pattimartinvisitomiescuela

during her high school years at manasquan, Patti Martin was the editor of her school's paper. martin has not strayed far from her jersey shore roots and has been writing for the local Asbury Park Press for the last 25 years. she took the time to visit my journalism class today and gave a great deal of insight into the future of journalism.
Martin at first appeared to be an advocate of newspapers' unavoidable move to the internet(she even gave us advice on how to become a successful blogger), but later admitted to having mixed feelings about the age of "citizen bloggers"
"[i feel] sort of a resentment because we're held to a different standard," said Martin on the subject, "that's damaging sometimes."
one point that Martin made that i find particularly interesting is to always ask the "eternal question": why? why is it important to write about these things? why would people care? i am wondering why people are more interested in these "citizen bloggers" than qualified journalists. the internet has changed how almost everything is viewed. i am also conflicted on the switch to the internet, but it is probably better to work with it than fight it.
this is a nice transition to what i would like to propose, a website, for our Crimson Courier. i have been meaning to bring this up for quite some time, but Patti Martin's visit made me realize i should suggest a website now. i feel like it would create more work for us, but the results would be so overwhelmingly positive. we could more accurately advertise when the paper will be out, and all of the articles that will be included. we could have snippets of the next months articles and archives of the previous. i feel this would be such a great addition to the already amazing Crimson Courier, and i hope it happens!

lolololol

there is an almost daily comic called dinosaur comics and it rules. this guy ryan north takes the same picture and just changes the dialogue for every comic! genius!


anyway the comic from a few days ago just made me lawl.


i am sorry i find this hilarious.


IF YOU ARE REALLY BORED AND WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LAUGH NEARLY EVERY DAY READ INTERNET COMICS. THANK YOU.

whatdidyougiveup?

apparently a group of college students gave up facebook for lent. the extra time that would have been spend surfing the internet will give the students the time they need to become closer to God. but even without a religious reason, maybe we all should spend a little bit less time on the internet. i have realized i spend almost every hour not spend in school signed in to facebook, even if i am not at the computer. maybe i'll start by spending a day without facebook, i don't know if i could stand 40.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510484,00.html

whatissextin'

"have you ever heard of... 'sexting?'" my dad recently asked. i had not ever heard of the term until the now almost daily headlines warning of the dangers associated with it. this is not new to teens, but suddenly every adult in america is checking their child's phone for nudie pics. the recently unveiled mystery of sexting has only put a deeper fear of technology into the older generation, but maybe this fear is justified.


if i were to write a feature about sexting, i would probably describe it as the sending of inappropriate pics via text message.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/520195.html

losingtotheinternet

how often do we hear about someone posting something about their job or their school and how often does it end up coming back to haunt them? i came upon ANOTHER story, this one not involving an unfortunate facebook album, but a twitter tweet that insulted a future employer. this is already been turned into an internet meme and has sparked my interest in twitter.

my mom is very into twitter, which is weird. just last weekend she found out that a friend's hotel room was given away via twitter, and immediately sent sympathetic emails. she wants me to get a twitter to update from my phone when im out, so she doesn't have to call me and ask where i am. i don't know how comfortable i am with having it on the internet, i could just as easily text the people that would care to know. twitter is kind of like status updates i guess. except its just status updates and it kind of creeps me out.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796962/


heres a thing about twitter that i might have made me lol a little.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w&feature=featured

NEWFACEBOOK

"Welcome to the new home page
You're looking at the real-time stream of posts from your friends and connections. Control the stream using the filters on the left. To hide posts from friends in this stream, click the "x" in the upper-right corner of a post. Learn more."


I DONT GET IT REALLY.
so i have to consciously point out who i do and do not want to show up on my newsfeed? i could not find my event invites for like a day (which is probably just me being dumb) but like i guess it's ok. people complained about the old new facebook for like months. just as i was getting used to it it changed. but oh well!



WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEW FACEBOOK.

"The visual hierarchy is less effective than the former layout, and the interface is less intuitive. It seems to me that the Facebook developers are Twitter wannabe's," said Jon Laing, a Sophomore at The University of the Arts.

