Website Experience

Having a website can be a very useful thing for any professional that is trying to market themselves. This is especially important for those who have a portfolio, and have multiple pieces of work that they would like to showcase. When studying communications, your degree can be made of multiple pieces of work. Some of these things may not even be related to each other, so it was good to organize these in a manner that is cohesive.

Brett’s website will be used to promote himself because his portfolio is diverse. He never focused on one area of study, so his portfolio is made of various things. Along with that, he is unsure that he wants to peruse as a career, so this will be good opportunity to show employers what he is capable of. This is good because once they see that he has a diverse skillset, his chances of finding a job may be better.

Social media ties into the website because it links to personal profiles, which the general public may see. Once they see a personal profile, they might be able to have a better understanding of Brett as an individual. Brett chooses to not take social media that serious, so this will be either a good or bad thing. On one end, employers may see that he is goofy, and makes a lot of dumb jokes. On the other end, employers may think that Brett is unprofessional, and should not be taken serious. Besides that, it gives insight to whoever is viewing the profile as to what that person may be like as a person.

Almost everyone exists on the Internet now. Having social media is good way to connect with people, and easily communicate. However, there so many sites that people are on. The average person may have four accounts on different websites. The most popular of these include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linked In. Having a website is a good opportunity to be a base for yourself. With the website, you can give links to all your different social media sources – it is almost like a home page for yourself.

Overall, building a website is an exciting experience. The back-end, coding aspects of it are extremely frustrating, but once it comes together it is worth it. A lot of people do not have websites; so just having one can give an edge over other people in the workforce. While creating a website, it is important to consider what will be good to include. For Brett, it was important for him to include things that are professional, as well as still having personality. The writing included is somewhat comical, but is still formatted and written in a professional manner. The photos included are all different, and do not pertain to one medium. Dreamweaver is complex software, but is somewhat similar to using MySpace – something that Brett was familiar with. Every communications student should be at least somewhat familiar with the Adobe suite – such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

wikiHow Experience

 

Before doing this project, there was no experience in wikiHow. In the past, if there was something the editor wanted to figure out how to do, they would turn to YouTube. Sometimes YouTube is a great resource, while sometimes it is no help at all. WikiHow on the other hand seems to be pretty spot on – if what you’re looking for is there.

 

What’s great about wikiHow is that other people can come in and make edits. This is good because while people may be very knowledgeable about a subject, it is good to have someone with similar knowledge take a second look. This is what makes wikiHow a better a resource for “how to” than YouTube – the ability to edit. A lot of times you will watch a YouTube video, and find that the editor posted a comment, making a revision. At this point, it’s too late – you might as well re-do the whole video.

 

Film cameras are a trending topic as of late. Many people are buying old cameras, and giving them new life. There are a few articles on wikiHow for other specific cameras such as the Canon AE-1, and the Pentax K1000, but none for a Mamiya 645. While most people tend to shoot 35mm film, which is associated with the AE-1 and K1000, some will in engage in using medium format 120mm film. The 645 is a great camera for 120mm film – they are fairly easy to find, and are not as expensive as other medium format cameras. Along with that, they operate quite differently than 35mm format cameras. The idea of the cameras are the same, but the way that they operate and function may be confusing to someone who is used to 35mm.

 

Photographers are often times reaching out to one another about works best for them, so this was a great experience for the author to be a part of that. The photography community tends to be very helpful, so it no surprise that numerous articles have been already produced on wikiHow about photography.

 

After looking at other wikiHow articles on other specific cameras, the author had a pretty good idea for what to write. What parts were important, what was difficult, and what was easy.

 

The first step was to write a draft. This was a really great way to get your mind going  - what are you going to depict, how will you show it, and in what way. While writing out the draft, one could start to imagine what pictures would be shown along with the text. It is believed that in order to teach someone well, the demonstration is the most important part. How else will you be able to teach someone without properly showing him or her how?

 

Having a background in photography was a great help for this project. The ability to take

a video of the process, and then take out photos from that made the process easy. A good amount of thought was put into what was difficult about the topic. The best way to think about this project was how you could strip it down enough so that someone with zero knowledge of your topic could follow your steps. It helped if you put yourself in the shoes of a learner, not a teacher.

