Mromanblogs

After reading Jay Rosen blog post on “The People Formerly Known as the Audience” I  think about what shirky says  in “Cognitive Surplus” about people who buy a computer or cell phone the number of consumers and producers increases. This is what Rosen is also talking about when he refers to the audience shift in power. The computer and cell phone allow us to act like the media. We can blog, take pictures, make videos and report what we see and hear. Before all of this we relied on the media and we never responded. But as Rosen says “The writing Readers” now the readers are writing they are responding they are blogging and sharing with the world.

I have seen the changes an example of this is the news, they all have twitter and facebook accounts. People can write and report on anything they see and the news can check on it so they can report on it. I have been watching channel 11 since I was 12 years old and it was always the same. First the important headlines would come on, then the weather then sports. Now it has changed people can tweet and facebook the reporters they can ask questions. Channel 11 has a segment in which they help people when they are having a problem or trying to help the community. It still reports the important headlines but now the audience is getting involved. Another example that I seen is also on channel 11 one of their reporters his name is Greg Mocker he usually reports on the MTA. Now he gets his stories from people around NYC who have issues with the bus stations and train stations in thier neighborhoods. The way he communicates with the people is through Twitter. He almost uses the people to work for him and find him stories specifically on the MTA to report on. People are happy to send him suggestions on this. Reporters depending on the people might have sounded crazy back then, but what Mocker does is brilliant. He can’t go around checking every bus stop ot train station so he uses the audience.

One more example on how people are contributing is when the NBA had their annual Slam Dunk Contest. Usually they pick 3 judges to vote on  the best slam dunk this year they did it different. They had the audience vote on the winners using cell phones, and computers. It shows how they are now using the people to participate in the decisions it the same as american Idol. The audience is beginning to speak they are writting, reporting, and making videos they are making a difference to the world.

I finally got this done after trying for one hour to post this on the MEME website. I chose this picture because it seem easy to add any caption to this picture. At first I had trouble trying to get the picture uploaded but after trying several times I finally was able to post it. It is pretty simple to set up an account but they need to have better instruction on how to upload. To me this really is a waste of time if I were to be doing it for fun. I don’t see myself doing this again unless  professor Gershovich assign this again.

As a person who loves to watch television I agree with Shirky’s connection with Television and Gin. Maybe I have an addiction because I can watch Television all day sometimes repeats of the same show. Especially when school is over and I have that break I will watch Television everyday. I really don’t get out much I have two kids and so its really hard to get out. It really is additive and I want to stop. I did cut back on television when school started but I would like to cut it out competely. Shirky mention that” Americans watch roughly two hundred billion hours of TV every year” I believe it. Unfortuatly I am one of those american and it really drives me crazy. Some people can sit in front of a computer watching videos or shows for hours and some watch TV for hours. It is all the same. I need to cut back on the hours of television my family watches. Doing things that do not involve a TV and getting out of the house are probably the best way.