Storify

The main reason I have chosen to write about the environment is because it is a dissipating issues that many people ignore. Although we have tried to reduce our own carbon footprints we need to put forward this effort on a larger scale the best way to do this is by producing greener form of energy like wind power,  hydro power, solar energy , biofuel these are just a few ways in which we can produce renewable energy.

The ways in which we can use these renewable sources of energy is by one using windpower to generate homes. Wind turbines can generate mass amounts of energy to power houses, building, hospitals and light sources. This is the simplest way to renew energy and is done by a wind mill as the wind speeds pick up as does the generator energy is created by the constant motion of the wind turbine. A negative effect for these turbine are land spaces and the fact that mother nature is an issue in this process because we have to rely on wind to power these turbines without wind we are unable to produce power.

Another efficient way of producing power is to use Hydropower the energy in water can be harnessed and used because of its density it is able to flow and generate through energy turbine through motion. This is reserved for a much high scale of power and relies on large bodies of flowing water in order to be wide spread but this is one of many ways from which we conserve energy by using natural recyclable resources.

Lastly and one of my favorite sources of renewable energy is solar power this source of energy can be installed into any home of any size and can help reduce the amount of energy  being wasted from our electricity bills and can positively affect our earth in the long run .

So now, knowing about reusable energy there are other ways in which we can personally contribute to benefitting the environment by buying recyclable bags, and lower wattage lightbulbs that lets us do our part in preserving the environment.  Also another tip is to reduce the amount of energy we use by turning off the lights when we leave a room and shortening the lengths of our shower and switching to low-flow toilets every last thing counts when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint on our earths soil. 

Storify

Podcast Not So Environmentally Friendly

Module 6: Summative blog post

Citizen journalism is in interesting topic and deserves attention to become familiar with the subject.  Many people around the world participate in citizen journalism whether they are creating it or consuming it.  The thing that people have to remember is that not every opinion, like, picture, is the truth when it is posted online and we access it though social media networks like facebook or twitter.  For example when the Rob Ford scandal was a hot topic on the news people were posting pictures, videos and articles with their own opinions included in their online citizen journalism.  However many allegations that were made against the Mayor were not true and were people who were reporting on the matter without having any proof.  For example a YouTuber created a video that appeared to be the Mayor smoking from a crack pipe, however it was a video that was edited and not the real thing.  When people got a hold of this fake video, citizen journalists decided to expose the fake video of the mayor and with enough shares the video went viral.  This is just an example how not everything that appears on social media is the truth.  Articles, pictures, and videos can be manipulated to fit the beliefs of the citizen journalists and with the power of editing we are able to create anything we want. 

I would like to participate more frequently in citizen journalism, however I don’t know what I would post about.  This class has opened up a lot of opportunities to learn and understand the numerous opportunities that the internet along with social media has to offer.  I will continue supporting citizen journalism and appreciate the people that do and learn how to do it myself.

Module 6: citizen journalism

Technology, such as the internet has created a new world in which a person is able to communicate, share ideas and opinions, as well as provide themselves with entertainment.  It is a popular medium which provides people with numerous channels for information, as well as entertainment (Bruns, 1).   With these new emerging technologies more and more people are beginning to create their own type of media coverage that shares their ideas and opinions on media coverage. We are now seeing a decline in sales of news-paper companies and an increase in citizen journalism (Bruns, 2).  The internet and social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, and various blog webpage’s have opened up a new world for citizen journalism.  For the first time in history people are now able to share media coverage and provide a different spin on the news by giving their opinions and thoughts, while sharing this information with their follows or potentially the rest of the world.  We are in an information age and newspapers and broadcasting stations are not providing enough information to the public.  There are all types of people out there, left-winged people and right winged people, and all the people in between.  Media coverage by journalists and broadcasting stations often take a bias when providing media coverage to the public.  However with citizen journalism we are now seeing a shift in these biases because we are able to access information from all standpoints written by a variety of people.  Social media as Hermida claims is a social awareness stream, where we are able to be constantly updated through links, photos as well as videos (Hermida, 660). With these constant updates being produced the idea of journalism is now disintegrating, because we are now seeing a mixture of professional journalism mixed in with non-professional journalism, otherwise known as citizen journalism (Hermida, 660).

I believe that citizen journalism is a positive thing; however I cannot say that I participate in it very often.  I am not an avid user of social media nor do I have the time to sit down find articles share them with my Facebook friends.  However I guess the only citizen journalism that I do participate in would be tweeting about hockey trades and issues surrounding the NHL.  However I appreciate people that do participate in citizen journalism, because often when I am scrolling through Twitter or Facebook  I am updated about events occurring through links and pictures that people share.  One primary example of this was the Toronto flood that just occurred.  If you were not updated on the events that took place in Toronto you wouldn’t miss much seeing as people on Facebook and Twitter were giving constant updates about the city’s condition.  People were sharing articles, posting photos and videos to participate in citizen journalism.

Refernces

Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.

Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.

Short Web Video: Clear Cutting

Here is a link to my YouTube channel where you can watch my video about clear cutting.

