Web Writing & Participatory Culture - Recently Updated Pages

Dane's Portfolio

RikHunter — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:50:05 CDT

Research Paper

Paper trail

Proposal with comments
First draft w/o comments
Second draft with comments
Final version

Excerpts from process log:

03/07/08

Well, the research paper proposal is due, and I've decided my topic is going to be video games as learning tools. As I'm a little worried about how to find sufficient research, I am clued into gameslearningsociety.org. It turns out that this site not only contains works of James Paul Gee, an author suggested by Rik, but of other influencial writers in the field. I find Richard Halverson's work on Civilization III to be particularly relevant to my topic. It just so happens that this site compiles information and research done upon video games and it proved to be amost usefull compliation to my mission.

04/05/08

My peer reviewers clued me into the fact that my paper was poorly organized and completely lacked an introduction. Of course, they said it in a much nicer way than this, but the point remains that I need to add an introduction and improve the organization. I'm trying to find a way to do the typical funnel introduction, so I begin by showing why education in general is important and move on to video games potentially being a good way to provide this education. One interesting thing about my thoughts as I wrote this draft was that I actually changed my mind on the issue. The first draft left me feeling like video games would be an incredible learning tool, but now, after writing and researching more about the counter argument, I think the cost might outweigh the benefit.

05/08/08

Begging the final revision of my paper, I find that my peer reviewers and my professor have left comments and ideas on how to improve. Their comments are the focus of most of the changes I will make, but additionally I feel as though my paper only highlights the possibilities of one video game as a learning tool (civilization III). Thus, I will add a personal suggestion of a video game that could be incredibly usefull in a physics classroom (portal).

Wiki assignment

Link to wiki
Excerpts from process log:

02/20/08

I would like to write a wiki that could be beneficial to a given community, and I tend to be better at opined writing than the kind done on wikipedia. So I will write a strategy wiki on DotA as it affords educated opionion and I am experienced enough with the strategy of the game that my opinion could be beneficial to the community. The game is far too complex to write a strategy guide for the entire thing, so I will instead stick to itemization which is an aspect of the strategy that I routinely see people screw up on.

04/12/08

It is now time to actually begin writing the wiki. Since the content is all already stored in my head, I must simply decide how to get it on paper in an organized way. Potential options are giving an item build order for each hero, going over the functions of each item, or a more generalized approach in which I discuss the qualitative principles governed by the mechanics of the game that dictate proper strategy. Each of these approaches has some flaws. Giving an item build for each hero would be very clunky because there are almost 90 heroes, and it would not account for dynamics within the game and opponents. Going over the functions of each item would be fairly useless as that information is already available elsewhere on the web, and the generalized approach is flawed because the reader would have to take an active intellectual approach to apply it to in game decisions. In the end I feel it is better to go with the generalized approach because it caters to a "better" audience. I and many other serious gamers in the DotA community would like to extract the less intellectual players who are too lazy to apply the basic principles to in game situations. In this way I feel as though this approach will aid the appropriate part of the DotA community and thus be the most usefull.

05/04/08

I look back at my wiki and find that the site it is hosted on has been quite active but my contribution remains unchanged. I take this as a sign that the content has generally been accepted as accurate. Thus, I do not make any revisions to my wiki as in my opinion it was done properly the first time.

Blog

Thomas Aquinas

excerpt from process log

Well, it turns out I managed to piss someone off with my philisophical banter. The confusing part is that this anonymous person got angry at a post in which I was entirely kidding. Also, up till this point I have been very polite and respectful to theists despite disagreeing with them. So, I feel as though this person's outburst was uncalled for and warrants an intellectual beat down. This being the case, I must prepare to write the best and most complete argument I have done so far. Fortunately, this guy referenced a Christian of long ago by the name of Thomas Aquinas, whose theories have already been philsophically debunked. To find a complete argument I turn to wikipedia which has an extensive article on Thomas Aquinas, and from there I am able to find inconsistencies in his argument. Ah sweet revenge.

Argument for god

excerpt from process log

02/24/08

I feel as though my blog is becomming one sided in favor of atheism, and it is meant to be about atheism rather than just for atheism. Thus, I will present one of the more respected arguments for the other side despite my personal beliefs. Fortunately I ran into a more educated Christian who believed in god for this legitimate reason. In this way, I didn't come up with this theory, but rather put in writing what this guy explained to me. It is pretty incredible what can be learned from having intellectual discussions with complete strangers, and I actually respect this man despite our differences.

Dawkins

excerpt from process log

03/02/08

As the previous post dealt with the one sidedness of my blog, I feel as though it is time to make it a little bit more entertaining. So, instead of the typical in depth argument, I will present today a more comedic post. One in which I satire the christian religion using Dawkins as my god and the memorial union as my church. I hope this will be seen as humor rather than idiocy as my blog is dependent upon people respecting my abilities as a philisophical commentator.

Open media project

Bree's Portfolio

sk8n_bree — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:55:09 CDT

Open Media Projects

Paper Trail for SWFSC

Sources: http://www.madison.com/communities/swfsc/
Drafts: Because this project is a wiki, every draft is saved. Like wikipedia, you can see the previous pages before each edit.
Teacher and Peer Responses to Drafts: I've had some feedback about different ideas, but the nice thing about this website is that if someone has an idea or a suggestion, they can do it themselves!
Final Draft: My Wetpaint Wiki: SWFSC

Paper Trail for Hero's

Sources: I've only used my own ideas and previous Hero's ideas to edit this. I don't really have outside sources besides ideas.
Drafts: Unlike the wiki websites, every time I changed something, all my previous edits were lost entirely.

April 16th:

Along with the work I've already done on my own wiki, I've been offering to help work on my work's website, www.herosparty.com. I don't think it will be difficult at all, and I look forward to helping.

April 18th:

Working on the Hero's website has been a pain in the... butt. It's pretty easy, and it has an easy edit button similar to the wetpaint easy edit button on the class page, but every time I change something, I lose everything. It's also frustrating because if I don't "publish" the website, then it doesn't save any of the work I did. Hopefully I get the hang of it, but right now it's not as nice as the wiki seems to be.

May 4th:

I used to get frustrated with the Hero's website, but it's actually really easy. When I was first working on it, it was hard to remember to save and publish everything which is why I was having problems, but now that I've been using it much more, it's become second nature.

Teacher and Peer Responses to Drafts: Everything I've done on the work website I submit to the owner and my manager before I publish. They have never criticized any of it, so I don't really have much feedback on this.
Final Draft: My Work Website(Done collaboratively):Hero's, The Party Experience

Research Paper

Feburary 18th:

I had my meeting today and I decided to do my research paper on the television show LOST. Rik suggested relating it to transmedia storytelling, so I will probably look into that in our book. I haven't read that chapter yet, so that will be my frist step. Then, I hope to do most of my research online. I think I will try to write about LOST and how it relates to transmedia storytelling, but I also will explain what transmedia storytelling is, and try to work around that too.

March 6th:

I'm working on my project proposal for this assignment, and I don't really understand what I'm doing. I'm a little freaked out because I feel like if I can't even handle the project proposal, how the heck am I going to be able to do the actual project??

April 6th:

This week sucks. I have to write the paper, and also I have exams in all of my other classes. I feel really overwhelmed, and mostly my paper is hurting. I wish I had more time to put more effort into it, but I feel like I just can't do it all. I'm hoping to work on my paper more tonight, but then I have to take a break for the rest of the week.

