There has been a wide variety of Web 2.0 media that have emerged into our society over the past decade. Some of these contain tools that have changed the way we operate in our daily life. The ways in which we are able to communicate and find entertainment has changed dramatically. One specific Web 2.0 medium that has changed the ways in which we navigate and seek entertainment is YouTube.
YouTube is a video sharing website that allows users to upload their own personal videos for millions of other people to see. Its main purpose is for users’ entertainment value. This new Internet medium was developed in February of 2005 by three college students named Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. One of the most important inventors of this website is Jawed Karim. The website worldhistory.com , his own personal website Jawed.com , and scholarly articles retrieved from the EBSCOhost database have given me a great amount of information on this student in his $1.65 billion creation. Karim began his strive for this creation as a student at St. Paul’s Central High School. While he was attending this high school, he was constantly engaging himself with computers. He had developed his own emailing system for the school, which was his first ever project as a developing computer engineer. While in high school, Karim was eventually employed by PayPal, which paypal.com describes itself as “A safer easier way to pay online and get paid online. This service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, in forms of credit cards, bank accounts, and account balances without sharing any financial information.” This job was the initial spark to the creation of YouTube, where he had met and began developing ideas with his future co-owners, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. While still employed with PayPal, Karim attended the University of St. Thomas. Worldhistory.com states that he had participated in an entrepreneurship discussion at this University, where he had coined the term “Ideas are cheap.” This term by Karim was meant to illustrate that cheap ideas can come and go, but you will eventually land on one that will give you success. Karim finally landed on a good “Cheap idea” where he had wanted to launch a dating website based on videos. These videos would contain various members who would tape themselves in hope for a date with another individual. Jawed.com provides information that this video dating idea was eventually launched but did not succeed. Jawed then decided to modify this website from a video dating service to a service that was open to anyone, not just dating participants. While it is opened to any person, he had allowed them to upload any videos containing almost anything besides nudity and pornography. These users were able to share these videos and search for videos by using various keywords and hyperlinks. These hyperlinks that were found within the website gave users the ability to find related videos to the initial video they were watching. The form of navigating this website through the use of keywords and hyperlinks is what allows users to use this new Web 2.0 medium effectively. This final creation known as YouTube was eventually sold to Google for a total of 1.65 billion, leaving the three creators very wealthy.
In order to elaborate more on navigating features found within this new Web 2.0 medium, I would like to use two very informational readings that we have blogged about in our class. Tim O’Reilly’s article, “What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation” gives a very good elaboration on searching with keywords. This article provides the differences between searching in a Web 2.0 medium rather than a Web 1.0 medium. He states that “Subject categories help narrow a users search terms and strategies, and the advanced searching capabilities increase the chances of a more relevant results list.(O’Relly 2005) This is exactly what Karim had created from his original video dating site. He allowed users to search with keywords of what they are looking for. If a user wanted to search for a specific title of a song or video, that one keyword would display a wide array of videos. If they were searching for a particular artist or a user host of the video, a large list of videos related to the keyword would also appear. This use of subject categories gives the Youtube user anything they desire to this day. It is the most effective way to navigate its large database. But there is also another very effective way in order to navigate its database. Like I have previously stated, if you search using various keywords, you will come across a wide array of results. When you click on one of these results, you will find various hyperlinks of related material. For example: If you search a particular artist and find a particular video you like, you will find various other related videos to that artist in hyperlink form. If you click that hyperlink to that video you will then find more related videos relating to that artist. It is a never ending cycle, and that is what hyper linking does. One very important reading that we have blogged about in class is Eszter Hargittai’s article, “The role of expertise in navigating links of influence.” This article contains information regarding navigation through the web with the use of hyperlinks. Hartittai basically summarizes the importance of using hyperlinks within this article. He states “Links remain an important way for users to move around online, whether within a known site or by venturing to new destinations. Links are very important precisely because they allocate user attention.”(Hargittai, 2008) This statement is very important because it relates greatly to YouTube. The various links within YouTube allow the user to allocate their attention to more areas of their interest. As I have previously stated, if you search using a keyword of something you are looking for, you are most likely interested in the results. The links that follow your initial search all relate to that area of interest and provide more and more options that can give you what you desire.
