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Post #12

In the days leading up to posting our video, we posted pictures of scenes from it on Instagram with very vague questions about why the people in the picture were doing what they were doing, and told them they would find out on Thursday. This caused our friends be curious, to talk about it, and ask us about what was to come. When we posted our video on YouTube, we immediately began sharing it and showing it to our friends on Facebook. We got about 100 views in the first two hours of it being up, which honestly kind of surprised me. A lot of our friends and family shared it too. It was fun sitting in my apartment and randomly hearing our video being played in another apartment by our friends.

I definitely enjoyed making a video instead of writing a paper for our final. It was fun and entertaining to make but had its challenges as well. For me, the hardest part about writing a paper is actually starting it. It is difficult for me to figure out exactly what I am going to write about, and then do it. Making this video was no different. It took us a while as a group to decide on a text/topic and actually get started. Once we did come up with an idea and a plan, it became much easier to do. The thing that made this different from a paper for me was the fact that it was a group project and I could not just sit down and get it done. We had to work together, and it had to be done in stages. Making this video involved a lot of frustration because we were not able to decide on a topic and because we struggled on the editing side, but we worked through and got it done.

I think that if we were given grades in college based off of popularity or off of something going viral, we would not be accurately or fairly graded. For something to go viral, it must start somewhere, but if a person does not have many friends, where will it start for them? Also, a person can put in a lot of effort and make something really great that shows what they have learned, and just miss it going viral in the real world. Things need to line up for something to go viral, and sometimes, they just do not, which would not fairly represent what a person learned.

Post #11 - Resumes by Nick, Chad, and Kitty

Resumes by Nick, Chad, and Kitty gives five tips of how to write a professional resume. Throughout the video, they show a tip, then what not to do, and then the correct way of doing what the tip says. The tips in the video include that it should be easy to read, coherent in layout, truthful, recent and relevant, and include contact information. Images in the video show the do’s and don’ts of what they are saying, so the viewer can easily see what they are talking about without having to really think about it.

I thought the video was done well. I like the simplicity of it and the background music that goes along with who is talking. I also liked that you named it “Five Tips for Writing a Resume” because it makes a list, which will make more people more likely to watch it, because of the simplicity. They do not have to read a lot to get something out of the video. However, it is a little long and needs more images that go along with what is being said. Since a lot of the images are not in the video yet, it is a little difficult to say which parts are unclear, but I think that adding pictures of the resumes and other images will be very helpful. I also think that Kitty’s voice is a little quiet and maybe you should turn up the volume on her parts a bit so she can be heard better.

Post #10

Our group is using common misused words and their definitions as our text for this video project. We want to show how words that people (including ourselves) use are often used incorrectly and how the actual interpretation of what we say is kind of ridiculous if we really think about it. The words we plan to remediate in this way are “ultimate”, “epic”, “literally, “I could care less”, and “irregardless” (which is not even a word, but since it is used so often, we decided to include it as well). Our plan for each of these words is to have a clip of somebody using the word in a wrong (but commonly used) way, followed by the real definition, and then a clip of people’s reactions if the word is actually interpreted correctly. For “ultimate”, we want to have people playing Ultimate Frisbee and then show them sad because they think it is the last time they can play. For “epic”, we plan to show a person saying that a party is going to be epic, but then it is just a group of people sitting around reading Beowulf. For “literally” we will have somebody say that they are literally going to die when an album is released and then show them dead on the ground with iTunes open. For “I could care less” we want to have two people talking on the phone and one says that they could care less, and then the other person will be confused because they think that the first person does care at least a little bit. For “irregardless” we want to have somebody say it, and then for the definition we will say that it means nothing because it is not a real word, and then we will have people just looking really confused.

We have already done our research for our video and found words that are commonly misused that we want to show visually. Our team is planning on getting some filming done this weekend and early next week so that we have stuff to work with during the week. Hopefully we can get it all filmed before Thursday so we can have plenty of time to edit it and make it look good before it is due. For this project, I will be a part of as much as I can be. I do not want one person to get stuck with all the work, so I want to make sure I am helpful and do not slack on the things I am supposed to do. I did research to help find words we wanted to remediate, and I will be a part of filming this weekend. I live in an apartment complex where I know all of my neighbors, so no matter what time we film, there are many people there that I know that we can use in our filming because we do not want it to be just the four of us. Once the filming is done, I plan on helping with editing as much as I can too.

