Visions of UMass Students Today

59 thoughts on “Visions of UMass Students Today”

1. This is so impressive. I like you how carefully watched all the videos and found these common themes. Aside from giving students the opportunity to explore video as a medium, this must also create a sense of mutual respect between teacher and student. I noticed in a few of the videos that students seem to be very inspired by you and feel connected to you – an essential first step toward creating a good learning environment. I look forward to seeing the two final videos. Feel free to e-mail me when they are up. I will be anxious to see them.

2. 3 examples of Juxtaposition in this blog (Revised):
   1)The distance between the news and citizens has been narrowed extremely over the years referring to Demifo14’s video. The image of this is that we go online and the top stories and bolded and right in front of our eyes instead of us looking for the news.
   2) The distance and major differences between the from the blue pill’s world and red pill’s world within the matrix. This question is ultimately what Neo had to decide from and weigh each pro an con. If he stuck with the red pill, his journey would of been over, however he was bold and risked everything to jump in the rabbit’s hole. Because of this I juxtaposed the two different results of the two pills and thought of one world fill of technology and another without any. I did this because ultimately technology is blinding humans and using them for their own benefits. I saw this example in AlPal13’s video within the music as the first lines mention an stronger force or power controlling the singer. This was similar to the humans in the matrix being controlled by technology and being used for a power source.
   3)The distance of the technological spectrum of staying connected and within the loop. How far can we isolate ourselves but still connected referring to the discussion about taskn013’s video.
   Taskn013 displays this through text because her title refers to “staying connected” and “plugged in”. So I wondered how this “connectedness and technological” spectrum would look like. If I got rid of all my technology than I would not be plugged in, but what would describe the minimum technology used, to do indeed stay involved and connected with this technological savvy world?

   3 example of Articulation in this Blog Revised :
   1) Relating to Einstein’s quote, the time difference in today’s society and in his when he said this quote referring to the nuclear wars going on in his time.This is displayed through text because6 students used this quote in their project. However they got a different meaning then the initial meaning about how technology has brought us to nuclear weapons and disasters like Einstein intended it to be about.
   2) Ddavies315 asks how we college student spend our time throughout the day. These similar patterns that all students follow have now become our norm and this time periods movement. This is the millennial’s time period. This example is seen through imagery because we see in her video, students using computers, cell phones etc. This is how we students now live. In different time periods, college students lived and entertained themselves in totally different ways, this is how we, college students, live today.
   3)Changes we need to make to achieve success in our world. This is referring to my video about things we need to adapt to in life to succeed and assimilate to this technological world. This was also illustrated in Nate’s video describing his lifestyle and how he attempts to win each day. Like Charlie Sheen says, “I’m winning,” winning also means being successful and you need to make appropriate adjustments in life to become successful. Nate shows this in his life by hitting the gym and hitting the books. As well the music in the video, is referring to winning and is an auditory example of articulation.

3. 3 examples of Juxtaposition:

   1) Mr.Chadbourne’s video takes place in the dorm room for the entire video. I believe that his video, along with many others in our class, capture how nowadays college students can remain entertained just by staying it their buildings. The distance between young people in the outside world continues to grow as technology advances.

   2) In Demifo14’s video, she uses a cell phone for an alarm clock. I also use my cell phone for an alarm clock, and sometimes even my ipod or computer. There’s really no need for us to have actual clocks anymore when we have so many devices that can tell us to time and wake us up on time. Our generation as a whole is moving away from the traditional way of doing things.

   3) In Nick Jablonsky’ video, he doesn’t use music for the entire length, but instead displays some dialect between some other people and himself. This was original for our class and portrayed how at college, you are almost always around or right next to other people.

   3 examples of Articulation:

   1) Many of our class videos showed scenes in the classroom. not only from out class but i noticed in other videos that almost every student tries to explain how it is difficult to stay focused. It is clear that we have to many distractions, and facebook is displayed on the computer during class in almost every class scene.

   2) In MrChadbourne’s video, when he realizes he is sick, the first thing he does is texts his roommate. The audience actually see’s him text his roommate during the video. This visual shows that if we as students need something, most of these things are just a phone call or text away.

   3) In my own video (Kalf917), I used a quote that explained how the development of to many useless things is resulting in to many useless people. i strongly believe in this quote, and feel that i expressed this idea very clearly by shooting my entire video in my dorm. Nothings more useless than sitting in your dorm room all day.

4. Sgershlak, you’re a good sport and an excellent student. Thanks for giving me permission to use your homework as a “negative example” in order to continue teaching about juxtaposition and articulation. What you’ve done is general and generalized, and what we’re aiming for is specific and particular.

   Michael Wesch, thank you for joining our conversation! I am going to drag you into this lesson, too. An interesting coincidence of timing occurred with your comment to Jamar’s video “My Life, My Eyes, My World and me learning about Hip Hop. I juxtapose our mistakes (!) to see if there is anything to be learned from them. You asked about the Kid Cudi quote, wondering if Kid Cudi said it himself “a Kid Cudi original” or “does it have a deeper history as your reference to “common” suggests?” The snapshot moment is at 3:28, the scrolling text of a quote about Kid Cudi is attributed to Common. I had just learned of Common while working with a friend on a blog entry to record the beginning of my Hip Hop learning curve. I was making other mistakes because I didn’t understand the social structure or hierarchy of roles. For instance I was corrected (in the drafting phase) on two crucial points of shared authorship and the pivotal role of the DJ: “you can’t neglect the musical production of beat, it is just as tricky and important as the production of lyrics and the sense of rhythm through words.”

   The question is – are our mistakes random? Is it simply chance that we made similar mistakes at practically the same time? Or does putting these two errors next to each other help us see a larger pattern? If there is a larger pattern that we are merely instances of, then we have moved beyond juxtaposition to articulation. Our words, written conversationally, show something – but what?

   One possibility is “outsider naming.” Being unfamiliar with the scene and its language, we stumble awkwardly around, trying to describe or label what we think we perceive. What is articulated, then, is a cultural divide.

   Yikes! Now what?

   More specifically, the question (which sets the frame for answers) is, what do we do now that we have been exposed?

5. Articulation:
   Example 1: Plugged In Video
   Visual: walking on a sidewalk with snow on the grass while showing cars in the street passing through a light.
   Auditory: Radioactive by Kings of Leon
   Text: Students remembering slogans like “Yo quiero Taco Bell” over when United States declared its independence.
   This is an example of articulation because it involves the dimension of time.

   Example 2: I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing Video
   Visual: typing “whats next?” into google search bar, and in the drop down “whats next in Egypt” appears.
   Auditory: You Get What You Give by New Radicals
   Text: “whats next?”
   This is an example of articulation because it involves a sense of time. People who will view this video will know what time period this was filmed in because the drop down thought she was looking up “whats next in Egypt”

   Juxtaposition:
   Example 1: A Day in the Matrix
   Visual: speeded up scene of walking down stairs and then looking to find a table in the library.
   Auditory: Shameless by Ani Difranco
   Text: the lyrics to the song:
   “I can’t even slow this down
   Let alone stop this
   And I keep looking around
   But I cannot top this”
   This shows juxtaposition because it is showing the closeness between the visual and the lyrics, how they match up with one another.

   Example 2: My Life
   Visual: seeing a quote on the screen, and behind it skimming through xbox selection screen.
   Auditory: All of the Above by Maino
   Text: “Not only can I connect to the world through my cell phone, but also through Xbox Live”
   The visual matches with the text on the screen, having closeness between the two.

   Sorry steph, this is the best I could find. Hope at least these examples are of what you expected.

6. How I interpreted articulation was how things move together.
   1. All of the videos from the midterm we did. If we moved all the videos together and made one big movie than we would be able to edit down the most important things to use. With that one would see movement from clip to clip but the video would work together to produce a great video.
   2. In Einstein’s quote that many individuals in our class used to make their video was “it is appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” I think this means that with such a great thing like technology that are consequences….like bombs. One thing leads to another.
   3. Also the days in the life of students is an example of articulation. We all have a different schedule that seems to go together: food, lunch, studying.
   Juxtaposition:
   How far can one go without getting lost? Yes, we can argue and yell that technology is taking over, but you either have to adjust to it or be lost with it. And it works the other way around. If you let technology take over you than you too can be lost. You can lose focus in school and the things that are important. One just needs to balance everything out and find the middle. Things need to be able to be side by side.

7. Sgershlak, I’m going to come back to you because the contribution you’ve made is so important to our learning process. However I am going to ‘work backwards,’ starting with the latest comment from beccasimonoko and responding in reverse sequence to ckmetz and Kenny Alfonso before arriving back to where you bravely began this conversation.

   beccasimonoko also did not complete the assignment in the form I’m seeking. Instead, she wrote more of an overview explaining why and how to go about making the final videos. In one respect, her response is also a “negative example,” but everyone should be clear that this is not a bad thing. First (just to clarify), nothing I say here has anything to do with anyone’s grades. What I do write here (in public) has everything to do with our collective learning – we, all of the students and me in the class – and any larger audience that cares enough to pay attention.

   The “positive’ angle of becca’s contribution is her framing of the final videos as an example of articulation. She writes: “If we moved all the videos together and made one big movie than we would be able to edit down the most important things to use. With that one would see movement from clip to clip but the video would work together to produce a great video.” Exactly!

   The distinction between “juxtaposition” and “articulation” as discrete phenomena is not explicit in becca’s response, but – again – her summary of a few key tensions that are made visible by juxtaposing all of the videos with each other is constructive. Her thoughtfulness can help us move toward defining the message that you want these videos to send out into the world of your peers.

   There are two tensions she addresses, although both in a lopsided fashion: one revolves around the argument concerning technology, and the other involves the sense of being “lost.” In both cases, becca only gives us one end of the continuum, leaving us to fill in the blank at the other end (while also figuring out where we fit between the two poles).

   becca says “we can…yell that technology is taking over.” It seems to me that is what most of the videos do. There is a tone (a sense, a key, an affect) of panic and fear. Some videos present (what I’ll call) the opposite emotions of enthusiasm, optimism, and hope. Many videos mix fear with some kind of survival strategy, whether or not the strategy is presented in an upbeat or fatalistic manner. Each final video team needs to define the stance that you want to represent in relation to technology.

   The other continuum involves the tension around attention and consciousness. becca’s phrases are “getting lost” and “let[ting] technology take over.” The opposite of being lost is knowing where you are; likewise the opposite of being overtaken is to exert your own authority to be aware and make decisions with conscious intention toward desired outcomes and effects.

   becca suggests “balance,” adding, “things need to be able to be side by side.” She advocates that we “find the middle.” This recommendation needs to be engaged seriously by your final video project teams. What is your “middle”? Is your “middle” representative of the “middle” of your generation (your target audience, don’t forget!)? What are the ideological components of your middle? Let me pose a parallel between what the authors of the course text say about the news and the middle, and your task of showing what you have learned about media and society:

   “…the selection of issues, stories, and sources is inescapably value laden…the news does not so much occupy the middle ground as define what the middle ground is….in short, the middle ground is ideological precisely because it is a cultural site where commonsense assumptions are produced, reproduced, and circulated” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2003, p. 169).

   In your video project teams, you must identify and critique the “commonsense assumptions” evident in the videos to date and – for the purposes of the final assignment – find a way to challenge those you disagree with and promote alternatives that lead to the future you want.

8. The origami unicorn allows us to create a link between what we believe the structure means and is telling us as well as how we how we hope that people will perceive the media that they are constantly hearing and seeing. The Origami Unicorn can be used as a device that will enable us to put our own fingerprints into Tran’s media storytelling and therefore be a part of the story telling process. In one video by Nate we observe doors and hallways, these doors and hallways are often reappearing in many other videos as well. If we conjoin our thoughts on symbolic pieces of our videos we can then form a greater vision together which will be translated through the origami unicorn. The juxtaposition of many doors and hallways can relate to the options we have of working with or against technology. Doors can also be seen as opportunity and new paths. Or, rather, they can be seen as limits to what we can do with our future. For example, in some videos you never see past the door in a dorm room because the kids are constantly online or watching TV, but in others, you may be moving down a hallway and into the outside world. We can articulate the tone in which we want hallways, doors, and paths to be perceived and therefore rid ourselves of the juxtaposition through a voice in unison.

9. In our final project videos, our class goal is to show the everyday vision of a student at Umass Amherst. The best way for us to reach this goal is to show our lives through the origami unicorn method. By using and combining different scenes from our videos, we will be able to show all different angles of our everyday lives. For example, the first video we watched in class took place in a car and showed the roads and the things that were passed while driving. Driving is a huge part of our lives, but some of the other videos captured some ideas that are just as important. Things such as going to the gym, eating at the dining commons, and hanging out in the dorm play a huge role in every student’s life. Also almost all of the videos show technology being used throughout the entire thing. I agree with what Becca said, and also feel that we need to find a happy medium. Finding a balance or medium for technology would be a great idea to portray in our final projects.

10. While reading Steph’s blog post, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the part when she discussed “getting lost” and “let[ing] technology take over” (Becca). I think this stuck out to me the most because Steph then goes on to discuss that “the opposite of being lost is knowing where you are…” Currently, we are in a computer lab, with so many different mediums around us. I think for our final video, we should show the world the different mediums we use as a class ( twitter, tumblr, wiki, youtubbe, etc) in order to show how we tell put the concept of transmedia storytelling to work. For the Seth Gore group video, I think that we should add in clips from the seminar, and class time we had with Seth as well as the different ways we communicated with him. We used e-mail, we had group discussion and essays written on the wiki, we tweeted our excitement and we wrote reflections on our tumblr. We can show to the world our story and journey with Seth through transmedia story telling (or the origami unicorn).
    For the “Get your flow on” team, they can use different parts of the videos that each of us made for class. An example of Juxtaposition is shown in Jamar’s video when the Kid Cudi song is playing. While this is playing, the quote from common comes up. This juxtaposition shows how two different topics can be so closely related. Another example of articulation that they could use is the picture of the empty dining hall, with the quote from Albert Einstein that relates to the nuclear bomb going off. Is all this technology actually going to be this catastrophic that so many people compared it to a nuclear bomb going off? By using the media survey and getting information about our generation maybe it will make people realize that this is actually that catastrophic and that something needs to be done. Or they can take a clip from a different video where it shows that it isn’t as bad as we think it is, and that it is possible going to help us become the best that we can be in life and improve the world. I know that during kimdelehanty’s video, she shows the different websites that shes for class, or for her own free time with some interesting statistics. One that I remember clearly is the one about the GPA’s being lower for those who take notes on the computer. I think that is an important fact for those in this group to articulate on since that could directly affect those that are in school now with all that technology being pushed onto school aged children and teens.

11. The origami unicorn has to do with transmedia storytelling and unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. We are going to use articulation and juxtaposition to combine parts of our videos together to make one big video that conveys our message that we are trying to send. In your blog Becca says “If we moved all the videos together and made one big movie than we would be able to edit down the most important things to use. With that one would see movement from clip to clip but the video would work together to produce a great video.” This shows that she knows what the origami unicorn is and has an idea of what we have to do for our final project video. we can take parts of each of our videos and put them together to convey one meaningful point. In a couple of the videos, the library was used to show that the books are part of the past and that when your at the library you are using your computer and other technology. If you combined a couple of clips from all the videos you can convey a strong message that kids don’t use the library like they used to and that technology is more often used than books.

12. I find myself constantly lost in the direction of this course and where we are supposed to be going because there is no direction. But maybe that’s just it there isn’t a lack of direction but many directions. Walking into this course is like walking into a war zone almost. We all have so much to contribute and say that we are always moving in different directions. There is no “Middle” I think that your right in saying that our videos need to define our middle and how it has come to be that. Our videos all have things in common because we are all students living here on this campus, but our videos are also very different.
    Technology is the most prominent theme throughout these videos. However many of us are torn between promoting technology or banishing it. Our final videos are going to have to be in the middle, this phrase keeps popping up so maybe that is a hint at what our videos are supposed to portray. “Middleness” although this is not a real world I find it is the best way to describe what it is we are all looking for. The middle.. The direction we are supposed to go in is probably slapping us in the face but we are all so engulfed in assuming it is not going to be easy to find that we are overlooking it. With all these ideas floating around we are all too busy worrying about what each other has to say and why and what it means that we all can’t sit down and digest any of the information. That is how I feel. When I read what everyone has to say it is like I keep going on the next and the next. I find myself going and going and not understanding what it all means, I’m not making connections. This is why are final videos are so crucial. We need to look at everything we have done, all the things that have been said and incorporate that into one video. That is such an enormous task, but if we come out successful our message is going to be very powerful.

13. Steph pretty much summed up what I feel is lacking in our videos. We all presented largely “commonsense assumptions” that observe the world around us involving technology, but we didn’t all take it a step farther and address questions like, “What does that mean for us? What does it matter?” We didn’t yet discover the origami unicorn. I liked MrChadb0urne’s video, especially the part about closing our laptops and becoming free. The simplicity of his video was intriguing, and I like the ideas about liberating ourselves from technology, but I think this is also a somewhat commonsense assumption. If it were really that simple, why wouldn’t everyone just do it? Obviously some of us more than others feel like they needed to be liberated from technology, but why is there variation across the class?

