455 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2021
    1. Attention is also important in the classroom. This came home to me five years ago when I started teaching and saw what most teachers in the world, at least at the college level, see these days: students who are staring down, looking at their computers, not making eye contact with the teacher.

      With our genration the mobile devices and the internet and scoail media is taking over. So now teachers are involiving more mobile devices uses for assignment and class to keep their students attention. I know me personally i learn from social media and on my mobile devices as far as reading things and applying knowledge.

    2. When it comes to social media, knowing how to post a video or download a podcast—technology-centric encoding and decoding skills—is not enough.

      I feel when it comes to social media we need to know what we are getting ourselves involved with. The social media work is a whole diffrent monster within its self. We need to know how to up load things and work it well to insure success when using the socail media plateforms.

  2. Dec 2015
    1. What Skyler meant is simply that social acceptance depends on the ability to socialize with one’s peers at the “cool” place. Each cohort of teens has a differ-ent space that it decides is cool.

      That "cool" place is solely becoming different spots on social media in accordance with your friend group. Everyday life is quickly molding into be completely virtual. All basic human necessities may already be achieved by using a computer.

    2. As you read this book, my hope is that you will suspend your assumptions about youth in an effort to understand the social lives of networked teens.

      A valuable exercise. However, it is almost impossible to temporarily sever an adults opinions regarding teen network life. Since they did not live through it, they have no experience and therefore no chance of understanding.

    3. my attempt to describe and explain the net-worked lives of teens to the people who worry about them—parents, teachers, policy makers, journalists, sometimes even other teens.

      Clarifying ambiguities for newcomers to the internet, especially children, is of utmost importance. With little restrictions/censorship in terms of what people may see/do, it is important to explain the possible consequences of one's actions on the web. Heck, nowadays you can even order illegal contraband using bitcoins!

    1. He observed that most of the available tools for collaboration were concerned with complex collections of roles and require­ments-only designated writers could create text, whereas only editors could publish it, but not until proofreaders had ap­proved it, and so on.

      This is a prime example of how peer work is unbeatable. The flawless process behind publishing a book has a high success rate. Why? Because so many educated brains are pouring all of their knowledge and efforts into it.

    2. Perhaps the most famous example of distributed collabora­tion today is Wikipedia, the collaboratively created ency­clopedia that has become one of the most visited web sites in the world.

      It is rather unfortunate how most people take Wikipedia for granted. It is an ingenious system for a database. However, it is struggling to stay afloat because of its nobleness to neglect ads and fund its off of minute donations.

    3. Collaborative production, where people have to coordinate with one another to get anything done, is considerably harder than simple sharing, but the results can be more profound.

      This is the main reason grade schools heavily focus on working in pairs. Especially with someone you don't know, the awkward tension compels the two to perform optimally. It is a trying process to make build off of someone else's thoughts, although highly rewarding.

    1. Use of the terms “viral” and “memes” by those in the marketing, advertising and media industries may be creating more confusion than clarity.

      To clarify things, workers involved in media should have inside and outside terms. This being the same concept of an inside joke. You wouldn't tell an inside joke to someone you just met and expect to get a positive reaction from them.

    2. To some degree, it seemed the strength of a viral message depends on “how easy is it to pass”, suggesting viralness has something to do with the technical properties of the medium, yet quickly we were also told that it had to do with whether the message fit into the ongoing conversations of the community:

      With joining communities, it is of utmost importance to stay relevant and in favor of the central theme. It is very common for a participant to slip and accidentally impose an inappropriate gesture. The only dilemma is the chance of being permanently shunned from a community for doing so. So, be careful!

    3. As the discussion continued, it became clearer and clearer that viral media, like art and pornography, lies in the eye of the beholder

      I feel like this is a concept that many people do not understand. Another reason why many things become so controversial. You can have one person who is entranced by the beauty of something that went viral, but another who wholeheartedly contests why it is being publicized.

    1. Blind faith can justify anything.(7)  If a man believes in a different god, or even if he uses a different ritual for worshipping the same god, blind faith can decree that he should die -- on the cross, at the stake, skewered on a Crusader's sword, shot in a Beirut street, or blown up in a bar in Belfast.

      These statements help provide me with a clear rationale of why memes are so popular. A lot of people may utilize the same meme image. However, only a few will create them with the same intent.

    2. Consider the idea of God.  We do not know how it arose in the meme pool.  Probably it originated many times by independent `mutation'.  In any case, it is very old indeed.  How does it replicate itself ?  By the spoken and written word, aided by great music and great art.  Why does it have souch high survival value ?

      Having faith in God is synonymous to participating in memes. It is a community filled with people who are non-judgmental. Additionally, memes will remain in existence because of their simplicity and ability to arouse great amusement.

    3. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.

      This analogy served perfectly in making sense of the bonding aspect relating to memes. They are truly a contagious phenomenon. It compels one to contemplate what is next for the future of media.

    1. Turn off the technology and minimize the distractions. You've got to get your idea out of your head and on the wall so you can see it, share it, make it better.

      There exists a great necessity to separate oneself from technology while pondering a focused topic. The internet provides FAR too many distractions. They either procrastinate someone or counter-productively remodel their topic.

  3. Nov 2015
    1. What is your key message? What is it you REALLY want people to remember? What action do you want them to take? Details are important. Data and evidence and logical flow are important.

      This is important because there are so many times that I have listened to speakers that have been all over the place with their speeches. If you set a clear theme it will help the audience to follow your speech which will get them to listen better.

    2. Don't waste time at the beginning with formalities or filler talk. Start with a bang. Get their attention and then sustain that interest with variety and unexpectedness, built upon structure that is taking them some place.

      I think this may be the most important point because audiences do judge people at first sight. I feel that if you are boring and dull at the start of the presentation then the audience will never try to regain focus. I don't think the speaker needs to do anything crazy but a strong opening can really boost your speech.

    3. Storytellers—filmmakers, novelists, etc. — know that it is emotion which impacts people most profoundly. Yes, facts, events, structure are important, but what people remember—and what is more likely to push them to act—is the way the narrative made them feel.

      I think this might be the most important point because if people don't feel connected to what your talking about they lose interest all together.

    4. This applies to the content of your talk and also to the visuals you use (if any). Cutting the superfluous is one of the hardest things to do because when we are close to the topic, as most presenters are, it *all* seems important.

      This also relates to my earlier comment of simplicity. If you can remove the fluff and focus on the core idea and theme people respond better than if it is a complex layered idea.

    5. the theme is universal. The message or the lesson must be accessible and useful for your particular audience.

      While the presenter is the one sharing the story, if the presentation is interesting enough, the audience will be able to share their interpretation of the theme with other people.

    6. Turn off the technology and minimize the distractions. You've got to get your idea out of your head and on the wall so you can see it, share it, make it better.

      The best way to create a presentation is without using technology. it is important for a presentation to come naturally so it feels human.

    1. I came to realize that, taken out of context, what teens appear to do and say on social media seems peculiar if not outright problematic.

      This is important to keep in mind when using social media. Even though the people you are targeting are your friends and family, anyone can see the things you post.

    2. But many adults were staring into their devices intently, barely looking up when a touchdown was scored. And unlike the teens, they weren’t sharing their devices with others or taking photos of the event.

      This is interesting since it is normally teens that are accused of big wrapped up in their cell phones.But here, it is the adults that are using their phones as more of a distraction.

    3. I’m guessing a lot of the drama is still the same, it’s just the format is a little differ-ent. It’s just changing the font and changing the background color really.”

      He seems to be saying that the only major changes lie within the way drama is delivered, not in the way drama occurs and its subject matter.

    4. As you read this book, my hope is that you will suspend your assumptions about youth in an effort to understand the social lives of networked teens

      It seems here almost as if she is attempting to defend teens of today, which seems different from the message of a lot of her book up to this point.

    5. Parents are no longer simply wor-ried about what their children wear out of the house but what they photograph themselves wearing in their bedroom to post online.

      Something like this happened at the public school in my town. A girl sent racy photos of herself to a boy from a different school, and he began sharing them with his friends, who shared it with people they knew. Within three days, the photos actually got back to her brother, who recognized that it was her because the tiles in the background were the exact same ones in their own bathroom at home. Given, this did begin a campaign for Internet literacy in the school district, but the administration had no idea how to handle it. I've heard stories about "revenge porn" where a woman involved called police wanting to press charges for online harrassment, yet the officers sent to work with her did not know what Twitter was, and she had to verbally explain it to him.

    6. Teens’ desire for privacy does not undermine their eagerness to participate in public. There’s a big difference between being in public and being public. Teens want to gather in public environments to socialize, but they don’t necessarily want every vocalized expression to be publicized. Y

      I agree with the author here. I think it is a great point. Just because teens share so much of themselves online, does not mean they don't want to socialize in public environments as well.

    7. In the same breath, these same parents express frustration when teens wear ill-fitting clothes or skimpy outfits. They have long seen revealing clothing as an indica-tor of teens’ rejection of privacy

      The author's analogy between clothing and privacy confuses me. I don't think what teens wear day to day reflects their rejection of privacy.

