Comm 203: Innovator and Achiever

After taking the VALS Type test I was given results that I expected. I am an innovator and an achiever. This makes a lot of sense to me. As an innovator I live my life to make something of myself. I find it rewarding to achieve! There's nothing better than when I spend hours on a project and it comes out with this amazing grade and I'm sooo proud of the work. Our last comm project was a pretty good example of this. I beamed with pride as I saw the grade. Innovators and achievers both tend to take charge and are very on top of everything. This is me to a tee. I take charge all the time. I am the group leader because I don't wish to not achieve. I find soo much satisfaction in the end product. I am fully motivated by achievements. When life goes wrong I have the motivation to move forward because I know that if I don't I won't achieve. 

I didn't really learn anything, but my beliefs were enforced. I have had a lot of soul searching in my life so I've already seen this. As for how the information appeals to the consumer side of me, my consumer choices are also confirmed. I buy things in order to make my life easier. One of my most recent purchases was a kurieg. I enjoy coffee but by the time I finish a full pot, my coffee is too cold and I don't like making cold coffee. The kurieg makes it so that I can have a cup at a time and not worry about the consequences of making coffee and not drinking it. Another product I bought was my notetaker program by Sonocent. I LOVE IT! It makes notetaking soooo  much easier. I decided the $150 was worth the ease that came from using the product. I buy things that make my life easier. 

The VALS Type test confirmed my beliefs about myself. I am much of a soul seeker so I wasn't told much I didn't already know, but it was confirmed that I had come to the proper conclusion in my soul seeking ways. 

Comm 203: Generation Gap in Music: A Podcast

The Generation Gap in Music Show Notes in Outline Form

v  Introduce Topic - Generation Gap in Music

v  Introduce Each Person

v  Explain and Introduce What We’ll be Talking About

v  Discuss the Impact of Social Media on the Music Industry, Artists, and the Public

o   Difference in How We Accessed Music News and Saw Artists Now & Then

v  Controversial Stunts

o   Now & Then

o   VMA’s

v  Fandoms

o   Name Fandoms

o   Difference Between Now & Then

v  Analyze & Discuss a Broader View

v  Sign Off 

SSo, we had to get our information from somewhere. Here's our sources:
http://fortemag.com.au/?p=2322
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/type-music-child-listened-affect-way-behave-19821.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/fcc-complaints-about-miley-cyrus-vma-performance-2013-9

www.crushable.com/2013/12/03/entertainment/crazy-pop-culture-fan-bases-telling-them-apart/2/

http://itstheskittlee.hubpages.com/hub/Music-and-the-Influence-on-Society

Comm 203: I'm in a Relationship with Technology

As a Communications major I have come to realize I’m in a relationship with technology. Aside for the fact that I actually love technology and it has become a HUGE part of my life, I have come to understand the ins and outs of this all too real relationship.

 In 2010 I went to my first Awakening Fest. I’m not extremely religious, but I’m a huge fan of music. Skillet, my favorite Christian band, was the closer that night. I spent months waiting on this concert, which is kind of interesting if I think about it. I owned all the CD’s and quite a few of their songs were at the top of my most played on my beloved iPod touch. So then I have to reflect, why did this concert mean so much to me? It plays back to the idea that the “medium is the message.” I was going through a rough time back then. My “best friends” were upset with me as I refused to pick one over the other and family life wasn’t the greatest. Actually it was far from it, possibly a living nightmare. There was a certain song that really stood out to me that night, The Last Night. I had listened to it many many times before. It was #1 on my iPod touch most played list. The words were memorized and I didn’t have to have the music to sing to it. As stated previously, Skillet was my favorite Christian band. The point being, before I start rambling, the live performance of The Last Night was able to reach out to me, much stronger than ANY other medium I had encountered previously. The “Medium WAS the Message” to me. I seemed to NEED the physical presence and the feeling as if Skillet was singing directly to me. I needed the medium to greater understand the message. 

The Last Night

Again, I’ll prove just how much of a music fanatic I am. My music bases, such as iTunes, my YouTube searches, amazon music, and the music hub on my cell phone, are an extension of myself. I commonly say that I live and breathe music. I’ve been known to answer questions in lyrics. My music tells people a lot about me, especially my playlists. In particular, my most played list. Oh wait, have you heard that from me before? Indeed you have. The fact that “The Last Night” was at the top of my most played was an extension of myself at that current time. It was my way of explaining my emotions. My Facebook, yes I’m that gal STUCK on Facebook who is practically unwilling to change or add another social media for fear of yet another technological addiction, is filled with lyrics and links to YouTube versions of songs.

Facebook is my “global village.” I have friends from all over the world on my Facebook. As a girl scout, I have met people who have come over to the US for the summer in order to be a camp counselor. I have become very close to many of them. As a military brat, I have friends and family from all over the world. Facebook has become my hub. In a matter of seconds I can know what’s going on in a friend’s life, without ever having to pick up the phone or pay outrageous international calling fees. It’s as simple as logging onto the account on my many different devices. And WOLAH! There’s the information readily available to me! 

The fact that I find a need for such things as Facebook or my iPod shows that I am a technological structuralist. My need to have such drives technological creators to continue to create and advance our technologies. If we as a society didn’t find a need for the advancements then the advancements would not exist. We’d come to a halt, but instead, it is a common consensus that these technologies improve our living and therefore drive us to continue advancing. My life is soo technologically connected, it’s insane! I don’t think I would function quite the same without this relationship with technology!

Comm 203: Creative Commons

In a world based on technology I find myself constantly on the internet. I have set tabs for when I open my Google Chrome. One of these tabs is the ever so popular site of YouTube. I can’t explain how helpful it has been to me. Another tab is Google itself. I know MANY college students who would proudly exclaim that Google has saved their asses many times. Now why exactly does this matter? Both of these are examples of copyleft. Most people have heard of copyright but have you ever heard of copyleft? If you’re a Communications major or teacher you might have. Actually I find it comical because as I type this it’s become apparent that Microsoft isn’t aware of such, as it’s telling me copyleft isn’t even a recognized word. Essentially copyleft is the ability to freely share and distribute knowledge and information. Creative Commons is a widely known example of this. When I was first introduced to the idea of copyleft about a year ago, I was outraged, but at the same time I didn’t fully understand the implications of forbidding copyleft. As I writer and poet, I have copyrighted all my works. I would be beyond upset if someone tried to pass my work off as theirs. I have spent countless hours in front of a computer and just as many with pencils and fountain pens and paper in front of me, scribbling away words that later became works of pride. I have friends who are musicians. They’ve written and performed their works. Some would be upset if their original work was played and changed by others, but then I have others who be ecstatic to find that someone took the time to improve upon their works. After a year, my idea of copyleft has changed dramatically. I feel one should have the ability to do as they wish with downloaded material. If there was no copyleft there would be no such thing as Fan Fiction, YouTube, Google, or even parodies of popular songs. I’m personally in-love with the Pokemon parody of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball.” I have spent at least an hour listening to it and memorized the words. If there was no copyleft, this would be illegal and in a perfect world non-existent. Though I fully believe it would happen anyways. So to wrap up, my life would be extremely different without copyleft! I enjoy my life as it is and would figuratively die without such a concept as copyleft. Yay for Google, YouTube, Fan Fiction, Creative Commons, and much more!