As we come to an end...

I must say that I did enjoy this class. I've learned some new things, but most importantly gained a respect for those who are more involved in new media than myself. Granted, being an IMS major you would think that I would be a little bit more involved in new media than the occasional Google search or Facebook post, but I am not. I respect full-time bloggers, as I can honestly say that I don't think I could do their job. I liked keeping a blog, but I always had other things to do that made me put off updating. One thing that I did not like about this class was that I had to stare my lack of political knowledge straight in the face. I hope that I can take small steps to bettering my understanding of current political issues from here on out. I hope that I pay more attention to things like transmedia storytelling, copyright laws, origami unicorns, and little black boxes (that don't really exist). I will probably be forever terrified of Google after this class as well, but at least I am well-informed now!

Good luck on exams everyone, and have a great spring break!

Past and Present...

With this class almost over, I was thinking about what 'new media' used to be when I was younger.

Remember how cool VHS tapes and cassettes were to watch wind up?

Remember when CD's were the hottest new item on the market?

Remember when we went outside to talk to our friends, rather than jumping online?

Remember good television broadcasting like Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, Ahh! Real Monsters, Doug, etc?

Remember dial-up internet?

These are some of my favorite things to think about and see how far we have come in only ten to twenty years.

Fell free to reminisce in the comments if you're still checking your blogger and see this!

Come on, use that keyboard!

I have certain teachers who NEVER use a keyboard, let alone tell you valuable information...EVER.

(For the record, I promise that I'm not referencing this class!)

For this other class, we have had six (I think) projects and labs to do that all relate to our final. You would think that if I have had the last several weeks to work on creating and synthesizing this final project, it would be something I was really proud of, right?

NOT.

The due dates for these assignments have changed at least five times, with and without sufficient notice. I've completed and turned in an assignment before I knew the due date was changed--more than once. Things have been added, subtracted, and all together moved so much that I hardly know what is going on.

With so many available means of communication...e-mail, blackboard, face-to-face in class, updated syllabus handout, etc...why do teachers do this to students? Pick up that keyboard and KEEP US IN THE LOOP.

Copyright or Copywrong?

**As a side note, I thought I was being very creative with the title of this blog until the phrase was used in class and I realized it was the name of our reading... DARNIT.

I will be the first to admit that my idea of copyright was certainly skewed. I did not know that it was created in order to encourage the creation of new artwork.


You learn something new everyday, right?

We also talked about copyright recently in my Web Development class. We didn't go into much detail--instead we simply made that point that copyright is a serious thing and we should always be sure to give copyright where it is due.

Well, that's certainly easier said than done.

I fully stand by my decision to go into graphics design as a career. Still, I know that I am taking some risks by doing so. I could have my artwork stolen very easily. I could also get into a lot of trouble for using artwork in a design that was copyrighted.

Not that I plan on using copyrighted materials, of course.

My point is, the line between what is public domain and what is copyrighted online is extremely blurry. You can find an image online that exists on hundreds of different sites. Which site, if any, holds the copyright to that image? If it is unclear, do you simply not cite the image or do you cite it from wherever you found it just to be safe?

There is so much grey area that sometimes I'm afraid of getting lost in the land of copyright obscurity.

Simply Sensational!

Is it too easy to become an internet sensation?

Take the Obama Girl video for instance. Out of all of the riveting topics that are written and talked about online, should that video really have become so popular? Should I really have a mental list of probably twenty-five or so of my favorite stupid internet cartoon videos that I watch instead of reading the news?

Probably not.

Sometimes, when I see the videos that become viral overnight, I lose a little bit more of my ever-dwindling faith in my generation. (Ex. Rebecca Black and Friday) Chances are, we should really care more about news that we do. I will be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about global current events and politics, and I am sure that I am not the only one.

So, why is it that my generation cares so little about things that affect them? Is it because songs like Friday are so good that we simply can't NOT watch them 24/7? Definitely not. I wish I had an answer or even a decent theory about why this is happening, but I don't.

I can at least speculate on why I think that I don't put more effort into reading the news... Put as simply as possible, there are too many idiots online. It would be quite an undertaking to look up a recent event or political standpoint and try to learn about it as objectively as possible. Practically every article or video is written or recorded by some random person in their living room. Even journalism is hard to trust because of the affiliations that news sources have with political powerhouses.

