Unless one has been living under a rock, they have heard of the swine flu. Actually, most are afraid. This post comes right after a guy that one of my family members works with was fired because he had to come into the school 2 a.m. to disinfect a room top to bottom and the next day was tired, when asked why he was sluggish, the man replied that he had been up all night disinfected a room because a kid who had symptoms of the flu (not swine) had a class in there. The whole second floor of the building cleared out. Ironically, it was the medical classes. The man was then fired. He was fired over a witch hunt that has been building.
John Stewart, the political pundit, had a segment on his comedy central show The Daily Show, called “Last 100 Days,” in case you’re not following, it is a play on the media circus covering the swine flu. Stewart provides comedy in the face of news networks that have sensationalized their headlines and stories. In the U.S. there have only been 40 confirmed cases and the only one that has died was a 23-month-old Mexican baby. The regular strain of flu can have the same impact on a baby’s health. But the media has taken it and ran with it.
Let’s look at some headlines from the news, shall we? “Survivors recall 1918 flu pandemic,” “More than 70 Mexicans Quarantined in China,” and—my favorite; “Swine flu hysteria spanning global outdoors realm; is any place safe?”
Schools have closed as well and President Barack Obama has declared that it is a good idea to close them but only if conditions worsen. Fox news DC has written “President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that school closings may be necessary in an escalating global health emergency that claimed the first death in the United States and swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations.” The use of wording has made it seem much worse than it has. In fact, a broadcast showed St. Francis prep school faculty with masks and said that the school won’t be able to contain the strain (what is this the movie Outbreak?) John Stewart simply laughs and says jokingly that it will go to other prep schools as well. As a matter of fact, the students have all recovered.
In the state of panic, one should watch the Daily Show rather than the real news networks that are showing what appears to be false information as in the outline of Canada in red. Which had only six cases but then again, it’s probably natural to cover that big nation in red—right Fox?
One thing that shouldn’t be over looked though is that the Daily Show isn’t a news program. They do make light of it because it is almost comical that this has been labeled as a pandemic. But he does make light of the deaths in Mexico. Nothing is funny about death, especially, a country that doesn’t have a good a system of health care, according to the 2008 Mexico profile from the Library of Congress. That is where objectiveness goes out the window. That was never mentioned. However, Rachel Smolkin, from American Journalism Review writes “Has our slavish devotion to journalism fundamentals--particularly our obsession with "objectivity"--so restricted news organizations that a comedian can tell the public what's going on more effectively than a reporter?” This statement in the face of the facts of Mexico and Stewarts joking is rendered useless. The objectivity of a reporter (a good reporter) would have said that instead of making a joke. News is news, no matter how you put it.
But as much as we scoff at these false reports, we are just as responsible. In chapter 37 of Communication in History, Mitchell Stephens writes “it is remarkable that television journalists have not adopted more sensationalistic techniques to cater to this largest of mass audiences.” We do gravitate towards sensationalistic headlines and stories that sound worse than they really are. If we didn’t have the media background we had from MCS 222 and the Daily Show, would we be following this as closely as the uneducated are?
It does seem that the media is silently (or maybe it’s the five second attention span) reeling after putting their foot in their mouth. Now the media is calling it the H1N1 and to in the process of finding overreacting headlines, I noticed that a lot of them mysteriously have disappeared or were hidden.
This isn’t to say that this is serious but this witch hunt/hypochondriac behavior isn’t new (remember anthrax?); the media has always taken a bad situation and made it worse, but Anderson Cooper and Fox news doesn’t want you to freak out, even though their first reports were “Breaking news a fast moving new strain of the flu, and at this hour the death toll is rising.”
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Please hand me that extension for my life
The other day I wrote an article for the Retriever about Quadmania food, which wasn’t all that great to begin with. Instead of writing just a plain food review, I decided to do the history of carnival food. So I hopped to my lap top and looked up cotton candy. My search returned 24,400 million results. It was so easy to just type in cotton candy and get the history of it in the first click of my mouse. I bet so many others are feeling the same way. Our society is so quick and we need everything right now. Since newspapers come out daily or weekly, one doesn’t always have time to contact a cotton candy expert and find out exactly where it came from.
Marshall McLuhan coined the term “the medium is the message,” he didn’t mean that what is on the medium i.e. the computer’s search result, is the message. Instead, the message is that our society has sped up and we need this piece of technology to get instant information. It is an extension of us as a culture. One could almost use McLuhan’s quote synonymously with technological determinism. They both view technology as a creation from the need of society. But unlike technological determinism, McLuhan wrote in his book “Understanding Media,” that these mediums require different levels of participation as well. He called the levels hot and cold media. Hot requires one sense and cold requires the receiver to use multiple senses to make sense of what they are taking in.
