Sorry

I'm taking a few days off the blogging. Its the last week of the semester and school seems intent on trying to kill me, so I'll be fending off the demons for a few days. See ya after finals!

What are the feminist applications of CMC in Cyberspace?

Lacking some of the cues that are received in face-to-face conversation, and the formality and permanence of traditional writing, CMC (computer-mediated communication) carries the potential to create a space without prejudice. Some claim that the Internet is a social utopia (Fredrick and Nguyen).

This study by Fredrick and Nguyen sought to describe the ethos of two groups that communicate asynchronously online. Given that a user cannot be identified by gender, race, or class on the Internet, it is conceivable that an Internet society that is democratic and inclusive can exist.

These researchers studied two feminist Usenet newsgroups, analyzing messages to determine the ethos, or rhetorical behavior of the groups. Based on feminist theory, an egalitarian group would be inclusive and democratic, with free access to communicate without a reduction in status.

They discovered that this potential utopia does not yet exist.

Where questions appeared in the messages, they decided whether the question was sarcastic or meant to open up discussion. The sarcastic questions would be noninclusive, and thus detract from th ethos of the group, and the others were inclusive, and would promote democratic discussion of a topic.

In examples of disagreement, the researchers divided those which were argumentative and accusing from those which acknowledge another point of view and offered alternatives. Although they looked for examples of agreement and support, these were rare, and often changed through the thread into a noninclusive tone. There were also examples of both strong and attenuated assertions.

One of the groups studied was moderated, the other was not. In the unmoderated group, sexist comment appeared, in an ironic twist. Not only do these comments exclude, but they exclude women in particular, extremely offensive in a feminist group.

Krolokke approached the same idea using synchronous communication data. She observed CMC in groups that were geared toward race, gender and political topics.

Krolokke found examples of insulting speech as play, which she describes as pushing the barriers of appropriate language. Examples of gender play also appeared, where users switched back and forth between use of gendered language. Even though participants cannot see or hear each other, it is possible to attribute a gender based on language use and behavior.

I believe that the idea that the Internet can create and egalitarian space is misdirected. The Internet alone is neither good nor bad. It is a tool, it is what its users make of it.

Instead of being a potential land of milk and honey, social interaction on the Internet reflects social interaction in real life. Prejudiced people will always find someone to exclude, and the anonymity of the Internet may only encourage that behavior, instead of creating a classless virtual reality. It might be enforced if a group of communicators is moderated, but it is not true equality.

The really interesting part of Krolokke's study was her discussion of the concept of IRC (Internet Relay Chat). According to theories of communication, this sort of conversation should be impossible. Turn-taking is based on how fast a user can type, redundancy occurs at times when someone types slower than another speaker, it is impossible to tell when someone is typing a message in response to another.

Yet it works. Users of IRC find the mode of communication meaning and entertaining, encouraging them to play with language and identity.

This is where the suggestion for further research comes in. What are the implications of an invisible society that reflects the physical one? What effects will CMC have on native languages? On speech or writing offline? How can a feminist and egalitarian society be created without destroying the democratic qualities? How do gender, race and class affect Internet interactions? If we can attribute these distinctions when all we have is text, can these lines ever be dissolved? What are the possible affects of online interaction in the real world? How can theories of communication be redesigned to include the phenomenon of IRC?

Chatation Nation

I've spent the day working on a linguistics paper about how online chat breaks the conventions of linguistic theory.

Not only are spelling and grammatical conventions dashed to the pavement, but turn-based dialogue, politeness conventions, and standards are virtually (heh) non-existent.

This doesn't apply only to chat, but to any form of computer-mediated communication (CMC).

In a chat room, turns are based not on social convention but on how fast a participant can type something and hit "enter." This leads to redundancy when someone misses an important part of the conversation or was typing too slowly to match the speed of the other participants. Can you type as fast as you talk?