Usually I don't like to work on a paper in bits and pieces. I like to get everything done all at once when it comes to writing papers. I just can't do it this time, so hopefully I can still pull off getting this done without it sounding choppy. I hate when I'm writing and I lose my spot because it's hard to come back to it and write more. We'll see what happens.

April 22nd:

I'm sick. I'm tired. And I'm also sick and tired of this project. I've pretty mush lost all interest in the topic, and I don't have any motivation to keep writing about it anymore. I wish I would have picked a different topic because I'm not liking this one anymore.

Research Paper Proposal
Research Paper Trail

Wiki Article

Wikipedia Article: Tyrol Basin

Blog Posts

Check out my blog Go Figure!

Here are some examples of my posts:

My Demise

Roses and Wall Space

Clutter Control

Management and McDonals's

Capstone Essay

Throughout the semester, I've learned a great deal about different technologies. I've discovered new ways of sharing and collaborating in my everyday tasks by using fantastic web-based technologies that I didn't know about before taking this class. Most of my experiences were entirely new to me, and those that I had some knowledge of prior to this semester have improved greatly.

I was thrilled to learn about blogging, wiki writing, and everything else we discussed. The best part, in my mind, was not just the specific new things that we discussed, however, but the discussions that opened my eyes to new things in this new world. Web 2.0 was a phrase I've never used before, and now, I am a fan of.

I definitely plan to continue blogging and writing on my own wiki website. Before this class I didn't even have a You-Tube account. Now, I'm interested in checking it weekly at minimum. I suppose the only downfall is that I've become glued to my computer, but besides that, I've been able to make better use of my time through all the wonderful experiences I've discovered. Okay, it totally sounds cheesey, but I really enjoyed all of the things I've learned about. I find everything very useful, and I only wish that I would have learned these things sooner.

Zach's Portfolio

zippo512 — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:16:19 CDT

Open Media Project

Students of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve - Wiki

Process Log

February 14, 2008 - Winter sucks. My club can't do anything in the winter. Thank god for the internets. After using the class wiki WWNPC for awhile and after trying again and again to update my club's lame website.....I created a monster! No, not really. But I did make a pretty awesome wiki for my club. A little history about my club and our internets presence: 1) student org office gives us our own webspace. I have no idea how to make a webpage. Google. Download an illegitimate copy of dreamweaver from a torrent. Talk to website host people for awhile about my password which I forgot approximately 3 times. They changed it back to normal after I tried logging in to the site (unsuccessfully) around 20 times (that's what they said). Long story short, I make a awesomely bad website from a template in dreamweaver and somehow figure out how to upload it using a remote VPN app. 2) The Lakeshore Nature Preserve website is awesome. I know the woman that made it. Talked to her. She told me that if she makes a website for us that no one would update it and it would fall into disuse. I cried for awhile. 3) created wiki site and made the original site into a link to our wiki site. all is well.

February 18, 2008 - Today we held a group meeting for my club and I presented the wiki to them. We meet in room 110 Science where there are a bunch of computers, so I just had them sit down, create wetpaint accounts, and explore the new wiki. I just want to say: these people learn fast. They were creating new content, links, and pages in literally minutes. I pointed out some of the editing features and how to move pages around, but other than that, they were flying. Brit Ricci created a bunch of new stuff right away, but the others actually just added some stuff and never again :(

April 7, 2008 - So, after using this site for awhile now. I realized it’s real use: upcoming events. Besides the t-shirt page, this site hasn’t really been of much use. The calendar feature is useless – it’s just a calender template, no sharing, no repeating events, very web 1.0, maybe even web 0.7 beta. The photo page is ugly, and useless – also has a lot of catching up to do. But the upcoming events page, priceless. I can direct every listserv email to the upcoming events page for more info on every event, and even change details for times and places on the fly. And using google analytics, I can see that the readership of the upcoming events page skyrockets (comparatively) after I send out the emails. As Martha would say, “It’s a good thing”.

Blog

Cat's Win

Process Log

February 1, 2008 - Working on blog. What does one write on a blog? I'm pretty sure I don't have much to add to the mix. Hmm, I do enjoy drawing - maybe I'll include a few sketches in here. Maybe just find some awesome reddit posts and write about those.

February 26, 2008 - Thinking about the look. I like black and minimal, but not so minimal that it won't stand out at all. I just searched online for new templates, but most of them are a little too much and applying them takes away some of the functionality of my widgets and whatnot. So i made an awesome photoshop mash-up for my title, it'so a bunch of pictures i took while in budapest and innsbruck. Just like the title of the blog has no actual meaning or reference, the pictures don't either. it was really fun to do though. lots of layer effects and transparency stuff. good times.

March 16, 2008 - it's my birfday! blog, eh. not too impressed. again, i feel like i'm not really bringing anything new to the table. of course the audience for the blog is just the class though, and this kind of stuff doesn't cross their path that often....so it's like i have some new stuff to say, but no. I think if i had cool stuff to present i might have already created a blog for myself. i think i'll have good stuff one day, but now my mind and efforts are mostly on school work and the bleakness of winter in between. but yeah, today we did a video-a-thon for my birthday. we came up with this idea over martinis on thursday night: give each team a video camera and a list of ridiculous stuff to do. eg. secret handshake with cop, sit on roof, tic-tac-toe on state st. i got a quarter keg to start the party off. it went great and i've uploaded all the video footage to my computer. hopefully this will make it to the blog.

Exerpts

Mac people listen up, dump Firefox already [SafariStand's got your back]

Some great online comics

Undersea Optical Fiber is Awesome

Wiki Article

Green Walls

Process Log

April 15, 2008 - just got done editing the wiki article. not so much fun. it's a lot better now, even though i didn't add that much good stuff. but at least when people visit it, they'll have a better clue as to the definitions of what a green wall is compared to a living wall. the article was originally called "living walls", which doesn't encompass facade greening, which is vines on supports. hope no one gets pissed.

Capstone Essay

Often, it seems like the web is full. And not just full, overflowing. So before I add that one more comment, or that next post, I usually ask myself: do I really want to be that guy? The one absentmindedly standing at the pump while gasoline overflows around his feet? Are we all that guy? No, probably not. But you have to admit that there exists a very fine line between useful input on the web, and mindless chatter. I prefer to avoid mindless chatter in real life, so why would I want to participate in it on the web? I’d much rather add something of substance to the pot.

My brother used to tell me that in your writing, if a word or a sentence or a paragraph does not further your argument in some way, get rid of it. I think the same could very easily be applied to web writing as a whole: if your comment or post or entire webpage does not add useful content to the web, get rid of it. Web writing for the sake of web writing is missing the point. Putting words or media on the web means that you wish to share your ideas, interests, or news with a wider audience than would otherwise be possible. If your idea has already been hashed and re-hashed on multiple forums and you were too lazy to find them in a Google search, you become that guy covered in gasoline.

Let’s take one of my blog posts for example. I found the story of cut undersea optical cables in the mid-east really interesting. So I did some research on undersea optical cables in general, then combined it with some of the latest news stories about it. That post sucked. I could have said the same thing in about three hyperlinks. However, if I had drew up and scanned a picture of a mile-long Ethernet cable running from Memorial Library to my house (T3 internet!) and noted the similarities in the stories, it could have been a worthy post. Live and learn.