 

Once all the information draft was written, and the photos were compiled, the hardest part was about to come. Posting on wikiHow isn’t necessarily easy – it is somewhat complicated. The normal editing page that is supposed to walk you through everything, but even then, there are some difficulties. Using the advanced editor is the best way, but first you have to understand the coding aspect. Much like the good old days of Myspace, you have to put in the code that does all the formatting. If you are unfamiliar with such coding, you will have to rely on the tips. However, even after referring to the tips, the best way to figure everything out is by trial and error. With every change made by the author, they would immediately check to see if it was done the way they wanted. This worked well because you won’t get too far ahead.

 

With the difficulties faced, it is important for one for refer to this article. This article, entitled “How to Write a New Article on wikiHow,” is very helpful - essentially, it is a how to on how to use wikiHow. This article will help get though some of the important steps when you are just starting to make your article. However, it does not do the greatest job of explaining how to use the backend coding, or editing in general.

 

The article was finally finished, and posted to the internet for all to see. The great thing about wikiHow is that you feel as though you are able to help someone out with a topic they may have difficulty in. The author hopes that after it is posted, people who enjoy photography just as much them will find benefit from the article.

 

The evolution of the internet has allowed for people to connect is ways that they once were not able to. Along with that, we can comment, or even edit the work that people have previously made. While this may have its cons at time, it does have quite a bit of pros. Most of the benefit is that it brings about a higher amount of knowledge, and education to a subject. If one person to be in charge of making a publication, it may become biased because of the authors point of view. When having multiple perspectives, a topic gets greater attention, and becomes more efficient. Also, being able to have someone essentially double check your work helps to make it more accurate. Previous to wikiHow, people may have read articles they found randomly on the internet that had wrong information – causing people to ruin what they are working on.

 

Web Evolution

Web Evolution

 

Part 1

 

The Internet has surely come a long ways. In the past 20 years, we have evolved from Web 1.0, to Web 3.0. To many, these names are completely foreign to them. The Web has evolved at such a pace, that we have become accustomed to its constant changes.

 

The author feels as though the Internet is a vastly evolving form of technology. Web 2.0 is believed to be the form of Web that the author grew up on – early forms of Internet browsing that were much simpler. Web 2.0 was built around the idea of browsing, and finding out about new things. The author can recall growing up with Web 2.0, and how exciting it is. Before it’s release, it was hard to research topics, or find out what was out there in the world. For many, the opportunity to network via email was crucial to Web 2.0’s success. Emails changed the way we communicate – you no longer has to physically write someone, or call the on the phone. It was no possible to virtually send someone mail. This could be seen as a precursor to texting, and even social media interactions. Web 2.0 definitely lived up to the hype when it grew out of Web 1.0.

 

Web 3.0 is taking us into an ever-evolving place. The world we live in is becoming increasingly reliant on the Internet, and other forms of technology. Web 3.0 has given us the opportunity to have full control of publishing, and expressing ourselves. Social media could be seen as one of the biggest factors in Web 3.0 – specifically Facebook. With Facebook, we are able to interact with people with tremendous ease. People have the ability to be up to date with one-another at a constant pace. This includes personal matters, as well as political, educational, and entertainment matters. Overall, it gives the user the capability to have a voice on the Web – something that Web 2.0 didn’t allow for. With Web 2.0, if you didn’t know how to code, you could not make publications on the Internet. The author believes that Web 3.0 is taking us in directions we didn’t know were possible. It is tough to say what will happen next, but it is interesting to see how much more accessible the web has become. Smart phones now give us the opportunity to access the web whenever we want. Wi-Fi gives us access Internet almost anywhere – free of charge. This is great because purchasing data isn’t always cheap, so now anyone could gain access to it. However, this may have bad consequences because of web privacy. Hackers become stronger everyday, and are increasingly more knowledgeable about getting people’s sensitive information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2

 

Web 1.0 is somewhat hard to define because Web 2.0 evolved directly from pre-existing characteristics of Web 1.0. The trouble with this is that Web 2.0 does not correlate to a particular advance in Web technology – it could be seen as Web 1.0 with a bunch of upgrades. To better identify what exactly Web 1.0 actually is, people often associate it with the time when the Web was a set of static websites that were not yet providing interactive content. In order to connect web pages, one would use hyperlinks  - a link from a hypertext file or document to another location or file, typically. Users of Web 1.0 were merely browsing around, looking at various forms of content.