Everyone has different interests and YouTube is able to deliver various forms of entertainment to all of its users. Users are able to create their own unique user name that allows them to upload, share, and comment on various videos. Anything captured on a personal recording device can be uploaded to YouTube unless it violates its terms of service, such as pornography. These types of videos that are uploaded and shared come in all types. Based on my observations and my experience with this Internet medium, I have found that YouTube is very music friendly. Users are able to search almost any music video they want to see. These videos may fall into the form of a very old, rare video that you may not ever get to see on a medium such as television. I have been able to see many videos that I would have never seen if it wasn’t for the emergence of this great technology. I am not just referring to music videos seen on television networks such as MTV. Users are able to record live shows and concerts with their own recording device, and then upload the whole show on YouTube for millions of others to see. I have seen many users do this and it has become frequently common. Lately I have been able to find almost every show at every venue that my favorite bands have played. Before this medium had existed, it would have been almost impossible to see all these live shows on video. I would have to view these shows through individual tapes that people had recorded for themselves. But with the emergence of YouTube, I am able to view all these tapes because of its unique video sharing feature. Music videos and live music shows is just one form of entertainment found within YouTube. This website contains many other forms of entertainment that users are able to utilize.
Although YouTube users tend to rip music videos and record live performances at concerts that they have attended, they can still record themselves. I have observed that many YouTube users are recording themselves doing various acts. There are a large number of users who tend to record themselves playing a particular instrument, such as guitar. They show off songs they have written on their own and covers of their favorite bands. These people are trying to gain Internet fame, and some most certainly do. They are able to do this by gaining a large amount of viewers. Some of these users have hundreds of videos with thousands of comments on songs they play. They are known people amongst the YouTube community of people who are interested in music. This is something that could have never had been done without the emergence of this medium.
Throughout my observations, I have also found that YouTube can negatively affect a certain person. While I was surfing the Internet on my own time one day, I found a link to news article regarding a Baltimore Police Officer caught on YouTube. I watched the video and it consisted of a police officer abusing his power against a 14 year old skate boarder. In this video it is obvious the kid had done nothing wrong, but the officer was throwing a huge temper tantrum. The officer eventually ended up throwing the kid to the ground and confiscated his skateboard. What the officer did not know is that the kid’s friend was videotaping the whole thing. Later that week the owner of the video camera posted the corrupt police officers acts on YouTube for the public to see. This is when I found the news article that stated this officer had been suspended from his department. The sole reason for his suspension is YouTube. Ever since this has occurred, more and more police officers have been getting into trouble because they are being displayed to the public doing vigorous acts. Based on personal research from an Internet forum known as Officer.com, I have found that videotaping a police officer is legal but most try to avoid being captured on the job for reasons like this. This would not have occurred before the emergence of this new web 2.0 medium. This is a perfect example of how the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies have changed the way we operate in society.
Throughout my research on YouTube, I have found that some organizations have blocked YouTube from their social networks. Itnews.com states that 1600 schools in the Australian state of Victoria reportedly blocked YouTube from its students because of a vigorous act of bullying. Students were captured on video while bullying a mentally disabled female. This type of act that is caught on tape is very serious because it is viewed by millions of people all over the world. It provides a great amount of embarrassment for those who are involved, the school, the parents, the teachers, and the community. After reading about this news article, I took my own time to search for videos on YouTube related to bullying. I was able to find many videos of schoolyard fights and videos of bullies who are picking on other kids. This is definitely a negative aspect of YouTube that many schools are trying to get their students away from. These videos encourage other viewing students to commit copy-cat acts. Although YouTube is a very entertaining medium, I do understand why schools would want to block it. There has also been controversy revolving around racist cartoons being displayed on YouTube. There was one case where the Islamic religion was attacked in a video showing offensive cartoons to the religious faith. According to Link, Pakistan had completely banned YouTube from its country in this past February. I recently have found a blog of a user who agrees with this decision. The user of this blog states “I fully support the Government of Pakistan for banning YouTube. I think it should make sure that other Muslim countries also follow suit and ban the site as well. Such actions will force the sites which don’t show any respect for Muslims to get back to their senses and learn how to exercise their free speech.” This is a very good example, I believe, that shows how certain individuals feel about YouTube and its content.
YouTube is a very successful Web 2.0 Medium. It has changed the way we operate in our daily life but has also affected many others in ways that could have never occurred without its development. Its search ability tools such as, using keywords and hyperlinks are very essential for navigation within the site. YouTube is growing every day and will continue its path by adding more and more users. It is definitely one of the most unique Web 2.0 media to this day.