    8. While many teens encode meaning as a strategy for navigating visibility, other teens leverage similar techniques to tease their class-mates with secrets. For example, some teens use pronouns and song lyrics in ways that make it very clear to the onlooker that they are not “in the know.”

      I think that this is very interesting in that I've never really considered these types of actions as "strategies" and "techniques" aiming towards privacy. That being said, I see this type of behavior all the time online (more often in high school), and looking back it's funny seeing how outsiders really had no way of knowing what the messages were referencing.

    9. In a mediated world, assumptions and norms about the visibility and spread of expressions must be questioned. Many of the most popular genres of social media are designed to encourage participants to spread information.

      This is such a stark contrast to the previous description about intimate personal conversations that happen in public, but are still private due to social norms and contexts. Online, especially on social media, mass spread is emphasized and it is assumed that what you are sharing is not private.

    10. Unlike privacy advocates and more politically conscious adults, teens aren’t typically concerned with governments and corporations. Instead, they’re trying to avoid surveillance from parents, teachers, and other immediate authority figures in their lives. They want the right to be ignored by the people who they see as being “in their busi-ness.”

      It is true that most of the security and privacy settings teens nowadays put on their social media and internet presence revolves around avoiding contact with immediate figures in their lives. Teens worry about their parents or principal seeing what they are doing more so than they worry about the FBI or police.

    11. In other words, when participating in net-worked publics, many participants embrace a widespread public-by-default, private-through-effort mentality

      It's true that most people use social media to communicate and share with people who are close to them but at the same time they are also sharing with their other friends or followers that they may not be close with or even know. As much as we try to keep what we post private, nothing is really private on the internet.

    12. In a mediated world, assumptions and norms about the visibility and spread of expressions must be questioned. Many of the most popular genres of social media are designed to encourage participants to spread information.

      I agree with this statement, especially the first part. People make different assumptions and this is where we run into problems online. People have different lifestyles, customs, cultures, and world views so they don't always see eye-to-eye and it causes tension. We need a more unified set of norms so that people don't run into problems.

    13. Controlling a social situation in an effort to achieve privacy is nei-ther easy nor obvious. Doing so requires power, knowledge, and skills.

      This statement proves to me the importance of why being careful online is very important. Privacy is hard to achieve and you have to be very careful with you you go about doing so.

    14. She argues that she should be able to look “because I have a connection with you. I’m your mom, but also I just feel like it would be more interesting to me than it would be to someone who didn’t know you. ... You publish it and it’s for general viewing therefore I feel I’m part of the general public, so I can view it.”

      I agree with the mom here because if someone posts something online, anyone with Internet access has the ability and right to access it if they want to. In this case, yeah it's super annoying but that's what you get for posting your journal online.

    15. Teens are not particularly concerned about organizational actors; rather, they wish to avoid paternalistic adults who use safety and protection as an excuse to monitor their everyday social

      It's not just the teens' fault. The parents are giving teens a reason to hide, even if they aren't doing anything wrong. Because the parents are trying so hard to protect their children, it causes them to want to rebel against their parents. If parents simply trusted their children online, they would have nothing to worry about.

    16. There’s a big difference between being in public and being public

      I never really thought about this comparison until now. I think it is very accurate. You can be online but not be public and i think that what is what many people are doing online. They are sharing things online and being in the network, but they are not being totally public about their lives personally.

    17. Just because teenagers use internet sites to connect to other people doesn’t mean they don’t care about their privacy. We don’t tell everybody every single thing about our lives. .

      I really agree with this statement . As a pretty big internet users, I still care about my privacy. I connect with others through social media and the internet, but I do not sure my entire personal life via the internet for privacy concerns. I think that teens and young adults are concerned for their privacy and safety online, for the most part.

    18. She argues that she should be able to look “because I have a connection with you. I’m your mom, but also I just feel like it would be more interesting to me than it would be to someone who didn’t know you. ... You publish it and it’s for general viewing therefore I feel I’m part of the general public, so I can view it.”

      This makes a lot of sense and I hadn't thought about the situation like that before. People put their information out online for the general public to see and they forget to realize that their parents and family are part of the general public so they technically have a right to see since you're putting it out there for everyone. If people are so concerned with their parents butting into their lives then they should be more conservative with their posts (or block their parents).

    19. “Kids today. They have no sense of shame. They have no sense of privacy. They are show-offs, fame whores, pornographic little loons who post their diaries, their phone numbers, their stupid poetry

      It's "kids today" because technology and the web happened to sprout up during our generation. Historically (from the 1950s on especially), teens always drank, had sex, broke rules, etc. It's just that now, these things have the potential to be put out on the web. Also, low self-confidence always existed, it's just that now, teens have a direct way to achieve false fame.

    20. Social media has introduced a new dimension to the well-worn fights over private space and personal expression.

      People in a sense don't even express their true selves on the internet. But rather, they post conservatively. They put out what is acceptable and what won't make them "look bad".

    21. Parent-teen battles about privacy have gone on for decades. Parents complain when teens demand privacy by asking their parents to stay out of their bedroom, to refrain from listening in on their phone conversations, and to let them socialize with their friends without being chaperoned

      This dispute might have been occurring for decades, but now the privacy is in terms of the web. I have heard so many arguments and dealt with arguments first-hand about what's "appropriate" for online. Whether it's pictures, sharing music/videos, or text, our parents have the concern of it coming back to bite us.

    22. The teens that I met genuinely care about their privacy, but how they understand and enact it may not immediately resonate or appear logical to adults

      Many parents of teenagers today grew up in a different so called world back then. They didnt have the technology or environment kids have today, making them not really understand how to let their kids have the privacy and freedom they want and need.

    23. Many teens feel as though they’re in a no-win situation when it comes to sharing information online: damned if they publish their personal thoughts to public spaces, and damned if they create private space that parents can’t see.

      What she may not realize is that not only her friends can see her blog. She's giving up more privacy then just the information that she's sharing with her friends.

    24. Teens’ desire for privacy does not undermine their eagerness to participate in public. There’s a big difference between being in public and being public. Teens want to gather in public environments to socialize, but they don’t necessarily want every vocalized expression to be publicized.

      I agree with the point Boyd is making here. It's difficult to find and maintain a good balance between public and private.

    25. eens’ unhealthy obsession with, or rejection of, privacy.

      is this implying that teens have forever rejected privacy? or forever sought privacy? confused as a result of the clothing reference. I for one have always coveted my privacy.

    26. “Just because teenagers use internet sites to connect to other people doesn’t mean they don’t care about their privacy. We don’t tell everybody every single thing about our lives. .

      I completely agree that parents over react way too much when it comes to teens and their privacy online (at least mine do). I get that they just want to make sure that we are safe but the constant over protection just pushes kids even further and makes them want to do things that their parents don't like, causing more conflict between them and possibly pushing their child to become less private on the internet than they were originally.

    27. The teens that I met genuinely care about their privacy, but how they understand and enact it may not immediately resonate or appear logical to adults.

      The way teens today express their privacy on social media may be very different than their parents would have. There are generational differences that play a major role in how both the teen and adult view privacy.

    28. For example, teens will share “Happy Birthday” messages or bored notes where they ask others what they’re doing openly because they don’t see these particular interactions as having much significance. The sum of interactions that they have online appear to be much more public because teens don’t go out of their way to make minutiae private.

      It's true in the world we live in today many teens think that posting red solo cups online is okay and that they will never get caught or in trouble. When in reality posting red solo cups with people in it can cause a great deal of damage to peoples lives in the work force.

    29. eens’ desire for privacy does not undermine their eagerness to participate in public.

      Relating this to Snapchat is very relatable. Most young adults have a snapchat, and with snapchat a a person can post a "story" that is shown to their friends on snapchat. Although snapchat may be secretive in a way when just sending photos that disappear within seconds, snapchat stories are public for everyone on his/her friends list to see.

    30. Interactions that were previously invisible to adults suddenly have traces, prompting parents to fret over conversations that adults deem inappropriate or when teens share “TMI” (too much information).

      It can be dangerous to post online something that you may regret later. Once something is online someone can trace it or take a picture. Nothing ever is truly erased from the internet. I think a good example of this is what a lot of celebrities go through when someone leaks inappropriate pictures or takes something they said out of context. Nothing is invisible.

    31. Many teens feel as though they’re in a no-win situation when it comes to sharing information online: damned if they publish their personal thoughts to public spaces, and damned if they create private space that parents can’t see.

      No matter how a person creates their profile on a social media website, they are still not private. There is no privacy anywhere anymore. Whether or not I am private on Instagram, I'm really not because there is somehow a way to see my photos even if I am private, if it were necessary.

    32. While growing up, I feel that you need to give your child some privacy and not always be so on their back about their personal life because then they will feel the need to hide things from you. Your child can seem like they dress appropriate before leaving the house, but then feel the need to change because they don't want you to yell at them. Giving them the freedom but also know the limits is probably the way to help get close to your teenager who isn't actually a baby anymore.

    33. What’s at stake is not whether someone can listen in but whether one should

      This is a risk that people who post online have to take and be aware of. If you post something online it is fair game for anyone.

