Davis: Introduction
Clayton Sandage

I found these video to re-ignite the flame for the love of the internet. I found that the use of media and participatory culture as a fascinating thing that is widely tot in this major. I love that idea of get every one up and interacting with these classes and world around. I feel like keeping a video blog would be cool to start and it is not surprising that people had different personas online. Acting is  a base part of use and I really agree with this. I find that being dyslexic make me think a lot about how bad my spelling and grammar, and when I put these things out in to the world in digital forms they will be there for ever and people will make base judgments about it. This what make video appealing to me is that people may never have to see that part of me.  That is something I would try and hide form the world. There is a lot to unpack with the rise of these medias and there effect on the world. But I believe that wether you are and actor or just a person the internet is a place of new beginnings and more connectivity.

Journal Entry 1 - Davis: Introduction (Sara Loughran)

The sequence of videos are almost a chronicle of Wesch's exploration through new forms of digital media. YouTube in particular is a key source and tool for his exploration, as it is where he gained viral internet fame with "Web 2.0: The Machine Is Us/ing Us”, the main subject of his talk in “An anthropological introduction to YouTube”, and one of the platforms he examined when talking about how people are getting their causes and protests noticed and succeeding in enacting some change in "From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able". A common theme for each of these videos is how people are using these tools ("the Machine") to do things that are revolutionary as no one could have imagined them happening before the internet. "Web 2.0: The Machine Is Us/ing Us” explores the new limitless possibilities of text within the internet and how things are no longer confined to a pen and paper - one link can lead someone down an entire rabbit hole of searching; “An anthropological introduction to YouTube” explores the genesis of this new media platform that can turn ordinary people famous with a simple 2 minute home video; and "From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able" shows the power and potential people, especially students, can have by using the internet to spread a message or fight for a cause. These new media have all created a culture and landscape, that frankly even today we're still learning how to navigate. Anything is possible, yet that is also the problem, and the Internet and new digital media continues to remain sort of an abstract open area where real life rules don't always apply, and thus we don't know how to fix or regulate it. The question is whether it is better to give up some of our free speech rights for more regulation, or leave the internet open to chaos and meddling? This has been a big question after the scandals about Facebook and the ongoing issue of Russian hackers, bots, and trolls in the 2016 elections attempting to sway public opinion.

Since the release of these videos, the internet, and YouTube as well - have changed drastically. Even the most recent of the three ("From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able", 7 years ago, 2010) could not have predicted the mass impact social media and the internet would have in global outreach and activism, particularly among students. Movements are easier to grow, and it is easier to inform people about issues (though the internet still has the tendency to be fooled by fake things, like the accounts in "An anthropological guide to YouTube). Along with being another place for social media activism, YouTube has become a place for people to cultivate careers as creators where they otherwise would have been rejected by a TV or film production company. Anyone can upload anything, which is the double-edged sword. While it has led to some amazing creations, and become so wildly popular that even large companies and corporations are trying to get in on it (something else that is up to you to decide whether it is positive or negative), it is almost its own entity that people will use as their own tool to do things that are more questionable and controversial, such as the large community of alt-right and neo-nazi vloggers who even caused advertisers to pull from the site, which is one of only many controversies YouTube has been involved in. This leaves open the possibility for the platform to take action to police some of these creators, but at the cost of adding a caveat to the idea that "anyone can post anything". I only see the platform evolving more, but at its current rate, the administration behind YouTube needs to make a decision about who and who they don't want on their platform, or risk more consequences and everything devolving into an even bigger cesspool of chaos, hatred, racism, and nefarious intentions. I wonder if Wesch could have foreseen YouTube's current iteration? I honestly don't think he could have, because watching "An anthropological guide to YouTube" is almost comical in how everything has changed, even if some key concepts remain.

Davis seems to echo some of Wesch's thoughts, particularly about how "the Machine" uses us, and how it is neither necessarily good nor evil, but a tool, and we should learn how to manipulate it and not let it manipulate us. Davis also talks about how technology and new media become the "building blocks, and even in some sense the foundation, for what we now increasingly think of as 'the social construction of reality.'” (4). However, Wesch seems to have a much more positive outlook on new digital media and technology than Davis, and even though he does address some of the downsides, he largely tries to focus on all the good possibilities that can come from this uncharted territory. Davis is a little bit more negative and Hobbesian about the whole thing, even if he acknowledges the digital media is neither negative nor positive. However, he believes it has the potential for negativity, and that we as humans should try and prevent that before it happens. The dichotomy between the two perspectives was quite fascinating and allowed me to see the positives and negatives of digital media and technology while giving me room to form my own opinion.

