Reflective Blog Post

            1)  Self-Directed Learning

While class time provided basic outlines of digital culture elements, we only truly scraped the surface with many of these things.  My first steps in my efforts of self-directed learning were mostly based on the side effects of digital culture.  Being advertising major, I feel my communication classes have expose to me a lot of the good, but also a lot of the negative elements of digital culture.  My first blog looked at the very nature of creativity and popularity on the interweb (see http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-catastrophy-of-youtube.html). I realized that creativity and popularity could be best friends or worst enemies online.  This lead me even deeper down the path of media side effects, looking at facebook depression (http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/weve-all-got-plastic-surgery-in-digi.html), and internet stalking (http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/if-you-havent-done-this-go-ahead.html).  Along the way, I read the book Niche Envy:  Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age, that showed me how personalized digital market could be a blessing or a heavy curse.  I also studied heavily Theories of Human Communication by Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss, a helpful book that discussed the many different theories of communication embedded in digital culture.  After proposing and executing the media fast, I quickly realized digital culture was more than just negative side effects (http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-last-media-fast-i-will-ever-do.html).  I turned instead, to the issue of copyright, specifically looking at the works of Lawrence Lessig (a revolutionists in Remix Culture).  In an attempt to understand how to complete our group flash animation, I spent around 20 hours a week creating and coding the animation to work properly.  If you’d truly like me to list all the different tutorials and books I looked at for coding and animating I can, but frankly I feel you’re not interested in looking at 200 sources on action script and target objects.  My learning with copyright and Remix Culture helped me understand digital culture had a positive and progress side.

2).  Collaboration

            Our project took a bit to get it off its feet.  I work in groups a lot, but not with English majors.  In advertising, everyone has their own role, they know what it is, and they do it.  In English, everyone’s a good writer, everyone has good ideas, and no one thinks alike.  At first, I did everything I could to contribute to the different ideas we came up with.  I made the proposal video—minus the audio (http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/10/proposal-remix-project.html) and did a lot of the proposal document.  When our group failed to create a unified idea, I begin working on my own project (at the suggest of you, Dr. Gideon, to split the group up).  I’d never had a teacher suggest or even give the option of splitting a group up (in advertising and the business world, this creates all sorts of legal issues), but it did allow me to specify exactly what I wanted to do for the project and get working on it without having to worry about other group members.  After creating a prototype of the flash animation, the rest of the group got on board.  As I mentioned, from then on I was spending around 20 hours a week getting this flash animation working.  More problems than I could have ever foreseen arose, but in the end we managed to finish part 1.  The actual animation I did completely by myself (although the rest of the group help storyboard the animation and plan how it would be executed).

            As far as other groups were concerned, we offered as a group a lot of assistance based on copyright.  In fact, the day you had to leave for a funeral, we spend the entire time answering different groups questions about copyright (most of the groups had projects dealing with copyright and many of them didn’t know what that meant).  I also did social proof on the LBP and CCC groups (see http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/10/die-sackboy.html and http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/10/ccc-evaluation.html).

            I never missed a single class period and made comments or ask questions when I felt they personally applied.  I also did the media fast, which involved the entire class.

3)  Other Assistance

            I often looked at Kasey Dean’s blog.  I found his optimism about gaming a fresh-breath from my own views and he pointed out many important facts about gaming (see his entire blog, that’s what a large part of it is about).  I also looked at Tara Pina’s blog, and Gwen Hammer’s blog.  I particularly found interest in the way that Gwen was able to compare Remix Culture with so many different literature pieces (see http://hammergwendolyn326.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-horror-of-transformation-remix.html).

4)  Digital Literacy

            More than anything, this class has been not about learning, but about experiencing.  Truth be told, I’ve already had plenty of classes on media, digital culture, theories of communication, the importance and safety of blogs, social networking, twitter, and klout.  What I lacked was a class that pushed me to actual experiment and experiences these things.  I’ve been attempting to start a blog for over a year.  I just never had an idea of what to blog about.  Suddenly being forced to blog made me quickly begin consuming other bloggers’ post to see what they found was important.  Still feeling quite unsure, I threw myself into blogging.  Based on the connections I made with others, I began slowly tweeking what I wrote in order to create a more effective blog.  I experimented a lot (see http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-gideon-told-me-were-all-going-to.html).  But in experimented, I discovered so much more about digital culture I’d never learned just by studying it.  This same process was repeated every time I begin something new within the class.  The project for example.  I was forced to consume other’s interactive media, to accept the pros and cons of gamification.  I then created my own prototype, and connected with others in understanding how my experimenting was affecting them and their environment. 