In short, the truth is so easily lost in the cacophony of voices that I chose to just let it be lost than risk pulling out all of my hair trying to dig it back up.

I think that this is a sad occurrence. I certainly wish I was more well-informed. I would love to be able to hold my own in a political argument or insert my own thoughts into a conversation about a recent global event. And sure, my own unwillingness to hunt for the facts is partially to blame. But that does not mean that all of the liars and half-truth-tellers online are blameless.

(Here's to hoping that this made sense to someone besides myself.)

**Maybe someone out there has a source that they would like to share with me that is relatively unbiased in their reporting? I'd be forever grateful.**

Politics and the Internet

I really enjoyed Cass Sunstein's point that "Unanticipated encounters, involving unfamiliar and even irritating topics and points of view, are central to democracy and to freedom itself."


I feel like this quote fits in very well with the topic of the YouTube debates. I wasn't very familiar with what the YouTube debates were until class, but I had heard the term before. Now, I am a huge fan. I wish that every election could be held in such a manner. Let's do away with the ridiculously over-scripted and ultimately fake and useless debates that are televised now, and bring in a new generation of debates that force the running politicians to actually think on their feet for once in their lives.


(Can anyone tell that I have a rather low opinion of our political system and the people in it?)


The American people are the ones taking the majority of the hits for what their politicians screw up, so why shouldn't they be able to voice their questions and concerns? Their questions may not sound as eloquent as the ones that we are used to, but at least they would be real questions straight from the mouths of those who are most affected by horrible political decisions.

Rather than writing a nice and neat letter to local congressman, creating YouTube videos puts faces on the many problems America has. They force politicians to realize that these are real people and real problems, not just letters that are cluttering up politicians' desks.

Politicians put on a glamorous mask and parade around with their eloquent words and pretty campaign art. But politics aren't pretty. They're dirty and terrible problems that need to be faced and solved, not swept under the rug. No longer should politicians be allowed to skate by under the radar, yammering on endlessly on topics that they are well-versed in and completely ignoring the topics that they know little to nothing about. The American people should be given the chance to be that irritating itch that politicians just can't seem to reach. They should force politicians to tread water in unfamiliar territory until they come up with a satisfying answer. Get rid of the crutches that politicians so often use and force them to be the upstanding and powerful figures that they claim they are.

Maybe it is just my opinion of the pitiful state that American politics are in, but burning the script of political debates and allowing politicians to break a sweat and provide real, substantial solutions to overbearing problems seems like a brilliant idea that should be given another shot.

CIPA, Filters, and Policies--OH MY!

I think that if this policy is properly implemented, it can be a very useful tool in schools and libraries. Although I doubt that children would purposely look up explicit content at school, it is possible that they could stumble upon it by accident. CIPA protects them from this and assures that they must use the computers for educational purposes.

Granted, there are ways around this. I'm sure most or all of us have previously used a proxy server to access internet pages that our school deemed inappropriate. More often than not, those pages were probably Myspace or Facebook. But, not all children know these tricks and chances are, even if they do, the sites that they access without protection will only be as harmless as Facebook.

Regardless of how harmless the sites children would visit if they got around a filter might be, the hope is that they don't stray from educational content. CIPA doesn't just filter out potentially harmful sites, it ensures that schoolwork is done on school computers. Let's face it, no matter how important we all thought (and maybe still think) that Facebook is in our daily lives, we can live without it for a few hours a day. Learning should definitely take precedence, and CIPA works towards accomplishing that goal.

It isn't quite as simple as that though. CIPA filters have a tendency to block sites that are educational, simply because they contain words that have been flagged as inappropriate. As a child, I found this side effect extremely annoying, which only made me want to procrastinate my paper more. As a teen in high school, not being able to look things up because of filters on the computers made me feel like I was being treated as a child when I shouldn't have been. Knowing that these filters can be modified and even shut off eases my concerns a bit though. Unfortunately, I didn't know that changes could be made to the filters until it was too late (about a week ago). I think an effort should be made to make children, teens, and even adults that utilize these public computers aware of the fact that the filters can be modified upon request--with a legitimate reason.

Conspiracy!

Well, I've definitely been slacking in the blogging department over the last few weeks. Apparently there is a conspiracy on campus and all of my teachers made everything due at the exact same time. NOT COOL.

Anyways, I'll be blogging alot over the next 24 hours or so about all of the things that I've missed in the last few weeks!!

