On Friday, May 8, 2009 more than 7,100 students graduated from the University of Utah. I was one of them... with degrees in Electronic Journalism and International Studies along with minors in French and German.
Acclaimed author David McCullough, author of Truman, John Adams and 1776 addressed the recent grads with a speech that made comparisons between recent grads and the Brooklyn Bridge.
It seemed like an odd way to start a speech, but with his understanding of history he was able to weave a compelling speech. Even more compelling for me, a native New Yorker who has walked the Brooklyn Bridge and who is moving back to his hometown after ten years.
In 1869, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began. It would become the first, man-made wonder streams of immigrants would see upon their arrival to America--many of them bound for Utah. It was a difficult task that took 14 years, but the Brooklyn Bridge now stands as a constant witness of hard work and endurance.
"[The Brooklyn Bridge was] like the ancient cathedrals of Europe, in that, rising above all else within sight, it was intended, as said, to stand as a testament to the aspirations of the civilization that built it."
Something to think about in these difficult times: "Had the American dream been handed to us all in tidy order, all done up with everything set to operate perfectly in perpetuity, we would hardly be the people we are."
McCullough talked about building legacies that will last, to leave the world a better place, to contribute to our nation and leave a positive mark on history.
"What will you build, you of the new generation upon whom so many high hopes are riding? How will history regard you in years to come, you who are part of this over-ripe, shadowed, uncertain time which has understandably given rise to so many grave forebodings about the future? Will you take what you have learned here as inspiration to still greater learning? Will you make your lives count?"
"History can be a great source of inspiration."
A brilliant student also gave an impressive and inspiring speech.
The convocation ceremony, was fun and local television personality Big Buddha graduated! He is now a University of Utah graduate.
Mash-ups are fun to watch and they are all over the Internet, especially on YouTube. According to Wikipedia a video mashup is "a combination of mulitple sourcees of video--which usually have no relevance with each other." They're fun to watch because it combines random elements to create something that is usually hilarious. Sometimes it's as simple as taking different words to make a funny sentence. There is a popular Obama mash-up all over the Internet that was quite popular during the election, but that continues to be watched. It's a mash-up combining different Obama speeches to sing the lyrics to Kanye West's "Stronger." It's an interesting parody that has had more that has been viewed almost 250,00 times. (There are some expletives... bleeped it... but not very well.) This type of online creation engages constituents in an entirely new way that is only possible in today's electronic world. The song presents a then presidential candidate in a way that is nothing but orthodox.
I'm also reminded about the "McCain Girls." It's widely known that Obama had an "Obama Girl" who was a young woman who created videos swooning over Obama. The "McCain Girls" made a video where they sang "It's Raining Men" to new lyrics. They used their creativity to make their support of McCain widely known.
It raises the question. Are these zany methods more effective than traditional methods of campaigning for the individual. The masses can do great things, but sometimes as individuals we feel we can't make a great contribution. Is it possible that creating "viral videos" such as these ones we can support our candidates and our ideas in a more effective ways.
"It's Raining McCain" video has more than TWO MILLION VIEWS!
Twitter... Twitter... Twitter! It's even more in the media than the last time I wrote a blog post about it. I think it's a fascinating phenomenon to be honest and have two blog entries about it. Just a few days ago, Ashton Kutcher realized that he almost had as many Twitter followers as CNN Breaking News! Kutcher, @aplusk, had more trhan 800,000 followers and was trailing CNN by thousands of followers. He decided that it was pretty awesome he was the 3rd most followed on Twitter, after CNN and Britney Spears, and so he came up with a challenge! Ashton asked his fans and the world wide web to follow him on Twitter so that he could reach 1,000,000 followers before CNN did. No one had that many followers. He posted a video on the Internet and made it clear he was serious about it. CNN was quick to respond with CNN's Rick Sanchez addressing the challenge mocking Kutcher's notion and Larry King making a funny video telling Kutcher not to feel bad, but there was no way one man could stand up to a "gorge network." Well, the man, albeit a famous one prevailed! The news has been all a twitter the last couple of days and Asthon Kitcher and P. Diddy (Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, etc.), an other avid twitterer, appeared on Larry King Live to talk about the shift. There has been a shift! How great? I don't know, but there has been a shift. Traditional media is important, very important, but the times are changing and some people, many people want to also get Ashton Kutcher's insights and muses on life and the news. Granted, he's not a trained journalist, but most people realize that... they just want fresh perspectives. There has been so much talk about twitter later that the queen of talk, Oprah Winfrey, decided to jump aboard with her own account, @oprah. Already, she has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, with more than 35,000 in the first day. This will impact the way many people get their news. People and with the way trends works, and more people will follow the early adopters,twitter will become a more important social networking site and source of information. People will get news updates on their smart phones and get snippets of information that will shape their view of the news. They will not only get news bulletins from news organizations, but opinion and reaction to the news from celebrities, opinion columnists, bloggers and their own friends. It's a true shift... it begins a conversation. There is a danger in this though and that's what the next blog post will address. What say you? Is this really a shift? Or am I giving Ashton Kutcher to much credit for his shtick? He did say he would donate 10,000 nets to prevent malaria in Africa--that's a good thing either way!
