Final Reflection- Deliverables

In the week of 11/29 after returning from a relaxing break, I returned feeling very excited. During the evening of 11/30 I worked on my second progress presentation. In the second progress report, I wrote candidly about my struggles with having a clear understanding of my project and the end results. I wrote about the ways in which the project made me more disciplined. There were certain elements of the project that was to have been completed however due to timing it was not completed. Also on 11/30 I posted my first image rendition of Humans of New York photo. I interviewed a male friend of mine who is twenty-three years old. He was super excited to share his thoughts on loss. Earlier in the day, after my internship, I met him in China Town, New York where he interns. I took a photo of him from the back because he did not want to show his face. He did not feel comfortable with his face in the photo which is understandable. I took the photo and asked him to send me his quote via text on loss.

The quote: #1 The Loss of Time

Jodieann's Human of New York Facebook

“The worst kind of loss is the loss of time, because it’s constant and never ending, you won’t stop losing time until you die. This can drive one crazy as your goals becomes more immediate and crunched under the weight of time. Time lost also manifests itself in moments spent with others, it’s a little scary how long we can go without seeing someone or doing something and be instantly reminded of that once we see the person or participate in that activity again. Our memories remind us of how fast time flies and how if we don’t use it responsibly we can waste a lot of time, as time waits for no one.”#HumansofNewYork

 

This photo was shared via these four social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Black Attire Aficionado. I posted the image and the quote from participant #1 along with the hashtag (#HumansofNewYork). The response was surprising. For the first few moments when I shared the photo via Instagram which was shared to Facebook, there was no response. I was worried that no one would interact with the image which would make my project unsuccessful. Within the next hour my photo received likes on both platforms. The photo via Instagram received 11 likes and 3 comments. Three instagrammers participated in the conversation. Many found the quote on loss to be “powerful”. I did not engage with any of the commenters because Brendan Stanton does not engage with users, it is one of the strategies I listed in my Humans of New York Best Practices, which will be shared on my ePortfolio site on 12/15. I found the photo shared on Instagram to be successful because it received likes and users engaged with the photo. On the platform Facebook, I received 9 likes within a matter of minutes. There was no user engagement on this platform. I did not find this very successful because I have over 700 Facebook friends and was quite surprised by the lack of response. On Twitter, I took a different approach to sharing the image. I posted the image with a short sentence from the quote and linked it to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado using Bitly and the hashtag #HONY so that anyone searching the hashtag would see the tweet. The photo shared via Twitter, received over 100 impressions(the amount of times people saw the tweet on Twitter), and received over 10 user engagements such as clicking the link, the hashtag and the media(the photo). I would say that the image was successful to some degree because over 100 people saw it but no one engaged. I screenshot these findings and posted it to my blogpost Coming to Grips: Projection Reflection-Round 2.

The following day I met with professor Belli to discuss the progress of my project, I received feedback to revisit my proposed timeline where I did not complete the deliverables. Also, I was advised to write my best practices on the blog Humans of New York. Later that evening I reworked my blog post but for some reason it was not updated. I did not find this out until 12/3 after I presented my Prezi presentation. Also after my presentation, I received feedback from my class that was very positive. In the feedback, I was told that the project had a clearer understanding than before. Samantha mentioned that she would have a prospect for me because I was unable to find someone to share their story on loss.

On 12/5 I crated my second image using my own quote. I decided to write about myself because I could not find anyone and I thought it would be more intimate. On the subject of loss, I wrote about losing my ability to laugh during hard times. I did not want to do the traditional story on relationship. I chose a photo that was taken during the summer and wrote.

The quote:# 2 The Loss of LaughterIMG_2195

“I’m afraid of losing my ability to laugh during moments of hard times. My laugh is what I cherish most of all. Sometimes there are people who come into your life whose purpose is to destroy you and by some miracle it changes you. Often times this can make you a better person and other times it can make you bitter. My laugh is infectious and youthful and losing it is a constant fear of mine. . .” #humansofnewyork

 

This photo was shared via these four social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Black Attire Aficionado. I posted the image and the quote from participant #2 along with the hashtag (#HumansofNewYork). The response was immediate. For the first few moments when I shared the photo via Instagram which was shared to Facebook, it received over 20 likes. The responses were “love that smile, hearts <3 <3, I love this picture, you’re glowing and you’re absolutely right keep smiling”. I would say this was a great start, I will continue to monitor it because I have over 700 friends. The photo via Instagram received over 30 likes with only one Instagram comment. I was expecting a more intense response because the photo was of myself and I thought my friends would have engaged more. On Twitter, I took a different approach to sharing the image. I posted the image with a short sentence from the quote and linked it to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado using Bitly and the hashtag #HONY so that anyone searching the hashtag would see the tweet. The photo shared via Twitter, received over 60 impressions and 2 twitter engagements. I would say that the image was successful to some degree because over 60 people saw it but no one engaged.

