Black Mirror: Social Media

The social media episode of Black Mirror made me realize that social media can really influence people's way of thinking. If someone were to see that everyone was doing something on social media, then that person would most likely follow suit. Even if it means that someone is going to die, the peer pressure that people feel will make them want to follow suit. The person in the episode who was conducting the experiment to see what people would do in this situation is a great idea, but it didn't need to involve killing people. There could of been a better way to conduct this experiment.

TONIGHTS CLASS STRUCTURE

Dear Web 1 Students

I have a cold or a flu and feel i should stay at home and not spread my illness around to you. 

How about everyone works on their webpages tonight and for a bonus of 5 participation points tonight send me the current state of your submission for FINAL project.

Then i will review with you individually all for an additional 5 points during class time on Monday 

So a total of 10 Bonus participation points for Working on your own tonight.

BUT 

You must send me a link to this email no later than 9PM for the credit. 

Then i will have your latest Work in Progress and you will have the motivation of some bonus points both Today and this coming Monday before final submissions are due. I will accept final project submissions up until the end of our scheduled EXAM TIME. {please consult the Web for exact time}

YES, you can send me a link to your github, with an UPDATED file timestamped after 8:30 PM tonight for full points

Thanks and be well, 

Patrick 

Medium Article

We Can Fix It: Saving the Truth from the Internet

"He posted a retraction on Twitter and blogged about it his decision, but it got hardly any attention — less than 30 retweets. Meanwhile the false story was retweeted, posted, and shared over 300,000 times." (Sunil Paul)

In todays world, there seems to be a growing problem. This problem became extremely prevalent during the 2016 election. The spread of false news on social media exploded over this past year and has become a serious problem. The main issue with the spread of false news is who should be held accountable, the person who shared it, the website the article is hosted on, or the social media network itself. My personal take on it, is that it should be the social network and the website that is hosting the fake news. The reasoning behind this is that the social media network should be monitoring what is real, fake or satire. If they don't, the entire network could potentially become flooded with fake news. The website hosting the fake news should have some type of claim saying it is satire or fake. This help stop the spread of fake news and make our social media networks more reliable.

Black Mirror Episode 6

After watching Episode 6 of Black Mirror, I came to a few conclusions, with one central one. This central conclusions being that social media tends to do a lot more harm than we think. While almost all of are aware of cyberbullying, we are not aware of its extent. This episode showed us that extent. If enough people start to hate on one person or a group of people, some one may take action against them and do serious harm. This actually happens in our world today however it is not well known. Another conclusion I made from this episode of Black Mirror is that in the future, when AI becomes much larger and more prevalent in day to day life, we need to place safeguards just in case anything were to go wrong. Now it may sound like I'm just some crazy person who watches too many sci-fi movies, it is a serious concern. If one person were ever able to gain access to a entire 'species' of AI controlled devices it could cause absolute chaos. Same goes for AI that is self sustaining and constantly updating/learning. Overall, this episode of Black Mirror showed us the true effect of social media and AI.

Vinyl: A Different Way to Listen to Music

As a hardcore music listener and appreciator of the art, I have wanted a turntable. I had thought about buying one for the longest time to see what the hype was about. So over thanksgiving break, I went and bought a turntable. To sum it all up in one phrase, the hype was real. The interactivity was on another level compared to streaming and buying MP3s. From the moment you go shopping for a turntable and some records, you already feel more immersed in the art. The biggest difference is that it is physical. When I bought my first two records, it felt genuine. Best way to compare is to a painting. When we look at a painting online, we feel indifferent. But when we see a painting in real life we feel much more connected to the artist and their work. Next details that I notice is the dropping the needle and enjoy the much better quality that vinyl gives. In contrast to MP3s, I felt much more in control of my music. Choosing the side of the record I wanted to play and where to drop the needle played a part in my connection to the music. So overall, I'm glad I bought a record player and I appreciate and understand its come back over the recent years due to its quality and the connection it creates between artist and listener

