By Wed., Nov. 6, at 4 p.m., please post on the blog a link to a Web site or blog that to you illustrates the benefits of the Internet for either journalism or the culture at large. Be prepared to explain your example to the class on Thursday, Nov. 7.
The blog posts have been largely ignored by some of you, who are accumulating F's at an alarming rate. I have done what I can to motivate participation. The actual participation is your responsibility and, I suppose, choice.
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Aside from the Humans of New York blog that I submitted that we went over in class, I have found a series of YouTube videos that show the positivity of the Internet for journalism and the culture at large (to me at least). There is a YouTube channel called SoulPancake where they have different web series. While I haven’t watched all the series and I’m sure not all of them fit what we’re looking for, two series that they do in particular really caught my eye. They’re called “My Last Days” and “Stories from the Street.” Justin Baldoni is the director of both of these shows.
“My Last Days” features people are terminally ill, but who still have hope. Baldoni and his crew tell the remarkable stories of these people. They’re beautifully shot and told and range in length, depending on the story. “Stories from the Street” is similar in the sense that it tells the story of specific people, but these people are homeless. Baldoni picks strangers off the street and just shares their stories with the web. This show, though, is much shorter and only lasts a minute or two. Like Humans of New York, we get a snapshot into the lives of these people (though in this case it’s much more specific, in video format, and sometimes pretty lengthy). All of the stories are incredibly moving.
My Last Days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zxXAtmmLLc&list=SPzvRx_johoA8ITQgxBpeJTaDUhhIB7bfX
Stories from the Street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtO2McFUV4w&list=SPzvRx_johoA8u9elUWIeDf-Wzoi9656hs
When I was searching for a website that is benefiting the culture, I was looking for something that would show the benefits of the internet for our culture at large. What I found was a website that showcased a group of friends' trip around the world. On this trip, they documented their interactions with foreign cultures and peoples.
http://theworldbyroad.com/drive-around-the-world-expedition/
https://duckduckgo.com/
A search engine that does not collect or sell your information. It also encrypts your ip address so that you can search anonymously.
When we first were talking about this post in class one website came to mind automatically. In an age where one of our first thoughts about the internet is how it can create so much hatred and pin faceless people against each other, i.e. cyber bullying, the "anonymous" nature of the internet does not have to be only used for bad.
Post Secret is a website, where people submit homemade postcards via mail with secrets on them. These secrets range from very serious confessions to more silly ones, but the point remains the same: which is although we may feel alone in our minds, dealing with whatever issues we may face daily, there are millions of people out there that also have issues - maybe even the same as yours.
While technology many times can further subcategorize people and seem to tear them away from reality and each other, this website shows that the internet can provide a sense of community and comfort to the billions who use it.
www.postsecret.com
Not too long ago, I came across the website where the "One Day on Earth" films originated. The films show moments from around the world--small snippets of everyday life from the U.S. to Antarctica--all recorded on the same day. While the films are interesting, I find the website to be really fascinating. Rather than watching one scene jump to the next, the website allows you to click around a map to view short video entries.
The One Day on Earth project is an interesting example of a new form of "amateur" journalism. It captures extremely brief moments in different cultures from extraordinarily diverse places, all from the point of view of everyday people. While the idea behind the project is interesting in itself, what I find most compelling is that many of the videos are showing the most mundane moments.
http://archive.onedayonearth.org/index.php/videos
http://thefrogman.me/private/341453886/tumblr_kwgo2j7nr71qzrlhg
Frogman is a well-known blogger on several social media sites who actually utilizes the internet to give himself more purpose in life. It's described in more detail on his "about me" page, but he suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and would have no way to work most jobs.
I think his blog is an example of the opportunity for people like Frogman that is made available through our modern technology.
