Who uses the internet?

Since 2002 there has been a 36% increase in households using the internet; 15 million households have internet access in the UK, (61%). Out of these households, 84% had broadband installed; London had the highest rate of 60% of households having broadband.

Six out of ten of over 16 year olds (59%) with the internet access use it daily. However, this daily use is mostly popular with the younger generation, as 84% of 16-24 year olds use it. Also, most of these users access the internet in their homes, with other people accessing it at work or at someone else’s house.

Over 16 year olds mostly use the internet for finding information about goods and services (85%), and using e-mail (81%). Surprisingly, not many internet users use the internet for downloading (35%), downloading music (30%) and selling goods (18%).

According to statistics in 2006, 65% of men had accessed the internet, whereas only 55% of women had accessed the internet. Surprisingly, more men use the internet for shopping.

A timeline of Blogging

There is much deliberation about who actually posted the first ever blog, as people’s opinion on what a blog actually is are different. According to the Collins English Dictionary, the definition of a blog is: informal, a journal written on-line and accessible to users of the internet.

So even though some people consider Brian Redman, founder of ‘mod.ber’ (1983/1984), the first ever blogger, I disagree, because he created a newsgroup which wrote summaries on other threads and interesting postings and is not an actual journal.

Others grant the title to Brad Templeton, who founded the newsgroup ‘rec.humour.funny’. Again, as this not a journal, I do not agree that he is the first blogger, although he is considered to have the oldest existing blog/newsgroup, as ‘mod.ber’ closed after eight months.

However, both these newsgroups were accessible to users of the internet, even if it was before the World Wide Web, so it is understandable why some people consider them to be blogs.

In 1994, a student called Justin Hall began blogging about his personal life; many people consider him to be the first blogger. His blog, Justin’s links from the underground, has been running since 1994 and he is considered the ‘founding father of personal blogging’. Now, Justin is a freelance journalist and is now working on a project known as Gamelayers, Inc.

It wasn’t until 1997, that Steve Gibson was hired to blog full time by Ritual Entertainment, and is considered the first hired blogger. Also in 1997, John Barger came up with the term ‘weblog’, which bloggers from all over the world picked up and still use to this day.

Open Diary was launched in 1998, and enabled thousands of bloggers to read and comment on other people’s blogs. This was the first time comments could be submitted to blogs.

Brad Fitzpatrick, who is also known for being an early blogger, set up LiveJournal in March 1999. Also more blogging sites were being opened to catch the new market, including Pitas.com, which allows an easier alternative to maintaining a news page placed on a website, and Diaryland, which focused more on a personal diary community. Blogger was launched by Evan Willams and Meg Hourihan in August 1999; Google bought it off them in February 2003.

Peter Merholz, jokingly broke down the word ‘weblog’ to ‘we blog’ in his blog Peterme.com in 1999. It is now used as a term worldwide.

In 2001, mainly bloggers took to writing about politics, such as Andrew Sullivan, Taegan Goddard and Jerome Armstrong. Also, Schools of Journalism began to note the differences between Journalism and Blogging by research.

The Iraq war was a major issue and was addressed by blogs in 2002 and some bloggers expressed measured and passionate views. Some politicians, such as Howard Dean, used blogging to express their opinion on the Iraq war as well as other issues. People deem the Iraq war as the first ‘blog war’, as blogs got a wide readership. Some blogs were known as ‘war blogs’, and these allowed people to see different perspectives of the war, from both sides. Salam Pax, who was an Iraqi during the 2003 invasion, released a book of his blog, which still gets media attention.

Since 2004, politicians have used blogging to reach out to their voters and to form opinions on other matters. Newspapers and Television companies have used blogging to allow editors and readers to express their own opinions on political or trivial issues.

Natural disasters have also been spoken about in blogs, such as the 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, which allowed people to read about what the Main Stream Media hadn’t covered.

In 2007, Tim O’Reilly proposed to have a code of conduct for blogging.

Research Lesson - Halo 3

Halo 3 selling figures

Halo game series

Reviews of Halo (1)

Halo:Uprising - Mini Comic Book

Reviews for Halo 3

Halo film

Gaming Guru's review on Halo 3

Church using Halo to attract teens

The smoking age has gone up, but will it make a difference?

The Goverment has decided to raise the age of smoking to 18, instead of 16. Perhaps not the most ingenious move to make, as they only banned smoking in public places three months ago; I feel inclined to bust out into song, "I predict a riot!"

Although the ban is trying to prevent bad health, many shops and teenagers are in uproar about the new law. (Many of them didn't know about the new law until today, even though it's been talked about since 2005. Shocking.)

Of course, many of us know that smoking is popular with the younger teens, so what good will the ban do?

Well, for one thing, young teenagers will be easier to spot when trying to buy cigarettes, and even disguising their age will not work, as their immature attitudes will give them away. It might even get rid of teenage gangs hanging around on the streets near a corner shop; wouldn't that be an achievement?

There is also the possilbilty that this new smoking ban will save some lives in years to come, as many adult smokers of today had started their habit as a teenager.

