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-MM

#chicagogirl

In a world where organizations such as ISIS make skilled use of social media to support their agenda it is nice to see the same resources being used for a good cause.  Often when we think of a teenager living their life online we envision a superficial individual.  Alaa shows that social media, when harnessed correctly, has the ability to empower anyone to be a change maker in the world. 

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#chicagogirl

In a world where organizations such as ISIS make skilled use of social media to support their agenda it is nice to see the same resources being used for a good cause.  Often when we think of a teenager living their life online we envision a superficial individual.  Alaa shows that social media, when harnessed correctly, has the ability to empower anyone to be a change maker in the world.  -MM

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I have usually found Gladwell’s argument that relationships via social media are weak and impersonal to be true, until seeing the documentary #chicagoGirl. The film might have been a bit of an exception because of the circumstances that the relationships via social media were based on keeping each other alive and running a revolution, but nonetheless the film did in fact prove that it is possible to have a strong relationship even through social media. OZ

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The documentary #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator demonstrates how big of a role social media is playing in the Syrian revolution. The film disproves Gladwell’s argument that social media only creates weak relationships by demonstrating the strong ties established through social media that exist among the people involved and the change they are creating. 

AA

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[Social Media] and online organizing taps weak relationships, not strong ones, and thus cannot create the level of solidarity needed for high-risk, high-impact tactics... [And] social media are antithetical to hierarchy and discipline, which in turn are necessary for successful activism.

Gladwell 

#activism #socialmedia #change #smallchange

TC

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The first flip phone came out on the day I was born, January 3, 1996. Less than 20 years ago. 

The ~hottest~ phone in middle school, the Motorola RAZR, came out just over 10 years ago in late 2004. 

The first generation iPhone was released in June 2007, only eight and a half years ago.

Just three years later, the now embarrassingly old iPhone 4 was released.

On September 19, 2014, the iPhone 6 was released.

Just over a year later, on September 25, 2015, the iPhone 6s was released (Does anyone even know what the difference is?).

Technology advances at such a pace that it rapidly becomes obsolete. Although Jonathan Sterne’s article “Out with the Trash: On the Future of New Media”, is itself slightly outdated, discussing now antiquated technology, it’s ideas are still very relevant. 

Cell phones and Smart phones are now a vital part of our everyday lives. They have so quickly become deeply engrained in our culture. Yet, millennial’s are really the first generation to grow up with cell phones. Novel and incredibly revolutionary technology is constantly being replaced by the next best thing. 

HF

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Sarah J. Christman artistically and masterfully uses shots like these to express her thoughts on life as we know it. She often uses intense sound accompanied by long-take shots of a single frame. These shots are generally of inert/lifeless objects such as garbage and old cellphones. The lack of any movement in these shots is complimented by occasional or subtle action by another object, ants walking about, planes, wind, tractors, clouds. This is used to show Christman’s ultimate point that once an object or life expires, the world still flows in harmony around them. Just because something useless, does not mean it simply disappears, rather it becomes trash. This trash, can turn itself into something useful again providing benefits to people around it. The beauty in life is that nothing needs to go to waste. Even garbage, as Christman claims, becomes a footprint of our actions on this earth, like artifacts in a museum.

ZR

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Television is junk

Everybody has turned on the TV and been unable to find anything watchable on any of the 700 channels they recieve. But salvaging is about finding the gem, a sort if needle in a haystack. Much of what tv beams to us is useless, but it's what we enjoy and how we choose to enjoy it that counts. Yes the ever accelerating rate of obsolescence is a problem that needs to be adressed, but focus should be applied to the actual programing we recieve. Not the box it comes in. T. G.

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In Defense of the Camera Phone

Thanks to major steps forward in cell phone technology, cell phone cameras are at a much higher quality today than in years past. But they still aren’t the best cameras out there. Some have terrible low light performance, or trouble focusing. However, camera phones were never meant to be DSLRs. They’re something entirely different.

