Oblivion
It’s 6.52 a.m. on a Sunday.
Is anyone still reading this?
Category: Uncategorized
How to: Add a gif
*For dummies: A gif is a moving image file.
Before this, make sure you have your gif file saved locally on your machine.
Some important notes:
- Make sure the dimensions of your gif file are not altered. If the gif file is scaled, it will be uploaded, but it will not be displayed as an animated gif file on your blog/website, but instead, it will be a still image.
- Make sure your blog template dimensions fit the dimensions of the gif file that you are going to upload. Lets say your blog’s width is 740, 500 would be a safe dimension for your gif. Otherwise, your gif will not work.
1) Under your post, select Add Media.
2) Once you have uploaded your gif file, select it and click Insert to Post.
3) There you have it.
4) If still unsure, here is a video tutorial.
Citizen Journalism: The Power of Us
“When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that’s citizen journalism.” – Jay Rosen
Jay Rosen is a media critic, a writer, and a professor of journalism at New York University. He is one of the earliest advocates and supporters of citizen journalism.
A clear example of citizen journalism is the coverage of the Arab Springs. According to Global Voices, an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media around the world, founded by J. Nathan Matias, the number of tweets in relation to the protests, riots, and events that happened in Egypt over the years had a massive spike each time. In January 2011, the Egyptian government blocked the use of Internet in response to the demonstrators’ use of social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter to organize mass rallies. This not only cut off the communication among ordinary Egyptians, but also blocked the world’s coverage of the events that are happening within. John Scott-Railton, a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, was the one who set out to gather updates from different neighborhoods and posting them on his Twitter account, @Jan25voices, named for the day the protests began. Over the 24 hour discourse of Internet blackout, he used landlines as an alternative for information gathering. He, is one of a host of bloggers and tweeters that are in many cases, doing as much as professional journalists to deliver news that the Egyptian government struggled to contain.
According to The Uptake, an online non-profit news organization that began with a few simple ideas: the media should find and tell the truth without fear or favor; that citizens have the tools to report and explain events without relying on news controlled by large corporations; and that it is the duty of citizens to hold power accountable and to make government transparent to the governed.
The digital evolution of media platforms has driven the people to participate in news reporting in some way or another. Widening the viewpoint from traditional media gatekeepers to the person on the street has revolutionized information access, flow and interpretation. It is all because of citizen journalism, where some major events are covered thoroughly by the people. Social media, independent reporters, and technological innovation holds the power to the upbringing of a world of journalism that is free to all – without a veil of deception, without sugarcoated news, and without manipulation.
For further extensive reading, read The Rhythms of News Storytelling on Twitter: Coverage of the January 25th Egyptian uprising on Twitter and Watching from Afar: Media Consumption Patterns Around the Arab Spring
Also read, Meg’s post.
Network Media: The What and Why
I think that blogs are one of the most prominent platforms for content sharing, personally or professionally. I have been doing readings, analyzing and making blog posts about them, but it only just occurred to me, why am I doing it?
My usual self would be just to make sure that I don’t fail the course and end up taking it all over again (part of me still does), but now I realize I am actually distributing and contributing information to a huge network in which is, if not, known to all, the Internet. I mean, if it weren’t for network media, the general information sharing process would be still so far behind.
Here is a general definition of Networked Media:
“Networked Media is considered content which is created, distributed and used on mobile devices or networked computers, predominantly via the Internet and wireless services. It is distinguished from traditional one-to-one telecommunications, and from one-to-many broadcast networks, by being a global array of publicly accessible many-to-many networks which enables participation and contribution of content.” – National Film and Sound Archive
Network Media advances on par with technology. In an epoch of increasingly rapid innovation, network media is becoming more essential to life as it may seem. This may be too much of a generalization but I personally do not consider a research ‘extensive’ if I am to rely purely on printed media. It is undeniable that the mere existence of networked media has, in some way, allowed greater dogmatic and collective discussion and, in broad terms, the improvement of life. It is considered as more of a practice for the users as they receive constructive criticism on their work, which I think is also one of the many reasons why this course has implemented blogging as the main platform for information sharing and dissemination.
It is kind of early in the course to write about a post about the course itself, I think that this post acts as a checkpoint as to what I’ve learnt so far.
Here is a video that further explains network media: