Copyright-203

Copyright is always a major topic when dealing with media producers. When does the protection of music, films, and artwork end? We see more people on social medias such as youtube, who create videos with a mixture of music and films. Are these works in violation of copyright or are they something new?

As time continue to press on, society changes their view on different subject matters, and this is no different. I feel that we need to change the copyright laws to a certain degree. I am a strong supporter of a creator's work and should give be given credit for it. Now when someone makes a song or film of many different works from other artists, it seems to me that this is a new work of art. It's not like somebody can steal Star Wars and say its theirs, we know Lucas did that work. But to take multiple works and make something new, is entirely creative. Should we punish people for creativity and scare people not to think freely? I feel we shouldn't be this way and change the way of copyright laws.

Yes people should be acknowledge for their work, but people can't be constricted to not be creative in the arts. If people aren't breaking the norm, then we wouldn't have discovered all the wonderful tools in the media world.  

Critical Thinking-COMM 203

Keith Weston-http://www.flickr.com/photos/kweston/767357820/

Critical thinking has to be an important part of communication students' lives. We have to be able to take in new technology and be able to express our ideas, thoughts, and critical thinking about the technology. The process of critical thinking can show employers how well we can express our thoughts on it. One technology that has been used in my personal life is Facebook.

There are different ways of looking at Facebook:
-Knowledge, finding the information about Facebook and how it works
-Comprehension, understand the point of Facebook and what's your advantage of having it
-Apply, use the information gathered and apply to the site
-Analysis, see what works with your status and what doesn't, or comments pictures etc.
-Synthesis, make situations that could happen, either "to post something or not post it"
-Evaluation, see how everything came to work and see if your happy or need improvements

Facebook is a great social network to make new friends or be reacquainted with old friends. To do a critical thinking process on Facebook, I can see now what makes it special and what I need to improve on some subjects. Critical thinking has to be a great communication tool for people in the mass media world. 

The Effects of Technology-COMM 203

Vail Marstonhttp-://www.flickr.com/photos/vailmarston/4186268059/

Has technology become so much a part of our lives, that we are influenced by it? This was the question that went through my mind as I read Raymond Williams article, Effects of the Technology and Its Uses. In his article he talks about how technology can influence our society as a cause or effect. Simple enough to explain it is whether the action was a cause from technology or an effect.

Television is a great example of this cause or effect situation. With television, we see violence in the world, political campaigns, advertising and etc. It is a one way street with television, the audience watches the television and gets whatever they see. The biggest thing with television or even radio is that it's so popular for people to do. The great thing about it is anybody can do it, all the public needs to do sit down and just listen and watch. A lot of the programs we see are the bad things other people do. A perfect example would be during election time, we see ads saying one of the presidents wants to raise taxes or has in their previous years. We as a public see this as a bad action, because we don't want higher taxes so right off the bat we have bad vibes for this person. This is a simple example but we see how television can work through seeing and hearing the ad.

Technology is a great tool, but are there people using it to manipulate the general public for them to succeed? The answer is probably yes, but I feel we need to know when to stand up. When I think back in history, all the examples of people revolting against a higher power because of bad treatment. One common theme I see is that people first educate themselves and then take action. I'm not saying that the general public is like this, but I also feel if we continue to get all our information from television or radio that we are on this path of ignorance.

aplumb-http://www.flickr.com/photos/aplumb/121285772/

One of the greatest machines invented in my opinion, is the Gutenberg printing press. When this happen everybody had the opportunity to educate themselves even if it was just reading. I feel since then, people today take their education for granted and wants everything on a silver plate. With all these technologies people might feel they don't need to educate themselves and I see this as a bad sign. I always felt you can't believe everything you see on TV.

We can enjoy the uses of technology, but be mindful of what we see. Technology is a great tool to use to communicate with someone or share ideas. We just have to be careful of our actions because they may viewed in a different way.

article-Raymond Williams Effects of the Technology and Its Uses  out of Kevin Williams A Media Studies Reader 

Real time with Facebook-203

thos003http://www.flickr.com/photos/thos003/5986220278/

With Facebook adding the real time apps, now everybody can know what you're doing on Facebook. The music you're listening to, sites you been, all your posts, just everything you do. Some people won't care with this change(very few), but the majority of people will probably get annoyed by this amount of information we'll now get on Facebook. Personally I don't care what people do, so why do I want to see what they're doing in their lives? I don't.

It seems this world is information based, and that we need post everything we do. When we post any information like a video or a site we want our friends to see it, that's why we do it. Maybe some people just like to make an update status about everything, so they'll like this change. The question people have is whether this new change will be invading privacy? We choose what we want to post because not everything should be open to the public. Since everybody will see what you post online, will you be as willing to post statuses and videos like you use to? Either people will protest or just go with the flow, we'll see what happens.

