Fake News

I don't think that the US should adopt the similar legislation because when every article needs to be regulated so heavily, it takes away the aspect of freedom of speech. I don't believe that fake news should be circulated and I would like to see it end, but if everything is regulated by the government then how can people trust that what they say is fake is actually fake. People would have to put a lot of their trust into government officials and to have something so controlled does not sound that ideal to me. I also think that the fine of $740,000 for people who break this law is absolutely absurd and ten years of jail time is also a huge price to pay for fake news. Income is one of the biggest reasons for people to produce fake news, so odds are people are not just going to stop if they are making a healthy profit from it. Companies like Facebook and YouTube would also suffer from this law because they will get fined if fake news is circulated on their sites which brings in even more tight regulation.

Transmedia Storytelling

I really agree with what Jenkins says about transmedia storytelling providing a richer experience for viewers. I think it is smarter to develop the story over multiple platforms instead of viewers "being bombarded" with all of the information as soon as they view the movie or show. By dispersing the information, it allows the viewer to become more involved and gives them an incentive to follow all of the different stories on multiple platforms to gain more insight about the film. By having different information available, it allows people to come together and share their views and opinions on a particular story line ultimately bringing the story to life and connecting more fans. My favorite example of transmedia storytelling is Harry Potter. The Harry Potter franchise has used multiple platforms to enrich the story line including video games, books, and even the Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. When fans are allowed to interact with story lines and uncover new information, it provides them with an overall richer film experience. 

The birth of a Hipster

Hipsters are known for liking things that don't go with the mainstream. If everyone is wearing pink, hipsters will wear blue and say they liked blue "before it was cool." This "trendsetter" mentality, of liking things that go outside of the mainstream, was a type of personality that was completely ignored during the era of blockbusters and music "hits". Directors and producers did not care about the hipsters of the world and only wanted to sell things that spoke to the greater good. They were under the spell that popularity sells and anything obscure will just take up shelf space. These people were not entirely wrong, but a new era was born in the midst of all of this: the HIPSTERS. Hipsters loved Niche markets because these markets would offer less popular material that still sold to a large number of people, these people including hipsters. There will always be a niche market in the world because not everyone likes the same things and not everyone wants to listen to the same music and watch the same shows. We are NOT robots. The hipsters ate up these niche markets and now niche markets are popping up everywhere. Record players are making a comeback as well as Polaroid cameras. I will admit that i even have a Polaroid and I absolutely love it.   

The Arab Spring

Wow. It is almost hard to articulate words that represent how the Arab Spring video we watched in class made me feel. That woman was so inspiring and brave to be able to express her true emotions on a universal platform where she felt safe enough to do so. The internet can be a beautiful place, when used correctly. This woman was able to share her story, and relay her messages to people because it was the only way she felt free to express herself. Egyptians in general used blogs and vlogs to talk about corruption, police brutality, and the sexual harassment of protesters. This video inspired me to use more platforms, like blogs, to express myself freely. I also applaud the woman's effort in breaking gender roles and admitting that she would like to go out and fight, while challenging the mens' manhood. I hope her video doesn't get forgotten and young women who struggle through the same governmental issues that she did, use platforms to speak up!   

The Dangers of the Filter Bubble

Diversity is key in any scenario, but especially online and in virtual communities. Diversity of the mind allows people to share different perspectives and increase their knowledge on a certain topic. The dangers of the filter bubble is that it increases group polarization, and when too many like-minded people are in one room, chaos is usually there to follow. You need different opinions to balance the extreme voices in each group out because too many extreme voices will silence the voices that have any different opinions towards the group. This will ultimately cause more extremists and no neutral voices to balance the group out. Think about it, if pro-life activists come together and talk about how much they hate planned parenthood, they can get so riled up where they decide to bomb a facility. This is very scary and virtual communities need to allow more diversity to avoid these extremist views.

Bully for Attention

Online bullying is definitely a problem that shouldn't be ignored, but when handling how to approach bullying, some different perspectives and solutions come about. Is there any right or wrong way in approaching a bully?The act of bullying is never just a black and white issue. The bully typically has a terrible home life and gets abused in his or her own way, and the person getting bullied typically has self esteem issues that root deeper than the bully is even aware of. Kids are impressionable and sometimes purely evil when it comes to how they treat others. There is no way in truly containing the bullying epidemic because of the grey area involved and the psychological issues that go deeper than someone calling a person fat or ugly because they think it is funny. 

I feel like no laws or punishments will be severe enough or effective enough to get people to stop bullying. Bringing attention to the bullies just highlights their behavior, and bullies can mistake that attention for something positive. Bullies usually are attention seekers so it is just adding more unnecessary fuel to the fire. Only when people start accepting therapy and psychological help, will bullying begin to die down. There is no law that will stop them and bringing more attention to it will only worsen the situation. Support groups for victims of bullies like this one can start opening the conversation and closing the bullying window. 