Take newspapers for example, they have gotten more competitive and want to be the one who has that shark bite victim (just humor me here) on the front page. They are not going to pull out a book of maps, most of the time, they are going to Map Quest the scene and look it up to see if there has been other reports of attack victims. I know that when I want to find out small amounts of information it has become a reflex (if you will) for me to Google.
I also can’t help but look at the cell phone. The phone came out as a means of communicating with one another but since society has grown more and more distant and private, the phone has miraculously sprung the text messaging service so people don’t have to talk to one another and can get a small blip of information because we have received short attention spans as a process of needing new technology. Thanks. Now what was I saying? Oh yeah, the cell phone was—and still is—the cause of accidents. People couldn’t possibly hold a cell phone between their shoulders and ear and expect to drive, right? Well Motorola and a bunch of others felt the need to give us Bluetooth earpiece, not because we wanted it, because subconsciously (and maybe consciously) the public demanded it.
Politics always want to reach people on a different level and want to be one up on their competition. Many politicians have taken to the internet and have created their own message boards and platforms for their campaign. Message boards and social networking sites are not new but it is new that presidents have a MySpace or Facebook to get the voice of the public. After all this is a democracy and we do hold the power of the president (supposedly) and since the war on terror and other foreign policies keep the president busy they need a way of still being able to get into the living rooms of the voters.
Even dating has taken on a new form; apparently 236 singles a day are getting married from meeting on eHarmony. eHarmony doesn’t bribe people to join, people join on their own because they needed a safe place to meet because of our society’s paranoia in dating and the actual danger that one could face. That is not to say someone from eHarmony could turn out to be a serial killer. It is the fact that the nervousness shouldn’t have to be dealt with. Our society doesn’t look kindly upon suffering and sadness, although those are real and basic human emotions, one rather avoids it altogether.
However, the two pieces of information technology that has been discussed so far has had its intended consequences but like everything there is a yang to its yin. In; “What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message?” Mark Federman states that there are “unintended consequences.” Those are the factors that have been left out of developing this new technology. Even though information given to the public and journalists comes at the speed of light is a god send, child predators can communicate as fast (and sometimes faster) with a child. According to ABC news online, there are 50 thousand predators patrolling the internet at any given time. Although and “unintended consequence,” this is another example of “the medium is the message.”
In chapter 32 of Communication in History, Marshall McLuhan quotes a voice from a radio poll that says “I live right inside radio when I listen. I more easily loose myself in radio than in a book.” Indeed teens and adults too are living on their cell phone. Just before I typed this blog, I was at the mall and sitting at the food court were 30 people, at least 19 of them were on cell phones. The cell phone has become such a mode of distraction that guides to self protection warn of walking through a parking lot entranced on a phone. This is something I still see when I go out and after the clubs close it is a frenzy of cell phone calls.
But does the medium, no matter what the content, have the same effect on society? It seems pretty farfetched to think that if the computer displayed only images of dead puppies and the phone always let one listen to sounds of babies crying that society would still be the same, it is true. Why? Because that piece of technology would be needed by us. Just like the child predators that need the computer to sneak around anonymously and not risk getting caught in family friendly parks.
Marshall McLuhan coined the term “the medium is the message,” he didn’t mean that what is on the medium i.e. the computer’s search result, is the message. Instead, the message is that our society has sped up and we need this piece of technology to get instant information. It is an extension of us as a culture. One could almost use McLuhan’s quote synonymously with technological determinism. They both view technology as a creation from the need of society. But unlike technological determinism, McLuhan wrote in his book “Understanding Media,” that these mediums require different levels of participation as well. He called the levels hot and cold media. Hot requires one sense and cold requires the receiver to use multiple senses to make sense of what they are taking in.
Take newspapers for example, they have gotten more competitive and want to be the one who has that shark bite victim (just humor me here) on the front page. They are not going to pull out a book of maps, most of the time, they are going to Map Quest the scene and look it up to see if there has been other reports of attack victims. I know that when I want to find out small amounts of information it has become a reflex (if you will) for me to Google.
