El paradigma de la interactividad y como se ha realizado

Internet Forever - "Cover the Walls" (20 Years of Boredom)
19 x 19"
collage on paper
July 2009

El internet ha cambiado mucho en la forma que los medios difunden informacion hoy en dia. Los medios antiguos tenian una difusion muy diferente a la de hoy, y interaccionaban con su publico muy diferente de la forma que el internet interacciona hoy.

Primero vinieron los medios de forma unilateral, donde la informacion venia de una solo fuente, a varios individuos o grupos. Ejemplos incluyen los discursos de politicos, los periodicos, y radios. Una invencion cambio todo esto.

El telefono fue la primera herramienta de comunicacion interactiva y en "real time" que el mundo habia visto. Era una gran novedad poder recojer un aparato, y llamar a algien que no estaba ni en el mismo pais. Despues vino el internet y revoluciono los medios y de hecho revoluciono la forma en que las personas se comunican entre ellos y con los medios de informacion tambien.

Hoy en dia la informacion, y las coneciones no se realizan de forma unilateral, se realizan de forma bilateral, como en los telefonos, pero el internet lleva este concepto mas alla aun. El internet a logrado confluir todos los medios en una sola plataforma. Las personas pueden hablar en "real time" con otro en el otro lado del mundo, o contactar a sus representativos en el gobierno con un mensaje electronico. Este nuevo sistema interactiva a conectado el mundo de una manera sin precedente.

Muchas industrias hoy en dia usan esta interactividad para realizar comunicaciones o marketing con sus publicos. La interactividad ha creado nuevos vinculos para que empresas contacten a clientes potenciales, o para que politicos se comunique con sus pueblos. Un buen ejemplo de esta nueva interactividad en la profesion de marketing, ha sido, la pelicula "Snakes on a Plane".

El marketing de la pelicula se centro por primera vez en darle la mayor vos a los fanaticos para que escriban el guion de la pelicula. Desafortunadamente, la pelicula fue un desastre cinematico pero la campania de marketing le trajo mucha plata en cines, y un grupo de fanaticos fieles.

La nueva interactividad de la web es tambien una herramienta para las empresas que quieren mejorar sus relaciones con los clientes. "Web Marketing Today" en su sitio web pone un escema muy interesante de como usar la interactividad de la web para obtener informacion sobre los clientes: http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/interactive-chart.htm

Category	Type	Description	CGI Java
To the Customer: Information Retrieval	Hypertext (words and pictures)	Web pages in hypertext. Customer may select information as needed from a menu or from highlighted words in the text. Thumbnail pictures when selected open larger photographs. More sophisticated Web sites use image maps to aid in navigation.
	Search engine on Web site	Information in a Web site may be retrieved through key words entered in a search engine.	CGI
	Database	A database file may be accessed and records displayed via searches on various fields.	CGI
	FTP Download	Large archives of products or demos may be delivered by downloading from an FTP site.
	Calculations	Calculations may be performed on your Web site responding to information entered on a form	CGI, Java
	Animation	Animated GIFs and JAVA applets catch the eye and provide entertainment value	Java
	Sound and video	As modems and ISDN lines enable faster transmission, sound and video files and live broadcasts broaden communication possibilities.
From the Customer	E-mail "mail-to" hyperlink	When a hyperlink is selected, a screen pops up enabling the user to send an e-mail message to the Web site owner.
	Forms to E-mail	A form enables the user to enter information in various fields to make a comment, ask a question, or place an order. Some fields must be required before the submission is accepted and e-mail is sent to the Web site owner.	CGI, may be justified by Java Script
	Shopping Cart	Allows customer to see products selected so far, including tax, shipping charges, and the total, and place an order.	CGI
With the Customer	Chat	Real-time communication is possible between individuals who are accessing a Web site chat feature simultaneously.	CGI
	Web Board	Web bulletin board allows posting of questions, answers, and comments which may be responded to in asynchronos time. These have some similarities to news groups and mailing lists. Especially useful for developing FAQs and customer support.

La interactividad tambien ha sido una importante caracteristica del Web 2.0 en el mundo de la politica. Mas que nunca, los politicos se pueden comunicar facilemente con sus electores. El presidente Obama fue el que mas utilizacion saco de esta interactividad del web en su campania del 2008.

Su campania por el internet fue totalmente interactiva, dandole a las personas la abilidad de conectarse con otros, de recibir informacion para difundir en sus barrios, para hacer campania, y para organizar eventos. Mas que nada la campania fue un exito en como recibia sus fondos (pequenias donaciones por el internet).

