"What have you learned throughout this class? What was your favorite thing about this class? What was your least favorite thing about the class? And last but not least, how can this class be improved?"

"What have you learned throughout this class? What was your favorite thing about this class? What was your least favorite thing about the class? And last but not least, how can this class be improved?"

"Pick a favorite reading and/or concept and post about it. Explain the concept or reading to refresh our memories. Tell the class why you have chosen this concept or reading, and what it is you like about it."

My favorite reading/concept that I chose to post about was "The Second Life". Basically what this reading was about, is the use of avatars online, and how people use them to create a persona of someone or something they would really like to be. Many people use these is video games to give themselves a better feeling of who they really might want to be. The interesting this is I actually have an avatar for Xbox Live, and it looks just like me, but I don't take it to the extremes that some others do, some people actually pay money to buy different clothes or accessories of this to update that player. To me thats just crazy, but to others it may be fulfilling what they really want to appear as to others that are viewing them. The reason I chose this was because its something that is really unsaid to a lot of people that aren't in the "Gaming World". Because they don't get the opportunities to see the extremes that people goto to become something. I liked this reading because it allowed me to have a better understanding of why some people create these avatars to the extreme that they do.

What concept/s or readings in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about that concept/s that you found fascinating or interesting?

What reading I found really interesting, was a reading that by looking at others blogs, many enjoyed as well, and that was "Communication and the Written Word". I really liked this reading because for myself, I felt that I was being sucked into the black hole the social network world, and I was starting to use Facebook as tool to communicate with others. But this reading did a great job of slapping me back into shape in many ways. It helped me to remember that no matter what the power the written word, has the most meaning over anything besides the actual spoken word itself. I also felt that in the sense of face to face communication, many of us forget the importance of that, and how much it may mean to a person to actually see them right in front of you while speaking. I for one attest to because I want to be able to see facial expressions and emotions and really get a grasp of what someone may be feeling. I really like this reading in the sense that it helped me realize how important these things were to me.

Do facebook users even know what they like?

http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-like-infographic-2011-11

A Virtual Death and Real Dilemma

What I learned from the article was about how the internet can be so dark and evil in many ways, this reading was interesting in many ways, because it tied into the world of online scamming. So many people online believed this Kaycee girl was real and that she was really suffering from a disease, and has the online world behind her believing thats she was a real person. These types of scams and hoax's happen every day. I learned that people can be so convinced that these stories can seem so real, and you really dont know who to trust. I learned that you really have to be careful what you buy into online because you dont know who is being real and who is fake, in the story of Kaycee people were so bought in and thought this was real, that many were devastated when they found out she was "dead", but in all actuality never existed, thus leaving more devastation.

What I found useful was in the article when it talks about audience assessment, this allows people to see the situation and really look into it to maybe see if its real by an evidence that they read through as people posts blogs and pictures, revealing who they may be. You have to really look at the situation and make sure that its real, before you buy into it.

The World Wide Web

One main point I took from this although just used with a few words, it that the internet is up against tv and video games, I found this interesting, because I never looked at it in that sense, but after reading a little bit here and doing other readings, these two things really do take on a type of competition with internet. I think this is interesting because these two things actually tie into the internet, so in a sense, they can be their competition, along with their allies.

Another interesting thing was about W3, and its basically the URL's, HTTP's, and HTML's, these are important because these are the addresses that control the internet. These allow you to control what you are viewing as a valid address. These control the transferring of data and information you are taking in, this is important, because this allows you to actively navigate through the web.

Another thing I found interesting was labeled in the "Future" portion, this is because where it says, "integration with concurrent editors and other real-time features, such as teleconferencing and virtual reality". Now this is important because these things now are happening or have happened. I think that I can relate this to when as a kid my grandpa used to talk to me as a kid about touch screen media, games, tv's, phones..etc. I say this because with these things that we use we see so much growth within these media's and how they are so vastly changing.

End of The Books

What I felt I learned from this article is that, was about how fast paced technology is, and how important it is for us to keep up with these technologies. It all is very relative to the way we work today. I learned how much of an actual fear could be from the new technology causing the lost of books. But to me personally there is too much faulty things online that doesnt allow a person like myself to feel at ease about your readins online. Books have so much credibility and is very good hard evidence that really cant be lost for the most part. An internet page can be up one second and then the next its gone. The use of writing versus typing to me has so much more meaning as well because, with something that is typed, it can be auto corrected, spell checked and stuff of that sort, with writing the material is much more raw. You can have so much more meaning and it can be a lot better even as a reader to see actual hand writing. For me I feel that technology is a huge huge help, but as for taking over reading, I dont think that will ever happen. Because to me sometime actually turning the pages feels just that much better.

Men Victimized by Facebook Data Theft More Than Women

I found this article to be really interesting, when looking through the All facebook site, I saw this and just by reading the title I was shocked. But after reading into the article it started to make a bit more sense. Because women tend to be more cautious on Facebook, as men are a little bit more reckless. Girls are very picky with who they accept and things of that sort, while guys just tend to pretty much add whoever. I thought it was really funny when in the article it talked about fake profiles and how men would easily click the add button based on the picture they saw. All jokes aside I think this article does bring up a good point, that men need to be a little bit more careful with what they are doing online because there privacy is always at risk. I directly can relate because at one point I was accepting any friend request until who start seeing these fake posts and all this stuff. But now im definetly not like that, if the person has less than 5 mutual friends I tend to not add them at all.



Men Victimized By Facebook Data Theft More Than Women

Blogging: self presentation and privacy

A main idea I took from this reading was the part on privacy for blogging, there is so many different types of privacies online that get broken all the time, as far as information and stuff of that sort. How I relate that to me was when I first started blogging a long time ago and all the un needed questions that were asked about me that you blow off at the time, but dont really realize how personal it is.
Another part that I found important was the "reasons for blogging" there is so many different things as showed in this reading for people to blog, for my own personal reasons I blogged because I was able to outlet how I might have been feeling at the time, or if I felt it would be informal for someone to know something I did.
Another part I found to be important was the sharing of the personal information, like how it was talked about sex, once shouldnt really want to talk about this stuff, because it can one, endanger you, the other person, or it can cause a lot of confusion and miscommunication.

Personal Dynamic Media

       What I learned from this article was that the dynabook was a device that was in comparison to what we may call an Ipad today, this notebook size device was designed to do any of the tasks needed that you could used a computer for. This was a well thought out idea, that possibly could have blown up to be something very big. This device was meant to solve all the problems of having to possibly carry around a computer, I personally think it was a great idea, just never really surfaced.

       What I felt was really interesting was the drawing and painting part, because it was really crazy to know that it takes thousands of small dots to create a character, I found that to be interesting because to the eye you dont see these dots and who would have known. Its also crazy to know that the Dynabook was actually able to draw, very creative idea.

Half of U.S. Mobile Facebook Users Read Brand Posts

I found this article to be very interesting because, it showed how people used there Facebook mobile to post things, the number that stands out to me, is 70% of the people that use Facebook Mobile, are posting status updates and things like that. Its crazy to know that this social media is growing so fast, that its way passed expectations. I think that this is important because out of 350 million users of facebook, 57 million of them are from the U.S. , this shows that a good chunk of the U.S. is using these social medias, but what this article really touched on is the use with mobile phones to retrieve this data and this is steadily growing itself, before we know it we will all be using the mobile phones or new technologies to do things, and wont need as much tools around the home.

Half Of U.S. Mobile Facebook Users Read Brand Posts

From Computer Power and Human Reason

The 2 main ideas I took from this article were, 1 word processing wasnt something that was used until the mid 1960's by a group of hackers from MIT, it was thought at the time that these computers might just take away all the jobs, but things that closely associate with humanity. I think that this was partially a big part of the main idea, because the fear of a technology taking over is a pretty big deal, many people really feared that they would have no jobs, and rightfully so, this typing machine was able to produce a lot faster that a human being so I can see the fear. Another main idea for me was on page 373 when it talked about there concerns with the march of science and technology, I thought this was really important because you saw that people that were very different with different views, because at this point, the computers at the time "can and do everything" and then again they themselves thought there should be limits, this showed how people would be feared for what was in store with the computer.

