Devastation in the South

 

PHOTOS FROM THE DAILY BEAST.COM

This is very sad and difficult time for many cities in the South from the tornadoes which left hundreds of people dead and injured...and still, there are so many people missing. There are of course many cities asking for donations and requesting certain items that they may need more of. Last weekend, my mother and I went to the place where they were taking donations for the city of Phil Campbell who were (at that time) saying there was a great need for sunscreen, socks, and underwear (men- women- and children), but more recently, there are requests for donations of radios with batteries but I still might check first to see what items they need the most because it might change daily.

Some of us may be unsure what exactly we can do or what we should donate, but I ran across something a few of my friends have been posting on Facebook which are really awesome t-shirts that represent “Sweet Home Alabama.” They are $15 dollars and ALL proceeds from the sales of the shirt will go towards helping those in need. I myself haven’t bought one yet, but I just recently saw this post. This is what the shirts look like, and below is the contact info. of the designer's website.

Here is the link to check out/order a shirt- Maggie Crisler-Tornado Relief  

The 75-Year-Old Hacker

A 75-year-old Georgian woman who says she has never even heard of the Internet is facing a possible prison sentence for single-handedly cutting off the web to an entire country.

Hayastan Shakarian was digging for copper and she allegedly hacked through the fibre optic cable that runs through Georgia to Armenia. She was arrested for cutting of  Armenia’s Internet which plunged 90% of Internet users into online darkness for nearly 12 hours. 

12 hours may not seem like the longest time without Internet for some, but the article on BBC said that research showed only 1% of companies worldwide could function adequately without the Internet and more than a quarter (27%) couldn’t function at all without it. One in five said a week without being online would be the death of their company.

Some companies offer protection to help their customers stay connected. For example, a company called OptaSense uses advanced sonar techniques and can listen to potential threats of a break in service by converting the fibre optic cable carrying the Internet signal into an acoustic microphone. 

I often have Internet connection problems, like I’m sure many people do depending on their carrier, but I never thought of how risky it is for people who may be working near utility pipes to cut off the main source for Internet connection…I especially wouldn’t think a 75-year-old woman digging for copper could cut off an entire country’s Internet. The ARTICLE on BBC NEWS says “the episode is a timely reminder that all it takes in our hi-tech world to shut down thousands of companies for a day is a determined old lady with a spade.” 

150th Anniversary of the Civil War VIDEO

Fisherman Woes

 Photo of dead oysters

Fisherman are still facing hard times due to the oil spill last year. A man who has been working at Collins Oyster Co. (which has been in business for 90 years) has to close the doors. Nick Collins, who works at his fathers company, says "This is the biggest oyster kill in Louisiana history, probably in the Gulf coast's history....I wish I wasn't part of it. I wish I wasn't here. It's heartbreaking." Other fisherman who feel Collins' pain gathered at a town hall meeting where Ken Feinberg flew in from Washington to speak. Feinberg is the man President Obama has appointed to run BP's $20bn compensation fund, but apparently people have not been compensated.

The people took action and directly expressed there concerns to Feinberg: "You keep telling everybody that everything's fine in the Gulf of Mexico," says oil rig worker Clayton Mathern, "but you're sitting there lying to our faces." Mathern's wife said.... "You told us personally that you would help us. You gave us your personal cell phone number and begged us to keep it secret, but whenever we called, you didn't pick up."Wilber Collins, founder of the Collins Oyster Co., said, "it discourages you so much to see the way the government treats you. For America - it's unbelievable."

I know there is so much more going on in the world right now, but I didn't even realize that the oil spill was still an issue anymore. Like the people at the meeting were complaining about....politicians are allowing people to move important issues aside saying that everything is fine in the Gulf...but according to the BBC article on the matter, the oil spill is still very much an issue that needs to be addressed, but unfortunately it is not. We do not need to be told everything is going to be alright when it is not because that attitude will make become careless and incapable of handling or understanding events that should be of great concern to everybody. 

Revisiting the Civil War

This week, people are remembering one of the most deadliest wars of our nation....it is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War
 An article on CNN commemorates the anniversary and looks at 4 ways that we are still fighting some of the same issues that fueled the Civil War.."The shutdown of the federal government, war in Libya, the furor over the new health care law and Guantanamo Bay -- all have tentacles that reach back to the Civil War, historians say." They point to four "weird parallels"...
1) the disappearance of the political center 
2) the question...how much power should the federal government have?
3) unleashing the dogs of war
4) the president as dictator
The article on CNN.com elaborates on the four points to say that the same issues that fueled the Civil War are still debated amongst Americans today and a century-and-a-half after the war ended people still clash over the cause and meaning...this seems to be true as I live in the South and still see many people sporting the Confederate flag which provokes anger in some people (both southerners and northerners) who see it.

