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).
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