I also can’t help but look at the cell phone. The phone came out as a means of communicating with one another but since society has grown more and more distant and private, the phone has miraculously sprung the text messaging service so people don’t have to talk to one another and can get a small blip of information because we have received short attention spans as a process of needing new technology. Thanks. Now what was I saying? Oh yeah, the cell phone was—and still is—the cause of accidents. People couldn’t possibly hold a cell phone between their shoulders and ear and expect to drive, right? Well Motorola and a bunch of others felt the need to give us Bluetooth earpiece, not because we wanted it, because subconsciously (and maybe consciously) the public demanded it.
Politics always want to reach people on a different level and want to be one up on their competition. Many politicians have taken to the internet and have created their own message boards and platforms for their campaign. Message boards and social networking sites are not new but it is new that presidents have a MySpace or Facebook to get the voice of the public. After all this is a democracy and we do hold the power of the president (supposedly) and since the war on terror and other foreign policies keep the president busy they need a way of still being able to get into the living rooms of the voters.
Even dating has taken on a new form; apparently 236 singles a day are getting married from meeting on eHarmony. eHarmony doesn’t bribe people to join, people join on their own because they needed a safe place to meet because of our society’s paranoia in dating and the actual danger that one could face. That is not to say someone from eHarmony could turn out to be a serial killer. It is the fact that the nervousness shouldn’t have to be dealt with. Our society doesn’t look kindly upon suffering and sadness, although those are real and basic human emotions, one rather avoids it altogether.
However, the two pieces of information technology that has been discussed so far has had its intended consequences but like everything there is a yang to its yin. In; “What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message?” Mark Federman states that there are “unintended consequences.” Those are the factors that have been left out of developing this new technology. Even though information given to the public and journalists comes at the speed of light is a god send, child predators can communicate as fast (and sometimes faster) with a child. According to ABC news online, there are 50 thousand predators patrolling the internet at any given time. Although and “unintended consequence,” this is another example of “the medium is the message.”
In chapter 32 of Communication in History, Marshall McLuhan quotes a voice from a radio poll that says “I live right inside radio when I listen. I more easily loose myself in radio than in a book.” Indeed teens and adults too are living on their cell phone. Just before I typed this blog, I was at the mall and sitting at the food court were 30 people, at least 19 of them were on cell phones. The cell phone has become such a mode of distraction that guides to self protection warn of walking through a parking lot entranced on a phone. This is something I still see when I go out and after the clubs close it is a frenzy of cell phone calls.
But does the medium, no matter what the content, have the same effect on society? It seems pretty farfetched to think that if the computer displayed only images of dead puppies and the phone always let one listen to sounds of babies crying that society would still be the same, it is true. Why? Because that piece of technology would be needed by us. Just like the child predators that need the computer to sneak around anonymously and not risk getting caught in family friendly parks.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Operation: Deprivation
At approximately 12 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, Operation: Deprivation took place. For 24-hours it was a fest of everything non-technological. It was one of the most enlightening experiences of my college career—when it ended.
I guess going into this I was a little to cocky. I thought this would be a cakewalk and that I don’t depend on media as my other class mates. Danna L. Walker in "The Longest Day," called my generation “millenials.” There was a part of me that wanted to prove her wrong because she sounded so elitist. There are people who are older than me that spend so much time on the computer, it isn’t even funny. I did all the usual preparation and sent out a MySpace bulletin to alert everybody that I will not be answering phones, e-mails, and the like. Needles to say, I had a bunch of people ask me ‘why?’ and ‘what?’ so I filled them in and stayed up real late to O.D. on media. I MySpaced while listening to my iPod and every few moments I turned around to watch T.V. while text messaging.
At 12 p.m. I woke up to no T.V. (because I sleep with it on) and silence. After the usual morning rituals I grabbed my laundry basket full of reading material and word search puzzles and headed down stairs where I figured I would spend the rest of the day. I sat down and looked at my T.V. (which was off). So I turned the light on and started reading Entertainment Weekly. This was good. No cell phone, staring at the computer screen till my eyes get crossed. Yes, this was certainly good. In those four hours; I managed to learn more than my fare share about Tyra Banks and why I should be reading Y: The Last Man. But after four hours, the novelty started to wear off. I went into my reading bin and pulled out some comics. Currently, I’m reading Secret Six by DC Comics so I figured I would start from the beginning and work my way through the two mini series and the first half of their monthly comic. I got a couple laughs out of midgets running around naked and an addict of plastic surgery. I started to think about Howard Gardner’s article; "The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading." In four hours, I’ve read the most I had ever read in a single sitting. I was really getting bored. But if Gardner is worried that reading is declining then he shouldn’t have to worry because I got my monthly fill—right? I thought about reading some pages out of my text book but at that time I was starting think of other things to do and left the book pile.