    34. I do online journals so I can commu-nicate with my friends, not so my mother could catch up on the latest gossip of my life.

      I think we live in a generation of online communication and I think most teens are aware of what is acceptable to post online and what isnt.

    35. Social media plays a crucial role in the lives of networked teens. Although the specific technologies change, they collectively provide teens with a space to hang out and connect with friends.

      I find it funny the author says "hang out" when writing about social media. Usually when I hear the word hang out, I think of hanging out with my friends at her house watching a movie. It's interesting that social media is literally related to everything now.

    36. glorified camera plus coordination device.

      When a certain event is going on, like a birthday, event or Holiday we use our phones to capture every minute of this event. It is how our world works now, which to me is a positive thing because I love taking photos of absolutely everything.

    37. Meanwhile, most of the student body was seated in the stands. They were decked out in the school colors, many even having painted their faces in support.

      This reminds me of my high school, when an event was going on the kids were more interested in themselves and friends rather than what was going on. When the Homecoming Court was presented at my high school we really only cared about who the queen was not about the fun facts that were said about them.

    38. perhaps he imagined the audience of his MySpace profile to be his classmates, family, and community—not the college admissions committee

      Even with countless reminders from parents, older siblings, and teachers, many younger kids using social media sometimes forget that anyone can view their material, as they are focused solely on their image within their community and marketing themselves to the audience of their friends and family.

    39. Gossip and rumors have historically spread like wildfire through word of mouth. And although search engines certainly make inquiries more efficient, the practice of ask-ing after others is not new, even if search engines mean that no one else knows. What is new is the way in which social media alters and amplifies social situations by offering technical features that people can use to engage in these well-established practices.As people use these different tools, they help create new social dynam-ics. For example, teens “stalk” one another by searching for highly vis-ible, persistent data about people they find interesting. “Drama” starts when teens increase the visibility of gossip by spreading it as fast as pos-sible through networked publics.

      It's pretty obvious that in a world where gossip already circulates like crazy, the speed and extent of spreading would increase once these issues were brought to social media. However, social media does not just broaden the audience of these rumors, it allows for a completely new platform of spread-ability and tools to increase the rumors themselves, not just who is viewing them.

    40. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, sociologist Erving Goffman describes the social rituals involved in self-presentation as “impression management.”

      I feel like this creates a generation of people who constantly think of themselves. This is what social media has set us up for.

    41. Teens have grown sophisticated with how they manage con-texts and present themselves in order to be read by their intended audi-ence. They don’t always succeed, but their efforts are phenomenal.

      I think that this is a very valid point. Without realizing, teens always cater to the needs of people they don't know personally. Sometimes I think instagram is the opportunity to feel like a celebrity if you are good at using it.

    42. Social media may seem like a peculiar place for teens to congregate, but for many teens, hanging out on Facebook or Twitter is their only opportunity to gather en masse with friends, acquaintances, classmates, and other teens. More often than not, their passion for social media stems from their desire to socialize.

      This reminds me of high school on twitter. I would definitely say many of us were addicted to refreshing our feed so we always knew what each other were up to or thinking. It was a cross between a personal journal and information of what my classmates were doing. Multiple times I made plans to hang out with friends through social media.

    43. most early adopters entered these spaces without knowing the other people in the space. Online communities were organized by topic, with separate spaces for those interested in dis-cussing Middle East politics or getting health advice or finding out how various programming languages worked.

      Today, i feel as if online communication is less topic based and there is more emphasis on meeting new people and socializing. There are still topic based discussions on sites like reddit but I feel like online communication is all about being social now.

    44. If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist.” What Skyler meant is simply that social acceptance depends on the ability to socialize with one’s peers at the “cool” place. Each cohort of teens has a differ-ent space that it decides is cool

      I think this statement is definitely true. I know when I was in middle school a lot of my friends were begging their parents to allow them to have a Facebook (and even a MySpace when we were a lot younger and now I see it with middle schoolers with Instagram. They want to be cool and fit in, and for a lot of them that means social media.

    45. Although she couldn’t physically hang out with her friends after the game ended, she used Facebook to stay connected after the stands had cleared

      To me this describes social media perfectly. I think out generation definitely uses it as a resource to stay connected with friends even if they are not actually talking to them. But by being "friends" on social media you feel like you are.

    46. The author makes a great point here. I think many people are obsessed with the internet because they see it as an escape from reality or a distraction for a moment.

    47. If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist.” What Skyler meant is simply that social acceptance depends on the ability to socialize with one’s peers at the “cool” place. Each cohort of teens has a differ-ent space that it decides is cool. It used to be the mall, but for the youth discussed in this book, social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the cool places. Inevitably, by the time this book is published, the next generation of teens will have inhab-ited a new set of apps and tools, making social network sites feel passé. The spaces may change, but the organizing principles aren’t different.

      Not a fan of the idea that if you arent on social media you "don't exist".

    48. The internet presented me with a bigger world, a world populated by people who shared my idiosyncratic interests and were ready to discuss them at any time, day or night.

      speaks to the fact that the internet connects people with similar interests.

    49. And even though many teens are frequent texters, the teens were not directing most of their attention to their devices. When they did look at their phones, they were often sharing the screen with the person sitting next to them, reading or viewing something together.The parents in the stands were paying much more attention to their devices. They were even more universally equipped with smart-phones than their children, and those devices dominated their focus.

      Interesting observation and turn of events seeing as most think that teens are the ones distracted by their phones. This text seems to imply that they were using them for social interation with one another.

    50. What was surprising, at least to most adults, was how little the teens actually used them as phones. The teens I observed were not making calls. They whipped out their phones to take photos of the Homecoming Court, and many were texting fran-tically while trying to find one another in the crowd.

      Very relevant to how my friends and myself use cell phones today. only really call people when necessary.

    51. As in many schools I’ve visited over the years, friendships at this school in Nashville were largely defined by race, gender, sexuality, and grade level, and those networks were immediately visible based on whom students were talking to or sitting with.

      Awesome point because I don't think we realize that we have a natural tendency to move towards and befriend certain groups of people. When I think of this tendency online it starts to fade.

    52. how little things change. I’m guessing a lot of the drama is still the same, it’s just the format is a little differ-ent. It’s just changing the font and changing the background color really.

      I think its an interesting view to say that it's just the backrground/color that has changed. However this is coming from a teenager who has only experienced a life full of technology

    53. As the years go on, kids using social media are becoming younger and younger also, less and less private. They are oblivious to what gets put on the internet not realizing the consequences. and becoming obsessed to always be fitting in , always keeping up wit the latest drama.

    54. Social network sites downplayed the importance of interests and made friendship the organizing tenant of the genre.

      also the rhetoric of cyberbullying and internet safety (like Frontline's Growing Up Online documentary in 2008) made parents wary of their kids connecting with strangers online. Supposedly kids overshared, they didn't care about privacy, and bad things happened to them. THe internet seemed like a scary place.

    55. And because of a variety of social and cultural fac-tors, social media has become an important public space where teens can gather and socialize broadly with peers in an informal way. Teens are looking for a place of their own to make sense of the world beyond their bedrooms. Social media has enabled them to participate in and help create what I call networked publics.

      Social media allows us to connect with people all around the world. We can find a community that shares similar interests as us. Social media has brought so many people together, building various different networks.

    56. The status updates I saw on her page were filled with references to conversations that took place at the game.

      Different social media platforms provide people with the opportunity to continue a conversation. We have the chance to connect with friends in different ways.

    57. The parents in the stands were paying much more attention to their devices. They were even more universally equipped with smart-phones than their children, and those devices dominated their focus.

      This can very well be a direct effect as to why many teens suffer from low confidence. When they want the love and attention from their parents, they are turned into a second option behind the cell phone.

    58. They whipped out their phones to take photos of the Homecoming Court, and many were texting fran-tically while trying to find one another in the crowd.

      This type of behavior can very well be the product of these adolescents' insecurities. A lot feel the need to constantly text others, post photos, etc. to garner this maximum attention they cannot achieve in any other way. Instagram likes and Twitter favorites are what may give them confidence. These phones are a social cop out to avoid "awkward interactions" in their eyes.

    59. He made references to technology to remind me that technol-ogy wasn’t changing anything important.

      Maybe technology isn't changing anything directly, but it sure effects the behavior of the general population. It also has a huge influence on the youth, influencing them the do's/don't's and rights/wrongs of the world. If they see their favorite artist or athlete tweet about how cool it is to do drugs, I bet more than half eventually by into that behavior. It's scary what influence the internet has on our youth.

    60. my attempt to describe and explain the net-worked lives of teens to the people who worry about them—parents, teachers, policy makers, journalists, sometimes even other teens.

      I think it is important to clarify how the internet can be really useful for teens to network and connect with each other. This isn't to say that it can't be a dangerous place. Users should always practice caution on the internet. Some people don't understand all of the benefits of the internet.

    61. “Drama” starts when teens increase the visibility of gossip by spreading it as fast as pos-sible through networked publics. And teens seek attention by exploiting searchability, spreadability, and persistence to maximize the visibility of their garage band’s YouTube video.

