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Final Paper, only seemed right that I post it on here as well...

My T101 media life project was starting and writing my blogcalled T101: My Media Mess. I’ve never written nor have I ever really read a blog before this project. It’s my first experience with this type of media and the blogosphere. The main focus of my project was on how media has woven itself so deeply into people’s everyday lives that it has essentially “disappeared”. This idea has been central to the focus of T101 since day one. I wanted to discover in my own life the idea that, “… today the uses and appropriations of media can be seen as fused with everything people do, everywhere people are, everyone people aspire to be” (Deuze). Throughout this experience, I’ve realized that media plays a vital role in society in a range of different ways.

Without this project, I don’t believe I would have noticed the unseen impact media has on both my life specifically and our society as a whole. As technology continues to develop the world around us changes along with it in both good and bad ways. Specific examples I noticed in my project were the ability that social media has to help those in crisis but also the way that our devices can inhibit our social interactions. Regardless of whether media is positive or negative, it’s important to recognize that media does affect our culture and society. By acknowledging this, I believe people will be more able to adapt to technology advances in the future and therefore use media in ways to better our world. Through research and reflection about what is occurring around me, I realized the extensiveness of our media network and look forward to the future when I can hopefully find a way to use it for the better.

Writing a blog is much harder than I initially thought it would be. Constantly coming up with new ideas that were relevant and more importantly meaningful was definitely a challenge. One struggle I faced was developing my own voice as I wrote. I wanted my blog, my media, to represent myself in a way. I loved that as I wrote entries, I didn’t feel as much of a need to filter or hold back on my ideas. It gave me an outlet to express my thoughts without restrictions and see them grow and develop on the screen as they did in my mind. It goes to show how everyone is constantly discovering new forms of media everyday and using them to somehow represent and preserve him or herself through technology.

I think that I have achieved my goal of observing and reflecting upon how media has disappeared into my life. I specifically wanted to blog because the blogosphere is an amazing source of information that hasn't become part of the mainstream media yet. Blogging very quickly became part of my daily routine after class. This project itself is an example of how media can disappear into our lives. The devices I use continue to become smaller, I notice my dependability on them less, and media in general is playing a larger role in the world. 

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Twitter is finally jumping into music discovery. The influential microblogging site has released a new service, Twitter #music , that will allow its more than 500 million users to explore the tracks that people are buzzing about in 140 characters or less.

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With robots, we are inventing a new species that is part material and part digital. The ambition of modern robotics goes beyond copying humans, beyond the effort to make walking, talking androids that are indistinguishable from people. Future robots will have superhuman abilities in both the physical and digital realms. They will be embedded in our physical spaces, with the ability to go where we cannot, and will have minds of their own, thanks to atificial intelligence. They will be fully connected to the digital world, far better at carrying out online tasks than we are. In Robot Futures, the roboticist Illah Reza Nourbakhsh considers how we will share our world with these creatures, and how our society could change as it incorporates a race of stronger, smarter beings.

Robot Futures | The MIT Press (via new-aesthetic)

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“These Are the First Videos Being Shot With Google Glass”

“It’s been a long wait, but the very first videos shot with Google Glass out in the wild are finally starting to pop up on the Internet. Some of them almost live up to the crazy spectacle of the first Google demos, but most don’t.”

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Our hyper-connected lives have been rewired for the digital age. These talks explore how the Internet and social media are shaping our relationships, personal lives and sense of self.

Really like this TED talk about the personalization of google searches and other sites online! Thought the idea of balancing the “junk” and the important info is really, really important. Totally agree with his closing argument, pretty cool stuff.

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If you haven't heard of Vine, I don't know where you've been...

A new wave of social media obsession has hit IU, and Vine is it. Vine is like a video version of Instagram. You follow your friends, your friends follow you, and most people post really stupid videos of food or themselves doing something that no one really cares about. But don't get me wrong, I love it. I check it all the time just like I check Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The stupid videos that people (myself included) post can be pretty entertaining.

Social media is used by everyone, every second, of everyday here on campus. I can't walk into a classroom without seeing AT LEAST 5 phones being checked. Our generation is known for texting 24/7, and I won't deny that. How many times have you seen a group of teenagers out to dinner and all of them are on their cell phones? These days, I see groups of all ages with eyes glued to their phones while eating. 

This isn't a good or bad thing, its a mixture of both, its not black and white. I just think it's interesting how we keep coming up with more and more ways to share bits and pieces of our everyday lives. Clearly Instagram wasn't enough so people out there created Vine. We continue to use social media to be acknowledged by others and be seen. 

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Boston.com

more help online for those effected by the marathon explosions.

love seeing the outreach of people in and around Boston, helping one another in any way that they can.

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Media being used to make announcements and locate victims after the explosions at the Boston Marathon…

Grateful that we can use media like this to help spread information and help the victims, their friends, and families. 

As of right now, I’ve gotten information from twitter, news reports, new online, Vine, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Link to Coachella's YouTube Channel

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Streaming Concerts Online, Coachella anyone??

Yet another way that media and technology help to connect people to others and give them a way to experience events from across the globe... streaming music festivals online!

My friends are always sitting in their dorms streaming these concerts, thousands of miles away from where they're actually happening. Whether it's Ultra from Miami or Coachella from Cali (which I'm listening to as I watch this), everyone is streaming concert online. Most music festivals these days not only have their own website but also have a twitter, Facebook, and YouTube Channel. You're able to get (probably) a better view of them playing and still get to watch them preform instead of just listening to their music online. 

Who knows what people will be able to do as technology develops? I'm sure someone will come up with some way to make you feel like you're really their beyond just broadcasting the show live... oh the possibilites! 