Hargittai, Eszter. (2008). The role of expertise in navigating links of influence. In Joseph Turow and Lokman Tsui (Eds.), The hyperlinked society: Questioning connections in the digital age (pp. 85-103). Ann Arbor , MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Haymarket Media Hosted by Macquarie Telecom. (2008) Retrieved November 28, 2008
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/46729,australian-schools-block-youtube.aspx
Scripps TV Station Group. (2008) Retrieved November 28, 2008
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=66fc0900-6624-4ac2-8c1b-792b0472b952
Paypal. (1999-2008) Retrieved December 1, 2008
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/about-outside
Jawed Karim. (2008) Retrieved November 22, 2008
http://www.jawed.com/resume/
Thistlerose Publications. (2008) Retrieved November 22, 2008
http://www.worldhistorysite.com/YouTube.html
O'Reilly, Tim (2005. What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. Retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web.html.
Whitaker, Jason. (2002). The Internet: The Basics (Chapter 1). New York: Routledge.
Learmonth, Michael. (2008). Advertising Age 00018899, 10/6/2008, Vol 79, Issue 37.
Tryon, Chuck. (2008) Pop Politics: Online Parody Videos, Intertextuality, and Political Participation. Popular Communication. Vol. 6 Issue 4, p209-213, 5p
Lowry, Tom. (2008). The Anti-Youtube is Starting to Click. Business Week. 10/6/2008 Issue 4102, p52-52, 1p, 1 color
M Junaid Khan. (2008) Retrieved December 1, 2008
http://thelandofpure.blogspot.com/2008/02/youtube-banned-in-pakistan.html
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Youtube observations
For the past month I have been observing an Internet medium known as Youtube. I have found that many users use this website for their own personal interest. Many people have different interests and Youtube is able to deliver what audiences want to see. I have noticed that a lot of Youtube users use this medium in order to see various music videos. With the use of the google-like search engine, you are able to find almost any music video you want. Youtube users also are able to upload videos that they have recorded with their own personal recording device. This is the basis of how Youtube works, but I will save my explanation regarding this on my final essay. I have observed that users like to record themselves doing various things, such as recording their own band for audiences to see, doing standup comedy, skateboarding, and thousands of other things. Sometimes things can be caught on camera and displayed to a large audiance in a negative way, such as something embarrassing or illegal. I had found a story on a forum regarding illegal police procedures being caught on camera by local skater kids. The kids then later uploaded the personal video on youtube for a large public audience to see. This is something that I will go further into detail on my final essay.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Dodgeball and Social Organizing
Today I was assigned to read Chapter 9 from Clay Shirkey's book called Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. This reading contains informative explanations behind the reasoning for "Small world incidents." As described by Shirkey, a "Small world incident" takes place when you come into contact with an individual who you are connected to through another individual. Shirkey also helps describe this occurrence through the use of social networking sites.
Shirkey gives a very good example regarding this. He uses an airplane example, where you and your right seat passenger know someone in common. Shirky states that these chances are actually quite good because of a factor known as "Homophily." This factor draws two people out of a much smaller pool than a larger one for the increased likelihood of knowing the same person. They are drawn from a smaller pool because these two people are sharing the same arrival and departure cities and may both live in the same town or city. Shirkey then gives further explanation with the use of small world social networking services. Dodgeball, a friend of friend social networking site designed for mobile phone users, allows a user to send a mass text message to the people on their friends list. Since this is a friend of friend social networking site, the text is then relayed to your friends' friends. This is very similar to Shirkey's airplane example, but it is occurring through an Internet medium. The people that you and your friends are connected to are drawn from a smaller pool. They are drawn from this smaller pool because they are mobile phone users who are connected through a large friends list.
Dodgeball is very similar to Facebook in my opinion. Facebook has a feature known as "The people you may know tool." This tool displays people’s profiles that you may know due to the large number of your friends that know them. This allows you to become acquainted with your friend's friends. Shirky states that "In small world networks people don’t simply connect at random."(p.222, para.1) This is true because Facebook and Dodgeball have specific tools that allow you to connect. You all are connected through the factor of "Homophily." In Facebook you all are college students within the same age group and in Dodgeball you all have a friends list of mobile phone users.