Davis: Introduction

Maddie Baum
Davis: Introduction

A) In the three videos that we were assigned to watch, I found that each video had something new when discussing media. In the first video, online media and the data that we collect was described to be incurably flexible, easily organized and almost in our own control. It was showing the relationship between the user and the technology that we use; that it is interchangeable and that we help the computer and the computer helps us. It explains how we teach the machine and the machine teaches us as well, which I found to be incredibly interesting. Now what is new about the users of this type of media is that because technology is constantly improving and becoming easier; the relationship between machines and people can be to broader ranges of ages, not just millennials or tech savvy people. What is new about the culture and their media emerging is that culture with media is international, so we are constantly improving our technology through other cultures and other people.

In the second video, the new media was being described as the introduction of the internet and networks; emphasizing the introduction of YouTube and how it has connected us internationally over time. Examples such as "Charlie bit me", showed how we connect through certain videos. The video also explained how we interchangeably learn from each other through these videos which is also important to know when producing new media. What is new about the users of this media, or YouTube, is that any age can use it and connect with anyone or share information or videos with anyone that they would like. What is so great about YouTube and emerging culture is that it allows individuals to learn culture through video by internet access very easily.

In the third video, the speaker discussed how ridiculously easy it is now for us to connect, organize, share, publish, etc... through our current devices. What's important about this is that the technology that is constantly improving is making it easier and easier for us to do this.  The speaker talked about knowledge and knowledgeable; explaining how media are not just means of communication, but mediate relationships. The speaker specifically focused on his college student class and their relationships with access to media. What is "new" toward users is that there are constantly new distractions or reasons as to why we should all be paying attention to media and at what time. The emerging culture toward this is how we are being provided with more and more distractions through our machines.

B) Now that time has passed since these videos have been released, what has changed in each media and our relationship to each is similar across the board. It is the improvement overall of our modern day technology and the abundance of media that we are exposed to every day. Our relationship to all of these media types has become more reliant and dependent. I think that technology will only improve from here, that being said. I think that our society will become so reliant on technology that we will be almost incapable to live without it in a sense.

C) Two concepts:
             1. Information technology tears our perceptions, communicates our picture of the world to one another, and constructs remarkable and sometimes insidious forms of control over the cultural satires that share our sense of the world.
             2. "Yin & Yang" Technologies can serve as the vehicles for spells, ghosts and animist intuitions. They can also provide launching pads for transcendence, for the disembodied flights of gnosis. "analog and digital.

Davis: Introduction

Chris Carr

Davis: Introduction

Web 2.0

            As this video is from 2007, they showed people that there are dangers to the world-wide web, by using the web itself to show the depth of the internet, as well as the complex mechanics behind it. This includes its major flaws which could in turn cause major problems. The people using the internet at the time, I assume were people like me and my older brothers ranging from middle-school to fresh out of college. We basically just used the internet to watch funny videos and the occasional e-mail. We       were not at all aware of the power of the internet and what goes into it. The internet is used in almost everything now. Everything is Wi-Fi capable nowadays. As for when this video was made, it was mainly computers which had to be connected with Ethernet cables or a wireless airport somewhere in the home. There was much less connected to the Internet of Things.

An anthropological intro to YouTube AND From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able

           

            As these videos were made briefly after Web 2.0, the internet and its power was still being overlooked by the average human being. Wesch was able to use not only a PowerPoint-like presentation, but also mixed it with video montages containing many famous YouTube videos from its early days, as well a photo montages. Montage has been around for very long, but like my brothers and I, had no idea what that was or what it meant until it became a very prominent thing on YouTube. He was able to use something that YouTube is very well known in my mind for popularizing, and use it to get his points across much more clear.

Web 2.0

The web is growing rapidly every day, and the depth and power of the internet is much more widely known within most communities. There have also been many major issues ran through the internet and recently advertised. Obviously, the web can be used in endless ways to enhance any type of project or product.

An anthropological intro to YouTube AND From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able

            In these video, he shows how YouTube is not looked at as a huge influence at the time it was made, but the evidence of its power was very much there, such as the soldier boy demonstration, and how fast that dance spread. The other websites used in his demonstrations are out of date as well, such as digger and myspace. The power of            YouTube, as well as media and social media, is much more obvious now, as people are starting their own political shows, and stating serious opinions on their YouTube accounts.

Two Concepts

1.     I very much enjoyed his description of the connections that technological networks create between the real world and our imagination. As this continues, the line fades, dragging you deeper into the web and blurring the line between real and imagination even more, much like what was demonstrated in Web 2.0.

