Internet Porn

One of the largest and rarely talked about problem with out internet today is the accessibility to online pornography. Anybody, any age, anytime of the day can google a keyword such as "sex" and come up with thousands of results with explicit pictures and other material on the sites.

An anonymous person whom wrote a short rant/blog about this issue suggests that the masses have power to force change, and need to do so. How we filter or change the accessibility of the internet is still unclear but the longer we wait, the more our children are getting exposed to this material. The psychological effects of being exposed to pornography at an early age can be detrimental and life changing.

Source: Does the internet affect our children?

Music and internet

our generation's is consumed by the the internet. If it is through staying connected, finding information, or just finding people with the same interest the internet connects us all. One way it does this is with the collaboration of music. Sights like last.fm and PT allow people with common music taste to find one another. On these sites you can   blog to peers all over the US about shows that you just went to, talk about the set list, list all the past shows you have gone to and see what you have in common with one another, have random conversations, or share music and similar musical interest.   

 

on last.fm you can find..

Here is to find others who have similar musical taste as you (not as limiting as PT for musical choices)

You can blog, become friends with similar taste, find music videos, and albums

You have to buy the music but it allows you to find music you didn’t know was out there

make your own playlist.....

on PT you can find

Here you can  blog to peers all over the US about shows that you just went to

Talk about the set list

List all the past shows you have gone to and see what you have in common with one another

Or just have random conversations.

South Park - Youth and the Internet

When talking about youth and the internet, my first thoughts came to the South Park episode about World of Warcraft. South Park is one of the most satyrical shows on television these days and this portion of an episode really does justice to the kids and their usage of the internet. Kids lose out on playing outside and exercise with the new internet gaming and technologies out there. It really is sad to see this happen, but then again, I am on my computer a lot as well!!

Youth Cannot Live Without Internet

I was on BBC news, and came upon an article about the Youth and web use written just a week ago. The news story was about a survey taken from an online charity, Youthnet. The results showed that 75% of 16 to 24 years feel they cannot live without the net. It shows the dependence of the Internet to our generation and all of its usage. The article is pretty self-explanatory, so I will let you all just read it :)

Who wants to be Girl Talk?

I thought it would be interesting to post my blog on a program called AudioMulch because it is very relevant to the movie we just watched on Girl Talk. This program allows for any one to become a mash up artist, whether they want to make a career out of it or just mess around with music for fun. What I really like about this program is that it allows you to download a free trial where you have almost full access to the program for sixty days. With today's advancement in technology and the web I feel like this has allowed users more access to a larger number of programs. Programs such as this let your average consumer "test" out the product to decide whether it is worth purchasing.

Here is a video showing how to use the program:

How Information and Communication Technologies matter to Youth

I researched youth and the future of the internet and there were many articles dedicated to the youth's "obsession" with internet and how their involvement is only growing. One website, which seems pretty unprofessional at first, actually has some descent information and created a detailed research project dedicated to youth and their connections with communication technologies. The three main themes found from the project are convenience, fun, and connections. All are very simple and relatable but a quick overview of each: convenience, with the idea that it is quick and easy to do anything on the internet or via cellphone, there are shifting boundaries, and immediate gratification. Fun because these technologies are seen as a "new toy" and a new form of entertainment. And connections because of the different relationships you can have with people in these mediated worlds.

Digital Natives

There's an interesting project going on between The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen, about Digital Natives. They have looked into the effects of being a Digital Native and how they perceive the world, especially the internet, in comparison to those who did not grow up in a Digital environment. They then use this research to inform people the best way to developing teaching and new technology to fit the new way that Digital Natives take in their environment. The website itself is fairly interesting and links to a Wiki page, published books that have been written on the subject, press on Digital Natives, videos and even a blog. It doesnt seem like the blog has been updated for a while, but the site itself is linked to many other pages about the projects centered around Digital Native culture and discussions, it links to pages on sites like, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, myspace and del.icio.us which seem to be constantly updated, and it seems to provide an excellent inter-collaborative site that fits in with the Digital Native culture.