Catfish

The abilities of Web 2.0 relationships came to life in the documentary Catfish. Catfish stars Nev Schulman, a photographer from New York who works and lives with his brothers and friends, who are also artists. After having one of his photographs published in the New York Times, Nev received a painting of this photograph in the mail. The painting was said to be painted by Abby Pierce, a eight-year-old girl from a small town in rural Michigan. Nev loved Abby’s artwork, and began to form a friendship with her through Facebook. Abby updated Nev about the progress of her artwork; she said that she had rented out an old warehouse in her town in order to display her work.

Nev also became friends with her mother, sister, brother, and some of her other friends from Michigan. Nev formed a particularly close relationship with Abby’s sister Megan, a young attractive musician. They began contacting each other through Facebook, texting, and even phone calls. After a few months of talking and forming an intimate online relationship, Megan sends Nev a few cover songs that she decided to sing and record for him. Nev’s brother and friend really liked Megan’s songs, so they decided to look up the original songs on YouTube. Instead of finding different versions of the songs Megan sent Nev, they found the same exact songs Megan said she recorded posted by other YouTube users. Megan used other people’s songs and claimed that they belonged to her. This event caused Nev and his friends to start to believe that the Abby story may be false.

To help answer their suspicions, Nev decided to do some further research on Abby’s family. He discovered that the warehouse that she had claimed to rent out was currently vacant, and had been vacant for four years. After growing more and more suspicious about the truth and identity behind Abby, Megan, and their family, Nev and his friends decided to fly out to Michigan unexpectedly to meet them.

The guys found Megan’s “house” to be completely deserted; letters he sent her remained sitting in the mailbox. The next morning, they showed up to Angela’s (Abby and Megan’s mom) house for Sunday brunch and obtained the truth about Abby. In reality, Angela was the artist behind Abby’s art; Angela also played Megan throughout her “relationship” wit Nev. Furthermore, Angela created several Facebook accounts pretending to be people who knew her daughters and the rest of her family. When hearing the truth, it was clear that Nev felt as though he had been betrayed. Angela said that the reason why she fabricated an entire group of people on Facebook is that she was using the Internet as an escape from her harsh reality; she had several childhood dreams such as becoming a professional dancer and an artist that she was unable to achieve. Moreover, when Angela married her current husband, she became the mother of two mentally disabled sons. This put a huge amount of stress on her, which somewhat explains why every night at eleven o’clock Angela slipped into the persona of a multitude of online characters.

Angela’s Facebook scheme pretty much epitomizes the idea of “democratized media.” Democratized media means that everyone can participate and have a say in what goes on on the Internet. Angela took it upon herself to create a wide range of identities on Facebook and to fool Nev into an elaborate scheme. Angela’s scheme echoes Andrew Keen’s viewpoint on social media. Keen thinks that the popularization of social media has led to an increase in false information being transported through the Internet. Keen also believes that social media promotes plagiarism on the Internet. Angela clearly demonstrates this, because she used photographs of people she did not know for her multiple Facebook profiles. Although I do not personally agree with Keen’s views, his beliefs on democratized media are portrayed through Catfish. Without the Internet, it is unlikely that Angela would be able to manipulate Nev in such a complicated way. The Internet allows people to hide their true identities behind identities they create online. People can pick and choose what information they want the world to see, and what information they do not want the world to see.

Although I personally believe that social media is a vital aspect of today’s society and is benefiting the world of communications, Catfish demonstrates how it can be taken for granted and used in a negative way. Social media should be used so real life people can maintain real life relationships. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see a problem in meeting people online through online dating or activities of the like, however, I find it completely unnecessary and unfair for people to create fake identities, especially when trying to manipulate others.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

            “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a documentary initially created by Thierry Guetta, a French videographer addicted to taping every aspect of his life. The audience gets a look at his continuous filming in the beginning of the documentary, where Guetta shows us his countless amounts of videos he has taken throughout his live. Guetta tells us that he first began recording when his mother died; he realized how short life can be and did not want to miss one second of it. We see footage of his life including his wife and children, and other random events from Guetta’s life that he captured on film. We learn that Guetta is intrigued by the concept of street art, as well as learning about the anonymous faces hidden behind art found all over major cities. Guetta makes it his mission to film a documentary about street artists and how they are able to covertly display their art for the public to view free of cost.

