Week 12 - Is this the end..?

This semester seems to have passed really fast, because it doesnt seem like too long ago when I was wondering if i should drop this course because I thought it was for people already interested and involved in technology on a much higher level than I was. I, of course was wrong as I really enjoyed the course, I learnt quite a lot about different ideas about technology and different views on how it could affect our future.

I thought learning new things about word was fun and easy and adobe photoshop was especially interesting. I only just started to use a few of the tools as I havnt gotten a complete hang of it yet but I know I'm going to be using it a lot, for fun and also for work. Its quite a useful program. excel on the other hand wasn't as interesting for me, I found it troublesome though I can see how it can be very useful for a lot of purposes and I'm afraid I'm going to have to use that in the future too. I used to be pretty apprehensive about trying new programs with a lot of tools and funcations like adobe but this course helped me deal with them and it was made really simple. The tutorial tasks were well explained and Adam was really helpful, any doubts I had were answered in the tutes or via e-mail and not like like most other 2 line replies from tutors saying all the information is on learnin at gu. What else did I like..hmm..Of course the lectures, and the movies that were shown (missed a couple, but checked them out online) were different from other classes, it was a refreshing change actually from the marketing courses Ive been doing the past few years. I thought updating the blog weekly was a good as well as it was like a journal of what you accoplished that week or what you learnt.

What I didnt like about the course - well there isnt much to say here, The lectures I attended seemed a little boring, the subjects themselves were interesting but the lectures wern't as intreguing.

I'm sure theres a lot of things from this course that will help me later on, and some of the ideas generated still have me thinking ( which might have something to do with all the studying for the exam!!thank God thats over!!). The virtual reality topics were fascinating but the topics about open software and cyber politics etc levelled the balance but its integral to the course. I think its fair to say that the course opened our minds to the countless possibilities of the internet and other technnologies and how they are and will continue affecting usso at the end of this semester - I think we've only just begun..

Week 11 - ExCeL

I learnt some of the things we were supposed to do in this weeks task in another class but that was a while ago, it was interesting though to learn some of the new stuff like macros and recap on the rest. It was relatively easy and I didn’t have any problems as such as I could cut and paste from the tutorial task posted up. I found macros a bit of a pain and it required more patience than I had bargained for. Making the tables and graphs was actually fun and the rest of it seemed quite useful for a lot of things.
Mass tabulation, collection and presentation of data, spreadsheets, accounts, calculations are only some of the uses of Microsoft excel. Overall im quite happy with the new things I learnt about word and excel and im sure they will help me in the future though I hope I never have to use macros! Were coming to the end of our semester and I gotta say this class was different and interesting. Posting up blogs, doing scavenger hunts, watching the movies in lectures and using word – not exactly the worst class in the world!

Week 10 - =O theres more to WoRD

Ok, so doing the basic part of Microsoft word was really easy, we use a lot of the options for our essays at uni and school for that matter. Doing the

• BOLD
• italics
• underlining and
• bullet points

was simple and didn’t take much time, neither did the double spacing, changing text and header and footer. Its probably been the easiest task I’ve had to do since being at uni.
As effortless as im making the task out to be I did learn something - I never used track changes and mail merge and it was interesting to learn something new. You get used to using the same things in word it just seems to come naturally, im sure if and when I start using track changes etc it will be trouble-free. As I’m now typing this on word im using a lot of their other options and yeah..who knew there was so much to what seems to be plain ol word.

