#23

Perhaps my favorite article in this class was the one about the blogger creating a story in which real people followed. The blogger created a character, and led others to believe that this character was real. I found that one to be the most interesting because it really makes you question what is real and what is not on the internet. In my Public relations class, an ethical issue came up around the time we read this article. The issue was concerning an intern for a TV studio posing as a mother online, posting comments in parenting forums about a new TV show her son loves. (The intern does not have children). Our class obviously wrote this case of bad PR off as unethical, but we forget that the same thing happens everyday. Many people are creating fake identities online, and it’s really becoming an issue for many. The entire internet has become anonymous, and that, to me, is scary.

#22

The reading that I have found most interesting in this class are the older (pre 2000) articles that deal with the subjects of technology and social media. It is incredible to read those predictions from years ago, and see how accurate or inaccurate they are. The idea of being able to predict something that like technology, which is so consistently and rapidly changing so far in advance incredible. Many times in this class I have tried to offer a prediction about where a certain technology is headed, and it is very difficult. Something predictions were so accurate they were shocking. The one that comes to mind when I write this is the article we read discussing new computer systems developed in the Bay Area. There was a picture featured of what a tablet computer might look like, and it beared some resemblance to today’s ipad. Was it just coincidence or were the designers really onto something? We might never know.