Neda and the Citizen Journalist Revolution!

The Neda video is disturbing to say the least. Watching the young girl bleed to death on the riot ridden streets, seeing the last vestiges of life fade from her body, hearing the screams of those who care for her begging her to stay with them; it’s shocking, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. It is also an example of our participatory culture. While watching the video one cannot help but feel a connection with the viewers and the person recording on the other end of the camera.

The video creates an Affinity Space; we are learning about what is going on in the world with out being in a formal setting or from a news outlet. Why read about the world or watch an edited clip on a revolution, when you can see the real thing in front of your eyes. This is our news and this is real: no censorship, no bull shit! Videos such as the Neda video, allow us to actively engage in a debate that is happening half way around the world; that is happening through a medium that we know and thus we learn that the power to teach doesn’t rest with the newsroom or even a classroom – its in something so simple as a camera phone. Power rest in the hands of the people. It rest in the hands of the man or woman who undoubtably risked their life posting this video to show the true victims and martyrs of a revolution. Citizens are no longer solely subjects of the news, they report news as well. The

People worry about how and what the youth can do with these technological advancements. In my opinion, these worries are valid but sometimes over thought. As with any new medium there are great disadvantages that can come from it, but as time goes on people learn. Adults, children, and teens will learn over the course of time what really becomes acceptable and unacceptable in the realm of the Internet and technology. Judgment is one of the most important things to let these digital natives establish. When it comes to the Citizen Journalist, judgement is something that they will learn to exercise but hopefully not at the rist of the truth that is technological revolution is now establishing!

My Blog Manifesto.

Where to begin? Well, I guess I’ll start with my name – Oneika Barrett. I am a 20 (soon to be 21) year old Junior at Loyola Marymount University. I am currently majoring in the Humanities with an emphasis in English, as well as minoring in Screenwriting and Political Science. I enjoy writing, I enjoy the news and I also enjoy telling everyone my opinion thus I am very interested in blogging.

The reason why I love blogging is because it is journalism from the soul. As the reading discusses, the idea of personal journalism has been around since the inception of America. However, when you blog you’re aloud to have thoughts and feelings more than an op-ed allows for because it is on the internet, and no one really monitors that (except for the government). Blogging, in my opinion, allows you to be yourself from the safety and comfort of your own home (or favorite cafe, or library etc). The beauty of blogging is that you maybe effecting one person or one million people with your writing but at the end of the day you’re still blogging for your piece of mind and to get your message out into the world; it really does give “everyday people the tools they need to join this emerging conversation” (Oreilly).

What I hope to learn from this class/experiment? In all honesty, I am not to sure! I know that I will learn a lot, but I don’t have one particular area I want to specifically learn from, so I guess it’s fair to say that I would like to learn from everything that we will be doing. Technology, the internet, and the world continue to change rapidly so I honestly believe that when it comes to trying to figure out what you want to learn there isn’t much of a point because the thing you may want to learn maybe outdated in a week or even a day. To learn as you go, in my opinion, is the best method to conquering the world of technology. I think that being apart of the digital native group has taught me this. I’ve owned my own lap top since I was around 10 years old and I can truly say that the things I imagined for technology and how involved I’d be with it then is no where near how it is for me today. Finally, am a citizen journalist? I don’t know, that depends on who you ask. In my belief I am not. I am just a girl with opinions (lots of crazy ones) and I enjoy applying them to real world situation which may or may not end up on this blog, along with emerging technology trends etc. That is why my blog is called Bare it Barrett… because I will try and bare thoughts and ideas about what is going on in this crazy techno driven world on this blog.

Tweet

Write about it, play it, sing it… Mr. Uhl does it all! Music is his life, which makes him one majorly talented musician!

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.
2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.
3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can always preview any post or edit it before you share it to the world.