On thursday I did my presentation on the idea of convergence. I started out with the definition, the integration of multiple medias such as phones, computers, radio and tv. Along with a few examples of where we have recently seen new media and convergence such as businesses, schools, phones and computers.

I then used the iPhone as one of my examples. The iPhone combines internet, radio, and many other applications all on this one device. I found this to be a great example because not only is it recent where many students can relate to its uses but it does represent the six characteristics we went over in class.

Next I spoke of blogging and how it has become a new "new" media. Twitter has become a new fad in a past year or so. I chose this as new media because you are able to access twitter through your computer and phone or even email. You personal updates can be made at any time of the day through any device you choose. Many people use it for marketing, social or even for stocks. The president even uses it!

After those two examples I chose to use a product called "bacon salt" as an example of how quickly new media has taken part in everyday peoples lives. Two men, came up with this product and decided it would be great to get it out there and maybe make a profit out of it. They chose different medias to present themselves, facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube anything and everything basically. Not only did new media increase their sales but it also shows how audience generated many of these "new" medias have become.

I left with two discussion questions on where do we think new media will be in the next 5 years and do you see schools depending more on new media for their teachings?

thanks and gig em;
lindsey moehlig

Online Dating

On April 24, 2009, I talked about the topic, What's new in new media? I wanted to focus on the six characteristics of media in order to really figure out what is new in media.

The 6 Characteristics of Media
A. Asynchronous Media
B. Audience Generated Media
C. Digital Media
D. Narrowcasting
E. Interactivity
F. Multi-Media Forms

With these six characteristics, I thought about about what would be new in media but would also represent these six characteristics. I thought online dating would fit in the criteria. Its new in media because it is a new way to meet people and start relationships or friendships. It also represents the six characteristics. When it came to online dating, I looked at a lot of sites but I chose eHarmony to focus my case study around. eHarmony has a Compatibility Matching System that helps match people together. Dr. Neil Clark Warren, who is the founder, has 35 years of experience. He has been a marriage counselor for 35 years. He has researched what makes marriages succeed and fail. Everyone is matched up based on the 29 Dimensions of Compatibility. That includes, just to name a few, adaptability, curiosity, intellect, values, beliefs, spirituality, relationship skills like conflict resolution.
A eHarmony commercial-žhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ybm5dfQWkI

What does Eharmony do?

Compatibility Matching System, which is a system that compares surveys and places then into different subdivisions. Surveys are used to determine if you are compatible according to the 29 Dimensions of Compatibility. Because of this system, eHarmony is the most expensive dating online dating service. Once approved, profiles are set up so your matches will be able to see you.
Then love is found! Because of its high-tech match making system and it s capability to network to so many people, I feel like like that makes it new in new media.

How does it represent the six characteristics of new media?
eHarmony is a form of asynchronous media because it sends out e-mails to its clients when they have found them a match.
It is audience generated because it gives the client what they want based on compatibility and what they want in a mate.
it is digital because everything is digitized, from the profiles to the compatibility computer system.
It is Narrowcasting because it targets a particular audience, singles looking for love!
It represents Interactivity because it allows the clients to create their own profile and become a big part in their matchmaking.
It represents Multi-Media Forms by using text, audio, images, and video. It allows the clients to use all these different multi-media forms, which include the survey, profile, and connecting with their match.

I believe that online dating will grow because it allows people to meet their possible soul mate with just a click of a button. It cuts out all courtship and allows someone to do the work for them.

New Media in Politics Today

New Media in Politics Today

On last Thursday during class I presented my case study on how in politics today are using New Media drastically in every aspect. In the past presidential election of 2008, we saw both John McCain as well as Barak Obama use many instances of media in their campaign to help with the election. McCain was just behind Obama in everything he did with trying to win the election using new media. The use of media in Presidential Elections goes all the way back to when John F. Kennedy did fireside chats over the radio. After his chats, presidential candidates began to use the TV for commercials as well as presidential debates.

