The Virtual Revolution, "The Enemy of the State"

I have just finished watching the ‘Virtual Revolution’, episode 2. In this episode, it describes how the Internet is shaping our lives, and charts how the web is forging a new, young brand of politics involving direct action.

For example, it was interesting to see how Twitter was used by Iranian people to describe and report the political unrest developing in their country in late 2008 to people all over the world. Social network websites like Twitter and user-generated content websites such as YouTube gave Iranian people the ability to connect with a global audience and build a political consciousness.

Likewise,the episode revealed how the website WikiLeaks allows people to anonymously blow secret details on governments and organisations all over the world. For example, WikiLeaks informed the world that Guantanamo Bay prisoners were tortured unfairly. Consequently, this demonstrates how the Internet hands tremendous power to individuals.

Another fascinating point raised in this episode described how China, a communist state, censors the web and blocks western websites who are critical of  Chinese Government policies. This is known as the ‘Great Firewall of China’ and is intended to protect Chinese citizens from finding out information about their Government and its policies which they may not agree with and turn them against them.

In addition, I have recently read Chapter 1 from Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. This chapter introduced the Internet and described how it has transformed marketing and business. To succeed in the future, organisations will need marketers, strategists and agencies with up-to-date knowledge of how to apply digital media such as the web, e-mail, mobile and interactive TV.

This chapter highlighted traditional marketing models and concepts and how they can be applied to help develop marketing strategies and models. Internet marketing is certainly an exciting area to be involved with, since it poses many new opportunities and challenges yearly, monthly, and even daily.

As a last point, I am starting to begin my search for an online brand to help with my online audit. At present I have thought of Ford Econo Check, a brand which has recently only gone online and for whom I worked with over the summer of 2010. Furthermore, The Floor Gallery is an online brand which I have looked at. This website and business is run by a family friend and is in need of a new strategy online. 

Reflecting on Prensky's Digital Native/ Digital Immigrants Arguments

This week, as part of a group project, I conducted a face to face questionnaire which sought to target 18 - 21 year old male undergraduates and find out about their interactive media habits. The questionnaire focussed on finding out how many hours a day 18 - 21 year old undergraduates spent using interactive media. The results predominantly showed they spent 5+ hours a day using interactive media. In terms of some of the core activites they participated in, this included things such as playing video games, viewing Facebook and sending and recieiving e-mails. Subsequently, they indicated they were very reliant on interactive media.

In addition, the questionnaire asked the 18 - 21 year old male undergraduates who participated, what single piece of interactive media they could not live without if they were stuck on a desert island. The results predominantly reveaed 18 - 21 year old male undergraduates could not live without their mobile phones or Facebook.

As part of this project, it involved drawing upon ideas presented from a journal article written by Prensky (2001), Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. In this article, Prensky (2001) stated digital natives are students today who are all "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. In contrast, digital immigrants are those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some point later in their lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of new technology. In terms of the results from the questionnaire conducted by the group I was apart of, it could be said 18 - 21 year old male undergraduates are digital natives as they have spent all their lives surrounded by and using computers, video games and digital music players. These types of interactive media are integral parts of their lives.

According to Presnky (2001), children today are being socialised in a way that is vastly different from their parents. For example, over 10,000 hours are spent playing video games, over 200,000 e-mails and instant messages are sent and received, and over 20,000 hours are spent watching TV.

Therefore, as professional communicators it is important to realise that interactive media is one of the most important mediums to market and advertise products and services to consumers currently. Interactive media has changed the landscape of marketing and advertising over the last few years and is set to continue to do so.

What does interactivity mean to me...

Interactivity to me means the dialogue that occurs between a human being and a computer program. This computer program could be social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, this computer program could involve video games which can be played on the Playstation 3 or Xbox360. In both these examples, interactivity, dialogue that occurs between and human being and computer program, takes place.

In terms of how interactive I am as a person, at present, I would rate myself at 8 out of 10. I would say i spend between 2 to 5 hours a day interactively. Therefore, I feel that I am very reliant on interactive media.

I am an active user of Facebook and frequent this social network site numerous times on a daily basis. I predominantly use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and see what is going on in people's lives. I do not have a Twitter account currently. However, I am becoming increasingly intrigued and persuaded by many people to open up a twitter account. Furthermore, I have been advised to join LinkedIn as I get nearer to entering the workplace.

I e-mail regularly for many different purposes. I predominantly use e-mail to find out information from lecturers and to keep in contact with friends and family. I browse the Internet a lot on a daily basis and visit numerous different websites. For example, I have a keen interest in sport and follow many sports websites to keep up to date with the latest information. I also visit e-commerce websites. I use Google search engine and BU search to help with my academic studies.

I regularly play video games on the Playstation 3 that I own and and play video games against friends and online. In addition, I use iTunes to purchase and download music for my iPod.

The new interactive task that I have undertaken is to write this blog. I have never written a blog before and for me this is a completely brand new experience. Writing this blog feels weird as I feel very conscious about what I write can be seen by many and commented on. However, as I continue to update this blog I believe I will become less conscious. By writing a blog, it enables me to express ideas and to think reflectively.

As a last note, this week I watched the 'Virtual Revolution', which was a very interesting documentary explaining the way the web is changing the world. It is staggering to see over 20 years how much the web has changed our lives and how it shapes our world.