Progress Report for Is Myspace Urspace?

Well, speaking for our group, this isn’t going to be easy. Specially after a camera battery died, and we were chargerless. So much editing, so much creating.. I think my head is going to explode.

For our group as we discussed, we’re making a Myspace for the conference. I am in charge of uploading photos, and writing cutlines. So far, it looks like we will be having 5 different albums. I haven’t really decided what to name the albums. I feel that after I upload them to Myspace and have them situated in an order I like, it’ll be easier. I really don’t want to label them “Plenary III” or “Session G,” I feel like they are too dull. Anyone got an ideas? I’ll take feedback.

So far, the albums consist of behind the scenes which will include photos from us at the conference, and photos of us working on this beautiful masterpiece, aka, this myspace page. Another album will consist of of session B.7 “Oui, We, Wii.” -I’m pretty sure we can think of something creative for this album title. This session was awesome, and deserves an awesome title to describe the presentation. The next session we covered and are going to include in a photo album is session E.12, “Writing in Web 2.0 Environments.” I am thinking of a title for this being YouTube, Facebook, Blogs.. in the classroom? OH MY!” because this session basically summed up how teachers are using these web-based realities in their classrooms. Session F.6 doesn’t have that many photos. However, I do think they are some of the clearest photos, and would like to include them. The last session, was by far the best session my group intended was G3. Pam Takayoshi and her undergraduate students really produce an awesome research project involving IM, Texting, and Facebook. I wish I would have taken photos of my group interacting in the session, but I was busy participating! )

So, I’ve written cutlines for the first two albums and selected which photos will be included in them.
But this is just the beginning.. I still have to edit the photos! EEK!

Screenshot Revisions

Copyright laws. They draw a pretty fine line. But what happens when we forget about the line? What happens if we cross the line, for instance, on the internet? What are the outcomes? Is it illegal?

Digital technology is so broad it’s almost impossible to put a cap on it. Especially the internet. So one question I guess you could ask is.. How do we control digital rights? How do we control hardly anything on the internet? How does free software affect people?

LugRadio uses podcasts to help answer questions like these.  I was assigned to analyze a “call for papers” advertisement on youtube. I watched a few that were in different languages and a few that were not really appealing. But I found one that I did happen to like.  I watched LugRadio’s Live 2008 advertisement,

and found that this ad was actually effective. I watched it repeatedly and found that looking with a creative and effective lens, this was overall a more successful “call for papers” ad than others.Before I breakdown what I find to be effective about this ad, we can start with what LugRadio actually is. When viewing the ad on youtube, there is an info section to the right of it where you can find more information about the video. When I clicked on the more info tab, I got a better understand what exactly LugRadio was about, and why the video is relevant.

By reading this, the viewer can get a feel for what this conference is about. I think if they didn’t have an option to place this information, the ad by itself wouldn’t be as effective and not drive it’s point home.

So what else makes this advertisement effective? Or even creative? And what doesn’t necessarily make it effective or creative? Well, I have a couple of ideas on how this ad is effective and creative, and I have some ideas on what could be done to take it a step further.

How is this advertisement effective or ineffective? Well, let’s break it down.

The introduction starts with a black screen and fades into footage of last year’s conference is effective.  Why? As a viewer, I sense that this is something important, that there is a point to be made. It grabs my attention, and I patiently watch to see the turnout.

Throughout the advertisement, the ad has rolling text which allows viewers to read inbetween effective images of 2007’s conference. This allows viewers to understand LugRadio is and what they represent.

I believe this is a very effective tool by transitioning between words and text because if it were just the images of people and no text, viewers may get lost, not grasp the point, or simply lose interest.  Viewers may then believe that it is another conference, which would defeat the purpose of the advertisement.  But with the text (as well as the more info option), LugRadio is defined, and what they are hosting which further explains the images.

So viewers can see that the black background and the light typeface are effective, but it may not be that creative. What I don’t really understand is why they use a off-white yellow color for the text, and then finally, just white. I think if it were more consistant with all white typeface, it may draw in more consistancey. Especially after all the white and black pictures color images come into play. That’s where the advertisement takes on creative twist.

For example:

Throughout the beginning the add fades in and out of black images to black and white text. Effective? Perhaps. Viewers may get a sense that this old footage from previous conferences.

Right after U…S….A pops up on the screen..
We flash right into..

