Internet and Society

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Information activism is the process of making unknown information to the general public known.  A well know information activist is Anonymous, which is an internet gather for groups of information activists, also known as hacktivists, who have protested against government and religious bodies and corporate websites.  Another type of information activism site is WikiLeaks, which is an “international, online, non-profit, journalistic organization which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources.”  Both of these “groups” have a common goal:  to provide the general public information that is being hidden and deprived from us. 

The artifact I chose is of Anonymous and their motto.  They believe knowledge is free to everyone and no one should be deprived of it from anyone and that includes government.  It relates to this concept because they are a group who works to bring us information so we are not in the dark about issues and things going on around the country and around the world. 

This concept is significant to the study of new media and society because ever since 9-11, the government has been very secretive about everything.  They kept us in the dark when it came to their surveillance operation, which is frightening because what else could they be keeping from us?  Concepts from day one that could be interfaced with this is information and Web 2.0.  Because of Web 2.0 we are able to have better and quicker access to breaking news stories that these information activists release to us.  Information is pretty self-explanatory; these groups are trying to bring us information about what is happening in our world.  They want things to be “transparent.”

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Jessie Daniel’s article, “Cloaked websites:  propaganda, cyber-racism, and epistemology in the digital era,” sets out to make us, the reader, aware of the concept of cloaked websites, its uses, and how it is affecting society.  Cloaked websites are defined as sites that are published by individuals or groups who conceal authorship in order to disguise deliberately hidden political agenda.  Cloaked websites are created for multiple reasons, like for political agendas a group or individual wishes to carry out or shed more light on.  Cloaked websites can be very hard to uncover for the non-keen-eyed observer.  Some cloaked sites, like the American Civil Rights Review, which is now shut down, are white supremist sites trying to convince people slaves did not mind being slaves and were treated humanely during the slave era.  However, dead give a ways to any cloaked site can be in the title like:  “Martin Luther King:  A True Historical Examination.”  The word true should make you suspicious because what could this website tell us that we do not already know?  Or if there is a lack of authorship on a site or the authorship is hidden within other links on the page, which should cause some red flags too that the site may not be legitimate.  People also believe that when they do a search like in Google, maybe not so nowadays, Google would list the most relevant sources first, which is not the case; or if they see the ending .org they automatically assume the website is legit.  However, some cloaked websites are clever about how they go about putting content on their page; they may use sources from the Library of Congress to support their claims.  Cloaked websites are not forthright about what they are trying to get across.  Instead of saying slaves really enjoyed slavery the creator of the site said Forgotten Black Voices, which caused a student to even think, “There are two sides to every story,” when it came to the topic of slavery. 

The artifact I chose is a screenshot of a cloaked website, mentioned in this article that is still up and running today.  Teen Breaks on the surface looks like a legitimate site where pregnant teens can go to get health information about pregnancy and abortion, but in reality it is a pro-life website.  It even goes as far as creating a fake syndrome, Post Abortion Syndrome, to hopefully prevent women having abortions.

This article could be interfaced with the concepts of Web 2.0 and interactivity.  Because of Web 2.0 it makes it easier for individuals or groups to create genuine looking websites to get across their political agendas or racist ideas.  Interactivity with the internet has made it easier on the general public to rely and trust sites for information that looks sincere.  They take advantage of our naivety and ability to not scroll to the bottom of the page. 

I think the author does a great job bringing this problem to light.  I may be naïve, but never knew much about cloaked sites or any ways to recognize them or red flags to make you use caution.  I always thought endings such as .org or .edu were credible and genuine sites, but this article showed me that is not always the case.  The argument is fairly nuanced, although Daniels does seem to be a bit liberal especially when it comes to the pro-life comments.  This is definitely still relevant today because we use internet sources in papers every day and not knowing the differences or signs of a legitimate site compared to those of a cloaked site could cause huge error. 

