Storify

So this was my first time using the social medial application Storify as I did not even know that an application like this existed.  After playing around with the application it was quite easy to figure out how it worked.

Animal Rights is a very controversial topic that is up for debate among many people.  Some agree that animals deserve rights and some believe that they do not.  However whether you agree of disagree with the rights that animals should be obligated to have, we have to make a conscious decision and think about what is ethical versus unethical.  Today animals are used in numerous ways that are unethical and they are put through pain, torture and even death.   Animals are used for testing cosmetics, making clothes, food, producing a profit, and even for entertainment.  However despite all of these horrible things that are occurring around the world there are various organizations that are working towards animal rights.

 For my Storify I chose the topic of organizations that are working towards giving animals rights.  Everyday animals suffer directly because of a human hand, however there are people out there that are trying to make a difference.  I chose to focus on the organization PETA.  PETA is a non-profit organization that focuses their attention on the ethical and fair treatment of animals.  They try and spread the word of fair and ethical treatment of animals by getting themselves out there by posting on various social media networks.  Also to really grab people’s attention they have many celebrities or people of importance help them with advertising animal rights. 

In my Storify application I included a variety of social media outlets along with pictures, videos, and web news.  All elements of the Storify were directly from PETA thus showing how they are trying to create change.  I included two advertisements produced by PETA working with celebrities like Pamela Anderson as well as Daver Nevaro, with both pictures showing its viewer that animals deserve rights.  Also I included two Facebook comments from Facebook users opinions, thoughts, and participation that they have with the PETA organization.  Another element that I included to my Storify was a video commercial produced by PETA showing that animal testing does take place and that it is unethical and that we should discontinue doing so because animals do not deserve to be tortured or even killed because of products we want to purchase.  The last two elements that I included in my Storify were two web news broadcasts straight from USA Today and PETA.  One of the articles was on Obama vegetarianism and love for broccoli and the other was on Nicki Minaj and her rejection to wearing fur.  What I noticed about the organization was that in order to persuade an audience to take the topic of animal rights seriously they used celebrities to reach their target audience.

Link To PETA Storify

Podcast: Banning Puppy and Kitty Mills

Module 4: Short Web Video

Hi everyone this is my first video that I've ever posted on YouTube so bear with me.  I've posted a video about animal testing showing a slide show of some animals and a few videos that I have remixed together to create my own video.  Enjoy!

Animal Rights YouTube Video-Click Here

Module 4 Summative Blog Post

What I found interesting about this week’s readings were the issues surrounding copyright and YouTube online productions.  Any person has access to a YouTube account and they are not restricted or limited to the content that they post as long as it is appropriate.  This brings up this issue of having movie, TV, news, and music copyright issues.  Like Hilderbrand’s article said it inst uncommon for access to a YouTube clip becoming denied over night because of copyright issues.  However this does not seem to stop users from continuing to provide this denied content to its views.  Hilderbrand suggests that this notion is caused because users have developed a sense of entitlement over access to media (Hilderbrand, 50).  SO even if a song, movie clip, TV show or news broadcast is taken off YouTube there will be a hundred people in line to upload that same clip to get a substantial amount of “hit” on there page, providing access to the world. 

I can relate to having suffered problems dealing with YouTube copyright restrictions.  I myself do not upload videos that get taken down, however I have had numerous occasions where I can access a song one day and the next day it is gone due to copyright restrictions.  I even find it odd that you can find entire movies uploaded to YouTube.  However in terms of songs copyright restrictions are an iffy subject seeing as many people who upload their videos or sometimes even songs are remixing.  Remixing take something that is already existing and change it and turn it into something new.  So for artists that are sampling their music via YouTube may have a difficult time “making it” because they are unfortunately breaking copyright laws.    

Reference

Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film Quarterly. Vol. 61, No. 1,  48-57.

