Fo' Shizzle My... What?! (Media Meditation Three)

Language is always evolving in order to keep up with popular culture and each new generation. Since the dictionary, while extremely useful, can be out dated at times Urban Dictionary is the perfect way to keep up with the ever changing vocabulary of today's youth.

For obvious reasons Urban Dictionary is a technological shift because it can be found online, unlike the original dictionaries that have to be purchased in hard cover. It is also an aesthetic shift because iTouch and iPhone users can purchase an Urban Dictionary application for on the go use.

Urban Dictionary is also personal shift because it is a link to multiple social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and users can also "add today's word to [their] rss reader" as well as the google calendar.

The reality constructs/trade-offs of Urban Dictionary are few, but vital. First, is its user defined content. While Urban Dictionary is regulated at two levels, a user must not forget that the information they are seeking is most likely a perception of someone else and not necessarily a fact. Much of Urban Dictionary depends on the views of others. For example the two levels which regulate the dictionary's definitions are, users vote to accept or reject new definitions and definitions can be voted "up" or "down" by any viewer. Therefore a particular fact that is not extremely interesting, yet an important piece of information, may be located at the bottom of the page where most users don't bother to look, so certain information is being hidden or even absent.

The fact that such a large portion of the book industry is based off of reference books makes me wonder how large the online industry of books can get, since "[t]he two most common reference books are encyclopedias and dictionaries"(326). Will online sources eventually take over the written word, and will they be as reliable?