Digital Portfolio

Here it is at last! My personal website :) Please explore it and have fun getting to know a little bit more about me.

http://jennalmeredith.wix.com/digitalportfolio

Resume Brainstorming

So I'm getting really excited about making this website! It seems be coming along quite nicely so far. One of the main portions will be my resume, and I've been thinking about how to present that creatively. So I've drawn up a rough draft (sorry for the poor picture quality!). 

My idea is that to present education and experience, I will put those on a timeline that will create visual interest for the reader. Then for the skills section I will list what I have in a  graphic representation to show whether I'm basic, intermediate, or advanced in that area. Then finally, I will present my extra curriculars by topic, such as music or leadership. These will be enhanced by icons and will be a column layout for more visual interest. Of course my fonts will be catchy and the pictures colorful. I think it should come together nicely :) 

I'm not a visual person at all so this is definitely significant progress! Yay for creativity! 

Leaving a Digital Footprint

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Choosing an Online Platform

So our assignment for the final in Digital Communications is to create a personal website where I can display my resume, my digital portfolio, and any other pertinent information. There are many websites where these can be created such as Wix or Weebly. Those were the two that I chose to explore when beginning my site, and both have advantages and disdavantages. Both had a video that popped up and explained the basics on how to utilize their sites, a brief tutorial.

Wix: 

• More of a foundation/layout set-up prior to building your site; there's more go off of
• More difficulty editing the text
• Harder to see the connections between pages

Weebly:

• Less structure to the initial site; requires more vision but allows for more freedom
• Easier to edit specific functions
• Easier to visual the pathway that pages are connected with
• Advertise that search engines find your site easily

I ended up choosing Wix to begin with simply because I felt like I needed more structure as I create my first website, but having search engines easily find my site made Weebly very appealing as well. However, this may change as I play around with both sites. I showed the list of possible websites to my biology Research and Analysis teacher, and when he read the website title, Moon Fruit, he laughed and said he'd stay from that one because it didn't sound professional. This is one reason why I chose not to explore this platform in depth.

Strategy

My strategy when creating this website is to help leave a digital footprint for myself so that I begin to brand myself online. In a Wall Street Journal article written last year, branding yourself was listed as the second most important skill needed when getting a job. Beyond this, I would be interested in using this to boost my applications to medical school and showing them that I have a wide-range of skills and am a well-rounded student. I would also be interested in an internship in either the sciences or communications studies departments. Research is always a job that I would be interested in. Ultimately, a long way down the road, I would love if future employers were able to find me on the Internet and see who I am and what I can offer. 

My audience is any future employers or medical school admissions administrators. I imagine that when they get to my site, the most important need would be to have easy access to my contact information. Behind that, they would need an introduction to who I am, what my goals are, and the purpose of my site. So I want to make sure that all of that is accessible on my homepage of the site. It would be important to include that I am a student and where I go to school as well. 

Scope

On this website, I would like to include a digital portfolio of everything I've created in Digital Communications as well as my resume. Other potential additions I can make would be photos from my trip to Nicaragua over last spring break because it was a medical mission trip. I think these photos would show my love for medicine, service, and travel. Another option would be to show photos from my study abroad trip to Belize. I'm not sure if that plays to my audience as well as I would like, but it could show that I'm well-rounded and love to learn about anything. There a special focus on learning about the people and the culture so that might help! Finally, when my project/paper is complete, I may put up my senior research paper and conference poster to show the work that I've done. My professor will be writing a paper as well with my name on it, so that will also be an option to show my work in the scientific field. But those won't be ready until at least next semester.

I definitely want to maximize the way that people can get in touch with me so I will have a contact form as well as social media widgets. My email address and phone number will be available as well. 

Design Inspiration
From online, there are lots of places to find inspiration! Here's a few of mine based on screenshots from these websites.

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Okay, so this inspired me because on the homepage of this website, the message for the purpose of the sight is clear, concise, and simple. I want my purpose and intent to be clear to user when they visit my site.

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The style of this site inspired me because it looks professional but at the same time is all rigid lines like a lot of corporate websites are. I think that this is tough to do because there must be a balance so that the site doesn't look to childish.

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This site inspired me because it's homepage was different. You can't tell from the screenshot, but the photographs change. This is a photographer's site so from the start I get to see his work and what he does. I might try to mirror this if I can.

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I was inspired by the colors of the buttons because it makes them obvious and stand out. I also liked the shape of the buttons because they actually look like buttons. I'm all about keeping it simple and intuitive.

