Critical thinking is a thing of the past.

The technology of today is eliminating the need to think about our daily activities. Just take some time and think, when was the last time that you remembered to do something yourself without looking at your planner or calender on your phone?
With today's technology we don't have to think about what we have to do next, our next move is always a swipe and a button press away. This caters to our fast paced society, thus why they are so popular. We don't want to have to wait and we certainly don't want any complications. Critical thought is slowly dissolving and I don't think that it will ever go back to its original state.

Cyberculture

I would have never thought that almost everyone in the world that uses technology would be categorized into cyberculture, until reading "Why Cybercultire?" by David Bell.

Cyberculture is more than just using the internet and other technologies. We use these things to intereact with each other and we form bonds online. We create terminology that is used online, such as abreviated meanings, like "lol (laughing out loud)." And this online terminology eventually makes it way out into the "real" world. People start using online terminology in everyday life, and I have noticed that it has become more prevalent in recent years.

"Sitting at a computer logged into the Internet, for example, we are constantly clicking between the embodied sensations of staring at the screen and typing and the disembodied dream of surfing cyberspace as uploaded consciousness, but also connecting to other stories, other images and ideas-for example, ideas about the "world wide web" as a free source of information on an infinite multitutde of topics, or ideas about the new forms of connectivity between people that the Internet has provided."

This quote from the arcticle says it all. The Internet has opened up a whole new world for us to become a part of. A new culture where everyone is accepted and is just as important as any culture in the material world.

The 'New' Facebook (Comm 203)

I don't really like the 'new' Facebook in terms of privacy issues. I really don't want anyone to know which songs I'm listening to or what videos I may have watched that day.
But on the contrary It's not actually a problem at all. All of the sites that let you link your activities to Facebook don't require you to sign in with your Facebook.
Unless there are some internet sites that I don't know about that only allow people to access their site with your Facebook login information.
So I don't think that this will ever be a problem in the future unless it becomes required to have a Facebook to access certain internet sites and enjoy its content.

Bloggers Gone Bad (Comm 203)

After reading the article and watching the video I am very shocked. What happened to those people is never heard of. Even if these 2 people weren't bloggers expressing their views on Mexican drug cartel, the cartel basically said that the bloggers are next.

     This brings a state of fear to bloggers across the internet, maybe these people posting about it might think they are next and stop. This gives me a feeling that the internet is no longer safe. You are never safe behind your computer screen anymore, you have to think and watch what you say, much like in real life. 

     Even though I am not involved in any way this makes me feel unsettling. I just can't believe that some people are capable of harming and dehumanizing other people in this way. It's disgusting. 

Scott McCloud (Comm 203)

Scott McCloud has revolutionized the way we look at comics by showing the reader ways to get more emersed into a comic.
    One way is to show the reader that there are things going on inside the panels, but make the reader invision what is going on between the panels. There are always things happening between the panels because they are pictures. There is only so much of a message that a writer can convey within a comic. Which Scott has shown that the readers can look for a sense of what happened in between the comic panels.
    Another way is with computers, comics can be created on an infiinite canvas. So the way that the comic flows changed dramatically. Now comics can be told in a spiral or they could be told through a staircase pattern. You could now do a turn in a story that litterally made the panels change direction. This new jump in comics spawned endless possibilities.

Graphic Novel (Comm 203)

   A graphic novel can help the creator to communicate with his audience in a number of ways. To start it off everyone likes pictures, it makes certain things less painful to read. This is effective especially with the right amount of pictures mixed with the actual text.

   When people read graphic novels they don't always get the meaning of the novel through the text, but they also have to find meaning from within the pictures as well. I guess this could be a way of learning the same thing twice, which sounds good and there could be benefits to it. Maybe this could be a way to retain information better?

   I personally think that is a very good and significant want to go about a learning process. 

The Web Is Dead??? Long Live The Internet.

After reading the article and really taking some time to look back at the past year I have to agree with this prediction. The main point is that we are still using the internet, but our use of web pages is declining. The majority of us use applications to check news, Facebook and Twitter. Now with that said, my own online interactions have stayed the same over the past few years. I rarely use apps at all. I always access the internet through my computer through web pages. The only app that I can say that I use is Xbox Live.

Now on the other hand, I see almost everyone with iphones checking Facebook and Twitter everyday around campus. I can really see that apps are dominating the internet now and in another year who knows how much more prevalent they may be. I predict that in the next few years some efforts will be made to even further the use of apps with more convenient means.      

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exacq/5512501730/
Original Article: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1

My expectations of Comm 203

I expect to learn the basics of the Mass Communications major here at Shepherd University. This is my second Comm class and so far I really like it. So hopefully this class will make me even more excited! I'm also hoping that this class will make me realize if this is the right path for me! Oh, and I'll get used to using a Mac, which I basically know nothing about.