While I was debating what to blog about this week, I started thinking about how I usually think of topics. The first place I typically start out at is Google. I start at google for a number of things. For my senior thesis paper I first started googling different ideas until i realized my topic. When I hear about a job or a company that I might be interested in working for the first thing I do is google the company. I use google every day, multiple times a day. It is a starting point for almost everything that I need to get done on the internet, and offline. I google people, and random things when I am bored, procrastinating, busy, at any time of day, etc. I even googled the google image that you see above. And now that I have an iphone, I can google anything I want, whenever I want, wherever I am. . Within a short span of time I recently googled:

- How to get a stain out of a winter coat

- Gift ideas for moms

- Chili's locations

- Elizabeth Edwards

- Baked chicken recipes

- 10 day forecast

Needless to say I am a major information seeker, but I don't think I am alone. It is amazing how many times a day one person visits google. Wikipedia (another huge conglomerate that people use to seek all kinds of facts, but we'll stick to just google for today) asserts that google gets over 400 million searches a day, and while that number is extremely high, it still seems kind of low to me. In my paper, I talked about Collectivism and how the major sites like Google and Wikipedia are taking up all of the web traffic. When I look at my own Internet usage, this seems to be true. The moral of this post is, as google is a starting point for many internet searches, Where would we be without it?

Saving the internet

While talking about net neutrality today in class, I started thinking about whether there were any current court cases regarding ISPs trying to slow down connection to some websites. Freedom on the internet is such a broad and debated issue and whether or not ISPs have the authority to regulate what services they offer and at what price is an arguable topic. In April of 2010, there was a federal court case involving Comcast and high traffic video sites such as Youtube in which the court decided ultimatley that Comcast (and all other internet service providers) had limited power to over web traffic under current law. This ruling caused an uproar from the F.C.C. which strives to have explicit control over Internet service, and whose ultimate goal is to remove all rights of ISPs to control web traffic. As I was reading about this case, I came across this website, called savetheinternet.com. The goal of this website is to campaign for Congress to make a law that upholds net neutrality across the internet, and no longer allows internet service providers to take part in allowing one website slower connection than another. The website has a blog, and donations section which could help contribute to the campaign. The whole premise is based on the future of the internet and is a common ground where "two million everyday people who have banded together with thousands of nonprofit organizations, buisnesses and bloggers to protect internet freedom." I think the video on the website did an awesome job at explaining net neutrality, and why it is important that it be upheld. That video can be seen here on youtube --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o&feature=player_embedded

Facebook Freedom

This week's reading talked about the internet's recent shift from being open and free and the end of the web to more and more "monetary compensations" for things like internet on smartphones, apps, and similar pay as you go internet technologies. This got me thinking, even though we choose to pay for smartphones and apps and similar thinks for the convenience of having them, does this mean we take for granted the internet that we don't have to pay for? For example, I remember about a year ago (?) there was a huge controversy over a rumor that we would have to start paying for Facebook. The rumor stated that users would have to start paying 50$ a month in order to maintain their account. This is ridiculous in the first place, since Facebook collects revenue through advertisements, games, apps etc. An entire group was made in protest to this claim which over 1 million people joined. Many other groups were created including one that said "I'm quitting facebook if they start to charge". People everywhere were talking about this, wondering if it was true and deliberating over what they would do if Facebook really did start to charge. The enormous amount of feedback received as a result of this rumor just goes to show that we truly do take Internet freedom for granted, regardless that we have to pay extra to have it on our phones or iPads. Charging for Facebook would have a HUGE impact on the business it received, and the company would probably not be able to survive it. You can read Facebook's response to these rumors, which basically say that Facebook will never charge their users, here.

YouTube stars

This past week in class we've been talking about the power of youtube. Whether it be a "macaca" moment or "vlog" bullying, youtube has been proven to have the power to completley change someones life. David Karpf argues in his paper that we underestimate the effect YouTube can have on politics, citing the "Macaca Moment". His study claims that while YouTube has a significant influence on politics, it is only a tool used by political organizations and not the center or direct result of campaigns. This got me thinking about the influence of YouTube beyond politics, and its ability to make an average joe an instant celebrity, simply by making a video. Mostly, these people enjoy their 10 minutes of fame, being exploited around the internet, whether thier videos are funny and shared on facebook or moving and emotional. I know my friends and I have exchanged countless YouTube videos of rediculous people who became semi-famous for a week or two. The "celebrities" fade in and out. One week they could be getting hundreds of thousands of hits, and could be circulated across the globe, and the next they could be back to reality, the same as they were before their youtube stardom. However, in some cases, these YouTube stars last a little longer than usual, and can gain attention from other media sources as a result of their YouTube videos. This article talks about how Youtube jumpstarted the careers of several extremely successful celebrites. LonelyGirl, whose videos we viewed in class, went on to land a role in the popular tv show "Greek". And most notably, Justin Bieber found his big break when his mom posted a video of him singing popular R&B songs and was discovered by a producer in Atlanta.

These are the success stories of talented and trained performers, but as I mentioned before, there are other YouTube stars out there who are either completley serious in posting videos that others find hilarious, or just post videos that they find funny and become instant hits. I have two recent examples of videos which have become insanely popular, and have resulted in stardom and other opportunities for their stars. The first is Antoine Dodson, who I am sure most of you have heard of. He was first seen on a news segment because an intruder had broken into his sister's home and tried to rape her. He was famously quoted saying "Hide ya kids, Hide ya wives, because everybody's gonna get raped" which subsequently has become a famous line and has made him into an internet sensation. His famous quotes from that video have been made into a music video, "The Bed Intruder Song" which he has been performing in various shows across the country. He also was featured on a commercial for a sex offender traffic application for Cell phones. His original video can be viewed here. Another recent "celebrity" is Keenan Cahill, a 15 year old who is most known for posting videos of himself in his bedroom, lip-singing along to his favorite songs. Recently, he was featured on the popular late night television show "Chelsea Lately" where he was given the opportunity to recreate one of these videos with famous rapper 50 cent. That can be viewed here. Although these two Youtube stars will probably be forgotten about in a couple of weeks, their stories just go to show how popular an everyday person can become by simply posting or even being featured (in Dodson's case) in a video on youtube.

