Video Blog on Trend

This is my first attempt at a video blog, and I had some technical difficulties so please don't mind my errors! This project gave me a hard time, but hopefully you will understand the topic and get a few laughs at my expense :)

Do you Prefer Citizen or Professional?

Who do you trust more to provide you with current news and events? In the book Citizen Journalism, we read that based on a survey conducted by Edelman PR, people trusted their friends and peers. However, this book is a few years old and more recent surveys done by Edelman PR (conducting annual surveys for the past ten years) is showing that percentage of trusting peers, or “people like me” dropped from 47 to 27.

So what does this mean for citizen journalism? Well to answer that, we need to take a deeper look into what it means to be a citizen journalist.
With so many new technologies available on the market today, it’s much easier to get the tools that aid in becoming a citizen journalist. This can include using your cell phone or a pocket camcorder (I use the Kodak Zi8) to take video footage of wars or natural disasters and upload those videos to different news stations. Citizen, a.k.a. amateur, journalists also contribute to society through different online forums, blogs, and community posts.

http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/

When reading through the Citizen Journalism book, I found how different types of people use the Internet to relate to the rest of the world. When reading through chapter eight, Blogging the Climate Change in Antarctica, I was surprised to learn that the bloggers were scientists. Since most scientists have their own “scientific language”, the thought of them blogging seems bizarre. However, these men and women were able to use their personal field-work stories to relate to the rest of the world.  This caused a fan-base that the scientists were not expecting since the original idea of the blog was meant for educational purposes.

Many people use blogs though, not just scientists. Some people use blogging as a way to vent their frustration while others use it as a way to keep distant family updated on their lives. It seems as though there are more and more reality television stars creating blogs as well. In most cases, those are used for follow up stories that the half-hour/hour series didn’t show…or for that person to explain their side of a situation or argument. Although this keeps viewers tuned in to the mini-celebrity, these stories are not considered news.

Over the past several years, citizen journalism became the “hero” in a sea of wrongful news. When popular news outlets were reporting news in such a way that portrayed a certain group of people in a bad light, when in fact it was just the opposite, most people turned to the Internet for the citizen’s viewpoint. Many people began searching YouTube for amateur video footage for the real stories.

Citizens on the scene in Japan during the 2011 tsunami recorded video footage of the actual wave. By the time most reporters got there, it was just water. Without the citizen video footage, no one would have seen what really happened.

This happened in 2008 when the Tibetan Riots were happening in China. CNN released a photo of what appeared to be the Chinese Military trampling the Tibetans’ human rights. When the real photo surfaced, it showed that the photo was cropped and the Tibetan people were getting violent with the Chinese Military. So American news took a bad rap because of making China, a once very restricted country, look like such a harsh place.

Cropped photo on the left: Real photo on the right

The photo sparked outrage with the Chinese people and a young student named Jin Rao took to the Internet. He created a website called Anti-CNN.com. From that point forward, he challenged the media’s credibility, but mainly when the topic was focused on China. In this way, the citizen journalism was revealing truth. However, there are many false stories in amateur journalism. How many times can you think about an instance where you were on the Internet and an article, picture, or video popped up with a caption that read something like: “Man captures Bigfoot on video” or “Lockness monster really exists: Click for Photo!” All of these turn out to be fake or fabricated pictures.

So, even though there is an upside to citizen journalism, there’s also a downside. CNN was under fire again about a year ago when a citizen posted to CNN iReport that Steve Jobs, Apple Co-Founder/Chairman, had a heart attack. When that one false story got spread around, people panicked on Wall Street and stock began dropping. CNN took scrutiny for it and tried to explain that iReport is citizen-based and cannot be 100% filtered for false stories.

 This boils down to ethics. The men and women that study journalism know there is a strict code of ethics to follow, while many citizen journalists have no knowledge of that code. However, I advise any amateur wanting to get involved in online sites like iReport to study up a bit on what’s right and wrong to post.

So who can we trust to deliver our news? After thinking about it, I’d say about half and half. The difference between a professional journalist and an amateur one is the professional puts their name out on the line for the public, and in doing so, also takes the heat when something is reporting incorrectly. The amateur can post as an anonymous person and never feel the backlash of a wrongful post. Professionals do train to perform their jobs in a better manner.

As people and media consumers, we have to take into consideration that no one person is going to be accurate all the time. People make mistakes; some purposely and some accidentally. We need to have a filter in our head to spot the stories that seem wrong, and the will-power to check many different sources for the most accurate story, including those citizen journalist sources. And just remember, without both professional and amateur journalists, we would have nothing.

The Big "Switch-Over"

Since analogue television relied heavily on magnetic signals, electronic waves and chemical changes, some would say analogue is a thing of the past. With the creation of digital television, which is simply a series of 0s and 1s placed into a specific format that can be easily transcribed by microchips, television production became much faster, cheaper, and easier. Everyone probably remembers when the United States make a big hoopla about the big "switch-over" from analogue to digital. Most countries have already replaced all analogue televisions with digital, except the UK; they plan to make the big "switch" this year.

So aside from being cheaper and faster, why is digital better? Well, let's start with the ratios. Analogue ratios were 4:3, whereas digital ratios are 16:9; this allows for less boxy television viewing. Basically, you can now watch your favorite movie at home without each side being cropped by a few inches.

But let's backtrack even further and take a look at how television works. Typically, the United States used a 525-line picture and each line was scanned from top to bottom starting with odd numbered lines first (1,3,5 and so on), then back to the top to get those even numbered lines. But the digital world of television has many different terms. For instance, 1280 x 720 (in terms of pixels in scan mode) is shortened to 720p; 1920 x 1080 is shortened to 1080i (or 1080p depending on what scanning mode). Even though it sounds more complicated, digital television is better because the screen is easier to view and the amount of "noise" interference is limited.



