Friday, November 20, 2009

Last Assignment

The topic for the last blogging assignment is given to your own choice.Among what we have discussed through the semester, pick one of the Internet topics which you think is the most relevant or affecting to your own life. Describe what the topic is, why you think it is so, and provide two relevant references.
Throughout the course of the semester, we as a class have talked about alot of issues and concerns that affect our everyday. For example internet privacy, was the most crucial to me, dealing with something that affects everyday life. Internet privacy consists of privacy over the media of the Internet: the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information. Many people use the term to mean universal Internet privacy: every user of the Internet possessing Internet privacy.
internet privacy is a strong issue that affects everyone including the ones that you least expect for it to happen. For example, there was a very known korean actress that was dispressed and fraustrated about what was being said about her on the internet; which smashed her name in the mud and she winds up killing her self over what was being said about her. If internet privacy was uncontrol i believe that this would have never happened to her and wouldnt allow her to do what she did. by her taking her life had a great affect on her family members and fans. Also another example of internet privacy that affected someones life was a yound girl that wasnt so popular in school, but had another identity on the internet that caused her to become more popluar than she was before. Her identity on the internet was a sexy model that wore lingerie and people loved her and thought she was hott; but then one day all her fame got destroyed. a male who was a fan of her work (pictures) had left his myspace page up on accident and his mother got a hold of it, and she reported the young girl. Her identity was exposed to everyone who thought she was beautiful and hot turned out to be the unpopular girl at their high school. By the fan's mother seeing her page her image that she has kept up for years had been ruined all because of internet privacy.
From those two examples that i have provided above clarifies why internet privacy has a major affect on peoples everyday lives. This is why internet privacy needs to be controlled better than what it is now..



source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799334...yId=25&cs=1
*** I cant find the link to the article about the high school girl, but it was discussed in a lecture.

Friday, November 6, 2009

assignment 4

Identify a group which is partially or completely mediated by the internet, and of which you are an active participant. This could anything from a student or professional group that uses an emailing list, to your World of Warcraft guild, to a group of friends who monitor and comment on each other’s blogs. Discuss how the internet communication technology used (listserve, blog, IM, etc.) affects the development of social ties (relationships) within the group. You may find it useful to contrast your online community with other offline communities you belong to. Cite at least two references using APA style (you can include the reading material postoed in UBlerans).

Computer mediated communication is any interaction between two or more networked computers. right now I believe that this is the next best alternative after face to face communication. It is now more available through many devices such as the skype, blackberry and other networks. There were many studies conducted to view how humans interact this way and how they respond to the two types of communication.
As i mentioned above about the different types of computer mediated tools; i can truely identify myself with two of those three forms of communication. for example. i have a skype account ( which is a new form of web cam). i would say that a skype is in realtion to a facebook because you can become friends with different people and chat but the only thing that is different is that you can talk to eachother while looking at them. it doesnt matter if there in the next room, in another state, or even on the other side of the world, you can still communicate with them establishing relationships and such. Eventhough the thought of having a skype seems like a great computer mediated communication tool there are some affects that comes along with having a skype. for example, yes when talking to someone over the skype, you can have a great relatioship with them but at the same time the person that you are communicating with might want a little bit more of your time. they might want to establish something more intimate with you. also another effect that the skype can have on social ties is if you are talking to your signicant other, you wouldnt really know if hes really alone or not. he could have someone in the room with him while hes talking to you about personal things invovling your relationship. see so there are many affects that comes along with having a skype.
the second group that i find myself very active in is the blackberry (BBM) its another forms of instant messaging but which is only associated with blackberry users. having a blackberry could also have alot of effects on social ties. for example, when talking to someone ober BBM you could think that your talking to the right person but then at the same time its could be someone else playing on his or hers BBM. this situation could cause a tremendous affect on relationships of the blackberry user. Also another example that would cause an effect on a blackberry user is hacking into their phone. for example, "a true life story" my bestfriends husband is a marine for the united states and he as well has a blackberry. his friend had sent him a file of pictures that were of a celebrity sending naked pictures to her boyfriends phone. i guess while she sent them to her boys friends phone the person that was hacking his phone took all of his contacts, files, and etc and were able to send them out to everyone he knew, and so on and so fourth. this situation was defintitely something that would cause someone not to get a blackberry or be a blackberry member due to this problem.....

so many computer mediated communication toold could cause effects in peoples but also establish great relationships.