Marie Claire at the center of controversy..... again

This week, I did my presentation on Healthy Living Blogs and the cyber uproar surrounding the Marie Claire article that was written about them. Recently, Marie Claire has come under fire again for an article posted on their website called "Should Fatties get a room?". This article was written about the new sitcom on CBS called Mike and Molly, which is about an overweight couple who meet at Overeaters anonymous. The author of the article, seen here, describes how uncomfortable she feels watching fat people on TV. Her exact words are "Yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I to watch them doing anything,". She says that she finds it aesthetically displeasing to even see fat people in general. Her defense is that the show is "implicitly promoting obesity". She ends the article by asking "Do you think I am being an insensitive jerk?". The answer around the internet has been an overwhelming YES. There have been numerous blog and twitter postings that call for the boycotting of Marie Claire, their and Facebook page has once again been bombarded with comments from appalled readers. People have called the author insensitive and small-minded among other things. The controversy was even shown on the today show, seen here -->http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39868583.

The online whirlwind created surround Marie Claire, is an example of the active participation talked about in the Jenkins article. This became a collaborative effort among those who were offended by the article, across the blog world, facebook, twitter and other forms of online open discussion, in which everyone could contribute and together could evoke a response large enough to be covered on such a widespread show as the Today show. There has been a online boycott of Marie Claire that thousands of people have rallied around. In the past, controversial articles would never have received this much feedback. However, with New Media, almost anyone can be a part of the effort to create buzz on a subject.

The Sims teaching Governance?

So today in class we talked about the participatory culture on the internet that youth today thrive off of. Kids today are more internet savvy then ever and our culture is changing to adapt to the dependence we have on media technologies in schools, corporate companies, politics and even just at home. In the Jenkins reading, a few kids were mentioned as new media protege's for the next great leaders and activisits of our time. These kids included a young girl who became the president of an large online Sims community, a girl who started "The Daily Prophet" the online newspaper for the fictional Hogwarts school, and the boy who created Firefox at only 14 among others. Jenkins notes that they aquired their skills; how to campaign and govern, read, write, edit and defend etc; by peer and self-teaching on the internet. A commonality that I noticed among these kids was that a few of them enjoyed playing The Sims online.

The Sims is an offline and online game of simulated characters which are controlled by the player. The Sims online is one of the largest online gaming communities that has expanded to podcasts, twitter, facebook, and youtube. Players of the Sims Online can create virtual characters and become part of a community where they can be as active of a member of the community as they want. It seems like this is where Ashley Richardson, the middle schooler who gained control of Alphaville, learned how to govern over a city. Alphaville is the largest city on the Sims online. Alphaville's reign ended in 2008, but the Sims online continues to be a large community of multi-player audiences. Although I wasn't able to find any current sims communities (perhaps you have to be a member?) this website details the newest version of the Sims community, in which you can download and share sims creations with your friends. I didn't find anything like Alphaville with an online governance, but in regards to the Sims, it seems a little rediculous to me.

From what I remember of the Sims, it was a fun game to create houses, make people and dress them up and then control how their lives went (where they worked, whether they got married, had kids etc.) When I was in middle school, it never became about interacting with hundreds of other people in order to run an entire city. You had your own sim, and that was it. I agree with most of Jenkin's optimistic outlook on the power of kids on the internet, but i am not sure that it is right to promote that kids are learning skills readily applicable to real world situations from Online games like The Sims.

Perez Hilton = bully?

One of my favorite blogs to visit online is PerezHilton.com, who recently has come under a lot of fire. Many know perez as the openly gay, self-proclaimed "queen of media". His blog is labeled as the most hated blog in hollywood. He regularly makes fun of celebrities by calling them unflattering nicknames, drawing on their faces, and insinuating things about them that may not be true. He's infamous for being witty and clever, but at the expense of insulting many people. Being an avid gay rights activist, he has recently addressed the issue of cyber-bullying and the suicides that have been committed as a result. He expresses disgust with those who bully via the internet, and offers resources for those who are victims of the bullying. He seems to feel strongly about the topic, however, he does not address the bullying that goes on every day on his website. While I personally am not quick to call perez a bully, because many of us make fun of celebrities and have our own opinions of them, regardless of whether we know them or not, many have called him hypocritical because of his constant use of cyber-bullying while he tries to stand against it. Because of this, Perez posted a video seen here, where he gets teary-eyed and vows to stop bullying and be kinder to celebrities. He says he used to justify everything as comedy and humor, but does not want to be called a bully. He even went on Ellen Degeneres to proclaim his will to change, which can be viewed here.

As I said before, I do not think that I would classify Perez as a bully in the same way that I would cyber-bullies. However, while I find a lot of what he posts about celebrities funny, mainly because they are all so distant that their worlds feel like an entirely different world from mine, I never thought about how they might feel about Perez's hurtful insults. I always assumed Perez's website was kind of a fun, guilty pleasure for people who wanted to be updated on celebrity gossip. I assumed those who he wrote about never read that kind of nonsense and therefore weren't offended by it. However, I see now that it was a type of bullying, and no cyber-bullying should be taken for granted. It will be interesting to see if Perez really does become "kinder" and whether or not he changes his ways.