Draft of Annotated Source, for In-Class Workshop (Th 11/12)

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Jill Belli

Turkle, Sherry. “The Flight from Conversation.” The New York Times. 21 April, 2002. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html.>

Sherry Turkle’s article, “The Flight from Conversation” claims that although human beings are more connected than ever (through technology and digital devices), they actually communication less effectively and less meaningful: she deems this paradox being “alone together.: we are in touch more, but we are farther away. Furthermore, she argues that the technology allows us to keep others at a distance, present the the self we wish to be (or have perceived), retain control over where/when/how we place our attention, and actually diminishes opportunities for self-reflection.

This article is useful for thinking about the potential, unintended consequences of using technology and digital devices as a primary means of connecting with others in a variety of social and professional settings. Although technology can afford many opportunities to brings people together, Turkle wants her readers to see how it cannot replace certain face-to-face interactions, which carry not only a sense of physical proximity (we are in the same space at the same time) but also a sense of the value of this type of in person interaction. This could be a useful counter-argument for those who take a more naive, technological utopian standpoint, that technology is complete positive, has the ability to connect without devaluing that connection, and should be be critically considered.

I have 5 sources … now what?

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Jill Belli

For your revised draft of the research proposals, I asked you to include five sources (and to not just list them at the end, but to integrate them meaningfully into your proposal). In order to help facilitate this process (since we’re still mostly working with links/lists of sources at end of proposal), in class today and over the weekend for HW you’re going to work on developing an annotated bibliography, which will help you to not only understand what your sources are stating (summarize them) but to get a sense of how they will contribute to your project (critical evaluation, purpose).

What is an Annotated Bibliography and how do I create one?

For each of your sources (minimum of eight for M 11/16), you should provide the bibliographic information (MLA style) and then a brief summary/evaluation of its usefulness/relevancy for your project (maximum 200 words per source).

Here are some thoughts to get you started:

1. Make sure your annotated bibliography is single-spaced (including the citations), with a space between each citation and its annotation, and another space between different entries.

2. The citations should be alphabetized, have hanging indents, and they should be in complete/accurate in MLA format (just like a Works Cited page).

3. Don’t use the 1^st or 2nd person. Your annotations should be formal/impersonal. Therefore, avoid statements like “This source will be useful to my project because … .” Instead, just state its usefulness directly (without mention of you or your project).

4. Write in the present tense when describing your sources.

5. Remember that these sources are both informative and critical/evaluative. When you give the summary, present the main idea of the source without getting bogged down with too many specific/technical details about its content (this can be overwhelming for your readers). Similarly, don’t let the summary take up your whole annotation. In addition to just objectively presenting what the source is about, you need to critically evaluate your source (subjectively) as to its usefulness/relevancy, bias, credibility, etc.

6. Therefore, think about the “so what?” question with sources too. Consider how certain sources contribute (are they factual, personal, etc.) to your project. Where do they come from (are they organizations, individual researchers, newspapers, politicians, etc.)? You need to synthesize your findings as much as possible.

7. As with the proposals, make sure you connect your thoughts in the annotations (use connections/transitions … don’t just list choppy/fragmented points/details about the source). Also, make sure you don’t simply tack on at the end statements addressing the different points I ask you to think about (usefulness, bias, etc.) like a checklist without any inherent unity/coherence. You should include a discussion of these aspects when they are important for a particular source, and you should integrate this evaluation into your annotation as a whole.

8. You can include more than the minimum requirement of sources in your bibliography, and you should feel free to modify your bibliography/sources (add, delete, revise) until the final draft is due. You also don’t have to use all of these initial sources in the final project (you can have both a “Works Cited” section and a “Works Consulted” section)

To start creating your annotation for each text, you should:

Provide a complete/accurate MLA citation
Summarize the reading in a few sentences
Below your summary, include any questions/concerns you have about the reading (such as if you do not understand a particular paragraph or sentence, or if you are confused because you think that the text contradicts itself in different places): be as specific as possible! (In the final draft, these questions/concerns will be removed and you provide a brief evaluation of the source and state its usefulness for your own project)

Here is a good resource on annotated bibliographies:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos/specific-writing-assignments/annotated-bibliographies

*There will be feedback (in-class workshops, peer review, comments from Professor) on your Annotated Bibliographies as they are developed

Establishing a Personal Brand

Posted on November 12, 2015 by AshleyA

My focus for the final project has shifted. While doing the activity of analyzing my media presence, I realized I didn’t have one. This led to the idea of documenting the creation of my personal brand. The brand I am creating will be based on natural hair and my personal experiences. This ties closely in with my personal goal of becoming a professional natural hair and beauty blogger. My objective is to create a blog and media presence while document the evolution and productivity while following the rules of creating a personal brand.