      "Exploiting" is beyond an understatement! There are so many people who promote their garage bands or wannabe viral videos just by sharing it in every group or page they can find.

    62. Teens who used Facebook or Instagram or Tumblr in 2013 weren’t seen as peculiar.

      I agree that in 2013 Facebook and Instagram probably weren't seen as peculiar, but I have to disagree on the Tumblr front. It was mostly a niche market for "fandoms" and the like until the middle of 2014.

    63. The ease with which everyday people can share media online is unrivaled, which can be both powerful and problematic. Spreadability can be leveraged to rally people for a political cause or to spread rumors

      This is a accurate statement. The internet is a dangerous but very useful place. It is helpful searching for information, staying connected with people and going about everyday tasks, but it is also a place where people can easily manipulate others and spread rumors or false information of people or ideas.

    64. Teens are obsessed with connecting through social media. This idea that social media plays a crucial rule in the lives of teens and sometimes complements or supplements their face-to-face ideas is very accurate. Social media gives friends things to talk about. It keeps them connected and in the loop with what friends around them are doing. I think that it is a pathway to gossip for many networked teens.

    65. The internet presented me with a bigger world, a world populated by people who shared my idiosyncratic interests and were ready to discuss them at any time, day or night.

      I find this statement to be very true. The internet really does open society up to a larger world. It allows people to connect with others who they would not meet under normal circumstances with similar ideas and understandings.

    66. Aside from the Homecoming Court, only one group was racially mixed, and they were recognizable mainly for their “artistic” attire—unnaturally col-orful hair, piercings, and black clothing that I recognized from the racks of Hot Topic, a popular mall-based chain store that caters to goths, punks, and other subcultural groups.

      Could the internet and new technology possibly help to integrate some of these groups? It is also definitely possible the internet helps stay separate and NOT integrate.

    67. they spent the bulk of the time facing one another, chatting, enjoying a rare chance to spend unstructured time together as friends and peers.

      I have a feeling this might have been an odd one time thing. Usually, at least from my experience, when students have any type of free time they will be doing something on their phones. It is funny to see a group of people all siting with each other but none of them are talking to each other. They are all texting, on twitter, etc.

    68. “You’d actually be surprised how little things change. I’m guessing a lot of the drama is still the same, it’s just the format is a little differ-ent. It’s just changing the font and changing the background color really.” He made references to technology to remind me that technol-ogy wasn’t changing anything important.

      Very interesting that he uses references to technology. Could be possible that sings have actually changed so much things so much but it's kind of came full circle? Or did just the means of socializing change rather than socializing change?

    1. Now, though, the problems of production, reproduction, and distribution are much less serious. As a consequence, control over the media is less completely in the hands of the professionals.

      This is an example of a cultural shift. The broadcast culture has transformed into the participatory culture. Because of the advances in technology, typically more people have the power to spread news quicker than the typical news or radio station can. This is also why, the emphasis on checking the credibility of news sources has become stronger and stronger, because many uncredited people and sources are the way we get our news.

  4. Oct 2015
    1. Teens are passionate about finding their place in society. What is different as a result of social media is that teens’ perennial desire for social connection and autonomy is now being expressed in net-worked publics.

      This makes a good point. Not every teen, even though most, have accounts on all the popular social network sites. It depends on their preference and where they think they fit in. So, I feel like it is the same thing in any real world setting. Not all teens hang out at the same places, just ones where they think they belong. The only difference is that it is online.

    2. The pervasiveness of cell phones in the stands isn’t that startling; over 80 percent of high school students in the United States had a cell phone in 2010.1 What was surprising, at least to most adults, was how little the teens actually used them as phones.

      I am not surprised about how many teenagers had cellphones at this time. But I guess I didn't realize how much we don't use our phones for actual phone calls. I feel like now I use it for phone calls because sometimes I don't like to text everything out. But definitely when we first get cell phones, we don't use them for phone calls as much because texting is the "cool" thing todo.

    3. She used Facebook to extend the plea-sure she had in connecting with her classmates during the game. Although she couldn’t physically hang out with her friends after the game ended, she used Facebook to stay connected after the stands had cleared

      I think this explanation of social media captures the majority of usage in our generation. I know from personal experience that this is something that happens every day - friends posting photos with captions referring to the time they had just spent together. It helps people stay connected to their friends and also show their connection in the community.

    1. A Wikipedia article is a process, �.Qduct, and as a re­��t, it is never finished. For a Wikipedia article to improve, the good edits simply have to outweigh the bad ones.

      This is what makes Wikipedia so unique from other encyclopedias. The content on the site is never complete and things that are published are never permanent.

    2. d so on. There are hundreds of thousands of articles whose value is both relied on and improved daily. The most common criticism of Wikipedia over the years stemmed from simple disbelief: "That cant work."

      Despite it openness to editing and content from any person, the information is still legitimate and credible. This is because so many people with so much knowledge are able to collaborate.

    3. He observed that most of the available tools for collaboration were concerned with complex collections of roles and require­ments-only designated writers could create text, whereas only editors could publish it, but not until proofreaders had ap­proved it, and so on.

      This is what makes wikipedia so unique- it allows people from anywhere and with any background to create and edit easily accessible information.

    1. The truly dramatic changes in such tools can be counted on the fingers of one hand: the printing press and movable type (considered as one long pe­riod of innovation); the telegraph and telephone; recorded content (music, then movies);

      I never really thought about the huge shifts in technology in terms of communications. But all of these things change the way people communicate and people don't have much control, if any, over the change.

    2. The real world affords us many ways of keeping public, private, and secret utterances separate from one another, starting with the fact that groups have until recently largely been limited to meeting in the real world, and things you say in the real world are heard only by the people you are talking to and only while you are talking to them.

      We see this concept overlooked in today's world. Humans are prone to maybe say something they "regret", but it's a lot worse having that regretful comment over the media opposed to communicating it verbally. It's a carbon footprint that is online forever, whether you want it there or not.

    3. The distinction between broadcast and communications, which is to say between one-to-many and one-to-one tools, used to be so clear that we could distinguish between a per­sonal and impersonal message just by the type of medium used.

      The line between broadcast and communications media is becoming hazy. From different social media platforms there are different forms of interaction. You could participate in a larger community or privately. For example, on Twitter your tweets could be public or you could direct message someone. What Shirky is talking about reinforces some of the conversations we've had in class.

    4. but since we're so unused to communications media and broadcast media being mixed together, we think that ev­eryone is now broadcasting. This is a mistake. If we listened in on other people's phone calls, we'd know to expect small talk, inside jokes, and the like, but people's phone calls aren't out in the open. One of the driving forces behind much user­generated content is that conversation is no longer limited to social cul-de-sacs like the phone.

      I feel like Shirky makes a fair point here. How do we really know what is shared content and what is supposed to be private? Once it is on the internet, everyone can see it, even if accounts are set to private. There is always a way to get in.

    5. Millions of dollars have been spent on developing and testing ways of making bulk advertise­ments look like personal mail, including addressing the re­cipient by name and printing what looks like handwritten memos from the nominal sender. My annoyance at getting mail exhorting someone named Caly Shinky to '�ct now!" comes from recognizing this trick while seeing it fail

      I actually find this kind of mail hilarious when it does come into my mailbox. Thank goodness email boxes can filter out Spam and other things meant purely for promotion. I will say, though, that receiving a message in the mail is more personal than receiving it through an email, even if it is only addressed to one person. My dad sometimes has to hire people for his office, and he always shows a preference for those who send written thank-yous as opposed to emailed ones.

    6. Before the internet went mainstream, it took considerable effort to say something that would be heard by a significant number of people, so we regard any publicly available material as being offered directly to us. Now that the cost of posting things in a global medium has collapsed, much of what gets posted on any given day is in public but not for the public.

      Nowadays, people use the internet to put their private, deepest, darkest secrets out there because it's easier. It makes them feel good to get something off their chest but now the whole world could see something that they may regret allowing them to see in the future and people that they didn't mean to address feel that their message is directly addressed to them, which could create problems.

    7. User-generated content is a group phenomenon, and an amateur one. When people talk about user-generated content, they are describing the ways that users create and share media with one another, with no professionals any

      User-generated content also makes me think of memes. How they are taken and changed in different ways to relate to different topics and how they are spread through internet users -- not professionals.

    8. Prior to the internet, when we talked about media, we were talking about two different things: broadcast media and communi­cations media. Broadcast media, such as radio and television but also newspapers and movies (the term refers to a mes­sage being broadly delivered from a central place, whatever the medium)

      The media has rapidly grown over the years expanding social networks. It became easier to use to share photos, posts, or blogs.

    9. At YouTube texasgirlYl979's twenty-six-second video of a pit bull nudging some baby chicks with his nose has been viewed 1,173>489 times.

      People will literally watch anything. Things that are of so little importance become extremely popular in the media because online, people aren't really looking for important things. They want to be amused, entertained, and distracted. Even if they're trying to get work done, it's hard to pass up the opportunity to procrastinate just a little bit by watching some crazy stupid video.