However, not all consumer reception has been negative. "The new layout may be somewhat of a chore to learn, but I think that the newest version of Facebook will actually be a welcomed change. Granted, it seems to be a consolidation of some other popular social networking sites in existence. But the idea of attempting to compress our Internet needs into just one click should be lauded for being a step in the right direction towards convenience."
Matt McCue (via text message)

Anne Thoma at 7:36pm March 17
it rules.

Arielle Rebecca Fieltsch at 7:46pm March 17
i hate it.

Paige Laino at 7:56pm March 17
i did not like it but am already used to it since i only refresh my own profile and my inbox anyway

Joe Fadem at 7:56pm March 17
It has little relistening value and I cannot seem to get into the sets of ambient noise.

Justyn Plaskon at 8:14pm March 17
its stalkerish... it stalks everyone for you and i don't want to know/see that stuff cause im not a stalker

also as a side note: i hate when people do something to warrant a notification and then delete it because i almost always think it was something mean that they realized was mean even though it could have just been a typo.

billspassed

yesterday, a bunch of bills were passed which increased penalties for online abuse, and also made it mandatory for computer repair-ers to report child pornography.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1237263371298890.xml&coll=1

impressive!

internettakesovur

it's been speculated that soon the internet will replace newspapers as the source for news.

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2009/031609bradner.html

^that article gives a number of statistics relating to the decline in popularity of newspapers.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10197136-94.html

^here's an article on how phoneinternet usage has grown. the thing it was most used for was the news, which could only speed up the extinction of newspapers.

it's upsetting that something so fundamental to our society is being put out by the internet, but at the same time it was almost unavoidable with the internet's growing popularity.


:(

interview

i emailed Jayne Hitchcock, WHOA President, and was able to ask her a few questions about internet safety. i got some really awesome info, expect to see a lot of this in my feature!


> What is the most common type of online abuse? Why do you think this is true?

There is no "common" type. Anything online can be used against you. But my organization, WHOA (at haltabuse.org) has found that no matter where the victim encountered their harasser, the harassment primarily starts via email. You can check out our stats at http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/stats/index.shtml

> Why do people feel more comfortable harassing others online as opposed to in person?

It's the perceived anonymity. People think if they open up an account with a free service such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail or a fake persona at Facebook or Myspace, that no one will be able to tell who is doing the harassing. That's where they are wrong. They can and will be found out and with over 40 states with laws on the books, they could quite easily go to jail for what they do online to others.


> Have you noticed an increased awareness of online harassment in recent years?

Yes and it's due to the media, for better or worse. The word is getting out about the bad things that happen online, but mainstream media tend to sensationalize only a few cases without letting the public know the broad spectrum of online abuse and harassment and that there are organizations like mine out there to help them.


> What precautions can you take to avoid becoming a victim?

These are a few things we offers as tips:

