The final chapters in the book for web publishing class talk about the digital divide and the role technology plays in the democracy.
I found a great article on the Internet that ties into this subject. The article is titled, The Upgraded Digital Divide: Are We Developing New Technologies Faster Then Consumers Can Use Them?
When I think of the digital divide, I think simply of people with computers and those without them, and how the former group has such a major advantage over the latter. But this article forces me to expand my thinking.
The article talks about how new technologies continue to upgrade and add more features than they previously offered. These features are referred to as “bells and whistles.” At any rate, so many “bells and whistles” are offered these days on computers, cell phones, ipods, and cameras that people feel inclined to upgrade and keep up with the joneses.
While increased technology appears to be good because it offers more features and seems to be more convenient, is it really? The article says no, because with so many “bells and whistles” people rarely use them all and generally stick to the basics. They just like knowing the have the other capabilities.
So, what does all this many for the digital divide? Well, all of this is making the digital divide deeper or wider, if you will. The “have-nots” already are at a disadvantage because they don’t have the basic technology. And as the technology increases it puts them at even more of a disadvantage because when they do get the basics they are still going to be behind the “haves.”
The article makes the upgraded digital divide seem unnecessary because people aren’t even utilizing the extra functions of their appliances. But companies are all about profits and they are constantly in competition to offer the next new thing. Their quest for money in a free democracy is hurting those “have-nots” tremendously.
I feel because of all this the digital divide is unfortunately here to stay. No matter how many programs we enact or services we offer to help those left behind by technology we will never be able to reach them completely. For every step we take, new and improved devices take two more steps and we will simply never be able to catch up.
The book discuses the demographics of those “have-nots” including age, race, education, and socioeconomic status. Basically, “have-nots” are generally older, non-white, low education, and low income. In other words, a disadvantage in one category usually rolls over into another. So, where is there a chance for upward mobility?
While upgrading technology is a blessing to some, it is a curse to others.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Blog Post # 4: New Media & Democracy
New media is definitely influencing politics and contributing to democracy in America.
This is evident this year, in 2008, because it is a presidential election year. Every newscast and talk show from CBS to Tyra, Tyra Bank’s talk show, has done a special on politics or a political candidate.
In the Web Publishing book it devotes a whole chapter to electronic democracy and the role the media plays in politics. The articles praise technology, the Internet especially, for allowing more voices to be heard through the use of blogs, chat rooms, and response links.
However, the articles warn of the dangers of personal selectivity. Personal selectivity refers to the natural tendency people have to pick one side in politics and disregard or downplay the other side. This is dangerous because Republicans use the Internet to seek information that enforce their views, will Democrats use it to seek information that enforce theirs also. If this is the case, how will the two sides ever find a common ground on prudent issues?
One prudent issue the book discussed was Welfare. Most Republicans feel that Welfare needs to be abolished because it helps and in their eyes “rewards” certain people for having lots of kids and not being able to provide for themselves. While Democrats feel that it is our obligation as a civilized society to provide aid for people with dependents who clearly need the helping hand. Their argument is that the wealthy get tax breaks and advantages that the disadvantaged don’t get so welfare kind of balances the situation.
I found an article today from the Newsweek website titled, The Myth of Objectivity, that relates to the ideas discussed in the textbook. The article talks about how the press is suppose to be objective and provide the public with hard facts so that they can make an informed decision.
However, the press is increasingly putting a spin on their stories that favor a certain side or frame the story in a specific way. For example, the article citied a 1987 Newsweek story about the Vice President at the time, George H.W. Bush. The article showed a picture of him driving his speedboat and the headline said, “fighting the wimp factor,” clearly calling him a wimp!
The article also utilizes current examples relating to the sketch comedy shows like SNL and the Colbert Report that often use political humor to make fun of political candidates.
These shows are often accused of being left winged or right winged and they have significant impact especially on young voters.
While these shows often address the other side of the issue, they do so to poke fun and belittle the ideology. So what good is that?
Without a doubt, new media is changing the shape of democracy in America for better and for worse!
This is evident this year, in 2008, because it is a presidential election year. Every newscast and talk show from CBS to Tyra, Tyra Bank’s talk show, has done a special on politics or a political candidate.
In the Web Publishing book it devotes a whole chapter to electronic democracy and the role the media plays in politics. The articles praise technology, the Internet especially, for allowing more voices to be heard through the use of blogs, chat rooms, and response links.
However, the articles warn of the dangers of personal selectivity. Personal selectivity refers to the natural tendency people have to pick one side in politics and disregard or downplay the other side. This is dangerous because Republicans use the Internet to seek information that enforce their views, will Democrats use it to seek information that enforce theirs also. If this is the case, how will the two sides ever find a common ground on prudent issues?
One prudent issue the book discussed was Welfare. Most Republicans feel that Welfare needs to be abolished because it helps and in their eyes “rewards” certain people for having lots of kids and not being able to provide for themselves. While Democrats feel that it is our obligation as a civilized society to provide aid for people with dependents who clearly need the helping hand. Their argument is that the wealthy get tax breaks and advantages that the disadvantaged don’t get so welfare kind of balances the situation.
I found an article today from the Newsweek website titled, The Myth of Objectivity, that relates to the ideas discussed in the textbook. The article talks about how the press is suppose to be objective and provide the public with hard facts so that they can make an informed decision.
However, the press is increasingly putting a spin on their stories that favor a certain side or frame the story in a specific way. For example, the article citied a 1987 Newsweek story about the Vice President at the time, George H.W. Bush. The article showed a picture of him driving his speedboat and the headline said, “fighting the wimp factor,” clearly calling him a wimp!
The article also utilizes current examples relating to the sketch comedy shows like SNL and the Colbert Report that often use political humor to make fun of political candidates.
These shows are often accused of being left winged or right winged and they have significant impact especially on young voters.
While these shows often address the other side of the issue, they do so to poke fun and belittle the ideology. So what good is that?
Without a doubt, new media is changing the shape of democracy in America for better and for worse!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Blog Post # 3
Chapter six in the media textbook talks about media saturation and how every facet of our daily lives is filled with media.
Well, I found an article on the Lexis Nexis database entitled, Entertainment Overload; Tivo, Dvds, Ipods, Blogs, Xbox 360: It’s a world of endless possibilities. But is that really good for us, that fit this topic of media saturation perfectly.
The article used three individuals to emphasize how much of an effect media has on everyone. The three people chosen were either innovators or early adopters who stayed up to date with the latest technology. Specifically, one of them had a “34-inch-screen HDTV with surround sound and digital recording capability, an iPod Nano, two Apple computers, and an Xbox 360, the latest in video game technology.”
After establishing that media is all around us as individuals, the article went on to question if this saturation is a good thing or a bad thing. The textbook does the same thing. It opens up with an article about media saturation which basically states that it is impossible to avoid media, wheter it is on TV, radio, ipod, phone, magazine, newspaper, or billboard! The book talks about media overload and how people are bombared with messages, specifically spam email messages.
The articled discussed the same media overload, stating that by having so many media outlets and options from which to choose from, people are cluttering their day and creating more distractions to overcome in 24 hours. For example, if a college student has to write a paper they may have the TV on in the background or the radio on or the may be trying to talk on the phone at the same time. By constantly having a rush of media, individuals have less concrete time and more distractions to ignore.
Personally, I feel that this is true. I mean I always feel like I never have enough hours in the day to complete everything I need to. I wonder how many hours I spend a month listening to my new ipod shuffle and watching shows on BET.
Both the book and the article discussed the abundance of information and how this pertains to society. The article highlighted the fact that this abundance is making individuals have a very short attention span. For example, commercials have roughly five seconds to catch our attention and hold it. If they don’t we will most likely flip the channel or tune out. This is proving to be a major problem for networks and companies like Nielson, that try to capture data on TV viewership.
Another issue for indivduals is that they can never hear about everything no matter how many media outlets are accessible to them. Therefore, a person could read all the articles on a news website and still miss a newsworth event that happened the same day.
So what does all this mean for the future of the media? Well since Moore’s law states that chips double in ablity every year and half, technologies are only going to improve and add to the saturation problem. However, there are spyware services for spam messages and not all media is bad. For example, online dating has helped to create many successfully marriages and video games have helped to prepare troops for war.
All in all, media saturation is time consuming and unexcapable. But nowadays you have to take the good with the bad.
Well, I found an article on the Lexis Nexis database entitled, Entertainment Overload; Tivo, Dvds, Ipods, Blogs, Xbox 360: It’s a world of endless possibilities. But is that really good for us, that fit this topic of media saturation perfectly.
The article used three individuals to emphasize how much of an effect media has on everyone. The three people chosen were either innovators or early adopters who stayed up to date with the latest technology. Specifically, one of them had a “34-inch-screen HDTV with surround sound and digital recording capability, an iPod Nano, two Apple computers, and an Xbox 360, the latest in video game technology.”
