Podcast Script
The Alaina Baker Show
Complete length in minutes: 3.58 Min.
Episode 1: Topic – The New Age American Icon
Intro Music Clip: Title: Lil Wayne- 'I'm Me' Minutes: 15 Sec.
Intro: American icons from past to present. Minutes: 45 Sec.
Today I would like to talk a little bit about some of America’s great historians and how today’s icons are known by extremely different titles. Back before even my parents were thought of there were many people who left their mark in this country. Many of them were political or civil right leaders such as George Washington or Rosa Parks. Scientists, inventors, and even television personalities all have dazzled our hearts and minds in the past and still currently now in the future. However I believe one genre of icons has changed greatly. Athletes such as Jackie Robinson will always be remembered for breaking some type of civil rights norm in the past but now they stand for much more.
Segment Music Clip: Title: Leo Arnaud – ‘Bugler’s Dream’ Minutes: 15 Sec.
Segment: Phelps Phever Minutes: 1 Min.
Our new age American icon as of this summer stands out greatly among the rest. Michael Phelps amazed us all this year in and out of the pool. Although he is well known for his record breaking times in the water which was demonstrated in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics he has also won us over on land. Millions of people tuned in all over the nation to watch him on Saturday Night Live and very much enjoyed his presence on talk shows and commercials. He has made such an impact on the way we view athletes. It is no secret that we Americans love our sports but until now many of the people in our country never would have thought to buy tickets to a swim meet. I would officially put right up at the top with football and baseball in popularity. He truly is an American Icon.
End Segment Music Clip: Title: Queen – ‘We Are The Champions’ Minutes: 15 Sec.
Ending: American Spirit Minutes: 50 Sec.
This just goes to show that dreams really do come true. One man in less than a week brought not only one nation but also the entire world together through the toughest times for most people. He made us all forget about the economy and the war and enjoy ourselves. Especially here in the states he made us all come together regardless of our differences and for once we were all rooting for the home team. It just goes to show you that there is more to life than what meets the eye. So I would really just like to thanks Michael Phelps for the inspiration and faith that you have restored in not only me but also this great nation.
Ending Music Clip: Title: Francis Scott Key – ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ Minutes: 15 Sec.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Phelps Phever
A few years ago I went to the grand opening of Meijers to meet Michael Phelps. He was doing a signing there to attract people to the store. The line to see him was quite short and consisted mostly of young girls wearing their high school swim team’s apparel. He signed my shirt from my swim teams league meet, took a picture with us and then we left. Back then you would have never guessed his true potential. When I came across him he was nothing more than a very good looking swimmer off of the USA Olympic team. Little did I know that he was actually going to become the next great American icon.
Phelps’ amazing performance in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics hit every Americans heart in a special way. His outstanding achievements in the water brought our nation closer together than many of us could have ever imagined. It is no secret that we Americans love our sports but if you were to ask someone to name a sport I am sure that pre-Beijing swimming would not be one of the first to come mind.
Michael Phelps and his 16 Olympic medals changed all of that. If you were to type his name into a search engine the results are endless. The media has also given him more than just a good name. On top of his aquatics career he found him self on GQ’s men of the year list, as well as the list of most fascinating people and also was named the sexiest male jock by People magazine. His name swarmed headlines for what seemed like endless weeks before, during, and after the Olympics and people we’re eating it all up.
I am sure your thinking that anyone can make headlines for countless of reasons but how many people do you know that have made it on Cornflake and Rice Krispie Treat boxes. Phelps also appears in many commercials on TV including one for the ever popular game Guitar Hero. Tony Hawk, Kobe Bryant, and Alex Rodriguez all came together with Phelps in the ad to make a complete band. To include Phelps in such company as these three men was most likely unthinkable a year ago. There is no escaping the Phelps mania, it is like an extremely contagious disease and I am proud to said that I do have the Phelps fever.
Four time World Swimmer of the Year, six time American Swimmer of the Year, seven time Golden Goggle award winner, 2005’s ESPY Best Olympic Performer, 2004’s USOC Athlete of the Year, 2003’s USSA Athlete of the Year, World Championships swimmer of the meet, and James E. Sullivan award winner is all the same person: Michael Phelps. If you are not a “Phelps Phan” by now then I really could not even imagine what it would take to impress you. All of these awards don’t even express his greatest accomplishment of all which I believe is becoming a role model to every single American in the country.
His message is a powerful one that I don’t believe he even ever imagined that was possible. Especially here in his home state of Michigan he restored our faith in this country and constantly reminds us what we were really put on this earth to do. To work together, and to never give up. Even during the hardest times people all over the nation have came to realize that we can still make a difference, and that its never to late to change the world.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mobile Computers
Even as I am just sitting here typing on my computer my cell phone is less than feet away from me. I bet that even as you are reading this no matter whom you are you could most likely say the same thing about the location of your mobile phone. That is if you own one. What you might not realize is that this phone has a certain control over you. This really applies to everyone in the nation who is apart of a contract with a cell phone company. These contracts or plans seem to be the heart of this epidemic.
