Voice over for technological determinism vs. social determinism...
Skylar mentions it so if I can do a voice over and really explain it with people interacting with technology in the background that could really work...then some how transition into this idea that you should go out into the world and meet some people.
Thoughts...
There is much discussion on the theories of technological determinism is correct or whether social determinism is correct. Technological Determinism is the idea that as technology develops, society changes because it is influenced by these developments. Therefore, technology was created and we were effected, it is cause and effect. While social determinism counteracts this idea and questions, how can an activity initiated by humans possibly be outside of society? Someone created technology, and eventually people were sold by advertisers the idea that they needed these new technologies to survive in the world. So instead of cause and effect it was wants and needs that affected our actions. Overall it is hard to separate technological and social determinism because they are so closely linked, and in general people have lost track of what really did come first. I think that the best way to understand technology is to take a step back from it at times and go out and do something that doesn't include it. Don't let it control your life.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
To Do List
I like lists, they help keep me organized so...
1. continue to get more footage of people using technology. So far I have a lot of footage of people using cellphones, which helps with the cellphone section of the movie, but I need footage of people using computers, specifically facebook.
2. continue working on my voice over, which needs to include more data and research. Right now I want a voice over for the information of Marshal McLuhan and how he discusses the "medium is the message" and how that contributes to texting, specifically when Sara talks about texting with people of the opposite sex and how it gives her more time to think about her response.
3. And the very very very last thing is going to be the music. To do this I will probably need to export the finalized video into garage band, this way I can fix the audio volume so that when people are talking the music isn't too loud.
1. continue to get more footage of people using technology. So far I have a lot of footage of people using cellphones, which helps with the cellphone section of the movie, but I need footage of people using computers, specifically facebook.
2. continue working on my voice over, which needs to include more data and research. Right now I want a voice over for the information of Marshal McLuhan and how he discusses the "medium is the message" and how that contributes to texting, specifically when Sara talks about texting with people of the opposite sex and how it gives her more time to think about her response.
3. And the very very very last thing is going to be the music. To do this I will probably need to export the finalized video into garage band, this way I can fix the audio volume so that when people are talking the music isn't too loud.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Possible Introduction
Here's what I just thought of...
(start this off sitting in front of the computer speaking directly into the camera) Sophomore year I took a class called, Computer Mediated Communication, and it was here that I realized my true love for technology. In class we took an anthropological stance and explored the world of Second Life. Although I never wanted to admit it I loved exploring Second Life, loved the idea that I could pretend to be someone else. I love the endless possibilities the internet provided. But it is through this class that I also started to look and analyze technology more closely. I remember the exact moment I had my epiphany. It was a beautiful day outside and I was sitting at my desk in the corner of my dorm room, which I shared with my two other roommates (while saying all this can show pictures of the quad). I was on my computer downloading music and watching youtube videos, when I finally stopped and turned around and noticed that my roommates were in the room. However, they too were sitting in their own corners of the room on their own computers with their own headphones on. It was at that moment that I started to question the brilliance of technology, and wondered whether it was bringing us together or really tearing us apart.
(start this off sitting in front of the computer speaking directly into the camera) Sophomore year I took a class called, Computer Mediated Communication, and it was here that I realized my true love for technology. In class we took an anthropological stance and explored the world of Second Life. Although I never wanted to admit it I loved exploring Second Life, loved the idea that I could pretend to be someone else. I love the endless possibilities the internet provided. But it is through this class that I also started to look and analyze technology more closely. I remember the exact moment I had my epiphany. It was a beautiful day outside and I was sitting at my desk in the corner of my dorm room, which I shared with my two other roommates (while saying all this can show pictures of the quad). I was on my computer downloading music and watching youtube videos, when I finally stopped and turned around and noticed that my roommates were in the room. However, they too were sitting in their own corners of the room on their own computers with their own headphones on. It was at that moment that I started to question the brilliance of technology, and wondered whether it was bringing us together or really tearing us apart.
Digital Nation Documentary Response
I watched some of the PBS Digital Nation Documentary to see how they created it and to see if I could get any ideas on how to set up and create a better flow for my video. One of the things I have been thinking about is how to create my narrative, or voice over. I wanted to start where it all began and how I became interested in the topic, which is exactly what Rachel ended up doing in her documentary, she pretty much stole my idea. Okay maybe not, but I was thinking of doing a voice over and showing the scenery of my roommates and I plugged in and doing our own thing, and then I also wanted to show myself sitting in front and talking to the camera, which is exactly what Rachel does in the beginning of her film. I think this makes it more personal when you have someone talking to the camera, because it starts to eliminate the boundary between you and your audience.
Not only was the way they approached and set up the topic interesting but some of the things they said were interesting as well. They actually said a lot of similar things to what my interviewees said. One thing in particular is this idea of distraction and how we can avoid multi-tasking. They mention turning your email off, a simple way of unplugging if you will, which is what students on campus had to do. One student when I asked if they could unplug said they would like to, but they didn't think society would let them. This is exactly what is mentioned in the documentary, turning off your email is not that simple because there is always someone on the other line waiting for your response and if you don't respond this can have serious repercussions, socially as well as work wise.
Overall I really enjoyed the documentary, it was engaging and definitely very helpful to see how they address the same issue I am studying. I not only liked the beginning but I also liked the ending because it's more hopeful. I think the point that I am at right now is that technology isn't necessarily good or bad, but it's what we are using now. Therefore, we need to embrace this change and learn how to deal with it and use it to our advantage but not let it control us. It isn't going away, which is probably good because it allows us to be creative, stay in touch and express ourselves, but as put in the end of the film, we can always turn it off. The question is, will we be able to?
Not only was the way they approached and set up the topic interesting but some of the things they said were interesting as well. They actually said a lot of similar things to what my interviewees said. One thing in particular is this idea of distraction and how we can avoid multi-tasking. They mention turning your email off, a simple way of unplugging if you will, which is what students on campus had to do. One student when I asked if they could unplug said they would like to, but they didn't think society would let them. This is exactly what is mentioned in the documentary, turning off your email is not that simple because there is always someone on the other line waiting for your response and if you don't respond this can have serious repercussions, socially as well as work wise.
Overall I really enjoyed the documentary, it was engaging and definitely very helpful to see how they address the same issue I am studying. I not only liked the beginning but I also liked the ending because it's more hopeful. I think the point that I am at right now is that technology isn't necessarily good or bad, but it's what we are using now. Therefore, we need to embrace this change and learn how to deal with it and use it to our advantage but not let it control us. It isn't going away, which is probably good because it allows us to be creative, stay in touch and express ourselves, but as put in the end of the film, we can always turn it off. The question is, will we be able to?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Gender Performance and Technology
Although I don't want to delve too much into gender issues and technology in my project (because seriously that's a whole other issue) a couple do mention these issues in my interviews with them. One of my friends talks about her relations with the opposite sex and how that alters her use of technology, while another friend discusses actual gender identities and how technology can make these identities very two dimensional, black and white.
The following youtube video is a combination of these two interviews that briefly touch upon these gender issues.
Although what Haley says is very interesting it is a little off topic, however I decided to include it in this interview clip because it is connected to this idea of performance and identity, she is just looking at it from a gender studies perspective. Personally, I don't think I will include this part in my final video, but it is definitely blog worthy. Sara on the other hand discusses her relations with the opposite sex, which is brought up often in Sherry Turkle's book, Alone Together. Turkle discusses how texting and other social mediums that involve texting gives people "room for performance. The 'real me' turns out to be elusive" (180). She also specifically talks about how "a text message might give the impression of spontaneity to its recipient, but teenagers admit they might spend ten minutes editing its opening line to get it just right" which is exactly what Sara talks about (200). The idea that texting gives you time to think and edit what you want to say, you can retract something before its heard so that you don't embarrass yourself.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
The following youtube video is a combination of these two interviews that briefly touch upon these gender issues.
Although what Haley says is very interesting it is a little off topic, however I decided to include it in this interview clip because it is connected to this idea of performance and identity, she is just looking at it from a gender studies perspective. Personally, I don't think I will include this part in my final video, but it is definitely blog worthy. Sara on the other hand discusses her relations with the opposite sex, which is brought up often in Sherry Turkle's book, Alone Together. Turkle discusses how texting and other social mediums that involve texting gives people "room for performance. The 'real me' turns out to be elusive" (180). She also specifically talks about how "a text message might give the impression of spontaneity to its recipient, but teenagers admit they might spend ten minutes editing its opening line to get it just right" which is exactly what Sara talks about (200). The idea that texting gives you time to think and edit what you want to say, you can retract something before its heard so that you don't embarrass yourself.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Frontline Digital Nation A PBS Documentary
I am currently in a hotel room, tv's on and my two team mates are with me, one's sleeping and the other is on her computer. Wow, even in such a small room we are doing our own thing, and of course the television is on but neither of us is really watching it. Thank you wireless internet.
But there I go again, going off on the negative of technology. Today, Juraj suggested for me to check out this PBS documentary, Digital Nation, and so I checked out the trailer on youtube. The end of the trailer really interested me, because someone actually says, "technology is actually starting to bring us back together again, you're not alone anymore" (Digital Nation). I find this really interesting because this pretty much contradicts, Sherry Turkle's research and book, Alone Together. Definitely going to have to watch the whole documentary to get a better understanding as to why they came to that conclusion. You can watch the trailer below.
But there I go again, going off on the negative of technology. Today, Juraj suggested for me to check out this PBS documentary, Digital Nation, and so I checked out the trailer on youtube. The end of the trailer really interested me, because someone actually says, "technology is actually starting to bring us back together again, you're not alone anymore" (Digital Nation). I find this really interesting because this pretty much contradicts, Sherry Turkle's research and book, Alone Together. Definitely going to have to watch the whole documentary to get a better understanding as to why they came to that conclusion. You can watch the trailer below.
Reflection #2
I have recently started the editing process for my short film, which currently is about 7 minutes long (very very rough I might add). I am trying to figure out how I want to organize it because there is so much information I have gathered both through research as well as interviews, and currently I have settled on separating the film into sections that are titled, like "facebook", "cell phones", "unplugging" etc. However, the one issue I am having with this is what happens when the people I have interviewed say interesting things that don't cleanly fall into one of those categories, then what do I do? For example, two people talk about how the internet in general is really time consuming, which is actually related to something that Professor MacGregor talks about during her unplugged experiment. So where do these comments fall?
