Digital Media Distribution

Alright so I made this sweet powerful video, well now what? How do I get it to my intended audience? Well lets go back to Bitzer and talk about exigency, this video was created to help college kids at my campus coop with stress and the effects of living in Houghton with little control over family life. How do I get it to them? 

The best way I can think of (and also the quickest) would be to post to YouTube or Vimeo, any quick video uploading sites, then, post the shit out of it all over facebook/twitter/myspace(to the few lost souls still there) and sit back and collect. Facebook has a Michigan tech page, makes it soooo easy posting to it to help connect to students right away. Michigan Tech's facebook group has almost 2,500 members, before the internet, how would I get to all of these students without walking around, posting flyers, trying to get people to sit and watch my movie. Thank you, digital information age. 

Videos just posted to youtube will get lost in the sea of incoming videos. There has to be an intermediate site to connect with the audience. Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, all of these are web 2.0 sites. Youtube alone boosts. They all are dependent on user participation to survive. So the more effort I put into this participation, the more audience I can reach. 

I never explicitly say Michigan Tech in my video, so this allows me to create the secondary audience to be any college student anywhere. How powerful can that be? This video applies hardest to students who are stuck and stressed with their work, school, and its very difficult for many young people to talk about it. I've had to have many conversations with friends who are struggling with campus/home life. 'How can I watch after my family if I'm stuck here?' How can you watch after anyone if you don’t get a degree? You can only have so much control, in so many parts of your life, you’re only human. 

Its difficult to portray that message. People don’t want to be told that they're not all powerful, vulnerable. I feel that the way I produced this video will help explain this in a suitable, non-invasive way, not to long to belabor the issue (or engage fight or flight), and not to short that it's left open ended. People are much more likely (judging from personal experience) to give a video a chance if its short, ~3 minutes or less.  

These social media sites allow us to have great influence and power over advertisement. I don't have to spend a dime, or even an hour, to get my link out to thousands of people. Strategy is key, most people heard, most primary audience reached, with the least amount of effort. 

Good thing I'm not a marketing major. 

-Comrade Chris

Video Youtube Link

Alright so I finally uploaded my video. However there are about 1.463 Million damn videos named "What is Control?" So I'll probably pull it down, retitle it, then reupload it. Dumb.

-Comrade Chris

Are video games an art form?

First of all, absolutely! Think about what video games are comprised of: story line, music, animation, and participation. All of these things go into a game, and all of these things are considered art by themselves. So why is it then that when we put them all together...its not art?

I just read Henry Jenkins piece titled: Art Form from the Digital Age: Video Games shape our culutre. It's time we took them seriously.

It's a fantastic piece and he does a great job of looking at video games in a rhetorical fashion. What can video games do for us? Why cant they win art awards for being beautiful in storyline and gameplay?

Just a thought.

-Comrade Chris

Percussive maintenance - a fine technique

Web definitions

• Percussive maintenance, also known as percussion therapy or a technical tap, is a term used to describe the malediction of an ill-behaved device to make it work, that is to say, swear at it and hit it. 

Its kind of humorous when you think about it, and its definitely worked for me on numerous occasions. 

Grabbed this definition off Wiki. 

-Comrade Chris

Digital Media Rhetorical Analysis

                The idea behind this production was to reveal the vulnerability of humans and our lack of control. We do a good job of hiding our insecurities and as a culture, society, and as an individual. The purpose of this production was to show our strengths by showing tall buildings and talking about are power over the elements, slowly building up the drive of humanity to control the world, make the audience feel comfortable. Then take that away by showing that nature is in control, showing clips of nature effecting humanity, and persistent erosion. If the video would have gone right out and attacked humans’ strengths then it would me more likely to engage the fight or flight mechanism and make the video less effective.

