Why do I email and text?

Emailing and texting is like the modern day note passing. I am a texting machine. I can not say the same for email. I rarely ever send emails. I mainly have an account because it was required for school and most cites like Myspace and Facebook require you to have one for confirmation.
Texting on the other hand is my ultimate favorite. I text to avoid having to talk to people because if I am lying or even get nervous on the phone my tone changes and I pause a lot. So texting helps me avoid that. I also use texting for when I am at work and school. My job does not allow us to even have our cellphones out, but I have to keep mine near by because it's like the world stops when it is too far away. School is another reason why I text so much. Most of my classes have a syllabus and they clearly state in there no texting, but I figure if I have to pay to go to this damn school then I really do not care what a syllabus says.
This brings me to a question "why is everyone so offended when you text?" I do not understand how texting is disturbing if it is silent. The only time I would be offended by someone texting is if I am talking directly to them and they completely ignore what I am saying and start texting. Personally I think it's rude for someone to start talking while I am texting.
In short I basically use email for business and texting for my undercover sneaky activities during class and work.

Self Assessment-digital story

My digital story is about my favorite travel place, which is Myrtle beach. My story is basically about my specific trips that I have taken with my family and possibly compare and contrast how different the trips will be with my friends. I also will go into to detail of what I enjoy most of about the beach.
Basically I want feedback on whether I am on the right path. Some more ideas to make this more interesting. What technique is best for this story.

Myrtle beach

Myrtle Beach on Prezi

digital story ideas

My plans for the digital story have completely changed thanks to my classmates. At first I completely misunderstood the assignment, but now that I know what to do. I will be doing it on Myrtle beach. I will talk about how much peace the beach brings me and how I enjoy going there. I will also mention how it is the highlight of my year to go to the beach. I will include many pictures, sounds, text, and possible voice over.
How the story will look I can not say yet because I am still brainstorming about that. I will try and use the Jay cut that was mentioned in class today. I am more familiar with windows movie maker. I am hoping that the volume will adjust because that is the main problem I have when i produce slideshows and movies on my computer. So far that is all have and plan on returning to the beach next week. I most likely will not have any peace because I will be too busy stressing over this project.

Digital Review

A Blind Eye To Domestic Violence by Jeffrey Jean-Pierre. Is basically a video about domestic violence and how many people are blind to the fact. This is interesting to me because he says people are blind because they keep their eyes closed and ignore it. He added emphasize to this by showing pictures of people closing their eyes.
His digital story was presented very well with a voice over, pictures and text on screen. Usually the text was one word such as Help, Cowardice, and more. The point of the film was to get people involved and helping especially when it is right there in front of you.
The video appears to be set in an urban area such as Boston. Places such as these it is easy to turn a blind eye simply because it is such a large city and many other crimes are at such a high like murder and it is easy to look over the "minor" crimes.
To every child by Sidmarie is video about how children of color in the school system need help and guidance because of the constant struggles they go through in life. She wonders if anyone is in the school that also helps these children when they are away from their families. She believes that if she becomes an educator she can help these kids and help them survive in the real world.
This video is based in Boston as well. These two videos could also help express how cities have such high crimes and more poverty areas. Her story was also displayed with voice over, pictures and script on the screen. Mostly of head clouds as though it were cartoon characters talking.
Overall I think Jeffrey's digital story was better because his seemed like he took out a little more time and actually researched his information. Unlike Sidmarie's pictures his were mostly of outsiders in the world. Her pictures were of her, friends, and people she see in the school. Both the films had great points, but Jeffrey's point was received better because of his video.

digital story preparations

I am interested in doing some form of video with a voice over. Similar to the one that was showed in class. I was looking into doing some type of entertainer, vacation such as myrtle beach, or the significants of an event for examle madi gras.
I am looking into using video tools such as the motion box feature. Many of my ideas are not solid and I am basically brainstorming right now but if anyone has some ideas I would love to hear them. I am also open to tips and ideas on how to present.

ethos and identity update

My blog will be about a young man on Myspace Denis Okeli. I chose this person because his picture stood out from the rest of the people on my page which I go on to write about in my assignment. His lack of information about his interest and likes and dislikes also makes me wonder who is the guy really? I also will go into great detail about his pictures and the illusion his page gives. So far I have completed only half of the assignment. I have not included quotes and links from the articles assigned just yet and I also have not placed my links in the blog either.
Basically so far I have gone through what you would gather from skimming his page. I have not gone into deep research like searching his past status, but I will include this in my final blog. I already have gathered an early conclusion that he is a player looking for some girls.

Basically I just want to know am on the right track with my blog? Am i putting too much information about this person?


