How the digital age has effected the Campaign? (draft)

With the 2008 Presidential Elections coming up, it seems that this generation has started a revolutionary political movement. For the longest time, technology has changed the way we breathe, eat, sleep, and ultimately, even the way we think. So one of the major questions that has been boggling my mind is, how has the new internet phenomenon changed campaign fundraising and exposure in general?

Week 10 Response

Throughout this quarter, I have always wondered what the details of being a professional blogger was. I always wondered what their life is like. The common misconception of believing that blogging is not a professional job made me believe that their jobs must be great. They work out of their home and basically write whatever they want. On the other hand, it got me thinking about their job security. Their jobs are purely based on their audience members. No audience members means no money for them. This week’s article “The have and Have-nots of the Blogging Boom” by Clive Thompson explained just that. What is takes to become a professional blogger and the details on the mechanics of a major blog.

It was interesting to begin the article off with the story of David Hauslaib. As a junior at University of Washington who has interest in new media technology and more specifically blogging, I found it quite interesting how a person, average as me, can take on the blogging industry. I guess that is the beauty of blogging. Like Peter Rojas stated, “anyone can start a blog, and anyone can make it grow.” It seems that with the right amount of effort and dedication, it can be done. But like Rojas also said, keeping the blog up to date is the hard part. Especially since blogging is strongly based on “breaking news,” bloggers must be at their toes 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Another aspect of getting a blog’s name out there is not simply directly to audience members, but it is interesting how blogs all work together to help eachother out. It seems that in order for a blog to truly succeed, their names must be linked and mentioned from other blogs, and vice versa.

One of the questions that popped up in my mind while I was surfing through my favorite fashion/trend blogs was, how do new comers manage to compete with already established blogs such as Hypebeast and Highsnobiety? These are well established go-to blogs for streetwear fashion, so what incentives do people have to check out new blogs that most likely will report the same material? The competition for blog popularity seems to grow more and more as blogs continue to pop from all around the world. The business of blogging seems only to be growing and really shows no sign of downfall.

1) Do you check out other blogs that are similar to some of the major blogs that you frequent?

2) Have you ever thought about starting a blog that you can manage on a 24 hours per day level?

3) “Blogging is increasingly becoming a survival of the fittest—and that all boils down to who has the best content.” Do you believe this quote is true? Do you believe that blogs will easily replace on another?

Discussion Leader Summary (SA13)

I found this article very interesting due to the fact that it touches upon and digs into something that every internet user utilizes on a regular basis. Something as ordinary and simple as a search engine is revealed to be more than just a search engine. The article exposes the biases and politics that go into the way a search engine works.

First of all, the article begins by explaining how and why traditional media is in many ways inferior to the newly integrated internet media source. It does not come to a surprise that mainstream media, traditional and internet, is simply controlled by a number of people. For example, the authors of “Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matter,” Lucas Introna and Helen Nissenbaum state that “the gains, the powers, and the access were consolidated in the hands of a few dominant individuals and institutions” (pg 2). Sadly, traditional mainstream media has become a very much centralized system where merely a few super power individuals battle over the power to control the media system for monetary gain. It is often difficult to realize that everything we watch and listen to may heavily and sometimes completely based on how much money they are earning.

Week 9 Response

With the recent boom of websites such as Google News, Newsvine, Boing Boing and many others, it seems that reading the news is 120% more convenient and easier. With direct links to and from, back and forth of different news websites through one site, it really saves the time of having to surf the net of different news sources to get news.

So the question that begs to be answered is, why are these websites becoming so popular? Is it that difficult to surf the net for an extra five minutes to find news? Well the answer is actually quite simple. Simplicity, Convenience, and overall ease seems to be the key. In an April 9th article on Collision Detection, the author uses this example.

<blockquote>When I interviewed Cory Doctorow — cofounder of Boing Boing – for my recent New York magazine feature on blogging, he pointed out an interesting aspect of Boing Boing’s success: Simple, straightforward headlines.  </blockquote>

It turns out that people want easy straightfoward news given to them, rather than having to find them. This makes perfect sense. With the development of such websites and RSS feeds, not only do people have to goto a single website for all their news, RSS feeds enables them to sit back and read all their favorite news sites when it is directly sent to them.