 

The quote:# 3 The Loss of a Grandmother

“Losing my grandmother was one of the worst feelings in the world. She was like a second mother to me. She raised me and lived right downstairs from me. All I knew was her being there. She moved to Canada a few years before her passing. It was sudden and out of nowhere and by far one of the worst things that I would have found out. She had an aneurysm. We went to Canada right away to be by her side. When I saw her it wasn’t her, she wasn’t herself and she was not conscious. It’s a horrible feeling seeing someone you love so much in that type of state. I was in the room with her and some family when she passed.

A Granddaughters Loss

A Granddaughters Loss

My heart was sinking and I felt like I was dying inside. When we heard the machine go off I knew she was gone. I felt like I died inside. I starred at her and spoke to her in her ear before she went. It wasn’t easy to deal with at all. But thank God I had my son, Aiden there to hug and kiss and keep me strong and keep my mind busy. I know she’s in a better place, I just think it was too early for her to leave. It’s not an easy thing to deal with losing someone you love so much. I am grateful she was able to be here when my son was born and she knew him for a year and a half. I still miss her to this day but I smile knowing she’s watching over my family and me. I know she sees my son growing up and is proud of the job I’m doing as a mother. I see her in my dreams and sometimes feel that she’s around, either by smell or just feeling her presence.” #HumansofNewYork

This photo was shared via these four social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Black Attire Aficionado. I posted the image and the quote from participant #3 along with the hashtag (#HumansofNewYork) on social media sites. The response was slower than I expected. I expected it would have a lot more engagements because it was a quote on the loss of a loved one which I’m sure many people have experienced at some point in their life. For the first few moments when I shared the photo via Instagram which was shared to Facebook, it received 8 likes. The responses were “I love this!”. I would say this was a great start, I will continue to monitor it because I have over 700 friends and it is a great read. The photo via Instagram received over 10 likes with only one Instagram comment. Because the quote was very long, I broke it up into 2 parts. On 12/6 I posted part one and will post part 2 on 12/7. One of the best practices I found in my analysis of HONY was that for long quotes Brandon Stanton broke it up into short quotes and would post the rest the following day.

In some ways I was expecting a more intense response because the quote was powerful. On Twitter, I took a different approach to sharing the image. I posted the image with a short sentence from the quote and linked it to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado using Bitly and the hashtag #HONY so that anyone searching the hashtag would see the tweet. The photo shared via Twitter, received over 40 impressions and 2 twitter engagements. I have not determined the success of this image because there is one more part to post.

This will be updated on 12/8,  12/10 and 12/12 is the final analysis of the amount of user engagements that occurred on the social media sites.  

Coming to Grips: Project Reflection- Round 2

Revised as of 12/5 to reflect feedback from Jill

At what point in your life do you acknowledge defeat? The project for Writing with New Media has proven to be quite a challenge for me. I feel as if my heads are still in the clouds, I have not quite successfully articulated in my proposal how I expect to complete this project. It’s very much of challenge to clearly define my purpose of this project as well as the deliverables. I have gone back and forth with trying to clearly state my vision of this project,  I think it is very much a work in progress. I feel that as I go along the project begins to manifest in a weird way. The project requires a lot of discipline which I have not given anything in a while because I have been focused in various places. As a result, it is forcing to rethink my management skills and also how I tackle a project. In a weird way this project is changing the way I think about the word project, deliverables and purpose. It is affording me chance to rethink the way I execute a task. Specifically, how I analyze and synthesize a project brief. I did not use my time effectively in the first rounds of this project and now I am at a hard rock. It is a incredible frustrating point in my project journey but it is a point that I need to be in. With as this built up frustration and confusion and exhaustion it is given me a chance to reflect on who I have been all my life. It is now requiring me to change many of my bad habits. This project required me to clearly define a proposal with specific guidelines and I have veered off the track of my timeline. I am afraid this project will not be as successful as I hoped. Also, because I have veered off my timeline there are elements of my project that I need to rework and clearly state the intent of the project.