Post #9

In Jenkin’s article From YouTube to YouNiversity, he says, “We don't so much need a faculty as we need an intellectual network.” From my own experiences in college, specifically in the math department, I have felt exactly this way. I did not know that UCSB was a research university until I came to orientation, so I was very surprised and slightly disappointed to find that the math and stats professors here are not the easiest to learn from. I spent my first year or so looking for YouTube videos to teach me what I was not able to learn in class because I did not understand the way my professors were teaching the concepts. In those times, I wished for an intellectual network that I could learn from instead of the professors I had. In my searches on the internet, I found a series of YouTube videos by Patrick JMT that I found to be very helpful for me to learn from. I found others, but they were not as useful for my way of learning, even though they talked about the same concepts and both gave specific examples of the math I was struggling with.

I think that if academic departments in college or even high school were operated like YouTube, with different video options explaining the ideas that would be taught in lecture, students would be able to pick the teaching style that works best for how they learn. However, without the classroom setting, students who have questions about specific problems discussed, are left with nobody to ask for clarification or for help. Therefore, the faculty in academic departments are not disposable. But, I believe they should make use of the resources that are online to help their students. If this were so, students would be able to get help with questions they have from an actual person, while still being able to see the concept in another way from another teacher.

If academics were done in this way, I think we would see an improvement in students’ scores and understanding of subjects in the areas of math and science. While professors spend a good portion of lecture going over a proof that generally only confuses us more, and then they never test us on it, people like Patrick JMT or Khan Academy go over examples of how to actually do problems that will probably appear on a test. I think solid examples is what helps students really understand what they are doing in their class, instead of just memorizing the steps for the test and forgetting it immediately afterwards.

Video Group

I will probably be working with Sarah and Morgan and Sarah and we're thinking about doing something with graduation or a recipe or some other text.

In Class Writing Assignment

1. One of my favorite reading experiences is when I read Ender's Game for my AP Composition class. It is a science-fiction novel, which I do not normally like, but this book intrigued me. It is so different from the world we live in, that I could not put it down and had to know what happened. It was full of plot turns all the way to the end.

2. One of my favorite learning experiences was when everybody in my AP Calculus class had the assignment of teaching the class something after we had taken the AP test. We learned how to cook meals specific to certain cultures, play uncommon sports, and make homemade ice cream. It was fun and interesting because we were able to learn things that were not commonly known, and we were taught by our peers.

3. One of my favorite viewing experiences is the TV series, Friends. Every episode is full of humorous situations that, no matter how many times I see the episode, are still funny. It is a show that all of my friends from high school enjoy and we always could relate it to our lives and quote it on the spot.

4. One of my favorite YouTube videos is Big Box and Maru. I like it because it shows the silliness of cats and animals. They are so intrigued by things like boxes and will do anything they can to explore this new thing in their home.

Multimedia Project

“[Thirty-eight] years of ministry on the water is truly a miracle!” (Sonshine) In 1975, Sonshine Specialized Camping Ministries was created and is still going strong to this day. Sonshine Ministries is a summer camp run on the waters of Lake Shasta and the Sacramento River Delta. Each week, for 8-10 weeks each summer, churches bring their students to this unique camp to experience the love of Christ while having fun swimming, wakeboarding, and banana boating. In these 39 years, Sonshine has had many moves, changes, and events take place that make it the camp it is today.

I knew some of the key events of Sonshine Ministries and have been to four of the nine locations, but I did not know all of the specific dates or things that happened before I was a camper or even before I was born. Sonshine’s website has a “History” section, which is where I found out specific dates and places. The website is already pretty brief, but I took what I thought to be the most important events of the camp for my timeline. Where I could, I included details that I know from my own experience as a camper and as staff.

For my timeline, I wanted to use pictures and videos that showed what the camp is like. Most of the videos and pictures I used were ones that I took or were a part of. I think that by using more detailed pictures, and ones with specific people and places in them, I was able to make my timeline more engaging and interesting. On the last event, I put a video I took this past summer while I walked around 15 houseboats that were all tied together. I chose this because it shows how the camp has grown, and it shows what a typical day at camp looks like. There are kids everywhere, music blasting, and people getting ready for and going on different ski and banana runs. This video lets people see the camp without actually being there.

