"The Technology and the Society"

In the article “The Technology and the Society” writer Raymond Williams looks into the history of the television and the affects it has had on society. It goes in depth about how the television was created and its first uses before it become a mass media. The article describes “accident” of television’s invention. I found it informative to learn the stages of how television grew to what it is today. Also, the article focused on informing us about the history of broadcasting because it goes hand in hand with the development of television.

I think the article wanted the reader to understand why new technology can have major impact on society. By examining what came before television we see the changes society went through. The new abilities that the technology gave to society had major impacts on how people acted on a day to day basis. Whether it was listening to the radio listening for news about the war and ten years later sitting in front of a television watching public broadcast shows.

“Just Like Me Only Better”

This article discusses MUVEs, Multi-User Virtual Environments, and how players design their avatars. Each player chooses the details of an avatar and no one has a say in it, a user imagines the height, body proportions, hair, skin, and eye color. I found the six reasons teenagers made their avatars the way the are not surprising. Teenagers make their avatars with characteristics they wish they had, they like, or just to look different. In second life, you can be who you want to be so a teenager would use it as a place to be someone they are not in real life.

This article made me think about the song “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The song talks about creating a world that is your own and no one can change it for you. Second life is a lot like that I think because as a player you are the world’s creator.

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Self-Representation

In this chapter on self-representation, the writer discusses how the media is controlled by the community. The community has the right to say how they feel about everything and anything through various media.

One of the main ideas for this chapter was how we organize media so that it is “democratic media”. Community media will play a role in documenting what we are doing, “peace building and overcoming negative assumptions to do with gender and race”. Self-expression about everything is possible, by participating we are expressing ourselves, ideas, creativity or politics.

The second main idea of this chapter I found was in this quote:

“There is a relationship between our social, political, and cultural landscapes and our ability to engage with media at different levels and though multiple means.”

I thought this was important because this is what media is today. We use it for social, political, and cultural means. Media like magazines and newspapers are more for political and cultural means sharing information on a daily, weekly or monthly basis through print media. While television, radio, and Internet do the same electronically.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

As a young adult, I am one of the many who are being described in the article, “Explaining Why Young Adults Use MySpace and Facebook Through Uses and Gratifications Theory.” There are many ideas in the article that I knew before reading it. What I was interested in learning from the article was how much of an extent social networking websites has influenced a generation.

Face to face communication allowed gratification but social network sties give instant gratification to its users. The immediate connection with others is a new concept. It instantly fulfills the needs and wants of users. Using social network sites users fulfill the need for entertainment, information, surveillance, diversion, and social utility needs.

I found it most useful to learn the five themes that explained why individuals use social network sites:

1 efficient communication
2 convenient communication
3 curiosity about others
4 popularity
5 relationship formation and reinforcement

These five things embody what today’s youth focus on. Our need to communicate quickly and to know what people are doing or saying or if they are noticing what you do are what today's young adults think about when using social network sites.

"Being American" on Facebook

http://news.yahoo.com/being-american-facebook-generation-opportunity-platform-millennials-surges-154906744.html

The full title of the article, "'Being American' on Facebook, A Generation Opportunity Planform for Millennials, Surges to Over One Million Fans." The article discusses how the grassroots organization, Generation Opportunity, uses Facebook to communicate to over a million fans. Generation opportunity is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that hopes to engage young adults in hopes of creating a better tomorrow.

Their "Being American" Facebook page focuses on targeting 18-29 year old adults. On this Facebook page they focus on issues that affect young adults like youth unemployment and economic opportunity. Because many young adults are unemployed Generation Opportunity uses Facebook to connect those who want to find a solution to unemployment and economic slum.

I believe many organizations today use Facebook to get more supporters. I admire that Generation Opportunity has had a successful campaign on Facebook. Many organizations can only hope that they can reach a million fans. More and more grassroot organizations and community groups use social media to create awareness in the community.

The Medium Is the Message

There are many interesting and important ideas discussed in “The Medium is the Message”. I think the first is that our new technology does not affect the message. It does however change the scale or pace or pattern of how it is introduced into human affairs. I thought this was important because we hear news faster than ever before because we have easier access to it. I think that its important to compare how in the early 1900s the only source of news was a newspaper or word of mouth.

Second, I think that the idea that media are extensions of ourselves is an interesting point. We put our personal energies to surrond ourselves with media to be aware of media and to experience each form of media available to us: radio, television, and Internet. On a personal level we definitely use media to send our opinions out to the world through blogs or our social networking sites. People are caring more about their personal web pages more than what is happening in the community or around the world. It is probably why today’s generation is the “Me” generation. They care little about the bigger picture and more materialistic compared to previous generations.