GateJumpers sucked back into the Matrix?

Journalism and the effects of free labor- Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalism is a rising commodity. It’s starting to become a growing area for big news companies that could probably turn into a paid position for random stories. Right now these news corporations are setting up small networks of people that will report the news for them. It is in some ways much cheaper for news stations to use these citizens for their own personal use but it also gets the news much quicker. It can give the people a voice that the people can hear. I really see this as being beneficial, especially in the future. It’s a way that we can be heard and feel accomplished without having any connections to such a network.

Gen Y?

Yes it’s a Generation Y thing definitely. Blogging, writing, reading others work, is all examples of Generation Y. We eat and breathe this stuff so why not let us write as a network reporter. We are already out in the field wherever we are at all times of the day. It is all possible with the use of our cell phone, mobile devices, small cameras, etc. We have already beat them to the story, so bringing us in and making us feel important is the most influential thing they can do to appeal to our evolved needs. I’m blown away at the technology advancements even since I was let’s say 4. With all these new communication devices, news writers will become obsolete and will become a free press; a peoples press controlled by the media of course. As a matter of fact, MSN has posted a web link to post up your own ideas under their controlled questionnaire. This website is just a taste of what’s to come in the next few years. President Obama has shown of Generation Y in his ways of running for office. This is just one leader who has shown that using all available technology to accomplish a goal can and will work. Growing with the times, we all will become journalists. There are two ways this can go though. We can conform and help inform the world of any problems we are facing by our own media literacy, or we cannot do anything, where we don’t utilize our minds and our own voices to tell of any overlooked news that should be sent out for some kind of action to be done.

New Media?

New Media in my words is using what avenues that are put in front of us and utilizing them. Here’s my vocabulary word of the day-for Jill of course. It is of course gatejumpers. No, you won’t find it in any encyclopedia or dictionary, but a wonderful word at that. The way this works is that we find ways around the regular media to get our point across to listeners. This is our side projects to inform about what we want to inform about. Large networks possess biased information, but we as gatejumpers can put our own information in blogs and other methods of that sort and inform about what we think is important. The media has figured this out and is now making a path for us to gatejump into their media. It’s putting a stop on our gatejumping because we of course would rather get our point across on a major network than put all the time and energy into our own blogs, which might not get noticed at that. By putting the spotlight on us to be big time, they – the media- is putting us back into the system, much like the movie the Matrix.

Message or Massage?

Marshall McLuhan, a famous man of Toronto Canada, was named a media guru of his time. Marshall envisioned our society as people who would someday end up merging the media world of seeing and hearing together as well as being able to tie together the human race through electronic media. The only thing that this would imply was that he envisioned the World Wide Web before it was ever even invented. Where did this guy come from and how could he have envisioned something so far beyond its time, especially after steam engines were still a thing of the present in his own time period. I’m very confused to think that he could have foretold such a future. Is he a Divinci of our time? Marshall was alive from 1911-1980 which would have given him a glimpse at his dreams becoming a reality. The curious thing that he envisioned was that he wanted this electronic media to help the human race to become closer to God. Later in his life he took back this want and need to become at a greater divinity level and called this future electronic media the anti-Christ.

Medium is the Massage?

He ended up writing a book. He named it Medium is the Massage. The funny thing is, is that in print his book ended up becoming Medium is the Message. This screw up was the perfect title. It was one that he thought fit the book in entirety. He originally liked the first title for the fact that it shaped human interaction like a hand on a pommel of a saddle, but all great minds must be open to all types of new ideas.

CBS Interview in 1977






Marshall studied the effects of the media and major social figures. He exclaimed that to capture people’s attention with electronic media of today’s standards, you must have charisma. It was funny because he was kind of making fun of former world leaders, saying that they wouldn’t have last a month on television because of how “hot they tend to be”. They represented themselves and not everyone else. They had their own image. Marshall told of Adolf Hitler, because of his hot headedness to being his own person. On television you must look like everyone else otherwise there is no connection to the audience. On television you want to be able to be similar to those who you are speaking to. This was information that came from Marshall’s interview on CBS in 1977, remembering he only lived to 1980, sadly.

This man was a hoot. He was so smart in the fact that he learned from watching and observing what was out there. He specialized in the media, but doesn’t the medium involve everything around us? It really is a direct line from informer to the informed. There might be more than one medium, but it all comes down to the fact that media is everything we are exposed to. Marshall has made it a point to tell us that in order for us to want to accept what is transmitted to our brain, the informer must be of some kind of person that illustrates our self. Confusing as it may sound I would definitely look into this topic more, for the fact that Marshall has only opened a can of worms, and media is a never ending constantly changing thing that is us and can only become more of our lives. We need to be able to change with it and know that there are no boundaries and that we cannot be closed minded about any of this ever. I really enjoyed listening to his thoughts and ideas on this matter of how the electronic media is ever changing, and I hope you appreciate it too.