The new President, Obama, uses many instances of new media since he has been in office. One thing that Obama has used is Youtube.com. His Weekly Radio Address is posted on the website Youtube.com so that members of society can have an instant access to it. An example of Obama’s Weekly Radio Address is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrfIhThN5oY. Obama also has created a new website called Organizing for America. This new website has an entire staff dedicated to keep it up. Here is a link to Obama’s Organizing for America website. http://www.barackobama.com/index.php Obama has also made himself available on popular social networking sites such as facebook.com, myspace.com, twitter.com, as well as many others. Obama puts himself on so many forms of new media so that he is able to get himself out there to many people.

The use of new media in further elections is growing rapidly day by day. Next time that there is a presidential election, there will be something bigger, better, and new out there for them to use. Other presidential candidates as well as presidents will follow in Obama’s footsteps in future elections.

During the discussion, the class seemed to think it was a good idea for Obama to put himself out there on the internet more. People said since they are always on their iPhones that the felt they saw a lot more on the Presidential Election of 2008.

So what is so new about new media? The media used in the presidential elections what not exactly new. Obama just went to the next level by making himself a facebook account for example so that he can stay connected with everyone. By having his name and face out there, people will have a better chance to vote for him or listen to him. Media today is more audience generated. Obama made it this way so he can interact with his audience more so that they will feel like he is connecting with them. Obama uses this through the use of blogs on his website, Organizing for America. Another type of new media that Obama uses is multimedia forms. There are many different types of media that he uses to get to his audience, such as TV, Internet, etc. The content can be personalized to individuals to reach a higher audience. By using new media in politics, presidents are better able to connect with the people as well as reach different types of audiences through different types of media.

The Kingsbury Committment and Telecommunications: Affordable Service to All

What was the Kingsbury Commitment?
It was a 1913 compromise between Congress and AT&T in which AT&T agreed to:

• sell off its $30 million in Western Union Stock,
• not aquire any other independent companies,
• allow independents access to its long-distance lines, and
  
• provide quality service to all

It was enacted formally into law by Congress in the Graham Act of 1921.

Without this compromise, many scholars believe that the Bell System might have been broken up, or even nationalized.

Historical Impact

Government Regulated Monopolies
The Kingsbury Commitment was viewed by some as a government vote for monopolies becasue it did not restrict AT&T from acquiring new telephone systems, only that an equal number be sold for each new system purchased. This was considered a built-in incentive for monopoly-swapping rather than continued competition.

Introduction of Universal Service
Originally, the term Univseral Service meant the interconnection of the systems (Bell and independents) into a unified, non-fragmented service. This would allow all subscribers in a given geographic area to call all other subscribers with a single subscription.

As the telephone system grew, however, the idea of Universal Service changed to mean a social policy of universal telephone entitlement. The Communications Act of 1934 crystallized this telecommunications policy. It's goal was "the provision of universal service to every citizen in the country." Telephones began to be viewed as a social necessity that should be provided to all.

Present Day Impact

Monopolies
Although the Bell System was broken up in 1984, monopolies still remain, although more in the form of local monopolies than national monopolies. The local competition provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 addressed the question: What are the appropriate interconnection and unbundling rules for promoting efficient competition and maintaining universal telephone service? Legislatures are still trying to figure out how to balance providing universal service to all and the problem of monopolies.

Universal Service
Today, universal service means that regulators should implement public policies which provide all households, no matter how remote or poor, with access to an affordable set of basic telecommunication services.
This remains a very controversial issue. Some people view basic telecommunication services as more than just a telephone in every home; it implies that a universal communications infrastructure contributes to national unity and equality of opportunity - it's an expression of liberal egalitarianism, like universal schooling, literacy, or voting rights. However, many question the fairness of providing universal service to everyone.

Telecommunication Towers

On April 16^th, 2009, I presented my case study which answered the question “What social and economic forces shape communication infrastructure?” For my case study, I focused on telecommunication towers and the economic and social effects they have. While presenting my case study, I focused on the health concerns (High Intensity Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Exposure and Lead Paint), the location of the towers, and some economic issues (towers being sold to private companies, effect of the towers on housing prices, and some innovations).

