Welcome to ODU 366 Class Blog!

This blog has been created for the class of "Public Journalism in the Digital Age" taught by Dr. Jinsun Lee in the Spring semester of 2011 at Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA. Each student will develop his/her own blog and network with bloggers.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

In-class Writing by April 6

Digital Media and Collective Action

  • Take a look at the comments on the news as well as the news story.
  • If you have a Facebook ID, you can refer to a Facebook page called "Wachovia=Fail" which Lynn initiated to protest Wachovia.
Shirky addresses three stages of group activities. Describe how Lynn’s online suggestion has led Wachovia to change its policy, evolving through the three stages (sharing, cooperation, and collective action) of the group activities.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Hey Class: Here's my Wikipedia article

Sorry I wasn't able to see everyone's in class, but if you want to comment on this post and link to your Wikipedia project or someone else's who stood out that'd be excellent.

Regardless, here's what I did for the project, it's on the neighborhood I live in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Park,_Norfolk,_VA (in case anyone is still hungry for more Wiki)

See everyone next class!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

IN-CLASS WRITING

Due to me being sick since Thursday of last week I have ask to be able to turn in my assignments a bit late. I hope this will suffice. Digg.com and Technocrati are considerably different sites. Digg.com is more of a produser friendly letting them edit the blogs on how they see fit. But Technocrati rates the blogs on popularity or how active it is. From there they rate blogs on how they "rise" or "fall". I personally prefer Digg.com. It seems simple and gives a variety of subjects at the same time.

In Class Writing 2/25 - Thomas Raines

Having been sick the past week, I am posting this a bit late in the game. But, I hope I am still able to contribute and enrich the class as a whole ;)

Digg.com and Technocrati.com are both blog sites that link in other sites as a way to collect and view the most popular things on the internet. These range from news stories, to videos, to simply pictures. The subject of content varies greatly, and as a result, each site is broken down into categories beyond the main page (which showcases the top links out of the entire site).

So format is very similar between the two, but how do they gather said information?

They rely solely on user generated content, which requires free site membership to participate in. A user links in something interesting and posts it in the correct category within the site. It is at this point that the similarities stop. Thankfully, otherwise they would just be copies of one another.

Digg relies on its users to rate the link as either good or bad. If it's good they "digg" it, and the link lives on. The more "diggs" it receives, the longer it stays on the main page and visible to traffic.

Technorati relies on its users for content, but as to how the content is distributed is based on site-analytics. What does that mean? Well, the traffic of the think posted over a period of time determines the relevance and popularity. The more traffic the more likely you'll see it featured on the main page, and in view of the most people.

Why does this matter? Well, digg popularity is totally dependent upon member participation. So if the digg community doesn't like it, it doesn't get seen. Technorati, regardless of user input, shows the links that have been viewed the most. So if there is a link that has an eye-catching title, regardless of content, it will be pushed to the top. Which, as a result, I enjoy digg over the competition.

Top stories at time of posting:

Digg:
1. Google is very smart these days (pic)
2. Think your life sucks? Think again....
3. Color Wheel [comic]

Technorati:
1. Senator Jim Bunning Gone Rogue
2. From Real Housewife to Desperate Housewife
3. World's Richest Soccer Clubs Revealed