That being said, I think web 2.0 sharing and tech is a great advancement in the sharing of worthwhile ideas. And what better playgrounds for new web technologies than the college classroom. Having a class wiki like ours for all of my classes would have been priceless – sharing notes, fielding questions to your classmates, checking the schedule, posting powerpoints. Learn@UW makes an effort in this direction, but is not nearly as user-friendly or accommodating for non-tech-savvy professors, who tend to keep their pages very one-directional. Maybe they want it that way though,

Sharing on a wiki might undermine our current culture of learning – every girl for herself doesn’t apply anymore if you can collaborate on class notes and share study techniques effortlessly. I feel like most teachers are here to talk at you then put a test in front of you. Whether you learn the content doesn’t seem to be their main goal. Rather, their efforts seem to be aimed at finding out what letter they can put next to your student ID number (wow that’s bleak). Classrooms have become a place where we get rated. Pass or fail. Present or absent. A or B or C or D. You sit down in that lecture hall and the man (usually) standing at the front is right and whatever you think is probably wrong. (While this is not the condition in every classroom or every place of learning, it is a very common theme in modern schools.)

This type of thought is inherently contradictory to web writing. Much of the work I have done – even graded highly on – during my schooling, would most likely fall under the category of mindless chatter if they were posted to the web. The same information hashed and rehashed. If it could be said better in the book I read it in or on a webpage that already exists, why not just cut down a paper into a series of citations and hyperlinks? The reason is usually because you have to prove to your teacher that you have read and understood the text or lecture. Not to prove that you can take that information and use it to share a completely new idea. Collaborative spaces on the web are definitely a great way for students to self-teach and gain useful information from each other. But until the reason for connecting on the web becomes more than just an effort to stay afloat in a difficult class, real networking and useful web writing will not be achieved.

Gina's Portfolio

gina815 — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:32:14 CDT

Open Media Project:

Process Log 3/25: I just have begun thinking about the open media project and really want to make a video incorperating videos, pictures, and sounds that expresses my relationship with my mom. I thought this project would be fun to do as well as show my skills with imovie that I already am familiar with. When I am finished with this project I would love to give it to my mom for mother's day(something that would last forever!). I am currently in the process of getting everything I need together, which right now is just the pictures.
Process Log 4/5: So I tried creating an IMovie for my mom, and everything isn't go as planned. I don't have enough pictures for what I want. My digital camera doesn't have enough pictures of my mom and I do fill up the entire video. I also do not have my own computer so that is causing complications. I decided to do something else. I met with one of my professors from the communications department, and he said that I could use the computer lab in Vilas to do whatever I wanted. I decided to make a virtual map/tour of state street with using only pictures. I came up with this idea because i thought it would be interesting to express the realness/culture downtown madison has to offer. I had some pictures that I previously took this spring that I thought i could use. Considering I am only using pictures I thought that this project would be less time consuming and more simple than my last idea.

Process Log 4/28: I am almost done with my open media project! It has taken a little more time than I thought, but it was fun to do. It was different work than all my other classes so it kind of like taking a break from all my papers and exams that I have had. The cropping of the pictures was pretty simple and I did that in photoshop. Most of my time was focused on adding the transitions to the expanding pages. I also had a difficult time making expanding buttons work. For some reason they kept moving to different areas of the opening page, and would sometimes work and sometimes wouldn't. I also had a hard time downloading the final project to my usb port because of how large the file was. I am content with my final project, but I would have loved to add more interaction and animations as well as music to make it more interesting to watch and appeal more to my audience.

Interactive Map

Wikipedia Article:

Process Log 3/3: So I have decided to do my wikipedia article on a local brewery in Madison called Ale Asylum. Basically I chose this company because I was familar with their beers and was interested in finding out more information about them. I don't know that much about the company, so my plan now is to contact Ale Asylum and try to get information from them directly.

Process Log 3/20: I have tried to get into contact with Ale Asylum by emailing them a couple times, but still haven't heard anything back from them yet. If I don't hear from them soon I may have to choose a different topic to write about.

Process Log 4/5: I was able to complete my Wiki article, but I had to do it without direct contact with Ale Asylum. I was able to get most of my information off of their website and other local Madisonwebsites that have commented on Ale Asylum. I'm a little disappointed with the amount of information that I was able to include in the article. I wish I could have had more information to add to it. My basic guides were other brewery wikis such as New Glarus, and Leines. Unfortunately I couldn't find enough information to elaborate like the other wikis. At first I was having trouble passing the wikipedia standards because I was forgetting to cite my sources. I had to follow the step by step instructions on how to start an article that was provided by Wikipedia.com.

Ale Asylum Wiki

Research Paper:

Process Log 3/6: I've decided to write about something that really interests me. I love music, so why not write about it in relation to the internet and copyright which are issues that we have discussed in class. I took an internet class previous to this and we briefly talked about DJ Dangermouse and his mashup album called the Gray Album and wanted to look deeper into it, which is perfect for my research paper.

Process Log 4/5: I've decided to focus on the idea of copyright and mashups and relate it to Dj Dangermouse's Gray Album, instead of just focusing on the Gray Album. There just isn't enough information on The Gray Album to write a thorough research paper. While researching mashups and copyright, I have learned so much. I also sometimes get mad while reading about copyright because I just think those laws are stupid.

Process Log 5/4: I am almost done with my research paper. I have learned so much, but I am still confused about copyright. There are just so many laws and regulations that I never know how one could keep up. Also people go against copyright laws everyday and some people get caught and some don't. I don't understand how that works. Personally I think there should just be one copyright law and leave it at that. I strongly believe in the recycling of everything. Thats how our culture is and always has been.

Paper Trail:

Blog Posts:

Process Log 2/25: I am very excited that I finally have this opportunity to create my own blog, and I am glad that we can choose a topic that we are interested in. I chose travel because whenever I am planning on going on a trip I love to do a lot of research and planning before. It gets me excited and It's always better to get an average person's first hand experience instead of a travel company's or the destination website. I love to do things out of the ordinary on vacations, and I want to have a chance to help other people out, and give my own opinion

Process Log 4/4: My travel blog has somewhat gone off track since I first started it, but I still enjoy writing on it. When I first started my blog I had just gotten back from winter break and I did a lot of travelling then. During the semester I didn't really get a chance to do much of anything, and with the weather how it is, there isn't anything fun to talk about anyways. I still managed to figure out some interesting things to talk about however, and I got many responses which i enjoyed. I also enjoy writing on other people's blogs and see what they have to say. I also have learned a lot. I really like the political blog because it's a topic that I don't really like talking about with friends or family because it brings up a lot of controversial issues. With the blog I was able to say whatever I wanted(most of the time) and I would get respectful, honest answers.

Exotic Food Post
Atlantis/Camping Post
Spring Break Post (happy I got quite a few responses)

Capstone Essay:
I really enjoyed this class and everything that we had to do during the 16 weeks. Many of the projects and activities that we did, I probably would have never taken the time to do in my own time. I also did a lot of things that that were technology based, that I didn't think I ever could do. The main thing that suprised me during this course was that Wikipedia can be modified by anyone and everyone! I experienced however first hand that you can not just put whatever you want on a wiki article, and that it is closely regulated no matter what the subject it. Makes me look at Wikipedia differently in that I can be a reliable source. I enjoyed participating in an online based course because It allowed me to do things that many of the people around me had no idea about. I would tell my mom and friends about the things that I have been doing using the internet and they all seemed very impressed and interested. In a world so technologically based I think it is important to learn about these things. The one problem that I had was that I wasn't always around a computer. I also had some technical problems when trying to access wetpaint at times and my blog, but those were usually minor problems. I have previously taken a web based class and learned a lot of the same things that I learned in this class, but I found this class to be more useful and beneficial. The article based information by lessig and jenkins that we learned was more thoroughly taught and we applied their ideas and theories more to everyday activities, which I really enojyed. Considering this class was a comm b. course I thought that my writing has really improved. I thought it was beneficial to write about things that we were really passionate about instead of just being forced to write a 20 page paper. I have notice a change in my writing and I have noticed that it has become easier for me to put my thoughts out on paper than it used to be. I am really glad that we incorperated the peer review sessions to our research paper because it gave us the opportunity to see other people's ideas and have them give us productive criticism to our own ideas.

