Sarah Randall @sarahndall - Tumblr Blog

Post 12: Video Reflections

My group definitely struggled to come up with our video topic. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that we came together as a group because we were friends, not because we had similar ideas for our video. Despite the stress that conflicting opinions naturally bring, I think that in this situation the debating worked in our favor. Instead of sticking to the first idea that came, we debated and brainstormed and refined until we came up with the perfect idea. As a Communication major, I relied a good deal on my knowledge of marketing to guide me through how to “sell” our idea to the public. In the world of marketing, it has been found that one of the strongest forces for persuasion is humor. With this in mind, I decided that making a humorous video would be the most effective. However, selling a video is not as easy as simply posting a funny video online and hoping for the best. Many strategic decisions had to be made about how we would ensure that our video received exposure. As we were seeking out a large audience, we decided that Youtube was the best platform for our video. Before the video was released, we started building up anticipation by posting stills from our video to Instagram and Facebook. We captioned the pictures with ambiguous statements and special hashtags. People became very curious about our posts, but we told them they would have to wait until Thursday to understand our posts. Once we had posted our video, we immediately shared it on Facebook and tagged everyone who had helped with filming. We encouraged people to share the video on their walls. Even though it does not appear that we will reach our goal of two thousand views in forty-eight hours, we came fairly close. I think this is evidence that our methods to increase our video’s virality were fairly effective. Writing a paper and making a video are certainly very different. In my opinion, writing a paper forces one to think critically and explicitly about a topic, but does not require much practical application. On the other hand, creating a video does not require one to explicitly consider a topic. It does, however, force one to apply the topic to real life. While the concept of virality serves as a great tool to get ideas out to many people, I do not think it has a home in the realm of academia. Often times, the most important messages are not fun and upbeat. Sometimes the sobering statistics and boring explanations are the most vital. If we turn into a society that cannot process such things, it will be our downfall. For this reason, it is important that academia stay “boring”.

Post 11: Video Critique

“Resumes” by Nick, Chad and Kitty is a video of tips about what you should and should not do on a resume. The character “Broseph McBro” shows what a bad resume looks like, including difficult fonts to read, incoherent information, untruthful information, and irrelevant information, and no contact information. The character “Kitty” shows what a good resume looks like, including easy to read font, coherent information, coherent information, exclusion of irrelevant information, and easy to find contact information. I enjoyed the video because it presents very important information in a fun format.

I liked having the visuals of the good and bad resumes because they help the viewer understand what is being talked about. The different music it the background helps to make the video fun and upbeat. One downfall of the video, in my opinion, is that it runs a little long. Most people looking for resume help will be wanting something quick, so it may be beneficial to try to shorten the video. Also, I’m not sure what “Bro it’s filler bro” is supposed to mean, so it may be a good idea to change this text to something a little more widely understandable.

Post 10: Text Remediating Project Update

My team is using the definitions of the words “epic”, “literally”, and “ultimate”, the definition of the phrase “I could care less”, and the lack of a definition of the word “irregardless” as our texts. We are going to remediate the texts in the form of a grammar lesson. These words and phrases are so often misused by the general population, in a way that what they mean to say and what they actually are saying are two very different things. We want to inform people about the correct usage of these terms by portraying the literal translation of common sayings in a humorous way. For example, we will show someone saying “I literally will die when Beyonce’s new album comes out!” and then in the next scene, show them lying dead on the floor. In similar fashion, we will show an “epic” party where Beowulf id being recited, a match of “ultimate” frisbee which ends all other games of Frisbee, and someone who “could care less” caring a little bit. For “irregardless”, we will point out humorously that it isn’t actually a word.

Essentially all of the research for our video has been done, since we have decided on what words to use as a group and understand their general meanings. All that is left is to find the dictionary definitions that we will be showing in the video. On Saturday, Sarah, Amanda, and I will be doing some of the filming, and on Monday Morgan and I hope to finish the filming with whoever else is available then. We have yet to decide on actual dates and times for editing, but we should not have issues planning this as time goes on, especially since we will be getting all of the filming out of the way quite quickly. I came up with the original idea of making a video poking fun at the misuse of the word “literally”, and helped come up with other words to use as well as ideas on how to portray them. I will be helping with filming the video and acting in the scenes. I will most likely be doing a part of the editing process as well.

Video Group

I will be working with Sarah and Morgan and Amanda. The topic is still a bit up in the air.

