HW 35: Thank You Blog Readers

In the past 13 weeks I have grown as a blogger and a writer. I hope that my blog was helpful and entertaining for those of you who took the time to read what I had to say. I am most proud of my blogs that really took passion and creativity out of me and was interpreted into words and phrases. Though this blog was for a class, I intend to continue blogging in the near future. I will probably create a new account however, so keep an eye out for blawgue3. I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog and as the chief editor, I thank all you for your feedback and cooperation. Blog you later everybody!

HW 34: Response to Riverbend

HW 32: Hollocaust

I attended the Citizenship Symposium at Keene State College on November 8th. Katrina Sweat introduced her father, Tom Lantos, who is a Hollocaust survivor. He came to America at age 19 with nothing but a few dollars in his pocket and a log of salami. Of course border control confiscated his Salami but not his dignity. He attended the University of Washington and went on to be the only Hollocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress. The theme for his speech was a quote:"America did not teach men the idea of freedom, she taught them how to practice it." Tom Lantos was extremely inspiring and I look forward to future symposiums.

HW 31: Iraq Body Count, Real People Fake Numbers

I attended the Citizenship Symposium at Keene State College on Wednesday November 7th at 3:30. I found this symposium to extremely informative and interesting. The host was progessor Clark. He was a great speaker; very passionate and animated. He told us how his son was in the military. He showed us how people use statistics to make things sound better. An example of this is how poverty is one point lower now than when Clinton was in office. This is true however Clinton went into office after big Bush who rose poverty. The whole time Clinton was in office poverty declined. Now that little Bush is in office poverty is once again on the rise. This was an incredible symposium and I will look to take one of professor Clark's classes. He was great!

HW 30: Citizens Gone Wild

I attended the Citizenship Symposium at Keene State College on Tuesday Nov. 6th at 12 pm. This was the 5th biannual symposium at Keene State. They made Nov. 6th citizen day in Keene. Mel Netshammer was the host. He spoke about obligations of citizenshiAp and focused on citizenship in New Hampshire. He introduced the mayor of Keene, Michael Blastos. He refferred to the quote: "Use it or Lose it". He urged that students register to vote. They handed out pamphlets and mini copies of the U.S. Constitution. Mike Welsch spoke next. He introduced Nancy Tobey. She is one of the founders of blackbox.org. She used a boring powerpoint to explain her views on taking control of our democracy. She stressed citizen activism and election integrity. However she stated that it was a rainy Friday in Keene, when it was actually Tuesday. I nearly fell asleep during this symposium. On the bright side she quoted Moses, and that's my homeboy.

HW 19: Web of Influence & Metacommentary

I chose to discuss the paragraph regarding blogs' influence on U.S. politics. This topic has come up quite a bit in this class. "The top five political blogs together attract over half a million visitors per day." This fact shows the impact of blogs and how underestimated they are. "Jimmy Orr, the White House Internet director, recently characterized the "blogosphere"." The blogosphere is the all-encompassing term to describe the universe of weblogs. The blogosphere is taking politics to new heights and stretching boundaries daily. It truly is a web of influence and I am looking forward to a better future because of it.

HW 18: Wow

While reading the Jezebel blog, my eye was caught by the headline, "Alexys Tylor on the Importance of Penis Size, "Pussy Integrity":http://jezebel.com/gossip/clips/alexyss-tylor-on-the-importance-of-penis-size-pussy-integrity-308774.php?autoplay=true This is a video clip of Alexys Tylor, an Atlanta resident sex "expert". While she sits there with her mother, she uses repulsive language. With a penis prop in hand she talks of asking men to handle their genitals. This is worse than any rap lyrics I have ever heard. This is by far my least favorite post of the week. "They be fresh out of spearmint and damn juicy fruit....", the rest isn't classy enough for my blog.

HW 17B: Most Politically Influential Blogs

After reading both the interviews and checking out both blogs I would have to side with Zuniga on this one. Zuniga was very professional during the interview and proved himself as a risk taker, which is extremely admirable. Though I am not one for politics its not bright to be apathetic. Zuniga motivated me to be apart of the world and to make a difference even if it is small. Cox's interview was boring. She wasn't very proper which to some people can be comforting, but not for me. Her responses were either short one-liners or long rants that went nowhere. Zuniga wins in my book.

