Blog 13

They way I see it, media is a result of economics and business decisions. Companies will produce media and advertisements if it fits this example. A modern day model of this phenomena is represented by Chris Anderson's the "The Long Tail." In "The Long Tail," Anderson describes the current scenario of the internet affecting the way media operates. One of the key components that differs from our modern day media is that the overhead costs for some digital goods have substantially decreased. This has lead to more availability of digital goods, ex. numerous YouTube videos when compared to the amount of TV shows available to us.

So back to the original question, who owns the media? Well, in terms of capital.... then corporations own the media. However the content of the media has to be up to par for consumers to be interested in watching it. Given this phenomena, then individuals own the media.

It really comes down to what you believe. In my opinion, Corporations are controlling the media through subtle directions. For example, there are numerous copyright violations on Youtube if you use a song that someone else made. If the media was truly owned by the people, then this would not happen.

Blog 13 Who owns the media

Technology and media evolves, that is really the main function of all technology to advance upon itself and in doing so create a more covenant tool for us. Reingold does have a point in that most people will not utilize their technology, really how many people do you know that just use pc's for web surfing and term papers, occasionally a low end game. As some one who uses computers for art and contributes directly technological evolution though my participation in the Linux community I have to agree and disagree with Reingold. I see his point but I can't quite see it applying to me for see. For me technology hasn't really evolved I have just found more exciting ways to implement it

Blog 13: Who Owns the Media

The way I see it, media is a in a constant state of flux. It never seems to stop evolving as it assimilates new technologies and social groups to get points across. Although the news is shifting from being privatized to a more public and apolitical stance, the news itself has not changed in the sense that its foundation is entertainment to its audience to drag in attention. It is supported by advertisements more now than ever and I do not see that changing anytime soon. In my personal experiences, the evolution of my personal technology has grown out of control. My first computer was a fun toy that my dad actually used for work, costing no more than $250. Ten years later I have been through more than a handful of computers, each more expensive than the last. In addition to the desk top desktop assimilation, my pockets have exploded (not from spare cash) but debt built in the form of microprocessor-rich devices like cell phones, ipods, cameras, and pagers… just kidding, no pagers. I have always considered myself ahead of the tech learning curve and also an early adopter of new tech. I; however, am unsure of my future as a geek, it seems that anyone is capable of almost the same final product as I am with technologies that focus on simplifying what were once difficult and impossible tasks for the average Joe. I am in fact, about to jump onto a ship that I am unsure of its destination. On Friday, I will be receiving a HTC Evo 4G handset that is the first 4G communication device to be sold in USA (via Sprint + Clearwire networks). What will this semi-promised boost in internet speed give me? Quite possibly a short head start as opposed to my peers who will probably take a year or two until they feel the need to adopt this tech. Technology, why am I addicted to you, and why do you cheat on me with everyone else?

Who owns the Media?

Reingold's relationship with media and technology seems to contrast with my own, as Reingold is old enough to see the drastic changes within technology and is able to compare his past experiences with his current. Being younger, I think my relationship with technology hasn't evolved as much; when I started using a cellphone, text messaging was one of the basic features. I'd never used a phone that couldn't text. It's only now that I'm in college and exposed to so many different layers of technology that I'd never fully utilized that I'm beginning to understand Reingold's experience. I think access to technology has a lot to do with how one is able to relate to media and adapt to new conventions within society where technology is concerned.
I used to live in the south, in a rural area, and I remember not being able to have high speed internet at home, though I was able to use it in town and at school. Knowing that technology was there, but not being able to fully utilize it, was my first experience with the changing technological landscape. Years later, I'm beginning to see it with cell phones. New phones are being made with cameras towards the user, a precursor to video calls, and I still have my old brick of a cell phone. I'm imagining when I'll be persuaded into spending the money I really don't have for a phone I really don't need because of the advances made in technology influencing culture.

