Dr. Devitto's Lecture

In CMC class today, we listened to Dr. Devitto's lecture on elections. In her lecture, Dr. Devitto mentioned how focus groups and other entities sought ought certain qualities in a candidate. The qualities discussed were:

• Appearance: How one looks as a candidate (body language, posture, diction, manner of dress, etc.)


• Intelligence: A candidate's grasp of issues (could they understand the problems plaguing their possible future and find ways to overcome them)


• Character: How a candidate is perceived, both professionally and personally (despite how mudslinging has gotten muddled into politics, people still dislike attacks on a person's character)


• Interpersonal Relations: A candidate's ability to empathize (that is, could a candidate understand the troubles of an average citizen)

And when she was asked--from me--about which quality was most important, Dr. Devitto astonishly enough didn't mention any of the above qualities, but rather, she said that from her standpoint, the best quality of a good political leader was the quality of a politician to not only dictate to the people what their values are but also to be able to compromise when neccessary without jepardizing the values being promoted (in using Obama as an example, Dr. Devitto said that whilst Obama did have to change his time table for troop removal in Iraq, Obama still didn't really defy his stance, because it is said that Obama still plans to remove the troops, despite the time table change he had to make).

Inequalities

From my own personal experience, I found inequalities unfortunately to be linked to numerous things. Much of the stuff I'm come across crosses into not only gender, but lifestyles and personalities, too. For instance, I've had people on my YouTube account go against for the way I live my life. I block these people, naturally, but it does put a tax on one after a while. The best way to curb inequality from my point of view would be to not only educate people, but get them to see things from another perspective so that they themselves can see how inequality needs to be dealt with.

Community

Regarding livejournal, how communities are created and maintained are relatively simple. Like online communities and social networking sites, all one has to do to create a community on livejournal is to have an interest in something--whether it be simple or complex--and then create a internet page solely dedicated to that something. Once a community is created, one can invite one's friends or even new users to join that community. What maintains a community is the amount of usage a community has. For example, if people post and have discussions frequently within (and about) a community, then that community is well-maintained. However, if the community is left to wither due to it being rarely used, then the community is not being maintained well, leaving one to question why said community still exists when not many people use it.

Identity

The best example of identity I can give from my personal experience (as I rarely know many people that do not keep their online and offline lives seperate) would be the Disney company, considering that I have aquanitances who work for the Mouse House.

The aspects of identity that Disney would have would be utilizing its character library (that is, having company-owned websites and YouTube pages dedicated specifically to certain characters), having When You Wish Upon a Star as its opening theme both in the theme parks and in its movies, and using Mickey's head as its standard logo everywhere it presents itself (the logo can be seen in the corner of shows on The Disney Channel & Toon Disney [soon to be Disney XD], can be seen on the back of various merchandise located in its stores and parks, can be seen in the corner of the official website, and even can be picked out--if one looks for it--within aspects of Disney rides themselves [in the ride, such a logo is called a "Hidden Mickey"]).

These things listed above are parts of identity that Disney keeps both online and offline, but there's another identity issue that Disney has. I mean, everyone knows that Disney prides itself on its imposed wholesome family image (that is, Disney is one of those companies that parents trust with entertaining children as young as two years old), but that's all it is...an image. Really, the "magic" of Disney is nothing but a front and inside the workings of the company, how things operate are radically different from how the company outwardly depicts itself. I say this, because though Disney prides itself to be a wholesome family entertainment company, the type of company it keeps and the way it treats employees goes against the image Disney has created. For example, back when Disney was still making the live-action movies like Pollyana and The Love Bug, it had hired as director for one of its then-recent ventures someone not to be trusted with handling a film starring child actors, because not mere months after having the movie came out, evidence against said person was brought forth, thereby proving the director to be a pedophile. Upon finding this evidence, Disney--of course--promptly fired this person, but that doesn't mean that the incident is wiped clean from Disney's records, thereby tainting the supposedly perfect image Disney projects.

As well, official company animators themselves too have made inside jokes towards the company before being let go or leaving of their own accord. The best example of this would be seen in the Disney animated film, The Rescuers, for as Bianca and Bernard--the two mice in the film who help orphan Penny escape the wrath of the villainess Medusa--fly to Medusa's hideout at Devil's Bayou, they pass a window and within mere minutes into the animated shot, an actual depiction of a naked woman can be breifly seen for a few short seconds, also thereby ruining the family image Disney promotes.

As aforementioned, handling of employees also brings the image of Disney into question, because although Disney may give employees some benefits (such as allowing them to live exclusively on Disney property and allowing them free access to the parks on a regular basis), these benefits don't mean much when the living quarters--especially by Disney standards, given the projected image--are horrible (that is, the buildings themselves are run-down and don't have the accessories that most modern-day buildings can afford) and the fact that employees are practically on duty 24/7, which means that they don't have the time to be able to enjoy the park activities on a true personal level (that is, because they're busy maintaining the park operations, the employees themselves cannot fully enjoy what the park can offer were one just visiting for vacational purposes).

Therefore, Disney has multiple identites, both as a proveyor of "magic" and as a corporate entity. Having said that, this student--being a Disney fan himself--hopes that one day, the company will return to founder Walt Disney's original vision when he said that "You're dead when you just market to kids, because adults are kids grown up anyway".

This statement implies that Disney films don't need to be projected as this prestine perfect medium, nor do they need to have the products talk down to the viewing audience or make the audience--or the performers involved--feel like they're being exploited in any way like some projects seem to be doing nowadays.

