The Role of The Critic

When we first began the class Studies in Prose Narrative, we were assigned an in class writing on what we believed was the role of the critic. Now that class is concluding we have been assigned the same writing to understand how our views have expounded on this role. The role of the critic is to look at every angle, and question what are the intentions of this certain medium. The critic must start in the beginning. They must understand the society of what they are criticizing. Why has this "thing" become so prevalent? What is this society? Why do they do certain things? Who makes up this society? For example throughout the semester I have researched and review the phenomenon of online dating. I took on the role of the critic. I started in the beginning by research what type of societies use online dating. Why has online dating become popular in these societies, and how has it changed these societies. The role of the critic is to ask questions and to inform. The critic is a form of "watch-dog." They ask questions that people don't want to answer and sometimes people don't want to know. Their role is to investigate, to inquire, to interrogate, so the consumer can become informed and know exactly what the media is selling to them. Good criticism addresses why society is changing and who is changing it. A good critic is open minded to other society's other than their own. They don't have to agree with their actions and beliefs but they need to know why and how they function. Critics will always have biased views. That is the point of their criticism, but they need to be well researched and expressed in order to get the criticism across effectively. Throughout the semester we have taken artifacts, such as online dating, and explored them in a narrative perspective. What story is this artifact trying to sell us, or how has this artifacts story effected us. Then we explored the Genre of our artifacts. What genre would this artifact fit in, or does this artifact create its own genre. We followed up with media ecology, which is the study of the media in the terms of its environmental impact. Meaning not only how the evolution of technology impacts us immediately, but how it impacts the places that we inhabit. Altogether, the media critic's role is a sociological investigator. They are here to report and keep society aware and in line.

The Death of Paper

Paper is having a slow and painful death. Paper is no longer the “in” thing. Paper is being marginalized by the World Wide Wow. Blogs, podcasting, social software and online communities are now the new thing. Year in and year out people are spending less and less on books. So what do you do? Want to publish a non-fiction book as a source of your expertise so you can land more speaking gigs, increase exposure, and get more bookings? Sure- go on ahead and do it. But it’s going to be slow. There are faster ways to accomplishing the same goal. The “in” thing today and well into the future is to digitize your expertise.

What to do With Old Technology

I had to post information on this article I read, because as we discussed in class how there was no where for old technology to retire to except the dump. I now have the answer to where to send our outdated buddies packing. Now 25-year-old Brett Mosley of Denver has an even more appealing model. About a year ago, Mr. Mosley started BuyMyBrokeniPod.com and began purchasing, refurbishing and reselling used or broken iPods. Mr. Mosley, who is apparently comfortable around a soldering iron, started the company by posting an iPods-wanted ad on Craigslist. He has since launched a Web site, hired two employees and fixed over a thousand iPods. He recently renamed his company BuyMyTronics.com as he expanded into iPhones and video game consoles.
Mr. Mosley pays anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the item and its health, and then either fixes and resells it online or scraps it for parts. He says his company is profitable but that the venture is not solely about that kind of green. “There’s definitely a market here, but I am keeping leads and toxic wastes out of the ground. They work hand in hand,” he said. “I figure I’ve probably kept thousands of pounds of waste out of landfills.”
Mr. Mosley said he would be expanding further into cell phones and laptops in a few months.

A New Way To Widow Shop

Three demensional programs such as Google Earth allow online viewer to see 3-D views of any destination they choose. Now a company that goes by the name of EveryScape is using this technolgy to bring online 3-D shopping to consumers in their homes. EveryScape is charging companies about $250 to $2,000, depending on the size of the space, to create an indoor tour of the business and to display it for a year. Many businesses in Cambridge and Lexington have signed up, including the Harvard Coop in Cambridge, the university’s main store for books and merchandise bearing the Harvard seal.
Visitors to the Cambridge Web site will be able walk down a virtual version of Harvard Square’s red brick walkways and, at the click of a mouse, inspect three floors of merchandise at the Coop, or, if they have a sweet tooth, repair to a nearby ice cream parlor and check out the flavors.