Online communication is currently dominated by those outside of academic fields. Regular, everyday Joes. Further, it is dominated by adolescents, who are often the first to pick up and play with new technology. Adolescent language is punctuated by constant change, in efforts to assert individuality and identity. Because they are the dominant users of online communication, standards for chat, e-mail etc. are practically non-existent. And no, you don't write an e-mail like it's a letter. Sorry, I'm just not gonna read that.

So what? These hanky-panky computer-using punks are going to ruin language conventions, and possibly even the language itself.

Let's not blame it on the kids. No one owns the Internet, and thus no one can impose standards. The medium is too new to have developed standards of communication. These take time, and we just haven't had any of it yet.

CMC is a new communication media unto itself. It's not writing. It's not speech. It's so new it doesn't even have a name.

Our languages are on a frontier. Conventional methods of communication just don't work online, where we have the options of including links and multimedia, and butchering grammar.

Whatcha gonna do about it?

Get the dog's name

My Reporting instructor is constantly preaching the importance of details to a story. A general explanation is necessary of course, but it's the little details that make a good article into a good piece of writing.

And so he quotes, "Get the dog's name."

I recently got some business cards made (mostly for networking purposes, I'm lazy and I hate writing out 3 different ways to get in touch with me a few times a day) and I had "What is your dog's name?" printed on them.
Granted, few will get it, but a business card is of no use to anyone unless it is remembered, even as "that card with the weird question..."

It also reminds me to get the details along with the nitty gritty. Most of the articles I've written this semester weren't any good until I got a random detail.

* the name of the man who sorted bread at a food shelter
* a teacher's description of the perfect day
* the definition of "career flexibility"

These details added a depth to each story, a link between the subject and the reader, beyond simple transmission of information. This is the link that makes the reader keep on reading.

By the way, what IS your dog's name?

I feel...

I'm working on an article for class, and my subject is Creative Commons licenses. I've done the basic research (creativecommons.org, flicker, etc.) and I've done several interviews, but if anyone has anything to toss into the ring, please do.

Although I'm focusing on CC license use in Gainesville, any comments would be appreciated. Why CC? Pros? Cons? Personal CC stories?

Gratzi.

How to Buy a Domain Name

I've got a series of projects going on, one of which is to enhance my Internet presence. I've been thinking about buying a domain name and putting up my own Web site where I can post my resume, projects, clips, whatever, without worrying about losing it when I graduate or something silly like that. (My current Web space is hosted by the University of Florida)

So does anyone have any advice on how to go about this? I've looked at a couple of sites that sell domain names and also hosting plans, but I'm not sure what I really need or who is offering the best (or cheapest) services. All I'm looking to do is buy the domain name and a hosting plan, which sounded really easy until I did some research.

Adventure #78935

::shakes fist at Microsoft::

Ever since I got my computer running again, Windows crashes every time I try to play a song or a video. Granted, I'm only really using this partition to run Dreamweaver, but coding without tunes? Not gonna happen.

So I get a hold of the motherboard cd, and reinstall the correct drivers. Aha! Now the music flows.

Pop-up window: "Since installing Windows, you've made serious changes to the hardware. Please re-activate Windows."

::shrug:: *Why does re-installing drivers make my Windows activation invalid?*

::click:: "This cd key has expired. Please enter a new key."

Huh? Come on now, I'm one of the few computer savvys I know who actually uses a legal version of Windows. And I'm punished for it because it took me a while to find a working driver?
This is ridiculous.

Tip o' the Day

CSS: Until you launch, put borders around your divs so you can see where weird things are happening in browsers (cough, IE).

Please, sir, I want some more.

Clicking randomly around the web isn't always a waste of time. Today I discovered the website for the synagogue my parents belong to in Miami.

I don't know who set it up, but it is quite literally just text on a page and some pictures in tables. It made me go "Squick."

So I called my father, who has over the last 3-4 years become really involved in the goings-on, and asked him to propose to the Board of Directors that I redesign the site. Although I used to work there, all of the people I knew have moved on; the proposal would be taken more seriously coming from my father than from some punk college kid 300 miles away.