To Facebook, Or Not To Facebook.

Please disregard the fact that I used the word 'Facebook' as a verb in my blog title and continue reading my post...

I don't know anyone besides my younger cousin who is underage and on Facebook. It is probably for this reason that I don't really have an opinion on younger children being on Facebook. The only thing annoying that my cousin does is send me too many It Girl app requests that I have to deny. And, quite honestly, I would prefer to have her use Facebook rather than roam the entire internet at age ten. I am quite sure that, if she didn't have a Facebook account, there are thousands of other, more dangerous websites that she could visit instead.

I honestly didn't realize that my cousin had to lie to get her Facebook account until we talked about it in class. It has been so long since I had to worry about being "old enough" to be online that I forget that there are age restrictions on so many websites. Even so, I know that young children aren't the only ones lying on the internet. It actually bothers me more to know that older people are lying and posing as younger people online than it does to know children are lying just to get a Facebook account.

I absolutely loathe Facebook pages for dogs or other animals. I think that these pages are wastes of server space that only clutter cyberspace. Just upload photos of your pet on your own personal page, don't make it it's own page--that's ridiculous.

Other fake pages are just as ridiculous, but slightly less annoying. When people actually maintain the webpages as if they were the character and keep it witty and enjoyable, I don't mind. When there is nobody maintaining the page and it is only cluttering up the internet is when I begin to mind.

I wouldn't mind if Facebook implemented more strict rules that users must follow in order to get and keep an account. I think it would get rid of many pointless pages online and make Facebook a more enjoyable site to browse. Then, users would know that pages would always be regularly active and not fake and utterly useless. Deleting all of the clutter on Facebook might make it a more enjoyable place for everyone.

Ultimately, I think fake pages are much more of a problem than underage users.

Survivor (Spoiling) SUCKS

I read chapter one of Jenkins' book for this class during lunch today. There were multiple times at which those sitting at the table with me asked me why I had such an appalled expression on my face.

Frankly, and rather obviously, it was because I was completely appalled by what I was reading.

Unfortunately, I can easily believe that this type of community exists, but I wish it didn't. It seems so wasteful.

WHO CARES ABOUT SURVIVOR THAT MUCH?!

I understand that this 'game' of chasing knowledge that nobody else knows and outsmarting the CBS producers provides a thrill. Still, couldn't they chose something to 'spoil' that was more interesting and useful?

An interesting point was made in the book: "Imagine the kinds of information these fans could collect, if they sought to spoil the government rather than the network." I personally would rather have all of the people in the Survivor-spoiling community funneling their talents into digging up secrets about our government. At least that kind of spoiling would yield more useful information than who won a pointless reality television show.

Maybe I just missed the Survivor bandwagon when it came around, but I think that all of the talent and effort that is poured into spoiling the show is an epic waste.

Survivor (Spoiling) SUCKS

IMS Major: Pros and Cons

Interactive Media Studies, or IMS, is a relatively new major here at North Central College.

There are not many other schools that have this type of major either.

It's up-to-date and allows students to dabble in some of the newest programs and techniques to create art.

Adobe anyone?

There are three tracks: Graphic Design, Technology, and Convergent Media. Each track includes courses from the other tracks as well, which allows for each student to learn not only design, but programming and writing also.

These all seem like wonderful things, right?

I would definitely have to agree.

I absolutely love the IMS major. The graphic design track fits me perfectly and is the exact major that I had envisioned in my mind before I knew that it even existed. I get to use programs I already know and love, learn new programs, and work with some really wonderful members of the faculty.

Still, I feel that the IMS major has some setbacks that need to be addressed.

First, there are no financial aid scholarships available to art majors of any kind at this school.

If this isn't a self-fulfilling prophecy for "starving artist", I don't know what is.

Second, there is one and only one Mac lab on campus. If there is a class using the lab during the time you want to use it, you're forced to leave and come back later.

If you have a deadline for a project, this can be problematic.

Let's all fight over the last and only open seat...

Granted, some teachers will let you sit in the back of their class and work on a project, but there is not always an open seat.

Also, there is no K: drive in the Mac lab. So, if you don't back up every single work you create on a flash drive or sit at the same computer every single time, you get behind.

I feel that there are enough IMS majors on campus that these things should change.

