Abelson Chapter 2

I have one thing to say to this man who sued google: HOW DO YOU THINK CELEBRITIES FEEL???? Google is not unjustified in taking pictures of the streets. It's public territory and without it, we wouldn't have tools such as google maps. This man simply got caught while he was making an unfortunate choice. It would be unfair to make fun of him for this, considering we all make mistakes, and everybody gets in trouble sometimes. However, people must be more aware of how technology has the power to expose almost anything.

This goes back to the idea of watching what you put on facebook, who photographs you and who you trust. It's one thing to have someone take a picture of you walking on a public street; it's not like google put a hidden camera in your home! A public street is public property! You can't be too careful, and maybe this will urge people to think twice before they make their decisions. This man will probably think twice before judging someone like Mel Gibson, Hugh Grant and the long list of ladies and gentlemen who have been caught on camera doing something they were not proud of, only to have their personal flaws exposed to for all critical eyes to see.

Shirky Chapter 4: Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice offer opportunities for learning to anyone and everyone who is interested. By means of the internet, individuals are able to put there heads together and work together on topics that are meaningful to them in a fast, easy, free way!! Twenty years ago, even fifteen years ago, this concept would be alot more time consuming and costly!

Take for instance those who wish to lose weight, but want to do so with others similar to themself. Before the communities of practice with which the world wide web provides, these people who have to pay to go to a Weight Watchers Meeting or pay to see their Jenny Craig Consultant. Now, if you go on the internet, there are hundreds of free weight loss sites provided that allow individuals who are overweight, to come together and offer one another support, advice, stories, help, encouragement, etc. all without leaving their seat or opening their wallet.

Communities of practice can allow chefs in NYC to share cooking tips with chefs in Seattle Washington through online blogs. Whereas a newspaper provides general information that is generally interesting to most people, communities of practice target your number one favorite interests. Its like a search engine that returns the exact information you were hoping to find. By means of communities of practice, people have access to information that they are most passionate about, and can learn something new everytime someone decides to contribute, which by means of the technology of the web, knowlege is continuously updated throughout the day!!!

Shirky Chapter Four "Invisible"

The music, books, magazines, newspaper, DVDs etc. industries have taken a hit since the opportunities of things you can see and do on the web have exploded. I very much hope that people do not disregard the value of a physical book, the Sunday paper and a CD. I personally, certainly enjoy the easy accessibility that the internet provides in terms of accessing any information for free. I love listening to Pandora, watching free movies on Hulu, and finding just about information that a newspaper can provide on news websites. However, do you ever sit in front of your computer for hours, and after a certain amount of time, you simply never want to look at it again!!?? This happens to me quite often. After awhile of staring at a computer screen, I tire of the experience no matter what I am listening to or looking at via the internet.

One of my favorite things to do is go to Barnes and Noble. No internet experience can take the place of getting in my car, driving to the bookstore, walking in to smell Starbucks, I like the quite but chatty atmosphere, the layout of the store, and the ambiance. I also love renting DVDs. I like walking through the aisles of Blockbuster, looking at the covers, thinking about what movie I am in the mood for. Who says I want my movie delivered to my house? (no offense Netflix :) ) but really, part of the fun is the going to the store and taking the time to physically select the movie.

The world wide web and its services are wonderful, but I do not want it taking the place of tasks that I ENJOY. What seems to be a pain to some people, I take pleasure in and look forward to! I just hope enough people feel the same way as me, so that these industries do have a significant place in our culture for future years to come.

Shirky Chapter 3

If I had a very personal question to ask, I would ask someone who I trusted completely; who was credible, honest and direct; someone who would be willing to tell me their honest opinion even if it wasn't the answer I wanted to hear. Most importantly, I would ask someone who I had built some type of repor with, so that they knew a little bit about me, and could take my personality and values etc. into consideration when they were evaluating my question and trying to answer it accordingly.