Whether or not they offer me money, it'll be a great chance to play around with design ideas and add to my portfolio. I'm planning on trying to talk them into putting at least part of the monthly synagogue newsletter on the site as well. I'm pretty sure no one there has any real experience with maintaining a website, so I may have just created a long-term job for myself.

Make my little life worthwhile

The assignment I'm currently struggling with is to write a magazine-style article and then edit it for the web.

I'm coding the website in Dreamweaver, and have the layout and design pretty much done after 20+ hours of coding. I didn't understand CSS at all until I tried using it in Dreamweaver. Now my only problem is getting it to work correctly in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The writing is more difficult. I understand the concept of "chunking," and writing for the Internet, but the assignment asks a little more: non-linear writing.

If a viewer can enter and exit a website at any point, how do I make sure that the point is made?
How can you tell a story without the "once upon a time....happily ever after" format?
Suggestions, anyone?

Saving Newspapers

Last night, one of the topics discussed at the UF Newsies meeting was the future of journalism and newspapers. The obvious concern is that I'll have worked my butt off through college and not be able to get a job when I graduate.

So, what will save the newspaper business? The fogies will always prefer the printed page. But my generation has gotten used to the constant eye-fatigue that comes from reading long documents off a computer screen. We like the pretty pictures and moving images and click-y things. The ability to interact with an environment while sprawled in the comfort of my leather desk chair, where just the slight movement of my index finger can transport me...OK, personally, I miss books.

A new feature that the Newsies will have to accommodate to is multimedia. The editor is actually in my Communications for the Internet class, so she and I toss words like "package," "format," and "multi-media" over the heads of some of the others.

I have to write three articles over Winter Break, to have as stock at the beginning of the semester. These will be accompanied by photos, video and audio where applicable. I could even make a Google Map for one of them.

So the transition from print to Internet doesn't seem like a problem in terms of accommodating stories to a new medium. The problem appears to be in making money off of it. I'm a writer, an observer, a reporter, a dreamer. A business woman I'm not. But I might have to learn to be that, too.

What are you doing thats new and exciting? What ideas do you have for the business of journalism?

To Keep on Writing

After this semester, I'll have finished most of the hardcore writing classes for my journalism major.
After this semester, I won't be writing on a weekly basis anymore.

As soon as those two thoughts slid through the grey matter between my ears, I panicked. I sat down in the middle of the sidewalk in front of the journalism building and tried not to think about the sleepless nights, the incessant butterflies, the paranoia (does that comma need to be there?!), and the feeling of supreme satisfaction at the churning sound of the printer spitting out a decent bit of wordsmithing.

And so I made a decision. I joined the UF Newsies. It appears that it was a decision well-made. The small group produces campus-oriented articles, and as of January will be hooking up with the Gainesville Sun, where I'll get to implement my newly hard-earned AP Style while maintaining my own voice.

After this semester, the writing don't stop.

P.S. I swear the A-grafs were unintentional.

News Junky

I get my news through RSS feeds. Sometimes it feels like its an IV; I get something like 200 messages a day. A lot of them I can just skim through or read the headlines on. But keeping up still takes up quite a chunk of my day. Sometimes I have to mark an interesting post for a time when I can devote my full attention to its contents.

I subscribe to news, linguistics, journalism, technology, Internet and other blogs, websites, and online news portals. All in the attempt to make sure that I know what is going on in the various arenas that capture my interest.

As a journalist, I have to pay attention to what is going on in the world. As a "net girl" I also pay attention to innovations in technology and online.

You know what? Some days, it's too much to absorb. Some days, it makes my brain hurt.

I feel kinda silly asking this, since I don't think anyone reads this blog yet:
What do you consider to be the most important sources of information? For whatever interests you, where do you go to keep up? How, oh how, do you handle the insanity?!