HW 17: The Science of Strippers' Tips

From the "Salon: Broadsheet" blog my eye was caught by "The science of stripper tips" by Carol Lloyd: http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/10/04/stripper_tips/index.html?source=rss&aim=broadsheet
In fact they celebrate the fact that, "A new study finds that strippers make more money when they're ovulating"(opening pp.) Geoffrey Miller, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico studies the breakthrough. He claims that observers could guess nearly 60 percent of the time whether a woman was ovulating based on her dress. I think it's hillarious that people actually study things as rediculous as this. Sure, women can be complicated...but why complicate more? Miller does have good points supported the fluctuation in wage. It's quite interesting and worth reading.

HW 16b: The Five Pillars

Robert Scoble is interviewed about the five pillars the made blogging so popular. He explains why really simple syndication is so important. RSS is defined as allowing a blogger to offer his Weblog for people to subscibe to, as well as to integrate links and news from other websites. The first pillar discussed is "ease of publishing": blogs need to be simple for people to navigate them properly. The second is "discoverability". How easy is it for people to find your blog? The third pillar is "cross-site conversations". Make the Weblog eclectic in that all people are comfortable to post and or change the topic. The fourth pillar is listed as "permalinking". This simplifies accessing a post. Finally the fifth pillar is "syndication" which allows you to check out a number of sites as you expand your network.

HW 14: Take An Obsession, Then Feed It!

While being interviewed Denton Explains that the formula is actually very simple: "Take an obsession -say, a gadget obsession-and feed it." (Kline & Burstein, pg. 151) Therefore the more you give the audience, the more then will want to read. He is asked whether or not he believes that blogs represent more of an evolution than a revolution. "Yeah, but sometimes it has the effect of a revolution."(Kline & Burstein, pg. 155) Furthermore it can destroy whole industries. After all, at some point, music compression and digital music files collaborated. As a result blogs will begin to transform the news business on a larger scale.

HW 13: Blogs Will Change Your Business

Blogging is an information revolution that can be so personal it could potentially get you fired from your job. Or at least that's the case for Mark Jen, a former Google employee, who started blogging about his first days on the job. In the blog he complained about the the less than generous health plan and how "Google's free food was an enticement for employees to work past dinner. (Kline & Burstein, pg. 225) Two weeks later Jen was fired. Google may have completely overreacted, but they were making a statement to other bloggers at the company.
Blogging has had a huge impact on businesses no matter what's being sold. Who could answer whether blogging and communication is more influential than blogging and business. And frankly, who really cares? Although this may seem of concern to only a small group of bloggers, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about their business at all.

HW 11: Making Global Voices Heard

hoder.com/weblog. A weblog about Iran, technology and pop culture, by Hossein Derakhshan. He blogs in English and Persian, and is responsible for triggering thousands of Persian blogs both within Iran and amongst the Iranian diaspora. The blog as it now exists still corresponds to MacKinnon's view of it. Many young Iranians have come to this blog to speak their mind and get to know eachother online. It seems that these Iranians have been careful about what they're saying due to people going to jail. Yet some readers may challenge my view that people are holding back how they feel because why would they say something if they couldn't fully state what they ment or how they feel. However the Iranian government is taking it seriously and viewing it as a challenge to its power.

HW 9: Punching Holes In Old Faded Mirrors

I have chosen to respond to "Punching Holes In Old Faded Mirrors", an interview with Arianna Huffington. I Found this article most compelling. I agree that gas-guzzling SUV's are linked to terrorism, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe otherwise. The "blogazine", or the Huffington Post, is a vital part of the media industry and will contribute to the national ebate on a wide range of issues. Huffington's theory that blogs have made a huge difference is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of media's attention defecit disorder. The media can only focus on one story at a time while blogs can jump back and forth between topics. Huffington is surely right about the theory that if you put thoughts and ideas out there and they'll enter the cultural bloodstream. "You don't need to reach everbody in order to have an impact". (Kline & Burstein, pg. 348)

