Wednesday, April 9, 2008

How powerful is the media

The most three important problems facing America today are the War in Iraq, US in debt, and the violence factor. I think these are the most important problems because for the war in Iraq it’s been continuous for a while with not much of an end in site. No where in the media or among people do many people see it as a complete success so how is it not a problem. Most people know that the mission wasn’t supposed to take this long and without people of this nation continuing to die overseas it probably wouldn’t be a problem but it is. My dad’s best friend’s son unfortunately didn’t make it and it hits home even when it’s someone you don’t know that well it hurts because you know that they were just around your age and that it could have been you. The US being in debt I believe is a big problem that might not be publicized as much as the others. With the US being in debt I believe it hurts them for the present and future. In the case of Hurricane Katrina they maybe could have aided those directly hurt in the disaster better and prevented some deaths. The US being in debt is a major problem that we might not see every day in the news but it’s there and hurts us in more ways then one. The violence factor in that there is increased violence on and around school campuses. As we all know there have been school shootings on more then one occasion. We always do actions after the fact and don’t prepare for what could happen only after something happens are we aware.

I feel the War in Iraq is the most personal experience of mine because I’ve dealt with my dad dealing directly with a loss and what for. I also know two friends from high school who are there right now. The media also talks about these problems as you can see among the presidential debates. It’s usually seen as a lost cause that American citizens are there and dying for no clear cut reason to the American Public. Which is why I think it’s a combination of a personal experience along with it being a constant issue among the media. The violence factor with the school shootings is from the media but I believe everyone that is in school or has kids can relate to almost a personal experience. They realize how if it can happen in that school it can happen anywhere. With the US debt it’s about the media because of the stories shown on TV along with reading the articles.

I feel without the media the War in Iraq would just be known as a war, there would be less politics involved if there was no media. The amount on dependency placed on media regarding this topic is more then people probably think. They see statistics and ultimately thing if it’s wrong or not that soldiers are over there. With violence and school shootings without media we would think they are equally bad just not see the pain on peoples faces of those who were directly involved, without the media it wouldn’t hit home as much as it does now. Without the media U.S. Debt wouldn’t known as much of a problem if we aren’t directly affected. So the media for better or worse can escalate stories to make it seem like of more worth or to educate us, You decide.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

E-mail: For better or worse

From the information I received from the people I surveyed, the feedback I got was that e-mail has greatly improved peoples ability to communicate. I talked to my mom, my dad, and my good friend. E-mail is all a major part of either their personal or business life. E-mail can easily give you another medium to keep connected. When I asked my dad how much e-mail he got per day he said anywhere from ten to fifty messages. Since he’s an accountant during tax season he checks it almost every hour during the workday, depending on the time of year he spends a lot of his time with e-mail. He said about 75% of the e-mail he receives are important He said e-mail definitely helps stressful times of year because if people don’t always call about their taxes they e-mail their responses for whatever reason, makes it easier. I asked him was the communication between yourself and your clients more organized or less organized before e-mail came into the picture and he answered at the beginning of e-mail it was a little less organized but now he doesn’t know what he’d do without it.

My mom is an office manager in his office and she said she receives about 1-10 messages per day. She doesn’t spend as much time with e-mail she says maybe 30 minutes a day at most. In her case it doesn’t really simplify her life as much because there isn’t much coming in so it’s not that big of deal she wouldn’t mind if they were all phone calls instead. I also asked her was it more or less organized before e-mail came into the picture and she said more organized for the company itself. It’s too miniscule to really decipher if it made her life more organized in the office or not.

I also asked my friend who works as a head of a construction company with his father and when I asked how much e-mail he gets per day he said it’s very seasonal. During a big job they can get continuous e-mails anywhere from 5 or more from one person they are doing business with. He said he spends about an hour a day dealing with e-mail and that it simplifies his life if they are working multiple jobs and they can’t always get to the phone while on the construction itself. He said it’s more convenient then not. I asked him would you rather have e-mail or a telephone as a means of communication during a big project and he immediately replied with he’d much rather have e-mail for the simple reason that they can respond at the end of the day rather then taking breaks when it’s inconvenient.

The ways that e-mail has improved these people’s ability to communicate and receive information is that it gives them more way then one to communicate. If the phone is becoming a distraction the e-mail can serve as a convenience factor which can let you return certain e-mail or messages with ease. You don’t have to be computer savvy either to send and receive e-mails its one of the easiest and most popular forms of communication on the internet. The trade-off that is required in terms of the negative aspects of e-mail in order to get these benefits is that you are giving up informal ways of communication the more you use e-mail. This can hurt you in the long run if you are dealing with a business in that people can see it as less professional then giving someone a telephone call. To get the convenience of e-mail which is returning questions or problems at you complete discretion, you’re giving up telephone or even more face-to-face. The most personal way of communication is face to face and if you’re giving that up in the long run it might hurt you rather then help you.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Gaming...Older and Wiser

Yes I consider my self a gamer. I say this because I currently own Xbox 360 and have owned other gaming platforms in the past. Ever since I was young I’ve had an interest in video games and it just carried over into my years in college. I think I’ve been a gamer and still am because of my personal interests in games as a leisure activity along with different people you meet and friends also playing video games. It encourages you to keep up, if they are playing games that say are good. There is no better critic for a game then a good friend. If they say a certain game is good then you’re more likely to buy it if you’ve never heard anything about it.

I don’t know if I fit the mold for the platform I play most regularly because I don’t play video games as much as a did when I was younger. I think the demographic for Xbox 360 is a young gamer or a nerd type that it’s the main thing they do. I don’t put myself in that mold. College and work are the main things of concern then if I’m lucky and have a enough time I’ll play when I can. When your younger it’s school, study and playing video games. The time to play video games is much more lenient then rather then now. I used to “fit the mold” because I feel I bought every popular game that was out because I relied on that to buy games way more then I do now. Someone that “fits the mold” is possibly a geek with either not many friends or young such as the middle or high school years.

My favorite type of games is sports games, especially hockey. Any hockey game available I’d likely rent or buy. It’s my favorite type of game because hockey is my favorite sport to watch and play. If I can’t do either of those and have time on my hands that’s when I would play hockey on Xbox 360. I think even though I’m a little older then the textbook gamer I feel I’m doing it for a better reason then I used to or then textbook gamers are playing now. I feel they do it for fun and let it sometimes consume them. That’s what leads to the stories you see about violence in video games and how it can become a problem. I feel it’s safer to play when you’re older because you’re doing it for better reason. Young kids get influenced easy and that’s why you see so many issues of video game violence because they’re still learning and not sure of the difference between right and wrong.

With that said I feel the text does make too much of the issues such as a ratings system and product placement. It really is just a game, it’s not telling you to go out there and commit crimes. What sells is sex and violence which is why games such as Grand Theft Auto have become such big sellers because young children can’t something of that violence anywhere and be accepted. No I don’t think I spend too much time gaming, not anymore. I can’t afford to with having much more responsible then when I was younger. When I was younger I think sometimes I spent too much time gaming because when you didn’t have to worry about a job because you were too young etc. you would allow yourself to almost get lost in the time you devoted to playing these games.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Future is Internet

An internet TV series that I saw a few episodes of was WWE Heat, I was drawn to World Wrestling Entertainment in the past so it definitely influenced me to choose it. When I was in middle school early high school the big thing that kids were drawn to like no other was the weekly Monday Night Raw or Nitro shows. Having not watched wrestling in years and going from watching a TV show religiously every Monday for about 2 years to going to watching it online there are without a doubt differences to notice. The length and simplicity are definitely easier to deal with. I remember with WWE shows in the past a lot of the time in the show it would be interviews with wrestlers and showing parts of the crowd but in the online version they cut down on this. Being older and watching this while being in college and having a job it’s definitely easier online. You don’t have to take time out of your normal every day schedule on certain days to base it around your show. It’s at your convenience which as you get older is definitely a major importance in everyday life. Sure when your 13 years old sitting in front of a TV with friends watching wrestlers fight, you wanted the show to go on as long as possible because it was entertainment that you could turn to every week.

