Convergence and Creative Engagement

In today's day and age technology has made it possible for media from all different countries and cultures to be shared with the rest of the world. Just because we can share it with the world doesn't mean that the world has the same views on the media/material as we do. Cultures tend to have drastically different perspectives and values so when media and information is exchanged meaning can be lost in translation. Meaning that we attach is only recognized by ourselves or by the culture that we belong to and another culture may look at the subject in a completely opposite fashion. I believe that is the point Jenkins is trying to make. It's a problem that we are going to figure out but I believe that as the world becomes more "global" our cultures will start to blend a little bit more and maybe sharing images, videos, music, etc will be better understood by the citizens of the world.

Creative Engagement: When individuals of one culture or multiple cultures join together and combine perspectives to help create something that might be designed for one group of people but instead will appeal to a larger number of individuals. This world needs more creative engagement, chances are it will make it a more beautiful place.

Long Tail Theory

When I think about the Long Tail I think about Etsy. This is a website where individuals are able to sell items that they have created, truly niche items that aren't available to the masses. Etsy allows consumers to search their site for numerous items that range from jewelery, clothing, art, home decor, etc. Anyone can create an Etsy account and then can begin to sell their product. This creates a huge niche market where many products can be found . Also itunes is a great example. They have around 2 millions songs available to purchase online and musicians can get their music on itunes while your local Walmart can only offer you around 25,0000 songs of the artists they choose to carry.

I have a very particular style when it comes to dressing so the internet and this "Long Tail" are a blessing. I'm able to search websites that carry hundreds of clothing brands not just one. I don't love a brand I just like individual items of clothing so these websites like Karmaloop.com and JackThreadz are perfect for scrolling through tshirts, hoodies, and snapbacks until I find something I really enjoy. Also these niche websites usually have some awesome deals.

New Media and Technology

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/business/media/sonys-playstation-vue-is-introduced-in-3-cities.html

Sony is entering the battle for TV audiences. The Playstation 3 and 4 will now be providing content similar to Roku and Apple TV. This article relates to the interactivity discussions we have been having in class. Cable and Satellite television for the most part follow one way communication model and have very little interaction. However, with new content providers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, individuals have more control over the content they watch. People have the choice of what to watch, when to do so, and where they are going to watch. Cable and Satellite are losing more of their audience every year to these alternative providers. Television is in the slow process of converting to this interactive style of watching and with video game systems joining in I believe things will go a little faster.

I chose this article because of all the media I believe that television is facing more change than any other medium and it's happening extremely fast.

Blog Assignment #2

Out of the three network laws, I agree most with Sarnoff’s law. Probably because it is the simplest of the three laws and it’s really the only one that I truly understand.  This law doesn’t require any math to prove its value just some common sense is all that you need. The law states that the value of a network increases linearly with the number of individuals who are using the network.. I don’t think this law strictly applies to radio and television but the World Wide Web as well.  When referring to the value of networks I assume that they are talking about financial value and information value as well. When it comes to financial value, a website/network is going to be worth more money to advertisers if they have a large user base. The more people that visit a website the more chances advertisers have to expose there products to individuals. This is a clear example of a network’s financial value increasing or decreasing as it’s user base either grows or shrinks.  This can also apply to information value as well. The more that people can connect with one another equals more information being exchanged over the Internet. This doesn’t have to be a person to person exchange. An individual just needs to post information on a site or a blog and then it can easily be accessed by the world. People need to be careful because not everything you read on the web is true but the Internet does make it way easier to search and find information that you can use and apply to life giving it great value.

In five years I think people will be finding information in a similar fashion as they do today. Our digital devices are probably going to change drastically but I have a feeling our methods won’t change much. Instead of typing a question in the Google search bar, we’ll probably just verbally ask search engines to find things for us. I have a feeling Siri is going to be helping people out for years to come.

-Nick Neary

Why We Blog

Blogging has become a new method of writing for our generation. When I say writing I mean this in all of its variations. Writing in a journal, writing for the sake of information, venting, etc. People use blogs for their own personal reasons. From what I've concluded from the reading is that people use blogging as a way to vent their current problems in life. Just by typing there current situations and then sharing it with the world helps people "work things out". However Blogs are not just for complaining to the world. Blogs can be someones way of thinking, instead of just writing down ideas they share them on their blog for the world to see and to comment on. The fact people can communicate on blogs helps make them a community forum. A place where ideas can be shared, compared, revised, and maybe one day those ideas can be brought to life and make a change. Also blogs can be used for the sharing of information. This ranges from traveling, current events going on around the world, food and cooking, science, this list goes on and on. This sharing of information has become vital in our generation. These citizen journalists are able to experience something first hand and share it with the world before news networks even have a chance to research a story. Even if they aren't accredited journalist with proper training they still can share vital information with the internet community aka the world.  And last but not least some people feel the need to share their entire lives with the world so that is why they blog, so the world knows what they had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they know the outfit you were wearing.....THE END

My First Blog