Usually reflections for me are lengthy affairs which take up time and space - like the universe! - and cover everything much more thoroughly than necessary. I'm going to keep this one short because I'm fed up with Media 2.0 at the moment and very tired. Though now that I FINALLY got my MAsh-up to work, I'm admittedly less fed up.
It was much more involved than I expected it to be, I'm not gonna lie. And mot of it was creating accounts all over the place - I feel my digital footprint is now sickeningly deep like I stood on one proverbial foot and hopped up and down repeatedly until I dug a trench in the World Wide Web for myself. I have way more accounts than I will ever use, than I am interested in, and than I could ever keep up with. I already had a Twitter account, but I rejuvenated that one, I guess, in this process and found some neat people to follow- who unfortunately tweet a lot more than I would ever be able to keep up with EITHER.
Wordle was definitely my favorite post - it just turns out looking so neat and it is the entire text - whatever it is - in an incomprehensible nutshell!
Mash-up was my least favorite because I had issues making it work. I thought the only thing I could depend upon working was the sticky-note function... then I realized I had to click back and reopen the file to get the other things I'd uploaded to show up. Took me forever to realize that though!
The one thing I set out to learn I did not - how to make those big quotation marks with text inside of them NOT thrown off by the size of the quotation marks. I tried for more time than I would like to admit when working on Thing 2 and got nowhere. I don't know where to go to create an image, I tried paint, stuff online, everything and found I was blocked constantly.
I think some of this might be useful to my life after Coe, but I don't feel like I need to be able to use Twitter and Mash-ups to get by - if I do, then I'm finding a different career! I don't know, I got to this point not being tech-savvy, and I was really okay. I feel this was more stressful than informative to me and each thing took far longer than it should have and kind of turned me off to Web 2.0.
As far as self-discovery goes, I did not get that through this project. I didn't know I was supposed to. If I learned anything about myself it was that I am still fairly inept at technology no matter how hard I try to master it.
I know this is not at all what you want to hear, but I'm being honest. I experienced a lot, learned a decent amount, and hope I never have to wrangle with half of it again. I will admit, though, Wordle is pretty awesome. I still can't get over that.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Thing 3: Mash-ups
Took me a LOOOOOONG time to figure out how this worked. I kept having things not show up. I didn't know I had to go back and reopen the file to get it to upload those things or at least display them. Anyway, though, I hope this works.
The collage aspect is really neat. I think it helped my creativity AFTER I figured out how to use it. Before I was so frustrated I wanted to quit. I like the ability to bring together many different media in one place so there are several different ways to interact on it. It is visually appealing, too, to see the graphics and videos and blurbs all next to each other. My only issue was I was afraid I'd lose something off in a corner since it got dragged around so much. So... I'm still out on the idea of moving things around.
With a written story, the reader has a clear direction of how to progress. With a Mash-up, their mind can wander all over the place just like the medium used. No way to guarantee what they look at first, whether they actually read something. For advertising or to switch things up or to create contrast or something it is good. But I feel people won't be as likely to read anything on it because they would prefer to look at the pictures or the video, so getting a real message across prolly isn't best done with this.
I think Data masher could be a very useful tool if used properly, but there is always the chance it could bee used to manipulate data. But that's the case with all of the Media 2.0 tools - they can be great or they can be abused.
The collage aspect is really neat. I think it helped my creativity AFTER I figured out how to use it. Before I was so frustrated I wanted to quit. I like the ability to bring together many different media in one place so there are several different ways to interact on it. It is visually appealing, too, to see the graphics and videos and blurbs all next to each other. My only issue was I was afraid I'd lose something off in a corner since it got dragged around so much. So... I'm still out on the idea of moving things around.
With a written story, the reader has a clear direction of how to progress. With a Mash-up, their mind can wander all over the place just like the medium used. No way to guarantee what they look at first, whether they actually read something. For advertising or to switch things up or to create contrast or something it is good. But I feel people won't be as likely to read anything on it because they would prefer to look at the pictures or the video, so getting a real message across prolly isn't best done with this.
I think Data masher could be a very useful tool if used properly, but there is always the chance it could bee used to manipulate data. But that's the case with all of the Media 2.0 tools - they can be great or they can be abused.
Thing 2: Making the Most of it
I'm sorry this post is out of order - I had been behind a while back and skipped over a few items.
This is supposed to use several different multimedia, so I'm going to mix several that I think are important to me......
Although I do like Simon and Garfunkel's version of this song, I also really like this version, so it's the one that I posted - fewer people know about it...
A quotation from the Port Huron Statement which I think fits society well:
written for a poetry workshop, performed as my poem dance for Movement for Stage.
Topic: Indifference.
This is supposed to use several different multimedia, so I'm going to mix several that I think are important to me......
Although I do like Simon and Garfunkel's version of this song, I also really like this version, so it's the one that I posted - fewer people know about it...