    10. This view is common, though, and is based on the obvious notion that the Web is different from broadcast media like TV because the Web can support real interaction among users.

      I actually think that being internet famous in a way can be more powerful than being a celebrity from a TV show or something like that.

    11. We misread these seemingly inane posts because we're so unused to seeing written material in public that isIit intended for us.

      I think this is a way of showing how filtering and filter bubbles can control the internet

    1. Until recently, "the news" has meant two different things­events that are newsworthy, and events covered by the press.

      What decides if something is covered by the media is determined by the public's interests. Stories used to be covered that had value. Today, all we see is celebrities outfits, deaths and shootings, and Hollywood gossip. There is so substance behind articles anymore and when watching the news I either get bored or depressed from what I see.

    2. riving an ordinary car, though, doesnt require the driver to belong to a particular profession, because it's easy enough that most adults can do it with a modicum of training.

      I really like this analogy because it illustrates why the newspaper missed the threat of online news. The newspapers didn't see the threat of news on the internet because of the lack of professionalism by the authors.

    3. "you're dealing with the news cycle: twenty-four hours later-that's old news." Like a delayed note to a friend, the initial lack of response would have meant, in any later version, having to apologize for not having written sooner.

      When things come up in the news there is a certain amount of time that you have before the information is considered old. So many important and groundbreaking events are brought up by the media but once that situation is no longer important to much of the public then it is rarely spoken about again. Today, people want their news fast so stories are given quick ad fast so they do not become dull and old.

    4. Many people in the newspaper business, the same people who worried about the effects of competition like USA Today, missed the significance of the internet.

      This is so relavant to today because of the multiple sources we look to for the news online. I often look to twitter or find out news on facebook instead of watching channel six or reading a newspaper. I often have to check the legitimacy of the content on another website/source

    5. We've long regarded the newspaper as a sensible object because it has been such a stable one, but there isrit any logi­cal connection among its many elements: stories from Iraq, box scores from the baseball game, and ads for everything from shoes to real estate all exist side by side in an idiosyn­cratic bundle. What holds a newspaper together is primarily the cost of paper, ink, and distribution;

      I have to agree with the author hear. I always automatically think of a newspaper as a reliable source. But in reality, what makes it different then a reliable source on the internet if it is just printed?

    6. The future presented by the internet is the mass amateurization of publishing and a switch from "Why publish this?" to "Why not?"

      I think the author brings up a really good point here. Now, we can literally publish anything we want with the internet with just a click of a button. Although this can be really beneficial, it can also be quite dangerous.

    7. The Web didrit introduce a new competitor into the old ecosystem, as USA Today had done. The Web created a new ecosystem.

      Because the web created a new ecosystem, do you think it will ever fully replace the existence of newspapers? Will newspapers ever go extinct? if so, when?

    8. How could this happen? How could the newspaper industry miss such an obvious and grave challenge to their business?

      Ignorance and stubbornness are the answers. Again going back to the "open-minded" point, not considering potential threats can eventually catch up and bite you. Sure, you may be apart of a successful company at the moment, but they call it a capitalistic economy for a reason. Competitors are always evolving, trying to knock off the current "top dog".

    9. Many people in the newspaper business, the same people who worried about the effects of competition like USA Today, missed the significance of the internet. For people with a pro­fessional outlook, it's hard to understand how something that isnt professionally produced could affect them-not only is the internet not a newspaper, it isnt a business, or even an institution.

      This goes to show that you can never shoot down new ideas. Society evolves, and something that may seem "foreign" at the time can be apart of our everyday lives. It is key to be open-minded.

    10. professionally produced

      Most credible sources on the internet are still "professionally produced."

    11. the effect wasn't catastrophic

      There can be problems with "dumbing" things down. If you continue to dumb things down so that everyone can understand it eventually you will make things so simple that there is no critical thinking involved. You need to find a balance between making information accessible to all to a certain extent and allowing for there to be analytical thinking and criticism on the subject.

    12. "TV on paper" and held it up as further evidence of the dumbing down of American culture

      Is dumbing down something really a bad thing? Simplifying something can be extremely beneficial. When you simplify something you allow more people to understand it and you make it accessible to even more people. The more people that understand a problem the better chance of solving this problem.

    13. Considerable effort must be expended toward maintaining the discipline and structure of the profession.

      Keeping the discipline and maintaining structure can be a difficult task. However, it is important to enforce these aspects of a website. You get as much out of something as the amount of effort you put in.

    14. In contrast to the situation a few years ago, taking and publishing photographs doesn't even require the purchase of a camera (mobile phones already sport surprisingly high-quality digital cameras), and it certainly doesn't require access either to a darkroom or to a special publishing outlet.

      I can't believe that this is almost eight years ago! It was a huge deal when my older sister got a flip phone with a camera, much less an iPhone, and now phones are pretty much the leading means of photography, which can be both a good and a bad thing. Good because when you see something fascinating or strange, you wouldn't have to snap your fingers and say "Gee! I'd take a picture of that if I could!" You could just take it. Bad because...well...obvious reasons of privacy and so forth. My grandmother and my younger (4-7 year old) cousins have little arguments about this. They absolutely refuse to believe that she did not have TV and only a few dozen photographs taken of her family growing up. They, meanwhile, have had thousands of photos and videos shot of them, and Gram has just a shoebox and a reel of film.

    15. In the same way you do not have to be a professional driver to drive, you no longer have to be a professional publisher to publish.

      Anyone can post anything. There are no standards to what can be published. Like Shirky mentions earlier, the conditions of the professional class no longer exist. Because of this, we are also losing reliability.

    16. But in some cases the change that threatens the profession benefits society, as did the spread of the printing press; even in these situations the pro­fessionals can be relied on to care more about self-defense than about progress. What was once a service

      I think what Shirky is getting at here is that change scares everyone. Some people are very adamant about ideas and concepts staying the same as how they always were. Others are able to kind of go with the flow and accept the new changes. We see that everyday within our own society, not just new inventions. I think that when people do not understand a concept right away, they are against it. People have to understand though that what they think is normal now was weird once too.

    17. It used to be hard to move words, images, and sounds from creator to consumer, and most media businesses involve expensive and complex man­agement of that pipeline problem, whether running a printing press or a record label. In return for helping overcome these problems, media businesses got to exert considerable control over the media and extract considerable revenues from the public. The commercial viability of most media businesses involves providing those solutions, so preservation

      When I first was reading the article, I didn't understand why it was such a big deal that news was on the internet. You can still be a professional and write on the internet instead of paper. It was not until this section that I really understood it. Having news on the internet is getting the news and ideas of these professionals for free almost. It takes away their professional title because they are basically worth the same amount as anyone on the internet.

    18. As they surveyed the growing amount of self-published content on the internet, many media companies correctly un­derstood that the trustworthiness of each outlet was lower than that of established outlets like The New York Times. But what they failed to understand was that the effortlessness of publishing means that there are many more outlets.

      It is so easy to post information on the internet that people have to dig through all of it to find out if the source they are looking at is a trustworthy one. Obviously, people will go to a well-known news site for information but people don't realize how much is actually out there and how easy it is to put information out there that is completely false and something should probably be done about it.

    19. journalists arerit journalists unless they work for publishers, and publishers arerit publishers unless they own the means of production. This definition has worked for decades, because the ties among journalists, publishers, and the means of production were strong. So long as publishing was expensive, publishers would be rare. So long as publishers were rare, it would be easy to list them and thus to identifY journalists as their employees.

      In the past journalist would be the ones to control what get published or not. Nowadays anyone can post anything anywhere and get more viewers whether it is useless or important.

    20. Especially important, the bloggers didn't have to find Sebesta-he found them. Prior to our current generation of coordinating tools, a part-time politics junkie like Sebesta and amateur commentators like the bloggers would have had a hard time even discovering that they had mutual interests, much less being able to do anything with that information. Now, however, the cost of finding like-minded people has been lowered and, more important, deprofessionalized.

      This shows how we think of things wrong. In class we talked about how we aren't on the Internet, we ARE the Internet. The Internet is not a thing of its own but rather the people say that they're on it. Also, this shows that information and connections are available to virtually anyone with a computer/phone/Internet connection.

    21. We've long regarded the newspaper as a sensible object because it has been such a stable one, but there isrit any logi­cal connection among its many elements: stories from Iraq, box scores from the baseball game, and ads for everything from shoes to real estate all exist side by side in an idiosyn­cratic bundle.

      I think that in the past, we haven't given the Internet enough credit. People say, "don't believe everything you read on the Internet," but you shouldn't be too quick to believe anything you read in general. Just because a newspaper is a physical object does not give it a higher status of validity than an online news-source.

    22. If everyone can do something, it is no longer rare enough to pay for, even if it is vital.

      I think that the digital media is becoming over powering and controlling. Newspapers as we know it may complete become to an end in the future.

    23. "Some pitches are balls and some are strikes, but they ain't nothiri till I call 'em

      I think the audience of the media also has control over whether something is newsworthy or not. Since the public eye is in control of a situation's popularity they control whether or not a story will have sticking power.

