From this class of Writing in Digital Environment I have developed a new writing style I never thought I’d have. One of the assignments we would frequently have is blog posts and opinion writing. Writing blog posts was a new experience for me and I can truly say that I have enjoyed it a lot. Writing blog posts and reflecting on articles, projects and opinions has allowed me to take a step back, reflect and analyze work. From writing in this type of style this semester, I believe that my most effective writing was when I was talking about things I have experienced. Writing some of the blog posts were starting to become exciting for me, something I wanted to do to express my thoughts. One of the things I have learned from this class is the many things us as humans blindly take advantage of. Before this class I did not know what to expect as far as writing in digital environment; I thought it would only be a couple of blog posts. However, writing in digital environment covers writing all over social media such as twitter, texting, accessibility text, websites, and things you would never think of. Something I really took out of this class was the ability to create a website and maintain it. At the start of the semester I had no idea what websites even provided free access to build your own and now I have a personal one. The growth of my site in my opinion has really grown throughout the semester with more blog posts, pictures and personal posts. From the beginning of establishing my site I knew I wanted to keep the site as aesthetically pleasing as I can. I kept it simple, clean and modern. Within the section that holds my blog posts, I tried to add as much picture content throughout the page as I could. Referencing a picture within the posts helps the reader make a connection and stay engaged. Content I could have added to give my page more style would be different font to match the style of the blog context. Also, I could have added a page to represent my social media accounts or my passions of running and teaching. In the future, I know I will reference back to this website and possibly update it once in a while. It is something that represents my early blog writing and college experience in a whole. The part of my website that I am most proud of would have to be all of the blogs that I have up. When I went back home for Easter break I showed my parents this website and the work I have been doing. They were so proud to see the effort I put in and their reaction was heartwarming. They told me how wonderful it was to see my writing because they never have before and that they had no idea I could express my opinion that way. After showing them they respect that I have made my own views and voice in College. This class has overall helped me grow, develop skills and bond with multiple people. Digital Environment surrounds us every day and I have learned that there is so much more behind letters being typed on a screen.
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The process of this project has taught me valuable lessons including organization skills, time management skills, and technology skills. Compared to other projects I have done in the past and in different classes, I believe this one was the most impactful for me.
At the start of this project I was unaware of the potential one idea could have. Previous to the start of this, I created a collage of texts that were received by some of my friends. These texts that I used were special to the people who received them. The importance of these text was the making of these people feel love or smile. From this collage, I did previously in the semester, I wanted to make it more special because of the impact it had on people. The transition made from the collage to the video was important because I had to figure out how to keep the overall idea present. Creating a video based off of a collage gave me creativity skills I did not think I had and that was one outcome I achieved. After I had the idea of making a video, I needed to pick a software to put the video together; the software being iMovie. I had been familiar with this software before but because of this project, I was able to learn more technology skills! After I took a couple of videos of people, I wanted to expand this project to be more than two people, which took me out of a comfort zone. Interviewing people on spot was not something I do on a daily basis, so this task helped my interpersonal skills a lot. Lastly, updating the trello board was helpful in the sense that I was able to plan out my weeks’ worth of work. The due date for this project was around finals week and because of this I had to manage my time for working on this project. Scheduling times to interview people based on their schedules was another opportunity for time management skills. The topic that I chose to focus my project on, love, is something that I can connect with. Thankfully, I have a loving mother who texts me every morning and night which allows me to get through the day, especially being a busy, broke college student. Not many people have this, which is why I wanted to show that a simple text can make someone smile, give somebody motivation and maybe even save a life. If I did not choose this topic for the project, I don’t think I would have been so passionate for this at the end of the year. Experience the love shared around my campus at St. Bonaventure University down below! <3 When it comes to writing in digital environment under the context of love and relationships most people presume negative connotations. Jia Tolentino makes a very good point with her statement, “Our newest sex technologies, such as Tinder and Grindr, are built to carefully match people by looks above all else”. Apps and websites that are there for intentioned hookups create a crucial system of identities and it also falls into society’s harsh break down of groups such as fit or fat or maybe straight or LGBTQ+ community. Personally, I have never used one of the apps and I never plan to because I find them dangerous and it’s not my cup of tea. Some of the people not all, who use them take advantage of the other users treating them like worthless objects just like Tolentino mentioned and talked about. Tolentino does make an excellent point however, there are some perks of living in the 2019 era of fast producing technology especially in the case of relationships. Texting, one of the most basic forms of writing in digital environment. My generation and more so the younger generation in my eyes takes advantage of the idea of texting and phones. One thing without writing in text we wouldn’t be able to do is ask a floor mate if they can quickly let us into the building during winter. We wouldn’t be able to easily contact a parent or friend during a trip out of the country. Little things that us as a first world country take advantage of is right underneath our noses 24/7. One positive experience that I have often with texting and writing in digital environment has to do with one of my valued relationships. This relationship is with my boyfriend who is an international student from England who I met at St. Bonaventure University. Over breaks and over summer it gets tough to keep in contact because of the time difference and without texting it would be much worse. If I am at work I can send a short text keeping him updated with my day or letting him know something has happened. With it being such a close and valued relationship to me, texting and this aspect of writing in digital environments is a huge positive and it is a helpful tool in my life. Another experience of writing in digital environments within the context of relationships is the quick and easy usage of communication. Some examples I can name off the top of my head include, quick texts of “your Uber has arrived”, quick texts of “hey can you send me a picture of page 12 in our book” and also easy access to send your location to a friend. Texting someone these types of texts might not grow your relationship tremendously but you can always “catch up” with an old friend in seconds. Yes, there are bad affects and terrible situations that roll out of writing in digital environment in the context of relationships and love and Tolentino elaborates on that pretty well. In certain cases, there is an underlying positive factor to texting and social media apps to grow relationships, keep them updated and stay in contact. From the constant notification found in my emails, “you have 2 items in your cart, would you like to purchase these items?” could give away what I enjoy doing on my free time. Online shopping for me is never fully completed. This is because I am a college student trying to save money for new toothpaste I need next week.