President Barack Obama has become the poster boy for the town hall both online and off, but it's interesting if we look back months before the November election Sen. John McCain challenged Pres. Obama to 10 town halls. Pres. Obama declined to holding so many town hall meetings. Well, now that's in the past and Pres. Obama has traveled back and forth all over the country and recently holding a town hall overseas during his European tour. Most importantly, he recently held an online press conference where everyday Americans could send in questions for him to answer. The event was a historic first and perhaps one of the most talked about questions was one centered on the legalization of marijuana, to which Pres. Obama answered with a resounding "no." This love affair with new, web 2.0 interactions is not new to his presidenccy, but was already commonplace during the election with the web sites the Obama campaign, as previously stated, but also with events such as the CNN YouTube debates where candidates, both Republican and Democrat participated. The event took the ability of candidates to communicate for free with the American public and reversed it. Americans were then able to ask their questions to the different candidates and have them played during the debate. Some criticized this event as trivializing the importance of a presidential debate while others saw it as the natural move forward from FDR's fireside radio chats and the JFK/Nixon presidential debates, the first televised presidential debate. Whether some believe the YouTube debates were democratizing or trivializing is beside the point. Events like the two YouTube debates paved the way for events such as the recent Obama online Press Conference. Thousands of people send in their videos and in the end only half a dozen or so are answered, and how they are selected is subject for an entirely different blog post, but it truly is change from things as usual, from the status quo. It is my humble opinion that any venue that can make the people participate more in this participatory democracy is advantageous. Videos can even become viral ads that with little money can reach many people and influence opinion. There may be glitches with them, but they are ways that bring many more people, providing they have access to technology, closer to power. It can be a new forum for keeping our leaders accountable.
A word I've heard often in the last year or so... Rick Sanchez and Don Lemon both "twitter" on their CNN newscasts. Celebrities have been twittering for a while also letting the whole world now about all the minutiae in their lives. It's even said that Jennifer Aniston became annoyed with boyfriend's John Mayer's Twitter"addiction
Well, after hearing so much about Twitter and the media and from tech-savvy friends I decided to jump aboard a few months ago.
It's an interesting proposition... think text message meets blog... you got 140 characters to share an idea and express to all your followers... aka Twitter friends who sign up to read all your updates.
At the moment friends who have Twitter are following me as are an interesting array of people in the U.S. and around the world who I do not know, but am "getting to know" maybe.
Some say Twitter has reached its peak, jumped the shark while other say the Twitter Revolution is very beginning. I tend to agree with the latter.
On my Blackberry, thanks to Twitterberry, I get to read all my friends updates. But I only get to follow my real-life friends, but journalists, bloggers and news organizations. I get updates from them giving me fascinating links or updating me on the latest story. It's like I'm in a newsroom with the AP wire going crazy, but in a whole new way.
That's why I say this is a revolution. You can receive media in a whole new way and that's exactly what living the "eLife" is all about! I look at my phone and know what just happened in places that are important to me... say CNN for world news, Salt Lake Tribune for Utah News, New York Times, for my "hometown's" news... big hometown i know... Le Monde, for French news (J'aime la France) or Colombia's El Tiempo, to know what's happening where my grandparents live. I get links and then I can retweet them... RT... basically I can share what I got from one of my friends with my followers. I can also interact with them and they can read what I have to say on the subject. If they're real-life friends they'll read it and if they have thousands of followers they might not get to read it, but then again they might.