    As for building an origami unicorn into the final videos, we need to think creatively and ideologically, and try to objectively look at the videos and consider what they have to say. The ideas that intrigue me are based around the bigger picture and considering what the implications are. Including lots of statistics like Kim did in her video could be interesting, especially if we present all the facts but then take them a step farther and push viewers to think about it a different way. An example of the kind of feeling I’m trying to describe was that video with the scrolling text about how we all fit the stereotypes of our generation and are controlled by technology. But when the text was reversed, we gained new insight and saw the video’s purpose.

    I also like the idea of arranging the video in pieces, or balls, as Steph talked about. The audience might not understand or be able to put all the pieces together until the end, when they start to fall into place and form a cohesive point. These are usually the more effective pieces in my opinion, because they don’t spoon-feed the points. We could juxtapose clips with each other to articulate meaning, and it might be interesting if the articulation will be sort of open-ended, where the audience can form their own interpretations. This could be where the origami unicorn comes into play, suggesting that it’s not over and that there is no final answer. The origami unicorn of our final videos shouldn’t present the audience with a point that comes full circle, but instead lead the audience down different possible paths in the quest for understanding and articulation.

14. Finding a way to achieve the “Origami Unicorn” in our final projects is a difficult, yet accomplishable feat. The essay about the Origami unicorn was about media convergence, ideology, and transmedia storytelling. We can provide examples of these things in our Seth Gore project by displaying juxtaposition and articulation in our final video. Examples of juxtaposition are to compare the two daily lifestyles of deaf people and hearing people have. It is quite very similar, but we can see visible differences in the small things, such as an alarm clock (Demi’s Video), or music we listen every day (Ali’s video) and then take our idea and expand it through different mediums. We need to have Seth make of video like our mid-term projects the taping of his life, and see what he sees daily. Than we can juxtapose our videos with his work to compare and contrast ideas and make a final from it. It will capture the similarities and differences from a group of millennials, with a difference live their life.
    Than we can use articulation and see the time difference between Ruth Moore’s lifestyle and see what an older deaf woman sees throughout her day. After viewing her ideas, we can compare the millennial time period, to her time period seeing similarities in the deaf people’s lifestyle, than common things in our lives with her. By doing this, we can combine two different cultures and compare them into one final project. This dual-culture interaction is similar to media convergence because we are taking two cultures and analyzing it through both people’s lens and finding common themes within them. This will make for a great project and interesting results.

15. Seth Gore discussed with us the role of technology in his everyday life, as well as how he maneuvers through our “acoustical world” as a deaf human being. When telling his story, he used ASL, which was then interpreted into spoken English. This connects to the Origami Unicorn because he is using a different medium to tell his story. Using ASL, Seth was showing us “a day in the life,” just as we showed in our midterm videos. Throughout each of our videos, different mediums were used such as facebook, twitter, computers, cell phones, video games, and Personal Response Systems. It would be interesting to see our worlds collide in one cohesive video. Take the stories that Seth had to tell, and correlate them with different activities shown in our videos. For example, we would take scenes of Seth interacting with Ruth and connect them back-to-back with a scene of hearing people talking with their friends.
    If at all possible, I think it would be necessary to record one more scene relating to where we started in the beginning of the year. We should show people our “selective attention” or lack thereof when reading the Buzz Buzz Boom the first time. I think it’s important to display our original thoughts about the story so we can accurately show how far our class has come in 7 months. It would also help to show our initial confusion with the wiki, so we could show our final wikis and how complex they are. Overall, I think the most significant theme that needs to be displayed is our progress throughout this class—our progress living by lifelike pedagogy (LbLLP). We should show the complex tweets compared to the superfluous ones; the long essays we wrote versus the witty one-liners that sparked Stephjoke’s interest; the Prezis we created opposed to the midterm videos. Our entire journey must be shown as a class, rather than just as individuals within each of our videos.

16. To combine our videos and make a final product we need to consider how we would reach out to that specific audience that would find our final video interesting and continue the conversation. We need to do what the video originally created by Michael Wesch did to us. It caught our attention, and we have formed our whole class around the message Wesch’s video portrayed. Our audience should be other college students, other communications, journalism, marketing, business, and sports management majors etc. because technology is such a huge part of their field of study, along with their everyday lives. They are the ones that will continue the conversation and the more people participating in this the more aware we as a society becomes as to what kind of impact technology really has on us. I like Becca’s idea that we should make it one big video then edit out the unnecessary parts in each video. Problem is we wouldn’t be able to portray each videos idea in the final video. That would leave multiple messages in the final video resulting in broadcasting. Of course there are many comparisons between each video but in order to really narrowcast, which is the goal; we need to collaboratively come up with one powerful message. That message, I believe, is the one comparison we can make between each video that will connect with the audience, springing up multiple conversations amongst whoever watches the video; possibly even springing up ideas displayed in our own individual videos and they can take our own individual idea further and make something of their own, something much more in depth than what we had originally made.

17. To build an origami unicorn between two videos we have to show how they both relate to each other and then show how they relate to our real everyday lives. Most of the videos focused on our reliance on technology so I think it is important to show how this technology is driving our world and changing it for the good and bad. For my final project I feel like it may be easier to critique the commonsense assumptions because of what we learned from Seth Gore. Seth’s life and his experiences directly showed us that the way we live is not the only way to live. Technology is an important part of our lives as much as it is in his, but some may even argue that he is even more reliant on it. I think the main goal of the final videos is to present a clear argument about where we think technology is going and whether or not it is good or bad for society. The scene in Demi’s video where her phone is her alarm clock can show a potential benefit of technology because she needs it to start her day, whereas the scene in Brandon’s video where all of his friends are using multiple types of technology may be used as a negative example because it shows just how consumed we are. We must combine videos to show a true reflection of student’s lives because we all experience different things and combining them would maximize what we see. Sharing our videos puts us in the experience which is key to trans media storytelling and the origami unicorn.

18. I believe we can build an origami unicorn into the two final videos by combining “all the videos together and make one big movie” then “edit down the most important things to use”. By doing this, we have a point of view from each student . This clip by clip setup creates juxtaposition because it compares the students different point of views. Isolating the most important clips of each video creates articulation. It gives specific details of each student’s point of view and combines them together. These clips give meaning to the video and relates to the overall message. This is how we will use the origami unicorn for our final videos. Transmedia storytelling is used as the students videotaped scenes from their daily lives. This media that surrounds us everywhere and at anytime will be used to tell a story.

19. We have two sides of technology; an optimistic attitude, and a fearful, pessimistic attitude. The two key points present in the videos, is we can stay lost in technology, or expand out. We use the concept of the origami unicorn within the video to express both points of view. We create a transmedia story within the videos that express how many platforms are used daily by society today, and giving the specific example of our class videos. We can create moments within the videos that can be placed side by side having a distinct closeness that reflect similar ideas or concept, juxtaposition. Other ideas of technology can be expressed through articulation. Show how things have changed, and why it was changing. Involve the distinction between time and space and how our society moves within the day. Our class is an origami unicorn. We are an example, like the Matrix, of an origami unicorn. We use different mediums and technological platforms daily to generate the main idea, and concept of the class. We use the mediums to our advantage to create the bigger picture and the overall message. This is the concept that should be used within the final video. Take multiple scenes to create a distinct message that the audience can take away from.
    One scene that can be shown within the final video for the get your flow on team is in the video “A Day in the Matrix” where the song lyrics have closeness and a relatable aspect to what is being shown in the video. Instead of Ali narrating herself, she used the song lyrics as what she is trying to express.
    The buzz buzz boom final video team can juxtapose Ruth’s ideas about technology over Seth’s and how they have a common ground that can say something about our class, whether it be a message of how our society gets lost because we use selective attention, or that our society expands to the outside world and has a balance.

20. The origami unicorn explains that in transmedia storytelling, the line between reality and illusion is constantly blurred. The author states that transmedia storytelling “integrates multiple texts to create narrative so large that it cannot be contained within a single medium”. In Steph’s blog she quotes becca writing about the project saying, “If we moved all the videos together and made one big movie than we would be able to edit down the most important things to use. With that one would see movement from clip to clip but the video would work together to produce a great video.” Becca’s idea for the project would show an origami unicorn. To make this project an origami unicorn it would need to be that each small video could be self-contained but together works the way we want. Our final project would have to function as a cultural attractor and a cultural activator. Our project should create an active experience for the viewer or reader to truly create a transmedia experience. To do this, the various parts and mediums of the project should be juxtaposed, close together or side by side for comparison. Or, in regarding articulation, the video should incorporate ideas that mark this time of life. Our ideas should be relevant to our generation. This will also help with making the video an active experience for the viewers. Also, when creating the video, we have to juxtapose and articulate the media we have to use in order to pick the best mediums to create an origami unicorn. We also have to include various medias in our video such as texts and music. All of the videos, music, texts will contribute to making a transmedia story.