Yi Han's Portfolio

yihan96 — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:45:05 CDT

Wiki Article

Excerpts from Process Log

Feb 20, 2008
For my wiki article, I have pretty much decided on the biography of Dr. Adler. I am not sure if I should put it on Wikipedia or maybe on Wiscipedia. I will discuss with Rik about this. There is already an article about Adler on Wikipedia but I found it too brief. I intend to put up more information about Adler and the gist of the most important work that he has done. I will have to read up on the papers published by Adler and if possible, some biographies.

March 5, 2008
I am researching on Dr. Julius Adler. I found a short article written by Dr. Adler himself on how he got interested in his research work. This article is called “All because of a butterfly”. I also found an article in Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) classics that was a short biography about him and his work on bacterial chemotaxis. Both were very informative.

March 28, 2008
The wiki article was written based on information from his homepage, the 2 articles mentioned earlier (“All because of a butterfly” and JBC classics) and some of the papers published by Adler. I wrote the article on Microsoft Word before uploading it onto Wikipedia. I had some trouble with the syntax used in Wikipedia, so I had to keep referring to other articles when I tried to upload it onto Wikipedia. I also listed the references I used at the bottom of the page of the Wiki article.

Paper Trail: Wiki Article Proposal

Final Wiki Article: Julius Adler (biochemist)

Research Paper

Excerpts from Process Log

Feb 21, 2008
I am thinking of a theme that has to do with SMS or mobile phones. I want to base my research paper on mobile culture because I use mobile phones a great deal in my daily life. I went to a lecture by Mizuko (Mimi) Ito today. The lecture is “The Social Life of Mobile Media”. Her lecture described how her research followed the use of mobile devices by a group of people. While she presented mostly on the data she has, she also made a point that cell phones have led to no more need to cultivate personal relationships with the people surrounding you. The examples she gave were franchises such as Starbucks. In the past where mobile devices were not that common and coffeeshops were dominated by franchises, it’s usual to cultivate friendships with the coffee shop owner and you can rely on him to tell you if your friend has been there. With the use of mobile devices, you can just contact your friend yourself. I think this can be an example to use in my research paper.

March 22, 2008
I started writing my first draft of the research paper. It was easy to work since I already had a proposal. I tried to describe my ideas a little more, and supported it with examples I read from some books. The books that I am using are from Goggins and Ito. Also, while reading related articles online, I read about the term “mobile privatization” that was first coined by Raymond Williams in the 1970s. I think it fits well into my paper, but I will need to explain what the idea is about. There was also some modification to my original argument that people will use mobile phones to isolate themselves. That was somewhat of an inflexible argument. My interviews with college students showed that some may think using mobile phones in a public space is rude, so they avoid using mobile phones. However, they still tried to isolate themselves by listening to portable MP3 players. I think I am going to modify my argument into how people isolate themselves by using portable devices, not necessarily just cell phones. Nonetheless, it demonstrated the tendency of people to isolate themselves in public spaces.

April 28, 2008
I tried to modify my paper according to comments from the peer review session. I think the most constructive criticism is that my paper has stated some interesting points, but these points do not flow well. It gave a feeling of abruptness between paragraphs, as if I was emphasizing points that are irrelevant to each other. I tried reading it over a few times and I have to say that I think it is true: my argument does not flow smoothly. I rearranged it, and tried to link the various paragraphs together by making constant references to ideas mentioned in previous paragraphs. For this Final Draft, I also tidied up the references and sources I used.

Paper Trail:
Research Paper Proposal
Research Paper Proposal (with peer review's comments)
Research Paper First Draft
Research Paper First Draft (with comments): on paper
Research Paper Second Draft
Research Paper Second Draft (with comments)

Finished Product: Research Paper - Isolation through Connectivity

Open Media Project

Excerpts from Process Log

March 23, 2008
Spring break is over. I spent quite some time videotaping Murphy. It was harder than I thought because it is hard to catch Murphy doing all the funny stuff at the right moment. I needed time to turn on the camcorder and he would pause in whatever he is doing to watch me instead. The most ideal time is when he thinks I am asleep. I had to hide in bed with my camcorder and turn off all the lights, but in the end, I think I got most of what I need. I have about 40 minutes of raw footage, but a lot of them would need to be cut out because it was just recordings of him looking suspiciously at the camera.

April 13, 2008
I started editing the video today. I read online reviews that iMovie is the easiest to use, so I went to the DV stations in College library, and the staff there taught me how to transfer the video onto a Mac computer. They also gave me tips on the special and transitional effects that can be added to my movie. The movie is about 5 minutes long, but music has not been added yet.

April 28, 2008
I intend to present my Open Media Project for my oral presentation in class. The movie is mostly done; I rearranged the pictures and clips a little, and added music to it. Finding music for the clip was difficult mostly because my music collection is quite limited. The songs I have don’t seem to be suitable. In the end I decided on Le Festin which a movie soundtrack from Ratatouille. It seemed to fit the mood of the video that I wanted to portray, but the song was too short for the entire movie. In the end, I repeated the music. It doesn't make the movie look too bad.

Paper Trail: Open Media Project Proposal

Finished Product: MURPHY

Blog

Excerpts from Process Log

Feb 01, 2008
I created a new blog today for Eng 201. I was contemplating between using Blogger or Wordpress. Blogger appears to be more widely used, but most of the usernames are taken up, at least the ones I like are...so I would have to choose one I like followed by a long string of numbers. As for Wordpress, more user names are available, but I have never used it before, not sure of how the formatting and settings work. In the end, I chose Blogger since I have used it before, it would be easier for me to use. I used my old user name and created a new blog for this class. My first entry is about the name of my blog. I was thinking what should be the theme I use for this blog, but in the end I decided not to have a central theme. Instead I would blog about something that happened during the week. This blog would be a blog about my everyday life as a student.

Feb 24, 2008
I have posted several entries on my blog. In my posts, I have tried putting hyperlinks, putting pictures and embedding videos from YouTube. I think they make my posts more interesting than if my posts consist merely of words.

April 28, 2008
School is ending in a few weeks and I would be graduting. I wrote an entry expressing my feelings about having to leave a place that I have called home for the past 3 years. Having a blog has helped me expressed my sadness in having to leave. I am usually one who keeps emotions bottled out, and now it feels good to let it all out. I think I will continue blogging even after the class has ended.

3 Blog Posts:
My First Blog Post! (I learnt how to add photos)
Snow Day (I learnt how to embed YouTube videos)
My Very First YouTube Video (I embedded the first video I ever made)

Capstone Essay

This class was taken to fulfill my degree requirements so that I can graduate. I never really liked writing much, and I had envisioned a semester filled with tortuous writing when I first joined this class. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the different kinds of writing required in different projects and found the class extremely enjoyable.