PepSuber...Generation Y doesn't know...

PepSuber.... Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi

Pepsi as well as many other companies need to rethink marketing strategies!!

MacGuyver spoof has turned into a major Pepsi ad campaign. It’s called MacGruber and it is probably one of the biggest sketches that the new SNL has to offer since Sarah Palin is now out of the loop, at least until 2012. SNL has become not at all like it used to be. It saddens me because I actually remember seeing some of the best sketches ever on that show when I was growing up. It’s like funniness has fizzled from our culture. Everything is so serious and political anymore that supposedly funny shows have become stupid. Pepsi thought that if they spent the time and money to include their product into something everyone would know about they would come out on top. The problem is, is that, and I believe I’m speaking for a large percentage of people, that nobody really watches SNL anymore. SNL was formed on the fact of Funny, and well I can’t understand most of what is portrayed on there anyways.

Spinoff Sucks!!

MacGruber is a spinoff of MacGuyver in the way that there is a man that knows how to disarm bombs with normal everyday items such as paper clips and gum wrappers. The funny part is that he is too busy selling the Pepsi logo that he doesn’t disarm the bomb in time and ends up killing all 3 of his friends. The article I found indicated that the economy is suffering and that these ads are of desperation. They are indeed trying everything to stay out of the gutter, including making these ridiculous ads that no one really cares about. R&D department needs to hire some new faces with new ideas. The super bowl had more terrible commercials this year than any other year ever.

Great Show Defamed!!

MacGuyver was one of my favorite shows growing up. Defaming something that Generation Y doesn’t really know much about doesn’t really make much sense. I can say this because I’m right on the border line from my age. Generation Y was playing and watching Power Rangers when the real show aired. My advice to advertising companies is to refigure your approach on selling to today’s customers. Make advertising campaigns geared more at Generation Y and not Generation X. This article is more important than people make it. It is only one example of how desperate these big companies are and what kind of steps they are not taking. No advertising is better than this advertising.

Freedom of the Press

Thomas Jefferson said, “A Free Press, which leads to an informed populace, is essential to liberty.”

I Like this phrase a lot. There is in fact a lot that can be said from what Thomas Jefferson said from multitudes of speeches that he made, but this one draws right to the point. You see our country was erected on the basis that our rights would always be there as long as our country was still here. Along with the rights comes ways to exercise these rights. Informing the public of all that is going on in our nation’s capital and anywhere else in the country is imperative to the keeping of such a right. If you don’t use your rights and gifts, should you lose them? A free press was invented to be almost a 4^th wing of government. It acts as a balance in the other 3 real branches of government. It’s almost like it’s the people’s voice and a known way to make sure that there are checks and balances in the line of leadership. Since we as citizens aren’t allowed to go many places to actually put in our input, our friends in the private media fill in as a median between knowledge of what is actually going on, and a way for the truth to be known. We would be more like, let’s say China if we really didn’t have any voice in our government than would be more or less communist, wouldn’t we? The Bill of Rights gives us liberties to be happy and live in a free land. We can disagree with what has been told to us. Our government doesn’t control our lives, but is instead more of a guidance for her citizens.

Government trying to control Freedoms

The forefathers set up our great Declaration of Independence for the reason of independence from a country of monarchy and to start in to a new frontier of being able to live in a place where you could work off the land for yourself and to be happy. Our country is unlike anything in the whole world. We are nothing like let’s say a communist country. Our nation doesn’t control our media, but it does have censorship laws. Other countries in this world have no say in the matters that involve their citizens and have to deal with what is being told to them. We get the opportunity to picket outside of the white house, but in another country the people work for the government. Our people are the government. We are the pursuit of happiness and control the future we have for ourselves.

Free Press helps keep all of our liberties in order and will always provide private non-government owned voice and ears for the great people in this country. It also provides a way for our ears to hear what our government wants to say to us. A free press is in the form of pretty much anything media. Cds, Dvds, news papers, tv, and pretty much anything else in the media that provides a voice for us should always be in our hands. It’s our voice and like I said earlier, if ya don’t use your freedoms, then maybe you don’t really deserve having them.

Cool site explaining freedom of the press

Where's Aldo?

Where’s Aldo? First i just want to say thanks for letting me interview you Aldo.