 

Code Monkeys at the Top of the Food Chain

I’ve been smacking my head against a wall for three hours trying to keep Frankenstein’s hand from modeling into a shovel.  It’s a coding problem:  a mountain of scripts and hieroglyphics that make almost no sense to me.  Hidden within these countless rows of symbols and phrases is my problem.

 I was shocked to find out 25% of computer science majors make over 100 thousands just starting out, with the rest following closely behind.  Now I’m ready to pay that just to have one of those code monkeys fix my problem.  Isn’t it bizarre that these programmers are nothing more than the construction workers for the digital world.  They’re not the one that comes up with the idea for the new app or program.  When we create a digital advertising campaign, all the concepts and the ideas come from our creative group.  Then we take them to the programmers and then take the ideas and put them on the interweb.  Yet for just being a construction worker, there making a heck of a lot more than their physical counterparts.  Don’t get me wrong, I know it takes a heck of a lot more training than I’m making it seem.  Still, class system that separate the idea men from the lowly builders is being rethought.

Are You a Human?

I hate this.   It tells me to write what’s in the box to prove I’m a human but I have no idea what it says.  Is that an “a” or “ol”?  How the heck could a machine read this, a human can’t even decipher it.  And really, has the internet fallen in a digital sphere to the terminators already.  Since when did I have to start showing my beating heart to prove I’m human?  What will they think of next, clever riddles only a human could answer?  Blood samples?  Maybe.  Current research predicts that up to 30% of Twitter might be robots.  Robots going around and tweeting about products companies pay for.  Next time you  see a new product with 4 million tweets, it could be a third of those are nothing more than machines paid to boost a products popularity.

            So this all seems like conspiracy talk.  And maybe it is, but not like Bigfoot or Area 51.  One of my friends just got a job with a social marketing company.  Apparently a useful strategy is to pay money to companies in China that add millions of likes to whatever you want on Facebook in minutes.  We all learned from the 80’s that much of what is popular is based on what is being perceived as popular.

            Next time I see this stupid bar of letters I can barely understand, I’ll give it a warm greeting and thank it for keeping social networking human.

Individual Test Questions

Individual Test Questions

1.      In his book, Niche Envy:  Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age, Joseph Turow fears that if individual marketing through technology continues to advance…

A.    Individual will have more important than corporations and everything will be controlled by trending.

B.     The technology could crash and no one would know how to buy anything.

C.     Economy will be based on digital information instead of being backed by objects of actual value (like gold or silver).

D.    It will become easy for corporations to discriminate among individuals and create a biased marketing system.

Link to Blog Post:  http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/big-brother-knows-you-need-milk.html

2.  Facebook Depression (an example of Identity Management Theory) essentially describes what in relation to one’s image online and offline?

Link to Blog Post:  http://www.attackofthemachines.blogspot.com/2012/09/weve-all-got-plastic-surgery-in-digi.html

3.  How does the book, Island of Dr. Monreau, apply to digital culture?

Link to Blog post:  http://hammergwendolyn326.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-11-13T09:21:00-08:00&max-results=7

4.   Google Reader is a helpful tool in order to:

A. Find useful books online.

B.  Read others minds.

C.  Read your SD card and transfer photos online.

D.  Keep track of new updates on various websites of your choice.

5.      Remix culture believes that after something is created others should:

A.    Admire it as a work of art.

B.     Add to the work to create something different or better.

C.     Redo the exact same thing in order to rebelliously break copyright laws.

D.    Write a techno-club song that describes their feelings. 

Are you still alive Mr. Jenkins?

