Good to know!

I watched a couple of interesting videos that, as the one Mrs.Makeyeva pointed out, also explain things on the field of US elections and history. Some of the following animations are more serious, some less. But still the content is interesting and good to know!

Check them out:

1. Sums up all the American presidents and comments them. Some comments are borderline, but also hit the nail on the head.

2. Very good on. Explains the American history , with a strong focus on use of weapons in the US. The influence of Michael Moore is very obvious

3. Pretty neat animation about the last US campaign

Moment of Zen

In this moment of Zen will give you information about the website -bildblog- and I will also talk about the fact that people prefer reading yellow press articles and whether that influences our society.

Bildblog describes itself as a "Watchblog for German media". It was found in 2004 and since than it accompanies the german magazine "Bild am Sonntag" with a critical look on their articles. In April Bildblog expanded its domain to a general "Watchblog", that keeps an eye on various publications.

I'm really in favour of the page, because magazines as the "Bild" receive a thorough examination. 10,5 million germans read this magazine on a weekly basis, a magazine that is know for its sensational and dubious headlines which usually fill the entire front page. Not really a serious impression to me, but unfortunately they keep selling their stories with great success.

But it is not only the "Bild"-magazine the press today tends to be shallow and writes pretty much everything regardless of content, truth or honest opinion if it pays off. The majority of magazines today are sucked into the wheel of consumption. It is more important to sell as many copies as possible than to have a clean record. They are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Sensational headlines and shallow stories is what people prefer as a light entertainment.

Bildblog criticizes this way of reporting. It basically tears every vaguely or dishonest written article, mainly by the "Bild" to pieces and proves that their stories are not even build on facts. Important to say so is, that this is not because "Bild" or any other low-content magazine only hires incompetent journalist, it is because they write what people buy.

After all, writing spectacular but far-fetched stories is what pays off today. People should take the press and what they read (consume) more serious. It is important , because even if it is not intended, we are often influenced subconsciously and we relate to what we read. A german saying tells peolpe: "Du bist was du isst!" (You are what you eat). Maybe one could also relate that to journalism and say "You are what you read" which more people should think about and take it to heart.

Moment of Zen

Wahl-o-mat and Electoral Compass - voting advice websites

Today I want to talk about two very interesting websites, that I really recommend to everybody. The Wahl-o-mat and its American equivalent the Electoral Compass are both voting advice websites. The original idea was established at the University of Amsterdam. In general it is really interesting to try out both of them and to see what parties are most likely to represent once interests.
When I did the german test, my results showed me the ranking 1. Die Grünen 2. Die Linke 3. CDU which is really close to where I see myself. In terms of the Electoral Compass I'm located between economic left and social liberalism. The politician that I had most questions in common with is Bill Richardson.
Also interesting about the two sites is that the topics that were questioned about, were sometimes totally different and sometimes nearly the same. For incidence issues as environment or immigration seemed to be similar concerns in both country's. Issues as gun-control or health-care differ in fundamental regulations and laws of the country,which is why questions about these problems go in totally different directions.
However, two very neat pages that animates people to think more about certain topics, to make up their mind about different issues and to learn about the interests and positions of the important parties.

Please check out the pages and have fun!

Guest Lecture - Mitchell Cohen

The last guest lecture was very unique and differed a lot from the lectures I attended before, but it was very interesting and a little bit crazy at the same time. The lectures before were always very structured and had a clear agenda, but this way it was possible to discuss more topics. The audience were absolutely involved in the lecture. It seemed more like a discussion.
My favorite part was when Mr. Cohen talked about his experiences in public actions, as the example with the shower scene he an his friends set up in front of an elevator. He probably did a lot of crazy things in the past.
A public action to arouse attention that I mentioned in the discussion was "flash-mobbing".
Flash-mobbing is an action by a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Crazy! But funny .. definitely a good and peaceful way to get a lot of attention.

Check out an example:

Moment of Zen - Social Web-Network

Is a social network, based on New Media, a question of generation?

In my case/ family, I can say with no doubts -yes! It is! Everybody in my family that is older than 40 barley participates at social network that is connected to the internet. One reason is that my family is very small, which minimizes the possibilities and more important my family is stuck in the stone age talking about technology. I'm glade they managed to write emails a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure none of my grandparents have every used a computer in their entire life, not to mention participation at a social network at the computer.
But maybe my family is a tough case. One of the other students mentioned last week, that her family created an own website and that all of them communicate via this page. I guess that is a contrasting example.
But even though there are examples of families that are using the internet to communicate and that build up a social network this way regardless of their age, I think that in general it is still a question of generation.
Young people grow up using the computer on a daily bases. It is normal to communicate via computer. Furthermore, it is not normal for children today, to have no access to social networks through the computer.
But still using the internet is often times not necessary for older people, because long distance relations can be contacted with a phone. Also an important fact is that a lot of old people don't speak english, which is also an enormous aspect of new media. People our age tend to forget that certain terms, that we use on a daily bases are still foreign for people that never learned english.
But I guess this question will disappear in the next 30, said to say, but together with the people of that generation. We probably have to face other challenging innovations.... We will see!

Watch out! New media is taking over!!!

whether new media is good or bad has been discussed a lot. I don't want to judge about that, because I can't. It is to complex for that... way to many pros.... way to many cons.
In this post I simply want to point out some links where people state their opinion about this topic.
Some argue that new media or more concrete the digital world and the world wide web is an unpredictable and dangerous giant. Especially the Internet is often criticized for its almost unlimited possibilities... every second page filled with sex and violence... easy access to drugs and child-pornography.
Pages that discuss this topic or share this (negative)point:
- http://internetdangerreport.com/
- http://www.orthy.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3883&Itemid=38
- http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/assessing-the-dangers-of-the-internet-for-children/