Dodgeball seems like a very interesting feature, but I feel like it could be quite annoying. The constant receiving of messages from friends' friends could start out interesting but end in disappointment when you get tired of it. On a positive note, it also lets you become acquainted with your friends’ friends. It allows you meet new people and it helps explain the reasoning of coming across a “Small world incident.”
Shirkey, Clay. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations (chapter 9). New York: Penguin.
Shirkey gives a very good example regarding this. He uses an airplane example, where you and your right seat passenger know someone in common. Shirky states that these chances are actually quite good because of a factor known as "Homophily." This factor draws two people out of a much smaller pool than a larger one for the increased likelihood of knowing the same person. They are drawn from a smaller pool because these two people are sharing the same arrival and departure cities and may both live in the same town or city. Shirkey then gives further explanation with the use of small world social networking services. Dodgeball, a friend of friend social networking site designed for mobile phone users, allows a user to send a mass text message to the people on their friends list. Since this is a friend of friend social networking site, the text is then relayed to your friends' friends. This is very similar to Shirkey's airplane example, but it is occurring through an Internet medium. The people that you and your friends are connected to are drawn from a smaller pool. They are drawn from this smaller pool because they are mobile phone users who are connected through a large friends list.
Dodgeball is very similar to Facebook in my opinion. Facebook has a feature known as "The people you may know tool." This tool displays people’s profiles that you may know due to the large number of your friends that know them. This allows you to become acquainted with your friend's friends. Shirky states that "In small world networks people don’t simply connect at random."(p.222, para.1) This is true because Facebook and Dodgeball have specific tools that allow you to connect. You all are connected through the factor of "Homophily." In Facebook you all are college students within the same age group and in Dodgeball you all have a friends list of mobile phone users.
Dodgeball seems like a very interesting feature, but I feel like it could be quite annoying. The constant receiving of messages from friends' friends could start out interesting but end in disappointment when you get tired of it. On a positive note, it also lets you become acquainted with your friends’ friends. It allows you meet new people and it helps explain the reasoning of coming across a “Small world incident.”
Shirkey, Clay. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations (chapter 9). New York: Penguin.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Drug-Free Body Building Blog - Essay 4
During the past two weeks, I have been spending a good amount of time observing a weightlifting blog. I have chose to observe this type of blog because of my strong interest in this sport. In the past I have been a regular observer of different weightlifting forums, but experiencing it on a blog is something new for myself. This blog, "Drug-Free Body Building,"contains various methods of training, suggestions, facts, and tips in all areas of physical fitness. Although I am solely interested in the sport of weightlifting, this blog provides so much more than that. With that being said, it is safe to say that this blog's target audience is widely diverse.
Physical fitness is the main subject found within this blog. But there are so many areas that branch out of physical fitness that this blog covers. This is my main reason for stating that its targeted audience is widely diverse. As I stated earlier, I am very interested in weightlifting. So I am going to read and respond to blog posts involving various weightlifting exercises for each body part, tips on increasing weight, opinions on peoples experiences with supplements, and insight on new workout routines that I may not know about. Other people may view this blog because they want to lose weight. This blog contains information in that area where it provides insight on proper nutrition and effective weight-loss cardiovascular activities. Some viewers may also be interested in gaining weight. This blog also contains information regarding how to increase your body weight with proper nutrition, good supplements, and proper weight gaining exercises. One of the most recent posts on this site caught my attention greatly. It involved a targeted audience of people who may suffer from back pain while lifting. Although everyone involved in physical fitness does not experience this, it still happens to certain people. I've talked about this post in my "Blogging 3" entry. The blogger stated that he has been experiencing lower back pain during a particular exercise. He said he changed up his routine and added exercises that stretch the lower back in order to free it from pain. He also provided a weekly workout of exercises that can help those with back pain. This is just another example that provides evidence that this blog has a large target audience. The only downside to this blog is that the flow of conversation is very low. About two days ago I posted a follow up comment to a particular chest workout. I stated that I believed regular dumbbell presses are far more effective than regular barbell presses. I was hoping to get other comments in order to see if people agreed or disagreed with me. Throughout my experience in the gym, these particular exercises are highley debated, so getting some conversation on this topic would be very desirable. After about 3 days since my comment, I have found that no had replied. After I browsed through other posts to see if others have commented alike myself, I had come to the conclusion that this blog contains very little conversation flow.
