Today, we've been looking at our blogs in class. One thing we discussed was that it is actually a pity that our blogs don't get the attention they deserve. Hardly anybody has gotten any comments by others despite raising questions and addressing the "reader" (does he exist at all?) directly.
It's a lot of efford to keep your blog up-to-date and it takes a lot of time to do some research about the topic you want to write about (or the one you've been given).
Therefore, one might not have enough sparetime to read other blogs regularly, but I think a good idea would have been if everybody of us had been supposed to follow one classmate's blog and to leave comments - then none of us would have had the feeling of writing in vain!
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Friday, 10 July 2009
Controversy in L'Aquila
Recently, discussions have arisen about the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy. The region has been
destroyed by a massive earthquake in April and many people still have to live in tents:
Originally, the summit was supposed to be held
on an italian island, but Berlusconi wanted
L'Aquila to host the summit in order to draw
everybody's attention to it and thus get more
people to donate more money and see the
necessity of help.
But not everybody is happy about this decision. Especially the people who have lost everything think that this is the wrong way. Doesn't the summit cost too much money that should rather be invested in the building of houses and infrastructure etc?
I understand this opinion and I also wouldn't want to have all these politicians and journalists wandering around and looking at my miserable living conditions...
So I think it it absolutely justified to be sceptical about the movement of the G8 venue to L'Aquila.
destroyed by a massive earthquake in April and many people still have to live in tents:
Originally, the summit was supposed to be heldon an italian island, but Berlusconi wanted
L'Aquila to host the summit in order to draw
everybody's attention to it and thus get more
people to donate more money and see the
necessity of help.
But not everybody is happy about this decision. Especially the people who have lost everything think that this is the wrong way. Doesn't the summit cost too much money that should rather be invested in the building of houses and infrastructure etc?
I understand this opinion and I also wouldn't want to have all these politicians and journalists wandering around and looking at my miserable living conditions...
So I think it it absolutely justified to be sceptical about the movement of the G8 venue to L'Aquila.
Forgotten Moment Of Zen 25.05.09
Ups, I realised that I hadn't posted a MOZ for that day. Unfortunately do I not know anymore what we were taling about then, so I will just quickly write about something else. On Twitter, Joe Trippe mentioned that NY Times might charge people for reading it online, like 5$ a month.
Mmh, I don't think that many people would pay that-at least I wouldn't. I mean, aren't there enough sources to get the information you want without paying for it? But on the other hand, the NY Times might be considered as one of the best sources for news etc and people might not want to miss it. But I don't think it would make sense in Germany-you either buy the magazine you want to read or you don't want to pay anything and get the information online-for free!
Mmh, I don't think that many people would pay that-at least I wouldn't. I mean, aren't there enough sources to get the information you want without paying for it? But on the other hand, the NY Times might be considered as one of the best sources for news etc and people might not want to miss it. But I don't think it would make sense in Germany-you either buy the magazine you want to read or you don't want to pay anything and get the information online-for free!
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Trippi's Afterword...
Well, while reading the afterword several thoughts, comments and questions came to my mind. Since they are all pretty different I'm just going to put them here without including them in a text:
- I was impressed by the way Trippi talks about his illness-how honest he is
- things did change a lot between 2004 and 2008 - Trippi mentions that again and again although we all know it!
- I found the part where Trippi talks about all these people working in several campaigns/companies...
- will the Internet actually stay that popular or will it loose attraction?
- this chapter helped me to get a better insight in how politics/campaigns work (e.g. the meeting with Mr & Mrs Edwards)
- Mark Penn's quote really surprised me as well: "The Internet wouldn't have any impact in 2008 because it is composed of too small a group of Americans who are doing nothing but talking to each other" (from: Joe Trippi, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", Afterword)
- The hair thing is so confusing...Can't really imagine how it became that famous...
- I didn't like the comparisons between 2004 and 2008 coming up again and again
- I also think it's pathetic to draw attention to other people's mistakes (video about Hillary Clinton: http://www.trippimultimedia.com/clients/john_edwards ) Shouldn't you rather stress your own qualities?
- The idea of limiting contributions for campaigns is really cool-but would any candidate for presidency ever dare to do so?
- Would Hillary Clinton have won against Barack Obama if Joe Trippi had worked on her campaign?
Moment of Zen 07.07.09
How far do family circumstances really influence elections? Would a non-married man be able to become president of the US???
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Moment of Zen 30.06.09
To be honest, today I havent't really found a moment of zen concerning our topic in class.
But what really kept me thinking recently is the video where iranian student Neda gets killed. Have you seen it? When I watched it for the first time, I thought that it is really disrespectful to show a girl's last minutes on earth and I wished I hadn't seen it myself.
But on the other hand this video might have helped to draw even more attention to the situation in Iran and get more people into it in order to stand up and support the people there-even if it's "only" in a protest vigil...And Neda has now become a "symbol" in the protest against the government:
What's your opinion?
But what really kept me thinking recently is the video where iranian student Neda gets killed. Have you seen it? When I watched it for the first time, I thought that it is really disrespectful to show a girl's last minutes on earth and I wished I hadn't seen it myself.