Essay

Journalism and its use of blogs as sources

“A study conducted by Colombia University and Euro RSCG Magnet found 51 percent of journalists use blogs regularly. This is compared to the 11 percent of the general population who use blogs. The study found reporters used them for everything from locating sources to unveiling breaking news. Twenty-eight percent of journalists said they use blogs in their day-to-day reporting.
However, despite frequent blog use, only 1 percent of journalists said blogs are credible” (Nelson, 2005).
Blogging is a new form of participatory journalism, which refers to “individuals playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, sorting, analyzing and disseminating news and information-a task once reserved almost exclusively to the news media” (Lasica, 2003). But it is a journalism of a different kind, unlike traditional journalism it is not tightly confined by the profession's values and traditions. Blogs are now the most popular expression of new media - they have exploded in popularity over the past years, fueled by greater access to bandwidth and free software. More than a half million people have taken up the tools of self-publishing to create personal journals online ranging on a wide range of topics.
“Blogs are open to anyone who can establish and maintain a Web site, and their flexibility, reach and interactivity has helped increase their popularity for publishing opinions” - Walter Mossberg wrote in his Wall Street Journal technology column last March. "The good thing about them is that they introduce fresh voices into the national discourse on various topics, and help build communities of interest through their collections of links" (Lasica, 2003).
As popular and informative as they can be, the issues arising over journalists using blogs as sources have recently caused some problems. “Journalists are interested in 3 types of blogs: blogs that report news, blogs that critique the news, and special interest blogs that serve as news sources” (Quinn. S, Filak.V.F 2005, p. 76). The issue is that Journalists aren't just writing blogs, they're using them as fodder for reporting.
The Australian for example reported a story on the two missing girls who were later confirmed suicide pact victims. The journalists for the obtained information from the girls’ myspace blogs which could have upset their friends and family and created an image of them that could have been untrue. The friends of the 2 16-year-olds Jodie Gater and Stephanie Gestier had posted good bye messages which were published along wit the previous messages of the 2 girls. Information such as that the girls belonged to a band named “bitchy”, indulged in “emo” or “Goth” culture and phrases containing cuss words from their myspace website were also published. Out of this arise the moral and ethical issues of journalists using blogs to acquire information not supported by facts and without consent. The blogs are also troublesome due to the fact that much of the information is unattributed and unsourced. In this case quotes from their songs about suicide were also taken from their blogs. The psychologist in this piece allotted a majority of the blame on usage of the internet and depression associated with it and claimed that parents should taken a most active interest in what their kids do online and make them aware of the public consequences (Cubby & Dubecki, 2007). Many journalists fear that blogging effects have already been unfavorable to their profession-- particularly harmful to them now when public trust in the media is already so low. Despite attacks, Web loggers are fighting for credibility, and some groups insist journalistic privilege should apply to bloggers. (Nelson, 2005)
As there are no checks and balances, no editorial review, and no code of journalist ethics involved, the quality of the "news" reported is thus inherently more suspect. This of course depends upon the blogger, whether or not the blogger is a journalist, he or she could intentionally or unintentionally publish a complete fabrication of events (for example for corporate or political agendas) and for others to reuse that information can have dire consequences (Davis, 2005). Cara Wieser espoused similar logic in a student editorial that ran in the University of Utah's Daily Chronicle. "In my opinion, we are all journalists," Wieser said. "Who is to say one person's idea of relevant news is better than another's? And if opinion, gossip, and soft news are newsworthy enough to have their sections in mainstream publications, they have to be considered 'news' in blogs as well." Thus, observations within blogs may be open-access and valuable, but have to be subject to evaluation and journalists should have a moral stand on what to use (Nelson, 2005).
The lack of traditional standards of journalism in the blog world is worrisome but it can be argued that the corporate ownership of the mainstream media is just as bad, or possibly worse. Bloggers threaten the cultural space and capital of traditional journalists. Journalism as we know it will never be the same; it will merge with blogging creating tension between them – the tension being the need for accountability, quality, and standards (traditional) and the need for access, objectivity, and diversity of the conversation (Knemeyer, 2005). Rebecca blood says the greatest strength of blogging is its “uncensored, unmediated, uncontrolled voice” but its weakness is that it doesn’t have accountibility in the marketplace which compromise its integrity and value (Blood, 2003, p.2).
It is important to set rules for all media, as we have seen blogging in the journalism world raises several issues which need to be understood and solved. The future predicts increased usage of the internet as a media source, out of which further and more serious issues could arise.

References

Blood, R (2003), Weblog Ethics www.rebeccablood.net.handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html.

Cubby, B and Dubecki, L (2007), “Tragic last words of MySpace suicide girls”April 24, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/tragic-last-words-of-myspace-suicide-girls/2007/04/23/1177180634660.html

Davis, H (2005), “Open-Source Journalism” - February 14, 2005,
http://www.braintique.com/research/mt-archives/000059.shtml

Hirst, M, Patching, R (2005), “Journalism Ethics” (2005), Oxford, Australia

Knemeyer, D (2005), "The Future of Digital Product Design” August 3, 2005
http://2005.sxsw.com/bits_n_bytes/pivot/entry.php?id=14

Lasica, J.D (2003), “Online Journalism Review”, August 2003
www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html

Nelson. B, “Utah State University Department of Journalism & Communication”, December 19, 2005
http://newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/archive/dec2005/121905_blogs.html

Pavlik, V. J (2001), “Journalism and New Media” (2001), Columbia. U. P, New York

Quinn. S, Filak.V.F (2005), “Convergent Journalism – An Introduction” (2005) Focal Press, Oxford

Week 8 - A whole new world..

When I read the task for this week I was wondering just how different the 3D chat sites could be from your ordinary ones, I thought it would be like playing a game and chatting at the same time, buts its more than just that. I have used chat sites such as yahoo before and only use msn now to keep in touch with friends and I feel so old school!! A difference I could find between msn and activeworlds, apart from the 3D was that, was that you could chat to anyone- on msn its just people added to your list-your friends, but at activeworlds you can meet people from all over the place.
You can also build our own world and visit other worlds that people have created, you choose a character and can walk around, swim, fly, play a giant piano and interact with others in this imaginary world. The words exchanged are in comic strip style blurbs or “speech bubbles”. The environment can be changed according to your mood and it has a lot more options in getting your feelings across than msn does. Activeworlds also have interesting things to do and explore as you chat as well as the conversations as text below - whilst msn is only the basic text with an optional background
For all these reasons, socializing on msn or activeworlds is different, on msn you socialize to a limited number of people whereas on activeworlds you could meet anyone from anywhere. You can also create your own world making it more personal and interactive and involved. Its like a whole new level as it combines communication, fun and creativity.
Socializing is about meeting new people, being social, and though you communicate with your friends on msn, you can do that and more on activeworld. I still prefer msn, its easy, comfortable and I’m used to it, you can use webcams and voice chat- on activeworld, there’s a lot going on and its sole purpose isn’t just communication – it takes a lot more involvement. This involvement also depends on the person and what exactly they want to do – with me I just like chatting to my friends, no distractions so msn is perfect. People who would want some more things to keep them involved and busy and more entertained would prefer a 3D chat site thou both have games but the 3D site has 3d games as well.
It was interesting to see how much further chatting has evolved since I began using msn years ago, even with just msn progressively coming out new versions. Doing this task opened my eyes what else is out there and how far it has come.