The first project I did was blogging. I had kept a blog before, but never had the perseverance to keep it going for more than two entries. With this blog, because I had to post an entry every week, I found myself reflecting more on what I did each week so that I can find something interesting to blog about. As this is a class blog, it was unlike the rest of the blogs I have kept before. For other blogs, it was more like a diary and there was no particular audience, so the tone and language used was more informal. Sometimes, incomplete sentences were used too. For the class blog, I made a conscious effort to make sure I get my ideas across in a clear and understandable way. At first, I always had writer’s block while writing entries, not because I had nothing to write about, but because I was unsure of the tone to use. I wanted to use a more formal tone, but a blog is like a diary to me and it felt awkward if my tone was too formal. I overcame this problem by perceiving the blog as something I want to share with friends, not something that was going to be graded and the words came more naturally. At the end of this class, I found blogging an enjoyable experience for it has allowed to express myself. Even if no one reads it, it is still an outlet for my emotions, and I liked reading past entries and reminiscing what had prompted me to write that entry. I will most likely continue to blog after the class ends, but probably not on a weekly basis.

I think the most time consuming yet engaging project was the open media project. I did a video on a cat. This was unlike all other assignments I have ever done for any class as I got to choose the subject for my video. In fact, it did not even need to be a video. While there was not much writing involved, I felt it needed a lot of creativity and technical skills. After getting all the video clips and pictures, I was unsure of how I should fit them together or maybe even created a storyline for it. This called for major displays of artistic creativity using a computer program I have never used before. There was an instance when I was so frustrated I contemplated creating a webpage and just uploading every file onto the webpage. While this would have made the work easier, I felt that a webpage was not the right medium to use. Navigating a webpage would require more effort on the part of the viewer and would not convey the idea as compactly as a video would. I asked for my friends’ inputs on the order of the video clips and the music I should use and I got many wonderful suggestions. Most of the solutions to the technical problems were also found in online forums. After this class, I do not foresee myself making videos often, but I think I have learnt valuable skills from this experience. My Dad is an amateur photographer and likes capturing videos too. I definitely can see myself helping him create clips using iMovie and putting it on YouTube to share with family and friends.

The research paper was a taste of the English assignments back in high school where a draft was written and edited several times before the final version is submitted. The writing process was not new but the knowledge I gained through researching on my topic has made me a more informed person on the influences of mobile devices on our culture.

The wiki article was also unlike other assignments I have done before. For the wiki, I was initially unsettled by the fact my audience is no longer my teacher and my classmates, but potentially the entire world. I was very conscious of the words and tones I used, and double-checked all my facts before I wrote them into my article. When I posted my article on Wikipedia, I kept expecting it to be marked for deletion. I was really relieved when it stayed on Wikipedia up till now. This experience and our discussion on wikis had made me more aware of how collective intelligence is displayed through wikis and the accomplishments of Wikipedia. I was proud that I was able to contribute to Wikipedia, and will try to contribute to more articles in the future.

Over the course, there have been a lot of readings. The most interesting readings for me were those related to copyright issues. It felt relevant to me because I download music occasionally and the legality of music downloads have always been highly controversial. When discussing copyrights, it became clear to me that I cannot view copyrights conflicts in black and white; there are many grey areas where something that is legal just doesn’t seem right. Works should definitely be protected, but when it is for the continued monopoly of certain big companies, creativity is being stifled and it questions the existence of a free society. Our numerous discussions have prompted me to appreciate free expression of creativity in the new media.

My idea of writing has changed. Writing is no longer about expressing your ideas in a predetermined format with words. The research paper was more of this old school writing style, but writing is an expression of self and should be done in different mediums. I have learnt to write for a big audience (the Wiki article) and also to write for a smaller informal audience (my blog). I am glad I took this class because I have come away with writing skills that will be useful in my life.

Paige's Portfolio

Paige3 — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:39:13 CDT

Open Media Project
Open Media Project

Blog Posts
Camping Adventure
On The Loose
Bambi II

Wiki Article
Northern Lights Community School

Paper Trail for Research Paper
Proposal
First Rough Draft
Second Rough Draft
Final Draft

Process Log
Blogs
2-29
So, far my blogging experience is going well. I didn't choose a specific topic to write about each week, I decided I would just write about something I experienced within the past week. However, my first post called Camping Adventure was a past story from my childhood. I was able to put a Youtube video on one of my posts, I was really excited after I was able to do that. I didn't know if I would be able to figure that out, but I remembered from class and it was really easy. I decided to change the color of my font through out the story and stories because my eyes hurt when I read on the computer for even a short period of time so I thought this would help with reading on black. I like the way my blog looks. I try to match the color with the story, too, or by the tone of it. For example, when I talked about my frostbit ear, I made the font red, like my ear. I thought it was clever.
3-31
Since last time I have written four more blogs. I was able to add pictures to one of my blogs. It wasn't that difficult, like the video. It almost makes me think I can do anything on a computer. I never add to the internet so it's exciting. As I wrote on my Blogging blog I enjoy writing on it because it's a lot faster than writing. I used to write in a journal a lot, almost every night, and my hand always hurt when I was done. The only thing that is different is that I don't write about personal things. But, both ways I have written were random, just what I was thinking or what happened to me recently. I think some people like that randomness, unless you are looking for something specific, a topic for the blog. I think that allows you to find what you want to read about, though.
4-14
Today our last post was due. I was very satisfied with my blog and all the comments I got. Only one of them didn't have any comments. I'm really glad we had to do this because I've never really looked at blogs before this class. I don't know yet if I will continue to blog. I feel like I will once in awhile when I'm bored. It's more exciting when you know that someone is going to read your blog. I even got a comment on my use of color for my text, which made me happy because I really liked that about my blog.

Wiki
2-8
We talked more about ideas for our Wiki project today in class. I decided on doing a Wikipedia article on a charter school my dad works at.
RE: Ideas for Wiki articles . . .
Feb 10 2008, 11:22 PM EST
I was thinking about doing an article on the Northern Lights Charter School in Minnesota. They are a new school and just got a federal grant for I believe a couple hundred thousand dollars. They are continually growing and I think it would be a good thing for the school to be more well-known. I know all this because my dad works at it and is the one that got the large grant for the school. I will get information from him and the man that owns the school. I thought about just writing about the mission of the school and what they are all about and what they offer to the student.
4-4
I finally was able to talk to my Dad and get some information and insight about the school so I could write the article in a tone that the school would like to represented. I got most of my information from him; however, the same information was on the school website. I was also able to use another website that described some of the programs and teaching strategies. Actually, writing the artcle was not that bad, I was able to figure out how to write the article and found out similar topics other schools used to compare. I decided what topics were pertinent for this school by the information available. I posted my article and only half of it showed up. I wrote on my discussion as help me so someone would respond quickly. I guess all I needed was a backslash. Someone fixed it for me.
4-5
My article has been posted. It says it may not be credible or something, though. I think it's because I used some information from my dad, and so they were not able to find it on the internet. However, some of the other charter schools I looked at didn't even have references or citations. So, I'm not really sure. I didn't really know where to add the citations because they are at the bottom of the page. My dad read it and the director of the school, they both really liked it and said that it was written very well. The director, Dave, even asked how I wrote it like that when I'm not really even affliated with the school. I feel that it was a success because of their reaction, because it was ultimately their approval of it I needed. I hope it helps the school.