The questions I will address in my research are:

What makes a successful brand?
How to establish a productive media presence?
How do I make people feel?
How do people benefit by working with me?
What words do others use to describe me?
How does multimodality influence my target audience?

Deliverables:

As someone that has successfully learned to hide their media presence I will observe how personal branding works while integrating myself in several discourse communities. I will be using Tumblr, Twitter and WordPress throughout this project.

Proposed Timeline:

Being that my goal is to track the growth of my personal brand, I will be posting daily blogs, tweets, and posts to create a sense of accountability.

Sources:

Forbes

Quick Sprout

Quint careers

Social Media Examiner

Revised Proposal – Search Engine Optimization

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Pamela

Project Proposal

Topic: Search Engine Optimization Techniques

All major search engines have primary search results. This is where content like web pages, images, and videos are listed. These listings are free results and are ranked based upon what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Although there are no guarantees to have a number one spot through a search, by understanding and using search engine optimization, it is possible to achieve a high ranking on search engine return pages (SERPs).

I propose a detailed analysis of search engine optimization which includes the techniques and contributing factors that influence them. In this project, I will explain the followng:

The main objectives of search engine optimization and the method it uses to boost the frequency of a website results returned by a search engine in an effort to maximize user traffic to the site.
How to measure website success using indicators and analytic tools.

As an interactive component of my research project, I will conduct the following case studies:

Select a webpages, images, or video and track its ranking over a 4 or 5 week period and record any changes daily in a progress report.
Compare a competitors ranking in a comparison report.
Create a webpage, image, or video and track its ranking daily over a 4 or 5 week period.

Multimodalities to be used:

Excel for progress reports
Video maker/image maker to create personal image
Pinterest/Youtube
Other.

Topics and Projected Timeline:

Week of November 15th

Explain search engine optimization (SEO)
- Strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in search results.
Explain search engine return pages (SERPs)
- Discuss the process of listing results returned by a search engine in response to a query or search word.
Select a webpage to track its ranking.
- Examine the contributing factors.
Select a competitor’s webpage to track its ranking.
Create a comparison report.
Create a personal image or video and post to Pinterest or Youtube.

Week of November 22nd

Discuss SEO obstacles and look at two SEO philosophical approaches:

White hat approach – follows all search engine rules and policies. Focuses on relevancy and organic ranking Topics:
- Keywords
- Spiders/crawlers
- Headers
- Keyword stuffing
- Link analysis
Black hat approach – use of aggressive SEO tactics that do not follow search engine rules and policies Topics:
- Redirecting
- Page stuffing
- Selling and farming links

Continue:

Update webpage progress report
Update competitors webpage tracking progress report
Update comparison report.
Update personal image or vedio tracking progress report

Week of November 29th

Discuss how to measure a website performance and search engine optimization rankings using a website speed test.

Continue:

Update webpage progress report.
Update competitors webpage tracking progress report.
Update personal image or video tracking progress report.

Week of December 6th

Finalize project and conclude progress reports and comparision report.

Webpage progress report.
Competitor’s webpage progress report.
Personal image or video tracking progress report.

Material Resources:

Producing New and Digital Media, James Cohen and Thomas Kenny

“5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media & SEO.” 5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media & SEO. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-and-seo/>.

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-31-seo-experiment%E2%80%8Bs-you-want-to-know-about/63855/

“How Search Engine Optimization Works.” HowStuffWorks. 17 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine-optimization.htm>.

“SEO Experiments – Google PageRank Logarithm Scale Base Experiment – Best SEO Tips.” SEO Experiments – Google PageRank Logarithm Scale Base Experiment – Best SEO Tips. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <http://seolutions.net/Google-PageRank-Log-Base-Experiment.php>.

“Website Rank Tracking in Real Time – Rankinity.” Website Rank Tracking in Real Time – Rankinity. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <https://rankinity.com/>.

“How to Measure Website Performance and SEO Rankings.” HermesThemescom How to Measure Website Performance and Track Search Engine Rankings Comments. 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. <http://www.hermesthemes.com/measure-website-performance-track-search-engine-rankings/>.

Can Photojournalism Change Our Biases?

