May 3 2011: As an unergrad student, I'm smack dab in the middle of the generation that is so often scorned for being ‘lazy’ because of our utilization(or is it dependence?) of the immediate availability of information on the Internet. I am also lucky enough to be taking one of the first (of many, I’m sure) classes dedicated to understanding social, cultural, behavioral, and even neurological tendencies on the Internet. From my perspective, which has radically changed during this course, gaining ‘facts’ has become a more involved, collaborative process than simply reading one newspaper story and claiming to understand a situation since the Internet. While I interned in a major news source in NYC, I realized that many of the stories we produced were tweeted, posted on Facebook, and most commonly, hyperlinked on blogs.
I think so much of what we rely on today (especially my ‘lazy’ generation) is a variety of sources, both private and public. I rarely believe things word of mouth anymore, and am quick to Google anything I find suspicious. This might lead me to a news story, then blog post, then to a forum discussion, and then to a Twitter feed. The Internet allows, or rather, facilitates our ability to find a myriad of viewpoints, opinions, etc. on a single topic. I think that this culmination is what I most rely on in understanding current events.
Last night’s news was a perfect example of how this occurs. I found out about Osama bin Laden’s death via text message last night, and I immediately went to CNN.com to get the full story. I read updates and simultaneously watched a streaming video. About that time, my mom called me and said she was reading about it online. I clicked to my Facebook page and at least 10 of my friends’ statuses were about the news. One of my peers stayed glued to her Twitter feed to get the latest updates.In closing, I will link to her post on the intersection of social media and news:http://www.hastac.org/blogs/caroline-buck/all-we-really-need-twitter
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A comment on Conversation: Who do you trust more to help you understand world events, the press, politicians or your friends/family, or someone/something else? Why?
I think so much of what we rely on today (especially my ‘lazy’ generation) is a variety of sources, both private and public. I rarely believe things word of mouth anymore, and am quick to Google anything I find suspicious. This might lead me to a news story, then blog post, then to a forum discussion, and then to a Twitter feed. The Internet allows, or rather, facilitates our ability to find a myriad of viewpoints, opinions, etc. on a single topic. I think that this culmination is what I most rely on in understanding current events.
Last night’s news was a perfect example of how this occurs. I found out about Osama bin Laden’s death via text message last night, and I immediately went to CNN.com to get the full story. I read updates and simultaneously watched a streaming video. About that time, my mom called me and said she was reading about it online. I clicked to my Facebook page and at least 10 of my friends’ statuses were about the news. One of my peers stayed glued to her Twitter feed to get the latest updates.In closing, I will link to her post on the intersection of social media and news:http://www.hastac.org/blogs/caroline-buck/all-we-really-need-twitter