HW 7: My So-Called Blog

I think that kids should be able to say what they feel online without their parents interrupting. Teenagers have a hard time expressing how they feel when talking a stranger. It makes it especially difficult when the therapist is provided through the school which has readily available contact with that teens parents. In the case of LiveJournal or Xenga, the keyboard is the therapist. "It allows them to say things they wouldn't otherwise say, to be hurtful at a distance." (Kline & Burstein, pg. 359). Some may interpret this as a bad thing. However, if the child is thinking it, there isn't any more harm done by saying it. Though online journals are thought of as being "emo", "My So-Called Blog" explains that it is becoming popular among all teenagers, even jocks. "Then there are the kind of posts that fulfill a parent's worst paranoia. 'It was like just a nite of lying to my dad,' reads one entry posted last fall. 'At like 7ish we started drinking, but i didn't have THAT much. And i figured out y i drink so much. Cuz i really really don't like being sober with drunk people....i have more homework to do than imaginable. And to make it better, im hungover and feel sick. Great....great. DRINKING IS BAD!!' (Kline & Burstein, pg. 354) This quote may appear as a nightmare to most parents, however to a teenager this is quite real. Though the quoted teenager had been drinking that weekend instead of doing homework, it shows that he more intelligent than the teenagers accompanying the festivities. "I don't talk to them about anything. They'll be like, 'How was school?' And I'll be lke, 'Fine.' And that was it"Parents need to become more involved in their childrens lives. After school clubs and sports are not a safe alternative for parenting.

HW 6: Interest Statement for Semester Long Project

The social computing technologies that I'm currently interested in are e-mail, social networking services, and virtual worlds. E-mail is a simple and valuable tool I use to communicate with family and friends. Social networking services are also a good way to keep in touch with people. Whether it is people you are yet to meet, trying to meet, or have met before and are trying to find. Facebook and Myspace connect millions of people every day. Lastly virtual worlds are quite interesting because of the everchanging technology used to create computer games.
The kinds of empowerment of marginalized groups I'm most interested in finding out about are overcoming ageism, overcoming religious intolerance, and issues of refugees. The one I'm most interested in is overcoming ageism because I think that the youth are often neglected by society and have so many expectations without being offered much assistance. The two geographical areas I'll start looking at are the Middle East and the US.

HW 5b: I Blog, Therefore I Am

In David Kline's "I Blog, Therefore I Am" it states that since 1990 the newspaper has become less popular especially among younger generations. Although there aren't many teenagers who read the newspaper on a daily basis, this doesn't mean anything has changed. I don't believe the newspaper has ever been very popular among teens. Many people assume that because people aren't recieving information from the newspaper, then they aren't recieving it at all. This interpretation is not at all true. Though the media is often wrong with their research, blogging has become a new way to gain information. I think people need to stop believing what they hear and use their own resources to decide for themselves. Hopefully this will help educate future generations.

HW 4: The Voice of the Customer

The voice of the customer by David Kline expresses how blogs affect and impact the business world. I think it's safe to say that most, if not all, college student on a cellular telephone. Seeing that cell phones are so prominent in modern social life, the brand I chose to research was Verizon Wireless. When I visited the Verizon website I found that their target consumer is the family man. They offer plenty of deals when you include other member on your plan. Their logo is crowned with a checkmark implying thorough and complete service. They claim they are America's most reliable network. Their commercials are state that you can recieve service virtually everywhere. Whether any of this is true, it is in fact a fair attempt to sell more product. The rest is left up to the consumer.

HW 3: Toward a More Participatory Democracy

David Kline states that the media today is extremely bias and often completely erroneous. Reporters and journalist are more concerned with creating eye-opening stories than remaining in the margins of the truth. This defys the purpose of news. This is where blogging can help rebuild trust in hearts across the world. Blogging creates a balance between media and fact. I was surprised by the huge influence blogging had on politics. One example was that during the August period leading up to the 2004 presidential election, the ten most popular political blogs collectively had 28 million visits from readers which rivaled traffic to the three 24/7 online cable networks. One of which, the liberal blog DailyKos, drew 7 million reader visits alone that month, which beat Fox News' 5.7 million online visits. It's incredible how much internet activity goes unmentioned.

HW 2: Burstein's 12 Key Ideas

Blogging will continue to spread across the globe, connecting people from all areas. People constantly strive to be heard and what better way than through blogging. Blogging is free, fun, and easy. I relate Burstein's 9th idea to any up and coming sport. Take snowboarding for example; no one believed that snowboarding would evolve into what it is today. When Jake Burton originally designed his first model he was told it would never work and that it was wasting time, energy, and money. Snowboarding was labeled as the most rediculous and uneccessary sports of all time. It is now thirty years later and snowboarding is still growing and impacting people's lives. So hop on and let the world of blogging take you for a ride.