New Communication Technologies

https://streaming.uww.edu/#/videos/7db78c4f-f702-4974-9706-9844c9163240

https://streaming.uww.edu/#/videos/e0e99fe4-2a04-4d47-81e8-adf49906683c

Evil Kermit Meme Presentation

After reading “Facebook’s Identity Problem” by Jessa Lingel, I completely understand why drag queens or anyone who feels more comfortable under another name would get upset about this issue.  It isn’t fair to have someone use a name that they might not be comfortable with.  For me, my first and last name are something that I am comfortable with and I feel OK to share it so my social medias, but I realize that others might not feel the same way.  I think that Facebook made the correct decision to publicly apologize and to get rid of their “real name policy” which stated that uses may have only one profile, and it must be their given name.

It was interesting to read that Mark Zuckerberg once suggested that having more than one online identity indicated a “lack of integrity”.  I am going to assume that this is just an outdated opinion because if he still believes that today, than that is a very closed minded and selfish outlook on life.  He would have no respect or understanding about people who don’t always go by their name, but this is why we are talking about this now.  At the beginning when he had this opinion, it shows why drag queens and others would have their pages deleted.  It shows that there was always that slight intent at the beginning, but I am sure now that is all behind the company.

While reading though the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, it really forced me to stop and think about just how much I glaze over readings.  I spend so much time getting the basic understanding of what I am reading instead of actually taking the time to sit down and understand the material.  It is reassuring to know that I am not the only one who gets lost in the words sometimes.  I have experienced times where I think I read an entire page, only to have to reread it just because I didn’t actually understand what I read.  I will go through too quickly and just read the words, not understand the meaning.

It is true that we rely on the internet too much.  If I have any question in the galaxy I can just google it and within seconds I will have my answer.  We have become lazy with our quest for knowledge, only going as deep as a google search sometimes instead of actually learning about the subject matter.  Sometimes we get so lazy that we just call on Siri to tell us the answer to our question.  Things like this are things that we take for granted and abuse.  Bruce Friedman was quoted saying, “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print” and I couldn’t agree more.  I feel like reading something longer isn’t worth the while anymore and that is pretty sad.  As long as we as humans don’t rely on technology to answer all our questions, we can stay smart and active in our quest for knowledge.

Twitch.tv is a live streaming platform where creators have free reign to produce any type of content they wish.  Even though gaming is the most popular topic for the site, there are hundreds of other types of streams including but not limited to: music, game development, art, food and many more.  I wanted to see if sites like Twitch.tv had potential to rival television networks.  I wanted to interview a wide range of people who either were involved with the site themselves, knew about the site, or had no clue what it was.  Being able to have such a wide variety really allowed me to get a better understanding of my topic.  The biggest misconception of Twitch.tv is that it is solely for gaming.  From the information I received through my interviews, it seems that if people had more knowledge of the non-gaming side of the site, they would consider using Twitch more often.  Most people who are gamers have explored the non-gaming side but choose to stick to what they are familiar with.  In the audio interview with Valerie Glowinski, it brought to light the fact that some people don’t even know that Twitch is a free site.  She mentioned that she would prefer to stick with TV because it was familiar and was what she grew up with.  Humans don’t enjoy change and prefer pattern and routine.  This seems to be the big issue that Twitch will have to deal with if it ever wanted to compete with TV networks.

People who were more involved in the Twitch community explained that they enjoy the interaction that live streaming brings.  Twitch has a chat system that allows the viewers to be able to communicate with the streamer.  This is something that automatically allows people to feel a stronger connection to streamers they enjoy, like the way people love their local news anchor.  The major difference is that it would be much harder for an average joe to be able to communicate with their favorite news anchor, while a Twitch viewer can easily talk and have a conversation with the streamer they are interested in.  Having a community also brings a sense of connection that television can’t provide.  Of course, there are fans of a show, but unless you go online or are with friends, you can’t just talk to others about what is going on in the show at that exact moment.  Since Twitch is a live streaming site, it allows in time reactions and immediate communication.