Art majors deserve financial aid opportunities just as much as any other student with any other major. Art students must pay for supplies and expensive programs, as well as books with CD's that don't come cheap.

IMS students shouldn't have to wake up at six in the morning to go to the Mac lab or wait until ten o'clock at night. There should be more Mac computers on campus in the already existing PC labs. I'm sure that Carnegie, the Boilerhouse, and Oesterle Library wouldn't object to the addition of a few more workstations for devoted students.

Art students also shouldn't have to worry about losing all of their work just because the Mac lab is not networked with every other computer on campus. I don't know much about networking, but if we have such a large and complex network existing already, it seems to me that adding on one more lab wouldn't bring the entire system down. Even networking the computers in the Mac lab to each other so that students can access their files from any of the computers would be a huge improvement.

I don't think that this is too much to ask for.

These small changes would cost money, but easily pay for themselves. It is not as if these changes would only benefit a small group of people--every student in any of the IMS tracks would easily benefit. The happier the current IMS students are, the more likely they will be to spread the word about the major and bring in more students in following years.

So, I say...

On-campus parking...what's that?

When it came time to decide if I should shell out another three hundred dollars to park my car on campus rather than leaving it in the remote lot, I decided "Hey, I'm already in debt up to my eyeballs, what's a few extra hundred dollars in the scheme of things?".

I am exceedingly glad I took this route, as I hear horror stories about our lovely shuttle bus (minivan?) from just about everyone who uses the remote lot. Unfortunately, being allowed the privilege of parking on campus isn't that much better of an alternative. Yes, you can park on campus--if you can find a spot.

This is a daunting task, specifically at Res/Rec.

Not only is Res/Res the biggest dorm on campus with the most students who have cars (non-freshman), but it also requires extra parking because of the business offices and fitness center, as well as the indoor track and playing fields. Merner is directly next door, and past that is the Stadium. Also in the same vicinity is Ward and Patterson halls.

In case you lost count, that is a grand total of five buildings--most of which have people besides NCC students using their services--vying for the parking spaces in only three lots.

On weekends when sports events are going on, there is the added pleasure of having to fight with the general public for parking.
Excuse me, but I pay to park here--you don't.
End of story.

So, what do you say to adding a few more levels to the Highland parking garage, or utilizing the big field south of Res/Rec for an entirely new parking facility?

I vote yes!

Savvy Businessmen or Evil Masterminds?

Those behind Google are smart.

They made extremely intelligent business decisions to reach their level of popularity.

It is for that reason that I am, undoubtedly, addicted to Google. But, had Google bought an obsolete video streaming site rather than YouTube and Xanga instead of Blogger, my infatuation would lie elsewhere. That is because, whether Google owns these sites or not, I would still visit them as often as I do now.

I don't visit Google sites because they are affiliated with Google. There are no Google logos emblazoned across Blogger or YouTube that draw me there. In fact, if there were, I would think them tacky and unnecessary and most likely search for new websites to use.

Up until this class, I had no idea that some sites were owned by Google I am sure that I am not the only one who isn't up-to-date on the latest internet ownership news. I'm sure that the first time some people find out a site is affiliated with Google is when and if they create an account on that site. Only when they are redirected to create a Gmail account does it become glaringly obvious who owns sites like YouTube and Blogger.

I don't feel like I am under Google's thumb each time I surf the web. I don't feel as if I am being coerced by Google to visit their sites, and their sites only. I may prefer to use their services to those of, say, Yahoo! or Bing, but that is my own personal decision. I could just as easily use any other search engine, but I chose not to. This is not dependancy, but rather popularity among users. Google is integrated and user friendly and usually provides me with the best results, therefore I use it more.

I think Google's popularity is often confused with power. Yes, Google is a powerful force online. Then again, so are many other entities. Google doesn't, to the best of my knowledge, abuse it's user base. There is an ongoing debate about how much personal information it does collect, but I have yet to have my identity stolen and I use a great amount of Google services. Not to mention the fact that Google is not the only site that uses things like cookies. I feel as if I would be more vulnerable to viruses and identity theft on sites that are not affiliated with Google than on sites that are.

In short,I don't think that the masterminds behind the Google corporation are trying to take over the world. I think that they are business savvy and made intelligent purchasing decisions. They seem to reinvest in their own company as well. More and more often new things are released by Google that increase usability, such as integration of their many services.

