yo... First Post.

This is my first blog post for the class of Sociology of New Media and Virtual Communities taught by Professor Haskaj at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The primary purpose of this blog is to catalog my thoughts and reaction to the assigned class readings. As the course progresses I'm reasonably confident we'll be asked to somehow integrate our blog material with our peers for collaboration and fostering online community.

Anticipating this collaboration, I've entered into contract with Jon Cheeba, of the The Jon Cheeba Show Live to stand in for me as guest blogger during the entire month of March. The segment is tentatively titled March Reefer Madness.

Ok, no. It's not going to be that kind of blog. But I'll try to keep it interesting for whoever is reading this. And while this is an educational blog, it's intended for my education, not yours. So my writing can not, and should not be considered authoritative on the subject of New Media or Sociology or any other academic subject. As a rule thumb anything inside the quote marks is safe, anything outside - beware.

Just a quick personal note on the course topic without laying it on too thick... This course is coming at perfect time for me and anyone else who spends a good deal of their time online. The Blogger platform is what? About 5 years old now? Half a decade of web log publishing for the masses. Doesn't really feel that long. But it's about time that those of us who blog, upload, and use social media start thinking about how all of our user-generated content is being used and interpreted by the masses, and what effect it's having on our development as a society (community/country/world).

6 years ago, when I entered film school I thought TV and studio movies was where it's at. I dumped the program because I was getting nothing of what I wanted from it but was probably getting everything that I needed had I anticipated the wave of new media about to hit. I don't regret the career/edu decisions I made, but I do feel dumb about dissing new media at the time.

Now, TV is a dying and almost dead medium. Creatively it's mostly a wasteland of drug company and dating service spots with minimal programming sprinkled in. Commercially, the broadcast nets are on the verge vanishing of altogether, NBC recently coming under control of Comcast Cabal Cable Corp.

To illustrate this horrible death spiral, I saw a show listing the other day for The Discovery Channel where they explain to people in sound and pictures how hardware nails are made. The Glaxo commercial at least had a narrative: 5 old dudes in a convertible with overactive bladders, make frequent road stops, take a prescribed pill, and drive off into the sunset, comfortable...with everything. It's so bizarre that I recently LOL'd at 5 executive-looking guys piling into a rented sub-compact at a gas station. I instantly thought of the Flomax commercial. (I hope they weren't on their way to a funeral)

We'll be consuming media full time on the internet in about 5 years time I believe. If not then the market has failed completely. We'll be watching (and responding to) professionally made and amateur content on demand with a pricing mix ranging from completely free and released to PPC. I don't think there's another option, just ask Monty Python.