Mama D

By Megan Taylor

Marya Delia Javier, a.k.a. "Mama D" fed the homeless of Skid Row and Hollywood, Cali. for 20 years. Every Sunday she rose early to prepare 500 servings of vegetarian stew. She paid for the food from her disability check, and had a few friends who helped her shop for food, transport the humongous pots and feed the hundreds of homeless in downtown L.A.

She died of cancer on November 10, 2005.

Coordinated with Gainesville's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week, the documentary "Living like Mama D" played last night in the Grand Ballroom of the Reitz Student Union. About 200 students and citizens sat in awe as Mama D described her experiences with the homeless.

"Nothing I do can compare with what she did," said Angie Schwartz, a First Year Florida (FYF) student. Freshmen taking the FYF class were required to attend the lecture.

Mama D grew up in an affluent family in the Philippines.
"In my country, either you have money or you are like a peasant," she says in the documentary produced by Craig Coogan in 2001.

When she moved to America, she worked in the art department of films such as "Valley Girl" and "National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex." Her first encounter with homelessness was when she had to work on a film in downtown L.A. She began to make friends with some of them, getting them to help her with props.
"I wanted to do something, but I didn't know where to start," she said.
Thus began her Sunday lunches.

Gordon Tremaine, past president of the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless & Hungry, opened the event by telling students what they could do to make a difference.
"First, don't walk across the street when you see a homeless person. The one thing they all tell me is 'I just need people to look me in the eye and treat me like a person.'"

He went on to illustrate the concept of legacy, the story a person leaves behind when they die, by telling the story of Teddy Moore.
Teddy was a problem student, "the kind every teacher cringes to see on her class list," Tremaine said.
One year, he was assigned to Mrs. Tyler. As teachers before her had, she found Teddy annoying, ignorant, "and he smelled bad to boot." She ignored him as the others had, until he brought her a rhinestone bracelet with a few stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume as a Christmas gift.
"You smell like my mom," he said. His mother had passed away when he was in the fourth grade.
She decided to begin teaching him after school, and by the end of the year, he had caught up to his classmates. She received a few letters from him over the years: when he was valedictorian at his high school, when he graduated from college and finally when he invited her to his wedding.
"I would like you to sit where my mother would have," he wrote. "You are the woman who has made a difference in me."
"That," Tremaine concluded, "is a legacy."

Patti Ramey, an advocate of community service, spoke next. She demonstrated the scale of human kindness by asking for six volunteers from the audience.

Each volunteer read a story exemplifying a point on the range of human behavior from a card given to them by Ramey. The first volunteer read the story of a homeless man being beaten to death while others watched and did nothing. The last told the story of Mama D.

"Kindness is a simple gift that doesn't cost a single thing," Ramey said.

She encouraged the audience to find a cause and be a leader for it, using the term "servant leader." A servant leader is someone who listens and empathizes with people and then works toward a solution.

There are 3.5 million homeless people in America. Children make up 1.3 million of these, and 42 percent of them are under the age of five.

Ramey's single mother raised two children, sometimes telling them, "I ate at work," so that they could eat. When her mother remarried, her stepfather took her to feed the homeless on Christmas; her mother, a nurse, had to work.

In grad school Ramey worked at the Harvest Hope Food Bank in South Carolina. There she met her "best friend ever."

Harlan Cobb sorted the moldy bread from the fresh. When he died in his sleep, Ramey panicked.
"I didn't know how to sort the bread," she said.

Ramey travels to universities across the country, encouraging students to take part in service programs and telling Mama D's story.

"I want Mama D to live in everyone."

Applied Fact Finding

Today was a good one for actually showing up to class.

Paisley Dodds, the Associated Press London bureau chief, spoke to the class about her experience breaking the abuse cases at Guantanamo. Some points she made:

• tenacity is one of the most important qualities a journalist can have
• Freedom of Information Act requests are a strategy, not a starting place

While FOIA requests can get you access to information, if you start your investigation by submitting it, the entity then has time to spin their response in a favorable light.