I've noticed this blog has been a little barren like Abraham' wife of old.  I assure you, no vacation time has been taken.  In fact, I've been working overtime on our group blog at http://themonstermashup.blogspot.com/

Prototype: Graveyard

 



Each different element needs something coming from the headstones.

Books-  Twilight (all the creepy twilight books that have come out now)
Film- Starwars (wookie), Mary Poppins, LOTR
Music- Elvis, Rebecca Black, Auto-tune guy "they be snatch'en your people up"

Also, a lot of times you can make people more interacted when you add easter eggs, or parts that aren't necessary but are kind of fun.  For instance, I've made it so when you click on one of the headstones in the background a zombie pops up moaning "zombie web."

Remix PowerPoint Explaination

Slide One:

Nothing is new, everything is old elements used to create new ideas.

(picture of a wheel to a carriage to a car)

Slide two:  A remix is simply something that takes an idea or concept and augments or changes such an idea for better or worse.

Slide three:  However, a modern definition of Remix culture simply goes beyond changing old ideas.

In todays world, creation and publication have never been easier.  (youtube, blogger, etc.)

We’ll use an example to explain:  The example of the Hope Obama poster (I’ll explain this)

Slide Four:

Where copyright was once mainly exercised on corporations, meant as a means to protect rather than imped individual creativity, today the amateur creator finds themselves under attack.

Slide Five:

Remix Culture realizes that society can either go two ways, a “read/only” society where things are created by a few elite then simply viewed by the public with no more effort than admiration.  OR

A “read/write” culture where people are encouraged to add on to ideas and develop their own branches based on an idea.  This perspective is remix culture.

Slide Six:

So why not Creativity?

Copyright infringements

Misdirection

Graphic Material

A complete strain on the economic system

Slide Seven:

So, can remix actually serve a good purpose?

(explain the basis of our idea and show our prototype)

 

                                                    

 

As Author Jack Foster explained, every original idea has already been thought up.  Now we simply combine or augment elements of ideas.  This, of course, makes explaining a simple definition of remix culture almost impossible.  The wagon was a reinvention of the wheel, the car a reinvention of the wagon.  Cultural in general has fundamentally survived on remix values.  So why the hell are we wasting so much time and effort on explaining a remix culture everyone already lives in.  Ah, now there is the catch.  In essence, remix culture is not defined by what it is, but by its limitations.  In other words, remix culture is largely defined as a piece of work that uses other elements to present a fresh take or new perspective on something in a manner that is generally considered breaking copyright.  Lawrence Lessig wrote the book on modern remix (I mean, he literally wrote the book called Remix).  He explained that cultures are divided in two categories “Read/Only” or “Read/Write.”  In other words, cultures that encourage people to simply look at things others have created like a museum, or ones that encourage them to view and then create things themselves.  His argument is that the internet has brought our society into a “Read/Write” culture on an amateur level, meaning that copyright laws that once were only practiced on corporations are now being exercised on individuals.

            After once again diving into the actual text of Frankenstein, the connections between the two elements have become even clearer.  The true difference between  Frankenstein the literature and Frankenstein the movie is the actual purpose of the works.  In cinematic form, the movie was meant as little more than a horror movie to help guys get girls to cuddle with them.  The actual novel is significantly less focused on the horror aspects as focusing on the relationship of the creature with humanity.  While originally it was meant to represent an analogue between Mary Shelley’s world and literature (the rights of women, the French Revolution, etc.), such an analogue can still be used today.  “Remix Culture” as defined by Lessig is a creation brought into this world where it finds humanity hostile to it.  In certain light it appears destructive and illegal.  But in essence it has the potential to inspire and create, to push society on an individual level past a “Read/Only” culture.





Prototype For Frankenstein Flash

 

This is the first preview of the conceptualized rough art form for the Frankenstien Flash.  This particular scene depicts dr. Frankenstein (which is portrayed in a modern version as Steve Jobs).  Users can click different headstones they think make up the digital-culture monster.

Why Gideon told me We're all going to Fail this Class

What?  We’re going to what?  I know my heart just dropped.  Failing means no education.  No education means living like a homeless person with only a mangy rat-dog to keep me company.