                As the film is done mainly in Houghton, the audience is a local one, however I think the message applies to a wide range of people. Most of the footage is done of the campus buildings to help build a since of localness. By doing that it will make the piece seem more credible, which is very necessary to get the audience to sit and watch the whole video to fully explain my thoughts. I did include some shots of the bridge and the war memorial because those are also objects that people see every day but don’t really spend too much time thinking about their meaning.  The message that I recorded could have been given just as audio and let the imagination run wild with ideas, but with added visual content it helps keep us all on the same page and keep the viewer focused and interested.

                Contextually this is a very complicated idea and can go many places. The idea of using a video as opposed to text (in a website format) or audio alone was discussed but the fluidity of a video and its multi-sensory output was picked over the other two. Narrating the audio also helps the reader follow along. Instead of having to stumble through texts with people’s different reading speeds, by reading it to the audience I can go at a quicker pace and increases the quality of the video. Text can come off as tacky and can make it seem like a poor production.  It adds a sense of realism to actually hear a sincere sounding speaker pull in the listener.

                Overall during the testing the video turned out effective. I did intend for the end of the video to be uplifting but it was hard to do without completely changing the music around.  It did come across with its intended serous tone and showed great potential to effect an audience after a little bit of editing to slow it down so the reader can keep up with the idea. After this video is posted on a video site such as YouTube, its quick 2 minute message will have great usability and can keep the short attention span viewers intent on the message.  

-Comrade Chris

Other digital media project reviews

Alex's piece: Not exactly sure what the argument is, the artwork is extremely well down though.  From what I could see while he was standing up there it's related to his tattoos. It needs a little further development but I think it has potential.

My own work: got the argument, music went well, good quality, good visual of buildings, visual wasn't distracting.

development: sadder music audience would've cried, more audio splicing, image fade in/out.

Craig's work: argument, everyone needs a montage. fantastic acting, video clips fit in really well, appropriate length. development: working high quality, little more space in between some videos

Steven's work: argument, what is like in the dark? What do friends do as they wander around the town, having fun looking for a good time, not really anything else. Pros: great cinematography, solid camera shots, music fit great with the piece, clips fit smoothly together. Cons: I could see how some people having trouble following the work.

Ronnie/Stevie: argument, actions speak louder than words, everyone's different from what they say they are and how they act. Pros: funny, the video splicing is very well done, I like the chapters split up. Cons: maybe language? some sound quality is a little bad in spots, not a lot of people know what the MICUP program is.

Sarah's work: Argument, the will to live? Maybe to keep running and trying even if you're tired. Pros: good song choice, fit the visual elements. Cons: wasn't really sure what she was doing in the beginning of the video, message was a little unclear.

Greg: argument, getting out knowledge about bills in house. Pros: very well broken down for many different generations, friendly looking, easy to navigate. Cons: scroll buttons didnt highlight on my browser, could just be the computer though.

Kay's video: argument, kindergartner development? pros: good shot transitions. cons: hard to tell what exactly we were looking at, not sure if that was the best song choice, seemed a little heavy for this type of video but it is her style, maybe add some before/after shots to help show his progress? Best quote: "When I grow up I want to be a green crayon."

Kyle's website: argument, showing off his portfolio and his website. Pros: easy on the eyes, quote in the center is inspiring and not threatening, easy to navigate. Cons: older browsers make the page look like crap, image didn't scale well.

Jifu's video: argument, save me from myself? Pros: different song than I would have expected, good intro, I liked the different view points from different players, using cs instead of css was a good chance of pace. Cons: the argument was a little unclear, video was rather long and ended abruptly.

-Comrade Chris

Digital Media project update

So Saturday I went out with my friend Craig and got a ton of video from the area, then yesterday I wrote the text of what I'm going to read! Expect that I'll be posting my video pretty soon here, either tonight or tomorrow night. After I post the video I'll post the text from it too, should be awesome!

Now that I have all the clips it shouldn't be to difficult to slide all of these clips together. I think the biggest problem is finding an open source song, once I have a pretty low key song I can overlay that on the video while I talk for a better enveloping experience.

Song 1 It's a concert, so I think that makes it open source. I also just found this, from here.

