OMG, shoes!

“We have to write BLOGS for this? Wow…I might drop this class…” I will admit, that those were my thoughts when I first added this class. But I have to say, although at first I thought blogging was the dumbest sounding thing in the world, I’ve actually come to like it.

“Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most early blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media” (Wikipedia 2007). In this class, we’ve been blogging about the internet. At first, I thought that maybe that was the only thing that people were blogging about. But, as Wikipedia stated, people use blogs for online diaries and many other things.

For example, my boyfriend brews his own beer. Lately, he has been on two websites one for “beer blogging” and another one is a “beer forum.” I thought he was a biggest loser in the world to be on a beer forum. But, once I tried his beer and learned that he got the tips to make a good beer from other beer lovers all over the world, I thought that was pretty cool. Think about it, there is a website that all the guys who are like my boyfriend, who like to spend their weekends over a big hot pot boiling water, adding yeast, adding hops, flavored malts, letting it ferment, bottling, cooling, yadda, yadda, yadda. They can compare their beers, ask questions to each other, and post whatever they want about what they all love. Beer.

I was curious, what other kind of blogs were out there? I’m a girl who has a huge passion for cute, colorful, funky shoes. Not that I have the money to go out and buy them all the time, or make my own shoes like my boyfriend makes his own beer. But I do enjoy looking at them, pretending I have them, and learning about different brands and styles. So what did I do? I typed “Shoe blog” into google and low and behold, shoeblog.com! I clicked the link, and spent over 45 minutes (blah! With so much work to do!) reading the blogs about shoes, shoes, shoes, oh my God, shoes. “Share your shoe obsession! Join the number one shoe forum Community Today!” (shoeblog.com)

Blogs fascinate me now. I think that it is so cool that people who share an interest in something, whether it be beer, shoes, the internet, or whatever; can post, discuss, ask questions, and read about what they’re interested in. I’m considering joining the shoe blog since this class is pretty much over, and the weekly internet blogs will be no more. Here I go, joining the number one shoe forum community…shoeblog.com!!



Blog. (2007, April 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:19, April 26, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=125465683

Shoe Blog (2007, April 26). Retrieved 20:18, April 26, 2007, from www.shoeblog.com

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When starting this blog assignment, I didn’t really know the definition of ‘net neutrality,’ and it turns out that it’s hard to find a ‘right’ definition. According to Wikipedia, “Network neutrality (equivalently "net neutrality", "internet neutrality" or "NN") refers to a principle applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all broadband networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment attached and the modes of communication allowed would be considered neutral by most advocates, provided it met additional tests relating to the degradation of various communication streams by others. Arguably, no network is completely neutral, hence neutrality represents for some an ideal condition toward which networks and their operators may strive” (Wikipedia 2007).

After doing a lot of reading on the topic, I learned about the debate over network neutrality. The people who are AGAINST network neutrality want there to be fees for big websites. They want to control the content and make money from the big websites. They would control how fast transactions would occur. If this side of the debate won, there would be a regulation on internet content and there is a chance the people would not be allowed to see what they would want to see. Companies like AT&T and Verizon are on this side of the debate because they want to make money. The people FOR network neutrality like the internet the way it is with no fees. Smaller budgeted websites are on this side because they don’t have enough money to pay the kind of fees big companies want to impose. Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are on this side because they are fine as it is. “Popular online content providers like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and others would like to maintain the current status quo, which they claim would preserve the egalitarian philosophy on which the Internet was founded” (Hsing Et Al). They are making so much money that they don’t want to have to pay a fee to be able to do what they’ve been doing for years.

I support network neutrality because I think that if there were a regulation on the Internet, that big websites had to pay then the whole Internet would turn out a little bit “big brother” like. Why should our Internet access be controlled after so many years of it flourishing on it’s own? Why should little companies with small websites have to pay a large fee with money that they don’t have? Why should the companies that are making so much money on their own, all of a sudden have to pay a fee for their success? Small companies wouldn’t be able to have websites and because of that they could never get off the ground. I think that with network neutrality the Internet is a place where we can do what we like, for whatever purpose and not worry about money. If I feel like making a search engine website right now, I could even though I’d have tough competition with companies such as Google. But if there wasn’t network neutrality and the other side won, I wouldn’t be able to make my search engine website because I wouldn’t be able to afford the fee of making the website in the first place.

So, my opinion is that we should just leave things as they are. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


Network neutrality. (2007, April 11). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:55, April 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Network_neutrality&oldid=122005930

Hsing Kenneth Cheng* Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay and Hong Guo. "The Debate on Net Neutrality: A Policy Perspective." Department of Decision and Information Sciences. Warrington College of Business Administration.