Well relax, the title of this blog was complete bull.  Before you troll out my comment box or attempt to rip my guts through the noise, just think one second about this though.  You were attracted to this blog because of its misleading title.  According to the only “How to make a Viral Video” that actually went viral, one of the key steps is to use misleading, grabbing titles (see http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos).  Yet Gideon during our digit-cult rendezvous specifically suggested using titles that more specifically addressed the content of my articles.

So which is better?  On one side, crying wolf over and over with attention-hungry titles stabs my credibility in the heart.  On the other hand, I get a larger audience then if I’d simply labels this “Academic Ponders of Titles vs. Attention.”  Ok.  Thanks for hearing me out.  Now you can send me your hate comments.

Midterm Evaluation

I read and reviewed my non-fiction literary work, Niche Envy.  Despite the book’s forlorn sense of hope and overly paranoid tones, I truly enjoyed it.  It directly applied to my life and current studies in advertising.  My fictional literary work, Jurassic Park, has also aided in my understanding of digital culture.  Particularly, it has been highly interesting to see how scientists ran into problems with creating dinosaurs they could have never imagined, just as no one could ever imagine the consequences of the internet (the long tail, trolling, Pedibear, etc.).

            The self-directed learning process of this class has been a love-hate relationship.  The unstructured shape it takes has constantly frustrated me.  I feel like I’m in a constant state of panic because there’s always some project, book, or assignment  looming in the corners and the moment I finally get the hang of it, something new comes up.  But at the end of the day, I look at all the new things I’ve learned and realize I am making progress.

            The social proof other students have provided in blogs, class, and our main project has been highly valuable to understanding how digital culture works with a community.  It’s been interesting to see how our project group functions since each person has very different ideas and styles.  Since many English classes only require individual work, our group does not have set roles I’m use to in my advertising classes.

How the Long Tail Kills the Whole Rat

Most of you don’t remember the Berlin Wall.  Chia Pets.  The real power rangers with colored uniforms based on their race.  The great 90’s, with Boy Bands and reality shows that still hired writers.  And an internet dominated by big businesses.  A time period when the coolest websites could only be found by the fortune 500 companies.  Heck, they were the only ones that could afford to hire the millions of code monkeys it took to make a website back then.

            But with the emergence of the new tech that’s made individual web creation possible, the long tail has done more than emerge, it’s begun to eat the entire rat.  New polls show that big businesses website are undergoing a major downturn in their online views.  It’s probably a mixture of distrust for the corporate man and a complete lack of user interaction.  Think about it.  If you want to find out about a new soft drink, you’re not going to go to the company’s website to be fed a load of propaganda and one sided viewpoints.  You’re going to go to Youtube and see what other people say about it, get it from a real person.

            The big question is what will happen.  Are big businesses looking at their own digital extinction  or will they grow thumbs and learn to adapt.   My horoscope sees a lot of corporations going the way of the Dodo bird as the rest struggle to grow legs and learn to walk.

Die Sackboy!

Listening to Gideon rave about the LBP group each week makes me want to stick my tongue in an electric wall socket.  What makes me want to dowse myself in gasoline beforehand is that I’m actually starting to agree with him.

Video games.  The most effective form of birth control.  Makes you think of fat kids, sitting on couches, staring blankly as their brains ooze out of their skulls.  I imagine grandma yelling at us as we plugged in the old 64, warning us we’d waste our lives and end up marrying to plumbers.  Never did I imagine video games could change the world for the better.

Then I met Andrew Bagley, a specialist in advertising gamification.  Through a slow and painful process, as Sméagol battled with his own possession, I battled with the idea that video games could make a difference.  But after seeing how scientists used games to solve a decade long problem for aids-breakthrough is a couple weeks, and listening to queen of video games herself on TED talks; I’ve finally begun to see the light.

I’m not saying I think video games have an sort of academic credibility… yet.  I still come home to see my roommates veggied out on the couch with cheeto stains on their faces as Halo grenades fly across the screen.  What I’m saying is that I think if groups like the LBP gang continue to do what they’re doing, then video games can serve a greater purpose then brain oozing.

Remix Wiki

This post was on my blog last week but mysteriously dissappeared.  Hmmm... Open source-hating hackers?