    24. what kept the story alive was not the press but liberal and conservative bloggers,

      Unlike news media which needs constant new information or spins on their stories to keep them relevant, publishers and bloggers online have more wiggle room with keeping stories going and further diving into details and viewpoints.

    25. The future presented by the internet is the mass amateurization of publishing and a switch from "Why publish this?" to "Why not?"

      It really is true how much opportunity the web opens up. Nearly anyone can publish anything they wish with no worries of whether it is too costly as was previously a concern in the newspaper business. I really like that line of making the switch from "Why publish this? to "Why not?" It really gives a sense of the kind of unlimited freedom and self-expression the Internet offers.

    26. The principal threat to the Richmond Daily News, and indeed to all newspapers small and large, was not competition from other newspapers but radical changes in the overall ecosystem of information. The idea that some­one might build four-color presses that ran around the clock was easy to grasp. The idea that the transmission of news via paper might become a bad idea, that all those huge, noisy printing presses might be like steam engines in the age of internal combustion, was almost impossible to grasp. Howard could imagine someone doing what he did, but better. He couldnt imagine someone making what he did obsolete

      I think that this passage is worded well in that it shows the true threat to the old newspaper business. Instead of worrying about competition from competing newspaper sources, businesses should be looking at competition from other outlet sources, namely the Internet. It's interesting that these ideas of something else taking over, of paper becoming "obsolete" is so "impossible to grasp" at this time.

    1. meme culture has provided an outlet for new forms of public conversation and community buildin

      It is interesting how the "meme culture" has come to mean something that is so powerful. Communities of people may finally speak online about controversial topics through the deceptive use of memes. This is a perfect example of how a nation's citizenship will always find a way to fight suppression and censorship.

    2. constant effort to outdo each other’s creativity. Any image of a llama can in fact become a grass mud horse, and, by extension, an outcry against China’s stringent censorship.

      I never fully conceptualized the notion of memes acting in complete relation to politics. I always thought of them as harmless jokes. Things that offer a quick laugh to people browsing through their media.

    3. But càonǐmā(操你妈), written with different characters and pronounced with slightly different tones, is the more familiar colloquial phrase roughly translated as ‘fuck your mother’. And Ma’le Gebi sounds like another Chinese phrase meaning ‘Your mother’s cunt’

      I'm not clear on the correlation between these seemingly different interpretations. How does an arbitrary fictional animal relate to speaking of one's mother with negative connotations. All aspects about this creature are paradoxical... Who comes up with these things?

    4. Social change memes like the grass mud horse and Batman vs Pandaman represent a rift in the singular media environment, but so do many other media forms, like blog posts and simple status updates. I believe one reason memes resonate specifically is that they turn the tools and methods of state propaganda against itself

      Memes are a fantastic way for people to show the feelings and emotions toward a specific subject. Blog posts and memes do have a lot in common it just isn't obvious. Memes make something serious into something that the world can relate to.

    5. In China, we must understand social change memes as a form of citizen media, a small reclamation of power contra state media.

      In other countries besides America their culture is different relating to memes, Facebook, or Instagram. People from different cultures take different pictures, use different hashtags and also different memes.

    6. After exploring how social change memes evade censorship, it is difficult to deny their power and beauty. But why are they compelling? I argue that these memes reflect an important form of social change, a broadening of the visual language of dissent through a key form of the creative vernacular of the internet.

      Once a meme is showed to the world there is no taking it back. Also, it is a hit and miss with a meme. There are thousands and thousands of memes out in the world yet some make it viral and some are just on the internet. Memes show the internet a different side of social media, it is not just a plane picture yet it has text and states the point whether it be funny or serious.

    7. The grass mud horse and river crab are what I call social change memes, internet memes that express a sentiment for changing a social or political issue.

      What is are the similarities of a political cartoon and a social change meme? What are the differences?

    8. The Golden Shield Project, known popularly as the ‘Great Firewall’, ensures control of data in the country. However, it is just one part of a larger system of censorship, one that is decentralized, with a combination of coercion and self-censorship (Meng, 2011: 39).

      This Golden Shield Project is almost exactly what Google does. Both ways of censorship create a "filter bubble". The only difference is that the Chinese government has this decentralized censorship because they want to keep some information from their citizens, while Google and other search engines do it to cater to their users preferences. Either way, restricting access to internet information can slow cultural diffusion, and can also mold people into being narrow minded about what is outside their surroundings.

    9. clicking on ‘Like’ or tweeting about a political subject – though long derided as ‘slacktivism,’ may well turn out to be one of the more potent impacts from digital tools in the long run, as widespread use of such semi-public symbolic micro-actions can slowly reshape how people make sense of their values and their politics

      Today, people consider "liking" a post, tweet or picture to be something a lot more important than it should be. Even though sometimes a certain amount of people liking a picture can turn it into getting that picture to be known all over the world. So I have a love-hate relationship with how liking a certain social media post can turn out.

    10. At the time of his detention, he was one of the most famous dissidents in China, and yet he was effectively rendered a non-person.

      This passage really sheds light on how lucky Americans are to have the liberties that we do. We can post content online and never have to fear violent retribution.

    11. To understand how internet memes function in social change in lower-freedom contexts like China, it is necessary to understand how memes and civic expression have intersected historically

      Would it be possible for governments to use memes to combat social and political movements? Can the government "regulate" memes if they cause a clear and present danger? Would the world be safer or more dangerous if the government started regulating memes?

    12. The rise of online symbolic action – clicking on ‘Like’ or tweeting about a political subject – though long derided as ‘slacktivism,’ may well turn out to be one of the more potent impacts from digital tools in the long run, as widespread use of such semi-public symbolic micro-actions can slowly reshape how people make sense of their values and their politics

      Overall I think this is a good thing. However there can be negative consequences. Many times we are amused and entertained by memes for their humor, artwork, etc but not always the message behind them. When using memes for political or social movements we need to make sure that the message behind the meme is something we agree with and not just the overall appeal of the meme.

    13. The rise of online symbolic action – clicking on ‘Like’ or tweeting about a political subject – though long derided as ‘slacktivism,’ may well turn out to be one of the more potent impacts from digital tools in the long run, as widespread use of such semi-public symbolic micro-actions can slowly reshape how people make sense of their values and their politics.

      Overall I think this is a good thing. However there can be negative consequences. Many times we are amused and entertained by memes for their humor, artwork, etc but not always the message behind them. When using memes for political or social movements we need to make sure that the message behind the meme is something we agree with and not just the overall appeal of the meme.

    14. More egregious violations can lead to an account being deleted entirely or, in more extreme cases, an unpleasant visit from the police, popularly known as hecha, or drinking tea.

      "Drinking tea" also was created as a very popular meme for kermit the frog, with the phrase "but thats none of my business" to be interpreted as something bad or strange that has happened. It became viral all over twitter, facebook, instagram etc.

    15. meme culture has provided an outlet for new forms of public conversation and community buildin

      Memes formed their own separate topic on the internet which now are being created by everyones personal experiences.

    16. In certain cases, internet memes like the grass mud horse menagerie have become a vehicle for evading censorship in an environment where both offline and online outlets for social and political expression are extremely limited.

      Memes became a lot more popular then they used to be. They have expanded where they are being posted. Not only can you see them on social media but they are also outside the computer screen.

    17. For participants, the messages are no longer taken for granted or quietly critiqued but can instead be challenged with regularity through internet meme culture, blogs and other citizen media. In this milieu, social change memes function as dissident art and culture – from protest theater to graffiti – have always done in offline space: by providing a creative outlet for individual and small community expression around issues that matter most to them. What is new is how the culture and structure of the internet and the very low barrier to participation have facilitated memes’ rapid spread to newer and broader communities.

      People have the ability to create their own memes to fit their situations and bring to light issues that they want to be known. It is a good way for people to express their thoughts and beliefs in a public way as well as a good way to make their voice heard due to the rapid spreading and use of memes in social media today

    18. Anyone who crosses a line can expect to see their messages deleted or their entire account frozen

      While censorship and security are necessary components of Internet activity, what China is doing seems extreme.

    19. Memes, as micro-actions of media remixing and sharing, are particularly important in a censored, propagandized state, which seeks first to isolate individuals who express opinions contrary to state interests, and then to deaden the sort of public debate that fosters a diverse sphere of opinion.

      In these censored states, memes allow people to express their opinions. This is important because everyone should have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. Memes give these people a safe way to do that.

    20. memes make up just one part of a larger repertoire of youth expression and identity formation online

      The internet has become an outlet for many people. The development of memes has led to the creation of various communities where people can connect and relate to each other online.

    21. Censoring the Cute Cats

      I think it's really interesting how memes create their own language in a way. Inserting a meme can be used in place of adding words and people will still understand what you are trying to say.

    22. The rise of online symbolic action

      I've noticed that memes are more popular and a lot of them are created after a televised event. Especially an award show of some soft, the next day or even that night websites like Twitter or Instagram are filled with memes about memorable moments from the award show.

    23. I see this all over Twitter. People try to add their own text to memes such as the Spongebob meme with the rainbow or others to try to get it going. What's funny is it's just the same thing over and over again and it's only changed a little bit.