The class discussion that followed my case study was mainly about the health concerns related to the cell phone towers. I didn’t exactly state what the main health risks were and who should be concerned with them. There was also a question brought up that was “If these towers are now in church steeples, would the health concerns apply to these cell phone towers as well?” I will start by discussing the main health risks. As I was revisiting this topic, I found this link that stated in the summary section that the study of the health risks EMF exposure was plagued by “limited or inadequate evidence.”

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.31.264&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The source that I mentioned in my presentation focused on mainly the workers that repair the towers. These workers are sometimes repairing the towers even while the towers are operating, or sending out the signals, as well as radiation. The source, in the concluding section, states that these workers should have “periodical medical check-ups done by a neurologist, cardiologist, therapist, and ophthalmologist.” This tells me that there are definitely some serious health concerns for the people who work on the towers, while the jury is still out for those who live near a tower. However, because of the intense coverage, the media has portrayed the towers as cancer causing machines and have created a state of fear within the general population.

The issues of cell phone towers in church steeples, which are a rather recent development, have not had enough research on these towers to produce any conclusive studies yet from what I have seen during my research.

Power at Your Fingertips

April 16, 2009 I presented a case study to my Communication 330 class. Representing the business worlds effects on the invention of cell phone generations. Presented to the general public in the early to mid 80's, cell phones have had a drastic impact on our social world as well. Starting with the use of pagers led us into the first generation cell phone. This type of phone could easily be recognized as the 'brick phone', referencing it to the cell phones used by characters in Save by the Bell. Mostly based off of analog communication abilities, this phone only allowed verbal communication through the phone. Moving into the second generation phone brought more connection to the class since it was from a time period we could remember and relate to. With a digital representation in this generation of phones, consumers were not only allowed to transfer voice messages but SMS text messaging as well. GSM was established in eastern countries for this phone and broadband speeds were established at a fast rate as well. Taking a turn into a more current product, the third generation cell phones were able to hit home with pretty much every student in attendance. With this being the cell phone of today, students knew the characteristics such as High band width, digital connection, live video calls, video streaming and understood the concept of this being referred to as the handheld computer. After these past generations were established, we were able to take a stand on understand the fourth generation cell phone.
With our generation being more and more dependent on technology I found the class to be fairly educated on the event of fourth generation cell phones. The new generation will offer mobile HD Television and have a pretty ability of transferring voice data and streamed multimedia concepts. This device will also come with the software LTC, long term communication, meaning that the cell walls will be less important and the connection will carry long without transferring the call to a new cell. Wi-Fi will also play a key role in the upgrade to 4G along with the instillation of 'cloud' features for better connection. With technology quickly changing, I found the expectation of society to keep up is quickly rising as well. The more up to date you are the more professional you are considered to be in the world of business. Below are a few sources I found to be useful while preparing for this presentation. They kept me up to do date with what tomorrow could possible hold in the world of cell phone technology.

· http://search.ebscohost.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=37255124&site=ehost-live

· http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/398D6A861127084780256B640051A497/$file/dp86.pdf

Who Controls the Network - Privacy and the Internet

My presentation covered issues of privacy and the internet. There is a vast number of ways for your privacy to be invaded on the internet. Your personal information can be obtained by cookies, spyware, bugs, spamming, routing information, social networking sites, unsecured wireless networks, deep packet inspection and even general web search engines. With so many intrusion possibilities to guard against one can never ensure his/her complete privacy online, but should implement as many precautionary techniques to their web behavior as possible to reduce their risk. Awareness of the variety of possible threats is the first step to being safer with your personal information across a largely unregulated medium like the internet.

The question I posed to the class at the conclusion of my presentation was:

Knowing that most internet service providers oppose net neutrality and its ramifications, do you think we will see increased regulation across the internet. Should ISP’s be able to charge users extra or throttle their bandwidth based on their behavior or content accessed on the web? How far in the future do you expect to see this? Do you consider that an invasion of your privacy, or a sincere effort to provide quality services?

Many believe that we will see increased regulation and commercial models of tiered access develop and continue to grow in the near future. At the same time it was stated during discussion that “it seems like a way for companies to make a quick buck,” rather than a benefit to the internet, its users, and the free flow of information. On the other hand the question, “Are there any positive or beneficial uses of deep packet inspection and similar techniques that go against net neutrality rules.” The answer is yes, everything from, filtering content such as child pornography and copyrighted material to protection against adware, spyware and viruses can be achieved with DPI.

As for the question “who controls the network,” my answer would be that it is a combination of the internet service providers and their end users. To me the bigger question at hand is which of those two actually possess more control. Is it the common carriers and ISP’s that provide the physical access to the network, or is it the users themselves who control the flow of information and the many uses of the internet? As long as the internet remains unregulated, then the fight for control between its users and ISP’s will be a present and ever-changing issue.

Who Controls the Network?

            In my presentation I would have presented about how no one single organizations runs or controls the Internet.  Instead the control of the Internet is divided into many different pieces and spread amongst many industries and organizations.  The Internet is partially controlled by Internet Service Providers, such as AOL or MSN, which provide basic Internet connection and also may provide content.  Without the Internet service providers no one would be able to access the Internet, which gives them partial control.  Telecommunications companies have similar roles to Internet service providers, because they too provide service for a fee.  Examples include Verizon and Time Warner.  There are a few Non- Profit organizations that have a substantial amount of power over the network, such as ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is in control of naming domains and addresses.  Other non-profit organizations include the Internet Society and Internet Engineering Task force, which focus on orderly use, development, and the proper evolution of the Internet.  The Government also has a say in running the network due to its authority received from the Patriot Act to monitor citizens Internet activity.  The United States is an early adaptor and creator of the Internet, which is positive, but unfortunately the Internet is now very American oriented and friendly, which is a problem for the worldwide users who are not affluent in English and American Internet.  The UN is concerned with the US domination of the Internet, and discussed the topic at the World Summit on the Information Society.   Another issue dealing with the network is the digital divide, which is the broadening technological gap between whites and minorities, rich and poor, urban and rural.  It is said that inferior Internet access will also mean inferior access to employment and educational opportunity, deepening the cycle of poverty.  This is an issue that must be addressed in the future, as well as the ownership of the network, and privacy of the users.  The Internet is a fairly new invention and still very young.  As the Internet evolves so do the laws, the digital divide, and issues of ownership in hopes that there will be a good solution in the future.  Until then the Internet will continue to be controlled by many different industries on many different levels but the issues of control must be solved in order to better the developing internet, decrease the digital divide, and to decrease American domination of the network.

New Media and Television Ads

My presentation dealt with the effects of new media on televised advertising. I covered various aspects, including a history of the commercial model from 1950s and onward, threats to modern day advertisements from new media sources, the role the internet plays in TV advertisement, and finally ways in which brand name companies are using new media and old media to make effective ads.

One question that was posed was how new media is being used in televised advertising effectively. One way this is happening is through the use of personalized or interactive advertisement. This was defined and some examples were presented. The wager Blizzard Entertainment America made with Ford trucks paid off, as their ad was well received by the audience, mainly because they ran an ad campaign based of strong persuasive theories. The ad was based off of audience generated work, and spawned several more fan based ads that Ford and Blizzard both chose to run on TV. Denny’s Nannerpuss was also shown. The cult like following that formed from the simple TV campaign turned into a very marketable and well liked new media icon.

Brand name companies and American Idol were the topics that concluded the presentation. Coke and Ford have both heavily invested in this show, and their logos and icons are displayed in great multitudes anywhere the American Icon logo is seen. Product placement and reputation were discussed, as well as the effectiveness of pique techniques used by Coke to generate and audience buzz about a new advertising spot.

One question during discussion was over the future of television advertising. I believe that old forms of advertising and newer forms such as online campaigns will continue to be combined into to better meet audience desires in a commercial. I think the audience in the 50s put up with horrible, boring ads because the concept of TV was so revolutionary. In the new millennium though, people are no long impressed simply by the images and demand more entertainment from the ads. I think they want more than just a product display, they desire some sort of entertainment from the ad itself.