The book Blogging America by Aaron Barlow provides a very good example that is comparable to supporting my above claim. In Chapter 5 of Blogging America, Barlow states that "You cannot give technology to people and expect results, they must want it."(p.122) This statement can be comparable to the diverse target audience of this weightlifting blog. The people that view this blog, alike most blogs, want the information they are reading. You have to be interested in physical fitness in order to benefit from this blog and that is what Barlow has stated blogs have done in America.
In Chapter 2 of Blogging America, Barlow speaks about the negative aspects of blogging. He states "Anyone can blog, and that there are no filters in order to stop anyone from saying whatever they want. Without editors, administrators, or regulators to monitor what is being posted, we have no one to vouch for the reliability or credibility of what we read."(p.36) I agree with this statement for many blogs because they lack credibility. But I believe this blog "Drug-Free Body Building" contains a lot of credible information. Based on my observations, this blog contains a blogger who posts various articles from physical fitness magazines or books. Each post is credited to a different author. This blog is mainly composed of a mass compilation of credible physical fitness articles. I am able to vouch for this blog in its credibility because all of the information provided is honestly amazing insight on their topics. I know this because I have spent many years reading magazines, books, and web site forums on information regarding this. This blog is just one huge information provider that is entirely free.
Barlow, Aaron. (2008). Blogging America: The New Public Sphere. Westport, CT.: Praeger Publishers.
Physical fitness is the main subject found within this blog. But there are so many areas that branch out of physical fitness that this blog covers. This is my main reason for stating that its targeted audience is widely diverse. As I stated earlier, I am very interested in weightlifting. So I am going to read and respond to blog posts involving various weightlifting exercises for each body part, tips on increasing weight, opinions on peoples experiences with supplements, and insight on new workout routines that I may not know about. Other people may view this blog because they want to lose weight. This blog contains information in that area where it provides insight on proper nutrition and effective weight-loss cardiovascular activities. Some viewers may also be interested in gaining weight. This blog also contains information regarding how to increase your body weight with proper nutrition, good supplements, and proper weight gaining exercises. One of the most recent posts on this site caught my attention greatly. It involved a targeted audience of people who may suffer from back pain while lifting. Although everyone involved in physical fitness does not experience this, it still happens to certain people. I've talked about this post in my "Blogging 3" entry. The blogger stated that he has been experiencing lower back pain during a particular exercise. He said he changed up his routine and added exercises that stretch the lower back in order to free it from pain. He also provided a weekly workout of exercises that can help those with back pain. This is just another example that provides evidence that this blog has a large target audience. The only downside to this blog is that the flow of conversation is very low. About two days ago I posted a follow up comment to a particular chest workout. I stated that I believed regular dumbbell presses are far more effective than regular barbell presses. I was hoping to get other comments in order to see if people agreed or disagreed with me. Throughout my experience in the gym, these particular exercises are highley debated, so getting some conversation on this topic would be very desirable. After about 3 days since my comment, I have found that no had replied. After I browsed through other posts to see if others have commented alike myself, I had come to the conclusion that this blog contains very little conversation flow.
The book Blogging America by Aaron Barlow provides a very good example that is comparable to supporting my above claim. In Chapter 5 of Blogging America, Barlow states that "You cannot give technology to people and expect results, they must want it."(p.122) This statement can be comparable to the diverse target audience of this weightlifting blog. The people that view this blog, alike most blogs, want the information they are reading. You have to be interested in physical fitness in order to benefit from this blog and that is what Barlow has stated blogs have done in America.
In Chapter 2 of Blogging America, Barlow speaks about the negative aspects of blogging. He states "Anyone can blog, and that there are no filters in order to stop anyone from saying whatever they want. Without editors, administrators, or regulators to monitor what is being posted, we have no one to vouch for the reliability or credibility of what we read."(p.36) I agree with this statement for many blogs because they lack credibility. But I believe this blog "Drug-Free Body Building" contains a lot of credible information. Based on my observations, this blog contains a blogger who posts various articles from physical fitness magazines or books. Each post is credited to a different author. This blog is mainly composed of a mass compilation of credible physical fitness articles. I am able to vouch for this blog in its credibility because all of the information provided is honestly amazing insight on their topics. I know this because I have spent many years reading magazines, books, and web site forums on information regarding this. This blog is just one huge information provider that is entirely free.
Barlow, Aaron. (2008). Blogging America: The New Public Sphere. Westport, CT.: Praeger Publishers.
