And the year(s) come to an end...

I cannot believe it has been 4 years since I started this degree, or even 4 months since we started blogging!To be honest I was terrified to do this and had no faith in my blogging skills. Now that I'm done though I will admit that I really did enjoy it! I'm sure many of us will continue seeing things on the internet that will make us think "oh that would make a great blog idea", and perhaps some of us will even continue blogging (I'm currently undecided). I also want to thank everyone for this online community we have! It has been great hearing your comments and reading from your perspectives!


As this semester dies down, I know we are all working very hard on our final projects. For this class I have created another blog discussing how our engagement with social media sites has reshaped and created new expectations in many of our relationships! Most of you I'm sure will definitely be able to relate!

Another classmate of ours has chosen to do her final project by making an online magazine! titled "The Revolution Will Be Digital" (as seen to the left). This online magazine mimics a real magazine right down to the turning of pages, it is definitely a must see (and kinda makes me wish I had thought of it)! It was created using free software from Wix.com. The magazine discusses many debates that arise as we enter into this digital revolution, however I was unable to read the articles as I could not figure out how to zoom in, maybe you can though?

Enjoy and best of luck with your final projects!

And The Newest Superhero is....

THE INTERNET!

After reading this article from MSN I have now been informed on how the internet has saved at least 8 lives thus far! Some of the stories were very interesting. One man saved his own life thanks to an iPhone app and another woman was saved after being severely attacked by her horse. Luckily she was broadcasting her horse's birth via webcam and had people from as far as Berlin calling 911 on her behalf for assistance! This goes to show that everyone is truly connected via the internet so it is really no surprise that it is saving lives! Does anyone have interesting stories like these? I know I personally don't YET at least! The internet has however "saved my life" figuratively many times with school projects, cooking or almost with anything I wasn't sure how to do myself (as I'm sure it has for many of you as well).

It is truly incredible to think that without the internet those 8 people would've died. It is obvious we have one powerful tool at our hands! The Web is home to many new life changing resources. For me some fascinating ones are firstly: the Afrosphere and their fight together to preserve and enhance their culture; and secondly: digital activism where people are coming together via blogs, or social networking sites and creating change.

One of my favourite examples of these is the Jena 6 shocking story about racism that is still very much alive in a small town of Jena, Louisiana. In 2006-2007 6 young black males were being charged with attempted second degree murder and conspiracy after a white student was injured during a fight that had commenced after white students hung nooses in a tree. The amazing part for me was that although mainstream media did not cover this, the afrosphere came together and a protest in Jena was started during the boys court hearings. Here is the video from that day; it is truly unbelievable.


My favourite part about this video, is the sense of community and belonging between complete strangers. I think it is truly remarkable that people have come together from all over to fight for justice and to show those boys they are not alone! The internet is most definitely in these situations considered a superhero! It has affected our lives in so many ways. I would love to hear of other amazing stories you have come across like this one and share in this promotion of the internet! (although I do know it hasn't always been used for good things)

With the theme of the internet having a major impact on our lives I also want to direct you to my other blog where I'm continuing this topic by blogging about how our engagement with the internet, specifically social networking sites, has really had an impact on reshaping and creating new expectations in our relationships. It is something I think we (as active citizens) can all really relate to so please come check it out!

P.S To my fellow classmates: What was your favourite thing about this class? Or has there something new you've learned that has truly amazed you like Jena 6 has for me?

Canada's Biggest Movie Pirate is Now Behind Bars

CBC has just reported that Geremi Adam pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing high quality pirate copies of Hollywood films! He is the first Canadian jailed for breaking cinematic copyright, and he is sentence to two and a half months! What a precedent marker this will be!

According to the article:

"In 2007, the Conservative government amended copyright legislation. Under the new rules, making illegal movie recordings became a criminal offence punishable by six months in jail and a $25,000 fine."

