Mash ups

Mash up #1

Mash up :#2

Revised Second Essay

LiveJournal Say’s What?

            Today, the Internet has become a way of life for people all over the world.  It is a way to stay connected to your friends and family.  Its amazing how no matter where you are in the world you can communicate with someone on the opposite end.  Over the years, many social websites have been created to enable the widespread communication.  Some examples of these sites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.  Some of the earlier social media are overlooked.  One of the first social media networks was LiveJournal.  Today, I want to explore the purpose behind LiveJournal, my experience with the website, and its relation to Wesch and Zuckerman.

            LiveJournal is a community where everyday people can post blogs, journals, diaries, etc. on the Internet for other viewers to see.  There is few limits to what you can put onto the website.  LiveJournal was started April 15, 1999 by Brad Fritzpatrick.  The purpose of this website was for Fritzpatrick to keep his high school friends updated on his activities.  The website is now owned by LiveJournal, Inc., a newly formed American-based company.  Some of the features that LiveJournal offers are an individual page for every blog written and the option of leaving a comment.  You are able to make a friends list, upload a profile picture, and customize the decoration of your blog.  When it comes to privacy, this is where the website differs from others such as Facebook or MySpace.  LiveJournal is ultimately available to whoever stumbles across it.  One’s website may pop up as a result in a search engine.  Although, there are ways to enable privacy so that only “friends” of the author may view the blog. 

            I remember back in high school before MySpace or Facebook, I had a LiveJournal.  One of my best friends introduced it to me.  Her blogs were mostly kept as a diary to herself, which she made some private.  It was a way for her to communicate to her distant family back in New York about how life was down in North Carolina.  I thought it was so cool that you were able to write and post pictures online for everyone to see.  I guess you could say that I used mine as a diary as well.  If I had a great day, I would write about it.  If I had a bad day, I would write about it.  I liked the fact that other viewers and friends would write good feedback or encouraging words.  I also liked that I had a place to store and share my pictures.  My LiveJournal was eventually expired due to moving onto bigger and better social networks such as MySpace.  There are ways that you can prevent your journal from expiring such as subscribing month-to-month.

            Wesch’s document about YouTube is very relatable to LiveJournal because YouTube is also a virtual community.  Through Wesch’s documentary it is described how everyday people use YouTube as a way to express their emotions and share experiences with the world.  People get can comment and post different videos in response to other’s videos.   LiveJournal is very much the same way.  People are able to post what is on their minds at the time and share it with others all around the world, with the exception that it is written and not in video form.  This communication among people creates a tight nit community where people become attached to the Internet via the websites.  Examples of these users among the community are the gentleman who lost his son due to SIDS, or the “Lonely Girl.”  These people become characters who people visit the site to see. 

            LiveJournal relates to Zuckerman’s article because it is living proof that everyday people can create their own websites and entertainment.  The exception is that the LiveJournal, Inc. website is the supporter of these users.  People are able to express themselves for others to view without any restrictions.  Whatever they feel or want to express to people, LiveJournal gives them the canvas and right to do so.  Zuckerman is involved with activism, and the right to express one’s self.   An example from the Zuckerman reading would be the post of Tunisian video.  The video alone does not say much in words, but through its actions.   LiveJournal is like this because a member can put whatever they wish on the website without someone telling them that they are unable to do so. 

            In conclusion, LiveJournal is a social network that has become a community to Internet users since 1999.  It is a place where people are able to go and express themselves and share experiences or information with others all across the world.  Through my experience with the website, I would say that it is very familiar to the blogger.com that we use for this class.  It is also a very down-graded version of Facebook and MySpace that we are familiar with today.  Wesch and Zuckerman would agree that it is a great source for one to share and communicate with the better society in ways of freedom of speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g78x905WzI0

Second Web Assignment

LiveJournal and the Social Media Community

            Today, the Internet has become a way of life for people all over the world.  It’s a way to stay connected to your friends and family.  It’s amazing how no matter where you are in the world you can communicate with someone on the opposite end.  Over the years, many social websites have been created to enable the widespread communication.  Some examples of these sites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.  Some of the earlier social media are overlooked.  One of the first social media networks was LiveJournal.  Today, I want to explore the purpose behind LiveJournal, my experience with the website, and its relation to Wesch and Zuckerman.

            LiveJournal is a community where everyday people can post blogs, journals, diaries, etc. on the Internet for other viewers to see.  There is no limit to what you can put onto the website.  LiveJournal was started April 15, 1999 by Brad Fritzpatrick.  The purpose of this website was for Fritzpatrick to keep his high school friends updated on his activities.  The website is now owned by LiveJournal, Inc., a newly formed American-based company.  Some of the features that LiveJournal offers are an individual page for every blog written and the option of leaving a comment.  You are able to make a friends list, upload a profile picture, and customize the decoration of your blog.  When it comes to privacy, this is where the website differs from others such as Facebook or MySpace.  LiveJournal is ultimately available to whoever stumbles across it.  One’s website may pop up as a result in a search engine.  Although, there are ways to enable privacy so that only “friends” of the author may view the blog. 

            I remember back in high school before MySpace or Facebook, I had a LiveJournal.  One of my best friends introduced it to me.  Her blogs were mostly kept as a diary to herself, which she made some private.  It was a way for her to communicate to her distant family back in New York about how life was down in North Carolina.  I thought it was so cool that you were able to write and post pictures online for everyone to see.  I guess you could say that I used mine as a diary as well.  If I had a great day, I would write about it.  If I had a bad day, I would write about it.  I liked the fact that other viewers and friends would write good feedback or encouraging words.  I also liked that I had a place to store and share my pictures.  My LiveJournal was eventually expired due to moving onto bigger and better social networks such as MySpace.  There are ways that you can prevent your journal from expiring such as subscribing month-to-month.

