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 

Module 4 Initial Post

Social media has become a practice of everyday life it has been said that a person checks their phone over one-hundred and fifty times a day with access to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and other media like snap chat.  People are constantly connected through conversation and media through their phones. Manovich says ‘Instead, we moved from media to social media (Manovich,1), this outlines our current society because instead of local news  we as a mass culture have adopted the electronic era of information. All of our news sources are digital, we receive constant updates through social media sources like Twitter. Users follow celebrities and political figures so that we have a constant feed of information from these sources so we are enhancing our view points and increasing our media diet from several perspectives.

This shift occurred in the 2000’s it increasingly became a user medium communication was created through several sources posts, comments, reviews, rating, votes links, photos and videos(Manovich 2) User have gradually become more and more responsive to these social media sources Facebook is available in nearly every country and connects its users through friending posts and comments. Another Example from Manovich claims that from 2007 2.2 billion people have mobile phones this stat is most likely outdated based on the amount of smartphones released within the last two years with the creation of the iPhone, Android, HTC, Nexus. Cell phones have become a dominate market through which people are lining up to purchase. This is relevant because the more people purchasing cell phone the more people are involved in generating views and members within the social media applications.

Which bring me to YouTube “has become the go-to website for finding topical and obscure streaming videos” (Hilderbrand, 48), Miller describes this as the “New Economy, Creativity and Consumption Symposium.” This can be related directly to myself because within the last year I have been a direct consumer of YouTube I have viewed and shared viral videos or simply videos I have found amusing to share with my friends who share the same sense of humor. Personally I have consumed hundreds of YouTube videos but have failed to create my own although I have recently become a member of nearly three new social media websites including Twitter, Stumbleupon, and Instagram I have join these sits based on the amount of friends familiar with the website and sharing capabilities of these social media websites. I Stongly believe that we as a society have switched to social media as a main type of communication because of the vast amount of users associated with these websites.   

   Miller, T. (2004) A view from a fossil. International Journal Of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 55-65. 

Manovich, l. (2008) The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass 

Cultural Production

Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film          Quarterly. Vol. 61, No. 1,  48-57.

Module 2 Summative Post

Based on Lev Manovich’s I agree that we have shifted media towards social media. Only because when it comes to recent events, we are no longer seeking newspaper articles or waiting for our local new station to broadcast the event. We are now receiving information much faster than before based on eye witness accounts from Twitter, Facebook the information is vastly spread and instantly connects members of these social media websites. Another example of the switch from media to social media is YouTube members have the potential to be paid to broadcast videos based on the amount of views that they receive and members rely on these videos for the latest events that are occurring both in the world and within the personal lives of these members.  So it is clear a vast majority relies on these social medias for the latest information.    

Another Example that media has switched to social media are business advertisements companies such as Nike, Bauer, Coke, Pepsi.  Basically all major companies have been promoting their brand and logo on these social media websites by interacting with individual users because social media is so wide spread ads they are able to reach millions of viewers in less time because of the sharing of videos for example if someone makes a successful YouTube video within hours the video has received millions of views. This is described as going viral because of the amount of people these ads are affecting this is a perfect example of today’s world because within hours everyone is talking about the most recet video from popular YouTube channels. An example where this has occurred is Treyarch’s most recent video game Call of Duty Black Ops 2 they created a live action commercial that generated sixty-five-million views within a few hours because of the amount of avid fans of the game and the rate at which they viewed and shared videos. Social Medias have shared a Mass Culture because these applications are connected to cell phones, iPads, and all kinds of electronic devices that are accessible by a large amount of people. Hence why society has shifted to social media      

Module 2: Initial Blog Post

Individuals create systems of communication Research has shown that the meanings of social networks site practices and features differs across sites and individuals (Boyd, 361). Using Mediais to develop and maintain social networks which is an established practices (Kendal (362) This first article outlines YouTube users’; these users post videos clips of themselves or current events which they find interesting in hope that others YouTube users will also find interesting by befriending other accounts of liking and sharing videos. By sharing videos people are creating associated identities based on the videos that they are viewing. This type of social networking allows people to virtually communicate through ones profile whether it is private, public or semi-public these profiles communicate meaning with other members of the website. This not only exists within the YouTube website but across all types of social networking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest. People are constantly sharing information of current events and constant updates of events occurring in their lives by befriending and sharing information with people connected to their personal Social Medias.

