The direct response to the documentary Growing Up Online is that most people agree with the video. Although, nowadays, it doesn’t tell people anything they don’t already know. We’ve had all of this information drilled into our heads for a long time.
Young adults know to watch for internet predators and monitor the sites their on. They know not to talk to strangers and to keep their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.
People also say a lot of things on the Internet that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face. There’s just as much controversy and tension over the Internet as there is when two people fight or argue face to face.
Most parents should also realize that kids can (hopefully) hold their own and decide for themselves what they can/cannot do. No parent should run their child’s life simply because they are on the Internet.
As stated, most kids/young adults know better than to mess with shady things online, although there are probably a few that have/will. Parents might have to just get over the fact that their kid has done something wrong and try and fix it.
This is a video entitled “Everyone Knows Sarah,” and it shows what can happen if you post inappropriate things online.
Some people, like Jaun Decvis, a fellow co-worker at PBS, where the video was presented from, was appaled with it. To an extent, I can agree with him. Some people could think that the video was about how to learn to use the Internet and what social media is about and instead, it was just another video that rehashed all of the “hot topics” of the Internet.
His video can be seen here:
A lot of people are pretty ridiculous on the Internet. They don’t have a sense of what is wrong and what is right so they just do whatever they feel like.
If people would be smarter and think for themselves, we wouldn’t have half the problems that we do on the Internet. People would learn that they can’t say things that hurt other people, that you can’t degrade someone no matter how mad or upset with someone you are. It’s not the correct way of doing things, especially over the Internet where the other person/people can’t even see your face. It’s not fair to them.
This video is an interview with one of the producers of the video Growing Up Online, in which she explains why the video is made and why they chose to make it the way they did:
This video shows the Internet in a different limelight, where it’s bad for a person that’s using it. Entitled “Online Child Safety- The Truth Behind the Screen,” it tells just how wrong the Internet can be for a person that’s naïve enough to believe some of the things that are happening (like meeting a guy and believing he’s the same guy as in the picture on his profile page)
Overall, people have different views of the documentary Growing Up Online. Some people believe that it did a good job of saying what it needed to say and informing people, specifically younger people, what can happen by doing different things online, be it good or bad.
Other people that have seen the video aren’t too keen on it because they think it was going to be about something totally different and instead ended up, to put it bluntly, beating a dead horse with a stick.
People know how wrong the Internet can be and what can happen to a person that lets slip one thing that only one other person is supposed to know, how it can be turned against them and used for wrong intentions.
The profile court case that I chose was the Jodi Arias trial. She was convicted with first degree murder in the trial for Travis Alexander, her ex-boyfriend, on May 8, 2013, but jurors can’t come to a unanimous decision over the trial.
Alexander was killed in his home in Mesa, Arizona on June 4, 2008. He was found with multiple stab wounds, a slit throat, and a single gunshot wound to the head. At the trial, she testified that she killed Alexander in self-defense.
Pictured here is Arias:
This case has been covered by a ton of different groups, from the Huffington Post and ABC News, to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
The Huffington Post site has more than one article on Arias and the trial, including photos from the crime scene and videos.
The site also covers the trial from the beginning of this year. Although the case started in 2008, the site has managed to keep a good upkeep on the trial even though they’ve only started posting about it in January of 2014.
The site itself is pretty easy to navigate. The main articles for the story are spanned three across at the top and then there are more articles and videos as you scroll down the page.
The only problem I see with it is that it isn’t very clear on what is what. If it’s a video or an article, it doesn’t say. There’s just a picture by the synopsis of the article, but there isn’t any further detail unless you click on the article.
The trial seems to be represented accurately, for what Huffington Post has posted within the last nine months about the trial.
ABC News has also covered the trial. It seems to be up-to-date as well, although this site (once you navigate back through the archives for 8 pages), only started posting the trial since January of 2013.
As stated, it seems like it is being kept up-to-date. The videos and articles shown are similar to the ones that the Post showed.
The site is pretty simple to navigate as well. It has a main photo of Arias during the trial at the top and then underneath that, there are two rows of articles that pertain to Arias-from trials that are similar to hers to the fact that she’s selling the glasses she wore during the trial.
HLNTV.com has covered the story as well. I’m not for sure when the site started posting about the trial, as the results are not in chronological order, so that’s a bit confusing.
They seem to be following the story very well. At the top of the site, there is a huge synopsis of Arias and her trial/verdict. Underneath that, are rows of articles pertaining to her as well.
Thousands of people are still captivated by her and her trial. They still haven’t reached a verdict on whether she should receive life or death.
AZCentral covers the story article by article when searched in Google. Only two articles about her came up with this address site when Googled.
The site seems to be a little sarcastic when speaking about Arias and how her trial is going. They seem to patronize her rather than have an open, non-biased opinion. The site is navigable also. The story is easy to read and you know what the topic is.