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Part two of “United States of Secrets” focuses mainly on the Snowden leak and the Obama Administration and how they handled what the Bush Administration started.  It, also, focuses more on how the government used PRISM to track people’s internet searches and internet use.  PRISM was nine major online companies (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL, and Apple) worked with the NSA to track people’s internet use to find any suspicious behavior, with the general public of Americans knowing.  Edward Snowden, a former computer professional who worked with the NSA, was working compliantly with the NSA until he found out the government was wiretapping all of our information, was the one who shed the most light on this topic.  Snowden knew he would be risking his freedom and life by copying the classified files and taking them with him to Hong Kong to leak the information to the press, but he decided Americans deserved to know what the government was doing and should have a say in what is happening.  In response to this whole outbreak, President Obama said with the information they were not looking at names and content of messages or calls.  Then the question becomes why was he allowing the NSA to still store all this information.  However, the nine major companies denied to the media ever working with NSA by giving them direct access to their servers.  To continue getting this information the NSA decided to send out NSLs (national security letters) to companies like Google to give them records of anything they needed.  Major companies like Google did not want to deal with it so they complied, however, a smaller internet company fought back and a court deemed the letter and its contents unconstitutional.  After that, some of the major companies fought back, like Google.  However, the NSA was still able to track and copy information of Google by piggybacking on one of their cookies, PREFID.  Obama then put together a review council to determine whether what the NSA was doing was constitutional or not.  Their ultimate conclusion was no, the NSA was overreaching its boundaries and the American’s civil liberties were at risk.  Obama then said “You cannot have 100% without 100% privacy.”

Through all of this the NSA created a network of surveillance, which is basically they used communication, social media, commercial sites, and search engines to track and copy data to their computers without Americans knowing.  This is related to the network concept from day one.  Again it is also connected highly with the concepts of algorithms because without it nothing technological would function.  

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Part one of “United States of Secrets” reveals the planning and events that took place to initiate The Program.  The Program was a program created by the National Security Agency to gather data from hundreds of millions of people by copying and recording phone calls, emails, and internet use.  Part one focuses primarily on the development of the Program and whether or not it was lawful and constitutional.  After the events that took place on September 11, 2001.  The NSA and President Bush had to find a way to increase security for the nation.  The best way to do this effectively, they thought was to use spy on people’s means of communication.  There was great debate between the Department of Justice and the NSA on whether this was truly constitutional.  The DOJ said it infringed on the fourth amendment and even the first amendment, while the NSA said that the president was merely exercising his Commander-in-chief Wartime authority power.  They would use computers to encrypt emails, phone calls, text messages, anything that could possibly give them Intel on unknown threats of the United States.  Leaks to the press about the government’s actions created a big scuffle within the government to find the leak.  To do this they employed the FBI to conduct an investigation to find the leak and prosecute them because they believed the leak about the Program could be potentially dangerous the United States’ national security.  They ultimately went after and indicted Thomas Drake on the charges of violating the Espionage Act.  However, days before the trial, the charges were dropped and Drake was only convicted of a misdemeanor. 

This act can be connected to many of the concepts we have discussed in class, like algorithms, network, information, archive, and interface.  Without algorithms, the Program would not have been able to work, it required a sophisticated code to allow it to process the mass amount of information the NSA wanted and believed they needed.  Networks allowed the NSA to have access to all the records they need for telephone calls, text messages, and emails.  Information because the NSA and the Program were retaining a log of information from individuals lives, that they believed to be private.  Archives because the Program was able to store information about everyone, in a huge computer where it was stored.  Interface because with all the computers needed they had to be able to communicate with one another to be able to sort itself to the right places. 

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Rosen et. al. article, “CouchSurfing:  Belonging and trust in a globally cooperative online social network,” sets out to see if sites, like CouchSurfing, can create a sense of trust and belonging in an online community.  According to this article, “CouchSurfng is an online community where a million members from around the world locate accommodations while traveling by staying in the homes of other members.”  The article then explains how the more social connections one has, the more social capitol they have, which is important in an online community.  It allows you to meet new people while traveling, while also giving you a in-depth look at the city through the eyes of a native.  It goes on to explain the conceptual framework that is in online communities.  The tiers (from bottom to top) are as follows:  foundational building blocks, social networks as information networks, information exchange, and information sharing.  These tiers led the hypotheses the article tries to answer.  To do this, they had CouchSurfing members take an online survey that answered various question about each hypothesis.  The research found that members who only exchanged information on the internet, compared t those who have exchanged face-to-face, had a lower sense of belonging to the community.  It also found that CouchSurfing members are more likely to respond to an email request, if you send them a message directly, rather than a group message.  The third and final confirmed hypothesis said trust and sense of belonging will have a positive correlation.  This article focuses mainly on the benefits of networked publics.