Module 4 Initial Blog Post: Social media and Online Production

The rise of technology brings a new media age where people are able to consume as well as produce media through various media outlets.  People are able to access information, entertainment, political and cultural media through various outlets known as social media.  Social media applications are conveniently accessible through our smart phones, computers, and tablets and with this in mind we have now moved from an era of media to social media (Menovich, 1).  I found this statement to be interesting, seeing as the change that took place over the course of a couple year was almost unnoticeable.  Many people used to obtain their information and media content from media sources like the radio, news broadcasting channels, and the newspapers.  However we are now seeing a large divide between old media and new media, mostly being social media and social networking.  The most interesting shift taking place between these two types of media are the producers.  With online social media platforms available to the public we are now seeing more “non-professional” media producers oppose to “professional” paid media producers (Menovich, 1).  However even though there are numerous media platforms online available to the public at no cost, very few people take part in online media production.  In Menovich’s article he claims that in the year 2007 only 0.5-1.5% of online users were producing online content (Menovich, 2).  I found this number to be extremely low even for the time.  However I now have to take into consideration that we are in the year 2013 and that online media production is probably much higher seeing as the popularity of many social media sites have sky rocked, and so many people feel the need to publish every single thing they do to the internet. 

A website that I found to be extremely focused on online media production is YouTube.  YouTube is a social media website that allows people to publish their own or others content and upload it to their page where they can share their videos with the world.  What I found interesting in the Hilderbrand article was that he believes YouTube’s success to be because of social memory.  YouTube is a social media website that allows us to access our social memories that we can relate to and remember otherwise forgotten memories.  These memories  can be from a Super bowl halftime, news broadcast, a funny clip of a kitten dancing, or even from our favorite TV show that you are able to re-watch over and over again online (Hilderbrand, 50).  Also what was interesting in his article was that he mentioned that people spend more time watching a video on YouTube oppose to watching the actual event where it took place.  I could not help myself but to think of every viral video that is available on the internet.  If the MTV music award are on and something dramatic happens, suddenly everyone wants to watch the clip and the first place you go to find the clip is YouTube.

Social media websites like YouTube however have a difficult time publishing content due to copyright laws.  In order for social media websites to face copyright laws they need to start having corporations like Disney, and Time Warner or CNN to join YouTube and set up accounts where they put the clips that people want to see from their movies, TV shows or news broadcasts.  This would get rid of copyright infringement laws because they own the content.  I believe this is what many artists have done by creating their own page and uploading their latest videos for fans to sample music as well as create playlists.  

Even though the tools to create online media content are right very accessible I do not find myself taking the time to produce online content, however I am more of a consumer.  I follow numerous blogs on various topics, I watch viral videos on YouTube along with my favorite YouTube star Jenna Marbles and I appreciate their online media production however that is not something that I would be interested in doing.

References

 Manovich, l. (2008) The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural Production?Critical Inquiry. Vol. 35, No. 2 (Winter 2009), pp. 319-331.

Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film Quarterly. Vol. 61, No. 1,  48-57.

Summative Blog Post:Social Media and Citizen Journalism

Thank you for responding back and adding your personal insight and opinions on the subject of social media transforming citizen journalism.  I thought that citizen journalism through social media was an interesting topic because it is something that goes unnoticed in everyday life for many people.  We are so accustomed to participating in social media that we don’t even realize that we are contributing to “citizen journalism” by posting a simple tweet, blog or Facebook status.  Stephanie mentioned that many people do not have time to sit down and watch the sic o’clock news and social media allows a more realistic approach to being informed about current events. This is very true, I believe that social media offers more information than the news does about events that are happening and we have much easier access at a time that is convenient for us through cell phones or on a computer.  I also agree with the fact that social media websites are a more interesting and more informative way of engaging with current event than traditional forms of media.  Like Stephanie said, there is no filter on what is said on social media pages so people are able to provide information that news sources may not be able to release to the public.  This allows current events to be discussed with a wide range of opinions, insights, and views rather than having a right winged news station presenting information to the public, and the viewer not having another other information to be presented to them.