Google is not here to destroy us, but to help us.

Facebook or Virtual Reality?

Facebook is a social networking site, right?

Well, for some people that is all that it is used for. But for others, it is much more. Some people save lots of money by using Facebook as their own personal therapist. Status updates become full on rants and confessions. Facebook takes on the job of listener, even though there is nothing more behind it's pages than lines of code.

So, is this a good thing? With human-webpage interaction taking the place of person-to-person communication, what will happen to our ability to confide in others and work through difficult social situations?

Already, our ability to handle difficult things has taken a nose dive. How many break ups take place via Facebook or texting? How many fights are fought only with keyboards from the comfort of one's own bedroom? How many people have posted romantic status updates on Facebook rather than told their crush how they really felt?

Admit it, you've done at least one of these things before.

This trend towards cyber communication is a scary development. The line is blurred so drastically between reality and virtual reality via online communities and websites that it is increasingly hard to keep them separate.

So, I challenge you. Make it a point to have a meaningful conversation with a friend that is NOT online. Take your significant other out to dinner and leave your phone in the car. Make a conscious effort to turn off the technology for a little while each day.

You will miss so much if you only see the world through a computer screen.

Ironic, though, that I'm typing this all and publishing it onto an online community...

K.I.S.S.

No, not that kind of kiss. This kiss is an acronym: keep it simple, stupid.

I am a firm believer that this should be taught in every classroom across the globe. Now, I know that this would cause some issues with proper classroom etiquette norms, but let's just forget about those for now. I personally wish that I would have had someone drill this into my head at a younger age. Unfortunately I did not, and I now have the annoying habit of overthinking just about everything.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has the tendency to get hung up on details and therefore fail to see the entire picture. As a student, this can add extra anxiety to already difficult projects such as papers and tests. As a young woman, this can add extra confusion to social situations. "What did that mean?" "Was she just being nice, or was she being sarcastic?" As an aspiring graphic designer, this could spell out complete and utter failure for me in my chosen career path. Nobody wants an ugly, cluttered website. Nobody wants a poster that has too many words or pictures. Everyone wants clean, simple lines and streamlined content that gets their message across quickly and easily.

But how do you accomplish that?

There are so many elements that one has to consider when creating a design. How do you satisfy the need for color, text, images, animations, and that extra 'touch' that will make your work stand out from everyone else's? How do you accomplish that, while still keeping the entire project simple?

The best advice that I've been given so far at North Central was told to me only yesterday: "If you can remove elements from your design while it still retains the message it was created to convey, you most likely have added to much."

In other words, less really is more--and don't forget that. Simplicity is a universal language that is always appealing to the audience.

So, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

BLOGCEPTION

I Am A Blogger Blogging about other Bloggers and their Blogs, WHOA.

Out of the provided names on the blog #1 prompt, the interview with Tiffany B. Brown seemed to catch my interest the most. The way Tiffany described her blog--"Web technology and design, internet life, stuff that catches my eye, and whatever is rumbling through my head at the moment"--sounds like something that I would read. It sounds like it covers a wide variety of topics and would hold the attention of many different kinds of people. Blogs that are too specific get boring.

I also enjoy the fact that Tiffany also maintained two other blogs, although it is sad to know that one is on a permanent hiatus. I hate to see websites wither away to nothing when there surely is someone out there who would love to keep it updated, and others who would love to read it.

Most of all, I like that Tiffany didn't simply use her blog to ramble, but used it to promote herself as a web developer as well. Her blog was not only a demonstration of herself and what she liked, but of her abilities as an artist. That duality of a webpage is something that I would love to accomplish one day with a site of my own.

It was also interesting to find out how Tiffany went from writing very academically and in a journalistic way, to writing with a conversational tone. I think that blogs that are more laid back in tone are easier and more enjoyable to read. I feel like I am having a conversation with the blogger and that I can reply with my own thoughts and opinions without being criticized for doing so.

Overall, after reading Tiffany's interview, I feel a little bit more optimistic about blogging. I cannot say that I am a huge fan of it, but I really like that Tiffany used her blog not only as a sounding board, but also as a place to keep and catalog things she likes, as well as a working example of her talents as a web developer. If I could create a blog for myself that functions in the way that Tiffany's does for her, I think that I might enjoy keeping it updated regularly.

Yeah, Toast! I mean post...

And so my life as a blogger begins...