Social Networking

The creation of social networking sites has revolutionized the way in which people can communicate. It allows for clear and open communication with your friends and colleges through the simple use of the internet. The use of social networking sights will revolutionize how business look at consumers and how we communicate with the world on a large scale. Sites such as YouTube and Facebook are a new form of communication in popular culture that allows us to look critically at others ourselves and the world around us through the simple act of discussion.

Facebook right now is the gold standard for social networking sights with over 350 million users worldwide it connects people every day. One of Facebook’s most noteworthy features is the open forum set up. When people communicate on Facebook, such as status updates or posting on someone’s wall, one does that for everyone to see. This allows for an open style of debate for whatever subject a person may be discussing on Facebook, from U.S. foreign policy, to discussing Lady Gaga’s newest song. This allows for all of the user’s friends to chime in and give their own perspectives, sharing of ideas, and not confining the think tank to the two people having the original discussion. A greater number of perspectives on a certain subject make a discussion more dynamic and multifaceted. With such a form of communication we are able to better understand the reasoning behind conflicting arguments as well.

Facebook can also be used as a tool for political awareness and action as well. Right now, one of the biggest political battles is taking place over gay marriage. During the election in November 2008, there were many groups and events being organized both for and against Prop 8. On Facebook there where pages where one could become a fan of Prop 8, or just as well join a group opposing Prop 8. From there the groups could spread the message of protests and demonstrations.

This increases the political awareness of Facebook users and also givers them opportunities to participate in the democratic process. Politicians themselves all have Facebook profiles. I am a fan of President Barak Obama, who has been constantly updating his profile on information about health care reform and other important political happenings. These are just some of the ways Facebook can allow citizens to become insightful and productive members in the ongoing national debate over democratic policies.

YouTube is another social networking site that allows for society to become more critical. The singular best aspect of YouTube is the ability to share experiences with others through the use of posting videos online. This allows for viewers to gain somewhat the same perspective as the person filming. A great example of this would be the videos of Iranian protests during the disputed Presidential election this summer in Iran. Through the use of YouTube we were able to see a young, bright, and beautiful women, Neda, die right before our very eyes. Because of this startling image was so readily available, not only to the members of opposition but the world at large, she became a symbol, a rally point in which people could connect with and marched in the streets of Tehran for. Also, because all forms of foreign of media where banished from the country, YouTube videos and other networking sights such as Twitter became the world’s only window of insight into what was happening in Iran.

Neda is only one example of the new type of celebrity that now exists with the help of sites like YouTube and that is viral video fame. Now a person only needs to do a few seconds of entertaining actions and they can easily become famous on the internet. It is now truer than ever that anyone can be famous. These people include Chris Crokker (Leave Brittney Alone!), Chocolate Rain guy and many others. The invention of YouTube allows for people to create and post content that they hope people will find appealing. Once a video is posted the online community then decides if a video is noteworthy or not. Such fame in this manner can be seen as the online communities’ affirmation that one does have something of value and worth recognition. Such a recognition can be seen a society being critical.

Facebook and other social networking sites also have certain aspects that allow for better communication due to the fact that everyone is equal in the community, and the community is easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This is one of Habermas’ first key deciding factors on whether or not conditions for debate have been met. The second aspect that needs to be taken into account is to answer the question, “who uses social networking sites and how?”  Facebook used to be open to only college students, but as its popularity grew it became open to the whole public. This is good because a larger usership allows for a greater and more open debate. One of the aspects that makes Facebook such a great place for open debate and discussion is the ability to post your own thoughts and ideas on the subject through all different forms of media, from links, to relevant websites, to YouTube videos. These can more effectively illustrate your point then just text. This allows for the encompassing power and influence of the internet to become more accessible and active. This also ties into John Dewey, when he states “We are organisms, we live within an environment that we affect, but that also affects us.” This is due to the fact that all social networking sights are a community of people whose individual action on the site affects the whole. This is a great example of plasticity and how we can both be shaped by our environment, as well as shape it. Because of all these aspects, social networking sites are and will continue to become a great place for debate and discussion.