Another point the article makes is that people do not want confusing, clever and witty headlines. Why take the time to figure out what the article is about when you can get the very basic summary by reading a straight forward headline? Unfortunately, both ways sound like great ways of gaining readers. A witty clever headline can get the attentions of readers at a single glance, while a straight forward headline takes away the pain of having to figure out the riddle-like headline.

Overall, I guess the direction our internet culture is going for is convenience. Afterall, this makes perfect sense because many technological growth was based solely on making our lives easier.

1) Do you think this only shows how lazy people in our society is getting?

2) The article states that “The human readers of blogs are beginning to behave like bots, too.” Do you agree that people are becoming mindless bots that simply scroll through headlines?

3) With internet news reading becoming a much more mainstream way of communications, have you seen a change in the way people perceive traditional media? If not, do you expect to see any changes in the near future?

Week 8 Response

I found this week’s reading particularly interesting due to alittle problem I had faced a couple months back. Although my problem did not relate to Chapter 12 of “Dispatches from Blogistan,” I found myself in my very first online blog related problem. A couple months ago, I was told to advertise our new products for a company I work for. I was posting in a discussion forum, where I openly discussed the need for new models on one of our retailer’s websites due to some disagreements with the image they were portraying as opposed to what we were trying to portray with our products. What soon followed was a very nerve wrecking situation for me. I got an email from the owner of the certain retailer threatening to end our contract with our company if I continue to reference their website in a negative manner. The problem was solved in a civil manner, but this was just a reminder for me to always watch my words even online.

Aside from that, it is quite interesting to see how blogging has gradually but surely blurred the lines of “legal responsibilities and liabilities.” I think the problem is that a lot of times, because blogs do not seem as formal as traditional news sources, people freely use and quote media sources on their blogs. Not only that, but they use video clips, sound clips and basically anything that may be of good use to them and their blog. I think what we’re failing to see is that blogging is still a form of communication and anything and everything that is not rightfully not their’s should be credited in the right manner.

It is funny how Suzanne Stefanac uses the term “common sense” a lot in order to describe how a blogger should take precaution before referencing to things. What seems to be common sense in traditional media, almost does not seem so with blogging. Maybe because blogging is such a new way of communications and still not quite formal, people don’t feel the need to use the same precautions as they would with traditional ways of communication.

1) Does it matter if it is a personal small blog or a major mainstream blog when it comes to copyright infringement?

2)  Do you find yourself worrying about online legal problems when you post on  your own personal blogs?

3)  With blogging surely on the rise, do you think this problem is something that can be resolved soon in the future or do you think the problem has only begun?

Tom Tancredo Bio

Birthdate: December 20, 1945 (Denver, Colo.)

Hometown: Broomfield, Colo.

Religion: Evangelical Presbyterian

Education: 

• University of Northern Colorado, B.A., 1968
• Holy Family High School

Experience:

Businesses Owned, Past Careers, Board Memberships, Etc.:

• Teacher, Drake Junior High School

Public Service / Elected Offices:

• Representative, United States House of Representatives, 1999-present
• Secretary of Education Regional Representative, 1981-1992
• Colorado State Legislature, 1976-1981

Position on Issues:

Immigration: Tancredo is known for his strong voice against illegal immigration. As one of his major issues, Tancredo has publicly voiced his planned actions to strengthen the borders and “eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay.”

Social Security: Tancredo’s statements on Social Security -

<blockquote>The best suggestion I have heard is to switch from a defined benefits approach to a defined contribution approach with payroll tax funded private investment accounts. These accounts would be made available to young workers and function similarly to 401Ks.</blockquote>

*Find more information from his official campaign website

or a short bio on Washington Post 

Week 7 Response

This week’s reading revolving the problems that Youtube has faced was very interesting. Youtube, a website that I visit several times on a daily basis, to many users is simply a website for entertainment. We can often find TV show re-runs as well as our close friends featured in their very own video. Never during my use over the past couple years have I ever thought about infringement, simply because I never uploaded any videos. After the whole Napster lawsuit several years back, I think infringement became a hot topic for the media. In the beginning, websites and programs such as Napster, Kazaa, and Youtube seemed like the greatest invention ever. To many users, these websites and programs were a dream come true. A quick way to view their favorite TV show, the ability to download their favorite songs, there was no reason for anyone to dislike these programs. I think as users, we simply enjoy utilizing such websites but never think about the consequences and what kind of effort it really takes to run a website suc has Youtube.