Rather than being an imaginary place like, the online virtual community Second Life, he said, “EveryScape is taking a real place, Harvard Square, and creating a virtual world that is modeled closely on it.”
To capture images of streetscapes for this virtual world, EveryScape has been dispatching cars with four standard digital single-lens reflex cameras mounted to the roof — pointing east, west, north and south — through the streets of Cambridge, Lexington, and other cities where they are mapping public spaces, Mr. Oh said. Every 50 feet or so, the driver presses a button to take a panoramic photograph that is the basis for a rendering that simulates three dimensions.

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday started 2 years ago as a marketing gimmick in search of shoppers, but has now become a trend that retailers embrace. In a survey of roughly 120 members of Shop.org, the trade group for online retailers, nearly three-quarters said they would offer discounts today for Cyber Monday, as the first Monday after Thanksgiving has become known. Shop.org said 32 percent of adults surveyed last week said they would shop online on Cyber Monday, up from 27 percent in 2006. retailers hope this will create and earlier demand for goods, as well as be a great way for them to report gains in a time that could be a cheerless holiday. Analyst have predicted that consumer spending will be down this holiday due to rise in fuel cost and credit crisis. Doug Hart, an analyst at BDO Seidman, an accounting and consulting firm, said Cyber Monday sales would account for about 12 percent of the expected $39 billion in online revenue this holiday season. That is similar to the 15 percent share of holiday sales recorded by offline retailers on the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, he said.
Some online merchants see Cyber Monday promotions as an antidote to the crowds and traffic jams of Black Friday, and are hoping this year’s online promotions attract shopping refugees.

ABC News and Facbook Join Forces to Bring Viewers Closer to Politics

With Facebook being an ever growing social network, ABC News jumps on the band wagon to bring this comming election to more viewers. ABC News and Facebook have formally established a partnership — the site’s first with a news organization — that allows Facebook members to electronically follow ABC reporters, view reports and video and participate in polls and debates, all within a new “U.S. Politics” category. To underscore their collaboration, the two organizations will announce today that they are jointly sponsoring Democratic and Republican presidential debates in New Hampshire on Jan. 5, three days before the primary election there.
“Through this partnership, we want to extend the dialogue both before and after the debate,” said Dan Rose, Facebook’s vice president for business development.
The announcements are another sign that news organizations are looking to capitalize on the potential power of Facebook, which began as a database of college friendships, and other social networking sites. Media companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post have produced pages for use on Facebook and some newspapers, magazines and television stations have recently invited users to join special pages that are set up to follow reporters’ political coverage. But ABC’s new relationship is intended to be deeper.

the Mother of all Satellites

Britain is developing one whopper of a telecom satellite
Weighing it at six metric tons, the Alphasat I-XL will be one of the largest commercial satellites in existence upon its completion. The satellite, sponsored by London based industrialist Inmarsat, will provide high-speed internet service in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.Inmarsat maintains a high-speed global broadband network, called BGan. BGan is made up of already large I-4 satellites, but it is falling behind broadband demands and needed an even bigger satellite partner to anchor the network. That’s where the I-XL comes roaring into the picture. It will support over five times the capability of its predecessors. The satellite will allow business people to get half-megabit internet connections on land and sea, anywhere in the world, no matter how remote. It is attracting significant support from journalists, disaster relief workers, the maritime industry, and the petroleum industry. The system uses laptop size terminals to catch the signal.EADS Astrium has been tasked with providing the brains for this brawny satellite. The firm is enthused about the new business venture with Inmarsat. They feel their signal processing and central processing capabilities will give the satellite an unbeatable edge."This satellite will access additional spectrum and it will be able to supply approximately five times the communications capacity of a single Inmarsat 4 satellite. With advances we've made, we've been able to pack an awful lot more electronics within the existing volume. It is a technology step forward in terms of the brains of the satellite which is built in the UK," said Dave Robson from EADS Astrium, the firm designing the satellite's signal processing.Astrium will also be manufacturing the spacecraft chassis and is partnering with Thales Alenia Space for this part of the work.The European Space Agency (ESA) and France's space agency, CENS, are collaborating on the project to provide a sufficient platform to support the satellite's needs. The new platform is dubbed “Alphabus” and is designed to help Europe stay competitive in the commercial satellite market. Inmarsat will be its first commercial customer. The Alphabus platform can support satellites of up to eight tons and 18 kW of payload power. It also is looking to implement ion thrusters in the future to provide a more efficient boost for large satellites in order to help them stay in orbit.The I-XL features a beefy 12m aperture antenna reflector. Its mission length is 15 years, and it will require a hearty 12 kW of power during this time. The I-XL will likely have to launch on an Ariane 5 rocket, Europe's premier launch vehicle. A launch target of 2013 has been set.