 

Web 2.0 has been used to define what many know as the social web – an era in which social networking hold a majority of online activities. On August 1, 2003, Myspace was founded. While many did not realize it, Myspace would play a key factor into the evolution of the internet, and way in which people use it. In a scholary article written by a student at Salford, the author explains that “The evolution of technology in organizations is rapidly highlighting the potential benefits of Web 2.0 to the corporate environments. The customers are empowered to voice their opinions and help organizations to develop products and services.” While this article was from 2010, it was just about to see the potential the internet had for business. People could use social media to market themselves – for free. Along with that, Myspace was a great way for musicians and bands to market themselves. Since then, social media has evolved in a manner in which people can market, or interact with people, free of charge, and with ease. We now see platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook leading the way for social media.

 

Just as Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 were hard to find a clear separation, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are somewhat hard to clearly define their differences. When 3.0 was first considered, it was said in the New York Time’s article in 2006 that Web 3.0 will see an era “when machines will start do seemingly intelligent things.” In another article, it is explained that “Web 3.0 might be defined as a third-generation of the Web enabled by the convergence of several key emerging technology trends: ubiquitous connectivity, network computing, open technologies, open identity, and the intelligent web”

Twitter Experience

Twitter has increasingly become an important platform for anyone who uses social media. There are numerous aspects that make Twitter a great tool for casual use, or business. Having completed the project in class, the class was able to see its uses at its full potential.

Any social media is a great tool for marketing – especially Twitter. Its simplicity is something that makes it so great, especially with its restriction of 140 characters per tweet. Using such a small amount of words makes the author get the point, and not have any fluff. For business trying to sell a product, they are able to essentially have free advertising. Their tweets are able to be seen by anyone of wishes to look at it. However, this can be a bit of a difficulty though because the market can become saturated once everything is posting, and trying to gain a bigger reach everyone else. With this though, it can push the author to become more creative and thoughtful.

In Brett’s experience running the Twitter account for Marco’s Italian Deli, he has been able to learn about how to market their name and product. A large part of what he has learned is that communication with the people who follow you is crucial. It is very easy for customers to be able to voice their problems and concerns, so you have to be careful with how to deal with them. More than anything, it is about customer satisfaction. Besides that, it is important to be transparent, but still some sort personality with everything. People want to be entertained, and don’t care for dry information being fed to them repeatedly.

From a journalistic point of view, Twitter is huge. Before social media, the immediacy of presenting the news did not exist. There used to be a waiting period in which the information was delivered to the public. However, we are now in a time in which news can be delivered to the public in real time. A tweet can be sent and in the public domain in a matter of seconds – which can be a blessing and a curse. On one side, it keeps everyone up to date and timely, but can also make for inaccuracies. Everyone expects to have information almost immediately, which can be tough for journalists to do the best job of reporting they can.

As a politician, Twitter can be useful because it is an easy for the people to learn about they are working on, or what their policies are. In this year’s presidential campaign, Twitter has been critical. Candidates are able to present their policies, or general ideas to the public. Along with that, it is an easy way to make statements about issues they are facing. However, this can make for unnecessary banter which has become somewhat of a distraction. From a journalistic, and political standpoint, both are important for showing personality and being transparent.

In the past year, there were many new stories that Twitter was able to communicate to the public their importance. One of the most important events were the attacks in Paris by ISIS. One of the most important aspects was being able to find out who was safe. People could send a tweet out letting their loved ones knowing that they were safe, and not harmed by the attacks. The general public was able to be informed on what was happening as the information was being brought forward. However, there was failure behind this event – that being the backlash Muslims received for the event. Many uneducated people were able to voice their hatred for Muslims – a very cruel act. While Twitter is great because it gives people a voice, sometimes there are people whose voice does not deserve to be voiced.

Another event were Twitter was able to be a big communicator were the riots in Baltimore, Maryland. During the riots, protesters took to the streets to voice their anger at the surge in police brutality. While unorganized protests took place, a large amount violence ensued, which was harmful to the general public. Twitter was able to communicate what was happening, as well as who was safe, and what to do in order to stay safe. This potentially saved lives, and kept people out of harm’s way. However, the only downside is that it may have made it easier for protesters to organize and come together to make their violent protests larger.

A third event that Twitter was able to communicate an important event was the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. This having been an important motion for the United State, people were able to educate one another in this important moment in American history. For people that rely on social media for their news, this was a case in which so many were talking about the topic, that didn’t have to watch the news – the topic was trending and was able to reach a large amount of people. Just as the last topic discussed, the only downside was that people whose opinions should never see the light of day was able to reach the general public. Homophobes were able to voice their opinion about the topic, which was quite unpleasant.

