For this blog entry, I want to take the time to really appreciate how privileged my fellow bloggers and I are to do what we do with MediaPost, Ball State University, and even our country as a whole. Overall, bloggers and other critics have a reputation of being blowhards with a keyboard that only know how to complain about every little thing. While the above sentiment isn't far from the truth, we should all be happy that we can write lengthy blog posts of celebrity gossip, political opinions, and even our cats. I know …

I never thought those three institutions would merge but they did. Clearly the way the world uses media today is morphing the scope of politics and the 24 hour news cycle into an entirely new beast.For those that did not get a chance to see the GOP Presidential Debate the other night on September 22, 2011, Google and Fox News joined forces to create a really elaborate change in how questions would be presented to the candidates. It seemed like such a novelty. It seemed almost like they were just saying, "ha ha! Look what we can do!" with …

My least favorite thing about any kind of a facebook layout change is my facebook newsfeed being blown up by facebook statuses reading, "Seriously, facebook?! I hate the new layout!" or "Way to keep changing, facebook." My question is... what in our lives is not constantly changing? Why is it so important to everyone that facebook stay the exact same as it was when it was first brought about in 2004? (Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg). If facebook was the exact same as it has been since it was first engineered, the technology would be so outdated that facebook would have …

Now I’m not sure who beat up whom for their lunch money back in the day, but I think it’s safe to say that this rivalry between Apple and Windows sometimes gets out of hand. I was raised in a world of PCs, but ever since my major at Ball State required I have a Mac, I have been a loyal Mac girl. Even before I was a Mac user, however, I had two iPods. The first was a second-generation iPod Nano, which I had for almost two years before buying myself an iPod touch for my eighteenth birthday. …

Technology, media, and the way we consume it all changes at such a rapid pace that companies once on-top-of-the-world are in the trash heap faster than they can figure out what they did right to ascend to the top. That’s why I think it’s particularly funny that not two weeks ago a fellow NDF blogger posted about Netflix, because I’m about to do it again. Now I’m a communications-minded individual and usually rational (unless it pertains to the Red Sox or Packers). I think about problems and try to take a minute to digest the information …

Pandora? Oh yes, I remember you. You were the one that went and left me high and dry when I became too attached—forty straight hours just isn't enough to appreciate all of your goodness. Oh Pandora. Your coldness and lack of social networking drove me to sites like Grooveshark and 8Tracks where I felt unconditionally loved. They were so new and exciting. "Pandora, have you been working out?" You're lookin' fine with a sleek and interactive new design. What did you say? You want a second chance? Hmm. Give me one good reason, other than your, now unlimited free …

This past week, I've heard read articles and heard news of the decline of the United States Postal Service (USPS). I know what you're thinking: "What's a United States Postal Service?" Yeah, I'm not sure either. According to Wikipedia, the USPS is "a United States government-owned corporation responsible for providing postal service in the United States." Apparently their main function is to deliver paper documents called "letters" from one address to another. I heard it's a lot like email except that the process could take days. Days? How would I …

For one of my English classes this semester (one that deals with digital literacy’s) we were instructed to read an article by Nichols Carr titled “Is Google Making Us Stupider?” Initially is said absolutely. My reasoning was this: I look up definitions for words or a quick fact for a paper I am writing I use the information-hardly giving my brain time to process the information. The result is I forget it. I used to think this was the fault of my memory, or rather, my fault. But after reading the article I blamed Google and the Internet in …

I don’t leave my house without my wallet, cell phone, keys, or Amazon Kindle. My Amazon Kindle allows me to search Amazon for new books, read whatever I want, anytime I want, house my collections of books all in one digital library and now even store most of my textbooks in one collective place. Because I have my actual Kindle and an application for it on my Mac, I can sit in class and read along in a textbook on my Macbook screen. There is nothing that can compare to the easy availability of reading or the price of …

Whether you call yourself a tweeter or not, if you haven’t taken notice of the role of social media in society right now, it is time to get your head out of the sand and look around a little. I am not just referring to Facebook groups and blog posts, but to media in business markets as well. The world is watching as social unrest and a wave of violence rolls through Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and now England. Regimes struggle for power over increasing revolutionaries. Culture is shaping the change as much as change is shaping the culture. …