One topic that I really enjoyed during module 4 was the idea of a remix culture within our society. Remixing withing Social media cites, Corporations, art and the internet in general is an interesting concept. The fact that in today’s society you cant invent or make something without knowing that your creation is going to get copied in some way, whether its videos that use content from a video you posted or people using your text from an article for their own corporations. The reading from our class makes a really good point in saying “If you’re not making art with the intention of having it copied, you’re not really making art for the 21st century.” Which in a way it makes sense since people get a lot of their ideas from ideas that other people have come out with, but it still sucks since people are barley receiving credit for inventions that they make, which now a days ideas come from mostly the internet. We really got to look what kind of internet we want to see for the future. As of now were following the path of an internet thats controlled by corporations who get to determine what creative expression looks like or the way that it should be, which is people gaining recognition from the content they create and not have expressions being controlled by price. Overall social remixing isn’t a too bad of thing, since it provides a lot of people with money and also entertainment for society, since people are able to add on to ideas that other people have created, but the consequence for it is that people aren’t  gaining the recognition that they deserve and once their ideas get released to the public corporations start making the idea their own and make more money then the person that created it in the first place. This relates to my academic life, since a lot of people in a fraternity actually steal ideas and use it for their own and with school people participate in plagiarism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5z7Aemx9SI

One topic that interested me and I actually did my Discussion  lead project on is filter bubbles with Facebook and other social media websites. In class when we talked about how websites like Facebook are using peoples search history and interest to excluded them from information on the social media site. These websites have been doing this for years and the problem that people have with it is that its a invasion of privacy since they are constantly using algorithms to determine what kind of information they want to show you. You would think that it would be a good thing, since people like to see what they want to see, but people also don’t like it when information is being excluded from them. Not only is information excluded from people using these social media sites, but fake information is also being thrown out their and shown to people. This had a huge impact on the 2016 election since fake news about each presidential candidate was being released to the public. For example if you were a democratic Facebook would know that you were a democrats and would only show you good information about Hilary Clinton and would never show anything bad about her. When it came time to show information about Donald Trump it would only be bad information or fake information and it was the same for republicans. In class when we were shown the video of the girl who would went to japan and tried to have her face scanned by a robot and it wasn’t able to scan her face, because she was African american. We also did the activity in class when we all looked at websites that use filter bubbles and my group looked at YouTube and how they would recommend videos to you based off your search history just so you would continue watching videos.  Its crazy how technology can be so smart that its able to effect our personal lives and also effect our opinions on important things. Technology should not be used this way and she be able to show information that is equal for everyone. People also need to be educated about this so that they can avoid the problem.

One topic that Ive found interesting this unit is the fact that Websites can be designed for a certain reason, but people and society can completely change the purpose of a website to fit societies needs. An example of this is in the reading Design outrage with Facebook. Facebook is originally designed so people can socially interact with each other on a social media platform. The article talks about how social media and Facebook in specific was a huge influence with the 2008 political parties and presidential election. It got turned from a platform that people talk about everyday things and stories to a huge political. The overall designing aspect of a website is really cool, especially from financial standpoint. If you want to make money off of a website then you have to design it in a way that will grab peoples attention. The article called user interface design basics was really interesting to me cause it brings back to when me and my group were working on redesign the homepage of a website. It took us a while to design it, but I didn’t realize all of the little details when even thinking about designing or in our case redesigning a web-page. The idea of designing a web page really helps with my academics, since my major is advertising communication, which has to do with marketing and logo design so having a Digital technology and culture helps me out with that aspect of my major. Also learning how to use all of the software’s that has to do with web page design is really fun to do. It also helps me with my social life, since learning how to influence people into liking what you have designed can help a person be a really good marketer and just to be a social person in general.

I choose to write about the reading “Social media: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly”. This reading was interesting to me cause it shows both sides on why social networking and online communities can be a good thing and also a bad thing. This also ties into when we talked about social identity and what was more powerful the user or the program in class. One thing the article talks about when it comes to why social media is a good thing, is that it opens up a broad spectrum for people to communicate with each other and to show other people media from your life. For people to have healthier relationships they need some other form of communication thats not direct and social media helps tremendously with that. It also is a great way to advertise yourself or a company to other people, hence celebrities and big companies use social media all the time. The reading also talks about how it is a bad things, since people can feel shut out based off of there interest not aligning  with the general population. It also talks about cyber bulling and how since social media has grown as a community more cyber bulling has been occurring. For what we talked about in class with the whose more powerful the user or the program? This question really spoke to me since at first I was very one sided with believing the user has the more power, which it does, but also the user needs the program since the user has a need for social media and networking. Overall social media is a great thing for people. What people need to realize is that any community or even online community there will always be conflict and contradictions with people and there ideals. As long as people are careful with there online identity and also keeping up with there accounts then social media can be a great thing.

Below I have Images that relate to what i was talking about in my blog

There is also two videos that talk about how social media can ruin your life and online identity

I use a lot of different social media platforms, but the one I use the most for communicating with is Snapchat. I started using Snapchat when I was in 8th grade, and back then I didn’t really understand it fully. As time went on I was able to figure it out and started adding all of my friends. I started using it because everyone else was and the idea of texting, but also sending a picture of something to a person sounded really cool. When I use Snapchat now a days I usually send a picture of my face or something cool to people when I communicate with them, just so it makes it more interesting to have a conversation with. The audiences that usually  engage with my stories and snaps are people that are my age. Since Im here in Pullman everyone that I talk to are ages between 18-23 so the audience is very secluded. How I present myself on snapchat is pretty much who i am as a person, whether i take videos of me hanging out with alot of people or in my case since i live in a fraternity there are always constant funny interactions between the guys that are in my house. I also will take photos of cool backgrounds like if I go on a hike or if Im snowboarding I will take scenery photos. The only advice I could give someone who wants to start using Snapchat, is making sure you present yourself as to who you are and not someone who is trying to impress other people. If you do that you will be happier with the people you talk to on Snapchat.

Below is a video of my friend just having fun on the football field.

The first photo is a selfie I took of all my brothers on a hike in Idaho.

And the other photo is another hike with my best friends.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton