Link to my blog

Hello class,

www.tasliklioglu.com

I hope you like it :)

New Media in the Media

The most recent version of Time Magazine (December 7) features a story characterizing the current decade as the era "from hell." Whether you agree or disagree is one thing, but of interest to our class was a section dedicated to addressing individuals who experienced large falls from grace during the last ten years. The author, Andy Serwer, cites multiple examples of such "heroes," mentioning those embroiled in the MLB steroid scandal to Olympic dopers to sexually scandalous politicians. Here was a relevant and interesting quote from this same part of the piece:

"And yes, we couldn't get enough of them [the flawed heroes] on the 24-hour cable news, blogs and reality TV that chronicle and reflect this unsavory maw. The rise of all manner of new media and the lack of barriers to criticism from the blogosphere seemed to intensify every scandal and left very few public figures unsullied."

Such an extraction from the article is clearly on point for our class, but it is hard to tell from the author's tone if, in addition to calling out the flaws of these so-called heroes, he is mildly admonishing the unregulated World Wide Web.

Take for example, the case of Tiger Woods- his car "accident" has been the target of a media maelstrom (with multiple blogs weighing in), but is that "wrong" or "unfair?" I would argue no....but would welcome additional thoughts!

Christmas shopping

As Christmas is coming in the next couple weeks. I think most of the people will be busy with buying Christmas gifts to their family or friends. Particularly, for the parents, they will have some hard time in choosing a gift to their children. It is because most of the kids are favor in playing video games instead of football or action figure.However, not much video games are appreciate for young children to play. For example, the game "Call of Duty" involves violence that would give negative impact to children in mental behavior. A news article "Does game violence make teens aggressive?" address the issue of video games would effect brain damage to young people if they the game for period of time. As a result, the parents would need do some research in choosing the right video game for the children. Indeed, not all the video games involves violence. Some video games are created for education. For instance, below is a video of a game name Japanese coach which is teaching people Japanese by playing mini games.

Taking Copyright Infringement Penalties to an Extreme

In browsing recent headlines, I came across another interesting development in copyright infringements. According to an article on Geek.com, a pub in the UK may be required to pay a fine after one of its customers accessed the free Wi-Fi and downloaded copyrighted files. The author of the article argues that is it unfair that this type of small business would be required to pay (and a hefty sum at that --$13,000!) as the pub was merely was "providing a service." If this penalty sticks, imagine the consequences it could have for all providers of free Wi-Fi (cafes, bookstores, airports, etc.). I wonder if such a case could ever "stick" in the US....

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday

Traditionally after the first big holiday of the season, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is one of the biggest shopping days of the season. It is so because it is the time that most retail businesses are able to improve their balance sheets based on the sales volume during this time. However I have found out that there is a new day. I found an article on the Web that told of new day, and that day is called Cyber Monday.

http://www.ecanadanow.com/lifestyle/2009/11/28/cyber-monday-ads-2009/.

The article comes from an online Canadian paper and I would was very timely. So those who were unable to go out on Black Friday to shop, they have another change to find some online bargains.

iReport for CNN

Hi all,

I remembered our last class while I was reading CNN online. It is not a new thing (probably many of you already know) but there is a whole section called "iReport for CNN". I also knew it for a while but our last class made me re think the concept of citizen journalism once more. As we said there is no gatekeepers in this kind of news or neutrality for that matter. So when we get our information through these senses, it does not necessarily mean that we are getting the "truth".

On the other hand, I personally think that it is definitely more fun to listen ordinary people talk about the current events.

Anyway you might want to check it out:

http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/ireport/

Assignment for December 1

Build out your own blog incorporating the techniques and concepts that we've looked out over the last 9 weeks.

Plan on presenting for 10-15 minutes to allow for questions. In addition to the blog, you will also be graded on your presentation which includes how you field and respond to questions.