One of the major aspects of Facebook is, even though it is a completely free service, there is still profit to be gained from it. When on Facebook you can become a fan of anything, from water to the Bush Administration. Throughout one’s use of Facebook, one joins groups, pages, or become a fan. These all become representative of your likes, dislikes, and interests. This is all personal information that can be sold to companies and used to create more direct and to the point advertisement for companies to push their products on you. Every single time a user puts more information about themselves onto their Facebook account, they give advertisers more information. Advertisers have already started to use Facebook to promote their products. I myself am a fan of Dr. Pepper and Blockbuster, both of which have been using Facebook to relay information about special offers and deals coming up. This is dangerous because advertisements get in the way of rational debate because it is strategic action. We must remember, just as we all have equal voice and access to Facebook, so do advertisers. The need for us then becomes even greater to be critical citizens of society and on Facebook, and not only consumers in order to not be persuaded buy the secret codes hidden inside the advertisements.

Facebook and YouTube is a prime example of an existential double edged sword. On the one hand a person can argue that it is existentially empowering because it is a place where people can go and discuss the human condition, which is everything that has to do with our lives. On the other hand it can be seen as existentially dangerous because advertisers, the destroyers of rational debate with their strategic action, have access to it too. Advertisers have the ability to take our mindsets and use them against us to push a product. Some companies have even started using YouTube and trying to make their own viral video campaigns. It is sometimes hard to tell if it is reality or fiction. This is dangerous because parts of society have trouble distinguishing reality from fiction as it is.

The use of social networking sights has redefined how we communicate in the world. They make it easier, quicker and more effective. Sites such as Facebook have cemented themselves as permanent fixtures in the communications landscape and will continue to evolve in their features, influence and popularity.

Turning 21 iPhone Application

The process of making an iPhone app is a long and involved practice, from conception to actualization. It took the efforts off all the team members using their skills and knowledge in order to get things done. During the process we found many obstacles and problems we had to overcome, but with teamwork and dedication we were able to modify our original plans and still come out with a fun and enjoyable application for people to use.

The first part of the production process was brain storming. We all had ideas on what would make a good product that we could then market to a larger audience. Many of us had our own demographic, college students, in mind. My original idea was to create an application that allowed for people to stream the on campus online radio station KSUN. The only problem with this idea was that it was too simple and would not be very involved in order to make. Later I came to find out KSUN was already working on something quite similar.

That leads into the next problem that other people and their ideas faced, which was finding out that their idea had already been made into an application. With the world full of app developers, two people are bound to come up with something of the same idea. We discovered that when we wanted to make a North Star Tahoe Skiing application and realized that it was already out on the market. We had some good ideas to augment the application like adding a friend locator feature but, once again it did not make sense to pursue this idea.

We decided on doing an application about all the things people should do once they turn 21. This sort of idea is right up our ally because most of us have either turned 21 recently or will soon. We decided to break up what the each person would be doing into several different sections called “Choose Your Scene.” From there the user would be given a number of tasks to complete by the end of the night. We wanted to include functions inside of our app that would allow the user to take pictures and video of the event, in order to document the night and have memories of what happened. We also included several dozen drink recipes as well in our Mixology section. We had a great idea and we summed up our entire application in our design document. After we completed our design document, came one of the most difficult parts of the whole process, finding a programmer or engineer to build it for us.

As part of the Computer Science department I went and investigated possibilities for people in the department to help us. I discovered that there was a class in which the students were learning how to build smart phone applications. I had a discussion with the instructor of the class Ali Kooshesh and he agreed to allow our class to pitch our app ideas. Unfortunately, only one of the groups actually got a programmer out of that endeavor. It seemed from a codeing side some of our projects were lacking in difficulty, which would not give them a good enough grade.

The second idea I tried was going to the Computer Science Club meeting and pitching our idea to them there. Unfortunately even though I mentioned that there might be compensation involved no one was interested.

We also, as a group, tried a number of different things such as putting out a Craig’s list ad for a programmer. As well as investigating a number of online app generators. We finally settled on using the website Buzz Touch. This website allowed us to create an approximation to what we wanted for our original application. The website actually had just launched in April so we were some of the first to use the service. For the most part, use of Buzz Touch was pretty simple and easy to understand. As the days went by we were given more options on what we were able to include in our application such as YouTube videos, links to websites, like Black Mango Media, and graphics and other artistic design decisions. Through the use of Buzz Touch we were able to create our application with no need for programming experience. We were not able to include everything that we wanted, but we got most of the content included.

We are now at the final stage of development. Soon we will pitch the idea to the class and explain what it does and what we wanted it to do. We will be presenting with the idea keeping in mind that we want to pitch our application to a company with ties to alcohol such as Blue Fin. From there we hope our application could be a useful marketing tool to get new drinkers to buy their products.

All in all while there were difficulties in creating this application. It was a lot of fun and yet still hard work. A lot of thought and planning had to go on in our own little four person group in order to get aspects of the application just right. I can only hope that we can actually market our application and release it to the public for consumption. If so, I will be able to say with full confidence that I am an iPhone application developer.

Objective and Subjective Screening

In the book The Language of New Media, the author introduces the concept of the screen and the role it now plays in day to day life. A screen is, for the most part, an artificial visual display created to show the image of information, objects, people and places that are not there. Through the use of a screen, people can see things with their own eyes that are otherwise far away. There are two ways that object images and ideas can be presented on a screen objectively or subjectively and it is up to the viewer to ascertain the difference.

The screen was first used in warfare as a way of getting information in real time. An example would be the first types of radar on warships and submarines. In a submarine there is no possible way to see where one’s opponent is. The use of the screen created a representation of the battlefield and the enemy. Essentially it becomes the window in the submarine. From there once the representation of the enemy has appeared on the screen, action is taken, a strategy is developed, and a firing solution is put into effect. Since the screen is processing information in real time, new information is constantly allowing for a change of strategy to take place if the incoming information and its interpretation deems it necessary. It is these tactical advantages that win wars.

The idea of the screen is interesting because it is both like looking through a window and looking through another person’s eyes. The window only gives a person a certain degree of sight and blocks out everything else in the world and does not give the viewer any choice in what they see for the most part. This is unless the viewer decides to go to another window/channel/input/ect. This means that the screen only gives a narrow view of what can actually be seen.

The way a screen is like a person’s eye is that they can, through the use of a video camera, capture images that they see right in front of them and broadcast to others. The catch with that is the person with the “eye” or camera has complete control over what the viewers see. Through the use of video editing, what is really going on in the visuals can be misconstrued and misinterpreted by the viewer. This misconstruing of visuals by the viewer could be the intent of the producer. This is called propaganda or spin.

Through the use of screens I myself have seen countless places and time’s some real some not. That is the catch 22 with the screen. It is a doubled edge sword in that, like stated above, only the producer has control over what is seen. The screen is used in modern day society as the primary form of dispersal of information. But those who disperse such information do not always subscribe to the highest ethics of journalism and participate in yellow journalism (cough*Fox News). This represents a deliberate and narrow “eye” view of certain situations which can put the entire public conciseness in jeopardy.

I mention these possible situations because “with great power comes great responsibility”. The power of the screen to distribute information and unify a culture can also be used to highjack it through the use of propaganda.

It is my opinion that whenever images and information are shown on a screen in modern media they can be shown in two ways, through a window and through an “eye”. The window is the objective view of the two and the image is not been diluted or disillusioned the perspective is objective. But when images and information are shared through an “eye” the viewer has been prompted and is seeing what is displayed through a certain point of view. In this instance an opinion has been integrated along with in information.

The invention of the screen transformed modern society by allowing images to move freely and not having the need to have an actual physical form in order to be shown. That is why the screen is so useful for the distribution of information, because it can change at any moment. But remember, “With great power comes great respociblity.”

