Also, I am not sure that I was able to communicate my message clearly enough solely through what I filmed, which is why I added a message at the end of the video so that my viewers weren't confused. If given more time, I think I would have interviewed more people and done multiple interviews with each person. By doing this, I would have been able to use the 30 degree rule and kind of manipulate the film better, and I think that my subjects would have been more relaxed when talking to me. There is one section at the end where the film jumps, and I wish I could have fixed that, but I didn't know what picture I could use there to distract my viewers. With more time, I could have also followed my interviewees around to observe their use of social media in a typical day. I wanted to add more pictures (like the tweets with audio playing simultaneously), but I did not have enough time to pick through the interviews again and extract small clips. Overall, I must say that I'm pretty satisfied with my work. I'm proud to say that I was able to make a mini movie.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Documentary
Friday, November 9, 2012
Shooting Schedule
I plan to do most of my filming on Saturday around noon and carry the latter half of my filming into next week, however, all filming will be done by Wednesday evening so I can review my film and begin putting my documentary together. Most of my filming is going to take place in the Kirwan tower, since that is where my friends live. There, I will be interviewing my friends Shauntionne and Je'Esha. Shauntionne is someone who is very social but uses social media minimally, while Je'Esha is social but never uses any social media. During the week, I plan to interview Whitney at Blazer or, weather permitting, outside. Whitney uses social media a lot. I want to interview people on both ends of the spectrum (and in the middle) so that I can easily recognize their personality differences and analyze the role that social media plays for them in communicating. Over the break, I am going to interview my dad. He is the ultimate Facebooker, and I want to ask him about any instances in which he may have experienced some type of miscommunication on Facebook. I also plan on asking him about the ways in which social media has helped him reconnect with friends and perhaps made him more vocal.
Honestly, I feel like when I write my ideas down, I'm kind of all over the place. I want to highlight the ways in which social media takes away from communication, but I also want to look at how it is really helpful for those who are shy, and how it reopens (or continues) communication between old friends. Maybe I'll start off my documentary by looking at the negative aspects of social media and end with giving my audience hope by looking at the positive aspects of it.
Honestly, I feel like when I write my ideas down, I'm kind of all over the place. I want to highlight the ways in which social media takes away from communication, but I also want to look at how it is really helpful for those who are shy, and how it reopens (or continues) communication between old friends. Maybe I'll start off my documentary by looking at the negative aspects of social media and end with giving my audience hope by looking at the positive aspects of it.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Revised Documentary Proposal
For my documentary,
I plan to examine the major personality differences between those
who frequently use or depend on social media and those who refrain from using it or use it minimally. I expect to find that those who use social media frequently are a) very social and outgoing or b) people who have a difficult time communicating in person. Furthermore, I expect that people who don't use social media often are perhaps busier than those who do or just simply well-informed via watching the news and keeping in touch with relatives.
The importance
of this documentary is in the idea that verbal communication is changing. People are becoming less social and personable as a result of depending on texting and Twitter. Speaking is a skill that fewer and fewer people have now. Twitter and text messaging reduce our language to less than 200 characters, forcing us to omit letters from words and exclude important details from messages. Let's not forget to mention people are speaking in IM!
My audience is UK freshmen, specifically those who rely heavily on social media. I want people to see
the effect that Facebook and Twitter have had on our society’s language.
I plan to shoot
a few scenes in the dorm rooms or possibly at the library to have a personal interview with my subjects
and find out why they do or do not use social media frequently and how their
personality differs from a person who does the opposite. I’m hoping that I can film
a shot of girls saying, "OMG" or "IDK." Also, I want to film some shots of my shy person texting or
instant messaging a family member or friend as opposed to calling them. My goal is to shape my documentary to show the potential negative long-term results of using Facebook and Twitter too much.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Dark Days
This documentary really opened my eyes up to a world that I didn't even know existed. When I saw The Dark Knight Rises this past summer, I thought that the whole sewer palace that Bane lived in was completely ridiculous. No one can really live underground; it just doesn't happen. But clearly, after watching this video, it does happen. Those people had a whole community down there! I mean, they would go to each others houses for dinner! Nonetheless, this was still a great documentary–I see what Owen was saying about how we're interested in things we aren't familiar with.
I really liked the way this documentary was shot and edited. The black and white filter helped to make me feel like I was actually in the dark myself. It also gave me this cold feeling and made me feel like I was alone, like the people in the documentary. In the beginning, there was a lot of darkness, which kind of made me feel hopeless for the characters, but once they moved into their apartments, the shots were brighter, so I felt hopeful, like it was a second chance for them to improve their lives.
I noticed the "shaky cam" thing, too, and I thought it added to the authenticity of the documentary. No one wants to see something that has been staged. It looked like Marc Singer had just lived the life of a homeless person for a month or so and just played back his film. Another thing that added to the authenticity of the documentary was the part where one of the guys introduced Marc to his friend and said, "This is my friend Marc." Some people use "friend" loosely, but even to do so, one would have to feel pretty comfortable around a person to call them a friend.