2.     On page eight, Davis explains how it is easy to lose your way in an age of so much information. As seen in many of the montages, so many people are doing something only because they saw it on the internet and want to imitate it. Seeing so much so often means there are much more influences which can affect what you become.

Davis & Mike Wesch (Sam Lindsey)

Date:3/27/2018
Author: Sam Lindsey
Assignment: Post #2, Davis Introduction & Mike Wesch

Man, I wish I would have known about these videos before I wrote a very long, very time consuming paper about YouTube last year... They would have helped immensely! The ways in which Wesch describes how technology is changing and how we are changing in turn reminded me about a lot of key points in my paper, points that I know are, and will be, relevant in the land of the internet for a long time to come.

Before I get into the body of my post here's a link to that paper for those of you who may be interested:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HeSC1Z6VUcJe4md6o54zWwk9Qf35sepZ5TLB6U37H-c/edit?usp=sharing


The most interesting part about YouTube specifically is the ability for us mix and make our own content. We become "Prosumers", the combination of a consumer and a producer. We watch others videos of challenges (ice bucket, cinnamon, mannequin) along with dances (like the Harlem Shake) and we find ourselves not only entertained, but wanting to jump in and participate. But I think that some of what Wesch gets at is that this can be a daunting task. Sure, recording the video and uploading it to the web are easy, but the actual production, the physical task of sitting down and talking to yourself, dancing by yourself, or whatever, makes a lot of people nervous. I noticed that when Professor Reddell gave the option for us to step outside and make a video instead of a blog post that no one took him up on it... Even now saying this I find myself wondering if I would be willing to post a candid video of myself rather than sitting here writing this behind a screen of "anonymity" with only my voice and tone of writing giving light on who I am.

Another thing that I found funny about these videos is that a lot of the websites and ways in which we interact with them have changed so drastically since these videos were released. I don't think I've ever even used Digg, Delicious or MySpace, but at their prime the whole of the internet was using them every day. The big thing now is Reddit, which seems to me almost like a mash of all those sites. It is the front page of the internet, so to speak. It's weird to think that a decade from now we could have something completely different then that, something that combines and improves upon the internet.

I don't even think I've even ever used a "webcam" like the one that was shown... Every bit of tech you would need to make a video call or chat is not physically built in to our devices. That's how important and essential they have become, that they are just seen as part of the device.

I'll take a final second here to address the end of the introduction of TechGnosis. Davis talks about how technology isn't a devil or an angel or a tool, rather it is a trickster. A trickster that makes us buy into vloggers life stories and believe that every piece of info (like this baby being carried off by a hawk for example) is real...



How do we teach ourselves, how do we learn to use technology without it using us back?

Introduction (Sam Lindsey)

Date:3/26/2018
Author: Sam Lindsey
Assignment: Post #1, Introduction

Hey guys! My name is Sam Lindsey. I'm from Albuquerque, New Mexico and I'm studying Computer Science (with a minor in EDP). The reason I was interested in EDP is because I'd like to consider myself a digital artist but have never really had much experience with the tools used to create digital art. I've always been more of a hand on drawing and painting sort of person, but have always aspired to learn the digital arts.

I love the way one of my friends put it when he said he "loves to consume media". That's my personal link to EDP. I love watching TV shows, my all time favorite would have to be Breaking Bad. I also really enjoy going to the movies. The Mayan Theater here in town is one of my favorites. Additionally, I spend a lot of my free time playing video games. I will forever be a Nintendo fanboy at heart because of the quality and craftsmanship of the games they create, but also enjoy the industry as a whole. Another thing that I love about Nintendo would be their ability to create experiences that can be shared. Enjoying media with others has always been especially fun for me, growing up in a family that watched movies on the weekends, and discussed what we thought of them after the fact. I've always really enjoyed the group experience.

I would like to learn more about how technology has shaped how we communicate, and function as a society and what that means going forward. Also, if I could learn how to go about discussing these things with others, that would be awesome!

Introduction

Hi, my name is Caroline Leach. I am a Physics major here at DU. I'm picking up three minors in math, astrophysics, and EDP. I didn't know what EDP was until I came to DU. Upon learning more about the subject, my interest was peaked. I found EDP interesting because in my future line of work I will be required to use computers and other technology. My dream job would be working with NASA or Space X in some form, ideally analyzing data that telescopes, satellites, and other technological devices will provide me. Learning more about emergent digital practices, their history and their future, would be greatly beneficial because they will constitute my career. 