Another thing that I want to reflect on is that today I had a girl in my digital media class take a look at my very rough work. I just wanted a fresh pair of eyes and the opinion of an outsider. I wanted to see what she got out of what I had done so far. Her response was very interesting, she said she liked how I had separated it but overall she felt it was currently one sided and was showing the negative portrayal of technology. Personally, I'm not sure if it does or does not, it's hard for me to tell because I have become so involved in the project and have started to develop my own opinions. Therefore, I really appreciated her honesty, and will now have to look for ways to balance the video out. I want the video to be true to what people say but I don't want it to be too one sided especially if people say good things about the use of technology. It's just interesting to really see how manipulative and subjective my editing decisions really can be, because I am choosing which clips to put in and the ones I choose can be based on how I see technology. Meaning if someone says something I agree with I might be more willing to add that clip. I guess it's just important to remain aware that these are subjective decisions and to try and stay as truthful as possible, so in this case I thank you Sarah (outsider) for giving me your almost unbiased opinion (she is more unbiased because she isn't directly connected to the project).
Another thing that I want to reflect on is that today I had a girl in my digital media class take a look at my very rough work. I just wanted a fresh pair of eyes and the opinion of an outsider. I wanted to see what she got out of what I had done so far. Her response was very interesting, she said she liked how I had separated it but overall she felt it was currently one sided and was showing the negative portrayal of technology. Personally, I'm not sure if it does or does not, it's hard for me to tell because I have become so involved in the project and have started to develop my own opinions. Therefore, I really appreciated her honesty, and will now have to look for ways to balance the video out. I want the video to be true to what people say but I don't want it to be too one sided especially if people say good things about the use of technology. It's just interesting to really see how manipulative and subjective my editing decisions really can be, because I am choosing which clips to put in and the ones I choose can be based on how I see technology. Meaning if someone says something I agree with I might be more willing to add that clip. I guess it's just important to remain aware that these are subjective decisions and to try and stay as truthful as possible, so in this case I thank you Sarah (outsider) for giving me your almost unbiased opinion (she is more unbiased because she isn't directly connected to the project).
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The People Have the Power
I was looking through my interview clips the other night, because I am starting the editing stage of my project, when I came across a great interview clip of my friend Skylar. What makes what she said so great is that she mentions how we need to learn how to take control of technology and use it in moderation, which is very similar to what Sherry Turkle says in her interview with Stephen Colbert.
Below you can find clips to both Skylar's interview as well as Sherry Turkle's interview as well.
Although neither Sherry Turkle or my friend Skylar actually name technological determinism they both make reference to this idea that people have the power to step away from technology. Skylar actually talks about how after being abroad she finds it easier now to not use different social mediums and is actually able to turn her phone off, which is something that most students struggle with. In Turkle's book, Alone Together, she talks to this one girl who says that, "knowing she has a message makes her 'antsy'. She starts to worry. She needs to read the message" (245). Our generation has become dependent on technology and have actually started to develop anxiety from it because we are afraid we will "'miss something' and cannot put down [our] phone[s]" (242). However, Skylar has personally been able to overcome this struggle and realizes that this need to be connected and have the ability to find information at the touch of your fingertips can be more trouble then it's worth.
The general consensus of both Skylar and Sherry Turkle's interviews is that we need to learn how to use technology properly and not let it control our lives.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Below you can find clips to both Skylar's interview as well as Sherry Turkle's interview as well.
Although neither Sherry Turkle or my friend Skylar actually name technological determinism they both make reference to this idea that people have the power to step away from technology. Skylar actually talks about how after being abroad she finds it easier now to not use different social mediums and is actually able to turn her phone off, which is something that most students struggle with. In Turkle's book, Alone Together, she talks to this one girl who says that, "knowing she has a message makes her 'antsy'. She starts to worry. She needs to read the message" (245). Our generation has become dependent on technology and have actually started to develop anxiety from it because we are afraid we will "'miss something' and cannot put down [our] phone[s]" (242). However, Skylar has personally been able to overcome this struggle and realizes that this need to be connected and have the ability to find information at the touch of your fingertips can be more trouble then it's worth.
The general consensus of both Skylar and Sherry Turkle's interviews is that we need to learn how to use technology properly and not let it control our lives.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Voice Over Draft
What I am thinking now is to have it start off with me talking to the camera and then the rest of what I say becomes a voice over.
Here is a draft of my narrative...(so far and definitely a work in progress, just want to get my thoughts down on paper).
I wouldn't say that I am addicted to technology, but then maybe I am, the first step is admitting you have a problem and I know for a fact that my relationship with technology at times can be unhealthy. However, I can admit to this, not many people can, or not many people want to think about it. Just walk down a city street and see how many people are, as I like to say, plugged in. They have been transported to another location and aren't even aware of their surroundings. You know how many things I have almost walked into because of texting?
I remember the exact moment when I started to notice our dependency on technology. It was sophomore year of college and I was sitting in the corner of my giant triple listening to music while doing some homework. I had my headphones in so as to not disturb my two other roommates. However, when I finally turned around I noticed that they too were sitting in their own corners of their room with their headphones in as well, both watching different television shows. The funny thing is, that we had a great futon and tv in the middle of the room that we could all watch but we would rather be plugged in doing our own thing then sharing the moment together. That was the first turning point.
The second turning point occurred one day when I was walking to class and I surprisingly wasn't on my phone so I was able to actually take in the events around me. What I saw...pretty much every student that was walking from their class had their phones out. They were checking the text messages or emails that they missed while sitting in class.
It is because of these events that I started to understand the dangers of technology and how it was affecting us as a community and as students. I wasn't fully convinced that it was all bad, which is why I knew that second semester of sophomore year that I wanted to explore communicative technology further for my senior project.
This isn't my story, this is our generations story.
* This does not need to be told linear...I think that what should happen is that depending on the images different parts of what I wrote should be shown. However, I do think that the beginning of what I write should be part of the beginning of the movie. What I am picturing is me sitting in front of the camera and just talking to it, then I can show students interacting with technology and I will switch to a voice over.
* I have also been thinking about having quotes from Sherry Turkle and other readings that I have done throughout the film to tie everything together.
Here is a draft of my narrative...(so far and definitely a work in progress, just want to get my thoughts down on paper).
I wouldn't say that I am addicted to technology, but then maybe I am, the first step is admitting you have a problem and I know for a fact that my relationship with technology at times can be unhealthy. However, I can admit to this, not many people can, or not many people want to think about it. Just walk down a city street and see how many people are, as I like to say, plugged in. They have been transported to another location and aren't even aware of their surroundings. You know how many things I have almost walked into because of texting?
I remember the exact moment when I started to notice our dependency on technology. It was sophomore year of college and I was sitting in the corner of my giant triple listening to music while doing some homework. I had my headphones in so as to not disturb my two other roommates. However, when I finally turned around I noticed that they too were sitting in their own corners of their room with their headphones in as well, both watching different television shows. The funny thing is, that we had a great futon and tv in the middle of the room that we could all watch but we would rather be plugged in doing our own thing then sharing the moment together. That was the first turning point.
The second turning point occurred one day when I was walking to class and I surprisingly wasn't on my phone so I was able to actually take in the events around me. What I saw...pretty much every student that was walking from their class had their phones out. They were checking the text messages or emails that they missed while sitting in class.
It is because of these events that I started to understand the dangers of technology and how it was affecting us as a community and as students. I wasn't fully convinced that it was all bad, which is why I knew that second semester of sophomore year that I wanted to explore communicative technology further for my senior project.
This isn't my story, this is our generations story.
* This does not need to be told linear...I think that what should happen is that depending on the images different parts of what I wrote should be shown. However, I do think that the beginning of what I write should be part of the beginning of the movie. What I am picturing is me sitting in front of the camera and just talking to it, then I can show students interacting with technology and I will switch to a voice over.
* I have also been thinking about having quotes from Sherry Turkle and other readings that I have done throughout the film to tie everything together.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Took A Break...But Now I Am Back
Although I did post a couple of times over spring break I eventually stopped, I wish I could say it was because I tried to unplug myself, but in all honesty that did not happen. However, I did somewhat unplug from the computer. I still had my phone on me at all times, but I rarely turned my computer on. Although I wish I could say I did this because I have the will power to do this, it is simply not the case. The real reason I stopped going online and updating my blog was because the hotel we were staying at didn't have wireless. It had an ethernet cable to plug our computers into, but it didn't have wireless and therefore I found it way too tiring and annoying to go online. I couldn't just open up my computer and be online, instead I had to walk over take the ethernet cable and plug it into my computer (it's true I have really become the lazy). It's actually sad, but it made me think that maybe part of the reason why we have become so dependent on technology is because it is so simple and always there.
Over break I read a lot of Turkle's book Alone Together and she talks about what the word "vacation" has come to mean. I found this interesting and relevant because I was on a vacation. Turkle talks about how "on vacation, one vacates a place, not a set of responsibilities" (165). The norm and expectations of people is that while on vacation they are really just "working from someplace picturesque" (165). People are able to work because places where people vacation now make it easy for them to access ways for them to work. Turkle explains that, "advertisements for wireless networks routinely feature a handsome man or beautiful woman sitting on a beach...Now they are often implied" (165). That's why it was so interesting that the place I stayed at didn't have wireless and how that impacted my use of the internet. It was harder for me to stay plugged in making my break much more relaxing. But, alas back to school and back to the being constantly plugged.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Over break I read a lot of Turkle's book Alone Together and she talks about what the word "vacation" has come to mean. I found this interesting and relevant because I was on a vacation. Turkle talks about how "on vacation, one vacates a place, not a set of responsibilities" (165). The norm and expectations of people is that while on vacation they are really just "working from someplace picturesque" (165). People are able to work because places where people vacation now make it easy for them to access ways for them to work. Turkle explains that, "advertisements for wireless networks routinely feature a handsome man or beautiful woman sitting on a beach...Now they are often implied" (165). That's why it was so interesting that the place I stayed at didn't have wireless and how that impacted my use of the internet. It was harder for me to stay plugged in making my break much more relaxing. But, alas back to school and back to the being constantly plugged.