The documentary kind of reminded me of the movie Crash, where each person had their own story but they all ultimately ended up being tied together through different events. Character building made the documentary more personable because there were several different types of people, so the audience could choose a favorite person that they were more or less rooting for. The resolution was more favorable because the audience got to see his/her favorite character have the desired fairytale ending.
This documentary is different from the other documentaries we've watched because this is the first one that really seems to have been filmed over a long period of time, which allowed the story to be resolved in the end. Also, this documentary examines the lives of multiple people at the same time.
I really liked the way this documentary was shot and edited. The black and white filter helped to make me feel like I was actually in the dark myself. It also gave me this cold feeling and made me feel like I was alone, like the people in the documentary. In the beginning, there was a lot of darkness, which kind of made me feel hopeless for the characters, but once they moved into their apartments, the shots were brighter, so I felt hopeful, like it was a second chance for them to improve their lives.
I noticed the "shaky cam" thing, too, and I thought it added to the authenticity of the documentary. No one wants to see something that has been staged. It looked like Marc Singer had just lived the life of a homeless person for a month or so and just played back his film. Another thing that added to the authenticity of the documentary was the part where one of the guys introduced Marc to his friend and said, "This is my friend Marc." Some people use "friend" loosely, but even to do so, one would have to feel pretty comfortable around a person to call them a friend.
The documentary kind of reminded me of the movie Crash, where each person had their own story but they all ultimately ended up being tied together through different events. Character building made the documentary more personable because there were several different types of people, so the audience could choose a favorite person that they were more or less rooting for. The resolution was more favorable because the audience got to see his/her favorite character have the desired fairytale ending.
This documentary is different from the other documentaries we've watched because this is the first one that really seems to have been filmed over a long period of time, which allowed the story to be resolved in the end. Also, this documentary examines the lives of multiple people at the same time.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Documentary Ideas
For my documentary, I was thinking that I could maybe examine why people post what they do on different social media websites. I was also thinking that I could look at the lifestyle and personality differences between people who constantly use social media and those who don't.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Video Games
At first, I was kind of skeptical to say video games are art. I mean, what's artistic about Grand Theft Auto? Maybe it's the way the blood gushes out of each victim you kill, or the way that prostitutes switch when they walk. Art has such a vague definition that practically everything can be defined as art, including video games. The definition that my lovely dictionary (provided by Apple) gave me is "Art–the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power." According to this definition, video games are indeed art. There is no doubting that they are an expression of the imagination and that they evoke emotion from their users.
I think it is because video games evoke such emotion from users that they can sometimes tell stories in a better way than a book or an orator can. Growing up, I used to play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? From that game, I learned about Egypt, the printing press, the vikings, etc. wayyy better than I did by reading a textbook or listening to an instructor. Video games are exciting and help disguise the fact that you are learning. Not to mention, you are more likely to retain something that was fun to learn about, opposed to something that you had to force yourself to stay awake and take notes on.
Since video games and movies depend on visual literacy, they are similar in their effectiveness in telling stories. A lot of video games actually show movie clips right before you are given a task to complete to add to the overall narrative of the game. I think that in this respect, video games can be more effective in telling stories because they actually involve the user, whereas movies require that you simply look at a screen.
Honestly, I didn't even want to write what I wrote, but technically video games do fall under the category of "art," and they can actually tell stories better than some other forms of art. However, this is not to say that I am in complete support of this idea for all video games. In fact, I think a lot of them turn your brain to mush.
Honestly, I didn't even want to write what I wrote, but technically video games do fall under the category of "art," and they can actually tell stories better than some other forms of art. However, this is not to say that I am in complete support of this idea for all video games. In fact, I think a lot of them turn your brain to mush.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Outline
Picture One: The first and second pictures are of me at my graduation party.
Picture Two
Picture Three: This picture is going to be used to introduce social networking.
Picture Four: I will use this picture while discussing what people would do for likes.
Picture Five: Mardi Gras Beads are the metaphor in my essay.
Picture Six: A picture of a "Like" is relevant to what I discuss throughout the essay.
Picture Seven: I included a case in which someone would keep scrolling instead of "Liking" a post.
Picture Eight: *Instagram picture of nails, including the number of likes*
Picture Nine: A case in which a girl does something mildly "scandalous" to try and gain more likes on a picture.
Picture Ten
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Music Tracks
My first song is "Love No Limit" by Mary J. Blige. I thought this song
was appropriate because it's a typical, old school, cookout song. As a
matter of fact, it was probably even played at my graduation party. But because the lyrics are irrelevant to the purpose of my essay, I think
I'll just use the instrumental version of the song. For my second song, I'm using Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to add a little bit of irony to what I'm saying in my essay.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Music Video Analysis Pt. 2
At first, I was thinking, how the hell am I going to explain the narrative of this Beyonce video? It might as well be a 2 Chainz video. But now I think I understand how the message of the song ties in with the music video.