Los blogs politicos han revolucionado como se recibe las noticias hoy en dia. Antes, las personas esperaban el periodico del dia para ver cual eran las noticias del dia. Despues prendian la television donde a ciertas horas daban informes de los eventos. En el presente, los blogs y los noticieros son operaciones de 24\7. En los ultimos anios, varios blogs de la politica han surgido y han sido muy exitosos. Huffingtonpost.com, ha sido quizas el de mas exito hoy en dia. Empesado por una periodista greiga, Ariana Huffington, es un ejemplo perfecto de la interactividad. El blog esta separado por diferentes seciones, como Politica, Negocios, o Comedia por ejemplo, y cada seccion tiene varios articulos escritos por los editores y periodistas que trabajan para el site, y tambien por lo que llaman "guest bloggers" que incluye politicos, expertos en ciertos temas, y personajes famosos. Ademas, Huffingtonpost le da a sus usarios la oportunidad de conectar sus cuentas de Twitter y de Facebook para hacer la difusion de articulos y de informacion casi automatico.

Con la llegada de Youtube y de los blogs, las noticias ya no vienen solo de una fuente de periodistas en una oficina, las noticias vienen de todos lados. Antes cuando pasaban eventos, tomaba largo rato organizar un equipo y mandarlo para un lugar, ahora las personas que tienen una experiencia, o estan en un lugar donde ha pasado un evento, pueden ellos mismos hacerse los periodistas, y grabar el video que se estrena en el informe noticiero. Un caso donde esto se realizo fue en el caso del tiroteo en Virginia Tech donde personas en la escena fueron los primeros en grabar los eventos que pasaban, y luego los informes usaron esos videos para difundir lo que estaba pasando al publico.

El web 2.0 ha revolucionado como nos conectamos, y como se difunde la informacion entre los canales de la sociedad. Pero una cosa todavia no ha cambiado con la llegada del web 2.0. Este video se lo explicara mejor:














The Political Musings of An Average America by Fernando Ruiz is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-Sin obras derivadas 3.0 Estados Unidos License.
Based on a work at libconvocate.blogspot.com.

Bye Bush! Don't let the door hit you on your way out

So the President gave his farewell speech tonight and I must say the man is either in self-denial, delusional, or just incredibly desperate to not be remembered as the bumbling, incompetent train wreck of a leader that he was. Just for starters, he took the most amount of vacation days ever in the history of the Presidency. I don't know the exact number but it was 879 as of March 11, 2008 according to a CBS article and I know he took another one recently so that number has probably gone beyond the 900 mark.

His speech tonight was an incredible recant of flights of fancy, and dreams of a day when he wasn't loathed by the entire world. As I type this I hear fireworks outside which I can only assume are jubilant people taking to the streets to celebrate the end of one of the worst presidencies this country has seen if not the worst ever. So many things Bush said in his speech insulted the many people suffering because of his failed economic policies, and so many of his statements reeked of delusion, I found myself staring at the screen gawking. I think it would only be appropriate to take a good look at some of the things he said just to get a sense of how completely irrational and disconnected from reality this man is. Lets take his first paragraph:

"Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your President. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence - a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together and the future of our Nation."

Sadly it has not been the American people's honor to have him serve us. His very presence was an image of ignorance and hate that the whole world now identifies us with. He wants to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together, meaning he wants to give you his interpretation of that journey.

"Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people."

Yeah this time the Supreme Court won't choose for us.

"This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house - September 11, 2001."

According to Bush he never addressed us from the White House until nine months into his Presidency, maybe that's because he was on vacation literally 50% of his first months in office.

"As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven"

Not really, we had a recession, and two wars (one which never should have happened)

"Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored Al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school."

No its become a chaotic place where there is no real infrastructure that can provide basic needs to its people, the Taliban has now retaken 70 percent of the country, and our soldiers are desperately in need of reinforcements.

"Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States."

It only took over 4000 American soldiers who lost their lives under the false pretense that there were weapons of mass destruction there.

"There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results."

Absolutely correct the general consensus on the result is that it was a huge mistake to ever go into Iraq at the expense of leaving the Afghanistan situation unresolved. The Iraqi people despise our presence there, the world sees us as an imperialistic bully, Al Qaeda has used the war to recruit more into its ranks, and the war is draining vital capital from our economy.

"The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace."

