A village to find a phone

This story starts out with Ivanna losing her phone in a NYC cab. After realizing that it was a young girl who stole it and refused to return it, Ivanna turned to Evan to help her out. Evan created a website about the stolen/lost phone and this website ended up going national. One important element of the story is the fact that the first idea that Evan and Ivanna had was to go to the internet for help.
Another element of this story that I found interesting was that the young girl who ended up with the stolen/lost phone was using it to send emails of photos of herself to people. With new technology, it's not difficult for people to find out many different things about someone if they look in the right places. The young girl was a member of Myspace which made it easy to figure out who she was and where she was from.
After a few weeks of this issue, police began to get involved. This is something that had spread very quickly and involved many other people. The police initially involved were military police; the young girl's brother. The military police officer threatened Evan to take the website down. After these threats, local police were involved. I think that this is another important part of the story because it shows that noone is immune or above technology. Evan was in it to satisfy justice. It had nothing to do with the money.
One other interesting element was that Evan was also relying on traditional media. And the only way that he could rely on traditional media was to have his website's followers keep checking the site to keep it going. If Evan didnt have his followers, he wouldnt be able to keep going with the investigation.
The last important element is that what this story shows. This story is an "illustration of the kinds of changes- some good and some bad, most too complex to label- that are affecting the ways groups assemble and cooperate. These changes are profound because they are amplifying or extending our essential social skills and our charachteristic social failings as well". I think this is very intersting and very true. Media is always changing and over the last few years, media has completely formed a new generation. This story has many underlying messages but the main message is how media has changed the ways that groups form and function.

Social Media Implications

Social Media Implications
Shirky's video was very interesting. Considering that I've grown up with social media and seeing how it has formed a generation, it's interesting to see someone's outside perspective on social media and how it has affected communication. He talked about how "Video the Vote" and "SMS the Vote" effected two cultures. The "SMS the Vote" came before "Video the Vote" and it came from a developing country; Nigeria. This was very interesting to me because I wouldnt have imagined a developing country to have a technological "upper hand" on developed countries.
Shirky explained that innovation can happen anywhere that we take technology for granted. When you dont pay attention to something, someone else will.
He also mentioned that the internet is the first medium that integrates many patterns of communication. Print, video, recorded sound are all integrated into the medium of the internet. Shirky said that media is the site of coordination. Many people use the internet for so many different things whether it be for social gratification or for personal gratification.
The next section that I found very interesting was Shirky's analogy of the "Great Firewall of China" and how China censors everything that comes into the country via the media and also what goes out of the country via media. China had even shut down Twitter because it was leeking too much information to the outside countries.
As Shirky had said "Media is social, global and cheap" and I think that this is one of the biggest reasons that the internet is the most widely used medium.
A social perspective of media is how the Obama campaign had used a blog to let their supporters talk amongst themselves. There was a lot of controversy after Obama decided to change his mind about different policies and the blog reflected supporters opposing feelings. Eventhough, supporters didnt agree with what Obama decided to vote on, the Obama administration let the bloggers keep blogging. They could've easily shut it down but they left it open to their supporters to keep an open mind about the blog.
Media and the social implications is very intersting and I think that it is something worth keeping a close eye on. This type of media is going to be the future of a generation.

Where I'm From

Hannah Kubiak -“Where I’m From”

I am from love and loyalty.

I am from hard work, sweat and cars.

From Dave and Holly who didn’t last.

I am from too many homes before I was 12.

I am from holidays in a tiny house.

I am from a big, Italian family.

I am from line-workers and tattoo artists.

I am from “get home before the street lights turn on”.

 And from “don’t leave your bike in the driveway”.

I am from butter on soda crackers.

From “that’ll leave a mark”.

I am from “go ask your mother”.

I am from lava lamps, boy bands and sock hops.

I am from lemonade stands and roller-blades.

I am from Elaine’s banana bread.

From places others don’t know

To places only I’ll go.

That’s where I’m from.