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Too Far From The Truth?
Although I am regrettably on my computer on my spring "break." Can I really be on a "break" while still totally connected to my technology? But because I am still plugged in despite being miles away from campus I have been able to see these two commercials for Virgin Mobile.
I am a little wierded out by the commercials but I have to question is it really that far away from the truth? I mean, when advertising companies create commercials it is to make their products more appealing to consumers. So, they obviously think that this stalkerish girlfriend character in the commercial will appeal to someone because they see that the way this character uses her phone is the same way that most adolescents use their phones these days. However, I still find the commercials extremely creepy because even if it is a bit of an over exaggeration the fact of the matter is it obviously exists otherwise they would never had created the commercial to begin with.
I am a little wierded out by the commercials but I have to question is it really that far away from the truth? I mean, when advertising companies create commercials it is to make their products more appealing to consumers. So, they obviously think that this stalkerish girlfriend character in the commercial will appeal to someone because they see that the way this character uses her phone is the same way that most adolescents use their phones these days. However, I still find the commercials extremely creepy because even if it is a bit of an over exaggeration the fact of the matter is it obviously exists otherwise they would never had created the commercial to begin with.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Warm Weather and A Little Technology on the Side...
About 12 hours later and we have finally arrived in Florida, warm weather greeted us, but the reason I am taking this time to blog about my spring break trip isn't because I am bragging and trying to make you all jealous that you're stuck up North while I am going to be working on my tan. No, the real reason that I am taking the time out of my "break" is because of what I noticed while I was in the airport waiting to board my plane.
It's funny because I was actually reading Sherry Turkle's new book, Alone Together, when I started to notice some interesting things developing around me. Although my project is about how technology affects the St. Lawrence community I still find it relevant and valid to blog about my time at the airport because although what occurred around me wasn't just based off the actions of my fellow teammates but numerous random people, it is important because it helps put things in perspective. Meaning, SLU as a community isn't the only place affected by technology, the entire world is.
So back to Turkle, I was sitting in the airport reading her book when I started to procrastinate a little and looked up from my reading to find almost everyone around me plugged into their laptops or cellphones. One girl on my team had her laptop open and was updating her twitter page to say that she was going to Florida for spring break. A couple of the boys on the men's team all had their cell phones out and were either texting or were just holding it for comfort. The kids on the team weren't the only people plugged in, pretty much everyone had their laptops out and headphones in to help them tune out their surroundings. I even walked by one man who was playing a video game, and from the quick glimpse that I got it looked like it was a multi-player game.
So, like the good little ethnographic observer that I am I pulled out my notebook and wrote some notes about what I was noticing and then returned to reading Turkle. Then it was as if the planets lined up because Turkle actually mentioned the phenomenon that I was witnessing in the airport right in her book. Turkle explains that "these days, being connected depends not on our distance from each other but from available communications technology...In this new regime, a train station (like an airport, a cafe, or a park) is no longer a communal space but a place of social collection: people come together but do not speak to each other. Each is tethered to a mobile device and to the people and places to which that device serves as a portal" (155). What Turkle is saying about everyone being "tethered" to their mobile device or computers is what I was witnessing in the airport. We were all there for the same reason, to fly someplace but we weren't talking or interacting with one another, even those of us who knew each other. We were too busy texting friends trying to make them jealous about our trip or updating our facebook and twitter statuses'.
On a separate yet still relevant note I again witnessed something interesting and note worthy on the plane ride. Sitting in front of me was a family with their son who could not be older than 2, I'm pretty sure he is probably 1 since he wasn't talking, but I digress. The little baby was actually holding and playing with his mother's iphone. He actually knew what to do and was tapping the screen just like how he had seen his mom do it. At some points the mom took the phone from the child but still held it in front of him so that he could see how she was working it. I found this interaction extremely interesting because this child is going to represent a new generation, a generation that has been involved with technology from before he could talk. Turkle mentions throughout the book how teens now a days are growing up differently. For example teens these days fear talking on the phone because "a telephone call can seem fearsome because it reveals too much" (188). So after watching this child interact with technology I am starting to wonder what is next for this upcoming generation, will they not even be able to communicate through text?
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
It's funny because I was actually reading Sherry Turkle's new book, Alone Together, when I started to notice some interesting things developing around me. Although my project is about how technology affects the St. Lawrence community I still find it relevant and valid to blog about my time at the airport because although what occurred around me wasn't just based off the actions of my fellow teammates but numerous random people, it is important because it helps put things in perspective. Meaning, SLU as a community isn't the only place affected by technology, the entire world is.
So back to Turkle, I was sitting in the airport reading her book when I started to procrastinate a little and looked up from my reading to find almost everyone around me plugged into their laptops or cellphones. One girl on my team had her laptop open and was updating her twitter page to say that she was going to Florida for spring break. A couple of the boys on the men's team all had their cell phones out and were either texting or were just holding it for comfort. The kids on the team weren't the only people plugged in, pretty much everyone had their laptops out and headphones in to help them tune out their surroundings. I even walked by one man who was playing a video game, and from the quick glimpse that I got it looked like it was a multi-player game.
So, like the good little ethnographic observer that I am I pulled out my notebook and wrote some notes about what I was noticing and then returned to reading Turkle. Then it was as if the planets lined up because Turkle actually mentioned the phenomenon that I was witnessing in the airport right in her book. Turkle explains that "these days, being connected depends not on our distance from each other but from available communications technology...In this new regime, a train station (like an airport, a cafe, or a park) is no longer a communal space but a place of social collection: people come together but do not speak to each other. Each is tethered to a mobile device and to the people and places to which that device serves as a portal" (155). What Turkle is saying about everyone being "tethered" to their mobile device or computers is what I was witnessing in the airport. We were all there for the same reason, to fly someplace but we weren't talking or interacting with one another, even those of us who knew each other. We were too busy texting friends trying to make them jealous about our trip or updating our facebook and twitter statuses'.
On a separate yet still relevant note I again witnessed something interesting and note worthy on the plane ride. Sitting in front of me was a family with their son who could not be older than 2, I'm pretty sure he is probably 1 since he wasn't talking, but I digress. The little baby was actually holding and playing with his mother's iphone. He actually knew what to do and was tapping the screen just like how he had seen his mom do it. At some points the mom took the phone from the child but still held it in front of him so that he could see how she was working it. I found this interaction extremely interesting because this child is going to represent a new generation, a generation that has been involved with technology from before he could talk. Turkle mentions throughout the book how teens now a days are growing up differently. For example teens these days fear talking on the phone because "a telephone call can seem fearsome because it reveals too much" (188). So after watching this child interact with technology I am starting to wonder what is next for this upcoming generation, will they not even be able to communicate through text?
Works Cited:
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Interview with Professor MacGregor
I have chosen to share a rough edited version of this interview I had with Professor MacGregor because out of all the interviews I have done so far this one has been the most enjoyable. I imagine that is because it was very comfortable and was almost like having a conversation with someone who is just as interested in this topic as I am. Not only that but being a professor gives her a lot more credibility and it was interesting conducting that type of interview. Most of the other interviews I had were with students so what they said was mostly just to see what they thought about technology and what they had noticed on the SLU campus, however by talking to a Professor who has looked into this subject you get a different angle on the topic.
The original interview was about 20 minutes and I have just cut it down to over 4 minutes of some of the interesting information I thought Professor MacGregor touched upon. There is a lot more information that she talks about that I am not counting out, it is just for now I think what I have edited to is the most important thing to look at.
Just like my friend Sam, Professor MacGregor talks about how social networks are used as a way of representing ourselves. In part of the interview that I cut out she mentions how her class studied different social networks, like facebook, twitter, blogging, second life etc. and compared how the representation of the self was presented in these different social networks. However, after watching the interview a few times I realize that although she mentions what her class did she never explains any of the similarities or differences she and the class noticed among these different networks. This was my own fault because when interviewing her I should have asked her what she noticed, but unfortunately I didn't. However, I think this would be really important information so as the project progresses I may reach out to her again and see if she would be willing to elaborate more on that topic. Here is the short clip of her interview.
Another interesting thing that Professor MacGregor mentions are the experiments she and her students did with multitasking. I found this interesting because in the book I've been reading called, Rewired talks about the difference in generational multitasking. According to the book, "The New Generation and iGeneration preteens, teens, and young adults imagined doing more than six things simultaneously during their free time" (33). However, just like Professor MacGregor's research with SLU students, research has shown that "multitasking often leads to slower performance and increased errors" (76). Within the book there is a chart set up, which shows that Net-Gen and iGen multitask 73% of the time when they are talking face-to-face, 79% of the time when they are texting, 79% of the time when they are surfing the web, and 88% of the time when they are listening to music (82).
Overall this video is just a quick edit I have done and it just from the camera I set up as a mid shot and don't use to make close ups. While this camera stays on its tripod and rolls I have another camera in my hand that I use to zoom in on their hands and faces. When putting the project together I am going to inter cut between the two.
Also while editing this interview I tried to add music in the background but couldn't seem to be able to. I am glad I am figuring this out now than later so I can talk to Amy about what I did wrong and we can see how we can fix it.
Works Cited:
Rosen, Larry D. Rewired. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
The original interview was about 20 minutes and I have just cut it down to over 4 minutes of some of the interesting information I thought Professor MacGregor touched upon. There is a lot more information that she talks about that I am not counting out, it is just for now I think what I have edited to is the most important thing to look at.
Just like my friend Sam, Professor MacGregor talks about how social networks are used as a way of representing ourselves. In part of the interview that I cut out she mentions how her class studied different social networks, like facebook, twitter, blogging, second life etc. and compared how the representation of the self was presented in these different social networks. However, after watching the interview a few times I realize that although she mentions what her class did she never explains any of the similarities or differences she and the class noticed among these different networks. This was my own fault because when interviewing her I should have asked her what she noticed, but unfortunately I didn't. However, I think this would be really important information so as the project progresses I may reach out to her again and see if she would be willing to elaborate more on that topic. Here is the short clip of her interview.