In today’s society many people struggle with their identity. Most of these people are teens and young adults. Society seems so controlled these days that the youth struggling to experience their inner self feels that they can’t so the are searching for ways to do that. Many have found that opportunity with social networks such as Myspace and Facebook. These web sites are commonly used to represent a person truly or to help them person give off some form of an illusion of them. Basically the personality presented on these sites are not usually the same personalities presented in the real world society.
Denis Okeli is the gentlemen’s name. According to his page he is twenty years old, single, straight, and he uses the page for networking, dating, friends and relationships. Yes this is the common information that most people provide on their profile page. None of this information is seen until the viewer actually clicks on the page. So the question is how does he attract friends? A simple answer for that question is a very nice picture.
The picture for viewers is like the cheese for a rat going into a trap. It basically lures the viewers in to click on the person’s page. Denis Okeli’s profile picture is of him lying on his bed shirtless with his hand propped on to the side of his head and staring directly at the camera. His picture obviously was intended to attract females and to mesmerize them. I also feel like the picture was well thought of because he is shirtless, and the photo stops right at his abs giving the illusion of "Am I completely naked or no…click my photos to find out?"
Naturally being a female I wanted to find out, but I also figured that he could not have too many naked photos simply because his page was not set to private. Which brings me to the point of settings. The subscriber has the ability to set his or her page anyway they like. Many people have their pages set to private to avoid having their pictures seen by everyone. This idea has me twisted simply because what is the purpose of having a private setting if you are on a public site. Obviously you want to be seen if you joined the site.
Once I enter his page of lust I quickly viewed his status, which reads Esperando (waiting in Spanish), and his mood was enamorado (which could be translated two ways in love or loving it depending on the subject of conversation). Naturally I wondered what is waiting for and whom does he love. The quick thought of wondering out of curiosity makes a person want to click the arrows and scroll down his page to read on. As you scroll down you pass many items such as poll questions that read "do you like me, How hot are you?…47% evil" Many things that make you wonder. One young lady in my class mentioned how "most people who are half naked in photos are looking for compliments and acceptance". I agree with this because many of his Apps and polls dealt with ways of saying he is nice looking. Once I have passed all the items you reach his more information box which states that he is 6’6, body builder, Latino, Christian, No kids, and a College graduate. Then he finishes it with his zodiac sign for the women apparently.
Before looking into great detail with his page I have already drawn an early conclusion that he is a player and looking for some girls. Also if you want to get into stereotypes many say that Latino men have a way with the ladies and simply call him a "Latin Lover" but I am not here to stereotype. There is nothing wrong with trying to meet people because the purpose of a social network is to get to know people outside of your controlled world. The image that he is putting on is mainly to attract horny girls who want to dribble all over his picture to be frank.

Online Identity

My purpose for maintainning an online identity changed as I matured. When I was younger I was all about Myspace and trying to make my page really cool and attractive. I did this mostly to attract friends. As I got older and started college I began to here about Facebook. So naturally I joined because my other friends joined the site. At first I did not enjoy it because you could not really trick out your page. So naturally I deleted the page so I was still a young freshman basically a teen and wanted the outsiders to experience the glamour of my page and Facebook at the time did not provide any of that.
My sophomore year I noticed I began to sway away from Myspace and just did not go on it anymore because none of my friends really were on it anymore. I also noticed how they would know about all the campus events and parties before I would and they would tell me how people send out event invites. So I basically said all that to say that I maintain my facebook now to keep up with school events and to stay connected with my friends.

"You have one identity. The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity."
I agree with Zuckerberg about having two identities, but at the same time the point of different identies is to separate your worlds. For example I mentioned previously how my Myspace page is my page from my youth and my Facebook page is more of my mature page. These two pages are completely different because I have separated the two Identities because I know most of the people of on my facebook are adults and the ones on my myspace are mostly people I went to school with back when I created the page and randoms. My attitude is completely different myspace is my alter ego. If I am mad then I quickly put it in my status simply because I do not connect with those people the same way so therefore I won't have to worry about someone calling and saying "What's wrong?" Facebook on the other hand I rarely even change my status because all of my friends are recent and very nosey and they will most likely bug me. So in the end my purpose for maintaining any social network is completely different depending on the enviroment.

To read the paper or not to read the paper...?

The way I gather my news is mostly through word of mouth or checking updates on my myspace or facebook page. I am rarely home during the news times, and I rarely read the newspaper because lately some of the topics do not catch my eye. The only time I really read a newspaper in depth is if it is something in it that may impact me personally such as stimulus money for college students, tution going up, all graduates of 2011 can not receive a degree. Something of that nature.



