Web 2.0

I don’t think I’ll ever have the heart to delete Tom off my Top 8.

Yes, I’m among the millions with Myspace profiles. I have the elaborate background, pictures edited and cropped in Photoshop and the occasional blog or two. It’s a site I frequent more than my e-mail account.

Though I can spend hours on Myspace and sites similar to it, I do believe it’s contributing to the decline to mass media. I know, I’m a hypocrite.

With the advancement of web platforms, Tim O’ Reilly coined the term “Web 2.0” as the distribution of noncommercial content between individuals. Web 1.0 consisted of sites such as mp3.com, Britannica Online and personal web pages, all replaced by Web 2.0 content including Napster, Wikipedia and blogging. Websites such as Myspace, Facebook and YouTube also fall into the Web 2.0 mix.

Given free space and web tools, even a 12-year-old boy can create a website. It begs the question of how much validity can be associated with Internet content. In a BBC article, Brendan O’ Neill described the Internet as, “A disinformation superhighway and a worldwide web of lies for the unwary.” The article describes an e-mail hoax involving James Oliver’s cookbook, The Naked Chef 2. In 2003, a copy of the new cookbook was sent to millions of inboxes before its release. The cookbook was anything but new. Instead, it contained a compilation of Oliver’s previously published recipes.

The Internet is filled with half-truths, and the consequences vary for students and journalists. For a student working on a research paper, incorporating inaccurate facts leads to a failing grade. For a journalist, whose reputation is based on credibility, publishing an article with inaccuracies means loss of readership. As James Foust stated in the book Online Journalism, “Journalists should treat information they find from the Internet the same way they would any other information they find: with caution,” especially in the Web 2.0 age.

On the subject of credibility, many individuals are losing theirs because of Myspace and Facebook accounts. According to a USA Today article, students are being expelled and denied jobs based on their profiles. Over 47 percent of college graduate job seekers have already made modifications to their pages. Your perception of an individual changes once you Google their name, only to find promiscuous messages and pictures of drunken nights.

Many proponents of Web 2.0 argue that YouTube is an innovative and simple way for users to share their content. I agree. In fact, my favorite videos are the Pachelbel Cannon played on guitar, and this video a friend posted on Myspace in attempts to mock my Indian family.

However, it’s only a matter of time before YouTube recreates a Napster scenario. Robert Tur, journalist and owner of the Los Angeles News Service, made recent headlines. Tur is suing YouTube for posting, without permission, his 1992 Los Angeles riot footage of trucker Reginald Denny being beaten. NBC, C-SPAN and Universal Music have also asked YouTube to remove hundreds of videos because of copyright infringement. No one can benefit from illegal content.

Till we decide to change, mass media will continue to decline.

First Week

It’s August 18, and I’m debating if there is any significance in today. I staggered out of bed at 7a.m. and had my usual burnt toast and coffee. I look about the same since yesterday; no births or deaths I can recall. According to On-This-Day.com, the formation of the Golf Writers Association of America in 1946 could be considered of some importance (sarcasm.)

Actually, there is something. I completed my first week of classes today at SMU. As a change-adverse individual, I consider this worthy of an entry.

I’ll admit it; I found my niche at Richland College. I was sitting pretty as the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, and wasn’t about to give it up. I purposely cleaned out my office the day before classes began at SMU, and my adviser practically pried the keys from my hands.

However, I’m glad I had the support of friends and family. For an entire week, I was reminded of how UNT begins on August 28 and UT Austin on the 30th.

According to a Dallas Morning News article, under a provision adopted by the Senate committee, many districts are now required to begin classes after August 27. This allows families to schedule vacations in late August, gives a boost to the tourism industry and saves the district money in air-conditioning.

I wish this also applied to private universities.

Despite all the heckling, I’m glad to say my fears of getting lost on campus, not finding a parking space and arriving late to class were not realized. I will admit, it feels awkward requiring a 10 to 15 minute walk to reach each class, and not having a mascot that lives in the lake.

I’m deciding to remain optimistic for week two.