   What criteria do you use when you decide to share information I base the information that I am revealing about myself based on the privacy of the website and example would be Facebook because only your friends are allowed to access your information so I reveal my name the school I am attending and updated posts of the things I am doing or planning on doing. When I decide to present myself I present myself in a manner as if I was to be having a face-to-face conversation with the other person not leaving anything out about myself that other may or may not already know. Although in a discrete manner because it allows others to create perception of the type of individual that I am, the social medias that I am apart of include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google plus these social media sources allow me to be able to express myself in a social manner that allows friends and followers to be a part of current life milestones and current events.

Knowing that Social Media are always under surveillance searching for trends in patterns within human communication it help me to be aware of the things that I am posting and also not to be to revealing of things I am sharing within my community of friends. These social media websites allow me to shape my social image.   

Lange, P. (2007) "Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on YouTube". Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13, 1

Albrechtslund, A. (2008) "Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance." First Monday. 13,3

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship  danah m. boyd Nicole B. Ellison Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Volume 13, Issue 1, pages 210–230, October 2007

Summative Blog Post: Internet Music Piracy

Thank you rights to animals for your reply back and interesting comment on my initial blog post about music piracy.  I agree with you on the statement that if music is available to people for free on the internet that why would people spend their money on a CD or an Itunes download.  As a generation who has grown up with technology and new emerging applications like Limewire, Bittorrent, and Napster we don’t even second guess ourselves when we click the download button for songs, movies, and television shows.  We are so accustomed to having everything available for free and at the click of a button for free.  So if it is available to us at no cost why would we change our habits and start paying for music?  This is the number one concern for recording companies and like you mentioned from the year 2000 sales dropped 39% so I can’t even imagine how pirating music is affecting CD sales today.  However we are moving into a new day and age and people no longer want hard copies and we are moving towards having digital copies of everything.  That is where iTunes comes into effect.  iTunes offers its customers digital copies of legally purchased music to upload to their computers.  However at a dollar a song iTunes to most people is only used as a library in which we store our illegally downloaded music.  I think that if iTunes offered a dollar for 10 songs it would be a little but more reasonable or like you said have a program which allows you a certain amount of downloads that are legal and have licenses per month, since we are a generation that is obsessed with listening, sharing and downloading music.  Having an iTunes playlist with over a thousand songs downloaded legally would be a hefty investment that is not practical.

I believe that music piracy will always be a substantial issue for the recording industry.  They are not earning the rightful amount of profits for the amount of people that have their product illegally.  However in order to control this issue there has to be more consequences given to pirates and peer-to-peer sharing sites.  In all honestly I think that people are always going to find a way around legally purchasing music and will constantly look for ways to obtain the music for free.    

Initial Blog Post: Music Piracy

In current society copyright infringement in terms of music is a large concern for the record industry.  Copyright infringement or as Steinmetz suggests in terms of downloading music known as “digital piracy” is theft by means of the internet, by illegally downloading or copying music without the permission and compensation from the copyright owner (Steinmetz, 54).  This poses a large threat to record companies because if people are no longer purchasing music and obtaining it for free they face a large decrease in profits.  It is mentioned that in the year 2000, when downloading music first became popular through Napster, CD singles dropped 39 percent (McCourt, 339).  So to think about it this percentage has definitely risen over the last thirteen years and record labels are definitely suffering an immense amount .

When music began to become available through peer to peer networks many people took full advantage of it to update their Itunes to have every album that they every wanted at no cost.  If music is on the internet and is free to virtually any person that has access, then what would be the point of purchasing it? (Condry, 347)  In terms of my pirating music habits, I take full advantage of the fact that music is available through the internet at no cost.  I understand that there are copyright laws that protect the songs and albums however if there are little to no consequences being administered for downloading then what would be the point of discontinuing.  Condry mentions in his article that in March 2004, the RIAA underwent 2000 lawsuits for illegally pirating music through the internet.  However most people would read this and figure that only 2000 people got caught, out of how many people are illegally obtaining music.  So many people will take the risk of illegally downloading and “potentially” getting caught to update their playlist.

