emilicious

I reviewed the blogs, Wonkette and Daily Kos. If I were to say which blog would influence me more for the upcoming 2008 election, I would have to say Daily Kos. Even though politics should be something that really interests me since it is my future, politics really doesn’t interest me. Looking at these blogs Wonkette called itself “D.C. Gossip” which I think is hard to rely on honest information. I have had a lot of experience with gossip and with my experience 99% of gossip is untrue. Wonkette did seem like the more interesting website and may be targeted for people my age. Daily Kos seemed more informational and professional. Daily Kos seemed to have the more serious issues and it may be targeted for a older crowd. Some of the stories on Wonkette were HILLARY TO APPEAR ON TEEVEE’S DAILY SHOW TONIGHT, and HOLLYWOOD CAUSE WATCH: CHANGE VS. FUCKING BEN AFFLECK. Some stories on Daily Kos were Texas, early voting; and will it be a purple state? and FISA Fight: Communications trade group opposed to amnesty. I’m not saying that Daily Kos doesn’t have the occasional silly post such as McCain Wines & Dines His Media Lapdogs, I just think that Daily Kos is more professional looking and more informational. I guess I would look to Daily Kos to get my information on the upcoming election.

Also last night I read an interview with Joi Ito in Kline and Burnstein’s book BLOG!. Actually it was a very interesting interview. Actually Ito’s is based in Tokyo and he blogs about cookery tips, political discussions,  bizarre news stories, and absurd photographs. And he thinks that folk art and folk music are going to become popular, I really disagree. In addition he believes his blog is like his living room, which I though was an interesting comparison. Hence “You can do what you want but you’re in my living room, so be respectful because I have to take care of this place,” I really enjoyed that quote. Furthermore he talks about Creative Commons, which is a great website where you can create a sort of copyright. In addition he says that he doesn’t mind that he doesn’t get paid to blog; he says that’s not the point. Hence “I would much rather keep a healthy community and my network of friends than make a little extra money here and there.” In conclusion I really like how Ito looks at the blog world.

I read Robert Scobble’s twenty principles for blogs. It was very interesting and it made me think if all blogs out there are following these principles. I went to Jezebel to see how they were doing. Scobble’s first principle is to be honest. A celebrity gossip blog and honesty are pretty much an oxymoron. The information I read seemed legit and honest. Use a human voice is principle number 3. Reading Jezebel is like talking to your girlfriends the language is easy to follow. I wouldn’t say that Jezebel is not following any of the principles. Jezebel also isn’t “selling a product” as Scobble is referring to in his principles. I like that Jezebel always has the newest stories. Right on the top of the page it says it has 44 posts in the last 24 hours. Newspapers and gossip magazines can’t compare to the immediateness that an online blog has. I think Jezebel is a very well put together blog and follows Scobble’s principles pretty well.

I think that for my age the more important blogs are individual blogs. I didn’t even know that the other kind of blog existed until I took this class. After reading “Blogs Change Your Business” I realized that blogging for businesses can be very important. They can post vital information that can ruin their businesses. Like the story of Mark Jen when he was working for google and bashing them on his blog (bad benefits, only giving them food so they stay after dinner). Google fired him because he was giving them a bad reputation. The same thing could go for personal blogs as well. A teenager could bash another teenager on their blog and potentially ‘ruin their lives’. At this point and time personal blogs are more important to me than any other blog out there. They interest me more than the business blogs do. In conclusion I think it depends on the person, business blogs may be more important to some people, and personal blogs are more important to others.

I went to jezebel.com and looked at the post, Trailer Clash: Homecoming Queen gives a meaning to the word trailer trash ( http://jezebel.com/357560/homecoming-queen-gives-new-meaning-to-term-trailer-trash ). It was about a former homecoming queen, Donna Sturkie-Anthony, who has apparently developed a drinking problem. When her sister came to talk to Donna, who is now in her forties, about her drinking problem, Donna got enraged. She took her sister’s prosthetic leg and beat her sister with it. This isn’t her first offense either. “She’s been arrested over a half-dozen times since 1991, and one of those times — a DUI — she was so drunk that she smeared her feces in the back of a police car.” She is being held in custody for now because she is a danger to herself and others. She now faces felony charges of intimidation of a witness and assault. I couldn’t comment on the post because I had to be a user to comment. If I were to comment I think I would say: This girl is crazy. Lock her up.

