Week 3 Big Data

Hello, my name is Jessica Sandoval. I recently graduated from LBCC with an Associates in Criminal Justice. I will be transferring to Western Oregon University in the fall to pursue a BA in Psychology. My goal is to support our youth by becoming a Juvenile Parole & Probation officer or working with youth in a higher education setting. I'm interested in learning different aspects of media, I was a teenager when Myspace was what Facebook is now and it's interesting to see how far media has come along since but also how polarizing and hard it is to keep up with. I've heard of blogs as well as vlogs before and up until this assignment I've learned the difference between the two. I'm passionate about my goals but also supporting the youth as well as my family. During my free time I like to volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club, spend time with my family and my two lovely nieces Kamila & Sofia. 

In the past year I've limited how many sources of information I'm exposed to by deactivating my Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat accounts. I also don't have cable and just watch Hulu & Netflix whenever it is I have time because I find it more productive. However, when I want to know what's going on in the world I'll stream CNN to my Apple TV, watch NBC Nightly News or look at the feed of top stories on my iPhone. I consider these sources pretty reliable because they do the research before presenting the news to the viewer. I have noticed however that certain media outlets have a narrative and I've learned to weed out opinions as well as focus on the facts. A good example of this is when CNN does a split screen of two people having opposing views. It's easy to pick a side and get caught up in the emotions as well as fallacies both parties can expose while arguing about the topic but in the end that does not leave me informed, it leaves me confused so I try and focus on the facts and what parts of their discussion help me understand. 

I'm very concerned about the information out in the media ecosystem because I like to keep updated with what's going on in the world and questioning the media is something that was pretty unheard of in earlier decades. I feel like people understood the responsibility of media back in the day and now because of internet accessibility anyone can be a media source whether it's via blog, vlog or a social media outlet, with out truly understanding the responsibility and power behind their posts. I think it's a recipe for recklessness and that kind of goes to show with the amount of misinformation that is out there. I think of it as a form of modern day telephone, with every other share, like or comment, information is misconstrued and purity is lost. I never though I would question the purity of news but now that we are here I take the time to research the information I'm exposed to if it sounds questionable because the modern day version of telephone ends with me if the information isn't accurate.