Blogging Project- Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins is a Commuication Scholar from Georgia. He is a professor of communication. He is extremely accomphlished in the communication field and is someone to look up to. He researchs various aspects of communication ranging from text and reader and virtual realities. 

Blogging project-Section on topics learned from the book

My three favorite topics ( elaboration)


1)Media Convergence-Three types of convergence learned from the book. But first, what is convergence ? Convergence -  "known as the coming together of computing, telecommunications and media in a digital enviroment."(p 8)
- Technological Convergence- "refers to specifc types of media such as print, audio and vide, all converging into a digital media form. "(p. 8)
-Economic Convergence-" refers to the merging of the internet or telecommunications companies with traditional media companies such as AOL with Time Warner."(p 8)
- Cultural Convergence- " the term culture is often a loaded word, and its defintion is even harder to in down than the term convergence. The notion of culture can refer to anything from a long-standing tradition or heritage shared by a group of people to a specific professional group's particular way of seeing the world or behaving-as with, for example, the " newsroom culture".

2)Asynchronous media and synchronous media- 
S-  " Media that take place in the real time, such as live television or radio, that require the audience to be present during the broadcast or performance. "( p 19)


A- " Media that do not require the audience to assemble at a given time. Examples of asynchronous media are printed materails and recorded audio or video"( p 19)

3)Simplified Communications Model
"Developed by Wilbur Schramm in 1954 and based on the mathematical theory of communication. It includes a source, who encodes the message , or signal which is transmitted( via the media or directly via interpersonal communication) to a destination, where the receiver decodes it. "( p 23)

Blogging project- Section on my Reseacrch topic

My research topic was on positive and negative effects of Technology on society. I decided to dive into this topic because it is such an ongoing debate. I researched journal articles and gathered appropriate information on this topic. At the conclusion of my paper, I realized that each side holds some truth. But, I do not believe that technology ( just technology) itself is either good or bad. I believe it is the users motivations and mindsets that can make technology either positive or negative. But also, the words negative and positive are different than good and bad.

Some positvies mentioned in my research were- taken straight from my paper " Time is another factor that technology helps with tremendously. Say one has to write an important email to his or her boss before 5:00pm. He or she doesn't think that they will have enough time to send them email. With technological advancements allow one to have a laptop, or an Ipad or a kindle or a smartphone with them. And, each of the devices listed above has email capability and extremely impressive mobile capability. One can now be anywhere and send that important emai to his or her boss by 5:00pm with no problem."

Another positive mentioned in my research paper- taken straight  from my paper- " Technology broadens everyone's knowledge. Knowing about the world, events, people, etc- is an important part of life and technology offers safem fast and fun ways to get access to important information. 

Time, knowledge and mobility are three positive aspects to technology.

Negative aspects mentioned in my paper- taken straight from my paper- " Everything seemst to now be shared. There is no more security. People can find out numerous amounts of information about anyone or anything. Things are no longer personal to anyone, it is always universal,losing individuality and personality is a big negative aspect to many people."

Another negative aspect- taken straight from my paper-" Losing that face  to face interaction because of technological advancements  and popularity is a huge turn-off to individuals that are anti-technology or people that believe technology has greater negative effects. And, if one misses " face to face" interaction, technology would be the thing to balme. Lack of face to face interacton and lack of individuality are two negative effects of technology on society.

My conclusion-" Technology is extremely pervasive in society. Technology helps and hinders, but it really depends on the perception of the individual viewing the technologies evolution. It seems as though technology is one of the best things that has ever happened to mankind. It offers instantaneous communication, accessible communication and so much more. But, there has and will always be an on-going debate about the positive and negative effects of technology ( on society). Do the advancements of technology grow us apart? Is there no more person to person interaction? Do we value the time shared with one another? This debate could go on forever . "

Blogging Project- Section on "Second Life"

Say no to " Second Life". How about you live your first life. 

Seond life, wow I could go on forever. I do not like " Second Life" nor did I like the lecture we got in class about "Second Life". I believe that anyone that plays virtual reality games has no life. Really? How about you spend time on your own life rather than creating one on the internet? When the guy came to speak in our class, all i could do was fight back laughter. No really though, he seemed as though he was a lost puppy who wished that his life had been one way, but turned out to be another. He concluded all of my allegations towards people that partake in "Second Life". I was very disappointed with his speech about it and I really wanted to tell him that he just needed to get a life. Ok, I am being harsh, but it is just the way that I felt. 


