Digital Story

http://prezi.com/pj1feblighxc/digital-media-story-board/

Cadmium post

1. Cadmium ore is not mined for the metal because more than enough is produced as a byproduct of the melting of other metals such as zinc, lead and copper. The main countries that produce this are Canada, USA, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Peru. 

2. There are many environmental impacts of the mining of cadmium, which is usually with zinc. It harms the soil, harming the animals dependent on plants for survival. It is also a major threat tp aquatic ecosystems. Regulations limit the enviromental affect of Cadmium. The regulations only allow a little amount of cadmium to enter the water through disposal of wastewater from households or industries. 

3.The human health concerns when used to manufacture consumer electronics are stomach pains and severe vomiting, bone fracture, reproductive failure, DNA damage, cancer development, and much more. Any animal or human who consumes cadmium is succeptible to gaining high blood pressures, liver disease and nerve or brain damage. This can lead to death. Smokers obtain cadmium in their lungs. 

4. The documented health impacts that are associated with its demanufacturing are the fumes that arise from the manufacturing. It is similar to the manufacturing, for both obtain the fumes that harms the lungs and can lead to death.

Digital storyboard

This is an overview of what my project will be about. I plan on making a video, displaying images similar to the ones shown and also creating a voice over with information similar to what is shown here.

Comic, prompt #4

Bibliography

Kessler, Sarah. "Why Social Media is Reinventing Activism." Mashable 9 Oct. 2010. Print.           

Schilinger, Raymond. "Social Medid and the Arab Spring: What have we learned." Huff Post 20 Sept. 2011. Print.            

Ants with food 2

challenge 2

antswithfood

challenge #1

anotation

Ferenstein, Gregory. "Trickle-Forward Economics: Scott Harrison's Water-Based Experiment In Viral Philanthropy." Fast Company 25 Oct. 2011. Print.

This article talks about how Charity: Water has used social networking to allow people to ask for donations instead of presents for their birthday. It talks about how they have created cites that allow people to donate money and how they’ve use twitter and facebook to promote their idea.

Yap, Jamie. "Social, mobile boost small nonprofits' reach, relationships." ZD Net 13 Oct. 2011. Print.

            This article talks about the importance of social media. It talks about the ways that social media has helped nonprofits organizations. It talks about how it helps them appeal to younger generations.

Yap, Jamie. "Social, mobile boost small nonprofits' reach, relationships." ZD Net 13 Oct. 2011. Print.

            This article addresses some of the arguments against using social media and offers counter agreements about why you should use social media. It’s main two points are that social media is not expensive and a lot of people use it.

Blogpost 10

Facebook and its user have created a super organism. A super organism is something with multiple organisms. I think it's safe to say that facebook has multiple users. There are millions and millions of people on facebook. All different types of people use facebook for all different reasons. It's population is always growing.
Another characteristic of a super organism is that one organism cannot survive on its own. One person cannot be successful on facebook on their own. If one person has a facebook and no friends, no one will know that they are a facebook user. Therefore facebook users are reliant on each other to be successful facebook users.

blog 8

In this post I will argue why the US government should intervene with the Chinese firewall. The United States should get involved to increase China’s freedom. The current system is a violation of simple human rights. With Chinese government having as much control as it does it makes it easy to create propaganda and it robs people of other viewpoints. The US should intervene to give the Chinese people a voice and to allow them to be heard.

The current system quite simply is a violation of human rights. As A. Lin Neuman points out his article people are getting sent to jail just for speaking out, “On June 3, 2000, police in Chengdu arrested the founder of China’s first human-rights Web site, www.6-4tianwang.com. Huang Qi was accused of “subverting state power,” a charge that could land him in jail for ten years, (3).” There is no reason people should be punished just for speaking their minds. Freedom of speech is a basic human right and it should not be taken away. The government should not have control over what people say. The US intervening would give Chinese citizens more human rights.  

The amount of control the government has over the current system not only takes away the voice of another it also promotes propaganda. As Neuman states, the argument is as old as Chinese Communism itself. Since the earliest days of the Chinese revolution, the media has been used to reinforce state power. Soon after the Communist Party was formed in the 1920s, underground cadres were placed inside Chinese newspapers with the specific task of spreading Party propaganda, (4)”. People only see what the government wants them to see. They will never know the opinions of others. This will to fewer educated people.