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Finally, this website provided creative ways to present your information that wasn't necessarily a rectangular style. I think this makes the websites stand out if done correctly. However, I want to be careful with this because it can also make the website not as intuitive and throw users off simply because the information is structured differently.

Aiming for the Audience

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While I've always kind of dreamed of performing for a crowd like this, I have to be honest with myself- I'm no rockstar. But there are a few things I've learned from rockstars and from Janice Redish's Letting Go of the Words. It's that you have you have to aim your performance for your audience- whether that be at a rock concert or with a company website. At a concert, if the audience is expecting upbeat, rock music and they get twangy, bluegrass, then I'd like to bet that they aren't going to be pleased. Also, if your website doesn't offer easy access to the information that the web users are looking for, then they likely won't be pleased either. So that leads me to my first point:

1. Focus on the audience

In order to do this, the audience must be understood and profiled. This seemed like an excellent approach to me. Redish suggested that personas and scenarios are created in order to keep the human aspect in the creation of the website. It can easily be lost when trying to focus on the product and the information. Instead, if desires or problems can be anticipated, then they met or solved, respectively, before the users even have access to the website. By creating scenarios, the focus is always on audience needs.

My second point is this:
   2.  Keep It Simple, Stupid
Meaning the home page, of course. The home page is usually the first impression that a user gets of your website. Personally, I don't like going to lots of newspaper websites simply because they are so cluttered that I can't sort through everything. I do like when the logo is at the top because then I clearly know what site I am on and how to easily link back to the main page. The next thing I like is when icons are links- maybe that's because I'm visual learner, but I also think that these are easier to scan than written words. If a homepage is kept simple, users are more likely to be able to find the information that they came to the site for.

Finally,
    3.   Put the search box in a logical place
This may seem like a no brainer, but I have encountered many sites where I simply didn't know how to even start on their site because I couldn't find what I was looking for and then couldn't find a search box. So, therefore, I felt that this warranted its own point even though for Redish it didn't seem like a main focus.

Discussion Questions:
What websites do you use that have simple, dummy-proof home pages, and what characteristics make them like that?
How can companies do a better job of meeting user's needs before they even ask for something or encounter a problem?

If the User Ain't happy, Ain't Nobody Happy!

Well folks, I think that the title of this post just about sums it up. User experience is everything- to the user and to the company. 

In the book, The Elements of User Experience, User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond, Jesse James Garrett discusses the idea behind user experience- the experience that user gets from utilizing a certain product. 

Design
There are three types of approaches to design:

• Aesthetic design
• Functional design
• User Experience design

Most companies definitely focus on the first two types of design. Hey, if it's pretty- people will buy it. Hey,- if it works- people will buy it. However, often user experience design gets forgotten, and this is the most important consideration. If the user has a good experience with a product, they will keep coming back. If a product is pretty but doesn't meet a users needs, then they probably will not come back. Also, if a product doesn't work correctly, then they also probably won't come back again. However, if a product meets these needs, but also does so in the most efficient way possible, then the company has gained a customer. So in this way, user experience builds customer loyalty, which every company wants. Seems simple right? User experience is so much more though. Consider the following pictures. Which would you be most likely to use? And why?

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I would personally use the bottom one. I mean- it's got words and step-by-step pictures. The top one? I have no idea what is going on.

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So, once again, I think that when choosing between products most people would buy the Keurig. Who doesn't need coffee? If anyone figures out what that watermelon stroller actually does- please let me know. 

User Experience

So what makes up the user experience on the Web? 

• Functionality
• Aesthetic appeal
• Usability in context
• Efficiency 
• Navigability
• Intuitive design
• Working links
• Ability to accomplish a task

Those were just a few things that popped into my mind. 

Planes

When designers think about these things they must consider different usability planes. I've laid them out with a brief description below.

• Surface plane- simply the things you see such as illustrations and linked images
• Skeleton plane- design of the site such as where buttons are placed, logos are positioned; the most efficient and effective organizational layout
• Structure plane- more abstract idea of the skeleton plane; what is available, how users got to the site, how users leave the site, options that the user has
• Scope plane- the availability of certain features on a site such as saving previous shipping information, storing items in a shopping cart, etc
• Strategy Plane- Encompasses the site's sponsor's goals along with the goals of those that visit the website

All in all, a lot goes into designing a website. One of the interesting things Garrett said was that when a user can't a site correctly- they feel stupid. Not that they blame the site, but they blame themselves. And, as he points out, this is very effective at keeping users from coming back. So question: Does anyone else's grandparents have difficulty using the Internet? If so, why do you think this is true? I'm going somewhere with this. My thought is, in order to most effectively test the usability of a site- why not use the elderly crowd? If it's intuitive enough for them to navigate successfully, then I'd say you've got a pretty good setup.

