HW 13: Blogging Impacts Business's

The question we’re asked is which is more important in our view, the impact of blogging on business, or the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit-related? In my opinion I believe that both options can be damaging. Maybe it’s the consequences of blogging that may impact one more than the other. In this case, I feel I would have to side with the impact of blogging on business. After reading, “Blogs Will Change Your Business” by Stephen Baker and Heather Green (Kline and Burstein), there were many examples of how a business may be affected/impacted when it’s blogged about. For example people who work for big corporations/business’s, have very strict guidelines so that everything stays confidential. This must mean that blogging must be on the down low. Now back to the original question, what about the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit-related, but rather for creative expression and/or social/political ideas? Yes I believe that blogging on communication may have a huge impact on people who are being blogged about and/or the people who are blogging. The outcome of those people who are being blogged about may be a big deal for a while, as Baker and Green state, “Blog posts linger on the web forever”. Here’s the catch though, when people are talked about in blogs the hot gossip only stays around for a few weeks. People get sick of hearing about people, like Brittany Spears, Linsday Lohan, and Paris Hilton. Business’s on the other hand… the “talk” that goes around about them on the World Wide Web, never goes away. Ultimately what is at stake here is business’s power to stay in business. Blogs “represent power” (Baker, Green 224) and there’s nothing worse than these powerful blogs putting your business OUT of business! Many business’s/companies are secretive (Baker, Green 224), like Google. Baker and Green explained how Google fired one of their employees due to blogging about his first days of work and how, “Google’s Health plan was less generous than his former employer’s” (Baker, Green 225). Blogging on business matters and is important to be careful about what you’re blogging about. I believe blogging impacts them more because they can receive a bad reputation, or even be put out of business. They are trying to protect themselves, and this is why they have such strict guidelines as to what is allowed to get out in the media.

HW 11: A Say Outside of North Korea

After reading Rebecca MacKinnon’s interview, “Making Global Voices Heard” (Kline and Burstein 325-333), I chose to view the North Korea Zone blog at http://nkzone.org/nkzone/. At the top of the blog there’s a picture of statues of men who are all around statues of flags. At the top of this picture it says, “North Korea zone” and underneath that is says, “A zone for discussion and information exchange about North Korea”. I’m not necessarily sure who blogs on this blog, they seem like people in the world who aren’t in any authoritative position. There are really only two people, however, that are constantly blogging back and forth named Timothy Savage and Michael Rank. The style of writing is formal. One can tell that these topics are very well thought out, but then again certainly not sugar-coated. The topics that are discussed in this blog are diplomacy, engagement, North Korea Art, trade, television, current affairs, military, North Korea nuclear weapons, Japan-North Korea relations, politics, etc.
After reading the North Korea blog zone, I believe the blog still corresponds to MacKinnon’s view of it. After reading “Making Global Voices Heard” it gave me the impression that the blog would just be information about North Korea written by those outside the country. After reading the blog, I read what I expected. People who don’t live in Korea write about Korea. MacKinnon also states that there is "no firsthand information about what is happening in North Korea" (Kline and Burstein 326). After reading the blog, it is very true. There is no firsthand information on NK, instead topics are on politics, nuclear weapson etc...information that can be written and read about outside of the country. Of course, many will probably disagree with my assertion, that MacKinnon's view of the blog then and how it stands now, and that it is the same. They make think it's different because the information may be more informative now then it was when Mackinnon viewed it.

HW 9: Yes, No, Maybe So.