Color images, displaying their logo.
As a viewer, I find this completely effective and creative because before the ad gets to presenting the 2008 conference, they reflect back (or flashback) through last years conference with black and white images. Black and white images give us a sense of old, since black and white photographs and video were the first ever used.

So the color comes in when it starts talking about the NEXT conference. Color was the next big thing in video and photography, and now color is going to use the same effect for the next conference.
Maybe this year’s conference is going to have a bigger and better impact. Thats what the color images shout out to me. In this image, it’s showing what seems to be speakers at the conference praising the conference and what it stands for. Good idea to put this image in color because we get a better sense of what the conference stands for or what it’s about.

Digital technology, Open Software.. It’s all new. It’s always changing. Something is always needed to be done or said about it. I think by using flashbacks from the previous conference in black and white, and then in color, its creative and effective because it’s showing footage of old technology.. to footage of new technology.

Overall, I find this to be one of the better “calls for papers” ads I’ve watched. Watching it over and over I still get the same sense that what’s been done, has been done. But what’s to come, well, it’s going to be bigger and greater.

My Three Critical Lenses

Being a student, I look at numerous and various types of text a day. I probably look at more texts than I’m aware of. But certain texts get more attention than others, because they appeal to certain “lenses” I use.

One way that I examine text is through relevance and appeal. If I don’t find something appealing or interesting, chances are I’m going to overlook it. Why I examine text for relevance and appeal is because it’s easy for me to follow or I simply enjoy finding something that I can relate to. If I read something I like, or read something by an author that I find interesting, chances are I am going to read more of that author. [This happened with Bill Bryson, love that guy.] Relevance and appeal are almost always a lense people use to examine content. It’s a lot easier for me to read something that I can relate to, whether it’s a past experience, or something I find intriguing. If I were to start reading about Astronomy and Physics… It wouldn’t really appeal to me because I lack experience and knowledge in that context. Another example would be that I enjoy music, I mean in this day and age, who doesn’t? So I like to read about some of my favorite artists either in magazines or online. One site I like to go to is Pitchfork and read about some of my favorite artists, see if there are any of them on tour, and so on. If there are artists on there I don’t recognize or don’t necessarily listen to, I will most likely scroll down the page and find something that sparks my interest.

One other example of this would simply be checking the weather everyday. Of course I’m going to check the Normal, IL weather forecast, rather than the St. Louis, MO forecast.

Another way I examine text is if I find it funny or not. Humor is a great way to examine text; people like to laugh. It’s good for you. Something I find humorous is a book I read this summer by one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson. Bryson is known for his witty remarks and making his readers chuckle in almost every excerpt. In Bryson’s 1999 Book, I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to American After Twenty Years Away, the author describes many things he has forgotten or found out about America. One excerpt says, “Here’s a fact for you: According to the latest Statistical Abstract of the United States, every year more than 400,000 Americans suffer injuries involving beds, mattresses, or pillows. Think about that for a minute. That is almost 2,000 bed, mattresses, or pillow injuries a day. In the time it take you to read this article, four of my fellow citizens will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding.” When I read things like this I find it.. A) To be darn right ridiculous on how so many people can hurt them selves with what we perceive to be nice fluffy comforting objects, and B) His language style and ideas are written in a way that I find to be dry, funny humor.

And of course, since this is titled “My Three Critical Lenses,” I’m inclined to tell you that the third way I examine text is if I find it to be visually stimulating. I am a Visual Communications major, and I often find things to be attention-grabbing. We’ve all heard that saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This maybe true. In some cases, a visual may not be engaging and worth the thousand words if you haven’t captured the viewer’s attention. I feel that if you’re going to say something with an image or visually for that matter, you should make sure it’s moving, and captures a certain aesthetic that the viewer can find.

This is Kevin Carter’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a young girl struggling to make it to a food center during the Sudan famine. While in the background, a vulture watches the painfully disturbing scene. This photograph certainly is worth a thousand words. This image evoked so much distraught and uncomfortable feelings in Carter, that shortly after he won the award, he committed suicide.

Isn’t it intense how visuals can affect people?
That’s why visualyl stimulating (in this case, in a rather uneasy stimulating way) is a way I examine content.

I hope my examples are either similar to ways you connect with content or have shed light on a way you’d like to become more aware of noticing when you examine content of any sort.