FINAL And here we go...

Hi. I’m Jackie, I come from a small town in Western Massachusetts called Wilbraham, home of Friendly’s Ice Cream. I enjoy snowboarding and the culture associated with it. I have a brindle boxer mix dog, her name is Nala and I talk about her way too much. 

As far as work goes, not only do I go to school full time, I also work for the radio stations theBUZZ 99.9 & WIZN 106.7. I am a promotions assistant for them, promoting different events and what not. 

I am not sure how I feel about having a blog but I am open to seeing how it goes for this semester. The only blog I religiously read is TalesfromMnBpark. I went without cable or Internet for three months this summer and enjoyed it immensely. Even though I say that, I do embrace technology and all it has to offer me from social networking to promoting for the radio station to researching for papers. I’m going to move to Portland, Oregon when I graduate this spring and hope to work in some sort of wonderful marketing atmosphere.

Describe the FOUR most important media-related concepts you've learned so far from reading Neil Postman's book and our two articles on Google, the Internet and human intelligence. Again, be sure to use hyperlinks, photos, and video embeds.

• Neil Postman goes into great detail in his book about how different media mediums are turning activities in our culture into forms of entertainment. This change is apparent in many places including education systems and our places of worship. One great example that he gives is the whole idea of religious sermons being broadcasted over the television. A once serious and sacred event can now be experienced while in pajamas and drinking a beer.

• In the Google article by Cascino, I was fascinated with his idea that the Internet is essentially getting smarter simply because of it's users. I think it's important that the Internet is being embraced by our culture and that we are learning to use it correctly. Proper Internet use needs to be taught in school, students should be able to search correctly and be able to understand the difference between facts and ideas. As Cascino explains, our culture has continued to adapt and learn from new technologies, the Internet should be no different, new ways of thinking and processing information need to be embraced in order to get the most out of it.
  
• As I type my answers to questions on this blog, I am realizing that I am a living example of Carr's thesis, agreeing when he says "I'm not thinking the way I used to think".  Postman as well talks about the fact that we as a culture can no longer sit down and read a lengthy, sophisticated book and understand it. Our brain's have moved away from text in a book and towards hypertext on a screen. No longer is the patience to wait for a webpage to load there, let alone read the 50 sentences on the page of a book.
• Finally, the aesthetic shift that can be seen now brings about a point made by Postman without even knowing it. Postman explains that with the invention of the telegraph, information was traveling and being received by those who didn't even  need to know it. One could worry about "news" that was taking place 200 miles away when before it wouldn't even matter. With things such as blackberry's and iPhones that can seemingly doing everything, it is obvious that information like this can not only be found but it is put right in front of the users face every minute they have their phone on them, which is usually most hours of the day. Even if news isn't sought out, with all the different multimedia platforms we have today, it is bound to be heard. 

Describe your evolving relationship with our FOUR tool sets - how's it going?

I think that I am learning a lot thanks to my trusty four tool sets. They have allowed me to really pick apart the things that I see on a daily basis, especially advertisements. I now analyze the different techniques being used. I understand why the way certain advertisements are created in order to get the wanted effect from the viewer. As technology updates, I never really gave a thought to what it is doing to us as a culture, now I am taking more time to realize the changes.

Finally, provide one specific media-related question you are hoping to answer during our course.

I want to know what's next? What happens after Facebook and Twitter get old and boring? Will they get old and boring? I'm not sure that I will be able to answer that question during our course because who knows what actual physical technology will be invented. I do however think that I will be able to better understand peoples' opinions about technology and get an idea of the cultural shift that is occurring. As our generation gets more comfortable with things such as social media tools, they will begin to want more. As they want more, I think that those wants will be able to become a reality.