Identity

Action:  What I do with my time is a symbol for my deep raw core identity.  I try my hardest to be the best I can be.  And I want to respect myself and that includes at sports, school, socially, and my body.  So I lift weights and practice.  I get to class on time and study.  I try to get past the basic human insecurities and open my heart to people and show them who I am trying to be.  One thing the hold me back in that social aspect is that people don’t always want to interact or don’t understand what they need to, to be social with me.  I am also not as physically able as I want t be right now, that’s why I lift weights because I want more ability.  I try to be conscience of what I eat and I feel guilty for eating poorly.     

Video for grandma:  I am making a video for just my grandmother.  My grandma and I are not necessarily close.  She lives far away and being a girl is probably a reason that we aren’t very close.  But I feel that I want her to know who I am because I am for her and I want to her to know that.  I’m going to make a volleyball video to show her how good I am at volleyball because she hasn’t ever seen me play.  Over the video a voiceover by me will explain who I am (who I think I am).  As she reaches the end of her life, she is the perfect person to tell that she is not alone and I hope it gives her courage and comfort at the end.    

Texting:  Talking through text is a simple way of showing identity.  It is different than texting however because I have time to think about what I can say, which is good and bad.  It gives the temptation of not being myself because I have time think about the message I want to say in a pleasing way, where if I were talking face to face the first think I were to say would be a good representation of my identity.  At the same time though the initial thing in my mind I want to say may not really represent me.  Be having time to think about who I want to be during this text allows me to be me.  

Analysis: The only one medium that represents me truly is the video because it is being made for that purpose but not much that people see so they comprehend what my identity truly is and the same is probably true for me when I see other people and their actions and texts, for example.  But that’s why I try as little as I can to judge or act based on a judgment of someone because no one knows.  I am not even sure I know who I am.  How could someone else come close to knowing?  I wasn’t confident to the answer of who I am until recently.  I’ve been confused and still am about it.   

I think people might think that I am a conformist.  This is because I do what teachers ask me, don’t go to parties, and do things that are “good”.  But I couldn’t be more resistant to what I am in society.  I only seem to be conformist because I am rebelling against the idea of a teenager, a college lifestyle, and etc.  The ideal child is not the model I am.  But even though through that logic I am rebellious it’s that my true identity still.  What I want is to give back to the community, I’ve been given so much in life, and I want to be an inspiration.  To be a inspiration I want to have it all; I want to be good looking, smart, tall, athletic, dress well, complete tasks of challenging proportion, etc.  But all those things are not what I want to inspire people, I want to be the guy to have all those things and to be just a normal guy with normal problems, who can respects someone with none of those things because it’s not about the material things it’s about what is inside your heart.  So by having all those material things and still being normal it’s just like taking all the things that people use for an identity away because it’s ultimately being only what I am without any of those, thus showing that it doesn’t matter what I have only who I am.  This is how I want it to inspire people.  No one should feel inferior or superior to anyone if one has more than the other, because at the end of the day they could be the same person inside, it just happens that one has something that gives him or her advantage in this world.  So the way I live my life is to be that inspiration and to gain that status so sometimes I have to do pleasing things or things that seem like the ideal child.  And yes I find it hard to authentically show this because I’m not at the status I want yet. 

The video is the real me.  I am making to show my grandma who I am because I want her to know and I want to tell someone who I am.  It’s getting a little depressing not being able to show it, especially when I see and know so many people who only respect material things in this world.   

I am still thinking about Mrs. Vincent’s example of the girl who is shy but also talkative on face book.  There is a connection between the differences in her actions based on a core identity.   

Different mediums

The topic I chose was how the use of different mediums can be used to target different audiences.  Basic examples of this are a commercial on the television, videos on the internet, and telemarketer calls someone at home. But the medias are not as important as the mediums in which they are presented.  

               A kid has tons of energy and a mind that is racing with new ideas around him or her and is eager to learn.  When a video medium ,such as a commercial on t.v., is presented to a kid that commercial is expected to be fast, explosive with ideas, colorful, and extremely catchy if it is targeting a kid.  Using a combination of the visual medium and the verbal sound medium to create a video medium in order to catch a kids attention and send him of her a message.  This is an example how a video medium is used to target an audience.  In this case it was a younger generation being targeted and the characteristics of the medium were being used to target.   This link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjzA7AqCMww is an example where there is an explosion in the beginning and extremely colorful.  What is ironic as well is that the Nickelodeon sign is a big colorful blob.
              The nickelodeon sign is a good example to compare the medium targeting a kid to a medium targeting an adult.  Would a big orange blob be a  good insignia to have for a serious law and order type show, where the main audience are adults?  Of course not.  This image of the CBS station http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/11/cbs_obama_is_do.php of having just that eye looking insignia is simple and not so catchy.  CBS in this link is talking about President Obama.  Not many kids are interested in politics.  The simple insignia also tells the viewers what this station will have on it and so one may assume some more adult interesting content,as apposed to a big orange blob.
             A large book is an example of a visual written medium.  A movie is an example pf a visual medium.  Most younger generation citizens don't have tons of time to sit down and read long novels.  But an older class citizen definitely does.  If I were to write a book,  my audience would probably be an audience with more time on their hands such as the older class.  However, if i directed a movie, my audience would now be changed to people with say around two  hours of time to fully watch the movie.  By comparing these two mediums and their audiences one can see that since some mediums can require more time to communicate than others it can change the audience of mediums.    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1tN_eTB-Q  What you will notice is the first words out of the ad is " hey there kids", talk about targeting.  And many of the commercials have kids in them.  