In fact, as an example. the way things are right now would be exactly why Miley Cyrus wants out of being Hannnah Montanna, because what with her image as a Disney star being the way it is, she cannot be allowed to grow up into her own as a person, due to said image holding her back. Granted, no one wants her to pull a Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohan, but should she make that choice, she should--in this Disney fan's humble opinion--do it away from the prying gaze of the media and should also be well away from keeping up her image as a Disney idol to millions of little children (girls, mainly). Worse yet, were she to just retire and still attempt to keep up appearances, she could--unfortunately--end up as one-note as her father (that is, she could become as forgotten as her father, considering that it was that Billy Ray heavily campaigned to have his daughter be the star of the Hannah Montanna project, because he is basically living through his daughter, given that he's largely only known for one hit song as a musical artist in Achy Breaky Heart, and that--sadly--defined what amount of a career the man himself had left), and no one would want that. No one would want that, because people would desire for Miley to be different than those who came before her in that they would want for her to leave with some dignity, instead of becoming someone who would do any appearance for a paycheck or becoming a washed-up celebrity with problems.

Practicum Activity Log

This activity log would be different than either my blog here, my wiki at pbwiki, my student email at ESU, sites I frequent during my leisure time, and my regular hotmail email in that this activity log would be about the livejournal account I made for my site review.

However, since livejournal allows for some of the same functions as those sites I frequent or even this blog here, some similarities or outright commonalities may be present. What all these sites (including livejournal) have in common with the reading (and not counting my usage of them) is that all of them could be considered both online communities and social networks, as discribed in the CMC textbook.

They could be online communities because all of them are sites where people of different backgrounds can gather to discuss a common ground of some sort (such as a shared interest), thereby forming a connective bond.

As well, all the sites could be considered social networks, because of the fact that since they each form an online community, networks connecting people from all over the world can be formed, thereby establishing social contact and future relationships on down the line.

Of course, the question of anonymity comes up often on sites such as these and although I do list my age (and for some, even my home state), I certainly do not--under any circumstances, considering issues with sites like MySpace--give out very vital information (such as the town where I live, my actual name, my social security number, and other such things) on those above sites that I frequent or on livejournal. Better safe than sorry, I would wager, considering that I value my identity and my safety than I do such trivial things as just being friends with people whom I have never met--and may never meet--beyond online capabilities.

Regarding livejournal specifically, however, it does have some features that all of the other sites do not. While it too can pose as an online community or a social network, it is the only site of its kind specifically designed as a blog tailor-made for one to post their thoughts in a journal-esque format, hence the title of the site...livejournal (i.e. it's live, because you are posting instantenously at a given moment & it's a journal, because the main crux of the site involves you and others showcasing intimate moments between the digital pages of an online diary of sorts). Plus, it can also--unlike the others--act as a sister site to sites that post news as it happens, such as MSN.com, Yahoo.com, and the like, thereby keeping activity on the site itself constantly changing. Another interesting note of worth is that its entry page too comes complete with a spotlight on a specific topic, question, or discussion. This basically allows for members to be constantly on the move to keep the site going and to keep conversation lively and energetic.

List of Commonalities

Upon reading the stories of the people that this student is following, a patch of common ground was often found. With Jackson's blog, common ground could be seen in that when little, this student too was originally unsure of a computer's capabilities (i.e. thinking that a computer was a new television, which--thanks to sites like YouTube nowadays--it sort of has become, among other things). With Brent's blog, common ground could be seen in that both persons originally started out with slow dial-up computers, only to move on up to faster connection speeds. In short, due to a lot of these students being bred around the start of the digital age, this student in particular would not be surprised in the slightest if many a student could find common ground with each of their classmates.

For Computer Media Communications (as a class), this student utilizes the capabilities of a computer in the same way done outside of a scheduled class. But first, a little historical recap may be needed.

This student’s family started out without a computer at first, shockingly enough. Then, as the new millennium rolled around, the folks finally received a computer. Unfortunately, it ran on dial-up, which meant that there wasn’t much to do with it, due to how slow and complicated the whole system was. Thankfully, the use of dial-up didn’t last, the folks would later get DSL, which is—by far—loads better and has sustained the folks to this day (considering they’re not as computer-orientated as this student is).

This student himself though just recently acquired a high-speed laptop that runs on Windows Vista Home Premium, which is even faster than DSL (at least when somewhere with wireless connectivity) and a welcome sight for this student, considering that a lot of schoolwork and even things done for fun (for example, social networking, online gaming, online communities, etc.) are done via the computer and so, as such, a relatively fast computer was desired to keep up the rapid expansion and growth of technology in general (or at least, desired to keep up with the demands of the Internet when this student utilized it).

In terms of usage, this student uses computers for both work and play, considering that assignments can be finished quicker if they can be emailed to teachers (especially so if the teachers find that a complication arises and they cannot be physically present to teach), that teachers themselves are also starting to use the Internet to help them do what they do (that is, teachers are using online capabilities more and more to help themselves and the students they teach by placing important assignments, course documents, syllabi, and other important school-related documentation on online systems such as Blackboard), and that fun online activities occupy a lot of this student’s free time. Such fun activities would include having a part in an array of online communities dedicated to this student's interests, playing online games, checking emails, and keeping up with accounts on DeviantArt, YouTube, and various other online places, among other things.