Also, he can be VERY funny.
http://thefrogman.me/post/51152068447/the-debate-rages-on
I chose a website that is beneficial for society at an environmental level. It is called geocaching. Geocaching is really cool. It is like a treasure hunt and is suitable for all ages. You can either use a GPS or your phone to locate the coordinates of the treasure. The treasures are hidden in suburban and rural areas where they all come in different sizes as well as difficulty. They also range in terrain and series, where there are multiple steps involved, math equations, or external factors. Geocaching uses the internet to list all the information you need to find your treasure, as well as other users input for hints. Geocaching brings friends and groups together on adventures. I have found really neat places in my hometown that I never knew existed until I started geocaching. I feel like this website is refreshing compared to other websites because you rarely see the internet in an intimate relationship with nature.
http://www.geocaching.com/guide/default.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2j3byPfoYQ
http://westophate.org/
We Stop Hate is a website whose main goal is to get teenagers to "stop hating on yourself, stop hating on others, and stop letting others hate on you" by encouraging people to be nicer to others as well as themselves. Considering that the internet is, especially recently, notorious for things such as "cyber bullying", We Stop Hate spreads much needed messages of positivity to many teenagers and adults around the world.
I found two websites that discusses the benefits of the internet for society and our culture in general. The first website: http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/why-internet-matters, is for a group known as the internet society that tries to advocate internet usage as a human right- that everyone should be given the opportunity to have access to the internet. This website was created to advocate internet usage around the world and to make it accessible to everyone due to the endless opportunities it provides for people.
The second website I found, http://www.cyberethics.info/cyethics1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=186&Itemid=83&lang=en, briefly talks about the various ways the internet benefits society. Some of these benefits relate to marketing, employment opportunities, communication, connection and education.
i found this story to be very interesting and heart-warming as well. Although it doesn't reflect on the benefits the internet has on society as a whole, it provides an example of how the internet can literally save lives.
http://endora.wide.msu.edu/15.2/topoi/santos/rhetorical_support.html
There is a website that I discovered through a commercial on television called ipoll where you can get paid for taking polls online. I thought this was very relevant to our discussion of people giving their information away for free. I would love there to be a discussion in class about this, I am not sure if this is a good idea or a bad one and would love some feedback. Answering questions about the products and services people use and places they visit every day gives them access to the site's rewards catalog. Is this an invasion of privacy, or a valid compensation for feedback on products? https://www.ipoll.com/#sec2
On a more positive note, the website http://thenicestplaceontheinter.net/ is dedicated to people giving each other virtual hugs. With the inspirational music in the background and the smiling faxes of the ordinary people hugging your screen...it really can brighten your day.
This is not a website in the conventional sense. It was a multimedia sidebar done by the NY Times in order to give a great interactive tool for citizens to use in order to further understand the implications behind the decisions our elected officials have to make. This kind of sidebar allows the readers to take a hands on approach while weighing the decisions. It gives context to the decisions that were being talked about in such an abstract way. This was especially efficient because the image was so simple to understand. We need to use our journalistic abilities to give context to the information we present in a user friendly manner.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?_r=0
While browsing the internet, I found the site, http://avaaz.org/en/. It is full of stories about issues the world is facing, and at the end of each, it gives you the option to "take action now". It is basically an online petition in which you can electronically sign to join the movement to help a certain issue that interests you. I thought the website was great because it was informative as well as interactive. It is remarkable to see a flow of signatures from so many various people from different countries showing up every second.
https://www.couchsurfing.org/
This website allows people to connect with others from all over the world. What you do is you post on the site that you are either willing to host or you are looking for somewhere to stay. You write a little bit about yourself it can be simple, just so that people know who they are staying with. Then pretty much you let these people come stay at your home or you can go stay at theirs free of charge. The idea is you can find somewhere to stay free of charge anywhere in the world and meet cool new people in the process. You might think this is an invitation to finding predators but people can write underneath someone's profile to say weather or not they were a good host. I have many friends who have couch surfed and have had great experiences. I think this proves the internet can help us in some ways become more of a global community and see how people from all parts of the world and so much the same as we are.
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