Mathematical!

Convergence Culture

In a culture that encourages the convergence of media, people collaborate different media or use it as representations of themselves in order to meet potential friends from around the globe. The Internet gives more information out there than we know what to do with, so other than a source of entertainment and research, what better way to use it than to express ourselves? Whether it's by telling others what our favorite movies, books, games, etc. are or by having online debates and discussions, convergence is practiced by many. It is an unstoppable movement, now that it's easy to get our opinions out there.
Creative engagement takes this a step further, giving people the opportunity to adding their own input on social media. Voting on talent shows is an example and, like most revolutionary movements, there are people who have a problem with it. It is still a necessary process, including users and audience members in new media so that their voices finally matter. They are, after all, the ones that big-name companies aim to please and keep around.

Long Tail Theory

In today’s class session, we learned about the Long Tail Theory researched and developed by Chris Anderson. The theory essentially stated that hard-to-find items hold as much if not more value than items in bulk. One example of this, as mentioned in class, is the site Etsy. It became increasingly popular not only because of people’s desire for their work to be noticed, but because of consumers’ desire for uniqueness. Since the site promotes the selling of handmade crafts made by individuals instead of companies and sweat shops, the products are obviously rare. My roommate, for example, received Jane Eyre earrings as a gift from a friend who visited the site.

Another example that falls under the Long Tail economic model is the time I searched for a rare game for a few days. I first tried retail stores like GameStop and Walmart, initially unaware of the rarity of the game. I then tried some mom-and-pop stores both here and back in Charlotte, but with no luck. I resorted to using the internet. The price of this old game was a bit higher than what I was willing to pay, so I searched through admittedly shady ecommerce sites. It was finally found at a cheap price, but I was lucky to have a legitimate, still-running copy mailed to my house.

While I expected a game’s value to go up once its production went down or discontinued but I found it interesting how much people are willing to pay for the copy of something of low replay value. It could be for nostalgia, use as part of a collection, or other reasons.

TvTropes falls under the gift economy cost model, since it’s a Wiki site. It recently asked users to fully commit to contributing to their site, but (that I know of) it’s a free service unless they’re running the site themselves.

New Media and Technology

This morning, my roommate brought to my attention that Internet Explorer is about to be shut down. First, I'd like to say "It's about time!" The browser that's constantly teased on the Internet for its tendency to be slow is still going to be around. However, it will soon be snuffed out and replaced by another browser, made by the same company, called Project Spartan. Unfortunately, most people don't like changing their typical browser usage, so Microsoft is performing tests. For example, they're surveying see which names will be appealing to different users, including those who browse on Chrome.

There are two articles that are recommended since the second article is a link in the first, going further into detail about IE's final days. It's been a huge part of the World Wide Web for decades, and at one point was one of the few choices. Even though it's been jokingly stated that it should be taken down, the fact that it's actually happening is baffling.

I believe that our Web interactivity and user interface discussion has a relation to these articles because these characteristics aren't just related to websites, and that the interface and interactivity of a browser can affect its popularity. Google, for example, combines its services into an email address the user signs in with. Chrome customizes its homepage and search function to fit the user's preference, and Google Drive saves a variety of files for the same user. After purchasing YouTube, Google made viewers' Gmail accounts into YouTube accounts.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/18/393914128/microsoft-is-phasing-out-internet-explorer

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/18/393914128/microsoft-is-phasing-out-internet-explorer

Advertising Portfolio by Jennifer Rhodes

Introduction

Advertisements are typically used to convince an audience to do or avoid certain actions, try certain products, or trust certain companies. What an audience looks for is an emotional connection or need, or a shortcut to whatever goal they either had already or planted into their heads by the advertisement. The following advertisements in this blog, when not using humor to grab a person's attention, use some kind of emotional appeal:

Belonging to a certain group or feeling accepted,
The promise to fee secure,
The promise to feel attractive, and
The promise of self-acceptance (Udemy.com).

There are other components to an ideal advertisement, of course, but the most successful ones are what scares or otherwise convinces its audience into doing what it wants.

BAAD Sells

Old Joe Camel

The Smooth Character campaign of Camel cigarettes from 1988-1990 made references to stereotypical "manly" or “cool” characters such as 007 (shown above). It gave its customers 'C-notes', which was currency that can be traded for prizes that, according to a cancer prevention specialist, "are all items that kids would want, and the only way to get them [was] to buy Camel cigarettes" (The New York Times). Since it was accused of being a ploy to encourage children to smoke, it received a lot of backlash and some parodies of Old Joe Camel as a cancer patient.

Pitches & Persuasions

From humor...

...to fear & insecurities

The Mayhem commercials, starring actor Dean Winters, uses a troublesome yet likable character to represent disastrous situations that would make people pay out of pocket. It falls under humor and fear & insecurities, both to keep someone's attention and scare them into buying home/auto insurance. Most of the commercials make heavy implications of rivaling insurance companies like Progressive and Geico. A more recent Mayhem commercial focused solely on the fear, not using Winters’ character and having spokesperson Dennis Haysbert try to comfort the viewers while showing the same “mayhem” situations as before.

Celebrity Endorsement

Even though it's not what one would typically think of, this Flintstones commercial can fall under celebrity endorsement. The use of popular cartoon characters from a family show (it was shown just before the average time children went to bed) to endorse Winston cigarettes was done back in the sixties. It used both "celebrity" endorsement of iconic cartoons and the humor of lazy husbands hiding away from their hardworking wives. In the process, the ad listing the positive components of the cigarette such as its filter.

