Final Podcast

Here is the link to the MP3 of my Podcast.

The Big Board Bang

Final Course Exercise

I can’t really say that there was a single most important thing I learned from this course. The course made me more aware of digital media mediums, and how they related to my life. I have since become more aware of politics and news, questioning their sources as well as blogs made by/about important figures. I feel much more connected digitally now than ever before. This was the first time I created a blog or a podcast.

I would have liked to study more on digital video and its relationship to politics. There was a lot of information to go over however, and we seemed to cover most of it in fashionable time.

The least interesting topic would have to be anything dealing with code. I find programming very boring, and when we were going over html code I lost interest quickly. I do understand that it was necessary to show an example of what it was and how it worked to help the rest of the class understand concepts. Overall this class was the most interesting course I took all quarter, and I was very happy to find a professor who incorporating cutting edge technology in her teachings of communication. We are living in such an interesting time with the advancement of email and other communication technologies that it is hard not to want to explore those topics deeper.

VoIP Phone Service

I checked on the vonage and speakeasy websites to see if VoIP phone service was available at my house. With both providers I was able to get service, and keep my existing phone number (cell number). With Vonage I chose the 24.99 residential plan, which I assume would have tax added on to it and possibly some other fees. The Speakeasy plan started at 55.95 a month, and at first glance seemed more professional and felt directed towards business applications. Vonage had a free (rebate) modem, and I did not find anything on the Speakeasy site detailing equipment costs. This was a fairly easy exercise. I did have to give my email to both sites and will soon expect some spam (not sure why I used my real email address). I would find this service useful for small business applications, and it seems like the best value came with the bundle pack (broadband and phone service). I don’t think I would use this for my own personal use, but might consider it if I needed a phone line specifically for my house and wanted internet to go along with it.

week 9 readings

I had no clue that there were phones with an Ethernet cable plug that allowed you to directly connect to a router or modem. I find it interesting that phone companies have not tried to capitalize on this technology before the internet providers capture the market. It would be beneficial to both the telephone industry, as well as public internet access seeing as more providers would have to compete forcing better service and hopefully advancements in internet technology. I was also surprised to find out that the conventional way of making a phone call used as much data as it did (10 MB). VoIP does make a lot of sense when concerning telephone costs and the ability to communicate such long distances. However, I feel it will only be a convenient way to email, and cheaper way to carry what used to be expensive phone conversations. It is hard for me to think that society will drop all of our phone lines and rely strictly on VoIP transmissions. A key point brought up was the fact that 911 phone calls could not be traced, and VoIP relies on a power source to work. Standard telephone systems will work even when the power has gone out. Sometimes sticking with the original may be the best idea.

 

How would we convert every home from standard, analog, telephoning to VoIP? Will there be spam on VoIP? Are virus’s going to plague the software used to transmit calls? How safe would you feel having a private conversation on the phone using the internet?

week 8 readings

I was not aware that 802.16 could transmit as much data as it can at such a great distance. This protocol seems very useful for both home, and some minor metropolitan use. Something a University or other government building would use well. I was also surprised to hear that VAN’s were being set up in rural areas to give wireless phone and internet to an entire village. I think this idea is very useful in the development of nations, and also the affordability of technology. Like it was stated in the article, instead of just a single cable company distributing phone and internet service, with Wi-Fi connection multiple companies can compete for customers, allowing for cheaper prices and technological advances. It would be in the UN’s best interest to get more people connected around the world, because peace can be achieved and governments overthrown when people are able to organize and assemble. It will spread democracy, but also power and ideas. An influential figure may emerge in an internet chat room, develop a blog, and generate followers who believe in his/her ideas. Even  though this individual is not a part of the government system, they now have the power and support to make an impact in nations growth.

 

Will internet connectivity aid in world peace? Will it allow for more hate groups to organize? Will we see smaller villages become commercialized? Is culture going to be lost to technology?

newspaper search summary

In my search of newspaper blogs and rss feeds I found some very interesting trends. The newspapers which had the most interactive, and easy to use websites usually had the most blogs/forums. It makes sense that a website hosting hundreds of thousands of users would need to run smoothly and easy to navigate. NPR had by far the best website, with the blogs and rss feeds easy to distinguish from the news. I did find it interesting that they didn’t refer to the blogs as blogs or forums, and instead called them discussions. A simple change in vocabulary which implies that the content isn’t just some political or personal bashing, and instead educated and intellectual discussions of certain topics. I would like to see more newspapers follow NPR’s model, and offer as much as they do.

