#mmlott

[digital149]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOg0e1XHM6s)

Here is my final project, an informative video about how Snapchat can be used in Presidential elections. 

Megan Lott

[digital149]

Final Project Reflection

My final obstacle for this project is the presentation. I don’t really know how I want to do my presentation. Since I made a video, I could just give a brief intro and then show my video, but I’m not 100% sure I want to do that. To help me figure out a good way to present my project, I looked up some effective presentation tips/hints. I found one, two, three good websites that offer me some advice when thinking about how I want to present. I will keep these tips in mind when planning and coming up with the script for my presentation. 

Megan Lott

[digital149]

Project Reflection

One problem that I am having this week is time management. This is unusual for me because I am normally very good at budgeting my time and working efficiently. Lately I’ve been getting distracted a lot by my phone. One solution to this problem would be to put my phone in another room while I am working on my project. Another reason that I have been getting distracted is because I always have way too many tabs open on my chrome browser and so I keep clicking over to different ones distracting myself. To solve this problem, I will close all my tabs except the ones that directly relate to my project. So, my problem is time management because of distractions and my two solutions are leave my phone in the other room and close all tabs that do not relate to my project. 

Megan Lott

[digital149]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjG7GEAUSEM)

Megan Lott 

[digital149]

Project Outline

I plan to make a video that shows the parts of Snapchat that can be useful for Presidential Campaign. I plan to make my video between 3-5 minutes long. The tone will be fairly formal and I plan to linearly outline examples of correct uses of the medium.  

Week 12

Wednesday: Revise my proposal and finish it by the evening.

Thursday: Post Proposal and write contract 

Weekend: Research articles on the uses of Snapchat

Week 13

Tuesday: Find at least 4 articles to begin drafting my research report

Thursday: Find videos, images, and background music to use in my video. 

Weekend: Write final draft of research report & write a script for audio parts that I want to record

Week 14

Tuesday: Outline my video and start piecing together videos and images I’ve found

Wednesday: Record audio parts of me speaking

Thursday: EDIT VIDEO!!

Weekend: edit video more if needed

Week 15 

Tuesday: Peer review, revise based on peer’s suggestions

Thursday: Outline presentation & write script

Weekend: Practice presentation at least twice

Week 16

Project DUE

PRESENTING!

Megan Lott 

[digital149]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9uofLOxU94)

Here is my practice video 

[digital149]

Project Reflection

Topic 1: Snapchat in the Presidential Campaigns

I’m interested in looking at how candidates in the 2016 election use snapchat to reach voters. In my preliminary research, it seems that there are some pros and cons to using this medium. Using snapchat could be a viable way to reach voters, but only if used in the right way. For my project I intend to explore the correct methods of using snapchat in a political campaign. So far, I have found statistics on the main user base of snapchat, which would help inform demographic targeting of media. I have also looked at articles that point out ways that candidates have already used snapchat to their advantage, such as an anti-Trump filter. I think that it will be important to incorporate Enzenberger’s ideas about reciprocity in media and his cautioning about being aware of who distributes the media. One way that I could prevent this information would be as a twine essay or maybe a how-to video. This topic is extremely relevant as the 2016 Presidential campaign is in full swing and candidates are constantly vying for media attention and votes. It’s also important because this is really the first time that snapchat has been part of election campaigns and because it is a unique medium with a lot of users. 

Topic 2: Ethics of Editing Images

Another topic that I have researched deals with the ethical standards behind editing photographs. In the news media, we expect journalists and reporters to tell the truth. This means accurately portraying photos but also making the news exciting enough to draw an audience. How can we use tools such as photoshop while still maintaining the public’s trust? I think this is an important topic because I am a journalism major and it is an issue that I could run into in the real world. One example of this is a photo posted by Reuters of an Israeli building after an airstrike. The news organization had actually edited the photo to make it appear as though there was more smoke, trying to sensationalize the incident. This topic also links to Enzenberger’s article because he warns readers that often the people who are distributing the media have hidden agendas that they are trying to reach. This could be the case behind photoshopped images. My project would be a how-to guide that would identify the best practices for photo-editing in the news media. 

[digital149]

Reading Response 5!

I really enjoyed the reading “The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin” by William S. Burroughs. I thought that the concept of rearranging someone else’s words to create a new meaning was interested. It made me think about the originality of ideas in general. Does that mean that every idea or thought, written or spoken, has been said before? Is it possible to truly be original? How do you know that someone else hasn’t written or thought the exact same thing as you, but you were never aware of it? 

While reading this, i was reminded of an activity that I did back in a high school English class. After reading “1984″ by George Orwell, our teacher asked us to create a poem about the book using passages from the book. She called it a “found poem.” I think this is an example of the cut-up method because you are using someone else’s words to create something new. 

One thing that worries me about the cut-up method is plagiarism. In my Media Ethics class, we learned about “patch writing,” which is a type paraphrasing that relies too closely on the original work. It might be difficult for a reader to tell if someone is using the cut up method or patch writing. 

I also thought about a current song on the radio, “Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots. The first part of the song has lyrics that relate to this idea of cutting up others ideas. The lyrics are: 

I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard, I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words, I wish I found some chords in an order that is new, I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang,