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...