I looked at the blog by Isaac Mao. The blog wasn’t too decorative, very plain. It didn’t have many pictures, it was mostly text. The blog is about meta ideas, memes, and mind morphing. The last post was about micropipeline as unblock-able infrastructure. It had one picture to describe what he was talking about. Sometimes he will add a video from you tube to add to the post. In Rebecca Mackinnon’s interview “Making Global Voices Heard” she talks about Mao’s blog. She says on page 328 “Mao is probably the best known Chinese blogger outside of China because he blogs in both Chinese and in English.” I can’t really disagree with her because I haven’t read any other Chinese blogs, but I think that he does a great job.

I read the interview with Ayelet Waldman, “A Weblog Saved My Life Last Night.” I agreed and disagreed with a few things in the interview. I disagree with Waldman’s view that contemporary married couple do not have sex because as recent research shows “married couples say they have sex 68.5 times a year or slightly more than once a week, according to a 2002 research study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago,” (http://www.prnewswire.com). I agreed her when she said that writing on her weblog was taking away from her material and her husband’s. I think that it was a good choice to choose one or the other. I think she made the right choice because she says “my job is a fiction writer.” I disagree with that fact that she put a “suicide note” on the web. She has children and they will some day see this. I think that time she went too far with being comfortable writing anything on the web.

I agree with the statement: parents should not monitor everything that their middle-school children write online. I think that an online journal should follow the same rules as a diary. If your child needs somewhere to express their feelings without parental supervision, then let them. “J. had his Blurty journal for about a year. He called it “better than therapy,” a way to get out his feelings– all his emotions he thought might get him in trouble if he expressed them at school or home. Online he could blurt out confessions of loneliness and insecurity, worrying aloud about slights from friends.” (Nussbaum 352). I think if J.’s parents were constantly monitoring what he wrote then he couldn’t express his feelings as freely. By the time you are in middle school you should have the freedom to do whatever you choose on the Internet. My parents gave me that freedom and I didn’t abuse it. I think its perfectly safe to let your child freely write on their online journal unless you are honestly concerned with their safety.

1.

Instant messaging: a text-based computer conference over the Internet between two or more people who must be online at the same time.
I find instant messenger interesting because I really like to use it to talk all my hometown friends while I’m at school.

 Feeds: formats used to publish frequently updated content
I like mini feeds on facebook because they tell me what everyone has been updating lately.

Tagging: refers to the practice of attaching descriptive labels to a web site
I like tagging pictures on facebook, and seeing others tagged pictures.

2. Three empowerment of marginalized groups I am most interested in finding out about right now are teens, children, and youth. I picked children and youth because I want to be a teacher some day. I picked teens because I am and still will be one for another year.

 3. I picked Europe, and South and Central America. I picked Europe because I want to go to Greece some day. I picked South and Central America because I have been there before and its warm.

I don’t think that the internet has or will become more popular than television. On page 239 of David Kline’s essay “I Blog, Therefore I Am” he says “Web users watch less TV and listen to less minutes of radio.” I know of many people who own radios/televisions who don’t own a computer or have internet access. I will admit that the internet has become a great source for information, but can you have your weekly Desperate Housewives party in front of your computer? While taking a cruise in your whip can listen to the internet? I know what you are thinking, you can watch television from the internet, but it isn’t the same quality as watching it on your big screen television. You can also listen to the radio from the internet, but not from your car. Television, radio, and the internet are all things that people use daily. They are all things that some people couldn’t live without. I think the internet has made major progress and is very popular. I don’t think that some people would choose the internet over their favorite television show