• the military is not fun to try to get information from
• verify, verify, verify
• make sure you have the backing and resources of your corporation/editor before you get in over your head

Following this, Dr. Armstrong took public records out of their boring, manila folder context. She showed us a few different ways they can add to a story or be manipulated for a story.

• San Antonio city council web surfing during meetings
• tornado sirens
• find out about a city you might want to live in

Finally, she reviewed some steps that lead to good investigative reporting and writing.

• Conception: pay attention and come up with an idea
• Do-ability: do you have the resources to do it?
• Base-building: preliminary research
• Planning: who is involved and how will information be collected?
• Original Research: track down them records!
• Evaluation: have? need?
  
• Filling the Gaps: answer leftover questions
• Final Evaluation: Ethics
  

Others'

Some interesting websites I played with over the weekend:

electiononline - last week's election coverage

Alexaholic - compare web site traffic

FedSpending - database of federal spending

An Adventure!

I mentioned that the hard drive in my desktop computer had died. For two weeks I ran it off the Ubuntu Live CD while I waiting for a new hard drive to come in. I gasped in awe of the 250 GB I got for $75. Yay, Newegg.
So today, the hard drive came in. While I was putzing around, I played with my laptop for a bit, which has also not been working. Through a magical combination of random keys that I hit in frustration, the thing came to life. Since I don't remember what I did, I won't be restarting it for a while.
Then to the desktop. I realize I don't have the right power cord, call a friend, it's on it's way. Said friend takes over my feeble attempts to do things myself and soon, I have my computer back: a beautiful dual-boot of Ubuntu and Windows.
Le sigh. Glee.

From the Service Department of Honda Express

They tell you hybrid cars give you mad gas mileage. Unless you're going on a long-distance drive, this is bullshit. The constant start-and-stop of city traffic prevents the battery from charging.
The government gives hybrid car owners tax incentives. Prior to December 31, 2005, this was a one-time $2,000 deduction. The new hybrid car tax credit allows a $400 to $3400 tax credit depending on model. A credit is much better than a deduction since a tax credit directly reduces taxes owed, as opposed to simply reducing taxable income. This credit is set to phase out once an automaker has sold 60,000 vehicles.
This sounds great, but best case scenario, the bill pretty much evens out:
The oil that's used in hybrid cars is almost 3 times as expensive as normal oil.
Hybrid tires are also more expensive, and wear down faster because of the extra weight of the car. The tires can't be rotated, so they don't last as long.
Up North, road salting leads to the erosion of battery cables.
To hybrid, or not? A few extra bucks may be worth reducing dependency on oil and easing up on pollution.