Lolalou Tripsa.

Lolalou Tripsa. That is the name I chose, don’t ask me why, for my Second Life avatar. The experience as a whole was mind-boggling to me, that someone created such a place where you make up a character and can talk to another character, interact and make friends and enemies all behind your computer screen. Originally, I wanted my first name to be the name of my avatar, but it was taken with the last name Tripsa. I even tried to spell my name wrong, but apparently I wasn’t the first to think of that either. It made me wonder how many people actually have Second Life accounts. "Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007.[4][5] Developed by Linden Lab, a downloadable client program enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another" (Wikipedia 2007).

Lolalou is a simple girl with a city-chick style. There weren’t many characters to chose from at first, but I later learned that once you begin “playing,” clothing and such could change. The first thing I had to do in the orientation was to get a torch, and I had to find it in the program. I thought it was pretty cool how there was guidance on what to do, and any question could be answered by clicking the top of the screen. The creative skills that were put into this game made me wonder what the whole purpose was in the first place. Was it created as a place to make online friends with a new identity? Do people chat and IM their online friends as themselves or as their computer self? I think it is a cool idea to play with once in a while, to fly around the computer generated world, but I also think that if someone were on this all the time, like an addict, It could get a little weird. The Second Life website states that it can be learned to educate. “Second Life provides an opportunity to use simulation in a safe environment to enhance experiential learning, allowing individuals to practice skills, try new ideas, and learn from their mistakes. The ability to prepare for similar real-world experiences by using Second Life as a simulation has unlimited potential” (Second Life 2007). Learn from mistakes in a virtual world with a made up identity? I, personally, think that for some it may work, but definitely not for me.

The game reminded me of The Sims, a game which my little sister used to play a few years ago. You got to design your own house, cheat on your husband, get pregnant, change your clothes by spinning around, and light your house on fire. It was a little ridiculous, and I’m sure that Second Life could get crazier than that considering it is an online community. I’m sure there are many people who live through the life of their created avatar. Those people who are on it first thing in the morning, and it was the last thing they did before they went to sleep. That’s fine, but personally I would like to learn from my mistakes in real life, not behind my computer screen.

Second Life. 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2007. http://secondlife.com/education

Second Life. (2007, April 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:19, April 6, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_Life&oldid=120611436

To each their own.

To some people, I’m sure reading the newspaper seems “old fashioned.” I will always remember it as something my grandpa did every morning and my dad when I was a child. Why read the newspaper when you can find an article about anything you want on the Internet? Why buy the paper when you can get any article you want for free? I happen to like to read the newspaper. I like the way it smells (weird, I know), I like how they are available all over campus, and I like to see all the stories that made it into the daily news. There are many different ways to look at which one is better, and I’m sure everyone has their own opinion. I’ve never compared the news in the paper to the news online, so here we go.

The story that caught my eye in the A section of The New York Times this morning was “65 Tornadoes Sweep Through Six States, Killing Four People” by Christina Hauser. I’ve always had a fascination with tornadoes even though they are one of my biggest fears. The article is short compared to most in the section, and mainly focuses on how the tornadoes killed four, injured many, and hit six states. “Hail an inch and three quarter inches in diameter, about the size of a golf ball, fell in the Nebraska Panhandle” (Hauser 2007). There was a lot of blowing snow in Colorado and Wyoming, and in Colorado children and a woman were found hanging in a tree. It’s a short article that says enough without saying too much.

I looked for a related article online, and found on USAtoday.com, “More severe weather to follow deadly tornadoes in Plains” by Patrick O'Driscoll. This article first discusses what is to come for those who just experienced these deadly tornadoes, and then discusses how this year there will be more tornadoes than last year. “The weather center, in Norman, Okla., this week recorded at least 68 tornado sightings and 162 reports of large hail, some as big as baseballs” (O’Driscoll 2007). Though the information differs from that in The New York Times, it is relatively similar and in a different state. This article gets into a little bit more detail about the weather than the one in The New York Times, while the one in the newspaper has the names of all that died and the family that was found in the tree.

I feel as though the article in the newspaper was just enough information to let everyone know what happened, how severe it was, and the casualties. The article on the internet, let us know most of the same information as in the newspaper, but also added information about how the weather is still going to be severe, and what they are to expect. “The future of newspapers is cloudy, with overall readership slowly declining in most developed countries due to increasing competition from television and the Internet” (Wikipedia 2007). Although I still enjoy reading the newspaper, I can see how getting the news on the Internet can be more enjoyable to people these days. I think both the Internet and the newspaper are both reliable ways to get the day’s news, and I also think it depends on which way is easiest for the average person to access. Everyone has a favorite.




