Author Archives: Sarah Norman
Cody Pederson’s Other Side
NORMAN: To fit into the versatile Omaha music scene, many musicians play in more than one band. Often, they vary in genre or style. Cody Pederson, the clean vocalist and bassist for Devil in the Details, performed an acoustic set at Lookout Lounge November 10.
PEDERSON: What inspired me to do an accoustic performance is I just love light music and like singing a lot so I figured why not? It’s going to help me play and sing at the same time to help me play more technical bass parts for the band.
NORMAN: With a set consisting of both originals and covers ranging from Sia to 21 Pilots, Pederson opened the night’s show to a crowd that included both his family and bandmates.
PEDERSON: My whole family came and they were pumped. My favorite part was everyone that came.
NORMAN: While the support and practice is beneficial, Pederson does not plan on taking it fulltime.
PEDERSON: Whenever I get an offer or anything. I like to go downtown to The Hive and play some acoustic songs. It’s just going to be an every now and again. I’m not going to release an EP or anything, but I recorded two songs just because Jeremy Schaeffer at All Poetic Audio wanted to try it out.
NORMAN: Pederson’s music will be accessible online.
Pederson: I will be making a YouTube channel. That’s what it will be on. I’m just going to give it out to people.
Norman: For the rest of 2015 Pederson will be touring outside of Nebraska with Devil in the Details. They will not be performing in Omaha until next year.
For the UNO School of Communication, I am Sarah Norman.
Democratic Debate Live Tweet
Live tweeting the Democratic Debate was a new adventure for me. I tried to do the Twitter thing a few years ago and just never got into it. I’ve used it for contests so I did have one, but it remains inactive. I prefer Facebook because I am a clutter girl. I do not like word limits or any limits, really. It was fascinating to have a platform where I could refresh a feed and see a group of people talk about one thing. To be able to watch something and see immediate and relevant feedback among people I am connected to (even if only for a semester) was actually kind of cool.
I liked all the feedback. I thought it would be hard to come up with 20 tweets, but they came easily. I wasn’t sure how professional to be, but I tried to keep my grammar correct and my opinions appropriate. I did not like that you can’t edit tweets. (Or maybe you can, but I didn’t know how?) I thought about just deleting the one I wanted to edit and repost it correctly, but by that time it isn’t relevant.
I think it helps if you pay attention to what is going on in the feed. Maybe not have a conversation per say, but to pick up on what other people are feeling and even respond in a way.
I don’t know if I will live tweet anything again, but I will definitely be watching some. I think it’s a great way to be connected to news and society. Even if we wanted to ignore the social medias, I think that hinders what we can communicate and figure out. They can be a great tool that is so accessible.
A Reflection
This class was a considerable challenge for me. I loved the hybrid structure because it gave time for face to face conversation, but also allowed me to do half of the class at a time that worked best for me. Since I work full time at one job, part time at another, and go to class full time, a hybrid structure is ideal for me.
I came into this class with no prior knowledge of any program we used. InDesign was fun to use, but I didn’t quite have the hang if it. Photoshop was probably the easiest for me to figure out and I had a good time creating the collage and exploring the standing reserves in my field. Premiere Pro looked like something I personally would never use, but had interesting options. I’m not a big fan of group work, but my group divided the work load well. Dreamweaver was hard for me to learn, but the more I played around the more I figured out. My understanding of all the programs is small, but I feel like I know so much more now then I did at the beginning.
The readings were complex and stimulating. The textbook was very straightforward. I never thought about digital literacy before. It is such an understood idea that I never even thought about it. This class has been eye-opening. I like that all of the students had such different backgrounds. It made the blogs more interesting because everyone has such a unique perspective.
Manovich
I have enjoyed access to such compelling readings. I think it is interesting that the text book is so easy to understand, but the additional readings are so complex. I think our textbook authors do a fantastic job at translating digital literacy(/ies) in a simple, almost conversational way.
I actually wanted to be an English major for a while. Honestly, Journalism isn’t a far stretch, but it is different in its approach to reading and writing. I love to read articles and books that most people (definitely including myself) cannot fully grasp in one sitting or read through. Manovich’s work required some extra attention from me. It wasn’t something I could scan or just read with my morning coffee.
The idea of “remediating” stood out to me. To view the human-computer interface as “borrowing and reformulating” both the past and present. I think that is very true, and true to technology and humans in general. So, it would make sense that it applies to the combination. It reminds me of the Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, quote: “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.” And then the chameleon analogy tops it off, how the human computer interface changes in response to how it is used. Technology and people alike adapt to their surroundings and are influenced beyond what I think we even imagine.
The last tiny section about the screen and the user is a great nod to the “oldies but goodies”. It is important to be humble about innovation. Sure, this new great thing may be developed, but it was developed with another great past innovation in mind. Most likely, the new innovation would have been impossible without the old. To pay respects to what came first usually pays off. Understanding and appreciating what came before is the best way to create something to enhance it. If you try to create something without researching what you are moving forward with, I think it would be less likely to find success.