Another interesting thing that Professor MacGregor mentions are the experiments she and her students did with multitasking. I found this interesting because in the book I've been reading called, Rewired talks about the difference in generational multitasking. According to the book, "The New Generation and iGeneration preteens, teens, and young adults imagined doing more than six things simultaneously during their free time" (33). However, just like Professor MacGregor's research with SLU students, research has shown that "multitasking often leads to slower performance and increased errors" (76). Within the book there is a chart set up, which shows that Net-Gen and iGen multitask 73% of the time when they are talking face-to-face, 79% of the time when they are texting, 79% of the time when they are surfing the web, and 88% of the time when they are listening to music (82).
Overall this video is just a quick edit I have done and it just from the camera I set up as a mid shot and don't use to make close ups. While this camera stays on its tripod and rolls I have another camera in my hand that I use to zoom in on their hands and faces. When putting the project together I am going to inter cut between the two.
Also while editing this interview I tried to add music in the background but couldn't seem to be able to. I am glad I am figuring this out now than later so I can talk to Amy about what I did wrong and we can see how we can fix it.
Works Cited:
Rosen, Larry D. Rewired. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The Meaning of Friends
A couple posts ago I recapped how the event I created on facebook was doing. What I noticed was that the majority of people who responded "yes" to attending the event were my friends that I verbally spoke to about interviewing them. It led me to start thinking about how successful facebook really is. All the people I have interviewed are people that I spoke to in person or people who I have signaled out and emailed. I haven't had one person from my facebook event actually try and get in touch with me. So although facebook allows you to send out mass information to as many people as you know, I think I sent it out to about 250 people, the success rate of hearing from those people is very low.
What is also interesting to take note of is the fact that the majority of the six people who responded yes to attending are close friends that I see almost daily. When I was doing some reading the other day, the article questioned "what the meaning of 'friends' [are] in these environments" and I am starting to wonder the same thing (533). According to facebook I have 933 friends, but really when I think about it I talk to about 20 of them on facebook. The reason I believe I have so many friends that I don't talk is because they are "superficial relationships" (533).
Freshman year of college I went on a friending spree (don't judge you know we all do it) and friended almost every single person I met during the first couple of months I was here. Looking back on it I am not exactly sure why I did it, I would argue that it allowed me to get in contact with these people and try and meet up with them after just meeting them but I'm going to be honest, that never actually happened. The reason I believe I went on such a friending craze is because the number of friends one has on facebook does affect judgments. For example, "popularity, pleasantness, heterosexual appeal, and confidence of the profile owner were greater when there was a high number of friends on an individual's profile than when the lower coefficients were displayed" (536). We know that to have a lot of friends on facebook it will make us seem more popular and therefore we will be more liked.
When you first meet someone what is one of the first things you do? Most likely you go on facebook and try to see their pictures and who they are friends with. If you have mutual friends you will probably be more inclined to want to friend them. This raises questions on what is means to be a facebook friend? And there isn't much of an answer except that "on Facebook, the meaning of friend does not always have traditional connotations" (537). In some cases "other literature has speculated that the meaning of friends changes in social networking sites, particularly as numbers grow higher" (537). So does the more friends you have on facebook mean the less intense those friendships actually are? I think so, because what it comes down to is that I don't talk to all 933 of my facebook friends.
This isn't to say that having friends on facebook is a bad thing. Actually it can be very helpful at times, for example "Donath and boyd (2004) argue that online social networking systems can help individuals to maintain a larger number of close ties than people can typically maintain without such technology, as the systems allow people to check one another's sites for updates, reflect new activities, as well as to facilitate brief verbal exchanges through asynchronous wall postings" (537). For example a lot of friends I had in elementary school I have been able to get back in touch with and re-form those close ties I had with them when I was younger. Over the summer my best friend from kindergarten and I actually were able to get together for dinner through facebook and ever since then we have been meeting up and staying in touch, it has been like no time has passed.
So I think the main thing to take away from this post and the idea about friendship is that what "is labeled 'friend' on Facebook often does not correspond to the same label offline" (537).
Works Cited
Walther, Joseph, Stephanie Tom Tong, Brandon Von Der Heide, and Lindsey Langwell. "Too Much of a Good Thing?
The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook." Journal of
Computer Mediated 13 (2008) 531-549.
What is also interesting to take note of is the fact that the majority of the six people who responded yes to attending are close friends that I see almost daily. When I was doing some reading the other day, the article questioned "what the meaning of 'friends' [are] in these environments" and I am starting to wonder the same thing (533). According to facebook I have 933 friends, but really when I think about it I talk to about 20 of them on facebook. The reason I believe I have so many friends that I don't talk is because they are "superficial relationships" (533).
Freshman year of college I went on a friending spree (don't judge you know we all do it) and friended almost every single person I met during the first couple of months I was here. Looking back on it I am not exactly sure why I did it, I would argue that it allowed me to get in contact with these people and try and meet up with them after just meeting them but I'm going to be honest, that never actually happened. The reason I believe I went on such a friending craze is because the number of friends one has on facebook does affect judgments. For example, "popularity, pleasantness, heterosexual appeal, and confidence of the profile owner were greater when there was a high number of friends on an individual's profile than when the lower coefficients were displayed" (536). We know that to have a lot of friends on facebook it will make us seem more popular and therefore we will be more liked.
When you first meet someone what is one of the first things you do? Most likely you go on facebook and try to see their pictures and who they are friends with. If you have mutual friends you will probably be more inclined to want to friend them. This raises questions on what is means to be a facebook friend? And there isn't much of an answer except that "on Facebook, the meaning of friend does not always have traditional connotations" (537). In some cases "other literature has speculated that the meaning of friends changes in social networking sites, particularly as numbers grow higher" (537). So does the more friends you have on facebook mean the less intense those friendships actually are? I think so, because what it comes down to is that I don't talk to all 933 of my facebook friends.
This isn't to say that having friends on facebook is a bad thing. Actually it can be very helpful at times, for example "Donath and boyd (2004) argue that online social networking systems can help individuals to maintain a larger number of close ties than people can typically maintain without such technology, as the systems allow people to check one another's sites for updates, reflect new activities, as well as to facilitate brief verbal exchanges through asynchronous wall postings" (537). For example a lot of friends I had in elementary school I have been able to get back in touch with and re-form those close ties I had with them when I was younger. Over the summer my best friend from kindergarten and I actually were able to get together for dinner through facebook and ever since then we have been meeting up and staying in touch, it has been like no time has passed.
So I think the main thing to take away from this post and the idea about friendship is that what "is labeled 'friend' on Facebook often does not correspond to the same label offline" (537).
Works Cited
Walther, Joseph, Stephanie Tom Tong, Brandon Von Der Heide, and Lindsey Langwell. "Too Much of a Good Thing?
The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook." Journal of
Computer Mediated 13 (2008) 531-549.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Production
I did a lot of talking during pre-production about what I wanted this project to be like, and now I have finally begun the actual production for this video. So far I am very excited and happy about how things are turning out. As of now I have interviewed six people, two of them were close friends that had verbally agreed to help out, one of them was a classmate who also happened to be part of the FYS where she had to unplug, the other one was a first year student who is my friends brother, and the last two were faculty members who I got in touch with through email.
I have only slightly looked over the interviews and am planning on loading them later this week onto the computer so that I can really start to analyze what people have said. Once I have done that I am planning on uploading one or two short clips of the things I have found interesting onto the blog. However, one thing that my friend Sam said that I made a mental note to go back to when filming was the way he uses facebook to represent himself. He spoke about how now that his mom is on facebook he has to be more careful about how he represents himself, and be much more aware of what he chooses to upload online.
What Sam mentioned about representing yourself made me think back to some readings I have done that talk about how social networks are used as a way to represent yourself in the most attractive way to your peers. For example, in the reading, Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook, the article mentions, "With the advent of new social technologies, users no longer have to rely on an individual's self-composed emails...to garner impressions about a subject" (531). Essentially what this is saying is that now with social networks and new forms of technology that allow us to portray more of our selves then let's say written text it allows those on the receiving end of this information to pass judgment on what they are seeing. People are starting to share their social lives online and whether you are like Sam, who feels the need to be more careful about what he is sharing, or whether you want to share everything, there is always going to be someone on the receiving end viewing this information and sometimes "the information on these sites contains information provided not only by the creator, but by the creator's friends" (532). Who is posting on our facebook walls and the amount of wall posts we get says a lot about ourselves just as much as what we reveal to people such as our "hometown, birthday, preferred activities etc" (532). Not only does the information we place on these sites say a lot about us, but "another source of information on one's profile comes from other social network members: An individual's friends can leave messages on one's profile" (533).
This quote actually reminds me of a personal anecdote that took place my junior year of high school, since it was so long ago I cannot remember the exact details, but what essentially happened was I posted a message on my friends wall. By posting on her wall instead of sending her a personal message, this made what I posted open for all of those who can view her profile to see. A few days later when I went back to her profile I noticed that what I had written on her wall had been deleted and it wasn't by me. When I asked her why she deleted it, she replied that she didn't want people to see it. "Recent research has shown that friends' wall postings also affect judgments of profile owners" and according to Walther et al. he has "found statements made by the profile owner's friends had significant impact on observers' ratings of the social attractiveness and credibility of the profile owner" which is called the Brunswick Lens Model (534). Therefore, it is obvious that my friend was embarrassed by what I said and how it reflected on her so she deleted it.
Facebook has allowed people to (again going to reference to the movie the Social Network) but it has allowed us to live our lives online, but this online life is different because we are protected by a computer screen. There is actually a spoof youtube video called, "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" and although the video is a joke it touches upon some interesting concepts. One concept in particular is when the lyrics say, "What role do you wanna play?/ I'm just a click away night or day/ And if you think I'm not the one/ Log off, log off and we'll be done." The lyrics are saying that you can hide behind this avatar you have created and whenever you want to go you can sign off, you can deal with online life whenever you want. Although, avatars usually refer to role playing games like World of Warcraft, I believe that facebook has become a place for the creation of avatars. Think about it, on facebook you have a profile picture, and majority of people put up pictures that are show them in a good light and make them attractive to their friends.