Just because we can go into a store and buy a little device with a bunch of cool buttons and all sorts cool features does not make it a phone. We have to sign a contract stating that we will pay so much money to have our phone activated within the network to call anyone we may possibly want. Or at least the people that we are aloud to without having to pay extra than what we have originally agreed to in our plan.
That’s the funny thing about contracts. They put so many limitations on who we can and can not talk to. Promotions such as free nights and weekends, and free calling to only the people in your network, circle, or favorites, are just a few restrictions that people usually fall for because they put the word free in front of it. Say you have free nights and weekends but your friend works on nights and weekends, when are you going to call your friend? It is quite possible that you may have to give up valuable minutes during the day time, or maybe you’ll text that person while they are at work. If this isn’t possible then you better hope your friend is in your top five or at least in your network or else you are going to pay.
Either way it seems like it is going be a very short conversation. Text messaging is another very funny thing. Text messaging has almost taken over the entire purpose of cell phones in the first place. It makes every conversation so much less personal and as a society I feel like this is the answer to our prayers. Why should any of use ever have to call one another and hear each others voices and pretend that we care more than what we really do. Also why should we have a longer conversation than what we have actually intended when we can send each other short typed out messages within seconds. Here in America it has always been about efficiency and speed. As far as I am concerned the text message has gone beyond our wildest dreams. However this makes all of our relationships with each other become less important. Is this really what we really wanted our outcome to look like?
But wait, now we have to pay for minutes and text messages? Sound like our bill just doubled. You just got to have it though and it doesn’t just stop at talking and text messaging. Saying that this thing that we continually call a cell phone is a phone is almost an insult, good thing for us that mobile phones don’t have feelings(at least not yet anyways. Most of these so called phones come standard with a built in camera, navigation system, Wi-Fi, Mp3 player, live television, calculators, calendars, clocks, stop watch, and so much more depending on what model you buy. Once you get all of this going then you can purchase even more ring tones, games, music, and so much more. Eventually when it all comes together that’s when you start to realize that you have got one of the worlds smallest computers right there in you pocket.
By now these little computers are sounding really cool. However, don’t forget that somebody has to pay for all that which leads us back to our contract. Cell phones have made us all a mess. The connections we make control us in almost every aspect of our everyday life and if it is a cell phone that is connecting us then we are stuck. If its not who and when we talk to people, its where and why. If it is not what and where we do things its when and why they occur. We are forever trapped in our digital world. Then again you know what they say, you’ve made your bed and now you have to sleep in it.
Even as I am just sitting here typing on my computer my cell phone is less than feet away from me. I bet that even as you are reading this no matter whom you are you could most likely say the same thing about the location of your mobile phone. That is if you own one. What you might not realize is that this phone has a certain control over you. This really applies to everyone in the nation who is apart of a contract with a cell phone company. These contracts or plans seem to be the heart of this epidemic.
Just because we can go into a store and buy a little device with a bunch of cool buttons and all sorts cool features does not make it a phone. We have to sign a contract stating that we will pay so much money to have our phone activated within the network to call anyone we may possibly want. Or at least the people that we are aloud to without having to pay extra than what we have originally agreed to in our plan.
That’s the funny thing about contracts. They put so many limitations on who we can and can not talk to. Promotions such as free nights and weekends, and free calling to only the people in your network, circle, or favorites, are just a few restrictions that people usually fall for because they put the word free in front of it. Say you have free nights and weekends but your friend works on nights and weekends, when are you going to call your friend? It is quite possible that you may have to give up valuable minutes during the day time, or maybe you’ll text that person while they are at work. If this isn’t possible then you better hope your friend is in your top five or at least in your network or else you are going to pay.
Either way it seems like it is going be a very short conversation. Text messaging is another very funny thing. Text messaging has almost taken over the entire purpose of cell phones in the first place. It makes every conversation so much less personal and as a society I feel like this is the answer to our prayers. Why should any of use ever have to call one another and hear each others voices and pretend that we care more than what we really do. Also why should we have a longer conversation than what we have actually intended when we can send each other short typed out messages within seconds. Here in America it has always been about efficiency and speed. As far as I am concerned the text message has gone beyond our wildest dreams. However this makes all of our relationships with each other become less important. Is this really what we really wanted our outcome to look like?