I went up stairs to get something to eat. Then I was going to start up a courier service, no—I wasn’t trying to be smart in regards to the prompt, I needed to communicate. So I found my Mom and told her that every hour or so I will make a request on the dry erase board. She agreed but set her own standards. I was not to request anything outlandish or something where she would have to travel a long distance (because I have asked that type of thing in the past). So at 6:30 p.m. a note was given to her to get into contact with my friend to see if she wanted to get together for drinks at her house. Later she brought down a note that agreed to a 7:30 p.m. date. I got ready and left.
On the way there, it did cross my mind that I hadn’t checked my cell and that it was at home (turned off) and how many people have been trying to get in touch with me? I bet there were some that thought that I was ignoring them. I hadn’t been without a cell phone since I was in high school and it was weird reverting back to that time. But I kind of dug it. It was a little freeing to know that I didn’t have to answer anybody and if they really wanted to get to me they would visit me or at least send me a message via courier.
One thing I didn’t realize is how much I needed the radio. On the way over I wanted to turn it on and jam to get pumped up and then I thought about later that night listening to the radio and dancing (because I like to do it—a lot). I cursed that music has been absent from my life for almost the whole day. Which is very odd that it didn’t occur to me sooner, because I’m a music journalist? When I got to my friend’s house the T.V. was off. I thanked her. It was quiet. I didn’t have MySpace to log onto or dance. It really sucked, especially when one is drinking. I wondered if this deprivation were to happen globally (not voluntarily) then how would clubs function? So we sat and played cards and a drinking game called ‘three-man’ which was cool because it was only us which meant more liquor.
The next day I woke up at 9 a.m. (much to my dismay) and ate some breakfast and cleaned up from the night before. I usually don’t do that, so I figured I should do something productive. I had to do something because 12 p.m. was drawing closer and I was wanting so bad to turn on the T.V. My friend couldn’t believe I went that long without any form of media. I couldn’t believe I did either. After talking and looking through some magazine’s 12 p.m. came and Operation: Deprivation ended my first dose of the media drug just so happened to be Sponge Bob when I turned on the T.V.
I got home and checked my phone expecting everyone and their dog to have messaged me. I had one text and that was from T-Mobile about a service update. So there it is. 24-hours, no new media and the best part of all is I know that I can do without it—when I have to.
I guess going into this I was a little to cocky. I thought this would be a cakewalk and that I don’t depend on media as my other class mates. Danna L. Walker in "The Longest Day," called my generation “millenials.” There was a part of me that wanted to prove her wrong because she sounded so elitist. There are people who are older than me that spend so much time on the computer, it isn’t even funny. I did all the usual preparation and sent out a MySpace bulletin to alert everybody that I will not be answering phones, e-mails, and the like. Needles to say, I had a bunch of people ask me ‘why?’ and ‘what?’ so I filled them in and stayed up real late to O.D. on media. I MySpaced while listening to my iPod and every few moments I turned around to watch T.V. while text messaging.
At 12 p.m. I woke up to no T.V. (because I sleep with it on) and silence. After the usual morning rituals I grabbed my laundry basket full of reading material and word search puzzles and headed down stairs where I figured I would spend the rest of the day. I sat down and looked at my T.V. (which was off). So I turned the light on and started reading Entertainment Weekly. This was good. No cell phone, staring at the computer screen till my eyes get crossed. Yes, this was certainly good. In those four hours; I managed to learn more than my fare share about Tyra Banks and why I should be reading Y: The Last Man. But after four hours, the novelty started to wear off. I went into my reading bin and pulled out some comics. Currently, I’m reading Secret Six by DC Comics so I figured I would start from the beginning and work my way through the two mini series and the first half of their monthly comic. I got a couple laughs out of midgets running around naked and an addict of plastic surgery. I started to think about Howard Gardner’s article; "The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading." In four hours, I’ve read the most I had ever read in a single sitting. I was really getting bored. But if Gardner is worried that reading is declining then he shouldn’t have to worry because I got my monthly fill—right? I thought about reading some pages out of my text book but at that time I was starting think of other things to do and left the book pile.
I went up stairs to get something to eat. Then I was going to start up a courier service, no—I wasn’t trying to be smart in regards to the prompt, I needed to communicate. So I found my Mom and told her that every hour or so I will make a request on the dry erase board. She agreed but set her own standards. I was not to request anything outlandish or something where she would have to travel a long distance (because I have asked that type of thing in the past). So at 6:30 p.m. a note was given to her to get into contact with my friend to see if she wanted to get together for drinks at her house. Later she brought down a note that agreed to a 7:30 p.m. date. I got ready and left.