Blogging 5
After my final day of observation, I have come to the conclusion that this blog is very credible. Although I do not have any evidence to prove this, I still have my experience in this sport. Every post I have viewed is so in depth in training and provides amazing insight on everything involving physical fitness. It covers all aspects of physical fitness, such as dieting, exercises, correct form, weight loss, weight gain, cardio, weightlifting, power lifting, etc. The list can go on forever. I will definitely use this blog in the future for my own personal pleasure rather than for a essay assignment.
Blogging 4
About two days ago I made a post on a a particular topic regarding a specific bench press routine. I stated my routine workout that I have used for the past couple years. I also provided information on my gains during this time period and what weight I can currently lift in comparison to my body weight. After about two days, I have yet to receive any response. As I browsed through other user's posts I have come to the conclusion that this site does not have a lot of user comments. It is more of an information site.
Shout into the Wind, and it shouts back
Today I was assigned the reading "Shout into the wind, and it shouts back" by Lori Kendall. Although our class has been studying blogs for the past two weeks, this reading's main focus shines light on another Web 2.0 application, known as LiveJournal. This reading consists of a study conducted by the author involving the identity and information management strategies of LiveJournal users. Kendall (2007) stated that she "Conducted face-to-face interviews with a theoretical sample of 26 LiveJournal users in several different United States cities."(p. 2)
The author begins this study by explaining how her interviewees distinguish between blogs and LiveJournal. She states that they believe "A blog requires more skill with html and is housed on a personally controlled website, while LiveJournal is a site hosting online diaries."(p.2) Some interviewees stated that LiveJournal is used as a diary, but very private things must be left out since it is displayed to the public. One interviewee, Robert, makes a very good statement regarding this. He states "Even if my post is marked private, it's on somebody elses server and if the government wanted to subpoena all of my records concerning me they could." Kendall also had discovered other findings in her study. She stated that some interviewees chose LiveJournal over Email as a better form of asynchronous communication with friends or even the public. If a user wanted to post something in their journal that they wanted the public, all of their friends, or even a few selected friends to hear, they can send their message through their journal. After their friends have viewed what they wrote, they can reply back and provide feedback. This is where the Kendall had developed the quote "Shout into the wind and it shouts back." Users shout out what they want others to hear or read, while in return they receive feedback.
This reading was very interesting to me in the area of feedback. This can be used in many beneficial ways in my opinion. If a user loves to hear feedback on their opinions that they post, then this website would be very entertaining for them. If you want to send a message to a massive audiance, such as informing your friends that you just had your first child, then this is a also a very beneficial website. I believe the feedback portion of this website is what Kendall is trying illustrate in the area of identity and information strategy.
Kendall, Lori. (2007). "Shout into the wind, and it shouts back." Identity and interactional tensions on LiveJournal. First Monday, 12. Retrieved on August 21, 2008 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_9/kenda11/index.html
The author begins this study by explaining how her interviewees distinguish between blogs and LiveJournal. She states that they believe "A blog requires more skill with html and is housed on a personally controlled website, while LiveJournal is a site hosting online diaries."(p.2) Some interviewees stated that LiveJournal is used as a diary, but very private things must be left out since it is displayed to the public. One interviewee, Robert, makes a very good statement regarding this. He states "Even if my post is marked private, it's on somebody elses server and if the government wanted to subpoena all of my records concerning me they could." Kendall also had discovered other findings in her study. She stated that some interviewees chose LiveJournal over Email as a better form of asynchronous communication with friends or even the public. If a user wanted to post something in their journal that they wanted the public, all of their friends, or even a few selected friends to hear, they can send their message through their journal. After their friends have viewed what they wrote, they can reply back and provide feedback. This is where the Kendall had developed the quote "Shout into the wind and it shouts back." Users shout out what they want others to hear or read, while in return they receive feedback.
This reading was very interesting to me in the area of feedback. This can be used in many beneficial ways in my opinion. If a user loves to hear feedback on their opinions that they post, then this website would be very entertaining for them. If you want to send a message to a massive audiance, such as informing your friends that you just had your first child, then this is a also a very beneficial website. I believe the feedback portion of this website is what Kendall is trying illustrate in the area of identity and information strategy.
Kendall, Lori. (2007). "Shout into the wind, and it shouts back." Identity and interactional tensions on LiveJournal. First Monday, 12. Retrieved on August 21, 2008 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_9/kenda11/index.html
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