My proposed timeline I should have completed the work for the week of the 11/27 which was to create and explain the best practices for HONY brand. I was to analyze their practices and will try to successfully recreate their approach to sharing a story within the online community of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

After a careful analysis of the photoblog Humans of New York (HONY). I wrote a guide of their best practices, this will be showcased on my ePortfolio site in a different tab.

For the week of 11/22 I went on a search from a student who was willing to share their story and was unsuccessful. On 11/23 I created my first project reflection of where I was in my journey to completing the project. I worked on defining what success means in my project. My analysis of a successful photo shared via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Black Attire Aficionado is by tracking the amount of times a photo was likes, favorites, views, retweets, reblog/repost, comments, shareability on other platforms, and if other users share their stories because of the image. In the Prezi presentation, I compared the photoblog Humans of New York and StoryCorps. Humans of New York blog a by Brandon Stanton that shares stories through PHOTOS by providing these individuals with a voice and cultivates a new type of visual experience. On the other hand, StoryCorps is a non-profit by David Isay that provides Americans of backgrounds and all beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve their life story in a VIDEO. These two photojournalism outlets provides two unique ways in which a participant can share their stories. I reviewed several posts of HONY, many of these images receive over 200,000 views and over 20,000 comments. I was fascinated by the scope in which participants who shared their stories received comments from various strangers who had similar experiences. This completely solidified my reasons for my project on storytelling. I became even more inspired to recreate images similar to HONY. After several feedback from my professor and peers, I decided it was imperative to remove the video blog  StoryCorps from my suggested proposal. It did not serve any purpose because I was not creating a video along with the stories that would be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Black Attire Aficionado. I chose to follow the feedback because it would help to clarify any confusions and make the project goal more clearly defined. As a result of all of the feedback the timeline will change to reflect the feedback.

For the week of 11/29 which has been my most successful week because I found an individual who was willing to share their story within the online community of Facebook, Twitter and I am still working on the WordPress post to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado. Since posting the image, I have received 11 likes and three comments on Instagram with just using the hashtag (#HumansofNewYork). For the next coming days I will engage with other hashtags and see how they play a roll in user engagement and track how it is perceives via those social networking sites. This is a paramount part of my project because it will show the success how I am able to use the HONY best practices to recreate an image. During that week I tried to find students outside of my class to participate in the creation of “Jodieann’s: Humans of New York,” I was unsuccessful. I think many people were hesitant to the idea because they did not trust me or they were uncomfortable with the idea. My plan B was to ask several friends of mine and one of my dearest friends agreed to share his thoughts on loss. The question I proposed was “Can you share your thoughts on loss you have experienced?”

Examples of Humans of New York post via:

Instagram :

Humans of New York Instagram

Humans of New York Instagram

Humans of New York Instagram

Humans of New York Instagram

 

His response:

Instagram:HONY

 

 

Facebook:

Jodieann's Human of New York Facebook

Jodieann’s Human of New York Facebook

 

WordPress: Black Attire Aficionado

 

 

 

ePortfolio

My ePortfolio site has not been updated since the last time I updated it partly because I like the simplicity of the site. I am partial to simplicity, it is who I am. However, my next steps for my ePortfolio is to update it with a new image since the one that I am currently using is not mine, it needs to be more organic. Over the weekend I captured several photos of flowers that I would like to be a part of my portfolio. I hope to make it as me as possible. I intend to update the site with a few more of projects I have completed as well as accolades.

Looking forward. . .

The next steps of my project will require me to be discipline in my approach to successfully completing this project on time. I will need to revisit the elements of the project such as the proposal, the new media composing experiment, project portfolio, begin practicing how to give a in-class presentation, work on the project reflection and  begin writing parts of the abstract.

After careful examination of my current deliverables it is important that I include another HONY image, one with a female narrative. I think it would be interesting to see how individuals react to different types of stories on loss from a woman’s point of view.

Next Steps

The next steps of the project is to chart the success of the image on Instagram, Facebook and WordPress by how I define success which is taking into consideration the definition of success that I defined earlier. I really look forward to the new approach that I will take towards this project.

 

The Presentation

Can Anyone Recreate a Humans of New York Image?

