Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Convergence Culture Chapters 4 and 6
Ch 4
1. What is the difference between interactivity and participation?
2. Is the mixing of folk and commercial culture a new thing? What are some historic and contemporary examples?
3. What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
4.Why is the Web important to digital filmmakers?
Ch 6
1. What is the key to viral marketing, according to Garrett LoPorto?
2. What does it mean to say that the transformation taking place is from "culture jamming to blogging.
3. What is the the cultural significance of The Daily Show?
4. What are monitorial citizens and how does The Daily Show cater to them?
5. Why are online communities that are created around popular culture important politically?
Monday, October 26, 2009
Facebook Assignment
Friends #2: This friend is more active on facebook than friend #1. She usually updates her status 3 to 4 times a week. A lot of her wall post are from the same group of friends. They normally are small one liners that seem like inside jokes. She sees this group of friends usually everyday, but keeps in touch with them on facebook constantly as well. She is very involved with albums and photos in general. She has over 700 photos tagged of her. She also has over 700 friends as well. A lot of her groups are relate to very random things in general, with a lot of "i lost my cell phone and need numbers" groups. Her profile pictures usually involve her with other people in them (close friends).
Friend #3: This friend is highly active on facebook as well. She has mobile access to facebook, and will update her status daily. She has a lot of wall post daily as well. She looks like she keeps in touch with a range of different people. I don't believe she really knows ALL of her friends (she has over 1000). He face book pictures are usually just of her, but all look like they were taking at a party or bar. She is very outgoing and it really shows on facebook as well. She is a part of many different group types, and it looks like she just joins whatever comes to her. I know she also has a lot of photos usually tagged of her, but it look like they are currently taken down. Her status updates are usually concerning her mood or something funny that had happened. She also seems very interested in horoscopes and has pages, quizzes, and posts related to that.
This friend updates his status daily both from his iphone and from a computer, kindly sharing some words of wisdom or quoting a movie. He has a normal size number of friends which probably means he knows all of them and they are either family or friends. Although he updates his facebook often there really isnt much else to his information and he isn't in a lot of albums. The groups he belongs to look like they are all related to his hobbies or Maine, which is where he's from.
Friend #2
The first thing that pops out to me is the information this friend provides for other people. It looks like he spent a lot of time filling out his hobbies and quotes so as to come off as intelligent or smart. His friend list include what appear to mostly be friends or family and there are not too many to think he just adds people for the hell of it. Although the amount of groups he belongs to it is hard to imagine he actually keeps up with all of them or even some of them for that matter.
Friend #3
I decided to pick some one who was way more facebook active in all senses. This friend is in over a handful of albums and has almost 10 albums of his own. He updates his status maybe 3 or 4 times a week and generally has at least one comment on each update. The majority of the groups he is in are related to skiing which would make sense because he works really hard at this sport. Although he has 800 + friends I believe that he knows every single one of them through some connection or another. His information is pretty completely filled out showing that he cares what others think of him, but he does not go into extensive detail which means he probably has a life too.
FaceBook Assignment
The next person is no doubt one of my daughters friends. I have now somehow been roped into accepting all of her friends as my friends because I feel guilty not accepting them when they send the invites. Looking at their page just makes me feel old. It also makes me wonder how they could have the time to update thier profile so often. They seem to have new comments every hour on the hour. It boggles my mind. It is very much young teenage talk. Right now all the buzz appears to be the Twilight movie coming out on Nov 19 @ midnight (yes I know this because we have had the tickets since sept! OMG!!!) They also appear to be completley obsessed with Edward from the movie and how incredibly cute he is?
The person I selected was my Moms page. It is rather entertaining really. As far behind as I feel she must feel like a fish out of water. Her poor page has almost nothing it. No apps. 12 friends (all family) and 1 comment saying Hi! How are you? from one of said relatives. I am proud of her getting this far. She likes facebook because it allows her to see pictures and updates from family she cant see very often.
It seems as though everyone who is on facebook certainly has a reason. Whether its to keep up with friends or family, or just to socialize and keep up with the daily gossip everyone has their reasons and their must be ALOT of reasond because facebook is Hugh and it appears that the entire United States and many World have a facebook account. It really is amazing if you think about it.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Facebook Analysis
Updates her status at least once a day, hardly saying anything. Updates such as “Happy Wednesday!” or others bragging about where she went to dinner with her husband. “Xxx and Yyy just had another fabulous dinner in L.A...we have been spoiling ourselves all week. I love it when our business travel is to the same city!” Some are about how she is sitting in traffic or what she is doing at work. All of the updates were through her cell phone.
