Summary

This is a very first time for me to write a blog for academic purpose and I found this idea quite interesting. Everyone has their own ideologies and so after attending the same class, we could still come up with twenty different opinions and feedback about the class. I enjoy writing my blog as it is not like mathematics. There is no right or wrong answers. I could actually learn “language in the digital media” by using language on a digital media! How meaningful is that! I can apply my own experience to the things I learnt in class and discuss it with my classmates on the blog so it’s no longer a one-way receiving learning experience.

I have chosen the blog “Online Cultures and Intercultural Communication online” as my sample post because it is written based on my own experience but not just my opinions. People are always saying that the world has become a global village and Internet has made it a lot easier for people from different cultural backgrounds to communicate. That is true. But first, we have to understand and respect each other’s cultures. I have learnt from this unhappy experience will definitely keep this in mind in order to have a better one next time.

Week 12 ---- Online Cultures and Intercultural Communication Online

When I learn about intercultural communication in class, it seems that it is always being taught as something good and positive and people from different cultural backgrounds can communicate well with each other to form a global village. I agree with that at first. However, when I had a chance to talk with an American that I don’t know online, things started to go wrong.

At that time, I was asked to do an interview about foreign cultural issues. So I found an American on MSN and then I asked him if he could do an interview with me for educational purpose. And then he said yes and asked me what kind of cultural issues I would like to ask him about. I was not so sure what to ask so I asked him if he had any suggestions for me.

Me: I am not sure what to ask at the moment. I don’t know much about American culture. Do you think having an interview about fast food is a good idea?

Him: What?! All you know about American culture is fast food?

Me: No, I didn’t mean that. I was just asking you if it’s a good idea.

I forgot what actually he said afterwards. He argued with me that fast food was not first appeared in America and people in other countries eat far more fast food than American, etc etc. I thought that was very rude and unreasonable for him to be so angry. American is well known for its fast food culture. That’s a truth. What wrong with him getting so angry with that.

I gave up talking to him finally. Intercultural communication doesn’t work every time.

Week 10 ---- The Attention Economy

Rodney said in the lesson that attention is a potential wealth. I am not so sure whether it is true because I was wondering at that time that if someone is getting attention because he/she is extremely ugly, then what kind of potential wealth could he/she get? But when I think again, maybe some companies will approach him/her for inviting him/her for being the spokesperson for their companies to prove that after taking the treatment or plastic surgery from them, they can look good too. That would be more convincing and then they could make money out of their attention.

Here is an example:

This man was a beggar in China. Once a tourist took a picture on the street and posted the picture onto the social networking website. People discovered that there was a cool beggar in the picture! He was getting the world’s attention because he has a really excellent fashion sense as he looks so cool and fashionable. He knows perfectly how to mix and match. What he wore was just like what the model wore on a catwalk show! After he has got the attention, he received help from many people. Finally he was being sent back to his home and no need to be a beggar anymore. Different companies would like to hire him as a model and walk for some catwalk shows since he was such a hot topic. His “value” seems to have based on the amount of attention he has got. Attention has actually turned him from a beggar to a model! Other cool models were being discovered too after this but since they are not original anymore, they are not able to get as much attention as him.