Another problem I have with " Second Life" is the way the graphic design is. The female characters in "Second Life" look like whores. They all have really big breasts and wear provocative clothes. To me "Second Life" is basically a pornography game . But, no seriosuly, in virtual reality games like the "Sims" and such, you can make the characters have sex. To me, this is a problem and it just promotes worldlieness. Second life, me no likey! 

Blogging Project- Section of my Tweets!

"Lion King 3d "


My first tweet was about Lion King in 3d. Many of you may ask me why I chose to tweet about Lion King 3d. Well Let's think about it for a second. The Lion King came out in 1994, this means I was only four years old. Seventeen years later, in 2011, Disney comes out with the 3d version. Talk about New Media! How awesome is that? A film that you enjoyed so much as a young child came out in 3d? And , I loved every moment of it. All the action packed scenes were great via my 3d glasses. My boyfriend and I were so in love with the effects that 3d brought to life. This has everything to do with new media, graphics , designs what have you . It was seriously an awesome , AWESOME feeling to see one of my all time favorite movies ( that came out when i was only four ) in 3d! I even Kept the glasses! If you haven't seen Lion King 3d, get it when it comes out on blu-ray.


" The Death Of Steve Jobs "


The death of Steve Jobs was extremely random. Steve jobs was a great contributor to the world of media. Apple products have trancended every brand and will hopefully keep doing it because Apple is awesome. Anyway, let's go through a brief history of Apple, well how it relates to my life.
When I lived in Pennsylvania , my parents had this computer in our basement. It was this colorful apple. I never knew what it was! PC's had taken the lead in branding for a long, long time! When Apple came out of the "woodworks" just recently , it has put PC's to shame. I think the biggest advantage of Apple , is the fact that the computers dont get viruses , don't randomly freeeze and you can open mutliple tabs at once. One of the biggest criticisms about Apple is the price and to be honest, the amount of money it costs to get comupters fixed because of viruses , apples are really not that expensive. All I know is that Apple  products are great! I love love love them! And, I believe that Steve Jobs innovations have left the media world in great condition. RIP Steve jobs. After watching the quick clip in class, something that he said stuck with me. Steve Jobs said " The only have to do GREAT things, is to do what you love." I will take this quote a long with me  where I go . It is profound and so was Steve Jobs. 

*BlackBerry Coverage *

Blackberry's were the first big time smartphone. I can remember back in the day,when if you had a Blackberry you were of some type of pretige:) Now, it is funny to see how much the blackberry populartiy stage has decresed. No one has Blackberry's anymore. Now, if you have a smartphone, you either have a droid or an Iphone. People use to love Blackberrys so much that they would actually call them " Crack Berrys" because they were so addicted to them. I specifically remember asking one of my friends( who owned a Blackberry) what are you doing that is so important? She replied, " I'm checking my email!"...I was like " Are you kidding me? Why are you checking your email on your phone? Can you even see the screen isnt that what your computer is for ? " I was sincerely confused and had no idea what she was talking about. My boyfriend has a blackberry and I don't understand how he even uses that thing. I play with it sometimes and the keys are so small! You can barely do anything on them! I am so glad that they came out with bigger smartphones with a wider computer keyboard. This brings us to my next tweeting topic " smartphones in general ".

" Smartphones in General" 

Many of my tweets this semester had to do with smartphones. i remember when my parents bought my first cell phone. Well, actually they bought my brother and I a cell phone. We had to share it. I was 15 years old. I received my own personal cell phone when I was 16 years old. I believe that back in the day they only thing that my cell phone ( or anyone elses cell phone  for that matter) could do was call. I don't even think text messaging was around( maybe it was I just can't remember). The next big innovation was text messaging and all the kids love to text. Camera phones came out next , phones with a video recorder, phones with calculators and so much more were big on the streets as well. 

Now, can you believe smartphones? At first , I really did not care about smartphones. I thoguht they were stupid. I did not understand why someone had to check his or her email via his or her cell phone. I couldn't understand why someone had to check his or her facebook via his or her phone. It wasn't until I got a droid that I understood. It is addictive . It is easy , it is fact and efficent to have a smartphone.  For the 30 extra dollars a month, I now understand why the craze about smartphones. Smartphones have really changed new media! 

Mobile Media and Communication: Some Important Questions

Great breakdown into different topics concerning mobile devices and communication.

One of the more interesting sections was the section on Theoretical Challenges. I learned the most from that section.  I was unaware of Africa and Asia's superstitions about the mobile devices and I thought that was extremely intriguing.

I also really enjoyed the section on Fashion. I never thought about how fashion is so profoundly linked to mobile communication. 

I also learned the day that the first handheld device was made and where it was made. Never knew that one!  YAy!