Tweeting Through War and Peace

Social media is immediate, portable and participatory. No wonder that it can be used to document war from the viewpoint of the average citizen. It can also be used to reach across the divide to talk with the enemy. NPR reports.

Questions...

•In what ways are Twitter, Facebook and YouTube valuable during times of war?

•Is citizen journalism more accurate or less accurate than professional journalism? Why?

•When might communicating with the enemy be a good thing? When might it be a bad thing?

•How should the US government use social media in war situations?

Is This News for Sale?

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101s in October 2013.

The Orange County Register, like other daily newspapers, is under severe financial pressure. So it must have seemed like a financially attractive idea when the Register sold a special "news" section to three local universities for $275,000 apiece. But some, including one Cal State Fullerton communications professor, think the newspaper is selling its journalistic ethics, and ultimately its credibility. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What do you think of what the Register did? Is it really a news section, or is it something else?

•Will this section increase the possibility that the Register will write stories critical of the universities, decrease the possibility of negative coverage, or make no difference? Why?

•Will this section hurt the Register's credibility in the long run, or will it make no difference?

•If the Los Angeles Times offered a similar deal to Glendale College, should we take it? Why or why not?

Chelsea Lately Signup Link

If you want to attend the Chelsea Lately taping on Tuesday, July 22, put your name on the following signup link.

A Parent in Your Pocket or Purse

One feature of having a cell phone is that you can always be reached by Mom or Dad. Now there are apps that help parents keep track of what is on their kids' cell phones. Is this good parenting, or overkill? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Are these apps appropriate, or creepy?

•How much privacy should a 10-year-old have? How about a 15-year-old.

•Has today's communications technology made young people more independent, or less independent?

Facing Life's Problems, Online

You've gone through a difficult breakup. Are you merely feeling sadness, or is it depression? Or maybe you are feeling overwhelmed by life. You need to talk with someone, a professional, who can help you sort out your feelings.

Some believe that psychotherapy can be effective--especially for young people--if it is conducted online. Patients spill out their innermost thoughts and received trained observations and guidance. Is this the future, or a fad? NPR reports.

Questions...

•What are the advantages of online psychotherapy?

•What are the disadvantages?

•Is it OK to honor the credentials of a therapist from another state? How about another country?

•Could this lead to the outsourcing of mental health services?

•Do you think people of your generation feel more at ease or less at ease talking with a therapist online?

•What if GCC had personal counseling for students? Would it be popular?

Mapping a Path to the Future

Maps used to be free, on paper, and given away at gas stations. They showed you where roads went.

But that is an antiquated and narrow perception of what maps do. That is becoming more and more apparent in the Internet Age.

Google has become dominant in the world of online maps. But there are independent competitors. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What do we use maps for?

•What can digital maps do that paper maps can't?

•Can maps invade our privacy? How?

•Is there power in being the main supplier of online maps? What power?

•Where is the profit in online maps?

Gameboy, or Gamebigot?

Multiplayer video games are highly competitive, so it makes sense that there is a certain amount of trash talk. But some believe this trash talk often veers into racism, sexism and homophobia. How bad is it? Does it matter? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Who is a gamer here? What is the trash talk like online?

•Are gamers bigots?

•Why do games tend toward racism, sexism and homophobia?

•Are massive user games a form of mass media?

•Are games making us less civilized versions of ourselves?