            Wesch’s documentary about YouTube is very relatable to LiveJournal because YouTube is also a virtual community.  Through Wesch’s documentary it is described how everyday people use YouTube as a way to express their emotions and share experiences with the world.  People get can comment and post different videos in response to other’s videos.   LiveJournal is very much the same way.  People are able to post what is on their minds at the time and share it with others all around the world, with the exception that it is written and not in video form.  This communication among people creates a tight nit community where people become attached to the Internet via the websites.  Examples of these users among the community are the gentleman who lost his son due to SIDS, or the “Lonely Girl”.  These people become characters who people visit the site to see. 

            LiveJournal relates to Zuckerman’s article because it is living proof that everyday people can create their own websites and entertainment.  The exception is that the LiveJournal, Inc. website is the supporter of these users.  People are able to express themselves for others to view without any restrictions.  Whatever they feel or want to express to people, LiveJournal gives them the canvas and right to do so.  An example from the Zuckerman reading would be the post of Tunisian video.  The video alone does not say much in words, but through its actions.

            In conclusion, LiveJournal is a social network that has become a community to Internet users since 1999.  It is a place where people are able to go and express themselves and share experiences or information with others all across the world.  Through my experience with the website, I would say that it is very familiar to the blogger.com that we use for this class.  It is also a very down-graded version of Facebook and MySpace that we are familiar with today. 

Timeline of LiveJournal
Blog Tutorial

Cisco Internet Televisions

Cisco

Cisco has created an HD television that enables video confrencing via an internet connection.  This television utilizes the internet esp. for businesses to do multiple tasks such as video conferencing.

Updated Web Encounter Assignment

The link to my new website, enjoy!


Organization

My ugly Website

Fabulous!!!

First Web Assignment

            My first encounter with the internet was sometime in 1998.  Back when AOL was the big internet provider.  I was about 9 years old and entering into middle school.  At the time I had just moved to Connecticut from Charlotte, NC.  The way that everyone in my class was staying in touch and making friends was through online chatting on AOL.  At the time, my family owned at MacOS computer which was slow as all can be.  AOL was only available on the internet through dial-up services.  If we all remember back to 1998, it’s pretty well known that dial-up took FOREVER when it came to connecting.  You would always get that annoying screeching noise that would last for at least five minutes.  I would remember hearing a pause thinking that I would be connected and then cursing the computer because it would then continue to connect.  Connecting to the internet was the most frustrating thing I remember. 

            Once I was connected to the internet there were so many things that you could do.  You could check your mail, surf the internet, chat with people online, etc.  I would always chat with people from my class and stay connected with them.  The most frustrating thing was when you were chatting online with someone and then within an instant the internet was disconnected and you had to go through the dial-up process all over again.  Sometimes you wouldn’t even be able to connect again and your conversation was pretty much ended.

            Making profiles online was the cool thing to do.  You could choose what color you wanted in the background and what kind of font, text, and color of text you wanted.  It was a place where you could put information about you and quotes and sayings that you liked for your friends to see.  Those profiles were an earlier version of let’s say blogs, facebook, myspace, etc. of today.  I remember that I used to update mine almost every other week with new smiley faces and fonts that were introduced. 

            AOL later came out with a new system called AIM, which was an instant messaging system.  This system enabled you to talk to people in miniature pop-up windows and even let you enter into chat rooms to talk with multiple people at once.  Profiles were still available, but there were more features that were available to you.  Different versions would come out to the public that would make AIM more internet savvy.  For example, newer versions would have a search bar at the bottom of the buddy list window to better access the web.  Also, buddy icons were a huge improvement.  Buddy icons were little pictures that would show up in the bottom right corner of your chat window.  People who were talking to you would be able to see these little icons.   They were another way of expressing yourself through the internet.  I remember I had a fraggle rock icon and a few other cartoon ones. 

            Once Myspace was brought into the picture, AIM was pretty much blown out of the water.  No one really used the instant messaging system anymore.  My space wasn’t really the same software because there was no instant messaging program on it.  It took more of the shape of a blog.  Myspace enabled you to upload pictures onto your website and you were able to design the website however you wanted.  There were many different “skins” or backgrounds that you were able to choose from.  I remember I had a pink background with stars that would blink throughout the page.  Myspace later began to inherit viruses and hackers which lead people to not use the system anymore.

            Then along came Facebook!  What we use today and what I am pretty much addicted to.  Facebook pretty much takes everything that I have talked about and puts it all into one.  On facebook you can upload pictures, fill information about yourself, chat, post on other’s walls, etc.  Networking and finding friends is a huge use for this system of staying connected. 

            My experience with the internet has definitely come a long way in the social aspect.  Not to mention I use the internet everyday for homework, research, etc.  Hey, we even use the internet for our homework in this class and other classes.  The internet has become such an important part in our society.  In my generation, if the internet were somehow disconnected forever, I feel that we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.

            In comparison with Bush or Hawthorne, I feel that I am more so associated with Bush.  I use the internet more for a storing system such as the memex.  Unless I am doing some kind of research for one of my classes, I don’t really use the internet for anything other than social networking.  I store photos on Facebook and other information there as well.  Therefore, I think that Bush and I are most alike.