Hauser, Christine. (2007, March 30). 65 Tornadoes Sweep Through Six States, Killing Four people. The New York Times. P. A18.

O’Driscoll, P. (2007, March 30). More severe weather to follow deadly tornadoes in Plains. Retrieved March 30, 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2007-03-30-deadly-storm_N.htm

Newspaper. (2007, March 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:19, March 30, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newspaper&oldid=118710394

Politics

The Internet has changed the advent of politics in many ways. I’m not the kind of girl who is really interested in politics, but at the same time I'd like to think that I know close to enough. Blogging websites have opened up a new door. There are people expressing their opinions on the government, or state, or whatever is going on politically. I think people feel like when they blog, they are having an impact on what other people think, and they enjoy hearing people agree with their thoughts. “Let’s bring government down to the community level where it can be watched and controlled. And let communities decide if they wish to join forces with other communities or secede from them. Secession is the ultimate check on big government that allows exploited communities to escape from larger governmental units that have been hijacked by corrupt political machines” (Ostrowski 2004). James Ostrowski posted a blog on December 4, 2004 titled “The Free New York Plan. Greater Buffalo Needs an Independent Think Tank.” Technorati ranked the blog 92,306. Anyone can write a blog about anything now-a-days. The tone of this blog is one that is powerful. Ostrowski wrote what he believes in and is confident with his words. He made key points bold to make them seen and doesn’t stray away from his topic.

“Instead of reporting on politics, the media are active participants in the political process through their role in publicity. Increasingly, the media has become central to political life. Politicians who do not constantly stay abreast of the media's requirements and actively plan their publicity tend to fall quickly out of favour. Those who are not good 'media performers' suffer the same fate” (Thornton 2002). Blogs are affecting local politics because the people, who at one point couldn’t express their thoughts on the fact anywhere, can now post what they want on the Internet on the topic. I think that blogs are making people more involved in politics because now they can write what they think, and read the comments from those people who agree and disagree with their opinions. I think these new communication technologies do enable broader political participation. Another reason why I believe this, is because as previously discussed in class and other blogs, people feel like they can hide behind their computer screens. Say Bob McGee had strong opinions on a political topic and wanted to blog about it, but he didn’t want anyone to know who he was. He could do that with a different name on the computer. Although Bob may be a quiet man who wouldn’t say those things in a political conversation with his coworkers, he can feel free to write what he wants, and say what he feels he needs to say through a blog.

“The current political structure needs to be reversed. Presently, we concentrate the most political power in Washington, the next most in Albany, then the Rath Building, and the least amount in our cities, towns and villages. Contrary to the original—and profoundly wise—vision of the framers and founders—we have removed political power as far away from the people as possible. This is the cause of many of our problems” (Ostrowski 2004). This blog had an impact on me when I read it. I was amazed at how strong his opinions were about Buffalo. Maybe someday when I find politics a little bit more interesting, i'll write a political blog too.


Thornton, Alinta (October 2002). Does Internet Create Democracy? Retrieved on March 25, 2007

Ostrowski, James. (December 2004). The Free New York Plan. Greater Buffalo Needs an Independent Think Tank. Retrieved on March 25, 2007. http://blog.freeny.org/?p=1474#more-1474

Facebook Me!

A group which is partially or completely mediated by the internet? The first thing to come to my mind was Facebook. 2 years ago, I had no idea what Facebook was and today, I can’t go a day without looking at it at least five times. Facebook is a site where college students (however, lately practically anyone can have it) have a profile about themselves and where they go to school. You can request to be someone’s friend who shares the same interests as you who attends your own school, and send messages, write on their wall, or give them a nice poke. “What differentiates social network sites [6] from other computer-mediated communication sites is the feature that allows participants to articulate and publicly display their relations to others in the system, which, in turn, allows viewers to traverse the network. Once a user finds a Profile of a friend (or anyone else), they can “add” them. This sends a message to the other user requesting Friendship. If the recipient approves the connection [7], the relationship is visible through both users’ list of Friends. The Friends list typically includes a list of photos or handles with links to that person’s Profile” (Boyd 2006). You can put as much personal information as you’d like on Facebook, and most people at least post their picture, screen name, and e-mail address so that it’s easy to contact new friends.

At first, I didn’t know what to think. Would someone think it was weird if I “friended” them? I went to Niagara University my freshmen year, and I ended up getting over ninety friend requests before school even started. I had these people asking to be my friend, and then when I saw them on campus, It was like I knew who they were and a little about them thanks to Facebook. There are big groups, for example now I belong to the SUNY Buffalo group and the Niagara University group, and I can access anyone’s profile from either school (if they haven’t set up the privacy options). The strange thing to me is, some of the friends who added me on Niagara’s Facebook, pretended that they didn’t know who I was in person, or didn’t acknowledge that we had messaged each other or talked online. I find that strange how people differ online than in person, how you can make a friend on the internet who doesn’t want to talk in person.

