New Communication Technologies

Twitter and Tear Gas started chapter three with an interesting story.  It talked about this woman’s grandmother who was exceptionally smart but was born in Turkey and was taken out of school once she had completed the fifth grade.  It is very sad to see someone with such potential be shut down before talent shows, but some cultures keep gender roles stricter.  After the end of World War I, Turkey was building a new central government formed from the fallen Ottoman Empire.  They focused on building schools and improving the school system.  Teachers were given the job to find girls who were gifted and show potential and send them to school.  The grandmothers name was in the paper and she was sent to that school to finally be educated.  The thing that was difficult for all the students, was their Turkish language class.  Not everyone knew the standardized “Istanbul Turkish”, but it would soon become the new normal thanks to mass media.  Mass media helped bring a unified language through newspapers and common national institutions.  This brought the country together and helped them to become more unified.

It is interesting how mass media has been changing through the years.  From the newspaper to just a gathering circle, mass media was always a way for people to communicate effectively and get valuable information out to the world.  Soon, money and wealth would be big contributions to who could use different forms of media.  Being able to read the newspaper showed wealth since being literate was not widespread at the time.  Most people had to rely on just messages spoken out loud.

Something that I find interesting is the fact that as media continues to change, it also changes our culture, way of life, and just our society.  Having a community that is more technologically focused really is going to be different from a community that barely knew how to read.  It allows us to change as humans and adapt to new situations.  But the interesting thing to note here is that even though humans rely on technology the most, people still write letters, read physical newspapers, and still hold onto older forms of mass media.  It really shows that sometimes the older inventions are still great today for spreading information.

Sometimes mass media advances at a rapid speed.  It means that the modern technology can keep up with the amount of information that we are putting out into the world.  The story of Sana really shows that the world is willing to listen if you have a good message to send.  In this case, she was able to go to Twitter and share her frustration online, showing the world the problems that she was facing where she lived.  This really shows just how connected the world can be.  Not a single person was willing to listen to Sara, but as soon as she found her crowd, the ones who would listen (the political activists), this opened up a whole new opportunity for not only Sara, but anyone who had a voice that needed to be heard.

The final thing that I think is interesting about this chapter is how it goes through all the different mass medias that changed the world.  Ending with the start of Facebook, mass media was able to connect people together who would have never been able to before.  Facebook uses the social want to feel popular or powerful to attract inexperienced users, especially in Turkey.  It really made ties stronger with friends and family.  But the most incredible thing is how mass media can be used not only for friends and family, but also for spreading important news quickly and effectively.

Love Online is a story about two kids who met online and started dating.  The idea of having internet boyfriends and girlfriends online seemed crazy to us back then but now seems like such a common every day thing.  The story really hit close to me personally because I have strong memories of having little boyfriends when I would play some online games growing up like Club Penguin.  Even though that site doesn’t exist anymore, my memories live on strong and I still remember a lot of those boys who I took a liking to.

Modern technology was huge for this story.  There would be no story without technology.  The idea that two people from various parts of the world can come together through a laptop is incredible.  It really shows that technology is incredible and can help bring the world together in many types of ways.

When we think of a matchmaker, we normally don’t think of our computer or phone, but this day and age, anyone can find someone to love with just the press of a few buttons.  It is unique to see that anyone can meet anyone now a day.  It helps keep the world more connected just through the internet.

These kids gambled everything on the hope that the person they were talking to was who they were claiming to be.  What would have happened if one of them was a catfish?  People are just willing to give out such personal information just because of the bonds made online.  I know those feelings, I would have those with friends of mine who live in Canada, but I’ve only met online.  There are people who know more about me from just playing a video game with me then people who are my friends in real life.

An important lesson to take away from this story is that love can come to you in many ways.  Never keep doors closed unless it’s for your actual safety.  I think that everyone has a soulmate, you just must be willing to look in unexpected places to find them.

It Takes A Village To Find A Phone is all about this woman who left her phone in a cab and another girl ended up buying the phone off the driver.  The woman reached out to the girl to try and get her phone back, but the girl decided that she wasn’t going to return the phone.  The woman ended up telling her friend about this story and he was the one who blew up this whole story.  He ended up starting this whole discussion about her and all the things that were going down.  The story ended up getting world wide news and was just something so unique for the time.  In the end, it wasn’t really about the phone, but just about sending a message.

Modern technology was important during this whole ordeal.  If there wasn’t social media like MySpace, then I don’t really think this story would have taken off as much as it did.  Some people became really into the idea of being apart of this bigger story, while others just wanted to see a punishment for the girl who stole the phone.  Without the internet, blogs, or social media, I don’t think this story would have blown up as much as it did.  The connection between the people who were interested in this story was a lot stronger and what was a driving force in keeping the story alive.

When talking about “architecture if participation,” we understand that an every day man was able to track down information that would have never been available if it weren’t for the internet and the community of people who were helping him out.

I feel like people enjoying sharing their personal information.  It feels like this fun risk while also getting to know more about other humans.  At this time, people thought that there was little to no way that their information could ever get leaked, and I think the ignorance of that really helped keep people involved.  The source of trust comes from all the people giving out free advice or offering their services to the man.  There was really no reason to do that, but it allowed free publicity for the companies.  That was a free way to get their brand out and I’m assuming that it worked positively for them too.

An important lesson that I learned from this story was that you are never safe on the internet.  If you are not safe about your information online, it can easily be found by someone else for possibly bad intentions.  Making sure that you have multiple passwords and two-part verification systems set up when possible really help make me feel safer.