Digital Pitchforks

Dr. Frankenstein's monster is blamed for killing a little girl. Angry villagers grab pitchforks and light torches. They run off to extract vengeance on the monster.

This is Your Humble Blogger's media-driven notion of an angry, destructive mob. A few days ago, we nearly had an online version of this as Reddit users convinced one another that a Brown University student who recently went missing was one of the Boston Marathon bombers. An ugly incident of the young man and his family was averted, and Reddit management apologized. NPR reports on this story.

Questions...

•What are all the constructive ways the public can get involved in something like the Boston Marathon Bombing?

•How should the public not get involved?

•What are other examples of rumors spread over the Internet?

•Could cyberwar include malicious rumor-spreading? If so, what type of rumors?

Library Workshops Added

Your Humble Blogger recently received this email regarding the library workshops... Amid some of the highest student attendance ever and the most student/faculty complaints/comments about overbooked workshops, we have added 10 more workshops to the Library's Spring schedule of information competency workshops. Two additional workshops have been added to the schedule for each of the next five weeks, beginning next Monday, April 29th. Please tell your students to check the registration database again; there are new workshops available! And, please consider extending your "due" date if possible. 'Hope this helps! ***************************************
Nancy Getty
Instruction/Reference Librarian
Glendale Community College
1500 North Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208-2894
(818) 240-1000 x5795
ngetty@glendale.edu
***************************************

Internet as Lifeline

After September 11, 2001, a lot of people did not know if their loved ones had gotten out of the Twin Towers alive. Friends, relatives and others quickly tried to call the missing, and then hastily attached notes to lamp posts and bulletin boards in Lower Manhattan pleading for information about the persons they were unable to reach. A dozen years ago, that was the best method for tracking the missing.

Today, the Internet has a better answer. After the Boston Marathon bombings, cell phone traffic was brought to a standstill by the sheer mass of calls. But Facebook, Twitter and text messages got through. And instead of flyers tacked to walls, there are now online databases where survivors can post their status, and where worried relatives can check in. The Los Angeles Times reports. And at Glendale College, we now have the Alert U system.

Questions... •Do you have a family communications plan in case of a disaster?

•Do you know about GCC's "Alert U" service?

•Should Alert U be an opt-out or opt-in system?

•How should re reach relatives without web or text messaging access?

A Long Tail Tale?

Your Humble Blogger is intrigued by the Long Tail Theory. Maybe that's why it is one of the topics for this semester's Mass Comm 101 research paper.

So for those of you writing on The Long Tail, here's a story to listen to, think about, and perhaps mention in your paper. The Puppy Channel's tale is cute and engaging. But is it a good test of The Long Tail? Is The Puppy Channel's founder a Long Tail pioneer, or just a guy who needs to get out more?

And while we are on the subject of getting out more, Your Humble Blogger wishes all MC101 students a safe and fun Spring Break.

Maybe They Could Call It "Phonebook"

Facebook wants to be at the center of the wireless communications revolution. So they took a cue from Apple and Google and are attempting to get into the phone business.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the phone (an HTC running the latest Android OS) to the media recently. Early reaction is mixed, according to this C/net video and this Los Angeles Times article.

Questions...

•Do you use Facebook mostly on your phone, or mostly on some other device?

•How popular do you think the Facebook phone will be?

•Would you put this Facebook app on your phone? Why or why not?

•Does it matter if Facebook tracks you?

Text Me

Is voice mail annoying? Do you prefer that people text you?

That question was posed recently on National Public Radio. The answer is that some people really prefer you not leave a voice mail.

Here is the NPR audio story.

Questions...

•Is the internet making the telephone obsolete? How?

•What can a voice mail convey that a text message cannot?

•Which is more convenient, voice mail or text? Which is more efficient?

•How long should a voice mail be? How long is too long?

Bike to Work Day Is May 16

Below is an email sent out by Campus Police...

To the Campus Community,

May is Bike Month. We are proud to announce that we have registered Glendale College as one of several pit stop locations in Los Angeles County for Bike to Work Day on May 16, 2013. Our pit stop will be located in parking lot F which is located at the entrance of Verdugo Road and Towne Street. We will be there from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. passing out snacks and water for our bike riders.

Pledge to ride your bike to work on Bike to Work Day by May 15, 2013, and you may be eligible to win a free Novara Transfer One Bike from REI!

The Los Angeles Metro is hosting a few events in Los Angeles County. For more information visit: http://www.metro.net/bikes/bike-week/

GCC Police
Ext. 5205

Movie Night Suggestions

Use the comments function to answer the following questions...

1. How should fall semester students organize to decide what movie they want to book through Tugg.com, and to decide the date, time and theater they want to book it in? How do students decide among themselves who contacts Tugg and coordinates the evening?

2. What things should students plan to do in the theater on movie night besides showing the movie? This should be within the capability of students to organize.

3. How can students use Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools to promote Movie Night?

4. Suggest some type of movies that have some relevance to MC101 and to the Glendale College student population. The idea is to create a Movie Night that is a little different than just the average evening at the multiplex.

Your Brain on Paper

David Ulin is a professional book reviewer, so it's understandable that his life, more than most, is tied to the printed page. But in a recent Los Angeles Times piece, he discusses how his personal library serves as a physical transcript of his developing mind. Though he acknowledges ebooks, Ulin apparently feels that his bulky library of printed books carries value beyond what can be conveyed on the electronic page. Is this just Old Media nostalgia, or does Ulin have a point?

Questions...

•Is a personal library a history of your thoughts and personal development? How?

•What books will you always keep? Why?

•What do we lose with ebooks? What do we gain?

•How are changes in books and other media changing our homes, and maybe our lives?

•Should libraries continue to buy paper books?