How Does Your Car Tell A Story?

The long awaited follow-up to the car slideshow has arrived!! I hope you enjoy this video which uses fellow Furman University students to explore how their cars tell a story. 

Multi-Dimensional and Multi-Directional: Website Editing

During a meeting with my advisor last week, I showed him this blog and some of the projects for my digital communications class. He loved it! We decided to test all of the advertised features on my blog and discovered that the search bar doesn't actually work. Whoops! Sorry about that! It's things like this that Chapter 6 of Brian Carrol's Writing for Digital Media focuses on. Editing, while being a key process in print literature, is also a key process for online presentation. Online, however, editing must focus on a different set of characteristics. Let's explore those.

Multimedia

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As an website user myself, I found their discussion of multimedia very interesting. The take-home point was that the medium or media used on a website must be that which will most effectively tell the story.  Editors go through a website and make sure that multimedia is being used and that successfully conveys the intended message. What type of multimedia do you enjoy interacting with most and why? Here is the list of characteristics that Carrol deems important:

• Short is better
• Interactive is better
• Personal (or local or hyperlocal) is preferred
• Navigability is central (the better the interface, the better the experience) 

This seems to mirror to me the important qualities of print writing: clear and concise. So although the message is conveyed through a different medium, we still look for the same things. 

Mistakes

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Carrol quoted some editors in this field, and they gave him some of the most common mistakes that they find when looking at websites. 

• Names
• Professions/positions/ages/political parties
• Dates/numbers
• Geography
• Emails/addresses/Web sites/telephone numbers

When websites make these mistakes, does it significantly take away from their credibility? Why or why not?

I know there have been many times that I click on a link and can't get to the advertised page or product. I'm not sure that it necessarily takes away from the site's credibility, but I personally get frustrated. This is a common occurrence on Pinterest, and it makes me sad that I can't get to all the cute stuff that I see.

Verification

The final point I'd like to discuss is the importance of verification. Not only do editors verify grammar and sources, they also verify links and other online related media. The focus of new sites in particular is to streamline this process because they must compete with the need for immediacy. Do you feel that we should focus more on verification or is it okay to sacrifice some accuracy for speediness? 

Through Whose Eyes?

I would like to open this post with a question: Through which point of view do you think that a story is most effective and why? Does this differ for different kinds of film and why? Think this over as an initial reaction and then reevaluate at the end of this post.

Point of View
In The Art of Technique, John S. Douglass and Glenn P. Harnden use Chapter 3 to discuss the idea of point of view. They list the three different types and the characteristics of each as listed below.

• POV shot- the camera shows what the subject as seeing; a shot from their point of view; usually portrays an unforeseen predator/monster; commonly used in suspense films
• First person- portrayal of a specific person's personal view; commonly used in documentaries; frequently uses direct narrative from these people to dictate visuals; great example are documentaries by Michael Moore who uses his controversial topics and opinions to gain public attention

  

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• Second person- less common idea or portrayal; displays a personal message that directly addresses "you;" used in advertising occasionally such as Billy Mays with Oxiclean

• Third Person- most common portrayal of characters in film; "not omniscient;" use action and dialogue to figure out plot and make connections
• Character Point of View- narrative that comes from multiple points of view; more versatile in literature than in film; a possible example could be Toy Story 3 when the movie switches between Woody's viewpoint and the rest of the gang's view point. 

