New Media Studies Autoblog, Summer 07

8 democratic candidates face a new kind of questioning with queries straight from america’s living rooms

—CNN

This has been a defining moment in political and New Media history, and I’m glad I could experience it in an academic environment. CNN and YouTube held a two hour debate on television for the Democratic presidential primary candidates. For the first time, webcam wielding citizens have been able to publicly question politicians on television.
What this at first means, of course, is that American citizens have gained a new political power through the Internet. Given weeks of preparation, citizens had time to organize and refine their questions, and practice and edit their questions. Not only is this is especially important for the less communicatively savvy citizens who have less of a voice in politics, it gives citizens an edge in the debates by thinking through exactly what they want to say while the candidates […]

Original post by humanisticmystic

**I do realize that ‘Curriculartornessly’ is not a real word.  I was just trying to add some pizzazz to my blog title to grab your attention ok?!?!**
Let us delve into the concept of curriculum, shall we?  The word curriculum has its etymological roots in Latin words related to “course” and “career” (apparently).  This gives me the outstanding visual of a track (like the kind you run on) where there are lanes that you stick to in order to finish the race.  These lanes or “tracks” can in turn, help you towards a career you are interested in for the future.
What would it be like to learn without curriculum (or rather an open curriculum = no requirements).  Would there be chaos and disorder without structure of curriculum?  Do people NEED the type of guided direction that a curriculum provides?  I personally am not fond of running at all, and therefore avoid […]

Original post by Peanut!

“8 Democratic candidates face a new kind of questioning”
Tonight at 7:00pm Democratic candidates engaged in a “new” form of interaction with voters. Users were invited to submit questions via home-made YouTube videos for the candidates, and both the chosen questions and responses were shown on CNN for two hours.
–
Is it truly a “new form of questioning”?
While watching this debate, I had the thought that’s it’s almost a reverse kind of fireside chat. The phrase “from your living rooms” was used multiple times, obviously to emphasize the idea that these questions were coming straight from real Americans in their homes. It’s interesting that Roosevelt used radio to reach out to Americans between 1933 and 1944, and now that kind of connection between politicians and voters is being reversed, with YouTube users interacting with candidates on national television. But that still doesn’t answer the main question– is this a new type of […]

Original post by arynna

The idea of the general public being able to ask presidential candidates questions  seems like a great idea, the only problem is there were more questions sent in than answered. So who decided what questions were asked? If you ask me, I think they should have let the general public that “plays” on YouTube decide.  That way the questions that the majority of the population was concerned about would be asked, instead of random questions like, “When will African Americans be given reparations for slavery?”  I don’t see how that has anything to do with our present government, I might be able to see it as a reasonable question if we were living in a time when people that had actually been slaves were still living, but they aren’t!  And when a twenty-something “thug” is asking this question, it makes me wonder why?! You hear lots of rap music talking […]

Original post by Amanda

Tonight we watched the CNN/YouTube democratic debate.  I thought it was a great way for major issues to be addressed on a more personal level.  A problem with that type of questioning is that while the people who submitted questions had time to prepare their questions and videos, the candidates did not have that same time to formulate their answers  (although I am sure they spent much time preparing answers to possible questions).  However, I think that one of the points of the debate is for the candidates to show that they are able to think quickly and come up with satisfactory answers under pressure while presenting themselves as a proficient public speaker, since public speaking is a necessary component of the presidential job description.  I feel that sending in questions via YouTube is an eye-opener for people who have not before considered how much the internet is an important […]

Original post by Ashley

My friend sent me this – I thought it was funny
“Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I’ve got a few missing. It’s ok though, because I’ve got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the 8-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean there are so many different colors of life, of feeling, of articulation.. so when I meet someone who’s an 8-color type.. I’m like, “hey girl, magenta!” and she’s like, “oh, you mean purple!” and she goes off on her purple thing, and I’m like, “no – I want magenta!”

Original post by Ashley

Curriculum based education was a hot topic Thursday night. Should schools adhere to a curriculum or should they turn laissez-faire and let the students frolic? I have some personal insights to throw out. But first let’s whip out the dictionary. There are two etymological roots for “curriculum” listed at dictionary.com:

Origin: 1625–35; < L: action of running, course of action, race, chariot, equiv. to curr(ere) to run + -i- -i- + -culum -cule2
Latin, course, from currere, to run; see current

Our two common denominators here are “course” and “running” as in a track course that one would run on. Reconnect this with curriculum based education. Should we systematically train students on a track course or should we let them run free on the open terrain? If the conceit of running to learning is accurate, let the student run in every way. Train it on the track and follow it through the […]

Original post by humanisticmystic

For the Democratic presidential debate on Monday night, the candidates will be asked questions sent in via YouTube. The Republican candidates will also participate in the same CNN-YouTube debate on September 17. I think this is a really interesting idea – anyone can film themselves asking a question, send it in, and have the chance to see their issues brought up in this important debate. I think it is great that the people who have valid questions and issues for the candidates to answer can submit them in such a personal way. The article points out that it will make the debates more personal to the public than the journalists can. The only problems brought up is that since YouTube content is completely user generated, it might not be right to have an editor decide what is a good or bad question. Some […]

Original post by Ashley

I’ve been keeping my eye for the past few weeks on the new Facebook polls. They have been interesting at best, and utterly ridiculous at worst. However, the latest one was a little different:
“Who do you look up to the most?” (CHOICES: Politicians, athletes, businesspeople, artists, or scientists)

I think part of what makes it interesting is how abstract the question is in relation to former questions. (i.e. “boxers or briefs?” “Is global warming a concern?” “What’s your favorite burger joint?”) What do they mean by “look up to”? Admiration? Respect? Most valuable to society? Most interesting? Closest to matching personal goals? Stereotypical, desirable personality traits associated with each career path? Successfulness? (As measured in happiness or monetary gain?)
Has this abstraction of query affected the results of the poll? Let’s take a look at the responses.

Ok. So at first glance it appears that–on average–Facebook users look up to artists the most, […]

Original post by arynna