#Final Week

Super sad this class is over. In many ways I feel as though this class was building to the end that it did with Autonomous.  This last section of readings showed how much power the ordinary citizen has. The fact that the culminating powers of Anonymous came together to protest Scientology like stated in the reading by Gabriella Coleman. That solidified for me a least,that the only power we lack is the power we give away. These ddos attacks on Rutgers showed me in real time how much my school life revolved around computers. I see the ddos attack as someone protesting something they do not like about Rutgers but that doesn't really matter. The hacker made the Rutgers community stop, and took everyone out of their normal routine. Yes, it would have been easier with out the attack but I don't believe everything that is easy is good or helpful.  Anonymous is neither good nor bad it is not that simple. But the fact that Anonymous is not merely a online force or a picket line makes Anonymous poetic. Anonymous is a fluid force that seamlessly pulls the power of but online and offline atmospheres. 

#Week 13

Since this week in class I decided to go on 4chan for the first time.I based most of what 4chan had to offer through the reading by Julian Dibbell. For me it is completely overwhelming. But I see the draw, i’m not a part of 4chan culture so by keeping the format of the site simpler, it makes for people like me who are use to navigation Facebook and Google not sure of how to navigate the site. 

I have never visited a site like 4chan but I have decided to expand my internet knowledge. I don't like having transparency being a default for my internet life. 

From the little I have seen of 4chan it is like the readings there is a sense of wonder and creativity that sites like Facebook can never foster form.  I think before I learned more about the internet  felt like transparency was necessary to help keep people safe or keep people accountable. I have since changed my views. I dont know if it is truly conceivable to be completely detached from what we do on the internet, but we should and do have sites that appreciate autonomy like 4chan.

#Week 12

“It is also a way of thinking and acting: an agility, an adaptability, a refusal to accept the world as it is, a refusal to get stuck into fixed patterns of thought” by Paul Mason. Paul Mason wrote the reading for this week, Global unrest: how the revolution went viral. This quote highlights this revamped form of protest and activism for social change. It is no longer just a fight of powerless verses power. Activism participants are becoming more educated and disillusioned with the social structure. Activism in some ways has changed from a group fighting for one issue to each group helping to further each other.

An online activism group called MoveOn is a formal activism site that that is similar to Anonymous in the ways that there is a distinct push against societal norms. Anonymous is involved like MoveOn in which using the internet to assist in a wide spread of social movements.

#week10

This week in class we spoke about a reading Angela Watercutter. it is a insightful reading about the culture of Bronies on and off line. I chose to write about this reading because of something that was said in class. 

A fellow student expressed how the thing she couldn't accept was not the idea of the masculine sex finding value in the message of the show but didn't feel comfortable with any grown adult being consumed with a childrens show. 

I didn't speak up in class because I couldn't full explain why that statement was so troubling. The Brony culture values happiness, togetherness and support things I see should be basic expressions of humans. But because the package it is in, people can see owning a pony toy or having a pony t-shirt as juvenile. 

It is solely the packaging that people are against. Football is a giant presence on and off line. Football fans can go to every game with or with out a ticket just for the comtotery. Football fans can wear their team’s logo everywhere. Each NFL team has abundance of team flags, signed footballs, and yard items but is not seen the same way as My Little Pony. These cultures have prevailing ideas both are based around love. One love for the game and one love for My Little Pony. In football you stand by your team no matter what, in My Little Pony you stand for the greater good. 

I think that statement speaks volumes into an issue that does not usually come up when talking about gender. Who decides when someone is too old to have an imagination, happiness, and pure joy. Why can’t adults still have wonder. 

Week #10

I think there is a connotation that fun is the absence of work. Even playing tag as a child requires a lot of work, first you need to keep track of who is it, have a strategy as to how to not become it even when the person is quicker than you. Every game requires work. Nick Yee talks about the labor of games i thought it brought many parallels to the labor of social media in general. Even though people check facebook, twitter and instagram multiple time a day does not mean that there is not work going in. 

These social media sites require the user to post texts and photos that best describe there life. But there is also a censor that each person puts on their social media. Not posting photos or text that could hurt job or other future endeavors. People don't need to enjoy and activity to engage in it. If there was no struggle in a game and just rewards it seems as though the rewards would mean less. 

Week #9

After reading about the youtube hostile space i was reminded on how music does the same thing. J-lo and Nicki’s fame may not have happened if not for there backside being sexualised. one comment from Nicki’s song anaconda spoke not about the song but how she is fake and plastic and should be taken out with the trash. That is extremely hate full especially for a person you you don’t know. Other comments implied that because she rapped explicit content. She “asked” for people to talk explicitly about her. Lil B is a rapper and uses some of his songs to be a satire about gender roles and the gangster society. In his comments it was still very sexualised but still towards women. Hostile space doesn't exist just in the youtube sphere. For people who don't really know Lil B he can sound different than what he stands for. Which is showing respect for all and equality for all through mutual love and respect. Nicki went to a performing art school in NY she knows what she is doing and is a very smart business woman.

Week #8

This week one assigned reading was Transmedia teens: Affect, immaterial labor, and user-generated content written by Marianne Martens. In the reading an interesting point is brought up. That reading a book is still different than other mass media entities. Reading a book is see not to have commercials or ads. “Branded products are frequently used in books for young adults to establish a cultural or socioeconomic setting” (Martens, 57). 

Book are selling a message just like in movies. Mean Girls Sold clothing and the hardship of trying to fit in. Clueless had everyone wearing plaid. Harry Potter sold the triumph of good and the power of friendship and caring. There can not be a clean disconnect between products and the reader in books or anywhere else. Brands on the other hand do not necessarily need to be mentioned or seen. Even Kel with his Orange soda did not talk about the brand, just the kind of soda he loved so much. Which oddly enough there is a Good Burger in NY.

Week 7

I have a slight issue with the Suicide Girls (SG) name. Before anything else I feel that the site loses some of its power with such a vulnerable name. No one think suicide and thinks power. People think powerless, sad and even unstable when using suicide. these woman on the site are deduced to girls. not women, girls. A synonym for the sites name could be vulnerable girls. How is that giving any power to anyone other than the white male audience they cater to?

Disney Hard core on tumblr has disney princesses with tattoos and body modifications. Like Disney, SG a specific type. On the website it says that you must have tattoos, piercings or dyed hair.  Like Disney, there are many similarities to each princess or woman. It is more than that,  there is something very milotic about the SG site, the faces all blend together, and the disney princess look similar to them on hardcore Disney. 

I don't see how this site is elevating feminism, just giving the male viewer a different selection.

http://disneyhardcore.tumblr.com/

Week #6

The feminist movement shows that the feminism has not yet obtained the goals of human equality but has made strides.

Dr. Kitsy Dixon wrote about hashtag Feminism. With hashtags now, people can form communities and discuss issues. Hashtags have helped multiple subgroups of feminist connect and gain recognition for their particular issues and for feminism.

In 2007,Don Imus on air, called the Rutgers girls basketball players “nappy-headed hos”. Imus was immediately suspended then fired. Groups were made on Facebook reacting to this issue. These groups functioned similar to a hashtag. 

In all social media the opposing view has just as much exposure possibility. People  started groups to get Imus’s job back and groups on twitter were formed to quash feminism movements.

Society has shown with Don Imus and others who demean groups of people, are not accepted. Martha Stewart went to jail, and when she got out she went back to work having done her time. Michael Vick went to jail for dog fighting. He had serious damage to his image but was welcomed back into the football community. Don Imus lost his job.

There is no jail time for saying something derogatory, so can there be vindication? Social media has shown that there might not be vindication for those types of wrongdoings.  

I got this picture from weknowmemes.com.

 I attached one article on Don Imus Below.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-fires-don-imus-over-racial-slur/

#Week5

When you type 5 Love languages quiz in your search engine, you should see a link to take it yourself. This quiz gives you multiple questions that will show you what kind of lover you are out of  five different love languages. At the end of the quiz, it shows how many of the questions you answered in each category. This quiz has put love into an algorithm. By trying to decipher the root in which we love or want to be loved.

