Why {Pregnancy} and Poverty?

This documentary is beautifully terrifying. I never would have imaged that in the last 20 years, maternal mortality rates have worsened in the U.S.

Welcome to the World -Why Poverty? is a documentary that made its debut less than a month ago that follows three women -one from the US, one from Cambodia, and one from Sierra Leone- in pregnancy, giving birth, and taking care of their children. It is terrifying that no one talks about why these women are in poverty and must struggle to survive. The most terrifying thing is knowing that there are pregnant, homeless women in this world. In fact, the number of women who died in the documentary is far too many.

I don't want to tell everything about the documentary, but I will say this: Documentaries are important for giving voices to those who are outside the margins of society...all societies. I highly recommend watching this and seeing even how in the U.S. there are women struggling with pregnancy and homelessness. The clinic in Sierra Leone has the best intentions, but like the U.S., greed prevents resources from being shared. Since money is taboo in public discourse in the West, there is a need for documentaries to reach people and share stories of those struggling without it.

This documentary is much more than about pregnancy. I hope you will watch it and join the push for discourse in our world to make change.

Google and privacy? That's not relevant to America at all...

More Google news...seems that Google has been in the news a lot lately...

After giving Google a four-month deadline to change its privacy settings, six European data watchdogs, which are settled in heavyweights Germany and the UK as well as France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, are seeking to conduct more investigations into Google's privacy settings. In October 2012, Google was charged with not meeting the standards of the European Commission.

According to the Commission:

"Google should do more to let users see what information was held about them, provide tools to manage this data and take more care to ensure it did not store too much data about users."

Privacy will always be relevant as long as social media remains a communication tool. With debates about Facebook's privacy settings, Google is now becoming a target. If we consider Google Earth's ability to show someone's house in broad daylights to its other daunting ability to mark local pedophiles, we know that there are concerns in America regarding its policies as well.

Why hasn't this been addressed in America? And also, why is there rarely news about such Google cases in America? Can Taylor Swift's catalog of beaus be more important than talking about privacy issues in the world's most popular search engine that began in the States?

Even from past articles I have discussed and shared, they have usually been from a non-American source. Is it shame? The ignorance-is-bliss mentality? The few desensitizing the masses on real issues going on in this country? Hopefully the U.S. will take notice to such discussions that are just as relevant here --after all, I know where my house is on Google.

Ogooglebar

“Google has namely forgot[sic] one thing: language development do[sic] not care about brand protection. No individual can decide about the language."

In this statement by the Language Council of Sweden, there is clearly a divide between corporate culture and the development of language. Ask a linguistics scholar and they will tell you that language is ever-developing (for example, the phrase "an apron" centuries ago was actually said as "a napron"). Even within the last few years, technology has changed the use "like," "unfriend," "tag," and "tweet" due to social media and people internationally becoming more connected via these platforms. However, I have not seen Twitter or Facebook object to its terms' use in the lexicon, perhaps because the use of their terms shows its saturation in society, and therefore, its popularity; it gives them more exposure, so they keep their mouths silent.

Google recently demanded that Sweden remove the term "ungoogleable," or in their vernacular, "ogooglebar," from its official list of Swedish words, citing that the term should reflect Google searches in general and not the lack of being able to find content using the search engine.

This reminds me immediately of Google wanting to be the omniscient source of all information and that the idea of not being able to find something on Google is absurd and impossible. Nice ego, Google. I can only imagine how this will affect others' views of Americans further in our rampant capitalism.

Imagine if all search engines or corporations, for that matter, had this philosophy. Though, maybe it would be best for society to not discuss corporate products (e.g. "I love cherry Coke") since life would be less materialistic. Who knows.

To avoid using Google and giving it more exposure (more than it has already through news sources and in posts like these, and its link with Blogger.com), I opted to take my own photo for this post, which is above.

Cyber Terrorism is a Reality

With the recent news interest of North Korea and terrorism, it is important to look at media's other terrain in this topic. The BBC has recently published an article about North Korea allegedly training citizens to be "cyberwarriors," which alludes to hacking. We know that in the last few weeks, the news also reported on China's hackers taking aim at the U.S., and now with North Korea in the news, cyber terrorism is becoming more prevalent.

The article also mentions that the hackers can remove any footprints that ties them to their attacks, and if they act anonymously, it will be hard for its targets to combat. How could we fight back or prevent attacks when we do not know who and from where the attacks are coming from?