The US should intervene to give Chinese citizens more human rights. The people of china should be free to speak their minds. They should not be punished for exercising their human right. The government has complete control over what is seen and not seen. Allowing for complete propaganda. If the US intervened the people of China would overall have more rights.  

Blog post 7

Should the US government support or work against the great firewall of China? While there are many arguments in favor of the US working to tear down the firewall, I will bring up a few disadvantages to them working against the Chinese government. Helping take down the firewall is very costly which could really hurt the US’s already weak economy. Too much intervention by the US could hurt American companies and give China even less control. It is easy to see why the US should intervene with China but I will bring up a few reasons why they shouldn’t.

The US is already spending money too help end Chinese censorship. Jessica Droste Yagan, a master in public administration candidate from Harvard states, “Since 2003, the International Broadcasting Bureau for Counter-Censorship Technology has received more than $2 million in funding from the U.S. government to promote the development of counter- censorship software (13).” If the US government gets more involved it will have to spend more money. This could be extremely hurtful to America because the US is already in a recession. How would the US government find ways to pay for more involvement in China? Some may say that the US needs to work on the problems of its own country before it can help another.

Intervention could be harmful to US companies and may give the people of China even less freedom than they already have. Yagan brings up a common criticism of US intervention, “Critics charge that the bill will not increase the openness of the Internet in China but will penalize U.S. companies by forcing them to choose between U.S. law and Chinese law and withdrawing from China entirely (15).” If American companies do leave China it will give the Chinese government even more power. China’s internet would be completely run by Chinese companies and therefore there would be even more censorship. Not to mention that fact that the US companies would lose money because they would have fewer people using their product. Censorship could cause American companies to make less money and the Chinese government to have even more control.

It is easy to argue for US intervention with China but there may be costly after math. The US government has to think about the well being of it’s own people before it can worry about another country’s people. The US needs to find ways not to spend money instead of ways to spend money. Also it may be difficult to find a way for the US government to intervene without hurting both countries more. While it seems like a no brainer that the US should definitely come to China’s aid there may be some serious drawbacks from them doing so.

Citation: Yagan, Jessica Droste. 2006. “Working Around the Great Firewall of China: Recommendations for U.S. Internet Companies.” Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative Student Paper No. 2. Cambridge, MA: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

DS proposal

            Ten years ago I was in grade school, music, books, and newspapers were bought in stores, and if anyone wanted information about charity work they had to go looking for it. Today all of these things are available at the tip of my fingers all because of digital media. Social justice is the fairness and equality in all ways of life for all people. As free citizens, it is our obligation to inform ourselves about acts of injustice and work to bring justice where there is not. While on the internet I discovered organizations like Charity: Water and Invisible Children these organizations exemplify how digital media can be used to achieve social justice.

            Charity: Water is a non-profit organization that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. They have used digital media to complete 4,282 projects and have helped 2,060,000 people to get clean water. Charity: Water uses Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook to inform and promote its work. They use Google maps and GPS coordinates to show where every dollar is going. Members of their staff all have blogs to talk about ways to donate. In Le Guin Ursala’s The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas she talks about the differences between those who hide and shielded themselves from the problems of others and those who are brave enough to try and help others. Charity: Water is a good way of testing people to see if they will hide from the problems of others or if they will reach out and help. On the Charity: Water website you can create a profile, fundraise money, and then they use their GPS technology to see how your money is being put to work. Ursala talks about how the people that walked away from Omelas were challenged by the fact that they were alone. Charity: Water is also a challenge because it challenges people to give up their money and time, but in order to achieve social justice it has to be done.