But wait, now we have to pay for minutes and text messages? Sound like our bill just doubled. You just got to have it though and it doesn’t just stop at talking and text messaging. Saying that this thing that we continually call a cell phone is a phone is almost an insult, good thing for us that mobile phones don’t have feelings(at least not yet anyways. Most of these so called phones come standard with a built in camera, navigation system, Wi-Fi, Mp3 player, live television, calculators, calendars, clocks, stop watch, and so much more depending on what model you buy. Once you get all of this going then you can purchase even more ring tones, games, music, and so much more. Eventually when it all comes together that’s when you start to realize that you have got one of the worlds smallest computers right there in you pocket.
By now these little computers are sounding really cool. However, don’t forget that somebody has to pay for all that which leads us back to our contract. Cell phones have made us all a mess. The connections we make control us in almost every aspect of our everyday life and if it is a cell phone that is connecting us then we are stuck. If its not who and when we talk to people, its where and why. If it is not what and where we do things its when and why they occur. We are forever trapped in our digital world. Then again you know what they say, you’ve made your bed and now you have to sleep in it.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
ATTENTION GROUP 1 here are our questions for your essay!
Essay Questions for: Is the Cell Phone Undermining the Social Order?: Understanding Mobile Technology from a Sociological Perspective
All around us we here about how bad our economy is doing in the U.S. Do you think that the crisis is having an effect on people’s cell phone uses? Do you and your friends only call on nights & weekends, the people in your network, or do you have the unlimited plan with your cell phone company? How does this affect you in your daily life? - Baker
Has text messaging become the new standard of communication? Instead of calling friends and family do you believe that people are resorting to text because it is a less personal way of communicating? Or do you believe that it is just a form of convenience and leisure? - Klaus
Have cell phones made each of us in our society less independent? Do phones render us completely incapable of functioning autonomously or are they simple a means of convenient communication between individuals? - Montemayor
Do you think that the ever expanding capabilities of the cell phone are creating an environment in which young children are being socialized to be anti-social isolationists? Will the children of today be able to function when forced to interact with other people in face to face interactions as adults. – Foxworth
Are cell phones destroying our professionalism? Many phones today can serve as email devices, cameras, portable music players, and have internet. Potentially, with a good phone you can dispose of your laptop, your digital camera, or your iPod. Is this trend of multi-purposing moving society away from the single purpose tools of the past? - Turner
All around us we here about how bad our economy is doing in the U.S. Do you think that the crisis is having an effect on people’s cell phone uses? Do you and your friends only call on nights & weekends, the people in your network, or do you have the unlimited plan with your cell phone company? How does this affect you in your daily life? - Baker
Has text messaging become the new standard of communication? Instead of calling friends and family do you believe that people are resorting to text because it is a less personal way of communicating? Or do you believe that it is just a form of convenience and leisure? - Klaus
Have cell phones made each of us in our society less independent? Do phones render us completely incapable of functioning autonomously or are they simple a means of convenient communication between individuals? - Montemayor
Do you think that the ever expanding capabilities of the cell phone are creating an environment in which young children are being socialized to be anti-social isolationists? Will the children of today be able to function when forced to interact with other people in face to face interactions as adults. – Foxworth
Are cell phones destroying our professionalism? Many phones today can serve as email devices, cameras, portable music players, and have internet. Potentially, with a good phone you can dispose of your laptop, your digital camera, or your iPod. Is this trend of multi-purposing moving society away from the single purpose tools of the past? - Turner
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Alaina Baker
COMP 106-007
Anne-Marie Yerks
October 7, 2008
Let me start off by saying that I do not believe in generations. There is no true definition that will make me believe that we all can be categorized by the progress made in our society purely because we may have been alive when it happened. Just because certain events and inventions have come to be during my life span doesn’t mean that I wish to associate with it. People give birth and people die everyday. With these two event being non-stop it is impossible to group people and call them a generation. Even if you did, then you would have to consider people to be apart of numerous generations or define generations by an exact amount of time.
In an article written by Siva Vaidhyanathan it is mentioned that people of my age group are referred to as digital natives by the author of Print Is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age. When talking about “digital natives” I also do not believe there is such a thing. Unless you were born in cyber space (which can not happen) there is no way you can consider yourself a native. Being native implies belonging to a person by birth or to a thing by nature, and I am pretty sure that on the day you were born you could not type one-hundred words a minute nor did the doctors pull you out of your computers mother board.
Technology is a funny thing that is constantly changing. You learn and understand all of the ways it can be used over time. Computers, phones, cameras, and Mp3 players are so widely available today that almost everyone in America has access to these devices. Knowing this should make it even harder for one to put only you people into a digitally adept category. In Vaidhyanathans article he not only argues that digitally adept people are young but that they also tend to be in descending order of importance: socio-economically privileged, English-speaking, white, and male.