On the way there, it did cross my mind that I hadn’t checked my cell and that it was at home (turned off) and how many people have been trying to get in touch with me? I bet there were some that thought that I was ignoring them. I hadn’t been without a cell phone since I was in high school and it was weird reverting back to that time. But I kind of dug it. It was a little freeing to know that I didn’t have to answer anybody and if they really wanted to get to me they would visit me or at least send me a message via courier.
One thing I didn’t realize is how much I needed the radio. On the way over I wanted to turn it on and jam to get pumped up and then I thought about later that night listening to the radio and dancing (because I like to do it—a lot). I cursed that music has been absent from my life for almost the whole day. Which is very odd that it didn’t occur to me sooner, because I’m a music journalist? When I got to my friend’s house the T.V. was off. I thanked her. It was quiet. I didn’t have MySpace to log onto or dance. It really sucked, especially when one is drinking. I wondered if this deprivation were to happen globally (not voluntarily) then how would clubs function? So we sat and played cards and a drinking game called ‘three-man’ which was cool because it was only us which meant more liquor.
The next day I woke up at 9 a.m. (much to my dismay) and ate some breakfast and cleaned up from the night before. I usually don’t do that, so I figured I should do something productive. I had to do something because 12 p.m. was drawing closer and I was wanting so bad to turn on the T.V. My friend couldn’t believe I went that long without any form of media. I couldn’t believe I did either. After talking and looking through some magazine’s 12 p.m. came and Operation: Deprivation ended my first dose of the media drug just so happened to be Sponge Bob when I turned on the T.V.
I got home and checked my phone expecting everyone and their dog to have messaged me. I had one text and that was from T-Mobile about a service update. So there it is. 24-hours, no new media and the best part of all is I know that I can do without it—when I have to.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Keeping the mind on the paper (Blog Post #3)
The other day, as I sat in my textual analysis class, I was informed; that we were going to be having a lecture and we will have to take some notes. There were some groans but as I took out my 500 sheet spiral binder I glanced up and noticed two people sitting on both sides of me took out their “notebooks.” By notebooks I mean Dell Inspiron rather than Five Star. I must have felt like the kid in Athens who took out his slate and turned to see his class mates with their brand new papyrus.
Both papyrus and the computer have shaped our societies but some fear that with the computer being the new papyrus that it is hurting us academically rather than moving us forward. While the computer is a useful tool, it might have been a good idea for it to remain secondary rather than the primary tool.
But before the dissection of the computer and it’s wearing and tearing on society, let’s look at how paper turned us onto what Susan Jacoby termed “The Dumbing of America.”
When clay and stone were found to be to hard to handle and write with so Egypt brought in papyrus and eventually imported to Greece where the alphabet was taking off. This is almost the same exact formula but just substitute the variables for clay and papyrus with paper and the computer and viola, the solution is a movement as great as the recording of the alphabet.
Just like the laptop the paper was portable and easier to carry around, but unlike the computer it caused classes, which structured society and educated leaders. It made the spoken word concrete as well and allowed for more accurate information, because at the time one had to be very fast to write on the clay that dried so quickly. This also led to the invention of the book (skipping leaps and bounds in production here). The invention also showed the test of time as today our museums are populated with scrolls, books and documents marking important parts of history, they can never be reworded from their original.
With years and years of paper influencing culture, religion, the world we have moved onto something that unlike papyrus and paper can be manipulated, forged, and reproduced infinitely. The computer can be a tool of deception. A letter that is sent cannot be recalled unless someone knows somebody to get it back. E-mail has the capability to recall those angry letters or those unclear paragraphs (we’ll get to that in a moment).
Which brings what is happening with the post office; to the forefront. In recent years the U.S. postal service has seen a decline in mail because of all the free services that allows anybody to not only have one e-mail address but multiple.
The multiplicity of e-mail addresses has led to a lot of identity theft and scams. I remember reading a while back that a scammer can have address not only linked to several accounts around the world but can pose as an entirely different person. But of course it’s not just the e-mail that feels the effect of abusers, it is the newest craze in web surfing: social networking sites. Countless of my MySpace friends have fallen victim to the hackers who use their space to promote erectile dysfunction medication or an ad for a type of marijuana that is “untraceable.”