Research Paper
2-19
Yesterday I had my meeting with Rik, and we talked about possibilities for my research paper. I decided to use Lost as my topic and talk about transmedia storytelling. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to go about it but it will interesting because I like the topic.
3-7
I turned in my proposal today. I think I got a good start on it. I found some websites about the different media used to tell the story of Lost, which of course helped. I started out by talking about the overview of transmedia storytelling and how it pertains to Lost. I want to talk about all the different kinds of media and how they help tell the story of Lost.
3-28
I added my rough draft on google docs. I got a good start on the intro. I added sections about storytelling in the past and why I think it is beneficial to stories and how it adds to the excitement for fans. I looked into the idea of using AI intelligence as comparison, but I didn't really find any information I thought would be useful. The peer review today helped. I was able to compare my paper my others and get some ideas on organization for my paper to help make it flow better. I was able to talk to one of my group members doing the same topic about new sites and media that I was not aware of before.
4-8
My second rough draft is done now. I added all the media into my paper that I wanted to talk about. I think it turned out well. I didn't change the tense of the paper, yet. I feel like my paper is almost complete after a few touch ups. I will have to wait for some feed back and see what others think. I definitely need to re-read it over and make sure it flows nicely.
4-9
I finished my bibliography this morning. I tried to find more scholarly articles but I couldn't find them online. I don't know if I was searching wrong words or what. I do feel that my paper turned out really well. I discussed everything I wanted to except for talking to people about what kind of media they like the best. I never got around to completing that task. Overall, I'm satisfied and I'm glad I choose this topic because it made it all that much more fun and exciting.

Open Media Project
3-30
Our proposal is due tomorrow. I want to make a movie. I want to take clips of two movies and put them together to make another movie. I don't really know how I'm going to go about this but I'm sure there is some program that will help me. Maybe iMovie or Flash. We have talked about them in class before. We'll see. I'll look into it and figure it out after I talk to some people and go look at the programs. The audience will be intended for anyone, just enjoyment. Maybe I will be able to put in on Youtube.
4-21
We went into the computer lab today. I think iMovie won't work. I didn't really see how I would get clips of the movies although there was a clips section. I don't follow directions well with programs like this and the help features never really answer my questions the way I want them to.
4-24
I was able to download a dvd ripper on my computer and get a clip onto it. I think this project might work now. It's going to take me a really long time to do this. To isolate all these clips I want. I want to make a converstaion between two characters from two different movies. I think that would be fun.
4-28
So, now I can't get a second clip on my computer. And I can't figure out how to add them to actually make the movie. Now, my computer is at risk for a virus. So, I deleted the programs, I was trying to use AoA dvd ripper. I'm changing my project. I talked to a friend from high school about it and she gave me an idea of putting a bunch of clips together in like a slideslow of an object in different places. We did this to a friends pumpkin once in high school, we took pictures of it all over town on swing sets. It was funny. i'm going to add a song, too. I think Paralzyer by Finger Eleven. It's my ringtone; I like it. I hope this works.
5-6
I gave my presentation today. My project turned out good I thought. I learned in class that I could have used the wavelengths of the music to help with the timing of the pictures. The first part of it I matched the pictures with the beat, during the parts with words I tried to make the pictures correspond. For example, when the girl in the song moved right through him I had "the girl" get closer to him and then appear on the otherside as if she moved through him. Also, for parts where "she's standing the still" I held the picture of my "girl" in a frame, and another example is when he said he wished he was cool I had a picture of my bear with ice all over him. I thought it was funny. My roommate laughed. She actually helped me because I didn't have enough pictures and so she made the bear dance so help take up some time, which was actually kind of fun because then I was able to even figure out to put in the movie. It was a big accomplishment for me. The hardest part was figuring out how I was going to play it for the class on a pc. After almost an hour of trying to put it on youtube or emailing it to me, I had to get someone from the help desk in the library to help. We ended up sharing it, so it was in the .dv format and then put it on a disk. However, it was really slow on a pc. So, I came in early to class and someone else from the help desk showed me how to put it on the network - scratch. So, that's how I opened it up to show it in the class. It was a difficult process. It stopped once in the presentation, but thankfully it was able to start up again quickly without missing anything. If I could have changed anything about it I would have planned out the pictures better, and maybe have told the whole story, rather than using parts with random pictures and some parts that corresponded. But, in the end, I was proud that I was able to pull this off, and it was fun. Oh, and I seriously let it upload onto youtube for over two hours but it never did. I think I need it in a different format or something.

Capstone Essay
At the beginning of class, I wasn't really sure if I was going to like this class because I don't do much with technology and I had no idea what people were talking about half the time. But, then I got used to it and I was able to figure out blogger and how to wikis and how to send out documents on google docs and all seemed to work out. I actually enjoyed it and I feel smarter just for knowing it. I think my greatest accomplishments were my open media project video and writing the wikipedia article. Those were the most challenging for me and I was able to get them to work. I don't know if I will continue to use these capabilities I know have unless I need to because of all the work, but I'm glad I know how to. Blogging was a good experience for me as well. It was kind of fun to have something online like that and then be able to search the internet and find other peoples blogs and even the ones in our class to see what other people think about. Overall, I really enjoyed this class in the end and I'm really glad that web writing and participatory culture was our topic because I feel I learned more things useful to me than I would have in any other composition course. I feel it was beneficial to use the interenet for all our exercises because of how much it is expanding and how little I know about it. I even learned more things about one of favorite tv shows by writing my research paper. And I even made a wikipedia article!

Tina's Portfolio

Tina524 — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:15:52 CDT

Research Paper

Paper Trail
Proposal - Feedback
Draft #1
Draft #2

Process Log Excerpts
2/18/08
Well, because I don’t have much internet experience like others do in class, and I don’t watch the shows discussed in class, I decided on a topic that has to do with on-line dating. I feel that this topic should fulfill my objectives on how the internet is useful. This topic also interests me, and I feel if I would have picked another topic it wouldn’t be as interesting and it could turn out to be painful. After researching more and more about my topic I have decided to change my thesis. Originally I wanted to focus on-line dating with the stereotypical ideas presented about it,i.e.; your putting yourself in danger on the internet, you could be getting yourself killed, blah blah blah. I also wanted to touch on ideas that I found from researching, with my traditional sources, about how on-line communicating could take a toll on interpersonal interaction. After researching this more, and tuning into my own thoughts, I personally didn’t believe this, and so forth didn’t want to argue it or write about it. So, I changed my thesis. I decided that I wanted to focus my paper on how traditional dating has not disappeared and has not been voted out, but has become the second step of on-line dating. Unfortunately the research is still suffering, but my ideas and philosophies are prospering.

3/22/08
Wow, writing this paper is a lot harder than I had imagined. Not only am I having a hard time incorporating research but the writing is just not coming. I stare at my computer screen for hours and can’t seem to make it any better. I have about 5 pages of rambling and no concrete writing skills. I feel that I am drowning in this research madness. Because I felt this way, I made an appointment with the writing center. It helped a lot! I got my thesis straightened out and made great changes to my intro.

Finished Product
The On-line Dating Craze

Wiki Article

Paper Trail
Hand written proposal-with Rik

Process Log Excerpts
2/13/08
Searching for a topic to write my wiki article on is like a blank thought-nothing comes to mind. So I do what I know best-I looked at the interior design wiki and find to my greatest interest, that it is lacking. I'm so happy about this because now I have an idea for this project.

2/18/08
I'm interested in writing a wiki article, mainly so I can tell people, because they won't believe it until they see it. I wan't to focus my article on interior designing; including: a specific definition, education, working hours, earning, ect.