UPDATE: Alright so I think I got the project all finished! Tomorrow I'll be doing a little testing with my instructor and my classmates before I post the video online. It turned out wayyyyy sweeter than I expected, even exported it in 1080p for maximum YouTube power.

Boom. Snacks on snacks.


-Comrade Chris

Digital Media Production: Control.

The statement of purpose for this piece:

The goal of this piece is to build up the strengths and accomplishments of mankind, then remind my audience that we are not in control of all points of our lives, and that’s alright. This will be accomplished by taking short video clips of the local city (Houghton) and of Tech’s campus; this will build up the accomplishments, then film nature, to show the lack of control. Then I will write, record, and overlay myself speaking the overall message to the video. I can test these parts separately, by showing someone the video with no audio to one audience, then later read the dialog to a different audience. This will allow me to revise the separate parts without over complication.

I think this solid idea can be laced with all sorts of meanings and ideas. Should be fun to do as well!  

-Comrade Chris

So you want to argue huh?

Just finished reading the first 2 chapters of Wysocki and Lynch's piece: Compose, Design, Advocate, and I really liked what they doing. These first two chapters are really oriented on how to use effective rhetoric and help strengthen your argument.

In the first chapter they talk a man named "Walter" and his conversation shortfall. They then use this to show their 7 problems with their argument.

1. Specific Purpose
2. Audience
3. Large Context
4. Communication Strategy
5. Medium of Communication
6. Order of Information
7. Testing their Communication

This is an awesome breakdown of an argument.

By looking at Context, Audience and Purpose (does a great job explaining each one) then breaks down some good strategy techniques. Like for instance, thinking about where and when this argument is going to take place. What is your audience? What are they going to expect going into it and how can you have an effective purpose statement that can right away, lead your argument in the direction that you want.

Overall the first 2 chapters are super informative. Quick read, super full of helpful information. Would buy if I had money.

-Comrade Chris

Great Example of Fair Use.

So I had a great discussion today about fair use. I think this youtube clip by Pogo is an excellent example of using less than 3 minutes of a film, qualifying for fair use.

As for how cover bands work, I read this quick blerb about it on wiki:

"Since the Copyright Act of 1909, in the United States there has been a right to record a version of someone else's tune, whether of music alone or of music and lyrics.^[7] A license can be specifically negotiated between representatives of the interpreting artist and the copyright holder, or recording of published tunes can fall under a mechanical license whereby the recording artist pays a standard royalty to the original author/copyright holder through an organization such as the Harry Fox Agency, and is safe under copyright law even if they do not have any permission from the original author."


I think thats pretty interesting. 


Discalimer: I am not claiming the above work(from wikipedia) is mine nor am I claiming it to be factual.

TED talk on Larry Lessig: Law vs. Creativity.

The link for the TED talk can be found here. I found this presentation fantastic. Lessig, through 3 different parts presents a great argument.

In the first section he explains how one man was afraid that technology(voice recorders) would destroy society and essentially take away the need for vocal cords.

The second talks about how before 1945 it was law that your property extended upwards for an infinite amount of space, and how two farmers tried claiming that planes flying over head were trespassing. Eventually the court rules that this is ridiculous it is "Common Sense".

Finally in the third section he ties this all together with the example that current copy write laws are like the man afraid of technology. Companies like YouTube now take down posts/works that may even fall under fair use just because they use copyrighted material.

Lessig uses this argument to build the idea that a new form of copyrighted laws are going to be needed quickly as this younger generation uses more and more technology to rework, re-engineer, and revision previous work. By using the idea that maybe copyright laws should allow non-commercial use of works so that users can create freely. Overall this piece did a wonderful job of building background and completing his argument.

-Comrade Chris

The Rhetorical Situation by Bitzer

So I just finished a quick read through of Bitzer's piece: The Rhetorical Situation. I found the piece extremely difficult to read. I understand his 4 categories of rhetoric: purpose, audience, content, context. That all makes sense. He uses some examples that I find hard to follow. I'll edit this post later after a good class discussion so I can accurately explain by findings.

One eternity later...