For my map, I decided to use the locations that Sonshine has operated out of for the past 39 years, but look at them from a tourist perspective. I did mention in each map location the years that Sonshine ran from each marina, but then I expanded into details specific to the marina and the surrounding areas. I used logos and not very detailed pictures of each marina because all you see on the map is a small thumbnail. If I had used more detailed pictures, most of the picture would have been overlooked because the details would not be seen. I also found out information about the marinas, like services offered and what is located nearby, so that somebody looking at this map could learn about the areas around Lake Shasta, Lake Mohave, and the Delta.

Using TimelineJS and Zeemaps was a new concept for me. It did not seem like it would be that difficult when I first looked at them, but I did face a few problems. It took me a little while to figure out how to make and publish the timeline, but that was because I did not completely read the directions. I tried to do each step to publish it and thought I was done after step three because I did not scroll down and see that there was a step four. Zeemaps was slightly confusing for me when I was trying to find the places, but it was not because of the website. For the five marinas I had not been to, it was difficult for me to find them, because I really had no idea where they were located. To solve this, I looked up the places on google maps and then found the corresponding place on Zeemaps.

I think using these two websites to display the history and locations of Sonshine Ministries was a very interesting way of doing so. Instead of just reading where something took place, Zeemaps allows you to see exactly where it happened. TimelineJS allows you to not only see the order of events, but lets you visually see the camp and things relating to what is being presented. It is not just words on a page; it is interactive and interesting.

References:

For information about:

Sonshine Ministries:

http://www.sonshineministries.com

Bethel Island Marina:

http://bethelharbor.com/

Walnut Grove Marina:

http://www.walnutgrovemarina.com/

Turner Cut Marina:

http://www.turnercutresort.com/

King Island Marina:

http://www.westrec.com/ca-kingisland.html

Whiskey Slough Marina:

http://www.whiskeyslough.com/

Paradise Point, Bridge Bay, Digger Bay, and Katherine Landings Marinas:

http://www.sevencrown.com

Post #8

1. The main concern about the way that digital media is changing what and how we do things is that we only do, or at least only show, the things that we think will make us more popular or liked by our friends. Also, as we do things we tend to think about what picture we should take or how we can portray ourselves so that we can get the most likes for doing what we are doing. I think this is justified because even if we do something that may be considered boring to others, we tend to still think about ways that we could make it seem great to the world around us, or we just avoid the situation all together. I think this is also not justified because we can still do things without having to share it with the world through media.

2. A concern about how digital media is changing the way we express ourselves and use language is how we are able to censor and perfectly word everything we say. People take the time to analyze the best wording of a text message and then struggle when they actually talk to a person because they cannot take the time they usually do before they respond to a person. I feel this is justified in some situations. People definitely take time to consider the wording of what they are going to say if they are trying to impress the person they are texting or messaging. However, I believe in most circumstances people are still able to communicate with the people around them even if they are face-to-face.

3. A common concern about how digital media changes how we relate to each other is that relationships will not be as deep if they are through the internet. Also, we are able to find out information about people without even talking to them by stalking their Facebook or Instagram, which takes away from when you actually have face-to-face interactions with a person. I think the fact that we can find out information about a person is a valid concern because we tend to judge people based on what we see on their profile than on whom they actually are. I think the concern that relationships will not be as deep is not valid because many relationships start on the internet and move into real life.

4. The main concern I think people have with the fact that digital media is changing the way we think is that people are more concerned about posting a picture or a status and getting as many likes as possible than they are with enjoying life or a moment with friends. People think that their life is good only if they get a certain number of likes. I think this is a justified concern mainly with teenage girls. Their self-esteem is boosted by likes and torn down if what they post is not as popular as they thought it would be. I do not think this concern is justified with older people though. Once a person is comfortable with who they are, they are less likely to think about how many likes something will get them and find their identity in how popular something they posted is.