Can we truly understand what a cyber war could be? It would mean that banks with online ties will be taken down, as we would not be able to access our money, which is even more terrifying than losing our social media. They could potentially make corporate servers crash and having business plummet. Computerized logistics could prevent us from having adequate food shipped to around the country, as an extreme example. It also means that spyware can be implanted in our computers by North Korea, or any other country, to watch us as we interacts online to understand what are our most prominent concerns.

Overall, cyberterrorism is a serious issue that the world needs to address, since technology, such as nuclear weapons, has the potential for deadly consequences. While we do not think of a computer as a deadly piece of technology, our reliance on it can lead us to a downfall if they parts of our lives now online are tampered with.

Facebook and Darkrooms and Typewriters, Oh My!

Great video! Not only does Ty Morin's project of photographing all 788 of his Facebook friends bring social media into reality, but he has also influenced a good friend of his to send letters to his friends as well --and no, he is not typing them on the computer, but a using typewriter. Not the same as old-fashioned handwriting, but still sentimental.

While Morin says it will take at least 3 years to photograph everyone on his friend list, he is passionate about making the mass of names and pictures online into real people. He plans of taking pictures of them doing activities they love. What is interesting is that Morin mentions that some people on his friend list say they don't know what they love to do. This dilemma seems to be on the rise as more people create a presence online and devote several hours to their Facebook and Twitter accounts instead of going outside and being with people.

 I am pleased to see that Morin is not discrediting social media, but trying to make it more social. In fact, he is using communication technology, an old box camera, to make these people more real to him. With my personal interest in the old, seeing his friend use a typewriter and Morin himself using not only a nondigital camera, but a dark room and developing supplies, is touching. Perhaps this can be a new way this new generation connects with the older generations? Morin has something good going for him. Take a look at some of his photos Facebook friend photos above.

The Power of Consumers

Think one person can't change anything? If you and 29,999 had this attitude, Veronica Mars may be a blip in media' past.

According to this BBC article, 30,000 fans of Veronica Mars, a show about a young private eye, raised over $2 million in 24 hours to make the show into a movie, as the TV series has been cancelled. Reportedly, $1 million was raised in less than 4.5 hours!

Due to this reaction, Warner Bros. will make a movie out of the show, even though it previously declined to fund it. A major media corporation listening to viewers? Fantastic!

Even though it is unfortunate that money talks, seeing the outreach of fans donating for bringing back quality media is touching. We should be encouraged to do the same, since media images comes and go, but stereotypes often remain. Imagine what we can do if we all submitted our voice frequently. If we voiced our opinions, whether on social media or directly to the company, we could contribute to removing negative portrayals and supporting quality TV that we miss.

From what I learned in my media studies courses (which links to business), we should not be afraid to directly contact those we agree and disagree with, since we have freedom of speech and are consumers. This is the reason why so many corporations are now on social media --they are now being held responsible by consumers for quality service in products with social media's ability to reach millions. Without being on social media to respond to these gripes, they would lose out on their profit with declining sales.

If a customer is upset, they can easily make 100,000 other consumers upset, and *poof* you have a scandal on your hands, not to mention declining profits. The photo above shows just how important social media is for contributing  to change. In 2013, imagine how much more these statistics are amplified.

The power of media and the individual is important in today's society, and whether you are voicing your joy over quality media or commenting on Facebook about faulty products, your voice does matter. 

YouTube emphasizes the "Relations" in Gender Relations

Upon a quick YouTube search to find interesting communication videos to share, I found myself seeing a common theme: dating tips hidden under the "gender relations" search term. Specifically, I found mostly videos for advising men how to "seduce" and "attract" women, and other superficial topics as "What to SAY[sic] if she has a boyfriend" and "How to Attract Women for Shy Guys."

While these videos may be useful for some people, it skews the definition of what are considered gender relations, and on a major website dedicated to video, a medium that engages more of our senses than reading alone and therefore creating more prominent messages, having incorrect associations is unacceptable. By holding gender relations as a means for dating advice, people may begin to view gender relations only towards women, making them the "other" in communication and assuming that they are the ones with odd communication habits. Also, people may only think of gender relations in terms of dating and nothing else when gender relations contribute to other social areas like the workplace. Ever heard of the glass ceiling?
 

When I think "Gender relations," I think of Deborah Tannen and her famous Genderlect theory, not how to bag a female. Instead, I am choosing to share with you a video about the basics of this theory created by other quirky college students.