She doesn’t have a ridiculous number of friends and they are all people that I’m guessing she knows, and she also is not a member of any groups.
All of her pictures are of her in her wedding dress, but none of her with her husband. She doesn’t play any games or take quizzes, so I think the sole purpose is to update everyone with her life, although she doesn’t have a lot of responses and hardly anyone writes on her wall.
Person #2
He updates his status all the time, but there are several interactions on each post. The updates don’t really say much, complaints about the new facebook, things sports related or about class assignments.
He has a fair amount of friends, and a lot of interactions on his wall, which makes me think he is most likely really friends with his facebook friends.
He is in a ton of groups, all very random and a fan of over a dozen pages, from celebrities to restaurants to newspapers.
All of his pictures portray what he’s like in real life, but maybe a little more dramatic. He doesn’t play any facebook games but he does the quizzes, and often. All are pretty random. I think it’s mostly to play around when bored.
Person #3
Her status updates are daily and almost always about her kids. All of her friends are other moms with pictures of their kids or friends that are married with wedding pictures. They are from all around the country, so most likely friends from college.
She is in a lot of groups, mostly political but that’s all that is on her page, hardly anything else is filled out.
Of her 78 profile photos uploaded in the last year, not one of them is of her by herself and only two have her in them. They are all of her children.
She’s taken a few quizzes, which match her personality, and has only played games a few times.
Facebook Friends
Facebook Analysis Pt. II
Facebook Assignment: A glance at 3 of my friends
Ultimately, I noticed that this friend tends to use cultural images/phrases/etc. to express their feelings, moods, attitudes, etc.
2. This friend updates their status about 2 or 3 times a week. Mostly, the posts are about what activities this friend did or plans to do. This friend’s friends range from every location and every occupation. This friend is not really in to any groups currently. Because this friend loves to take pictures, the profile pictures of this friend tend to be around events or places visited.
In the end, I noticed that this friend loved to travel, make friends all around the world, and all the while take pictures of the entire trip’s adventure.
3. This friend rarely updates their status – typically 2 to 3 times a month. Mostly the posts are about things this friend did or other internet related things of interest, sometimes video clips. This friend is very outdoorsy and tends to befriend people of similar interests. Mostly the groups this friend is into are nature or environmentalist groups. This friend’s profile pictures typically reflect environmental interests such as hiking, biking, wildlife, etc.
Over all, I noticed this friend likes to show off interesting environmentally based things such as pictures, videos, articles, or phrases because that is the friend’s primary interest.
~ Tisha
Facebook Stalking as Homework
The person that I chose first is a friend who absolutely lives on facebook, he updates his statuses mulitple times of day and they are usually within the realm of emo expression or attacks against other people. He uses his facebook as malicious tool to directly and indirectly attack people or champion for causes. It is riddled with petty drama as well as self-inflating images. There are also a lot of links and "applications" that are pop-culture oriented, mostly tv shows. All in all, this person's facebook is a more flamboyant expression of the actual person; my guess is that this person is afraid to be truly them self in public so the internet is a way to express these suppressed aspects. This user is our age.
Facebook Stalk #2
This next person is a recently married and her facebook makes that very evident. Whether its the profile picture, status updates, or wedding book applications, this facebook scream marriage. Her facebook is also used as a promotional tool for her new upstart design business; she has contact information, business description, and details in her info section. Lastly, it appears that she uses facebook as a tool for keeping in touch with people, especially her family, as most of the wall posts are "how are you", "haven't talked to you in a while", etc. She also has a few quizzes like "what celebrity but are you". This user is two years out of college.
Facebook Stalk #3
My last facebook stalk is of a friend who has just entered college at a art institute. She has lots of "artsty" pictures of her tagged as well as has several albums showcasing her work. It is a very expressionistic facebook, but it seems to be a bit more positive compared to Facebook stalk #1. This girl is all about promoting her art and making an artistic statement whether that is through links or "artsy/poetic/coded" status updates. She is also a political activist as she is friends with a lot of politicians and political movements; she also is a fan of these politicians as well.
Victory for Net Nuetrality
And don't worry, I will post my facebook findings in a bit.