"Daily newspapers have been the public's eyes and ears, exposing corruption and scams. Isaacson notes that they are especially necessary in these times of economic turmoil to provide accountability. "

Yes I agree with the abc.com article about how newspapers have kept us in the loop, but at the sametime newspapers are beginning to have less and less meaning. I say this because if you watch the story on every news station there is, if the story is big news most likely a radio dj will mention it, and it will probably come back on the late night news. Well by the time the paper comes out to print the next morning I as the reader would have already gathered all the imformation needed and therefore will not buy a paper.



"At the root of the problem for newspapers is the increased use of the Internet. A recent Pew Research study found that for the first time ever, more people get news for free online than from a newspaper. Making matters worse, the classified ads, a primary revenue source, have gone online as well."

Yes, this is true as well how many readers such as myself are able to get the same story for free online, but I also feel like that was possibly the dumbest move any newspaper company could have made. Why charge the reader for a paper and give the option to read it free online. Any American living in this time of recession would most likely take the option of keeping their money.

In short the newspaper is slowly dying as well as many media forms and not because of sites like facebook, myspace, and blogger but because of the many dumb business moves the newspaper companies makes.

metaphors for digital technology

Nicholas Carr is arguing in his blog that technology has taken away from his original form of reading books and articles...he titles his blog "Is Google Making us Stupid?" . In my opinion google may have made some stupid because so many older generations have become dependent on sites such as google. What about those who are born into the "google" era. The only form of reading known to them is e-books and such. Traditional reading has never been a role in my younger sister's life who was born into the "google" era. If I asked her to read a book she would laugh and say "ok I'm pretty sure it is on sparknotes." In this case it is safe to say that digital reading has corrupted the minds of the most recent generations...our supposed "future". Looking into the effects of someone who has not really experienced traditional reading it is quite impossible to measure the level of stupidity gained or lost.

"Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial “ brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I personally feel that people have developed this new way of scanning a text because the shortage in time. The creators of the web knows that no one in the world has the time to sit down and read an actual book so the smart, bright, and wonderful web creators brought along the fast scaning process of different sources, links, and brief online summaries. Carr calls this process skimming activity. Honestly I just used this same process to read this extremely long and not so interesting blog, but the point was received.

My Prezi

Taressa on Prezi

PowerPoint Presentations

It is safe to say that I am not a fan of Powerpoint Presentations. The constant changing of the slides and the monotone voice of the person giving the presentation only puts me to sleep. Slides do not serve any purpose if the presenter is only putting small amounts of information on each one. This concept is used by many of my professors at school, therefore, instead of giving us one display of notes the class has to suffer through thirty slides of useless PowerPoint presentations.

"With so little information per slide, many, many slides are needed. Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequentiality, one damn slide after another. When information is stacked in time, it is difficult to understand context and evaluate relationships."http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
I can not honestly say powerpoints are making people stupid, but I can say it takes the entire point out of having someone stand up and give a presentation if all the audience has to do is sit there and read silently the brief info and then flip more information.
Some audience members may feel lost as well when it comes to powerpoint because no one takes the time out to explain what exactly it is that your are reading or observing. For example if the powerpoint is too complicated to understand then the crowd is quickly lost and the purpose of the presentation is gone as well.
“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” General McChrystal dryly remarked ."
I have not recently seen a powerpoint presentation used correctly. The old fashion format with a one word bullet and the presenter spends time elaborating on that topic always seemed more useful because the information I need to know is not just placed in front of me, but I need to pay attention in order to know the important information that is being given throughout the presentation.
So in short powerpoints are good when they are serving a purpose otherwise just stand there and talk without presentations and the information will still be received the same way.

unplugging

Photo of how we had to write while being unplugged. Good old fashion sheet of paper and a stylus and clay. This was more complicated than a 10 page essay.

Blog Prompt 1

My name is Taressa and I am addicted to tronics. Texting and email are my ultimate favorites because I prefer to not have face to face interaction or voice contact either. I spend majority of my day using my phone and if I am near a computer with internet access I quickly will log onto my myspace, facebook, or usca email. I believe that if I were to check my cellphone bill my number of text messages a month it would be well over 450. My idea of email is through my myspace or facebook page. I do not believe I have actually opened my yahoo mail or aol mail in months. I mainly communicate with my friends I rarely text my family members because I see them everyday. I do on the other hand text my parents when I want to ask them a question and do not want them to see my facial expression for example: "Mom could you loan me some money...I kinda over spent". This is done so I won't have to actually be present when they ask me "what did you spend your money on?" My friends are my main audience if I go through my phone and look at my recent recipients for texting it is usually the same top ten people unless I randomly need someone outside of my circle and send them a message about something. My purpose and audience does not change very much depending on the medium except for my myspace the audience is more broader because the high number of friends on my page, but my facebook page is mainly all the people I go to school with and friends from work so therefore my status is more of my actual personality as oppose to myspace with a crowd of people I really do not know the status is mainly of an alternate ego. So in short my life revolves around my phone and my computer without the two I am lost