Clothes and essentials I might want will sit in my online cart for weeks for me to just ponder at, but at least I have my financial priorities straight. It is clear that those items I have in my cart are being accounted by from the attached store and turned into ads on my direct social media feed as “things I might like”. In an article, Your Leftover Shopping Cart Items Are About to Show Up as Instagram Adsby Natt Guran, it says that this online strategy is called “retargeting ads”. The stores will track your online shopping cart to create ads that fit your style. (https://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/05/10/instagram-dynamic-ads/) For me, it has successfully steered me to even more clothes I love but can’t have, however it does provide me with unique gifts ideas for Christmas or Birthdays! The underlying, creepy factor is that us as consumers have no idea we agreed to the industries allowing them to watch our browsing history. We have probably agreed to the allowance of this by simply clicking “yes I agree to these terms and conditions” while quickly passing through the 4 pages of statements and agreements. This example that I have recently found and now always encounter falls right under the idea of Szymielewicz’s thinking. The inner layer of my identity and the things I share, gender, has been revealed on these sites as soon as I click on the women’s section, then it flows into the second layer of what my behavior shows, which is what I look for on websites. Lastly, the computer or the people behind it, can tell or think of what my life is like. If I’m moving into a new apartment they will know because of the recent purchases of tables, chairs, couch, bed sheet sets, dishware, and the list goes on. Those purchases and views might trickle down into home magazine ads or ads for home good stores such as “Pottery Barn”. The effect that the strategy of retargeting ads has on us as consumers almost shapes our lives. That is frightening to think about because every time we see an ad it sparks an interest we may have never had. What if I purchased that black leather couch and the next day I saw an ad for a white microfiber couch that was better. An outcome could be to return that black couch and purchase the white one, completely changing and switching my living room, a place that displays my raw life and interests. The question is, did I choose to buy that white couch because I truly loved it or did I buy it because it looked popular and aesthetically pleasing on my Instagram feed? There are truly so many things companies and industries have access to at the touch of their fingertips. Our browsing history and online shopping carts are just a few things we have realized that are accessible to not only our own devices but thousands of companies. I’d thought I would leave this example for you down below to see the real ads and correlation that happens behind our phones. This was an ad I saw while scrolling through my Instagram this afternoon and sure enough it was an ad for hair accessories, something I was looking at the night before. The project that I would like to expand on is from my image piece that showed text messages in the shape of a heart. I am choosing this because I want to expand on the overall outcome and purpose of this project. Love is a strong thing and it can be spread through simple text messages that could brighten someone’s day instantly. My peers that sent in texts for me to use also enjoyed reflecting on their little parts of love and encouragement. In today’s world, I believe that it’s important to take a step back and look at the greater things in life, the bigger picture and true human values. To expand on this image project I created weeks ago, I will turn it into a video/interview project. Within this video I would like to have three parts consisting of an intro to explain what the content is, a middle part that shows the interviews, and the end part that concludes this video and shows the purpose. For the first part of this video I want to have a lot of my friends or teammates start off by each saying one phrase that will grab attention and open up the video such as “love is (one word they think describes the word love)” then have everyone say, “love is everywhere”. After, I will briefly explain to each friend on camera to open their phone and find one text message that they received in the past month that made them smile or feel loved. That will lead into part two, the “interviews” of when each person discovers a text. They will read it outload without revealing that person’s name to keep it confidential for their reasons. Within this part I would like to have at least twenty people involved in this video to keep it diverse and interesting. Lastly, I will follow the first parts structure by ending it with “love is everywhere” with a few people together and then end the video with a shot of a phone and someone texting a simple loving message to a friend. This project will hopefully show the importance of love and how easily a few words can change a person’s mood, how easily it is to show how much you care or to let someone know you’re still there. However, there are a few things that could possibly go wrong. If someone looks into their phone and doesn’t find a message they think won’t fit the video, that could demeanor the whole purpose. Something to fix a situation like this would be to ask them to look through your texts and find something, it doesn’t have to be anything specific, it could be as simple as a smile emoji! Again, letting someone know or responding to a text with positivity does not have to be an essay or love letter. Texts like a hello or how are you will always matter because life is so quick and complicated and our human relationships with others can be so fragile and misleading. Being there for someone else other than yourself can be life changing and simply full of love. There is an underlying factor that young adults don’t touch on enough that will benefit them every day. This factor is often overlooked in teenage years of high school and that should not be the