Andrew Mullikin

COMM 440

1. Ndirangu Wachanga

4-29-2018

What Have I Learned

This is an interesting question in my opinion. This question is all opinion base and everyone in the class can have different answers and they could all tie into each other. I learned a few things within this class and one of the things would have to be how we look at new communication technologies. I also learned a lot about memes and how they have changed over the years. The lecture on memes made me learn about spreadable vs viral.

New communication technologies have been popping up all over the place lately and have had an impact on us all in different ways. One of the projects you talked about that someone did last year was the way uber has changed college kids and the bar scene. Uber has made it easier for people to go to the bars and always have a ride home. They never have to worry about walking or driving now because they can always open up a app and get a ride. This is amazing for people that like to go out and enjoy themselves because it always will guarantee a ride home for someone. The reason why this app is amazing is because it keeps people off the road that shouldn’t be driving on the road.

The meme presentation was very interesting and a very interesting way of looking at media and how it spreads and how it becomes viral. Spreadable means that you can change something and make it your own. I think spreadable means that you can relate to this meme in some way and like I said you can change it to make it your own. Viral to me means that it is being spread around all sorts of platforms and is gaining so much attention. Twitter and Reddit seem to be the place where all memes either start or die at. Memes are easily spreadable and can become viral within days. Our project we did was the dark kermit meme and this is by far one of the best because everyone can relate to it. We all have said one thing and our dark side has tried to tell us to do something different.

Most of the new technologies these days are all trying to be connected together in some way and I think that all communication platforms are trying to merge into something similar. It was interesting to look at how “stories” are becoming a new thing within all platforms. Snapchat started this and then Instagram and Facebook followed them shortly after. I think all platforms are trying to become one super platform, although that wouldn’t happen I feel like they are trying to compete with each other and bring in something from another platform. We all have used some of these platforms at one time in our lives and we will continue to use them because of the constant accessibility it provides us. Example would be how I have Xbox Live friends from all over the country that I have never met in person but I have them on facebook and talk to them daily. It just goes to show you what technology can do in the modern world.

I really enjoyed this class not just because we did a project on memes but we actually learned something about memes. I like how you try to teach a relatively interesting topic and made it your own. You didn’t follow some boring textbook and you took your own approach into this class and taught it how you wanted to teach it. I really enjoyed how we got to talk about new technology and how communication is changing day to day within our lives. You obviously are very passionate about your job and it shows when you teach. I think when you talk about topics in your class it isn’t like you’re pulling information out of your ass. Everything is so thought out and methodical.