Posted on November 12, 2015 by jstephenson

Overview

In an exploration of photojournalism, visual storytelling, and how it can potentially reshape our understanding of certain groups of people it offers insights which can potentially change our biases. I intend to introduce various types of images from the blog Humans of New York that can elaborate on how photojournalism presents an opportunity to change our biases beyond online mediums. Throughout this experiment, I will engage with images on a superficial sense, and on a practical level where I can probe certain visual literacies of an image within the context of Humans of New York.

Problem

Since the emergence of new media sites, it has given birth to various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram which has offered individuals a way to express themselves in unique discourse communities than before. In doing so, many individuals use photos with or without content as a way of to give a voice to voiceless individuals. Does photojournalism paint a fair picture of our culture today? Specifically, can photojournalism reshape our understanding of certain types of people and offer insight, which can possibly change our biases?

Solution

Over the span of all of our lives we have digested millions of images. Many of these images has shaped how we perceive the world and it has been reinforced by mass media. My contention is that photojournalism offers individuals a chance to offer new understandings of certain kinds of people and perhaps in doing so we can end our biases about certain groups of people. For this project, I will examine the blog Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, a blog that shares stories while offering a new light on photojournalism and cultivating a new type of visual experience. I will view 1,000 of out 3,530 photos and explore 3-5 that I find visually captivating and content that sheds light on the individual in an effort to chart how I am transformed through this experience.

Deliverables

To create a comparative analysis which I write about my emotion about a certain image and then write about my emotions are reading the content of the image and write about the emotions I feel after the image. This will be executed by leaving a comment on Instagram/Facebook below the image.
A PowerPoint/Prezi presentation with images that carefully assess each photos for the overall image, the image point of view, the quality of the image, the subject matter of the image (if there is any) whether it is environmental, controversial, or presents a challenge to ethical values.
A blog post to my personal blog Black Attire Aficionado that I can reflect on the success, emotions, and revelations of how I was affected by the images and contents of the Human of New York and if I was changed by the visual storytelling. (Hyperlinks to ePortfolio, to Black Attire Aficionado, and to OpenLab)
Create a image that mirrors Human of New York and tracks its success on Instagram and Facebook. (Use hashtags on Instagram and Facebook)

Objectives

The visual language/ visual rhetoric, multimedia storytelling, and how our cultural beliefs leads to misinterpretation of an image has affected how we quantify ourselves and the people around us.

Questions to Probe

How does cultural beliefs affect visual storytelling?
Can an image stand without content?
What factors play a part in interpretation?
How does culture affect the way we interrupt an image?
Why does culture affect the way we interrupt an image?
Can we un-train our eyes?

Goals

To successfully chart my discoveries and offer insight on how we shine a new light on the ways in which photojournalism plays role in how interpret images and perhaps how we can begin to un-train our eyes.

Timeline

11/12 View 100-500 photos

11/15 View 100-500 photos

11/18 Narrow down on 3-5 photos

TBD

Methodology

TBD

Sources (subject to change)

Humans of New York

Photojournalism

The Importance of Storytelling

Visual Narratives

Forbes

Photojournalism and Rhetoric

Revised Final Project Proposal

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Samantha

My focus for this final project will be framed around twitter and user engagement. I originally wanted to observe two very popular and active twitter accounts for their user engagement but now I’m tailoring it to build my brand on twitter. I am basing my strategy on the textbooks and material we’ve read in class as well as outside sources. My objective is to see if by applying these concepts I can gain a larger following. After looking through the material and realizing I would like to have a larger twitter presence I propose to apply one strategy a week and in the end seeing if they have increased my user engagement or following.

On twitter there is a feature that allows you to track the engagement of your tweets, it tells you how many users have seen my content. So I would in turn be able to see if the tactics are working.

REVISION: The deliverables i will be providing will be in the form of the analytics bar on twitter, i will be screen shotting and posting the weeks results on my e portfolio and then reflecting on the experience and then comparing the results to the sources suggested outcomes.

First I will average my current user engagement to compare to the engagement at the end.

I have broken down into 5 weeks the strategies I plan to apply and at the end of the week I will see by how much, if any my engagement increased.

Week #1- Leverage trending topics. I will explore the moments and trending sections of twitter and engage in the conversation for at least 2 of them per day.

Week #2- Boost visibility by tweeting with at least three content based hashtags that represent a call to action.

Week #3- Fuel my profile with shared content. I will share and comment on popular stories to attract or raise questions about the content.

Week #4- Branch out. I will locate and attempt to engage with three professionals in my desired career field (marketing).

Week #5- Cross post. In the last week I will share my content from linkedin and open lab on my twitter to show professional work on my twitter feed as well.