According to the Social Information Processing Theory, which "suggests that people avail themselves of whatever information is available within a CMC environment with which to form impressions, despite the absence of the nonverbal cues that typically drive impressions in offline communications" (533). Meaning, people are still finding a way to have the same sort of social interaction they would have face-to-face but online. They are still making impressions of their friends and there is still a "sociometric popularity-that which responds to the number of friends or connections one has, which may be reflected in the coefficient of friends displayed on the profiles of Facebook users" (535). To garner these friends, people create profiles that make them attractive because "previous research suggests that people simply prefer to associate with those whom they find physically attractive" (535). Therefore with one or two clicks of the mouse you can create a profile that makes yourself attractive to others, and "given that there appears to be reciprocal relationship between popularity and attraction (and other evaluations), it seems plausible an individual who appears to be popular on Facebook (i.e. has lots of friends) is likely to be seen as more physically attractive" (536).
Therefore, as my friend did to me and as Sam has started to do with his Mom they are altering there profile, whether deleting unwanted comments from their profile or de-tagging photos that show them in a poor light, people are constructing images that will make them most attractive to their peers.
Works Cited
Walther, Joseph, Stephanie Tom Tong, Brandon Von Der Heide, and Lindsey Langwell. "Too Much of a Good Thing?
The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook." Journal of
Computer Mediated 13 (2008) 531-549.
I have only slightly looked over the interviews and am planning on loading them later this week onto the computer so that I can really start to analyze what people have said. Once I have done that I am planning on uploading one or two short clips of the things I have found interesting onto the blog. However, one thing that my friend Sam said that I made a mental note to go back to when filming was the way he uses facebook to represent himself. He spoke about how now that his mom is on facebook he has to be more careful about how he represents himself, and be much more aware of what he chooses to upload online.
What Sam mentioned about representing yourself made me think back to some readings I have done that talk about how social networks are used as a way to represent yourself in the most attractive way to your peers. For example, in the reading, Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook, the article mentions, "With the advent of new social technologies, users no longer have to rely on an individual's self-composed emails...to garner impressions about a subject" (531). Essentially what this is saying is that now with social networks and new forms of technology that allow us to portray more of our selves then let's say written text it allows those on the receiving end of this information to pass judgment on what they are seeing. People are starting to share their social lives online and whether you are like Sam, who feels the need to be more careful about what he is sharing, or whether you want to share everything, there is always going to be someone on the receiving end viewing this information and sometimes "the information on these sites contains information provided not only by the creator, but by the creator's friends" (532). Who is posting on our facebook walls and the amount of wall posts we get says a lot about ourselves just as much as what we reveal to people such as our "hometown, birthday, preferred activities etc" (532). Not only does the information we place on these sites say a lot about us, but "another source of information on one's profile comes from other social network members: An individual's friends can leave messages on one's profile" (533).
This quote actually reminds me of a personal anecdote that took place my junior year of high school, since it was so long ago I cannot remember the exact details, but what essentially happened was I posted a message on my friends wall. By posting on her wall instead of sending her a personal message, this made what I posted open for all of those who can view her profile to see. A few days later when I went back to her profile I noticed that what I had written on her wall had been deleted and it wasn't by me. When I asked her why she deleted it, she replied that she didn't want people to see it. "Recent research has shown that friends' wall postings also affect judgments of profile owners" and according to Walther et al. he has "found statements made by the profile owner's friends had significant impact on observers' ratings of the social attractiveness and credibility of the profile owner" which is called the Brunswick Lens Model (534). Therefore, it is obvious that my friend was embarrassed by what I said and how it reflected on her so she deleted it.
Facebook has allowed people to (again going to reference to the movie the Social Network) but it has allowed us to live our lives online, but this online life is different because we are protected by a computer screen. There is actually a spoof youtube video called, "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" and although the video is a joke it touches upon some interesting concepts. One concept in particular is when the lyrics say, "What role do you wanna play?/ I'm just a click away night or day/ And if you think I'm not the one/ Log off, log off and we'll be done." The lyrics are saying that you can hide behind this avatar you have created and whenever you want to go you can sign off, you can deal with online life whenever you want. Although, avatars usually refer to role playing games like World of Warcraft, I believe that facebook has become a place for the creation of avatars. Think about it, on facebook you have a profile picture, and majority of people put up pictures that are show them in a good light and make them attractive to their friends.
According to the Social Information Processing Theory, which "suggests that people avail themselves of whatever information is available within a CMC environment with which to form impressions, despite the absence of the nonverbal cues that typically drive impressions in offline communications" (533). Meaning, people are still finding a way to have the same sort of social interaction they would have face-to-face but online. They are still making impressions of their friends and there is still a "sociometric popularity-that which responds to the number of friends or connections one has, which may be reflected in the coefficient of friends displayed on the profiles of Facebook users" (535). To garner these friends, people create profiles that make them attractive because "previous research suggests that people simply prefer to associate with those whom they find physically attractive" (535). Therefore with one or two clicks of the mouse you can create a profile that makes yourself attractive to others, and "given that there appears to be reciprocal relationship between popularity and attraction (and other evaluations), it seems plausible an individual who appears to be popular on Facebook (i.e. has lots of friends) is likely to be seen as more physically attractive" (536).
Therefore, as my friend did to me and as Sam has started to do with his Mom they are altering there profile, whether deleting unwanted comments from their profile or de-tagging photos that show them in a poor light, people are constructing images that will make them most attractive to their peers.
Works Cited
Walther, Joseph, Stephanie Tom Tong, Brandon Von Der Heide, and Lindsey Langwell. "Too Much of a Good Thing?
The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook." Journal of
Computer Mediated 13 (2008) 531-549.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Reflection
So today I set up quite a few interviews, and one in particular was with my athletic trainer Alana Alpert. I wanted to reflect on this interview specifically because I had completed the interview and was packing up my equipment, and as I was doing this Alana and I continued to talk about different technologies. During this conversation Alana started to say some really interesting things about technology and how it is used on campus and I noticed she had gotten really animated and into the conversation. Therefore I was really upset that I had turned the camera off and wasn't able to record what she was saying. I had a decision to make, it was between shrugging off this missed footage, which is what Barry Hampe suggests in his book, Making Documentary Films and Videos. Hampe states, "If you don't have the footage, then as far as this film is concerned, it never happened. Don't worry about it. Work with the visual evidence you do have" (67). However, my second choice was to just ask Alana to say what she had said over again. This is something that Hampe also mentions in his book. He actually describes one moment in particular where he was interviewing a police captain for a documentary he was making and because of technical issues he asks the captain to repeat what he is saying multiple times. However, in this example Hampe suggests not to do this because when the captain had to repeat himself multiple times he "had been reduced to a boring bureaucrat, spouting officialese and qualifying every statement" (63). Although, this is a negative quality that occurs when you ask the person you are interviewing to repeat themselves I decide to go with my gut and asked Alana to repeat what she had been saying for the camera. I decided to go in this direction because this is my senior project and I didn't want to take any chances in missing out on some quality information that could be useful.
However, it is only now that I am starting to regret my decision but only slightly, I guess I am regretting it enough to write about it, but I think I made the right decision. I guess what it comes down to is I am a little disappointed with myself because I was really hoping I could go through shooting without having to ask people to repeat themselves. I didn't want what happened to the captain in Hampe's story to happen to me and therefore I told myself I wouldn't make the same mistakes he made. However, to cut myself some slack I don't think it hurt when I asked Alana to repeat the same thing she had said, her personality hadn't changed from the rest of the interview and she was able to pretty much repeat everything I had found interesting.
My interaction with Alana was also interesting because I definitely noticed a difference in her behavior off and on camera. When the camera was off and we continued to talk about the subject she was much more energetic and passionate, however when the camera was on it wasn't like she was less energetic but she definitely seemed less passionate. Hampe also warns against this saying, "you can't just plop people down in front of a camera, tell them to be themselves, and start recording. What you'll get is people trying to remember how they act when they are being themselves" (64). Although I think Alana was acting like herself she definitely changed in front of the camera, which I think is going to be inevitable. I think some people feel like they have to act a certain way when the cameras are on, and in this case Alana acted more professional. I haven't noticed this with everyone I have interviewed, most of the people I am friends with act like themselves because they are comfortable, I think it all depends, it is just an interesting thing to take note of.
Since we are on the subject of interviews I also want to make note a new interview possibility. During Alana's interview she mentions the social network Twitter and it reminded me of the St. Lawrence twitter account, which is actually operated by someone in admissions, Tim Akers. Tim is also responsible for SLU's other forms of media like their facebook pages and even a tumblr account. Therefore, I am going to send Tim an email and see if he would be willing to talk to me about his job and how SLU is involved with these social networks and why they chose to use these different mediums.
Works Cited
Hampe, Barry. Making Documentary Films and Videos. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2007.
However, it is only now that I am starting to regret my decision but only slightly, I guess I am regretting it enough to write about it, but I think I made the right decision. I guess what it comes down to is I am a little disappointed with myself because I was really hoping I could go through shooting without having to ask people to repeat themselves. I didn't want what happened to the captain in Hampe's story to happen to me and therefore I told myself I wouldn't make the same mistakes he made. However, to cut myself some slack I don't think it hurt when I asked Alana to repeat the same thing she had said, her personality hadn't changed from the rest of the interview and she was able to pretty much repeat everything I had found interesting.
My interaction with Alana was also interesting because I definitely noticed a difference in her behavior off and on camera. When the camera was off and we continued to talk about the subject she was much more energetic and passionate, however when the camera was on it wasn't like she was less energetic but she definitely seemed less passionate. Hampe also warns against this saying, "you can't just plop people down in front of a camera, tell them to be themselves, and start recording. What you'll get is people trying to remember how they act when they are being themselves" (64). Although I think Alana was acting like herself she definitely changed in front of the camera, which I think is going to be inevitable. I think some people feel like they have to act a certain way when the cameras are on, and in this case Alana acted more professional. I haven't noticed this with everyone I have interviewed, most of the people I am friends with act like themselves because they are comfortable, I think it all depends, it is just an interesting thing to take note of.