Second Life

What I learned from this article is that how much of an importance it is to people about this "Second Life" or virtual life. This article also allowed me to learn that the actual journey and growth of an avatar for someone is a very interesting process, and to see how this second life can actually affect their real lives. I personally think that a second world for many can be good in some ways because it allows them to be in their own world, and maybe thats what can make them happy, but in that same sense, I can make things very socially awkward for them or for others around them.

What I found interesting or useful was, when the actual study was done with these people actually creating their own avatar and "starting their own journey". I think it was very important that they continued to go back on their journals and grow from what happened in the past, it seemed that much of their growth came from technology upgrades. Another thing of interest to me, was how much of a sexual presence there is in these online worlds, it allows many people to abandoned real life because they can find all they need in these virtual worlds, also its easy for them because they have total control of how things are ran in this second life.

Facebook Users Anger Has Already Softened

So this article had to do with the anger of facebook users softening with the changes to facebook. I think like it says in the article that the moment of surprise is what affected people most, when your used to seeing the same thing over and over and over again, you get accustomed to them, and the minute they change you feel lost, or in this situation, outraged. It also says that many of the posts and "hate" for this facebook change was in sarcasm so one can imagine that it would blow over easy. I personally still stand by the fact that if this facebook change affects a person that much, then they are clearly on facebook way to much. I found it pretty funny what some of the comments were, especially this one, "More Facebook changes, Mark Zuckerberg?! Would you like me to go to your house and move around all your furniture and see if you like it?!" I just thought this was hilarious, but in the same sense, its true. You wouldnt like someone changing your house around without telling you, and you just having to deal with it! Sorry for the font change! 
http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-anger-2011-09

The Technology and The Society

This article really gives an outlook on how television has taken over the world as the new "it" thing. In the article it compares the television to the steam engine, atomic bomb, and the automobile, I think this is very valid, television has changed the earth as we know it. Many people find themselves camped out on the couch waiting for their favorite show that they watch every episode of, I can agree with this, because I am one of those people, I personally think that it is sad because we find ourselves being inactive in life and being so concerned with the television, that it has essentially taken over our lives.

The article argues that Television has become apart of social change, and like I said earlier I can agree with that, the tv has been so powerful on many levels, being that you can know anything that is going on in the world, by simply clicking a button, and thats powerful, when this comes to mind I think of when people stop and stare into the windows of tv stores, as something of very high importance is on the tv. It can literally hault a world from what they are doing, the tv is so powerful that it controls you from the time its turned on to being turned off. Tv has opened the door to so many new media's, that they now also fall hand in hand with them, you can watch all that was or is on your tv on your computer. I think this is important because it shows how the accidental findings of the tv lead to many more very huge and important events.

The way that I can relate this to my personal life, is when I see my mother and father stuck in front of the tv at the same time every monday and wednesday night to watch their shows, the alarm goes off in their head and they know to head straight to the couch, and as I said its so powerful, it can make a person literally drop anything to watch tv, and trust me, ive seen my mom on occasion literally just stop what she was doing to go and watch her show.

Just Like Me Only Better

I found this article to be very very interesting, I never really looked to much into the term avatar, and the first time I really created was over xbox, and it was in a joking funny way to play with my friends. I never know that this was very serious and so intricate to many people. Avatars for people online basically portray who they are, or in true terms, who they want to be. An avatar can be created and edited from top to bottom, I had no idea about how serious it was! I learned that to many people their avatar is the dream of what they want to be, and how they want themselves to seem in this online world. What I also learned is there is places online that are created as well, cities and towns that allow an avatar to stroll through as if it is real life. I found it very useful to know that with these avatars in these towns, they come to be so realist! You will find in the native 2nd world, that they go by the norms that we in this world do, as it said in the article "avatars use swimming costumes in environments that appear like beaches but not in shops...." So its not like the world is turned completely upside down, I personally thought thats how it would be, I think that its kind of cool that people are allowed to create their own online person and live in a very interesting online world. But with that being said, I still stand behind the fact that people still find the best way of communication through face to face interaction. 
-Sorry for the font mix-up!

