HW 37: Eid vs. Thanksgiving

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=51175&castPage=&autoplay=true

My podcast is podcast number 42

HW 35: Ta Ta For Now!

Well bloggers, this is almost my last post for Thinking and Writing 101 A Blog of One’s Own: Women and Authorship in the Digital Revolution. At this point in time I am sure you will continue hearing from me in the near future. However things will be a little different. You will most likely be reading posts that consist of me ranting and raving about the horrible classes that I am having next semester and about all of the great times I have at home on the weekends and on holidays. Keeping a blog has really taught me who I really am as a person and has shown me how to express myself in different ways and by using different writing techniques. I truly enjoyed the times that I spent writing my blogs and even laughed quite a bit. Hopefully by reading my blogs you have felt inspired to write what you feel no matter how random it is. Remember my post about women being able to fake it pretty well? Well I do, I was careless about what people might think of me and wrote about it because it showed me for who I really am. Well I will be going for now but I will be back posting again someday. Keep your eyes peeled for new posts to be coming and thank you for reading Kim’s Sick Blog.

HW 34: Tea Anyone?!?!

After reading the selection in Baghdad Burning by Riverbend dated October 9th through the 29th I learned about tea traditions. Tea is served in many ways depending on the family but mainly consists of a three-step process. The water is boiled then tealeaves are added and lastly it is all put in to a different kettle and heated until the leaves rise to the surface of the kettle and allowed to settle again (Riverbend 108-109). Tea would never be served in a bag in Iraq such as we do in the United States. The Iraqi’s would consider this an insult due to their expertise in serving and drinking tea. The purpose of tea in the evenings between families is purely to relax and have conversations relating to politics as well as many other subjects. Conversations in Iraq “Unlike the typical family conversation around the world ‘How was your day dear?’ doesn’t get at typical answer in Iraq. Depending on who is being asked, the answer varies from stories of abductions to hijackings, to demonstrations, to empty gas cylinders and burned out water pumps” (Riverbend 109). I found that interesting to think about the horrible experiences that people in Iraq go through and have to share amongst the family.

HW 36: First Podcast

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #21 - Kim's First Podcast

HW 32: School Supplies

After reading through Riverbend's posts in the book Baghdad Burning, I stumbled across where she talks about going with her cousin, his wife S, and E to go shop for school supplies for her cousins daughters. In the past it wouldn’t have been a problem for the younger girls to go and get their own school supplies however, with the conditions today in Iraq, S feels that it is unsafe to send her daughters by themselves. Riverbend tells us about the stores in Iraq while explaining that there are no malls there, just stores. The group of them went to the stationary store in order to get the supplies for the girls. The group took quite some time picking out supplies to abide with the ages of the girls and once purchased they group returned home to the girls. This post was heartbreaking for me. I cannot imagine not being able to send a 10 year old right down the street to go get school supplies. It upsets me to see how much the world has changed and how unsafe of an area Iraq has become.

HW 33: Podcast

The Podcast I watched was called “Challenges at a Girls School in Baghdad”. This Podcast is from Alive in Baghdad. This podcast was published on May 21, 2007 and can be found at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/. This podcast is about the unfortunate schoolgirls that must attend schools in Baghdad. The story tells us about the difficulties for girls to even get to school with all of the shootings and bombings that are going on due to the war. There is one girl who appears in the podcast and speaks about how she herself has not much difficulty getting to school because she gets driven there. However, she says that there are often a lot of accidents, which sometimes prevent her from getting to school and force her and her uncle to take different roads. The girl tells us that she isn’t afraid of the shootings and such because she is used to them. I think she is an extremely brave person because if that were me I would freak out. In the background of the podcast is a rundown looking school and paint looks to be peeling off the walls. A viewer could learn a great deal about what is going on in Iraq after watching this Podcast. They could also learn that the war is affecting the educations of young minds in need of good education. Viewers may also discover a new found respect for the 15-year-old girl who is not afraid of bombings.