Criminal offences are a big deal! I predict this will be an issue to debate. To monitor ones internet connection violates privacy laws. I did not personally realize that it was considered a "criminal" offence I assumed there was only a fine that went along with this offence. This shocks me because as Brand noted in the article, and I agree with him that it is about time Hollywood wakes up and jumps on board with the internet tools. Perhaps if it was available for us to purchases Hollywood movies online affordably we would start doing that? How would you like to see copyright laws change...if at all?

Be Stupid

Anti-advertisments have become increasingly popular since the world has become saturated with advertisments. It is a technique that shows the consumer that "hey we know you're not stupid, we aren't going to try some dumb persuasion trick on you". The company takes the route of being straight up and honest, admitting that you(the consumer) know their tricks and aren't passive consumers.

Diesel's Be Stupid Campaign is taking Anti-Ads to a new level, check their new philosophy:



The Diesel brand has made an entire promotional effort in calling their shoppers stupid. Is that very smart of them? From a young age we're always taught to be smart, yet it seems Diesel is suggesting what is "cool" is to "be stupid". This slogan can have many repercussions. As they have already done on their campaign website, they are encouraging consumers to send in video's of them "being stupid". I watched a long clip of a man trying to fit into his computer tower. The encouragement of these videos I feel is their main downfall in the campaign. If these are their consumers in the videos then they should be embarassed (at least from the video I saw, I encourage you to check it out). I'm filled with mixed thoughts about this Be Stupid campaign. On one hand, it seems like a clever idea, why not target the stupid people as more people may feel stupid than smart and their slogan and visuals do it in a brilliant way. However, on the other hand it's flat out insulting to some. It's a very bold and risky approach but I think my overall opinion on it is that it's very convincing! It sparks the fun, outgoing and dangerous side of us.

What I will completely agree with is their advertisment slogan "Sex Sells, unfortunately we sell jeans". This is a great use a play on words with advertising techniques and again reiterates that they know their consumers aren't passive.



One fellow blogger I found ranted about how annoying these campaign ads are, as they are posted all over New York City buses not to mention she feels "the advertisements remind consumers that smart people plan their budget, while stupid people overpay for Italian jeans" (Rachel L. Arbeit). With that said what are your thoughts on these Be Stupid ads? Any Diesels fans out there offended or encouraged by the ads? I'm interested in your thoughts as I have a love for advertising!

Criminals Until Proven Innocent?

Correction: I believe it's suppose to be Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Although this is right (you are innocent until proven guilty in the Canadian Law system), it is not the case when it comes to the school system at many universities (apparently it must say that in the fine print). It wasn't until learning about it in lecture that I realized we do not own the righs to our work submitted to Turnitin.com. Many university students face this frightening procedure every year, normally just in the begining years, as teachers assume that with large classes, someone will have copied or plagiarised someone else's work, whether it be their classmates or a theorist. Not only does this site claim ownership over the student's work, but is criminaling students based on software that picks out similarities between their work and others. This concept of having similar work as others seems unavoidable when writing about the same topics millions of others have written about as well. My point in this blog however is not to judge the operations of the system, rather to note thats its use criminalizing students.

An interesting side note is that Turnitin.com has too joined the blogosphere. In their most current blog post they are posting comments about accusations that have been made against them and providing corrections, (or excuses) to the remarks. I found that many of the comments they decided to emphasize on correcting are of common sense to the average person. Although I'm sure answering these questions would be easier than answering more important questions about the accuracy and quality of their software. Definitely check out their blog that it is fairly interesting...

Now back to my focal concern with Turnitin.com. I feel that univeristies need to realize how insulting this program is for their students. An application like this truly conveys the level of trust between professors and their students. As university bound students it's evident that we are hardworking, dedicated and honest students. We have given no reason to assumed otherwise. Especially in senior courses when prof's ask things to be "turn in" to Turnitin.com its complete discrimination. By doing this they are saying that perhaps the only way we made it to say 3rd year was by cheating and assume we would do so again. Not only is it degrading to us but for students like Mike Lazaridis (the founder of Research in Motion) his idea of the Blackberry could have been alot more difficult to claim ownership had the University of Waterloo, Ontario made him submit his paper about the Blackberry to Turnitin.com . I'm more curious now to hear your thoughts on Turnitin. Is it fair to us to assume we will cheat? Do you have more dislike for the software used? or for the fact that the University spends tons of our tuition dollars on it yearly because they assume were criminals? And lastly do you think universities will ever change this system?