This statement is the epitome of the Bush foreign policy and what their band of ludicrous followers advocate. The only problem with this is that we invaded two countries to spread our way of life to them, by any sane person's definition that would be oppression and the exact opposite of wanting to spread freedom, liberty, and justice. Not only that but there are over 150,000 Iraqis dead since 2003, over 2 million displaced, inflation is at 50%, according to CNN 70% of the population has no access to adequate water supplies, if I were the Iraqis and I had had a say in the matter, I probably would have told America to go screw their freedom. This statement is also a gross oversimplification of not only the terrorist threat but a generally ignorant view of the world. According to Bush, we are good, and everyone else is evil.

"When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror"

I guess we must not live in a free country because this is exactly what Bush did, from illegal wiretapping, to torture, to the appointing of blatantly racist personnel to the Justice Department, President Bush constantly usurped the Constitution and defrauded the American people.

"For eight years, we have also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools"

Striving but failing because of a lack of funding for education across the board, and No Child Left Behind seemed to have left the children behind to fend for themselves. Just in my state, they are drastically cutting the education budget, often forcing teachers to buy their own supplies for class.

"Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes."

Sure, the middle class gets a few hundred dollars off of their taxes but health care costs have risen over 80%, gas prices at one point were at almost five dollars/gallon, college education has risen by 44%, wages have dramatically fallen(all of this before the 2007 recession hit!), after the recession the unemployment rate hit 7.2%, the highest in decades. So sure, average people are getting tax cuts but when you factor in the above, people are hurting badly as the reduction was nowhere near enough. Meanwhile, oil corporations posted their highest profits in history, and corporate banks received 350 billion of our tax dollars. What they have done with that money, no one knows, but I do know that Merrill Lynch's CEO is asking for a 10 million dollar bonus.
So basically the largest transfer of wealth to the upper class in the history of our country happened under Bush.

"America's air, water, and lands are measurably cleaner"

This was the most hysterical statement of the night. Let's just look at how much Bush has done for our environment while he was in office:

Sep. 2002: The EPA halts toxic waste cleanup at several sites and leaves the cleanup to local communities

Nov. 2002: Bush allows oil drilling in Padre National Park home to several endangered species.

Jan. 2003: Bush administration claims logging is good for wildlife and endangered species; expedites forest “thinning” projects.

Dec. 2004: The EPA moves to finalize a policy that would release inadequately treated sewage into waterways as long as it is diluted with treated sewage, a process the agency calls “blending.”

Mar. 2006: The EPA proposes weakening the method for calculating health standards for drinking water in small communities. The new rule would allow small water systems to exceed federal drinking water standards yet still label the water as “protective of health.”

Dec. 2006: The EPA weakens reporting requirements for chemical releases from industrial facilities, exempting more than 3,500 facilities from detailed public reporting.

Feb. 2007: FEMA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry covers up the health threat posed by formaldehyde in trailers provided to Gulf Coast residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Oct. 2007: The Bush administration censors major sections of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s congressional testimony on the public health impacts of global warming, including the statement that it represents “a serious public health concern.”

De 2007: At the U.N. Climate Change meetings in Bali, Indonesia, President Bush refuses to accept mandatory caps on emissions and tries to block an international agreement to curb global warming.

Jan 2008: When considering protections for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration ignores the impact that oil and gas exploration off the coast of Alaska would have on polar bears.

Apr 2008: The EPA proposes reducing regulations for air quality at 156 national parks, wilderness areas and wildlife refuges, allowing at least two dozen new coal-fired power plants to be built near 10 of the parks

May 2008: The Polar Bear Seas are opened to oil exploration lease sales. Shell Oil obtains permits to begin seismic exploration in the Beaufort Sea without consideration of migrating whales and other sea life. The bulk of Chukchi is opened through offshore drilling lease sales.

Jul 2008: The White House pressures the EPA into announcing it will not regulate CO2 for the remainder of Bush’s term, despite legal requirements to do so.

Aug 2008: President Bush lifts a 27-year-old ban on offshore oil drilling. Meanwhile, a Category 4 hurricane on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast spills 12,000 barrels of oil from offshore drilling rigs.

Nov 2008: The Supreme Court struck down two significant safeguards that would have protected whales against high-intensity sonar training in Southern California.

De 2008: Stephen Johnson, administrator of the EPA, issues a memorandum declaring that it would not regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution from power plants or any other industrial facility. This decision disregards a previous landmark decision that rejected the same arguments.
(source http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/bush-admin-environmental-record-interactive-graphic.php)

And these are just some of the atrocities that the Bush administration has commited against the environment. This list alone is enough to prosecute the man and anyone who worked at the EPA during his tenure.

"When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy"

He and Treasury Secretary Paulson gave 350 billion dollars of our money to the largest banks in the country which has now disappeared. Was this decisive action; sure, very dumb decisive action, or was it?