The acutal Wiki will be linked to our homepage, but here's the open source wiki:

Explanation of what is Public Domain:

Everything online is not considered public domain. Simply going to google.images and grabbing a photo offline does not mean you can use it. In fact, since everything online is considered publish, its essencely the same as making a copy of "Where the Red Fern Grows" and saying you wrote it yourself.

Only a very small portion of things online can be used without payment and permission, things that have been specifically stated by the creator as being public domain.

List of Public Domain sites:

openclipart.com -- For art and clip art

freesound.org -- For b-roll music tracks and sound effects

any of the clipart that comes with Microsoft office -- For photos and clip art

Frankenwienie Proposal (revised)

Here's the doc we can all add into:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqdipqVZ9NIfglWQE4lYNLsnHkUjE4JadHOMpLSyhIM/edit

CCC Evaluation

 

FDR would be proud to know the CCC was still at large.  The project idea is clever and excitable.  It's guidelines and structure seem as stable as my children-hating third grade teacher.  I'll elaborate.

 

First of all, this is something that people want to get involved in.  It’s not a group report on watching paint dry, it’s a story—something that people can get passionate about.  That’s probably the strongest point of the project.

Here’s your biggest problem.  Your goal is…  well, I’ll say “lacking” because I don’t want to get beat up after class.  Sell one copy of your book on amazon?  A total grand profit of less than a dollar and all you’ve proved is that writers live and die poor.  Is money what you’re really trying to prove?  How about the God-give greatness of working together?  That’s something your project could prove, something that could matter.  Believe it or not, a lot of people think crowd sources is killing what makes individualism.  You’re project could be aimed at proving an individual can still keep his/her identity even when working in a group and still accomplish more than just working alone.  And trust me, crowd sources can be a great thing.  Scientist worked for a decade to figure out a certain strand for an aids breakthrough with no luck.  By taking the problem and turning it into a game then crowd sourcing it to gamers, the problem was solved in 10 days.  Here’s the actual article, you can use it for one of your literary reviews:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20108365-247/foldit-game-leads-to-aids-research-breakthrough/

In other words, crowd sourcing can lead to amazing things without destroying individualism (or can it?).  I’d suggest you either take that as a main goal, or find something that really makes a stand more than scoring that whopping one dollar bill.

Otherwise, great stuff!



Proposal Remix Project

 