21. In doing our final project the use of the origami unicorn will help show this. Throughout the midterm videos there are a lot of different clips that show a bunch of an “everyday UMASS student’s” life. The clips range from walking down a hallway looking into classrooms, to a drive home and what that student sees. We can go even further and show that even though every student didn’t put themselves using a cellphone texting, or watching TV, it’s a safe bet that they do. By using the origami method we can combine all these aspects of the everyday student and make a better video. You don’t want to get lost in technology but find a “medium” with it. I think we can show two movies, one showing the overwhelming use of everyday technology and one showing the minimal usage of technology which will clearly show that we still use a lot of technology even when we try not to.

22. Becca’s suggestion of “balance” reminds me of what journalists seek to maintain. They want to be neutral and only report what are accepted by the general public. However, it is ideology of the power that shaped our understanding of be “normal”. (C&H)

    I view the origami unicorn as a symbol of the core principles of transmedia storytelling . It is like a “patron saint” for those who put their passions and thoughts in order to create different situations which form a whole transmedia experience for other people.

    In our case, I think it’s all connecting to ideology. For example, every piece of our works has its unique ideas. Although many of them, as Steph has mentioned, share the same basic ideology, they are all contributing to make this ideology more well-rounded. Yet, if been viewed separately, they are independent works by themselves. Each piece is like a special medium that transports ideology.

    So I think we could work carefully through these videos again, looking for things we are agree with and disagree with.We could shoot new start and ending, find two new songs (different moods maybe), but using the pieces we already have in the body part.

23. We could build an origami unicorn into the two final videos by taking clips from everyone’s midterm videos. We are trying to show a typical day in the life of a UMass student. The midterm videos show both sides of the tension that Becca talked about in her blog response. It’s hard to say what the middle is for the tension.

24. Overall, the origami unicorn has to do with transmedia storytelling. It is about using different mediums to express a story. In this case, we have a group of really interesting and personal projects. Each one of these videos is an accurate representation of the “story” of each of our everyday lives. Personally, to complete the midterm project, I just carried a video camera around with me the whole day and videotaped my life. We can build an origami unicorn into the final videos because we are taking pieces of each of our individual videos. This way, we are using all these different mediums, and all these different worlds, and making them coexist into one final product. It is kind of like a Venn Diagram. We each have our own worlds, but somehow, we can combine our worlds and make them complement each other to achieve a really cool final product. This is where articulation and juxtaposition come into play. Similar to the homework we had the other night, we will need to identify moments in each video in which juxtaposition and articulation are present. We will need to find common themes, moments, and messages. We will need to pick out the perfect clips from each movie to put in the final video. For example, some people had a depressing feel to their video while filming their computer, while others had a happy feel. We will need to group together the perfect clips to make this work. By the end of this whole thing, I think we will have a really cool product. Overall, after we select the perfect mediums and bring them all together, we have the potential to have a pretty cool origami unicorn.

25. After reading Origami Unicorn, I got the idea that Mass Media structures our society. We create our own culture of media based off what we want and how we react to certain sources of media. So basically what we see in media and technology is becoming more of a culture. We can build the Origami Unicorn into our final videos by proving the message is actually true. Most of our videos have proof of what the “Origami Unicorn” is trying to put out there. We also should use some techniques from the reading to make our final videos good. We need to come up with ways that will draw an audience to our message and ideas “What Are We Really Trying to Say?” So in some cases we have to give people what they want to see and make it interesting and entertaining, As well as putting our ideas and messages out there. We want the audience to see and understand the same way we do.

26. Brendan Connelly (BConn63)
    3/29/11
    “Origami Unicorn”
    Response

    Over the past few weeks, our Comm121 class has tried to come up with what is defined as an “Origami Unicorn”, or in other words, a combination of each other’s work to form a masterpiece In order to fully achieve an “Origami Unicorn” for our Final projects, we have viewed each of or class members’ mid-term videos, and searched for examples of images and quotes for Juxtaposition, or placing side by side for comparison, as well as Articulation, which involves putting these images together for a final project. Everyone’s video has something to offer, and if we work together as a unit for the “Buzz Buzz BOOM” final project, it can come out a success. The Origami Unicorn involves using different mediums to explain a story, which means each video can use a wide variety of them throughout. With so many scenes and clips to choose from, these projects can be things to remember. Scenes that work together or are based off of the same idea can form perfect articulation for the project, such as quotes or images based off of “letting technology take over” and also quotes that are anti-technology, as our classmate Beccasimonoko suggests. If we work together, this project can work and we can form “The Origami Unicorn”.

27. ckmetz emphasizes
    the dimension of time” in her examples of articulation, which is useful. Next, think of articulation as an equation – what does it produce? Hint: some kind of ideology!

    Please answer one of more of the questions asked.

    Everyone needs to be more specific with the auditory dimension: what specific lyric is being sung at the exact moment of the visual image you’ve selected?
    Ckmetz’ first example, from Plugged In, invokes the metaphor of transportation (which is about space – moving from one place to another). The text is summarized: Students remembering slogans like “Yo quiero Taco Bell” over when United States declared its independence. This is about time and attention in the present/while learning/being taught, memory – role of repetition = ritual = habit = common, shared. What is the ideology at work when motion is combined with advertising to the detriment of education?

    ckmetz’ next example is from I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, where we see “what’s next?” being typed into the Google search bar. In the drop down “whats next in Egypt” appears. This image shows “googling” as a verb, a method for finding information that is random, right? What appears is trending, sponsored, and otherwise dependent on a search algorithm that is a trade secret. As to the text, it wasn’t only what’s next in Egypt, there are other choices too…(and please get the spelling right! NO TYPOS!) “In Egypt” is crucial to compare/contrast with, for example, “in the US.” What is invoked or implied about us/them? What kind of ideology results from an equation of ‘random info search’ + ‘international affairs perceived from the US’? (Don’t forget how the specific song lyric fits in, either!) The ideology does more than pinpoint the history moment….

    For juxtaposition, ckmetz chose a fast-forward scene in the library from A Day in the Matrix. While walking down the stairs and looking for a space to sit, lyrics to the song we hear are displayed:

    “I can’t even slow this down
    Let alone stop this
    And I keep looking around
    But I cannot top this”

    By labeling it juxtaposition ckmetz implies there is no particular meaning between the visual scene and the song, they just happen to occur together. Is there something which could be emphasized by the use of the text in that moment with that particular scene? What (for instance) cannot be slowed down, what cannot be topped? If the visual cue (the scene) does not complete an articulation, do we have another image (from another video or later in this one) that would ‘close the gap’ – or is the point of the videographer here to show that there IS a gap?

    The last example from My Life shows an xbox selection screen with an explanatory quote: “Not only can I connect to the world through my cell phone, but also through Xbox Live.” We aren’t told the exact lyric so we can’t decide if there is a three-way coincidence of meaning (ideology) or a disconnect. There is a scientific kind of ideology with such a basic description of the ‘what’ we are seeing. The next question is so what, as in ‘why are we being shown this’? Do the image and quote generate meaning together, or do we need something else to move from a simple illustration of ‘a thing that happens’ to a combination of sight/sound/text that invokes thoughtfulness in the audience?

28. The origami unicorn is something we can deffintly achieve in our final project video. I don’t think it is a simple task about editing a bunch of clips together. To have a video about transmedia storytelling it would be clips that flow one into another telling one story, but at the same time telling it’s own. To have a unique video with no beginning and no end. To make this video symbolic in what mediums we want to tell our story and what stories we want to tell. Making this origami unicorn- the finished product is essentially the same as the starting materials. We need the parts of the origami unicorn to be propotional to each other to make it flow. Each one of us is building a different part and we need to find out how these parts fit to have a good balance in our unicorn.

29. Ideology is a set of ideas and is also thought to be a comprehensive vision. By taking the abstract thought (ideology) and pinpointing the moment of articulation or juxtaposition can enhance the idea, and better demonstrate the main purpose of the final videos. In my point of view, the ideology present when motion is combined with advertising is that the audience needs to respond in a fast pace way, and the information given by the advertisement should just click with the viewer. As an advertiser, you want the audience to follow an instruction given by an idea in the advertisement. Our class can create hints of the main idea, and purpose, or instruction in the video by combining clips and finding connections as well as showing different statistics to the viewer. Any abstract thought is hard to communicate, and if communicated, can be misinterpreted. With that said, a video has to be simple and to the point. As we produce the final video projects, we need to stick with one idea, rather than bouncing around to many others, because there shouldn’t be any misinterpretation of the purpose; it should be clear what instruction we are giving to our audience. What is the call of action? By the end of the final videos, a person needs to be able to answer the question, why am I being shown this, and what is this telling me to do? That should be our first focus before even editing the clips and combining them. The midterm video projects our class produced have many perfect frozen moments that can illustrate articulation and juxtaposition. I believe that having those moments will be essential in hinting and piecing together for the audience of what our ideology is. This all together is how our class is going to create an origami unicorn; by focusing on the ideology the story is telling (in a technological way.)

