Lesson 2!

Lesson 2 was all about:
1) the social impact of new media technologies present in the web now
2) issues on media usage and intellectual property
3) differences between a blog and a website

These issues would be discussed on the website (a href="http://is-wnm.ning.com")is-wnm.ning.com(/a)'s forum as an assignment. Even though I was only supposed to discuss topic 3 here, I will discuss all topics here.

1) There is definitely an impact on one's social life because of new media technologies. For example, one of the newer media technologies is the webcam. The webcam allows two or more people to communicate with each other through the computer with a digital camera that allows all parties to see other's faces, emotional expressions and so on. This kind of technology, although it allows all the participants to keep in touch with each other, limits the amount of face-to-face intimacy.

2) Issues on that particular topic are quite widely and openly discussed. Piracy is quite rampant in today's world because of the new technology brought to the human race (e.g. the technology required to rip and burn CDs). Also, people now have the necessary technology to rip off copyrighted videos, images and even entire albums or games. Hacking is also a serious problem that is hard to curb. Hacking can range from the hacking of games and accounts for personal gain to hacking media and government military satellites for terrorism.

3) The differences between a blog and a website are many. A blog requires little to no technological knowledge to set up, and is set up in a short time. However, bloggers will realise that blogs have fewer features than websites do. Websites generally need more time to think through and design, and sometimes require specific knowledge of coding languages like Java and CSS.
My take on this topic is that websites are usually for the more dedicated people that would like to use their website for either commercial purpose. Bloggers would most likely be people with little or no technological knowledge, and would like to share their views.