Discussion Questions

1) Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??


I believe that the quality of amateur user-generated content will improve over time. It seems already that the amateur user-generated content is trying to emulate certain types of "homegrown" TV shows. For example, if you look at the link posted, you can see a very similar camera style and even plot similarity between the video and the TV show The Office. It just makes sense that the quality of content the amateurs put out would try to be as well developed as possible so as to attract a wider audience. As for the shows that are looking at producing "homegrown" shots, it is only a matter of time before they die out. There is only so much you can do with that type of filming. This shooting style is only truly effective for comedy. There is still going to be a huge call for the professional looking content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Ny4hh-OW8


2) What social media sites do you find yourself using the most, and why? In your opinion why is Facebook so much more successful than MySpace, and do you think Facebook is "here to stay" for the long term.

I use Facebook more than anything. I may not look at it all the time, but it is always open in a tab on my Internet. I feel like Facebook is seen as better than MySpace because of the whole scandals with MySpace and everyone worrying about online predators. As for Facebook, there is a lot more privacy options and is just seen as safer to be on. The main reason I have a Facebook instead of MySpace is that when I had a MySpace, I went to log in and next thing I know, there is a Trojan virus on my computer. That was the last time I used MySpace. As far as Facebook's continued success goes, I believe it is here to stay. Every few months, Facebook updates, changes, and gets more advanced. Because of this, there is more offered to the users of Facebook.

3) Why is transparency such an important concept in the Social Media world? Is it MORE or LESS important in the offline world? Why?

Transparency reveals motives. Although everyone likes to believe that they do things for others, there is still a small part of them that does it out of selfish desires. This is just human nature. I believe it is just as important in the online world as it is off-line. If someone is paid to say something on or off-line people tend to pass judgement on those who provided whatever information to an audience. Being paid off to show someone else in a better light (whether they whole-heartedly believe it or not) still looks bad. Everywhere you go though, you are going to find bias and this is just the result of education. Their motives may be monetary or something to that nature and in the eyes of the audience, that is skewing their opinion, or at least the opinion they are portraying.

In-Class Bonus Assignment

In this picture, again I am emphasizing the negative effects of technology on our natural lives. With each of the new advances, come many new drawbacks. In the image above, I am depicting the idea of isolationism from society as a result of abuse of technology. In today's society, all you need is a computer and an internet connection and you have the ability to know whatever, whenever. No longer is there a pressing need to go outside, to be active. From Peapod by Stop & Shop to web-chatting with Skype and Oovoo, going out and socializing is becoming less and less necessary. In the image above, you see a woman walking a seemingly endless road where at the end is society (a group of people symbolizing society), but in order to get to that society and begin her journey back to natural human communication, she must put down her laptop and focus on the journey ahead, not her Facebook page.

McLuhan Photoshop Final Post

Through the internet, people have been becoming more isolated and less inter-personal. My photoshop project uses this message and depicts a picture in which a woman is so consumed by the internet and all its expansion, and is slowly losing the face-to-face interaction that is vital to human communication and connection. In the upper right, there is a dream-like scene where the main woman is seen in a causal coffee shop setting, yet as you can clearly see, the woman on the right is fading quickly and her face is gone. The essentials to life (food) are not on her side of the table, signifying her ensured death. Through this picture, I have clearly portrayed that the birth and growth of the internet is bringing the death and decay to interpersonal communication.

Photoshop Assignment (Medium is the Message)

Through the internet, people have been becoming more isolated and less inter-personal. My photoshop project uses this message and depicts a picture in which a woman is so consumed by the internet and all its expansion, and is slowly losing the face-to-face interaction that is vital to human communication and connection. In the upper right, there is a dream-like scene where the main woman is seen in a causal coffee shop setting, yet as you can clearly see, the woman on the right is fading quickly and her face is gone. The essentials to life (food) are not on her side of the table, signifying her ensured death. Through this picture, I have clearly portrayed that the birth and growth of the internet is bringing the death and decay to interpersonal communication.

McLuhan's Modern "Mediums" of Communication

Medium: Social Networks
Content: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace
McLuhan's Message: By interacting with peers through this type of medium, there is a disconnect between you and the other person. Not only is it encouraging laziness by convenience, but it is promoting a newly accepted isolation. People are taking refuge in their Facebook and MySpace accounts and taking the initiative to start a conversation while safely behind a computer screen rather than face-to-face with someone.

Medium: Advanced Mobile Devices
Content: iPhone, iPad, iTouch
McLuhan's Message: These new media mediums add a new level of technology to our lives, yet it eliminates some other important factors. I could spend all day playing Angry Birds or Tap Tap Dance, yet should I? It is not the development and precision put into these devices that is worrisome, but instead the time devoted to playing around on these new "toys." Promoting lazy habits, drawing more and more people away from activity, and safe isolation in each device are all effects of prolonged usage of each of these mediums. Where is the iRun?

Medium: Video Chat
Content: Oovoo, Skype, iChat
McLuhan's Message: Yet another attack on our social abilities. Being able to keep in touch over long distances is great, but when it gets to be the only way of communicating with people, it has stopped being helpful and turned harmful. No one should be saying "I find that if I go a day without using Skype, I wake up in the morning confused as to where I am. My life is so different without a night of Skyping." (Direct quote from one of my floor-mates.) All that is needed to join is an account, computer, and a webcam. These three necessities are becoming more and more common at a younger and younger age. Again, it leads us to ask where the face-to-face communication has gone.