inspired with new questions to this new world.  The first question is, will all newspapers be completely wiped out by competition from the on-line news organizations and from citizen journalists?  My second question is, can people of this current generation of new media technology succeed up to the current social and work status quos with out new media technology?  The third and final question is, although it is true that new media technology enhances and has changed the social culture in so many positive ways, are there any major signs of decreases in our social skills when it comes to face-to-face interaction?  (By the way, Skype does not count as face-to-face; I’m talking about interaction with people “in the flesh”.) 

            The rest of this paper will include more details of the three questions and how specific articles helped answer my questions.  A challenge of discussing or contemplating these questions is that right now, it seems as if everything is always changing at a very fast pace.  Everyday, there is something new in the media, and if you’re not new-media savvy, you’ll be out of the loop.  With that said, it’s difficult to predict what will happen to certain aspects of new media technology, and old media technology, because everything is always changing, there is always something new.

            Starting with my first question, will all newspapers be completely wiped out by competition from the on-line news organizations and from citizen journalists?  Personally, I feel this is a topic that should be thought very carefully about, because I believe that yes, someday news on paper will no longer exist.  One reason I think newspapers will die out is because of citizen-journalism.  However, in the article, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” by Clay Shirky, he wrote, “ If you want to know why newspapers are in such trouble, the most salient fact is this:  Printing presses are terrifically expensive to set up and run” (2009).  For me, this is a new thought to why newspapers could be done for someday.  Economics after all, are a huge component of what keeps products going.  

            Secondly, can people of this current generation of new media technology succeed up to the current social and work status quos, with out new media technology?  Being twenty years old, and growing up in the ever growing world of new media technology, right now it truthfully is hard to succeed more than others at important things like work and social lives with out it.  Today, it seems as if the majority of everything people can do involves some sort of new media technology, and if you’re not fluent with this new generation, it will be difficult to keep up with the changing culture.  In the article, “Nine Propositions Towards a Cultural Theory of YouTube”, it is said that, “Social networking emerges as one of the important social skills and cultural competencies that young people need to acquire if they are going to become meaningful participants in the culture around them” (Schoz & Hartzog, 2007).  This statement answers my question; having social networking skills with new media technology is very important to meet the new status quo of the culture of media.

             Lastly, although it is true that new media technology enhances and has changed the social culture in so many positive ways, are there any major signs of decreases in our social skills when it comes to face-to-face interaction?  I would say yes, because today, a major portion of our ways communication with other people is on the Internet.  In many cases, people become very dependent on getting their “social fix” from the Internet, and therefore eventually lose the ability to regularly interact with people face-to-face.  Especially when it comes to expressing thoughts or emotions.  It is much easier for people to express things to other people on the Internet than in person because if there are consequences, they can be avoided by the click of your mouse, and in the end, facing reality just goes away.  People are acting in ways on the Internet that they would not do in real life.  Being and acting in anyway you want is possible because of the Internet.  This is causing people to lose their social skills.  Kaplan and Haenlein wrote in their article, “Users of the World, Unite!  The Challenges and opportunities of Social Media”, “…virtual social worlds allows inhabitants to choose their behavior more freely and essentially live a virtual life…there are no rules restricting the range of possible interactions” (2009).  This citing even shows how people will even chose to live their “life” on the Internet as a virtual avatar.  Could faking a social life on the Internet possible decrease your real life social skills?  I hope the obvious answer is yes. 

           

Oscar Grant's Case - Discussion Board Experience

I enjoyed my experience of discussing the Oscar Grant case on D2L. It was nice to what other people thought about the incident and how they reacted to it. I was surprised at how many people said they have never heard of the Oscar Grant shooting before this assignment. Also, it was interesting to see what everybody else said what they would have done in the situation, whether to record the incident for proof of injustice, or to get involved and try to help and save Grant.

After reading the article, I was shocked to learn about this incident, but seeing the actual footage made me agree even more with the fact that YouTube and citizen journalists are very important to society and to the things that can happen within them.  If it weren't for this actual footage, that cop probably wouldn't have gone to jail.    

Just like in the first video of this post, the actual footage of the shooting was very shocking. With professional news media telling the story and the facts of the situation, might have helped a person understand more of the circumstances if they have not already heard of the incident.

Social Media: Implications Re-visited

Shirky's presentation really made me consider more about how people are communicating and socializing with each other  through new media technology.  I guess lately I have not even realized how much I rely on new media technology such as Facebook, Twitter, and texting.  I think this is because I have grown up with it and it seems natural to use these technologies, I don't think twice when I contact friends or family through Facebook, but not too long ago it seems as if talking on the phone was the primary way of contacting people using technology.

I also really liked how Shirky said that there are more amateurs than professionals who communicate information to the world.  I feel like I have already understood this concept, but Shirky put it into words that make a lot of sense, he explained it very well.    

Henry Jenkins Video

I suppose I never realized that the biggest non-fiction success of transmedia story telling is the Obama campaign.   Obama became a huge mass media icon by becoming involved in Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and even texting campaigns.  Now looking back, it was a brilliant idea to project his campaigns through those new media technologies since they are becoming a way of life for a huge number of people.

Henry Jenkins Interview Video

I really liked how Jenkins explained in detail the exact difference of two collective intelligences, Wikipedia and encyclopedias.  Wikipedia is the process of collected intelligences, and the quality of data and information comes along with time.  On the other hand, encyclopedias are products of expert systems.