 Also As09em brought up a good point that not only does social media create social activism, but it also increases the amount of political activism.  I believe that with social media being present in our lives it allows information to be so easily obtained especially in terms of politics.  Some people that could not be bothered with being informed about politics, sometimes have no choice but to be informed because people they follow will tweet, blog, or post facebook status’ about political issues and events.  I definitely believe that social media in terms of politics is allowing the youth to become more involved.  For example the gay rights movement that is happening in the United States.  Social media has been a huge contributor to spreading awareness and news about the political issue.  Many people including celebrities have spread the word by posting a picture with the equal symbol  on instagram, facebook and twitter and twitter had numerous hastags like #equalrights trending.  Ultimately I believe that social media is a great tool for social as well as political activism because it gets the world out to the most amount of people not only within one nation but also worldwide.

Initial Blog Post: Citizen Journalism

The internet has gained much popularity in the last decade among its users for is reliability for providing fast information, entertainment, and for various communication purposes (Bruns, 1).  With the rise of the internet people were now able to access whatever information they desired at the click of a button.  With more and more people beginning to use the internet, users formed online communities where they would share information, media sources, videos, pictures and create conversations and these web pages are known as social media.  What is interesting about social media web sites is that they have become a platform for “citizen journalism”.  I thought that the concept of citizen journalism was interesting and I’ve never thought of people who are using social media outlets as “journalists”.  Bruns claims in his article that a “citizen journalist” is any person who uses a social media platform to take part in journalist activities, either on a Blog, Twitter or Facebook page and is not a paid professional (Bruns, 4). 

I believe that social media web pages are only increasing the amount that people take part in social activism.  We are now able to share, publish and access information at a faster pace than ever before.  Unlike old media sources like newspapers, and news stations airing on television, social media allows its users to be constantly updated in real time.  People now do not have to wait for the 6 o’clock news, or wait for the next day for the newspaper company to write an article about the event, we are now able to open our social media applications and be informed instantaneously.  Also unlike traditional forms of media, social media leads us to other sources and media outlets that offer various insights and information about the subject through links, hashtags, and even blogs (Friedman, 56).  What is positive about social activism through social media is that the media often times does not provide the public with a sufficient amount of information; people are constantly craving to know more.  What social media does is gives the public that information. 

I think the perfect demonstration of social activism through social media was witnessed when the Kony 2012 campaign came out in the spring of last year.  All forms of social media were used in order to spread the word about the campaign and it started with a Youtube Video that ended up trending on twitter, where everyone was hashtagging #Kong2012 in their status’, and later Facebook groups were formed and many Blogs were written.  This showed how powerful social is today because everywhere you went you were hearing about Kony2012, and they only way you knew about it was through social media.

References

Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.

Friedman, S. M. (2011). Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima: An analysis of traditional and new media coverage of nuclear accidents and radiation. Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, 67(5), 55-65.

Summative Blog Post: Music Piracy

Thank you for your comments and opinions on the topic of music piracy.  I have to say that looking at both sides of the issue is extremely important in order to figure out how to approach the issue because there are two sides involved, the producer and the consumer.  Being on the consumer side allows me to understand why people do not want to purchase music.  Like Stephanie said at a dollar a song on ITunes it would become extremely expensive to purchase all your favorite songs.  Like you said for most people this is not realistic, especially considering every other thing we have to pay for in life like school, apartments, groceries, and phone bills this makes music not one of the top priorities!  We are so accustomed and naturalized to downloading music that many “pirater’s” do not even see the act as illegal because we have always downloaded to obtain music.  The younger generation, especially my friends are obsessed with having their itunes filled with all the latest songs, albums and various playlists and with technology advancing having an ipod with endless storage for these songs allows you somewhere to store all of your favorite pirated music.  If people have the ability to download endless amounts of music and a device that stores and plays that music why wouldn’t they. 

As09em and Stephanie both mentioned that buying a CD from a store is a thing of the past.  When you only want two or three songs from a 20 song album what is the point of wasting your time driving to the store and fifteen dollars of your money when you can download it for free at the click of a button.  In recent years I have come to notice how many HMV’s are closing down due to the decrease in sales.  The demand for CD’s is slowly disappearing because the music is available to its listeners on the internet.