    1. A great number of Facebook users were transmitting these kinds of images through their profile pictures, but the images did not reliably retain the information embedded in the original. In other words, if a viewer did not know an image with two objects on a red square background had originally been intended to show support for marriage equality, many of the images shown in Figure 4 would not necessarily have tipped that viewer off.

      There are many ways to incorporate a symbolic meaning/logos into something that is saying the same thing, but in a totally different way. How do people come up with such creative ideas?? For example, Google search creates different logos for different movements or corporations, and they are very creative.

    2. The rhetorical concept of kairos, or timeliness, refers to a moment in time that is just right for communication to happen. In the kairotic moment, the time is right, the audience receptive, and the communicator ready. Kairos is part of a cultural ecology that encompasses “rhetorical circumstances and exigencies, which include the orientations of both speaker and listeners, the moment, the place, and so forth”

      The word Kairos symbolizes being somewhere at the perfect time. It is the supreme moment. I do think memes can have their "5 minutes of fame" but also last a long long time after this which is interesting.

    3. The Human Rights Campaign has relied on a simple logo — a blue square featuring a yellow equal sign inside — since 1995 as an immediately recognizable symbol representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

      This symbol is used in great ways but also in degrading ways, which is a shame. Why exactly is it just an equal sign to symbolize such a huge movement in the world? I've always wondered why the symbol isn't something more interesting like the the VW Car Symbol or Breast Cancer.

    4. While many may have posted it to show support for gay marriage equality, others may have placed it in their profile to follow the crowd — many other friends were doing it, so they joined in.

      This just shows how powerful memes can be. Memes can gain a strong following, not only due to the followers being strong supporters of the cause, but by peer pressure. Memes can be a gateway of being in the "in" crowd. Nowadays, especially in my age group, the more memes you can identify, the more socially forward you are.

    5. the power of Internet memes lies in their ability to draw attention to issues and causes worth our interest. Memes are embedded within the larger cultural ecology and work in a reciprocal relationship: “Popular culture and politics cannot be fully separated. They are discursively structured in many similar ways, and they inform each other, feed off each other” [23]. Once our attention is diverted to issues worth our interest, we can then take action

      Many memes are notorious for drawing on political references and rallying support for a cause. They are incredibly powerful when used correctly, in the proper context and drawing upon proper issues and ideals. I think it is very important to note that memes have the ability to unify groups of people together, as with the HRC logo for marriage equality. However, memes are only able to do this if the cause is worthy of interest to the audience.

    6. a meme must retain enough of its original form or ideas to be recognizable, but its continued transmission depends on its changing to meet the hosts’ needs. Finally, longevity simply means that the longer a meme is transmitted and varied, the more potential it has to influence others.

      It is true that what makes a meme a meme is keeping to the core image or idea of the original. While anyone can make a meme out of nearly anything, saying anything they wish, it must be relevant and recognizable to the original in order to be considered a proper meme and have a chance to grow.

    7. Memes operate within cultures and are responses to the desires, interests, and needs of the specific host culture within which they emerge and spread. Successful memes are attuned to the social and cultural specifics of their audience; they play on familiar visual or textual concepts or rely on culturally relevant songs, jokes, or sayings.

      This statement is very relevant. Memes only flourish and gain momentum if they hit a certain nerve on an audience. That nerve could be a specific joke, a relevant topic, or a unifying experience or thought. Memes must be in tune to the social and cultural aspects of the time.

    8. In an ideal world, we would be able to support only those causes that were clearly and overtly good. However, our world is a messy one and as a result, individuals must struggle with the tensions between supporting a cause even when flawed and not showing support at all. In the case of the HRC logo, many individuals found that support of the HRC could be beneficial given its visibility and reach. For example, a commenter on the Guerilla Feminism thread expressed her initial reluctance thusly: Everyone who has faced difficulties because of their sexuality were literally flooded with a wave of support, by seeing friends, loved ones, acquaintances, celebrities, even giant corporations like Bud Light, showing that they cared. For people who are ostracized ... it told them that there are people out there who actually give a damn.

      It is pretty twisted that we live in a world where you can face ridicule for the support of something positive. We also live in a world where people are ostracized for who they are. This campaign gave assurance to those members of the LGBT community that many are in support for them.

    9. Group identification is a necessary aspect of the spread of memes

      If a group/individual can relate to the meme, then the meme did its job. Because it is relatable and probably somewhat meaningful to you, that person will share it for others to see.

    10. An active Facebook user in March 2013 might have logged on to see his or her timeline overtaken by small red squares, many with an equal sign inside

      This shows how strong the internet's influence can be. Today, there are more users on the internet than ever. The more people that changed their profile picture, the more aware others became. Clearly this tactic worked, because it lead to the movement to legalize same sex marriage on the federal level. It also lead to many positive reactions from the general community.

    11. While many may have posted it to show support for gay marriage equality, others may have placed it in their profile to follow the crowd — many other friends were doing it, so they joined in.

      I think this line says alot about how people go about something that is not considered "normal" from past generations. Today, I believe being in a relationship with the same sex meanwhile my grandparents don't really understand or agree with it. People might share their thoughts on facebook on how they support or not support gay marriage which will lead to arguments or conversations, but people might just share what someone else thinks just because everyone seems to be doing it

    12. Despite its lack of longevity

      Does this lack of longevity really mean anything? It seems like the movement made huge strides. Didn't they accomplish their goals to a certain extent?

    13. examples that are likely to appeal to the audience because of their familiarity.

      All of the memes that I see on the internet that are on twitter, instagram, facebook all have the same memes floating around on them because the memes are ever catchy and entertaining to view.

    14. They must have copying fidelity, variability, and longevity in order to be successful (Dawkins, 2006). Copying fidelity means that memes must be as close to the original as possible in order to be successful (and here, success equates to replication).

      Anyone can just take the memes original picture and put whatever they want on it. But in order for it to become successful or popular you need to write something on it that is relevant to the picture. Also needing to catch the users attention.

    15. A 2010 study of 61 million voters published in Nature showed that a single Facebook social message from a friend noting “I Voted” increased voter turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes.

      People like to be a part of something or to do as others are doing. No one likes to feel left out or "behind" in any way. Posting things like this on the internet just feeds into our habit of being like everyone else. But is that always a good thing?

    16. The appropriation of cultural memes for capitalism by corporate entities is a fruitful area for future research in meme studies given that research suggests over two–thirds of global consumers prefer to buy from companies that are socially conscious and give back to society in some way [15].

      This is a good marketing strategy. The only issue that I have with it is that some companies may not actually believe in the cause and are just using it because of the publicity. For example, Bud Light was boycotted for its LBGT issues, yet it created an ad relating to it.

    17. Memes that rely on familiar elements (popular songs, cartoon characters, literary tropes, and so on) succeed because these familiar elements allow for both individual interest as well as group identification.

      I think it was genius to add in pop culture references to the design. Like the article says, it adds individuality with the user. Maybe the user themselves is not gay, but having the pop culture references can grab their attention and make them want to support the cause.

    18. While many may have posted it to show support for gay marriage equality, others may have placed it in their profile to follow the crowd — many other friends were doing it, so they joined in. Adoption of the logo therefore may not necessarily have indicated that the Facebook profile owner felt strongly about supporting gay rights equality.

      This is one of the problems with organization/promotion memes. Some of the people may actually care about the message you are trying to convey and others are just doing it to follow the crowd. I guess it depends on your companies beliefs if that bothers you or not, but I would assume that you would want as many supporters as possible, not just people who are following you blindly.

    19. However, in the face of the speedy transmission of Internet memes, taking the time out to critically assess an image in this way may be less appealing than simply passing on the meme.

      People want to be able to quickly share a meme and not have to think about it or do any greater analysis of the meme.

    20. Much like genes, memes could replicate, undergo natural selection, and evolve.

      Memes are always changing. One picture can have an infinite amount of different captions. They are always evolving.

    21. Thus a meme can be considered a unit of information able to “infect” a host who then assists the meme in its replication, what Dawkins (2006) described as a literal parasitization of the brain.

      I believe that this is taking it too far. Memes can not brainwash people. I believe that people still have the power to think freely and I do not think a meme "makes" them think something. That's the same as saying commercials literally brainwash us, or that advertising in general does.

    22. Dawkins (2006) argued that memes were a new form of replicators, things like songs, processes, catch phrases, and so on that propagate “in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation

      I never thought about it like this better. Memes are not dissimilar to songs or any type of propaganda. They want to get across a message and we become familiar to them, and share them sometimes without fully knowing the meaning behind them.

    23. Each image not only is visually memorable but also represents particular values: the Statue of Liberty, for instance, is more than just a statue but stands in for patriotism, freedom, immigration, and Americanness. The successful variants of the HRC meme that used various iconic figures relied on the deep meanings embedded within a specific culture to survive and thrive.

      Memes succeed even more when they are edited in a way that people feel connected to. So now, not only are the original ones being spread but the varied ones are as well because more people may feel connected to them, it is like reaching out to an even bigger audience.