4/3/08
I'm not sure I'm writing my article right because for one I don't know how to insert links for words, and I dont know which words to even link? So I didn't do it. I feel that my headings are good and describe what I'm going to explain well. I feel that the information I'm adding is beneficial to wikipedia because this article is lacking, and now I'm making it stronger.

4/17/08
I just checked my wiki after a very long time of not looking at it. To my surprise someone is editing my work. What is good about this is the fact that they have made links (something I did not do). I'm really irritated that they went ahead and changed the headings I made for the subtopics in the article. They are unprofessional and do not match the rest of the page. I don't know why they would do this, it looks stupid. I'm changing it back.

Finished Product
Interior Design Wiki

Open Media Project

Paper Trail
Proposal

Process Log Excerpts
4/18/08
I really have no idea where to start. We met in the classroom today and then moved to the computer lab. I recieved some quick information about Flash from Rik, including info about the frames. I now know what the difference between a key frame is and a blank key frame. I also learned about the tweening option and how to add text.

4/21/08
I'm not excited about this project at all, I'm really stressed about it. I'm planning on changing my project to a youtube video presenting me making one of the projects I completed on my blog. I think this will be easier than an animation and I hope it will be a faster process.

5/5/08
My animation is slowly working. Meeting with Rik really helped a lot, and I feel a little better. Even though it's not the best and not so exciting I'm really happy that I'm doing this on my own and making it work. I was really scared that I wasn't going to get it done and I didn't want to present!! I was so close to giving up, I wanted to cry, but I'm happy I stuck with it.

Oral Presentation
Powerpoint

Finished Product
"The House"

Blog Posts

Take A Seat
Bathroom Business
Fingerpainting

Process Log Excerpts
2/4/08
Creating a blog is something I have never done. I actually have to admit that I have never read one before. Yes, I haven’t read one before, but I did know that people were creating blogs and communicating with others through their blogs. What I learned from class is that many people use blogging as an electronic journal. Many people use their blogs to filter out their thoughts and get feedback from anonymous bloggers or connected friends. There are also many special interest blogs that people create to share their ideas about subjects that they enjoy, whether it be politics, celebrities, food, or travel. Having the opportunity to create a blog for myself is exciting and yet nerve racking. I’m a very private person especially when it comes to my feelings and thoughts. I knew right away that I was not interested in sharing my everyday thoughts about specific things that happen in my life, so my idea is to come up with a crafty page, which shares my creations. I am an interior design student and am very interested in creating my own interior accents through creative projects. Usually when I have an idea I find a way to create it myself while not spending a lot of money. My blog theme is going to pertain to interior decorating ideas that I have completed and used in my own home. One of the objectives is to show people that you can make your own decorations without spending an arm and a leg.

2/10/08
I’m a little concerned about how I’m using my language to get my ideas across. While reading other peoples’ blogs from class, I noticed that they use a very casual language and it is fun and exciting to read. What I find when I try to write like that, it just sounds stupid. So far my only problem with blogging is this. I don’t know if I feel uncomfortable talking like them or what, my thoughts on writing a blog is more professional than casual and I don’t think it is suppose to be like that.

2/26/08
Concerning feedback and comments: people from class are very generous when it comes to comments. They post comments about how they like my ideas, and they also comment about things they have done or even magazines that show how to do simple projects at home. What I have noticed is that many of the girls are taking a liking to my blog and not many men. I understand why of course, but it would be nice to get some male feedback. Another thing I have noticed is that my readers would enjoy before and after pictures. What I never did was take pictures of the process or of the beginning and ending product. Before writing this blog I never thought I would be sharing pictures and actually giving a tutorial on how to do such projects, so I never thought of taking any pictures. It would also be nice to have before and after pictures as a way to prove that I finished my projects on my own. I feel that some people have doubt about my abilities and possibly think that I’m not completing the projects that I have finished.

3/2/08
I noticed that I have inspired other classmates to share their creative interior ideas. Cool.

Capstone Essay

Through out this semester of English 201 I have been forced to experience different types of writing and communication. This course has opened my eyes to experiences that I have never conquered before, and probably never would have if it wasn’t for the class. At first I was nervous to participate in these new ways of writing, but after experimenting I have come to find and understand the meaning behind it all. Learning and using the language for different types of media has made me appreciate all of the ways and techniques we can express our ideas and thoughts. All of the projects, excluding the research paper, were very foreign to me. Blogging was completely new to me because I never really experienced someone else’s blog, let alone creating my own. This was a great experience for me because it encompassed untraditional writing, which was something I wasn’t too familiar with. I actually had a hard time making my blog casual, but as the semester progressed it got a lot easier for me. Creating a wiki article is something really cool and memorable. I think the reason that it is so cool is because you can share your experiences with others that did not know about contributing to wikipedia. For me sharing these ideas with my friends was so foreign to them, that it made me feel special. I participated in something professional and technologically advanced. The open media project was a great learning experience. I learned new software and learned little skills on how to manipulate animations. I feel that this was a big step for me considering I would have never completed something like this if it wasn’t for the class. Over all I was pleased with the out come of my project and will always be able to say that I created an animation in Adobe Flash. On a final note, I appreciate what I learned in this class. As a person I don’t take much initiative to educate myself with the technological world I live in. For me it is stressful more than anything. Since my experiences I feel that it is possible to contribute to our culture through different sources of media. You can participate in practically any form of media by contributing criticism, analysis, and feedback. Reflecting on the experiences that I have encountered in this class has made the greatest impact to my learning. I can look back and see how I have progressed and know that I am becoming educated about the culture we live in, which is highly participatory.

Ryan's Portfolio

Ryan747 — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:55:37 CDT

Open Media Project

Process Log Excerpts
March 29, 2008
I was thinking about the open media project and had a couple of ideas that I couldn’t decide on. During winter break I had visited my grandfather and when I had arrived he was editing a video in iMovie. After finished with the editing he submitted it to YouTube and later his movie was accepted. Although I had a great amount of ideas this interested me to create a movie. Ultimately my main goal for this project would be to submit this created movie to YouTube. The YouTube and College Humor videos that I have found the most interesting throughout my extensive experience over the years would have to be stop motion. Through my open media project I want to appeal to college students so something that is funny or informative for students will be needed.
April 26, 2008
My roommates and I have just returned from taking pictures to compile for the stop motion video. There were a couple of difficulties that we had encountered through the photo shoot. I definitely did not pick the correct day to do this project because it was extremely frigid and windy today. Also we used my roommates newly purchased digital camera, but he did not have a rechargeable battery yet so we went through about 16+ batteries. The largest difficulty while shooting was the jumping scenes. The stop motion videos that I have watched in the past had made these scenes extremely fluid, but I am afraid that our pictures aren’t going to look as good since we had troubles synchronizing the jumper and the photographer. I will be editing the pictures in iMovie tomorrow so I’m hoping for the best.
April 29, 2008
I had basically completely edited the stop motion video on Sunday but when I arrived at the library today to make minor changes I found that my saved work had in some way been corrupted. Therefore, my simple changes that I had planned to do had turned into another complete project. I had some troubles with PhotoShop creating my credits, which had been the original edits that I had planned to do today. Ultimately I reached my original goal for this project of uploading a video on YouTube. I was just the first to viewer my video, but I am not very pleased with the quality that YouTube converted it to. I think I will try to research and try to upload the video again in hopes that it will have a higher quality.