            In the documentary we are introduced to Guetta’s cousin, “Invader,” a street artist whose mission is to post “Space Invader” images all over different cities throughout the world. Invader discusses the way he creates the street art, as well as the inspiration behind his work. Invader then introduces Guetta to the street artist Shepard Fairrey. Guetta follows Shepard Fairey around and happily films his work. While interacting with multiple street artists, Guetta begins to hear more and more about the street artist Banksy.  Eventually, the two are given the opportunity to meet. Guetta was intrigued by Banksy’s street art style and began to follow him around with a camera. Banksy was interested in doing risky street art projects, such as placing a Guantanamo Bay prisoner doll in the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland. Banksy was a worldwide phenomenon; his art could be found all over Europe and North America. Although a documentary primarily about Banksy would seem practical because people all over the world were curious about his identity and how he created his street art, Banksy decided to turn Guetta’s cameras onto himself and create a documentary about the obsessive videographer.

            Inspired by Banksy as well as the other street artists that he came into contact with, Guetta decided to give street art a try. Guetta had an image of himself holding a video camera created posted all over the city of Los Angeles. The image created a buzz throughout the city, and soon Guetta created an alter ego of a street artist named Mr. Brainwash. Mr. Brainwash became an overnight sensation in Los Angeles. However, Guetta did not create all of the artwork himself. In the documentary we meet several artists that Guetta outsourced to design artwork for Mr. Brainwash. He gave them orders, including what pictures and designs to incorporate into the artwork he was going to claim was his own. Guetta rented out an old television production studio in order to display “his” artwork. Guetta had Banksy as well as other street artists promote the opening of Mr. Brainwash’s gallery. An advertisement placed in LA Weekly caused hundreds of people to line up outside of Mr. Brainwash’s gallery opening. The gallery was extremely successful; Mr. Brainwash sold millions of dollars worth of artwork, says Banksy.

            The over arching meaning and point of “Exit Through the Gift Shop” was to show the other side of the street art movement. Normally, the public can only view the artwork that is created by anonymous street artists. This documentary gave the public a means of seeing how street art is created and how a street artist can be literally created overnight.

            The anonymity of Banksy, as well as of other street artists demonstrates the idea that their artwork is more about the content of their work, rather than themselves. Many artists maintain an anonymous image so that their appearance, educational background, values, opinions, wealth, and other characteristics are not the main reason for interest in their artwork. Rather, the viewers are solely interested in the work itself. Anonymous artists are less interested in self-promotion; rather they are interested in portraying a creative concept through their specific type of art. The artist could be anybody; this creates a mystery for the viewer, allowing them to come up with their own idea as to who created a specific piece of artwork.

            The anonymity of Banksy and other street artists can also be explained through Marshall McLuhan’s idea of “the medium is the message.” McLuhan’s idea is that the content of any medium is always another medium. For street art, the medium is the street, or any public surface that the art is designed on. There are many social implications of using the street as a medium for a message. For instance, because an artist chooses to create street art, we can assume that he or she wishes to remain anonymous. In addition, many street artists want everyone and anyone to be able to see their artwork; rather than displaying it in an art gallery that will only be visited by select people. Street art strives to make a statement that will reach a broad audience. Using the street as a medium is the easiest way for street artists to have their message reach a large amount of people.

            I think that Banksy’s anonymity contributed to his success and large amount of publicity. If the public were aware of Banksy’s identity, there would be less talk about his artwork and the meaning of it. If a well-known artist decided to create street art, there would be more discussion about the specific artist and his or her motives, rather than the artistic content of their message. However, an anonymous identity makes the audience more curious about the content of the artwork, as well as the statement and meaning behind it. Banksy’s anonymity strengthens the content and significance of his artwork, rather than his personal image. 

