Wednesday, February 11, 2009

How the internet is good for a community...



So I think I've decided to blog about how media technologies divide and bring together a community.

So to start off I thought I would show some examples of why it is very good for the community. The most obvious one would be the communication aspect of things. For example Facebook and MySpace. Without facebook and myspace people that I have been close to in my community that I grew up in I would have virtually no contact with them. I keeps me in contact with my old high school and how they are doing, and it keeps them in contact with me so they know how i am doing. The community I grew up in however was very unique though. It was a small town, everyone knew everyone and it was a very family oriented place. So it is extremely beneficial for that community to keep in contact with its members no matter how far they are away. In a small community like that it is good to show the people that are living there now how successful its residents can be. The attached charts show really why people use social networking. And it is mostly for keeping in contact with people they already know. Just like how I like to use it.

"
The Internet facilitates one-to-one, one-to-many and many- to-many communication and enables users to communicate easily and inexpensively with a wide variety of individuals across the globe.

Communication goes beyond the dissemination of information: it is a two-way

process that allows for the expression of viewpoints, the creation of intimacy,

and the coordination of actions. Because communication is so important to

individuals, the Internet's enhancement of the power to communicate can be

considered a great benefit. " That is in Breys article about the pro's and con's of the internet. I think that frames very well how it is important to people to have the two way communication with other people. And in a community like the one i am from it can enrich the isolated communities and keep everyone together. I'm friends with a majority of people from my graduating high school class and even some of the towns parents. It really keeps that sense of home town normalcy in my life, I believe it will do the same for everyone else.


Humans are social creatures by default. Rarely can a person go without talking with someone for an extended period of time. Social networking as a whole give people that outlet. It gives people that feel like they dont belong in certain places an outlet to find peace and happyness. They are going to be some extreme cases of things going wrong but that is always the case. Social networking is a technology that I would say is here to stay. It just is starting to evolve to different levels. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Welcome to my e-Life blog!!

Hello all and welcome to my blog, my name is Shane Roberts and I am a Mass Comm General Major and I'm looking forward to this class. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do as my topic for this blog just yet, I'm close though. I'm leaning towards the 'How do media technologies connect and divide communities?' I should make a decision with in the next day. A little more about me I am a Utah native, I actually grew up in the Uintah Basin in a small town called Duchesne and am a proud graduate of Duchesne High. I just recently changed my major from  Education to my current major I mentioned above after a change of heart and desires. So technically, credit wise, I would be a senior (4th year total) but I would call myself a sophomore in this new program. I'm 23 years old and I'm a die hard Ute Football fan. With this degree I hope to potentially be a sports radio host or something sports or tech related in the new media field. Well thats all I got for right now I hope you guys enjoy my blog!