Attitude

• Each production is going to have a bias toward whatever their opinion or view of the topic is
• Purpose of production is to get a message across
• Propaganda: "whenever we undertake a fiction or nonfiction production with the major purpose of convincing our audience of a particular set of principles, beliefs, or opinions"
• Easily seen in most documentaries (refer to previous post to view the video of Supersize Me)

Defining the Audience

• Important to identify the audience in order to use the most effective means of communication
• Need to establish type of film from the start so that audience can be mentally prepared and react accordingly
• Informed and active participants
• Make sure that communication is effectively decoded by the audience

My personal favorite point of view is that of first person. I like to hear how the person thinks and what their own opinions are and why. I feel like I can relate more by actually seeing and hearing the person that holds these viewpoints. I do have a soft spot for third person rom-coms though, but probably because they don't make me think at all. In response to my second question, I think that point of view needs to fit the type of film. For example, to me, it would be weird to watch someone fall in love from an intimate view of first person (though it could be argued that the Bachelorette does just that-so my argument wouldn't hold since I love that show). Thus, point of view needs to not only fit the film style but also the audience. Showing a documentary to kindergarteners just isn't a good idea. Once again I ask: Through which point of view do you think that a story is most effective and why? Does this differ for different kinds of film and why? It differs for everyone.

Your Editing Shows

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"I keep telling my editors, if you win an award for editing, I won't work with you anymore. Your editing shows." - Louis Malle, Director

 I really like this quote because it concisely describes that purpose of an editor. An editor is to make edits that don't show, that are purely behind the scenes. Their job is to make the film flow, and, if done correctly, no one will even notice that edits had been made. That's the point that Director Malle was making by saying this. He wants his editors to be so good that they go unnoticed. 

I've always thoroughly enjoyed making video projects because they challenge me to creatively arrange footage in a way that effectively tells a story and makes a point. I always learn new techniques by playing around with the editing software. Most importantly though, I try my best to imitate other videos that I have seen. I try to use those transitions and those shots and those sound effects because I know they worked. I've made it a long way from my first video project that I had to make for my seventh grade reading/science teacher. Honestly, I don't entirely remember what the topic was, but my best friend and I put in hours of hard work only to have it not play in class on the day that it was due. Because I didn't hit a button to "Save the Final Project." I'd just been hitting "Save" on the file bar, which doesn't finalize it. So keep that in mind if you're making a video, and don't experience my heartache. 

Psychology of Editing
When reading the psychology of editing section in Visual Storytelling  by Ronald J. Osgood and M. Joseph Hinshaw, I realized that had never considered all of the decisions that an editor has to make. Sure, I've made videos before, but I'm not sure that I could justify why I made each cut or truly understood how video should flow together. I think that Osgood and Hinshaw have a point though. For a video to be effective, each decision is critical and should be well thought out. An editor can't just hit "Delete." Why do you think that editors make the cuts that they do? What kind of video do they most frequently cut out?

I also liked the discussion of b-roll. B-roll is footage that "visually describes the story." This is generally the footage that is rolling while narration is occurring, providing a visual representation of what is being described. B-roll truly adds a depth to the story that viewers wouldn't get otherwise, and by having narration over the top, the editor is directly connecting dots for viewers. Instead of having footage and interview separate, viewers can easily make the connection between the two. 



After the opening song, the documentary "Supersize Me" immediately goes into effective B-roll as the narrator sets up the premise of the movie. Throughout this documentary, you can see examples of effective B-roll usage.

Transitions
Transitions are probably the second most important aspect of editing in my opinion, the first being the footage that you choose to show. Without an effective transition from topic to topic, viewers won't be able to follow your message. Osgood and Hinshaw discuss the idea of the "Cut." For me, this is probably the most natural transition because it immediately takes the viewer to the next topic, but you have to be careful when using it so that it doesn't get choppy. There are dialogue cuts, where the scene cuts back and forth between actors so that viewers see each actor deliver their line. There's also cuts that are timed with music. This is effective because they viewer can anticipate the cut and be prepared for a transition. What is your favorite transition and why?

Parallel Editing
I believe that my favorite technique is parallel editing where the footage cuts between two different story angles. It helps to show simultaneous action, draws the viewers in, and builds suspense as viewers wait to see how the story lines connect. A prime example of this is the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love." The whole movie follows the stories of 5 different people and in the end, their lives are all interconnected. 



The movie "Valentine's Day" uses this technique as well. I personally like surprises so I like when movies catch me off guard or throw in a plot twist, which can easily be done with this type of edit. 

Science of the Screen

Manipulating and maximizing the use of space either in a picture or on a screen is vitally important when trying to convey a visual message. After reading the article, "The Two-Dimensional Field: Forces Within the Screen," by Zettl, I would like to address a few basics ways that this can be done and give a few real-life examples to back it up. It's nearly a science.

Horizontal vs. Vertical

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Zettl makes the argument that horizontal images give a sense of calmness and relaxation, possibly due to the fact that we sleep in this position. I, however, would argue that I do tend to favor horizontal images, but not because of the feeling. Rather, I favor them purely because my world is oriented this way. As Zettl states later, I ground myself every day based on the horizon, which is horizontal, so therefore, that is my preferred direction. 