USA Today has also reported this story. The article they used tells all about the trial and why Arias was tried in the first place.
It explains the crime committed and that, while Arias was found guilty, the jurors still aren’t sure if she should receive life or death.
This is a video from ABC News that tells about how the glasses Arias wore at her 2013 trial are now up for auction:
Overall, these sites seem to do a good job of keeping an upkeep on the story as it is still going. The trial has been going for a while, so none of them seem to date as far back as 2008. They do tell the important facts though and that helps the reader to understand what is going on.
The four fan sites that I chose all center around Harry Potter: MuggleNet, The-Leaky-Cauldron, Magical Menagerie, and The Harry Potter Lexicon.
MuggleNet,com is probably one of the more well-known Harry Potter fan sites. It is one of the sites that almost always pop up when you Google ‘Harry Potter’. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan myself, so that’s one of the reasons I chose fan sites for Harry Potter for this blog post.
The site itself is one of my favorites. It is kept up-to-date, it’s easy to navigate, and it’s not so busy you feel like your eyes are going to pop out of your head.
The background is made of small checkered squares in various shades of gray, which doesn’t take from the main theme at all. It does not distract the reader or hinder them from reading the content. The layout of the site is pretty easy to follow.
There’s two columns,so that is helpful. The title of the site is the first thing you see and then there is a small subheading of ads that change, all from the same source: BWNToday.
Underneath the main title heading is a drop down menu that consists of “Home,” “Site,” “Specialty Sites,” “Books,” “Films,” “Discussion,” Muggle World,” “Fans and Fun,” “Exclusive Media,” and “Merchandise.” They’re all drop-down menus that you can click on to further view the different web pages on the site.
Underneath those, there is the “Featured News,” which takes up a small bar at the top, below that is the “News.” Scroll halfway down the page and you’ll find more news. Underneath “More News” is another menu of “Casting News,” Social Roundup,” Caption Contest,” and “The Quibbler.”
Back at the top, in the second column, there is a “You May Like” section, which is exactly what it seems like- related articles to whatever you’ve read on MuggleNet. Then there’s the “Sponsor” box, which is just the sponsor of the website. There’s also a “Social” box located beneath that, which is the social media they’re connected with. Underneath that is the “Polls” box, which has a weekly poll in it-this weeks is an explanation that it’s almost House Pride week on PotterMore, so which House would you rather be in?
Below that is the “Next 7 Days” info box, which consists of articles and news in the upcoming seven days. Then there’s another sponsor, Trivia, MuggleNet Email, Affiliates of the site, another sponsor, a “Did You Know?” box, “Quotes,” and a “Flashback” box at the bottom, which is just a small informative blurb that tells a snippet of something Harry Potter related that happened say, eight years ago.
They also have AudioFictions, Hogwarts Radio, MuggleNet Academia, and Alohamora!, which consists of numerous Podcasts that are Harry Potter related.
The second site is The-Leaky-Cauldron.org. When it first comes up, you see that the title takes up a small space at the very top of the page. Next to it is an ad. There’s a row of menu headings beneath those, which read “Home,” “Potter News,” “Potter Crafts,” “Potter Essays,” “Image Gallery,” and “Potter Parks.” It’s a bit of a hindrance though, because they aren’t drop-down or scroll-over. You have to actually click on them to see what they are about.
Underneath those is the Harry Potter News for the day, chronologically ordered so the longer you scroll down, the older the submissions are. There’s also a small second column (which doesn’t reach the bottom of the page), is a sponsor, a Search bar for the Harry Potter Archive, fans who follow the site, a “Crafty” section, a small section on Potter essays and opinion pieces, and a “Now Available on DVD and Blu-Ray” section.
The site is pretty easy to navigate, except for the top menu, which, as stated, you have to click on to actually see what they’re about.
The third site is “Magical Menagerie: A Harry Potter Fan Site.” The top part of the site is a collage of Harry Potter photos with Harry off to one side and Voldemort on the other. In between them, divided in the middle by the title of the site, is a photo of the Order of the Phoenix, located above the title, and a photo of the Death Eaters, located beneath it. The rest of the background is black, so it doesn’t take away from the actual web site itself and is easy to read.
This site is spanned out into three columns. The first consists of the “Navigate” box, which helps the user navigate the site, which is helpful. Below that is the website info-about the site, affiliates, privacy policy, contact info, etc.
Then there’s a small search bar, beneath it are the affiliates of the site, and an advertisement. In the second column is all of the news for the site. It’s all the main articles that the website has posted. There’s also a short video about one of the cast members doing a short film (Oliver Phelps, who plays George Weasley), which can be seen here:
Below the video is a small comment section where fans can post comments of the site or videos, etc. The third column consists of “The Books,” (sub-headed underneath are numbers 1-7, which you can click on to find out info about the books.) Underneath, there is a similar category titled “The Movies,” which also has a sub-heading of 1-7. Underneath those headings are advertisements.
