Writing Assignment 9- Politics

Blogging has steadily become popular, although a blog wasn't always necessarily known in the format we know it today. Similar to blogs were Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail lists and Bulletin Board Systems(Wikipedia). By the mid 1990’s blogging seemed more like an online journal. Soon by early 2000’s blogs become more about politics. Blogging allowed politicians and political candidates a way to express their opinions on war and other important issues. By 2004, “the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and forming” (Wikipedia).Blogging may also be seen as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public. Politicians who use internet technology are able to reach out to their supports. The internet allows for people to have social debates online regarding their views and while also learning more about their favorite politician. The internet simply provides an alternative way for people to get involved in their nations politics.



Some are asking “Does the internet create Democracy?” Communication technology is continuing to develop and improve; the internet for example has helped to expand knowledge and freedom, democratizes culture (Thornton, 2002). I believe along with many others that the internet is doing just that, helping to create a more democratic nation as well as maintain what democracy we have left. One individual who is a small part of creating Democracy via internet is Elizabeth Benjamin, a citizen blogger. Benjamin has created a blog on NYDailyNews.com, called The Daily Politics based on the New York’s political scene. She simply provides information to the readers, allowing the readers to comment and voice their opinion. The internet allows citizens both internal resources for participation in political discourse as well as external resources in order to give voice to their opinions (Thornton, 2002). The site officially began on April 4, 2006. Her most recent blog is called Ron Paul Flies First in NY, featuring information about the ‘libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, an anti-Iraq War congressman” and his trip to Albany trip along with his conclusion with stop in New York, where Paul also included several NYC fundraisers.


The quality of the blog “Ron Paul Flies First in NY” is mainly objective. It discusses Ron Paul’s campaign and him trying to be placed on the ballet. Several people have even written comments about the blog, illustrating their support for Ron Paul even by going as far as saying “Dr. Ron, we patriots, are behind you” (nydailynews.com). One person who comments on the blog is clear with his opinion of the internet has helped and what it has done towards politics, he states “Ahhhh, media coverage the way it should be: just the facts, AND printing a useful photo sent in by a Johnny-on-the-spot, AND even a link to dailypaul.com” (nydailynews.com)! Other’s who have commented on the blog are simply making corrections, while also sharing the information they have learned. Internet technology has certainly helped in creating and/or maintaining democracy. Blogging and other forms of online communication allow individuals, whether they are supports or not, a chance to voice their opinions and be heard, as well as know the truth. The internet has helped create a link between politicians and the people. People are no longer in the dark and have a way to learn the truth.

Thornton, A. (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy? Retrieved October 23, 2007 from http://www.ublearns.buffalo.edu/com125

Benjamin, E. (2007). Ron Paul Files 1st in NY. The Daily News. Retrieved October 23, 2007 from http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2007/10/ron_paul_files_first_in_ny.html

Writing Assignment 8- Flickr

Flickr

http://flickr.com/

The web application Flickr is where anyone can manage and share their online photographs. Flickr works with Microsoft and uses the Windows Live Photo Gallery. The Windows Live Photo Gallery makes it an easy way to get your photos off of your camera, tag them, make simple corrections, and then upload them to Flickr. Flickr has two main goals, the first goal is to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them and as a way to do this Flickr get photos into and out of the system in as many ways as it can. The second goal of Flickr is to enable new ways of organizing photos. Like photo albums Flickr allows you to organize your photos in a collaborative way. In Flickr, you can give your friends, family, and other contacts permission to organize your photos along with adding comments, notes and tags.

As a person who has never used Flickr my first impression was that I liked the site’s design. The site's design is very simple with no clutter. It helps first time users and account holders to find things easily. There are only a couple of advertisements on site pages which is also nice. I don't enjoy being bombarded with advertisements. One important aspect of the site is that it can give you a tour of the different applications Flickr is capable of.

The main social aspects of Flickr are that it is a community of many types of people, and the creators of Flickr want users to share. One aspect of this is that Flickr categorizes photos as a way for people to come together according to their interests. Groups can either be public, public (invite only), or completely private. Every group has a pool for sharing photos and a discussion board for talking. Flickr allows account holders to share blogs that contain pictures and captions. The site also allows outside views to get an idea of what the web application is like by showing some of the most interesting photographs found on Flickr.

I found the site to be very interesting and it could be very beneficial for someone who took hundreds of photographs. Flickr also allows users to be creative; you can simple print your photographs or create calling cards, photo-books, slide show-DVDs, postage stamps, etc... Flickr is definitely a useful and creative web application.