So we had a pretty good discussion about rhetoric in class today. I have to admit I'm still a little fuzzy on the topic but I'll try and post what I think I understand. I think its the effective use in language by use of context, audience and exigence/motivation. Context meaning how relevant, is it appropriate, and how credible is the speaker. Audience, who is the intended recipient, who could potentially be unintended recipients. And finally what is the motivation for writing this work. 

After the discussion I have a greater appreciation for Bitzers break down of rhetoric. Still think its a very dense piece. Made me feel like a idiot reading it.

-Comrade Chris

A take on Michigan Tech’s computer literacy.

A take on Michigan Tech’s computer literacy.

There are many conceptions coming into a technological university, especially one such as Michigan Tech. I hear from people down state all the time, “Oh you go to school way up there? You must have a good head on your shoulders,” or something along those lines.  Having the word technological in a title often gives people the impression that all students up here are magically gifted with super human computer knowledge. I can tell you that after two and a half years of tech support on Tech’s campus that that is very far from the truth. Not everyone, as Palfrey and Gasser would put it, is a “Digital Native” (1). I admit that there are some extremely bright incoming freshmen with computer knowledge but not every student is so lucky.  Before we begin we need a way to define knowledge with computers. Let’s break down this kind of tech knowledge into terms of literacy and fluency. 

                 According to Williams “literacy is defined as a particular capacity and mode of behavior: the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities at home, at work and in the community – to achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential,”(5).  With literature, literacy is more than just being able to read a simple text. Can the student decode the meaning out of the text, are they able to comprehend it. Applying this concept to computers we can gather that it’s the ability to understand digital material and use it their everyday lives effectively.  If a student is reading a PDF instruction on their computer about how to install a program in a step by step format, their computer literacy will be tested as they attempt to decode the instructions. For this reason written literacy and computer literacy are very closely related.

                Moving onto the next part of this computer knowledge, what does it mean to have Information Technology (IT) fluency? This is a little trickier. It isn’t the basic skills such as knowing how to read the text on the computer screen, it’s deeper than that. Blackmon helps explain by breaking down fluency into the following: material, confidence, competency, and comfort (154).  We can apply these concepts to these any incoming freshman class. I’ve seen it year after year, walk into a new residence room to help with their connection issue and there is a brand new laptop just out of the box, and a student staring blankly at the screen. 

                The first concept that we can look at is material.  From firsthand knowledge, a surprising amount of incoming students have never owned their own personal computer before coming to college.  The United States 2009 census indicates 78% of households have an internet connection (BI:208). So it’s likely that they have a computer in their family living room however it can be intimidating when it’s your own.  This can lead to a literary deficiency when it comes to computers.  Some of these students have the most basic problems of even checking e-mail, or following simple digital instructions to connect to a site. This lack of primary knowledge often leads to frustration and doubt, the two killers when it comes to working with computers. Even from Tech’s admission site: “The computer you’re most comfortable with is the one we recommend,” (¶ 1).  Just like a young student starting to read, if they don’t have the confidence to explore, try something know, or troubleshoot these kids/young adults are held back by their own fear of the unknown leading them to a lagging start. 

                It’s not that these kids aren’t smart cookies or don’t have the cognitive capacity to learn computers, it’s just that they haven’t had the time to sit down and learn. This also comes down to specific knowledge.  Just as an example an incoming student could be very adept at mechanical knowledge, however computers are a completely different beast. They may have great visualization skills about moving arms, joints or drive shafts. Things don’t move inside a computer (an exception for the hard drive), this I think is the biggest problem for most people. How do you conceptualize how to check your e-mail if you’re lacking confidence to get started? Through other skills a student can show that they have competency, but not necessarily with IT. Competency and confidence will eventually lead to comfort. Only after they gain a bit of preliminary knowledge, primary literacy, do the start to understand and are able to conceptualize how to use their laptop or desktop, then all the other fluency and literary skills fall into place and the student feels comfort with trying something brand new. 