After establishing that media is all around us as individuals, the article went on to question if this saturation is a good thing or a bad thing. The textbook does the same thing. It opens up with an article about media saturation which basically states that it is impossible to avoid media, wheter it is on TV, radio, ipod, phone, magazine, newspaper, or billboard! The book talks about media overload and how people are bombared with messages, specifically spam email messages.
The articled discussed the same media overload, stating that by having so many media outlets and options from which to choose from, people are cluttering their day and creating more distractions to overcome in 24 hours. For example, if a college student has to write a paper they may have the TV on in the background or the radio on or the may be trying to talk on the phone at the same time. By constantly having a rush of media, individuals have less concrete time and more distractions to ignore.
Personally, I feel that this is true. I mean I always feel like I never have enough hours in the day to complete everything I need to. I wonder how many hours I spend a month listening to my new ipod shuffle and watching shows on BET.
Both the book and the article discussed the abundance of information and how this pertains to society. The article highlighted the fact that this abundance is making individuals have a very short attention span. For example, commercials have roughly five seconds to catch our attention and hold it. If they don’t we will most likely flip the channel or tune out. This is proving to be a major problem for networks and companies like Nielson, that try to capture data on TV viewership.
Another issue for indivduals is that they can never hear about everything no matter how many media outlets are accessible to them. Therefore, a person could read all the articles on a news website and still miss a newsworth event that happened the same day.
So what does all this mean for the future of the media? Well since Moore’s law states that chips double in ablity every year and half, technologies are only going to improve and add to the saturation problem. However, there are spyware services for spam messages and not all media is bad. For example, online dating has helped to create many successfully marriages and video games have helped to prepare troops for war.
All in all, media saturation is time consuming and unexcapable. But nowadays you have to take the good with the bad.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Blog Post # 2
Last week in Web Publishing class we discussed convergence and how old media forms are coming together to form new media. An example of convergence, would be the ability of modern cell phones to take pictures and access the Internet.
Well, I found an article at cnn.com that directly relates to this idea of convergence. The article was about Comcast and how the company is promising faster Internet services.
When I think of the word Comcast, I think of cable because I currently resided in the dorms at Flagler College and the company provides my cable. Naturally, they would since they are the only cable provider in this area!
Anyways, Comcast is a major player in the media game and their constantly expanding their services. Specifically, the company is developing new technology that delivers up to 160 megabits of data per second for downloads. This is a major step up from the average 10 megabits per second offered by most cable companies.
In class, we discussed some of the reasons why convergence is happening so rapidly. One of those reasons was because information is a commodity, which can be brought and sold. That is exactly why Comcast is perfecting this new technology, so it can hopefully boost broadband sales, which have been slowing.
In addition to faster Internet, Comcast is also offering 1,000 high-definition movies through video on demand and pay per view services. Like we mentioned several times in class, TVs are about to switch over to high definition later this year, and they are governing themselves accordingly.
This relates to another idea we learned in class, digital divide. These developing technologies will help reduce the digital divide because almost everyone is switching over to HD, and those who are not are laggards or non-adapters according to the Diffusion of Innovation Model. Comcast really doesn’t care about these people who are out of the digital loop.
Besides the Internet and the HD movies, Comcast has a Fancast website, which has old and new TV shows and some movies for users’ convenience. As a result, Comcast has lots of power, because the control of information means more power. In other words, Comcast can advertise for its website on the TV and advertise for its TV services on the web.
As if all this is not enough, the company is introducing a new caller id service that pops up on computers and TVs of customers who purchase its cable, Internet, and phone package. Comcast is also working closely with Vtech to develop a cordless phone with a mini screen, so customers can check their email, weather forecast, sports data, and phone directory all on one device.
With so many companies like Comcast emerging it won’t be long before the computer and the TV are officially one and the same like we discussed in the last class!
Well, I found an article at cnn.com that directly relates to this idea of convergence. The article was about Comcast and how the company is promising faster Internet services.
When I think of the word Comcast, I think of cable because I currently resided in the dorms at Flagler College and the company provides my cable. Naturally, they would since they are the only cable provider in this area!
Anyways, Comcast is a major player in the media game and their constantly expanding their services. Specifically, the company is developing new technology that delivers up to 160 megabits of data per second for downloads. This is a major step up from the average 10 megabits per second offered by most cable companies.