Select a gender-neutral username, email address, etc. Avoid anything cute, sexual, diminutive, or overtly feminine.
Keep your primary email address private. Use your primary email address ONLY for people you know and trust.
Get a free email account and use that for all your other online activity. Make sure you select a gender-neutral username that is nothing like anything you've had before. There are many, many free email providers, such as Hotmail, Juno, Yahoo! and Hushmail. We suggest that you do a search using your favorite search engine and choose the email provider that best suits your own needs.
Don't give out information simply because it is requested. Countless web sites ask you to give them your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, etc. when you might just want to search their catalogs or read messages on a discussion forum. Give as little information as possible, and if they insist on information that doesn't seem justified, leave to go elsewhere. Some people give false information at such sites, especially if they don't plan to return in the future. Be especially cautious of "profiles" and "directory listings" for instant messaging programs or web sites.
Block or ignore unwanted users. Whether you are in a chat room or using IM, you should always check out what options/preferences are available to you and take advantage of the "Block all users except those on my buddy list" or adding unwanted usernames to an Ignore list in chat. If anyone bothers you and won't go away, put them on block or ignore!
Ego Surf. Put your first name and last name in quotes in a search engine such as Yahoo!, Google or Dogpile and see if there are any results regarding you. You just might be surprised at what you find. Also put in the names of your spouse, loved ones and/or children. Remember to put their names in quotes to refine the search results. Better yet, use TracerLock or a similar service to do it for you on a regular basis.
Don't allow others to draw you into conflict. That may mean that you don't defend yourself from personal attacks. It's safer to ignore them and keep yourself above the fray. When you respond to a harasser in any way, you're letting him know that he has succeeded. No matter how hard it is to do, do not interact with a harasser. When he realizes that he isn't getting a reaction from you, in most cases he'll move on to find an easier target.
Lurk in a new forum to learn local customs. Read mailing list or discussion board postings for a week or more without responding or posting anything yourself. In chat rooms, just sit quietly for 10-30 minutes to see if the discussions that are going on are truly something in which you wish to engage. Don't respond to private messages in that time, either.
If a place becomes stressful, leave it. There are many stressors we cannot avoid easily in our lives, so why put up with those we can avoid? If someone is being asinine in a chat room or on a discussion board, there are countless others that are likely to be more pleasant. If another visitor to a chat room or forum is harassing you and the forum owner/moderator refuses to take decisive action, why would you want to be there? Don't allow yourself to get tied up in battles over territory.
When you change, really change! If you need to change your username or email address to break off contact with a harasser, using a variation on your real name or anything you've used in the past leaves tracks allowing the harasser to find you again fairly easily. If you've always been "Kitty" and you change your handle to "Cat," you haven't really changed. The harasser knows that you have particular hobbies or interests. For instance, perhaps you like to play Scrabble. If he's really obsessed or simply has too much time on his hands, he's likely to poke around in different Scrabble-related fora looking for feline names to see if he can find you again.
Watch what you "say" online. When you do participate online, be careful--only type what you would say to someone's face. If you wouldn't say it to a stranger standing next to you in an elevator, why in the world would you "say" it online?

innervewe

for my feature, i am going to interview average high school students, and hopefully discover more about how my peers experience the internet. if you are a teenager and feel qualified to answer these questions, please let me know.

1. on average, how many hours a day do you spend on you social networking site (ex: facebook or myspace)? what about on instant messenger?

2. have you ever been or know anyone who has been a victim of cyber bullying?

3. have you ever been sexually harassed on the internet?

4. is your facebook/myspace/other profile private? if so, what influenced this decision?

5. do you often accept friend requests from people you don't know?



also, if you know anyone who could help me learn more about why teens feel so attracted to the internet despite the dangers associated with it, that would be great too!

innernestin

http://www.accentadvocate.com/spotlight/internet_shifts_social_relationship-1.1603228

video+vblog=VLOG

GOAL: vlog more. or at all.

I AM SO INTERESTED IN VLOGS. i have never made one but they seem like so much fun! so many internet celebrities started out as mere vloggers. it seems so appealing i would like to become a frequent vlogger but i am not sure my life is interesting enough. i will maybe start blogging soon because i just got a youtube account today (lol behind).

but in other news, there is a nice blue box on the top of my facebook home page:

"Changes to the Home page are coming soon"

PREVIEW: http://www.facebook.com/sitetour/homepage_tour.php

i like it, but i dont like how i did not notice new friend requests for like five minutes because they are at the very top of the page. also i cannot figure out why all the status updates are not together. i really like that box of status updates. it keeps me aware of what everyone is doing, even though people i temporarily forgot about. oh well, we'll just have to get used to it i guess! i just hope it is not as big a problem as new facebook when it became permanent. LOL REMEMBER THAT.

onlineclasssss

i am currently taking the SAT class i missed online. if this option was not available to me, i would have had to drive to cherry hill, which is like forever away, to make it up, as opposed to sitting here in my comfy chair and learning equally as much. without the internet, i would have wasted a lot of gas and time, and i think its super that companies are taking advantage of the internet like this. just thought i would take a minute to share how much ilti (i love the internet).

daweatherrr

how would i know what was going on outside without the internet to tell me?

"... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST MONDAY..."
THANK YOU WEATHER.COM