Week #6- For the last week I will gather and assess my data, see which week had the largest engagement and overall by how much (if any) my engagement increased.

My objective for doing this project is to better learn how to management my content online and build a profile to reflect that of an emerging professional. At the end and in the final version I want to answer these three questions.

How did I apply each strategy? What was hardest and what was easiest about doing so? Which did I feel worked the best?
Which one statistically had the largest engagement increase and over all by what percent did my user engagement change?
Did I accomplish my goal? If not how do I plan on continuing to do so and what do I think my twitter profile now reflects of me as a student, professional and person?

My sources potentially would be:

Digital Literacy Text

Writing with new Media Text

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2014/09/29/25-ways-to-grow-your-social-media-presence/

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-strengthen-social-media-marketing/

http://mashable.com/2011/12/15/branding-and-social-media/#j_qJ42Q0haqM

I plan to add additional sources as I go into depth about why people are drawn to certain content, what makes content engaging and what is the best time of day to publish content.

Becoming Unavailable

Posted on November 11, 2015 by MariahRajah

Vision:

To successfully and adequately capture through daily vlogging reflection and blog posts how ‘unavailability’ from social media networking sites such as Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram strongly affect a person’s’ attention and participatory structures, along with the effects it has our wants,needs, and interpretations of people, persons, and things. All of which will be justified and supported through research of willing individuals and attestable written resources. The end-result will be presented in the form of short short film/video of some sort which will be posted to Mariah Rajah’s e-portfolio site.

Introduction:

Throughout the semester we have covered a wide range of topics but in all of them we always seemed to return the topic of availability. We question time and time again that in this day in age is it possible to be unavailable? And what does it actually mean to be unavailable in a world where not being able to reach someone is a sign of tardiness and carelessness.When thinking of a possible project idea the focus was drawn on three main topics that are of interest:

Availability
Attention structures
Participation

After focusing in on these three topics the realization came that they each play a part in tackling the question of, “Do we have the ability to ever become completely unavailable? ” First of all, availability is by far one of the biggest affordances and constraints of the internet. Social media has allowed us to constantly be in touch. We can tag, track, and see when we’ve read each other’s messages. All of these affordances have in a way lead us to always be online even when we aren’t. Being available online means you are expected to participate in conversation both personal and global.

As an individual of an online community you have the responsibility to share, comment and create and if you do not you are therefore doing that community a disservice. Your participation is always needed and wanted on both your and your audiences’ end. This want and need to participate ultimately allows us to choose whether we are or are not available. It also means that you are aware of what is going on around you and you are in a way forced to take part or else you are “creeping”. Being available has also had an impact in the way we divide our attention. What we focus on and how we focus on these things ultimately affects our participation and our availability. These three concepts all interact and interfere with our ability to actually disconnect and become unavailable in a world that demands availability.

Objective:

This project proposes an experiment in which I will purposely disconnect myself from all social media networking sites (such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr) which I participate in for two weeks.

In those two weeks I will vlog, blog, and capture photographs daily about how I am dealing with not being available online. Since a large portion of the project will be reflections I plan to capture this by doing daily vlogs that give detailed descriptions as to how I am dealing with the disconnect.

In tracking this I want to highlight the shift in myself and the transition from an avid online user to someone who has become “unavailable”:

In order for this project to be executed properly test subject will research how other people have dealt with taking breaks from social networking sites (via online resources: Videos, articles, etc.) and interview colleagues; then compare this to self-assessed criteria in order to accurately record whether or not it is an internal or an external issue that has had the same effects across the board.
By conducting research that almost entirely embarks on the premise of availability and the affordances and constraints it entails, student will try to also highlight the psychological effects this disconnect has upon an individual such as anxiety, worry, detachment etc. Also with the hopes that this project demonstrates that availability has changed our wants,needs, and interpretations of people, persons, and things.
Lastly, in this project student wishes to prove that there is a way by which we can become unavailable in a world that desires for everyone to constantly be online and involved.

Deliverables:

As the nature of this project is to produce multimodal aspects I hope to:

Capture daily videos reflection that track my changes in behavior (participation & attention), needs, wants, interpretations, and emotions. (which will be posted on openlab e-portfolio by the end of each day for the 2 weeks)
Photographs that highlight how I spend my time in being ‘unavailable’. Which will be accompanied with short captions/posts as to explain the thoughts and noticed changes. **all which will include hyperlinks to sources that either support or argue against points** (which will be posted on openlab e-portfolio by the end of the day)
PowerPoint presentation at the end of experiment to showcase learnt experiences, changes, and understandings of how unavailability effects more than what we think it does.
In its entirety, answer what I have found the answer to be for the question: “What does it mean to be unavailable?”

