Tweeting with an Accent

Texting has created its own form of acronym-laden English, but who knew that online slang could be so local? This National Public Radio story indicates that some of the expressions you use in text messages reveal where you are from.

Busted by Facebook?

Imagine you are involved in a court case. A lot of money is at stake. The opposing lawyer has access to photos of you drunk. Or angry postings you made two years ago. Or even a post that says you went on a wonderful long hike.

All of these things could be damaging to you. Insurance companies and others are now routinely scouring the social media sites for material to help them decide to insure or not insure a person, pay a claim or fight it.

This Medianote is from an excellent article in the Los Angeles Times.

That's Why They Call It Social Media

The stereotype is a socially-inept, solitary young man in front of a keyboard, his zeal for being online exaggerating his natural tendencies toward shyly disengaging from the world and flesh-and-blood people.

But the reality may be much different, at least for those who frequent social network sites. According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, Internet users are highly social creatures who are more likely to join groups in the physical world.

Tweeting Down a Government

The Tunisian government was driven from power a few days ago, and some credit social network-savvy young people with spreading vital information about protests and other forms of social upheaval. According to this NPR story, the government may have controlled broadcast radio and television, but officials had little idea of how to contain young dissidents using Facebook or Twitter.

Talking to My Coffee Pot...

... or my oven or my sprinklers or my central heating over the phone could be really convenient. Hey coffee pot! I'll be late getting home, so don't brew that pot until 10 p.m.. Oven! Preheat yourself to 400 when the coffee pot starts. Sprinklers! You've got the night off due to the rain. And central heating, please start heating the house to 70 degrees at 9:30, so it's nice and warm when I get home.

According to this National Public Radio story, more and more everyday devices will be hooked up to the Internet, and we will be able to direct them from our phones.

Has Political Speech Gotten Too Angry?

The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and murder of federal judge John Roll in Arizona over the weekend has left many wondering if the heated, sometimes violent, political rhetoric commonly found on the Internet, cable television and talk radio is destabilizing our political system. But the other side of the matter is that robust political debate is necessary for a healthy democracy. But at what point does heated political debate become unhealthy? NPR reports.

What's So Great About Objectivity?

We are used to thinking about technologically-driven changes in news, such as newspapers leaping off of paper or cable television's 24-hour news cycle. But rarely do Americans discuss the philosophy of news. Much of the mainstream media believes in objectivity. Neutrality in news coverage is held up as an ideal, even if our news outlets do not always achieve that ideal.

But the very goal of news neutrality is starting to be questioned. This NPR story indicates that newspapers with a social and political point of view thrive in Great Britain.

My Radio is My Co-Pilot

Parrot, a French company, is introducing a wi-fi based car radio that can pull in any station that is on the Internet, and will help the driver find free parking or cheap gas, and warn about police radar.

The device is being introduced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to this Yahoo! News report.

Welcome Winter 2011 Students!

Fall grades are done, the holidays are over, and it's time to get back to class. Based on the first day, the Winter 2011 Mass Comm 101 class is going to be a good one. There was a lot of interesting and intelligent commentary from students, and I trust that it will continue.

The first Medianote of the semester will be presented today. According to this article in the Los Angeles Times, authors are beginning to question the need for publishers in the digital age. It bring up questions of disintermediation, information democracy, and whether Google, Amazon, Apple and a few others will soon dominate the book industry.