30. I’m trying to think of articulation as an equation. Let me rewrite its definition: articulation is “the shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made” (wordnetweb.princeton.edu). So it must have something to do with distance. Time, as Ckmetz has mentioned, is another component. I feel like people bring things together in order to prove something that is either right, normal and should be accepted by general public, or totally wrong and should be questioned. If things just happen to be together, it is a juxtaposition. I think I still need to figure out what kind of ideology stands behind every articulation.

    As for Ckmetz’s example of “A Day in the Matrix”, it more appears to be an example of an articulation rather than a juxtaposition. We can see busy life, many people walking around, an empty face that is staring at the screen and waiting for it to get started when the song plays. We cannot slow down people around us; we cannot slow down our own life; we don’t even have the control over a laptop. Instead, we are like waves rotating in a big gyre, with our eyes widely opened. Life is nowhere to escape.

    I’m also thinking about the main points Steph has mentioned for the Buzz Buzz Boom team, about selective attention and language. (Sorry I forget what the third one was, was it “understanding” or something like that?) Our discussion about the race and whether or not the protagonist is deaf are worth showing. Sometimes we just choose to ignore something, why? Are we afraid of something or do we simply want to avoid more trouble? Or we just assume something because it is “normal”? I think I still need to think about it.

31. “Any abstract thought is hard to communicate, and if communicated, can be misinterpreted. With that said, a video has to be simple and to the point.”

    I think ckmetz hit the nail on the head with this point. Explaining an abstract thought can be awkward, drawn out, and boring, not to mention easily misunderstood. It is much more interesting to present the “puzzle pieces” of what we are trying to say to the audience and have them put it together on their own. Kind of like that old phrase that English teachers would always say. “Show, don’t tell.”

    I think we might be having some difficulty with how video/audio/text interact because not all of us thought about how the lyrics in our songs would matter or make a difference in the video. I personally chose an instrumental song to avoid this difficulty.

    I really like the point that Csi made about ignorance. Why DO we just choose to ignore something? Everything matters in our continuing discussions, and every thought and point made happens for a reason, because of some connection. Steph sort of brought up a point when she asked if a gap in the videos could be filled by another video. Perhaps we could explore this, by identifying the questions we ask in our videos and answering them or relating them to clips from other videos.
    I think our problems or sense of indirection arise because we have all these themes floating around in our minds but we don’t always know how to think about them or what to do about them. Personally, I’ll follow a thread of an idea that sounds interesting but doesn’t actually lead to any new insight. I think it would be extremely helpful to all get together in class and bounce ideas off each other. That way, we can all borrow each other’s ideas and feed off them to develop a path that will get us to where we would like to go with the final projects.

32. In reply to ckmetz’s post, and steph’s comments I really wanted to talk about the video, and Ckmetz’s example of juxtaposition from A day in the Matrix. I think those lyrics that show up on the screen during the part while she’s is walking down the stairs and looking for a space to sit have a deeper meaning, therefore making them fit into the articulation category. I think that the lyrics “I can’t even slow this down let alone alone stop this and I keep looking around but I cannot top this” fit perfectly into the constant debate that we have in class about pro technology vs anti technology. We are in a world where we can not slow down, if we give up and stop using technology we will become invisible in society. I think that we can always top what is going on right now though. Think about 10, 15 years ago, we have clearly exceeded where we thought we would be. In 10,15 years from now (2021!!) just THINK about all the possibilities of technology. I think that with the use of technology we can even find cures for the most deadly disease.
    I don’t think that there is a gap during this video. By fast forwarding the scene and making it go fast, it shows how quickly society movies and that we can’t slow it down. By looking for a space to sit, we are looking for a place for us to be able to relax, and clear our minds from the overwhelming use of technology.

33. I couldn’t agree more with ckmetz on this one. Her idea of sending a message in an abstract way instead of my original idea of coming up with one message. Though to spark the kind of thought and conversation that the first video did I feel would be difficult since our first videos were our first drafts. There are good messages that came from those first videos. yet, as we saw in the computer lab, not every video overlaps as nicely as we’d like. This is why I feel we need to make another series of videos, a second draft. This way we can really make every message in each video pop out in a better way.

34. Transmedia storytelling, is a goal in the final project if we all hope to achieve the elusive “origami unicorn.” In order to achieve such we must first establish a message, which I don’t believe we have. This message has to be one that is powerful but also incorporates our class and what we all believe. I think before we start talking about all the logistics we need to have a solid plan of attack, For instance a message, a middle and also an end. We have all been so focused on going, going, going that nobody knows where they are or where we are as a class. During our last discussion I believe we came across a good starting point because we realized that we don’t have a specific direction. One class discussion is not going to give us the direction we are seeking. I think in order for us to really begin this final project process we need to have a giant fishbowl. Meaning the entire class needs to sit in a circle and we all have to go around and state what our view for the final project was or is. From there I think we will be able to pull out a direction and a main idea. This is how i feel we will be able to create “The Origami Unicorn”
    Ckmetz describes in here response specific moments in our midterm videos and she brings up some great moments and relatable points. However I feel like we need more than just relatable moments we need powerful ones. Ones that will make our video stand out amongst the rest. If we really hope to achieve juxtaposition and articulation, our ideology has to be specific. I’m not sure that we even have an ideology? But maybe I’m the only one.

35. We could also use the origami unicorn to portray both the most positive and negative outlooks on the way in which technology changes our lives. Perhaps that way both sides of our class will be able to get their view points out and we can then let the viewer decide for themselves in an ongoing conversation which perspective they find to be true for themselves, rather than us just telling them that technology is either good or bad.
    I think we can certainly use some of our old clips and ideas but I think we should make some new ones of what we as a group have learned from trial and error and what we believe to be true now after having studied even more. I think we should definitely find the most powerful way of voicing our opinions and spreading the message we hold to be true.

36. When speaking of the origami unicorn and our midterm videos i prefer not to try to relate all of our song choices to what is on screen at the same moment whether it be text or image. Carleigh said that in Ali’s video the song and images produce a juxtaposition, but I prefer not to see it that way. I think that is looking too far into it and over analyzing what might not have been people’s intent. The song and the images should be viewed separately because they are understood separately.
    Like ktrychon says, I too believe we are lacking an ideology. We all had our opinions on technology when we made our videos but for a final video we need to find a central agreeing point and work to create a clear message to present and make it more than just what we see.

37. Mistakes are a part of life where a lack of knowledge in a certain subject is visible. It does not mean that the person is uneducated, but just that they are incorrect about a certain statement or fact. For example, Mike Welsch is the godfather of Transmedia storytelling, but made a mistake in the way he interpreted who a rap artist was. He isa well educated professor, but a true amateur in the subject of rap and hip-hop.
    Steph brings up the idea of when we juxtapose the mistakes together, do they also bring upon a pattern? The only pattern I see is that two older adults jumping into a hot topic among teens and young adults that they are not too familiar with, and making a mistake.
    I can see Steph addressing the idea of race and the similarity of two white people are jumping into black person’s activity, however I feel like rap is now becoming biracial and many Caucasians have made it big in rap such as Eminem. When rap started up, rap was a big in the black culture, but now has expanded through both races culture and is colorless. So I would strongly disagree to Steph’s point when she talks about race in this pattern.
    Discussing the idea of outsider naming, Steph seems that this idea is a bad thing, that people should be ashamed or embarrassed of, however, I feel that if I were in this situation, I would embrace the moment and try to soak up as much information I could. People make mistakes to learn from them, and that is what I would do. Yes I understand that I am extremely outgoing and it is easier for me to do than others who are more shy, but I feel either way, it is the best way to handle this specific situation and move on from it. People can respond in an awkward or scared feel to outsider naming, but in reality it happens to everyone and it is a great way to acquire information. This is a way of learning mankind has been doing throughout existence and can be displayed through face to face conversation or discussion over a blog.

38. Kenny Alfonso gives three examples of juxtaposition. The question I want you to consider is what would change them from ‘mere’ juxtaposition (as in, they just happen to be placed or timed together) to articulations that evoke a sense of meaningfulness? If you can imagine a globalization angle to any of these (based on the recent reading in the course textbook by Croteau & Hoynes), please do your best to explain it!

    In the first example, Kenny does not specify a single scene, but describes Mr.Chadb0urne’s video occurring exclusively in his dorm room. What interests me is Kenny’s reasoning. He says “nowadays students can remain entertained just by staying in their buildings.” I’m intrigued by this because Mr.Chadb0urne does not talk about entertainment in his video – does he? So what assumptions has Kenny made, and do these assumptions suggest an articulation? (In fact, see my next comment to Sgershlak for an important pattern!)

