This class has been good for me as person, especially for one who lives in a world dependent upon technology. It finally hit me towards the end of the semester that understanding this type of technology from a larger perspective is an important part of understanding the world in which we live. (The class discussed a lot about the presence of technology in our lives. Maybe, just a suggestion, spend a day towards the end of the semester discussing the lack of technology in other places, and the relationship between entities where one has technology and the other one doesn't?)

As far as using this technology, I wish we could have done more. Though I did enjoy writing my critical term project, I wish I learned more about doing things with technology to feel comfortable enough to do a creative term project.

Crazy Enough mentioned in class how new media technology helps with class registration.

As a social sciences person, a non-lab science class to fulfill my area requirement is a godsend. I was extremely disappointed in finding that this geology class was filling up extremely quickly...and I know I wasn't the only one. However, thanks to email and my.pomona.edu, everyone quickly found out that a new section of this class has opened up! Making life much easier. Yes.

I'm assuming we all agree that new media has potential to be an extremely large field of study in academia. At this point in our lives, of course, with our class as evidence, computer and internet theory is already being studied from both a humanities and social science perspective.

I just so happened to be looking through the Media Studies section of the Pomona course catalog and was overwhelmed with courses on film, with topics ranging from "Anthropology and Film" to "Modern Cuban Literature and Film," among many other courses that study film through various perspectives. As Professor Fitzpatrick has mentioned in class, there are events that bring together people from all aspects of academia to discuss new media.

From the class reading, a survey says that girls are more likely to use social networking sites to reinforce pre-existing friendships while boys use the networks for flirting and making new friends.

While this quantitative data is very informative, I think it has extreme potential for a deeper qualitative study regarding how gender ties into social networking. From a sociological perspective, I would love to see a study regarding how daily interactions influence each gender into using these types of networking devices. Especially for older girls (ages 15-17), could social pressures for females influence their likelihood to use sites like MySpace and Facebook?

As discussed in class and in Cameron Bailey's text, if one does not mention his or her gender or race, it is assumed that whoever it is, this person is male and white.

Is this broad statement outdated? Do alterations of these assumptions apply to certain sites that are aimed at different demographics? Can it be assumed that Brad Pitt discussion forum participants are different from bloggers on Barack Obama's website?

Is it ever safe to make assumptions as to who the general participants are? In Lisa Nakamura's article, she discusses that the new media furthers racial and cultural steretypes.

My critical project would focus on how the democratization of the internet affects marginalized groups of society based on race, class, and gender.

Synopsis:
The internet has become a part of our lives, and especially for future generations, the internet may be the only medium of choice because people can use the web to watch movies, television, read news, etc. anytime and anywhere. The democratization of the internet allows for anyone with access to declare their ideas no matter who he or she is. However, as many theorists (in the future readings of Nakamura and Bailey) have said, it is the privileged (racial/sexual majorities & middle-to-upper class) who have access to this type of democratization.

Similar to ColoradoGirl's blog, I initially thought of Google Earth when they mentioned satellite imaging technologies that stores all of this visual information (apparently Gmap is also powered by Google). So if something like this is then made available to any person with access to the internet, what do you think is the utility of these accessible satellite images?

The Critical Art Ensemble argues that the technology that collects visual information has a purpose of perpetuating the war machine in order for one to maintain power and place in the world. We can see that satellite technology has been used for military purposes. And for weather purposes. Then, it was accessible to the everyday consumer for navigational reasons. Now, if Google Earth suggests to the user to search for your house, buildings, and 3D terrain, are there other reasons why this is made for online access?

It seems as though the attempt to achieve immediacy through the internet can be successful or not depending on the personal motive for this immediacy.

Success seems to go awry when people truly hope for reality through the computer medium. In a program on ABC several years ago, it discussed how online dating services like Match.com did not work because relationships never really work out once people who seem to connect online actually meet person-to-person. For people who seriously want to emulate reality, they meet disappointment.

Then again, immediacy attempts like fantasy sports have proven themselves extremely successful.

Nelson notes within the first few paragraphs into his composition: EVERYBODY SHOULD UNDERSTAND COMPUTERS. However, while he strives for a universal understanding of this "new" type of media, insisting on a textually informal relationship between the participant and the machine to attract all types of people, his modest proposal in education is very elitist.

To allow a student to steer away from the institutionalized curriculum by controlling one's own education is simply looking at those who can actually manage to do so. The proposal ignores the larger picture of society--those who have not had specific educational backgrounds do not have the skills in order to perpetuate their education on their own.

Last week I had posed the question of the potential role of blogs in the future of politics. For my midterm project, I would like to explore this question of the growing role that political blogs are playing in United States elections, especially of the approaching election in 2008.

I would delve into the meaning of a campaign blog and apply the readings about blogs as I explore the motives for the creation of one. The New York Times has said that we are coming into a century of "wide-open, citizen-led politics," and I would also apply the readings about wikis into my analysis.