                It is my hope as an IT professional is that I can help lead these kids and jump start their literacy and fluency with computers. I want to break this misconception that all tech students are great with technology. This is a dangerous mindset can cause frustration in bright students who fear asking for help because it could lead to condescension from other students.  These students have a tough enough intellectual career ahead of them and they will need confident fluency and literacy with IT computing to help build a strong base for their future.  

-Comrade Chris

               

Work Cited:

Williams, Kate. "Literacy and computer literacy: Analyzing the NRC's 'Being Fluent with Information Technolog'yf." Literacy and Technology. 3.1 (2003): 20. Web. 23 May. 2012. <http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume3/literacy.katewilliams.pdf>.

Blackmon, Samantha. (Cyber)Conspiracy Theories?; African American Students in the Computerized Writing Enciroment. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. 2007. Print.

Michigan Technological University Admissions. N.d. www.mtu.edu, Houghton. Web. 23 May 2012. <http://www.mtu.edu/admissions/accepted/computers/>.

"United States Census ." (2009): n.pag. Web. 26 May 2012. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/information_communications/telecommunications.html>.

Palfrey, , and Gasser. "Born Digital." . N.p., 2009. Web. 26 May 2012. <http://www.perinternet.org/Reports/2009/10-Home-Broadband-Adoption_2009/1-Summary-of-findings.aspx

What being fluent in technology means.

I just finished reading Kate Williams peice on Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing the NRC’s Being Fluent with Information Technology

I found it very interesting. In it she goes and describes 11 thesis on litereacy and further goes to describe what that means for us as students, parents, culturally, and for members of society.

The Thesis are as follows:
1. Literacy is a technical skill.
2. Literacy is conceptual.
3. Literacy is historical.
4. Literacy is social.
5. Literacy is intertwined with power.
6. There is a literacy divide between school and home.
7. Bridging different literacies is desirable.
8. Literacy theory is in crisis.
9. Literacy problems suggest that democracy is threatened.
10. Literacy theory is cultural hegemony.
11. The digital format integrates literate forms of communications with non-literate forms.

The thesis that I find most interesting are 9 and 10. I feel like this can be related to the Marxists idea of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. If the lower masses are computer literate and don't have the necessary materials, competency, or fluency to engage a digital world then  how can they make informed decision in a democratic state? This is making the less now have much less. Knowledge is power then we are leaving these computer illiterate people behind.

If the upper classes of society can dominate on the digital sphere then that is leading to cultural hegemony.  These people go out and become lawyers, engineers, politicians, important people in society because they have the knowledge to get there. Our country is only as strong as our weakest link and as the proletariat is being left behind, its only making it worse, as a state, country, and globally.

-Comrade Chris

The idea of Digital Natives

I just finished reading the introduction for "Born Digital" by Palfrey and Gasser and I have to admit I really agree with what they were coming from. The younger generation (~30 and below) are extremely proficient at digital interfacing. So good in fact that they are leaving behind parents, teachers, librarians, and other important traditional mentors.

I feel like I have a good grasp on both the analog and digital world. We had a computer in the house for a long time but we never had internet access for a long time. I think it knowing the old ways of media is extremely helpful for those rare situations where its needed, but that's a dying fancy. 

I think the most fascinating thing about this explosion of technological adeptness is how weak governments are at controlling young clever kids. When ever one piracy site goes down, 3 spawn up in its place. When ever one kid gets busted for downloading, there are 10 more who discover it that same day. Today I learned that the RIAA is sueing LimeWire for more money than the world currently owns (World GDP: between $52-62 trillion, Asking amount for sue: $75 trillion). I think the government and these recording companies are losing the battle that it has on their hands and if it wants to be effective digitally its going to need to really change up its game.

-Comrade Chris

Already Read It.

            What if your daily entertainment site was more than just for laughs? What if while you browsed funny pictures and movies you learned something new about the world? The website, Reddit is a great example of how a site can union science with politics, entertainment with humor, and even animals with death metal. 