Who owns the media

Changes in the media have definitely affected my life. I was not used to using social networking sites to meet people when everybody else had a facebook. Three years ago when I first came to college I did not have a facebook. Everybody else had already met their roomates through facebook and had made some friends that were in their dorms through facebook. I on the other hand had not. I was not part of any networks and I didn't know anybody through facebook. I felt somewhat disconnected because I didn't know things about people I had never met before meeting them, like alot of the other freshman did.
I don't have a facebook now either and it definitely affects me. My friends always tell me to get one, like it will somehow affect them in some way. It seems like somebody could throw a party and not tell anybody about it in real life, but people will still come because it is on facebook. It makes me feel slightly disconnected but not enough to have a facebook. I think it makes other people more uncomfortable that I don't exsist in internet and they cannot identify me because of it. They can't read my profile or look at my pictures and therefore they cannot judge me in the way that they can judge people with a facebook, and this makes them uncomfortable or uneasy.

Blog 13 - Who Owns Media

I think that even though Reingold states that he only means to inform us about the future path we are taking, I think he sides more on the negative attachment the of new media definition. From my available understanding of my relationship to the media is that I am not quite up to par to the mainstream users of the media channels. However, I still portray the symptoms of lost connections when I am not always connected to the internet or have my mobile phone with me 24/7.

Last summer I went on a 3-day weekend camping trip in Bodega Bay. When my friends and I arrived at the site, I realized I forgot the most important thing, my cellphone! MY first reaction is panic and lost of connection to everyone! The funniest thing is that I didn't realize the people I was with at the moment because I wished I had my cellphone. This creation of an illusion of a lost connection has been created in our culture through the commodity of mobile phone and mobile internet. Afterwards, I forced myself to calm down, and join everyone at the camp. The trip came and gone faster than I wish it had. My friends and I told ghost stories during the night, built sand castles, buried each other in sand, swam, and really just BONDED! I had so much fun outside of what contains that mobile communication device that I have forgotten about instantly wanting to check my phone or if anyone texted me or updating my twitter about what I am doing. I simply had fun with those around me physically. This experience really made clear to me that one of my relationship to the media has some form of passiveness as well as remembering that media like mobile devices with internet connection, is not necessarily "needed" to connect with others. I have only forgotten the the old ways of social networking as these changes are occuring in media.

Another example of my relationship to the media concerns the fact that even with the availability for participatory interactions in web 2.0, I feel that my personality still prevails against intense participation in facebook updates, twitter, and youtube uploads about self. For example, I sometimes feel like I'm left out of my generation's fad in terms of what's in and what's not in terms of new interaction social network ideas like twitter and tumbler. I remember when facebook was in it's peak years and I made an account. Then I would try to copy what others had on their facebook page that I thought would make me look more interesting, extravert, etc. So I kept updating my status trying to be different, post images that were different, and portrayed myself as "unique" and a deep person. After awhile, I realized that keeping up with these things to show people who I am was ironically doing the opposite. I didn't care for what people thought of me. I thought that this was the thing to do, but I am a very lazy person in terms of trying to express myself to people online that I don't even know very well. I ask myself why I would bother trying to show these people who I am if I will never really interact with them in person even if we did go to the same high school before. Thus, my personality lacks interest in these social networking even when there's a lot of
participatory channels. Ultimately, with the changes in media, my relationship with the media will never be quite up to par to the mainstream users.

Blog 13

Growing up and looking back at how our society shaped by the transformation of new technology changes our dependency on how to communicate. I remember when I was young, I hardly spent time on the phone or the computer. I remember on the last day of my last year in middle school was when I got my first cell phone. Nothing really changed after that, but my use of the internet began to change. At first, all I used the computer for was IMing, gaming, and communicating through a website called, Xanga. A couple years after that, I realized that there was so many things I could do as friends introduced me to Myspace, Facebook, friendster, Skype and etc. that it got to be a whole new experience on how to communicate to the point you didn't have to meet your friends anymore. Why meet up with them when you can meet up with anyone else on the internet? But then, some things got a little creepy. I realized that not only did I attract my old buddies, but creepers as well. The internet does become a personal catalog for others to see and I began to see more reports on children missing because they were meeting other people on the internet.

