engl202lindsey

My background is in Child and Family Studies therefore finding a topic regarding digital issues does not particularly interest me. The one thing that I could think of that would be relevant to both my field of study and this class is to research how sexual offenders are using the internet as a tool to lure and groom their victims. My research could cover the technology available that makes this process so easy for predators, what parents and schools can use to monitor children, the technology that law enforcement is using to track down these predators and put them behind bars, and the measures being used to protect the community of these threats, for example the Megan’s Law website which has profiles of all of the sexual offenders and sexually violent predators registered in a giving area.

Because of things like MySpace, chat rooms, and blogs sexual predators have easier access to their victims and through using these different technologies are beginning their grooming process long before a face to face meeting, gaining the trust of their victims. They are using these technologies as a kind of mask to hide there true identity and true intentions. I feel it is important for me to learn as much as I can about this topic because it will aid me when I am working with children and their families in the field.

I found this article interesting because it discussed the debate over copyright laws and the use of copyrighted materials on the internet. Boynton brought up that, changes in the laws are allowing copyrights to be renewed extending the copyright for 70 years after the death of the author. This lengthening process would slow the release of information to the public domain. The article compared Thomas Jefferson’s original idea for what copyright should be to what is now and the differences are wide. These restrictions are hindering people from gathering information and ideas and using it to create something of their own. Also with the laws getting tighter it brings up the issue of internet use and were to draw the line.

As I read the selected excerpts from We the Media I began to understand how this technological revolution is changing the world especially in regards to reporting vital information. I thought that Gilmore clearly demonstrated his argument that “read-write” technologies are having a positive effect on news and “citizen journalists” through a variety of examples showing how each type of technology is affecting the way we give and receive information. He used personal and public events to show exactly how the technology is working for journalism. For example he discussed how cameras both still and video have impacted journalism; specifically citing the capturing of the beating of Rodney King on video as a president in journalism.

With the saturation of mobile-connected cameras in our culture today, this type of reporting is becoming commonplace. I can not think of a better example of how this technology is affecting the news then the massacre at Virginia Tech which happened just last April of this year. Video footage was captured on young students’ cellular phones and broadcast across the world just a few moments later. This gave the world an almost instant view on what was happening on the campus.

I think Gilmore was right on the money with saying that this instantaneous amateur reporting is changing journalism. People are receiving information faster than ever before and from multiple sources and points of view but there is a fine line between the use and abuse of the latest technologies.

I would have to say that I found Chaudhry’s article very interesting and that I agree that today’s society is becoming more and more obsessed with technology and celebrity. I see examples of this type of behavior often in my everyday life. For example, yesterday I was in Monroeville doing some shopping and stopped into Panera Bread for lunch, as soon as I sat down a father and his two children sat directly beside me. Right after the family sat down the boy asked his father if he could get on the I Phone and the girl was already typing away on a laptop while the father read the newspaper. I quietly observed the dynamics of this family and was disgusted; no one talked to one another, except when the children barked out demands, and the children were not even eating lunch. The three of them seemed to almost be obsessed with getting the latest that technology and the media had to offer. The big question is what is this society coming to with this technological renaissance but what I am most afraid of is what is happening to the “American family” because of this increase in the digital life and focus on fame. My background is in child and family studies so it irritates me that family outings are being interrupted by cellular phone calls, text messaging, wireless internet, etc. With this, face to face communication is becoming “obsolete” and I fear what impact this will have on the family structure.