Training for the Ironman Triathlon

Helping Japan

Japan's tsunami aftermath from space

The massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan has left thousands of families homeless and has left children with no parents as well food and fuel shortages. Although 91 countries have responded to the disaster in Japan offering aid such as blankets, food, search dogs and military transport, an article on the BBC news website  says the Japanese government is among the best prepared in the world for disasters, which is why they are only making specific requests for help, such as calling for search and rescue teams and there has been no request (yet) for humanitarian assistance from the international community.

Several charities like Save the Children UK, British Red Cross, and World Vision UK are asking for donations. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is usually the first to launch a major fundraising appeal after a disaster, but they are not planning one for Japan. A spokesman for the DEC says that the help needed (after a disaster) in developing countries is very different.

The Japanese government is taking charge to carefully coordinate all of the help being offered. Charities are addressing the worse affected areas in Japan and donations are being made to supply medical care, shelter, food, etc., but Japan is pretty much in control…as a spokesman for the DEC put it, “the danger is almost ‘too many cooks spoil the broth.’”

When I first saw news of the disaster in Japan, I was in shock watching the videos of thousands of homes being destroyed... knowing lives were taken and that the survivors would be left with almost nothing…no shelter, food, or their family. During this tragic time, it is understandable that people have an overwhelming desire to help Japan in any way possible. The responses from charities are wonderful, but it is also fortunate that Japan is a very self-sufficient country that has been very well prepared for a disaster such as this.

Thoughts on Crowdsourcing-according to the world's largest advertiser

A hot topic for ad agencies is crowdsourcing. A panel at the 4a's (American Association of Advertising Agencies) Transformation Conference talked about this idea to make sure their message was clear...the industry better get used to crowdsourcing because it's not going anywhere. Ignacio Oreamuno is a man who knows a lot about this topic as he is the president of crowdsourcing agency GiantHydra. He says "crowdsourcing is very simple: instead of two people working together it could be 15 from around the world, delivering ideas for less money and much less time, you won't be able to stop that." The worlds largest advertiser, Proctor & Gamble, uses crowdsourcing to find the best ideas but the digital and e-commerce leader at P&G, Charles Chappell, also says that his biggest fear of crowdsourcing is his loss of control. I think many agencies might be fearful of the same thing, because if consumer reviews of a product are bad then they have to manage that. Tim McClure of a virtual crowdsourcing agency said that "the spirit of competition" and the whole idea of crowdsourcing "makes us all nervous but it makes the work better."

I know ad agencies probably aren't too excited about their brands being controlled by a large number of people, but if they go along with this new model of marketing people will be able to see their company and products in a new and better light.

A smartphone app called "T2 Mood Tracker" was developed for military service members to keep up with their mental health. An article from Wired Magazine reported that 30% of military service members develop some type of mental health issue after deployment within for months of their return home. The app created specifically for service members to keep a diary of their mental health is now available for use on the Android phone and should be available for iPhone users in the near future. Therapists/physicians collect patient information of their moods or symptoms that they experience over the previous weeks and months and research has shown that the way they gather information about a patient can lead to a collection of inaccurate information about mood. Psychologist Perry Bosmajian with National Center for TeleHealth and Technology says "the best record of an experience is when it's recorded at the time and place it happens." The smartphone app works like a high-tech diary for users to express their emotions, behaviors, and daily experiences. Here's how the App works....
1. It tracks specific issues

• anxiety
• depression
• stress
• post traumatic stress
• brain injury
• general well-being  

2. Each issue has a set of 10 descriptions (called feeling or affective anchors) - these anchors let users hone in on just how the issues affect them through a visual scale and touch screen where you can choose a point on a color continuum that reflects your emotions. 

The daily expressions add up over time to produce a trend that can be observed by physicians and therapists.

I've got an iPhone and the "T2 Mood Tracker" is still not available, but I hope it will be soon because I'm interested in seeing how it works or if it's actually effective. I think all of us could use something that help us express our emotions and behaviors, but I wonder if a smartphone app could actually take the place of actually therapy with a licensed physician.

Paranormal Author & Historian, Debra Glass

When Art and Technology Become a Part of Us...Literally

Iraqi-born Wafaa Bilal, a photography professor from New York University's Tisch School of the arts, had a camera implanted in the back of his head all for the sake of an art project. He planned on keeping the camera implanted in his head for one year, which would take a photograph every minute and feed them to Wafaa Bilal's website as well as have the photos streamed in real-time to monitors set up in the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar for the contemporary art exhibition. Bilal's project wanted to represent all the surveillance in today's society as people in various cities spend much of their time being under watch of surveillance cameras. The article from BBC News shows that the artist, Bilal, was forced to remove the camera implanted in the back of his after his body began rejecting it. Bilal wanted to have it re-implanted but doctors refused because it was too much of a risk for infection, however, he found a way. The artist went to a body piercing studio in Los Angeles to continue with the procedure where the camera was mounted on 3 posts attached to a titanium base that was inserted between Bilal's skin and skull.
I think new technologies are such a wonderful thing, but it's a little bit scary when it ACTUALLY becomes a part of us. I guess if Bilal can function normally and remain infection-free with this camera in his head, then more power to him. But according to the BBC article, he said it was quite painful even with all the antibiotics. Technology is a powerful thing, but so is the human body and we should listen to it more often!