However there is also the producers side of the story which is also important.  Like Stephanie said, relating to Dale Bradley’s (2006) article, no one really understands the seriousness or the consequences of pirating music.  If recording companies do not want internet users illegally downloading music they need to enforce the fact that serious repercussions will result if music is illegally pirated.  If people feel like they are being surveillance they will likely refrain from stealing music over the internet, because the thought that they could potentially get caught will be present. 

For me personally I have always downloaded music and until right now I haven’t really thought too much about it.  I understand that it is illegal and the morals behind it are wrong, however I could never imagine myself going out and buying a CD or purchasing a song off of Itunes.  I don’t have the money to spend on music. However the only reason stopping me from continuing to download music is the fact of how many viruses are attached to these files that I do not want on my computer. There are always going to be ways to obtain music other than buying it.  If I’m not pirating it, there are other ways to listen to your favorite songs like Youtube, Songza and even 8Tracks.  Recording companies have to accept the fact that the majority of people do not want to purchase music and they must accommodate these beliefs.

Initial Blog Post: Issues Surrounding Pirating Music

As the music industry continues to grow the recording industry is now providing listeners with numerous genres, artists, songs, and albums to choose from.  With technology continuing to advance internet users are now able to access, share and download music at the click of a button.  What is interesting is that we are able to access music illegally or legally, depending on whether we purchase the song or album from itunes or from a store like HMV, or whether we download it for free from a torrent or by other means like limewire.  However when an audience is no longer purchasing songs and albums from the record company they are now not making as much money, but the audience is still winning because they have the product and did not have to purchase it (McCourt, 337).  This is where copyright was developed to protect intellectual property and began protecting music in the year 1831 (McCourt, 337).  Copyright suggests that you cannot duplicate or make a copy of any original work without permission from the owner or a licience (McCourt, 338).  In McCourt’s article he predicted that over 16 percent of music sales would be lost to online piracy approximately $985 million dollars.  This is a large portion of money that the recording industry is losing because people are basically “stealing” their music that they are producing.

In regards to online pirating of music I am on the fence about the subject.  I can look at the issue from both sides of the spectrum, claiming that it is convenient and affordable to download music via peer-to-peer sharing and I also agree that it is wrong and is technically stealing.  Personally, I know it sounds bad but I haven’t bought a CD in years and I have never downloaded music off of Itunes.  I can’t get myself to purchase a song for a dollar off of itunes when it is available through peer-to-peer sharing for free, because I know in about a month there will be fifty new songs that I want to download and I will no longer care about the previous ones I just downloaded.  Also in regards to CD’s, I haven’t purchased one in years because I know that if I buy a CD I am going to only listen to two or three songs that are on that CD and therefore I feel as though it was a waste even purchasing it.

However I understand the perspective that comes from the music industry that technically pirating music is stealing.  In Condry’s article he asks the question of the difference between downloading music files and shoplifting that CD from a store (Condry, 344).  I agree with this statement that it is the same thing, because technically it is stealing.  You are taking something that is worth value, and is owned by someone else and not purchasing it legally.  However everyone that is illegally downloading music doesn’t think that there are ever going to be consequences so they continue doing so, unlike shop lifting where there are security, cameras, and employees watching you.  I think that online pirating of music is going to be extremely hard to eliminate among internet users since it is so convenient, free and doesn’t pose many consequences.   Like Condry says in his article in order to eliminate pirating of music from internet users it has to start by educating the younger generation.  They have to understand that potentially there could be some consequences involved.  I have also noticed that to have your Itunes list populated with legally purchased music and the album titles and pictures is slowly becoming a trend among younger generations, so this is a start.   

References

McCourt, T., P. Burkart. (2003). When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution. Media, Culture & Society. 25 (3), pg. 333-350 

Condry, Ian. (2004). Cultures of Music Piracy: An Ethnographic Comparison of the US and Japan. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 7 (3), pg. 343-363  

Wikipedia Op-Ed: Vegetarianism

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian” –Paul McCartney
 

Many people around the world choose to live their lives with the motto that animals are our friends not food.  However this is an extremely controversial topic that is up for debate between “meat lovers” and “animal lovers”.  However if you are a person who chooses to eliminate meat or any type of by products from slaughter houses it is important to be informed and educated on the vegetarian lifestyle.  There are many credible sources that are available through the internet that provide insight, opinions, studies as well as academic journals about vegetarianism.  If you are a new member of the vegetarian community or thinking of switching I do not recommend retrieving information from the first search engine that you may type in your search bar, being Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information and this can be proven by looking at the "talk" page that is provided on its website regarding the topic of vegetarianism.

