What Needs Fixin' ?

Here's a list of standards we as  a class created to determine what makes a blog successful:

• Clean design: easy on the eyes, good colors, NOT unreadable fonts, etc.
• More control: easy to find content
• Message: Topic and audience in mind
• Attention getting: interesting headlines, videos, and pictures
• Concise: more content available by links, no long scrolling
• Visual: colors, pictures, videos, layout
• Writing style: grammar and voice

After reviewing that list, below is a list of things I plan to change about my blog to make it better for those who will be reading it.

Things to change:

• Title color
• Add more images and videos
• More concise verbiage
• More lively voice in my writing
• Potentially change the layout color 

What Makes Good Blogs Good?

There are many different factors that give blogs their quality. After review the 2015 bloggies, I think the two primary factors that make blogs good are their format and the conciseness of the information being expressed. The content was easy to follow and expressed in an eye catching way. It brought attention to vital information while only giving an over view of information less important. The information also follows proper English and grammar rules. This makes it easy to comprehend. No one wants to read long drawn out content. Quick and to the point is what most people expect in today's generation. The blogs that won on the bloggies such as "cupcakes and cashmere" did a great job of keeping content concise and informative. By doing these things I believe all blogs can be very successful.

Vlog Experience Reflection

Being camera shy makes it quite difficult to make a video blog. I was very nervous to make it and really did not want  people to hear me talk on camera. Despite my reservations, I was more successful than expected while recording. I practiced once and was able to get a great video on the first try. It makes it much easier to express my views and opinion compared to having to type every word. It was a great learning experience and I look forward to doing more vlogs.

Remediation: The Process

So much changes as companies try to navigate new mediums. While looking at the old Domino's website, it is clear that during their infancy stage, their content was not exactly the best. The first webpage for the pizza chain was created in 1996. Important information such as a menu, contact information, and deals were hard to find. It simply had a quote about pizza. The website looked very childlike, almost resembling a video game. It only contained a few images, none of which were the actual product, just cartoon replicas.

As the years went by it's clear that they grasped a better understanding of allowing what customers see to be more impactful. I believe their in store practices, such as offering deals, menu options, and store/employee capabilities, helped with this process. As years go by and menus change, the websites must also change to match the produce.

Today's website for the pizza franchise is 10x better than the website from 1996. The website grasps the customers attention with real life pictures of products, prices, deals, locator options, as well as steps for ordering desired meals. There is now even an option to have the website personalized once an account is created with the franchise. Trial and error with past and present techniques allows companies to better the content of information they make accessible for the world wide web. Content and practices of competitors also helps with this process. Companies constantly strive to be better than their competitors.

Visual Communication

An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube

 Today we watched a documentary in class called "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube" and these were some key points from it:

Abc became the 3rd network to begin broadcasting over 60 years ago but youtube was able to become the equivalent of almost 400 always on channels compared to the few networks that ran things years ago. Youtube has allowed and increase in broadcasted material that other networks are not capable of providing.

YouTube was launched April 23rd 2005. It gives people the free will to come together and express themselves through media as well as gives some people a voice within a community that otherwise would not necessarily hear them on a regular basis. "When you unpack the impact of digital text...it leads to linking people together in ways that we never thought of before."

People are able to regenerate the things they see on the web in an extremely fast speed. It makes you wonder how the speed of media will affect us in the future? Things can be shared and sent so quickly but what happens when the wrong message or content is given power and sent too fast? "When media changes, relationships change." There are all types of people on youtube from many different ages and backgrounds; all giving their input and feedback to the many videos they see. Most of the uploads to youtube are meant for less than 100 viewers but often take on a life of their own after being uploaded, causing them to reach millions.

User generated content can emerge in a way that reaches numerous audiences. A prime example is when Soulja Boy used user generated content in April 2007 for his hit song, Crank That Soulja Boy, which took off reaching people all over the world. By August 2007 he was signed to a record label due to his user generated expertise with youtube and myspace. Youtube allows for cultural inversion. Media has allowed a community to be built through webcams and screens. "We crave the connection but still view connections as constraint...youtube allows connects without constraints." New forms of community create new forms of self-understanding.

"The Computer for the 21st Century" by Mark Weiser

It's amazing how over 20 years ago, researchers had the knowledge to predict and profess media and technology that would be vital to our everyday lives today. This article discussed the technological advancements that would need to take place to prepare society for the many gadgets and gizmos that would come to consume our attention.

The article was written in September of 1991, so many of the computers and tablets that we consider normal components of live now were still ideas in the works then. The article stated that computing would become ubiquitous, mean capable of being everywhere at the same time. It gave insight to the use of technological advances such as computers, tabs, and pads would become compiling or visual invariants. Essentially this means that the acknowledgment of usage would disappear in a way that freed us to use them without thinking and allow us to focus on other things around us at the same time.

By making computers ubiquitous, this would allow them to be used in different shapes and sizes in any location. The article discussed tabs, pads, and boards that would vary and size with portable computing capabilities. Although they were nonexistent in 1991, in today's time we refer to them as tablets, iPads, and iPad minis as well as cell phones with computer like formatting. Through research, trial and error these future predictions have become present day ways of life. Sometimes I wonder, would less technological advancements allow us to take advantage of our resources instead of resorting to google and siri? How will the increase in technology effect the "standard" way of living life; what will become the new normal?