Clear Cutting-Click Here

Wiki-Op Ed: Global Warming

Global warming is a concerning topic that is often brought up in today’s environmental concerns around the world.  Many people are concerned with the earth’s temperature that is continually rising and the possible effects that global warming could have in years to come on our earth.  Many people try and eliminate their carbon footprint as much as possible by participating in numerous activities to try and “save the earth”. When finding sufficient information on the topic of global warming there are many places to search for information, however because it is such a controversial topic that many people are very passionate about it is difficult to pull the information out that matters and is accurate.  The topic of global warming is so substantial that there are numerous studies, conspiracy theories, videos, facts and opinions that it is difficult to filter out what is reliable and unreliable.   If you are a person that is looking for information about the issue, facts, and studies surrounding global warming I do not suggest Wikipedia to be your first stop for information regarding the topic.  Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information and this can be seen by looking at the talk page that shows the Wikipedia information that people have corrected that may be false, outdated, or not coming from a credible source.

When retrieving information the first place that people think to look is the search engine Wikipedia.  To many this search engine provides the basic information that is required in order to gain sufficient knowledge about a topic area.  This does not seem unnatural seeing as Wikipedia is a free search engine that provides over one million articles on all topic areas (Royal, 140).  However the information that is posted on Wikipedia is often criticized for not being credible because it is written not by professionals however it is posted by its users.  It is a site that is not credible for gaining accurate information because of its lack of authority, because anyone can edit the content within the page and should therefore not be used in order to gain insight, facts or opinions on the topic of global warming (Jensen, 1166).

I do not believe or recommend Wikipedia as a credible source for gaining insight, facts or general information about the topic of global warming because its page holds so much information that deals with scientific facts that do not come from credible sources and facts are false.  In our academic lives we have constantly been reminded not to use Wikipedia as a source for information because it is unreliable, so if you are searching for such a important topic like global warming it is important to gain accurate information possibly from academic journals or research web sites. 

On the “talk” page located on Wikipedia’s global warming page it is proof that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information as it does not use credible sources when writing its content.  For example the global warming Wikipedia pages provides the information to its readers that greenhouse gases in 2010 reached a record high and these gases will linger in the atmosphere for years to come.  However a user states that this information did not come from a credible academic source and however came from a popular magazine.  So when people are trying to gain information about global warming and stumble upon this type of information they may take it as the truth, not looking at where the information originated from. 

Also mentioned on the Wikipedia global warming talk page that proves that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information is the lack of experimentation or percentages to back up facts and/or opinions that are stated.  For example on the global warming page it is mentioned that humans are the root cause of global warming because of their activity.  However there is no experimentation or percentages to say how much humans are contributing to global warming because obviously there are other causes than humans for global warming like natural solar events. 

Although Wikipedia does provide a lot of information on the topic of global warming I believe that it should be taken with a grain of salt.  It is a great place to begin research however it should not be the ending point.  In order to gain sufficient, accurate information about global warming it is important to make sure that the information comes from a reliable academic source, especially if you are looking for information when writing a paper.   

Check out some other interesting blogs

Deforestation

Rights to Animals

Global Warming

References

Royal, C. & Kapila, D. (2009). What's on Wikipedia, and What's Not . . . ?: Assessing Completeness of Information. Social Science Computer Review. 27, 1. pp 138-148.

Jensen, R. (2012). Military History on the Electronic Frontier: Wikipedia Fights the War of 1812. Journal of Military History. 76, 1. pp 1165-1182

Module 4 Summative Blog Post

What I found interesting about this article is Tony Millers Quote that  social medias are a new Economy, Creativity and consumption Symposium.” This best described the whole topic Manovich point for Mass Consumption to a mass culture.  We as a consumer consume mass culture and in this specific example we are talking about the progression of social media’s. For an example when we use Facebook we are socially promoting ourselves on a social network and creating and identity on these websites we reveal things about ourselves that we would like other people to know about ourselves we shared music and video and we do this within groups sharing certain genres of music these things shape our online profile and our personal identities. Whereas websites like twitter allow us to share information of our current events of information that we find interesting or relevant to ongoing events, we interact with our followers which are not particularly our friends but others within our community that have similar interests.

Which bring me to YouTube once a social media website now controlled by corporations looking for more views on titles much like what MCGIP said “that the culture industry is an industry and it’s all about making money. I believe that is one of the problems. Companies are mainly focused on making money and will do anything in order to make some profit.” YouTube has certainly fulfilled there goal on this one posting advertisements on videos to promote other companies that have created these videos to share with others has become totally corporate. The Best example I can think of that reflects this Treyarchs Call Of Duty Black Ops 2, they created a YouTube Video that was live action to promote their game within a few hours the game had received over sixty-five-million views this represent how this form of social media has become commercialized reinforcing MCGIP point that companies are profit driven and will do anything to maintain their audiences and promote profit

Lastly I agree with these theories because of the way they describe our current society as commercialized and profit driven , and these ads work because I myself have found myself susceptible to these ads and have found myself indulging in these social media activities