Internet (J1-2)

The internet! What a wonderful inanimate object that we have today. You know it's birthday was on the 29th of October, born in 1969. Anyway about internet itself. First can I say it changed society and the way of life for most people in the world. It definitely has changed my life, growing up with all this fancy technology. It grew so fast once released though. Almost instantaneously if you would like. What really caught my mind was that because it did spread so fast, that universities were among the first to have computers with internet access. Or at least trying to have access. Why wouldn't the rich people try to get one for themselves. It probably would've been pointless and the wealthy were probably the ones funding the scholars, but I just wanted to ask and find out. Something else too. How all media is now on the Internet and is effected by it. Because anyone can create their own profiles on about any website, then the world as we know it really isn't private at all and you are being watched almost constantly. At least that's what I get from it, because what you post is out there and you can't just delete it off the www with a click of a button. I guess it has to be whatever though. This was a very interesting lecture and the most I've probably learned about the Internet in my life, so kudos to Mr. Miller.

WDRB Local News (J1-2)

WDRB is the news station that I have been watching recently. They do a fine job at covering many stories in almost all categories. The stories just don't have enough detail in them; each episode averaging an 18 stories each having an elapsed time of 30-45 seconds long. Compared to newspapers, where you have full stories in great detail, WDRB pretty much just uses the headline of each story and about two sentences for coverage. Also with a newspaper you can re-read something if you don't understand it, and with most news stations because their stories are in depth more, you can tune out some parts and still know what the story is about. WDRB doesn't do that or let it happen.

Television (J1-2)

Here we go with T.V. You know this is why radio was demassified. I thought that was interesting; it was inevitable but interesting. I was invented in 1927 and I bet that's something not a lot of people know. Then color T.V. was released in 1946. This lead to more people buying and watching television. In 1948 one million television sets were in the United States. By 1959, just ten years later, there were 50 million television sets. Want to know why this is so great yet disappointing? It's because you obviously could still get news very fast rather than hearing it through the grapevine, by word of mouth. You could also see who was talking; who was reporting the news. But T.V. had kept us inside for longer periods of time rather than getting out into the world to social events. Not going to church every Sunday because it was on T.V., or not going to a concert because you could just as easily stay at home and watch it on T.V.
This makes me almost disgusted about our society today because it has changed and shaped so many aspects of culture and everyday lives of all these innocent people. Just like on the news, it's depressing to hear all this crime. It would still be happening but you wouldn't have to worry about missing the news if T.V. hadn't exploited all of its uses and took them for granted. I agree that, yes, I love T.V. as much as the next person but if we would've invented it later or never had it in the first place, how would our society be today? Can you believe the difference it probably would take?

Movies (J1-2)

Movies, movies, movies. I like them. Honestly I'm one of those people who hate going to the theater. But that's just me. When we had discussed movies though it was pretty cool. Movies can relate to newspapers. They aren't the most popular things to read or watch but people still do read and watch them. I like how they can relate by the genre diversity. Both have that. Also for the movie theaters, they are an immersive experience. Rather than seeing then at home on your small TV screen probably without surround sound, you can go to the theater and see a new movie first before or with your friends on a huge screen, in comfy chairs, and with surround sound that has bass like no other. This is interesting because people pay $9 a ticket for things like this. I mean it can be worth your while but I wouldn't do it. People obviously like it though. The movies is also a social experience which is nice because you can catch up with your friends over a movie before, during, and after. It's a nice experience I agree. And learning about how moves came about and are still popular is quite something.

The Invention of Radio (J1-2)

The invention of radio was something out of this world. It was the first live medium of mass communication. This meant that you no longer had to go see someone or something live in person to hear it live. Also since if it was playing on the radio it meant that the segment was being recorded. If it was recorded you could skip the first live broadcast and just listen to it another day. That changed the world as we knew it.
Radio meant that we could finally listen to more than one thing at once. If you could afford more than one radio the whole family didn't have to gather around the one in the living room or what not. This was amazing and made the creators of the many different kinds of radios money.
Mr. Miller did a very nice job explaining what radio did for individuals world. They made life better and implied that our world was growing in technology. Soon enough T.V. would come along.
Radio also let people get breaking news instantly rather than through the grapevine. Through the grapevine news was usually passed on slowly and changed with however many people it was passed on to. But with radio it wasn't changed and it was recorded so someone could go find the recording and play it back.