Air-B-N-Me

Just like the final project, when I heard about this I was more nervous than excited. I was nervous about the technology part and when my group members decided to work by themselves I was already stressing myself out. I knew I did not know Periscope, and I never uploaded a video on YouTube. I felt a little better when my teacher assigned support groups, and my team members were so helpful. The hardest part actually turned out to be what I thought was going to be the easiest and it literally took forever to create Destiny! I thought it was better to try and make my ads and character before I met with my group so we could discuss it. I actually came up with other characters before getting to Destiny, and I tested them out with my mom. When I was home, my mom was my little support group. I told her some of my first ideas, and she basically just told me they were boring. And just like the support group, she offered some ideas that really helped.

Due to my team members who had already put everything on the site, I had a smoother process. I probably would not have engaged in certain actions if it was not for Martha and Debbie. All I basically had to do after the support group session was wait for a response from Mark and Rob, post my ads, and do my videos. I carefully selected the times and days I would do the video and I took all the necessary steps to purchase all the items I needed for them. I was surprised to see I had a viewer on each one. But the part I enjoyed the most, was writing and reading the reviews. I love the fact Destiny and her ads created so much curiosity, and I liked acting like my character even though at times I just could not get my (real) self to say certain things. Lastly, thinking about the comment Laura made in class I learned it is so much easier to “just be yourself” although my life may have been boring to others if we did so.

New Media Final Project Acapella Maker

When we were deciding what we wanted our final project to be, I was not excited at all. I had no idea what I wanted to do and nothing was automatically coming to my mind. I just remember sitting in class one day and an idea coming to me, but I was still uncomfortable because I knew nothing about the tool. I just knew I liked whatever it was. I was stressed and one day I just started talking to my mom about the project. She told me to show her the video I saw on Facebook, and I immediately took her to Markus’s page. She looked at the video with me and noticed a hashtag. When I looked up the hashtag, I found Acapella Maker. 

I began testing the app and others, and I decided to stick with Acapella as my first option. The first day, I was so excited I did not take the time to read effectively and it literally took me three tries just to figure out why what I recorded previously kept playing on the other videos. The app clearly said, “Do you want to listen to one audio through all your recordings?” Later it said, “Do you want to play audio while recording?” I was just pressing yes! Clearly I was having problems, and I made the mistake of just singing and playing around instead of actually trying what I had intentions on doing which was sharing my poetry. But for some reason, I just knew my vision would work out after multiple tries.

The second day I decided to revisit the app, I knew what I wanted do with my poetry. I originally thought I was going to pick one of my poems and just break it up into different sections so it would be two videos of me reciting two parts of my poem. Then, I thought about an activity my teacher Susanna Rich had my poetry class do. My classmates and I each took turns reading one line from our poetry back after back which created a new poem. Inspired by that activity, I thought it would be so cool to take lines or a line from more than one of my poems and combine them to make another poem. So, I looked at a couple of my poems, picked out some lines, tweaked some of them, and I loved the poem that was produced. Now all I had to do was figure out how I wanted to split the poem up, and my vision would be complete. At least that is what I thought! After I split the poem up I kept trying to split my poem up with the app and make it legible, but I could not figure it out. And to be completely honest, in the process I got so occupied with the final product I just stopped writing and kept trying. I tried this and this plus a lot more this’s and I still was not satisfied. Eventually, I just gave up and realized my original plan might not work with poetry.

I was forced to keep trying, settle, or just be creative and for the rough draft I decided to settle. I wanted to show something that I was okay with. I knew that the end result might not be better, but I was still fixed on trying. I went to class knowing I would have to dedicate another day to this project.

And on the final day I tried, I just got really creative. Honestly, I believe God gave me ideas because everything was just there. I had all the props I needed without having to buy anything. And to say the end result was not what I originally wanted, I am happy with the aftermath. I showed my mom the final product, and she said it was weird and started laughing. I love it, and I just have a funny feeling that my class will like it as well.