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Vertical images, as Zettl says, suggest power and dynamics. This I would agree is true purely because it breaks up my sense of a horizontal world and pulls me from my comfort zone. For example, this picture suggests that the ocean cliffs are powerful and stand in stark contrast to the beautiful ocean horizon.

Magnetism of the Frame
I also liked Zettl's discussion on the magnetism of the frame. While I wouldn't call this feature "magnetism," per say, I do agree with the overall idea: that the negative space within an image balances differently with the positive space depending on its position and its size. For example, the portrait directly below is not as visually appealing as the portrait on the bottom because the face is over taking the negative space that is needed to balance out the image. The bottom portrait uses the magnetism of the frame to pull the eye to the right and create visual interest.

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Thus, it is important to pay attention to the magnetism of the frame and be mindful of the balance between positive and negative space. Since these are professional photos, the focus and blurring of the background also helps in both of these.

Low and High Definition Images

Images used to only be able to be shared in low definition, but now high definition is becoming more prevalent. Is a high definition image always the best way to share information? My initial answer would have been yes, but after reading Zettl's discussion on how low definition images keep the viewer more engaged and force them to fill in blanks, I think that sometimes low definition images could be used effectively as a means of audience interaction.

Vectors

The vector theory of images says that specific parts of the image can carry direction and magnitude with which to direct the eye. There are graphic vectors which don't necessarily carry much direction or magnitude but still have the power to direct the eye in a direction while following the shape. There are motion vectors which result from an object actually moving in a direction. There are index vectors that explicitly give direction by consisting of an image such as an arrow or the gaze of eye, etc. For example, these old men below are pointing towards the sky because they have spotted Superman. Their points are a direction vector as well as continuing vector. Not only is your gaze directed upwards and to the right by their points, but their vectors are going in the same direction.

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In honor of Halloween and in light of this image, who is your favorite superhero and why? How does their symbol balance with their costume in order to make them as visually appealing as possible?

Podcast: Public and Private Sphere in Digital Media

This podcast is an overview of how my group and I see the public and private sphere fitting into the realm of digital media. We used Audacity for the editing process, which can be downloaded off the Internet. I'd like to give credit and recognition to Dr. Letteri for his interview and to Ben Rector for the use of his song: "Wildfire." I hope that you form your own opinions on this topic and engage in rational, critical debate. *Disclaimer: The podcast file does not work on the Firefox web browser.*

How do you use the Internet in a public and in a private way?

Do you feel like users access and utilize all of the tools at hand in order to be as informed as possible? Why or why not?

What do you agree or disagree with in this podcast?

Please feel free to leave comments in order to promote discuss in honor of recognition of the public sphere!

Invasive Species: Telecommunications Exponential Growth

Telecommunications, as Virilio points out in Open Sky, is a rapidly growing field. He argues that it will take over the most sacred and fundamental parts of our lives if we continue to let it expand at its current pace. Technological advances seem to be coming at an exponential rate. In a sense, telecommunications has been come like an invasive species- taking over in new places and difficult to keep in check.

Eye Lust
In Part III, Virilio begins his discussion with the advances that medicine is making in terms of "-scope" surgeries, surgeries that use a little camera to see inside the body without having to make an invasive cut and open the patient to many more potential risks. Doctors have a whole perspective on how they are viewing the body and how they can perform surgeries. This is also happening in the field of digital communications as the world's speed is increasing. There is a new global view that is being projected upon everyone. Cars have allowed us to move faster and thus view trees differently. As Virilio says, they are not stationary objects anymore with distinct leaves emerging from winding branches, but rather they are blurs of green that fly by on the side of the road.

Trees were a relatable example for me. When I was in third grade, I realized that I was having trouble reading the board in school. I'm sure you can guess what comes next. I needed glasses like everyone else who has that problem. It was a whole new world when I put those glasses on; everything was crisp and clear. There were clear boundaries that separated one object from the next. No longer was the table and chair one big amorphous blob, but rather it was a distinct dinner table from which the chair could be separated. Anyway, the trees had the biggest impact on me.

Before glasses they kind of looked like this:

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But afterwards I saw them as this:

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There were LEAVES. I had NO idea that everyone could actually see individual leaves. I just assumed they were blobs until you got close enough. My entire perspective changed due to technology that was able to fix my eyesight.