When you’re older though you have more responsibilities and I think the time to invest in watching TV is minimal. This is where internet video comes in it’s almost at your convenience because you can miss as many episodes if you want and go back to them when you have free time. Back in 1998 they didn’t relay the episodes online from the previous taping so we didn’t have that option. Back then nothing compared to sitting on the couch waiting for the show to come on. But as time goes on you realize that time is money and you have to take care of what’s important first then take care of leisure activities. So as of right now I think with the internet continuing to grow bigger and bigger each year we will only see an increase in popularity with online TV because of it’s ease of use and convenience. It’s tough to be in front of the TV at age 22 every Thursday at 9pm when you have so many more responsibilities then when you did when you were younger. That’s why I think the internet TV boom will catch on to the young adults then the children because the thrill and anticipation along with the time you have when you’re younger is there, so why not take advantage of it.

I think for me in the present and in the future the TV shows I watch I will be the online versions because it’s simply easier on a day to day basis if I want to watch a show or get into a new show exclusively online. If you miss an episode of a series that is only shown one hour a week you will begin to lose interest with the series. But if it’s offered online you can not only catch up but switch exclusively to online because of the simplicity and ease of use. With the internet continuing to be the wave of the future I think so will “webisodes”.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Movies and the Internet

The movie I chose that interests me is calls Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, the website address that I found it on was http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/. This web site offers a lot of extra features then most other websites because not only does it offer insightful information such as the plot of the movie and the actors playing the characters in the movie. The movie itself isn’t being released until June 2009 which is well over a year and they already know who’s playing main parts in the movie. For example Christian Bale is playing a main character in the movie John Connor, if you like most of his other movies he was in and like the science fiction genre you would be likely to see this. It gives you a plot keywords section which has keywords that define the movie in this case it says Fourth Part, The Terminator, Sequel, Post Apocalyptic, 2010s, so right from there even if you have no idea what the movie is about it breaks it down for you into a few easy words that make you understand what the basis of this movie is about. It’s a simple easy way to know the setting and what time the movie takes place and that there have been other movies before it. So if you really want to see it you can see the other three movies before it because it tells you fourth part. You wouldn’t know that by just seeing the title because it’s just Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.
This website also shows message boards on topics about the upcoming movie. Facts and rumors about who else is going to be acting in this movie is a neat feature. It’s a simple but a website with a lot of depth in that you can obtain a lot of information from a simple web page and don’t have to click around to get to what you’re looking for you just put in the title of the movie and it’s what you need to know. What I gained from the website that I couldn’t gain just seeing the movie is learning about facts of the movie itself. Usually when you see a movie you look at the movie trailer and think it’s interesting and then see it. With this website you can look deeper into movies to see if it really interests with other peoples comments and see if it’s good in other people’s opinions rather then just movie critics.
The purpose this web site served in regard to this movie is that it’s a work in progress and it gets updated now and then because the movie isn’t coming out for another year. It’s purpose is to get into some of the details about movies that have been released and movies that are going to be released. In a way it tried to encourage a continuation of the story line to leave the door open for a sequel because people in the message boards were talking about it and it said Terminator movie TBA for the one after this one. Websites on movies can give you good information without spoiling the movie for you. If you’re into a movie enough I think imdb.com is a great site to get your information on any movie that has been released or is pending release.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

To Alter or Not to Alter

I have mixed feelings about the publications practice to alter an image, on one hand it can’t be that harmful to a person and on the other hand it can. The ways it can’t be too harmful in my opinion are where if for a picture of a landscape for example, they brighten up the sky or enhance the suns rays to make the picture itself look better but ways where I think it can be harmful is for Women’s health magazines, there have been instances where they enhance the models appearance to seem even more likeable. This is bad because it can continue to put out a false image. If these major magazine companies keep doing this it will only make matters worse for the young teens in the nation. The younger you are the easier you are influenced by this type of media and if someone wants to aspire to be like someone and the way they look and they see an already thin model with the image altered this can be potentially dangerous. Could this type of magazine altering lead to one of the reasons that so many young people in this country are anorexic?