HW 30: Citizenship Symposium II

The Citizenship Symposium is an event that was happening all of last week here at Keene State College. After attending one of the sessions titled “Voting Theory and the Questions of Fairness”. The speaker at the session was Vincent Ferlini who is an associate professor of mathematics here at Keene State College. The topic of the lecture was about voting, the different methods of voting, and which types were the best to use in different situations. The other topic touched upon was about fair voting, and the question of fairness. Ferlini discussed sample voting methods, fairness, and Kenneth Arrow’s mathematical theorem, which consists of different methods that produce different results. Although I was upset with my feelings after the presentation because I felt like I hadn’t acquired any knowledge, I did learn a couple of interesting things. I learned that voting was instituted in Greece in 509BCE, people originally voted for people they liked the least, and that the politician that won went into exile for 10 years. My sentence of proof that I attended is that Ferlini’s first choice for exile would be Brittany Spears, then Paris Hilton, then Lindsey Lohan, then finally Kevin Federline. Also a quote from Ferlini:

“We tend to vote majority rules, but sometimes it doesn’t always work that way”.

HW 31: Moja Moves Me

After reading the post “Turning Tables” by Riverbend in Baghdad Burning, I was interested in finding out more about the blog written by “Moja” a soldier fighting in Iraq. I finished reading and went online to see what I could find. The URL address for the blog “Turning Tables” is http://turningtables.blogspot.com. The blog is written by a soldier that is fighting in Iraq which kind of hit home for me. I have a good friend of mine who is actually in Iraq right now. It made me emotional since I never get to see him and actually missed my only chance to say goodbye to him before he left. After reading the blog entries by “Moja” I realized how hard life is for the soldiers over there and I felt horrible for my friend Kiowa. After reading the blog I was actually persuaded into finding an address for him and sending him out a letter te;ling him how much I care. It made me wonder if he is happy doing what he is doing or if he desperately wants to come home. Reading this blog gave me the idea that I could try and get Kiowa to keep a blog in order to keep all of his family and friends back here in the U.S. informed on how he is doing. I am hoping to hear back from him soon but will continue reading “Turning Tables” For quite some time.

HW 28: Open Letter to Riverbend

Dear Riverbend,
It saddens me to hear the tragedies you are going through and cannot imagine going through it myself. Your home is longer what it used to be and is much different from the life you would like to have. As I am sure you know, Americans don’t get told about everything that goes on in Iraq. All we know is what they tell us on television and what the government actually decides to share with the country. I am please with reading your entries because they supply the real information about what is gong on and not the phony stuff the government likes to tell us. In my eyes people have mixed feelings about the war. While some want our country to fight they don’t want to risk the lives of many Americans to do so. I personally could never go through what the soldier who are in Iraq do whether it is Iraqi or American soldiers. The traumatizing events that occur and that these soldiers witness get embedded in their brains forever. After coming back from Iraq these soldiers may not sleep for days or even weeks and may not have normal habits forever. I feel terribly for all of the safety precautions you and your family have been forced to use throughout the war. I can imagine how scary it is for you to have to be in those kinds of positions. I understand how hard it must be for you to understand why families are getting split up and people are losing there jobs at the drop of a hat. Overall I think it is very helpful for Americans to read Baghdad Burning in order to get a better understanding of what life is like in war-thriving Iraq.

HW:30 Citizenship Symposium II

After attending the lectures of Jiwan Ahn, Sander Lee and Mark Timney’s “Animations as Political and Social Constructions” a lecture from the Citizenship Symposium done by Keene State College I learned a great deal of information. Each of the three speakers are faculty here at Keene State College and gave presentations which were developed to educate the audience on the role of animation in society today. Ahn spoke about the role of Anime in society. She described many different ways that Anime is done and provided an explanation for each of the different styles. The purpose of flat style in Anime is designed so that the female body they so often use is not portrayed in an overly sexual manner. This form of Anime is designed to portray the woman’s body as a symbol and not as an arousing sexual object; the body is often accompanied with violence, nature and in provocative clothing if clothed at all. Lee used WWII cartoons to show how animation is used in our society for political and informative information. Lee presented cartoons of Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny working in Nazi Germany for Hitler during the war. In both of the cartoons it was showed that Hitler could be overpowered but other unions such as the United States and the Soviet Union. The cartoons exploited what was happening in the war and what could potentially come out of it. Lee stated the following that I found to be very interesting: “I feel that Bugs identity is an interesting one in terms of the situation. I maintain Bugs has an ethnic identity, an American accent or an image of Brooklyn which is street smart, tough and ethic and his accent and the way he operates identifies him as a representative for the American Melting Pot to the German government.” Timney used South Park and it’s effects on society to speak about at the lecture. He pointed out several ideas about how it is exploitive of our country, our religions, how the show is obscenely vulgar and displays a great deal of sexual content and it also is “satire at its finest.” Overall the lecture was a great way to speak to people about different ways of looking at different types of animation and in different ways while doing it more appropriately.