            Another example of how digital media has been used to work towards social justice is the work of Invisible Children. Invisible Children uses digital media to attempt to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA affected communities in Central Africa. Joseph Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army which is a guerrilla group engaged in a violent campaign, to establish theocratic government in Uganda. He has forced 66,000 children to fight and forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since the rebellion began in 1986. Like Charity: Water, Invisible Children uses social media to promote their work. In order to raise money, for Invisible Children anyone can create a fundraising page. Invisible Children created their fundraising page through a website called stayclassy.org. Stayclassy is a nonprofit fundraising cite. Through the efforts of Invisible Children an FM radio tower has been built which sends “come home” messages to LRA members. They have made great strides in working to create rehabilitation, family reunification, and post conflict recovery for the child soldiers. They have also done a lot of work to promote the arrest of Joseph Kony and other top LRA leadership. D. Miller defines distributive justice as “A fair distribution of benefits among the members of various associations (1).” This is what the organization Invisible Children is trying to achieve. The Child soldiers have no benefits or voice, that’s why they are called invisible. Invisible Children is working to give them the rights they deserve and take away the power from the unjust.

            Organizations like Charity: Water and Invisible Children are what social justice in digital media means to me. They give us opportunities to achieve justice and we are called to act. They give a voice to those who have none and as a free citizen we are called to help those in need.

Sources: 

http://www.charitywater.org/

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

Weblog6

I am somewhat Twitter literate. I don't have a twitter so because of that I am less informed than many people that do. I sometimes go on twitter to follow professional athletes or celebrities that I am interested in. I prefer to use facebook because I started using that first and I don't really find it necessary to have two forms of social media. However I may end up getting a twitter in order to promote stories that I write because I want to go into journalism. That is how my twitter literacy is evolving. As I become more and more interested in twitter I start going on it more and getting more comfortable with it. Right now I just know the basics about what it is and the purpose of it. If I do end up making one I will learn how to use it to communicate and get informed about things. I would define 21st century skills as knowing how to use technology such as social networks and cell phones for not only social activity but also ways of being productive and informing yourself. You acquire these skills by using the technology a lot and having a desire to be informed. School can teach these skills somewhat because they can make opportunities for students to become better at technology but ultimately the student has to be willing to learn in order for it to work. Your culture definitely has a lot to do with your 21st literacy rate. If you are from a poor area you won't have as much access to technology so that will keep you from learning. It will cost you time and money because you may have to travel far in order to use a computer and the cost of your time and money may prevent you from wanting to learn. If you are from a wealthy area it's much easier to learn about technology. Your schools have computers and your house probably does as well. You also probably have access to the internet in another way as well, such as a smart phone. By having so many more opportunities it's much easier for someone to learn about technology.

Weblog5

I'm always using the internet. When I was younger it was to play games or go online shopping, now I use it for my schoolwork, socializing with my friends, and I write on a blog. The internet makes doing research easier and has opened me up to new job opportunities. My ICT skills have grown over the years because the more things I try on the computer the more I learn. I use a lot of social media like facebook and tumblr. When something goes wrong on my computer I can usually fix it which I didn't use to be able to do.
My education has helped me to use the internet a lot. For example I'm taking digital media right now. Also I use it for doing research. As an aspiring journalist, my job helps with my internet skills. I'm constantly communicating with others, as well as blogging, and finding information. Also my interests draw me to the internet. If I want to know how a sports team did, or watch a television show I can always do that online. I'm also able to get the news online, and go shopping. I buy clothes online but I also use itunes to buy music as well.
I could see how people without internets lives could be limited. It's harder to hear about news and information. It's harder to get work done for school because their research options are limited. It's harder to communicate with people. Having the internet is definitely a privilege.

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Weblog 4

          Social Justice should apply in young asserts of power because the youth are the future. Students should be allowed to speak their minds freely and pursue opportunities. Young people may have a different view of the world than older people. By robbing young people of their asserts of power the world is being robbed of a view point.
          Social Justice is a way to destroy domination and oppression. In order for social justice to be achieved, one person cannot have all of the power. The power has to spread out evenly among the people. A social class can not dominate, a race can not  dominate in order for true justice to be achieved.
         Oppression of any kind cannot happen in order for social justice to be reached. Oppression contradicts justice because justice means justice for all. If oppression is happening, justice is not. In a just world, when oppression is occurring there should be action taken to stop it.