But on the other hand this video might have helped to draw even more attention to the situation in Iran and get more people into it in order to stand up and support the people there-even if it's "only" in a protest vigil...And Neda has now become a "symbol" in the protest against the government:
What's your opinion?
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
A Media Mover
Ok, I did the test and it said that I am a media mover:
If you are a Media Mover, you have a wide range of online and mobile habits, and you are bound to find or create an information nugget, such as a digital photo, and pass it on. These social exchanges are central to your use of information and communication technology. Cyberspace, as a path to personal productivity or an outlet for creativity, is less important to you.
Mmh, I'm not sure how meaningful this test is. There were surely not enough questions to be able to find out what kind of Tech User I am. Of course, I use the internet quite often to get the information I need and I also use social webpages to stay in touch with friends and family-but aren't we all more or less the same?
As well as that, I don't think that my habits have significantly changed since taking our course. The only thing is that I try to look more specifically for the things I need or look for and not just vistit the first webpage that comes up when seraching something via google.
While doing this test I was thinking about my dependence from the internet and my mobile phone. It would be very hard for me to give up either and that is something that I don't actually like. Isn't it horrible to be that dependent from technical stuff? I wonder what would happen if I gave up using the internet for a few days or a week....Well, it's basically impossible, isn't it? University alone forces me to go online reguarly to do the taks I am supposed to do...
If you are a Media Mover, you have a wide range of online and mobile habits, and you are bound to find or create an information nugget, such as a digital photo, and pass it on. These social exchanges are central to your use of information and communication technology. Cyberspace, as a path to personal productivity or an outlet for creativity, is less important to you.
Mmh, I'm not sure how meaningful this test is. There were surely not enough questions to be able to find out what kind of Tech User I am. Of course, I use the internet quite often to get the information I need and I also use social webpages to stay in touch with friends and family-but aren't we all more or less the same?
As well as that, I don't think that my habits have significantly changed since taking our course. The only thing is that I try to look more specifically for the things I need or look for and not just vistit the first webpage that comes up when seraching something via google.
While doing this test I was thinking about my dependence from the internet and my mobile phone. It would be very hard for me to give up either and that is something that I don't actually like. Isn't it horrible to be that dependent from technical stuff? I wonder what would happen if I gave up using the internet for a few days or a week....Well, it's basically impossible, isn't it? University alone forces me to go online reguarly to do the taks I am supposed to do...
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Moment of Zen 23.06.09
We are completely dependent from our alarm clocks. Have you ever thought about this? It rings, and we have to get up. But what if we don't get up...? We could miss our job interview or other important appointments. It has happened to me several times before and it's just so annoying cause you can't do anything about it. While still half-sleeping you press the wrong button and, yeah, good night again!
But there is something that might help you:
It appears absolutely horrible to me but I think these alarm clocks fulfill their tasks =)
But there is something that might help you:
It appears absolutely horrible to me but I think these alarm clocks fulfill their tasks =)
Iowa Caucuses
I had never heard of these caucuses before and I am still not entirely sure why they are doing that. Why don't they just go a certain place and hand in their ballot? I guess the most important argument is that people come out, are motivated to discuss politically and try to convince others of their opinions.
Watch this video in order to get an impression of the caucuses:
But on the other hand, doesn't public voting easily lead to peer pressure and the fact that neighbours or friends basically fight against each other? They try to convince each other and I can imagine some friendships being broken by unprofessionally led conversations?
As well as that, people who haven't got that much free time might not want to spend their time discussing politics. Many people will not go to the caucuses and that then is not really democratic, is it?
But to stay fair, if you really want to vote you will be able to sacrifice some time!
Well, I guess the Americans know why they have installed such thing like the caucuses and will have their reasons for that. You always have pros and cons and the pros probably couunt more in this case. I myself find it a very interesting way of voting and would actually love to be part of a caucus if we had one in Germany!
Watch this video in order to get an impression of the caucuses:
But on the other hand, doesn't public voting easily lead to peer pressure and the fact that neighbours or friends basically fight against each other? They try to convince each other and I can imagine some friendships being broken by unprofessionally led conversations?
As well as that, people who haven't got that much free time might not want to spend their time discussing politics. Many people will not go to the caucuses and that then is not really democratic, is it?
But to stay fair, if you really want to vote you will be able to sacrifice some time!
Well, I guess the Americans know why they have installed such thing like the caucuses and will have their reasons for that. You always have pros and cons and the pros probably couunt more in this case. I myself find it a very interesting way of voting and would actually love to be part of a caucus if we had one in Germany!
Moment of Zen 16.06.09
I have recently been wondering why no other party has a serious chance to get nearly as many votes as the Democrates or the Republicans. Isn't that a shame and don't get many ideas or new points of view get lost through this "the-winner-takes-it-all-principle", namely that just the candidates who got most of the votes move on to the next step whereas all the votes for other canditates are just deleted? On the other hand you just argue that other parties won't have a chance anyway since the Republicans and the Democrates have by now completely established themselves...
Found this:
Found this:
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