There aren’t a lot of place where one can go and not see a credit card machine. Money has taken on a digital form and like aides memoires can be confusing at times. In future eras when we become the ancestors and they look back will our data from banks and Excel spreadsheets be just like the stick with notches?
Paper is sometimes looked down on in school settings. Paper is good for taking notes and that is about it. Most teachers will agree that reports should be turned in typed up. Also, papers and articles have it more easy in the fact that words have the option of spell check to avoid embarrassing mistakes. But since society relies on it and treats it as an extension it has also caused problems. Some times Microsoft Word will auto-replace a word, it will not show up as a misspelled word, which is why editors still exist today. Even this blog is a school assignment and shows an image of a paperless world.
Even though a computer printout maybe preferred, it doesn’t stop bad writing. To write one has to read to see how it should be done. The language that is being used on the social computer world is showing up in class rooms. Students are also not reading enough because of the quick snippets that they can get right across their desktop. Susan Jacoby reports that “The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004.”
To be more specific, the computer itself is not responsible for the decline of the print news paper but rather a small program called the Internet. Just recently Baltimore City’s own Examiner just shut its doors. Many other small newspapers are following suite. Even newspaper giants like the Baltimore Sun are having layoffs and shutting offices. Since news is not just on sites like Baltimore Sun.com but rather Facebook and MySpace which aren’t really news sources at all but cater to their users so they can use the network sites for all their needs. It blurs the line between jobs and doesn’t create structures in society but rather bleeds them all together.
If one had to make a prediction then in a couple years (reminiscent of slate and clay) paper will most likely be non existent. Some would say “good, it would cut down on pollution.” Um, that would be where they would be wrong. Computer and communication companies have a dirty little secret. A lot of their technological waste is more hazardous then spilling a couple of dump trucks full of note book paper and books into the ocean. The computer and cell phone parts are shipped to villages in China and other areas that reuse the parts but there really isn’t a factory it is medieval in at best. Cancer and other mutations run rampant in these villages.
While companies waste more and more paper everyday and campaigns to go green and be paperless are the fad, the days of papyrus and paper might not have been that bad.
Both papyrus and the computer have shaped our societies but some fear that with the computer being the new papyrus that it is hurting us academically rather than moving us forward. While the computer is a useful tool, it might have been a good idea for it to remain secondary rather than the primary tool.
But before the dissection of the computer and it’s wearing and tearing on society, let’s look at how paper turned us onto what Susan Jacoby termed “The Dumbing of America.”
When clay and stone were found to be to hard to handle and write with so Egypt brought in papyrus and eventually imported to Greece where the alphabet was taking off. This is almost the same exact formula but just substitute the variables for clay and papyrus with paper and the computer and viola, the solution is a movement as great as the recording of the alphabet.
Just like the laptop the paper was portable and easier to carry around, but unlike the computer it caused classes, which structured society and educated leaders. It made the spoken word concrete as well and allowed for more accurate information, because at the time one had to be very fast to write on the clay that dried so quickly. This also led to the invention of the book (skipping leaps and bounds in production here). The invention also showed the test of time as today our museums are populated with scrolls, books and documents marking important parts of history, they can never be reworded from their original.
With years and years of paper influencing culture, religion, the world we have moved onto something that unlike papyrus and paper can be manipulated, forged, and reproduced infinitely. The computer can be a tool of deception. A letter that is sent cannot be recalled unless someone knows somebody to get it back. E-mail has the capability to recall those angry letters or those unclear paragraphs (we’ll get to that in a moment).
Which brings what is happening with the post office; to the forefront. In recent years the U.S. postal service has seen a decline in mail because of all the free services that allows anybody to not only have one e-mail address but multiple.
The multiplicity of e-mail addresses has led to a lot of identity theft and scams. I remember reading a while back that a scammer can have address not only linked to several accounts around the world but can pose as an entirely different person. But of course it’s not just the e-mail that feels the effect of abusers, it is the newest craze in web surfing: social networking sites. Countless of my MySpace friends have fallen victim to the hackers who use their space to promote erectile dysfunction medication or an ad for a type of marijuana that is “untraceable.”
There aren’t a lot of place where one can go and not see a credit card machine. Money has taken on a digital form and like aides memoires can be confusing at times. In future eras when we become the ancestors and they look back will our data from banks and Excel spreadsheets be just like the stick with notches?
Paper is sometimes looked down on in school settings. Paper is good for taking notes and that is about it. Most teachers will agree that reports should be turned in typed up. Also, papers and articles have it more easy in the fact that words have the option of spell check to avoid embarrassing mistakes. But since society relies on it and treats it as an extension it has also caused problems. Some times Microsoft Word will auto-replace a word, it will not show up as a misspelled word, which is why editors still exist today. Even this blog is a school assignment and shows an image of a paperless world.