Moreover, presenting my poetry in any type of way always makes me a little uneasy. I am okay if I present it on my own terms. Meaning, I do not have to do it for an assignment, and I am sharing it with people I want to share it with for example my Facebook friends. But, adding the public makes me more nervous and more critical. In the process, I became more focused on making things perfect and getting everything to come out the way I wanted it to. But as each day passes, I am starting to see more and more that what my teacher in high school said to me was right. I agree with the popular saying, “Things are not always going to go as planned.” I am learning to not become completely distraught. I will not say I regret trying to be creative with this app. I just learned trying to be creative with an app meant for singing made my task harder, and the device you use for example a phone or a tablet changes the outcome.

Quanesha Burr

Chapters six and seven in Participatory Culture in a Networked Era by Henry Jenkins, Mizuko Ito, and danah boyd, start off serious right from the beginning. In many ways, these chapters outline the real importance of “participatory culture.” Henry Jenkins states in the Introduction Participatory “communities encourage conversations about social and political change” (152). Invoking these conversations will probably be exciting to some but frightening to others. And Jenkins continues to say,

Before we can change the world, we need to be able to imagine what another, better world might look like. We need to understand ourselves as political and civic agents and as members of particular communities, we need to be able to see making change as possible, and, in many cases, we need to be able to feel empathy for the experience of others. (152-153)

We essentially need to model people in the past like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  In my opinion, the problem is not “imagining what another, better world might look like” the problem is getting enough people to care about an improved world (Jenkins 152). If they do not care, the rest will not matter.

             Chapter six gives us examples of “participatory politics,” and key words are sharing, participating, making, gathering, and constructing (Jenkins 155-156). We are also provided with a definition of “participatory politics” and it “refers to the ways that the mechanisms of cultural participation get harnessed for political purposes” (Jenkins 156). I can actually recall a time when one of my teachers got some of my classmates involved in a pro-life march. With that memory, I agree with the research which

                                                                                              

suggests young people become invested in politics as a consequence of the role models provided by their parents . . ., their teachers . . ., and their school communities. (Jenkins 156)

I actually think parents and maybe even teachers shape a lot of young people’s opinions about political issues.

            And when chapter six starts discussing “the DREAM Act,” readers get to see youth’s power (Jenkins 160). The discussion proves a point mentioned earlier that we just need more people wanting and trying to improve society, but young people need three things opportunity, talent, and security (boyd 168). Continuing, the chapter makes the distinction between “being a part of a participatory culture movement” vs. “a participatory culture community” and ultimately one should contemplate whether a community is involved before making a decision to be a part of something (boyd 175). In conclusion, when I think of participatory culture I think of group work because “participatory culture requires us to move beyond a focus on individualized personal expression; it is about an ethos of ‘doing it together’ in addition to ‘doing it yourself’ (Jenkins, Ito, and boyd 181). Ultimately I think these chapters show us it is more challenging sometimes to be a part of a participatory culture than outside, but would you sacrifice learning and growth because of the challenges?

Questions

1.      What was the most important thing you learned within these two chapters?

2.      Will your actions change after reading chapters six and seven?

As I was reading chapter four Learning and Literacy in Participatory Culture in a Networked Era by Henry Jenkins, Mizuko Ito, and Danah Boyd nothing was really standing out to me that I really wanted to discuss or mention. Then, I got to the statement “I don’t think that inoculation or abstinence helps people cope with the contemporary media ecosystem,” and I really focused on “I don’t think that . . . abstinence helps people cope” (Boyd 109). That statement made me think about how I feel at times. Sometimes, I feel like not being on “social media” would make my life less stressful, and I contemplate removing myself from Facebook. Then, I think about its capabilities, the remarks I hear people make, and my personality. They all give me a reason not to leave.

As I continued to read, I was also interested in the discussion about the student who was interested in Batman. I believe at one point or another we all probably had experiences similar to that student. There are just classes that talk about subjects out of our interest or classes like we mentioned in a classroom discussion that we do not care to contribute to for several reasons. But like the chapter mentioned, it takes discussing an unexpected topic or a topic of interest to turn all that around.