On CNN for example, during Sanchez's and Lemon's show many of the Twitter comments are actually read on the air!
It's changing news media in an incredible way where there is much more transparency and interaction.
It's fascinating and it's another example of social determinism. For those who choose to follow this new form of media and social networking they can be on top of things and be informed. It's using the internet and new technologies to our advantage.
Since originally writing this media giants like Larry King and Oprah Winfrey have joined Twitter. Ms. Winfrey garnered more than 300,000 followers within a week.
I recently had a test in my communication class where I explored how new media is affecting our participatory democracy. We looked at many different theorists and their philosophies on new media and I most agreed with Henry Jenkin's concept of "social determinism."
Jenkins writes, "the emergence of new media technologies supports a democratic urge to allow more people to create and circulate the media."
To me it's the most democratic way of looking at new media and it immediately brings COLOMBIA to mind.
Basically, we as people control how technology advances and we use it to our own advantage. I don't feel we can or should let technology manipulate us. Internet and technology can be a force for good if used properly as was the case in Colombia.
Colombians marched to show their repudiation of the FARC. According to RCN News, 95 percent of Colombians are against the guerrilla group and their use of kidnappings and bombings to yield power away from the Colombian government.
Literally millions of Colombians marched in something that was completely remarkable on February 4th, 2008 and later on July 20th, 2008, Colombia's Independence Day. This event was then finally repeated again toward the end of 2008.
Colombians marched with banners reading "no more kidnappings, no more lies, no more killings, no more FARC" and on July 20th they marched with the banner "Colombia Soy Yo" or "Colombia Am I."
One woman in Medellin, Colombia's second-largest city, holds a sign that reads "There are 3,200 hostages in my family," referencing Colombians kidnapped by the FARC and other rebel groups.
Colombians and those who are against the FARC's methods marched in major Colombian cities and other cities around the world such as New York and Paris and other cities across Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
There were of course some people who were against the protest because it did not target all rebel forces that wreak havoc in Colombia such as right-wing paramilitary groups. The FARC, however, has the most substantial number of hostages.
After the first march, as luck would have it, many hostages were freed by the Colombian army including three Americans and a former Colombian presidential candidate, French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. Since the second and third marches the FARC has freed a few more hostages or they have been freed by the Colombian military.
In Colombia, a country where arguably less people have access to the Internet as in the United States, people were able to use the Internet for a cause they believed in strongly and it was positive for them and those who stand against the FARC.
Oscar Morales, a Colombian engineer, created the Facebook group and slowly but surely the group snowballed into a group with thousand of members and traditional news media began to cover it, such as RCN and Caracol, Colombia's main television stations and El Tiempo, Bogota's leading daily newspaper. Today that group has more than 445,000 members on Facebook.
There are some within Colombia and abroad, as previously mentioned, who feel the FARC is not the only rebel group that should have been marched against since there are other rebel groups. However, it became clear that for the majority of Colombians, the FARC do not represent them and they did that by harnessing "social determinism" to stand strong demanding freedom for all Colombians.
Here's a recap from Colombia's RCN News in English of the marches throughout Colombia.
Handheld video of the marches along Bogota's 72nd Street, in the Colombian capital's Financial District. The music in the background, is the country's national anthem, "O Gloria Inmarcesible."
Finally, some video of the coverage of the marches in Bogota from the city's local television station, CityTV (In Spanish.)
Leave comments... Remember this was all organized on FACEBOOK!!! What are your thoughts?