MySpace Hoax Fatality

With MySpace being such a popular online community, it affected the life of a girl offline. Apparently Meghan and her friend got into a fight, just like any other thirteen year old girls. The unhealthy actions were displayed by the parents of the other girl. In means of getting back at Meghan, the parents created a fake online account of a "hot" fourteen year old boy, Josh. Josh contacted Meghan and they began a friendship and flirting. After a couple of weeks Josh broke u with Meghan, telling her she was fat and ugly. That she was not a good person and the world was better off with out her. Meghan delt with depression and A.D.D. so she could not handle the break up and mean words. She ran to her room where she later commited suicide by hanging herself with a belt in the closet. The truth finally came out. the parents of the other girl feel sorry for the family, but felt no guilt due to the fact that they believed Meghan had tried to commit suicide before. No legal actions were taken. Meghan's father states, Ultimately, it was Megan's choice to do what she did, he says. "But it was like someone handed her a loaded gun."

Toys R Us Advertises the Date Rape Drug.

An advertisement for a toy, Aqua Dots, was in high controversay this weekend, due to the fact that the toy contains the date rape drug. Though anticipated to be among the holiday's biggest-selling toys, Aqua Dots were recalled in the United States on Nov. 7 after tests showed they are coated with an industrial chemical that, when ingested, metabolizes into the "date-rape" drug gamma hydroxy butyrate.
The bead-like toy could cause breathing problems, loss of consciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death if ingested. Nine children in the United States and three children in Australia have become sick.
Aqua Dots was heavily advertised in holiday fliers because of the toy's popularity, said Waugh. The Toys "R" Us circular distributed Sunday advertised the beads with a photo on Page 2 under the heading "Girls Gift Sale."
Waugh said ads for the dangerous toy could continue to show up in newspapers for another week or two because the circulars are printed and distributed far in advance.
Ok, Toys R Us is not technically advertising the date rape drug, but this is a great example of the effect of advertising.

News Map

Since we are studying media, and how it plays such a major role in our society, I want to post the website http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm This website is is a map of nation and world wide news. Each square represents a news story, the color of the square categorizes the type of story, such as, green is sports and blue is entertainment. Each colored square has a different shade. The different shades of the the square represent the length of time the story has been out. The darker being older and the lighter being the younge. The larger the square the more links the news story contains. So if you are like me and like to skim the news, this website is perfect for you. Check it out. Its up dated every 5 minutes.

jenna 6

As the days have grown old, so have the Jim crow laws. We hope that they have not only grown old, but hope that they have grown obsolete,a. As students we must do our part to protect other fellow collegues. Please invistigate theJena 6, and be aware of what is going on it our nation: if not our nation but our neighboring state Louisiana.

florida sudent tazered

Ok guys we just started watching Farenheight 911, yes it is a very liberal point of view, but have we forgot the impact of freedom of speech. No matter what your views are, as a UNITED STATES CITIZEN you are allowed to ask questions. Which leads to me to this very incident. When Bush was elected president many congressional members, being that they are African American, or not, questioned the the fadility of the voter outcome. I am not going to voice what i feel but here is an example of what might happen if you just even question what went on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE the public has a right to know, right? At what cost?

Ideas for my artifact

The culture of text messaging.... wtf
Reality tv shows more specific Celebrity marriages Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey; Carmen Electra and Dave Navaro; or Brittney and K-Fed.
Reality tv Dr. 90210 and drama tv Nip Tuck
Match.com and other various dating websites.
Cosmopolitan magazine, a how to guide to be subserviant to your "man," and 101 new moves in bed- How, in a time of feminism, can this be a top selling magazine?
People or US Weekly