And as I continued to read chapter five Commercial Culture, a particular line caught my attention. Danah says, “In this same vein, there was a lot of creative output that wasn’t even seen as labor at all” (137). This line shocked me especially because of how we value creativity today. Danah’s statement made me reflect on a comment I made earlier. As I write more and more of these blogs, I feel as though thinking of a reaction is hard. At times, I find myself not knowing what to say and that makes completing the assignment difficult. Although I think a summary is hard as well, I know for some people they consider that to be their strength and creativity is where they need help. I really just think it depends on the person, but I consider myself to be creative and at times I still struggle.

While reading Chapter Two in Participatory Culture in a Networked Era, the only thing I could really think about is how my parents were and what they did. Like I mentioned to some classmates before, my parents were not strict when it came to monitoring my internet use. I think it had a lot to do with trust. I do not think their lack of monitoring me showed a lack of “ ‘good parenting’ ” (Jenkins, Ito, and Boyd 41). I actually appreciated it.

After reading this chapter, I know I am different. I willingly showed and still do show my parents pictures or comments I post. I have a habit of seeking an opinion about remarks I make, poems I write, or even photos. Usually it is when I like something, but I am not sure how others will feel or when I want to make sure what I am saying is clear enough for people to understand but vague enough to be interpreted different ways.

The only thing my dad really showed concern about was the photos I posted online. He was and still is concerned about strangers being able to figure out where I live. But, to say I post statuses on Facebook that are personal he has never had a problem with what I shared. He is one of those people who just disappears and then randomly pops up one day, reads your stuff, and comments.

In regards to sharing personal information though, deeper within chapter two I really liked the fact the authors chose to discuss the positive side of sharing, and chapter three to me was directly tied to our classroom conversations about having a range of people in your network.  I like all of the questions raised in chapter three, and it also made me think about my own actions. I get a little nervous knowing I do not have the best connections, but I believe intelligence can get you far.

I enjoyed reading both of these chapters. After reading Filtered Reality I agree that “it is interesting that all the definitions and examples the OED lists for filter as a noun or as a verb emphasise the removal of unwanted content or impurities” (Rettberg 21). Normally, when I use a filter on a picture I do not think anything is wrong with the picture. I just think I am enhancing or “adding to the image” (Rettberg 21). Normally, a picture I choose to filter is a picture I have to like in the first place.

Even with that being said, it is kind of surprising I find that statement to be surprising. I will admit I do refrain myself from filtering what I deem to be a lot. I think in a way it does have a negative vibe attached to it. I care about what people think, and I just think some people say or think to themselves, when they see someone always filtering their pictures, does she/he have low self-esteem? I even think some people do not consider the person to be attractive anymore. To me, filtering can be compared to using makeup. In both cases, I refrain from using it too much.  

Below, is a picture I filtered.

                                

Furthermore in the next chapter Serial Selfies, I found what Brown and Antin did to be really interesting. I think Brown especially reinforces the idea that you can use pictures to get a message across, and like the other readings mentioned teach. I think people assume when you take a lot of pictures you are stuck on yourself. I like how this chapter shows the positive side of taking a lot of photos. This chapter really makes me not care about how many I choose to take.

 

 

 

 

                                                   

Right from the jump what caught my attention about White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook by Danah Boyd, is the fact she chose not to focus on how technology is changing and improving people’s engagement but how people are not changing and how technology is reinforcing their resistance to change. I like the fact she is showing negatives in a world that it embracing, reinforcing, and loving technology. Sometimes, these platforms make a person’s hatred less noticeable, and I never would have thought about MySpace in the way Kat described it before this article. Yes, everyone heard and maybe even said Facebook was more professional, but who really took that comment to the extreme? Just because one chooses to use MySpace, does that really mean they are not professional?

I actually had MySpace at one point, and I honestly miss some of the features. The only reason I was reluctant at first to switch over to Facebook was because I felt like everything gets played out and it was only a matter of time before Facebook did. In a way, I felt pressured to “switch to” Facebook even though I was content (Boyd 3). I felt like a lot of people I knew had and talked about it, and that caused MySpace to indeed like Kat said become boring. If you did not have Facebook, you kind of felt like you were missing out.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed the comments made about why one preferred either Facebook or MySpace. I could identify with a lot of them, and I was actually happy I have Facebook and had MySpace. I was able to understand, agree, or disagree with the points the author or the people she cited made more. In addition, this article and the other article Self-Segregation: Why It’s so Hard for Whites to Understand Ferguson by Robert P. Jones brought up this whole issue of lenses. Jones article made me think about Martha’s discussion question Monday. I agree with Dr. Zamora I think one of our problems is people refuse or do not attempt to understand other people’s perspective. Some people just care about themselves and only value what they think.