After reading both, “A Weblog Saved My Life Last Night” interview with Ayelet Waldman and, “Punching Holes in Faded Mirrors” interview with Arianna Huffington, I chose to respond to the Huffington Interview.
When Huffinton was asked what kind of reaction she got when she invited celebrities to join the blogosphere, she made a statement that I agree with. Huffington explains that one of the famous people who decided to join her blogosphere is an excellent writer. She continues to explain that if he wanted to write for the New York Times, he could. The reason he doesn’t is because who wants to go through the trouble of coming up with, “a beginning, a middle, and an end?” (Kline and Burstein 346), or having the piece edited?
I agree that blogging isn’t such a hassle compared to writing for a magazine, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe that magazine articles are considered a better source. What one wants to say still gets out to the world…Faster. S/he can sit down, write what s/he wants, and posts it, it’s just as dependable as a magazine… And the reader gets the information faster!
Huffington stated her opinion when she was asked if there have been any low points for blogs. Huffington explained that there are low points in blogs and that, “in [her] opinion…the media is suffering from attention deficit disorder.” (Kline and Burstein 345). She believes in this because, “Americans can only stay focused on one story at a time” (Kline and Burstein 345). I think Huffington is mistaken because she overlooks the fact that Americans are constantly given tons of information throughout the day, whether it be news from the TV, Radio, Internet, etc. In fact, in today’s world we aren’t given ENOUGH information. When watching TV news, we have breaking news come in, while at the bottom of the screen there’s a line that gives us constant information such as sports scores, weather, different news articles, and updates. I find it impossible to only be focused on one story at a time, because we aren’t given just one. Granted, some stories may be more important than others but Americans are constantly being given information.

HW 7: Monitor the Time

I think that middle school children deserve privacy just as much as any other person would, whether they are an adult or child. I believe that children need to figure out who they are and express themselves; they often do this by Internet using social networks, chat rooms, and instant messaging. These pre teens and teens don’t know what they are saying, they don’t realize the meaning behind what they say, or they don’t even mean what they say. Yes these kids go through a stage online where “everything parents fear is true” (Kline and Bustein 351) but these are only stages. This is why I believe middle school students internet activity shouldn’t be monitored all the time. A parent’s worst fear is that their child will not be accepted, or will fail in life. The way these teenagers talk on the internet makes their parents worst fear come true. The way these kids express themselves is how they get through life. They shouldn’t have to hold back how they feel on the internet…to an extent. Yes, there is an extent to monitoring children’s internet activity. When teenagers are writing, “the kinds of posts that fulfill a parents worst paranoia” (Kline and Bustein 354) such as explaining every detail on the internet, or posting inappropriate pictures, this is when I think the parent needs to step in and monitor what’s being exposed. As much as these children need to be themselves, they need to be careful and appropriate while doing so. In my own experience my parents didn’t monitor everything I was doing, my time was monitored. I had a certain amount of time that I was allowed on the computer. As I grew older I started to share things with my parents. I grew more comfortable with them, telling them what was going on, I let them be my friends. In conclusion I feel that if children have an appropriate amount of privacy on the computer, they’ll thank their parents. I feel that children will share more things with their parents if their parents don’t bother their kids to share things when they’re not ready.

HW 6: Starting The Big Project

My top interests for the semester long project are chat rooms and text chat, instant messaging, and social networking services. I chose these three because they interest me the most. I think I’m most interested in these because I am involved in these three so I think it will be easier to find information and relate to what I’m studying. I also already see empowerment and disempowerment through these three topics. My number one choice would be social networking services because being involved in social networks such as facebook and myspace, I see a lot of girls out there who are either empowering themselves or putting themselves down, through disrespecting their bodies. This is very discouraging to see. I hope I have the right idea as to this semester long project because I would like to research how these girls put themselves out there the way they do in pictures, describing themselves, and personal information to complete strangers over the web. This is what I’d like to research. However I believe I could study the same through instant messaging and how bullying can affect these girls, along with chat rooms and text chat.