    The second example does refer to the specific scene in Demifo14’s video showing her using her cell phone for an alarm clock. (I think this appeared in one or two other videos, too.) Kenny’s comment suggests a difference between “actual clocks” and “devices that can tell us to [sic] time and wake us up on time.” Attitudes and values associated with being “on time” are evidence of an ideology. What is – or could be – articulated from the use of new tools to tell the time?

    What Kenny notices in his third example is a contrast with what he noticed in Mr Chadb0urne’s video. “In Nick Jablonsky’ video,” Kenny explains, “he doesn’t use music for the entire length, but instead displays some dialect between some other people and himself. This was original for our class and portrayed how at college, you are almost always around or right next to other people.” Two points are worth noticing – the distinctiveness in comparison with the other videos and the contrast between the meanings that Kenny gives to Nick and Mr Chadb0urne’s videos. Thinking of our “origami unicorn,” what articulations might these observations make possible?

    The challenge of collective intelligence is to be aware of patterns and outliers, then use both to make sense and give meaningfulness to the final projects. Can we juxtapose the three examples from Kenny to explore the tensions among staying in your own dorm room, being always in social interaction with others, and the larger frame of entertainment? How does time articulate with the need or desire to be entertained, and is any of this evidence of an ideology?

    Kenny provides two insightful examples of articulation and one display of ideology (in this case, the expression of personal opinion). First, Kenny observes “that almost every student tries to explain how it is difficult to stay focused.” A specific scene is absent from his explanation, but Kenny describes the difficulty in terms of distraction and implicates Facebook. Why is an inability to focus linked with online social interaction? There is an ideology ‘behind’ or ‘under’ or otherwise supporting and justifying this equation. To get at the ideology, you’ve got to discern what is supposedly ‘bad’ about the social life co-constructed through Facebook and what supposed ‘good’ you are being distracted from – what are you not paying attention to when you are interacting socially online?

    For instance, how does the convenience of most of the things you need being “ just a phone call or text away” articulate with social uses of technology and time/space? In his second example, Kenny highlights Mr Chadb0urne’s use of texting while sick to ask his roommate for help. Kenny then explains his use – in his own video – of Karl Marx’s quote about useless things and useless people to express Kenny’s personal opinion: “Nothing’s more useless than sitting in your dorm room all day.” Sorry Mr Chadb0urne, creativity aside, apparently what you do on your own/alone has no social value!

    Ironic as it is, this is how ideology works: Kenny nails key features of two popular articulations. The equation of ‘uselessness’ with ‘isolation’ represents an ideology – can you name it? Meanwhile, another symbolic ‘equation’ argues (ideologically) that interacting socially online is a ‘distraction’ from _________ (something unnamed). If you juxtapose these two articulations you’ll get a higher order equation involving judgments about what is or isn’t useful. Think hard about this!

    Remember our simple definition of ideology from the course text, Croteau & Hoynes: “Ideology operates by normalizing a particular perspective on the world” (2003, p. 172).

39. Sgershlak and I have several conversations underway; each one is useful for learning about the interrelatedness of Media and Culture. There’s a debate over the influence of news media, a recent stream on the significance of misunderstanding, and – along with the rest of the class – the ,a href=”https://www.reflexivity.us/2011/03/visions-of-umass-students-today/#comment-17057″>big grapple with the communication-based concepts of juxtaposition and articulation. All three appear in the following commentary written to the class-as-a-whole about Sgershlak’s thoughtful examples.

    The first example of juxtaposition involves unspecified scenes in Demifo14’s video where, in Sgershlak’s words, “the top stories [are] bolded and right in front of our eyes instead of us looking for the news.” The exact content of the news headlines captured & included in your midterm videos is important for everyone to notice and consider – what could they signal/signify about this time in our lives? Sgershlak then describes an articulation (!): “The distance between the news and citizens has been narrowed extremely over the years.” What does it mean to say “the distance…has narrowed”? Who decides “the top stories,” and what criteria makes them top? What are the implications of not needing to look for news? Remember our simple definition of ideology from the course text, Croteau & Hoynes: “Ideology operates by normalizing a particular perspective on the world” (2003, p. 172).

    Sgershlak’s next example draws from our use of The Matrix and takes on “the distance and major differences between from the blue pill’s world and red pill’s world.” His idea was to exaggerate “the two different results of the two pills and thought of one world fill of technology and another without any.” Sgershlak cites “AlPal13’s video within the music as the first lines mention an stronger force or power controlling the singer. This was similar to the humans in the matrix being controlled by technology and being used for a power source.” But Sgershlak has imposed his personal opinion, using AlPal13’s example in the opposite direction than she intended! She overtly advocates taking the Blue Pill (using individually-chosen technology against institutionally-required technology?) while Sgershak states “technology is blinding humans and using them for their own benefits.” A better choice for his argument would have been ckmetz taking the Red Pill. I’m curious what audio track is playing and how those lyrics stack up against AlPal13’s, combined with the symbolic value(s) of other visual images (compared and contrasted in both clips). Speaking of pills, I am reminded of Kenny Alfonso talking about Mr Chadb0urne’s medicine… are these juxtapositions articulating something? If so, what?

    Sgershlak’s third example of juxtaposition also includes similarities with Kenny Alfonso’s comments about the isolation of staying in one’s dorm. Putting their two thoughts together we might get close to the ideological construction of “isolation”. Sgershlak refers to Taskn013’s video title, Plugged In, and asks: “How far can we isolate ourselves but still connected”? Sgershlak poses the notion of a “connectedness and technological spectrum,” wondering what “minimum technology …[is needed to] stay involved and connected with this technological savvy world?” Are there scenes in the videos that capture ‘positions’ along such a spectrum? What is the ideological logic that pairs isolation with technology and connectedness without it?

    The first example of articulation explored by Sgershlak engages historical time with several students’ exaggerated/out-of-context use of a quote by Einstein against nuclear weapons. Sgershlak has put his finger on something significant and I want us all to think carefully about this. The ideology of personal opinion is at work here, justifying misrepresentation as a “different meaning” rather than recognizing the possibility of ramifications stemming from a significant misunderstanding leading to a potentially serious misapplication. (Although the videos were produced prior to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the on-going crisis at the damaged nuclear power plant casts a particularly poignant shadow on US students’ casual appropriation of Einstein’s horror at the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.)

    The articulation of the ‘personal opinion’ value system was expressed during class by a student reacting spontaneously to my critique of the popularity of the quote. “What if somebody didn’t know? They just googled ‘technology’ and this quote popped up?” Such a laissez-faire attitude toward knowledge is also indicative of an ideology.

    Sgershlak’s second example of articulation also involves time in the linear, sequential fashion of most lived experience. He picks up on Ddavies315 question about how college students spend your time throughout the day, emphasizing what is different compared with previous generations’ distribution and types of ‘spending time’ when they were in college. To get at what is being articulated, we’ve got to give attention to what remains the same in order to check our assumptions carefully.

    Finally, in his third example, Sgershlak mentions Charlie Sheen, refers to Nate’s video Winning, and relates the concept of winning to success. The articulated ideology of competition and victory is linked with the “need to adapt” and “make appropriate adjustments in life to become successful.” The use of sports in Nate’s video definitely does articulate this ideology. The question is, are there other frames for achievement and success, or only this one?

40. We’ve got some ideas percolating concerning strategy as well as questions about message. So far the “origami unicorn” is only a metaphor for us but I sense progress!

    First, let’s notice the specific articulation named by ckmetz about audiences responding fast when motion is combined with advertising, based upon associations that “just click.” We want to create some “clicks” with our audience, which is why I’ve been asking all of you (as representative members of the target audience!) to notice the scenes that click the most with you. Once these are identified we can continue to explore the ideological dimensions and see if there is a way to zero in on a singular, specific message to guide composition of the final projects.

    I’m going to apply the definition of articulation shared by Csi to the nine comments made in response to my comments/critique of ckmetz’s examples of juxtaposition and articulation in your midterm videos. This means I’m looking at the shape or manner in which your thinking comes together and make connections through analysis of the patterns and outliers in what the nine of you said in this ‘turn’ of the conversation among us.

    Conversation about AlPal13’s scene and lyrics continues, this suggests we use it for sure! I’m doing the reverse of what ckmetz described as “taking the abstract thought (ideology) and pinpointing the moment of articulation or juxtaposition;” I’m taking the moment and working ‘backwards’ to the ideology.

    “I can’t even slow this down
    let alone alone stop this and
    I keep looking around but
    I cannot top this.”