Grade Update

Vectorized Images

Vector Graphics

Vector graphic

Keen Questions

1. How does Keen define Democratized media, and what are his main issues with this trend? use examples from the web in the form of links.

In his book Cult of the Amateur, Andrew Keen defines democratized media as a trend in which the audience is the main author of sources of media and information. For example, instead of a world in which professional journalists, musicians, actors, reporters, etc. are the main producers of content, virtually anyone can produce content and post it on the web for the world to see. Keen's main issues with this trend is that professionals are being replaced by amateurs, which he sees to be a decimation of culture.
Keen also feels as though the democratization of media encourages plagiarism and intellectual property theft. He states, "Copyright and authorship begin to lose all meaning to those posting their mash-ups and remixing on the Web" (24). Many people, or "amateurs," post remixes of songs and other media content done by professional musicians on YouTube, and as a result gain fame and popularity For example, I found this video on YouTube created by YouTube sensation "Pogo," who creates remixes of songs and sounds from movies. Keen has a problem with the fact that nowadays anyone can start a successful career on the Internet, without any professional or formal training. Pogo was subsequently hired by Walt Disney Studios after attracting millions of hits to his remix videos.

Andrew Keen also has a problem with the fact that it is hard to distinguish fact from fiction on the Internet. Sites such as Wikipedia, which allow any Internet user to edit its information are devaluing true culture and content, believes Keen. Andrew Keen would much rather live in a world that still relies on print Encyclopedias and newspapers for obtaining information.


2. Compare and Contrast Keens take on Social Media with Douglas Rushkoff's. Which one speaks to you and your own experiences and why?

Douglas Rushkoff believes that Social Media can be very beneficial to society, by keeping us informed on a multitude of topics, allowing us to congregate a large amount of people for a particular cause, and to just stay connected. Basically, Rushkoff views Social Media as a positive phenomenon which gives society a power it never had before.
Andrew Keen holds an opposing viewpoint; he believes that Social Media is ruining our culture and is harmful to society's intellect. Keen thinks that if Social Media becomes (or maybe it already is) our primary form of communication and exchange of information, that we are going to be left with fictional data created by amateurs rather than professionals.
Douglas Rushkoff's view of Social Media speaks to me more because I feel as though my generation has grown up in a time where Social Media is almost the only thing we know. We cannot imagine life without Facebook or Twitter-how would we communicate with our friends? Aside from that aspect, I feel that Social Media is beneficial because it allows people that are miles apart to exchange ideas and viewpoints, and even start political revolutions, which we have seen in the current events in Egypt. Social Media has also greatly affected the ways companies market their products. Thousands of new jobs are being created because companies and organizations are realizing they need someone to run their Social Media profiles in order to remain a competitor in the market. Social Media is revolutionizing the way the world works essentially, and is here to stay. Sorry, Keen.

Short Responses

I posted short responses to Grace Sin and Colleen Sheldon's blogs.

Extended Response

I responded to Brian Arfanis's post.

Whither the Individual?

            Throughout the past decade or so, our social lives have been almost completely transported to the digital world. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have moved society’s friends and networking base to the Internet. Through social media sites, blogs, wikis, discussion boards, chat rooms, etc., we can connect with and express ourselves to people all around the world. The use of these digital advances allows ourselves to extend and expand our identities.

            According to The Center for Social Media in the School of Communication at American University, there are five ways in which social media has affected people’s lives: choice, conversation, curation, creation and collaboration. The two factors that I find to be the most important when analyzing the extension of the individual due to social media are choice and creation.