However I also feel that as technology progresses many people are moving towards applications that offer digital media like movies TV shows and music legally at a small price that is legal.  Applications like Netflix, Itunes, 8tracks, Songza, and even Youtube are available for its users to legally access copies of these digital files.  For example Netflix offer a large amounts of movies and TV shows at a low cost of approximately 8 dollars a month and Youtube allows you to access songs and music videos legally.  I feel as though as technology advances the issue of piracy will slowly decrease because we will have other affordable means of obtaining digital media, and these applications will offer this digital media in better quality oppose to downloading.

References

McCourt, T., P. Burkart. (2003). When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution. Media, Culture & Society. 25 (3), pg. 333-350 

Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67 

 

Condry, Ian. (2004). Cultures of Music Piracy: An Ethnographic Comparison of the US and Japan. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 7 (3), pg. 343-363  

Summative Blog Post: Module 3

Thank you for the response, Rights to animals.Wikipedia is helpful and it allows people to have a world of information at ones fingertips. Although the information is not considered credible it is still effective in accomplishing the task that it was meant to do. Wikipedia has become the world’s most dominate education resource, with over four million articles in English this website is accessible to anyone willing to read the information. Although I still believe that the old technology is best because everything is electronic there are several other ways to which we can reuse old technology like online books, newspapers, journals and academic articles. It is not as direct as Wikipedia but the information is credible and also useful. I find Wikipedia to easy to find information and that is not always correct causing a flow of misinformation and misunderstanding especially because anyone and there dog is allowed to write or edit on this website. Whereas Old technology items have been proofread and checked several times so this information is researched and correct.

Wikipedia I believe is useful to me as a university student because it provides me with a quick understanding of the topic I am attempting to write about. It provides me with a general understanding and direction when completing and assignment. I feel as if it points students in the right direction in the search for relevant information. 

I also agree with you Rightstoanimals about your comment that Wikipedia is more of a general blog or forum because certain information and be considered bias depending on the topic concerning the author of the article for example; I’m a Toronto Maple Leaf fan is I were to write an article concerning the team about an opposing team my tendencies would be biased towards Toronto and I would neglect certain aspects of information about the other team.  This is directly related to Wikipedia because everyone is allowed to post and speak their mind about what they choose to write about.

So in closing I believe that Wikipedia is still effective when researching general information but should never ever be considered as credible source of information because of the ability and accessibility to post information on the website , and if the information is able to post on this website it should be corrected based on the amount of views that the website receives on a daily basis and the information is consumed but a large audience.      

Initial Blog Post Module 3: Wikipedia

                                         

As technology advances it appears that people also continue to advance.  We now have available to us through the internet an endless amount of information that is accessible to anyone who has a connection and a computer.  People are now able to become more knowledgeable through the vast amount of information available on the internet about various subjects through the click of a button (Royal, 138).  Old technology like books, newspapers, and journals appear to be disappearing as a source for information and people are now using new technology like search engines in order to gain information (Brown, 1).  The internet unlike old technology allows people to search exactly what information they want at whatever time they want without having to wait and buy a newspaper, book, or journal about a specific subject.  The internet allows you to log onto your computer, type in what you are looking for, and be supplied with endless information from many people, both credible and non-credible on the subject of choice.  An extremely popular search engine available to internet users today is Wikipedia (Royal, 138).  It is so popular among its users because it is a “free encyclopedia”.  People no longer have to go looking for information on the internet because Wikipedia provides information that people are looking for, enough information to allow them to become knowledgeable on a specific subject.  It popularity is proven through the 38 million views that it receives each month (Brown, 139).

After reading the articles I do not believe that my opinion about Wikipedia has changed.  I am not an avid user of the online encyclopedia and would never use it for a university assignment. However I do believe that it is a good resource to gain basic knowledge about a topic.  I and also many others that are using Wikipedia are aware that the information can be illegitimate.  We have been taught for years in school that Wikipedia is not a credible source of information because any internet user is able to edit content that is available on its site (Giles, 900).  However if I am looking for an overview of information about a topic Wikipedia is my go to site.  Brown claimed in the article that old documents like encyclopedias, books, newspapers, and journals are no longer an accessible and practical for gaining information in today’s technological world.  We want information fast and when and where we want it.  Search engines like Wikipedia provide exactly that to its users.  I will continue using Wikipedia even after I have this information, however after knowing the amount of illegitimate information that is provided through its server I will not take the information too seriously.  If I want a quick summarization about a topic at a convenient time for me, that is when I will use Wikipedia, for assignments and important information related to work I will continue using online credible articles, journals and books.  