Blogging gone bad-COMM 203

nicolu-http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancingnicolu/3960029354/

What happens when people try to help the police with the war on drugs? They get punished, down in Mexico people that post things on the internet about drug deals or violence are being killed. The cartels are trying to put fear into people that open their mouths on the internet. This seems that citizens in Mexico are trying to do the right thing, but its bad for the drug business, so somebody must pay. In this case it would be the hanging of people and giving the message of "DON'T MESS WITH US OR THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU." The fact is that people are messing with the crime business.

People put their opinions out there and get punished. The cartels find out who are the people, so what do users do, take away all personal information about them. Even though the thought of being killed for posting images or talk about violence, people still are willing to risk their lives. It is almost like a civil duty that people are doing. The cartels in Mexico wants to put fear in people but there are still posts about drugs and violence. Maybe not everybody would do it, but at least we know that some people are showing what is happening in this brutal world we live in.

Ted Talks-COMM 203

Richard Masoner-http://www.flickr.com/photos/bike/2712178265/

When I watched Scott McCloud on Ted Talks, he talks about looking at comics in a different way. The part that made an impact is the vision of the comics. He explains how the comic is framed with each box and how its catches our eyes. The expression each box gives to the reader and how it is analyze. Comics are just good stories and very direct to what the author wants the readers to get out of the comics. I never really thought how the comics are designed as a visual tool.


Scott mentions different ways the stories are told in the patterns. Some examples would be lines of diagonal, vertical, horizontal and so on. One thing that impressed me was how he dated back to the ancient times where stories were told on potteries and on walls in temples. It didn't cross my mind that people already had developed a way to make a visual statement to people. We had storytellers before we had thought of it, haha. The bottom line is that the visual concept of comics is something not easy to do. It is hard to make something that tells the story in a short period of time and keeps our attention. Comics do give us different ways to view the world in a visual delight and not just what TV gives us.

The visual is such a sight that all we can do is make more different ways of showing the world, for me at least.

Graphic Novel- COMM 203

Terry McCombs-http://www.flickr.com/photos/22809952@N03/4336565164/

When you think of graphic novels or comic books, the first thing that comes to mind is "that's for children." I find this not to be true, because when I think of graphic novels its people being story tellers. That's what graphic novels are, just stories of one situation or another. When I read these graphic novels two things come to mind.
-how well they express the storyline?
-and did the novel keep my attention?

I feel these two questions really shows how well a graphic novel is put together. It is so important how well a story is put together, as like every story there is a beginning, middle, and end. Writing these novels can easily help you communicate better in the media world, why you may ask? The reason is that its easier to give a 30 minute presentation about a new computer then 5 five minute one. It's so hard to communicate your idea in a short period of time and if we can write these short graphic novels and express our ideas that will help us in the long run. The more we practice these short stories, the easier it will be to express our ideas in the media world.


 

The Web is dead

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flowector/3452703868/

I find it awesome when I look back the past decade and find technology advancing so fast. The different gaming systems, the newer TVs, the hot new phone on the market or whatever example is out there. The point is that everyday something is created to make our lives easier. In today's age, the world is a lot faster and we have less time on our hands. Now we have phones that pretty much can do anything for us. Need to check your email? Have an app for it. Need to check your bank account? Have an app for that too. Need to buy a book for class? There's a app for that too, I wouldn't doubt it. These apps are another tool for us to make our lives easier. Is it convenient? Yes it is, that is probably why people would rather check their phone for some information then on a computer. The phone is much faster and is always with you when you need it. I personally love to see how much we have advanced in this generation. I feel that we can connect with people so much easier then a previous time. The social medias we have are something special, with twitter and facebook. Twitter can pretty much tell what someone is feeling or their opinion about a situation. Ten years ago I'm pretty sure you couldn't find out what your favorite celebrity thought about a certain situation. Facebook can connect friends that haven't seen each other for a long time. I've seen it with my friends and family, it's a great sight to see. Did anybody think this was possible ten years ago? Maybe somebody did, but now it is a reality.  People can talk across the world, that idea is just awesome. Think how it was when they sent letters from the American colonies to Europe, such a long period of time between communications. Today is a little easier, with all the tools we have. Maybe the web is dead but to me the web took another form of technology. A smaller form and more convenient for us, that's all we can ask for?   

COMM classes expectations

When I hear COMM classes, the first thing I think of are people wanting to be there and have fun learning.  It's not the same boring routine of the teacher just lecturing and the students wanting to be somewhere else. The classes are more interactive, its the hands on. Either helping in the radio station or making a movie or even creating a graphic novel.  This department gives so many options of what you can do and that is just awesome. My expectations for any COMM classes are pretty simple, learn new techniques for my media skills and just have fun. If these classes weren't fun and not what we want to do in the future, then why are we taking them. Just a thought.