Week 7B Presidential Debate

Round two of the Presidential Debate was tough for me to watch, similar in comparison to the first round of the debate.  Obama appeared to be the man on top of the debate for this evening, although, I feel that Romney somewhat ruined it for himself in a way.  The argument was hotter than the week before as Obama came out guns firing.  The President was in fact a gread deal more pompous than in the previous debate.  Obama touched on Romney's apparent '5-point-plan,' stating that the governor only has a one-point-plan, that plan being in fact to cut taxes for the wealthy and force the middle class to pay more.  "You can ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks for it. You can invest in a country, bankrupt it, lay off the workers, strip away their pensions and you still make money. That's exactly the philosophy that we've seen in place for the last decade," the president stated last evening.   Both competitors then touched on the topic of unemployment.   The rivals disagreed about taxes, measures to reduce the deficit, energy, pay equity for women, and health care issues.  One question brought up the topic of a recent terrorist attack in Libya on a U.S. ambassador.  Romney stated that the President had failed to mention it after some time.  The president stated that he had addressed the issue in the Rose Garden at the White House.  The mediator of the debate stood up for the President, stating that he did in fact did as he said.  The entire evening appeared to run in this fashion, as one rival stated something, and then the other would simply state the exact opposite.  It seems that both competitors need to do some more investigating prior to the third and final debate. 

Week 7

While reading, "The Tragedy of the Commons," I noticed a few major points that must be outlined.  I agree that the population of the future and the problems then faced will be related to social media.  The article also pointed out a few facts and ideas that are very interesting.  The author, Hardin, points out the earth's population has been growing geometrically or better known now as exponentially.  The earth must one day reach a point in time when the population increase is equal to zero.  The article also illustrates how a farmer ponders whether or not to add one more animal to pasture.  The law is that the animal will increase profits and everything positive by +1.  However, the addition of one animal will only decrease the negatives by a fraction of a total -1.  This argument intrigues me, but it also took some time to fully understand.  The article can be related to the internet in that people want a portion of the internet so that someone else cannot have it.     This is in conjunction with data plans from wireless carriers.  Recently companies have been limiting the amount of data that each user can use up.  Very few are still offering a truly unlimited data plan.

Week 6B

The article, "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace," is somewhat dated when reading it in today's world.  Facebook has long since taken over the MySpace hype, and few are still visiting the site on a regular basis.  In fact, a few months ago, I wondered if the site was still in fact operating.  The article touches on the release of the website, potential hazards and threats, and criticism.  The site was apparently started by a bunch of 20-somethings interested in Indie music in Los Angeles.  The site exploded with over 50 million accounts created.  Skeptics thought that the site would explode and then burn out, much like Friendster.  The skeptics were wrong at the time, but later proven correct with the outbreak of Facebook and Twitter.   Teens loved the site because they could socially interact with others their own age.  Thus teens kept the site going unlike Friendster which was invaded by a group of 20-somethings.  A few words to take to heart: the age limit was lowered from 18 to 16 and then from 16 to 14.  I believe this was an attempt to gain even more users.  However, the threat was increased as younger and younger users gained access to the site, and they could become friends with people they didn't even know.  Suddenly, parents were worried about their children and their interactions with other strange men.  The threat of online predators became real and parents were also worried about the amount of time that their childrent were spending on this particular site.  Teens like to be in a controlled environment and this site gave them this ability.  Before long, adolescent users began ingnoring their parents and continuously monitored their profile and the site whenever and wherever possible. 

Week 6

I recently encountered a CNN article about a 16-year old girl who was reported missing in New Jersey.  The girl was later found approximately 48 hours later off of exit 1 of the New Jersey Turnpike.  Her parents had reported her missing on a Sunday evening and she was found on a Tuesday.  Later information told of a phone call placed to a taxi service from the house at the time of disappearance.  The cab driver later identified the passenger as the girl who went missing.  The cab driver reportedly drove the girl to Rahway Train Station.  As mentioned before, the girl was found two days later, and she was examined at South Jersey hospital and later North Jersey hospital as well.  However, from a social media standpoint, the above details are not important.  The real story includes a tweet from mentioned girl that stated, ""There is somone in my hour ecall 911" at 6:20 p.m. Sunday before she went missing. It is believed she meant "someone in my house, call 911."  This sparked a fire on the social media site, and by mid-Monday, the girl had over 100,000 followers.  Everyone and everybody began tweeting rapidly using #helpfindkara.  

The story above simply sounds like a cry for attention from this 16-year old New Jersey native.  However, I would like to point out the sheer power found in social media sites using this example.  With just one person simply tweeting a rough cry for help, thousands of people suddenly become involved and interested in her safety.  I was simply amazed at the number and speed of responses and how fast people begin to follow one individual.  I believe this system could be faster than broadcasting a story over a major news network at times.  

Week 5B

In this week's article by Manuel Castells, the topics of networking and social dominance arise in question and theory.  Castells, after a brief introduction, divides his points into seven main topics of interest. In the introduction, Castells explains why social networks are only now coming onto the scene as a major form of communication.  He asks, "Why the network society now?"  He states that microelectronics and software-based forms of communication technologies must be developed before we expect to have a complete global network.  If the technology was around fifty years ago, then we would have experienced network societies fifty years ago.  First, networks act on a global standpoint, and they do not feel the effects of boundaries.  In other words, they feel no bounds because the network itself never ends.  Also, all countries and nations feel the influence from a network society even though they may not have access to the internet.  Secondly, small, medium, and large businesses must be able to function as a network.  If this system fails, the company will be forced out by a leaner, more flexible network under it.  Third, the networking found at political institutions is in fact based on the ideas found within the nation state.  Fourth, a civil society will be altered through means of debate, often times taking place on the internet.  Fifth, sociability must contain a new meaning that contains the words of social networking, as well as new terms such as smart mobs and virtual communities.  Sixth, we now receive our ways of practice of social media, and and these facts define our limitations of human beings.      Finally, in this network society, power continues to be the structuring force of its shape and direction.  However, power does not reside in institutions, not even in the state or in large corporations; it is merely located in the networks that structure societies.