The music video opens with a head shot of Beyonce. Here, she looks very soft and innocent, she even batters her eyelashes to add to the effect.
Time plays a big part in this song; I mean, it is called countdown. The ticking in the beat is parallel to Beyonce moving her hands like a clock in this shot. Essentially, she is saying that her time with her husband won't run out. She even says, "I will always be with you" in the song.
All of a sudden, she makes this face and says, "If you leave me, you're out of your mind," almost as a threat.
The colors of the background, Beyonce's makeup, and her outfit in this particular scene are constantly changing, showing that she has several different sides to her personality. She admits, "There's ups and downs in this love," and she's "got a lot to learn in this love," so this scene also indicates her mutability in the sense that she is ever changing and ever adapting to make her marriage work. Relationships are give and take.
In this scene, Beyonce is absolutely gushing over her hubby and assuming the "perfect wife" role. She is pictured in the same outfit, updo, and makeup as the first shot when she appeared sweet and innocent. Look at her posture and the way her toes are pointed; it practically screams submissive. The lyrics scream submissive, too: "I'm all up under him like it's cold–winter time. All up in the kitchen in my heels–dinner time." The all black outfit almost makes her look like she should be cleaning houses.
Ten Beyonces are shown here, all of them doing different dances, which says that she can pretty much do it all. She's that woman who has a third arm, eyes in the back of her head, etc.
Here, the "perfect wife" role is more evident. Beyonce shows that not only can she cook and clean, but she can... um... please her man. She's wearing a man's button-down shirt but still has her hair pulled back in that bun and her make up is still very soft and innocent looking. She's submissive.
This shot shows the "real" Beyonce. She has on natural looking makeup and an unflattering outfit. The bra strap shows a hint of sex appeal, but nonetheless, this, in a sense, is how Beyonce would look at her worst. She is baring her true self without all of the superficial stuff.
Just as we see the "real" Beyonce, we're hit with this Dream Girls, glammed-up version of her. I mean, she is a celebrity, so it only makes sense that she is showing this side of her too.
In this scene, it's literally black and white. All of the different shades of Beyonce still make up the one person that she is. Basically, she says "take it or leave it," but "leave it" isn't really an option, as mentioned earlier.
Finally, the video concludes similar to the way that it started: with a smile and battering of the eyelashes.
Overall, Beyonce is selling herself in this video. She admits to her imperfections and is willing to change them with a little bit of work. Although she has imperfections, her good qualities significantly outweigh them. You'd be crazy to not want a woman like her. She can do everything.
In this scene, it's literally black and white. All of the different shades of Beyonce still make up the one person that she is. Basically, she says "take it or leave it," but "leave it" isn't really an option, as mentioned earlier.
Overall, Beyonce is selling herself in this video. She admits to her imperfections and is willing to change them with a little bit of work. Although she has imperfections, her good qualities significantly outweigh them. You'd be crazy to not want a woman like her. She can do everything.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Music Video Analysis
In the song, Beyonce is talking about how much she loves her husband and how everyday she loves him more. You can see a fifties element in the way that she dresses and even dances in the video, which adds to the overall meaning of the song. The era that we most commonly perceive as "perfect" is the fifties, and in a sense, Beyonce is saying that she is the "perfect" wife. This idea rings in the chorus when she says, "If you leave me you're out of your mind."
Something else I noticed in the video was the way that everything was sped up or slowed down to mirror the song. The song itself is very complex since there are really three different songs compiled into one. In the beginning, where she starts by saying, "Oh, killing me softly" is one song, and the video is played at regular speed. The transition to the next song starts when you see her hands ticking like a clock as if to signal the "countdown," or the second song, in which the video is sped up to match the ticks of the beat. Finally, the transition to the third song, the actual verse, is when she is moving her shoulders, still sort of fast to the ticks of the beat but slower than in the previous song with the countdown. Each of the "songs" has a shared element, in the beat, with the song before it or after it to make the transition unnoticeable, just as each section of the video has parts that are sped up or slowed down to transition into the next scene in the video.
I also really liked the contrast of the playful, bright colors with the harsh black and white backdrop (and vice versa); it added to the visual appeal of the video because the colors kept changing with the ticks of the beat. Around 1:58, there is a ripple of ten Beyonces doing different dances that all end up as the same one, all the while the colors of the windows are changing with each tick. There are so many cool things like this in the video, and I can't find the words to put it all down!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
I Hope You "Like" This... (Revised)
"They love me, they really really love me," I said to my grandma as I gaped at the 50 plus family members at my graduation party. I couldn't help but feel like a superstar. My family had flown in from the Bahamas, Oklahoma, Myrtle Beach, and elsewhere just to come to my graduation party, not even the actual graduation ceremony! Growing up, I never had big parties; I considered myself lucky if two friends showed up to one of my sleepovers. The day of my graduation party was the first time that I genuinely felt popular, and it wasn't just the Facebook popularity that lasted for 24 hours when you made top news.