Wikipedia seems to be one of the most popular websites available on the internet in order to retrieve information on various topics.  Jensen mentions in his article that in terms of Wikipedia’s daily usage that the site ranks in the top ten web pages in the world.  However I am here to convince you that Wikipedia should be taken with a grain of salt, because some of the information that is provided on their web pages can be biased as well as have a lack of credible sources to back up the information that they provide.

Ever since Wikipedia has even been an option to gain information students have been advised that it is not a credible source and to not use it as a reliable source of information.  This is due to the fact that anyone can edit the content that is on a Wikipedia page (Royal 139).  We live in such a collaborative creative economy that it is often dangerous the amount of information that is available to us being it is such a mass amount of information (Van Dijck, 860).   In terms of finding credible and reliable information about vegetarianism it is important to find accurate information because potentially you could be looking up information that deals with your health and well being.  There will be so many different opinions, perspective, and even health myths presented on a Wikipedia page regarding the topic of vegetarianism that a aspiring or current vegetarian has to be careful of the information that they are ingesting.

Under the vegetarian page section it is quite evident that what is provided on the Wikipedia page about the topic of vegetarianism is not accurate information and cannot be taken literally.  Facts are stated on the page without any referencing information for where the information came from.  Jensen says that to come across a “good article” on Wikipedia is rare because often times they do not have verified and accurate information with a neutral point of view (Jensen 1170).  While I was reading through the talk page I noticed quite a few people pointing out the fact that information was not sourced, therefore people who are trying to gain knowledge about vegetarianism have no idea whether the information is true or not.  For example it stated the fact that “vegetarianism cause’s depression” however there was no link to source this information or where the fact even came from.  The editor who pointed out this flaw also posted academic sources that proved that vegetarianism does not cause depression within humans. This is a reason why Wikipedia’s information should not be taken literally.  Vegetarians out there do not let Wikipedia wrongly inform you and change your opinions about being a vegetarian!

Another reason why you vegetarians out there should not use Wikipedia for information about not eating meat is because the Wikipedia talk page provides information that is irrelevant and off topic.  After reading some of the posts listed on the talk page I noticed that there were quite a few people who felt that a lot of the information that was posted on the vegetarian page was irrelevant.  For example on the vegetarian page “animal-to-human-disease-transmission” is mentioned.  However this information is not related to being a vegetarian or wanting to become a vegetarian.  It almost seems as if the person who included this into Wikipedia page wants to convince and persuade people that this is the reason why they should stay away from meat, and not information about the practice itself.

The last reason as to why Wikipedia should not be used as a reliable source of information is because it provides information that is incorrect.  Being a vegetarian can often be hard at times in order to properly receive the right nutrition’s and vitamins for your body.  When looking for information about where your body can receive these nutrients you don’t want to be lead on by false accusations.  In the vegetarian page it is mentioned that peanut butter provides a person with “complete protein” which means that you receive all eight types of amino acids.  However the editor mentions that peanut butter cannot be a source of complete protein.  This intrigued me because that is information that I would over look being a vegetarian because it sounds believable.  So Wikipedia can lead vegetarians to believe the peanut butter is a protein supplement however it is not.  So in order to verify this information I continued reading and looked at a link provided by the editor that proved otherwise to peanut butter being a “complete protein”.   The editor provided the information that peanut butter was not considered a “complete” protein because it did not provide the amino acid  L-methionine. 

By reading over Wikipedias talk page it can be proven that it is not a valuable source for gaining reliable and accurate information about being a vegetarian.  To gain the basic facts about being a vegetarian I believe that Wikipedia is a great place to start your research.  However for scientific facts about the nutrients and vitamins that your body must receive and how different ways to supplement protein I think that it is important to research academic sources provided by doctors and health care professionals!

