Blog Group 2: Blog Post 3-You Need More People (Skeptics Wanted)

      When it comes to the consummation of information, we do not want it now. We want it 5 minutes ago. A website that takes more than 20 seconds to load warrants a call to our Internet Service Provider. Don’t respond to a text within a minute, people think you’re lying dead in a ditch somewhere. A shocking headline is posted on our social media and within minutes it has been shared or retweeted a thousand times over. In our effort to always want to be first, often inaccurate or blatantly untrue information is shared across the Internet. 

Skeptical child does not believe you

          In their book, Blur, veteran journalists, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosensteil introduce the concept of “skeptical knowing.” Skeptical knowing is about asking and knowing how to answer a series of systematic questions, (Kovach & Rosensteil, 2013), in an effort to verify the accuracy of information. Verifying information before you share ensures that you are viewed as a reliable source of accurate information. Whether you are sharing news about the latest celebrity gossip or the Ebola scare that is consuming the nightly television news, it is important to always be as accurate as possible with your information.

       Even if we do not make our livings professionally communicating information to others we all must abide by ethics. Ethically sharing information requires us to know the relevant facts, good or bad of a situation. Going back to the Ebola panic that is slowing growing across the United States, I have witnessed on my various social media outlets, an article from the website, National Report, , being shared as casually as one would share information about the Real Housewives of Whatever City. The National Report is a satirical site and the story about a Texas town being quarantined to due to an outbreak of Ebola is completely false. The article has been shared 118,000 times on Facebook and 1,222 times on Twitter (National Report, 2014). Despite having been verified as being false by snopes.com and The Washington Post as late as today (October 19, 2014) readers of the National Report site continue to comment on the article as if it actual fact.

Kermit Sipping Tea

        In today’s age of rapid technological advancement, where anybody can upload an article or blog, post to the Internet, and reach thousands or millions of people, we all must be a bit more skeptical and not just accept everyone’s word as fact. We have to research and verify multiple sources. Once we are confident in the validity of our research we need to ask ourselves why this information is important enough to be shared. By sharing this information, who are the individuals or groups that will be most affected (Markkula Center, 2014)? Creating a false story about a potentially deadly virus in the hopes of gaining more hits to your website is not only unethical, but has the potential to cause unnecessary panic and further spread misinformation across the information superhighway.

References
Agni, J. M. (2014, October 14). Texas town quarantined after family of five test positive for the

     Ebola virus | National Report. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from

     http://nationalreport.net/texas-town-quarantined-family-five-test-positive-ebola-virus/

Google Images. (2014). Kermit Sipping Tea [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.tickld.com

     /cdn_image_thing/1020745.jpg

Google Images. (2014). Skeptical African Child [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://ct.fra.bz/ol/fz

     /sw/i60/5/8/7/frabz-so-youre-tellin-me-that-millions-of-people-all-over-the-world-re-09fbad.jpg

Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How to know what's true in the age of information

     overload. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. (2014). A framework for thinking ethically. Retrieved October

     16, 2014, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html

National Report. (2014, October 14). Texas town quarantined after family of five test positive for the 

     Ebola virus | National Report. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://nationalreport.net/texas-

     town-quarantined-family-five-test-positive-ebola-virus/

Snopes.com. (2014, October 14). snopes.com: Texas town quarantined after family of five test

      positive for the Ebola virus. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.snopes.com/media 

     /notnews/texasquarantine.asp

Blog Group 2: Blog Post 2-We’re All Famous Now

    Say goodbye to the Kardashians, the Hiltons, and all the other celebrities who are famous simply for being infamous. Fame is available to anyone with an Internet connection. We can be YouTube famous, Twitter famous, or Instagram famous. The idea of celebrity has rapidly changed since the adaption of social media. A survey conducting by Variety magazine reports, Americans between the ages of 13-18, are more enamored with YouTube stars than more mainstream celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence or Seth Rogen (Variety, 2014). I’m a few months shy of 40 and even I am more interested in YouTube celebrities than the carbon copy celebrities that mainstream media pushes on us. One of my favorite “reality,” shows is created by natural hair expert and daily vlogger Naptural85. It’s just her and her family with a couple of simple point and shoot Canon cameras. Every morning, like clockwork, I am on her channel ready to enjoy the regular everyday antics that are her life. Between her natural hair channel and her daily vlog channel, Naptural85 has over 650,000 subscribers. At 39 million video views (YouTube, 2014) she is one of the many people on YouTube who make a profitable career by regularly uploading videos onto YouTube.

    Technology has made it possible for many aspiring creative types to take control and direction of their art by bypassing the traditional routes to fame and doing it on their own. We no longer have to move to Hollywood or New York. We do not have to send our demos out to multiple record companies hoping for our big break.
    The new opportunities that technological advancement is creating have allowed a diversity of talent to be shared with the larger world. We are now finding images of ourselves, our particular cultures, and variety of identities being reflected in the entertainment media we absorb. No longer are we inundated with images of only type of celebrity that fits a stereotypical norm of conventional beauty or talent.
    An example of Internet success reflecting an overlooked demographic is Issa Rae’s YouTube web series. Launched in 2011, “The Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,” is a series about a young black woman who, like many others, is awkward and a bit socially inept. A series featuring a dark skinned Black woman with short natural hair would have been very difficult to get produced had Rae decided to take the traditional route to get her series produced. Her web series was so successful it allowed Rae to create her own network, ColorCreative.tv. She is now able to provide opportunities    and showcase stories not being told anywhere else (Naasel, 2014). With new technology she proves an original idea and some inexpensive equipment can create massive success and launch an actual career.

