Distributing Digital Media - Not Bananas

Social media is a large part of many Americans' everyday lives. Rather than always focusing on news from sources such as the newspaper or news channels on the television like they may have used to do, our society has switched to a more inter-personal news source. Facebook has become a household name; though not everybody is on Facebook, we all know what it is. It’s a continuous stream of thoughts, ideas, opinions, feelings, news, photos, videos, and useless information that you may never have needed to know (like somebody’s plans for the day, or what they had to eat for lunch). But among all of this information, we often can find relatable bits and that is what keeps us coming back. According to InternetWorld Stats there were 184.2 million Facebook users in North America as of September, 2012. Many of these users come from the United States, which is the audience I am trying to reach with my production.

Facebook is definitely a part of Web 2.0. It is interactive, communicative, ever changing, networked, and includes a multiplicity of identities (a few of the traits of Web 2.0 that we talked about in class and many covered by O’Reilly in What Is Web 2.0). The user is the one who controls their experience, giving Facebook its interactive characteristic and with this control, they are able to be communicative in a sense of distributing and receiving information from others. With this passing of information, Facebook is ever changing and has a constant flow of new information, which also deals with the economy of attention. In technology today, it is important that one’s attention is not focused on a certain thing for too long, else interest will be lost. The aspect of being networked comes from the millions of users online, each having their own online identity connecting them to others.

For my digital media production, I created a map of the United States which had a photo of each state’s top attraction (according to the blog post Most Popular US Attractions: State By State) instead of “empty states” like a normal map, through Photoshop. The info graphic that I created is a fitting response to the rhetorical situation that in the United States there are many people who are perfectly comfortable staying inside their home, not leaving their hometown. Our country has so much to offer and this is a way for them to realize that. This production grabs attention and encourages those people to “Get Out and Explore!”

This is why I chose Facebook as the online place to share my digital media production. Facebook users have a flow of information coming at them. Boyd explains in her article Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media that “It's also about restructuring the ways in which information flows in modern society.” That’s exactly what Facebook does, it creates a flow of information that is given directly to the user and that’s what makes it such a perfect online space for my production. Users will be forced to see this info graphic; soaking up every bit of information they see as they scroll past it on their news feed. Those who enjoy it will be able to share it with their friends, encouraging a wider audience for this production which was it’s first intentional goal – to be seen by as many people as possible, gaining interest in a variety of people.


Here is my distributed digital media production:

Web 2.0 and My Production very rough draft

My digital media production is a map of the United States, which I edited to have a picture of each state’s top attraction shaped as the state itself (so rather than blank states, the states were full of pictures). An online place that I would share my digital media production could be the web page of a travel agency or travel company such as Orbitz. They could also distribute this image via Twitter, Facebook, or other social media websites where many people would see it and gain a lot of attention. With the social media websites, viewers would be able to share the image within their friends who may not see it otherwise.

The info graphic of the United States and its top attractions per state is a fitting response to the rhetorical situation that many people are comfortable not experiences new things or places. They need to be encouraged to “Get Out and Explore!” Seeing an eye-catching image of what our country has to offer can gain people’s attention and help them realize what they’re missing out on.

Facebook is definitely a part of Web 2.0. It is interactive, communicative, ever changing, and involved in many people’s daily lives.

Web 2.0 is:
-User interaction (participation)
-Interactive / communication
-Dynamic
-No "hard" boundary
-Multiplicity of identities
-Networked
-Decentralizing
-Economy of attention

-Shifting flow of information

-Cloud

-Algorithmic feedback

Graphic Design and GoGo Juice

This semester I took a graphic design class that I was very unsure about at first. But looking back, I'm glad I took it. We weren't really "taught" too much, because I don't think graphic design is something you can really "teach" people, more just guide and help through the learning process. It forced me out of my comfort zone in creating things on computers and using Photoshop mostly (as well as Illustrator and In Design a little bit). Overall I enjoyed it, I really like working on images in photoshop, I find it relaxing and a way to forget about everything else that's going on in my life. It's like doing a puzzle.


Here is some Honey Boo Boo for you:

"My special juice is gonna help me wiiiiin"

¡Videojuegos!

