The World At My Fingertips!

“… the Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life…”  - Andrew Brown

I have realized as I looked back on my pervious posts I touched based on technologies that I mention “over power” my life. Well luckily for me I was missing one more thing… the Internet! (boom boom boom) Yes that’s right, that overpowering can’t get off, still searching something feeling! Believe it or not guys, the Internet is worse then you really think it is.

            When I actually began to think about the Internet, it truly is terrifying how much the Internet takes over my life. Whenever I am near any sort of computer the very first thing I look at is… does it have Internet? If it doesn’t, well let’s just say you will no longer see me sitting there! However, let’s just say this computer was well equipped and did have the internet up and running, then you would a) see me there, and b) right click that mouse and log into the high-speed internet. And come on; don’t think i am the other one who do this! You are all at one point in life, spotted at the same position I was in! We all feed for this new, highly equipped media! And the funny thing about this all is that you, whoever ends up reading this is on the Internet! Weird eh! But, this is the new and advance way to do assignments… just post them up on the Internet!

We all know is that technology works in such mysterious way! Don’t you think?

Well, McLuhan mentioned in the end of his Playboy Interview that the he couldn’t have thought about any better media than the Internet! Very true, the Internet allows us to search the worldwide web on anything, and I mean anything! And it’s just from the click of a mouse. In addition, it gives us the opportunity to communicate with people around the world! However, when you really begin to think about how great it is you begin to think how bad it can be! We are completely isolating ourselves to this simple way of communicating, this easier way of getting information! It is has led us to be inactive, and uninvolved with ourselves. It is a segregating medium, but at the same time an integrating one as well.
Like I’ve said, we can search anything on the worldwide web and just sit alone with no care around us, because technically we are getting ‘informed.’

            Well as I think about it, when I go onto the internet I feel more update to on my life, but other times I feel as hopeless ! And that’s when I can’t decide; can I live with out it? I don’t think I can, because it has becomes a necessity of my life, I check the Internet weather it may be on anything or everything I want to know about something! And yes I suppose it can be very helpful, but it just becomes another medium that takes up another part of my day!

So I guess in the end we really all know the Internet is so big, so powerful and yet so pointless!

Cheers … the 6 are final completed! Roger that!  

The Footprints of My Life!

The journey of life guides you through experiences in which you live and you learn; you win some and you lose some. Every step taken is essential when deciding which path you want to eventually end your journey in.

            I have taken many life changing steps in my life which have lead me to different paths. As I am about to take my next step in deciding what I want to do the for the rest of my life, I look back at the footprints I have made. They are steps which have shaped my life and if I hadn’t taken them, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. So, here is a little piece of advice, to all the people that are reading this blog, that are moving on their next step into life: Get involved! Yes this must seem like a very broad statement, but it is the concept of life that allows an individual to be engaged with not just themselves, but the world around them too. I’ve been involved with the community my whole life, if it’s not the small food banks that my local community does, then it is to the community events that I have created for many.

Volunteerism is defined as: “the policy or practice of volunteering one's time or talents for charitable, educational, or other worthwhile activities, esp. in one's community.” This is the concept of being able to help others in any way you can. Haven’t you heard of the saying, “Give a helping hand to the people around you”? Well if you haven’t already, then here is the time to start! It not about putting your needs first, it’s about taking time out of your own life to help someone in theirs. It truly is a policy of practice; weather its holding the door open for someone, or serving soup at a homeless shelter, these are all acts of getting involved.

Personally, volunteerism has played a big part in my life ever since I was little. I was brought up in a community in which helping others was not something you had to think twice about doing; it was more of a reflex in our subconscious. Sure, I get involved with the small things, such as donating to charities, or giving my time to this up coming election. However, looking at the big picture, I am involved with even bigger organizations, for instance my youth group. This service includes many different concepts all within itself such as communication and publication. The concept of volunteerism itself is so universal that it applies to so many different aspects of the world. 

So just as I said before, every step you take in life is crucial in choosing which path you will end your journey in. As my elementary teacher once told me, “To be smart will leave you with one door to open, but being social and getting involved will leave you with the option of choosing which door you want to open.”

 Cheers... to orange juice! 

     Happy Blogging!

 

The What and How of Advertising!

*In order to view this post... YOU MUST Go to this LINK***

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U  

Here is an advertisement that many viewers can relate to. I decided to choose this certain ad because not only did I find it meaningful but how this certain commercial can convey so many different meanings.

However I decided to over look what the real message was and to simply think about what is it main focus and main point! Yes we all know when watching this commercial, we see a women becoming transformed and how we are becoming fooled with the technology we live in, but like Neil Postman said “ How we know is what we know,” So maybe we know what already is known, its just accepting what we know is the challenge.

      When having to analyze this certain ad I had no idea what direction I should take, but having watched it over and over I began to think about what, what is really the message? and how do I see this message?  Well relating back to Ian’s lecture on Semiotics and the terms connotation and denotation. These two words convey two important purposes of interpretations, of what is said (denotation) and how it is said (connotation). Alright so, when looking at this commercial I thought about these two words and noticed that what was being conveyed was the fooled notion that each viewer would get when noticing an ad of a beautiful person and how it is conveyed by an example showing how our perception of beauty is distorted.

In this case the signify is the viewer (me) and how I use this certain commercial to understand what I think about it, and the signifier is the concept that we imagine or think about.

So when looking at this commercial we can take it in many different approaches, how we see it and what we see in it!

Each little thing shown in that commercial means and contains meaning. The different hands that are shown can be seen as the different ways our society is always changing, how each hand symbolizes a change; if its them changing her changing, or applying make-up to her face, it symbolizes a change in what we see and how change is everywhere! Also take the word that is mentioned: Evolution, and how it is recognized for its powerful portrayal of unrealistic views of beauty in the media.

So this simple ad is portraying a protest to stop this unrealistic view of what beauty it supposed to be but the mindboggling thing about this all is that it is still a commercial or advertisement that is selling … Dove! Now what can we say about this? Is it really just an ad that is portraying one thing but supporting another, or its portraying two things but none really know? So what is being advertised?

Now that is a question that only you can ask yourself! What catch’s your attention? All I know, is what I see, is how I see it… so what do you see and how do you see it?

 Hope All Is Well! =) Kudos ! 

 

The Gate of Mass Media!

  For this third post, we were asked to example our understanding of the simple and general term mass media. Well didn’t this take me long to understand! It took me about 3 days to really look into what this term meant to me. I completed all my other posts and this one was the very last one I came back too. So here I am, thinking about this simple, but broad term and what it means to me. So my first insistent was, what is the definition for Mass media? :

Dictonary.com states:

-         Noun, plural mass media.
- Any of the means of communication, as television or newspapers that reach very larger numbers of people.

       Well according to that definition, mass media is any medium used to transmit mass communication. From the radio, to the Internet, mass media is used to transmit mass communication. So now the real question is, what is Mass Communication? Well what we do know, is that mass communications is usually understood to relate to newspapers, via radio, television, magazines and film, as they are all used both for disseminating news and for adverting.

But when I think about the term mass media, I generally think about media taking over the world. Look at our world and what do you see? Media. Okay, but now what type of media? If it’s not an average day- to-day cell phone in one persons hand, then it’s the newly modernized Mac pro in then other. I look at the word Mass media, and quickly think about the different types of media that over powers our world.

   As mentioned in Week 3 in our Lecture, Ian talks about how technology is everywhere. We create our own technology, our own certain type of media. If its from our digital alarm clock that wakes up at 5 in the morning, to our morning news. Media over powers our life and we all know it!  As McLuhan claimed “ We ought to take the same point of view about media: they are neither blessed nor cursed, only that they are HERE.” Exactly, media is here and it’s not stopping, but why? Simple answer, us! We create this new over powering life, we are the cause as to why media over powers our lives.

   However, we are just the simple characters that impose and create mass media. When is someone using their cell phone, to someone seeing the news on television, to out teacher showing us clips on youtube, we are being presented to the masses of mass media.

    So what is confusing about this term? Why did it take me so long to understand? Well the question isn’t simple. My way of looking at mass media might not be right, yes its why own opinion, but not everyone’s opinion can we right. So what is mass media? That’s where the confusion lies. None really thinks about the term “mass media,” because we generally think that whatever is brought to us or even discussed is media. In Playboy Interview, Marshall McLuhan speaks about his definition of media and mentions “ Media is broad, includes any technology whatever that creates extensions of the human body and sense….societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media with which men communicate.”  And there lies the great power of mass media, it has the power to change and shape a society and influence a great number of people.

   So now I go back and ask myself, do I understand this term? Well I think I touched based on many things, and made an attempt, however what I found out is that I am aware that I am apart of this mass that this media reaches out too.

   So in the end I come to an understanding that mass media is the gate that opens the channel of communication, but that we are the masses that choose which channel of communication we want!

Aur Revior!

Happy Blogging! 

"Technology will NOT stop us from feeling!"

From Toronto to Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, devices such as the cell phone are familiar icons of modern culture. Overtime I have realized, people all over the world are hungry for contact and communication with friends and family; which is a universal human quality that helps explain the cell phone’s popularity. These so called "devices" don't need a fancy keyboard, or even a person who is educated; they're simply ways to talk to people in whatever way, form, or language they want - an activity that well translates well across culture. 

When looking at the "cell phone" and honestly thinking about what's it's purpose, I simply thought - interaction with everything and everyone. Its purpose is to reach the needs and desires of everyone. The word purpose means “ the reason for which something exist or is done, made, or used,” the purpose of a cell phone is the reason of why that certain piece of technology is made; it exists because it was made, it is used because it was created. This piece of media serves to million, maybe even billions of people as either their main purpose in life; without them they would be dead. This little piece of technology over powers life, because really it becomes life.

 Speaking from experience, my cell phone is always attached me to, without it I would be totally lost. Why? That question I think might just be the hardest to actually answer, but if I had to come up with something to explain why, it would be simply, because I have been sucked into this “media ecology.” Neil Postman mentioned in his novel  “The Humanism of Media Ecology,” that, “ Technology would not stop us from feeling…it will allows us to grow,” and that is exactly what is happening. Technology becomes us, it is us, and it will continue to grow inside and outside of us, because when our world grows so does everything around us.

- With one piece of technology a whole world is created around us. 

Cheers!

 Happy Blogging!