            Social media allows society to have a choice in the way they express themselves online. For example, we can choose which social networking sites to use and how we use them. There are 500 million worldwide active Facebook users, however the way and reason people use the site varies immensely. For example, college students may use Facebook to connect with friends from high school as well as meet and socialize with new friends they meet in classes and on the weekends. Older generations may use Facebook in order to also connect with long-lost friends, as well as find family members that they have lost touch with. Many companies and organizations use Facebook to connect with their target markets, giving them updates and information about the brand. People have the choice to decide how they will use a social media site, and they also have the choice to not use it whatsoever.

            Another thing that social media gives us a choice in is the content in which we decide to publish on our profiles. Yes, Facebook has a generic profile layout, containing sections such as movie, music, and television interests, birthday, sex, relationship status, etc. However, not all of these sections need to be filled out. It is up to the user the way in which he or she wishes to utilize the website. A user can choose to have thousands of pictures of them tagged, allowing any Facebook user to view what they have been up to in their lives; or, a user can choose to make their profile completely private, only allowing those in which they know to view their content.  Although the layout of a Facebook profile is mostly very basic, each user can individualize the content and form his or her own social media identity.

            The ability to “create” online has completely transformed the way that the media works. Anyone can create content and publish it online. For example, programs such as iMovie on Apple computers allow people to create and edit movies, using their own pictures and video. After creating a movie or video, one can publish it on sites such as YouTube, Facebook, or Vimeo, allowing people all over the word to watch it. People have created complete identities on video-sharing sites; musical artists have even been discovered online, and given record deal offers even before an entertainment manager has met or heard them in person. A recent example of this phenomenon is 10 year old Maria Aragon, who just last week uploaded a video of herself on YouTube covering Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way." Lady Gaga herself responded to Aragon’s video, saying, "This is why I make music. She is the future." After Lady Gaga’s message, Aragon got asked to perform on her local Canadian radio station, as well as the Ellen DeGeneres Show. After only being available online for eleven days, Aragon’s video currently has 15,842,827 views. Maria Aragon’s story exemplifies the idea that social media allows us to create and extend our identities online. Without the use of social media, who knows how long it would have taken for Aragon’s breathtaking voice to be discovered. She has extended herself and her passion for music to the world through the use of social media.

            Another form of social media that allows people to extend themselves is blogs. Blog sites such as Tumblr and Blogspot allow users to post any content they want, such as diary-like posts, album reviews, photography, or virtually anything they wish to publish for the world to see. By having a personal blog, people can create their own “personal space,” and extend themselves through media. Before the digital age, it was rather difficult to voice your opinion and get that opinion out there in a short amount of time. With the use of blogs, as well as updating Facebook and Twitter statuses, we can have any opinion or thought we have reach anyone in the world within seconds. This idea clearly exemplifies how social media can extend ourselves, as well as our thoughts and creative ideas and identities.

            There is a direct relationship between the popularity of social media and the extension of the individual. Social media’s fundamental purpose is to create an online identity, and utilize that identity and its tools to define ourselves, and to extend our beliefs and opinions to a world in which we would otherwise go unnoticed. Social media allows people who are too shy or do not have the ability or resources of being on the cover of a magazine or on television to create an identity that can reach virtually billions of people. It is becoming easier and easier to have an effect on society through the use of social media and other digital outlets. As we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people,” our identities are expanding and broader definitions of our self are made through choice and creation.

Social Media

1) I think that amateur user-generated content will continue to progress over time, due to the concept of the "democratization of media." The "democratization of media" means that all members of society have the ability to contribute to media. In traditional media, professionals choose and produce the content that they wish to release to the public. Today, anyone can create and produce their own content and share it with the world on the Internet. More and more people today are gaining access to tools to produce content with higher quality than in the past. 

