hw 13 business bologna

In the article "Blogs Will Change Your Business" Baker and Green say that blogs should be a prerequisite to business. That blogs are todays equivalant to The printing Press. That no matter what business you are heading for wether it be delivery or smut; you need to be observing all blogs, because they pertain to you. This i feel is just simply not true. They make it seem as if blogs are the second coming, and yet contradict themselves by saying, "only 27% of internet users in America now bother to read them"(Baker and Green pg. 222). As far as blogging goes in the business world, I still feel like a good cup of coffee in the morning would help accomplish more. Blogs are important when they are given to normal people and in turn giving them a voice. In the article it says that there are 40,000 new blogs everyday, which seems to be a stretch, becuase by that account in just about 20 years every person in America will have a blog. They said that it did not matter if 99% of those blogs were worthless, as long as 1% was still worth reading. I completely agree with this, blogs can get the full news out to the public; unlike mainstream media which is filtered for content. Clearly there is a desire from the American public to reach a source of news that matters. In theory the blogosphere would be place to reach that news.

hw 11 ooi ooi ooi!

Most of Asia just very recently gained access to the blogosphere. Jeff Ooi a Malaysian citizen is taking full advantage of the media option. In fact the Malaysian government has still not given the full rights of freedom of speech. They still closely monitor and sensor reports in regards to the government. This is why Jeff Ooi is getting so much attention, because he is daring to question the Government. Jeff's blog is filled with pictures and videos. He uses many visuals in his blog; as in more of a screenshot blog. There are links to other newspage and also to other blogs. His main topic of discussion was of a rally. More than 1,ooo lawyers went on a march and ended up at the palace of justice. To protest the way the government ran their judicial system. So Mackinnon's view of Ooi's blog being an outspoken political blog was completely correct. But Malaysian government officials would certainly take issues with the argument that the judicial system needing improvement. If there is a faulty government, there is government officials making more money than they should be. So naturally, they would want it to remain the same. Jeff is doing a job that certainly needs to be done, especially in areas that are not keen on not getting the story out.

hw 9 Huffing about the facts

Huffington states in her article punching holes in old faded mirrors, that she would go to her rebellious world that broke through the media monopoly; the blogosphere. In the blogosphere she would right a report involving the real important news, that the media is too atention deficit to pay attention to. In this article she would report the news in a fashion that was neither left wing nor right. I think Huffington is mistaken, because she greatly overlooks the fact that she is as far to the left as Bill O'Rielly is to the right. If she could not go 30 seconds into an interview without giving out a strong leftist presence, than i feel it would be impossible to keep her article neutral. She would probably end up being like a Steven Colbert of the internet, pretending to belong to a party that he doesn't, and often letting it slip out that fact that he simply is pretending. However, i do agree with her on the fact that the news media is largely to focused on their big story. They play the story that will capture our attention the most, for as long as it will hold our attention. When we finally loose our attention, they will go to the next big story. It does leave room for other more minor stories of interest. Which insures that people do not get all of the news information that they should be getting.

HW 7 Big brother?

I believe that there has always been a need or a draw for parents to know whats going on in their kids life. With a platform so easily observed by parents, the temptation can be strong. However, the lives of children are their own lives, and therefore they should have privacy. If live journal is a way people express themselves it should not be monitored. That would change the way they wrote, and they would probably eventually stop alltogether. Image if your parents had tagged along with you to woodstock or some other event of free expression, i'm sure your parent's worry would not be appreciated.
Often, teenagers use the websites as an online diary. As Emily nussbaum points out in her article, "my so called blog," "But a significant number of writers treat their journals as actual diaries, toting up daily accounts of their lives. A parent by all rights should not look into their child's diary, it is an infringment on their privacy. The template is different when used online, but the concept is the same. Kids need to grow up on their own, make their own right and wrong choices and develop their own experiences. What if the government started analyzing everything the parents did,(cough cough the patriot act). Parents would not like it; they did not get to vote on this event, and neither did their kids. I guess in the end we should all just mind our own business!

hw 5b "i disagree"

A very large portion and underlining theme of the book "blog", seems to heavily endorse the idea that other forms of mainstream media, besides blogs are failing. This point is reiterated for the 500th time in the comic strip in the beggining of the chapter "I blog therefore I am." While I don't deny the fact that blogs are a stylish new form of media, they will never, become more popular than newspaper or television news. The comic strip makes the joke that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur, which may be true in the form of substance. However, it is not true in the form of ratings. Beyond newspaper ratings by far is news station ratings. They are the fastest form of media, internet news is second. People will always go to their televisions to get the latest news, this will never change. So, I will most certainly disagree on these points with Kline. If he ever recieves his idealistic utopian world of the perfect form of communication media, I will be extremely happy for him. Perhaps, i will even congradulate him on his blog,( it would be highly hipocritic if he did have one). I reccomend using several sources of media before formulating educated opinions, which means using blogs along with other sources of media. Blogs are simply another form of media. Get off your blogging pedestal Kline.

hw 4 "consider yourself warned"

In my brief search for product advertisement i was looking for key attributes; such as boldness, bordering on absurdity. I think i found a product that i can lump into this category. That product is Tag body spray. Most products come with a clever little advertisement building upon attributes of the product, like taste or smell. Tag advertisement states, "consider yourself warned." Now, what that means in a more simplified sense, is that if you use tag you will be literally forced to beat hott women off with a stick. As seen in the commercials, the very moment you spray tag onto yourself, a gaggle of gorgeous women will jump out of nowhere to attack. In the business world there is a saying, sex sells. I personally have never purchased this product, but that does not mean it doesn't sell. To investigate the product a little further i went to their website. The website was filled with videos and interactive games that display exactly what is promised by the product. Girls flocking from everywhere to get a piece of the person who wears tag. I suppose, they hit their demographic perfectly, teenage boys are the mass demanders of the product. From reviewing everything, i will have no problem staying with axe and other various colognes. I guess i just like a challenge.

hw 3

"Toward a more particapory democracy"
This chapter talks about the legitimacy of blogging in correlation with other sources of mainstream mass media. A large portion of the article is spent defacing other forms of media. It says that television news stations are generally biased. I'm sure fox news would be very surprised to hear this. I personally agree, world news is the only semi-reliable source on t.v. Also, it takes down newspapers. Apparently, those republicans and democrats just can't agree. Again, i'm sure the Union Leader would be shocked to hear this. As far as substanstiating the bloggers claim to having an unbiased medium, there is discussion to be had. One could say that blogging is no different than other forms of media, since there is still a difference of opinion among the authors of blogs. However, it is certainly better than mainstream news in the sense that they are not searching for profit, so the news chosen is unfiltered and does not exlude material. I believe that its ultimaly just another form of media, and will slip in nicely with the rest.

The book blog was written in 2004. This shows that Burstein has indeed shown a large insight into the blogging world. Several predictions he made are now true, or becoming true. Politically, i believe that Burstein hit the nail on the head. Blogs are just another way to get reach, sway, or confirm what voters already believe. He also says that blogs will interweave themselves with other mainstream forms of mass media. This is an apsolute truth. If there is a platform for regular people's thoughts to reach the masses, then by all means there are people who would love their voices to be heard. However, i disagree with Burstein on several issues as well. For instance, he believes that blogs will have a large sway with corporations. He acts as if blogs are turning the business world upside down. I feel like its effects are still barely felt, and that most corporations wouldn't waste their time with blogging. Bursteins sixth thought is that blogging is going global. This depends upon what you consider global, does that mean everywhere, or just industrialized countries? Beanie babies went "global", i don't hold to much faith in that statement. The prediction i think best is, "blogs will coexist with other media for a long time to come." This means blogs are around to stay, and i agree.

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