Are you there Twitter? It’s me, Meagan October 15, 2009

I literally can not go anywhere without hearing about Twitter. It’s on my phone, its on my nightly news, its in the magazine I read. Hey, its even my homework assignment sometimes! Although overwhelming at times, I don’t think I would be so quick as to criticize Twitter. Chuck Tyron wrote a great article Why You Should Be on Twitter. He debunks what Twitter Critics have been saying and gives a pretty thorough glimpse at Twitter. Even one who doesn’t have a Twitter account can see eye to eye with him. Tyron’s article is a bit lengthy when your just diving in to it but there are a couple of key points he is getting at. Twitter is one of the new emerging technologies and we should embrace it. Twitter is not journalism nor it is trying to masquerade as such. In fact, Twitter is great in the fact that it use 140 character messages to spur conversations. These conversations and debates usually lead to great journalism and in depth blogging later on.

I’ve had my Twitter account for a couple months now and I think I am finally learning the ropes. At first I was not following anyone except for celebrities and I hardly posted any Twitter updates. For a week or so I was TOO hooked on it and got a little carried away. Now that I understand the technology a little bit better I can truly use it to my advantage. I connect with professors, classmates, news stories and yes, still the occasional celebrity. It is easy to get lost in the Twitter sea among all the tweets out there but don’t be so quick to judge. If you actually utilize Twitter you realize that it is what you make of it.

Should You Care About 4chan? October 13, 2009

First of all, just what the heck is 4chan? And should I even care? Should readers out there even bother to learn what it is? A classmate in my emerging media class took an interesting, and creative stab at the site 4chan.org. Before reading my blog post I highly suggest checking out Laura’s post on 4chan.org.

Have you ever heard of lolcats? Or have you ever been browsing videos on YouTube only to click on link after link that led you to Rick Astley’s music video of the 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up – yup you were “Rick Rolled.” All of this began on 4chan. And while I could easily sit here for hours talking about the funny (or highly inappropriate events) that have come from 4chan, what’s really important is the people on 4chan themselves. Laura refers to 4chan as “the internets collective id.” She begs the question, “is 4chan contributing to the downfall of net society?” While rhetorical, I’ve come up with an answer for her- no. Her question urged me to think a little bit deeper about how all of us in “physical” society fit in with net society.

The term social networking is everywhere these days. Whether your on MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, it seems like almost everyone belongs to or participates in some sort of social networking site. We might just join to get access to a news feed, or look at another users photos, but by joining one of the many social networking sites we are also joining net society. Just because I belong to Facebook and Twitter does not mean I want to also be linked to some of the unlawful or inappropriate users also using these sites. That is why I do not really see 4chan as being a good representation of net society as a whole. Here is how I see it; the fact that such sites as 4chan.org exist is in itself saying a lot about where net society is today. Even before 4chan’s existence, pedophiles and animal abusers existed. 4chan made their actions more accessible to the public. Just as users who produce negative content can congregate on the net, so can positive people. Activists, church groups, and political campaigns all use net society to meet others with the same views.

So, while one might argue that we have created our own worst enemy in net society, I am not exactly fearful. We created the net. It is not some force or natural event that occurred and now we are just watching it happen. As with any innovation, we are going to get both the good and evil side. The users are going to have to decide how to shape and mold it. I don’t really see the net going toward a direction that includes only pornography and pranks. I think that more users should be aware of what they are contributing to and the effects of the content they put out there.

Can You Copyright the President? October 6, 2009

Everyone in America has undoubtedly seen the famous “Hope” portrait of President Barack Obama. Though never officially accepted by the Obama campaign while he was running for office, this artwork became symbolic for many of his supporters. Created by street artist Shepard Fairey, this picture was soon plastered on the walls of many city streets, on t-shirts, coffee cups and anywhere else you can think of. In February of 2009, A.P. officials contacted Fairey demanding payment for using the photo and portions of the money he has received from using it. Mr. Fairey’s lawyers argue that this incident does not break any copyright laws and falls under the category of fair use. More importantly, the freelance photographer, Mannie Garcia, who snapped the famous shot, has no problem with Fairey using it as inspiration. He is apparently satisfied with the original and creative artwork Fairey created from his original photograph.