Social networking sites such as Facebook thrive on popularity. Essentially, every time I log onto a social networking site, I'm confronted with the same question: "What would you do for 10 'Likes?' 20? 50?" It's almost like Mardi Gras in New Orleans where everybody is doing scandalous things to earn a pair of cheap, plastic, Dollar General beads that you could've easily bought yourself. The only thing special about these beads is the person handing them out, because they ultimately decide if you deserve a pair.
Although you can only give yourself one "Like," "Likes" are comparable to Mardi Gras beads in the respect that they have no real value. The value of the "Like" comes from the fact that a majority of your Facebook friends are uninterested in what you ate for dinner, so they keep scrolling. However, the two or three that stop to click "Like" propel you three "Likes" towards popularity. If I can get 20 "Likes" on a picture of my nails, I have successfully reached my popularity goal for the week. Most people aren't content with just 20. They want more, so they do more to earn those "Likes."
I believe the "Like" is more powerful than we realize. So often, people will sacrifice who they are just to gain a "Like," which is ironic because I always hear people say, "I don't care what people think of me." Bullshit. Truth is, we all care about other people's opinions, and we all just want to be "Liked."
Social networking sites such as Facebook thrive on popularity. Essentially, every time I log onto a social networking site, I'm confronted with the same question: "What would you do for 10 'Likes?' 20? 50?" It's almost like Mardi Gras in New Orleans where everybody is doing scandalous things to earn a pair of cheap, plastic, Dollar General beads that you could've easily bought yourself. The only thing special about these beads is the person handing them out, because they ultimately decide if you deserve a pair.
Although you can only give yourself one "Like," "Likes" are comparable to Mardi Gras beads in the respect that they have no real value. The value of the "Like" comes from the fact that a majority of your Facebook friends are uninterested in what you ate for dinner, so they keep scrolling. However, the two or three that stop to click "Like" propel you three "Likes" towards popularity. If I can get 20 "Likes" on a picture of my nails, I have successfully reached my popularity goal for the week. Most people aren't content with just 20. They want more, so they do more to earn those "Likes."
I believe the "Like" is more powerful than we realize. So often, people will sacrifice who they are just to gain a "Like," which is ironic because I always hear people say, "I don't care what people think of me." Bullshit. Truth is, we all care about other people's opinions, and we all just want to be "Liked."
Thursday, October 4, 2012
This I Believe Part Two
I went through pages of essays and was starting to give up on finding something I didn't like. But then I realized that I kept picking categories that I could relate to on accident, so I chose the "Atheism" category, and unsurprisingly I didn't like the very first essay, "There Is No God," by Penn Jillette.
Because I didn't like the message of the essay, I felt that I was more inclined to pick at the little things I didn't like, such as the author's voice. His tone was almost sarcastic in the beginning which kind of offended me, a believer in God. For the most part, I think I'm pretty open-minded, but reading the beginning of his essay immediately turned me off. Nonetheless, there was nothing structurally wrong with his essay. Towards the end, he discussed the love he has for his life and how he feels that not relying on forgiveness from his family and God helps him to be more aware of the things he says and does. Reading this changed my view of his beliefs. Perhaps if Jillette would have started his essay saying this, I would have reacted differently since he was showing a more personable side of himself.
Because I didn't like the message of the essay, I felt that I was more inclined to pick at the little things I didn't like, such as the author's voice. His tone was almost sarcastic in the beginning which kind of offended me, a believer in God. For the most part, I think I'm pretty open-minded, but reading the beginning of his essay immediately turned me off. Nonetheless, there was nothing structurally wrong with his essay. Towards the end, he discussed the love he has for his life and how he feels that not relying on forgiveness from his family and God helps him to be more aware of the things he says and does. Reading this changed my view of his beliefs. Perhaps if Jillette would have started his essay saying this, I would have reacted differently since he was showing a more personable side of himself.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
This I Believe Post
It's no shocker that I picked the essay "Returning to What's Natural" by Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus. In her essay, she used dying her hair as a metaphor to describe the growing process. I could personally relate to her message because I too have had purple, red, and black hair, and I, like everyone else in the class, am faced with growing up.
Honestly, I still feel like I'm twelve, and it sucks that now I have all of these responsibilities that I didn't even want. A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 18th birthday, and that's when it hit me: I can actually go to jail now. The thought of going to jail was pretty depressing. There have been a few nights where I've awaken in a cold sweat after having a nightmare about never seeing the light of day.