Community Media

"There is a relationship between our social, political, and cultural landscapes, and our ability to engage with media at different levels and through multiple means." For me while I read this article, I thought that this line was pretty important because no matter which way we look at it, in all aspects of our lives, there is always going to be some type of connection, and we must be able to use these medias to help tie them together and give us a better understanding of what is going on. I relate this to myself because I know with all that is going on with myself, I am able to use these social mediums to help portray how I may be feeling at the time.

I also thought this article was important because it made a point to say that if there is no self representation then everything will be unorganized. You need to have a face behind things and and show that something is represent behind it. So the idea is that you must have some type of presence there to stand up.

Myspace & Facebook; Uses and Gratifications

I think for myself out of all the articles that we have been required to read this is the first one that I actually felt I for the most part enjoyed. I think this is because many of us users really relate to what is being said, because we all use these social medias for personal interaction thats for sure. I learned myself that its very true that SNS has attracted millions of people looking to communicate with others. I personally use my facebook to talk with friends, co workers, old classmates, new classmates and family. But I think that we take the approach to it, because it takes away from the most important thing you can use for any type of relationship, which is face to face interaction. I also learned that over the past 5 years, facebook and myspace have been the top 2 rated SNS on the web today! Another thing that I learned is that facebook was first intended just for college students. I found it very useful to know that what drives people (in case I didnt know myself) are blogs, walls, photos, and stuff of that sort, you would think that in particular you would want to use this just to connect with other people and to keep those that you want close, close. I really feel that this article was very informing, because it actually gave me a chance to look into the logistics behind why these sites were built, and for whom.

7 ways to kill that annoying news ticker on facebook.

Facebook teaches students freedom of speech

I found this article to be very interesting, because in a way it sort of relates to how things were when I was in middle school and "myspace" was the big thing, but from what I saw as a middle school student was that these other kids were putting way to much out there for others to read. And indeed took that immaturity to that site for sure. Many kids started roomers on there and would public embarrass other people. I think that there should be an age limit to where people are allowed to use facebook. I work with elementary school kids and constantly I hear them talking about facebook, and I as myself, "arent you like 9 years old!?". And that for me is where I think lies a problem. Because there is always that one child that can will start something that holds a big ruckus at school. Of course this site allows these students to communicate with each other, family, other friends. But I also think that a line should be drawn at some point and that these children should not being allowed to use a social media like this. Too many risks.

Medium Is Message

Once again I found myself reading a page or two, and feeling that the reading to follow is going to bore me, but yet I found the reading to actually pick up and get really interesting! What I noticed in the readings is that regardless of the technologies or media, human activity wont change. Mcluhan's theories for many can be agreed with, well for the most part, that reason being, we still use internet to find ourselves communicating with other people and using the internet for searching. But now we find ourselves communicating with many more people due to the social media's and also how often we are communicating. There are so many ways with using the internet that we can communicate with others, and its really interesting how people find ways of meeting new people via the internet. What I personally think the main point of this article was to really show how media can affect the thoughts and actions of the human being. Upon first glance, you dont think that the internet would have such a affect on us, but by what we wear, things we see online, they affect us, and in big ways. I think prior to the internet we found ourselves following the same trends where people and the actions of them were all alike, now a days many people are so different in many ways, but more as a group. You dont see people literally keep to themselves because of the circle of people that are around them that are exactly the same. All in all I found this article to be very informative, Loved reading it!

