Blogging has been around for a long time now. But, this is probably the first time I am blogging. Thanks to this class that I have taken up. There have been several times in past so many years that I had developed an urge to write a blog on things that I see and experience. However, the idea of keeping things to myself always stopped me from writing one. The idea of monetizing the blog was novel to me since I have never come across anyone who has done so. The best thing about new new media is the fact that each of them can be intertwined with the others in such a brilliant way that the whole thing looks like a different new new media altogether. It appears like a perfect collage of every possible thing one wants under one umbrella, which in this case is the blog. Personally, I have come across blogs which seemed like paid blogs lobbying for or advertising/campaigning for thing A or thing B. But, it is just today I came to know that they had a separate name too. Some people like Sarah Palin demeaning the bloggers as "some blogger, probably sitting there in their parents' basement, wearing pajamas, blogging some kind of gossip or a lie" (p 111) come across as quite judgmental, who state things that demote bloggers just to get back at them for their personal failures. Blogging to me is an interesting media to get different perspectives. I may not necessarily accept the view point put forward but always consider what is being written about.
Foursquare with its integration to iPhone and other smart devices has made common man's life public to the extent that each individual today in some or the other way has become a celebrity. For only those who like to be in news or be noticed by people, would check in.
I have heard a lot of cases of cyberbullying and cyber stalking in India which have led to even deaths of innocents who couldn't differentiate between the thin line of virtual friends (some strangers whom you have never met or know personally) and real life friends (who you have met and know personally).
The example mentioned about the Mumbai terror attacks (p 166) and how each action and movement was tweeted by the people who were witnessing the event in real time was highly discussed on news channels in India. If I am not mistaken, some of the news channels even had a ticker at the bottom which had the tweets by the common people as well as people involved in politics about the developments of the catastrophe.
I would like to quote an example from real life about the craigslist and the fraudulent people posting things on it. My uncle had kept a 'sell' sign outside their house. One fine day they noticed a car parked in the drive way. On calling out the person in the car from the kitchen window, my uncle found out that somebody had posted the ad on their behalf and that the person was waiting for that agent to come and show the house. My uncle called the police and things followed. But, one needs to be extra careful while dealing with things online especially when people post things on your behalf.
There are thus positive and negatives about new new media just like the old media and the new media. One just needs to be extra vigilant to avoid being victimized by such scammers.
Foursquare with its integration to iPhone and other smart devices has made common man's life public to the extent that each individual today in some or the other way has become a celebrity. For only those who like to be in news or be noticed by people, would check in.
I have heard a lot of cases of cyberbullying and cyber stalking in India which have led to even deaths of innocents who couldn't differentiate between the thin line of virtual friends (some strangers whom you have never met or know personally) and real life friends (who you have met and know personally).
The example mentioned about the Mumbai terror attacks (p 166) and how each action and movement was tweeted by the people who were witnessing the event in real time was highly discussed on news channels in India. If I am not mistaken, some of the news channels even had a ticker at the bottom which had the tweets by the common people as well as people involved in politics about the developments of the catastrophe.
I would like to quote an example from real life about the craigslist and the fraudulent people posting things on it. My uncle had kept a 'sell' sign outside their house. One fine day they noticed a car parked in the drive way. On calling out the person in the car from the kitchen window, my uncle found out that somebody had posted the ad on their behalf and that the person was waiting for that agent to come and show the house. My uncle called the police and things followed. But, one needs to be extra careful while dealing with things online especially when people post things on your behalf.
There are thus positive and negatives about new new media just like the old media and the new media. One just needs to be extra vigilant to avoid being victimized by such scammers.
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