Changing a frown is one thing because I don’t think that can come off as potentially harmful rather then putting out a fake image. Something that we’re used to as a nation. It depends on the image in my mind, I don’t think there is any problem with it until it’s a magazine about how to look good or lose weight and the person being portrayed is an altered image. It can almost be put out as an unattainable goal that some of these people don’t know about. I think it’s acceptable are certain times but times like I just explained then no. If the company wants to sell a story about Prince William smiling then frowning then what’s so bad about that. The only thing that I can see negative that can possibly come about from this is if a certain publication can do that what’s to stop others from doing the same thing and worse as a continuing trend. I think it’s acceptable as far as advertising for food or clothing products. It’s a smart thing to do that has always worked. When you see a certain food product it almost never looks like the way it was advertised but yet you’re still inclined to buy it. With clothes they always put them on a model to enhance sales. So it’s for the good of the company to make money, if any one of us were put in the position to make more money without hurting anyone I think we would do it.

I came across a magazine and was convinced that it was fake. I then searched some more and found the original headline and that this new one was a play on the original one about National Lampoon. The headline for Texas Monthly reads “If you Don’t Buy This Magazine Dick Cheney Will Shoot You in the Face.” I thought it was fake because this magazine came out a mere month to 6 weeks after the now infamous hunting incident with Dick Cheney. I never saw the magazine before but I heard about it. It’s obviously altered because it looks like a very real but cartoonish image. I think if the sole purpose of this magazine was to get a laugh and get sales because of it, it did a good job. If they’re using a completely fake image that’s altered to look real that shouldn’t matter because it’s up to the people to decide if they will be influenced by it or not.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686303_1692246,00.html

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Print vs. Web

The newspaper I chose was the The Spectrum, which included similarities and differences with the paper on February 6th. The first thing I noticed was that online there was a front page link that if you clicked it, it would bring you to an identical version of the front page of the spectrum. I saw no differences here in that they might want to give you the front page news of the same paper that’s in print. The front page usually contains the top stories and whether online or in print I would think the University would want to show it either way. For instance there was a story about UB celebrating Mardi Gras and another story of how the drug Celebrex can have a very dangerous side effect. I think they have these both in print and online because they like to show the varying stories and issues going on with the campus and outside life. They don’t want to take away from the main part of the newspaper no matter if you look at it in print or online.

If you didn’t click the front page link and just went to the main page of the website you wouldn’t see the same stories as the front page of the Spectrum in print. Online it showed the “most important” stories. Such as UB researchers finding a drug with dangerous side effects and an event held at the Student Union which forced African-American students to sit in segregation. The online version at the main page seemed a bit more condensed and pointing out the more important stories such as these. The Web-Specific content seemed more to the point in that it’s more about how we’re advancing and trying new things as a university then having a front page news article about a party held in the Student Union. This is likely because mostly students would pick up the paper in that it’s in and around classrooms and halls. Students want to see the fun around the campus and advertisements for good deals on certain items. With the web you never know.

I didn’t see any advertising in the web document compared to the print document. This is likely to be because the web document seems like more of a straight forward way to get the news across without the added advertisements. People are so used to ad’s online that they forget about them. With mostly students picking up the paper it’s easier for them to get suckered in then if you’re going online to see the same paper. The bottom line is more students are likely to pick up the paper at the school itself then search for it and look through the different stories online. The publishers of The Spectrum obviously seem to know that because there isn’t a single advertisement in the online version of the paper. In the print version there are advertisements for different places to eat off campus, hair salon off campus, who’s going to appear at the school as a speaker. It wouldn’t work online the same way as it would work by having the print version of it. The print version of the Spectrum is geared towards students and by having advertisements that reach out to them would be useful. Anyone can search the web, having advertisements for students that go to UB would be a waste of time and money because why put your money into something the students will probably see when you know most will see the paper version, which I why I think we see the advertisements more in the print version. Regarding the Spectrum, with print comes more opportunity.