2) The social networking sites that I find myself using the most are Twitter and Facebook. I use Twitter in order to remain connected with celebrities, public figures, companies, products, news sources, bands, etc. I routinely check Twitter to discover news and information about things that I am interested in. Although I follow a few of my personal friends on Twitter, I mainly use it to learn about what's going on around the world at any moment. I frequently use Facebook because it is becoming one of the primary ways to remain connected and in touch with people in my life. Almost all of my friends and family have a Facebook account that I can use to reach them. Sending a private message, or posting on someone's wall is quickly replacing giving somebody a call or text message in order to get in contact with them. Having a Facebook account has become a social norm, at least for college students, which is a main reason why I use it the most. I think that Facebook is much more successful than MySpace because users use their real name, making it easy to find and connect with someone on the site. It also has a much cleaner and organized layout, whereas MySpace is filled with flashy colors and graphics. Another aspect of Facebook that has made it much more successful is that it is easy to find people who have similar interests to you, attended the same school, or work for the same company. The "networking" aspect of Facebook is what makes it so successful. 

3) Transparency is such an important concept in the social media world because feel people that they should say things online in order to gain respect from others. It's easier to state motives for doing certain things online, rather than saying them offline. Online, people are also after social capital, which is connections between individuals in different social networks. It is easier to obtain social capital by being "transparent" online. I think that it's less important to be transparent in the offline world because all motives and desires do not need to be disclosed on the offline world. It's easier to learn about someone's beliefs and acts by viewing what they're doing online and why they are doing these actions.

Additional Photoshop Assignment

Imagine if the most famous quotes and sayings were "tweeted," rather than stated in a speech or document? My picture shows this idea. This also goes along with McLuhan's idea that "the medium is the message." The fact that these famous statements were not simply "tweeted" made them more influential and important in history. However, with the growing phenomenon of Web 2.0, tweets are becoming more and more significant.

McLuhan Photoshop Final Post

The medium that I chose for this assignment is the Apple App Store. This picture shows John Mayer "playing guitar" on an iPhone. Marshall McLuhan defines a medium as "any extension of ourselves;"the App Store allows people to download apps which "extend" themselves and their abilities. For example, the App shown in this pictures shows that people can play the guitar without even having a guitar; they can play it on their cell phones. More and more apps and technologies are being developed which will continue to extend our minds and capabilities.

Photoshop Assignment

The medium that I chose for this assignment is the Apple App Store. This picture shows John Mayer "playing guitar" on an iPhone. Marshall McLuhan defines a medium as "any extension of ourselves;"the App Store allows people to download apps which "extend" themselves and their abilities. For example, the App shown in this pictures shows that people can play the guitar without even having a guitar; they can play it on their cell phones. More and more apps and technologies are being developed which will continue to extend our minds and capabilities. 

Current Mediums

One example of a current medium which has greatly affected society is the website Twitter. Twitter is considered a "microblog," meaning that it is like other blogs, but its content is much smaller. Users with a Twitter account can post messages, links, pictures, etc. of up to 140 characters. Users can "follow" other users' Twitter accounts, and read what they have been posting. Many celebrities and other public figures have Twitter accounts in order to reach their broad fan-bases. This medium is very significant because it allows its users to send small messages and updates to all of their followers, without the hassel of sending out several personal e-mails or making phone calls. 

Another example of a current medium is Apple's App Store. The App Store allows iPod, iPad, iPhone, and now Mac users to access thousands of "apps," or applications for their devices. These apps cover a wide range of uses, from restaurant locators to social networking, to intense games and puzzles. Users can either buy or download apps for free form the App Store. This medium allows app developers to reach a large, broad audience through their apps. The App Store also demonstrates the notion of a "democratized media," in that anyone with an idea or concept for an app can develop it and put it directly on the App Store as long as it is approved by Apple.

A third current medium is an online forum. An online forum is made up of discussions on a website by its users. These discussions are also known as "threads." Many different websites, brands, music artists, celebrities, etc. have multiple forums in which fans and users can have discussions. Most sites have administrators or moderators, who must approve content before it is posted on a forum. A forum is a medium in which users who do not know each other can discuss common interests, ask for advice, or just simply have a conversation in an easy and sometimes anonymous way. Many users have usernames and avatars that are ambiguous, in order to keep their identity private. Forums are a practical medium in which information and ideas are able to be shared.