HW 5b: I disagree

After reading, “I Blog, Therefore I Am” by Kline and Burstein there was a specific section that I personally QUESTION. Throughout this new trend of blogging, there are supposedly many statistics rising and percentages lowering. Kline and Burtsein have made a COMPLICATED statement, along with other bloggers saying that blogging will mean a death of the Big Media. I disagree, however because even though Newspaper circulation has gone down a WHOPPING 11 percent (not that much, really) since 1990, in my opinion it really has nothing to do with blogging. I believe Kline and Burstein CONTRADICT themselves in the next paragraph explaining that the Internet may also be a reason because, “users of the internet tend to take time away from other media” (p 239). I believe that Internet usage really is the reason why newspaper circulation percentages have gone down, however 11 percent over 17 years…It really isn’t that much, and not much of surprise. Many news articles are on the World Wide Web. Blogging is just for journals, and commenting, and meeting people. Whatever blogging may be used for I really don’t believe it is the cause to newspapers not being read as much. Kline and Burstein also say why teenagers aren’t reading the newspapers as much. Lets say blogging really was the cause to this… In that case they still CONTEND themselves because blogging is targeted towards adults in their 20’s to 30’s. So it still doesn’t make sense. In conclusion I disagree that blogging is the reason to the Big Media not being read as much. It’s still being read, just over the web!

HW 4: Option 1 Getting Down to Business

-After reading Kline and Burstein’s “The Voice of the Customer” I decided to do some research on the magazine, Business Week.
-Business Week magazine was mentioned on page numbers 101, 114, and 115.
-I learned many things about the Business Week Magazine. It is a very informative magazine that has articles on the following: Investing, Companies, Technology, Autos, Innovation, Small Businesses, etc. This magazine’s website also has a debate chat room as well as blogging!
-I found the website version of Business Week through Google. The site was http://www.businessweek.com/
-When I was reading the past homework assignment in blog! I noticed a quote from Business Week magazine, “Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up… or catch you later.” I then read this assigned homework The Voice of the Customer. Not only did they mention the magazine Business Week in the first sentence, they also used it in reference two other times. I found this interesting because it sounds to me that the book blog! likes using Business Week as a reference. Not only is Business Week magazine informative, I like the way it is written. The articles are interesting to read and are all up to date. The magazine also keeps you interested. I just read an artice online from them titled, “O.K. (Sigh), I'll Join Facebook” It was a fun article to read considering I have a facebook. It’s true that that, “One year after taking down its "students only" shingle, Facebook is indeed huge with a subset of the professional, grownup world.” (Business Week) It’s always more interesting to me when I read something that I already have an understanding and/or background to. Business Week magazine is very informative and interesting to read.

HW 3: "Toward a More Participatory Democracy"

In order for me to summarize “Toward a more Participatory Democracy” by Burstein and Kline in the book blog, I would need to understand it more. From what I got out of it was the fact that politics is starting to play a role in blogging. I would think that many people would assume blogging would start coming up in the conversation of politics. This is because blogging has become a much more accepted way of communicating over the web. As Burstein and Kline explained in blog, at first blogging was only used as online journals. Blogging wasn’t used for people to state judgemental opinions, or even strong opinions for that matter. It used to be that one had to be careful with how and what he or she would say on the internet. From what I grabbed from this chapter, however, was the fact that, “political blogs have become a vital source of news and opinion for millions of Americans and an alternative to traditional newspapers and television” (p 6, Kline) Blogging is how people get their information. Especially when it comes to politics. The title of the chapter summarizes the whole chapter, we’re participating more in politics through blogging.

HW: 2 Blogging Going Corporate? Does Money Have to do With it?

After reading about the twelve key ideas in the book blog by David Kline and Dan Burstein, the fifth “key idea,” Blogging is Going Corporate, grabbed my attention. This interests me because technology today has become the number one source of communication everyone relies on. It does not surprise me that blogging is going corporate. I find anything “new on the market” or “in” tends to go corporate. One might ask “Why does this happen?” The answer is simple, Business’s need to stay caught up with the world and its communication. Corporations must be involved with their target group, otherwise known as the consumer. Without the latest technological ideas one can not stay caught up in such a cutthroat industry based around money. I find it interesting how corporations, business’s, and the work field need to stay caught up in today’s world. Considering we the people are their main target, they (the companies) need us in order to stay a thriving industry. Blogging going corporate? I find they really don’t have a choice if they want to stay in business, “blogs will change your business…your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our Advice: Catch up…Or catch you Later” (Business Week, May 2005)