Just say NO to police searches

By Megan Taylor

Just say NO to police searches, read the brochures.
On the screen, an officer jumps out of his car, donning Mountie-style hat and mirrored sunglasses. He slides a hefty baton into his belt and marches up to the car parked a few feet away, where a couple of teenagers are about to get arrested.
A question and answer session with a criminal defense attorney followed a viewing of BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters at the Orange and Brew on the University of Florida campus Wednesday evening. Flex Your Rights, distributor of the video and corresponding brochures, provides educational material relevant to constitutional rights. Approximately 30 students gathered to find out how to deal with police encounters and protect their rights as citizens. The event was hosted by the Reitz Union Board and the Libertarian Activist Network (LAN) at UF.
Criminal defense attorney and UF graduate Toby Olvera spoke to the group after the screening and answered questions. He agreed with many of the points made in the video, but stated that the law is not always clear.
"There's a difference between what the police can do and what they will do," Olvera said. "Protecting your rights isn't going to be easy or get you off scot-free. But in about 90% of the cases I've worked on, mostly younger people involved in drug crimes, if people had just shut up they'd have walked away."
Olvera was a prosecutor before he "grew a conscience" and switched to defense. He currently works for Norris & Foreman, P.A., a law firm that specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases. He welcomed students' questions, but hedged, "I can't help you with your personal situations; if you ask me about hypotheticals, I'll answer those questions."
Several students asked questions about or related experiences with DUIs, legal searches and drug crimes. Some were more skilled than others at phrasing their stories hypothetically.
He warned students about the importance of avoiding drug-related convictions, because they risk losing their financial aid.
"Don't fight" and "be quiet," was Olvera's advice for coping with cops.
The video reviewed three scenarios: being pulled over in a car, being stopped on the street and searching a home. Ira Glasser, narrator and former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), recommends tactics that protect these rights: don't resist, don't answer questions and don't consent to searches.
He emphasizes the importance of the Bill of Rights, specifying three amendments that citizens unwittingly give up during a conflict with police officers.
The Fourth Amendment protects a citizen's right against searches without probable cause. The Fifth Amendment states that no citizen can be forced to testify against himself or herself and the Sixth Amendment ensures that citizens have access to legal counsel.
"It's cheesy as hell," said Claudia Murray, secretary of the Libertarian Party of Alachua County, referring to the stereotypes in the video. "But it really shows how the cops try to get you to give up your rights and how you can protect yourself."The Libertarian Party of Alachua County often works with LAN at UF to educate students.
Murray warned students that although the video recommended stepping outside and closing the door to speak with police officers, "GPD [Gainesville Police Department] is not shy about peeking in when you open the door."
Chris Arias, 19, is a student at Santa Fe Community College. He was helping LAN at UF with the event, hoping to learn enough to start a similar group at SFCC. LAN at UF advocates personal freedoms and individual liberties.

The Election cliche

To journalism majors at UF: Don't take Applied Fact Finding, Reporting, and Communication on the Internet all in the same semester.

That said, I'm gonna succumb to the all-too-powerful urge to post about today's election. For the above reasons, I didn't vote. Shame on me. But I did get hour by hour calls from my parents, who are working on a campaign in Miami, Fla. I wish now I had recorded their phone calls, add a little audio excitement to this otherwise trite excuse for a blog post.

Move along over to Slate for some election snark.

Newspaper News

Well, this is one way to solve the newspaper/Internet/circulation problem:
The New York Times is offering free access to its TimesSelect online opinion section Nov. 6 to 12 through an advertising sponsorship deal with Philips electronics. Link

I'm not convinced. There are plenty of sites online where people can find the kind of thing they would see on TimesSelect. In fact, there are a lot of blogs that discuss the same topics.

The difference is the reliability and expertise that newspaper opinion pieces are supposed to have. This is a distinction that I think grows smaller all the time. Anyone can write anything, and while that include the phonies, it also includes the experts.

The Times and other newspapers need to find their niche online. Journalists need to stop pussyfooting around the White House. The watchdogs need some serious crossbreeding.

Along similar lines, Google may be the financial grace of companies like Gannett, the Tribune Company, The New York Times Company, the Washington Post Company and Hearst.

I love Google for all its Web2.0 terrificness. I ain't got no crystal ball, but I see Google gobbling up companies like YouTube and then providing a crutch to newspaper companies...
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean Google isn't after you.

Hang the Bastard

The news that Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to "hang by the neck until dead" brought a rousing chorus of "Hang the Bastard!" from Stone and Parker's Cannibal! The Musical to my lips.

Once I got over that however, I pondered the political implications of such a sentencing only two days before elections.

Veeeery interesting, say I.

Edit: Look who else is pondering: Dan Gillmor

A Place to Start

I am a journalism and linguistics student at the University of Florida. As a part of my self-training for writing, blogging, technology and life, I'll be posting here at least once a day.

There is no theme here. Whether I write just to write, post about my classes, my adventures in technology (with a computer that currently runs only because of an Ubuntu Live CD, tech is always an adventure), random observations...I don't promise you anything, except maybe a starting point for thoughts of your own.