            Reddit is a fast moving information site where posts are submitted and subject to a voting system. There are many news sites out in the world but, Reddit stands out from the crowed. The site’s motto is “The front page of the internet” and for good reason. Anyone can post anything about any topic, whether it’s a video, image, site link, question, comment, or an idea. For example, let’s say a person is really interested in sea horses. A user can go on the site and view (or create if there isn’t one) a subreddit. Subreddits are groups that help organize all posts on a specific topic into one place and help bring people who really like sea horses together to share, learn, and collaborate.  When a post is submitted to a subreddit it is subject to a voting system. If there is a sea horse post that appears to be about dogs, the irrelevance of the post is voted on by other users that can give it a “downvote”. If your post gets too many “downvotes” it gets “buried,” it doesn’t really go anywhere, however, if your post is popular and many people like it they can give it an “upvote.” The more “upvotes” a post  gets the more people tend to notice it. If the votes reach up into the hundreds the post has the chance to reach the front page! The front page is much like that of a newspaper; it’s a collection of recent popular posts from all the Subreddits and put on Reddit’s homepage.  The front page is filtered by popular vote so that the posts with the highest approval rates are featured, this unique way of channeling certain pieces of media and information to the front page makes Reddit a different type of news site. This is a perfect example of Mcluhan’s sense of a global village, everyone is connected (Mcluhan)¹.  

            Reddit is set up like a news feed. Posts are organized chronologically with their “upvote” counter shown on the right.  It’s very easily considered a digital media artifact as it is only found online. Created by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, graduates from the University of Virginia in 2005, started the website as a way to connect people². The demographic of the site reaches nearly every age range and nearly every age group, although, that the average user (~72%) are between 25 to 34 years old and in the lowest income bracket, $25k and less.  (What is the significance behind this type of age group? Are those between the ages of 25 and 34 more likely to use online websites like this? Is it a generational thing? Elaborate a little bit.) But with 2.065 billion page views³ what makes Reddit so popular?

            With more than 100,000 subreddits⁴, the content on Reddit is astronomical. Entertainment subreddits like /funny have nearly 1.8 million subscribers, /pics has 1.4 million. What about the more serious subreddits? What about the non-funny ones? For example /politics has 1.56 million people who follow it. The subreddit based in “Interesting Facts”, “Today I Learned”, or /TIL, has 1.4 million followers⁵. This vast contrast of humor and science brings in a very interesting dynamic to a site. The broad range of topics established in the site has brought many people from different ages, ethnicities, and income to one place to browse for new information and entertainment. Reddit has become a place where people can share their interests and discover new interests in one single site. The site has few limitations which allow people to post what they want and “upvote” what they like. Reddit is open and subject to the people want. With the content and the number of readers it can vary easily be considered a Hypermedia according to Manovich’s piece on The Language of New Media⁶. Reddit offers laughs and knowledge in one place. Shows like the Magic School Bus, which also try to inform in an entertaining way, cannot compare to the essence of Reddit. This is where Reddit rises way above other sites such as Tumblr.com or 9gag.com whose basis is solely on images and short blogs, Reddit offers more ways to connect and experience new information in a fun manner that allows the people to choose what is displayed.

            When it comes to facts, credibility is key. Therefore, Reddit users can prove to the admins of the site that they have certain academic credentials (e.g engineering or geology). After proof is submitted, their username is tagged with a little icon displaying their field of study. So when these professionals comment on posts in their field it can help build a good sense of credibility in what they are saying. This helps to cut down on false content creating a good strong learning environment. A good Subreddit example of this is /askscience, where anything from mathematics to soc./poli-sci./econ./arch./anthro/etc can be found.

            Overall Reddit is a very unique site that offers a lot in way of content and community. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a few good laughs and might want to learn something interesting along the way.

           

            Sources

11 --    McLuhan, Marshall, and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage. 1st ed. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2001. Print.

22 --  http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/10/14/a-rundown-of-reddits-history-and-community-infographic/

33--   http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/2-billion-beyond.html

44 --  http://metareddit.com/

55 --  www.reddit.com

66 --     Manovich, Lev, and . The language of New Media. Cambrage, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002. 19-63.