Group Wiki Assignment

Out of all the wiki presentations that I saw and read about, I felt that the Facebook presentation was the most effective.  The group gave a very detailed description of the history of facebook, it’s founder and current owner and the rise from a small website to the largest social networking website on the planet.  On the wiki page, the group had a great description about facebooks role in the marketplace.  The group didn’t make claims based on their own experiences or preconceived notions, instead they gave statistics outlying facebooks popularity in comparison with their past and present competitors.  But, for me, the best part of the facebook wiki was the groups ideas for the future of facebook; specifically, their idea to integrate video chat into facebook chat.  Video chat is a huge phenomenon right now.  Skype is one of the world’s largets social networking websites and yet it offers almost exclusively video chat.  The iphone 4 was one of the best selling smart phones on the market and yet, it’s main selling point was the addition of video chat.  Video chat is on the verge of becoming its own market, and I think if facebook were to start offering video chat, they would begin to compete with websites like Skype and devices like the Iphone 4.

 

The group did a great job of presenting their information in an organized and understandable fashion.  They went into detail about facebooks history, their statistics were relatable and important and their ideas for the future were very innovative and realistic.

Regulation of the Media

Ever since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon the concern for national security has risen dramatically.  This, however, does not give the U.S. government permission to block publication of material that may hurt national security interests.  Although some forms of media do have a potential to hurt national security interests the right of freedom of expression still should not be violated.  The right to have freedom in the media is one of the core beliefs that founded the society we have in America, violating the right of expression would simply be unamerican.

Implementing more restraint on publication would encounter several difficulties.  To block publication would violate the American peoples right of freedom of speech so in some court cases involving freedom of speech, defending the government would be difficult.  The United States government already has many Shield Laws, or laws intended to protect journalists from legal challenges to their freedom of speech.  To implement more restraint on publication these laws would have to be overturned which would be very difficult. Positive effects of this would be that national security would be helped by allowing some potentially harmful information to the public.  The negative effect would be the violation of the american people’s rights and the possible chilling effect it could have on other journalist thereby making news much more bland.  Also, if the government didn’t allow a lot of articles to be published it could stoke public anger at the government or damage the governments reputation.

Family Guy

I chose Family Guys because it is one of my favorite shows.  Family Guys genre is a comedy in the form of satire.  Family Guys pokes fun at modern day celebrities and events in the news.  Several times in each episode, the show goes completely off topic in a unrelated tangent that could poke fun at anything from a currently popular television show or celebrity or a political figure or decision.  For instance in one episode it makes fun of Kobe Bryant, the superstar basketball player, and his apparent innocence in his infamous rape case.  In another show, a character on Family Guy is a contestant on the Bachelor and throughout the episode the show satires the dramatized and somewhat idiotic nature of the so called “reality” television show. The creators of the show us these satirical tangents to present their subtext.  Family Guy episodes present an anti-pop-culture subtext.  The Family Guy creators use their satire to present their opinion that celebrities are attention-grabbing fools and they also poke fun at the viewers who tune into celebrity news, and reality tv.  Family Guy has been featured in many magazines and television programs.  The coverage is mixed and can be very positive and complementary or very negative. Many stories portray family guy as a crude yet clever and entertaining comedy show.  While others portray it as offensive to young children who could be exposed to the show.  It also has been criticized for possibly modeling itself after the popular animated sitcom The Simpsons.

The music in the show seems to vary quite a bit.  In the beginning of the episode there is always the same opening song in which all the main characters sing a song with a piano in the background. Throughout the episode there is always music that resembles that of classic sit com cut scenes.  However music plays a more prominent role in other episodes.  In some satirical scenes where the show pokes fun at things such as action movies, the music fits with what is going on on screen.  Also, some episodes have extended jokes involving music.  For instance, in one episode the main character becomes obsessed with a classic pop tune from the 60’s, and routinely plays the music throughout the episode. The genre of the show is an animated comedy and the point of view in the show is always done in 3rd person.  Their target audience is teenage and college students who are more open-minded to the sometimes offensive nature of the sketches.  The show borrows from the online environment because in some episodes it pokes fun at the nature of online interactions such as blogging and youtubing.

Media Diary

Friday:  Woke up around 12, ate breakfast while watching sportscenter.  I hung out in my dorm with friends for a while mostly either listening to music, playing video games or watching television.  When I wasn’t hanging out with friends I was either listening to music or surfing the web on my computer.  When I hung out with friends in the evening we listened to music but for the most part we weren’t connected to any form of media and were just talking.  When everyone left back to their rooms I watched a little tv and then went to bed.

 

Saturday:  I woke up around 11 and checked my computer for any new sports news.  Then I watched a little bit of the football playoff games playing.  After the football games I mostly just listened to music or played video games.  I went to a late lunch in the cafeteria and then came up to my room and read both without being exposed to any media.  Afterwards I used my phone to text and call friends and then met up with friends and left campus on the light rail to do errands.  When I got back I hung out with friends while listening to music and then went to bed.

 

Sunday:  I woke up around 11 again and then got breakfast.  I watched football with friends for most of the day, during halftime of the games I played video games with them.  Then I did homework while having a conversation over texting.  After I got dinner I listened to music with friends, did some homework and then went to bed.

 

Monday:  I woke up from the alarm on my phone and then went downstairs to eat breakfast.  I went to my first class at 10 then went back to my room.  I surfed the web on my computer while listening to music, then watched some tv before getting lunch.  When I got back I did a little bit of homework and then played video games with friends before my next class at 4.  I was really bored in my class because it is a huge lecture so while I was taking notes I routinely zoned out so I started playing poker on my phone.  When I got back I did homework on my computer with friends and then worked out.  I played video games with friends before going to bed.

Blog #1

One movie I saw over break was the Disney animated movie Tangled.  Thinking back on the movie I noticed several instances of technological and cultural convergance.  Technological convergance is the tendancy of different technological systems to evolve towards performing the same task.  Several of my different technological systems exposed me to this movie that I hadn’t heard of otherwise.  Before I even saw the movie, it was presented to me on several different technological medians mostly in the form of advertising.  I saw advertisements when I was watching tv and I also saw advertisements featured on my youtube homepage.  There was also an article on aol.com which is my internet homepage.  Even outside the internet and television I was still being exposed to this movie through other means of technology.  I read an article about the movie on my iphone on a newspaper application.  All of these different forms of technology were created with different purposes, but in this instance, they all performed the same task which was to expose me to a movie that I had never heard of before.  Tangled also had examples of cultural convergance.  Cultural convergance is the tendency of different cultures to change and become more similar to each other.  The movie tangled is a modern take on the classic German fairy tale from the 1800’s.  In the orignal fairy tale, the prince climbs up to Repunzal’s tower and immediately askes for her hand in marriage and she agrees.  Repunzal then accidently tells the witch of the prince and she is banished without her hair to eventually be found by her prince.  It is a serious tale on the importance of love and sacrifice.  The movie however, combines many of the common aspects of todays entertainment with the story and themes of the classic fairy tale.  The movie takes a much more humurous approach to the story, the prince for instance, doesn’t immediately propose to Repunzal and instead tries to flirt with her.  The movie is shown in CGI animation as apposed to the classic hand drawn animation.  The combination of the old and new styles of storytelling makes Tangled a perfect example of cultural convergance.