EN ESPAÑOL
Recientemente, tuve un examen un mi clase de comunicación donde exploré las maneras que nuevos medios están afectando nuestra democracia participativa. Hablamos de diferentes teorías acerca de los nuevos medios y estuve más de acuerdo con el concepto de "determinismo social" de Henry Jenkins. Jenkins escribe, "el surgimiento de tecnologías en nuevos medios apoya un deseo democrático de permitir más personas crear y circular información." Para mí, esta es la manera más democrática de ver nuevos medios de comunicación e inmediatamente me vino COLOMBIA a la mente. Básicamente, nosotros como seres humanos controlamos como la tecnología avanza and como la usamos para nuestra propia ventaja. Yo no creo que podemos o debemos permitir que la tecnología nos manipule. La Internet y la tecnología pueden ser una fuerza de bien cuando se usa apropiadamente como fue el caso en Colombia. Los colombianos marcharon para demostrar su repudio contra las FARC. De acuerdo a Noticias RCN, un 95 por ciento de los colombianos están en contra del grupo guerillero y su uso de secuestros y bombas para quitarle el poder al gobierno colombiano. Literalmente millones de colombianos marcharon en algo que fue completamente increíble el 4 de febrero, 2008 y luego el 20 de julio, el día de la independencia de la República de Colombia. Este evento se repitió finalmente a finales de 2008. Los colombianos marcharon con pancartas con las palabras, "no más secuestros, no más mentiras, no más muertes, no más FARC." y el 20 de julio con las palabras "Colombia Soy Yo." Una mujer en Medellín, la segunda ciudad más poblada de Colombia, marcha con una hoja con las palabras "en mi familia hay 3.200 secuestrados,' haciendo referencia a los secuestrados por las FARC y otros grupos rebeldes. Los colombianos y aquellos encontra de los métodos de las FARC marcharon en las principales ciudades de Colombia y en otras ciudades alrededor del mundo en ciudades como Nueva York y Paris y en otras ciudades por toda América Latina, Norte América, Europa, Asia y Australia. Claro--hubo gente que estaba en contra de las manifestaciones porque no se enfocaban en todos los grupos rebeldes que crean caos en Colombia como grupos paramilitares. Las FARC tienen un gran número de secuestrados. Luego de la primera marcha, muchos secuestrados fueron liberados por el Ejército Colombiano, incluyendo tres estadounidenses y una ex-candidata presidencial, la franco-colombiana Ingrid Betancourt. Desde las segunda y tercerca marcha, las FARC ha liberado más secuestrados o más han sido liberados por el ejército. En Colombia, un país donde menos personas tienen acceso a la Internet, el pueblo pudo utilizar la Internet para una causa en la cual creían firmemente y fue positivo para ellos y para todos aquellos que están en oposición a las FARC. Oscar Morales, un ingeniero colombiano, creó un grupo en Facebook y poco a poco el grupo creció a tener miles de miembros. Luego, los medios tradicionales empezaron hacerle cobertura al grupo, como los canales colombianos RCN y Caracol, al igual que El Tiempo, el diario principal de Bogotá. Hoy ese grupo tiene más de 445.000 miembros. Hay algunos en Colombia y en el exterior, como fue mencionado antes, que creen que las FARC no es el único grupo rebelde al cual se debió haber marchado en protesta. De cualquier modo, está claro que para un mayoría de los colombianos, las FARC no los representan y lo hicieron a través del "determinismo social" para exigir la libertad para todos los colombianos.
... y todo esto fue organizado en Facebook!
Photos, creative commons license from flickr.com Names of creators in file names.
Che! I just LOVE Argentina! It's a beautiful country with so many varied landscapes, welcoming people, bustling cities, dulce de leche, tango, & parillada! What's not to love! Well, there are several things but I won't focus on that for now. Getting there is kind of difficult in the sense that you don't accidently have a layover in Argentina, like Argentine TV Host Susana Giménez likes to point out. To go to Argentina--the Latin Down Under-- you have to want to! I traveled about 14 hours from the U.S. to Buenos Aires.
Arriving there is an interesting experience. The international airport, Ezeiza, is in need of repair. To make matters worse, there are problems with the airport radars in Argentina so basically the way flights land and take-off is with the old-fashioned look-at-your-watch routine. Air traffic controllers just time sufficient time between flights to make sure there will be no airliner accidents. So yeah, that's a little unnerving but the city is extremely exciting.