Podcast update

I haven’t made a ton of progress on my podcast, however I am gathering data and media to support my topic. I will try to use videos, as they are a big part of what my podcast will be about. Snowboarding is a fairly new sport, starting in the late eighties and not really becoming popular until the mid 90s. The emergence of digital recording, DVD’s, and the internet has really helped the development of the sport. As soon as boarders watched other boarders of film they were inspired to progress their riding. The internet has brought new snowboarding equipment from across the globe to your door step. Manufacturers have had to keep up with changing trends and constantly develop new technology to attract riders. The sport gained a huge amount of attention when it was added to the olympics, defining it as a “comptetative” sport. I’ll try to embed music and videos in my podcast.

Week 7 Readings

I found it very interesting when reading about Dean’s campaign efforts and how effectively they used the internet to increase support. The number of people who signed up for the website along with the amount of money raised all in such a short time span was astonishing. I have never been familiar with political organizing and all the work that goes into promoting the events. It was amusing to read about Trippi using lemonade stands to lure voters. I think that in this age of technology, and how important it has become to our daily lives we will see a huge increase in the use of it for political purposes. A candidate’s website equipped with blogs, donation links, and volunteer signups is going to be standard. I think the websites of Kerry and Bush highlighted in “The Race of the Web Sites 2004″ will obsolete compared to what we will see in the next couple of years. I think that because this new medium of communication is so cost efficient and has the ability to reach millions of people, we will see more emphasis on a good website, and the candidate with the best one will have a lot of public support.

 

What sort of features do you expect on a presidential candidates website? Blogs, podcasts, video? Are we going to be bombarded with political junk mail? Will you be more inclined to interact with a politician if there is a blog designed specifically for this purpose?

Discussion Leader

This week I learned a lot about new forms of media and how it has affected the world. I chose to do my discussion on politics and the impact that Podcasting has had. I chose an article by Carol Matlack titled “MON DIEU, A MEDIA BREAKTHROUGH”. The article described how presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy conducted an interview with one of France’s most famous bloggers and had the event podcasted on a popular website. This was the first time a political figure had done such a thing in France. I also found two other articles; one which explained how Germany’s Chancellor conducts weekly podcasts informing the public of national issues, and the other of Nancy Pelosi’s attempt to get younger people to vote using WWE’s Smackdown Your Vote! campaign. I think that podcasts are a great way for political figures to connect with the youth. It allows them to listen to politics on their own time via a medium very familiar to them. I hope to see more use of this technology by politicians in the future.

 

PPT

Week 6 Readings

Established media has experienced an incredible impact in the way news is reported because of blogging technology. Gillmor quotes, “The printing press and broadcasting are a one-to-many medium. The telephone is one-to-one. Now we had a medium that was anything we wanted it to be: one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many. Just about anyone could own a digital printing press, and have worldwide distribution.” The internet, and the ability to create, distribute, and participate in blogs has given a voice to more people than television news or radio could. It has allowed the public to act as a watchdog over news broadcasts. An example was when CBS aired records that President Bush received preferential treatment during his service in the military. Immediately after, bloggers attacked the news organization questioning the authenticity of the documents. Later CBS apologized for the incident, announcing that they could not authenticate the documents. Anchor Dan Rather then announced his retirement, and producer Mary Mapes was forced to resign. The benefits of this new communication medium are hopefully more accurate and truthful reporting by major news networks. People now have the support to stand up to such a giant organization, and question its motives.

 

To change gears; I was unaware that NPR was one of the top podcasts on iTunes. I was also impressed with their outlook of the future of news reporting on the internet. I believe that podcasts are a great way for news to be distributed, as well as a way for amateur reporters to broadcast their own stories with only the use of a personal computer. Podcasting is going to change the way people listen to news radio, and allow for greater news reporting globally.

 

Will blogs help or hurt modern news reporting? Will we see a decline of news radio broadcasted on the radio, and more news podcasted? Is radio going to move to the internet, and cars soon be equipped with computers and no radio receivers? Will the radio wave be replaced by a WiFi signal?