With the news of Google buying Youtube, it may have seemed like a short thought idea, I think Youtube is still a website that is in need of guidance and development. I personally think it is a greaty move on Google’s part to buy Youtube. Youtube, only merely 2 years old, seems to still be growing and developing. I think with the help of Google, Youtube will develop into a much safer website. Even though infringement problems may never go away for Youtube, Google may develop Youtube into a website with negotiated terms with corporations that enables users and corporations to enjoy the existance of websites such as Youtube.

1)  Do you think Youtube will be the same if there was an automatic upload filter that disabled videos that may cause copyright infringement?

2) Do you usually use Youtube to watch personal videos or TV show clips?

3) Recently, Spiderman 3, released this past weekend was uploaded and enabled to be viewed on Youtube. Do you think Youtube is only getting worse?

Week 6 Response

This week’s reading served as a perfect example of how online political movement is growing. The article started off with a quote which states “I e-mail you that I like Dean, maybe you’ll tell your wife. If I tell you face to face, you’ll tell everyone.” Merely a few years ago, I would have completely agreed without any doubts but I think with the gradual but definite growth of blogging communication, I have high doubts that this quote can be stated with truth. Howard Dean’s campaign was the perfect example of this. The article reveals statistics of 500,00 online Dean supporters and a whopping $7.4 million online donations. I think it is also safe to say that with major developments since Dean’s campaign, it will be a complete different story in 2008.

Edward Cone also states that “with the Internet, an effective campaign creates a community that will on its own begin to market your product for you.”

In Class 4/24/07

After exploring many candidate blogs and many government/politics related blogs, I found that it is very slim, if not never, that politicians actively engage in discussions on these blogs. I did not see many replies or even entries made directly by politicians. This may be due to the fact that these blogs are run by online support teams but I think it would make a great impact if politians more actively engaged with people.

While researching about how much money was raised online, I actually ran into some great statistics on the 2004 elections.

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/98/press_release.asp

Also, a New York Times article reported that Senator John Kerry collected over $34 million, which includes $3 million of money raised online in a single month.  Over the past year, Kerry raised $56 million online.

…More to come.

Week 5 Response

When I began to read chapter 7 of Dispatches from Blogistan, one quote caught my attention immediately.  The author states that “there is one category of blog that doesn’t mix as well with opinion and advocacy — citizen journalist blogs” (92). Throughout the rest of the chapter, I tried to figure out why citizen journalism blogging is the only category which should not mix advocacy. The most basic conclusion I came up with is that citizen journalism has a certain level of required professionalism. As a citizen journalist, I think it is important that the person acts credible and remains within ethical grounds in reporting to the audience members of current events. Basically, a citizen journalist can be defined as basically a journalist who does not have professional training and background but takes part in reporting the news. I think it is their duty as a “journalist” to keep things as objective as possible.

Secondly, I came to realize how much important objective journalism is. On page 93, Stefenac uses the example of Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyer’s response to Cronkite’s biased news reporting. Moyer was quoted as saying “If I’ve lots Cronkite, I’ve lost American.” I found this very interesting due to the fact that this shows how much trust and power we give to mainstream media journalism. With a single biased statement, a reporter can easily help audience members make decisions. It seems that people put their trust on these reporters in revealing to them the most simple, objective news, but when the journalist puts an odd spin on their reporting by revealing their biased views, people still trust and follow their words.

With all being said, I think this goes to show how important of a roll citizen journalism may have on society. When people begin to trust citizen journalists, I think this may change the way people make decisions an think about current events.

1) What negative aspects do you see with the rise of citizen journalism?

2) In the case of Walter Cronkite, do you think his reported words would have altered your thoughts on news events?

3) Do you think citizen journalism crosses the line of objective reporting and advocacy often? How does this change the way you think?