Group Commentary Post

Jessica's Posts:

90's Child

I wholeheartedly agree with all of your comments from your 90's Kid blog post. This next quote stood out from the rest. Jessica states, "Our cell phones have now become walking computers that inform us when someone is trying to get in contact with us through many social media sites like Facebook." People are always going on Facebook to see what's going on in the virtual world around them instead of actually taking a look at their surroundings. In the 90's we had to use a computer to connect to anybody or anything online. Nowadays we can connect to any website or person any time of day through our smartphone or tablet. I have no complaints with dial-up ever. Dial-up is the driving force that sparked my interest in the online world. Where would society be if dial-up never existed? Most people wouldn't know how to use a computer, and people would actually have to talk with each other through face-to-face interaction. AIM was by far one of the best ways to communicate when the internet was new to us. Social media sites have changed the people chat with each other. Now you can post information whenever you want to instead of waiting for that person to go online so you communicate with them.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is definitely headed in the right direction. As Jessica mentioned, Web 2.0 definitely made the world wide web more personal. Web 2.0 served as the gateway for allowing more people to interact with other people online instantly. Sites and programs are constantly adding features where you can make your experience totally unique. It's hard to think where Web 2.0 is heading at this point and time. Without Web 2.0, sites such as social media sites and blogs wouldn't have taken off the way they have in the past era. Who would want to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr if you couldn't post your own content on there? It would be a dry and dull experience for everyone. My first experience with Web 2.0 was with the introduction of Myspace. With Myspace, you could make a custom layout where it would stand out from everybody else's profiles. The only thing that was annoying about Myspace was using the dial-up connection to use the website. If someone had user generated content on their page, it would take forever to load their profile. Without Web 2.0, Myspace wouldn't have been as popular as it was. With that being said, it'll be interesting to see what Web 2.0 will be in the future.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Privacy will always be a major concern regardless of what you're doing.  With social media sites, people can access your information whenever they want. Sure there's privacy settings in place, but what happens if someone hacks into your account? By having direct access to your account, someone can essentially do whatever they want to your account. Social media isn't always like that. If that were the case, less and less people would stop using the services all together. Social media has some positive effects as well. A ton of companies rely on Facebook and Twitter for free advertising. This is a great tool for any company who wants to get their name out there. Jessica mentioned, "... younger generations...are always online or have easy access to the Internet which makes advertising through these sites key." If you know where and how to market your product, there's no way that people won't at least hear about it. Anyone can use social media to benefit them in the future. It's hard to draw the line whether social media has more negative effects than it does positive effects. It ultimately comes down to who you talk to. For the most part, people will say that you can't have one without the other. One thing is for certain though, all aspects of social media is here to stay.

Inspire Me!

This is the only blog post that I felt indifferent about. Jessica mentioned how the videos inspired her. I'm glad that the videos inspired you to make a better video. Some of the videos were good, but none of them inspired me that much. I honestly felt that most of the students had better experience shooting a video than I do. I have zero experience making a short movie. Maybe that's the reason why I feel intimidated when I watch some of the videos with better production values. I do agree with your statement regarding the last self-portrait video. That video was done really well. That video is much clearer than any of the other videos because the creator uses objects to describe himself. Whenever you use objects in a video, it's easier for people to relate with your main point because those objects are familiar. That's a better idea to aim for instead of making an obscure video where you confuse the viewer. All of the videos were different so that made them easier to watch. If all the videos were trying to portray the same thing, it would've been a chore to watch. The videos you chose had very little text because too much text can hinder the experience of any video.

Lauren's Posts:

What We  Have Learned to Know And Love

Lauren's title says it all. The internet is something that has become a part of our daily lives for better or for worse. All of us grew up in the 90's, and we know how slow dial-up was. It's amazing to see how far we have come in terms of how the internet affected us. Instead of having internet access in one remote location, you can get online virtually anywhere. This post reminds me of the first time that I had to beg my dad to put internet service on my cellphone. I didn't really need it at the time, but it blew my mind that I was able to connect to the internet wherever I had service. I couldn't imagine my life without internet. I constantly talk to people at work, and it boggles my mind that they don't have internet in their homes. The way we used to do things have drastically changed because of the evolution of the internet. Here are a few things I want to mention; sending and receiving mail, shopping, communicating with others, and compiling research, applying for college and jobs, and even taking classes. Technology has changed all of those previous items and made them more efficient. Instead of waiting for, "You've got mail," you can check multiple email accounts in that same amount of time.

Web 2.what?

Lauren mentioned how Web 2.0 allows you to conference anywhere in the world at any given time. As soon as I read that statement, I instantly thought of this video that I watched a few years ago for one of my classes. I forget the name of the video, but there was a company who would host work meetings through a game called Second Life. Second Life is a game where you can create a three dimensional representation of yourself and interact with others. This company mentioned how convenient it was to have these meetings online because they didn't have to physically leave the house, and they could all attend this meeting at the same time. Without Web 2.0, none of that would be possible at all. Web 2.0 allows people to interact with internet websites and web based applications like never before. If Web 2.0 didn't come into existence, a lot of people wouldn't even know how to use the computer at all.  Long gone are the days where you could a view a static website, and it would never change. Whenever you view a site nowadays, there's some way to interact with it whether it's sharing the site through Facebook or Twitter. Web 2.0 has yet to reach it's full potential.

Social Media? I Don't Even Know Her

Lauren stated, "...social media and social networking we are isolating ourselves from the real world and living real lives outside of the internet." I slowly feel myself heading in this direction because I'm always connected to internet applications whenever I leave the house. I can't leave the house without my cellphone because I feel that it's detrimental to my well-being. I try to think back to the days before technology took over my life, but nothing much has really changed since then. Growing up my mom didn't want me going outside too often so she would pacify me by buying me videogames and action figures. By constantly having those items available, I didn't see the need to go outside. I wonder how my life would've turned out if I went outside....Most of my friends go out quite often, but most of the time I'd rather just spend the day with my girlfriend or be lazy around the house. I can still interact with them through a text message or Facebook. Social media has enabled us to be a part of someone's life without actually physically being there. This can disconnect us from our friends. Social media allows us to be connected 24/7 but are we really connected? Social media is by far one of the most popular concepts to date, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

The Self Portrait Effect: "You will regret that cell-phone self-portrait in the bathroom mirror one day.

I agree with your statement regarding "Life is a Ride." That's my favorite video as well. I watched that video first, and I didn't think that the other videos compared to what the author was trying to display. It reminds me of a reflection video because he shows you many aspects of his life before and after the incident. The author didn't let the event ruin his life, but he persevered through the situation. That takes a lot of determination because most people would've thrown in the towel, and gave up on life completely. I don't know why this next comment stood out to me the most. Lauren stated, "I am ready to get started on our own self-portraits and trying to produce something that can be almost (keyword being almost) as good as those videos that we have watched." This statement brings the point home that most of us are thinking. Most of the class is inexperienced when it comes to shooting and producing videos on this type of scale. I only enjoyed two of the videos that we had to watch, and wish they inspired me to make a better end product. The videos you mentioned sold their idea well, and that's all the audience can ask for.