A quotation from the Port Huron Statement which I think fits society well:
“The apathy here is, first subjective — the felt powerlessness of ordinary people, the resignation before the enormity of events. But subjective apathy is encouraged by the objective American situation — the actual structural separation of people from power, from relevant knowledge, from pinnacles of decision making. . . . The American political system is not the democratic model of which its glorifiers speak. In actuality it frustrates democracy by confusing the individual citizen, paralyzing policy discussion, and consolidating the irresponsible power of military and business interests."
Word Cloud Poem: Sedition
written for a poetry workshop, performed as my poem dance for Movement for Stage.
Topic: Indifference.
Thing 12: Word Clouds
This is my 13 Things Blog word cloud.
This is my essay On the Shores of Koh Samet I wrote for Dr. Bob's class: 
This is my essay A Day Without Verbs which I also wrote for Dr. Bob:
Can you guess what this is without looking at the title I gave it?
I admit I did so many of them because I thought it was so cool and enlightening - that's why I put my own essays in there. I found that I could predict the words,
to some degree, that would come out highest, but that's because I wrote all of them myself. Good for professional world because it allows you to make sense out of the most important themes in whatever you are working with - would be especially good for PR. Maybe even for journalism to see what kind of bias might come out of it due to positive or negative connotations to the words that are found in it most often - works in psychology. Even if it isn't used for professional things - I think it's a great selling technique, it's fun, interesting, and great for analyzing presidential speeches!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thing 11: Visual Thesaurus
I have always considered myself a word nerd. I've been using thesauri (?) for years, whether it's the blue paper-back one sitting above my desk, the electronic one within Microsoft Word, or Thesaurus.com (part of Dictionary.com). I know the importance of selecting the "perfect" word and the frustration of not being able to find it - especially when you have one specific in mind but just can't draw it forth. Microsoft's thesaurus tends to frustrate me to no end because it isn't very sophisticated and rarely has just the word I want. It is, however, extremely quick and easy and doesn't distract much from what I'm doing. AND doesn't require internet.
Wow... I never thought that by VISUAL, it meant VISUAL! I was absolutely shocked as it sprawled into a web that kept expanding and unfolding - it mushrooms or blossoms, sort of. And you can click on the lines connecting words to see how they are connected, for instance, "type of" or the like. And you can move them around! This is so sweet! And off to the side there is a box with it more in list format, in case you learn better that way - which is better for me because it is more structured and doesn't confuse or distract me as much.
Here are the words I decided to try:
Walk:
track, cross, get across, pass over, get over, cover, traverse, cut through, cut across
tally, hit, score, rack up
make walk. is a type of... obligate, compel, pace, oblige
locomote, move, go, step, travel
Locomote - move, travel, go
Travel - jaunt, trip, journey, move, go, etc.
I was surprised I didn't find words like saunter, glide, or anything more creative and less strictly "walking". I feel like the answers I found were actually not very useful for this entry.
Light:
luminousness, incandescence, illuminance, illumination, brightness, physical property, luminescence, light, luminosity, luminance, twinkle, sparkle, spark, unclouded, ablaze,
illumine, illuminate, ignite, phosphorescent, sunstruck, autofluorescent,bioluminescent,
buoyant, floaty, insignificant, airy
wakeful,wakeful,
idle, promiscuous, frivolous, fooling, casual
swooning, undemanding, gentle
digestible, scant
abstemious
to name a few....
Overall, I think this might be a little overwhelming at times, a little confusing trying to figure out the relationship between, say, LIGHT and PROMISCUITY. But it is a neat tool, I will admit, with a lot of potential. I wish I didn't run out of opportunities to try it out so fast...
Wow... I never thought that by VISUAL, it meant VISUAL! I was absolutely shocked as it sprawled into a web that kept expanding and unfolding - it mushrooms or blossoms, sort of. And you can click on the lines connecting words to see how they are connected, for instance, "type of" or the like. And you can move them around! This is so sweet! And off to the side there is a box with it more in list format, in case you learn better that way - which is better for me because it is more structured and doesn't confuse or distract me as much.
Here are the words I decided to try:
Walk:
track, cross, get across, pass over, get over, cover, traverse, cut through, cut across
tally, hit, score, rack up
make walk. is a type of... obligate, compel, pace, oblige
locomote, move, go, step, travel
Locomote - move, travel, go
Travel - jaunt, trip, journey, move, go, etc.
I was surprised I didn't find words like saunter, glide, or anything more creative and less strictly "walking". I feel like the answers I found were actually not very useful for this entry.
Light:
luminousness, incandescence, illuminance, illumination, brightness, physical property, luminescence, light, luminosity, luminance, twinkle, sparkle, spark, unclouded, ablaze,
illumine, illuminate, ignite, phosphorescent, sunstruck, autofluorescent,bioluminescent,
buoyant, floaty, insignificant, airy
wakeful,wakeful,
idle, promiscuous, frivolous, fooling, casual
swooning, undemanding, gentle
digestible, scant
abstemious
to name a few....
Overall, I think this might be a little overwhelming at times, a little confusing trying to figure out the relationship between, say, LIGHT and PROMISCUITY. But it is a neat tool, I will admit, with a lot of potential. I wish I didn't run out of opportunities to try it out so fast...