Kairos

I believe he wrote this in order to show how everything kind of represents everything else.  Or how there are in most cases connections between nearly everything and that we are all being identified by these connections through meaning.  I thought a plausible thesis was that there are billions upon billions of connections being made around the world.  Examples of these connections are the advertisement that he uses many times to show the connection between the characteristics of humans and computers and the tree roots.  However, I did not understand the connection of the paradox that he talks about.  He also talks about the connection between copy and paste.  This connection is created in the real world for practical reasons.  But one takes the meaning of their task away and they are left alone.  What are they?  Paste:  a function solely based on the idea that something has already been create and selected to be put somewhere with the paste function. Copy:  a function capable of happening but not useful without the paste function.  Meaning in this case is everything for these two and the connection is that their meaning is derived by the other and vis-versa.  They are supplementing each other purely through existents.  Not one before the other but simultaneously they are both created and destroyed.  I found that his message was kind of hard to get from the video and text at first but once I thought about it and started writing this blog, his  ideas were coming to me.

Hipster faith

To start the article with a riddle of that nature really gets the creative and counter argument ideas flowing in the mind of the reader.
Religion is being changed by the change in people around the world.  People are becoming more technological and the church must adapt to the wants in people for it to become so as well.  All aspects are church are changing, for example, the clothing and cussing are pieces of content that are changing.  A medium that is mentioned in the article was music and how it helped to spread the hipster influences that then indirectly influenced the church.  Also clothing was used as an extension of the music by being symbols for the music and that kind of culture itself. The changing audience of religion made it change the most.  With each new generation there are new moral and ethical beliefs and the churches had to adapt quickly, this is supported by the fact that the age of so many at religious event were so low.  The author describes changes in hipster Christianity and then tells how the church is affected be it which helps the reader see the cause and effect more clearly.  I think overall though that much of how he formats the article makes the conclusions he is drawing up to the reader to decide on what she or he believes and how it affects today and his or her own lives.

Boyd blog

The blog about the social media and how people should support the learning of children through them was an interesting article.  I agree with her point that unstructured times of interaction is very valuable because not everything in life is structured.  Boyd uses the example of jobs and how people need their social skills everyday.  I say that the point goes further than just work.  An example of how someone needs social skill, or simply the ability to act in public without structure, would be the graduating from high school.  I myself find college after high school to be full of temptations that i didn't have before.  These temptations are a result of a lack of structure and thus if one has the ability to act "correctly" or "soundly" in the face of temptation then that is a very important ability to have in order to get a job, go to college, etc, etc.  

Representing a picture through words

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=23qzdbn&s=4This picture represents the colmination of a dream.  A dream from each and every player.  This dream pushes each and every one of the to compete as hard as possible.  Why?  This moment captured in this picture is why.  At this moment nothing is high then they are right now.  No on else in the world could beat them.  You are witnessing there dream becoming a reality at this instant.  The dream includes the entering into the high level of one's being by winning the gold metal in the 2008 bejing olymipcs.  This level include the satifaction of an undying respect that all players and true competitors have for one another but especially for that of gold metal winners.  For the rest of these mens' lives they will have respect from any one, even people who don't play sports or understand what it is to be a competitor.  But above all else these men will have respect for themselves that is undeniable to anyone.  It is not wonder that they are all cheering like there is no tomorrow, and thats because for them if there was no tomorrow then they would be content. All this boils down to how happy the players are being lined up to take the photo as the gold metalist.  The smiles and tears couldnt be more genuine.  The feeling couldnt be more great. 

  This dream is also apart of the coaches dreams.  All doing what they can for this moment. 

What they are wearing is a symbol of their team unity.  And since team unity is suppose to help a team win they create such unity.  All the gear says "usa volleyball" on it and have match designs.  All the shoes are the same brand as well.  tiffference in the player are personal attachments such as finger tape. The colors of their clothes are red, white,and blue for the U.S. 

Most importatnly though is the gold metal and flowers that they each have.  The metals were given to the only team to win the olympics and thus no one on earth has one.  The metals are the materialization of a dream and the effort to forth by them out of the new respect that the world has for them.  The colors in the back round are colors from all parts of flags from  the world because this is the olympics.

freeze!!!!!

Watching a volleyball video is exciting for me and complex at the same time.  Having it witten on paper would be extremely hard.  All the yelling and communicating plus all the game play itself is a lot to desribe in words.  Even more so the type of data that is made out of a video on line, such as the exaplme of the 1s and 0s is incredabe.  The system of organization must be so complex.  However, just as the text says there is no way to give the entire video or piece of music the full effects through software.  I agree with this satement becasue even if i'm just texting or talking to a friend about a video, until he or she actually sees it, that emotion and full effect won't be conviede correctly. It seems as though the main point of the article that we went over in class about how meaning is derived from media is why all these collaborations are taking place.  For example,  if I like a particular song and I want it to reflect me in some way and make it meaningful to or about me, by giving it my own touch I give it meaning for myself.  Just like the volleyball video I mentioned earilier, if I want to give it my own meaning I could add music too it, put it on my facebook, or collect other clips with it to make an album of sorts. 
I like the idea about personalized instruments as well because it will give the composer a more real intrsument to protray his emotions and feelings.  Instead of have a person learn to play an instrument the instrument can now learn to play the composer.