Critical Literacy
- Transparency and Opacity
Mobile phone, Computer, iPad, iTouch
I would rate these as a 9 for transparency. Using them often seems second nature and often I will go to all of them without even thinking to send a message or look up information. It feels weird not to have them when I have to get them fixed, and using them comes naturally. I would give them a 7 for opacity because they are all complex and I don’t know how a lot of them work exactly, but I do know some at a basic level. I am fortunate enough to have people in my life who do understand the workings and can explain them to me if I need them to.
Facebook, Tumblr, Gmail
I would rate the social networking sites I use as less transparent because they are not as second nature. I am more conscious in using them so I would give them a 5. This may also be because I am in communication classes that stress the importance of having a conscious presence on social media in what you are reading and what you are posting. For a opacity I would also rate them lower because social media is a lot easier for me to understand and “hack” then the actual hardware. If wanted a user can change a lot of settings to control their experience.
- Looking for Limitations
Facebook provides me with a few affordances. It helps me keep in touch with people I otherwise wouldn’t, it allows me to share my life with those I wish to, it helps me stay updated on pages I have liked, and it helps me keep track of events. However, Facebook does have its limitations. Facebook helps create an online identity, which a person has some control over, but it also broadcasts that identity. If someone does not like what they see that could affect a person at work, with family, and with other social groups. Facebook can create rifts in social relationships by what is communicated on Facebook itself and also by choosing to look at Facebook instead of being active in a “real” world conversation.
- Are you a Hacker?
I honestly am not a hacker. I do not do a lot of modifications to the technology I use. I took a class at MCC that started off with two tests. If you passed the first one and then liked your grade on the second that was all you had to do. If you failed or did not like your grade you could actually take the course. When taking the first test it wanted me to do a word document, a PowerPoint, and an excel sheet. I was proficient with each program because I took a few computer classes in high school. My problem was that I didn’t have the software. I somehow managed to use a template the class used and had to upload to a site that would change the file type to allow me to post it to the teacher in the correct format. It was ridiculous and frustrating, but I was able to figure it out within the time frame and somehow received an A. The only times I modify technology are when I really have to in order to make something work. I don’t go out of my way trying to improve it.
Activity 5.1
A. ANALYZING INTERACTIONS IN DIFFERENT MEDIA
After collecting some samples of different kinds of text-based digitial interactions I saw a lot of differences in style, language, tone, and usage.
1. The types of text-based digital interactions that use the most emoticons and short forms are by far texting. I personally keep my punctuation and spelling as correct as I know how. Fragments are as crazy as I go, but I receive a lot of abbreviations and lack of punctuation a lot. Email comes next. If it is from a friend it looks very similar to the texting, but if it is to a boss or teacher the email is more meticulously written. Facebook wall posts can be hit or miss. I’m less concerned about it being perfect than I am with homework, but it isn’t something I take too much time on. Because those interactions are mostly based on informal conversation they are more relaxed. Blogging on the other hand requires more correct grammar because that alludes to whether the information is credible.
2. Time, space, and media richness do apply to the differences. I do think, however, that the norms come into play as well. If correct gramar is not expected, then a lot of people won’t bother regardless. Texting has a finger keyboard which is not exactly comfortable or easy to type a lengthy message. Most people would blog on an actual computer, I think, and that is a lot easier to type any amount of length. Blogs are also not just quick conversation messages. Blogs are used to convey a message, so more time would be put into them.
B.
If emoticons were removed it would definately affect interpretation. I am one of those people who over use emoticons because I like people to know how I feel and it just isn’t easy to convey that with the original message unless you added words to explain explicitly how you feel. I can say what I want and show how I feel with a simple one click. My friend does not use any at all and I always feel like she is irritated or blunt, but she never actually is, she just doesn’t ever use emoticons or exclamation points. So where I would say
Okay! (:
she says
Ok.
Honestly, they look very different, but we both had the same meaning and emotion, expressed differently.
Attention Structures
Right now I have a Word Document open on my computer screen, iTunes is playing a jazz station, my phone screen has the messenger open, Sunday’s Once Upon a Time episode is on my television, Words With Friends is on my iPad. Quite the multitasking. It may not be the most productive way to complete any of the tasks, but I don’t really do it because I don’t want to miss anything. I do it because there’s some things I want to do more than others (that I need to do) and my schedule does not allow me a lot of time for everything I both want and need to do.
I think the Attention Economy section hones in on what is truly valued in digital media. If there something is ignored, it really has little relevance. I think hashtags are a great tool for grabbing attention because it gives people a specific word to focus on. They don’t have to sift through content to find what they are looking for if they have a specific thing to look for. It also is a great marketing tool to market ones self or a product.
sarahnormanuno 