Since we are on the subject of interviews I also want to make note a new interview possibility. During Alana's interview she mentions the social network Twitter and it reminded me of the St. Lawrence twitter account, which is actually operated by someone in admissions, Tim Akers. Tim is also responsible for SLU's other forms of media like their facebook pages and even a tumblr account. Therefore, I am going to send Tim an email and see if he would be willing to talk to me about his job and how SLU is involved with these social networks and why they chose to use these different mediums.
Works Cited
Hampe, Barry. Making Documentary Films and Videos. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2007.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Disregard Last Post
Sorry for the confusion, but I think I have finally come to terms with this project. It is not necessarily a documentary, for it to be one it would need to include a story, what this video is is a educational video. I am creatively going to look into how technological communication is used on this campus. Although, Hugo Perez gave me great ideas for creating an actual documentary with a story, it does not fit into my project. My project is going to be capturing people using technology and interviewing fellow students and faculty.
Hugo Perez Workshop
So today I went to a workshop directed by Hugo Perez, and although I was a little disappointed that we didn't actually make anything like I thought we would in a workshop, I had the opportunity to talk to him afterward. I mentioned to him the thesis of my project and how I wanted to interview students and faculty in the community and ask them about how they use different communicative technology. However, I voiced to him my concern of incorporating the research I have been doing, since this is a subject that is talked about immensely.
He didn't really have an actual answer for me, but he did mention some ideas on how to make this documentary into a story. If I don't have a story than all it is is an educational video, but I need a story to help bring everything together. Some of the ideas he gave me was to pull a Super Size Me like Morgan Spurlock and create a social experiment, meaning I myself should try and unplug from my electronics for a day; no facebook, no twitter, no e-mail and the worst one no phone! Then I could keep video diaries of my response to this experience.
The other suggestions he gave me was going up to students randomly and asking them the question do you think you could unplug for a day, or go without facebook for a day? Then he also suggested interviewing the IT department and finding out when the internet is the used the most and what websites are the most popular. He also suggested interviewing the counseling center about the effects that these technological communication devices have on us, which actually relates to some of the outside reading I have been doing, which I am going to talk about in a later post, but the article is called, The Anti-Social Network.
Overall I found these suggestions helpful because I was definitely aware going into it that I need interviews and need images of people interacting with technology but I was also aware that if this is everything I get then it's going to be one boring documentary. I like the idea of trying to unplug for a day because that will bring me into the documentary and could be kind of a cool story to connect to the research I am doing. Will unplugging make me happier, sadder, will I experience more anxiety?
Thoughts?
He didn't really have an actual answer for me, but he did mention some ideas on how to make this documentary into a story. If I don't have a story than all it is is an educational video, but I need a story to help bring everything together. Some of the ideas he gave me was to pull a Super Size Me like Morgan Spurlock and create a social experiment, meaning I myself should try and unplug from my electronics for a day; no facebook, no twitter, no e-mail and the worst one no phone! Then I could keep video diaries of my response to this experience.
The other suggestions he gave me was going up to students randomly and asking them the question do you think you could unplug for a day, or go without facebook for a day? Then he also suggested interviewing the IT department and finding out when the internet is the used the most and what websites are the most popular. He also suggested interviewing the counseling center about the effects that these technological communication devices have on us, which actually relates to some of the outside reading I have been doing, which I am going to talk about in a later post, but the article is called, The Anti-Social Network.
Overall I found these suggestions helpful because I was definitely aware going into it that I need interviews and need images of people interacting with technology but I was also aware that if this is everything I get then it's going to be one boring documentary. I like the idea of trying to unplug for a day because that will bring me into the documentary and could be kind of a cool story to connect to the research I am doing. Will unplugging make me happier, sadder, will I experience more anxiety?
Thoughts?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Facebook Group
So about a week ago I made a facebook event asking my St. Lawrence friends (not necessarily close friends, just people I am friends with on facebook in the SLU network) if they wanted to be interviewed for my documentary. The results so far...
6 people claim to be attending but only two of them actually posted on the wall of the event "verbally" showing commitment to participating. Out of the other four, I have spoken to one of them in person and she agreed to participate. The majority of the people who have said they are attending are people that I am friends with and spend a lot of time with, whether it's in class or in extracurricular activities.
8 people say to be "maybe" attending, clarification please? Maybe attending has always been an ambiguous term on facebook, and to be honest I usually click maybe attending when I feel bad rejecting the invitation and feel like the invite has been waiting for a response for a long enough time period. Out of the people who are "maybe" attending I haven't formally spoken to any of them.
10 people say they are not attending. Out of those who clicked no the majority of them I haven't spoken to in three years.
Here's the kicker...202 people are awaiting to reply. Some of these people are close friends who I have actually spoken to in person and mentioned to them that I need to interview people. Those that I have asked in conversation have said they would love to help, so why don't they confirm on facebook. You may be thinking, well they don't need to confirm since you spoke to them face-to-face but I actually spoke to all of them after I had created the group. Are they just ignoring my group? This has made me start to think about information overload. We get invited to so many events and groups on facebook that we stop actually looking at them. The same thing happens with email, I know I personally ignore a lot of emails because it just gets to be too much and then after a while that email gets lost among all the other emails I have.
So is this form of communicating to people about the idea of my project good or bad? Am I just being lazy by creating this group, because so far based on the results I am thinking I am going to need to take another approach to attract people to my project. Right now I'm thinking those that have verbally agreed will receive an email asking them to respond with a day and time that works well for them to start filming. Is email more personal then facebook? We will see.
6 people claim to be attending but only two of them actually posted on the wall of the event "verbally" showing commitment to participating. Out of the other four, I have spoken to one of them in person and she agreed to participate. The majority of the people who have said they are attending are people that I am friends with and spend a lot of time with, whether it's in class or in extracurricular activities.
8 people say to be "maybe" attending, clarification please? Maybe attending has always been an ambiguous term on facebook, and to be honest I usually click maybe attending when I feel bad rejecting the invitation and feel like the invite has been waiting for a response for a long enough time period. Out of the people who are "maybe" attending I haven't formally spoken to any of them.
10 people say they are not attending. Out of those who clicked no the majority of them I haven't spoken to in three years.
Here's the kicker...202 people are awaiting to reply. Some of these people are close friends who I have actually spoken to in person and mentioned to them that I need to interview people. Those that I have asked in conversation have said they would love to help, so why don't they confirm on facebook. You may be thinking, well they don't need to confirm since you spoke to them face-to-face but I actually spoke to all of them after I had created the group. Are they just ignoring my group? This has made me start to think about information overload. We get invited to so many events and groups on facebook that we stop actually looking at them. The same thing happens with email, I know I personally ignore a lot of emails because it just gets to be too much and then after a while that email gets lost among all the other emails I have.
So is this form of communicating to people about the idea of my project good or bad? Am I just being lazy by creating this group, because so far based on the results I am thinking I am going to need to take another approach to attract people to my project. Right now I'm thinking those that have verbally agreed will receive an email asking them to respond with a day and time that works well for them to start filming. Is email more personal then facebook? We will see.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Update
Today was an extremely hectic and busy day, but hectic and busy in a good way. Around noon I had a meeting with Amy and we discussed some of the more physical aspects of shooting. We realized I just need to start shooting and get something physical. Right now all of my ideas are stuck in my head and it's time I have something physical to show for it. Once I start shooting I believe it will be much easier for me to figure out how to incorporate my research because I will be able to physically see how my outside research is connected to my ethnographic research.
Right now though my main concern is figuring out a way to actually bring the outside research into the documentary. I don't think I will formally be able to figure this out until I have filmed interviews and visual imagery. However, one thing that Amy mentioned and caught my attention was the idea of using Jing, which is a program I can download for free. Jing allows you to capture what is on your computer, which is kind of what Michael Welsch from Kansas State does in his youtube clip, Web 2.0 (see below).
Jing could not only be used stylistically, captureing facebook profiles AIM conversations but I can also capture online newspaper articles that may be connected to my research. I can also bring up outside statistics that have been done by other people. Sidenote: This is all tentative and a way for me to write down some of the thoughts I have but right now I just want to focus on filming.
So before I start getting stuck in my head more I decided I should write out lists to keep me on track for filming...
Step 1: Begin filming interviews
Step 2: Film visual imagery that connects to what people are saying in interviews and captures people interacting with technology
a. Can film in the pub, students getting out of class, dana, library, computer labs
b. What am I looking for in this visual imagery?
i. People on facebook,
ii. People on their phones (texting, talking on the phone)
iii. People watching television on their computers
iv. People doing research
v. People multi-tasking
Also on the to do list are a list of general questions that will get people to talk during the interviews. These questions don't even need to mention technology, but they should be open ended and allow people to just talk.
Tentative Questions:
1. How are you involved socially on campus?
2. After class or during your free time what are some of the things you like to do?
3. How do you stay connected to people on campus?
4. What are some of your favorite websites and why?
5. What are some your favorite ways of communicating with people and why?
6. How do you go about planning out your day?
* Need to think of more open ended questions that may not even mention communication or technology. Any ideas please let me know.
List of People to Interview (in an environment that they are comfortable):
1. Friends
2. Amy Hauber
3. Jenny McGreggor -- contact her again and ask for her class list of FYP students
4. Alana Alpert
5. First Year Students
Right now though my main concern is figuring out a way to actually bring the outside research into the documentary. I don't think I will formally be able to figure this out until I have filmed interviews and visual imagery. However, one thing that Amy mentioned and caught my attention was the idea of using Jing, which is a program I can download for free. Jing allows you to capture what is on your computer, which is kind of what Michael Welsch from Kansas State does in his youtube clip, Web 2.0 (see below).
Jing could not only be used stylistically, captureing facebook profiles AIM conversations but I can also capture online newspaper articles that may be connected to my research. I can also bring up outside statistics that have been done by other people. Sidenote: This is all tentative and a way for me to write down some of the thoughts I have but right now I just want to focus on filming.
So before I start getting stuck in my head more I decided I should write out lists to keep me on track for filming...
