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
Friday, March 30, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
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
“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
Monday, March 19, 2007
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
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
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