Post 9: Youtube to Youniversity

Jenkins’ ideas on the “youniversity” are very different than the current ideology of most universities. At UCSB, departments are rigidly structured and students do not get many opportunities to explore subjects across fields. We are trained in specific criteria their university has decided we should know, regardless of our personal interests and future goals. For instance, I have no desire to go into the field of research, yet I am required by the Communication department to take classes training me on how to conduct a study, and many of my classes focus more on theories and examining scholarly articles than they do on application. If UCSB acted more like a “youniversity”, students would be able to freely explore areas of a field that they are interested in and need for their future, rather than checking off a list of structured expectations.

In the current university structure, students are often blocked from exploring subjects across fields. For example, the Communication department offers courses exploring the effects and implications of the internet on society. I believe that this course would be of great interest to many Computer Engineering majors, but only Communication majors are allowed to take the course. In one of the subjects covered in the course “Internet and Society”, we were shown this TED talk on the subject of how news filter and search engines designed to present you with personalized information can have devastating effects on our society. How would it affect the direction of technological advancements if more of their engineers were educated in the societal effects of certain technologies? With the current state of the university, perhaps we will never know. In a system where field lines were blurred and cross-communication was encouraged, I believe individuals would come out of college with a well-rounded view of the world, not a deep yet narrow sliver of understanding.

In Class Writing

1) One of my favorite reading experiences was reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a third-grader. It was quite the challenge for me, but I learned so much about what good literature actually was. As an elementary school kid, you don’t get exposed to that many profound thoughts or much beautiful prose. I learned that there was no reason why I should wait until I was older to tackle “the classics” and expand my horizons.

2) My favorite learning experience was taking Astronomy 1 my freshman year. My professor was super passionate about what he taught which made it easy to pay attention. It was incredible to take the years’ worth of biology, chemistry, and physics that I learned throughout high school and see them come together and explain how the universe works.

3) My favorite viewing experience is any time I watch the Lord of the Rings movies. I have them pretty much memorized, but every time I watch them, some new theme reveals itself to me. They are the most perfect movies ever made.

4) My favorite youtube video is Bath Time for Baby Sloths because I love sloths. They are cute enough in nature, but when they are sitting in a bathtub, they reach an even higher level of cuteness. It may not be the most insightful or deep video out there, but there is no way it can’t make you smile.

In The Moment or Insta-Moment?

Some interesting thoughts from a friend on how new technologies are changing the way we interact and the implications of these changes

Philippe Lazaro

A Short History of The San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco bay is central to the prosperity of the West Coast. It has played a great role in the establishment of California and has been the backdrop to countless colorful events. When it was first sighted by explorer Gaspar de Portola in 1769, he could not have imagined what a vibrant and diverse place it would soon become.

I struggled to find an appropriate topic for this project, but after much consideration, I decided to use this project to present a short history of the San Francisco bay. I spend a good deal of time in and around the San Francisco area, and it is a place that I truly love to be. I was excited to use this project to share my knowledge of the area, as well as learn more about its history. Instead of focusing on San Francisco City or the bay area, I thought it would be more interesting to explore the area from a different perspective. I decided to focus more on events more directly involving the bay rather than the events occurring in the nearby cities. There is an endless supply of interesting things that I could have included, but I decided to make my “short history” short, only focusing on things that I felt were most central to the bay’s history. Instead of overwhelming viewers with a flood of information, I wanted them to come away with only the best, most notable histories and sites.

Since my subject is rather broad, I found that I had to pull from a large amount of different sources to gather my information. I discovered so many interesting facts, but I had to be strict with myself about what I included in my presentation so as not to clutter the essential information. In order for information to stand out on the web, its presentation must be eye-catching and streamlined. I love the simple yet modern feel of Timeline JS. Its layout can make virtually any information seem interesting just by the way it looks. In order to best utilize this lovely platform, I tried to make my information eye-catching and streamlined as well. I carefully thought out the titles for each page of the timeline, ensuring that they were short and straightforward. For the paragraphs, I only included that most relevant, central information. I did not want to clutter up my slides with excess explanations. I also picked my photos for the timeline with this ideology. I tried to only use visually striking images that would pull the viewer in and give them more context for the topic. In an effort to avoid copyright infringement, I chose all of my photos from Wikimedia Commons. Being a timeline, I felt that Timeline JS would be a better location to create a linear time explanation of the major events that occurred in the San Francisco bay.

I decided that Zeemaps would be best utilized by discussing the histories of specific locations within the bay and including any information relevant to the present, if possible. I wanted to make my map something that could possibly appeal to tourists, and by condensing all the history of each area to one point, travelers have an easy way to access all the information on a location at once.