Halo: Reach Beta

This week, on May 3^rd 2010, the beta version of Halo: Reach was released to the general public. The Halo series is one of the most popular first person shooter games in the video game market. It is formatted exclusively for the Xbox platform due to the fact that the game’s developer, Bungie, is a subsidiary of the Microsoft Corporation the creator of the Xbox platform. It was thanks to the huge popularity of Halo that help establish the Xbox 360 as the most successful platform of this generation of consoles. Since the release of Halo’s original game “Halo: Combat Evolved” in November 2001, Bungie have released several other games continuing the series into a full-fledged gamming franchise. These games include Halo2, Halo3, Halo3: ODST, and Halo Wars. Halo: Reach is the newest continuation to the franchise slated for release for Fall 2010.

The release of the beta is an important step in the development process of this video game and shows how invested Microsoft and Bungie are at making sure the player’s experience is the best it can be. By showing off a version of the game before the actual release, Bungie is getting a huge amount of data that will help them better fine-tune the game, to make the final product streamlined and formfitting for the Halo franchise. The release of the beta singles a new way development is done in the gaming community. Because this is only a pre release, gamers can comment about the game and tell the developers what they like and dislike about it. Developers can then take the comments of the gamming community and use them in the final production process of the game. This shows once again the increasing dialogue between producers and consumers through the medium of new media. Due to the fact it takes a huge amount of time and effort to make a video game such as Halo and that it is exclusive for Xbox, Bungie wants to make sure that all glitches and problems will be taken care of. This is done with the use of the beta.

As with any product Halo is doing its best to diversify the content of the game in order to make the experience new and fresh. They do this with the introduction of classes. The four classes consist of Air bound, Guard, Stalker, and Scout. Each have their own unique ability that gives the player a distinct tactical advantages.

Airbound, my personal favorite, gives the player the ability to fly around with the use of a jet pack. This not only gives you an advantage with altitude but also with speed. It is important to also note that in Reach players now receive falling damage, unlike the previous games. This means when descending players need to feather their landing with the jet pack. This is a great move by the developers as it adds to the degree of difficulty.

The next class Guard equips the player with a full body shield that can be activated when their health is at critical. The shield will only protect the user for a short while and will blast any other players that are close by away. The only drawback to this class is that when the shield is activated the player must remain stationary. This class is good when guarding flags on capture the flag or in order to survive grenade blasts.

Stalker allows the player to be constantly cloaked and move through the map undetected. The catch with this class is the more a player moves and the more they fire the more visible they become to the enemy players. This is useful for stakeouts like domination where your team has to capture a couple different locations and hold them in order to win.

The last class is Scout. This class is most reminiscent of Call of Duty because before this Halo characters had only one speed for the most part. Now players have the ability to run really fast across maps in a sprint type manner. This class is best for people with swords and hammers because it allows the player to charge and come into striking distance rather quickly, preventing other players from shooting them down before they get too close.

The introduction of these classes mirrors that of Call of Duty in which each player has certain abilities. These Halo classes are not as complex and intricate as COD because it would go against the Halo game play motto of simplicity. Unlike Call of Duty, Halo players can now make customizable avatars to their own exact specification. Players earn points by playing online and in the campaign. They can then spend points on new armor, helmets and possibly more classes’ abilities, but that has not been confirmed. COD is the same way in that players can gain weapon upgrades and new class abilities.

One last thing to note about Reach is that health has once again been changed. This time players have both life and health like way back in the original Halo. This also means the reintroduction of health packs to the game which will cause players to modify their game play in keeping the locations of these packs mind.

All in all the game play for Halo: Reach Beta is extremely fun and enjoyable. The data that Bungie will gain over the 15 days that it is released will allow them to make the best game possible. The diversification of the player’s ability will make the game that much more challenging and enjoyable. I would give the beta a 9 out of 10, which goes to show how exited I am for the actual release.

Long live Spartan 117!!