The fourth site is The Harry Potter Lexicon. Upon clicking this site, there is an actual “Enter” page for you to actually enter the regular site on. Once you’ve entered, the content displayed is a bit…busy. The background is plain and black, so it doesn’t take away from any of the other content, but there is a lot of business once you get past the background.
The main title takes up a good chunk of the top of the web page. Beneath it are menu headings, “Blog,” “Podcast,” “Essays,” “Forum,” “Store,” “FAQ,” Help,” “Text,” “A-to-Z Index,” and “Search.” These are also a click-on type of menu, no roll-overs or drop-downs. Below those, there is a large ad.
There are tiny social media buttons filtered above the main content of the page. Below those, the seven books are shown, which you can click on and it tells you all about the book, Next to those is an A to Z Index.
Below those, there are three separate columns. They are all bunched close to one another, though, so it hurts to look at the page for very long and that’s what makes the site seem so busy. They’ve taken all of this information and crammed it into a tiny space, when they could have drawn it out and made the columns bigger so the reader didn’t feel like their eyes were bugging out.
The labels of the tabs are all in a parchment colored font so the eye is drawn to everything at once because, aside from the similar backgrounds, the fonts used are very bright and you don’t really know which tab to click on because they all look …quite cheerful.
There’s a heading above all of these tabs, which reads “Explore the Wizarding World.” Then, there’s a small note below that, which reads, “Click above for detailed menus, click below for special sections.”
In a way, it’s helpful but I think they could have designed it a bit more easy-going on the eyes. They didn’t have to make so many sections and tabs, drop down menus would have been a lot easier for the reader to use and navigate the site.
The first column consists of a small photo of the Hogwarts Crest and the date of when the site was founded. Underneath that is an elongated ad. The middle column is all of the sections and tabs mentioned above.
The third advertises the Lexicon book (I own one), and then a list of headings and subheadings like, “Muggle World:” “People,” “Places,” “Encyclopedia.” It’s a tad bit confusing because I’m not for sure what all of them are for.
Aside from Harry Potter, there are many directions in which to go. People think of anything and everything regarding Harry Potter, including puppets. So, here is my favorite Harry Potter Puppet Pals video: The Mysterious Ticking Noise. Feel free to sing along. The tune is quite catchy.
Overall, these sites were made for the fans of Harry Potter. They cover most of the same stuff, from the news of J.K. Rowling and anything she posts on Twitter to the cast members and their daily lives. The sites cover the books, movies, and anything pertaining to them.
They aren’t too hard to navigate, except the last one. They’re still pretty easy to read and flow nicely, except the last one. Although the tabs are really fun to look through, as are the sections.
The three blogs I chose to compare/contrast were Gizmodo, Jezebel, and The Daily Beast. Jezebel and Gizmodo have almost the exact same layout, except for fonts. The Daily Beast actually looks like an in-detail blog.
Gizmodo has a plain white background, so it’s boring to look at. Their headlines are all bolded, but lowercase, so it draws your eye to them but doesn’t over-power the blog itself. It has headlines such as “Helsinki Blasted Out an Underground Lake to Cool Its Buildings With,” “NASA’s Next-Generation Orion Space Capsule is ready for Riders,” and something about a chocolate teapot that can hold boiling water without totally melting.
It states the name of the blog at the top and then has all of the subheadings underneath it, so you can click on the blog post that interests you to read it. There’s also a second column that lets you look at the popular stories featured on the site. There’s also a “Trending on Related Blogs” blurb that let’s you know what is trending on similar blogs like Gizmodo.
Jezebel has pretty much the same layout: Two columns, one stating the popular stories and the other stating the name of the blog and the subheadings underneath.
It also has a basic white background, so it’s not so cool to look at either. It gets pretty boring pretty fast. Unless you see an article you like, then it’s not really all of that interesting. It caters to “Celebrity, Sex, and Fashion for Women. Without Airbrushing,” so that’s an interesting topic for most women. Unless you like to read about sports or something, then which I don’t think this blog is for you.
The Daily Beast is probably the one I would choose out of the three. It’s background is also white, but the layout has three columns instead of two so there’s less white space in the background. It covers everything from politics, to books, to entertainment and world news. it also has a cool name.
The layout is much more appealing to look out, also. There are pictures to look at and the title of the blog is surrounded by a black background which catches the eye. It’s interesting to look at because it isn’t boring. If you scroll down, it subheads all of the main topics, like entertainment, politics, books, etc. There’s a small box you can click under each that says “See All,” if you’d like to see the rest of the category information. The other two blogs did not have that. Nor did they have any pictures.
So, out of the three, I would definitely choose The Daily Beast as my favorite to look at.
Katy Robbins 