“On September 5, 2006, Facebook introduced two new controversial features called "News Feed" and "Mini-Feed". The first of the new features, News Feed, appears on every Facebook member's home page, displaying recent Facebook activities of a member's friends. The second feature, Mini-Feed, keeps a log of similar events on each member's profile page.[28] Members can manually delete items from their Mini-Feeds if they wish to do so” (Wikipedia 2007). Facebook has gotten pretty personal, and I was one of the students who was against the news feed at first. However, you see the recent news of your friends, and not just random people at your school. Also, Facebook has made many privacy options to comply with the users requests. I think that Facebook is a great group to belong to in college. I think its fun to find people who share the same interests as me that go to the same school. I also think it’s fun to write on my friend’s wall’s, send messages, and poke my boyfriend (even though a lot of people don’t even know the point of the poke, it’s still fun). I’m always game for new friends at UB so…Facebook Me!



Facebook. (2007, March 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:40, March 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Facebook&oldid=116288609

Boyd, Danah (2006, December). Friends, Friendsters, and Fop 8: Writing community into being on social network sites. Retrieved March 19, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html

Yes, my first SN was HippieChik456.

HippieChik456. xoHunnyBunzxo. LiLaNgElgRL. iL0VeMaTt4Evr. 08bubblebabe80. CuTeLiLDeVL. zZsleepingBeauty. O0oBabyBaby4232. TinaLuv8462. TinaCooolada. Those have been just a couple of my AOL Instant Messenger screen names over the past few years. I’ve come a long way from HippieChik456, realizing in due time, that my screen name was what my friends knew me as online. For the life of me, I would not ever want to TyPe LiKe ThIs or use the screen name “xoHunnyBunzxo” ever again. According to Wikipedia, a “screen name, screenname, s/n or SN is a name or string of characters chosen to uniquely identify a user within an online system, including dial-up bulletin board systems, platform videogame servers, and Internet-based environments. The term started out as screen name (two words), but in recent years, the usage of the single-word form screenname has been steadily increasing. The abbreviation "sn" can also mean screen name in online contexts” (Screen name 2007). Of course it was cool in Jr. high to have the angel screen name and later switch to devil, or trying to be “sexy” with “hunny bunz.” (Please don’t ask me why for some God forsaken reason had the screen name of “bubble babe?” yeah I don’t know either). Back then it was a fun identity that changed as often as I wanted it to. But as I grew older, and out of the phase of horrid screen names, I realized I wanted to talk under a name that summed me up, and was kept simple. Tina Cooolada.


“Although some people prefer to use their real names online, most Internet users prefer to identify themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information” (Online Identity 2007). I talk to my family and friends on AIM, and they’re the ones who gave me the nickname of “Tina colada.” I added extra o’s because I thought it brought on a little fun online spunk. As for my e-mail address, I kept that simple, using my school e-mail address for the reasons of job applications and teachers asking me for my e-mail. (Now imagine if my e-mail was still “xohunnybunzxo.” Bad news). I think there are things that can be kept fun, such as a screen name, but also those that should be kept professional, like an e-mail address. When I log onto other websites, I usually just type in letters from my first and last name so that I don’t have to mess with adding seven numbers to the end of my desired name because someone else already has it. Some people make screen names too personal, because they just write their first and last name because they know no one else will have it. If John Smith had the screen name “JohnSmith21,” and talked to just his friends on AIM, I can see that being harmless. But if John put his screen name on his Facebook profile or his MySpace and his profile was not set to private, I could see those creepy profile-stalking people talking to John Smith on AIM and knowing more about him than he would like. John should stick to a screen name like “JohnnyBoy21.”

“For assessing the reliability of information and the trustworthiness of a confidant, identity is essential. And care of one's own identity, one's reputation, is fundamental to the formation of community” (Donath 1996). I think that everyone has different opinions on how personal their screen name can be. I have friends who have personal ones because they claim that the only people reading their away messages are their friends, meanwhile their screen name is in bold on their MySpace page. My screen name is simple and spunky, and my e-mail is kept professional, so I can have a happy life online. : )

70 Ways to tell you've been online too long.

Donath, J. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Screen name (computing). (2007, February 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:34, February 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Screen_name_%28computing%29&oldid=106466084

Online identity. (2007, February 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:46, February 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Online_identity&oldid=108207999