Step 1: Begin filming interviews
Step 2: Film visual imagery that connects to what people are saying in interviews and captures people interacting with technology
a. Can film in the pub, students getting out of class, dana, library, computer labs
b. What am I looking for in this visual imagery?
i. People on facebook,
ii. People on their phones (texting, talking on the phone)
iii. People watching television on their computers
iv. People doing research
v. People multi-tasking
Also on the to do list are a list of general questions that will get people to talk during the interviews. These questions don't even need to mention technology, but they should be open ended and allow people to just talk.
Tentative Questions:
1. How are you involved socially on campus?
2. After class or during your free time what are some of the things you like to do?
3. How do you stay connected to people on campus?
4. What are some of your favorite websites and why?
5. What are some your favorite ways of communicating with people and why?
6. How do you go about planning out your day?
* Need to think of more open ended questions that may not even mention communication or technology. Any ideas please let me know.
List of People to Interview (in an environment that they are comfortable):
1. Friends
2. Amy Hauber
3. Jenny McGreggor -- contact her again and ask for her class list of FYP students
4. Alana Alpert
5. First Year Students
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Just Thinking
I've been reading this book my professor, Amy Hauber gave to me on making documentaries and have started to think about how I am going to shoot this film. The book consistently mentions that just having interviews isn't enough (more of this to come in the following posts), and so I have started to think of other ways to add to the film. This is what I have so far:
1. Using a voice over...it's been done in plenty of documentaries from Exit Through the Gift Shop to Dear Zachary, which I just watched today. Now I just need to know what I would want to say in the voice overs, which I think I will discover as I begin shooting.
2. Following a couple students around as they go about their every day...depending on who responds to my facebook event that I created (so far only two) I think it could be really interesting to follow students around as they go about their days. This would allow me to catch raw images that show them interacting with technology. I could film them for a week or more and then see what kind of footage I have. I would of course also interview these students that I have been following around, which will help bring the whole thing together.
I think I might be able to combine these two possibilities and will post in a few days about this book I am reading on documentaries and specifically what it is saying. Until then...
1. Using a voice over...it's been done in plenty of documentaries from Exit Through the Gift Shop to Dear Zachary, which I just watched today. Now I just need to know what I would want to say in the voice overs, which I think I will discover as I begin shooting.
2. Following a couple students around as they go about their every day...depending on who responds to my facebook event that I created (so far only two) I think it could be really interesting to follow students around as they go about their days. This would allow me to catch raw images that show them interacting with technology. I could film them for a week or more and then see what kind of footage I have. I would of course also interview these students that I have been following around, which will help bring the whole thing together.
I think I might be able to combine these two possibilities and will post in a few days about this book I am reading on documentaries and specifically what it is saying. Until then...
Monday, February 14, 2011
Next Step!
I've been doing the research and now it's time to start to think about filming and who I am going to interview. To find people willing to be interviewed I am using the snowball effect and have created a facebook event where I invited all my St. Lawrence facebook friends. Now I just need to wait and see if anyone responds.
These are all rhetorical questions that I can't answer and may never fully be able to, but through these interviews I hope I get a better understanding of why we as a community are so attracted to this form of communication.
On a somewhat separate note, I am also going to to contact the professor who made her first year students last year stop using all forms of technology, including computers and cell phones. I want to talk to her about why she decided to do this and see if she participated herself. I also am going to ask her for a class list of the now sophomores who participated in her class and were required to drop all forms of technology. Will keep you posted as my project develops further.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Understanding Technological Determinism
You may be asking yourself what exactly is technological determinism and what does it have to do with computer mediated communication. Well, essentially it has everything to do with computer mediated communication.
But before I dive into the details about how the two are connected, lets get an understanding of what I mean when I say technological determinism (don't be afraid by the big words). Technological determinism goes all the way back to the industrial revolution and is the belief "that technology causes or determines the structure of the rest of society and culture" (Technological Determinism 84). Which means that as technology develops society changes because it is influenced by these developments. For example, "the computer has changed the nature of jobs and work. The telephone led to the decline of letter writing...the internet has changed the nature of interpersonal communication" (Technological Determinism 84). Technology was created and we were effected, cause and effect.
However, there are many beliefs that it isn't technology that has influenced society, but instead society that has influenced technology. Think about it this way, technological development is "dependent on the state of the market: they were introduced only when they met persistent demand from consumer" (Winston 104). So not cause and effect but demand and supply. People want new technologies, they feel like they need new technology. The consumer has the power to drive technology. We wanted a mobile phone where we could check emails, so we were given the blackberry. We wanted giant color television that felt as if you were at the game instead of watching it from the comfort of your home, so we were given HD televisions. We wanted a way to communicate and keep in touch with our friends easily, so we were first given the telephone, then email and then finally social networks (again if you haven't seen The Social Network please please watch it!).
If you are still a firm believer in technological determinism, then just take a look at advertisements and you will most likely change your mind. Beginning in the early 1900s "advertising agencies sold the public on the idea that the latest advances in technology brought not only immediate personal gains but social progress" (Smith 19). The companies were able to do this by "using the psychological concepts of association and suggestions, neatly packaged in colorful and briefly worded appeals that excited mental images, advertisers encouraged people to believe that technology, broadly construed, shaped society rather than the other way around" (Smith 13). What this means is that through advertisements people felt like they needed what was being sold, therefore technology was shaping what society would become, but really they didn't need any of that they just wanted it. Technology soon became idolized and it "embedded itself deeply in popular culture" (Smith 13). Technology became such a necessity to peoples lives that it "became the cause of human well-being" (Smith 15). People couldn't tell the difference between things that they needed and wanted.
I think that as a society we need to "understand what sorts of implications new technology may carry with them" before we start to use them (Smith 32). Technology has become an important part of our culture and probably will continue to play a prominent role but we cannot let technology determine how we as a society behave. We have the power to pick and choose what forms of technology we want, not the other way around. If people never demanded social networks, then they wouldn't be here, but as Jesse Eisenberg says in the movie and this is a paraphrase, people want to see their friends on the internet.
It started with friendster, and myspace and then Mark Zuckerberg came along and saw and understood what people wanted and that's what he gave them. We now have twitter, because again Zuckerberg saw people wanted to update their statuses and tell people what they were doing. Someone saw this and saw an opportunity to create a new site that would allow them to do just that alone, hence the creation of twitter.
Demand and Supply people.
Works Cited:
Smith, Merritt Roe. "Technological Determinism in American Culture." Does Technology Drive History?. Ed. Merritt
Roe Smith and Leo Marx. Cambridge, MA: 1994. 1-35.
"Technological Determinism." Philosophy of Technology. Blackwell, 2006. 84-104.
Winston, Brian. "Necessities and Constraints: A Pattern of Technological Change." In Film and Theory: An
Antropology. Ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. 103-110.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Documentaries
For my senior project I have decided to present my findings through a documentary. What I love about the art of documentaries is exactly that, it is a form of art. The art class I am taking this semester is actually focusing on the art of documentaries, and so far we have been discussing the manipulation of emotions that is present in most of them, and what exactly makes a documentary manipulative. Let's begin by what I believe makes a documentary manipulative...
1. Non-diegetic music (music that is played externally): music can make moments feel more emotional than they actually are. A prime example of this is from the documentary we just watched called Life. Support. Music. At the end of the documentary you see the man who the documentary unfolded on playing a guitar on stage and the music just starts to build up and you feel a rush of happiness and hope as you watch this man (if that's too vague I'm sorry but I don't want to give the story away).
2. Use of camera angles :if a camera is far away from the subject it can give off the feeling that the person is alone, or possibly an outsider.
3. Lighting: Bright lighting can make you feel happier while a darker lighting can sometimes have an ominous effect.
Overall it comes down to stylistic choices.
Here is the trailer to Life. Support. Music.
The trailer is somewhat manipulative but it isn't nearly as manipulative as this trailer for the documentary Waiting for Superman. The trailer itself will make you cry.
So I guess what I figure right now is that everything is manipulative, whether it's a documentary or a paper. The thing is to understand that manipulation and to be conscious of it. I think it is okay if my documentary manipulates emotions a little bit as long as it doesn't over do it, like I think Waiting for Superman does.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Ethics of Qualitative Research
Not only do I need to understand the importance of qualitative research and how to approach it, but I must also understand how ethics plays a role in this type of research. Some of the research I found discussing ethics was mostly discussing how ethics plays a role in feminist research, however I still believe that the information provided is applicable to the research I am going to be conducting.
A very simple definition of research ethics a good base to begin is how it is "focused on how well participants are treated" (Gillies and Alldred 32).
Now moving on. Research ethics takes into consideration how research is influenced by the researcher's perspective because the "personal perspectives of researchers inform the intentions we have for research" which again goes back to how as researchers we are subjective and need to approach our research with an open mind so that it does not affect our subjects (33). If you as a researcher understand the intentions you hope to get out of your research, this will help you clarify your means and will decrease the chances of subjectivity. "As Caroline Ramazanoglu and Janet Holland argue 'In connecting theory, experience and judgment, the knowing feminist should be accountable for the sense she makes of her own and other peoples' accounts and how her judgments are made'" (Gillies and Alldred 42).
Another interesting point I found out about ethics for qualitative research, (and although this comes from the feminist perspective, I definitely think it is applicable to my research), is that you must represent your subjects "in order that their voices and experiences are heard" (Gillies and Alldred 33). What I took this to mean is that you must come into your research with an open mind to avoid projecting your views on your subjects and therefore tampering with their voice.
There has also been much discussion under feminist research that discusses the role of power and how when doing some of this research you are representing groups that you are not part of (most likely marginalized groups). Some feminists have actually decided that they will not speak for those that they cannot relate to, meaning as researchers their "warrant extends only to representations of themselves and their immediate communities" (Gillies and Alldred 40). Luckily for me I am focusing on the St. Lawrence community, one that I have been part of for four years and therefore I think ethically I can interview other students and members of the community because I can relate to them and am part of their community.
Another thing that is necessary to understand when conducting interviews is the idea of consent. When it comes to consent the ethics committee requires that the relationship between the researcher and interviewee should be formalized through written consent. Therefore, I believe that I too must write up a form and have my participants sign a document to show that they are consenting to my research.