Brett chose to follow Red Bull, Ashton Kutcher, and the American Red Cross. He chose to follow red bull because their involvement with extreme sports is very entertaining. Ashton Kutcher was chosen because Brett knew that he was funny, and also politically driven. The Red Cross was chosen because they are known for being a great non-profit organization whose history goes back very far.

Twitter is different from blogging because it breaks everything down. The thoughts projected have to be much more precise and to the point – there is little room for play. With blogging, you are able to do into great depth. Communication is also very different because Twitter allows for a great deal of communication, while blogging does not allow for much communication.  

iMovie Experience

iMovie is a software that can be very useful among communication students. The potential to create great videos that portray a clear message is pretty easy. The editing tools in the software are easy to use, and if there are any issues, one could find the answers very easily just by looking them up on Google.

The class was divided into groups, and was told to make a video based off of a subject. The subjects covered things such as politics, time, and abstract. The writer’s group was given the topic of abstract – a very open topic that can be interpreted in many different ways. Having been a fan of obscure comedy, the writer prosed the idea of doing a video that would incorporate spoons into everyday life. 

The ideas started spewing out – there are so many day to day things that you could take out and substitute a spoon for. Just think about all the material aspects you use to take you through the day. Some of them necessary, while some we have for pleasure.

While the video was intended to be comical, it was also intended for the viewer to look at this video and question their everyday “necessities.” Living in a first world country, we can tend to take things for granted. In the self-video the writer produced, there was a scene where he uses a spoon for toilet paper. While this was a scene that most would laugh at, it is important to consider how we could take something like that for granted. What if we didn’t have toilet paper? What if random objects like spoons had to be substituted in place of things we don’t have - just to get through the day?

Once it was decided as a group that the spoon concept would be used, the group started to think about what they would film. No time was wasted on the individual project, as the footage from those were used in the final group video. Everyone’s ideas were taken into consideration so that no scenes would be used more than once – every person would be doing something different. Once that was taken care of, there was more consideration as to how this would come together better as a group project – how would they portray these separate individual scenes as a group project?

It was decided that the group would get together and film a dream a sequence. The group would gather around a table, and eat cereal. However, one person would not have a spoon, and would fall asleep shortly after realizing there was no spoon for them. This was pretty easy to film, as the group was able to meet in the library, and eat some dry cereal together. The writer brought his camera and a tri-pod so that they would not have to ask anyone for help. The group shot was filmed on a tri-pod, and then Dimitri filmed a pan-in of Brett falling asleep – this shot really helped portray him falling asleep. Along with that, the use of white fade in post-production really helped show the start of the dream sequence.

The filters within iMovie were crucial to the group being able to portray the video as a dream sequence. The use of heavy saturation, flipping the angle, and transitions helped give it a “dreamy” look. In the beginning of the video, a scene of each individual was separately shown to establish that Brett was dreaming about both himself, and the people he fell asleep in front of. From there, the clips were chosen at random. However, the use of the clips of Najee were placed statically.  

Najee’s role in the video came together late in the editing process. Initially, his random facial expression shots were used just for comical aspect, but then it was realized it would work out perfectly for another reason. At the end of the video, Najee wakes Brett up and gives him a spoon. The idea for Najee’s facial expression shots was that he was watching Brett sleep in real time, and trying to make him wake up so that he could give him a spoon. This became clear at the end the video when Brett is shown, and you see Najee tap Brett on the shoulder and give him a spoon.

Group projects can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but the writer believes that this project went very smoothly. Often times it can be hard to meet up with other classmates because everyone’s schedules are different, but this group did not face that difficulty. Along with that, working on a project can be difficult because one person tends to carry the weight for the rest of the group, but that was not seen in this group. Everyone was very eager to help each other out, offer new ideas, or help troubleshoot problems. Brainstorming for the project was a great experience. It seemed like every time someone had a great idea, someone else had an idea to make it even better. Everyone was excited, and open to new ideas. Having all been communication students for a few years, every student had a good knowledge of video communication, which helped greatly to bring everything together.

Looking back, there are not many things the writer would have done differently. The video came together surprisingly well, and everyone did a great job. One thing the writer think’s that might have improved the quality of the video was if some of the members didn’t use a point of view perspective for some of shots. Some of cuts looked a little awkward going from point of view, to a medium angle shot. However, everyone did well with what was available to them.

The instructions were pretty easy to follow. It was a little unclear what was due at specific dates, but it was not a big issue. It seemed as though most students in the class were confused what they had to do, and when it was due. 

How to Use A Mamiya 645 1000s

How to Use A Mamiya 645 1000s

 

In an age when digital formats rule everything, some people prefer to use analog formats instead. This would include the analog form of photography – shooting in film. There are various types of film; they came all different sizes, and render colors in various ways. One format that is popular in the film photography world is shooting in medium format film, also known as 120mm film. This form has been around since the turn of the century, and numerous companies have made different forms of cameras using 120mm film. This article covers a specific  medium camera from the 70’s – the Mamiya 645 1000s.

 

Step 1: Getting all the parts

• Often times, parts to these cameras are sold separately, and people make their own set-up, rather than buying one already put together
• There are three main aspects to the camera

• Prism
• Viewfinder
• Lens
• Once acquiring a all of these parts, you’re ready to load your film

Step 2: Loading the film

• This will most likely be the hardest part of the whole process, so be patient
• Open the back door of the camera by pressing the large black square, and moving the slider with the arrow in the direction it is pointing
• The door will fall open
• You will see the film loader will read “120”
• Grabbing the sides of where “120” is located, you will feel a click
• Pull out the loader after you feel it click
• On the side of the loader, you will see two silver clips – one will read “start”
• Pull the clip away from the leader – the spool will fall out
• Place the spool in the bottom bracket
• Place film into the top bracket – you will feel it click into place
• Your film will most likely have a band the goes around the roll of film – remove that
• The leader will now be sticking out
• Pull the leader around the back and into the bottom spool
• In the middle of the bottom empty spool, you will see an open slit
• Place the film leader into the slit by sliding it in
• Once in, rotate the spool downwards so the film starts to wrap around itself
• Keep spinning until you see the top spool will have two arrows
• Rotate just enough so that the arrows will line-up with the “start” on the clips
• Place film loader back into camera, and make sure you feel it click
• Close film door, and make you feel that click also

Step 3: Operating the camera

• Make sure your batteries are operational by holding down the red button on the right-hand side on the body
• On the left-hand side above the film speed indicator, you will see a green light if the battery is good to go
• Make sure the multi-exposure switch is left off, unless you plan on shooting multi-exposures
• Rotate the film advance winder in the clock-wise motion until it stops
• The film is now loaded and ready to go
   
  Step 4: Creating an exposure

• In order to make a decent exposure, you will first have to focus the lens on the subject you wish to be the main focus
• When looking in the viewfinder, you will see circles in the middle of frame
• The circle in the very middle of the frame is cut in half – when out of focus, whatever is in this circle will be thrown off -  they won’t lineup
• Rotate the focus ring until they lineup
• After focusing, you will have to use your shutter speed and aperture to make a balanced exposure
• Depending on how to want to shoot the exposure, pick a shutter speed that works for the image you wish to make, and then the corresponding aperture OR choose the aperture that works for the image you wish to make, and then the corresponding shutter speed
• Once this is all aligned, you are ready to take your image
• Release the shutter by pressing one of the two shutter release buttons, located either next to the battery check button, or on the bottom right side of the body
• Release the shutter
• Advance the film again and you take as many pictures that you intend on taking
• When you have taken as many pictures as the film allows, the film advance will feel loose
• Keep rotating until it no longer feels hard to rotate, and you hear a click
• You may now pull out the film loader, and take your roll of film out to be developed
   
  Tips

• Do tons of research – there are numerous parts to buy for this camera. It all depends on that you think will fit your preference and style
• Shop around – explore your options and find what fits your price range. There are tons of websites for used cameras – see what’s out there, and read reviews
• Go into your local camera store if you are unsure of anything. Most likely, someone will be able to help you, or at least tell you where to go in order to get the help you are looking for
• Have fun - photography should always be enjoyed, not stressful
   
  Warnings

• Do NOT open the back door once the film is loaded, or has been finished – the exposure of light will ruin your entire roll
• Make sure your multi-exposure switch is turned off when you’re not using it, otherwise you will ruin your entire roll by exposing too much light to the film
• Take care of you camera – get a lens cap, and a durable bag that will not allow water or dirt inside