    What ideology is standing behind that scene? Is AlPal13 and/or her chosen musician (Ani Defranco) trying to ‘sell’ us something? What is the ‘message’ (function or effect) of speeding up the video footage in that scene? Ddavies elaborates, “We are in a world where we can not slow down, if we give up and stop using technology we will become invisible in society.” I am interested that her explanation contains a) no middle ground – only an extreme characterized (ideologically!) as ‘giving up’ which is b) evidenced by ‘stopping’ the use of ‘technology’ (a taken-for-granted meaning) and c) results (like an equation!) in ‘invisibility.’ Wow – not only heavy, but surrender is built-in as a foregone conclusion: twice ddavies says we can’t slow society down.

    And then we have a visual transition to what Csi describes as “an empty face that is staring at the screen and waiting for it to get started [while] the song plays…” Ddavies comments on this, too: “By looking for a space to sit, we are looking for a place for us to be able to relax, and clear our minds from the overwhelming use of technology.” Hmm. There’s that bad word again. Technology. But is it the computer or the cell phone that is the problem? Are these objects convenient scapegoats for something else? Meanwhile, these ideas of “an empty face” and needing to “clear our minds” are in contradiction: the reflection of AlPal13’s face in the computer monitor is open to audience interpretation.

    That leads us into debate about control. Ktrychon names an ideological effect when she says, “We have all been so focused on going, going, going that nobody knows where they are…” Csi says “we are like waves rotating in a big gyre, with our eyes widely opened. Life is nowhere to escape.” (Notice the emphasis on vision!) They are clueing us in to some of the patterns of selective attention. Rushing and therefore missing information applies at the individual level and also at the group level. Ktrychon continues: “…or where we are as a class.” She suggests that our shared experience of moving/thinking/feeling in multiple directions is “a good starting point because we realized that we don’t have a specific direction.” Is her use of “we” representative of millennials in general? Can we disentangle some of the assumptions about space and time that are implied with the ideology of having a direction)?

    Ckmetz advocates for control when she argues for the final videos to stick with one idea, have a simple instruction that is to the point, and avoid bouncing around in order to avoid risks of misinterpretation. BrittRoo suggests the opposite: “present the “puzzle pieces” of what we are trying to say to the audience and have them put it together on their own. Kind of like that old phrase that English teachers would always say. ‘Show, don’t tell.’” Hbcohen seems to be in accord with BrittRoo: “… let the viewer decide for themselves in an ongoing conversation which perspective they find to be true for themselves, rather than us just telling them…” Kimdelehanty seems to side with ckmetz and Ktrychon, arguing “we need to find a central agreeing point and work to create a clear message to present and make it more than just what we see.”

    There is one outlier in the conversation that I want to name, which is ddavies impulse to celebrate, arguing against the Difranco lyric by saying technology routinely ‘tops’ itself. A competitive ideology is mentioned, along with other ideologies identified to date, in Steph’s comment to Sgershlak and also her comment to Kenny Alfonso.

    GOAL:

    ckmetz offers this GOAL in terms of the audience’s point-of-view: “By the end of the final videos, a person needs to be able to answer the question, why am I being shown this, and what is this telling me to do?” Carl summarizes the production value of sending the message in an abstract way and making “every message in each video pop out.” Ktrychon agrees: “we need more than just relatable moments we need powerful ones.”

    We have four concrete STRATEGIES identified so far:

    1) hinting and piecing together an origami unicorn by focusing on the ideology the story is telling ~ ckmetz

    2) identifying the questions we ask in our videos and answering them or relating them to clips from other videos. ~ BrittRoo. I offer up Ktrychon’s as particularly useful: “I’m not sure that we even have an ideology? But maybe I’m the only one.”

    3) establish a message… powerful but also incorporates our class and what we all believe…. a message, a middle and also an end. ~ Ktrychon

    4) Although Sgershlak’s contribution in this round is coming from another angle, the idea of juxtaposing mistakes together to see if there are any patterns is a good one. He found one between me and Professor Wesch: “two older adults jumping into a hot topic among teens and young adults that they are not too familiar with, and making a mistake.” Hbcohen is thinking along these lines when she suggests showing “what we as a group have learned from trial and error and what we believe to be true now after having studied even more.”

    The matter of selective attention:

    Now, these aren’t mistakes, per se, but let’s give some attention to the audio. Remember, from the perspective of the discipline of Communication, as BrittRoo explains – “Everything matters in our continuing discussions, and every thought and point made happens for a reason, because of some connection.” Both BrittRoo and Kimdelehanty mention that not everyone thought as carefully about matching lyrics to scenes as AlPal13 and thus we need to be cautious in making too much meaning out of accidental juxtapositions of audio and visual in the midterm videos. But we do need to think carefully about this for the final videos!

    Which brings up the last thematic point raised in this round of planning and analysis: “Why DO we just choose to ignore something?” BrittRoo picks up on Csi’s questions: “Sometimes we just choose to ignore something, why? Are we afraid of something or do we simply want to avoid more trouble? Or we just assume something because it is ‘normal’?” The dialogic intent of this conversation is to analyze the midterm videos for ideological content and then, based on what we learn, make decisions about the design and production of the final videos. Are we “bring[ing] things together in order to prove something that is either right, normal and should be accepted by general public, or totally wrong and should be questioned”? Csi’s frame repeats the extremes already laid out by ddavies and also by Hbcohen when she advocates to “portray both the most positive and negative outlooks.”

    Do you see the progress we’re making?! In thinking about the meanings of your thoughts while writing this, it occurred to me that the ‘message’ you might want to construct for your peers is a stance rather than a direction.

41. I agree with what Kim posted on the 31st. I feel like we are looking way to much into the songs that people chose. I don’t think people lined up their song to anything in particular to their video. If some part of a song seemed to match up to something in a video I feel as though it was on accident and wasn’t planned out.
    I also agree with what Carl posted on the 31st. Our videos don’t flow together as well as we probably want them to do for our final video project, so I feel that we should tape a few more clips that we can make flow together a little better.

42. My first example of juxtaposition/ articulation about news distance narrowing to the public clearly defines the communication term agenda setting. It is the choice and right the media has to decide what to show the public as the “Big Story” and what not to show. It is basically a gate keeping information that the media wants to be shared in, and what they do not want to be shared out.

    Talking about the spectrum of technology and what is minimum technology once can have without being isolated, I believe anyone with a cell phone or access to the internet is plugged in already. This technology has the capabilities of becoming plugged in by reaching others and having the ability for anything. You can do anything, literally, on the internet.

    My final comment about Steph’s response is dealing with the idea of achievement in Nate’s video. He signified achievement as only being some sort of athletic feat, but there are plenty more besides just athletics. Making dean’s list in college is an example in college, or getting a promotion at a job is an accomplishment too. Life is all about small feats and failures and just singling out athletics only having feats is wrong. Yes, it is a clear illustration of success, but it clearly is not the only one. If one is not an athlete, he finds his feats through music, art, writing etc.

43. Sgershalk’s comment on Demifo14’s video- “the top stories [are] bolded and right in front of our eyes instead of us looking for the news” reminds me of the two Tumblr entries (by Demifo14 and ckmetz) to which I have responded in the beginning of the semester. In their posts, Demifo14 says “We no longer search for the news, the news finds us”, and ckmetz says “I am in a society where knowledge is fed to me, and the participation that I give is minimal.” The interesting point is that Sgershalk summarized Demifo14’s idea after watching her video, and this idea had actually been brought up by Demifo14 in her Tumblr entry. The ideology of personal opinion works coherently here.

    As for the specific news titles and contents that people have included in their mid-term videos, the term of “selective attention” has played its role. What we are reading about (outside class) is usually what we are paying attentions to. College kids might care about things that are ignored by people at other age. And for the implications of not needing to look for news, I think we are already overwhelmed by all kind of news and information. In order not to be distracted, we prefer reading news that are easily accessible and related to things in which we are interested.

    Also, there should be multiple frames for achievement and success. The idea of “need to adapt” and “make appropriate adjustments in life” in order to become successful can be combined with the idea that we redefine the situation and live a new form of life. Seth Gore’s story is a good example- while somebody admires him for accepting his deafness and not giving up his dreams, I think he has actually built up an entire new world for himself- a world that contains every piece of his ideas and believes.