What I enjoyed the most reading these blog posts is looking at the syllabuses. I never really thought there was so much to do, before this class as far as activities, when it came to selfies. I think these blogs make you see how much our classes are changing and how now more than ever we need to be familiar with the internet. I think it is refreshing to see teachers who are being creative and finding ways to keep the students and themselves entertained. At the same time, it looks like these classes are worthwhile because they are hard and have some assignments that require skills a regular English class would. I think they basically found a good middle ground, and I like the fact the people mentioned represent what our class is fundamentally about which is “openness” and collaboration (Cronin). Collaboration seems to be something a lot of these authors and teachers value.

In addition, I was also interested in the blog Selfie Pedagogy III: Networked Spaces, Slut Shaming and Putting Selfies in Dialogue with Theory. Some topics were addressed that will always be important and probably have been addressed in other classes as well. So, with this blog there is this idea of interconnectedness, and I think some of these blogs were in fact connected to my presentation on Monday in Composition Studies Research and Methods. The statement “because students ‘were all making selfies or could make them,’ they could more easily make the intellectual leap to paying more attention to networked spaces” made me think back to transferability which was mentioned in Writing in High School/Writing in College: Research Trends and Future Directions by Joanne Addison and Sharon James McGee (qtd. in Losh, Selfie Pedagogy III). Moreover, I thought it was interesting Radhika Gajjala in Elizabeth Losh’s article Selfies, Snapchat, and Distance Learning does something with her students very similar to what we are thinking about doing for our final project. That alone confirms that some of the ideas my classmates and my teacher purposed are indeed really tied into what we are learning in class.

I just want to start off by saying I think it is really interesting how previous class discussions in several of my classes can somehow always be tied to the readings. Something I found particularly interesting in chapter 5 of Net Smart is the “research results” by James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis which said “people’s happiness is influenced by how happy their friends, neighbors, and coworkers are” (qtd. in Rheingold 197). I have always noticed that about myself, but I honestly just thought it varied depending on the person and their personality or heart. I agree “The surprising implication is that at least part of your happiness might depend on people you never met” (Rheingold 198). Maybe that explains why I cry so easily when I see strangers sad or crying. But, one of the most important points made is “network awareness might be vital to health and happiness” (Rheingold 198). I definitely agree with it having a connection to happiness. You can find yourself in stressful situations when your class and even society nowadays revolves around technology and you just know basic information. Which is why, I wanted to take Composition Theory and New Media Studies. I wanted to become more familiar with technology and that is what I thought would happen when I became a part of this class. I would like the final project to be a combination of my strengths and weaknesses. Like Dr. Zamora mentioned in class, I want to “learn new tools” to improve my weakness, but I also want to display my strength. Since I want to become a teacher, “learning new tools” would be beneficial to me, but I also agree with Maria “we should write.” Dr. Zamora and my class discussion on Monday taught me you should never get too comfortable in anything and there is always room to grow. Even Rheingold points to never knowing everything or enough in chapter 6.  With that being said, there is still a lot I need to learn when it comes to writing, and I would like for this project to somehow build upon networking.

 

          Browsing through the website took my mind right back to Net Smart and our class conversation with Howard Rheingold. Some of the comments Howard made in his book or stated during our class discussion were further reinforced on the website. To my knowledge, Teaching How to Read, Write, and Participate on the Web: Web Literacy for Educators is a place to gain awareness, necessary digital information, and creativity. The website stressed collaboration or people doing group assignments and had some solo work. I initially thought this website was going to be for kids, but after roaming through the site and reading what some of the activities were about I would argue contrary. Like we discussed in class, I think it all depends on your level of engagement with the computer.