The artifact I have chosen is a response/reference for a member of the CouchSurfing community.  These comments and references allow other users to see whether they want to allow the referenced person to stay with them.  The better the reviews the more likely you will find other places to stay when need be.  References can also be negative making it harder for someone to want to house you. 

This fits in with the networked publics topic and social media topic we went over in class.  Concepts from day one that can be interfaced with this are networks and interactivity.  Without the networking system of Web 2.0 it would make it much harder for people to connect and find these different travel accommodations.  Interactivity also plays a big part in this because people from around the world can now interact with another and find cheap ways to travel that can give them new perspectives and looks into the city that they otherwise would not have. 

I do not agree nor disagree with the authors because they do not really have an argument.  They are merely pointing out there is a sense of belonging and trust in online communities such as CouchSurfing.  I personally would not use CouchSurfing because I would not feel comfortable nor safe, but is a cheap option for people who are willing.  The argument is fairly nuanced.  This is still relevant today because today we make connections on the internet, so it is important to be able to find people you trust, so you can gain connections in the real world.  But this article also points out that you still need that face-to-face connection to really be able to trust someone.

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Miriam Simun’s article, “My music, my world:  using the MP3 player to shape experience in London” sets out to see how music shapes people’s experience as they commute around London.  She breaks down different viewpoints offered up by Theodor Adorno, Georg Simmel, and Lefebvre, about how they see music and real life coexisting.  To conduct this research Simun interviewed eight individuals who were either categorized as a “listener” or a “DJ.”  Simmel said metropolitan areas, such as London, intensify our nervous systems stimulation, such as feelings of stressfulness and feelings of being overwhelmed.  As an answer to this problem, the users used music to detach themselves, not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way that removes them from the stressful and overwhelming feelings they get in London.  Simmel, also says music can actually make people more receptive to their surroundings rather than detaching them from the settings.  Adorno, however, believes this mass culture produces illusions.  He believes this music does not engage the listener in critical thinking, so it only produces a distraction for their current situation.  He also describes this behavior addicting, like smoking, so it does not add pleasure; it merely satisfies its lacking.  This was evident when listeners said they were dependent upon their MP3 players.  Lefebvre said the idea of leisure has changed and it now refers to relaxation; some of the users said music helps them relax after a stressful day at work.  Hosokawa says that music and the MP3 player have the power to transform the meaning of London for the people.  However, there was a difference between the listener group and the DJ group.  The listeners used music to escape the hustle and bustle of London, while DJs simply used it to listen to music.  DJs also constantly updated their music and playlists, while listeners did not.

This artifact relates to the authors project by showing a woman who is on a bus, who is also happy and engaged.  She is looking at her surroundings with a new perspective and her music is not detaching her from the world.  People have the perception that technology is making us less social and less interactive with people, but in reality were we ever even social or interactive on buses or trains in the first place?

This article fits in to what we talked about before because it shows how technology is shaping our world.  It fits into the idea of the addictive narrative because some people rely on it as an escape from the stress of the real world.  Concepts that could be interfaced are interactivity because of the human and machine interaction and the pleasure the machine brings to the person, and also simulation because the music, as Adorno, says is only an illusion, and simulations are based on illusions.

I think the author makes great points from all aspects of this argument.  Music does not do the same thing for everyone.  Its uses are endless and the author does a good job describing different ways music can be used for.  The article is nuanced; the author does not take sides, just presents an argument.  Music can give the person both an illusion and the greater sense of empowerment; it all depends on the situation it is used in.  This still is relevant today because music and MP3 players are prevalent in society.  We depend on them no matter the situation.  They have the power to change our moods instantly.

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The Observer Affect refers to the emotions one feels toward a candidate and/or their policies.  The emotions a candidate produces a wide variety of potential voters varies tremendously.  Whether these emotions are positive or negative effects political participation.  Negative emotions can effect political participation in two ways.  If ones affect is one of anger it prompts them more toward electoral participation, while anxiety prompts a more general political participation.  Positive emotions on the other hand have the opposite effect; positive emotions, like hope and enthusiasm, increase the person’s awareness of their surroundings and increases their confidence in the politician and his ideas.