References
Ault, S. (2014, August 5). Survey: YouTube stars more popular than mainstream celebs amont U.S. teens | Variety. Retrieved October 16, 2014, from        
    http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/survey-youtube-stars-more-popular-than-mainstream-celebs-among-u-s-teens-1201275245/

Issa Rae. (2011, February 3). [S. 1, Ep. 1] "The stop sign" - Awkward black girl [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIVa9lxkbus&list=PL854514FC0EBDCD8E&index=1

Naasel, K. R. (2001, September 25). How Issa Rae went from awkward black girl to indie TV producer | Fast Company | Business + Innovation. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from
    http://www.fastcompany.com/3036176/innovation-agents/how-issa-rae-went-from-awkward-black-girl-to-indie-tv-producer

YouTube. (2014). Naptural85. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/user/Naptural85/about

Blog Group 2: Blog Post 1-Learn in Your Pajamas

      I have, on occasion, been accused of being somewhat of a Luddite when it comes to embracing new technology. I scoffed at Twitter when it first appeared. Now I’m on the site every day. I reluctantly gave up my Sony Walkman for a portable CD player and then an MP3 player. For a few months after receiving my first debit card in 2001 I refused to use it for anything and was highly suspicious about the concept of online shopping or payments. Just a couple of weeks ago I attempted to pay a medical bill and almost had temper tantrum in my work cubicle because the company did not have an online payment option. I had to buy a stamp and write a check. What year is this, 2001?!? I didn’t even how much a stamp cost! Technological advancement has offered us such convenience that any disruption in that convenience is almost a seen as a crisis. Paying for items online or being able to download our entertainment digitally is no longer seen as new option. It is an expected norm. As of July 2014, 81% of Americans had managed household finances with online banking in the past 12 months; 56% had paid a bill online in the previous month (Statistic Brain, 2014).
     The online environment is touching all aspects of our lives. One area that is being changed by technology is education. We can now attend classes while still in our pajamas. As with most new things, I was skeptical of online learning. How was I supposed to learn if I wasn’t sitting in a classroom surround by other students and a professor? I took my first online course in 2009, a math class I needed to take in order to achieve my bachelor’s degree. Being absolutely horrible at any math beyond the basics, and finding no math classes that weren’t offered during the day, I reluctantly signed up for the required course.

     I haven’t stepped foot in a physical classroom in almost 5 years and honestly don’t know if I will ever be able to actually sit in a classroom again.

     Online environments afford us the opportunity to multitask and get more done in the 24 hours we’re each allotted every day. I work a standard 40 hours a week job. If I had to physically go to a classroom in order to go to graduate school I would have quit after my first few weeks of study. It would have been too time consuming and draining to leave work, drive to campus, sit there for 3 hours, drive home and then repeat 2 or 3 times a week.

Online student at computer

          In addition to traditional brick and mortar schools such as Southern New Hampshire University or Arizona State University offering completely online programs that result in degrees, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are one of the ways higher education is becoming available to more and more people. MOOC allow educational courses from universities to be made accessible to anyone who registers (edX, 2014). You no longer have to be accepted into Princeton or Harvard University in order to enroll in courses offered by these universities. While traditional online classes charge tuition, limit enrollment, and offer credit (Pappano, 2012), MOOC typically do not offer degrees, course credit or charge tuition. What they do offer are opportunities for many people who enjoy learning, but cannot afford to attend university or aren’t interested in pursuing a formal degree or certification.
         At first glance, online education may seem like easy child’s play. With many courses being asynchronous, you can log on at any time of the day. You are not obligated to a set schedule of when you must attend class. Online learning requires having an extreme amount of discipline. There will be no instructor reminding of when work is due or hovering over shoulder while you work on assignments. For myself, the freedom to “attend,” class when I choose is one of the main reasons that I have enjoyed and tend to do well in an online educational environment.

References

EdX. (2014). edX: Take great online courses from the world's best universities. Retrieved October 
        18, 2014, from https://www.edx.org/

Google Images. (2014). Black woman studying at a computer [Photograph]. Retrieved from
       http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/workoncomputer.jpg

McLeod, T. (2013, August 19). The importance of higher educcation [Video file]. Retrieved from
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf0tOnWeJQU

Pappano, L. (2012, November 2). Massive open online courses are multiplying at a rapid pace-
       NYTimes.com. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education
      /edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?pagewanted=all

Statistic Brain. (2014, July 13). Online /mobile banking statistics. Retrieved October 16, 2014, from
       http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-mobile-banking-statistics/