But anyways, I really liked the way the author compared dying hair (with semi-permanent dye) and growing up. What I extracted from her essay is that growing up is basically a trial and error process. In order to "find yourself," you experiment with different things to determine what fits you best, just as you would experiment with different hair colors. All the while you are trying to venture out, you develop a longing to hold onto some things from your past.
A personal example of this is when I was 15, I HATED going to the mall with my grandma; she wasn't cool enough to hang out with me in public. But now, I practically have to beg her to come to the mall with me. I miss being able to spend one-on-one time with her. Although I want to hold onto the past, I also want to be independent and give this "adult" stuff a go. I definitely don't miss having someone telling me what to do and when to do it.
Concisely, this essay tells you to go out there and try living life as a big girl/boy. Know that you will always have your family behind you, as well as the morals and values they raised you with, so it's okay to take a leap of fate. At the end of the day, you can very well turn around and take a leap back.
*p.s. If you didn't read this essay, you should. I think it's fitting for us as young adults.
Honestly, I still feel like I'm twelve, and it sucks that now I have all of these responsibilities that I didn't even want. A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 18th birthday, and that's when it hit me: I can actually go to jail now. The thought of going to jail was pretty depressing. There have been a few nights where I've awaken in a cold sweat after having a nightmare about never seeing the light of day.
But anyways, I really liked the way the author compared dying hair (with semi-permanent dye) and growing up. What I extracted from her essay is that growing up is basically a trial and error process. In order to "find yourself," you experiment with different things to determine what fits you best, just as you would experiment with different hair colors. All the while you are trying to venture out, you develop a longing to hold onto some things from your past.
A personal example of this is when I was 15, I HATED going to the mall with my grandma; she wasn't cool enough to hang out with me in public. But now, I practically have to beg her to come to the mall with me. I miss being able to spend one-on-one time with her. Although I want to hold onto the past, I also want to be independent and give this "adult" stuff a go. I definitely don't miss having someone telling me what to do and when to do it.
Concisely, this essay tells you to go out there and try living life as a big girl/boy. Know that you will always have your family behind you, as well as the morals and values they raised you with, so it's okay to take a leap of fate. At the end of the day, you can very well turn around and take a leap back.
*p.s. If you didn't read this essay, you should. I think it's fitting for us as young adults.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Speech Preparation Outline
Title: The Buckwheat Blues
I. Attention Grabber: I've got the urge to herbal (attention grabber is in actions, not words)
II. Speaker Credibility: The flat iron has been my best friend since the fifth grade, and...
III. Thesis: ...I couldn't imagine my life without this thing (the flat iron)...
IV. Preview: ...for several reasons.
Body
Transition: First off...
I. ...I have unruly hair
A. The flat iron makes my hair easier to manage
-I can pull my hair out of my face (without flat ironing, it would be impossible)
-I can actually get a comb through it
-My hair stays straight for up to a week
-Touch ups are quick and easy in the morning
B. I can style my hair in different ways
-Straight, Up-do
-Curly, bumped at the ends, or flipped out
Transition: Not only can I style my hair, but I can style my friends' hair, too.
II. This thing is my money-maker!
A. My friends always ask me to do their hair
-I earn $15 per person by doing my friends' hair
-My flat iron gets up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's pretty close to a professional tool
Transition: Because my flat iron is comparable to a professional tool...
III. ...It saves me money!
A. Less trips to the salon
-I can make my hair look just as good as it would if I had a professional do it
B. My flat iron is ceramic, so it isn't as damaging to my hair, therefore, I don't need to get my ends trimmed as often.
Conclusion
I. In all, the flat iron is a magnificent invention that I couldn't live without.
II. It's does more than straighten my hair: it allows me to switch up my look, puts a little bit of change in my pocket, and keeps that change in my pocket. Most importantly, my boyfriend isn't scared to touch my hair. Oh, and it keeps me looking good, too ;)
III. After all, you wouldn't want me to look like Buckwheat everyday...
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Ignite Speech Overview
I couldn't imagine my life without my MacBook.
I. Internet
a. ALL of my homework is done on my computer
b. I can access my email, Facebook, etc.
c. My new addiction is online shopping & online banking
d. One word: Skype
II. Music
a. I download music from shady sites. Lucky for me I can't get a virus :)
b. My iTunes library tells the story of my life. 1,000+ songs that are all "my song"
c. Who needs speakers when I can just play songs from my laptop?
III. Pictures
a. My laptop has a ton of pictures of important moments in my life
b. iPhoto allows me to edit my pictures
c. Photo Booth
IV. Applications
a. iMovie for class projects
b. Garageband came in handy for making cheer music
c. Dictionary–Responsible for making me sound a lot smarter than I am
d. Adress Book has all my numbers in case if I lose the ones in my phone
...Clearly, this thing is my life.
I. Internet
a. ALL of my homework is done on my computer
b. I can access my email, Facebook, etc.
c. My new addiction is online shopping & online banking
d. One word: Skype
II. Music
a. I download music from shady sites. Lucky for me I can't get a virus :)
b. My iTunes library tells the story of my life. 1,000+ songs that are all "my song"
c. Who needs speakers when I can just play songs from my laptop?
III. Pictures
a. My laptop has a ton of pictures of important moments in my life
b. iPhoto allows me to edit my pictures
c. Photo Booth
IV. Applications
a. iMovie for class projects
b. Garageband came in handy for making cheer music
c. Dictionary–Responsible for making me sound a lot smarter than I am
d. Adress Book has all my numbers in case if I lose the ones in my phone
...Clearly, this thing is my life.
Friday, September 14, 2012
My Digital Life
As a kid, I always looked up to my older sister and brother. If they said high-waters were cool, I sported them the next day. But high-waters weren’t cool; in fact, the latest trend was actually a new website, BlackPlanet.com. All I really knew about BlackPlanet was that I was too young to sign up. And this killed me.
Fortunately, my inquisition didn’t last long: in 2003, Chris DeWolf and Tom Anderson created Myspace.com, which was originally intended to be a web hosting service. Myspace became increasingly popular during my seventh grade year in 2007, and even though I was younger than the minimum age to sign up, I HAD to create a page. Everyone else was doing it, so I wanted to do it too.
After creating my account, I found a basic layout and wrote a simple paragraph about myself, including where I’m from, my real age, what school I went to, etc. As I started to get more friends, I couldn’t help but see what their pages were like...
 |
| Just a little taste of what HTML codes look like and the madness I put myself through... |
Here’s where the obsession began. I wanted my Myspace page to look as cool as some of my other friends’ pages did, so I StARtEd TYPiNG liKE ThiS and learned the different HTML codes for scrolling text and fancy letters. Eventually, I even learned how to make my own layouts. Hours, sometimes days, were wasted on creating the perfect page; after all, my Myspace page was a reflection of myself... Or at least what I wanted myself to be. I thought the better my page looked, the cooler I would look. Apparently other people shared the same mindset as me because it wasn’t long before people were lining up for me to makeover their pages. I guess it’s safe to say that my Myspace page represented my alter ego: the Shawnee that was charismatic and confident. Talking to cute guys was wayy easier from behind a computer screen.
The more time I spent on Myspace, the more I realized that the green, flashing, online icons were slowly disappearing. Where did everybody go? :(
...Facebook.
 |
| Apparently, more people than I thought agreed that Myspace was wack. |
I didn’t think the end would come so soon, but unfortunately, Myspace had become a thing of the past like plaid shorts. It was officially deemed “LAME,” and since I wasn’t lame, I had to keep up with the trends...
So I created a Facebook account during March of 2009. For those who don’t know, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Initially, the website was only for college students; however, by 2006, anyone with an email address was able to sign up for Facebook.
 |
| An old Facebook picture. Yeah I thought I was the stuff... |
Now that I had a Facebook, I realized that I couldn’t pimp out my page to make it different from other peoples’ pages. Instead, the pictures, comments, and status updates that I posted now shaped my image, so naturally I began to make my life seem a lot more interesting than it was by posting a ton of pictures that made it look like I was living it up. My mindset quickly became focused on getting the most likes and comments on a picture or post. Likes=popularity=something every high schooler wants.
Junkie. A smartphone and a Facebook Mobile App later, I officially became addicted to social networking. At least with Myspace, I could only access it from home. Now, I could get on Facebook from anywhere that I had a signal, which meant updating my status everyday before, during, and after school. It also meant creeping on other peoples’ pages whenever they posted new pictures to see if their lives seemed better than my own. Facebook was like crack: I couldn’t go more than a few hours without it.
Soon enough, Facebook had become a household name... Literally. Not only did my parents join Facebook, but so did my grandma. She didn’t even know how to say it; she kept calling it “Spacebook.” Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for my parents to start commenting on my posts, which is the complete opposite of cool... So now what?
FILTER EVERYTHING! ...And meanwhile try to find a new website... I couldn’t keep posting the usual statuses with curse words and everything. My mom would just comment, “Smh... That’s not the lady I raised.”
Finding a new website turned out to be harder than I thought. I couldn't just break up with Facebook; we had been together for over two years! Not to mention, I dreaded the fact that I would have to create a new profile and start following people and gaining followers. On Facebook, I already had my 800 friends, so Twitter was for the birds...
 |
| My latest Facebook and Instagram picture |
Since I couldn’t get into Twitter, finding a new website didn’t work. I just had to stick it out with Facebook. After being more conscious of the things I posted, I began to realize why my parents kept nagging me: they didn’t want me to be like “Westend Babysus” or “EnergizerBunny Tolbert” and come off as uneducated. Facebook was supposed to be a reflection of myself, not someone who I wanted to be. I came to the conclusion that if someone really has an interesting life, chances are they’re too busy living it to let everyone know what they ate for dinner.