44. In class today during the fishbowl, we covered a lot of what is being said in Stephs blog post in response to our classmates views on her comment back to me. To establish an origami unicorn, we need to bring a discussion instead of the actual message, a hint, not the full package. The audience needs to piece together a puzzle, rather then us spoon feeding it to them. This contradicts what I originally thought would be the best way to present our final project videos. I thought instead of hinting what we want the audience to get out of the video, we need to tell them.
    Steph said that “an origami unicorn incorporates “how will we give ourselves room for hints?” We have two separate final projects that need to have a conversation with one another. By achieving a origami unicorn in each video (2 unicorns), the unicorn should be the concept of selective attention. In these blog posts, I feel we are only focusing on what the Flow Teams video is about: how to survive the technological revolution we are in today. Not everything is about technology. For the Buzz Buzz Boom, the main discussion is selective attention. People only pay attention to the Boom, and surpass the Buzz. Selective attention in the Flow Team video relates to what our society is paying attention to. For me, our society is focused on the new technologies around us, whether you perceive that as good or bad is your interpretation.
    I still feel as though the viewer watching the video should get a similar message from the video that our class intended originally. The viewer doesn’t have to interpret the exact same message, but similar in a way that they aren’t interpreting the exact opposite message that we are creating.
    I agree with steph when she said that we need to create clicks. I do believe that we need to put together what our PAM (Purpose, Audience, Message), call to action, and what our memorable scenes are. The memorable scenes being the ‘clicks.’ Those memorable moments will be relatable and powerful for the viewer. We need to mix the fun and serious which will incorporate our class into the videos.
    The same question keeps being brought up, Why do we ignore certain things? That is our connection, that is our unicorn. And the two unicorns are our links in the videos allowing for the conversation between the videos. Selective attention describes our society today and surviving our technological world, as well as our class and the deaf community in concerns to the Buzz Buzz Boom.
    I think we made much progress today in class by establishing what the origami unicorn actually is, and where it came from. Once our class was able to understand what the unicorn was, we were able to establish what could be our link between the two videos that brings this conversation. (which is what our class is all about)
    I still do believe that we need to stick with one idea, but that one idea will be presented differently and hinted differently within the two videos. Having one idea and hinting that idea in the videos will allow us to achieve an origami unicorn (our main goal.) If each video has two separate meanings and ideas, how can there be a conversation between them?

45. Until yesterday’s class, I honestly had no clue as to what this class’s most recent conversation on Steph’s blog was about. I was lost, and Steph literally made an indirect point as to why I was so yesterday, saying “That our selective attentions to many different classes, news stories, forms of technology, social life, etc., cause us to miss key information in our class everyday”, which made perfect sense to me, as I was stressing about balancing my boatload of school work at the time, as well as what was going on in the media. As Steph points out in her response to Steve, ” There’s a debate over the influence of news media, a recent stream on the significance of misunderstanding, and – along with the rest of the class – a big grapple with the communication-based concepts of juxtaposition and articulation. This single sentence made me know I was not alone, and that this portion of the class is difficult to grasp with all that goes on in our fast-paced lifestyles.

    On the subject side, I definitely agree with Steve’s example of articulation when he uses Nate’s video and it’s message of “winning” referring to Charlie Sheen. In this example of articulation, “winning” doesn’t simply refer to winning in sports or competetion, but rather, inked with the “need to adapt” and “make appropriate adjustments in life to become successful.” as Steph explains in her response. This form of articulation is one that we as a class can take to heart, as we all can make adjustments with our selective attention, and become “winners”.

46. in response to Steph’s comment to Kenny Alfonso…

    Steph brought up the point that Kenny has made assumptions about Mr. Chadbourne’s video. By explaining that Mr. Chadbourne can now remain entertained just by staying in his dorm, Kenny is assuming a few things, which also involve ideology. He is first assuming that the things that students can do in dorms (go on social networking sites, surf the web, etc.) should be classified as ‘entertaining’ by definition. He also assumes that we need to constantly remain entertained; that as students living in the present world we need to always have something going on to keep our attention and interest. He also suggests that staying in our dorms is a good enough substitute, or even a better one sometimes, than getting outside and away from our computers to be entertained otherwise, with other people.
    All of these assumptions are evidence of an ideology at work. C&H: “Ideology operates by normalizing a particular perspective on the world” (2003, p. 172). The perspective that is being normalized here is that everyone is always seeking entertainment, and the more conveniently we can get it, the better.
    Kenny’s assumptions also suggest that Mr. Chadbourne’s videos articulated a pro-technology message. Kenny interpreted the video as speaking to the ease with which we can remain entertained, even in our dorms, thanks to technology.

    “Attitudes and values associated with being “on time” are evidence of an ideology. What is – or could be – articulated from the use of new tools to tell the time?”
    The use of new tools to tell time could articulate several things. Perhaps it suggests that watches are outdated. It could also speak to the increasing importance of time and being “on time” in our busy society. It also suggests that we only can progress through life by measuring time. If the cell phone, watch, and clock go away, what will we do?

    “How does time articulate with the need or desire to be entertained, and is any of this evidence of an ideology?”
    The analyzation that this question provokes is quite intriguing. How has entertainment changed over time? With the development of the internet, people now have access to virtually any information they desire. You could say that this then allows us to be constantly entertained if we so choose. In my opinion, this unlimited access to information along with the way it is presented on the internet has shaped the way our brains work. We don’t have to wait for information as long as we would have had to 50 years ago. It is available in an instant. Because we are so used to this flood of info, when we aren’t constantly stimulated we feel bored. I feel that this has an influence on what we do with out free TIME. It’s so easy to get lost in the endless pool of information out there, and more than once I’ve been locked in until I look up and realize that hours have gone by. I might be overgeneralizing, but I think almost everyone would benefit from some time away from computers and cell phones. The problem is that we are so reliant on technology, and it has literally changed the way our brains work, so no longer do we fill our time with other things. Free time = time to socialize online, read blogs, shop, read up on an interesting topic, etc.

47. When I google searched the term ideology this came up ” An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one’s goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare worldview), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (a “received consciousness” or product of socialization). The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer either change in society, or adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists, through a normative thought process. Ideologies are systems of abstract thought applied to public matters and thus make this concept central to politics. Implicitly every political tendency entails an ideology whether or not it is propounded as an explicit system of thought. It is how society sees things.” This makes sense in our midterm videos i saw a lot of people picking songs that related to our lives and other people who just picked songs that they liked. I thought that picking songs that they related to their lives was ideology. It was also cool when people used the music and made it show relation to their project. I remember Alpal having her lyrics being played which was different and also showed meaning to the lyrics. I remember steve showing on the screen his “transportation” and then showed his feet walking. I thought that was a good way of showing the scene. I thought that people were mostly trying to relate their video and plan things out to make it all make sense. The project that Steph wanted us to create was a day in our lives, I thought that it was clever for Nate to use his fingers as almost eyelids to make it seem like he was just waking up. As I have realized through this class that media is around us everywhere. We are technology. I think that it was a good idea for us to watch the Matrix because it put my eyes open to the world that I have been sucked into. I have never thought of pros and cons of technology I have always been happy of advancement in technology. I feel like this class has made me realize that computers cell phones technology is something that I need in order to do my daily tasks. It has become a necessity, possibly a threat to future socialization but without it everyone would be lost.

48. It is quite clear that the entire class is split– some support technology, while others undoubtedly fear it. Then, as always, there are some who are undecided. However, I feel that the only reason some students fear it is because of certain sectors of the media TELLING us to fear it. There are a countless number of books and magazines and newspapers that tell us to fear technology! Like I have said all along, we only have these thoughts and opinions because of the influences that surround us. Therefore, I believe that our final videos don’t need to portray a specific “message”; perhaps, just an overal theme about the back-and-forth support of technology. With all great debates, not everyone is going to agree, so maybe we should just settle. Similar to the “reflection” scene in my video, everything is up for the viewers interpretation. There are no definite answers in life, and I feel that this course has caused this realization. Everyone has their own opinion, so let’s try to portray THAT message in the video. Make our viewers aware of what is going on, and let them decide. Go for a more “informative” edge, rather than a “persuasive” one because it’s obvious that our class has too many great ideas that shouldn’t be overshadowed by any others.

49. In response to Steph’s new comment back about final projects, I have come to a few new conclusions. I think our main struggle is there is just so much going on. Everyone is onto a very important and highly critical new view and idea about our future with technology however there has not been a very easy route of getting there. Weather or not that has to do with the disorganization of our class, or of the many different theories we have, it is evident that the red pill and the blue pill are still apparent.
    I think we should definitely use the oragami unicorn to help narrate the message that we want to send to our viewers. We still need to decide who are viewers are as well. I think that instead of trying to find just one way to portray the future we should involve as many of our voices as possible. That way we can prove that even though we may end up being slaves to the structure we are still individuals. We still have our own voices. Why the need to combine into one?

50. Our class is split into two categories: for technology, and being against it. But instead of fighting the reasons we are picking a different side I think that we should all accept that we are different people, and we all use technology in different ways. Some use technology to talk to friends, others to pick up girls lol, blog, make videos for youtube or to reunite with friends ( like my mom).
    Everyone has there own message to show as we learned in the midterm projects. But instead of telling everyone what we want to hear I think that we should use the origami unicorn to help. The origami unicorn is a hint. I think we should hint to the audience of our final projects what we want them to take away with what they have seen. But in the end they should choose which side they want to pick. I always feel like if someone tells me exactly what to think that it makes me want to not believe that, because it makes me angry that someone is telling me how to believe. But if we hint it, then the audience can form their own opinion without the producer slamming it down their throat.