Web Site Reviews

Obama
http://www.barackobama.com/

The splash page for his site brings up a picture of him with his family. It shows the Obama family as very relaxed and happy. This picture is showing that family is very important to him, which is a target towards people with deep family beliefs. Below the picture you are given the option to “Join The Movement” by entering your email and zip code. This is a simple way of supporting the campaign, by getting updates and information on his it. This could also be used maliciously by someone supporting another campaign by analyzing his strategies.

The main page of the site is full of headlines of victories and other important Obama messages. Once again an email/zip code sign up is in the top right corner. Right above that is the “En Espanol” link, which obviously translates the site into Spanish. This is so Spanish speaking citizens can be targeted to become a supporter. A main headline scroller is centered in which these titles appear, “Senator Kennedy Endorses Barack,” and “Caroline Kennedy Endorses Barack.” These are shown to help influence Kennedy supporters to support Obama. There is a table titled, “Make A Difference” under which gives you options of ways to support his campaign

I could go through every pixel of this site and explain its significance to his campaign. The overall design of the site is pretty good. The site is really easy to navigate and it really showcases his success in the campaign. As well it is easy to locate what he stands for. In addition it makes it very easy to become part of his campaign and show your support.

McCain
http://www.johnmccain.com/

The first headline you see is titled, “Courageous Service” which links to a video of when McCain served. This video is targeted to those serving our country trying to show he was one of them. Another table has scrolling recommendations from politics. This is targeted towards anyone who may support any of those politics. Bottom left of the site is a poll, “By how much would the Democrats’ budget resolution raise America’s tax bill?” This is blatantly there to bring in the hardcore republicans.

McCain’s website has various ways to get you to show support. There are links everywhere saying, “Contribute,” “Join,” and “Donate.” Also there is a link leading to a page to make phone calls for McCain. If you click the “Get Involved” link on the menu bar you are giving a heap of options in ways to support him.

As I said about in the Obama review, I could explain every little bit of this site and how it serves a purpose to get you as a supporter. The site’s not bad. It is really littered with donation links though.

Internet History Exhibit

Looking at the 1982 section of the exhibit it has a picture of a computer game named Snipes. Snipes was this action game that people could play together over a network. I found it pretty interesting that there was actually a playable network game that far back. Not sure if it was the first game to be played over a network though. Not only did this game get released but I guess this when TCP/IP became the standard. Since IBM came out with the PC in 1981, other versions of the PC were popping up in 1982. This surge from everything leading up to this year resulted in the computer being Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.”

Teen and Social Media

Not a very shocking article in my opinion. The internet is a major element in the world now. Why wouldn’t future generations use it a lot? As I said in my last post, in a couple decades or so, the internet is going to be used by so many more people compared to today’s numbers. Things change, the way society lives will never stay the same, I think that is blatantly obvious. If human beings didn’t change we would be living in caves still refusing fire because it’s different.

The worry that people don’t get out in the world and live life without constant connection isn’t something to stress. Sure I won’t sit here and deny that there are some negative effects to excessive internet use. In all reality too much of anything is bad for you though. Of course there are terrible people that utilize the web, but there are terrible people out in the world too. Simple knowledge about being safe can be taught to kids by parents to help prevent stuff like this. The kids and people who get scammed or hurt by those who cloak themselves in the web are usually unknowledgeable about being safe and not just web safe. Too much good comes from the internet, it inspires people to do things they would have never even heard of or seen before. I could go on for pages about how the pros heavily outweigh the cons.

All this article talks about are percentages of this teens who use the internet for social and content creation and how it’s growing. My feeling is people who have grown up without the internet view this as uneasy news. 28% of the teen population are “super-communicators.” I believe that communication is extremely important in the expansion of someone’s mind, especially younger people.

Internet Activities

I definitely exceed the “average” American with the amount of activities based on the web. When I made my chart though I went about checking off things I’ve done before but not necessarily all the time. For example, “pay access to download digital content online” isn’t something I do all the time, or really ever often at all. Some others were checked for different reasons. Like religious/spiritual info, I’m not very religious but I still find it interesting to read up on other people’s beliefs. I firmly believe that the number of activities done online will increase dramatically over time. Not only because of ease, but because more every day things are now being infused into the internet. As of now the population is still full of people who grew up without the internet, but future generations will thrive on the web.

My chart:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ar?id=o14834477974712836704.4072772128326113857.03170324521739271385.4637991230056247144&hl=en&action=1&tile=0&rpert=20&tfe=bx_43&srow=0&erow=71&fprt=false&scol=0&ecol=2

Internet Typology Quiz

So I took the quiz and the results described me as an Omnivore. Basically an Omnivore is someone whose life is greatly entwined with internet and technology. I agree with this assessment very much. A lot of what I do has some aspect relying on the web or some form of technology.

The internet is such a massive source of information. Someone can learn absolutely anything when knowing how to search for it, and how to filter out all the bogus junk. I’ve taught myself so much by researching online, it’s incredible. Sometimes I wonder how differently things would be if I didn’t have the internet to study things.

The internet is such an important tool into the expansion of ideas. It gives such simple people unparallel freedoms to express thoughts. This is only fueled by the instant communication that the internet offers. I am given the ability to share my ideas, thoughts, and creations. While at the same time I can learn about others’ ideas and thoughts. I could go on and on about the benefits that the internet gives.