Blogging

Before this semester, the closest thing to blogging that I have done was put out a few Tweets. Blogging was just something different for me, but I actually really enjoyed it. Blogging has evolved heavily since 1994. This form of mass communication gives anyone the power to publish their work. Also it allowed anyone to be able to build and manage a website. For me to be able to have taken this class was truly a blessing. When we first were told about how this blogging assignment in the beginning of the semester, I wasn't so sure how I was going to like it. It turned out to be extremely satisfying and one of my favorite assignments I would have to do each week. Having a "personal diary" not only made me find one relevant news story each week, but also taught me to enjoy reading the news and now I am much more educated on current events. I am no longer the kid in the room that is clueless about whats happening around the world. Also, thanks to this class I am much more aware of what I post online as well as how to prevent my personal information from being so easily accessed on the Web. Being informed about internet privacy and the first amendment really changed my perspective on a lot of things. This class being Media, Law and Literacy allowed the class to cover a wide variety of meaningful lessons that help prepare naive students, like myself, be more educated in todays society where almost everything involved media.

TED TALK

Living in a world where everyones phone calls, text messages, and video chats are so easily accessed by anyone, its become a scary time. People argue that it helps the police catch bad guys and the government stop terrorist, which is definitely true. But if the government and police have a harder time catching bad guys, that also means that stalkers, terrorist, and government agencies will have a harder time hacking into the other billion people who use technology to communicate. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.. have the responsibility to keep its users and customers safe. They often do the exact opposite and sell your information which can get into the wrong hands. Technology is magnificent, until it gets into the wrong hands. The TED talks that I watched prior to writing this blog, covered multiple diverse reasons why having privacy in technology is so important. These incredible devices that everyone loves so dearly, have many times turned into users worst nightmares when they are hacked. Catherine Crump talked about how small and surprisingly dangerous the information police have access to just by taking a picture of your license plate. She also talks about how military level weapons are being brought into the police force more and more each year. The other TED talked that I really enjoyed watching was Christopher Soghoian's. His addressed helpful tips to avoid surveillance while using your device. He dives into how more advance crypto by big companies will help everyone. Overall these TED talks were extremely informative and  gave myself a ton to reflect on. 

Alternative Media

Alternative Media

      Alternative Media is a rather broad term but at the same time, is not hard to understand. This form of media differs from well established media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Whether it differs in the way it uploads its content, or formats their website, or even how the media content is distributed. Alternate media can appear in many different forms such as print, digital, audio, video and so on. In 2019, it seems like everyone, no matter what the age is, has a voice. Which some may think this is a good thing, but in reality it has lead to just as bad issues as good issues. Being able to say anything to anyone from the comfort of ones home, has made the luxury of communicating have issues it has never come across before. This ability to share information so easily and directly has also caused a overload of information on the internet that causes one to have to question the credibility every time one reads something. On the other hand, one might say that the information overload is a good thing and allows more people to research the news and figure out whether it is corrupt or not. Society is effected by alternative media in many good ways and bad ways. It has caused false information to travel across the globe until it is correctly euthanatized by people who have done research or are actually there. It has also caused donations to flow in from people who think they are sending money to a good cause, but are actually getting scammed. But the crazy part is, you can flip that right back and say how much alternative media has helped getting information out there that mainstream media does not cover. For example, a alternative media website called southfront.org is 100% funded by its readers and supporters and gives updates on the Syrian War and other controversial topics that are not covered as much as it should by mainstream media. When people come together and use alternative media it can do really  amazing things, but when people abuse their power and post corrupt information, it can be really bad for society. At 20 years old, you don't really think about how things may effect the next generation, but media is something that generally always gets me thinking, what are my kids going to have to deal with that I never had to. My generation has already been so tremendously effected by social media, technology, and alternative media. We believe everything we read, our intention spans are at a all time low, and we give attention to the things that should not be given attention and ignore the important things. Its crazy. At least my family that is spread out all across the world, can connect so easily. 

Online Presence

If you would have asked me, do you think you show up if you google your name ? I would have said absolutely not. When I was little, I use to dream about being able to google myself and information appear. To me it use to be thought of as a compliment to have information on google. It meant you were famous or people care about you. Now, many years later, I am completely terrified about how much information I can find just by typing in my name and my town. This has tremendously changed my mindset about how I go about social media and honestly, makes me think twice about even using technology. I found my parents name, all of my social media, and even my home address. I still am trying to have all this information deleted, but am afraid it might be too late. 