HW 27: Just Browsing

Riverbend, “Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq”. New York, NY: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005.

In the book “Baghdad Burning: A Girl Blog From Iraq, the writer speaks about political issues, what daily life consists of during the war, as well as things that Americans do not know about what is going on in Iraq. The female writing these blogs goes by the name Riverbend while never revealing her real name. After skimming the introduction and the book I was able to get an idea of what I would learn through the book. By reading the book I feel that I will learn a great deal about what every day life is like on the war front. Not just the normal statistics and updates that the government gives us, but exactly what it is like first hand in Iraq. A woman in Riverbend’s position could really get into a lot of trouble. If the government in Iraq were to find out who she was releasing the types of information that she does, there could be serious harm done. Overall I am excited to read the book and try and put myself in the same position that Riverbend is.

HW 25: Iraq Uraq

After reading the foreword and introduction to Baghdad Burning by Ahdaf Souief and James Ridgeway I found it very interesting and it opened my eyes about what was really going on in Iraq today. The forward, written by Ahdaf Soueif, was a very brief description of the blog written by “Baghdad Burning” by Riverbend. Soueif tell us what we can expect when reading the book and states, “ Baghdad Burning makes painful reading. It also makes enjoyable - even fun- reading. It is certainly necessary reading.”(Soueif, ix) Riverbend’s blog talks about how she feels about the war, the effect it has on her family as well as the effects the war has on her country as well as her daily life. In the introduction Ridgeway tells us facts about what is happening in the war and how Iraq has advanced over the years. Ridgeway speaks about the background of Riverbend's culture, as well as informs us about the struggle Iraq was going through since the Gulf War up until the war that is currently going on. Reading the introduction and foreword to the book really helped me to understand what is going on in Iraq. I had never pictured or even thought about what life would be like with the war going on where I live. This gave me sympathy for the people living in Ira during the war and also has intrigued me to dive into the rest of the book.

HW 24: My Room Of Two

According to Virginia Woolf, in order for a woman to write fiction or any type of writing for that matter, they must be educated, have money, and most importantly a room of their own. When speaking about Mary Carmichael and her first book, Life’s Adventure, she states “ give her a room of her own and five hundred a year, let her speak her mind and leave out half that she now puts in, and she will write a better book one of these days.”(Woolf 94). As a college student most people do not have a room of their own. I am no different from any other woman that shares a room on campus. Not having a room of my own makes completing my schoolwork on time very difficult. My roommate tends to listen to death metal while I am working and as you can imagine it is very hard to focus. As Virginia says, “five hundred a year stands for the power to contemplate, that a lock on the door means the power to think for oneself, still you may say that the mind should rise above such things.”(Woolf 106). This means that no matter what you should be able to bring your mind above what is not present and achieve what you thought was not possible before.

HW 23: Why Them and Not Me?

With Apologies to Virginia Woolf

Today I was taking a look at a blog entry on Jezebel and found something that intrigued me. There was and article about Tyra Banks that was pertaining to her show and was written by one of her so-called “loyal viewers”. The blog post was titled “Tyra Has No love For Women Who Love Sex” (http://jezebel.com/gossip/clips/tyra-aint-got-no-love-for-women-who-love-sex-314099.php). I knew prior to reading the article that it was going to brush me the wrong way. The post informed the readers about an episode of Tyra’s show about women who are proud to be sexually aggressive and how it upset her viewer. The author of the post was upset that Tyra would have the mettle to have extreme women that host sex parties on her show rather than the genuine slut like herself. The post proceeds to talk about how repulsive it was to hear about the bedroom behavior of these sex-craving women. The author also mentions the idea that these sex-craved women go about their ways due to some sort of inner “emptiness”.

HW:22 Patriarchy My Foot!!!

Patriarchy by definition is a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly: control by men of a disproportionately large share of power. (Merriam Webster Dictionary) In chapter 2 it is clear that Woolf believes that anyone who reads the paper in England can clearly tell it is a patriarchy. Woolf supports her idea of patriarchy by making the following statement. While referring to the professor Woolf says, "Nobody in their senses could fail to detect the dominance of the professor. His was the power and the money and the influence. He was the Foreign Secretary and the Judge. He was the cricketer; he owned the racehorses and the yachts. He was the director if the company that pays two hundred per cent to its shareholders." (Woolf 33) It is clear from the selection that in England women are not important in the world. They serve no specific role in the world, have no education and have no say or control over anything. Men are the leaders, control everything and make the money. After reading a couple of articles in online newspapers, it is easy to support the idea that in the United States women are not inferior to men but actually considered equal to them. For instance, Hilary Clinton running for president is a perfect example of the fact that the United States is not a patriarchy. If patriarchy were the case then the men of the U.S. would prevent women from having any control or even gaining any.

HW 21: My Punk @$$ Cousin

Yo Punk,
After reading the first section of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” it is very easy to be confused and not truly understand what she is saying and what is going on. Hopefully this will help you understand it a little better. Woolf is asked about her thoughts about women and fictional writing. Therefore within the first chapter this is the topic she focuses on. She believes that in order for women to write fiction they need to have money and a room of their own. (Woolf 4) While addressing this question Woolf tries to change people’s idea that women are inferior to men. She speaks of how women are continuously interrupted, held back, and unable to continue their thought processes, freedom, and what they want to do. This is where the idea of “A Room of One’s Own” comes into play. Since there is not a specific answer to the question she was asked, Woolf mentions several authors in history and provides background upon them to try and get the idea across that women need more and were less fortunate. For instance, in history women were never the one’s with the money and education. From what I understood from the reading she is trying to make people realize how women are less fortunate than men. Hope I helped you out with any questions and wish I could have helped more.

-Kim

HW 19: Out in Black Iraq

After reading “Web of Influence” by Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell I learned a great deal about what the blogosphere represents and what it does to contribute to mainstream media. I found that the third paragraph (Kline and Burstein 84) gets the idea of blogging across most thoroughly. This paragraph provides a general understanding of the way blogs can develop over time and how the amount of readers can grow drastically due to just the content of the blog. This paragraph is most informative and interesting at the same time. The paragraph is about a blogger by the name of “Baghdad Blogger” from Iraq. It speaks about how his blog began very small and more diary-like than anything else. For example, his blog is about what life is like in a war zone, Iraq specifically. But above all he speaks about the three-day blackout they had in Iraq. It talks about how the blackout was not due to U.S. Missiles or Baathist Party thugs as they had thought. Incidentally it turned out to be just technical difficulties.

HW 18: My Least Favorite Blog Post

My least favorite blog post of the week was entitled “Even 95-pound Women Have Fat Parts They Want Lipo’ed. Like Toes!” I found this post on Jezebel, which I had found previously to be my favorite of the three blogs I am watching. The link to this post is http://jezebel.com/gossip/skinny%3F-suck-you/even-95+pound-women-have-fat-parts-they-want-lipoed-like-toes-311439.php. I was not truly fond of this post because I think that as it is skinny people already seem to pick out all of their flaws. It is unreasonable for a person who weighs only 95 pounds to go and get liposuction on their toes. Come on now, what is the point. Clearly enough if you weigh 85 pounds you are not overweight and have no reason to go and get liposuction. Within the post it speaks about a woman who was about to get engaged and knew her boyfriend was preparing to propose to her. Since she knew when he was going to propose she wanted to get liposuction to remove the small areas of fat around her hips. This astonished me. Why wouldn’t she just work out or get the dress she was going to wear fixed? I found this to be total nonsense and cannot fathom going and getting liposuction as opposed to trying to lose the weight first. This article just made me even more frustrated with the skinny people in the world who always try to pick out their flaws even if they don’t have any. Newsflash for all of the skinny people out there who think their fat: you don’t need to weigh 8o pounds or get liposuction to be attractive. If you are that worried about your figure then work out more and may off the surgery.