Writing Assignment 7:Community

All of us belong to communities; in fact most of us belong to several. Communities are important aspects of our lives. Similar to offline communities, online communities allow us all to meet with people who share similar interests. The internet acts as a mediator within groups or communities. According to the article, Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? , the authors agree that the idea of "community has been long recognized as having a central place in our social fabric.” The main structure behind a community is communication and without communication there can be no action to organize social relations within a community. With the popularity of the internet today, virtual communities have become an even bigger part of the online world. A virtual community is a group of people who interact via Internet Web sites, chat rooms, newsgroups, email, discussion boards or forums; also called know as a online community (Dictionary.com). Online social networks have provided a new and organized method for social networking.

Sites like Facebook and MySpace allow us to network by using the Friend process, choosing people first and interests second (Boyd). Facebook is a social networking site I use frequently and it allows us to find friends as a way of networking. Facebook allows people to communicate and connect with new and old friends and exchange information. Facebook profiles allow us to gain information about people without actually meeting them first. When compared to offline communities, online communities also allow us to choose what people know and what information is present in their profile. Facebook profiles contain basic information about a person like a name, sex, religious and political views, interests, and activities. Facebook originally began in the college setting and so a profile can also list a student’s college along with their course load. A profile allows you to see how much you have in common with others, helping to establish or improve your social network. We can get to know a person without even speaking to them.

Online communities differ from the type of communication a person uses when face to face, for example expanding your social network. We can choose to associate ourselves with someone or not.Those of us who have Facebook or MySpace accounts understand that we are able to choose our friends. Belonging to social networking sites allows for individuals to pick and choose how they want to be presented to others. In face to face communication it is much harder to pull off. We are allowed to choose our friends by searching through our interests, college or school, or even by deciding who to accept as a friend. Offline social settings don’t necessarily allow us to pick and choose. Also internet communication allows us to be friends with people we necessarily wouldn’t be friends with in real life.

Communication within social networks is also different when you compare online to offline communication. Facebook allows people to message and comment on each other’s walls. Or for other online communities it may be blog comments, bulletins or simple Instant Messaging. Online communities allow us to send and receive messages and we decided whether we want to respond or not. Communication over the internet is convenient ways for most of us and unlike offline communication, individuals online don’t necessarily have to address or respond back to their friends and visa versa. Communication online also allows us to express how we feel more freely. With the lack of face to face communication people are more willing to say how they really feel about something, often times effecting social ties within a group.

The basic principle of a community is that it is a shared environment between people with common interests. A virtual community is a social network with a common interest, idea, task or goal that interacts in a virtual society across time, geographical and organizational boundaries and is able to develop personal relationships (Wikipedia). Socializing whether it is online or offline is a major part of our everyday lives. We all need to communication and to develop social ties.

www.Wikipedia.com

Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?

Online Identity

Online identities are something we all have in common, whether it is e-mail, blogs, or instant massager. We are all part of the online world. These are all ways to establish a network on the online communities (Wikipedia). Many people have accounts with MySpace and Facebook, as do I. We create these accounts as a way to network. We network by sharing as much information about yourself or as little and as we continue using the different online identities we build a reputation, allowing others to decide whether you are trustworthy or not. The problem that corresponds with online identities is that that individual can give a distorted view of themselves. Meaning they falsely represent themselves online and offline.
An online identity I am most familiar with myself are social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. I carry accounts on both. However the MySpace network site allows for more than one way to create an online identity. MySpace allows account holders to write blogs, post bulletins, and even instant message with MySpaceIM. These are all ways of creating online identities. For the majority MySpace and Facebook are networking sites where anyone can create a profile describing them while also listing their hobbies, favorite music and movies, etc... It used to be that only college students were able to have accounts on Facebook but today it includes high school students as well. Account holders can customize their page however they like. Choosing to share what they want and don’t want to. The idea behind both of these social networks is to allow account holders to search and friend other members whether they know them or not. With both these social networking sites allowing almost anyone to join, the topic of reputation comes to mind. Are the people you meet online really who they say they are? Basically you could be anyone you choose to be. Wikipedia says the difference between blogs and social networks like MySpace and Facebook are that an individual must make their identity known; no pseudonyms or fictitious names are allowed. An online identity itself is described as being more malleable than a real life identity. On line identities allow for individuals to redefine themselves and in some cases an individual can create as many identities as they choose to. Wikipedia states that multiple online identities often arrive under circumstances that raise accountability questions.
A possible way of assuming someone else’s identity on MySpace are by using the custom pages uses create allow the injection of certain HTML which can be crafter to form a phishing user profile, keeping the myspace.com domain as the address (Wikipedia). Phishing is the attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit car details (Wikipedia). By assuming someone else’s identity you are then able to use their profile and information, putting your reputation in question. This is a primary concern of the online communities, whether or not a person is misrepresenting themselves. The point is you can choose what kind of identity you have online, either it can be very open and revealing or you can keep personal information to a minimum. You build your own reputation, but so can everyone else.