Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Link to my blog

Hello class,

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!

Monday, November 30, 2009

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....

Saturday, November 28, 2009

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.


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.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

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:

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.

Some links from tonight's class

Stevegarfield.com
Universal Hub
bit.ly
Wordpress
Searching with Twitter

Metropolitan Museum

Hello class,

Here is my video production posted on Flickr.

And here is the YouTube HD version.


YouTube Direct: Citizen Journalism YouTube Way

Hello again class,

Here is a very interesting service starting, I believe today, November 17, the YouTube Direct. It's brand new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users. Meaning that it will allow news organizations to screen video uploads as they come in, and use the best clips for their broadcasts and on their websites.

Steve Grove, head of news at YouTube explains it as: "People around the world are taking up cameras and covering news in ways big and small - from documenting global events, to filming local town halls in neighborhoods. YouTube Direct empowers news and media organisations to easily connect with these citizen reporters, and use the power of our platform to cover the news better than ever before."

For original article from The Guardian, please click here.


Are Citizen Journalists always good for the society?

Hello class,

I saw this article about our topic of last week, the Fort Hood shootings. It reflects the multidirectional information flow that we discussed in the class. As we can see in the article as well, it almost leads to "DISINFORMATION"...

fashion in Boston (video)

Hi guys,

This is a runway show which happened a couple of weeks ago in Boston.
Here is the link for it.


Elif

Monday, November 16, 2009

Rehearsal




Every Monday afternoon at five eight or nine venturesome souls join together to play and sing jazz tunes. These are not kids in a garage. These are serious adults (academics) who enjoy music in the tradition of the true American art form of Jazz. With its roots in the rhythms of African American folk music and the creative genius of countless musicians, both black and white, Jazz has become a gift to the world.

The Lasell Jazz Ensemble, keyboard, electric guitar, electric and upright bass, drums and vocals have been together for six years. Performing at College functions, at the Lasell Village - a retirement community on campus, and at Ryles Sunday Brunch in Cambridge, the LJE repetoire has run the gamut of jazz ...... Coltrane to McCartny; Torme to Gay; Joabim to Wonder, no tune is to humble to be given the treatment!

The vocalists, Michele, Richard, Jane and Joe try their best to create harmonies and riffs to remember. The band - Harvey on keyboard, Jeff on guitar, Matt on bass (electric or upright) and Nick on drums pull it altogether most of the time. All of the Ensemble players are either faculty or staff with the exception of Nick who is a grad student. Al have had music backgrounds of sorts. Harvey is a music professor and arranger for the group.

The Ensemble is a group of folks with roots in education. Yet each is learning something about themselves within the sounds of their music making. The Lasell student audience is surprized to see the finance professor, the IT guy, the Director of Financial Aid letting all go during a rendition of "What's Going' On"!

The video is a small story. The band warms-up; the band plays; the band clears the rehearsal space ( a small performance center on campus). If you listen carefully, a whistler is heard on the Rev.Al Greene's "Take me to the River". It's groovy!

JOS


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Sunday, November 15, 2009

"First Flight"


I edited this using the 2009 version of iMovie.

Friday, November 13, 2009

In a Lighter mood

Here is a little bit of video with a sound track.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hi everyone,

Here is the video I created though i movie HD.

Please Enjoy!! ^0^



And since the trend nowadays is the social media, here is a news (maybe some of you already know this) Google announced a new social media of its own, called Google Wave. It's still in beta and being tried to see if it's going to be a success. The concept of wave seems very interesting - a place where you can communicate in real time in a variety of ways. Per the article, "the application from Google Inc. combines elements of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a 'hosted conversation,' or a 'wave.' "

However, one thing I disagree with is that this service will "replace" email. In the article, they claim "e-mail is a computer version of snail mail. Wave will be something new, a real-time communication system designed specifically for today's faster-paced, multitasking Internet." Yes, real time communication is great, however when I'm on email the whole point of it is that I DON'T want real time communication. If I do, than I would basically call someone up :)

Hello dear classmates, talking about piracy, registering a brand name, and copyright, I thought that a picture is worth thousand words: Here is a cafe in Laos, Southeast Asia with a real familiar name :) Although it is not a right thing to do it is funny to me and because it is an exact copy of the font and color as well, it kind of looks authentic :) Here we see a whole different dimension of piracy: From Internet to real life..

Economic Crisis and Piracy

Online piracy might be one of the biggest problems for the copyright owners around the globe for the past couple of years. I was reading an article which claims that due to the current economic crisis people have the right to download a movie instead of paying for it. Unfortunately, not everyone has the money for a night out these days. Same thing goes for the music. People are going through some tough times and popular art forms such as, movies and music costs money.

Anyway I think it is an interesting point. If you don't have the money for the new blockbuster movie or for the new U2 album does that mean you shouldn't enjoy it?

I can't find the article online but I'll post the link as soon as I find it.
What do you guys think?



The picture on the left is the picture of Thai government is trying to crush piracy

Since last class that we talked about copyrights, it make me think about my country . As everyone knows, Thailand is a shopper's paradise. There are cheap copies of almost every designer product ever made. Especially, the market for pirate software is growing rapidly. DVDs and computer games are on sale on street stalls and in major shopping complexes. The more notorious of these are Pantip Plaza, Fortune Towers and Seacon Square, where authorised computer dealers and the pirates compete for customers.Digital films and videos sell for around 60% of the official price, computer games and software for about 50%.The greatest discrepancy is on Microsoft software which sells for less than 10% of the retail price.These massive savings attract a very large market. In Bangkok it is not just foreign tourists who are buying the pirate products on sale in the major computer centers.
The following problem is registered distributors in Bangkok selling computer software and DVDs estimate that pirate sales cost them more than 50% of their potential profit.
However Thai government try to eliminate this problem, they can never eliminate it completely. The only way to eliminate piracy is that the government has to attack it at source, but the problem is most of the pirate versions of CDs, videos, DVDs and computer games are not produced in Thailand. The best they can do is to find accessible level of violation. ,
This video below is the video of people selling DVD and PC games in Pantip Plaza Bangkok Thailand