HW 17B: Make Me Laugh and I'll Vote

After reading “Blogging the Presidency: An Interview with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga” and “Sex, Lies, and Political Scrapes: An Interview with Ana Marie Cox” I can efficiently answer the question: Which blog would be more likely to influence the way you vote in a coming election. I found Ana Marie Cox to be extremely hilarious. She has a great way f keeping the readers attention by making them laugh and stating amusing details about her life. She speaks a great deal about sex as a general topic, which I find, is something that most young people in the world today would be more likely to follow. I myself would definitely be persuaded to vote for Cox or whomever she was representing in the election due to the fact that she would make me laugh. Since politics isn’t something that I am really all that interested in, this would be a great approach to get me involved. I am not currently registered to vote, but after reading these entries, I feel that it is possible to intrigue me and convince me to vote.

HW 17: We're Damn Good At Faking It!

The blog I enjoyed most was from Jezebel and was titled, What Does An Orgasm Really Sound Like Anyway. The link to his blog is http://jezebel.com/gossip/probing-questions/what-does-an-orgasm-really-sound-like-anyway-306844.php. I enjoyed this blog because it was very funny to me and I agree with the statements that are being made. The blog is about a list of 50 things men wish that women knew. The blog mentions numbers 19 and 23 off of this list, which truly amused me. Number 19 was “there’s no better sound in the world than you having an orgasm”. This intrigued me because I had never heard any man say that before. I can understand how it could be arousing for a man to hear that however it is hard for me to believe that it is the best sound in the world. Number 23 was “You’re really bad at faking it”. It was not only this comment that made me laugh. The comment from the woman responding to this thought was what really got me. She said, “If the sound of our orgasms is getting you off, then we’re probably really good at faking it.” This made me laugh because we all know how hard it is for a woman to have an orgasm, and in most cases women do fake it. However, that does not mean that the man never gets off because in most cases he does just fine. Overall I thought this blog was absolutely hilarious and utterly amusing.

HW 16-A: Blog Fulfills Scoble's Rules

After reading Scoble’s Corporate Weblog Manifesto and comparing it to a blog entry I read on a blog I am watching I was able to see where they were following Scoble’s principles at many different points. I read an entry off of Jezebel titled Standards of Booty: New Mom’s Hate Their Bodies, Heart Plastic Surgery. The blog entry was about a “Mommy Makeover” that is designed for women to have after a pregnancy. This surgery includes, breast lift either with or without implants, Tummy tuck and liposuction. It was easy to see that this blog supported many of Scoble’s principles starting in the first sentence. Scoble’s first principle is to Tell The Truth. As I read in the first sentence the blog was talking about how most women are insecure and not happy with their bodies after a pregnancy. This seems to be telling the truth about life’s situations. The next principle that I found satisfied was If Doc Searls says it or writes it, believe it. Throughout the blog the author mentions the opinions and statements from both Dr. Erin E. Tracy as well as statements from The New York Times. The blog also fulfilled the principles of never hide information and never lie. It is stated that women could risk chances of infections from this surgery and even death, sounds like the truth to me. It was hard to judge whether or not any more principles were demonstrated throughout the blog however, it satisfied plenty of them in general. There is no other set of standards that this blog should be following; it is clearly satisfying Scoble’s Corporate Weblog Manifesto just fine.

HW 14: Take and Obsession, Then Feed It!

As a result of reading the interview with Nick Denton “Take an Obsession, Then Feed IT!” in Blog! (Kline and Burstein 151-157) there were several things that I agreed with. In fact, I agree mostly with the comment he made that blogs should not be used to make money. After all blogging was not originally designed to make a profit, it was designed to give people a way to express their feelings, ask questions and get there ideas out into the world. Also I think his idea for hiring new writers for blogging as opposed to writers with track records in the media is a great idea. Although new writers might not have as much experience, I believe in the same way Denton does “they are hungrier”. In addition to those statements I was unable to agree with his statement about how blogging is pretty much going to take over newspapers. Although there is a good chance that blogging is going to develop more over the years there will still be the newspapers out there for the old fashioned type. Since blogging is mainly for discussion and things of the sort, it would be unlikely for everything to switch over to blogging such as fashion tips and things like that.