References

Brown, J. S. & P. Duguid. (1996). The Social Life of Documents. First Monday. 1, 1.

Giles. J. (2005). Special Report: Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Nature. 438, pp 900-901.

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.

Module 2

Social media websites have attracted millions of user’s word wide and with this new technology constantly expanding it is becoming a very important part of our daily practices (Boyd & Elliscion, 210).  There are many social media websites available to the public of all ages, races, languages, and even some based on interests and practices (Boyd & Ellison, 210).  Within these social media websites as users we are able to construct an online profile that we can have open to the public’s view or blocked so that only people from our friends list can view our profile.  However the issue surrounding online public profiles is that people begin to develop online personas or identities on this virtual world.  I believe that Sherry Turkle is correct in claiming that the devices that we carry around with us not only are changing the world we live in but also how we live (Turkle, 1). 

The criteria that I use to share information about myself and how I present myself on social media sites is very tasteful and I try not to share to much of my personal information with the public.  Currently I am using Twitter and Facebook as my forms of social media and I use both social Medias to stay connected with friends and family.  I do not post any person information or un-tasteful images that would cause others to misjudge my character.  I am aware that there is constant surveillance on social media web sites that may come from new employers possibly in my futures that could make unfair judgments about myself because of things posted on my social networks.   Albrechtslund believes in his article that having the notion of constant surveillance can pose as a positive on social media websites because it restricts the amount of information that we share and also what we share like pictures, videos, and comments that may not be appropriate. 

The only websites that I use to share information about myself is on Twitter and Facebook.  The only information that I have available to the public (people that are not on my friend list) is my name, the city I live in and my profile picture.  On Twitter I also have my profile set as private and all that is available is my profile picture and my name.   Even people that are my friends and have access to my profile are not given any personal information that would potentially damage my reputation in any way.  I have pictures of myself and my family on Facebook and on Twitter I use it for following current events and being updated in sports.

References

Albrechtslund, A.  (2008)  “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance.”  First Monday.  13,3.

Boyd, Danah M., and Nicole B. Ellison. "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.1 (2008): 210-30.

Turkle, Sherry.  The Flight From Conversation.  New York Times Sunday Review.  April 21, 2012. 

                                 

The Earth, Our Planet

Hello everybody my name is Nicholas Lowery , I am currently a third year student and studying business and communications. I have enrolled in this course because the content being studied seems innovative and interesting. Also because of the growing rate in which social media’s affect the rate that we can receive and share information.    

 The purpose of my blog is to identify and discuss current issues involving the environment. I have chosen to blog about this topic because of the current environmental issues and concerns that are always relevant within the media and recently there have been concerns with gasoline consumption and the negative effects of carbon dioxide, and the pollution of our environment. I feel that is important to be informed of the environmental issues, because these issues affect everyone like, Clear cutting, Oil spills and the never ending argument of global warming. 

Blogs Supporting Environmental Issues 

TreeHugger; TreeHugger is the mother of all environmental blogs, ranking #17 on Technorati's top blogs list (which makes it at least one of the most referenced enviroblogs). It covers general environmental news, events and products. 
EcoGeek; Geek chic environmental is a good way to describe EcoGeek, which writes about gadgets that are earth friendly.
Environmental Law Prof Blog; From the always-good Law Professor Blog Network, this one deals with pressing concerns surrounding the issue of environmental law.
New Scientist Environment Blog; Excellent environmental commentary and analysis from New Scientist magazine
AutoblogGreen; A spin-off from Weblogs Inc.'s popular Autoblog, the green version deals with cars and the environment -- think hybrids, gas consumption, alternative fuels, etc.

Website Concerning Our Environment

 http://www.globalissues.org

http://www.ec.gc.ca

http://www.sciencedaily.com 

http://www.nrdc.org

http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Twitter Links

#savethetrees 
#Pollution
#GlobalWarming
#SavetheEnvironment
#StopPolluting