Author Archives: cboccado

A Reflection on a Semester’s Worth of Analyzing

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In our last class I distinctly remember one statement mentioned by the professor saying something along the lines of how we are able to analyze everything and it is important to do so in order to fully grasp how the new media affects us.

Memes:

We started off the semester talking about memes and what they were and what affect they have on us. We concluded that memes are explained to be “a unit of cultural information that replicates while still remaining whole” (78), taken from the reading From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content. I remember before highlighting this definition and watching the Ted talk it was hard for us to really put our finger on how to explain and identify what a meme was. We discussed the pros and cons of memes and how a negative trait is how in generating content from other content, the original creation is lost.

YouTube:

YouTube was a revelation for people all over the world in multiple different ways. When creating my YouTube playlist it really got me to thinking for how many different reasons I use the website and how so many people use it differently. YouTube can be used for promotional videos, creating an image for organizations like universities. It can be used for how-to and DIY videos, web series, music videos, educational Ted Talks, vlogs, and just plain silly videos. It has really opened up an arena where multiple people can come and express themselves and ideas.

The Gang of Four:

We discussed The Gang of Four ; Amazon, Google, YouTube & Facebook and whether or not they are inherently good or bad. They are all very convenient platforms and used in our day to day lives but with a platform like Amazon, are they pushing out room for smaller businesses by providing virtually every product you can think of online?

Web series:

We learned about the concept of a web series and how it is a very good platform for anyone, but specifically minorities, to express themselves and the real things that happen in their lives in a more realistic light than TV typically can. They are able to create this content because it is very inexpensive to do so as all you need is a camera , an idea, persistence, and people to support your idea.

Video Games:

When covering the topic of videogames we discussed the major issue of sexism. When the team presented on that topic, it was really interesting to see what their interviewees had to say. I noticed that they were really passionate in explaining that it is important to have multiple representations of game characters because it can have a certain effect on people in the sense that their stereotypical impressions of others. If they had the opportunity to play as a minority figure, then the stereotypical impression may change, and a domino effect could take place.

There is so much media evolving so quickly, it will be important to be able to take a step back and analyze it to realize the affect that it is having on society.

 

Webseries

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A Web Series  is a series uploaded to the internet. Characteristics that a web series typically encompasses is that they are typically scripted and in episodic form.

Not to be confused with ‘webisode’ which is described in this excerpt from the reading:

“generally inexpensive form of narrative production with the capacity for both niche and worldwide audiences. While there are no formal written rules for the webisode, dramas generally run at approximately ten minutes, while comedies have a run time of less than six minutes. Soap operas can have a longer format of approximately twelve to fifteen minutes. Some episodes complete an entire story arc, while others are serialized. Some web series run for several seasons, while others are encapsulated in one series. These web series vary widely in terms of subject matter, genre, and target audiences.”

p. 65 Blacks in the Future: Braving the Frontier of the Web Series

Web series are similar to that of a television series in that it targets a specific audience. They can last as just one series or even run for several seasons. Web series are really a very accessible form of media where mostly anyone can get involved. For the viewer it is free to watch and easy to access. It has been described as an activity that is very inexpensive and if you simply have the technology (a camera) to make your idea come into fruition then you’re golden.

The web series has been a great vehicle for creating a Black community. The web series is used as a form of expression Black voices and creativity. It is a really great way for anyone to express their ideas. Whereas television shows are a thousand times less diverse in not only participants but also content.

 

webseries

Gamer Girlz

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Cheryl-Anne Boccadoro

The issue of sexism in the media has been brought forward for a few years now. The psychological marketing trick of ‘selling sex’ while clearly effective, is taking a mental toll on society. These false and negatively portrayed images of women are being thrust upon our subconscious through various forms of media; music videos, commercials, billboards, magazines, etc. I do not think that this content was created maliciously to shame women, but it certainly needs to be combated by showing that you can sell products without portraying women in demeaning ways.

In my opinion, the effects of this marketing tactic are especially problematic when displayed through the medium of video games. Video games are known to be typically dominated by “a majority of adults [aged] 18 and older (53%)” (The Virtual Census 2009), we know that they are also exposed to younger males below the age of 18. If they are constantly seeing these positively portrayed white male characters and rarely seeing a minority character or woman character portrayed positively, it is bound to at least subconsciously influence their real-life perceptions of people. This is why I think that video games should be shifting to a more gender and race neutral appearance.

When I was watching the TEDxWomen 2012 video of Anita Sarkeesian I was most surprised by the intense virtual combat against her campaign to question the issue of gender and video games. I was shocked by the intense amount of disgusting and harsh threats she had received and just the sheer amount of effort people went to in order to destroy her mission. I would never have been able to forecast that volume of hatred toward this campaign in this decade. It was funny how the gamer world was described to appear as a ‘boys club’ in which females are discouraged to join and pushed out. It’s just crazy how immature that portrays the males of the gaming community to be acting so negatively and vulgar towards the issue.

