Green Energy Campaigns

Advancing technology has improved every industry from 3G to 4G smart phones to hybrid cars that are more efficient on gas, its not surprising that these technologies are helping with sustainable energy as well.  Green Energy campaigns educated and informed the public of the earth's health status.  In 2003 a global warming initiative was launched to educate and develop renewable energy sources (Pierce, Steel & Warner, 2011) that are now being implemented for today's use.  Some of these sources utilized military technology with domestic farmers needs developing agricultural drones (Anderson, 2014).  With fossil fuels accounting for 80% of the United States global pollution (Greenpeace, 2014) and scientist tracking extreme weather and sea level rises mass media was used as the resource in transmitting immediate attention to this matter.

When politicians began to campaign on green energy, society took notice, it resulted in shifting cultural views on worldwide sustainable energy strategies.  Current technology can produce wind, solar and geothermal energy sources to provide 96% electricity and 98% heating utility demand (Greenpeace, 2014).  With the advancements in big data software and unprecedented forecast accuracy wind power and solar power grids are being utilized by utility companies (Bullis, 2014).  Overall, mass media campaigns have reached a large audience that have allowed renewable energy advocates to influence the world to actively use new technologies to push social change.  Cultural expectations in today's mass media is socially conscientious and knows that social media can impact world decisions.

References:

Anderson, C. (2014). Agricultural drones.  Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526491/agricultural-drones/

Bullis, K. (2014). Smart wind and solar power.  Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526541/smart-wind-and-solar-power/

Greenpeace. (2014). Stop global warming: energy [r]evolution.  Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/

Pierce, J., Steel, B. & Warner, R.  (2011). Cultural considerations in alternative energy development: an oregon and washington case study.  Retrieve from http://epi.boisestate.edu/media/8382/4_brent%20steel%20%28paper%29_cultural%20considerations%20in%20alternative%20energy%20development,%20an%20oregon%20and%20washington%20case%20study.pdf

Images:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/green-energy-technologies-solutions-home-improvement/

New Age Entertainment

I can still remember a time when I actually had to get up to turn my television channels.  Hopefully that is not disclosing how old I am but my children seriously asked me if there were color tv's in my day.  New millennium youths can't relate to the four channel, non-remote, non-streaming tv of the past.  YouTube is the go-to for the majority of my kids entertainment.  I have not invested in the nice quality digital tv's (DTV) that are now so popular but I do consume my entertainment differently then I did when I was an adolescent.  The technology advancements in mass media has changed the way society accesses their entertainment.

My walk-man has been updated to an ipod, I listen to Pandora rather then the radio and I use my ROKU (on-demand programming) to view my favorite shows and movies.  I can participate on social media through my phone and I use my laptop for work.  These new elements of communication have conveniently changed the way Americans consume entertainment (Curtis, 2012).  There are new platforms that are emerging such as more use in cloud computing, multimedia 3D entertainment and IoT connectivity (IEEE, 2013).  The cultural shifts of today are motivated by new technologies and new age entertainment will continue to form innovative creators who utilize all available platforms.

References:
Curtis, A. (2012).  Mass media influence on society.  Mass Communication Department.
University of North Carolina at Pembroke 910.521.6616
http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/Media&Society/MassMediaInfluenceOnSociety.html

IEEE Computer Society.  (2012).  13 Technology Trends for 2013.  Retrieved from http://www.computer.org/portal/web/pressroom/IEEE-Computer-Society-Announces-13-Technology-Trends-for-2013

Images:
http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/search/label/media%20trends

How Technological Advances Contribute to Societal and Cultural Shifts

With changing times we see changing technologies, societal shifts and cultural shaping.  All are intertwined and help feed each other.  The 2008 election showed how new technology developed a societal shift towards acceptance and has laid a new foundation to youths of the limitless potential being an American citizen can achieve.  Obama's campaign chose to communicate with younger voters who were increasingly using mobile devices for social media correspondence, the campaign used the fairly new platform of social media as a window to pour unsolicited information to a mass audience (Carr, 2008).

The American culture had changed to cell phones, laptops and tablets as the major medium in consuming music, media and news (Curtis, 2012).  These new avenues of communication were directly related to the technological advances that software and hardware companies were developing.  Citizens simply utilized the new technologies and now we use them in most aspects of our lives.  We have our ipads, iphones and ipods that are used daily and now our kids and grand-kids can't imagine a time before the existed.




References:
Carr, D. (2008). How obama tapped into social networks' power.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html?_r=0

Curtis, A. (2012).  Mass media influence on society.  Mass Communication Department.
University of North Carolina at Pembroke 910.521.6616
http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/Media&Society/MassMediaInfluenceOnSociety.html

Images:
http://www.mobify.com/insights/55-of-cell-owners-go-online-using-phone/
http://www.philapark.org/2013/08/changing-times/