This artifact shows the different types of emotions a person can get during the observer affect.  One can feel sad, shocked, happy, disgusted, angry, or terrified.  Of course these are not all the emotions a politician can make a person feel; there is a wide variety this artifact just shows some of the potential emotions a person can feel. 

The Observer Affect is significant to the study of new media and society because political campaigns are relying more on the internet more and more each election period.  Candidates need a way to stay in contact with their potential voters, rather than just addressing them once or twice a month.  New media allows the society to see into the life of a candidate and that is important because people need to feel they can trust candidates and relate to them, and the internet allows for that to happen.  Interactivity is a huge concept that could be interfaced with the observer affect because depending on how the candidate engages with the people determines their emotion toward him/her.  

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The online article, “Coproduction or cohabitation: Are anonymous online comments on newspaper websites shaping news content?” written by Carolyn E. Nielsen, is setting out to answer the question about whether anonymous online comments on newspaper websites are shaping news content.  To do this she breaks her article into five main parts.  In the first section Nielsen describes the background of this question by explaining concepts needed to understand this research topic, such as gatekeeping, which “describes how journalists filter and select information for audiences based on what they deem ‘newsworthy.’” (Nielsen).  She also explains the connection between newspapers and online interactivity, how anonymity effects newspaper platforms, how gatekeeping and professional identity are affiliated, how online comments can shape the social atmosphere of the work place, and how mutual shaping causes interface between designers and users.  The next section explains four research question the author sets out to find answers to.  The first research question is what are journalists’ perceptions about the anonymity of the online interlocutors?  The second research question was is technology reconfiguring territoriality, specifically the practice of gatekeeping?  The third research question asks if the introduction of new artifacts (online comments) affecting social outcomes in the newsroom workplace.  The last question is, is recursive sharing between designer and user via this technology occurring?  The third section of the article outlines the methodology used to gather the information needed to answer the questions.  They sent a survey out to over 2500 journalists and editors and 647 responded.  They used one question to answer research question number one, three questions for both research question two and three, and four questions for research question number four.  The fourth section reveals the findings of the survey.  For research question one, 73% of people said online comments should not be anonymous because those commentors are not being held accountable for what they are putting out there for others to see.  For research question two, 58% of the people said online comments should be allowed on newspaper articles.  45% said that the journalists should not respond to online comments, however, 75% of people said if comments are inaccurate then they should respond.  For research question number three, 76% of the people said editors did not add material to the article to address online comments, while 77% said they would not delete content either.  88% said online comments did not cause mistrust between reporters and editors.  For research question number four, 55% of the people say that lack of time did not affect if they read the online comments or not.  66% said reading online comments did not increase job satisfaction.  54% of the people said online comments sometimes showed them a new perspective, and 88% of the people said online comments did not affect how they reported their articles.  The fifth section discusses all this information and decides online comments are not coproducers of the article, but rather cohabitors of the article.

This artifact shows how easy it can be to comment on something; almost as easy as pushing a button.  Without an identity when you comment, it makes it easier for one to be more critical and vocal than they would be if they had to use a name to leave a comment.

This article fits with the idea of technological determinism.  Concepts from day one that could be interfaced with this article are information because the news is how we get information whether it is in the form of a newspaper, radio, TV, etc.  Another concept could be interactivity because it allows people to interact with one another through means of technology.

The author does not have much of an argument, but I agree with the results this research found.  Reporters are not letting anonymous comments jeopardize the content of their material and that is great.  They are the experts; they know how to do their job and we should respect that.  This author has a nuanced approach.  She is stating the facts to answer a question and does not insert her opinion.  It still is relevant today because everything is growing increasingly online and if people can post whatever they want online without having accountability it can cause people to say things that are not true and they do not have to face the consequences because no one knows who they are.