Consequences of Online Social Networking

To me this article was very interesting and also helped me as a reader learn some new information. It really helped me look a lot more into social networking as a whole, and what the relationship between social networking and real life social networking. For myself, I know that a lot of my friends tend to add people, in hopes of meeting them, I myself dont do that at all, but it was very interesting to read that people are attempting to get to know others within their own social networks, but I find it that many users do what I call, "The Random Add".  For my personal use of facebook, I really use it to keep in contact with a lot of people that were from my past or future that I wouldnt talk to on a daily, weekly, or maybe monthly basis in person or over the phone. As most users these days they keep their profile private, as I do, for me thats because you dont want people snooping around and finding out things about you. But with that being said, once you become a friend my profile tells a lot about me, and when I add people with the intention of them knowing this already so I dont really worry about that being something I wouldnt want them to know. I think that many people use a lot of these Online Social Networks for the same reason as I, but as we all know there is so many other aspects, (work, marketing..) and people can really use them to help out. With this all being said I think that online social networks can really help a lot of people keep contact with others, but nothing is better than a face to face interaction in my book.

Man-Computer Symbosis

As I found myself knodding off to the beginning of this article, I found that as I began to read it actually got really interesting. Especially many of the points that Licklider brought up, but in particular when he talks about the man and technology relationship. To the knowledge of my own you would think that a actual mind and a kind of technology would be far apart, but Licklider made it really possible for me to see that in all actuality they arent to far apart at all. Because the brain is constantly updating itself with new knowledge and although there are many gatekeepers that control the knowledge the technology receives, it still finds a way of working out on its own, not to say that its more powerful than the brain, but it is steadily coming along. Because these computers now are NOT "single minded", because they now are very good at multi-tasking. Take for instance they way your able to use a computer to open new windows very fast, and from one window pop up another window to bring up that new information, and so on. All in all technology keeps going further and further on the smart scale, and one day they may just take over the world! DUN DUN DUN (movie sound).

The Written Word: From Printing to the Internet

To me, this was a very interesting article to read, this was because, I was able to finally find out the evolution of writing. Many of us know that writing started with carvings in stones, and then translating that to paper, but for myself, I had no idea the process that went on in between. I would call this ground breaking, because for the actual technology that was used by the people of those times with the resources they have is phenomenal. The written word in so many was has such a huge impact on the world today, because without it, there really would be a gaping hole in communication. Imagine the world with no written word, no bibles, no books, no letters, none of that. And to see how the written word was translated to face to face interaction, people were able to talk about what they read, but also they were able to send their word to others. Now we find our words translated on a computer screen that allows us to send immediately to another person, and that to me amazes me the most. To see where a word starting from a carving on a rock/plate, to letters placed on a keyboard to allow you to make words to send to someone else with a snap of the finger. Truly remarkable.

Being Who You Want To Be.

In reading this article, it really showed the differential that has grown in social networking, and how much of yourself your really putting out there. Many people think that they are just posting normal feeds online for their friends to see, but in all actuality anyone, and I mean ANYONE can access your facebook. It has become so into detail, that a person can just take a glance at your profile, and can tell more about you, that actually sitting down and meeting with you. Facebook takes all the things going on in your life and puts it right there, your name, where you work, your religious beliefs, marital status, children, schooling, and much more. After reading the article, im even asking myself, if I am putting to much out there for the people to see? But in the same sense you can be totally bogus about all your information and be who your not, because there is no confirmation of these things that are "about you". So my question to you all out there is, Are you being who you want to be? or are you being who you are?
Ateschera, Over and out!

Introductory Post

Hi!
     My name is Anthony Teschera, my communication experience, I would like to say is decent, I have been working with people for a very long time, and love to talk. I am a communication major, as im sure most of you are. I love sports, I played baseball, basketball, and football in high school, played junior college baseball, and as of last year was a walk on for baseball at Sacramento State, I threw out my arm ending my baseball career, thus I moved back to my hometown of San Jose to finish school. And that is pretty much it, I look forward to talking to all of you.