The article Women and Games discusses the level of play and also the different genre of games that women play. It described three sort of categories that women fall into in relation to games. First is a female gamer with similar reasoning to playing games as male gamers; they find pleasure in the dominant and competitive components in playing video games. The second category is female gamers who use games as an escape or distraction from reality. The third find video games a waste of time and therefore rarely indulge in them. I would probably identify myself as the middle ground, or at least I used to. It’s funny because my whole life i’ve noticed video games to be mostly a male-dominated facet of entertainment. I have enjoyed playing video games (yes, even aside from DDR and Guitar Hero) but never to the extent that my brother or other males seem to enjoy them. I used to go on flash game websites when I was younger and found that the amount of harassment towards female users with more feminine account names got far more harassment. I know some females would choose to pick more masculine account names in order to avoid harassment. I’d find that as a female on even those sites you would receive sexual harassment or just mean harassment and rarely anything beyond that. I sort of normalized it when I was younger, ‘that’s just the way it is’ sort of mentality. But now I really see the misogyny in it.

The Gang of Four: Do they mean well?

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As a person who can find the positive in all sides, I am indecisive in the debate of whether these big platforms are helping bring people together or forcing us to communicate less.

“At a very high level, platforms simply allow people to reach and connect with one another” (22). I understand this quote, and I can apply it to a platform like Facebook in a positive light, that it has allowed for international communication that could otherwise not be possible. I can connect with people that I met in Europe very easily. People with the same last name as I that live in Italy have reached out to me in the past in efforts to communicate. While this is all well and good, it has equally provided a source of miscommunication as people check their Facebooks via their smartphones while in the physical company of other humans, aimlessly scrolling through their newsfeed, refraining from indulging in conversation or other humanly interactions.

The reading discussed using ‘can’ versus ‘must’ when talking about the usage of these platforms, which I found interesting to think about. Consumers have the choice to use these platforms, they are not forced into them.. but are we? I recently just read the post by a peer that the Textbook annex is being forced out and is automatically signing students up for Amazon Prime. Some media classes force us to use big platforms (Twitter). I can foresee that even resumes will become void as more and more companies rely on LinkedIn. So I think in a way we are subconsciously being forced into these platforms. Yes, we do have the choice to use them and I know people without Facebook, but they are not completely unplugged from the gang of four. One of these platforms is utilized. Also we are just taught that this is the easiest way of doing things. The idea of the negative and dangerous effects are not learned or discussed, so I do not think we really are given a choice to refrain from using them.

“We consumers don’t have to buy anything on Amazon, much less everything” (28).

My thoughts on monopolies:

“The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a monopoly as ‘the exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action” (30).

Market dominance and product process dominance is where I feel uncomfortable. I think dominance is the key word here, I’m not the biggest fan of any sort of dominance applied to mostly anything.

I know the reading explains that platforms are not monopolies given pricing power, competition factors, elastic demand, etc. That platforms are not aiming to become monopolies, but I still do not agree with a soul company eating up other other companies by buying them out. This means that they control so much of the cash flows of the economy and that doesn’t sit right with me. It’s economically unsustainable and makes the gang of four too powerful in that sense. It makes me feel like consumers no longer even have a choice of where they are investing their money.

I guess what it comes down to is the unsettling feeling of not wanting the world to completely switch over to a virtual world despite the convenience. Nothing ever translates well through text and virtual communication. Emotion is somewhat lost and I think that is an important piece to humanity. So while Amazon and platforms like it are pushing out bookstores, society will continue to lose out on human interaction and build stronger and stronger relationships with their technology screens and website faces.

YouTube Love

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When thinking about my relationship with YouTube and what I use it for, the only thing that pops into my head is music that I can’t find on Spotify. I figured that I would have to dig a little deeper to see if I used it for anything other than music and the occasional funny vid that a friend had suggested to watch. Perusing my YouTube playlist history was the only way I could really get a grasp of what I exactly use YouTube for.

I discovered these 15 videos that I would consider my “Digital Playlist”:

1.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrjJbl7kRrI

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5vGclenONQ

4.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2OQMsaWX3o

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdwchohlMjI

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGfY4Zzq2fI

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTxq1PSm6kM

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW7PKjH5LR8

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAQtbTqDefw

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HB9DvJWCIQ

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuOgaFnpTB0

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuuxs9gO8C0

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTA7MnI4F7U

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c

I have realized that this accumulation of videos can be separated into categories. YouTube can be used for so many things! Way more than just music, my list also includes a “How-To” video, Educational clips, Philosophical talks, comedian performances, movie trailers, and show teasers.

It was really interesting to go back through my history, I found myself nostalgically loading more into the past to see what I was watching days, weeks, months, even years ago! It is almost like a diary of your interests. While I would say 80% of the videos were music videos, I could see my change in taste of music and also appreciate re-listening to “throw backs”.

