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“I don’t know why you say goodbye I say hello”
Hello All! . . . or is this goodbye? This post is my final post for EMAC soapbox. I can’t claim that I’ll miss it a whole lot, but the experience was well worthwhile. I was not and a not sure that I’ll ever be prepared to blog consistently about it. However, I plan to continue blogging, certainly more consistently. My blogging audience will change as drastically as the new topics.
Lovebug the story, the song
In class we recently looked at the growing trend of transmedia, it characteristics, and the effects it has on the stories or arguments it is intended to tell. The clearest conclusion was that transmedia typically expands and most often, humanizes the story.
Transmedia is often looked at as some piece with layers that often include more than three very different media components that each tell a different part of the story. For an idea of this, take a look at this article.
One common transmedia form that most people are familiar with and may not recognize as a transmedia piece, is th music video. Whether or not music videos are truly transmedia pieces is debatable in some cases.
In my estimation, a music video that shows a singer singing in a number of different places with little relation to the song lyrics or the reverse, the artist shown in places and situations which depict the lyrics very literally, would not be a transmedia piece, as the video added no layer to the story the lyrics were intended to tell. However a music video that shows the subjects of the song and plays out a story that the viewer would not otherwise have seen or imagined in relation to the lyrics in the song would be considered transmedia.
The following music video by the Jonas Brothers successfully falls under this category of transmedia.
The lyrics tell a story all on their own, as does the video. In most cases I think that transmedia should not be able to stand alone and out to be completely intertwined, inseparable. Music videos however, are the exception.
This music video tells a sweet story about a couple who falls in love, gets married buys a house and is separated as the husband goes off to war (WWI). The story is portrayed as a flashback or a memory brought on by a photograph from an old album being viewed by a little girl we presume to be the couple’s granddaughters, featuring main characters whom are not played by the Jonas Brothers.
I think this is one of the most important reasons that the music video is such a successful transmedia piece. Because the artists are not featured as the subjects of the story, it is easier to separate the story from the song.
The story is sweet and believable. This song is adorable. The two work well together as well as seperatley.
What do my site stats say?
A picture says a thousand words. This screen clipping only says a few. I actively check my site stats to see what they might suggest “about me” or at least about my level of success with this blog. At this point I don’t seem to be very successful at all. While the issue may be the aesthetics or the content of the blog, it may also correspond to something else: “traffic” or lack thereof.
Off-line road traffic is annoying, but online for whatever reason we’ve coined it a good term to attribute the frequency and route of site visits. My site stats suggest that I may need to be actively creating and causing traffic.
There is one thing my stats cannot say, which is my final and shallow measure of blog success: where does it rank on google?
Privacy in the Digital Age = Nonexistent Reality, Unfulfilled Desire
A European short film cautions viewers to be aware of their digital traces and how those traces are being used – Primarily focuses on how the government intends to use our info to catch criminals and how ineffective that turns out to be, ultimately not benefiting civilians. In what is supposed to be a democracy, what is considered to be our right to privacy, is being infringed upon, without our knowledge or consent.
The film is in Dutch with English subtitles.
I conclude that privacy in the digital age has become a nonexistent reality (and a nonexistent right) and unfulfilled desire that many have given up any hope of obtaining. For a similar look at how our privacy is infringed upon in the U.S., check out Frontline’s coverage, Spying on the Home Front.
CNN: “Bieber Kiss Breaks Hearts”
I posted once about Justin Bieber’s massive grasp on the media – this video is posted strictly for amusement and demonstrates Bieber’s media presence.
Back to Life, Back to Reality: A Week Without Facebook
Last time I posted I reflected on an experience which was intended to be a challenge, 40 minutes of uninterrupted reading. If you thought that might have been difficult, imagine this: a week without Facebook. The challenge was so daunting our professor had mercy on our souls and shortened it to five days.
For some people even that was too long. For me personally, well I barely noticed the difference in my life without Facebook. I only just recently got one for one of the courses I am taking this semester. In fact I’ve only been a Facebook user for 5 weeks and I have more likes (116) than I do friends (47). The week without Facebook was basically going back to my normal life and reality, one that exists without Facebook or any other social network.
I can imagine that the challenge was most legitimately difficult for those who are actively part of a community on Facebook or within Facebook. For these individuals, Facebook (which as a whole is a network and not a community) serves as an online hub for interaction with their online community, whereas for me, Facebook serves as a network where I can easily keep in touch with or reconnect with a few acquaintances and even fewer friends.
The difference between these users and me is well-defined by Stein Gotved in his essay, “The Construction of Cybersocial Reality”, which he pinpoints to be level of complexity and level of commitment.
There is one last category of Facebook users, who were also challenged, but not necessarily with good reason. These are the Facebook addicts. As with any addiction, they probably experienced serious withdrawal and need to start a process of recovery. As I searched for a fitting image to delineate what seemed to be an amusing term “Facebook withdrawal”, I came across a few articles and blog posts about it. Apparently, Facebook addiction is considered a serious condition, and part of a whole of internet addiction disorders :
“A growing body of research in the area of addiction suggests that Internet Addiction Disorder is becoming a real problem, it is a psychophysiological disorder involving tolerance; withdrawal symptoms; affective disturbances; and interruption of social relationships. The most common one is Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD).”
The class I am taking, which required me to go a week without Facebook, may be comprised of members of all three of the above mentioned groups: “losers” (myself), community users (the best of all Facebook users), and addicts (enough said). The class is also comprised of members between the ages of 18 and 25, which may also have been a factor of the level of difficulty this challenge was meant to present. Are we all a bunch of stereotypical Facebook users?
All in all the experience was more interesting for me to observe than to experience personally.
For another interesting perspective on a similar experience (that might just make you laugh) check out this article from a student at the University of Wisconsin.
Me, a book, and 40 minutes . . .
This week I had to spend 40 minutes of uninterrupted reading time for a class I am taking – 40 Minutes of reading content that was not on a computer screen. As an 18-year-old member of an online society, let alone as an EMAC student, I think that was supposed to be difficult. It wasn’t. I actually love reading (fiction, romance, etc), so I welcomed this task which was supposed to be a challenge.
Admittedly, I would have preferred to do it with music playing in my ears, but channeling my attention to this one enjoyable task was refreshing.
I read Insatiable by Meg Cabot. Uninterrupted was really the best way to do so, so that I could enjoy the complexity of the plot and practically see and hear the story unfolding in front of me like a movie. Also, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss any subtle jab at vampire fiction today. I have full control over my mind and how I channel it. If I want to multitask I can, when I want to channel my attention to a single task I do. It’s a simple as that.
In an article about Attention Literacy, Howard Rheingold states,
“Mindfulness and norms . . . are essential tools for those who would master the arts of attention.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Suppose I had been made to read some dull nonfiction book or a textbook. In that case, 40 minutes of uninterrupted reading, most certainly would have been challenge for me. However it would not necessarily have been a difficult challenge, because I’m fully aware of the fact that it is a challenge for me and I have established norms surrounding that task, which make it possible for me to read all the things that I don’t want to read – this is the art of discipline, a quality that we all must strive to increase (assuming we all already have it).
(Levels of) Discipline can be developed in the following three steps proposed by Juho Tunkelo, in his article, Nobody Wants To Read Anymore.. Right?:
“If the desire is there, CHANNEL it.
If it’s weak, STRENGTHEN it.
If it’s not visible, CREATE it.”
I dare you to find the level you’re at, develop your discipline, and read a book (at least 150 pages) in it’s entirety this week.