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The MP3 crisis refers to the year 1992 when the first MP3 player was released.  Originally, the MP3 player was created for file sharing in the motion picture industry.  Its size was revolutionary and “required 1/10 the storage space per minute of sound that CDs could hold.”  However, this quickly expanded to include the MP3 player’s ability to download pictures, songs, etc. and allowed for people to share these files among them, meaning some people were getting these songs without paying for them.  Music industries did not plan for such a technological revelation, so they had no action planned right away with how they would compete with the MP3 player.  They were losing money quickly and the music industries economy slowly went belly-up.  Many people blame the MP3 for this crisis, but Leyshon says the MP3 player was only the tipping point because other technological factors soon became involved like cell phones and the internet.  There were many attempts from the music industry to regain its economic growth, the most prosperous one was Apple’s pay per song model.

  This artifact relates to the MP3 crisis topic because the music industry did not anticipate something turning their economy upside down.  They did not like the MP3 player because it severely crippled their economy.  No one wants something created that will hinder their business in anyway and this artifact shows the music industries original feelings toward the MP3 player.

  The MP3 player revolutionized the way people listen to music.  Most people do not buy CDs anymore because you can just download it of the internet or get it from a friend.  Since it is small and compact it is more efficient than CDs because it has much more space than a CD.  Another concept from day one that we can interface with the MP3 crisis is interactivity.  The MP3 player allows us to interact with it, by choosing what songs we want on it and when we listen to those songs. 

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Meme is a term that describes social evolution and how ideas, behaviors, and skills have adapted and transformed over time to form new ideas, behaviors, and skills.  Social evolution, much like Darwin’s theory of evolution, can be broken down in to three basic components:  copy, transform, and combine.  According to Kirby Ferguson, everything is a remix.  So in other words, nothing we actually produce or create is an original idea; it is just copies of other people’s ideas that we have transformed and combined with other ideas to make it better and utilize it more effectively.

  This artifact is a meme of what the original intention of the word meme was intended to mean.  It relates to what the concept of the original definition of the meme, not the definition and idea society has recently made it be.  When you think of a meme you think of a funny caption with grumpy cat on it, but that is not what the intended use of the meme was.  It was meant to describe how cultural and social evolution has come to be. 

  This is an important concept to new media and society because memes have the ability to show us how the new media was transformed from the old media.  We can see how different and previous ideas were combined together and transformed to create a new and improved way to connect people.  Others concepts from day one that we could interface with the meme concept is Web 2.0 and information.  Web 2.0 would not be what it is today if we could not transform Web 1.0 by using other people’s ideas to improve Web 1.0.  Information could also be interfaced because we copy others information that they gathered, then we transform it and combine it with other information from other people to create something amazing. 

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Rationalization of love is where controversial decision making, like going onto an online dating site, is justified by rational behavior, like falling in love with the person you met online.  Before the internet, people met each other face to face and talked to each other, gathering information about the other one as time went on.  Nowadays, people can go on to the internet and create profiles on dating sites where they can see all the same information that would have normally taken months to get before the internet, in about five minutes of looking on their profile.  These sites match people, using algorithms, to see which people are the most compatible for them.  Those people can then make a snap decision on whether they actually want to try and start a relationship with the other person if they are matched up with.  This then leads to the question of can this emotion of “love” be sustained over a period of time at the same capacity?

  This artifact can relate to the rationalization of love because love does not happen instantly.  In fact, it calls into question if the same we will have the same connection to people because the internet only matches us by our interests, not our feelings.  It all relates back to intimacy and whether or not the internet will increase, decrease or remain unchanged in the realm of intimacy.

  This is significant to the realm of new media and society because more and more people are signing up for sites in hopes of finding the desired connection they have been having trouble finding on their own.  They believe a computer can find a person who they will fall in love with and they will still have the same connection and feelings for them, as if they had found them on their own.  Other concepts we could interface with this one are Web 2.0, because it is allowing people to create content about themselves to hopefully benefit their life.  We could also interface it with information and interactivity.  We are putting information out there about ourselves to help us find a connection with someone else.  As for interactivity, we are engaging in activity with our technological devices to put our information out there.