I'll leave you with a video I found describing Turnitin.com from both the professor side and a student's side. Read the comments on the video as well provides even more opinions.
And I also want to leave with you a couple of blogs about other people's opinions on Turnitin.com that might help formulate your ideas. The first is a blog called DetentionSlip.org about two students in Virgina who filed a law suit against Turnitin.com (I'm sure they're not the first) and the second is the blog Far From a Shining Star who feel similar to the way I do.

Enjoy guys!

Cheers! To Becoming An Active Citizen

This cyber world, the public sphere, this forum in which we connect with people all over the world is mind boggling. Until this course I feel like I've taken it all for granted. Always having the internet available for my every need yet never realizing how much more I was missing out on. After forcefully having to engage in this public sphere, and become an active citizen my eyes have been opened to what I had so often over looked. I would like this post to be seen a toast to the internet and its facinating tools (as well as to Laurier in offering the opportunity to learn about Citizen Media and the Public Sphere!)

Before this course I was very naive about the internet. I would never have thought twice about engaging in Youtube responses or even blogging as the idea of talking to strangers seemed dangerous. I say dangerous because growing up with the creation of the internet put alot of scare in my parents minds along with society since one of the first things we're taught is to "not talk to strangers". However what I've realized is that not everyone on the internet is out to stalk you or rape you (as I said I was very naive), most active citizens are just honest people chatting and conveying thoughts and opinions freely in this public sphere. This is such a big movement for us. Before people only conveyed thought and opinion through personal conversations or in literature. Now the average joe can give their two cents freely without any boundaries as to who can say what. The boundaries I speak of that used to exist were educational credentials. Many professions (like journalism) have now transfered power (credentials) to the everyday person. This in my opinion is a great thing! More information and knowledge circulating provides us with multiple perspectives and can only further our potential to change the world for the better! This might be me being naive again but for now it works! Agreed?

This week I've found myself becoming more aware of the opportunities I have in this public sphere, and also had a strong urge to be a more active citizen. Below are a few of my findings and realizations. I hope most of you can relate!

Today I sat down and just listened to someone on Youtube called Phil DeFranco Show and his show was very informative about recent events (that involved sex) in the news which I had not heard alot about yet. I found it informative and intriguing and it provoked me to create a Youtube account and leave my own personal comment. From here I also took it upon myself to read many of this responses that were posted as well. This act is what truly amazes me. That people have taken the time out of their life to "do something" and comment back on their thoughts just as he encouraged them to do. People from all over the world talking together about their opinions on current events! Tell me this isn't an amazing concept that has nothing but a promising future!? I realize just watching the video's doesn't completely make me an active ciziten however commenting on it has made me feel like a more accomplished person. (Hoping you all can relate because it's hard to explain the feeling!)

When reading articles online I've now realized how convenient it is to share something with others. I've always noticed that you could "email to a friend" but now most articles are compatible with Twitter, Facebook, Digg it and more. This convenience level is another positve appraisal of our public sphere! Living in the 21st century our main attraction are things that are convenient. These features speak to our society. I'm truly just in awe of how easy it is to connect or share anything through the internet. As a person who was first amazed that we could send files or pictures together you can just imagine how in "awe" I am of being able to embed videos, post links for others of things I like, or even be to able to write about it all in a blog like this. I've always seen people do this, but finally when I embeded my own video, or posted a link I liked to Facebook I felt very proud! I also got my first comment on a post I wrote yesterday and it was such a great feeling! To know others agree with my views and opinions and have more to add is a wonderful and positive feeling! From these feeling I can now understand how much the internet gives us a sense of belonging. Because of this course and allowing myself to be an active citizen it has broken down my stereotype about those "blogger geeks" and now I proudly admit to enjoying it!

