One week during class, we discussed how digital media is slowly phasing out other, more tangible types of media. Newspaper sales, for example, are dropping in response to news on the internet, television, and radio, in addition to environmental concerns. And I’m not completely sure how I feel about this.

I’ve never been much of a newspaper reader, so I never understood why people would rather pay to get a piece of paper, when they could just watch TV or get the information on the internet. Also, when information is online, it is much easier to access a specific article. I can type in any topic, or any piece of information from an article, and I will get numerous possibilities. Which, if I may go off topic for a second, reminds me of the example in Everything is Miscellaneous about the historical picture archive. The pictures were alphabetically ordered, but they were extremely hard to access because they were difficult to categorize. Since one picture could

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fit under many categories, if you wanted to find that picture of a soldier eating in a field, it would be difficult to find without knowing the exact category. Unless you want to spend ridiculous amounts of time sifting through card catalogs. But, on the internet, you do not need to know the exact category, just type in what you remember, and it will most likely come up. Like, with YouTube, I can type in lyrics to a completely random part of a song, and the song will pop up in a matter of seconds.

So, anyways, after having said all that, I couldn’t see why newspapers hadn’t been phased out sooner. That was, until I actually started reading one. A few weeks ago, for the first time, I actually started picking up a copy of the diamondback to read in my spare time. And, I have to admit, there really is something about having something tangible in your hands. It just feels more authentic.

Since, I personally enjoy the benefits of these two types of media, I would love to always have both of them. But, I’m not completely sure if this is a realistic expectation
What do you guys think? Is it possible for newspaper and digital news to continue to survive together in harmony, or will one completely overtake the other?

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As I was doing my Econ homework today, as usual, I ended up on Facebook. I went through the normal routine of checking my notifications, events, messages, etc. Then, when I was done with that, I looked at my mini-feed to see what all my friends were up to. I’ve always liked that aspect of Facebook. Being able to see what people are doing allows me to feel connected and up-to-date with everyone else, while at the same time, avoiding awkward conversations with people I wouldn’t normally talk to. And yes, I have to admit, I am guilty of the occasional Facebook stalking. But aren’t we all?

As I was doing this, I thought back our first class period when we all chose between phone conversations, texting, e-mail, and Facebook as our favorite form of communication. I chose Facebook because of its ease and community aspect, while others disliked Facebook because of its lack of privacy. This made me think about how much you can really find out about a person from Facebook. By looking at one of my friend’s page, I could find out where he was right now (from his status), his phone number, school, class schedule, address, birthday, sexual orientation, religion, political views, who his girlfriend is, what he looks like (from all of the posted pictures), who his friends are, and who he’d been talking to recently. Wow, that’s definitely enough information to seriously stalk someone, not just Facebook stalk.

None of this ever really bothered me though, because I have the option of choosing who has access to all of this information. Right?

I just read an article about how Facebook has decided to go back to its original terms of use. I wasn’t even aware that they had changed it! But, apparently in the new terms of use, Facebook granted itself permanent rights to user’s photos, wall posts, and info even if the account was closed! Thankfully, Facebook changed it back in response to public pressure, including various Facebook groups that came out against it. However, the fact that I was giving someone else permanent rights over my pictures and personal information without even realizing it, made me think twice about safety on the internet. I’m not worried enough to delete my Facebook account and lose my favorite social connection, but in the future, I will try to be more careful about reading the fine print.

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I read an interesting article on cnn.com about people using technology in new ways. Professor Aydogan Ozcan from UCLA converted a Sony Ericsson phone into a mobile medical lab that is capable of prototype imaging, just by adding a few extra parts. This device, called LUCAS (lensless ultra-wide-field cell monitoring array platform based on shadow imaging) takes very detailed pictures of bodily fluids, sends the picture to a computer, and then the computer text messages the results back to the phone all in a matter of seconds. This process is about 90% accurate and can analyze bodily fluids and count T-cells much faster than a human could. It is very useful in diagnosing anemia, AIDS, and malaria. This new way of using cell phones can revolutionize the way doctors treat people that live far away from hospitals.
A few downsides of Lucas are that it has difficulty counting individual cells when there is a high density, it cannot distinguish between different types of bacteria, and it only works in areas where there is cell phone coverage. The device is still considered a prototype, so in the future, the LUCAS team hopes to improve the imaging technology of the phone so that it can take images at a molecular level in order to count individual cells at a high density and distinguish between bacteria like good E. Coli and bad E. Coli. Also, many of the third world countries where this device would be particularly useful are working on developing cellular networks.
It’s really cool to see how people are using and getting creative with the technology around them in order to serve different purposes. If you would like to read the article, the link is posted below:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/03/medical.imaging.device/index.html

Hey everyone,
Today in New Media Frontiers class, we discussed the intro and first two chapters of the book Convergence Culture by Jenkins.

Three main themes were:
-Media Convergence
-Participatory Culture
-Collective Intelligence

The class as a group identified more with the topic of music instead of the "survivor craze." I think this is because music is something we deal with on a regular basis with itunes, ipods, youtube, etc., whereas most people do not have enough time on their hands to obsess about a show.