Transitioning from my answer to this question, to the topic at hand of credible journalism which is discussed in Shirky Chapter 3, I can draw one similarity. Just as you would choose a credible, trustworthy source to ask a personal question, you would also want to choose your news source accordingly. In the chapter, a man discusses his father's disdain for the newspaper, USA Today, due to the fact that it was "dumbed-down" and like "TV-on paper." Im sure this man's father was irritated with the paper also because it took sales away from the local paper he had been producing for quite some time. However, as technology becomes more advanced, we can expect to see news being mass produced through all faucets: newspapers, tv, youtube, websites, etc. It
is our job as a reader to sensor our news and just as we would do when asking a person question: take into consideration the credibility and trustworthiness of the source, we should do when considering who we believe when recieving information about the people, places, and events occuring around us!!! :)

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism, a term used to describe the act of regular people like you and me taking on the role of reporting information through blogs, online videos etc. The act of citizen journalism through the use of technology-especially through use of the web specifically-has the capacity to spread like wildfire and multiply rapdily. Glaser's article mentions that professional journalists express disdain for the term "citizen journalism" because to be a true journalist, there are ethics and guidelines for how to report news. I feel this is a silly concern. Quality journalists have no need to get bent out of shape because citizen journalism uses the word journalism to describe what they are doing. A term is not going to change the perception of good ethical accurate journalism. Most educated rationale people can tell the difference between an article in the New York Times and some blog written by the everyday Joe Shmo. It's just a term, and if it were me, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

Now, speaking of Joe Shmo, thanks to him, we have footage of the assination of JFK, the beating of Rodney King in Las Angeles, footage of the jets hitting the twin towers, and tsunami coverage. Joe Shmo contributes real life, "down in the trenches" so to speak-real life perspective from your everyday person of what's going on around us-something I think we all can appreciate.
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On the other hand, when CNN used information from a citizen journalist that happen to be inaccurate, it caused a rather large problem. CNN reported that Steve Jobs had been rushed to the hospital after suffering from a severe heart attack and as a result, Apple stock plummetted. Now this is rather unfortunate, in a make your stomach turn kind of way. Presenting inaccurate news can really have its consequences. This is a strange and unusual example, but I cant help mention it as it comes to mind...I remember my mom telling me that decades ago a radio station thought it would be funny to report that aliens had been seen and a couple of people actually committed suicide. This type of inaccurate information can be catastrophic.

It all comes down to using your common sense to distinguish between inaccurate and accurate information. Obviously taking the source into consideration is a major part of making this distinction. No matter what though, citizen journalisms benefits overpower its negative effects.

Abelson: Google Search Engine Restrictions

The idea of having no restrictions on a search engine is illogical. As mentioned in the topic at hand, Google has restrictions on the Chinese internet. Why? Because the Chinese government has very strict restrictions on what information their people can access. It is to my understanding that Google feels it would be better to provide a limited search engine to the Chinese people than nothing at all. This makes sense to me. Google can't take on the Chinese government; Google is providing a service in accordance with government laws. I certainly dont agree with Chinese laws or government, but if a search engine is better than no search engine. If somebody wants to take on google for restricting their search engine in China, thats not an issue to take up with Google, thats an issue to take up with the Chinese government.

Furthermore, in terms the information that the internet provides access to, it's certainly not all good. The overall objective in terms of internet restrictions should be to provide information that is useful and relevant, and block things that are useless and degenerative. In general, I think that rationale individuals would agree with this concept; the challenge is agreeing on what information is useful/useless...in other words...there is no easy solution.

Abelson Ch. One; Unflattering Photos/Videos

This is a topic that I have actually given alot of thought to, ever since I considered the possibility of employers being able to access your facebook page. I certainly have a theory that future politicians may be taken down by dug up photos of unwise choices...perhaps during their college days. Take for instance, a more recent event, when a picture of Michael Phelps surfaced of him smoking a bong. One picture, and his entire image is tainted. I certainly think that as the amount of exposure that become technologically possibly increases, people must become more aware of how they are percieved and who they trust...espcecially when a camera or a cameraphone is involved.

Shirky CH. One...Main Role of Facebook...newly emerging groups

Social networking sites serve as an easy way to gain support from others concerning any topic or cause. The story of the lost cellphone is living proof of this. Because the situation drew so much attention and support online, actions were taken that would have never been taken was it not for the ability for Evan to illustrate the situation through myspace. The NYPD's attention was directed to the cause as a direct result of the massive amounts of people in uproar over the stolen cellphone. Social networking sites allow for individuals to gain steam and accomplish great things because it serves as a forum for large amounts of people to come together and further their cause. As we all know, two heads is better than one, and thousands of people angry and aware of an injustice, proves to be powerful enough to take a case such as this one a whole lot further than a posting on a myspace page. As harmless or trivial as something like facebook or myspace may seem, in reality it is emerging as an extremely powerful tool for communication, collaboration, attention and in this case, organized action.