Well, it looks like this is my last post for this class. I don't know if I'll continue this blog but I'll do another one eventually. After this class I'm sure I'll be "giving in" to a lot of things or else, as Vegor says, I'm an idiot ;). I don't think of myself as technologically savvy at all--besides email I have a facebook account and that's pretty much it ha. Especially in my generation I need to keep up on the times; I'm sure I'll start using Twitter and then wait for the next thing like we discussed in class. This kind of knowledge wasn't necessary even just years ago, and our parents didn't have to worry about the internet, but that is where our world is headed. EVERYTHING happens on the internet, because of the internet, for the internet, etc. and even though with my "media fast" I didn't feel like I missed too much, I can't afford to not keep up!

It's been a great semester everyone! Have a great summer :)

Culture Jamming

I really liked the chapter on culture jamming and it's concept...Errin brought up the point that culture jamming is putting reality back in the place where unreality currently resides. It's amazing how readily we accept this "unreality" constantly from the media, and it's only when we see advertisements such as the ones from Adbusters that we truly realize how unrealistic these ideas and ads really are. The AdBusters website (adbusters.org) talks more about the aim of culture jamming and has links to all of their magazines, which are all pretty interesting. I also found this clip of the founder of AdBusters magazine on CNN talking about American consumerism and "Buy Nothing Day" instead of "Black Friday" like we discussed in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oPfVmkFgko

Blogging

I went to the Mormon Beat session of the Mormonism in the Public Mind Conference which featured four representatives from different newspapers talking about mormonism in the news. The rep from the Boston Globe was talking about the role the internet is playing in newspaper circulation, since people can just look online for any news. The influence of the internet has hurt circulation, but he thinks that even though some newspapers will cease to exist, newspapers won't altogether cease to exist.

One of the most interesting points that was brought up was that blogs are being used in the newspapers. I guess I didn't realize that blogs are public domains; I guess I'm like the other people they were talking about who think all their little chats are private. The reps were talking about how they use blogs to determine what people are talking about and what they are interested in. The thing that surprised me the most was that they actually quote some of the blogs for stories, if they feel that the sources are reliable and have credibility and are academic based. I think it's crazy how our seemingly "little chats" to one another can provide newspapers with material, and that blogs can be a credible source of information. Who knew?