Overall, Twitch has a long way to go before it can rival television, but live streaming sites do have potential to be a worthy competitor just because of the fan base and the communication.  Television networks shouldn’t just brush off sites like Twitch because they are able to cover more content at the incredible price of free.  Viewers have the choice to support which streamers they want without having to pay for all the streamers they don’t want to watch.  There is potential for live streaming sites like Twitch to compete with television as long as they keep growing as strong as they are.

I was lucky enough to be born at the time where newer technology, like computers and smart phones, was just starting to take off.   I was able to grow up without having to rely on the internet.  My mom used to tell me that she would have to start writing down all the random questions I was asking her because she wanted to learn the answers too someday.  It surprises me just how easy it is now to get information just by pressing a few buttons.  When we got our first computer, an old Dell, I wasn’t allowed to use it at the time.  Seeing kids today already having their own iPhone and such really shows how times are changing.  When I was finally allowed to use the internet, there was one website that I was obsessed with and I still visit daily.  That website is YouTube.

I started watching YouTube videos back in 2008.  Old YouTube stars like Smosh and Jenna Marbles were just starting to take off and hitting one million subscribers was a huge deal.  I would come home from school every day and used the time I was allowed on the computer to watch YouTube videos.  This became my normal.  I would spend any spare time I could just watching videos.  It started to impact my grades at the time as well because I would stay up very late just to keep watching.  I would stop doing homework or just try to finish it in the morning.  I have developed better watching habits now a day, but I used to be completely addicted to this idea of watching people make videos.  I would watch comedy skits and people making parody videos.  The internet was so new, and people were exploring what they could make to get people to watch.  Viral videos would be cats, people singing silly songs, or just making random things.  It feels like it is much harder to “go viral” currently because of the way our society has changed its views of the internet.

I use YouTube daily.  I enjoy a lot of different content on the site as well.  I stay up to date by watching news related videos, I watch people make compilations of Vines and popular video games that I play, and I even enjoy makeup videos.  I can find something to watch depending on the mood that I am in.  About 60 hours of videos is uploaded every minute, which means that if I want to watch someone decorating a cake, I could easily find over one thousand videos instantly.  YouTube gives anyone the chance to become famous or at least try.  I really love the fact that there is a community for everything on YouTube.  I am a person who plays a lot of video games, loves to DIY, watches anime, and cooks.  There are hundreds if not millions of different channels that I could find for each of those interests.  This site gives people the chance to be involved with all the things they love, conveniently and all in one place.  It also brings communities together that might not have always been.  People who are into skateboarding are now able to find other people interested in skateboarding just by watching videos about skateboarding.  It feels so easy to meet people who have similar interests which is something that was not always possible.

I called my dad, who is 57 right now, on the phone asking him if he knew any famous YouTubers.  After about 5 minutes of him thinking and guessing movie stars instead, he mentioned an interesting change between his and my generation.  He told me about how the tire company, Bridgestone, explains how to change a tire on their website.  There are two diverse ways they do this.  First is a video showing step by step instruction, while the other is it written out step by step.  My dad explained to me that he would much rather print out the written version and have it with him while he did it, while he knew that I would much rather watch the video if I had to change a tire.  It really made a lot of sense and it was interesting to finally notice.  My dad has always been a “let me read the instructions” kind of guy and I used to hate that about him.  Watching videos was always the easier way and I never understood why my dad was so against it.  But it was interesting to realize that younger generations would much rather watch a video, which is kind of the effortless way out, over read them.  This might help explain why DIY videos are so popular online.  It could also help show people if doing the DIY is even worth it or if you should get it done professionally.

The thing I love most about how YouTube has become more mainstream.  People talk about famous YouTubers the same way they would talk about famous movie stars.  The older generation of people don’t always see YouTube as a successful future, but to the younger crowds, YouTube is the platform where anyone can become famous.  I used to get made fun of for being a fan of YouTube, but now, I can mention the name PewDiePie and almost everyone is familiar with that person.

All in all, YouTube is something that I have been heavily involved with for a little over 10 years.  The way the site has changed from a comedy posting site, to the most popular and a well-respected video viewing site, really shows how our society has been changing and how we use modern technology for all types of purposes.