    

Stranger Danger

Stranger Danger in the 1960s was described as a creepy man luring kids into his van by offering them candy; in the 21st century, stranger danger looks a lot different. The internet is flooded with creeps and people pretending to be somebody they're not, just waiting to be talked to. Online chat rooms and even virtual online worlds like LambdaMoo are getting invaded by these creeps, and young kids are falling victim to their ways. Preteens are especially vulnerable to these types of people because they know exactly what to say to get the insecure junior year schoolers to do as they say. Parents are becoming more worried and they have good reason to be. Kids can meet ANYONE online and create friendships with people they don't even know, which is the beautiful curse of the internet. Either you meet a friend for life or you meet someone who can ruin your life, just like Amanda Todd's  tormentor. The truth is, in any scenario, whether it be online or in real life, people need to have caution and be aware of their surroundings. You never know who is lurking in the shadows or the chat rooms.

Who Am I?

Online I can be anybody I want. I can be Bold, sweet, or even a little FuNkY. The point is, you can create your own identity online and how you want to be perceived through the eyes of others by filtering what you post. It is much easier to control our self-presentation and identity online than out in public at say the mall. The question of whether this is right or wrong is up for a little debate. People should always be their true selves in any scenario, whether they are out with friends at a bar or engaged in an online chat room, their morals and values should be the same. It is much easier, however, to act professional and post important accomplishments online to create that facade opposed to actually working hard at your job though. People will only show what they want to online and if that means creating a completing different identity I guess there is no stopping them. People need to just remember to stay true to themselves.

Friend or Foe?

How many "friends" on social media are truly your friends? Before social media, a friend was someone you shared common interests with and someone you connected with on a deeper level. Today, however, friends have conjured up a completely different meaning. Social media friends are at best strangers, and for some reason people think they need these strangers to fulfill some sort of void in their life. When I was younger I truly believed that the more "friends", or strangers, we have on social media, the more popular you will be. As a young middle-schooler it seemed that being cool and having 1000 friends on Facebook was all that mattered in life. 

Today, when I look at my social media accounts I do not see friends, I see people posing as friends to get likes on their pictures. I do not have that same needy feeling of accepting every person who enters my friend request box, and honestly it is refreshing. Lately I have been deleting people I do not know on a personal level and only keeping the friends around that I would actually want in my life. Don't fall into the habit of friending everyone you see, and remember to always follow your real friends in life because they are the people that matter. 

Just Google It

Ah Google, the trusty search Engine that everyone loves to hate. Google has had a huge impact on our world for over a decade now, and most people will even say that it has become the monopoly of search engines. When we do not know an answer to something, the most common phrase that follows the question is, "just google it!" People have fallen into this cycle of relying on one search engine for all of their needs. The question of whether this is good or bad is up for debate, however.

I can confidently say that Google has too much power over our lives. We rely on it for almost everything, putting blind faith in whatever results it musters up for us. While sometimes this reaps benefits, it also reaps havoc when we google something and the results contain a bias. The experiment we did in class on googling "doctor" showed a sea of white male faces staring back at us through the computer screen. Another image of a woman doctor in noting but a bra and a lab coat also came up. The truth is, biases are still very much alive in this world and since google is comprised of people's search histories and preferences, some biases will be present.  

I think Google should monitor what content is going out to the public more, but people are addicted to Google and whatever people are googling the most, is what is going to pop up the most in search results. Google is nothing more than a free rider benefiting off of other publication's works. Google is a powerful entity, but when we look at it, it really is just something created by many different voices. 

Megan Reardon

I read the interview on Megan Reardon! I chose this particular blog because I really liked her blog name "Not Martha." Martha Stewart is the queen of crafts, but Megan has become more than just a jester with her knitting and craft blog. She started blogging just to keep her thoughts and ideas all in one place, but it has evolved into a blog that gets about four thousand visitors a day. Megan has gotten busy in her life and does not have as much time and effort to put into her blog, but she still enjoys the fact that she isn't responsible to anyone else for writing her blog. If she messes up, she can edit or even delete her writing. Her blog also led her to getting a few knitting patterns in books and had a small article in Bust magazine. Overall, the blog has made her aware of how people truly are whether that be kind or weird, and it is a relief to know that real people are still out there.  

First Blog Post!

Hey everybody!

Welcome to Blogging Basics. Don't let the title fool you, all content in this blog will be the farthest thing from anything "basic." Get ready for some deep conversations and exploration of some vast topics!