Week 3 Blog 5- Social Media

What a remarkable time to be living in. I can communicate instantly with people across the surface of the planet wherever there is an internet connection. I can send them videos of recently shot footage. Peter Jackson can upload raw footage on his current movie project wherever he is to an editing studio in New Zealand or Los Angeles. I can see protests in Africa as long as any person with a vid phone or camcorder records it and posts it. If I need information on classroom management, I can look at my blogs that I’ve subscribed to instead of using up a colleague’s time on campus. I can get multiple perspectives on the same issue in much less time. A global ethic is still only something to aspire to as far as governments go, but individuals can get together and begin to solve problems on their own across oceans and borders while government bureaucracies get left in their wake. A few years ago, a young American teenager was able to raise funds to have fresh water wells drilled in Africa. Others provide clothing, shelter, food, and other necessities without help from any government. There is a video on You Tube called “Did you know, Shift Happens” that gives some interesting statistics and facts and figures, which may or may not be entirely true. It says at one point that new technologies are doubling every two years, which is probably true. But it draws a conclusion that says that by the time a college student is in their third year of college, those technologies from their freshman year will be outdated. I can’t agree with that. Some technologies come and go, but the wheel is still around. The microprocessor is still around. Email is still in play along with TV and radio. I don’t consider those outdated. We will naturally gravitate to what works best and use it as long as it suits us. I hope that people will remain critical thinkers as these new technologies are rushing in. I suppose that’s apparent with the recent shift in public opinion about our current president’s policies. Americans are exercising their right to assemble and to speak out and they’re using social networking technologies to do so. Regardless of your political affiliations, the Web 2.0 social media tools are changing the flow of information. Just be critical of what you see and read.