_____________________________________________________________________________

At what point in your life do you acknowledge defeat? The project for Writing with New Media has proven to be quite a challenge for me. I feel as if my heads are still in the clouds, I have not quite successfully articulated in my proposal how I expect to complete this project. It’s very much of challenge to clearly define my purpose of this project as well as the deliverables. I have gone back and forth with trying to clearly state my vision of this project,  I think it is very much a work in progress. I feel that as I go along the project begins to manifest in a weird way. The project requires a lot of discipline which I have not given anything in a while because I have been focused in various places. As a result, it is forcing to rethink my management skills and also how I tackle a project. In a weird way this project is changing the way I think about the word project, deliverables and purpose. It is affording me chance to rethink the way I execute a task. Specifically, how I analyze and synthesize a project brief. I did not use my time effectively in the first rounds of this project and now I am at a hard rock. It is a incredible frustrating point in my project journey but it is a point that I need to be in. With as this built up frustration and confusion and exhaustion it is given me a chance to reflect on who I have been all my life. It is now requiring me to change many of my bad habits. This project required me to clearly define a proposal with specific guidelines and I have veered off the track of my timeline. I am afraid this project will not be as successful as I hoped. Also, because I have veered off my timeline there are elements of my project that I need to rework and clearly state the intent of the project.

My proposed timeline I should have completed the work for the week of the 11/27 which was to create and explain the best practices for HONY brand. I was to analyze their practices and will try to successfully recreate their approach to sharing a story within the online community of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Also to describe the image using the Visual Literacies Guidelines which I trying to see if it is still useful for the project.

For the week of 11/29 which has been my most successful week because I found an individual who was willing to share their story within the online community of Facebook, Twitter and I am still working on the WordPress post to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado. Since posting the image, I have received 11 likes and three comments on Instagram with just using the hashtag (#HumansofNewYork). For the next coming days I will engage with other hashtags and see how they play a roll in user engagement and track how it is perceives via those social networking sites. This is a paramount part of my project because it will show the success how I am able to use the HONY best practices to recreate an image. During that week I tried to find students outside of my class to participate in the creation of “Jodieann’s: Humans of New York,” I was unsuccessful. I think many people were hesitant to the idea because they did not trust me or they were uncomfortable with the idea. My plan B was to ask several friends of mine and one of my dearest friends agreed to share his thoughts on loss. The question I proposed was “Can you share your thoughts on loss you have experienced?”

His response:

Instagram:

HONY

HONY

Facebook:

 

 

 

 

 

 

WordPress:

 

 

 

 

ePortfolio

My ePortfolio site has not been updated since the last time I updated it partly because I like the simplicity of the site. I am partial to simplicity, it is who I am. However, my next steps for my ePortfolio is to update it with a new image since the one that I am currently using is not mine, it needs to be more organic. Over the weekend I captured several photos of flowers that I would like to be a part of my portfolio. I hope to make it as me as possible. I intend to update the site with a few more of projects I have completed as well as accolades.

Looking forward. . .

The next steps of my project will require me to be discipline in my approach to successfully completing this project on time. I will need to revisit the elements of the project such as the proposal, the new media composing experiment, project portfolio, begin practicing how to give a in-class presentation, work on the project reflection and  begin writing parts of the abstract.

After careful examination of my current deliverables it is important that I include another HONY image, one with a female narrative. I think it would be interesting to see how individuals react to different types of stories on loss from a woman’s point of view.

Next Steps

The next steps of the project is to chart the success of the image on Instagram, Facebook and WordPress by how I define success which is taking into consideration the definition of success that I defined earlier. I really look forward to the new approach that I will take towards this project.

 

The Presentation

Can Anyone Recreate a Humans of New York Image?

 

What Does the Future Hold for Raceless Individuals and their Offsprings?

The American Academy of Children & Adolescent Psychiatry expects the multiracial children population to be one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. Individuals who identify as “raceless” and who have offspring are increasing the population and the likelihood of having more progressive children. Although the number of mixed-race-families are increasing, the label of whether a child is black or white will be tougher than ever. In my presentation I explore many popular offspring of blended families still face the struggles of what box to check.

Do Raceless Individuals Exist?

The Impact of Viral Videos

After reading Racist Visual Rhetoric and Images of Trayvon Martin by Lisa Lebduska, I can see clearly how scopic regime is the difference between the way our culture constructs fiction and fact.  To every story, there are some elements that trigger a reaction in us and determine specific ways of seeing. In order to make sense of the things we see, we visualize an image that takes place in the scopic regime.  Why is it that images and videos have such an impact on us?  I would have to say that it’s because imagery and visual mediation is such powerful tool that it can both alleviate pain and stress and cause pain.

