Week 1

TOPIC 1: ABOUT YOU -- Who's who in Media and Society this term:

• Share a bit about yourself (major, career goal, why at LBCC ...)

I am Colleen, this is one of my very last classes/terms at LBCC. I actually already walked in commencement this June (2018)and I will be receiving my Associates of Arts (Oregon Transfer). I am still unsure of where I want to go after or what I would like to do as far as careers go. I have considered attending OSU, but its programs aren't quite what I am looking for. I also considered PSU since it just started giving free tuition for Oregon transfer students, but being in downtown Portland makes me nervous and etc. 
Other than all that I have 3 dogs and 3 cats who are my kids haha 💓.

• What are you most interested in learning about the media?

I am interested to see how it truly evolved over the decades and to see how much faster it is evolving now. I am interested to see some of the statistics regarding future/up and coming generations and social media. I am also interested to know if people my age(28) are getting more into social media or doing like many of my friends and dropping it all together which I am also considering after this class is over. 

• Tell us something you are passionate about outside of college

Animals, specifically dogs and cats needing rescue/adoption. I am extremely passionate about the lives of animals not just cats and dogs, but it does seem to be a primary focus. People are irresponsible and do not spay and neuter or continue to breed dogs and cats while MILLIONS each year are killed in "shelters." So I do what I can to bring attention to urgent animals in the shelters or rescue situations, or I physically do what I can whether its transporting animals or volunteering with rescues! 

• What do you consider your THREE main sources of information? This can be a platform (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) and/or media sources (e.g. New York Times, Fox News, Huffington Post). Why are these your "go-to" sources of information? Second, how reliable do you consider these sources, and WHY?

Well I honestly do get a lot of information from Facebook, but I try to fact check it if possible. I also like to get information from news sources, my mother in particular, watches a ton of political shows on MSNBC which I often catch as well. Also the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, etc. 

These are my go to sources because I spend too much time on Facebook, MSNBC is always on the living room TV, and I read a lot of articles within those well known and trusted news sources. I do not consider many, many things on Facebook as credible that's for sure, but it also does have accurate sources that do share plenty. As for the rest I already previously mentioned that they are well known, trusted, accredited news journals and or channels.  

• Given what you know about or have learned about "fake news," how concerned are you about the information out there in the media ecosystem? How do you ensure that the information you take in is "accurate"? What steps, if any, do you take before passing along this information? 

It does concern me, like mentioned in the video I also see shared posts on Facebook that are just so outrageously incorrect. It is amazing how simple it can be to do just do one search on the subject or occasionally just reading the comment section to find the truth. I also know its just so prevalent right now, we have people in charge saying outrageous statements with nothing to back them up and people just soaking it in and repeating the same garbage. 
I rarely ever share anything on social media anymore because I just do not want to deal with the comments and mess that does come with it. It's not worth it to me. However, when I am reading a shared post or article I do usually check the comments section, check google, and look for whatever I can to tell if it's true/false from reliable sources that are well known. 

There was one thing that bothered me recently and ruined one "trusted local news source" for me. It was when that video came out of all those different news stations repeating the exact same message word for word to all their viewers. It can make you somewhat paranoid to consider those once trusted were never to be trusted at all.