HW 13: Blogs Will Change Your Business

After reading "Blogs Will Change Your Business" by Stephen Baker and Heather Green (Kline and Burstein 221-233) I realized how important blogging could actually be to a business or company. I found that the impact blogging has on a business is much more profound than the impact blogging has on communication that is not business- or profit-related. Blogs in a business could provide a new variety of ways for work to get completed in a very efficient and non-time consuming way. Especially since “they’re the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the internet itself.” (Kline and Burstein 222) Blogging in a business is a great way to introduce a new product to society while at the same time allowing the customers to express their feelings about it at the same time. Blogging will keep the consumers up to date about recalls of the product, new versions or editions of the product, answer frequently asked questions and allow the consumers to provide feedback to the company that could potentially benefit the product as well as the company. Blogging in a business is an extremely great idea in they eyes of many, and many more to come.

HW 11: OhmyNews

After reading over all the blogs in Rebecca MacKinnon’s “Making Global Voices Heard”, I decided to look into OhmyNews at english.ohmynews.com. I thought this would be interesting to look at because MacKinnon described it as “a kind of online newspaper” and I figured it would be fun to look at. The site itself looks as if it were to be a regular news website such as CNN or NBC. There are many articles on the page that refer to events happening in other countries and things of the sort. The blog is made by professional editors who taking in submissions from the general public daily. One of the blogs is about how a Brazilian Samba was celebrated in Japan with sushi, which I found to be very interesting. MacKinnon’s description of the blog seems to be accurate to what the site is today. The site continues to have polls in the right hand column just as she mentioned in the text. In general the site is just the way that she had explained it. MacKinnon mentioned that the page featured information on politics, which remains accurate to this date as well. Of course, many people will probably disagree with this assertion that what MacKinnon wrote about the blog is not factual at this point in time. They may say this due to the fact that election information is not bombarding the entire site. I feel that her description compares exactly to what I thought I would see and what I saw.

HW 9: A Weblog Saved Your Life? Yeah Right

After reading the title "A Weblog Saved My Life Last Night" (Kline and Burstein 308-314) I was very curious about how this was possible. Ayelet Waldman explains how she wrote a suicide note on her blog, and it ultimately saved her life. People began responding to this note, reached out to her, and let her know she had a problem and she was not functioning clearly. Although I agree with Waldman to a point, I cannot accept her overall conclusion that blogging is amazing, affectionate and life changing. I do however agree with her statement "the blogosphere has given these people a sense of community" as referring to suicidal people. I believe that this is a beneficial way for these people to express their emotions and allow for others to give them advice. On the other hand, I do not think that people should be leaving suicide notes on blogs. Not only is writing in this form wrong but also what if a child were to get a hold of the blog and read it. People need to take into consideration what age groups might be reading what they write and not to expect to be able to blog as they please. Blogging as a daily routine I see no problem with, there just need to be limits and guidelines of what is and what is not acceptable.

HW 7 No Monitoring

I feel as though it would be immoral for a parent to monitor everything that their middle-school child writes in an online blog. Blogs provide a way for many people to express the way they feel without fully revealing their identity. Many people are self-conscious or shy especially middle-school students where they are turning into teenagers and entering a new school. Blogging provides these people with a way to open up and say what they really feel without making them feel scared. Blogging also helps these people out by allowing them to ask questions, which they were afraid to ask in person and still get answers from many people. In Emily Nussbaum’s text “My So-Called Blog” she states:

“But for a significant number, they become a way of life, a daily record of a community’s private thoughts- a kind of invisible high school that floats above the daily life of teenagers.” (Kline and Burstein 351)

She shows readers what blogging is, why it is popular among middle-school students, and describes the way that bloggers see it in order to provide a better understanding. In order for a parent to monitor everything that their child writes is not only a violation of privacy but it is wrong. Parents should learn to trust their children and have the confidence that what they are typing is just a way to express themselves and not a way to do wrong.

