I was a little weary to watch a half hour video, but I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. I thought Wesch brought up a lot of interesting points and he kept me entertained throughout his presentation. His comparison of the “what-ever” was brilliant and I really enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed watching the later part of lecture where he showed examples of “heroes” on YouTube. It was extremely interesting reading the different “palm sayings.” His description of the “self” in self-networking and “context collapse” was intriguing too, “presenting different versions of oneself.” When thinking about my own personal experience, I can agree that I take a lot more time and thought in what I put on the Internet because it available to a large audience.
If safety measures are taken into account, I think social networking could definitely have positive implications in education. It promotes students to produce their best efforts while also creating better communication and diversity.
After watching this video I definitely added to my definition of social networking. I had thought about the quickness, the availability, the diversity, and even the connection of Internet social networking before, but I had never really thought about the new language. This new shift to Internet social networking is definitely creating a new language based on the shear fact of the new self-awareness and etc. that the Internet creates.
I also enjoyed his references to the YouTube debates because I remember thinking the same thing when I watched them…that the TV combination part to the debate made the YouTube part pointless really. They could have better utilized that, but at least it’s a start.
What do you predict will be some other ways politics will use social networking in the future? And do you think this will increase political involvement by America’s youth? Will it affect the voting patterns, and if so, can Internet accessibility play a role?
I agree with you that this video was brilliantly made. Everything had a point and Wesch could have dragged his stuff out forever, which I am glad he did not. I think politics will start relying on the internet much more. After the money that was generated during the last election by way of the web I think most politician will have to jump on board if they want to or not. I have previously thought about the effect the web will have on political participation and I think it will increase it among the youth. I'm not sure if this is good or not though. I know it sounds bad but, like we discussed earlier in this course it is like a new frontier, which makes it easy for people to manipulate. As long as young people are able to see the truth, or something as close as possible to the truth for candidates or issues, I think it will be great for our country. However, I do wonder what will happen if by some freak occurrence a 'Hitler' personality uses this platform to convince everyone they are something different than the truth. I guess this could happen now also, plus you have to think about how much we really know about the politicians we send to Washington anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think social networking will definitely impact politics, especially because it provides a platform for more younger people to get involved, instead of making politics out to be an older persons responsibility. More and more 18 yr olds are realizing that they aren't just legal adults, they are legal citizens with lots of rights and privilidges that need to be exercised. Also, in the video we have to watch for next week, he points out how Obama's website during the campaign was crucial to gaining and maintaining support from all demographics, not just young adults.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that social networking will increase political participation. A lot of my friends will post a status or note on facebook that addresses some political concern and usually more than one person will respond and a dialogue will ensue. Not all of these people are poli sci majors but have opinions and have a convenient venue to express those opinions.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if social networking will increase political participation in the traditional ways we currently measure political participation. Wesch compared modern "sound bite" politics with the Lincoln-Douglas debates of the 1850s. His conclusion was that those debates were much richer in thought, but that debates were only accessible to a few people.
ReplyDeleteAs the message changed, it's accessibility also changed. Political discussion may not be the same as it was in the 1850s, but it may be more democratic. And maybe the true point of democracy is public discussion.
I love how we had the same blog names hahaha. I never really thought of how the new language emerged! I do think that this will increase the voting patterns of our youth. Just seeing the difference from when I was in high school and voted for the first time to now is crazy. There is so much more involvement of the youth of our country and I think that students will become more interested in politics, which is a great thing.
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