1. Project Title Monster Mash-Up
2. Description Without remixed projects of literary classics, our digital society, that is growing away from the time old tradition of reading, faces the chance of losing the value and worth of literary classics in our new culture of computer based interactions and technology. However, by the creation and lasting impression of remixed literary classics, the second life and existence of masterpieces in these new remixes will bring further importance and renewed interest to the great works of our* time and society.
3. Project Members Tara Pina (I don’t know how to make that accent), Mikhaela Tait, Gwendolyn Hammer, Curtis Jenkins, Jalena Reschke
4. Social Proof
1. Evidence of informal social proof (from classmates, peers)
1. Tara Pina:
   Damn right I worship terminator.....and would die without the machines...... but jokes aside in all reality, I just don't see the reasoning or necessity because 1) I feel at balance with technology - i am the master not the slave! and 2) I don't need to make myself a guinea pig to find out something that is known just like I don't need to smoke meth for that experience .... ;)
   Greg Williams:
   Great idea +Curtis Jenkins , I will need to check my calendar closely so that I don't miss any specific homework that requires me to use media! Being a media arts major that may be difficult. Have you seen what this fellow from "The Verge" has been doing? Pretty interesting when it comes to media fasting like a boss
   Gwendolyn Hammer:
   I'd participate. If I planned ahead far enough.
2. Evidence of outside social proof (from enthusiasts, experts)
4. Annotated list of potential sources of further social proof
1. Social Proof from enthusiasts- I think this guys counts as an enthusiast, though I’m not all that crazy about starting a conversation with him (based on his language in the video) http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/10/tm-e13/
2. Another option is just providing proof of how much machinima is out there already reenacting novels, such as this and this. I know Lord of the Rings isn’t a cannonized classic, but it proves that there is an audience, at least for popular books into Machinima
1. Professor Kelly and Professor Doug McKinley (Professors of Media Effects)-- very interested in current trends that affect the way the population views media and literature.
2. Professor Callahan (Professor of Communications)-- highly interested in how media changes and the theories involved.
5. Literature Review
1. Links to blog posts exploring the topic from group members
1. http://xxicenturygirl.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-i-cant-im-connected.html
   http://socialmediacrityandme.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast.html
   http://dyckellis326.blogspot.com/2012/09/reflections-on-media-fast-we-are-so.html
   http://ricksrebecca326.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-media-fast-sunday.html
   http://digitalcommunicationplease.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-media-snacking-at-least-it.html
   http://craftonallie326.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fastunavoidable-failure.html
2. At least three books that establish the relevance and importance of the topic. These can be trade book nonfiction titles or scholarly studies.
1. Frankenstien-- Mary Shelley
2. Niche Envy- by Joseph Turow
3. Fictional Realities- by J.J.A. Mooij
4. Theories of Human Communication- Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss
6. Literary Component
1. How might literary works provide content or insight for the project (draw from group members' literary works studied)
1. Understanding just how remix culture operates as well as how communications and media have been affected over time will be important in creating remixes of Frankenstien.  Also, in order to not confuse or presented already known facts, we must research the topic we wish to present.
7. Format(s) and Audience(s)
8. How will the project be formalized? How will it be distributed and to whom? We can put the video on youtube, make a blog diary,
1. via facebook/other social networks
2. flash book
9. Success Criteria
1. Our project will have been successful if we created peices that use new sorce of media to remix the work of Frankenstien in a way that interest the current generations more than the work in it's traditional literary form.
10. Prototype
1. In order to gain the original insight, class participation involved the creation of this poster as well as the media fast that has already taken place. 

 

 

The media fast, itself, was a prototype of part of the project that you, professor Gideon, have already participated in.  In other words, the project has already gained the participation of a large part of the class.

Media Project Proposal

Media Fast Vision

The media fast enlightened a way of viewing man and machine in a symbiotic way.  We want to create either a video or literary work that metaphorically presents our discovery in a creative way.

Current Peer Social proof:

Tara Pina:

Damn right I worship terminator.....and would die without the machines...... but jokes aside in all reality, I just don't see the reasoning or necessity because 1) I feel at balance with technology - i am the master not the slave! and 2) I don't need to make myself a guinea pig to find out something that is known just like I don't need to smoke meth for that experience .... ;)

Greg Williams:

Great idea +Curtis Jenkins , I will need to check my calendar closely so that I don't miss any specific homework that requires me to use media! Being a media arts major that may be difficult. Have you seen what this fellow from "The Verge" has been doing? Pretty interesting when it comes to media fasting like a boss

Gwendolyn Hammer:

I'd participate. If I planned ahead far enough.

Outside Social proof:

List of future social proof:

Professor Callahan (Professor of Communications)

Jim Stogdil (Author of “My Paleo Media Diet”)

Professor Kelly and Professor Doug McKinley (Professors of Media Effects)

Blog Links:

http://xxicenturygirl.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-i-cant-im-connected.html

http://socialmediacrityandme.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast.html

http://dyckellis326.blogspot.com/2012/09/reflections-on-media-fast-we-are-so.html

http://ricksrebecca326.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-media-fast-sunday.html

http://digitalcommunicationplease.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-media-snacking-at-least-it.html

http://craftonallie326.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fastunavoidable-failure.html

Literary Review:

1.  Niche Envy- by Joseph Turow

2.  Fictional Realities- by J.J.A. Mooij

3.  Theories of Human Communication- Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss

Literary Component:  The study of Media and Man make up a large part of the communication studies society.  Fully understanding the subject matter and how it can be presented in an interesting and clever analogy could make the information we’ve gained more receivable then simply placing it in a long boring report.  See how many people have read online scholar journals of media effects as opposed to the number that have seen the Terminator, Matrix, Avatar, or God Bless America.