    24. I argue instead that the spread of memes is an opportunity for digital activism, or instances of social and political change made possible through digital networks [3]. Memes related to causes, like the HRC logo, help draw attention to societal issues and problems and can result in increased feelings of support for marginalized groups.

      I definitely feel that memes like the HRC logo can be a positive way to spread the word about a particular issue. I remember when the whole Facebook profile picture thing was happening I saw the red box all over my newsfeed. I had no idea what it was about so I was compelled to look it up. This is exactly what organizations like the HRC want to do. Spread awareness and draw attention to issues where then people will eventually help do something about it themsleves.

    1. Along the way, Crank Dat got performed countless times by very different communities — from white suburban kids to black ballet dancers, from football teams to MIT graduate students. The video was used as the basis for “mash up” videos featuring characters as diverse as Winnie the Pooh and Dora the Explorer. People added their own steps, lyrics, themes, and images to the videos they made. As the song circulated, Soulja Boy’s reputation grew — he scored a record contract, and emerged as a top recording artist. — in part as a consequence of his understanding of the mechanisms by which cultural content circulates within a participatory culture.

      I remember this!! I was in middle school when this was extremely popular. He was my first memory of being in the participatory culture. It never occurred to me until now that those video imitations and remixes were memes. The only difference between now and then is that memes are being spread in more mediums and in more different mediums, and that they spread faster. It took about 6 months to a year for his fame to really spread, opposed to now when something like this would be rampant in a third of the time.

    2. Talking about memes and viral media places an emphasis on the replication of the original idea, which fails to consider the everyday reality of communication — that ideas get transformed, repurposed, or distorted as they pass from hand to hand, a process which has been accelerated as we move into network culture.

      Everything society talks about gets distorted in someway. People can take a definition or a situation and change in to the way they want and then spread that idea. Memes and viral media places does replicate the idea of everyday reality of communication because no one really understands it.

    3. As the discussion continued, it became clearer and clearer that viral media, like art and pornography, lies in the eye of the beholder

      I think this line is extremely accurate. No one knows that a specific video shared on youtube will be a hit, but it all depends on the people views on it. One person might love it and another person might hate it and never want to see it again.

    4. human choice and the medium through which these ideas are circulated. Dawkins writes not about how “people acquire ideas” but about how “ideas acquire people.”

      It's not about necessarily "winning the people over with creative content", but rather, the more people that share it, the bigger it will get. We tend to accept these newer concepts for whatever reason, without questioning them.

    5. A similar situation can be seen in the case of the “Crank Dat” song by Soulja Boy, which some have described as one of the most succesful Internet memes of 2007. Soulja Boy, originally an obscure amateur performer in Atlanta, produced a music video for his first song “Crank Dat”, which he uploaded to video sharing sites such as YouTube. Soulja Boy then encouraged his fans to appropriate, remix, and reperform the song, spreading it through social networks, YouTube, and the blogosphere, in the hopes of gaining greater visibility for himself and his music.

      This goes to show that ANYBODY can go viral on the internet. Soulja Boy is an "artist" viewed to have little to no talent. But due to a popular video that blew up on the internet, he made millions. Also, this stream of limelight allowed him to put out more music. He is still currently worth $23 million to be exact.

    6. It is invoked in discussions about buzz marketing and building brand recognition while also popping up in discussions about guerilla marketing, exploiting social networks, and mobilizing consumers and distributors. Needless, the concept of viral distribution is useful for understanding the emergence of a spreadable media landscape

      It is very key to relate to the general public. Once a group is attracted to a meme, it goes viral. Sharing these images on social media gets passed from person to person, and allows more people to partake in creating the new memes.

    7. . The recent “LOLcat” Internet meme, built so heavily upon remixing and appropriation, is a good case study to illustrate the role of remixing in Internet memes. “LOLcats” are pictures of animals, most commonly cats, with digitally superimposed text for humorous effect. Officially referred to as “image macros,” the pictures often feature “LOLspeak”, a type of broken English that enhances the amusing tone of the juxtaposition.

      Someone can make a meme out of anything and everything, that is the coolest part about memes. A meme could range from a picture of a cloud to a funny picture of a dog. Memes have been created so that anyone can make something creative.

    8. Consider what happened when a group of advertising executives sat down to discuss the concept of viral media, a conversation which demonstrates the confusion about what viral media might be, about what it is good for, and why it’s worth thinking about.

      It is interesting to think how much thought goes into creating a tweet, meme, or Facebook post that goes viral even if it is on purpose or not. So much thought goes into what goes on social media sites, especially memes because it is a hit or miss if it is going to be liked or not, if its not people can really mess up their reputation.

    9. Rather than emphasizing the direct replication of “memes,” a spreadable model assumes that the repurposing and transformation of media content adds value, allowing media content to be localized to diverse contexts of use.

      When I read the words "spreadable model" and talking about memes I think of pictures on twitter that go viral. These memes just don'y say one specific thing, instead there are hundreds of different sayings on one specific meme.

    10. processes of meaning making, as people use tools at their disposal to explain the world around them.

      I think that this is an important part about viral media and memes. This idea of people using viral content to pull attention to their ideas about the world is shown every day on Social Media. Any given day, memes with different captions will circulate sites like Twitter. It is very visible. However, most don't think about the fact that someone is using media they know to work in order to apply their ideas and share them to others by having them think in a new, relatable way about a message they want to share.

    1. Over the next 20 years software will be embedded in everything, from refrigerators to cars to medical devices.

      Its scary how far technology has already come and how much its going to expand in further years. No one will really know or understand until it happens, but it can only go more high tech from here. Thinking about what our software in our computers, phones, and even TV today, in 10 years all that is going to be 10x more advanced and a total different way of using it, like they said our refrigerators, cars and medical devices will all have different software.

    1. I spend any time I possibly can collecting dots. I never have time to connect the dots except when I am bored. So is there any value to being bored, to zoning out any time? Does your brain need that, or am I just a bit of a relic?

      I think it is important to become bored when multitasking. A persons brain can only be focused for so long, it is hard to stay concentrated! I often times beat myself up for how bored I get when learning something, but then I remind myself it is normal and okay, and then I check social media and beat myself up even more. What did people do before social media???

    2. Who invented it? Never occurred to me there was a person who invented it. And there was, and it’s a great story. His name was Frederick J. Kelly, and in 1914, he knew that we were facing a national emergency, World War I. Men are in Europe at the front. Women are working in the factories.

      It's true, I never stop and think oh who's that guy that invented the computer again? It rarely crosses my mind that 100 years ago, there were no computers. No one read a book online, they read hard-back books. It is crazy how the the internet has literally changed the world.

    3. A recent study of productivity, just in the last couple of weeks, showed that, in fact, people who are constantly using social networks while they’re at work, or doing Facebook while they’re at work, or switching back and forth, think they’re less productive.

      I don't remember the last time I was doing homework and didn't check Facebook or Instagram 30 minutes into my homework. It's sad, really how addictive social media sites are.

    1. Finally, crap detection takes us back, full circle, to the literacy of attention. When I assign my students to set up an RSS reader or a Twitter account, they panic. They ask how they are supposed to keep up with the overwhelming flood of information. I explain that social media is not a queue; it's a flow.

      This happens all the time with learning about social media. When a teacher says create this account on this website, I go into panic. I think well that sounds impossible, learning something new on the internet. Yet this isn't true, learning something new on the internet, like learning how to create an account, is in no way hard we just think it is. We forget how user friendly the internet is.

    2. My students and I carry computers that are literally millions of times more powerful than what the U.S. Department of Defense had a couple decades ago, networked at speeds millions of times faster than the first online networks.

      It blows my mind realizing how powerful our lap tops are. I sometimes need to complete a task on my computer like creating a movie for school and I never have to worry about finding a place to create it because it is at my fingertips.

    3. Many students object that they can't learn unless they are able to take notes, and I agree that taking notes is an important way to learn. But I'm not sure it's the only way.

      I often times think that teachers want to try new thinks for students to take notes, like using an online textbook but for me I can only learn with a pen and notebook in my hand. Although people are different and times are changing, I like the old fashioned way.

    1. Blind faith can justify anything.(7)  If a man believes in a different god, or even if he uses a different ritual for worshipping the same god, blind faith can decree that he should die -- on the cross, at the stake, skewered on a Crusader's sword, shot in a Beirut street, or blown up in a bar in Belfast. 

      If I were to put meme in this sentence instead of God it would make sense. We all look at memes differently and interpret them differently. No ones faith is the same, and no meme is the same as well.

    2. Consider the idea of God.  We do not know how it arose in the meme pool.  Probably it originated many times by independent `mutation'.  In any case, it is very old indeed.  How does it replicate itself ?  By the spoken and written word, aided by great music and great art.  Why does it have souch high survival value ? 

      This is a great comparison because the idea of God is known worldwide and is interpreted differently by every individual. Just like memes, people will interpret memes differently. People believe different things about God, just like memes. Although memes and God are two completely different subjects, they still have loads in common.

    3. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.

      It is interesting how memes are being related to science. I usually just think of science as Bio and Chem, but now it is being related to memes and pictures on the internet. Almost anything can be related, I just would never guess science and memes!