HW 5b: I Blog Therefore I Am

After reading “I Blog, Therefore I Am” written by David Kline I found it very had to disagree with much of what he wrote. Within the text Kline speaks of how blogging is very important and is becoming more common in society today. Kline claims that even though blogging is so popular it will not be the conclusion of mainstream media. I would argue with Kline in a way on this statement. I think that blogging will continue to play a large part in the media however; I question that it will overpower all other media at this point in time. Kline argues, “ Blogs are simply a continuation of a phenomenon.” (Kline pg 246) I do not believe that blogging will continue to have the heavy impact on society that is has up to this point. After a while the thrill will be no more and blogging will be just another way to communicate and not such a big deal.

HW 6: Semester Loooooong Project

The Social computing technologies that I am most interested in are instant messaging, social networking services and chat rooms and text chat. I chose these three because I use each of them almost everyday. I chose instant messaging because it provides me with a way to contact my friends and family who are 150 miles away. This comes in especially handy when it comes to talking to my Nana. She like to carry on conversations forever so when I am talking to her on AIM it is convenient so that I can talk to others while she is typing and get work done at the same time if necessary. I chose social networking services because I use Facebook as well as Myspace. This gives me a way to share my photos and random funny things that I find with friends and family everywhere. I have no particular reason for choosing chat rooms but I am interested in the way that they portray women. For my selection of marginalized groups I chose overcoming sexism, overcoming racism and overcoming homophobia. I chose these because I feel that they are a big problem today in society. The geographical areas which I would like to study are the US and North America. My primary reason for choosing these areas is only because I have never seen any other parts of the world and am honestly not that interested in them.

HW 4: option 1 Dr. Pepper

For my product I looked up the soda Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper is mentioned on page 105 in the chapter “The Voice of the Customer” (Kline & Burstein). I found out that Dr. Pepper makes several products that I had no knowledge of in the past. I found that they make regular Dr. Pepper but also Diet Dr. Pepper, Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper, Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper, Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper, and Diet Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper. I found this information on the Dr. Pepper website which is located at http://www.drpepper.com/. I found this information interesting because I thought with Dr. Pepper being such a uniquely flavored drink that it would not come in flavors such as Berries and Cream. It was informative in such a way that I found out a way that I could drink Dr. Pepper and keeping it diet at the same time. Dr. Pepper gives you several options and flavors to pick from that still remain a diet soda.

HW 3

David Kline shows a great deal of knowledge about political blogs as shown in the text "Toward a more participatory Democracy". Many people assume that the news that is heard over the radio or on the television is the correct and the most reliable source of information possible. However, after reading this selection I believe that political blogs may be just as if not more effective than any other source. Also, most American’s do not believe that what is said in the media is always true. There are in fact cases where the story might be changed or incorrect in parts but that gives no reason to believe that none of it is true. Kline states, “not tot take anything away from the Republican Web strategists- their man won the election, after all-but Trippi and others maintain that the GOP was not the only party to use the web to unleash the energy and initiative of millions of citizens and allow them to shape the course of campaigns.” After reading this idea I am very curious to see how political blogs effect the upcoming election and I am also anxious to read some of the blogs and see what people have to say.

HW 2

After reading Burstein’s twelve key ideas in "From Cave Painting to Wonkette" (Kline and Burstein xxi-xxvi) number six really intrigued me. I was surprised to read that bogging had actually been more common in other countries as opposed to the USA. What really shocked me is not the idea that blogging is going global but that it didn’t originate here in the USA. This makes me wonder that if other types of networking and such are more popular in other countries as well. It was also said that the most influential blogs are from other countries as well which I did not find that shocking. In other countries living is more difficult and I can definitely see how blogs by people from different countries could be very moving and inspirational. After reading Burstein’s ideas I am now more interested in reading blogs from the countries in which blogging is more popular than here. As mentioned in the text, a month after a Chinese friend had predicted that blogs would have more impact on revolutionizing China and bringing it fully into the modern world than any other influence, it seemed to happen (Kline and Burstein’s xxiii). This just goes to show that when someone expresses his or her ideas it has an impact on what actually goes on in the world. It is nice to see that people take other’s ideas into consideration.