Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"New political tool: text messaging,"
According to the article "New political tool: text messaging" Cathy Hong describes how text messaging is one of the best ways to spread information. She speaks about how text messaging can bring together a rally,
"I don't think the rally would have been big if we didn't have cellphones," says Im Soon-jae, one of the organizers. "We would not have been able to spread the information about this as quickly."help in presidential elections,
"With the support of alternative news websites like OhMyNews and SMS messaging, Roh won the presidency by a slim 2 percent margin. "I heard stories where Koreans would interrupt their ski trips and come into the city to vote because of panicked text messages from friends," says Jean Min, OhMyNews international director."
and can land in the hands of terrorist groups.
"Al Qaeda has been using mobile communication to organize."In nations such as China, where the internet is censored, cellphones are more important. It is the easiest way to spread information, without being monitored.
"It's like the poor person's Internet," Rheingold says. "A fisherman in China might not have a computer, but he has a mobile phone which tells him which port to fish, the market prices, and so on."When dealing with every day text messaging, I think it's ridiculous. In my opinion, text messaging is just an easy way out. It can make you forget how to talk to someone in real life; because you write down your feelings, instead of expressing them through speech. You might take a text message the wrong way by thinking "oh, so and so is giving me an attitude" but how can you tell? you can't hear their voice. They can lead to meaningless fights, which can be avoidable.