A Short History of The San Francisco Bay:

Timeline

Map

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay

http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail.aspx?num=394

http://www.muwekma.org/

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/

http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpReynolds.html

http://goldengatebridge.org/research/factsGGBIntOrngPaint.php

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/2bridges.cfm

http://www.americascup.com/en/home.html

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/founding.html

amandaleighmorris

Post 8: Digital Anxiety

1. “In becoming more reliant on ‘paperless’ technologies and less reliant on paper, we run the risk of losing valuable information and rendering companies useless if there was to be a major internet outage”

I think this is a reasonable concern. With more and more important business transactions and access to information being housed only over the web, if there was a long term internet access, a great deal of important data and procedures would be inaccessible.

2. “The internet has lead to the downfall of grammar and the English language in general”

Being someone who loves literature and artful writing, it does grieve me to see the atrocities against the English language being committed across the internet. To me, people who engage in too much “internet speak” sound unintelligent and dull. However, being someone who is studying linguistics, I understand that change is a natural part of languages. If languages never progressed through people breaking the grammar rules and taking linguistic shortcuts, we would still be speaking like Beowulf (a structure which, as far as I know, no grammar-enthusiasts would promote). The rise of “internet speak” could very well be ushering in a major shift in the English language. It may not make some of us happy, but such is the way with language.

3. “People are becoming more and more disconnected from others. They spend more time playing games or engaging in pseudo-relationships online, and are spending less and less time actually engaging in quality, face-to-face interaction.”

This is something that is very concerning to me. A big part of the way that social media has changed the way we relate to others is that it has put us in the mindset of “presenting” ourselves. Online, we can tailor our appearance to be exactly what we want it to be. We create a fake version of ourselves and we hide behind it. It saddens me to see how people spend far much more time talking to people online, behind their idealized identity, than they spend talking to people face-to-face. Even the face-to-face communication that does occur is still warped by our desire to present our facebook-profile self. Vulnerability, honest, and deep conversation are extremely vital to the quality of our lives and the lives of those around us, but we are engaging in these things less and less.

4. “With so much information at our fingertips, we are overloading ourselves. We are actually becoming less knowledgeable”

I think that the internet is a great tool. As a student, I am extremely grateful for instant access to vast varieties of information. I can learn about virtually any topic, no matter how unusual. I understand that some people are concerned that people are replacing depth of knowledge with breadth of knowledge through the use of technologies, however I feel that the benefits outweigh the potential costs in this situation.

5. “People use social media to create idealized versions of themselves.”

When we have control over our online image, it is natural for most of us to want to present ourselves in the best way possible. We choose our best pictures, only post our funniest or most eloquent thoughts, and do whatever we can to make ourselves look intelligent, beautiful, and interesting. This seems innocent enough, but have extremely damaging repercussions. The prevalence of “perfect lives” on social media affects society negatively as no one can actually live up to the “standards” that are presented online. This disconnect contributes to insecurity and depression: two things our world could do without.

Post 7: The Media Challenge

Being without technology has never been too difficult a task for me. I dislike the idea of being overly attached to devices, especially phones. Before I got a smart phone, I always noticed how silly people looked staring at their phones constantly. I resolved never to be one of those people. Often times during the summer I will be traveling where no phone signal or internet access can be hoped for, and life goes on. Needless to say, I was not overly concerned about my day without media.

I chose to spend Sunday phone-less. The only preparation I made for the day was to let my parents know that I would not have my phone. I was planning to spend the day at Magic Mountain with my friends, so I also had to ensure that someone in my car had a GPS and could help me navigate.

A few times during the day I had slight moments of panic upon realizing that I could not feel my phone in my pocket, fearing it had been stolen or flew away during the rapid descent of a roller coaster. When I remembered that I did not have my phone, however, I was fine. One issue I faced was that any time my group split up, we had to be very specific about when and where we would be meeting. I had to keep on reminding people, “Don’t leave this spot, or I will never be able to find you!”. Upon arriving home, I found twenty-two texts and two missed calls waiting for me. All of them could stand to wait, save for a few worried texts from my brother, who mistook my silence for my demise on the rainy freeway.

Overall, I found it refreshing to not be obligated to instantly respond to the barricade of questions, comments, and smiley faces announcing themselves with never-ending buzzing in my pocket. Being someone who appreciates photography, I find myself often giving in to the urge to photograph anything lovely or memorable that crosses my path. Though photography is an enjoyable hobby for me, sometimes I find myself spending too much time taking pictures and not enough time being present in the moment. I think it is good to learn to be content with the fleetingness of the present, and to not desperately cling to every second in photographic form. Some things are better experienced in full and remembered rather than interrupted and photographed.