Thing 10: Creative Commons
I have to admit that even watching the videos, I was rather skeptical about Creative Commons. It has to do with knowing whether something has been posted through CC or whether it was just thrown on the internet haphazardly and made public domain.
Granted, I can see how useful it could be for research... nothing is more frustrating than being a student looking up information and finding that you have to buy articles or subscriptions in order to get that one essay that may have that one piece of information that you need. Academic Creative Commons could be really useful. It would also be a great way to get research out there and shared with people - with your name on it.
My biggest concern is keeping your name on it, I guess. I know that it is so easy to google image search something, copy it, put it in a power point, and forget to mention who made it - or maybe you don't know. Or maybe you don't care. There are a lot of opportunities for abuse of such sharing... though that said, I suppose it makes it safe than just posting it in a blog or putting up on the internet is...
Okay, after exploring their website, and searching for material that falls under CC, I can understand using it a little more. It isn't just a CC stamp, it gives the information that the material should be attributed to with the image, music, whatever. I think if the other alternative is just posting it on the internet somewhere where it is not necessarily protected, this is far better. Also, if others use your work a lot, then your name gets out there and you get recognized... so in a way it is like putting links to websites you like - helping to promote them through your social network when you use CC material. Huh.
I feel research, images, etc. would be best for this. Music. I wouldn't want to put out personal essays - like anything I'm writing for my essay class. Those are far more personal - and publishable - and changing them could alter the pace, voice, purpose, style etc. of the piece. Definitely wouldn't want that. But photos would be okay - though if it was being put elsewhere on the internet, I would like to know where, I think...
Granted, I can see how useful it could be for research... nothing is more frustrating than being a student looking up information and finding that you have to buy articles or subscriptions in order to get that one essay that may have that one piece of information that you need. Academic Creative Commons could be really useful. It would also be a great way to get research out there and shared with people - with your name on it.
My biggest concern is keeping your name on it, I guess. I know that it is so easy to google image search something, copy it, put it in a power point, and forget to mention who made it - or maybe you don't know. Or maybe you don't care. There are a lot of opportunities for abuse of such sharing... though that said, I suppose it makes it safe than just posting it in a blog or putting up on the internet is...
Okay, after exploring their website, and searching for material that falls under CC, I can understand using it a little more. It isn't just a CC stamp, it gives the information that the material should be attributed to with the image, music, whatever. I think if the other alternative is just posting it on the internet somewhere where it is not necessarily protected, this is far better. Also, if others use your work a lot, then your name gets out there and you get recognized... so in a way it is like putting links to websites you like - helping to promote them through your social network when you use CC material. Huh.
I feel research, images, etc. would be best for this. Music. I wouldn't want to put out personal essays - like anything I'm writing for my essay class. Those are far more personal - and publishable - and changing them could alter the pace, voice, purpose, style etc. of the piece. Definitely wouldn't want that. But photos would be okay - though if it was being put elsewhere on the internet, I would like to know where, I think...
Thing 9: Google Reader/RSS
So this is something else that Gmail can do that I had no idea. It's amazing the gizmos available to us via this one email account which we never notice - at least, I never notice. My biggest issue is knowing what is through my Coe account and what is through my other gmail account - eventually I'll have to get this sorted out.
Google Reader makes sense - I mean, listening to the explanation by Common Craft, it should be so easy and make my life so much more efficient. Truth be told, though, I open it up and it confuses me. I look at all the stories - most of which I won't ever have time to read - and I am daunted. And I don't like how they look, isolated in that plain, rather ugly Google Reader background. I like the personalization of blogs and Reader take away from that. I guess I had thought it would be more like a homepage website with links to the blogs, etc, I did not realize it would look like email.
I can see its use professionally - perhaps for job opportunities, or to keep up with important trends, current events, stocks, etc. that have to do with your occupation. For me, if I were in journalism, then current events and RSS feeds from, say, the New York Times would probably be important, as would something like MediaSource. So, from that standpoint, I can see it being important to become comfortable with it in order to use it as an organizational tool.
Overall, I think if I get used to it I may be able to appreciate it, but until then, I think I will find it too daunting to really spend much time on.
Google Reader makes sense - I mean, listening to the explanation by Common Craft, it should be so easy and make my life so much more efficient. Truth be told, though, I open it up and it confuses me. I look at all the stories - most of which I won't ever have time to read - and I am daunted. And I don't like how they look, isolated in that plain, rather ugly Google Reader background. I like the personalization of blogs and Reader take away from that. I guess I had thought it would be more like a homepage website with links to the blogs, etc, I did not realize it would look like email.
I can see its use professionally - perhaps for job opportunities, or to keep up with important trends, current events, stocks, etc. that have to do with your occupation. For me, if I were in journalism, then current events and RSS feeds from, say, the New York Times would probably be important, as would something like MediaSource. So, from that standpoint, I can see it being important to become comfortable with it in order to use it as an organizational tool.
Overall, I think if I get used to it I may be able to appreciate it, but until then, I think I will find it too daunting to really spend much time on.
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