Another experience I had with the new technology is the use of texting. At first, I HATED it because why should you have to work out your fingers when all you can do is call them? Make some use of your fingers by dialing the numbers... but I guess people like gaining some finger muscles. Why don't ya flex it out sometime to see how much you text. I notice that people do not pay attention anymore. And I'm talking paying attention in general. What I hate the most is when people are texting during a lecture or when you are in the middle of talking, they always look on their phone hoping that someone texts them. Oh, and my personal favorite, people who text when you are talking on the phone with them. Does anyone care what anyone says anymore? Technology somehow creates a new world for us making things easier in our lives, yet somehow destroys us leaving us defenseless to do anything on our own anymore.

Blog 13- Smartmobs

I think that I have definitely experienced the changes in media, especially the changes in internet accessibility and dependence. Today students rely heavily on the internet, at first it was used to correspond with one another via e-mail or to play games, however, now students use the internet to do research and to network. This change has been a drastic one only because now I could do research on my phone if I really wanted to. Having internet on your phone is slowly going from a luxury to a necessity. I feel like the odd one out at times because I do not have a mobile device that can connect me to the internet, unless I carry my laptop around with me. Although I am quite tech savvy and can work a smartphone as well as the next nerd, I am still left out of the loop because I don’t have a smart phone with internet access. This is similar to the story in the article where the older members of a group were excluded from looking at a text because the younger person did not feel the older person would understand the media or the conversation.

Another experience that I have had with the change in media is definitely texting. Initially it was something new and interesting that I could do with my phone, but now it has become so much more than that. There are rules and texting etiquette, there are things that you could read into or things you shouldn’t read into. All of this is through a little message that is typically less than 200 characters long. Texting has become my go to method of communication rather than just calling the person. I feel that by texting I am not bothering the person, and they have the option to read the text later and respond when they can. However, they can do that with a phone call too. Not going to lie I have fallen into the texting thing, and I constantly keep in touch with friends this way. I know it is not personal, which is something that the article talks about. I am guilty of being one of those people that walk around almost aimlessly with my vision focused squarely on my phone and what I am typing. I have come to anticipate texts and read too far into a very late reply to my initial text. I feel that these are the two main things that I have experienced in the change of media and technology.

Viral Video Project

We posted the video on two YouTube accounts, and one account on Break.com; because of the format of the video, we were unable to post it to Dailymotion.com. We agreed to track the progress of the video on our separate YouTube accounts, and I monitored the video on my Break.com account.

Using Facebook and word-of-mouth, we spread the word to everyone we knew, asking them to watch our video on YouTube and leave comments about their impression. We posted the video on Break.com as a control test, and told no one that our video was on this site. The success for the Break.com control test was poor, with only ten views and no comments. The success of the video on my YouTube account was far superior; the end result was 125 views, and seven comments. The first six days of tracking the video on my YouTube account were the biggest bursts in views, with 63 views after the first day, followed by 88 views by the end of the third day, and 105 by the end of the sixth. The last six days crept along slowly, with no big jumps in between.

Of the seven comments left on my YouTube account and my Facebook, three of them stood out as having some participation with the project's critique of media. The YouTube user Renegadevibe made constructive suggestion about our video and sound editing, as well as asking other viewers to check out his own videos. A commenter from Facebook, Sampson Li, thought that the video had an “old documentary feel”. And another Facebook friend, Yentl Ip, agreed with our interpretation that WoW was definitely “way too much” for beginners entering the gaming community. The most detailed comment came from the YouTube user, Canterios, who said, “This was awesome. It was like Minority Report meets The Matrix going horribly wrong, but in a good way. But it's scarily truthful with how kids are now. Hell, I saw a 10 year old with a cell phone and an iPod today; she was texting on the phone and listening to her ipod, ignoring everything her mom was trying to say to her.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB_tyBcG7Dc

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2010/5/20/tech-addiction-1841180