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What the author, Lori Kido Lopez is trying to point out in her article, “The radical act of 'mommy blogging': redefining motherhood through the blogosphere,” is the negative attention and light being thrown on to “mommy bloggers.”  Mommy bloggers are women, who have children, who blog about their life, the struggles of motherhood, and their family life.  The article also focuses on woman bloggers who are trying to make it in a predominantly male respected blogosphere.  The structure of the article starts out by introducing us to the concept of mommy blogging and how it has a negative connotation in the blogosphere world.  To make it more reputable BlogHer was created and started holding annual conferences to allow women of the blogosphere to come together and talk about what is happening in their blogosphere.  It then goes on to describe how the image of women’s and moms’ blogs are seen in the blogosphere.  Women’s blogs are seen more as diary entries rather than informative information, like men’s blogs.  The article continues on to say how some mommy bloggers have made a living on their blogs by putting advertisements on their blogs for their readers to see.  Some of the mommy bloggers that do this are seen as sell-outs, once they decide to get paid to have ads put on their blogs by companies.  Some the mommy bloggers readership then goes on to say by being paid to have ads on their blogs, it can reduce the quality of truth content the blogger posts about because if they are getting paid money from a company to have an advertisement on their blog, they will not bad mouth it because it would put the money they are receiving from that company in jeopardy. The last section talks about how mommy bloggers have created a strong community amoungst themselves to support one another.  Some concepts introduced here would be networked publics because blogs are used to connect people with similar interests together to discuss those similar interests, creating a small “public” out of it.  It also brings up the digital divide because the blogosphere is predominantly ran by adult white men and women, with not a lot of African American or minority cultures involved.

  This artifact fits with the stereotypical image a mommy blogger is given.  It shows the negative connotation dubbed on them by society.  Mommy bloggers are seen as stay-at-home moms’ who do not do anything but take care of their kids and blog about what their kids are doing and their family life.  The public does not see any real need for these blogs because they do not talk about “relevant” information needed to keep people up-to-date about what is happening in the real world.  These people do not realize that these blogs can actually help first time moms who do not know the first thing about parenting. 

  This article fits with what we have talked about before by bringing in the topic of a confessional society.  Since women’s blogs in particular are seen as online diary entries, it is seen as a way for them to confess about what they have done, what they are doing, and what they want to do.  It allows people to put information out there they may not have normally said to their friends or family.  It can also be seen as a form of intimate media because it can be seen as a written scrapbook of the lives of their children and family.  Some day one concepts that could be included are Web 2.0 because it allows people to create content that they are interested in and find people who have those similar interests as well to hopefully have a benefit in either of their lives.  The concept of information can also be connected to this article because the main purpose of most blogs is to keep the reader informed in some way, no matter what the content is.  It gives them access to information they did not have before.

  I do not know much about mommy blogging really because I do not blog, nor do I read blogs.  I did not know this was much of an issue until I read this article.  However, I do feel like mommy bloggers do have a bad reputation, especially amounts their own women community of bloggers.  This approach, to me, seems to take a dystopian perspective because it talks about mommy blogging as if it was an insult to be called that.  This argument is still relevant today because women are still not as respected as men, even in something as trivial as the blogosphere.  It show our society is still divided in a multitude of ways.

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“The Addictive Narrative”, on the surface, seems like an unhealthy relationship some people, teens in particular, can develop with their technology, such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, etc.  However, this does not reflect what is actually happening in our society.  Parents try to control their kids’ interactions with technology by prioritizing their life and filling it with other activities that will minimize their involvement with technology because they believe that their technology is running and ruining their lives.

This artifact, however, shows the positive side of the “addictive narrative.”  It is a myth that technology is disrupting kids’ social life because they are too enveloped to actually socialize with people, when in reality teens prefer meeting in person.  Because parents are constantly filling up their kids’ time doing different things, it gives them less time to relax and be a kid.  This is where technology steps in because it allows the kids to relax and unwind.  Social media also allows the brain to refocus so it does not constantly have to focus on studied information, rather fun information.

This topic is important to the study of new media and society because it is a part of being human that causes us to have the addiction to information because it will allow us to be better equipped to connect to our surroundings and society.  Since technology is constantly progressing, our brains need to as well, so technology gives us a way to allow our brains to progress, thus keeping us smart.  Although too much technology can hinder our social lives, just the right amount can actually improve our brains and give us an out from stressful situations.  Another concept from day one that could fit with this topic is interactivity because it shows just how much interactivity between a human and a machine can affect their social interactions with other people because they become dependent on technology. 

