Response to group 4 October 3, 2007

Group 4 expressed some good points about identity. Here is a good example of how communication and blogging allows you to talk more openly about issues you would not talk about to others face to face.At 11:27a.m. Emily Sophia proceeds to tell the group about an 8th grade relationship that didn’t work out. “…I was a dumb little naive girl who thought everyone told the truth…” she goes on to say “… I don’t really tell many people that story.” Alias replies: “…you have told the entire class.” Another point to bring out is that their group seemed to bond. They were making plans about an upcoming concert. They started off as strangers in an assigned group and managed to make connections with each other. In the real world of blogging we’ve seen where this has led to girls running away from home, and men being arrested for attempting to have sex with minors. Another topic that was discussed was the legality of downloading music. I believe that if the music is free and the artists agree with it then it’s not stealing. But if your’s supposed to pay for it then pay for it and enjoy it. There are other ways to listen to your favorite songs. You can borrow the CD from a friend. Some of the libraries have a wide selection of CD’s that include a lot of new music. This also brings up another point for me. We pay all kinds of fees and taxes to have access to the internet. Most of those fees make absolutely no sense to me, but every month we faithfully send in a check to these companies for a service. Where does all this money go? Maybe the companies should have a special allotment included for downloading rights. I personally can’t see myself paying to download any music. Not even my favorite artists. I’d rather have the concrete product in my hand. This is from Devoss and Porters’ Why Napster matters to writing: Filesharing as a new ethic of digital delivery: “…the feel of the CD case and the opening of a Brand New Product….the artwork and inserts that come with a purchased CD.  petisa

Lonelygirl September 27, 2007

I had never heard of Lonelygirl before taking this class. I even asked my daughter about it and she was clueless. She mainly focuses on MySpace. If I hadn’t know any better, I would have believed this was a real teenager doing teenage things. The one thing that did strike me as being a little strange was that her father allowed her to be in the room with a young man…with the doors closed. The issues surrounding the reality of this show doesn’t really surprise me. Why would they hide the facts? Maybe to create more interest in the show. Also, how do we know a lot of the new shows that we watch on television are real. For example Flavor Flav’s show. Who would date, let alone kiss him unless they knew they were getting some kind of incentive to do so? The television has been bombarded with these types of shows and though I’m not a big fan of them, I do check them out every now and then for the laughs — or the drama. I’m always questioning their authenticity, because certain things  that happen in these shows just don’t make sense.  I’ve even heard that some of the game shows are rigged in certain ways.  Petisa