Like most people my age, technology is very much integrated into my daily life. I use several social media apps, I complete most all homework online, and I love movies. However, unlike my peers I grew up resenting technology. I always struggled with computers and navigating them, books were more my style. I would say today my media mostly comes through my phone or laptop, it is faster and easier to access than a newspaper or book. As for my goals in the class, I hope to learn more about technology in general, especially where it comes from. Having a good background in technology will help me in my future endeavors, even more so as the world continues to digitize. I think AI will be very interesting to learn about, because the world is shifting towards that. This class is definitely one I am looking forward to! 

Introduction

Hi! My name is Maddie Baum. I'm a Junior from Piedmont, California. I'm a Communications major with minors in Marketing and EDP.  I'm on the Women's Lacrosse team at DU - Go Pios! I love to be in the outdoors, spending time with my friends and family, hiking, photography and skiing. I find EDP to be an incredibly interesting way to apply a creative and artistic perspective into the digital world. I would love for the work that I create while pursuing my EDP minor to allow individuals to interpret my work in different ways. Art is how human imagination is expressed and I believe that it is incredibly important to incorporate this in all of my work. I am a digital artist in the works, as well as an avid social media user. I enjoy using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat. I really enjoy photography, so I typically incorporate the photos that I take in my social media usage. My goals for this course are to explore the various cultures that we are exposed to every day both locally and globally. I want to be able to critically understand how digital media and the technology that we are so accustomed to shape our everyday lives. I think that it is important to understand how our technology usage today both positively and negatively influences our lives, especially for how reliant we are on it. It will be interesting to learn about the progression that we have made in the digital world through learning about the history of emergent practices.

Clayton Sandage
Edp Magor

About me:
I am a gamer that like open world games and sandbox games like Skyrim, Fall out, GTA 5 and Minecraft. I am a fan of 3D modeling and 3D printing. The social media I have and use are Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. I prefer the media experiences of videos and pictures. This mostly has to do with the fact that I am dyslexic and struggle with reading and writing. I love TV in most of its forms form Netflix, holo, HBO, youtube and more. I am a big fan of audio books. My favor types of books fall under Science fiction, Action and Adventure, High fantasy, Mystery and Horror. 

I would like to learn more about me and the art I can make with the new tools and technology out there.

That is just the brief overview of me. 

Intro

Chris Carr
EDP 2200

I have always loved making my own skateboard and snowboard videos, and I became very interested in screen printing in high school. However, I have never had any professional education when it comes to certain applications and softwares that could allow me to be more creative in these areas. For instance, the Time and Imaging classes have made me much more comfortable when using things such as Final Cut or the Affinity applications. I have never been a gamer, but I did grown up in a house with two older brothers who are filmmakers. Because of this, I have seen more than my fair share of movies and tv shows, but I love it. I try to avoid overusing social media, but I will make the occasional posts to Facebook and Instagram, usually short skateboard and snowboard videos, or links to full length ones. I have always had trouble fishing out the reasons behind my own work and I feel this class could help me not only find meaning in my own work, but others as well.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Sara Loughran. I'm a Sophomore from Austin, Texas. I'm majoring in International Studies and Media Studies with minors in English (Creative Writing) and Theatre. I write for the DU Clarion and I'm a member of DU's improv comedy team, Skintight Outrage. I really enjoy both writing and performing.

I've been using the Internet and social media for as long as I can remember, and it's helped facilitate my passion for writing by allowing me to join communities with other people who also enjoyed writing, and we would sometimes create collaborative pieces together. I'm also a fan of a lot of different video games, and I've joined communities for other fans of those games online. I prefer RPGs and games that allow me to create an entire world and/or persona that I can mold to my liking.

I use Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube most often to create and share content with others, usually under an alias/screen name, because I feel more comfortable expressing myself that way because I don't have necessarily have preexisting identity attached to my work and posts. So I mostly prefer media experiences where I can be anonymous or go by an alias, so I can separate my real life self from my creator/online self.

In terms of general media, besides video games, I enjoy lots of different movies, films, books, and music. My taste in all of these things is super diverse, and I don't like to limit myself by saying I'll never get into a specific genre of music/film/television/book/video game, because I feel like that's pretentious. Recently I've been getting into K-pop and other types of non-English music, and I've been introduced to a whole other world online full of different communities and creators with similar interests.

My goal for this class is to learn as much about emergent digital practices and cultures as I can. The whole idea and definition of "emergent digital practices" is kind of abstract and vague to me, and I don't completely understand it. I'm not sure if it solely focuses on new technologies or explores current evolving ones, but I hope to get more clarity on the subject, especially because I'm a Media Studies major. I would also like to learn about the differences between digital practices and cultures around the world, since I am also majoring in International Studies and I'm interested in how certain things affect us globally.