Work Cited

Jensen, R. (2012). Military History on the Electronic Frontier: Wikipedia Fights the War of 1812. Journal of Military History. 76, 1. pp 1165-1182

 Royal, C. & Kapila, D. (2009). What's on Wikipedia, and What's Not . . . ?: Assessing Completeness of Information. Social Science Computer Review. 27, 1. pp 138-148.

Van Dijk, J. & Nieborg, D. (2009). Wikinomics and its discontents: a critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos. New Media & Society. 11, 5. pp 855-874.

Check out some other students Blogs about Wikipedia!

The Plastic Bag

Deforestation

Global Warming

Summative Blog Post: Module 3

Wikipedia is a search engine that allows people at any time and any place access information at their own convenience.  However the negative associations that Wikipedia has associated with it, makes people second guess using Wikipedia as a reliable source for information.  I agree that Educators have been telling students not to use Wikipedia and I can remember this ever since I was younger when Wikipedia first developed.  Jensen forms his argument around the fact that Wikipedia is a unreliable source for information because of the lack of authority from its writers.  I think that Wikipedia would be able to become a credible source for information if it did not allow its users to be able to edit content on its pages and only allow people with credibility to edit the information.  This would mean that Wikipedia would have to hire credible writers with background knowledge on the topics provided on Wikipedia to complete the pages.  However the problem associated with this is that Wikipedia is a nonprofit organization, so by having anonymous people contributing to the development of its pages it allows it to remain a “free encyclopedia”.  So for free information about various topics at the touch of your fingertips Wikipedia is a very helpful source of information. 

I agree that Wikipedia is a great search engine for fast information.  Even though the information may not be reliable it provides you with the basic information to be aware and informed about a topic.  I also agree that it is a perfect starting point for research.  When I have to begin an assignment I always look at the links that are provided on the Wikipedia page of my topic and that will give me a starting point as well as additional sources of information that I could possibly use. 

With all of the negative connotations associated with Wikipedia, and after all of the people telling us that it is not a reliable source of information I find it hard to believe that it is still one of the most visited websites on the internet.  Clearly Wikipedia is providing some source of information that is appealing to the public because as Royal mentions in the article there are over 38 million people that visit the website each month (Royal, 139).  Clearly this demonstrates that Wikipedia is doing something correctly.  I remember when Wikipedia protested and went on strike, and many people did not even know where to find information.  I believe that we are so reliant on Wikipedia for information, possibly because we are lazy and do not want to search for it in any other area of the internet that may take longer.  Overall I believe that Wikipedia is a good search engine and provides us with basic information, however we have to take the information with a grain of salt and remember that it could be incorrect.    

Module 3: Wikipedia

Today in society with the ability to access the internet people are able to gain information and knowledge with the press of a button (Royal, 138).  There are many search engines available through the internet to gain information like Google, Youtube, Forums, and even a very popular site among many people looking for fast information, Wikipedia.  The internet as Brown suggests in his article is a important medium that allows people the ability to access information more than ever before (Brown, 5).  Whenever a person requires basic information about any topic, event, issue they are able to type it in Wikipedia’s search engine in order to read up on the basic facts.  For example if a person wants to look up a certain breed of dog and all the information associated with that dog they would type it in Wikipedia’s search bar and receive the important information related, such as its average weight, life span, history and Wikipedia even provides pictures.  This information seems reliable and is considered a “free encyclopedia” so many people use Wikipedia as their first source on the internet for information (Royal, 138).  However the problem surrounding this free encyclopedia that is so easily accessible to any internet user is that the information potentially could be unreliable.  Wikipedia allows anyone, whether they are a credible source or not, to create and edit content available on their search engines (Royal, 139).  However I do believe that many people using Wikipedia are aware that the information is potentially unreliable however they still will continue using this search engine because it is fast, easy, and could potentially have information that is true.  This can be proven through Richard Jensen’s article as he claims that Wikipedia in terms of daily usage, ranks in one of the top ten sites used by internet users, this being right below Facebook which has millions of users (Jensen, 1165-1166). 

My confidence in Wikipedia before reading these articles is relatively the same then after reading them.  I admit that I am a frequent user of Wikipedia for fast information on various subjects.  Whenever I have a concern, question, or want to know facts about a subject the first place I search for information is on Wikipedia.  I am aware that some of the information could potentially be false or edited by anonymous users however I am not using Wikipedia for assignments where detail needs to be paid.  I and probably many other users that are using the site daily are looking up the basics, for example if you want to know basic facts about chicken pocks when your little sister has them.  Wikipedia will tell you the basic information that you need to know like how to treat them, what they look like, and the history behind it.  For more detailed information I would not go to Wikipedia I would instead look up an academic journal or another credible source.  What was interesting to learn however is that Wikipedia does get taken advantage by many users that are accessing this website not for information however for fun.  Jensen claims Wikipedia suffers thousands of changes to articles an hour from its younger users who are “editing” in ridiculous comments and changing actual information (Jensen 1168).  However what was also interesting and nice to know is that editors of Wikipedia recognize these changes and edit them back to the correct information.  Through knowing this I think it is important for Wikipedia users to be aware that potentially the information could be unreliable and false, however it is one of the leading sites in the world and because people are so reliant on it they will continue to utilize the information that is posted.

References

Brown, J. S. & P. Duguid. (1996). The Social Life of Documents. First Monday. 1, 1.

Jensen, R.  (2012).  Military History on the Electronic Frontier: Wikipedia Fights the War of 1812.  Journal of Miliary History.  76, 1.  Pp 1165-1182

Royal, C. & Kapila, D. (2009). What's on Wikipedia, and What's Not . . . ?: Assessing Completeness of Information. Social Science Computer Review. 27, 1. pp 138-148.

Summative Blog Post

Thanks for the replies I am just getting used to blogging!  I just wanted say that I thought that very important points were brought up in the discussions.  I also think that school both elementary and high school should be teaching younger children as well as teen the implications of social media websites.  We use social media on a daily basis and now children are not restricted to what they can access because every seventh grader has a smart phone with access to all social media pages like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.  I think that children are very naive and do not know everything about social media and therefore need to be taught what information they should share and what they should keep private, that it is important to block their profiles so that people cannot have access to the information and pictures that they do share, and that not everyone you are “followers” on your social media page is who they claim to be.  As a communication student I am aware or at least a lot more conscious the information that I share on my social media pages.  However I do not think that younger generations as well as parents understand the implications of posting information on social media pages.

Also the fact that people with shy personalities now have the ability to communicate without feeling as insecure was also an important point.  This can allow people who have trouble communicating to get their “voice” to whoever they want it to reach without having to feel embarrassed or awkward.  However I think people that have trouble communicating face-to-face are not going to gain any skills by continuing to hide behind a computer screen or cell phone to communicate with others.  It is almost like social media is enabling people that have shy personalities to gain any confidence because they would rather communicate through a written message rather than face-to-face. 

However on a brighter note I also believe that social media allows us to now communicate on a more global level.  We are now able to send and receive information at a extremely fast pace.  I think that everyone that has any type of social media account embraces this new form of media, especially our generation.  We are constantly checking our smart phones, email, and computer to see what updates we have received in the last two minutes.  I do believe that social media is a step forward however I also believe it to be a step back.  I consider it to be a step back because we are so addicted and reliant on our social media pages.  People also have become extremely vain thinking that others actually care what you ate for breakfast.  However this is a negative perspective on social media and there are many positives for many people.

Public and Private Personae and Online Privacy: Module Two

Online social media websites have become a growing phenomenon from all different kinds of users around the world.  The most prominent social media sites that are used today are social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and even LinkedIn.  In today’s society we are so consumed with being constantly connected with one another that we have developed checking, updating, and sharing information into our daily practices (Boyd & Ellison, 210).  These social media webpage’s fulfill our constant need to be updated and "connected to wherever we want to be" by allowing us to constantly share information, communicate with each other, blog, share photos, videos, opinions, thoughts and create an online persona that (Turkle, 1).  However the problems associated with constantly being connected to what we want and when we want is that when we are together each person is in the room in their own bubble plugged into their own device (Turkle, 1).  We no longer have relationships with each other face-to-face, we now share a virtual world relationship with people through text, email, photo sharing, and commenting through online social media.

