Questions for "Can Blogs Revolutionize Progressive Politics?"

1) Why do the Democratic leaders embrace blogging as a potential political

Communication considering the traditional media landscape in politics?

-Democratic leaders embrace blogging as a potential political communication because blogging provides a variety of features like discussion boards, Internet donations, live e-chat, social networking tools like MeetUp, and online voting that allows ordinary citizens to participate in politics. Blogs also have the advantage over traditional media of being faster, cheaper, and most importantly interactive, enabling a voter involvement impossible with television or newspapers.

2) Blogging encourages a participatory culture. In what way does the

Participatory culture in blogging expands digital media convergence?

-Participatory culture in blogging expands digital media convergence because it allows more involvement and communication between people. People can communicate with different media on blogs. With pictures, text, video, audio etc. It all allows people to use all of kinds of media to share and express their ideas.

3) In the article, the author says: “The ability of the Internet to erase geographical distances can become a structural weakness in elections where district lines and eligibility are key.” How can blogging counter this weakness in the process of turning the netroots to grassroots?

-Blogging can become a problem when people start making rude comments on blogs or saying things that just wont be necessary for an election. It can also be a problem for people who might not know how to use technology very well, because those people who might not know how to or might just not be able to have access to the internet will not be able to interact like those who can.

4) The author spends the second half of the article discussing the lack of diversity in current blogosphere dominated by elite bloggers. Please use the concept of digital convergence to explain how blogs can become the real bearer of freedom, democracy, egalitarianism, and participation in the new media communication?

-Blogging allows people from all over the world to communicate, share and reflect on their ides on a fast and easy way. Like the article states blogging is becoming very popular among political parties, because it lets them interact with their voters like other sorts of media like television and newspapers, wouldn’t.

Question for "Virtual Revolution"

1) The web is celebrated as the revolutionary technology that is great leveling of humanity creating equal opportunity, equal access, and equal potential. However, there are only a quarter of people on the earth who can use it. How do you explain the controversial argument here?

-A Lot of countries don’t have the opportunity to go on the web like many of us do because a lot of the the poorer countries don’t have access, availability, or the money to be on the internet. Many places like Africa are finally starting to gain access, learn and take advantage of the web.

2) How is Wikipedia the best example to implement the leveling ideas of the Web rooted in the cultural revolution of 1960s, namely the Libertarianism in the counter culture? How does it explain some of the digital convergences?

-Wikipedia is a good example of Libertarianism because anyone in the world that can access it can make any kind changes to a page that they want. Wikipedia is known not to be trusted as a reliable source because the information on it could be right or wrong. It is also an example of how all of us have free will on what we want to do on the internet, which according to the video is a reason why the internet was created, so people could freely and willingly talk about certain touchy subjects.

3) How does the Web make it possible for different kinds of digital convergence?

-The Web makes it possible for different kinds of digital convergence because people can access and do all kinds of things on the web like watch videos, read blogs, listen to music, download software, all rapidly, easily, and for free. It also lets people talk and express themselves about certain issues going on in the world. The web allows people to express themselves, learn, give and receive ideas, discuss them with others and reflect on these ideas.

4) How can the Internet become a challenge for traditional authority? Use the political landscape changes in some counties to illustrate your answer.

-The Internet can become a challenge for traditional authority when people start talking about issues that not everyone might agree on. A big issue that has always been a problem to talk about freely are issues about the government.

5) Do you believe that getting information free can set us free eventually? Why or Why not? Do you see any concerns of the complete freedom or self-expression without limit on the Internet? Why or why not?

-I think that it is a good thing for people to have free will on what they believe in. I also think that the internet is a good way for people to be able to express the way they feel with out creating to many problems in society. If this free will or self-expression that we have on the internet when beyond that, I think that it would definitely make people question authority and what is right or wrong in society.

6) In traditional media communication, it has the “vertical” authority. In the Web communication, it becomes “horizontal?” How do you explain the change? How does this create the possibility for digital media convergence?

-There is a change because on the internet everyone can freely talk about their opinions. People can find others others to connect with their same beliefs and share ideas. This makes people want to be on the web, it makes them want to share their ideas, express themselves and talk to others.