However, there is always a downside to a new law (ever since 1653 perhaps?). What about all the sixteen year old smokers who have been allowed to buy cigarettes from their local shop? The ban hasn't really been fair to the people who have (it's possible) started smoking when they were sixteen.

Could the goverment have perhaps found a way around this new ban? I think they should take action against teenage smokers who are caught smoking or who are buying cigarettes llegally. They stop underage drinkers, so why not underage smokers? I also think a punishment for parents or other adults caught buying underage teenagers cigarettes should be put in place as well; they are breaking the law after all. Perhaps they should try hiring teenagers to crack down on shops selling cigarettes to underage teens (they might be hard to find though!) .

At the end of the day, sixteen year olds should be given the choice to smoke, as they can choose who to have sex with legally at the same age. I've actually heard that they're thinking of moving the age of consent down to 14; go figure?

As long as I don't see this on our England streets, I'm not too fussed about the smoking ban on under eighteens.

I'm starting to really like cooking; no, I'm not joking.

This week I have cooked two hot meals for myself, without killing myself, or making myself really ill. I find making a meal for the first time rather exciting/nervous, like the first time you see the love of your life lying next to you in bed (asleep).

Sausages and mash is a really good meal for someone like me a student. It's what I've cooked twice in a row (because I didn't want to use any chicken). I do admit that I spend half an hour on a 15 minute meal, but I always enjoy the outcome; nice taste, nice small, nice filled tummy.

Unlike my parents, I find cooking really hard to do. I was seriously scared anytime I went near the chip pan, scared of cooking baked beans in a pan and lived off microwave meals for a good 3 years, while my mum worked weird shifts. Now, I hate microwave meals, especially the chicken korma ones; make me want to vomit, which is unlike me.

So, for anyone who has no idea how to make Sausages and Smash, here's how I do it (the wrong way, I'm sure).

You need:
Sausages.
Smash.
Carrots.
Peas.
Bisto (Ahhh.)
2 pans.
2 measuring jugs.

Incase your sausages need defrosting, use your microwave. Put settings to 'defrost' (imagine that) and set for ten minutes. If it's starts sizzling in the microwave, it usually means the sausages wanna be in the pan. If you haven't got a microwave, you'll have to leave your sausages in the fridge for 24 hours. Though, I'm not too sure if you need to defrost sausages...

Oil your pan (not too much, unless you want the insurance). I use olive oil spray, but sunflower oil should be okay too.

Heat the pan for 2 minutes and then put the sausages into the pan; they will sizzle. I will make it known that I nearly ran a mile when they started sizzling, but remembered I wanted to keep my accommodation deposit. You cook the sausages for 12-15 minutes; turning them over every 3 (I turn them over all the time, because I'm a wimp.) If in doubt, cut through the middle of the sausage to see if it's cooked; if there's no pink, you're safe. Though Carl mentioned something about sausages starting grey...

Next, we'll make the smash. (I love it.)

As we're serving for just you (or me in my case) only pour 50 ml of cold water into the measuring jug and then 10 ml of hot water (use your kettle, not the hot tap). Then add 60 g of smash (flakes) to the water and stir with a fork. Easy! When smash is creamy, add butter to give it taste. You can also add salt or pepper, but not too much; salt is bad.

As for the carrots and peas, I buy canned veg from Sainsbury's at 14p per can (not expensive at all!) Heat them in a pan for 3 minutes, bringing to the boil. Again, easy.

Gravy is pretty simple too. Add 4 tea spoons of (Ahhh) Bisto to the measuring jug and pour hot water (again kettle) to 280 ml and stir while you pour (you're supposed to, but I don't; I love my hands.) If you want thicker gravy just add more bisto, though I'm usually happy with just four tea spoons.

Everything should be ready now. Set out on plate as you like (I just throw it on).

End of instructions.

On a non-cooking note, it's the fresher's ball tomorrow; yay for pretty Zara dress and shoes.

'I am Fashion' - Journalism or random babbling!?

‘I am Fashion’ is a wonderful example of students trying to find their way into the journalism industry. The two bloggers, Harrods girl and Barneys girl give their views on new fashion, catwalks and fashion boutiques. They also give an insight into their lives.

The advantage to ‘I am Fashion’ is that it is instant! Usually, audiences have to wait a month or two to find out what happens in the fashion world, and some magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan show fashion items that are no longer in stock in the high street. The review on the London Fashion Week showed two sides to the collections, which gives the audience a wider perspective; Barneys girl writes about the positive aspects of the collections and Harrods girl writes about the collections from a negative perspective and discussing if the collections would be appropriate for everyday life.

Another point about the blog is that the girls give their honest opinions about clothes and venues they have visited. This is similar to magazines. Who also give their honest opinions about beauty products and holidays spots; though the girls from ‘I am Fashion’ experience things for themselves.

So why do I think this is journalism? Because it is informing the audience about fashion related subjects. Even though the writers add their own opinion to the blog, which makes it different from other magazines and their websites, the blog reaches to people on a personal level. I found this blog interesting and an easy read; using the pictures posted on the blog to share the writer’s opinions.

(The coloured words are not hyperlinks!! Are they underlined!? No)