It is funny because I can almost recall why I was looking up certain videos as well. I came across #6, a video highlighting the Information Age and explaining Brunel and I thought back to my study abroad experience in London and how I researched who exactly this engineer was and why he was so famous.

Videos like #15 help me to recall that I watched this video of famous comedian Louie C.K. and he was able to articulate so well my feelings for cellphones and general technology. That video influenced me so much to even write a paper and use it as an example for my Digital Culture class. In which video #10 was also related. I remember my Digital Culture professor told us to watch the Ted Talk on the positive aspects of gaming and how it might not have a negative effect on society but rather a positive one, how it enlightened me and gave me a different perspective. While on the topic of watching videos for educational purposes, I recall that I watched #13 in order to gain a better understanding for a concept that I did not understand very well from a textbook and looked to YouTube for some answers.

Writing this reflection right now makes me appreciate how I’ve used YouTube over the past few years and how many purposes it has rather than just silly animal videos or.. silly human videos. It is a fantastic source of education for professors to help their students learn, it is a community encouraging more DIY projects, it is a source for self-education, a source for news, and for entertainment. So thank you YouTube, for providing the public the ability to learn, laugh, and reflect.

Momma Memea!

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After reading some of my peers’ previous blog posts, I am glad to find that I am not alone when it comes to not truly knowing the definition of a meme before this class. When reading From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content a meme is explained to be “a unit of cultural information that replicates while still remaining whole” (78). I wrote this definition down and re-read it to try and grasp what exactly that meant. I thought I knew what it meant to some degree after delving into that definition a little bit. Especially when it was noted in class that the Apple logo could be considered a meme, I was on the side that favored that it was a meme, but couldn’t exactly explain why. It wasn’t until we were shown the TED talk clip that it was broken down into a much more basic description that I was able to fully understand a meme.

It is funny to me that what a majority of us in the class and our generation knows to be a ‘meme’ is in fact a meme in the definitive sense. This idea just proves to aid our discussion in that the negative part to memes is that we lose the sense of what the original product initially is or the origin in which it came from, who it came from. What I am trying to say can more easily be described with the music example that was discussed in class. Artists have taken to using samples of other artists’ songs and making new music with it. So I suppose the fact that we all know a meme to be the picture along with a usually funny or ironic statement attached to it, is exhibiting the negative effects of losing the origin of the word ‘meme’ itself. Something that is copied.

Now that we’ve got memes down it’s time to explore mashups. Are mashups memes? This was the question presented in class. What a toughy to answer! In class I voted that they were not memes because it’s like taking a fraction of things and putting them together to make a whole. But the more I think about it I guess it is like taking a bunch of memes to lump together to make one massive meme. Honestly this meme talk and exploration is a bit of a head scrambler. Only Exhibit can properly articulate the paradox of confusion.

xhibit meme

(http://tinyurl.com/xhibitmeme)

I’m not very ‘current’ on the meme culture. I wasn’t even sure how to look them up besides Google? I remember when memes became a ‘thing’ a few years ago. There was a whole Facebook page dedicated to UMass Memes even. I know people still create them and they become even more popular when a big event happens (like the Superbowl), but other than that I feel like they have sort of plateaued already. I wonder what will come next! Someone said that the next generation will bring on some new form of ‘meme’ that will be foreign to us because we will then be old. I agree with that statement.

Privacy

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In the readings given on Google this week, there were several new terms in which I have never heard before and also the concepts of these new terms have intrigued me. Below is a term that caught my attention and I have done my best to relay what it means by way of paraphrasing the author’s explanation.

‘Privacy‘ – A broad term regarding several interpretations with not much customization.

  •      “representing a desire to withhold information about personal conduct” (pg 93).
  •      “the terms of control over information, not the nature of the information [shared]” (pg 93).

I also have ironically taken into account Googling the definition:

 

Capture

“the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people”

or

“the state of being free from public attention”

The author states that we “demand some sort of control over our reputations” and that “privacy refers to the terms of control over information, not the nature of information we share.” I think these are important statements to consider when the issue of privacy comes into play with social media and search engines, namely Google. Especially with such social media like Facebook exposing our desires from the Beacon program and Google taking into account accessing things we have looked up and using that information trying to read our minds for the future. The latter quote puts into perspective the argument I think most users that take issue with things like the Beacon program are trying to make. When combated with the idea that they are already willingly exposing themselves via the social media, it is important to highlight that all users want is control over what they share.

Would you agree that this is most important issue around privacy? That it isn’t necessarily the content being shared but the fact that you are not the one sharing the content? Why do people care so much that this type of information is getting taken from them, isn’t it kind of convenient that they are just trying to anticipate what we want? Almost like a good server anticipating the needs of the guest to please them. We like those scenarios, when people seem to know what we want. So what is our issue with technology doing so?