So that’s what I’m doing: I’m living my life. I still occasionally update my Facebook page with pictures, but my goal isn’t to look cool. I want people to see the real me and not just some facade, therefore, I am more aware how people may perceive the things I post on the internet. My Myspace page wasn’t a real representation of Shawnee; it was some other chick. If people don’t go using that timeline feature on Facebook, then they’ll see the real me who is just your average college girl. Although I don’t use Facebook as much now, I do use Instagram, but I’m definitely NOT addicted to it like I was with Myspace and Facebook.
Sources:
http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/08/14_myspace.html
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/06/myspacefb/38708/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia
Sources:
http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/08/14_myspace.html
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/06/myspacefb/38708/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia
Saturday, September 8, 2012
My Digital Life Rough Draft
As a kid, I always looked up to my older sister and brother. If they said high-waters were cool, I sported them the next day. But high-waters weren’t cool; in fact, the latest trend was actually a new website, BlackPlanet.com. All I really knew about BlackPlanet was that I was too young to sign up. And this killed me.
Fortunately, my inquisition didn’t last long: Chris DeWolf and Tom Anderson created Myspace.com, which became increasingly popular during my seventh grade year in 2007. Even though I was younger than the minimum age to sign up, I HAD to create a page. Everyone else was doing it, so I wanted to do it too.
|
| Just a little taste of what HTML codes look like and the madness I put myself through |
After creating my account, I found a basic layout and wrote a simple paragraph about myself, including where I’m from, my real age, what school I went to, etc. As I started to get more friends, I couldn’t help but see what their pages were like...
Here’s where the obsession began. I wanted my Myspace page to look as cool as some of my other friends’ pages did, so I StARtEd TYPiNG liKE ThiS and learned the different HTML codes for scrolling text and fancy letters. Eventually, I even learned how to make my own layouts. Hours, sometimes days, were wasted on creating the perfect page; after all, my Myspace page was a reflection of myself... Or at least what I wanted myself to be. I thought the better my page looked, the cooler I would look.
Apparently other people shared the same mindset as me because it wasn’t long before people were lining up for me to makeover their pages. I guess it’s safe to say that my Myspace page represented my alter ego: the Shawnee that was charismatic and confident. Talking to cute guys was wayy easier from behind a computer screen.
The more time I spent on Myspace, the more I realized that the green, flashing, online icons were slowly disappearing.
Where did everybody go? :(
...Facebook.
I didn’t think the end would come so soon, but unfortunately, Myspace had become a thing of the past like plaid shorts. It was officially deemed “LAME,” and since I wasn’t lame, I had to keep up with the trends...
|
| Apparently, more people than I thought agreed that Facebook was wack. |
So I created a Facebook account during March of 2009. For those who don’t know, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Initially, the website was only for college students; however, by 2006, anyone with an email address was able to sign up for Facebook.
|
| An old Facebook picture. Yeah, I thought I was the stuff... |
Now that I had a Facebook, I realized that I couldn’t pimp out my page to make it different from other peoples’ pages. Instead, the pictures, comments, and status updates that I posted now shaped my image, so naturally I began to make my life seem a lot more interesting than it was by posting a ton of pictures that made it look like I was living it up. My mindset quickly became focused on getting the most likes and comments on a picture or post. Likes=popularity=something every high schooler wants.
Junkie. A smartphone and a Facebook mobile app later, I officially became addicted to social networking. At least with Myspace, I could only access it from home. Now, I could get on Facebook from anywhere that I had a signal, which meant updating my status everyday before, during, and after school. It also meant creeping on other peoples’ pages whenever they posted new pictures to see if their lives seemed better than my own. Facebook was like crack: I couldn’t go more than a few hours without it.
Soon enough, Facebook had become a household name... Literally. Not only did my parents join Facebook, but so did my grandma. She didn’t even know how to say it; she kept calling it “Spacebook.” Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for my parents to start commenting on my posts, which is the complete opposite of cool...
So now what?
FILTER EVERYTHING! ...And meanwhile try to find a new website... I couldn’t keep posting the usual statuses with curse words and everything. My mom would just comment, “Smh... That’s not the lady I raised.”
|
| My latest Facebook and Instagram picture |
Since I couldn’t get into Twitter, finding a new website didn’t work; so I just had to stick it out with Facebook. After being more conscious of the things I posted, I began to realize why my parents kept were nagging me: they didn’t want me to be like “Westend Babysus” or “EnergizerBunny Tolbert” and come off as uneducated. Facebook was supposed to be a reflection of myself, not someone who I wanted to be. I came to the conclusion that if someone really has an interesting life, chances are they’re too busy living it to let everyone know what they ate for dinner.