5. A growing concern about the way that digital media is changing the ways we manage our social identities is that people do not know where to draw the line of what is public and what is private of the things they post. Most people want the things they share to be seen by others, but they do not want random strangers to see everything, or they only want certain people to see certain posts. I think this is justified because it is perfectly reasonable to want to share something with your friends without the rest of the world being able to see. It helps to prevent creeps from gaining access to your pictures. However, it is not a justified concern when people use the privacy settings, or un-tag themselves from a picture just because they want to determine what is seen or not seen by their friends. In this case, they are simply trying to boost their image of themselves and are not showing who they truly are.

Post #7

I have gone weeks at a time without my phone because I work at a camp during the summer where I do not even get a signal and where our phones are used purely for emergencies. However, I still knew this would be a difficult day for me just because of needing my phone and laptop for studying purposes and contacting friends. I decided to do my media-free day on Sunday because I knew I had online homework and studying to do on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, I had a trip planned with friends to go to Magic Mountain instead of watching the Super Bowl, so I knew that I would not need my laptop or the internet to study.

Before Sunday, I made sure I told my mom that I was not going to be using my phone that day so she would not worry about me when I did not reply to her if she texted or called me. When I went to bed on Saturday night, I turned off my phone and did not turn it back on until my media free day was done. I knew myself well enough to know that if my phone was not off, I would check Facebook and Instagram when I woke up in the morning, ruining my day of no media right from the beginning. Because I knew that Sunday would be a day without media, I was able to sleep in longer because I knew that I could not spend the usual time on my phone to wake myself up.

During the day, it was not very hard for me to be without my phone because I was with my friends riding roller coasters. There were a few times where I reached for my phone, only to realize it was off or not even in my pocket. The first time this happened was when we were driving down to the park and I felt like we needed to know where the other car was because we left at different times, but because I was with others who had their phones, they were able to contact the other car instead. Another time I reached for my phone was when I wanted to show one of my friends a picture on my phone, only to realize that I had left it in the car.

The only weird part about not having and using my phone on Sunday was that there were a couple of times where I swear I felt my phone vibrate, and it was not even in my pocket. During the day I was also bummed that I was not be able to take pictures, but knew that I would be able to get pictures from my friends that they took once my media free day was done.

Even though a typical day without media is nearly impossible because of studying and contacting friends, I think that a day without my phone and laptop was a good thing. I got to enjoy the time I had with my friends without the distraction of having my phone or internet. There was no reason to check Facebook or Instagram because I was already with my friends.

When we first discussed the floral telegraph in class, I had some rough ideas of the message I wanted to share and how I wanted to do so, but I had no specifics in mind yet. I knew I wanted to do a phrase from the Bible, but I had a very tough time finding a phrase I liked. Several times I saw a word I liked and needed another very specific word to go with it, but could not find the other word. When I saw “I am” (169) and discovered that “who” (94) was also a phrase in the book, I knew that I wanted to do the phrase “I am who I am” from Exodus 3:14. Even though this is an Old Testament phrase, I am applying it to the New Testament, because all throughout the New Testament, Jesus declares, "I am". He says, "I am the light of the world", "I am the good shepherd", etc. and in him dying on the cross he is ultimately declaring who he is to the world.

I wanted this phrase to be visually represented in a picture to show the love God has for us, and how he does things his own way. I really liked the idea of showing this by using a picture of Jesus dying on the cross with a crown of thorns as the background for the flowers. However, I was not certain of how I was going to use the flowers to display my message. I decided to look through the flowers and pick ones out before doing anything else. After seeing a few flowers I came across the Sweet William flower. This flower set the tone for the rest of the flowers I chose. One of the pictures I saw of this flower was a deep red which reminded me of blood and Jesus on the cross. I decided to find all red flowers to represent the blood that was shed for us. The flowers I ended up using were Sweet Williams (1), Ranunculus (6), Anemones (9), Dahlias (9), and Carnations (4).

Throughout the process of deciding on a phrase, choosing how I was going to portray it, picking flowers, and putting it all together, I was very aware of the fact that I did not want to take away from the importance and significance of my phrase and of the image of Jesus dying on the cross. This was another reason I did not choose bright colors for the flowers. I did not want the cheeriness of the flowers to take away from the message I was trying to convey. However, I believe that having flowers in the image does add to the picture and its meaning. They visually represent the new life that we are given through his death. Also, the flowers, even though they are representative of blood, and are among thorns, are a reminder of the beauty of this sacrifice made for us.

Post #5

I decided to telegraph the phrase “I am who I am” from Exodus 3:14 in the Bible. I chose this phrase because it is often repeated in the Bible as a way of saying how powerful God is. The first time God says this, he is telling Moses that he is who he is and people are unable to define him.

I do not think that there are very many different ways of verbally interpreting the phrase “I am who I am”. In most cases people would say that whoever is saying this is trying to tell people that they are not anything or anybody other than themselves. The differences in how it is interpreted come from the context of who is saying it. Teenagers could tell their parents this, meaning that they want to be the person they want to be without any say from their parents. Or, people who are dating can say it and mean that they have shown everything of who they are to the other person. But, when it comes from God, it can also be interpreted as him saying that we are unable to define him and his majesty.

I plan on interpreting this phrase with images by placing flowers in the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he died on the cross. I am putting the flowers on this background because God broke every possible definition people had of him by coming to earth as a human and dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world. That moment was an ultimate declaration that he is who he is. I chose red flowers to represent the blood that was shed by Jesus on the cross. The flowers also represent new life even during death, and the beauty of what he did by dying for the world.

sarahndall

5 Tips for Hashtags

Be concise- sentence-long hashtags are annoying

Hashtags can increase the visibility of your post

Hashtags are good classification tools

Make sure your hashtags are relevant to your post

Hashtags typically go at the end of the post

#AmandaMorris #MorganMcCollum #SarahRuss #SarahRandall

morgan-rachel-mccollum-blog

The hashtag challenge that I chose came from the Weekend Hashtag Project blog, and it is called #somethingoldsomethingnew. The name of the hashtag alone was somewhat enticing to me, because my female instincts led me to think the pictures would be of brides and weddings and things of that nature,...

amandaleighmorris

I really enjoyed the varying ways that the people who participated in this challenge represented #somethingoldsomethingnew. With the high-tech and very modern world we live in, I feel like people rarely take the time to appreciate the beauty of the old, and this challenge was a great way to get people to think about those things. My favorite picture in this group was of an old camera taking a picture of a new camera. It definitely gives a different perspective on picture taking in the past compared to now.

Post #4

I chose one of the hashtag weekend challenges, specifically #handmadeletters, that the Weekend Hashtag Project posts each Friday. Before I even saw any of the pictures with this hashtag, I had some ideas in mind of what most of the pictures would be of under it. It is kind of expected from the title that you will find pictures of letters written or made in a creative way. I expected some very cute and crafty ones, like something you would find on pintrest, and I also expected ones that were handwritten, like a letter written to a friend.

The pictures I found in this hashtag were very similar to what I expected. People who posted with this the hashtag #handmadeletters were for the most part very creative. Some posts were ones that people obviously put a lot of time and effort into, while others were pictures of walls with words handwritten in some way on it. One of the coolest ones I saw was a non-lit neon sign. At first, I forgot that these signs could be made by hand, but then I realized, that it indeed fit into the challenge and reminded my of the art and care that goes into everyday things that we take for granted.

After looking through many of the pictures with this hashtag, I found it interesting how so many very similar pictures are posted by the same person rather consistently. One person in particular (@hpixeles) posted several pictures of calligraphy that he had done. It all looked very similar to me, and was all of just one or two words. I decided to look at his profile to determine if he had a company or something, and discovered that in his little bio section it says that he practices calligraphy.

I also noticed that there were some pretty random pictures sprinkled into this hashtag along with the ones you would expect. From what I could tell, these pictures did not really have any thing to do with #handmadeletters. There was one of a Christmas tree and one of baby booties that for some reason were labeled with this hashtag. This shows that even though you expect a certain type of picture to be in a certain hashtag, it is not always what you expect it to be. This is because people can use whatever hashtag they want, even if it does not really make sense with their picture.

sarahndall

The video I have chosen is Lizzie Velasquez’s TED talk “How do YOU Define Yourself”. I think this video became famous because it is inspirational. It follows Berger’s STEPPS in that it very successfully arouses an emotional response from its viewers. It has practical value in that the message of...

amandaleighmorris

I agree that this video probably went viral because of the emotion it brings out in the people watching it. Most people have a hard time with feeling like they are being defined by their outward appearance and that makes it easy for them to relate to Lizzie and her story. She also tells little stories during her talk that make it more interesting for people to watch and share.

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