"We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system."

You did manage to show the world what a "free enterprise" run rampant can do to ordinary people. We were starting to resemble the island of Saipan

"Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks"

The understatement of the century

"Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind."

If by the interests of the country you mean the interests of the top 2 percent of it then yes that is true.

"I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right."

How can you follow your conscience if you have none?

"You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

I think everyone would have preferred that you not make any decisions at all.

While our Nation is safer than it was seven years ago"

Lie number 6,356,034

"America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict."

There are a few million people that think otherwise.

"But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism."

I once got the two to make out while playing truth or dare.

"In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad."

Again with the imposition of our way of life on others.

"Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere"

Except when Israel does it to the Palestinians, then its perfectly okay.

"Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right"

Tell that to the detainees at Guantanamo being held without evidence, motive, or due process of law.

"This is a Nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom"

And they are rewarded by having their homes raided in the middle of the night by immigration officials and then deported.

"These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America"

The feeling is not mutual trust us

So I hope any one reading this notices the inherent hypocrisy and lack of an understanding for what actually happened during GW's two terms. Nothing he said in his speech today contained an ounce of truth, nothing he did in office contained an ounce of honor, and he leaves with barely an ounce of respect. I wish GW the best, I really do, but sometimes its hard when I see how far our once great country has fallen. I can only hope that Obama works to reverse the trend and get us back on the right path. It is going to take time but we have to all be patient, not expect miracles, and most of all get involved in our communities. We have to work to help our fellow man, and show that when you appeal to the best in people the results can be profound. Okay I really have to stop. Its sleep time. I will go to bed, feeling safe and secure knowing that GW is in the White House watching over me, and illegally wiretapping my phone. :P


The Political Musings of An Average America by Fernando Ruiz is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-Sin obras derivadas 3.0 Estados Unidos License.
Based on a work at libconvocate.blogspot.com.

Welcome!

So this is my first attempt at blogging ever. I have always wanted to start a blog but I have kept putting it off for various reasons. Starting a blog only seems like the logical thing for someone like me to do, mainly because I spend so much time on the internet but more than anything because I am an avid follower of American politics. I have no idea if I'll keep it going though, or maintain it because I feel like this is somewhat of an exercise in futility. Most likely no one will read this but me. So it's possible that I'll post once or twice and then never post anything again. Only time will tell.

The purpose of this blog is twofold; to get some of my frustrations with the state of affairs in our nation off of my chest and to examine the rhetoric of Republican politicians, debunking the lies they spread, and bringing to light the fact that many if not most of them are in power to serve the will of their almighty market and not the will of the American people.

Despite my loathing of the neo-conservative ideology which I must say has vastly separated itself from the old conservative party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Eisenhower; I do think that there are extremes on the liberal side of politics that can get out of hand as well. What I am trying to say is that basically, throughout my experiment with blogging, I will call out liberals when I think they are wrong and say why. Mainly though, I want to spend space on the internets demonstrating that most conservatives live to protect the will and rights of mega-corporations at the expense of the American people. How they can get away with this is quite possibly the greatest scam, or Ponzi scheme if you will, ever enacted on the American people. They hide their crippling economic agenda by advocating that a corporate friendly policy is a people friendly policy which I hope many Americans have realized simply is not true evidenced by the recent recession and while most average Americans were losing their retirement and college savings in the stock market, Exxon Mobile the corporate gas giant was posting the highest profits in its history. Oh but according to many conservatives we have to lower the corporate tax rate because our corporations are being taxed to death and can not compete. These are the types of lies that Republicans like to spread and that many average people truly believe because they have been trained through psychological conditioning and a complete blurring of actual facts.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel with the election of Barack Obama and the majority that the Democratic party has regained in the Senate and House. I was an avid supporter of Obama during the election and I think that so far he has done an amazing job with his transition team. We are already seeing a departure from the policies of old, a renewal of the universality of human rights, and an outright rejection of George Bush and his joke of an administration. His candidates for Cabinet positions from Hillary Clinton, to Eric Holder are impressive because of their experience, judgment, and level of competence to hold those positions, unlike Bush's nominees who were chosen for their political ass-kissing abilities and not because they actually had a clue as to how to do their jobs. I look forward to the change that we Americans have begun and I cant wait to talk about it more. Until the next time I decide to rant!


The Political Musings of An Average America by Fernando Ruiz is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-Sin obras derivadas 3.0 Estados Unidos License.
Based on a work at libconvocate.blogspot.com.