This order of importance is completely out of line in my eyes. If I had read this article years ago when computers first hit the scene I may had believed it, but now the tables have greatly turned. Being privileged so to speak implies only that you have the money to buy your own computer. There is free access to computers all over any community. You could walk into any library, any college campus, or even your place of employment and have access to a computer. I am sure that there are a multitude of people who do not own a computer but know just as well how to use one as the next person.
Even putting English-speaking in this order is completely outrageous. People all across the world use computers. Japan, Australia, and many parts of Europe are all on the same level of the numbers of computers used as the U.S. Also on that note, not everyone who lives in the U.S. speaks English. Vaidhyanathan may have a good argument else wise but saying that the ability to speak English is a factor in being digitally adept is too far fetched.
This also ties into Vaidhyanathan including being white. The U.S. is such a melting pot of different cultures that is continually expanding. People from all over the world are constantly coming to the states making new lives in our society. Not a single one of my courses here at The University of Michigan Dearborn consist of all white people.
Finally we come to the last topic in Vaidhyanathans roughly printed order of importance of being male. I could not think of anymore of a perfect example than myself. Yes I am young, but I am also a female. I use a computer everyday, my cell phone is always close, I am savvy with a digital camera and my iPod is always in my bag. Many of my other female friends older and younger also demonstrate these digitally adept behaviors. Being a male does not imply that you are technologically advanced as a human.
I agree with Vaidhyanathan in many topics about generations and many of the authors he quotes. However placing this order of importance on people who are so called “digital natives” in my opinion does not make sense. I do not wish to be seen as a digital native because there many other people in the world who are so much more knowledgeable and experienced to me. I will agree that I was raised in a world that is constantly growing and expanding but that is all.
COMP 106-007
Anne-Marie Yerks
October 7, 2008
Let me start off by saying that I do not believe in generations. There is no true definition that will make me believe that we all can be categorized by the progress made in our society purely because we may have been alive when it happened. Just because certain events and inventions have come to be during my life span doesn’t mean that I wish to associate with it. People give birth and people die everyday. With these two event being non-stop it is impossible to group people and call them a generation. Even if you did, then you would have to consider people to be apart of numerous generations or define generations by an exact amount of time.
In an article written by Siva Vaidhyanathan it is mentioned that people of my age group are referred to as digital natives by the author of Print Is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age. When talking about “digital natives” I also do not believe there is such a thing. Unless you were born in cyber space (which can not happen) there is no way you can consider yourself a native. Being native implies belonging to a person by birth or to a thing by nature, and I am pretty sure that on the day you were born you could not type one-hundred words a minute nor did the doctors pull you out of your computers mother board.
Technology is a funny thing that is constantly changing. You learn and understand all of the ways it can be used over time. Computers, phones, cameras, and Mp3 players are so widely available today that almost everyone in America has access to these devices. Knowing this should make it even harder for one to put only you people into a digitally adept category. In Vaidhyanathans article he not only argues that digitally adept people are young but that they also tend to be in descending order of importance: socio-economically privileged, English-speaking, white, and male.
This order of importance is completely out of line in my eyes. If I had read this article years ago when computers first hit the scene I may had believed it, but now the tables have greatly turned. Being privileged so to speak implies only that you have the money to buy your own computer. There is free access to computers all over any community. You could walk into any library, any college campus, or even your place of employment and have access to a computer. I am sure that there are a multitude of people who do not own a computer but know just as well how to use one as the next person.
Even putting English-speaking in this order is completely outrageous. People all across the world use computers. Japan, Australia, and many parts of Europe are all on the same level of the numbers of computers used as the U.S. Also on that note, not everyone who lives in the U.S. speaks English. Vaidhyanathan may have a good argument else wise but saying that the ability to speak English is a factor in being digitally adept is too far fetched.
This also ties into Vaidhyanathan including being white. The U.S. is such a melting pot of different cultures that is continually expanding. People from all over the world are constantly coming to the states making new lives in our society. Not a single one of my courses here at The University of Michigan Dearborn consist of all white people.
Finally we come to the last topic in Vaidhyanathans roughly printed order of importance of being male. I could not think of anymore of a perfect example than myself. Yes I am young, but I am also a female. I use a computer everyday, my cell phone is always close, I am savvy with a digital camera and my iPod is always in my bag. Many of my other female friends older and younger also demonstrate these digitally adept behaviors. Being a male does not imply that you are technologically advanced as a human.
I agree with Vaidhyanathan in many topics about generations and many of the authors he quotes. However placing this order of importance on people who are so called “digital natives” in my opinion does not make sense. I do not wish to be seen as a digital native because there many other people in the world who are so much more knowledgeable and experienced to me. I will agree that I was raised in a world that is constantly growing and expanding but that is all.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
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