Target Questions for Daily Vlogs:

How are you feeling today without your online presence?
Have you noticed a change in yourself?
How has your relationship with your smart device changed?
What other activities have you been participating in?
How has your attention shifted? Has it shifted?
Do you appreciate the new found freedom that comes along with not participating in online social media networking sites?
What is the biggest and hardest part of this transition?

Projected Timeline:

Initial starting date- TBA

First two weeks – document and capture the ‘unavailable’ time period. Keep detailed records in reflections that will allow myself to compile an archive as to which draw information from for film.
After initial steps are taken next step will be to begin the editing process as to allow enough time to properly capture essence of project.
Further capture video, composite adequate research which adds to an archive that will support short film and answers the question of unavailability.

Research Materials:

Resources to be Used: TBA

*Revised Proposal Posts due 1pm Th 11/12

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Jill Belli

As we discussed in class, you should post a revised proposal by tomorrow before class (please post no later than 1pm, so that I have time to read through them before class). More detailed information about this is on the Schedule, but I’ve copied the relevant info. at the bottom of this post too, for your convenience.

If you want to get a head start on your ePortoflio work (due Monday), please feel free to do so. You can find specifics about that assignment on our Schedule (including what you need to do on the ePortfolio, and the reflection post you need to make discussing that work).

As you work on your projects, don’t hesitate to email me with any questions, or schedule a time to meet me to discuss it in person (we can cover much more in 5-10 minutes together talking than we can in a whole series of email exchanges). I’ll be on campus this Friday (11/13), next Monday (11/16), so if you don’t want to wait until my regular office hours next Tuesday, feel free to email me to set up something sooner.

—
Revised Proposals (due: 1pm on Th 11/12), categorize as “Revised Proposals”

revise proposal according to Professor Belli’s feedback & comments (written, in class, and individual conferences)
key is to provide as much specific detail as possible
- propose at least 3 new media composing experiments (aside from final presentation & ePortfolio work): don’t just list things, but explain how/why they will be integrated into the project
- present/discuss/integrate 5 additional sources (not the ones we’ve read together), showing how this has extending your thinking about the project
- timeline: what is your timeline (week by week) for your particular project – what do you plan to do each week?
- If you have particular questions about the project, clearly articulate them (pose them to Professor Belli and your classmates).

Final Project Proposal

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Samantha

Throughout this semester we have covered a variety of new media trends and how they change how we use the affordances of social media. For my project I would like to focus on virility and how stories, ideas and even current fads spread.

My focus or main tool will be twitter as that is my favorite social media platform, it is also the one that changes the fastest and is the most fluid in its trends. I propose following two verified (twitter’s label for reputable users) sources, one being entertainment or trends and one being news and current events. At this moment I have two main twitter feeds I would like to track the first being Cosmopolitan and the other being CNN.

My goal is to sit down daily and track both accounts daily activity and then record their virility. I will ask the following questions,

Which account posted more, was it frequent throughout the day or grouped together?
Which account got more retweets or shares, mentions and overall response?
Were there any similarities in the stories, if so how were the reporting of the events different?
Which account saw a more positive user engagement? Why might that be?

My goal is to see what type of information a twitter user notices and gives reaction to. For example does a political story about Syria or a “Top 5” blog from Cosmo rake in more web-traffic?

We as a society do most of our day to day activities online but how much of that information do we actually process and are we jaded or indifferent to the current events of the world and more interested in what’s keeping us entertained. By following both these twitter feeds over a month’s time I hope to see overall which twitter account garnishes more regular recognition and engagement. Both accounts are big names in their respective worlds and are widely recognized names.

At the end of the project I plan to answer the following in my final product,

Which account consistently had more user engagement? Was it positive, negative or neutral?
Which account posted more regularly and was that a factor?
Formulate a hypothesis with the collected data as to why one was more favored over the other.
Does this data suggest a change in the type of information we prefer to see online?

Viral posts are a norm online and often we will see the same story told through multiple channels and we all have a favorite source. However is that source a cookie cutter news outlet like CNN or FOX or is it a blog like the gothamist or Cosmo. I hope to gage whether or not there is a preference among twitter users and if so what it is.

The only variation to my project that i am on the fence about is potentially following two types of each account for example CNN and FOX and Cosmo and US weekly to better back up any results i may find. Overall though the general idea is news vs. entertainment.

ENG 2720: Writing with New Media

Professor Belli, Fall 2015

Category Archives: Projects