Hey! It's Jordyn!

Hi fellow bloggers! My name is Jordyn and I am a sophomore at the University of Madison- Wisconsin. I am working towards double majoring in Communication Arts and possibly Journalism. I am on the Public Relations committee for our campus's online fashion magazine MODA, where I utilize social media to update the readers on up coming events that are held on campus. Growing up in this technological era, I have always found myself being intrigued with the media and being a critical eye of it. With the dominance social networking , I have been able to connect and be more acquainted with the public. I have no shame in being an active social networker; I do not believe there is a day that goes by where I don't check my Facebook or Twitter account! If I am not checking my accounts on my computer, I am reading the feeds and updating my status from my iPhone. My friends worry if my name does not appear on their mini feeds for a couple of hours as well!! Social networking has forever morphed our culture and it is just the beginning of impacting the way society communicates and connects. I will be using my critical eye to post about social media and how society responds to the power and influence it has. Can't wait to begin!!

Hey guys, it's Morgen :)

Welcome to the blog! I'm just a lowly freshman trying to find my place on an enormous college campus. I've always been fascinated by all types of media. When I was little, it was devouring every book I could get my hands on, and feeling like I could conquer the world whenever I walked out of a movie theatre. Now that I'm older, that initial fascination has been accompanied by an appreciation and curiosity for how how media brings people together like almost nothing else made by man, whether it be in the form of print, film, television, music, social media, or anything in between. I look forward to being able to analyze this phenomenon and share my thoughts and observations with like minded people, and to hearing your thoughts on the subject as well! See you next week! -Morgen :]

About Kenneth

Hey I'm Kenneth Anderson, and I'm a freshman at UW-Madison. Like most guys I love playing video games and sports, especially basketball. I am also a member of Badger Television, a student organization that allows students to make their own shorts and web series. I'm a huge movie buff. As I write this post I'm watching the Oscars. Speaking of which, Hugo wasn't messing around, they came to play. I am interested in mainly focusing on entertainment media. I enjoy focusing on questions of film and video games For instance, does 3D really improve the viewing experience of a film better than 2D? Are remakes of old movies needed? Are film adaptations of books a good thing? Can films stand up to the quality and depth of books? How are movies holding up against illegal downloads and the ability to watch movies online instead of in the theatre? Do video games have a bad influence on society compared to other forms of entertainment? These are just a few arguments that I feel a lot of people can relate to. I hope to be able to explore these arguments and others throughout the semester. 

About Ilana!

Hi Everyone! My name is Ilana and I am a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I am hoping to pursue a degree in strategic communication! I was a dancer in high school and take as many opportunities in Madison to dance in my free time whether it is through fun workout classes or structured lesson based classes. I am also in a sorority and serve on the Panhellenic Executive Board as the chair of Public Relations and Communications. I am very interested in the media world and love to study and learn about new media and how it affects our society. This leads me to talk about what our blog is about! I feel that right now our society is on the boarder of still using old media while at the same time in the process of completely transitioning to new media. The contradictions between old and new is what our blog focuses on. I am particularly interested in how social media affects the topics that we learn about and think are important. Are the topics that are trending in the headlines of the newspapers the same as the topics that are trending on Twitter and Facebook? Does social media change what we think is important? Why do some professors allow the use of computers in class and some don't? These are just a few of the questions that we will be exploring while adding some cool graphics and concepts along the way! Check back every week to read what we have to say!

About Jen!

Hey all!  My name is Jen and I am a sophomore at UW - Madison aspiring to be Retail major.  I work in a restaurant downtown, am from a small town about two hours south of Madison, and I absolutely love to sing.  I am in an all female A Cappella group on campus called Pitches and Notes and the picture you see above is from our 2011 Spring photo shoot.  Now that you know a little bit about me I'm going to tell you what this blog is all about.  As far as media goes I'm your typical obsessed girl.  I love pinterest, facebook and twitter and spend too much time on these sites for my own good.  This semester I have found that there are a lot of  new rules on campus dealing with laptops, tablets, and smart phones.  This got me interested in new media and how it has developed it's way into the lives of us 20ish year olds.  Because media is such a big part of our lives, it's interesting to me how campus has changed since this has happened, and how new media affects our everyday social, individual, and academic lives.  On this blog, myself and the others in my group will explore and discuss the contradictions between new media and old and make it fun along the way.  So, stay tuned!