I feel as though people are so self-indulged and vain to believe that people actually care what you are doing on a day to day basis that we now have to document and share every single thing that we are doing.  We share parts of our lives that friends and even strangers do not need to be aware of.  The problems associated with sharing so much information is that young generations do not understand the risks that are associated with the public nature of sharing things on the internet (Boyd & Ellison, 222).  When a teen posts a picture of them at wonderland on any social media site for example, now everyone who can view your profile now is aware of where you are.  This is potentially dangerous for predators that are one the internet and even for personal privacy.

When I share information online on any type of social media I do not share any type of information that can potentially put me at risk.  This includes information like my phone number, address or any personal information like my banking or sin number. However on online social media pages after thinking about it I do share a lot of information that should not be shared like my date of birth, gender, places I have worked my school and even places I have been or am currently at.  When I present information about myself I try and keep it as “classy” as possible because I am aware that future employers as well as family members can have access to this information.  Having the notion that my “life” that is presented on social media forms a sense of constant surveillance, not only by my friends but also by future employers, research analyst,  This online profile in my case Face book allows me to develop the self that I want to be seen as, allowing me to edit and even delete information I do not want to be available to the public (Turkle, 2).  However on other social media sites such as twitter, I have all my tweets blocked and only allow my “friends” not “followers” to read my tweets and I have the ability to post whatever I please. However even though I understand that only my “friends” or the people I have accepted on my twitter page can read my tweets I find myself still feeling as though I am under constant surveillance.  Many people use twitter as a way to share what they are doing, how they are feeling and it also has the option to post pictures and retweet other peoples tweets.  This is a way in which as Albrechtslund says is a “snoops dream”.  If you follow a person on twitter that you went to high school with but have no other connection to, you are now being updated with their information on a daily basis.  Or if you want to find out what your ex best friend has been doing, that information is also available to you.

References

Albrechtslund, A.  (2008)  “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance.”  First Monday.  13,3.

Boyd, Danah M., and Nicole B. Ellison. "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.1 (2008): 210-30.

Turkle, Sherry.  The Flight From Conversation.  New York Times Sunday Review.  April 21, 2012. 

First Blog

The topic of animal rights is an extremely important topic regarding the fair and ethical treatment of all animals.  This issue has been argued by many people on both sides.  Many people agree that animals have rights and other disagree and believe that animals do not have rights.  However the point of the matter is that whether or not animals have rights or not it is unethical to allow any type of living, breathing species to undergo pain and suffering in their lifetime.

Many animals around the world and even in our own country suffer and even face death each day by the hands of a human.  The reason that we make these innocent animals suffer and often times die is for food on factory farms, for clothing, in laboratories, and even in the entertainment industry at circuses and in zoos.  However there are many organizations around the world that support animal rights and try and preserve and cherish every type of animal’s life.  These organizations work each day to provide public education, events and even protests for the protection of all animals. What I will be looking at throughout this course is the fair and ethical treatment of animals.  I will look for ways to find products that avoid animal testing, ways to be vegan and other ways of preserving animal rights.

My name is Amanda Avila and I am in my third year of Media and Communication studies at Brock University.  I find animal rights to be an extremely interesting topic that has a lot of controversy associated with it.  I am an animal lover and I do believe that all animals have rights and the right to life, just as humans do.  I am very against animal testing and try and surround myself with products that do not test on animals.  I think that being informed of how humans inflict suffering, pain, and death on animals is very important to people of all ages in order to create change for a just society. 

“Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is:  "Because the animals are like us."  Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is:  "Because the animals are not like us."  Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.”  Said by Charles R. Magel

Twitter Links
#BoycottTheCircus
#vegan
#bananimaltesting
#animalrights
#crueltyfree

Webpages Supporting Animal Rights
PETA
WSPA
American Humane
Ontario SPCA
Stop Animal Abuse

Blogs That Support Animal Rights
NAIA official blog
Animal Rights Collective
Animal Ethics
Animal Rights
Peta Blog