However, the term consent can be quite ambiguous because what are the subjects exactly consenting to? If you inform your participants about the aims of your research, which may contribute to their consent, you must keep in mind that as your research progresses so may your aims and therefore what you told them in the beginning may change. "The precise nature of 'consent' for the participants might only become clear eventually, at the end of a study, when the researchers' impact on shaping the study is visible" (Miller and Bell 54). This "raises questions about what is it that the participant is consenting to" (Miller and Bell 54).
The last thing to make note of when discussing the ethics to interviewing is how you recruit your participants. Are you going to recruit people through a selective recruitment process or are you going to use the snowball affect, where you use your own networks and connections. It's actually kind of interesting because when I started to think about who I wanted to interview I immediately turned to the idea of using facebook and creating a group to get people to be interviewed but also as a way to attract them to my blog so that they can contribute (just interesting how social networks plays a role in ethics itself). However, one thing to take note of if you use the snowball affect is "the motives around why some people become participants and others resist [this] should concern the researcher and be documented in a research diary" (Miller and Bell 56). Perfect! That's what this blog is for, as a virtual research diary.
Works Cited:
Gillies, Val, Pam Alldred. "The Ethics of Intention: Research as a Political Tool." Ethics in Qualitative
Research. Ed. Melanie Mauthner, Maxine Birch, Julie Jessop, Tina Miller. SAGE Publication,
2002. 32-52.
Miller, Tina, Linda Bell. "Consenting to What? Issues of Access, Gate-Keeping and 'Informed'
Consent." Ethics in Qualitative Research. Ed. Melanie Mauthner, Maxine Birch, Julie Jessop,
Tina Miller. SAGE Publication, 2002. 53-69.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Importance of Seeing
After really getting a better understanding for qualitative research I think that my plan for a documentary will work extremely well because when conducting interviews and catching it on film you are able to see facial expressions and hear changes in tone. If I were to just write a paper you would be more likely to get my bias account of the interviews, but when you are catching everything on film it is less likely, although keep in mind that editing, camera angle etc. will contribute to my biases.
While trying to get a better understanding of qualitative research and the power it can have I came across the phenomenological method (I know big word, and don't worry I can't pronounce it either). But according to Spiegelberg who describes the method, it is important to "become highly aware" of your subjects and your subjects surroundings (Bruyn 284). How much more could you become aware of your subjects and their surroundings then by filming them! Another part of the phenomenological method that Spiegelberg stresses is the importance of "'watching modes of appearing' [which] stresses the importance of seeing objects as they actually exist rather than as we imagine they exist" (Bruyn 284). A-ha! Don't you love a good "A-ha!" moment. That's exactly what I will be doing by filming them, I will be capturing students and faculty as they exist instead of trying to describe them and projecting my views through words.
Works Cited:
Bruyn, Severyn T., "The New Empiricists: The Participant Observer and Phenomenologist."
Qualitative Methodology. Ed. William J. Filstead. Chicago: Markham Publishing, 1970.
283-87.
Works Cited:
Bruyn, Severyn T., "The New Empiricists: The Participant Observer and Phenomenologist."
Qualitative Methodology. Ed. William J. Filstead. Chicago: Markham Publishing, 1970.
283-87.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Methods of Research
For those of you just joining us, it is my senior spring semester and as a Performance and Communication Arts major and to capitalize on my tenure here I at SLU I have come up with the thesis, does Computer Mediated Communication (texting, facebook, twitter) bring us as together as a community or tear us apart? To find the answer to this thesis (there may not be an answer, which is fine) I am going to create a documentary where I plan on interviewing students and faculty. This blog is going to serve as a way for me to keep you all up to date on the process of my project as well as have the opportunity to contribute to the conversation.
However, before I dive into conducting my interviews I need to do some research. I am not the first person to come along and think hey, is this really beneficial? No, there have been plenty before me, Marshal Mcluhan, who said the "medium is the message" and Joseph Walther who came up with the Social Information Processing Theory. So before I go around talking to people I need to understand what I am doing, am I preaching?
The first step is to understand how to conduct proper research, without letting your biases influence your subjects. Having a thesis is one thing but I cannot go into my research with a hypothesis. Instead I need to take a step back and approach these interviews with an open mind. According to Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss' research and The Discovery of Grounded Theory, researchers (me) must free themselves of all prior knowledge because this will allow me to conduct research in an unprejudiced way (Flick, Kardorff and Steinke 154). Although this sounds ideal, it is important to remember that you are never truly objective you just need to make sure you develop your theory at the end of the research not before or after. I don't mean to bore you much longer but there is one other crucial important thing I feel the need to mention, which is that having prior knowledge isn't necessarily bad, instead it gives us the capability to create meaning out of what we are observing (Flick, Kardorff and Steinke 156). Just always remember...
KEEP AN OPEN MIND!
Works Cited:
Flick, Uwe, Ernst von Kardoff, Ines Steinke. A Companion to Qualitative Research. SAGE Publications,
2004.
However, before I dive into conducting my interviews I need to do some research. I am not the first person to come along and think hey, is this really beneficial? No, there have been plenty before me, Marshal Mcluhan, who said the "medium is the message" and Joseph Walther who came up with the Social Information Processing Theory. So before I go around talking to people I need to understand what I am doing, am I preaching?
The first step is to understand how to conduct proper research, without letting your biases influence your subjects. Having a thesis is one thing but I cannot go into my research with a hypothesis. Instead I need to take a step back and approach these interviews with an open mind. According to Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss' research and The Discovery of Grounded Theory, researchers (me) must free themselves of all prior knowledge because this will allow me to conduct research in an unprejudiced way (Flick, Kardorff and Steinke 154). Although this sounds ideal, it is important to remember that you are never truly objective you just need to make sure you develop your theory at the end of the research not before or after. I don't mean to bore you much longer but there is one other crucial important thing I feel the need to mention, which is that having prior knowledge isn't necessarily bad, instead it gives us the capability to create meaning out of what we are observing (Flick, Kardorff and Steinke 156). Just always remember...
KEEP AN OPEN MIND!
Works Cited:
Flick, Uwe, Ernst von Kardoff, Ines Steinke. A Companion to Qualitative Research. SAGE Publications,
2004.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Breaking News
Today is the last first Friday of my senior year, or to those who tweet it is FollowFriday (#ff) and right now known as "Angry Friday" because of the events occurring in Egypt.
What's interesting about the events occurring in Egypt is the role that Social Networks are playing in the movement. The protesters had been using Computer Mediated Communication as a way of organizing their movement. In response the government has disconnected the internet as well as blocked text messaging to stop the protesters from organizing.
Now I am no expert on the events occurring, most of the information I have received has actually been through twitter. How you may ask? Because people have been tweeting links to news articles non stop to CNN and Wall Street Journal describing the events occurring.
Tweets from Mohamed El Baradei (Click to Enlarge)
What's interesting about the events occurring in Egypt is the role that Social Networks are playing in the movement. The protesters had been using Computer Mediated Communication as a way of organizing their movement. In response the government has disconnected the internet as well as blocked text messaging to stop the protesters from organizing.
Now I am no expert on the events occurring, most of the information I have received has actually been through twitter. How you may ask? Because people have been tweeting links to news articles non stop to CNN and Wall Street Journal describing the events occurring.
Tweets from Mohamed El Baradei (Click to Enlarge)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
The Beginning of the End
Welcome back fellow students, professors, and stragglers who have crossed paths with this blog. It is officially spring semester of Senior Year, scary thought, but here's an update on the beginning of the semester so far, the end of the beginning if you must.
I have officially started to do some research for my project specifically on methodology. Understanding what form of methodology I am going to use is an important place to start for my project because I am going to conduct interviews of fellow St. Lawrence community members to try and get a better understanding of how they use computer mediated communication. I am not going to explain my methodology findings quite yet, however I can let you know that I am doing qualitative research as opposed to quantitative, but there will be more to come in the following days.
As for now I wanted to let you all know that the movie, The Social Network has won numerous awards these past couples months in the Golden Globes, Critiques Choice Awards and is currently nominated for 8 Academy Awards.
And if you want my opinion I think they will win Best Picture (you heard it here first). But this isn't the reason I am mentioning the film in blog, although there numerous accolades are note worthy, it is really the premise and plot line of the story that deserves mentioning. For those of you poor souls who haven't had the chance to see this wonderful film yet (it's being shown in the Winston Room this weekend so get a move on it), the movie is about Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook, which is one of the social networks I am going to focus on for my senior project. I have actually seen the movie twice and the second time I watched I had my thinking cap and critical lens goggles on and Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) actually states that the creation of Facebook was for college students to be able to see what their friends are doing on the Internet. And here's some food for thought, one of my favorite quotes in the movie said by Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake):
Sean Parker: We lived in farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're gonna live on the internet!
Do we?
I have officially started to do some research for my project specifically on methodology. Understanding what form of methodology I am going to use is an important place to start for my project because I am going to conduct interviews of fellow St. Lawrence community members to try and get a better understanding of how they use computer mediated communication. I am not going to explain my methodology findings quite yet, however I can let you know that I am doing qualitative research as opposed to quantitative, but there will be more to come in the following days.
As for now I wanted to let you all know that the movie, The Social Network has won numerous awards these past couples months in the Golden Globes, Critiques Choice Awards and is currently nominated for 8 Academy Awards.
And if you want my opinion I think they will win Best Picture (you heard it here first). But this isn't the reason I am mentioning the film in blog, although there numerous accolades are note worthy, it is really the premise and plot line of the story that deserves mentioning. For those of you poor souls who haven't had the chance to see this wonderful film yet (it's being shown in the Winston Room this weekend so get a move on it), the movie is about Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook, which is one of the social networks I am going to focus on for my senior project. I have actually seen the movie twice and the second time I watched I had my thinking cap and critical lens goggles on and Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) actually states that the creation of Facebook was for college students to be able to see what their friends are doing on the Internet. And here's some food for thought, one of my favorite quotes in the movie said by Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake):Sean Parker: We lived in farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're gonna live on the internet!
Do we?
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