When the public caught wind of the digital television wave, they were sold. There are many different ways of viewing digital t.v. such as through satellite, cable, Internet, and DVD. With so many choices, people couldn't help but be forced to use digital.

Digital television became much more convenient for viewers when systems like DVR and TiVo came out. These boxes allow the user to pre-record their shows and watch them later. So for instance, if you are out a a company dinner and your favorite show comes on at 8 p.m., you no longer have to purchase a blank tape and set the VCR to record. You just set up your shows on the DVR systems with a click of a button and it does the work for you.

Having the capability to view shows online is also more convenient to the public. Some people do not have time to sit in front of a television set and watch programs, but are making time or prefer to sit in front of their computers. This allows viewers to catch their favorite sports programs, realitytv, or news on the go. This is becoming more of a fad for the younger generations as computer technology continues to grow.

Even more interesting is the new way of reporting the news. There are many news stations taking on this idea of the viewer reporting. CNN has the iReport and many local news stations urge people to call in, text, tweet, or upload breaking news or videos. The underlying question is does this make jobs easier for reporters or harder?

I look at this two-fold. A reporter should be reporting the news to the public; plain and simple. They should already know the breaking story because that is their job. However, given the many capabilities of technology, I believe that the public gets excited about the idea that they can send in home-made videos. The quality of what the public sends in is probably not as good as the edited news reel, but this idea still offers user interaction with their television.

One of the newer capabilities of television is Internet interaction, also known as SmartTvs. We see this with video games and televisions. Consumers have the option of purchasing a t.v. that has Internet. This allows people to browse the Internet and watch YouTube videos right on their t.v. These can get pricey ranging anywhere from $900 to $5,000.

With all these new options to choose from, one might wonder "what's next?"

Wiki Wiki Wikinomics

By now you've probably all heard of Wikipedia, but what about Wikinomics? Sure the names sound similar, but do they actually have anything in common? Well, yes. They both have the similar notion of a mass amount of people collaborating together. But how are they different?

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia of sorts where people can contribute to adding knowledge of someone or something. Wikinomics is more of a term that describes the effects that this mass collaboration has on the corporate world and marketplace. Basically, if you've ever visited a website that has an online community or forum, you've seen the beginning stages of Wikinomics.

In the book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, authors Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams want their readers to know that there are four principles behind the central concepts of wikinomics.

The first concept they describe is openness. This means having open standards and also allowing open content; but it also means being open to outside ideas and resources. The second concept on Tapscott's list is peering. Peering, a term they derived from Linux, is defined as voluntary interconnection of separate networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the customers of each network.
 

 The final two concepts go hand-in-hand. Sharing and acting globally. The sharing aspect not only means sharing information, but also sharing bandwidth and products. Acting globally means embracing outside cultures and ignoring the boundaries that would typically divide society, such as physical, geographical, individual and corporate levels.

According to Don Tapscott, Wikinomics is changing the way corporations operate. The term that many corporations are embracing is saving money by allowing these companies to find outside resources using the new Internet, Web 2.0. Wikinomics changes the way companies innovate new products and how they communicate with the world. Companies that use this theory, or practice, are becoming more successful.

According to Tapscott and Williams, this is the way of the future and companies that do not follow this practice will lag behind the rest of the world. They explain that Wikinomics is an exciting concept for individuals and small businesses because they can now contribute to the production of society and add more value to the large-scale economic system; whereas before, this would be nearly impossible.

I was able to find a ten minute video of author Don Tapscott discussing the basis behind Wikinomics and how it will change the future. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.

Video Game Memories

Video games are part of daily life for a majority of the population whether it's through phones, televisions, or computers. The term video is used to signify that a game has a visual display. Otherwise, the "game" could be something as simple as a game of cards or dice. In chapter five of the book Digital Cultures, Gerard Kraus explains the history of video games.

Like the video above, Kraus details one of the first video game creations. It was called Noughts and Crosses, otherwise known as Tic-Tac-Toe. Even though this game was usually played on paper, Cambridge University took the idea and applied it to their EDSAC computer in 1952. The creation of the Internet began as a way for the military to communicate. The government thought this was the most secure way to pass messages without our "enemies" spying. This happened during the time of the Cold War, which is also when the video game Spacewar was created.

Video games evolved from huge machines that were almost the size of refrigerators down to handheld remote controlled games. Some of the original big machines included Pacman and Asteroids.

Although I do not consider myself a video-gamer addict, I grew up with these classics. We also had the game system Atari and eventually worked our way up to a Super Nintendo. My sister and I had to go up the street (early 90s) to play regular Nintendo, so you can imagine our excitedment when we got our very own. The best games on Atari were Frogger and Space Invaders. Playing these video games as young girls gave us the chance to bond with each other.

As the gaming systems got more advanced, we grew out of them. It wasn't until about four years ago that I brought another gaming system into my house - a Wii. Even though I don't spend much time playing on it, I guess it is still considered a video game. I'm definitely not addicted to them, but sometimes I get caught up in some games on my phone, like bowling and Hanging with Friends.

The visual effects and graphics in video games have also gotten more advanced. A player can have a 360 viewpoint or a straight-on viewpoint. Because the graphics have gotten so life-like, there are many critics that blame crime and adolescent anger issues on these video games. When I was young, I would get mad if I died or lost in a game. Sometimes I got so mad that I threw the remote at the television. Hence why I went outside to play! I think all things are fine in moderation. Maybe it's possible that people develope issues if they play murder games or GTA (Grand Theft Auto) for hours and hours at a time, but that's when parents need to step in and set time limits. Parents should also make sure they check the ratings on each game their child has. They are rated just like movies and depending on how graphic the content, the child has to be a certain age to play the game.