Furthermore just like in Howard’s book, the first activity I tried taught me new websites I knew nothing about. While doing the first activity, I was surprised to see that this attitude of choosing convenience over reliability is habitual, and I was further convinced of Soo Young Rieh and Brian Hilligoss research in which “twenty-four college students revealed that they would be willing to compromise certainty about credibility for speed and convenience” (qtd. in Rheingold 82). On the other hand, a password like “qwerty” I would never think to use or even consider it to be bad, but SplashData cites it frequently. Lastly, I was really thrilled to know a password I used in the past was considered good.

With that being said for the second activity, I experienced ease and discomfort. In Follow Your Data Trail it was really easy for me to do the assignment, but in this case that might not necessarily be a good thing. Fear arises when I think about evil people knowing the information the activity invited me to reflect upon. I think it would be harder to keep up with someone who has a busy schedule compared to someone who has a routine. This website and Rheingold basically taught me how much I am being followed.

            

A lot of the information presented in “Social-Digital Know-How: The Arts and Sciences of Collective Intelligence” was interesting. While reading this chapter, I thought about comments I made, classroom discussions, and my own personal feelings about collaboration. Trust is mentioned several times in the chapter and I do believe or agree that “a lack of trust prevents” collaboration (Rheingold 153). You have to trust the people you are working with will not only do the work but do it well. And if there is no trust, people are inclined to work by themselves. My last blog mentioned Facebook helping me realize what I needed to work on. While reading this chapter Facebook was mentioned again, and I believe it rarely “enables trust building” (Rheingold 155). Instead, I think it makes you not want to trust people more and isolate yourself. I believe that what some people see and what some people have experienced makes them not want to collaborate.

But what I like about this book is it finds a way to make people want to be a part of something online that incorporates others because of the benefits.  If you were not a part of a “virtual community,” Rheingold would make you want to be (162). I want to have “moral and physical support from people around the world” (Rheingold 162). I want help. Unfortunately, I think some people are so focused on doing better and in some cases winning that helping is nonexistent. Competition is definitely a hindrance in collaboration.

Moreover, Rheingold’s chapter helps me see flaws in my own behavior, and I learned as well. I learned from McGonigal

Scientific research shows that we have both the ability and the desire from early childhood to cooperate, to coordinate activity, and to strengthen group bonds─in other words, to make a good game together. But this potential can be lost if we don’t expend enough effort practicing collaboration. (qtd. in Rheingold 157)

In conclusion, we should all strive to improve not weaken positive skills.

 

In “Crap Detection 101: How to Find What You Need to Know, and How to Decide If It’s True” by Howard Rheingold I love the fact he decided to use Ernest Hemingway’s quote to open up chapter two. I agree with anyone who thinks we already “have a built- in automatic crap detector operating inside” us (qtd. in Rheingold 77). Sometimes, it is simply a matter of people ignoring it, which Soo Young Rieh and Brian Hilligoss confirmed, and sometimes I do agree “disinformation can be well crafted” (Rheingold 80). When reading this chapter, I could not help but think back to high school and the first couple of years in college. In high school and college, it was really instilled or drilled in us to do some of the simple things Rheingold mentions. In fact, teachers aided in the process by writing or making comments about statements or sites that were questionable. But as I read more and more, I realized that there is still a lot I need to learn myself. Besides the websites I knew nothing about, Rheingold says in chapter three, “(part of attention self-training consists of cultivating the ability to stop reading something that promises to be toxic)” (114). Facebook has made me realize my lack of talent in this area, and Rheingold’s statement makes me think about what I said to my group members for the exercise last class.

In addition while reading, there were moments when my desire to use books increased. For example when he said, “you could be somewhat confident that someone checked the author’s claims about facts before the book was published” (Rheingold 77). I have always preferred using books over anything that involves using the internet. At the same time, I love the fact I feel like I am a part of this “participatory culture,” and I know my contribution “isn’t all about individual advantage” (Rheingold 113-114). What I realize and appreciate with Rheingold is he never really lets you be completely satisfied with anything. One moment you are loving books and then the next moment you are reconsidering your habits. He follows his own advice and makes sure his own work is not considered bias.

 

 

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