Not only is this a great way for the band to keep its followers and gain new ones, but the music festivals themselves can attract more customers. At the same time, does the fact that it's being shown live online make less people buy tickets? I doubt it, cause there's nothing like seeing your favorite band live in concert in my opinion. But hey, like i said, maybe technology will develop so much that you'll want to watch from your dorm room at school instead of being on the lawn at Coachella... (but let's make it clear that I really don't see that happening anytime soon people)

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Late last night a boy who attended my high school was struck by a car and killed. I wasn’t close to him but many of my friends were. It was scary, shocking, and sad news. He was only 21 years old. It’s crazy to think how it all can be over in the blink of an eye. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

I wanted to write about this in relation to media because I was really moved by the overwhelming amount of tweets and pictures/posts on Facebook about it. It really is beautiful. I was emotionally overwhelmed reading the messages of love and support on social media. It allowed the sharing of these beautiful, moving messages and photos. Friends and family as a community can share the joy and happiness of the times they spent with him and mourn together. He can be remembered in a way by the posting of these pictures and messages.

I’m not really sure what to think exactly of the use of media in this way but it can be really moving, emotional, and significant. 

Rest in peace Wilson.

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A big topic of discussion on campus right now is “IU on Strike” which is a strike led by students whose primary goal is to eliminate fees and lower tuition here at IU. (For a complete list of demand check out the link above to their website!) I’ve never been around or even witnessed a strike before so I thought seeing it today and following the strikers around for a little bit was pretty fascinating. 

I wanted to comment on the use of media in relation to the strike. I heard about the strike in classes and by word of mouth but nobody really new any information. Mostly what I heard was along the lines of, “yeah there’s some strike thing on thursday… yeah do you think (insert professors name here) will cancel class?”. Let’s just say getting reliable information was a challenge and that’s where media comes into play.

I got my info from various forms of media like their Tumblr, flyers (still an effective media technique to spread information on campus in my opinion), and Facebook page. The evolution of media has enabled the spread of information through resources like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs like Tumblr. I mean think of the protests during the 1960s when the war in Vietnam was a HUGE issue and they had no where near the resources we have today to organize and coordinate a protest. Today we use texting and the internet to spread information and coordinate strike and protests within seconds. All it takes is tap, tap, tap on your phone or computer to organize an event. Media has allowed us to spread information with a click on a button. 

I would argue that this is an example of how media promotes the spread of democracy by encouraging people to discuss and question the issues and rules in our society. It enables all citizens to debate and discuss issues and stand up for what they believe from anywhere in the world that has access to the internet or telephone. Whether that makes social change happen more quickly or not,I don’t know? Just because information can reach more people at a faster rate doesn’t mean people will act on it but I think it helps. I mean just cause people have the information doesn’t mean they’ll do anything to make a change but it gets the discussion going on a local, national, or even global level….

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So the other day in my J110 class, Danfung Dennis was our guest lecturer. I thought his presentation was totally cool and made me think of discussions we've had in T101. He is a war photographer, film maker, and CEO and founder of Condition One.

Condition One is an app for tech devices where the user can swipe the screen and move the view of the camera. Or just move the entire device to the right or left to change the view. (Check out the video above cause it's sort of hard to explain!) It makes you feel like you're really there, simply moving your head to see to your right or left. Kind of scary if you ask me (uncanny valley-esque??). Not that photography and film can't capture events, but this brings a whole new level of emotion and intensity to the viewing experience. I'm pretty sure they're using some type of fisheye lens but I really don't know enough about technology to figure out the mechanics behind how this thing works!

But anyways, the video above shows a clip covering wars around the world, but what it makes me think of is what if all of our news was covered like this? Think about it, you're scrolling on your iPad reading the news about some protest. Instead of just seeing pictures, you could click on a link to watch a video like this, where during a speech you could look around and see the faces of people experiencing it right then and there. To me that's so crazy to think about.

It shows how media is developing. Media has this amazing power to connect people all across the globe and I think Condition One is a perfect example of that. It shows how media is evolving to blend into our lives and try to replicate actual reality. I'm excited to see what happens with Condition One in the future and if it becomes a tool used by mainstream media.

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speaking of people always on their cell phones... 

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“technology is neither good nor bad – nor is it neutral”. It’s irresponsible to assume that the tools being built just wander out into the world with only positive effects. Technology doesn’t determine practice, but how a system is designed does matter. How systems are used also matters, even if those uses aren’t what designers intended.

Whether the digital era improves society is up to its users – that’s us | Danah Boyd | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk (via wildcat2030)

reminds me of mark's lectures in class

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So I think we've all seen a kid who walks and texts around campus? Well, that's definitely common practice here at IU. I didn't realize it until today when I was walking to class and the kid in front of me literally texted the ENTIRE walk from Wright to Cedar Hall. He even crossed a street with his phone in front of his face texting (seriously he didn't stop to see if cars were coming and thankfully the cyclist passing by avoided hitting him.) And this probably happens all the time without me even noticing it. We've talked about it in class since day 1, media has disappeared into our everyday lives. It's meshed into daily routine seamlessly. Taking the time to stop and think about it, there isn't a single class that I've been to all year that hasn't incorporated some form of media or technology. Life would be completely different without it. Not saying that it would be better or worse, who knows what it would actually be like? I sure as hell don't. But just take a minute to think about how many times you mindlessly check your phone (or just hold on to it), use a computer, or glance at a TV screen during the day. Waaaaaaaaaay more than I realized. 

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Intro

I’m writing this blog as a project for my Intro to Media Life class here at IU. The general topic is simply how I see college students using media on campus, how that effects myself and other people my age, and how media is a natural part of our everyday lives. Never blogged before so let’s see how this goes…