So that’s what I’m doing: I’m living my life. I still occasionally update my Facebook page with pictures, but my goal isn’t to look cool. I want people to see the real me and not just some facade; therefore, I am more aware how people may perceive the things I put on the internet. My Myspace page wasn’t a real representation of Shawnee; it was some other chick. If people don’t go using that timeline feature on Facebook, then they’ll see the real me who is just your average college girl. Although I don’t use Facebook as much now, I do use Instagram, but I’m definitely NOT attached to it like I was with Myspace and Facebook. Feel free to follow me though @theycallmeyung_shawndra ...Don’t ask about the name, it’s an insider.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Stupid? Mm... Not quite. Lazy? Of course. We have information at our fingertips. No one wants to search through a library full of books to find out when Malcolm X was assassinated. All we have to do is type it into Google.
I do agree with the point that society is getting too comfortable with merely reading snippets of information. All we want is the good stuff. In some respects, it isn't a bad thing. Did anyone enjoy the reading from last night? Thought so. Google not only allows us to find sources for papers, but it can also help us learn new things from the comfort of our dorm rooms. Instead of emailing a teacher for clarification on a topic discussed in class, we can google the topic. Little bits of information are helpful, but what does this say about the American attention span? Or better yet, reading level? Clearly, it's going down the drain. We like short, simple sentences. Like this. I found it ironic that the author of the article admitted he had trouble reading long blog posts, but he wrote a long and drawn-out article with a lot of unnecessary information. He didn't even talk about Google until the last few paragraphs.
Concisely, Google, the search engine, is not making us stupid. It's everything else on the internet! Our blog posts are written in a simplified language so that they appeal to other classmates, the same way that news articles are dumbied down so they appeal to readers trying to get the national scoop in 15 minutes.
I do agree with the point that society is getting too comfortable with merely reading snippets of information. All we want is the good stuff. In some respects, it isn't a bad thing. Did anyone enjoy the reading from last night? Thought so. Google not only allows us to find sources for papers, but it can also help us learn new things from the comfort of our dorm rooms. Instead of emailing a teacher for clarification on a topic discussed in class, we can google the topic. Little bits of information are helpful, but what does this say about the American attention span? Or better yet, reading level? Clearly, it's going down the drain. We like short, simple sentences. Like this. I found it ironic that the author of the article admitted he had trouble reading long blog posts, but he wrote a long and drawn-out article with a lot of unnecessary information. He didn't even talk about Google until the last few paragraphs.
Concisely, Google, the search engine, is not making us stupid. It's everything else on the internet! Our blog posts are written in a simplified language so that they appeal to other classmates, the same way that news articles are dumbied down so they appeal to readers trying to get the national scoop in 15 minutes.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
"The Rhetorical Situation"
For the most part, the author of this text does a good job explaining what the rhetorical situation is; however, I don't like how he contradicts himself by initially saying,"I [would not] equate rhetorical situation with persuasive situation, which exists whenever an audience can be changed in belief or action by means of speech"but later saying, "A work of rhetoric...functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world...In this sense rhetoric is always persuasive." I think he means that a rhetorical piece is not persuasive in the argument, it is persuasive in the way in which the argument is given. It's not requesting you to stop smoking in a call-to-action, but it's giving you all of the facts to lead you to form the idea that you should stop smoking.
Primarily, the author indicates that the makeup and delivery of a rhetoric work depends on the situation that causes it. I was a little confused where he mentioned exigence, audience, and constraints, but I think he was saying that urgent situations are only rhetorical if they can be written about to cause some type of action. He also indicated that the audience should be aimed at a group who can promote the writer's cause. Lastly, constraints can arise from the writer's style or the situation (i.e. when talking about someone dying, you shouldn't be rude and inappropriate)... Well, at least I think this is what he meant.
The text serves the purpose of explaining the rhetorical situation, but the author is too wordy. Unnecessary phrasing and long explanations filled with too many adjectives caused me to have to reread paragraphs to gain some type of understanding. I'm really not even sure if I got the important stuff out of the reading...
Primarily, the author indicates that the makeup and delivery of a rhetoric work depends on the situation that causes it. I was a little confused where he mentioned exigence, audience, and constraints, but I think he was saying that urgent situations are only rhetorical if they can be written about to cause some type of action. He also indicated that the audience should be aimed at a group who can promote the writer's cause. Lastly, constraints can arise from the writer's style or the situation (i.e. when talking about someone dying, you shouldn't be rude and inappropriate)... Well, at least I think this is what he meant.
The text serves the purpose of explaining the rhetorical situation, but the author is too wordy. Unnecessary phrasing and long explanations filled with too many adjectives caused me to have to reread paragraphs to gain some type of understanding. I'm really not even sure if I got the important stuff out of the reading...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)