In class, we discussed some of the reasons why convergence is happening so rapidly. One of those reasons was because information is a commodity, which can be brought and sold. That is exactly why Comcast is perfecting this new technology, so it can hopefully boost broadband sales, which have been slowing.
In addition to faster Internet, Comcast is also offering 1,000 high-definition movies through video on demand and pay per view services. Like we mentioned several times in class, TVs are about to switch over to high definition later this year, and they are governing themselves accordingly.
This relates to another idea we learned in class, digital divide. These developing technologies will help reduce the digital divide because almost everyone is switching over to HD, and those who are not are laggards or non-adapters according to the Diffusion of Innovation Model. Comcast really doesn’t care about these people who are out of the digital loop.
Besides the Internet and the HD movies, Comcast has a Fancast website, which has old and new TV shows and some movies for users’ convenience. As a result, Comcast has lots of power, because the control of information means more power. In other words, Comcast can advertise for its website on the TV and advertise for its TV services on the web.
As if all this is not enough, the company is introducing a new caller id service that pops up on computers and TVs of customers who purchase its cable, Internet, and phone package. Comcast is also working closely with Vtech to develop a cordless phone with a mini screen, so customers can check their email, weather forecast, sports data, and phone directory all on one device.
With so many companies like Comcast emerging it won’t be long before the computer and the TV are officially one and the same like we discussed in the last class!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Blog Post # 1
I read this article tonight on the New York Times website titled The Coming Wave Of Gadgets That Listen and Obey. The piece talked about speech recognition technology and how different companies like Microsoft, AT&T, and Intel are competing to make better speech systems for phones, cars, and computers.
The article was really interesting to me because in Web Publishing class we discussed how technology and media are becoming more interactive and therefore more personalized. I mean users can pick and choose what content and applications they want and disregard the ones they don’t want. And now, users will be able to use their own voice more accurately to make these decisions!
Of course, we already have some speech technology with the navigation systems in some luxury cars. Then there are the annoying automated systems that handle most customer service calls for businesses. I know you love those, right. But according to the piece of writing that’s just the beginning. Companies are improving speech technology so it can recognize more realistic human voices. In other words, users won’t have to speak so plain like a robotic voice. The technology will be more accustom to the natural flow of the tongue during a conversation. Experts are also studying different accents and pronunciations to improve the speech technology for foreigners as well.
In the future, every cell phone, car, and computer will probably have the capability to recognize and respond to its user’s voice. I think it would be cool to say turn on and have your computer turn on, or say go to Myspace and have the computer bring up your profile page. I can even imagine getting in the car and saying your friends name and having your car remember the route to your friend’s house! It’s amazing how technology keeps out doing itself.
While I look forward to the future of speech technology, I wonder how many people would actually use the applications. I mean there are a lot of people who are intimidated by technology and they want things to be as simple as possible. Furthermore, I question how advanced speech technology will affect normal communication. For instance, if people driving cars can have a conversation with the interactive media in their vehicles, what will happen to the need for passengers as a source of entertainment? Think about it!
The article was really interesting to me because in Web Publishing class we discussed how technology and media are becoming more interactive and therefore more personalized. I mean users can pick and choose what content and applications they want and disregard the ones they don’t want. And now, users will be able to use their own voice more accurately to make these decisions!
Of course, we already have some speech technology with the navigation systems in some luxury cars. Then there are the annoying automated systems that handle most customer service calls for businesses. I know you love those, right. But according to the piece of writing that’s just the beginning. Companies are improving speech technology so it can recognize more realistic human voices. In other words, users won’t have to speak so plain like a robotic voice. The technology will be more accustom to the natural flow of the tongue during a conversation. Experts are also studying different accents and pronunciations to improve the speech technology for foreigners as well.
In the future, every cell phone, car, and computer will probably have the capability to recognize and respond to its user’s voice. I think it would be cool to say turn on and have your computer turn on, or say go to Myspace and have the computer bring up your profile page. I can even imagine getting in the car and saying your friends name and having your car remember the route to your friend’s house! It’s amazing how technology keeps out doing itself.
While I look forward to the future of speech technology, I wonder how many people would actually use the applications. I mean there are a lot of people who are intimidated by technology and they want things to be as simple as possible. Furthermore, I question how advanced speech technology will affect normal communication. For instance, if people driving cars can have a conversation with the interactive media in their vehicles, what will happen to the need for passengers as a source of entertainment? Think about it!
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