The project will be mainly geared towards the communication studies groups.  This consist of both professors in Public Relations, Advertising, Communications, and Journalism but also deals with Web Design and parts of Psychology.  This project could not only target scholars in these areas, but students as well.  The project would either be presented in a video, screenplay, or literary work.

Success Criteria:

The main idea is to create a literary or media piece that presents the idea that man and machine already live in a symbiotic relationship.  Metaphoric pieces have already been done in the past but almost all of them reflect a negative image of the Machines struggle with Man such as in The Terminator, Wally, and The Matrix.  We want to offer a fresh perspective.

Prototype:

The initial discovery phase of this project has already been completed by a large part of the class.  While the main presentation will be done by a small group, the whole class has already been involved.  Frankly I’m a little frustrated I’ve been trying to plan out everything with absolutely no guidelines all to have them dropped on my head and told I need this whole thing mapped out in 48 hours.

Here's the media fast Poster we've already use to try and gain participation in the fast.

 

 

The Last Media Fast I Will Ever Do

When I started this project, I was hoping for a little realization.  Maybe an understanding, or at worst, a mental breakdown.  I had no idea what was really in store for me. 

My plan was perfect, start the media fast off with a date.  Can’t use cellphones on a date anyways, not without looking like a tool.  A movie was obviously out, what about the hot springs?  It’d be a good way to escape media and still have fun.  First off, coordinating a date without a phone was impossible.  I eventually resorted to having my roommate text the girl for me.  I know that’s like having your atheist friend steal bubble gum for you because he’s already going to hell, but it’s the only way things could work.

Two hours later, we all clamper up to the lip of the hot springs, just as my flashlight begins to die.  I can already tell there’s a gang of people in one of the springs, laughing and splashing around like a bunch of amped up chimpanzees.  Quickly sliding my dying light across them, I try to see just how many people there are.  The light bounces back to my eye balls exposing a scene of pasty white naked bodies that will forever sear my darkest nightmares.  And then my flashlight dies.  I instinctively reach for my cellphone, all too remember it’s been safely locked away for the media fast.  So there I am, surrounded by darkness, in the middle of a nudist colony.

The group I’m with becomes impatient—what’s the hold up?  I try to whisper something about the nudies, but it comes out much too loud.  With nothing left to do, I slink over to the hot springs right next to the skinnies.  Trying to navigate around is terrible, as I pull off my shirt and shoes.  At one point, I end up falling into the nudist hot tube.  For my own sake, I pray it was only somebody’s arm I grabbed to stabilize myself.  Suddenly, I realize my sister knows where other hot springs are somewhere up river if I could just call her.  A wave of relief washes over me, quickly replaces by a titanic frost as I realize again,  I don’t have my phone.  And so, for what is probably the most awkward date I will ever have in my life, we sit in the dark, terrified to move as we listen to the bizarre laughter and splashing of a bunch of buck-naked libertarians.

I thought this experience would show me just how much power machines had in my life.  What I discovered is that the two are intertwined.  Not just with work, or school, but socially, emotionally, everything.  Machines are not our masters, nor are we their slaves.  They’re part of us, just like we are part of them.  Take away my cellphone and you’ve taken away a social element that’s infused with everything else I do socially.  We were never fighting the terminators after all, we were the terminators.

 

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Everyone’s in the Media Fast

Hey everyone, so we’ve all been recruited into the media fast.  What’s that?  You’re happy being a wheel-running gerbil slave to your iPhone?  Well, I'll explain just how the media fast is going to go.  This weekend, for 24 hours, no media.  That means cellphones, Internet, and television or music.  The point isn’t to do it, it's simple to experience what it would be like.  So if you’re worried you won't make it the full 24 hours, just try to go as long as you can.  If you have to stop for work, that's just fine.  Afterwards, write a blog about the experience, the whole experience.  Meaning if you didn’t make it the full 24 hours or you cheated, just say so in the blog.  Make it as honest as possible.  And if you’re with Tara’s terminator-worshipping addicts and hate the media fast, then write that in your blog about that and tell me why.  Using all the information and different blogs, well make a video presenting it all.  I already know several communications professors interested in just how this turns out.  Truly, we owe it to our potentially overweight, cyber crazed children to show u still have power over the machines.