For my floral telegraph, I used the phrase “Turn away no more”. This is a line from the William Blake poem entitled “Songs of Experience: Introduction”. The line symbolizes God’s desire to rescue His creation from self-destruction and to live in relationship with humanity.

I decided to represent humanity’s turning-away from God by using a picture of a girl with her face turned away from the camera. Her head is down, symbolizing the pain and shame of separation. This is the “lapsed soul” that William Blake writes about. Her hair has been braided and adorned with flowers, symbolizing God’s love for her despite her fallen state and His desire for her to return to Him.

Since the phrase I decided to use for my floral telegraph, “turn away no more”, is very full of meaning, I wanted to display it visually in a way that would be very symbolically rich. The phrase “turn away no more” by itself and out of context is rather ambiguous and flat in meaning. In the context of the poem it comes from, “Songs of Experience: Introduction”, however, the phrase is full of meaning. In the same way as letters on a page, a simple chain of flowers coding out a phrase can only convey as much meaning as the phrase itself contains. It is for this reason that I felt it vital to express the context and significance of the phrase through visual representations.

The main themes I wanted to come across in my floral telegraph were God’s love and humanity’s shame and grief. These two concepts stand at odds with each other, as the dichotomy between what God has declared to be true and what humanity chooses to believe about themselves. I decided on using a picture of a girl turning away from the viewer with her head down, representing the “lapsed soul” in Blake’s poem. This arrangement gives the viewer God’s vantage point, looking down on His child, asking her to turn back to Him. I was careful to find a picture that was beautiful, since I wanted to show how God views the “lapsed soul”: as beautiful and valuable. To reiterate this point, I specifically used the most beautiful flowers I could find.

I considered including “turn away no more” in text on the image, but I found that it took the viewer’s eyes away from what I wanted to be the focal point, the girl’s head. I also felt that the words cheapened the meaning and symbolism of the image in a way. It took away from the composition’s emotional significance, stating the facts plainly and causing the visual symbolism to be overlooked.

Post 5: Floral Telegraph Update

For my floral telegraph, I am using the phrase “Turn away no more”. This is a line coming from the William Blake poem entitled “Songs of Experience: Introduction”. The line symbolizes God’s desire to rescue His creation from self-destruction and to live in relationship with humanity.

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,...

sarahndall

I agree with Morgan's thoughts on the benefits and downfalls of the hashtag. When properly utilized, they can be useful for organization and fun to explore. However, when they are used thoughtlessly and copiously, they simply serve to clutter and disorder.

Post 4: Hashtag Challenge

The Instagram hashtag challenge that I have decided to analyze is titled “#middleoftheroad”. I chose this particular challenge because the idea intrigued me. Roads are something that is both everyday and unique. They are everyday in that they are ubiquitous: one cannot go through a day without following a street or a path. Yet at the same time, every path is different. Each takes us past its own views and leads us its own way. I loved looking through the little glimpses of unique paths from around the globe that #middleofthe road provides.

I think that part of the appeal of this particular challenge is that people love to share about themselves. This hashtag challenge provides them with a simple yet effective way to tell others what a day in their life looks like. Since this hashtag is being used by many people from all around to welcome strangers in to a slice of their personal lives, it serves to create the sense of relationship amid a rather impersonal technology.

Some of the pictures submitted under the hashtag challenge #middleoftheroad were very artistic. They showed beautiful surroundings and creative angles. Some showed very unique events, such as parades or flooded roads. Others, however, were a bit less visually appealing. A few focused on pieces of garbage that had been tossed into the streets, and many were simply rows of girls in sorority-style poses. I think that it is interesting to see the variety in the quality of the pictures that are a part of the #middleoftheroad challenge. Some people used the challenge as an opportunity to be artistic and creative, and some people chose to simply “complete the assignment” in the fastest way possible.

I think that this Instagram hashtag challenge serves to underscore an issue I have with many instagram users. Instagram is an excellent tool to display images from one’s life in creative and beautiful ways. However, there is a population of Instagram users who do not use the tool in this way. It is almost disappointing to see users who have this incredibly straightforward and simple to use tool at their fingertips, and yet cannot or do not produce anything beautiful or note worthy with it. This, perhaps, is the downfall of many new technologies: that so many of their users insist on underutilizing the endless possibilities made available to them.

Hands 4 Others

Have a spare buck? Put it to good use! UCSB Cru is challenging you to be a part of bringing pure water to Honduras, and all it takes is $1 Buck 4 Good

and you can help out even more by participating in the Run 4 Water 5k Fun Run!

#fun run #water #honduras #hands4others #UCSB #charity #buck 4 good #clean water for all #santa barbara #goleta #isla vista

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Sarah Randall