Class and Bruns

I learned a lot from Prof. Dean's powerpoint yesterday. It brought a different aspect to class. Just a few weeks ago, all the students put together power points and Prof. Dean gave us feedback. I liked the fact that she took the time to put together a power point to kind of show everyone what a good presentation looks like.I thought the power point presentation was helpful because Prof. Dean brought in the student's views and also her own. So it helped looking at the Bruns concpets from different angles. Also, keeping the class format different is helpful. We did something different from a lecture or group work. As many people know, students learn differently, whether it is hands or or visually. So it was helpful in that regard by learning from looking and reading from a power point.

As for the reading, I find myself agreeing with Axel Bruns for the most part. I feel that news and media practices have dramatically shifted towards the online world and has changed the culture of american news and most importantly politics. THe digital world has allowed people to conveniently receive news without picking up a paper. The opposition of citizen journalism like blogs and chat rooms, have left some people with a sour taste in their mouth. Can you have a meaningful and critical discussion on a blog or in a chat forum? Digital media has allowed people to generate their thoughts into an online template and gives other people the opportunity to leave a comment. I believe this characteristic of most online forums and blogs has made it easier for people to discuss, deliberate and disagree with other people, which definitely has people scrutinizing the digital media world. The use of digital media depends on that person. They choose and decide if they would like to be on the most interactive and individual network when they choose to add their comments and views on a subject. To compare this to mainstream media would not be far off. I think they coincide with one another.


Sam