Currently, I am working on scheduling appointments with my interviewees. I will conduct one interview during this weekend and another two during the spring break. For the proposal, I think I will change a little bit. I will ask more questions like how making of media has helped international students' life become easier in the U.S. In addition, I will work on the script during the spring break after I have all the interviews done. I am also in the process of creating my subjects' biographies.
I watched this video about Justices New South West launched two new social media pages on Facebook and Weibo - a microblog that is widely used by Chinese students. This movement is quite helpful in targeting on international students to get help when needed.
I have heard a lot of international students said that they did not know what to do when they got into trouble. It is important for students to ask help, but it is more important to know whom to ask help for. The launch of social media pages has been a great help. I have seen Emory did very similar things. There are web pages on Facebook called Emory complaints and Emory secrets in which students can say any opinions they have anonymously. These websites have been great success because a lot of Emory students get involved. Many of them are not only posting what they think, but also comment on the posts that they are interested in. For example, one student posted on Emory Secret saying that it was a relief that she had finally graduated with the degree in art history, which was always what SHE wanted to pursue for. However, she lied to her parents who thought that she was pursuing for a medical career which was what THEY had hoped for. In the comments, some people praised her courage to make her own decision; however, some disagreed and argued that she should not lie to her parents while spending their money. People’s active participations made the post a hot topic and it also made us think about what education really meant. Another example would be the great help of Weibo. As it is said in the video, Weibo has been really popular in China in the last few years. People post their thoughts and they share other information that either they think is funny or important. In 2010, when two Chinese students who studied in USC were shot, a lot of Chinese students shared this information on Weibo, asking anyone who knew the victims to contact the victims’ families. Finally, the community power made the story widely spread and, at the same time, motivated people to increate their awareness of safety both on and off campus. It is interesting that we are living in a virtual community, doing something that we could easily do online but not in our daily life. The spread of information is absolutely helpful to international students and makes their life easier than ever. I read the article Social networking and adjustments among international students, which was written by a a couple of college students who studied the relationship between social media and international students’ life. The article said that recently people have started to use technology to manage their old and new social networks to “gain social capital and to adjust both socially and psychologically”. It is also indicated that using social media had a great impact in one’s ability to adjust to new daily difficulties regarding life, family relationship, and academic performance.
Social capital and social network sites can provide people with emotional support, useful information, or financial aid assistance. All these supports are very important to an international student especially during his or her first few months in a foreign country. It discusses two types of social capital; one is “bridging” and other one is “bonding.” Bridging social capital consists of loose relationships. Social network sites serve as a bridge that connects one person to another. Thus, it allows a person to access and diffuse information. “Bonding” is just the opposite of “bridging.” Bonding social capital provides a stronger relationship between one and one’s friends and families. It provides emotional support through stronger relationships. Therefore, international students would be able to keep up with the existent relationship they have with their friends and families. As people debate regarding whether social capital is “a cause, a process, or an effect”, social network sites researchers see social capital as a result. People go online because they have the need to get what they want. I totally agree. As international students first begin their life in a foreign country, they tend to get themselves into the new culture. Because of the cultural barrier, it is easier to learn in the virtual community than to learn in everyday life (which may contain more confrontations and frustrations). As one starts to reach out, it is common that he or she finds obstacles in emerging into a new culture. At this time, they need emotion support from their friends and families. However, as one gets more comfortable with the new environment, people might prefer “bridging” than “bonding.” In Henry Jenkins’s blog, he says that the focus of society has been gradually shifting into an online community. As the young generation actively participates in the online community, people are connecting each other by creating and circulating their own means of media. Because the online community encourages creative expression and active participation, with more people’s involvement, the new participatory culture has emerged.
As Henry Jenkins said, it is true that participatory culture has tons of benefits for our young generation. People interact with each other through communicating which in return helps create new forms of media, improve their self-awarenesses, motivate personal advancement, and etc. I totally agree with the author that we should “encourage youth to develop the skills, knowledge, ethical frameworks, and self-confidence needed to be full participants in contemporary culture.” However, as Henry contrasts participatory culture with the traditional learning environment, a question is raised in my head: will participatory culture eventually dominate our society one day? I think we all have some similar experiences of making friends online. When I was a freshman living on campus, I became friend with one of my hall mates, Luke, on Facebook. We talked about our habits, interests, and our own experiences in college, but we never met in person. We had great conversations and I thought that one day we could introduce ourselves to each other and hang out together. However, it was interesting that one day I ran into him in the hallway and each of us just stared at each other and merely said “hi.” It was such an awkward moment because I couldn’t believe we couldn’t start a conversation in real life even though we were “good friends” on Facebook! That was the time I realized that there was a difference between a virtual community and real life. Think about we post a status on Facebook or share something funny online. Even though people hit the button “like” or give nice comments, it does not necessarily mean we get the same approval in life. Living in the virtual community sometimes connect one and another, but it also creates an illusion of seemingly reliable relationship which is not the same in reality. As we spend so much time in the virtual world, we are getting confused of who we are. Henry mentioned a few genius kids in his blog about how they used Internet to be successful as some of them are being frustrated with the school. It was lucky that these kids found their keys to success; however, we cannot generalize the situation to every kid. There are means of ways to be educated. Some kids are influenced by their families, some by friends, and some by the education they receive at the school. It is difficult to determine which one has the greatest impact on one’s life because we all have different capacities of getting education from different resources. But one thing for sure is that being exposed to the real society and acquiring knowledge in broad fields is critical to one’s advancement. Compared with the participatory culture online, schools definitely play a more important role in educating with the awareness of reality. I could never imagine one day I open my laptop and get the message from my professor by saying “Now class begins.” For my ethnography, I am thinking about interviewing my fellow exchange students who are currently studying int the U.S. high schools. As we all come from China, we often share our experiences of studying in the U.S. and cultural differences between the U.S. and China. Media is great way for us to communicate. We talk on Skype, QQ (a Chinese communication tool), and Facebook. We also like to write blogs to share our everyday life.
Another tool we use is an online magazine which we created for promotion purpose. Because of our identities as exchange students, we want to inspire more Chinese students like us to study in the U.S. high schools. In the magazine, we talk about our own stories and discuss about cultural differences. We also give suggestions about how to deal with our relationships with our host families and so on. In the online magazine, we post videos and pictures. Sometimes we get feedback from readers through emails. Right now, we are thinking about creating a website to get more attention to our online magazine and exchange students program. In my ethnography, I will include three interviews from exchange students. They will talk about how they use media to connect with their families and friends. Also, I will include the use of media in our online magazine. Also,all the interviews will be conducted on skypes. More pictures will be included in the video. The questions I am thinking about are as the following: 1. What is your group and will you introduce your group? 2. In what ways do you connect with each other? 3. How important do you think media is in terms of communicating in your group? 4. How important do you think media is in terms of promoting your group? |