Even though a computer printout maybe preferred, it doesn’t stop bad writing. To write one has to read to see how it should be done. The language that is being used on the social computer world is showing up in class rooms. Students are also not reading enough because of the quick snippets that they can get right across their desktop. Susan Jacoby reports that “The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004.”
To be more specific, the computer itself is not responsible for the decline of the print news paper but rather a small program called the Internet. Just recently Baltimore City’s own Examiner just shut its doors. Many other small newspapers are following suite. Even newspaper giants like the Baltimore Sun are having layoffs and shutting offices. Since news is not just on sites like Baltimore Sun.com but rather Facebook and MySpace which aren’t really news sources at all but cater to their users so they can use the network sites for all their needs. It blurs the line between jobs and doesn’t create structures in society but rather bleeds them all together.
If one had to make a prediction then in a couple years (reminiscent of slate and clay) paper will most likely be non existent. Some would say “good, it would cut down on pollution.” Um, that would be where they would be wrong. Computer and communication companies have a dirty little secret. A lot of their technological waste is more hazardous then spilling a couple of dump trucks full of note book paper and books into the ocean. The computer and cell phone parts are shipped to villages in China and other areas that reuse the parts but there really isn’t a factory it is medieval in at best. Cancer and other mutations run rampant in these villages.
While companies waste more and more paper everyday and campaigns to go green and be paperless are the fad, the days of papyrus and paper might not have been that bad.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
MySpace the monolith
Communication plays a really big role in my life since I’m entering the world of journalism. The whole area is a loaded communication gun, one has to make sure they get their point across without rambling and make sure the wording they use aren’t libelous. Aside from the professional area, I communicate a lot through MySpace, I understand Facebook has become popular but I like to handle only one social networking site because I still prefer face to face communication. MySpace has become a cyber-monolith.
MySpace appeals to me because it is the most widely used social site around. It also allows me to keep up to date and to contact bands for articles. One thing that has changed, and was not allowed before, is the fact that celebrities communicate and endorse themselves through this medium. This is similar to the point David Crowley made in “Communication: Technology, Culture, Society,” when he said that writing became democratized when it used to be just for the elitist. The communicational tool that is MySpace has brought together the celebrities that the country considers ‘royalty’ and allows both classes to interact. This in turn has made the appeal of celebs less intriguing now that they are so accessible.
What is really surprising is the younger generation, 12 and up, who have their own profile. “If acquired in childhood, the skill was convertible into an automatic reflex and thus distributable over a majority of a given population (Crowley, 55).” It’s cool that loved one such as Grandparents can communicate with them but the fact is they are being breed on this and are using their profiles just as much as they use their phone.
Even when one is not at home, the MySpacephere still has them in its orbit. Like never before, there are ways to MySpace without having to sit in front of the computer. I don’t use it a lot but the application on phones has made it easier to allow others to follow each other’s lives and those that don’t have the application can still visit it from their mobile web browser.
Recently, MySpace has had some updates which users can update their “status,” by text messaging.
However, like anything else in the neo tech world, it does have its downsides. There have been numerous fights that have taken place over the computer. It has really diminished the quality of the written word by middle school and high school kids. Walter Ong wrote that now that the written word has taken over, the intonation of how one says it is canceled out and that can lead to some confusion.
When I step back and look, I wonder, what was life like before all these social networking sites? Even though I visit my friends equally, the topics of these networking tools are still brought up. It has become a part of our vocabulary like “googling.” I’ve heard people say “did you see that post today on MySpace?”
The issue that Brian Carroll talked about in his article on “Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere,” talks about the blogs becoming news, MySpace not only has news now on the front page but like the above, people are able to communicate somewhat with celebrities and politicians so now they get the news before the press—news before news. This also steps up the competition for print as well.
Personally, I don’t think that these tools are a hindrance, they add to communicating, if practiced right. However, there are others that have had their peer to peer communication hindered because of it. Which brings the gun analogy back into view, a gun doesn’t hurt people— people hurt people. This also brings technological determinism to the forefront. We as a society, like to communicate, we need it and like to do it from the comfort of our own home.
The bottom line is; MySpace won’t be going anywhere until the next big thing comes along.