The international airport is to the south of the city. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires is divided into many different barrios. To the east alongside the Río de la Plata are the downtown neighborhoods of Microcentro, Monserrat, Retiro, La Boca, and Puerto Madero. Towards the northwest of the city are the upper-class neighborhoods of Recoleta, Palermo, and Belgrano. Past Belgrano are many beautiful suburbs such as Olivos and San Isidro. Buenos Aires has been known as the Paris of South America and in some ways it´s quite deserving of the title. The city definitely has grandiose buildings, heritage of its past as the 8th super power. Times have definitely changed and unemployment and poverty are on the rise but the buildings are still there--and that attracts tourists. The traditional heart of the city is downtown´s Plaza de Mayo. This is where the mothers of disappeared men and women from the time of the military dictatorship rallied and still do. The plaza is home of the Casa Rosada, the Pink House, where the President´s offices are located. One of it´s balconies is where Eva Perón would deliver her speeches and where Madonna sang ¨Don´t cry for me Argentina.¨
Avenida 9 de Julio is deemed the widest avenue in the world and is home of the Washingtonian Obelisco. Running perpendicular is Avenida Corrientes; Buenos Aires´Broadway. This is the home to all major theaters. Buenos Aires has, perhaps, Latin America´s most active theater scene. Plays, Broadway musicals, and major national and international stars perform every night there. Currently, there are Argentine versions of Cabaret, Sweet Charity and Victor Victoria in the city. Beyond is the Microcentro where all the businessmen are busy in tall skyscrapers. La Boca is a neighborhood very popular with tourists but quite poor in reality. There´s a street loop very famous with tourists because of it´s colorful houses. The houses were painted all the colors of the rainbow from leftover boat paint almost one hundred years ago. These homes look picturesque on the outside but are actually tenement homes for the poorest of Argentines.
Puerto Madero is an ultra-modern, trendy district of Buenos Aires that resembles more Miami Beach than the rest of the city. There are several hip clubs there, restaurants, hotels, and a beautiful modern bridge named El Puente de la Mujer, the Woman´s Bridge. Retiro is home to the main train station so it´s place where many tourists end up going one time or another. It´s definitely a place where people have to be careful with pickpockets. I mean, nothing happened to me, but even Bush´s daughters were stolen from in Buenos Aires--even with the Secret Service. So just be careful like you would be in any major city.
Recoleta is a stunning district with beautiful high-rise apartment buildings, restaurants, museums, and shopping centers. This is also the home to the famous Recoleta Cemetery. Usually people don´t schlep to another country to see a cemetery but this is a must-see if you´re down there. The tombstones and mausoleums are a sight to behold. This is also where Eva Perón was buried. Palermo is the largest of all the neighborhoods and also one of the trendiest. Palermo is divided into three different districts; Palermo Viejo, Palermo Hollywood, and Palermo Soho. The first one is the oldest of the districts and the most picturesque and the latter two are more trendier with excellent restaurants, smart boutiques, and fun night spots. The area is also home to the gorgeous Palermo Park.
Belgrano is the last of the northern Porteño barrios and the most calm. It´s main thoroughfare is Avenida Cabildo, filled with stores, restaurants, theaters, and much more. Beyond this barrio are many different suburbs that are beautiful and of interest. These are places that people who are going to spend several weeks in the city should visit.
The city has a very extensive public transportation system. There are several subway lines throughout the city and most of the northern portion of the city is linked with the D Line. There are also hundreds of buses throughout the city, named colectivos that can take you anywhere. It´s a smart idea to buy a Guía T as soon as you get there at any kiosk. Taxis are also readily available. It is best not to hail a cab at night. If you do hail a cab at any time make sure it says Radio Taxi. Remise service is also available by calling a host of different numbers. This service can be more expensive for short cab rides but is better for longer rides because the price is fixed from the time you call. Buenos Aires definitely has a mall culture. There are many malls throughout the city that are very famous with locals and tourists alike. Some of the more famous ones are Galerías Pacifico, Patio Bullrich, Alto Palermo and Abasto.
The city is aesthetically very European but has all the Latin American charm. The city is suffering from many problems the developing world faces such as unemployment, poverty, insecurity, and theft. The situation is slowly getting better and Argentina is using the increase in tourism to their advantage. As long as people have common sense they should be fine--there are no guarantees--but you all should be fine.
The country is also very affordable. Currently $1 USD is equivalent to $3 ARS (Argentine Pesos.) All your dollars are worth triple that and euros and pounds stretch even farther. Everything is cheaper from restaurants, shopping, plays, movies, and taxi rides.
I had a great time there mingling with the locals, enjoying a great cultural scene and eating delicious food. Argentina is the country with most cows and the meat is to die for... not to worry if you´re vegetarian though-- there are many alternatives.
Remember, that in the southern hemisphere the seasons run opposite. In the North American-European summer, Argentina is in the pains of winter.
Anytime you go down there is fabulous time though and you´ll be glad you did. You´ll discover a unique side to Latin America that´ll be sure to call you again and again.