GLOBAL FACEBOOK

Facebook blog-stalking
Friend #1
She is a female who updates her status at least three times a day. She usually post either about how she is feeling that day or what music she is listening too. Her profile pictures change often but always with her and a person she loves, if it is a good friend or her boyfriend. She posts pictures of every event she has a camera and always tags herself (as well as all her friends) in every photo. The top three groups she is in consist of music, hometown, and supporting good efforts around the world. She doesn't take a lot of quizzes or play very many games, but she does post update/video on current news that she thinks her friends might be interested in, like the announcement of a groups tour.
Friend #2
This girl keeps her life semi-classified. She only posts on her status about once a week and limits the amount people can see on her wall, most of the time you can only see what has been posted the last week and everything else is closed off. However, all her pictures are posted and usually her profile picture is of her and something to do with her sorority. In fact, most of the pictures she is tagged in are her at sorority functions. She does not belong to a lot of groups and the majority of the ones she belongs to have to deal with Greek life. She is "friends" with some celebrities like Paris Hilton, but she does not do quizzes or play games that it looks like.
Friend#3
This guy will update his post almost five times a day. Usually the posts are somehow related to work, how he is bored at work, about the temperature at work, and even about the office furniture. He defiantly comments more on his own post then anyone else does. He is 'friends' with a good amount of bands but also stores. His groups range vastly from one another from music, to politics, and then on to random groups. His profile picture is a photo of Rodney Dangerfield from Caddyshack. Most of his profile pictures are either funny photos of him or of famous actors. He doesn't play a lot of games but his friends vote him in a lot of quizzes they take.
Facebook Friends
He updates his status at least 4 to 5 times a day, as well as posting interesting, silly or political things one to two times a day. He has 148 friends, and is friends only with people he knows, mostly people from his college and isn’t friends with any bands, famous people or things. All of his profile pictures are photos taken of him by others usually out on trips or at restaurants, they are usually photos of just him, or cropped to show just him, with a few with other people. It doesn’t look like he ever participates in any quizzes, games or groups. He portrays himself as a funny, open, clever person that is cool enough to have a Facebook, but doesn’t fully participate within it.
Friend 2:
She updates her status 2 to 6 times a week usually commenting on something she thought about or did that day. She has 325 friends, and most of them look like they are from her home or college. She is part of groups about French politics, College spirit groups and a few humor, possible inside joke groups. Almost all of the photos are of his by her or with one of two other girls they are usually taken by her holding the camera up, and a few taken by other people; she usually has the same pouty expression in all of her photos. It doesn’t look like she ever participates in games or quizzes, but posts photos fairly frequently at least once a week. It makes her seem mildly involved with herself, but fairly open and friendly and she gets many comments on he profile every day.
Friend 3:
He updates his status a few times a month, usually when he has something clever to say about his present situation. He has 278 friends from all over the country a majority from his home or college however. The groups that he is a part of are usually something that pertains to politics or college organizations with a few or something pertaining to beer. Most of the photos are of him by himself, and about half are some sort of humorous photo that actually mocks him or shows him in an unflattering light. It looks like the few quizzes that he participates in usually have to do with funny movies and the character you might be in the movie.
Facebook Profiles
To begin with she has over 500 photos of herself that either she put up or was tagged in along with over 115 albums has been tagged according to where, when and for the most part who is in the photos. Her profile picture is just a general profile picture. Also she has over 800 friends none being celebrities or people that are in the limelight one way or the other. Passed the multitude of friends and photos though she isn't very active with updates or posts. She doesn't belong too many groups or fan pages although the ones she is in are school related. It would seem that she uses the amount of friends and photos as a form of communicating with people if she has to.
Friend II
Is very very into updating his "wall" when it comes to posting links to videos/articles that he finds online that usually are more intellectually based (science daily, ted talks, ect). He also has a fair amount of posts about either his art or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whether its fan pages, video posts, status updates, and photos. When he does status updates that don't have a link they are usually witty in nature. His profile picture is of Hank Hill from King of the Hill and has had other pictures of other animated characters. This friend of mine uses his facebook as a blog to share little morsels of wisdom he finds on the internet to showcase his interests.
Friend III
Seems to just have a facebook to have it. Isn't active really at all on it, has only 20 friends and 5 pictures of himself. His profile is pretty barren which can make me wonder if he is very selective when it comes to using it or whether he has an account to have a sense of belonging by just having one.