Weblog 3

         D. Miller defines distributive justice as "a fair distribution of benefits among the members of various associations"(1). Clearly in the story, by Ursala Le Guin this was not happening because one group was reaping all the benefits, while the ill child had none. They sacrificed the well being and sanity of the child to maintain happiness for a larger group. Rather than experience some pain or discomfort to give this child some joy they hid it away so the masses could benefit from this one person's suffering.
        This can be applied to real life because as a generalization the wealthy have more benefits than the poor. Education and job opportunities are much more obtainable to people from upperclass backgrounds than people from lower class backgrounds. Similar to the story by Le Guin it's common that people who have more benefits do not want to give them up to help someone with fewer benefits. It's fair to say that America does not have distributive justice because often the beneficial people will turn their heads to problems like poverty or unemployment rather than try to fix them.
          Miller also explains an element that is needed to establish social justice "Social justice requires the notion of a society made up of interdependent parts, with an institutional structure that affects the prospects of each individual member, and that is capable of deliberate reform by an agency such as the state in the name of fairness" (4). In Le Guin's story, the ones that walked away from the town of Omelas, were acting as the agents to achieve justice. Even though no one actually helped the child, by leaving the town they were also leaving behind the type of thinking going on in Omelas. Also the story says that when they left Omelas they were starting a life of darkness and loneliness, which implies at some point they would be willing to accept the pain that comes from helping another. By leaving that town and that way of thinking they were working to end that way of thinking.
           In real life, he agents are the people that are able to separate themselves from this type of self-centered thinking. Often times that does mean having to deal with some hardship, like giving up time or finical stability. The ones that are able to remove themselves from the typical way of tinking and are willing to experience pain are the ones that will help achieve justice.
      

Weblog 2

       After reading The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Le Guin Ursala I think she is talking about how a lot times people will take issues like poverty or unemployment and rather than accept the pain that comes with trying to fix those problems people will put those problems out of sight and mind so they don't have to feel badly about themselves.
      I think hiding the ill child in the closet represent the way that people will not engage themselves in the problems of those less fortunate than themselves. Seeing the ill kid lessened people's happiness so they hide him in a closet so they could pretend he didn't exists. This is similar to the way a lot of people view those in impoverished countries. When wealthy people see people living in poverty it makes them feel guilty and question the way that they are living. Therefore a lot of times people will choose not to engage themselves in the issues of those less fortunate than them because that way they don't have to feel guilty about not helping them. In the same way, that keeping this kid hidden, helped keep the people of Omelas happy because they didn't have to give up their happiness to help the child, people ignore problems going on in other countries for the well being of their happiness.
       When Ursala talks about the ones who walk away from Omelas I think she is talking about people who are brave enough to engage themselves in the problems of those less fortunate than themselves. She talks about how the people that walk away have to walk into darkness and have to be alone. I think that represent the fact that people who are willing to help others are also willing to except the fact that it is going to be hard and it's going to painful at times. Where as the people of Omelas or people who do not help others are kind of living in a fantasy world because they are pretending these problems don't exists for their own benefit.

Weblog 1: Class Survey

1. Name: Mariclaire Bealin
Hometown: Troy MI
Email: Mbealin14@jcu.edu

2. Prefer to be called Molly

4. I like sports and literature. My favorite sport to play is softball but my favorite sport to watch is either football or baseball. I want to go into sports journalism after college.

5. As long as I feel like the teacher wont get mad at me or make me feel stupid if I'm incorrect I usually feel pretty comfortable taking risks in a classroom.

6. The invention of x-rays in hospitals because they can be used to identify deathly illnesses in people before they become to dangerous.

7. My iphone, my laptop, facebook, and my TV.

8. 1. I have worked with computers since grade school, I like to thing I'm pretty good with them, I know how to use powerpoint, word, and excel. I'm pretty fast at learning new things on the computer. 2. I took a TV production class in high school where we had lots of video assignments to do, other than that I don't have much experience with digital media. 3. I use facebook everyday, I had an internship at a newspaper this summer and I used it to promote stories I wrote. I think I am about an 8.

9. Why Digital media? What makes it interesting to you? Why do you think it's important? What experience do you have with digital media?