I decided to interview Aldo Sidartawan for my international project. I think everyone knows who he is and to tell you the truth, he speaks such good English that I had no idea he was from another country until he told me so. I was really getting into the questions about his native country of Indonesia. I guess curiosity really caught the best of me, because when I was done interviewing him my page of notes was completely filled up. Aldo explained to me about media and its effects on his society. I started by asking him about who actually controlled the media. I am kind of brainless when it comes to knowing much about a lot of international affairs, I have to admit, but I do sponge up everything that I get exposed to. This is why I was so surprised to hear some of his answers to my, ”to the point” questions. As far as ownership of the media, the difference is that the government of Indonesia controls everything that is sent out to its audience. This means that they censor everything. Cuss words for the most part are blanked out as well as any words or actions against their country. Pride of the Indonesian government is very high. The interesting fact is that they are not communist like China and other Asian countries close by. I believe the fact of censorship comes primarily from knowing that Indonesia is 80% Muslim. Muslims tend to have high morals for their lives which rub off on a all powerful government. Like I said before, their government controls everything that is shipped out to the audience, from music to movies, magazines, News, television, newspapers, and so much more that you can imagine. They have the last word. They are what we call the Gatekeepers. In America we can bypass the gatekeepers, but in Indonesia this is against the law.

I was also curious about what kind of music and video games that were available over there. Aldo responded that pretty much everything that is available here is also available there in not more. He also said that Asia is so close to them that they have all the up and coming cool gadgets that most Americans don’t even know about. They are very techno-savvy I guess you could say. Their phones are only one example, but a prime one as they are so much more complex than what we consider complex. Our Iphone is probably not even close to how cool an Asian phone might be. One wild fact that he wanted me to know was that GPS is not a workable technology there. Who would have known that such a high-tech society wouldn’t have what we Americans cannot live without.

One last point Aldo definitely wanted to make was that in his country there are no age limits on smoking, drinking and other ideas like that. The media actually encourages and advertises for young people to start early. Corruption in the country has been high. “Money controls the government and the government controls the media”. It’s a circle that keeps the rich happy and in power, as well as power over all that the rich can get their hands on. Indonesian Media site

Indonesia has all the amenities that we Americans also have. They have the same music, just put into other words, as well as movies being similar. Aldo showed me a clip from what he considered being a scary Indonesian horror movie. Dennyshotspot.com

I really enjoyed this assignment because it opened my eyes up to a new culture. It was very informative and its really cool to find out first hand about another country instead of just reading about it in a censored news article.

The Millennials

Generation Y? I’m 26 years old and was born in 1982. This question intrigued me because I had no idea and probably still not totally for sure. The interesting thing is that I fall on the edge of being considered part of generation x and generation y. I was compelled to find out what I was actually considered as with this cool little quiz. Real basic and to the point while grading on a point system, this unique little quiz is tailored to up and coming everyday habits of today’s world.

I ended up with a score of 14, where a score of 12 and up is considered someone of generation y. According to that I guess that puts me right on the border. They are simple questions, but kind of give me a sense of what I probably am. I can see myself as someone that is more up and coming than my parents for instance, but I still like some of the old school ways.

Texting Too Much

Texting is only one example. I have texted plenty of times, but the whole idea of it seems kind of stupid some of the times. I rather just talk to a person than spend countless hours of wearing my hands out. I think our culture is losing the ability to properly communicate with each other. I do see how it can be useful sometimes when a quick message is all that was needed though. I love sharing my thoughts to an open audience though as well as using all available technology to help me with that.

Facebook, blogging, and Myspace are all ways to do this easier as well as being able to share my pictures with all my friends as well as some of the stupid videos I’ve made. I can really see myself as someone who depends on technology. I do more on computers now than I could have ever imagined when I was young on my IBM with a 386 processor. My advice to older folks is probably the obvious. You have got to change with the times or you’ll get nowhere fast. It’s kind of sad if you think about it because even I have trouble figuring out a lot of new technology. I can only imagine how my grandparents are probably feeling about figuring all this new stuff out. When I was young my grandma was a secretary.

She used the good ol typewriter as her writing device as well as the post office for sending anything out she needed. The email ways are not easy for her so she just chooses not to embrace them. I guess it’s hard for me to just understand why she doesn’t just learn this new thing. I suppose that the best thing I could do is to walk older people through the steps of learning. Communication to younger people by our elders is limited with our generation y boundaries that we have put up.

In order for us to wonder why our elders are naïve, then we need to get out of our own naïve ways of thinking that there is only one way to get the job done- the newest technology. Our parents didn’t rely on everything we rely on, but to prosper we need to break out of our skins and make sure everyone is caught up with the times, so we can rely on our children to help Generation Y to cope with tomorrow.

Old People VS. Technology