I believe this what Virilio is arguing. Our perspectives are changing yet again. Inventions such as IMAX offer a greater view of the world. But the world's daily pace is also much faster. So I ask, as the world progresses, will we miss more of the world because of the pace or will we see more the world because there is a medium for that? Virilio seems to think that our perspective will be manipulated and skewed if the changes are left unchecked. He thinks that ethics will be called into question. 

Cybersex

This was a section where I once again disagreed with the broad, vague claims that Virilio put out there. He seems to insinuate throughout this chapter that cybersex, or sexual encounters facilitated by digital media, will replace physical sexual encounters. I don't think that will ever be the case purely because that's how sex was designed to work. However, I would agree that digital media has opened up an entire new division of sexual opportunities. Therefore, his claims that sexual harassment complaints have increased would be valid. Also, others are using digital media in new ways to find sexual pleasure, so this market is definitely growing. However, I don't believe that "virtual pleasure" is a substitute for "real pleasure" or that "love experienced at a distance" will replace love experienced in proximity of one another. Is digital media challenging the previous ideas of sexual encounters and how so?

Escape Velocity

This chapter seemed to reiterate a lot of the same topics that Virilio had already brought up such as the law of proximity, the accident theory, etc. However, it focused more on the relationship of time and space than other chapters had. This abstract, philosophical embodiment of time is confusing for me since I still tend to view time as chronologically very linear. Virilio seems to suggest otherwise. I do agree that the space around has shrinking boundaries due to digital media yet expanding boundaries since so much more of the world is accessible.

Law of Proximity: A Little Closer to Your Non-Neighbor

I am a very science-minded person (since I am also a biology major), so this book, Open Sky, has been very interesting for me to read. In order to explain very philosophical concepts, Virilio uses concrete, tangible examples from science. This I am able to wrap my head around, more so than just trying to grasp abstract ideas. So as I was working through Part II of this book, I was able to start pulling examples from my own experiences to back up what Virilio was claiming.

Miniaturization
The first idea that Virilio introduced was this idea of miniaturization, that everything is consistently being reduced in size. Ultimately, he claims, we will be able to embed technology inside of our body that is small enough to navigate our smallest vessels. I, too, believe that this is true because medical technology is constantly advancing and is one of the problems that doctors have. They learn one new, innovative technique and then another better advance is made. 

Virilio says that miniaturization defines what he calls the Law of Proximity: less is more. This was the overarching theme of Part II. Technology innovation is constantly trying to reduce its material space. The example in Open Sky was moving from a messenger to a letter to an electronic impulse message. I also thought of cell phones that moved from thick telephone size to flip phones to thin, touch screens that fit easily into one's pocket. 

As the Law of Proximity is applied globally, Virilio points out that technology is insistent in reducing the geophysical space between people- think of Skype- and the time differences- think of live streaming capabilities. The boundaries of "here and there," "inside and outside," "high and low" are all being broken and downsized. What does this greater access to the world mean for society? Virilio claims that it has very negative consequences due to the "adoption of a sedentary life [which] become(s) final, absolute, since the functions traditionally distributed within the real space of the town are now exclusively taken over by the real time of the wiring of the human body." 

I beg to differ with this negativity, and maybe that is because I am simply an optimistic person. However, I still enjoy writing and receiving letters even when I have the disposal of the Internet at my hands. It holds a personal element that cannot be found simply through electronic text. Handwriting is an individual's unique mark, an identifying characteristic. I believe that the technological innovation of "the last 'territory'" is a positive thing. We can better understand ourselves, better take care of ourselves, but that by no means indicates that there is a tragedy occurring. We are just able to be closer to our "non-neighbors." 

Grey Ecology
In this chapter, Virilio introduces a need for scientists to explore more than direct ecological ties with the physical environment and to look at technological impacts on the people. This "grey" ecology would study that of the urban ecology. I definitely agree with him that this is a need of our scientific community. While we have looked at the effects of pollution (a consequence of technological innovation) and the "urban heat bubble," we have failed to explore exactly how breaking down temporal and spatial barriers is truly affecting a city's citizens. Science has focused on the objective and has lost a whole field of study in the subjective. Granted, there are the soft sciences such as sociology and psychology that help to quantify the qualitative, but they rarely look at the environment. Typically these areas focus on people. What kind of scientist would this new "grey ecologist" have to be? 