7) Why is that the Web is free critical for the success of the Web itself? How does that clash with the corporate business ideology? How does that pose challenges for copyright issues at the same time? What will happen if the Web is not free?

-The free Web is critical because if people have to pay to access it then many of those people will have problems and will not pay for it. People already pay to be able to connect to the internet in their home, they are not going to want to pay to to do other things on the web as well. This clashes with the corporate business ideology because it allows people from lower statues, to access the internet and learn things from it that to others might mean nothing. If the Web is not free it will cause a lot of problems for many people. There will be so many more people who will not be able to afford it an access it. It will take away from the idea of having “free-will” on the internet.

1) Broadband service is the key for the success of online communication because it allows more information to be sent in a shorter period of time. It allows people to receive audio or video in real time or at the same quality as they are used to from or television radio. The social effects of broadband service are people being easily to watch videos made by people in distant places and learn about global issues. It lets you connect with people in a very human level, and allows you to learn about other people and cultures. The broadband service makes digital convergence possible because the broadband connections make it possible to get large amounts of information from a variety of sources. It allows people to have fast and various forms of information from one device.

2) The use of the World Wide Web opens the door of the Internet communication to a much wider audience because the Web enabled easy many-to-many communication over distance and time. The Web browsers move online communication to “acoustic world” because people are able to create and publish on the Web for very little cost and with little technical expertise.

3) If the government allowed the development of broadband internet for everyone it would give the common person the ability to state more opinions in a shorter amount of time. If everyone is on the internet at one time trying to do the same thing it makes the internet slower and will ultimately be unsuccessful.

4) News industries could differently benefit from this because a lot of people find about things over social media like facebook or twitter before they read it or see it on the news. If they could distribute their information faster it would benefit them.

5) Twitter is a big way that people communicate with each other and it can be improved by not letting everyone be able to comment or re tweet certain posts using their own opinions. Sometimes some of these tweets could be used professionally and some random friend could not know that it is professional so they might comment their own opinion which could be bad. This also goes along with all kinds of media websites.

Questions for the article "Digital McLuhan"

1) What are the differences between the pre-literate acoustic world and the alphabetical visual world? How does the media of television become a part of the acoustic world?

The difference between the pre-literate acoustic world and the alphabetical visual world is that according to the text “is the world viewed through pre-literate eyes is a world of no boundaries in which information emerges not from fixed positions but anywhere and everywhere. It is the world of music, myth, and total immersion”, while the alphabetical visual world is in the form of television and lacks perspective or distance from it's subjects. Television becomes a part part of the acoustic world because it is also a musical, mythic, and immersive form.   

2) Why does the alphabet have the segregating tendencies? How exactly does the printing press reverse the segregating tendencies?

The alphabet had segregating tendencies because of it's origin as a solitary medium, texts that were usually readable by no more then one set of eyes at one time, and capable of being copied only by dint of someone transcribing page per page as the text says. The printing press reverses the segregating tendencies by having more then one copy of alphabetical texts available to many more then one person and to public’s rather then to disparate people as the text explains.

3) How does the alphabetic communication in online communication make cyberspace acoustic? How is the online acoustic world different from the television, radio, or print acoustic world?

The alphabetic communication in online communication make cyberspace acoustic because of the instant communication people can have around the world no matter where they are, through live chats that are available all the time.

The online acoustic world is different from the television, radio, or print acoustic world because in the text it says that radio and television, and products of the printing press are cases of “closed” acoustic space while in online communication approximates at least part of the openness of the in-person conversation.    

4) Not only do we invent media and media technologies but also we select their uses in different contexts. What are the two selection criteria? According to the selection criteria, please discuss what will happen to our online communication in 20 years?

 

The two selection criteria are wanting media to extend to there communications beyond the biological boundaries of naked seeing and hearing and wanting media to recapture elements that of that biological communication which early artificial extensions may have lost as the text says. According to the selection criteria in 20 years our online communication is that the alphabet may disappear which would be a bad thing for everyone for many reasons.