case. The lack of knowledge to write checks, resumes, cover letters, etc. could be solved. The system that I have created is a class called “Adulting” that will be mandatory for high school seniors that are graduating soon. The purpose of this class is to educate 17-18 year olds the vital parts of “adulting” so they can be successfully independent after school when they’re on their own. Lessons will consist of writing checks, balancing a check book, paying bills, getting taxes done, building credit and financial planning. There are a lot of things I am listing that adults need to know to live a successful life and young adults should be aware of this too. If students do not have the supportive and educating parents like some do, they will essentially be left with no knowledge in the future. This is why it should be a mandatory class for all students to take. Fortunately, I was a part of a business academy program that taught me little things that would be beneficial to me in the future. These lessons were not about calculus or creative writing, it was about life skills that I will need to know once I graduate; writing checks, balancing an account, financial planning, job shadows, internships and much more. If I did not have this class to teach me some of the small things that are necessary I wouldn’t know what to do after high school. The education of life skills should be more frequently taught more than it is. Also, students who don’t have invested parents that will teach them how to pay bills, how to get taxes done and basic adulating get screwed over with life. This is why high schools should have a mandatory class to teach everyone what adulting is and the content they need to know instead of formulas they need to memorize for a New York state exam in June. Public schools that have the budget to hire business teachers or maybe even volunteers that are everyday mom and dad’s juggling real life would be able to utilize this class. The population that would be ostracized out of this program and class would be schools who do not have the right funding. The problem is finding the right type of teachers for this kind of class and the best fit would be business teachers. From my experience of these types of classes, I knew that there was a lack of high school business teachers and hiring would be one of the bigger fallbacks for this system. The only other solution to young adults learning about all of the adult skills is from online videos. The social media platform, YouTube has become quite educational and useful. I am pretty sure you can find a video of how to write a check in one minute. If this system does not become more popular and mainstream, at least the future seniors in high school can rely on YouTube videos. My freshman year at St. Bonaventure showed me the massive amount of people who do not know how to do these important things. Witnessing my friends struggling with writing a resume and not knowing how to fill a W2 form was eye-opening. That should not be the case for anyone about the age of eighteen. I admit to it also, the knowledge that I don’t have on these adult things will have to be used in 2 years when I graduate; that is very frustrating. A spread-out plan and curriculum needs to become a part of mandatory classes just like algebra and chemistry. Everyone faces a time where they have to be independent and that should be before they graduate high school instead of struggling through young adult years with no experience. As my anticipation grows to meet my four-legged friend named Bailey this weekend, I started to think about the substantial number of puppies and dogs who are just like Bailey. Not just similarities like a pure innocent heart, a bundle of joy, and snuggles but a similarity in their background and in Bailey’s case, a puppy mill. My family rescued Bailey, a two-year-old small dog from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, abbreviated to the SPCA. This system that rescues lives represents a part of the world that demonstrates hope for society. The SPCA has approximately 3.2 million sheltered animals being adopted annually. Now that is a statement to show the world and society. The people who adopt these animals and give them a second life are making a difference one by one. Not only the adopters but of course the rescue teams as well. The volunteer rescue teams that go to mills, abandoned houses and such are setting an example of what needs to be done with these animals. The dogs and cats that are abused and abandoned should be cared for with endless love, not in a cage meant for breeding, or left outside to starve. The SPCA does a good job along the lines of collecting donations and finding homes for animals. They have heartbreaking commercials consisting of pictures and videos of some animals which help get their point across for sure. To be a part of this system and adopt you must have a small background check, be educated of abused dogs and have to be evaluated by a member. All these steps to adopt your best friend is crucial and important because you’re giving them a second chance. The SPCA does not want to take the chance of the animals going through trauma like they have before. This part of their system and the rules that they apply to adoption is beneficial to the adopter and the animal. It allows the adopter to be comfortable with the animal and gives the animal a future of a good home. Now if you are not in the right space to adopt an animal, donation is another system that the SPCA includes in their organization. The founder of the SPCA, Henry Bergh states his ideology and mission statement found on the website as, "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.". Bergh started this organization to pass down and spread the ideology of hope and care of animals. Within many years this organization grew and became a voice for the ideology of cherish and care for the innocent animals. From my experience, clearly this system of the SPCA is effective and worthy because we just found another puzzle piece to our family! On the SPCA website it is explained that the