The greatest feature of the camera phone is its accessibility. It’s a camera that’s ready when you are, without any settings to check or dials to turn. The cell phone camera has allowed the rapid sharing of the “poor image,” something Hito Steyerl refers to as the “debris of audiovisual production, the trash that washes up on the digital economies’ shore.” The truth is that the circulation of these poor images have done more for the internet than any pro-photographer’s Flicker page ever will. Not everyone is interested in taking out the DSLR and the tripod, spending hours getting the right shot, and taking the image back home to edit with various software studios before finally publishing the image. Some are content with filming a 6 second video to be eternally looped. Camera phones allow us to document each moment as it happens, as it is lived. It means never having to miss an eyewitness account of breaking news. With the camera phone, everyone has become their own photographer, journalist, and documenter, adding to the larger history of the world with more media sources than ever before. -KR

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Neoliberal politics reinforce a theme of high film budgets yielding high box office sales. This affirms Hito Steyer’s claim that modern capitalism marginalizes imperfect cinema in society’s obsession for high resolution. However, there have been current examples of films with lower production value being widely accepted in popular culture, contradicting this structure. 

-AB 

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To control people's ideas is to control their imagination.

This quote from Shadows of Liberty was particularly eye-opening and encapsulating of the overall message of the film. People often don’t realize that the news that they are seeing on television, radio, and newspaper is chosen specifically by a small group of corporations to satisfy their own interests. Controlling the information that people take in directly manipulates their ideas, and in turn, their imaginations. By controlling people’s access to important news stories (such as that involving the selling of secrets mentioned in Shadows of Liberty), we are controlling the opinions that they have on the world and their ability to make well-informed decisions about ideas they support. It is imperative that if we want to have a community of self-sufficient, critical-thinking citizens, we cannot control their ideas by controlling their access to important stories through media censorship by a small group of corporations. KC 

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Shadows of Liberty exemplifies the issues of unbiased media, specifically highlighting the problems associated with a government subsidized media. This documentary reminded me of the friends episode “The One With the Lottery,” in which Chandler presents a similar thought. Both Chandler and documentary show that the media controlled by the owners, whose goal it is to make money, and not by the journalists, whose goal is the report the news, can produce false information. Additionally, Chandler reveals the power of a headline meant to grasp the reader’s attention, a common tactic used by digital media outlet ex: Buzzfeed. - IE

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Social Media

People can create and control their own virtual identity through social media. The problem is that the digital identity can often be far from the truth of the physical identity, thus creating a false reality.

One of the most popular social media apps, Snapchat, is turning into a prime example of false reality.

With the creation of “snapstories” users can share an unlimited number of 10-second clips to manage their identity and document their daily activities.

Snapstories do not accurately portray the real identity of the snapchatter, they are merely a collage of personal highlights, specifically chosen by the user, in order to enhance their virtual identity in the eyes of their followers.

-PJ

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This tweet was sent out during the 2013 Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the most sought after advertisement forum each year for many companies. During the Super Bowl in 2013, the Superdome experienced a power outage which delayed the game. The outage trended on twitter, jokes and memes were made, but then boredom set in. The Oreo tweet broke the silence, and twitter erupted into both response to the subtle ad by the public and by other companies trying to one-up the tweet. The twitter frenzy took some of the focus off of the highly anticipated Super Bowl Commercials and showed how social media is a growing force in the advertisement world. -DO

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People who live online are subject to the influence of the Internet. Through the Internet, celebrities and other people with a major presence online have the power to impact individuals and shape society. TC

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When you help someone, especially someone you don't know, you feel better about yourself. And when you feel better about yourself, you feel better about the world.

John Chester

These television shows are made to allow the creators feel better about themselves for helping someone else. However, are these skits staged? Are they recreating the horrors people have lived just to catch them on tape? Why is it that we have to film doing good deeds for other people, especially ones we do not know? Are these good deeds, or are they just for show? 

TB

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In 2011, Snooki from Jersey Shore was paid more than Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison to speak to students of Rutgers University. What does this have to say about our society? The same can be said that reality TV stars are paid more than teachers in the U.S. It speaks in volumes about what our culture has come to value. It shouldn’t make sense that a reality TV star is valued more in our society than the hard-working teachers dedicated to educating the next generation. Reality TV has had an incredible impact on our society, shaping the way we do things, and what we think is important. Wardrobe decisions are influenced by What not to Wear, beauty standards ruled by the Kardashians, and relationship expectations shaped by The Bachelor. Laurie Ouellette and James Hay argue that reality TV governmentalizes people by “soliciting their participation in the cultivation of particular habits, ethics, behaviors, and skills.” Television has truly cultivated us as a society and changed our ways of thinking and doing.

MW