What Does the Unrest in Egypt Mean for American Economy?

People have been questioning the role of social media in Egypt due to the protests, now people are questioning how this revolt will affect global economic recovery. An article from the Huffington Post reports that the Suez Canal in Egypt transported 2.9 million barrels of oil daily (according to the U.S. Energy Dept., 2009). As the Egyptian army increases security around the canal, trade passages will be blocked which most likely increase the price of oil and economists say that "a dollar increase at American gas pumps tears more than a billion dollars from the economy each year." Price increase (especially with oil) makes me a bit uneasy, as I'm sure it does for many other people and I think all we can do is try and not to let money issues be the cause of panic. This may be a very unfortunate situation for the economic recovery in America as high gas prices seem to hit us harder than the cost increase of other commodities but we need to realize that sometimes we can't just hope for the best, we have to make sacrifices to avoid the worst. 

WARNING: Social Media May Cause Digital Surge!

Social media allows people to access information instantly and opens more lines of communications, but what happens when you are trying to keep up with all of the popular social media “toys” – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yahoo, Skype, etc. These sites allow people to communicate via chat messages, IM, or tweets.

An article on USA Today shows that corporate users receive around 110 messages in a day (in 2010) and there are 110 million tweets a day (says Twitter). From the overload of messages, Researcher Basex says the “unnecessary interruptions” cost over 600 billion dollars in business productivity losses.

Websites like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo recognize this “communication overkill” so they are trying to figure out ways to put them at ease so they don’t lose users to competitors. Facebook seems like a site purely for “social” use or a more private social networking site to chat with friends. Twitter seems less about chatting and more about tweeting short bits of information. Google lets you e-mail, IM and connect with your other sites. 

Because social networking sites are so different and serve different purposes, I don’t believe there is an overload of information that makes it too difficult to process, I think that people are relying too much on websites that “personalize” information. I think that the whole point of social media is for social networking and business marketing purposes. The Internet offers us these services and how we use them is completely in our own hands. 

Segregation in Social Media

Social media give people across the world ability to communicate about their culture and different lifestyles, but an article Digital Divide: Segregation is Alive and Well in Social Media from the Advertising Age website questions if segregation (which is still alive in America) has transferred to the Web. It seems that social networking is how different types/groups of people interact...a space for everybody, everywhere. But it is the job of market researchers to recognize and retain ethnic strategies on the Web for the "cross-cultural" experience that is social media. Does the way we socialize on the Internet come from how we exist in society and should it be that way? Does social media bring people closer together or is there really a digital divide?

Social Media: A factor for chaos or a means for freedom?

Anti-government protests in Tunisia have led the Egyptian government to cut-off Internet services including those used on mobile devices. Ben Wedeman for CNN said that" young people are very Internet savvy and have found ways to get around government blocks" (Social Media's Role in North Africa's Unrest). The Internet has given people a chance for their voice to be heard which is essential for our rights to freedom of speech and expression, but when people use social media to communicate their opposing viewpoints of government acts our rights are disrupted. Throughout the world, people have been using social media as a means for directly communicating important information. This form of communication has been a part of people's daily lives and gives citizens everywhere a chance to be a part of something and to really feel a sense of freedom and recognition.

Some people think of change as a positive transformation, others think of change as something you don't want to happen at all but it has anyway. Social media is the key to social change...and those within a higher position of authority often do not accept that as a means of development or innovation by way of ordinary citizens, rather it is seen as a way to displace order in an political organizational system. CNN News: Social Media @ the front line in Egypt

BlOG ROOKIE

Hello readers! Thanks for joining me for my very first blog post! As some of you may know (classmates) I have started this blog for my COM317 class. For those of you who just stumbled upon this site I have joined blogger for Media Convergence but I will (hopefully) continue blogging after the course is finished.

Brief history of Al's blog creation: The headline came to me as I was trying to think of short, snappy and fun word to put after "media." First I thought I could use "[media] buzz" but knew that was probably an overused blog phrase. Then I thought, "fizz!" It's not just the bubbles in tasty beverages or the cause of a foam overflow after shaking a soda... it's a droning sound-like a pop, murmur or hiss. Sometimes it sparkles and delights the senses but sometimes it's just a bunch of fluff.

The Media Fizz blog is dedicated to discussing various events and roles that mass media play in our daily lives. Although I am a Blog Rookie, I hope to send out some interesting or useful information and I look forward to hearing back from you with your own thoughts or ideas!