Paper Trail
Open Media Project Proposal
Stop Motion Script
Open Media Presentation

Finished Product
Open Media: The Art of Stop Motion

Nikki's Portfolio

mermaidmartini1 — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:26:57 CDT

Open Media Project
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/xythoswfs/webui

Research Paper
http://mermaidmartini2.blogspot.com/2008/05/internet-breaking-down-musical-barriers.html

Blog Log
http://bloglog77.blogspot.com/

Wiki Article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Broussard

Drafts of Paper and Summary of Semester
On Google Docs

Rodney's Portfolio

Jetboot3 — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:07:48 CDT

Capstone Essay
Open Media Project
Wikiarticle
Blogposts
English Final Draft
English Draft
English Draft
English Draft
English Draft

Robin's Portfolio

Robinlady — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:23:09 CDT

Open Media Project:

Process Log:
Process Log: 3/10
I’m throwing around some different ideas for my open media project. I think it would be cool to put a video on You Tube but I think it will be much more challenging than I imagine. I’d like to do something kind of humorous for sure, but I guess I’ll explore some other possibilities. Maybe some kind of movie?

Process Log: 4/1
My mind is pretty flustered with ideas for my open media project. Originally, I though it would be neat to do a You Tube video but I’m pretty sure that is above my skill level. Rik said it was okay to do a poster, but I feel like that’s a cop-out and everyone else will have done something technologically savvy. I asked my roommate what she thought and she suggested something about a Photoshop project; that could be cool. I’ll have to play around with it a little and see if I could handle the task.

Process Log: 4/27
I decided on a Photoshop project. Originally, I thought about doing the project about propaganda in the media and how technology and computers have influenced it with forged photos and whatnot. When I started looking online for some base knowledge I started to get a little distracted and mainly browsed advertisements and campaigns. Then I changed my mind and decided to do the piece on advertisements, maybe an anti-smoking ad or something. Then I decided to take it from the other direction and do a pro-smoking ad. That way I can see how magazines can alter photos and make people so attractive. So I’ve finally settled on my project. I’m making a pro-smoking ad using Photoshop.

Paper Trail:
Project Proposal:
For my open media project, I’d like to continue to work on the subject my research paper is based on: WebMD. I think it’s a really interesting site and it’s fun to see what it can really do. I’d like to use an example illness, I haven’t chosen one yet. I would then like to use the symptom checker on WebMD to see where the information I provide about my condition will lead me. I think it would be an interesting way of testing out the site to see how accurate it could be. One weakness I am somewhat concerned about is my inability to use this medium to research more illnesses and correctness issues. I could try this experiment with a few different conditions to see what kind of average I get as far as correctness goes, but I obviously can’t identify this for a majority of the illnesses out there. When it comes to health, you can’t really have an ‘average’ score regarding how many diagnoses were correct; if a major illness or condition is unidentified, it could be fatal.
I think the information that I need to obtain for this experiment will be fairly easy to come by. I will need a credible medical dictionary or encyclopedia to teach myself about certain conditions. I’ll obviously need the WebMD site to check my symptoms and then I’ll need some sort of medium to display my results. I’d like to make some sort of poster display that has some pictures of the site and some written material that displays my results.

Original Photos:
These are just three out of the eight photos I took for this project. I didn't display them all because they pretty much look the same and it would just take up a lot of space.

Finished Open Media Project:
(sent to Rik, I couldn't fit it on this page.)

Wiki Project:
Process Log:
Process Log: 2/11
I’m preparing to start writing my wiki article soon. I don’t know if how I want to go about it, but I think I want to use Wikipedia, just because I am more familiar with it than with the other sites we’ve discussed. I would kind of like to write a new wiki article that doesn’t exist, but I guess we’ll see how that goes. I’m thinking about writing about chiropractic or something related to that.

Process Log: 3/24
I’ve already met with Rik about my wikipedia article proposal and he had some good ideas. Unfortunatly, I’ve researched chiropractic on Wikipedia and there is not much to add to the site, so I think I’m going to look at doing something else medicine-related. WebMD is a pretty interesting and well-known site so I’m hoping to write about that on Wikipedia.

Final Wiki Article:
Web MD wiki article

Blog Posts from "See You Robin":
February 17th blog post
March 30th blog post
April 13th blog post

Process Log:
2/18
This week I decided to write about my life… again. I broke up with my boyfriend so I’m glad I can vent into this blog that no one immediately close to will read. I hope I can get some feedback from some outside sources. I really feel like crap and I feel like this blog is like a journal that can talk back.

3/31
I’m glad I could write about something funny this week, it gets a little intense when I always write about the crazy things happening in my life. That was also the weirdest thing I’ve experienced so far in Madison and I’m excited to share it with everyone. This is my favorite blog so far!

4/13
I’m so glad I got to share my awesome weekend with my readers this week! I had so much fun and I’m glad I have it documented now so I can go back and remember how much fun I had this semester. I really like sharing my good experiences with everyone; I think that me writing about them makes me appreciated them more and relive them a little.

Research Paper:
Process Log:

3/3
My research proposal is due this week. I’ve decided to write about WebMD and talk about its importance to society and the benefits it has. I think it’s a topic with a lot of potential. I’m a little concerned because I’m not sure what to focus on exactly, but I’m sure I’ll work that out as I research it more and get a draft going. I’m actually excited about this topic, just because I think WebMD is such and interesting site and I’ve used it in the past.

3/20
I’ve gotten a good start on my research paper, but I was right about the concern I had at the beginning of the project; I don’t know what to focus on! Its supposed to be a longer paper so I can definitely focus on a few things but there is just so much information that I’m overwhelmed by it and I don’t know how to organize this. I’m glad we are doing peer reviews, its always helpful to get someone who hasn’t seen the work before to comment and give their input.

Final Paper:
WebMD: The Free Doctor
Works Cited

Capstone Essay:
I really enjoyed the semester of English 201. It was not what I expected at all. I signed up for the class because I needed a writing emphasis course and this fit into my schedule, so honestly, I hardly read the course description before I registered. I was really excited when the class started and I realized that it wasn't just another English class where I have to read crappy poetry and analyze it, but it was still a challenge.
It was really hard for me to get used to writing for a class and not have to censor everything I wrote. When I wrote my blog I could just write what and how I wanted to write, and I really enjoyed that for a change. I liked the kind of writing I got to do and I liked being able to choose my topics. I've definitely realized how great of an impact the Internet and technology have had on society and I owe that to this class. Prior to discussing, reading and writing about it I really took all of the opportunities that are available and advancements for granted. Writing my research paper especially helped me realize how much of an impact the web has on nearly every aspect of our lives.
I enjoyed the central projects of this course and I think they really helped me gain a better understanding of communication and technological impact. For instance, I was not even familiar with the term "blog" prior to this class. I can now understand and utilize the idea of a blog for my own benefit and achievement. I hope to continue writing in my blog after this class has ended; I feel like it's a good way for me to journal my concerns about life.
The project that I feel influenced me the most was the open media project. I was able to understand the techniques the media can use to sway our opinions. I really enjoyed making my advertisement because I don't get to do many projects that require simple creativity and fun programs like photo shop. I hope to use photo shop again in the near future, even if it's just for fun.
I'm planning on using my knowledge about wikis to make one for my family. I got the idea from class and I think it's an excellent way share information and collaborate with my family. I'll probably use wetpaint, just because I've used it before and I know how it works. I think it will be a challenge to explain the concept of a wiki to my parents and older relatives and I expect to encounter some blank stares and questions. I'm okay with that because the wiki concept is pretty far-fetched for generations who didn't grow up with the Internet and constantly changing means of collective intelligence and collaboration.