I've never thought about videogames as a learning experience, besides the ones specifically made for learning purposes such as Clue Finders or Oregon Trail. The article Dream Machines, however, talks about many positive aspects of videogames in the new generation. It compares how older generations may read the manual before beginning a new game, but younger generations simply learn the rules by playing and making mistakes. They learn what to do through the experience, and their knowledge of the game continues to build as they progress. Gaming is a way to express creativity and innovativeness; you must devise a plan to carry out the actions or quest that you want to accomplish. You get to choose how you want to do things. Some people may explore all the possibilities and various ways of accomplishing one task just because they can. Others may find one way to accomplish a task and then move on, never worrying about it again. Gaming really lets people explore their minds and express themselves.

Dream Machines also talks about how the older generations see negative aspects of games, "they're violent, addictive, childish, worthless..." rather than seeing the positive aspects, "creativity. community, self-esteem, problem solving..."

"Games aren't just fantasy worlds to explore; they actually amplify our powers of imagination."

This really made me think about videogames in a different way that I have before. I've never been against them, actually I've always quite enjoyed them, but now I can recognize their benefit. I like to play Animal Crossing on the Gamecube sometimes when I'm super bored. One day I was playing, and I realized it was a very pointless game, but it was still enjoyable for some reason. It's all about the imagination, and being put inside of a whole other world, even if you still are doing everyday things... or walking around picking weeds from the ground.

Spiders

What is the web? Web is where the soup is. And by soup, I mean a word that rhymes with soup: scoop. The scoop is what contains all of the information. The scoop is everything that the broken internet is not. Spiderman would be sad if you did not know the web. He is the keeper of web. KEEPER OF ALL. The only ones who are not known by him are the mountain people, and the deep sea creatures who are unknown to everybody.

Anyways..

From what I'm reading it seems that Web 2.0 is the web as it is today. It's like having a program, then that program gets upgraded/advanced and it's still the same program but just better so they don't rename it, they just put numbers after it and each time it improves the numbers increase. According to the article What Is Web 2.0, Web 2.0 is:

-The web as platform

-Harnessing collective intelligence

-Data is the next Intel inside

-End of the software release cycle

-Lightweight programming models

-Software above the level of a single device

-Rich user experiences

Filled with Apple Technology

My roommate and I are chillaxing in our room doing work and such on our laptops, and her main squeeze came along sporting his laptop too. He's got a MacBook and we've both got MacBook Pros, and that's when I noticed that our room is currently using a lot of Apple technology. They both have iPhones as well, and Nicole (my roommate) and I both have iPods.

Darwin (my laptop) was sick over Thanksgiving break, but my amigo (that's Spanish for friend) fixed it yesterday. But now it's like it's September again! Except September with Mountain Lion. Today would be September 5th. I'm glad that Darwin has been cured.

kbye

Productions that were kind of finished

Julia

Major Argument: Know about all sides of astrology/horoscopes, even the fallacies.

Strength: Using a website is a good medium choice. The layout, colors, and theme all fit with the topic. Very informational

Develop: Text seems pretty blocky, maybe break it up with subheadings or pictures to make it more visually appealing and welcoming.

Meredith

Major Argument: Photo manipulation/editing happens a lot, and what you see isn't always what's real.

Strength: Relative to today's current media. Good comparison of the before and after.

Develop: Some parts have really straight edges, also have the text added to state your argument and it will be good.

Kim

Major Argument: UP Unique Creations is neat/artsy/fun.

Strength: Web page is medium choice, good theme/color scheme/layout.

Develop: Seemed fine...

Caitlyn/Caitlin/Kaitlyn/Katelynn

Major Argument: There's more to their public appearance than what you may think

Strength: Nice layout, I like the way it compares the two side-by-side.

Develop: More color instead of just black and white.

Courtney

Major Argument: Nanowrimo exists. Participate in writing a novel in November.

Strength: Visually grasping. Informative.

Develop: Maybe space out the text more (space between each line).

Devin

Major Argument: University meal plan may not be the best option for student dining.

Strength: Relevant. Use of photos helps viewer know what you're talking about. Addition of the survey is a great touch.

Develop: Seems weird to be on a blog.

Hannah/Girl with pony tail

Major Argument: Keep up with what [she] is up to and be inspired by [her].

Strength: Good choice of layout/font/colors. Makes it feel very comfortable.

Develop: More posts/stronger argument.

Jane/Blonde girl that's not Julia or I

Major Argument: Use your skills wisely.

Strength: A movie is a great way to portray these ideas. Relatable.

Develop: Have more time to read text. More pictures in-between the text only parts.

Jana (not Jenna)

Major Argument: Use Halonen Landscaping services.

Strength: Visually appealing. Neat text and pictures.

Develop: The small text about something premiere is kind of blurry with the shadow behind it. Maybe take shadow away.