Sex Appeal

Liquid-Plumr uses blatant innuendos and attractive men to act as the plumbers while explaining how their product will clear out a pipe clog. It can also be viewed as humor due to the sheer ridiculousness of the ad, but it gets its point across. The targeted audience, housewives, would more likely watch the ad because of the men than in a regular, strictly informational ad.

Alcohol Commercials

Taman Whiskey

What type of alcohol is promoted in the ad?

Taman Whiskey, a Swedish brand

What age group and gender are depicted in each ad?

Middle-aged men and women, and a young girl during the second half

What activities are the models engages in?

In the first half, they are drinking and socializing, talking with old friends and new, showing a typical alcohol commercial in the first half. In the second half, however, there are incidents that usually occur when one drinks too much, including fighting and the neglect of a young child

Why were these people and this place chosen for the ad?

They are shown as everymen, undergoing the ups and downs of going out to drink/socialize

How do body language and facial expression contribute to the message?

Originally friendly and sociable, and then tense with the feeling of provocation

What socioeconomic group is the ad depicting or targeting?

Regular people, most likely parents and people who drink heavily or regularly

What doesn’t the ad tell you about the consumption of alcohol?

This is where it gets tricky. Taman took a risk by showing both the positive side of drinking their liquor, and then the negatives of drinking too much

Women's Placement

Women lack the intellectual independence and defer to males

An old Heinz Ketchup ad shows a typical assumption of a woman: that they’re incapable of opening a bottle without a man’s help. The commercial is a blatant jab how women are portrayed as the weaker sex, with the model even showing a shocked, somewhat clueless expression.

Women use & need products to attract the attention of men

This 50s ad encourages women to use a certain product or go to the doctor in order to gain weight. It's the opposite of what is implied in media nowadays, but the goal is still the same: its claim was that it was promoting health, but its intended goal was to make women want to become attractive to men.

Women tend to be obsessive about cleanliness

These Swiffer commercials display a woman replacing her mop/broom with a Swiffer. The cleaning supplies are portrayed as exes and love interests. There are usually just women in the commercials talking about these cleaning supplies as if they're men. It was argued to be a sexist commercial because of this.

Women are shown in a narrower range of roles than men

This ad shows a pregnant woman holding a non-alcoholic beverage that looks a lot like alcohol (I suppose that’s the point). She's wearing unnecessarily skimpy clothing - her holding her stomach should have been enough of a clue that she's pregnant - and appears to be handing beer to the audience, which narrows her down as an ideal woman. The ad also narrows the roles of women to the childbearers, despite its noble intentions.

Children's programs show more men and boys then women and girls

...or at least in this case, more clearly. The Battleship board game cover shows a father and son having quality time playing a well-known game while the wife and daughter are barely noticeable in the background, washing dishes or helping with housework. Battleship is usually seen as a male-oriented game, so it isn't too far-fetched.

Which Networking Law do I agree with?

The law that I agree with the most is Reed’s Law, which states that the utility of a network with n members increases exponentially. In other words, the networks focus more on the multiple individual relationships a user has than one user’s link to another. It focuses more on social networks, which consists of several social media options and people who use them. Instant messaging is a recent thing, so it’s more accurate to today’s networking than the Metcalfe’s and Sarnoff’s Laws. The other laws only focus on statistics and ratings like one would when working on television. Reed’s law acknowledges that connections between users should be viewed from more of a qualitative perspective than a quantitative one. In other words, Reed’s Law seems to draw attention to the sociality of networking than the statistical aspect. Since networking nowadays is more about personal and work relationships than how many people one is able to contact (which was an amazing feat back when the internet was developed), Reed’s Law is a better representation of networking. In Five years, I doubt things will change. People claim that it’s a bad thing that people only communicate online or by text. I personally think it’s a double-edged sword. While people have become more prone to interacting with others without physically being around them, the Internet has given people an opportunity to connect with potential friends from around the globe. Soon texting won’t be enough; phones won’t be enough; screens won’t be enough, and the replacements/improvements will never truly stop. We’re becoming more comfortable with speaking to machines, whether it’s to other people or with artificial intelligence like Cleverbot. It’s not viewed as strange or crazy, and neither does speaking into or typing a device to a person several miles away. There have actually been fairly recent news about Japan developing and selling automatons with the intelligence of kindergarteners. The people who I told the news to hardly batted an eye since they’re used to technological advances having close ties to social interaction. There are more examples, of course, due to our interest in creating life in…less than conventional ways. It will become more common the more we learn and more willing we are to take risks.

"Why We Blog"

This article talks about the purposes of frequent blogging, whether it's for informational or personal reasons. They're not always personal diaries, but they can tell you of medical or scientific discoveries. According to the article, blogging isn't always a daily thing; some are only updated weekly or monthly. They can be used to stay in touch with friends and family, as an information source, or simply as an outlet. A blog gets a larger audience the more often it’s shared or talked about either online or by word of mouth. Since bloggers are typically anonymous unless their intended audience is friends and loved ones, their blogs can have controversial subjects without fear of retaliation. Blogs are used instead of mass email or websites. They’re more personal and less likely to spam an audience who doesn’t want to see every single post. They can be made to represent the person, giving their posts more “life” than an email would. This was an interesting take on blogging, focusing on the psychological aspects. People usually assume that blogs are for angst-ridden teenagers who want to vent, but they’re so much more than that. I personally am not much of a blogger since I, like many others who attempt to, wouldn’t know what to say when expected to update frequently. There are other ways of using them, whether it’s for staying in touch with family or promoting franchises. This is shown in Generation Like. With Tyler Oakley and the Hunger Games fanatic. The short film has even shown that blogs aren’t limited to typing and can be videos, known as “vlogs”.