number of adoptions has increased which is an indicator of their system making progress. The donated money, volunteer hours of caring humans and advertisement for this good cause is being paid off little by little. The impact of these sweet animals and people involved help make a statement and share the pure love of life in this world. One thing I do notice is the constant look out for volunteers and donations for the SPCA. It will always be a tedious task to find people to work for nothing but people do step up humbly. In the future, if the adoption rates hopefully still rise, maybe the SPCA could hire passionate people to work which will create a more stable environment for this system. At the start of this remix assignment I had a completely different idea of what my result would be. My first instinct was to make something that I’m familiar with, running and motivation. However, I took some videos, made some music and tried to combine them to make a motivational video which did not fall through. After I scratched my idea of a motivational video I sat down and tried to brainstorm what else I could come up with. Nothing went through my head until I received a text from my mom. This simple text made me smile ear to ear and gave me some motivation to get my work done and stay positive. Then I thought, people don’t really need a whole video to smile and be motivated, all it takes is a genuine text. I started remembering all the texts I have received that made my day, put a smile on my face or helped me get through a tough period of my life. When I thought of this idea I was sitting next to my roommate and I asked her if she remembers a text from the past that has given her the same feeling; just like that, she found it right away. I texted a lot of my friends to send me a screenshot of one text they’ve received from someone that impacted them in a positive way. The best part of receiving these screenshots was not only how fast some of my friends replied but the variety of genuine texts they received as well. The only conflict I faced from this remix idea was the placement of where I should display all the screenshots I had. The underlying reason of why I asked for these texts was to see the simple acts of love and hope. Most of us experience this even if it’s a, “how are you today?” and that’s why I combined the screenshots into a heart-shaped collage. Love is the answer and love can be unnoticed or overlooked. When I received that motivational text from my mom that jumpstarted my remix, that was love and that was care. One of my favorite screenshots I put into this collage stuck with me and even made me smile, “It will get better”. This text was sent from someone’s mom that has impacted and given this person hope for the future. As I look back at this remix project I can see that love really conquers all and does make such an impact. The fact that the texts that made these people smile were from months ago shows how well they remember something so simple yet so fulfilling. The content that I used for this project came from my ideas and my connections of friends. The texts I received were all volunteer and from real people who I know personally, so there is no copyright concern or legal liability. The experience of observing art will always be calming and enjoyable to me. Observing artwork that’s done by strangers you have never met is captivating in the sense that it’s up to you to interpret what you see. As I look at art I tend to focus on the small details and hidden pieces that complete the art. However, my attention was focused more on the bigger picture of a specific piece in the Quick Center for the Arts called, Dahlia Triptych by Gary Bukovnik. A picture of an abundance of flowers that consist of bright colors such as purple, pink, and yellow are presented. The artist’s use of watercolor in this piece was used to show the overlapping of colors and shades of all the flowers. The size of this piece of artwork was quite big compared to the other pieces in the Modern Art room. It sits on a wall by itself because of its size yet, it’s not just one piece of canvas, but three. Three separate large frames hang and are detached by about six inches each, but if they were all put together it would make one completed picture of a bouquet of flowers. When I saw this piece, I was drawn to the separation each frame had instead of my occurrence to look into small details. The idea of separating the pieces that the artist, Gary Bukovnik had was to let the viewers take their own imagination and connect the pieces together into one. While standing far enough to see all three frames, it was refreshing to feel my mental thoughts connecting specific petals on one side of a piece to match another petal on a separate frame. This piece stood out to me because I admire flowers very much and I was happy to see other work done by Gary Bukovnik when I looked online. His art focuses on flowers upon flowers along with vibrant and pastel colors. Where this piece is displayed I observed multiple reactions of where people look and drift to when they enter the room and it was to their left, the three big frames of flowers. The image of bright flowers is a social refresher. Flowers are something humans take for granted or dare I say people often don’t “stop and smell the roses”. When flowers are placed in a piece like this, it is a restoring feeling people might receive because of the colors, sight and beauty. An interview showing the history and passion Gary Bukovnik has for his career is presented on his website. In this interview, he talks about his flower theme paintings and how it all stems from his Grandmother’s general store that was surrounded by fields of flowers everywhere. He believes that flowers should always be given their full potential of beauty when painting them. Many people might take flowers and turn them in a materialistic act of forgiveness, sorrow or love and fall into the idea of commodification. Looking at the painting, Dahlia Triptych, it has no materialistic or commodification involved but doubtless natural beauty and imagination. |