In the reading, Pettman talks about self-fulfilling prophecy. The quiz aims to tell you about how you love as if the person does not know. It is almost as if the quiz has more authority about love then you do yourself.

Not only has social media shape our thoughts’ of love it has also opened new ways to explore love.  Avatars, texts, Skype or even really complex bots can give off a feeling of love. This is making society revisit the definition of love. N. Katherine Hayles defined the different ways in which a humans love as flickering love. Through the quiz, if answered truthfully will potentially show you how you are most likely show love or how you want to receive it. 

With all of the debate on what love actually is and the changing in society, it is important to remember that the internet is still a vehicle for humans to express themselves. Quizzes like this one has been around before the internet. Kids still play MASH and the game called LIFE. MASH is a game in which kids find out what boy you will end up with, what place you will live in, what car you will drive and what job you will have. LIFE is a game that you get married, have a job, get paid and have kids. Humans well before the internet have been trying to understand love by putting it into a. algorithm.

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/

Week #4

When people talk about machines becoming self aware most people think of destruction or the end of mankind. I think of Wall-E. 

In the Bloor reading he discussed how the technology is neutral; it will become whatever we program. In the same reading, he talks about a football player getting in trouble after posting on twitter. This also happens to people on Facebook as well. When Facebook was  developed, its demographic was teens and college age kids. This space on the internet was not made for multiple generations.

 At the start of Facebook, you needed to be a part of a school. Facebook was not developed for work or family. I think it's now a real problem for Facebook. Facebook is no longer a place for the target demographic to feel free from other generations. It is acceptable to legally go out and drink and let your friends know about it, but it is unacceptable to tell prospective employers. Facebook no longer facilitates the freedom to be yourself all the time.

http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile/

week #3

Once I read Sarachan, I started to see similarities in all walks of life. Yes, we cannot photo shop the here and now. But we can censor what people see, hear or discover. Personally, I don't let myself wear sweat pants in public when they are honestly the best things ever. I wear them more than anything else.

            By the simple act of brushing our hair we are in a way changing our pose. Through the places we go, we are identifying and excluding groups. The clothes we wear and the music we play all tell an aesthetic story. Before the "profile" we must have already had these thoughts about how we want to be perceived.

An article from the Edinburgh News shows that face lifts have become more common. People are using a trick effect on their offline body. With things like cosmetic surgery a person can now almost literally look however they want. It also found that with more selfies taken the more likely a person is to want to have cosmetic surgery. I think that with taking all of these photos we see how light and makeup can affect our outcome By having cosmetic surgery we are not just trying to perfect our offline identity but also have the bonus of our selfies and profile photos come out the way we desire online, too. Everyone wants to be youthful but not young and grown up but not old. As a society we are always searching for the "perfect" body, hair, even significant other. By not having to manually change the photo, it can be seen as less of a facade. 

The article is:

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/health/more-turning-to-cosmetic-surgery-1-3658202

Week #2

While reading Spectacle 2.0 I kept being brought back to a post on moss graffiti that my boss was tagged in. I think its a great way to be creative, make a statement, and be a little green in the mean time. These reading made me realize that I "liked" this with almost no more thought then it was interesting.I feel that regardless if you see this online or in person, you have to acknowledge something so organic in such a technology driven world. Even if the moss graffiti doesn't have words I think the method speaks volumes.

I attached a link so you can see one of the moss graffiti's 

http://www.alchimag.net/portale/2014/09/04/graffiti-ecologici-grazie-al-muschio/

Week #1

My name is Eden. Like the garden. I am from South Jersey and quite proud. I have ridden horses my whole life and am currently on the Rutgers Equestrian team. I have spent the last few summers of my life at a sleep away camp were i am the Teva specialist. I make fires, teach how to make fires, and go on overnight camping. That's a little about me.