Virilio defines this overlooked area of study as one of relativity. 

"...[W]e cannot long completely go on ingrnoing the damage done by progress in an area ecologists have completely overlooked: the area of relativity, that is of a new relationship to the places and time distances created by the broadcasting revolution, with the recent implementation of the absolute speed of electromagnetic radiation."

This was definitely food for thought.  

World-City

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The world-city is an idea of all the cities worldwide reaching a point of such interconnectedness that they can be viewed as one city, ignoring the geo-physical space between them. This, says Virilio, is the metropolization that we should be concerned with rather than population numbers. Such concentration of an infosphere sets us up for an accident.


Until class the other day I did not truly understand what Virilio meant by implying an impending accident. But it was then described as the idea that we couldn't have had plane crashes without the invention of the plane. In the same way, we couldn't have information crashes without the creation of this infosphere. We most definitely have already had unintended accidents from this growing digital sphere: identification theft, cyberbullying, stalking, etc. But Virilio seems to think that the biggest one has yet to happen. I do agree with this pessimistic thought. As humans messing with finicky techonology, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore, we do have a global information crash as a very real possibility in the future. This thought reminded me of the movie Live Free Or Die Hard, one of my all-time favorites. It talks of a fire sail: an attack in which communication, utilities, and power are all shut down. They are shut down through technology. While this portrays only an American accident, I believe that it could be applied worldwide. 

Teletopia: Focusing on a Technological World

Open Sky

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This week we started reading a new book, Open Sky, by Paul Virilio that focuses on mass media, how it is affecting our society, where it is coming from and where it is going. In order to accomplish this, Virilio takes an almost scientific philosophical approach to examining how technology is becoming an ever greater part of society. This book is a lot to wade through though I do believe that he presents many societal trends for new means of communication. On the other hand, I believe that sometimes he takes his claims of how technology will affect our future a bit too far. He makes wide, sweeping claims that are not nearly supported enough. 

Teletopia
The first major concept that Virilio brought up was "teletopia." From my understanding, I took this to be a world where the focus was around technology/telecommunications. Teletopia is a place where all of society focuses around growing communications technology and nothing else. Virilio presents our society as one trending towards "real time" which allows us to be both here and "there." He presents this as a reach across the globe. I view this as technological globalization because soon most people will have access to other countries fairly easily. At the end of chapter 1, Virilio makes a really big claim though that I don't necessarily agree with or see enough support to back it up. 

"At the end of the century, there will not be much left of the expanse of a planet that is not only polluted but also shrunk, reduced to nothing, by the teletechnologies of generalized interactivity." 

This I don't necessarily see as true. I think that the planet will be more interconnected as he points out, but are our future prospects for the state of our planet/society so grim? This claim just seems very negatively focused. I believe that interconnectivity will be a benefit for us because we can communicate more efficiently and quickly, but I do not believe that the world will be "polluted" per say. 

Real Time
I had a difficult time trying to define real time as Virilio intended it to be. So here is a list of working definitions that I came up with or inferred from the reading.
Real time:

• the immediate communication of information
• communication of the present or current happenings around the world
• a focus only on the here and now without perspective/context (without looking forward or backwards)

What definition best fits his intention for the word since he doesn't provide a clear, concise definition of what he means? Or does the word have an evolving definition as Virilio works through what it means for a world facing teletopia?

Being Sedentary
As I stated before, I believe that some of the claims made take trends too far. For example, Virilio pointed out that society was headed toward sedentariness where it is never necessary for one to get up and communicate and walk around. I don't believe activity will ever truly be abandoned. Technically I shouldn't have to get up now to talk to my roommates or go to class. I could text or call the roomies. Or I could Skype into class to hear the lecture. Yet, we still do physically go to class or speak directly to each other. There is something special about direct human interaction. The personal quality makes it important and necessary to our emotional development and maturity. Also, I cannot see giving up exercise even if my health was taken care of because it just makes me feel good. It releases those endorphins. 

The only example I could think of for the world that I feel like Virilio is portraying is that from Wall-E, the Pixar movie. In this scene, humans are featured as sedentary creatures who have totally trashed planet Earth and now live in space, never needing to leave their chairs. Just a bit extreme.

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Virilio does make a good point that a lot of what we do now does lead to sedentariness such as desk jobs or driving to work, which will soon be a technology due to the Google car. Therefore, I agree with his claim that technology will and does touch all aspects of our lives, but I don't think that it will control it.

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