connected

The quote that I liked most from the "Connected" readings was the one about power and how structures aren't just one thing but made up of many things. "Like every infrastructure, from highway systems to the internet, the power grid is not really a single entity, but several regional networks cobbled together under the rubric of greater connectivity for the good of all". This is saying that it takes alot of different ideas and workings to come together in order to create something great. This sort of reminds me of Power Rangers, when all of the individual robots would combined together to make the Megazord to beat one bad guy, rather than attack 5 on 1. I never understood why they didn't just go at him as individuals, seeing as they would outnumber him. However, I came to the realization that together they were more powerful as one bot than as 5. This is how the internet works. It takes a bunch of individual ideas, pages, scripts, and people to combine together to create this ultra influential being that outweights every other form of digital communication. We need power lines to talk to people on the phone, we need broadcast stations to watch TV shows, we need many different yet connected things in order to create these big powerful forces.

instant entertainment

Sifting through the different blogs during Aaron’s presentation in class today was exciting and a good learning tool. I was very interested in seeing all of the new blogs and if there was any way we are all connected. I came across some very interesting blogs; from one dedicated to the High School Musical kids to some that were in another language. I found this kind of difficult to see how a webpage filled with pictures of Zack Effron going to the store and combing his hair and how a page dedicated to a Venezuelan politician were connected. Then again, I guess the purpose of any web page is to inform about something. I guess we are all connected through our mediums of communication.
I find the part about being enveloped and not being able to concentrate on something one at a time very telling. I recently heard that every time you change the TV channels, your brain receives a jolt. This means that your mind is shifting from one idea to another so rapidly, that overtime your brain can become addicted to needing these shocks. This is one theory why we have so much ADD nowadays. I think the same is with the internet. Going from vastly different webpage to webpage is also probably creating shocks and satisfying our desires. I think we as a people probably are so used to instant entertainment options that we will always be stuck in this envelope of ideas.

fakes and reality

I believe strongly now that people create social identity’s that are false over the internet. A lot of times this is done to try to pretend you’re someone your not, but also I’ve come to realize that sometimes people do it as a means of humor. In relation to our class discussion about social identity, I watched some of my friends chatting online and pretending they were older men the other night. I never knew they had these secret chat identities. They pretend that they are women and chat with guys. It’s really funny because they have these really x-rated chats, just because these guys think they’re girls. However, this made me wonder of perhaps these guys that are chatting with them are only pretending to be guys. Maybe they are in on their own joke, and are playing around with my friends. Can we really trust any type of supposed identity if we aren’t talking to someone in person? Is it possible to display your true feelings and emotions over the internet or some other means of communication? This experience has made me really stop and wonder how many facebook profiles, myspace profiles, and whatnot really display peoples likes and dislikes. Maybe it is all just pretend.

the hyper linking

My first reaction after reading today’s reading was “they were working on the internet in 1993?’ I have no recollection of ever using or knowing what the internet was until 1998 or 99. But then I realize that yes, it makes sense they were creating this phenomenon back then, and the world did move forward even though I was too young to pay attention. The fact that a simple hyper link was so amazing to these guys is like car companies being amazed at putting air conditioning in cars. Links appear on every single internet page and are as much a part of the internet as email, or chatting. I remember in high school when I noticed a bunch of girls typing in their online diaries during class, and wondering what this was they were doing. When they told me about the site called Xanga, and informed me that it had been around for over a year and showed me all of the features, I was amazed. I had no idea there were such things as social networks. The thing that amazed me most were all of the different links there were, or “friends” that were on people’s pages that with one click would bring up another person’s Xanga page. I have never been up on the internet, so this was all pretty amazing to me. This idea of connectivity through linking was an instant phenomenon among people my age, with what felt like everyone using Xanga at one point. But quickly, college came and Facebook was the new thing, and everyone got off of Xanga. I think that with the creation of new technology, and the changing landscape of newer ways to stay connected, one day linking may be as outdated as house phones.

communication mediums

There is no doubt that without written word, we would be severely held back in terms of communication. In fact, you wouldn’t even be reading this right now if it wasn’t for the continuation of the medium of technology and the ways in which we write words. I think the reading brings up an interesting point when it says that it is more important the media man uses to communicate than what they are actually communicating. This says a lot about how we listen, and how our minds are convinced. This reminds me of the story about the first ever political advertising for President in 1952. Eisenhower, (who won) decided to use the new technology of TV to his advantage by running ads, while his opponent refused because he thought it would be disgraceful. Four years later the same candidate ran again and decided to run TV ads this time. I also think it is interesting how this article points out how we lived in “directionless dark of the mind”. Also, “the hand that filled the parchment page built the city”. I think this means he who communicates most effectively gets to make all the rules and influence all the people. It will be very interesting in the coming year to see how Web 2.0 influences the masses.

Does majority always rule?

“Two heads are smarter than one”. Isn’t this a common phrase that is accepted by many? The remarkable success of group intelligence is somewhat expected. If you put a bunch of people together, one person who knows the answer can act confidently and tell everyone else what it is or display through his actions his confidence and influence the others to follow him. Or, the majority of people may actually know the answer and be correct. The Who Wants to be Millionaire example doesn’t surprise me, because if you read multiple choice questions, generally the majority will be right. I used to watch this show, and every time they did the “ask the group” lifeline, I always immediately assumed the majority was right. I can’t recall an instance that I saw where the majority was wrong. However, the majority isn’t always right. Just today I saw a news poll that said over 50% of young people think Robin Hood was real; over 50% also think Florence Nightingale was imaginary, along with King Richard the Lionhearted. Of course Robin Hood is fake, and Nightingale and King Richard were real. I guess examples like these just prove that you can’t always trust the majority. Sometimes one head may be smarter than two.

design website

I find the website that we are to look at about graphic design to be pretty ugly looking at first look. The font and colors chosen make it look like something from the early 90's if websites had existed then. The whole website is dumb. The first thing you see is a bunch of advertisments for contests and other junk. You have to click on links on the side that really don't even advertise what this junk is that you should click on. When you do click on something, it just takes you to some random wierd pictures that the captions don't even describe what you are looking at. This looks like a website that was created by a bunch of drug users. I don't think this website is run by Americans. I would guess this is from Europe because it has that European strangeness to it and seems like the kind of thing young people over there would create. I don't understand the point of this site. Is it to inform about graphic design or to present a bunch of new age art design and tease the mind? The article section is somewhat informing. The authors write about ways to present designs and what is effective and what isn't. I think for a website that prides itself on graphic design, they sure are hypocrits. I chose to change the background colors and the text colors on my blog site, because it seems everyone has picked the same template and is using the same colors. It looks too plain being all white and grey, so I chose to change it to blue.