Black Mirror "Hated in the Nation" Season 3 Episode 6 


It’s crazy to think that social media could have such a deadly affect after you’ve done something wrong. An example of this would be in the episode, "Hated in the Nation." People on social media technically all mass voted for one person to be killed with the #DeathTo. They think that there is no consequence for voting someones death and in a sense they are right, you can’t arrest thousands of people. Who can you hold accountable after that persons death? Some peoples logic was that the bees are the murders and not them. However morally we know that isn't the case. But the man who is behind controlling the bees begs to differ, and punishes the thousands of people who voted with the #DeathTo without their knowledge. Unlike the people who were voted to die;knowing their time was gonna come, all the people who voted weren't aware of their soon death by the same bees that killed the ones they voted for. A very clever episode in the Black Mirror series and it should make people rethink what hate they put online and make others rethink of the actions they do and the consequences they will have to face in the near future.

Black Mirror - E6

Black Mirror (E6) was by far one of the best shows that I have seen in quite some time. Although the subject matter appears to be futuristic and artificial, the overall concept of the show is perfectly aligned with some of the die-heart social media users who actually get upset if they do not receive "likes", or if they receive negative comments about their postings. These users also feel ecstatic when they receive "likes", "loves" and positive feedback.  Social Media is driving human expression & emotion, and human expression & emotion is pushing the boundaries, and molding the future face of Social Media.

Although I would never want to see a person suffer from social shaming (like the main character did in the show), I do believe there is room in our society for controlling negative behaviors through the use of social media.

Black Mirror Episode 6

The idea that social media can come into the real world and control our lives is very scary. That one hashtag can kill one person or one computer can kill millions. As well that no trace could be left behind is very terrifying. I believe in world where if something happens to me because of someone else they will be held responsible and found but this could not be true. Being very involved in social media is very interesting and could create many possibilities but there is a responsibility behind it as well. That there are evil people behind these ideas but people need to be smarter to beat them. There is always a war online but we have to work to win it.

Black Mirror Season 3, Episode 6

Like the last episode of Black Mirror that we watched in class, I was equally as enthralled and unsettled by the story and the parallels it has to our very own reality. This episode introduces the idea of these ADI bees that have gone rogue, killing off any such person that the general public so chooses by popular vote over social media. The man who has taken over these bees and implanted this hashtag, #DeathTo, believes that by doing this, he can teach people about the consequences of their words and actions - with every person who has ever taken part in the hashtag, becoming the ultimate victims of the game.
So many ideas are brought up in this episode. The idea that the government has encroached into our private lives and has access to our very personal information is brought up, although it is not a new idea. The main idea however, is that with this generation of technology, we have all in a way come to take comfort in our "power of anonymity" and use it to our advantage. We've come to feel like we can say whatever we want and not suffer any consequences because we think anonymity can save us. This episode shows that all humans have been exposed and that the things that we say can and do have an impact, and that maybe one day, that will be our downfall. Let us hope that this is not a foreshadowing of our own future, but a warning to all of us.

RE: Black Mirror Episode 6

The Black Mirror episode was horrifying to say the least. Given the current state of affairs with social media, trends are nothing out of the ordinary. However, by putting them into different perspective we see how truly terrifying the hive mind of the internet can be. People don't often realize the consequences of their actions online, which leads to cyber-bullying and other harmful attacks on individuals that they don't know. When the episode showed social media targets being murdered by the public as a result of a hashtag, it went to show the ugly nature of mankind. Without realizing someone had taken their hive mind into manifestation, people sent others to their deaths willingly and unknowingly. Regardless of what the episode portrayed, a horrible dystonia world ruled by government surveillance with social media running rampant. The harsh truth of the world is that social media has one of the largest impacts internationally. It is a weapon, when used as such, that can destroy peoples' lives, manipulating the masses for better or worse, and ruining nations if let run rampant. Morally, Black Mirror Episode 6 is a message stating the horrors of mankind's darker self and how if people don't take responsibility then their nightmares may come to fruition.

The Battle for Voice UIs (Medium Post)

It's hard to imagine that Amazon has sold over 5.1 million Echo devices since the product’s launch in Dec. 2014. When the product launched, most people couldn’t even describe the product, let alone conceptualize the capabilities of the device.  For those of you not familiar with the Echo Device, it is a virtual assistant that allows you to control the device with the sound of your voice. No more physical contact with a device, and certainly no more inputting data by hand to control an application.

Echo, Siri, Cortana, Alexa and Google Home appear to be the most popular voice activated personal assistants on the market today. This is just a start; one day all computers and devices will be controlled via the human voice. (Who knows...perhaps one day all devices and computers will be controlled by human brain waives.) Clearly an expansive network of computers using voice based platforms can and will lead to some significant challenges for both creators of the technology and the end user. The article "Forget personal assistants, The real battle is for voice UIs", points out some of these challenges. No doubt the real battle will indeed be for voice user interfaces.


medium.com/@gigastacey/forget-personal-assistants-the-real-battle-is-for-voice-uis-e86697fc82d1#.u4037q2bl

Black Mirror Episode 1

The concept behind this episode is something incredibly scary yet entirely plausible. In fact China recently stated that they were looking into a rating system for their citizens. In theory this makes sense, however in will indirectly take away our freedoms. This is shown in the episode when the main character is in the airport and creates a scene. Her 'rating' drops thus making her ineligible for certain things. Also, her swearing had a significant impact on what others thought of her. As the episode progresses, the main character starts to realize this and stops caring about her rating and what others think. This ultimately brings us her back to our current world where we have no rating system just our freedoms.

Episode one of Black Mirror also showed some other really cool concepts. For example, the contact lens having some sort of AI built into them allowing us to not need to constantly look things up and pull out our phone. This brings me to the next cool concept. The phones/devices they were using were all glass and had a system similar to airdrop. When the person wanted to give a rating, all they did was point the phone and swipe towards them. Airdrop allows you to send files over bluetooth and wifi, with no cables. What they were using seemed to be a more advanced version of it. Overall the episode had some really cool concepts as well as some really bad and potentially devastating ones.

Black Mirror: Season 2 Episode 1

In this episode, Martha loses her loved one and is distraught about it because she is pregnant with his child. The technology in this episode is so technologically advanced because she is able to talk to him even though he's died. In this day and age, when someone passes on we're forced to move on because they're gone. In this episode, the technology of being able to talk to someone after they have passed defeats the purpose of dying. It's kind of similar to how on social media everyone kind of beats a dead horse on topics because you just want to keep responding instead of moving on. This relates to this episode because she needs to move on from her deceased significant other and live a life of quality rather than live in the past or let something hold her back.

John Berger "Ways of Seeing " Part 2

    The ways of seeing women, in part 2 of Bergers series was really interesting for me. Particularly in the part about the art of  the european nudes. I've recently gained an interest in body language in  photography.  So learning about the art of female nudity in composition was pretty cool to see.

   Burger points out nudes are "is to be seen naked, and yet not recognized for ones self" he says it has to be seen as an object. He shows the in the art the majority of the women are all displayed as if they didn't know they had clothing on. They are nude but, they aren't naked. In being naked, a composition is much more personal. A nude is not a personal depiction of a woman showing her real,personal self, rather,  a visual sight for the beholder to judge.

Take a look at the pictures below. Which one seems more personal? The photography where the subject exposes her naked legs or the second where the subject is knowingly nude and exposes her nakedness more as a sight to be seen?

If you picked the first one as being more personal, you getting the idea.
Overall, this really gives me a sense about the way I should handle my work when photographing a subject. The type stance,look,position, and tone of my subject all affect the viewers experience. 

Medium article "Designing In Color"

Picking the right colors can sometimes be a bit tricky when it comes to designing a website,billboard, sets,photography and well, design in general. The article I read offers a lot a of insight when it comes to picking pallets, and using color correctly to catch an audience. In particular I found it very interesting to read about the approach that should be considered when choosing a palate. For example, a group of colors should usually be intentional and purposeful. Before choosing the colors its always useful to ask yourself

  "whats the message a wanna get across?"

"what kind of feelings do I wanna evoke?"

Moreover, it was also interesting to read how colors can evoke different thoughts, emotions, or opinions based on an individuals culture, background or upbringing. A good example of this is the color red. In many cultures the color red means love, and passion but, in other the color could signify death, blood, or anger. Overall knowing to pick the right colors can help pick the right audience and evoke a message you wanna get across. 

 

Black Mirror Season 2 Episode 1

"Nosedive"

The concept is definitely one that is not farfetched. Unfortunately, the concept of social media dominating our world and perception of ourselves as a whole is something that is on the rise. One correlation between real life and the show is back when Snapchat used to have rankings for your best friends; the person you interacted with the most via snapchat was ranked #1 on your Best Friends list. In addition, this list was for everyone to see; depending on your settings, even strangers could see the top three, five, or even seven people you talk to. I've seen this happen in high school; a boy saw via Snapchat that his friend was talking to someone that he had an ill history with, and because of that, drama occurred. It's this sense of social status mixed with social media, and how that allows people to critique others when in reality, that information could be personal. You're judging the person based off of who they talk to, which is not right. Another example is liking posts on social media. While the concept is great for information such as articles and other posts, it is used as means of reassurance from our peers. There are people that boast about their likes on instagram as if those likes hold a sentimental value that upholds their social status; more likes equals more popularity, more (self) recognition, etc. This is all evident via social media now, and it is sickening. Hopefully, it does not get to the point where, in Black Mirror, you literally rate every single interaction you have with another human being.

Medium Post

https://medium.com/the-mission/this-10-minute-routine-will-increase-your-clarity-and-creativity-7ce61b11c2f9#.7m5vkue52

For the past few months, I struggled with forging my ideal future and what I actually want to accomplish. While I do have a general idea, (be well off, have a SO, have the car of my dreams, be happy) I did not and still do not know the specifics of what I want to do or accomplish; my vision was blurry. In relation to that, I have also recently struggled with creativity, and pushing my boundaries. While I have not applied the concepts spoken of in the article yet, I know that they will soon be utilized in order to take a part in my growth.

"You are the designer of your destiny. This simple routine will help you crystallize where you want to go, and how you will get there." Benjamin P. Hardy

Medium Post: "This Ten-Minute Routine Will Increase Your Clarity and Creativity"

https://medium.com/the-mission/this-10-minute-routine-will-increase-your-clarity-and-creativity-7ce61b11c2f9#.adcy8poon

In this article by Benjamin Hardy, Hardy talks about how he is able to fine tune his ability to naturally cultivate ideas by becoming a more purposeful daily journalist. Because our bodies are always working and functioning, even when we are sleep, he says that we can maximize our creativity by meditating and journaling ten minutes before we go to sleep. By taking the last few moments of our day to clearly define our goals and "requests," we are getting our brains to think about things while we are sleeping. However, that is only the half the battle, and we must additionally complete the second half of the exercise. The key is to "thought-dump" within ten minutes of waking up. Rather than checking our phones as soon as we wake up, we should get out of bed and begin to write down all the things that come to mind when we start thinking about the goals from the night before. If done over and over again, with steady practice, Hardy promises that we should begin to see a difference in our ideas and our creative thinking.

What I found really interesting was the statistic that he gave regarding people checking their phones in the morning. He said that 80% of people ages 18-44 check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Regardless of whether it's to check notifications, the time, our surf social media, we are still ultimately beginning every day of our lives looking at a screen. While that fact alone is a bit unsettling, I think the more interesting point that Hardy makes is that these first few minutes of our day are prime for creative thinking. Our brains are generally the sharpest in the morning when we first wake up. If we can train our brains to work harder while we sleep, and then force ourselves to write and journal when we wake up, the potential for great ideas should be increased greatly. As I am getting more and more into journaling myself, I hope to use this technique in my day to day life with high expectations.