Sorority recruitment taking over my life...

...will come back to blogging next week

Haiti and Twitter

By now, everyone has heard of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti near the capital on Tuesday. People believe hundreds of thousands have been killed and relief efforts are building up to bring medicine, food water and anything of need to the area. What I find most interesting, though, is that a lot of these efforts are being carried out through social media sites. When the tsunami in Asia happened in 2005, PSAs and the Red Cross asked for help and donation through the television and a few places online. Now Twitter, for instance, has several pages dedicated solely to helping Haiti. Tweets give links of where you can go online to donate money. Facebook has been utilized too, creating ads asking for help and Facebook users have been creating individual groups and threads regarding donations. One of my Facebook friends is an artist and creates her own jewlery. She decided to make special bracelets where the proceeds will go towards Haiti relief. She sent out a mass message on Facebook to tell everyone about it. These sites have also been a new platform for news distribution. People on the ground have been tweeting about what is going on and taking photos to show their followers. Major news organization such as CNN have been getting information from tweets. It's interesting to think about- a few years ago these web sites were looked at as nonsense social outlets for college kids. Now they're helping bring aid and information from one of the biggest natural disasters of all time. Without them, we might be a little more in the dark about the terrifying situation.

And we thought robots were the work of Spielberg only

In my class for Winter Term, we are learning about the future of the Internet and what is to come of it in the next few decades. Call me a big nerd, but this stuff is actually fascinating. For years, we've watched movies with robots taking over the world or humans who carry an all-in-one media box in years ahead. Now, that future is rapidly approaching. I remember when I was probably about five sitting in the dining room watching my dad type his graduate school thesis on a typewriter. Just ten years ago, my family had a huge monitor computer in which I only used for checking email (which was courtesy of dial-up America Online) and games on the desktop.
Now as a person trying to go into the journalism world, I have been so immersed in what the Internet has to offer. It is allowing us to connect with people all over the world while at the same time concerning us over how private our information really is. Just last week, for example, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg explained that Facebook should have been made public in the first place, a statement coming after changes were made to the site to allow more public access of information late last year. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186651/zuckerberg_comments_underscore_conflict_between_social_networking_and_privacy.html

Here are some interesting links of what's to come in the technological future:

2010 Consumer Electronics Show megatrends - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd-1Vwq_0z8

Sports Illustrated online magazine demo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk

Apple iSlate iTablet - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOViKGrmlWs <

Pretty crazy stuff! I think this convergence will be a good thing and a bad one. I think it will make the stream of information more up to date and acccessible. With information available anytime, anywhere, who knows if there will even be a need for the local news broadcast at 6:30. Sorry, Brian Williams :-( But with the already emerging trend seen in the "crackberry,"I think people may become information overloaded. They will become obsessed with their media devices and always being in the know. Employees at IMB have issued a quiet time Tuesday mornings every week where cell phones, e-mail and other media devices are not allowed to be used to combat this problem. I also worry about the outlandish but possibly true fact of robotics and virtual reality overtaking us. When everything is virtual, how will we know what is real and what isn't? Technology writer Mike Elgan talks about how the cell phone will be customized to know your personal schedule, tastes, interests etc. http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=B50BE49A-1A64-67EA-E4B7EB0C487C6710

Cool or creepy? Up to you to decide

Hello 2010

Well, it's a brand new decade and a new opportunity to start something I've been wanting and meaning to do for a long time now-start a blog. As a journalism major and someone who uses writing as an outlet, I feel like I'm a little late on the timing. To be honest, a year ago, I would have told you I hated everything about blogging, about the Internet and this whole new virtual world. I thought it was a waste of time. Now, as I look forward into what the next decade holds, I realize just how important having a life on the Internet really is for socialization and opportunities all around.
Most of my friends have blog about something specific-sports or movies for example. Well, I'm not a huge movie junkie, even though I like watching them, and I'm DEFINITELY not athletically inclined or a real fan of any sports team. What I am interested in though is how people think and why people make the choices they do. Hey, maybe my psychology minor will help me out. Because of this, I want this blog to be about how the world is changing and where it's going. Why are people making the decisions they are today? Why is something happening now going to be impactful later? I want to look at it as a time capsule, per say, so I can read this a year from now and remember that this is what will make the history books. We are living in one of the most tumultous times since the Great Depression. There is the contrasting fact that we are in the worst recession since the 1920s, but at the same time, we are seeing technology come to life that we never though possible. We are governed under the first African American president and are moving slowly toward overcoming racism, yet are fighting a war dealing with cultures that are unable to see beyond the racial differences of one another.
Never did I think I would live in a time that people 100 years from now will look back at and learn so much from. The world is changing in a more rapid pace than maybe is comforting, but it's our responsibility to stop and look around at it once in awhile.