MySpace appeals to me because it is the most widely used social site around. It also allows me to keep up to date and to contact bands for articles. One thing that has changed, and was not allowed before, is the fact that celebrities communicate and endorse themselves through this medium. This is similar to the point David Crowley made in “Communication: Technology, Culture, Society,” when he said that writing became democratized when it used to be just for the elitist. The communicational tool that is MySpace has brought together the celebrities that the country considers ‘royalty’ and allows both classes to interact. This in turn has made the appeal of celebs less intriguing now that they are so accessible.
What is really surprising is the younger generation, 12 and up, who have their own profile. “If acquired in childhood, the skill was convertible into an automatic reflex and thus distributable over a majority of a given population (Crowley, 55).” It’s cool that loved one such as Grandparents can communicate with them but the fact is they are being breed on this and are using their profiles just as much as they use their phone.
Even when one is not at home, the MySpacephere still has them in its orbit. Like never before, there are ways to MySpace without having to sit in front of the computer. I don’t use it a lot but the application on phones has made it easier to allow others to follow each other’s lives and those that don’t have the application can still visit it from their mobile web browser.
Recently, MySpace has had some updates which users can update their “status,” by text messaging.
However, like anything else in the neo tech world, it does have its downsides. There have been numerous fights that have taken place over the computer. It has really diminished the quality of the written word by middle school and high school kids. Walter Ong wrote that now that the written word has taken over, the intonation of how one says it is canceled out and that can lead to some confusion.
When I step back and look, I wonder, what was life like before all these social networking sites? Even though I visit my friends equally, the topics of these networking tools are still brought up. It has become a part of our vocabulary like “googling.” I’ve heard people say “did you see that post today on MySpace?”
The issue that Brian Carroll talked about in his article on “Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere,” talks about the blogs becoming news, MySpace not only has news now on the front page but like the above, people are able to communicate somewhat with celebrities and politicians so now they get the news before the press—news before news. This also steps up the competition for print as well.
Personally, I don’t think that these tools are a hindrance, they add to communicating, if practiced right. However, there are others that have had their peer to peer communication hindered because of it. Which brings the gun analogy back into view, a gun doesn’t hurt people— people hurt people. This also brings technological determinism to the forefront. We as a society, like to communicate, we need it and like to do it from the comfort of our own home.
The bottom line is; MySpace won’t be going anywhere until the next big thing comes along.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Blog Post #1
Hi, this is Derek and I’m a writer for the Retriever Weekly. I’m currently taking MCS 222 at UMBC, that’s why I have this blog.
My media consumption is pretty heavy, but 98 percent of it comes from music. I’m really big on it. Every morning I get up and I listen to my iPod before school. I also take it with me so I can jam across campus. Some of the artists I like are White Tie Affair, John Legend, Clipse, Ferras, Akon, TI, Fall Out Boy, basically anything that has a good beat. I’m also a baby from the 80s. I like Springsteen, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Wham, Eagles, Boston-you get the idea.
The newspaper itself has played an important role in my life; I’m in school to become a music journalist. Before I came to UMBC I went to Anne Arundel Community College. I was Assistant Editor at their paper, “Campus Crier.” It was an awesome experience, I got to attend shows by Linkin Park and Coheed and Cambria. Since I came to UMBC I’ve gotten the chance to hang out with the Maryland based band American Diary and review Angels and Airwaves show at Rams Head.
MySpace is also a big part of my life. It sounds juvenile but I find cool bands and keep in touch with them and future contacts through it.
I watch a little bit of TV. But if I want to get all the fun of reality television I watch The Soup.
That’s pretty much it.
My media consumption is pretty heavy, but 98 percent of it comes from music. I’m really big on it. Every morning I get up and I listen to my iPod before school. I also take it with me so I can jam across campus. Some of the artists I like are White Tie Affair, John Legend, Clipse, Ferras, Akon, TI, Fall Out Boy, basically anything that has a good beat. I’m also a baby from the 80s. I like Springsteen, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Wham, Eagles, Boston-you get the idea.
The newspaper itself has played an important role in my life; I’m in school to become a music journalist. Before I came to UMBC I went to Anne Arundel Community College. I was Assistant Editor at their paper, “Campus Crier.” It was an awesome experience, I got to attend shows by Linkin Park and Coheed and Cambria. Since I came to UMBC I’ve gotten the chance to hang out with the Maryland based band American Diary and review Angels and Airwaves show at Rams Head.
MySpace is also a big part of my life. It sounds juvenile but I find cool bands and keep in touch with them and future contacts through it.
I watch a little bit of TV. But if I want to get all the fun of reality television I watch The Soup.
That’s pretty much it.
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