British Culture & Social Media: Assignment 2

What London did to me...

To try and put into words what 21 days in another country, another city which was unlike anything I had ever experienced before is near impossible.  In the following I will do my best.

Upon arrival and perhaps within the first few days I wouldn't say I was unimpressed, but rather indifferent.  At first examination, it did not appear to be much different than a big city in the USA.  Now I have never been to NYC and my other experiences with big cities happened either at a young age, or for a short period of time.  This however seemed similar in the shopping mall a few blocks away, the sight of McDonald's at every corner, along with the Pizza Hut and Dominos.  However once I ignored the similar and took a closer look at the differences I was amazed at all this city had to offer.

During our walks whether with Dr. Hertz or on my own the age of this part of the world was overwhelming.  There was no place you could turn and see that didn't have some sort of historical significance.  It was amazing to see one city that had a story at  nearly every corner, or every stone.  It humbles me to think how this much history must change someones perspective.  To Americans every corner is a place to make history or become famous rather instead of embracing what was once here.

London gave me a different view of culture, race, and prejudices.  This is something I didn't expect, nor did I think needed an adjustment. I always thought to myself to be a diverse individual.  I will admit that I am not without my stereotypes, which unfortunately seems to be a part of human nature.  However living 3 weeks in London, what I would say is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the world, I learned to see beyond those stereotypes.  In fact looking back at them, it makes me sick to think I used to have those thoughts about a group of people as a whole.  Racism and stereotypes seem to be nonexistent in London.  I'm quite sure this is not an accurate statement, but perhaps it is, on such a smaller scale compared to the US that it seemed nonexistent to me. I loved their uniqueness. I loved that no one seemed to care about others differences.  Whether it was the way they dressed or the way they spoke it didn't seem to matter.  It was such an inconsequential thing to them. I'm sure in certain areas they have their own stereotypes, but the ones that are so prevalent here seem to meaningless to them.

Another thing that London gave me a new perspective on, was myself.  I'm sure everyone goes through the early stages in life wondering who they are, what their purpose is, why they do things they do.  And I am one of those individuals.  Of course, I thought I knew, or at least had a pretty good idea. But going to a foreign country practically on my own, at 28, for three weeks and venturing into the unknown, taught me a lot.  I have a new perspective on relationships, the value of alone time and the beauty of friends, old and new.  I wouldn't pretend to say that I have it all figured out, but I have a firm grasp on what I had been looking for, for a long time.

As for London itself that is 20 page paper on its own.  People say you actually fall in love with Paris, but I fell in love with London.  Their way of life (minus the underground), their views of politics, drinking, and tradition. The way they build and move forward but still maintain more greenery, than I've even seen in my life.

The Kinks have a song Sunny Afternoon and I listened to them a lot on my walks around London and the parks.  This particular song's meaning came to mean so much more to me while strolling around :

"...Cause I love to live so pleasantly, live this life of luxury, lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime..."

I realize that they don't get sunny days too often but taking time to appreciate it, and the beauty of it was something I enjoyed watching.  We complain, no matter what the weather.  A month and half ago everyone complained it was too wet, no sunshine, and now they complain there's too much.  How about, enjoy what you have while you have it, because you never know when it will change.

That was what London did to me.

British Culture & Social Media: Assignment 1

Review Report:

Social-Networking Sites

Social media as a whole has emerged, changed and reinvented itself in the last decade, much more so even in the past five years. Boyd and Ellison offers a chart illustrating launch dates of social-networking sites (SNSs) and even though SNSs had started as early as 1996, since 2006 they have been rapidly changing and growing in numbers. This is similar to how the internet or World Wide Web itself changed and morphed so quickly in a short period of time decades ago.   When I was in primary school the internet was unknown to us, by middle school it had become a reality and to search the web or connect, you had to wait 10-15 minutes in order to connect.  Now if your computer does not connect in mere seconds, something is wrong. Whether it is the computer or the components required, our patience for this technology has become almost zero.  Similarly upon meeting people who don’t belong to popular SNSs, like Facebook or even twitter, they are met with shock and awe. Even my father has a Facebook page.

Advertising

SNSs are also changing commerce and advertising in a way that is hard to keep up with.  No longer do individuals become engaged in a colorful ad or catchy jingle, in fact most people especially my generation, tune them out as if they don’t exist.  Instead of wondering what sort of car to buy, seeing an eye-catching ad and then going to make a purchase, perspective consumers are going out and looking for other’s personal experiences. Whether it is their experience with the vehicle, dealership or even the service maintenance, the information truly needed when making a purchase is at their fingertips.  Same goes for Amazon and other shopping websites. Anderson makes a valid point that just simply clicking or buying one thing whether popular or not can open the door to so many other options. Thus giving the up and coming writer, musician or artist a chance they may not have had years ago.

Citizen Journalism

What I find particularly interesting is the ability for citizen journalism.  News organizations such as the BBC and others are able to obtain real time videos and pictures of news while they are in process of arriving at the scene.  There are some issues with this type of journalism, but again it is a different perspective.  You can argue with an article or editorial, but to argue a video or picture posted mere seconds after something has happened is not an easy thing to do.  Greg Downey offers some quality tips, a checklist to go through to decipher what you find on the internet and the best ways to find out for yourself what is going on.  This is perhaps the best part of SNSs. Gone are the days of “old media” where you would get your news from only a handful of sources. No longer do you only listen to Tom Brokaw at 5:30pm to find out what is going on in the world, and then wait for your local news at 6pm.  News is happening all the time, and we have access to that information.  Instead of 1-4 perspectives on the news (NBC, CBS, ABC, & Fox) you have millions of perspectives.  I believe this allows the viewer to make their own conclusions on the world around them instead of regurgitated information by a small handful of people.  

SNSs and the Past

This also makes me look at our past.  In present times the world is in turmoil. This is nothing new to the history of the planet, but for my generation it is living through what will eventually be in our children’s history books. Wars, protests and revolutions are not new, but our access to finding out about them is.  It is hard to even imagine but what would our world look like had SNSs or even the internet been around and readily available in the 60s.  Looking back we find so much information and misinformation about what was going on.  It was a time of unrest and social outcry in our country and hundreds of rallies, protests and general distaste for our countries political and social climate still occurred.  Whether thinking of the Vietnam War or Civil Rights movement, how much larger would they have been if protesters could have gotten their voice and opinions to even more people? How would they have been different or how would their impact have been different? Not only to rally more supporters but to merely spread their “news” or information to a much broader group of people.