The last thing that has amazed me about the internet this week is its ability to make dreams come true. Because it connects so many people, and provides an affordable form of advertising for many companies, they are able to offer contests for us to engage in. Companies who are reaching out to consumers through the internet get alot of positive feedback as it shows they recognize this new popular culture which we constantly engage in. One of my best friends is getting married this coming summer. Being only 21 years old and just finishing university money is of course a concern. Every girl needs the perfect dress for a wedding and the show Say Yes to the Dress is yet another reality TV show providing the average girl with a dream come true. (It's a great show girls and if you want you can find out more/watch episodes from that link) My friend, from a small town in Southern Ontario, has made it Top 11 in the "Say Yes to the Dress" contest and it now comes down to an online vote as to who will win! My friends name is Nichele and her entire life all she's wanted to be is a farmer's wife and her dream is finally coming true. Everyone wants their fairy tale wedding to be an elequent dream come true and with OUR help, as ACTIVE CITIZENS we could make this come true for her! I propose we all take one step and continue being an active citizen and vote for them now! You do have to register to an email account however after that you can vote each day for them and join in on the excitment! This opportunity she has is all thanks to the wonders of the internet and its active users. On my quest to becoming an active citizen I felt it as my duty ( and as a bridesmaid as well) to pass this on and hope that you all would join me in voting for them and being an active citizen like we should be! A simple task like writing about it in my blog, gives me such a positive feeling in helping contribute to her happiness! They have also created a Youtube video of their romance which is just another example of the powerful tools we have to help us connect in our cyberwold. As someone as simple as my friend who grew up in the country, has now had the opportunity to be a somebody thanks to the internet. And in fact we can all be a "somebody" if we choose to just by interacting with the tools at our fingertips! Putting ourselves out there, in the public sphere, can only lead to great things! I want to encourage everyone to check out the video of their love story and hope you choose to help them win that 5000 dolar dress for their fairytale wedding!

To end I would like to say Cheers! To the internet and its magical tools! I realize it's sad that for so many years already I've overlooked all it has to offer but I'm so grateful that I've discovered it now and hope my realization creates more realizations for others!

IDK The Future Of Our Grammar :S

Foreign to most of our parents, and partially even foreign to myself, is the new computer lingo that has increasingly spread since the invention of instant messaging. Phrases like: lol, wtf, omg, ttyl, rofl, lmfao, g2g, brb, jk and fyi were the first to arise but now this lingo has been taken to an extreme, some of which I had to Google the meaning too. For example, our public sphere has seen abbreviations like idk(I don't know), pos (parent over shoulder), diku (do I know you), or even H9 (husband in the room...yikes!) the list goes on. Personally I find it a nuisance to try and keep up with them all but I have always been a fan of emoticons :). This lingo is one of the most important aspects that unites all active citizens in the public sphere. It makes the experience of the internet even more unique and distinct from our other relationships by providing us with our own personal code, which is universally understood.
However, is it possible that the more we continue to blog, chat and tweet, the worse our grammar is becoming outside of the cyber world?
A recent article in the Canadian Press has administration speculating that Facebook, texting, and Twitter are to be blamed for the increasing number of post-secondary students who write poorly. The article explains that the University of Waterloo is one of the few schools in Canada that tests their prospective students on their English skills and a shocking one third of them are failing! These are university bound students, who are frequently using "cuz" instead of because in academic papers! One professor in the article even said "Little happy faces ... or a sad face ... little abbreviations," show up even in letters of academic appeal". For me, this is a scary thought. I know I have caught myself a couple times wanting to throw in a few happy faces in emails to professors just to ensure they understood the emotion I intended to express. What do you think? Can these educators blame technology for this rising increase in grammar failure? Should something be done or should we just simply start to expect our students to smarten up and realize that "msn talk" isn't acceptable academically?

And with any new phenomenon, some people criticize and some embrace it. One of my favourite uses of internet lingo was in a McDonald's commercial for their new Big Mac Wrap. In doing this they clearly set out their target audience, and also intrigued others to join the public sphere talk! Hope you appreciate this commercial like I did!