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In the article “Facebook’s Mobile Career,” written by Gerald Goggin, Goggin explores how the creation of the Facebook mobile application has impacted the lives of humans and the society we live in since its mobile application launch.  The article is organized into different subtopics that help us understand how Facebook has evolved over the course of its first decade.  The article starts out by giving a brief introduction to the mobile application and how it has connected people all around the globe together.  Then it shows a case study about how Facebook has impacted the lives of those living in Australia and how it has changed the way they communicate with one another.  One Australian even said, “Ya it’s Facebook before email now.” This can ring true for anything though.  You could send someone a text message asking them a question and they may never respond; yet moments later they may upload a status or something to that effect onto Facebook because that is their main way of communication.  The next section talks about how Facebook may have the potential to one day to replace the internet because it allows you to do to do the same things the internet does, like sharing photos, blogging, and playing online, virtual games.  The last two sections then go on to talk about how Facebook as integrated with other applications and gaming companies, like Instagram and Zynga, respectively and how by Facebook integrating its servers with theirs it has affected the membership.  The concepts they introduce are interactivity because of its human-machine interaction, simulation because of its virtual games you can play, and information because it allows you to search for a lot of things that you want to know. 

  This artifact shows how much Facebook impacts one’s social life.  People may blow off your text messages or emails just to update their Facebook status or upload a picture.  It controls a majority of people’s lives and how they interact with one another.

  I agree with the author when he says Facebook has become a big part in much of our daily lives, and also when he says its outlook for the future is uncertain because everything is constantly changing.  Something’s are in one day and out the next.  The argument is fairly an Utopian perspective because it almost makes Facebook sound like it is the main part of today’s society  It is still relative today because Facebook has a lot of connections and influence in today’s society about many things.

[pacuinternetnsociety]

If we are to break down the words in of new melodramatic imagination, we would find two key words:  melodramatic which is basically mean exaggerated, while the second word is imagination which is the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.  Thus new melodramatic imagination is how certain events can allow people to be creative, with their ideas about something and, in turn, exaggerate something to make it a big deal. 

Miley Cyrus’s transformation is a good example of how the media exaggerated this and turned it into a bigger deal than it actually was.  We all remember Miley Cyrus as the sweet Disney star who played Hannah Montana.  After the show ended when Miley was 19 years old, so she decided to change up her image to act her age.  It was not until her engagement ended with fiancé, Liam Hemsworth, that Miley started acting out.  She went through a traumatic experience and the reporters used this to manipulate our image of Miley Cyrus.  If we truly look at the whole situation we can see the media did blow the Miley Cyrus transformation out of context because she had a legitimate excuse to go a bit crazy. 

This topic is significant to the study of new media and society because everything is constantly being blown out of context, such is the case when rumors spread about Lady Gaga being a hermaphrodite.  Another concept from day today that we might interface with this one is the confessional society because we are constantly trying to get the latest gossip on everything and find out why people do this or that.  In order to get this information though people need to tell us this information first.

[pacuinternetnsociety]

Simulation is where a virtual world, i.e. playing video games like Madden or Grand Theft Auto, “simulates” the same feelings and gives you similar experience as if you were actually doing it in real life.  For instance, if you were playing Madden 2014, it would give you a similar experience as if you actually played professional football, minus all the pain of course.  With all the controversy about Grand Theft Auto leading kids down a path of violence, this meme is showing that even though these games can simulate similar experiences to real life events and give you the same rush, it does not mean that they will become a murder or a thief because of it.  This concept is significant to the study of new media and society because simulations are constantly being done.  New video games are constantly coming out trying to create the best possible experience for people, so they may be able to feel a sense of accomplishment in themselves if they are good at something in the virtual world, but not so great in the real world.  Another use for simulation is to help explain something complex to the average human.  According to Haraway, simulation may be destroying boundaries that "preserve the sanctity of the human". Other concepts from today that we could include it with is interactivity because in order for simulations to work interaction is needed to complete simulations.  Algorithms are the basis for simulations because simulations require software to run.  You could also connect it to the culture of visualization cultural development because simulations allow us to see and "be a part of" certain things we would not ordinarily be a part of in our normal, everyday life.