The only cool thing I got out of researching myself is my football highlights still appear online. In the future when I am missing the game of football even more than I already do, it is still available just one google search away. It's truly remarkable that so much information is just a few clicks away. But in this instance, the bad outweighs the good by a lot.

It is not that I am hiding my social media and information, but it is more for protecting myself from issues like identity theft, credit card fraud, and interfering with job opportunities. We were all once young and dumb, the only difference is in our parents generation they did not have everything on video through the use of Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Overall, by taking the time to research myself, I have learned so much about how big social media and companies like google, make so much money. In reality they sell our information that we think we can trust them with, and making billions because of it. Looking forward I am going to try and get this information off the web, and be much more mindful of what I put online. 

https://www.hudl.com/profile/1848138/Sam-Kelly

Diffusion of Innovations

 The Innovation of Twitter

Twitter has transformed tremendously since it first came out in 2006. It started as a basic app that was just for putting your thoughts out there to the world. Now it has become a news outlet with real time information coming out every second of the day. From sports games, to weather, or even concerts, Twitter provides it all. Every news station, sports team, and famous person has a twitter. Everyone uses twitter differently, and thats the best part about it. Theres not one specific way to use it, it is completely personal.
I use twitter for a lot of different reasons. The main reason is the unbelievable laughs I get from this app. The way twitter can connect people from all over the world, makes the app truly special. It might sound corny, but Twitter is very informative with culture. There is roughly 326 million users on Twitter, putting out information and news from every corner of the earth. Honestly I have learned so much about different cultures just by "following" so many different people.
Another reason I love Twitter is because of the real-time updates on sporting events. All I have to do is search the team or player that I am interested in and then instantly get all the information I could possibly need. Not only do I get the accurate updates on the sport, I also can see every users tweets that mention the team or player.
The way Twitter gives accurate and real time updates, along with comical tweets gives it just the right touch of seriousness and comedy. It is not exactly the place for users to be extremely sensitive solely because of the fact anyone can tweet at you and say anything. Although there is ways to block users and blocking seeing users tweets, theres always that chance a user can receive insulting tweets.
I use Tweeter daily, along with millions of people. I can confidently say that the majority of the news I read about everyday, comes from Twitter. 

https://twitter.com/sam_kelly23

8 values of free expression

stable change ("safety Valve")

        The most important of the 8 values of expression to me is, stable change. When I think about whats best for my family and I, this is the one that I feel protects us the most as American's in a crazy society that we live in. It is so important to remember when making laws that everyone is human, everyone is going to make a mistake, and everyone deserves to have an opinion on the way this country is run. Stable change is the value that allows citizens to speak their minds and in other words "vent. Allowing people to vent actually makes it a lot less likely to resort to violence. This creates people to know they have a voice and aren't just being controlled by the government. It has been pointed out that allowing the disconnected to speak freely, enables government to have a closer eye on groups that may be dangerous in any way to the American people. In the past, when a group who believed firmly about a questionable topic have felt closed off, or not heard loudly, they tend to get aggressive which can lead to violence on innocent people. That is why this value is so crucial to the 8 values of free expression. Freedom of expression is certainly the most important rights because not only is a fundamental human right, it also allows so many other rights to flourish and gives balance. 

A Patriot for life, thank you Gronk.

After just 10 years playing in the NFL, Robert Gronkowski has impacted the league more than anyone I know. He became the perfect example of what Tide ends should look/play like forever. His intelligence, mixed with size, and athleticism were untouchable. Gronk helped the New England Patriots win three Superbowl's and an absurd amount of personal achievements. Not to mention, Gronk's last catch ever, was one that lead to the game winning score by the Patriots. By his fans, he is loved. By his teammates, he is respected. By his coaches, he is admired. The party animal, Rob Gronkowski has always stayed authentic to being himself, while also being a dedicated teammate. But with Gronk retiring at age 29, it leads to a much larger conversation. A conversation about player safety and concussions, is what needs to happen. Gronk has done so much for the New England Patriots and for the entire NFL. But now that he has retired after sacrificing so much for the Patriots and NFL, are they going to still take care of Gronk? It is no secret that Rob has been injury prone in the past. Receiving concussion after concussion, Gronk fought through it. How will the NFL help Gronk after his playing career, especially since Gronk has helped the league transition so well. Hopefully they will cover his medical expenses for life.