Marko's Blog

Village Phone

Village phone is a story about how a woman named Ivanna and her friend Evan utilized social media in order to retrieve a lost phone in New York. At the beginning of the story, we learn how common situations like this are, and we also learn how important this phone is based on the documents and information it contains. Ivanna recruits her friend Evan (a man with technical know-how) to figure out how to get her phone back. We learn that it was acquired by a young teenager in a nearby area. After getting in contact with the teen, progress becomes slow due to the new owner of the phone refusing to cooperate. Evan uses his connections to get the general public involved by creating a website for people to follow the story. Once the story begins to gain traction, Evan creates a way for the followers to interact with each other, which leads to speculation and help from the community. Eventually, the police get involved and the teen is arrested, and the phone is returned. At the end of the story, Ivanna and Evan decide not to press charges, and the teen is released. This story is massively important because it shows that utilizing a media following can create an advantage in situations where it otherwise may not be possible to resolve. In New York, phone loss is very common, however due to their social media outreach, they were able to get justice for an otherwise common problem. On the other hand, the teen felt like she was untouchable, but the community put her under fire and she faced the repercussions.

Transmedia and Interview

This video was a great description how the transition of media from the corporation to the hands of the public can create environments where we hold each other accountable, and also allows us to see almost everything that goes on in the world now. The new social media allows the common person to have the influence of a mass media corporation.

This video discusses how important the new wave of technology and media is to accessing information. The main idea I gathered is the Wikipedia example, where we can collectively come together and create an environment where people can get information on any topic that is collaborated on by other members of the topic. I find this to be the most important part of our age of media. I believe that the best thing that can come out of everyone having access to the internet is the ability to collaborate and help spread positive information.

My video

I found this video to be a great contradictory (yet related) idea to the previous two videos. The last two videos make an emphasis on how the mass public can utilize the collective environment for good. This video agrees, but also shows the negative effects that this sort of media has had on our society. Although having access to all media can be incredibly beneficial due to the spiderweb of connectedness we gain as a society, it also has massive drawbacks. This video explains how we lose sight of what is truly important, like genuine conversation and real connections in our lives. It also shows the health effects such as the mass rates of accidents caused by texting and driving.

I find that these videos make an emphasis on how important our form of media is to keep us all connected and informed, but to understand the potential risks that come with such a power.