In today’s society, imagery plays such an important role and sadly, many of what we see in social media can often be damaging and volatile. A rumor posted on social media can rapidly and extensively spread and in the case of Trayvon Martin, the media has conflated images and texts collaboratively tell the story of such a tragic case. The question can be asked, why does some videos go viral while others do not? On both sides of the Martin and Zimmerman’s case, there has been a deliberately “engineered” action to use viralty to spread content and mobilize support. As Jones and Hafner stated “One important though sometimes neglected aspect of digital literacy in the ability to use digital tools to manage, distribute and focus attention.”

Clearly, it is the rhetorical influence that viral videos have upon the public to control how we exchange information and related to each other. As participants in online discourse communities and social networks, it has become very easy to  share mutual interests, help one another with questions, voice complaints and share experiences and information.

 

The Virality of Memes

Memes inception is here to stay. Memes provide an opportunity to connect with people of all sort. To say that memes has not had any effect on popular culture is like saying global warming has had no effect on the world. Another added bonus of memes is that it encourages participation and shareability. Memes have the ability to be shared across a wide range of platforms and on smartphones as well which is major. Memes encourage collaborative community while also cultivating a new form of discourse community— they are unlike traditional culture.

The Virality of Memes

Tracking Viral Visual Images

Today in class, we’re building on the thinking / work you’ve done with the readings, and also your first drafts of this week’s presentation in order to see how images circulate / make visual arguments in practice. Therefore, each group will work on the image of the drowned Syrian boy who washed on the shore, recently.

Young boy washed up on the beach.

Photo credit: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees

This image has gone “viral” in a number ways, and is a fascinating case study (much like the Obama Hope image that Greis explores) of how images circulate.

In pairs, you will research this image together, track its circulation, and discuss what you find. You will have 15-20 minutes together to do this. Make sure to take notes as you can, and before we come back together as a class to discuss the assignment, you and your partner should make a collaborative post (include both of your names), summarizing your thoughts (categorize as “The Image That Shook The World” (it’s OK if you don’t completely finish – do the best you can, and then work to revise it for Thursday’s class). Here are some things to consider as you work:

  • What is the original context of this image (or images, since there were a series of them)? Who is the “author”? When/where/why was it taken (or created)?
  • What kind of visual imagery does it involve? What type of argument does it make (including its emotional appeal)?
  • What about the remixes of this images? What arguments / appeals are they making?
  • How did this image go “viral”? How did it circulate? Through what networks (social media & otherwise)? How did the consumers of this image become producers of new meaning?
  • What meanings did this image taken on? How was it appropriated?
  • How did you go about doing your research here? Provide us with the citations / links you are looking at.

Meme’s Ability to Change Over Time

Memes are created for various reasons and they can be duplicated thousands of ways that sometimes users who create them may not no the origin of its existence. Because of viral media as Greis puts it, “once produced and distributed in a networked pathway, images rapidly undergo change in terms of location, form, media, genre, and function” (335). What once was a photo in a comic book circulated into a proliferation of memes. Thousands of users rely on the internet everyday and with the addition of social networks it is easy to spread content as simple as a meme online. The internet makes it easy for users to create memes as well with just a few clicks. But those who create these memes, how many of them know its origin? Memes do not and will not remain the same because each user who contributes to creating them have a different purpose from another user as to why they created it in the first place whether because they intend to be funny or serious or even romantic. Memes change over time through the web and users never look back. Next time you see a meme ask yourself, what actions, process, or result of manipulation created the meme to begin with?

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What’s So Special About a Meme?

This presentation will explore the meme. When tying this into the understanding of memes it all goes back to discourse communities. Memes are single ideas that together, connect entire discourse communities. Regardless of the chosen affinity, a well constructed meme “will be one that triggers the appropriate set of conceptual and emotional associations for a given audience within a given cultural context” (Wetherbee 2). The topoi, this connector contributes to the interaction across social media platforms. The meme connects users for Facebook to Instagram and Instagram to Twitter. Sites such as Tumblr, Reddit, and individual blogs in WordPress are a part of a larger idea.

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Got Milk? Got Meme?

When thinking about this project, it was easy for me to pick “Got Milk? as an example of a viral visual image. Got Milk? is an advertisement campaign designed to help increase milk sales in the United States. Since the launch of the campaign thousands of parodies and imitations have been created. Greis explains that “…new technologies afford opportunities for amateurs to create, publish, and distribute and social critique at viral speeds, making possible, in part, what Henry Jenkins (2006) has dubbed a “participatory culture.” (340).  

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