Module 1
Introduction
First Day of Class (February 10)
Activities/Assignments (Due on February 12)
- Join Twitter
- Follow prof.: @JessL
- E-mail prof. to add you as an author on the class blog
- Send an introductory tweet with the class hashtag: #EXSM3989
- Class Blog:
- Add a comment on the Module 1 post – introduce yourself and share with us your thoughts on this week’s readings/video
Hey Everyone, My name is Josca and this will be the third class I'm taking to obtain my full Social Media Marketing and Communications Citation. Reading over the material for module 1, I'm afraid I know little about the the digital world, however are exited to learn. The google article made me think more about my own life and how things have changed, from the moment you walk in the door "google put on lights" from the moment you go to bed. I look forward seeing you all in class.
ReplyDeleteI am the Marketing & Communications Advisor at a local engineering company. I'm looking to improve my digital storytelling and help my subject matter experts take highly technical content and communicate it effectively through our website, video and social media.
ReplyDeleteReviewing the material for module 1 was interesting for me. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the technical reports and published technical papers our engineers write. I really struggled with getting through it.
I find for longer form, more complex writing, I have to print it out and not read it on screen. I find I try to skim this type of content if it's online or on a screen and I miss a lot. My attention does get distracted.
I am realizing that I'm not reading longer forms of content like books. I'm trying to change this but I have also discovered that my attention span is short and something really needs to grab my attention to hold it. I used to be an avid reader and I'm realizing the more I do online work, the more I've moved away from reading. I think how we consume content has changed drastically and it is really easy to go down the hyperlink rabbit hole.
I also think that short-form videos like what is being produced on TikTok or YouTube has impacted our ability to read online. We also have a lot more content choices beyond social that compete for our attention and I think that has an impact on our attention spans and reading materials. The rise of audio books and podcasts have an impact. I find it interesting the rise of Audible. We are no longer reading books; we are listening to them. It has impact how we see words.
Personally, I'm working hard to get back to the love of reading. I have always loved physical books and the experience - the turning of the page, the art of the cover and inside - and I think getting back to longer forms of reading opens us up to be better writers.
ReplyDeleteI truly thought there was something wrong with me as I could not get through "Electronic Literature: What is it?", no matter how many times I tried. The font was distracting, there was so much content with no images or videos, I could not focus. It wasn't until reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid" that it clicked; I really can't read like I used to. I skim, I click on links, I look for pull quotes and pray there is an Executive Summary or synopsis. I look for and interesting lede and may read the first two paragraphs, very rarely do I finish an entire article and even when I'm reading on my Kindle I'm clicking on words to pull up the dictionary or Wikipedia.
Realizing how awful my attention span is made it very clear to me that I must change the way I communicate to get my message across to my audience. The majority of people seem to have the attention span of a fly now so I need to snag their fleeting attention and make the interaction memorable. If I wouldn't read my content no one else will either.
Hello all! My name is AJ and I'm working toward my Social Media Marketing and Communications citation. I was having some technical issues but I'm GTG now!
ReplyDeleteI haven’t studied forms of writing and reading since high school so reading all the forms of Digital Fiction had me taken back a bit at first.
I’ve never put much thought into it but now reading all the different forms and the history of it all I start to try and relate them all to how I process certain forms and what I’ve read in the past and what I’m currently reading and how it all lays out. It was interesting to read how we have changed so much over time.
For me personally the interactive fiction stands out to me. It’s something I enjoyed as a child with the choose your own adventure books and later on in life gaming with classics like Dragons Lair. I feel like this was the start of the new norm where it could take any level of reader into the story. With Social tapping into our psyche on so many levels visually auditorily, and interactively, the choosing of your own path is that much more rewarding. Also the “choice” can also be forced. Like great magicians do with interactive magic tricks.
The reading for electronic literature shows us how it has redefined literature to its core. For example I “read” it by having my iPhone tell it to me first, then scrolling over it afterwards trying to take in more detail. I myself can’t sit and read it straight through, I fidget and find myself having to re-read full paragraphs. All the hypertext within the essay again define what “Electronic Literature” can be. Taking you back and fourth between information with a simple click that would not have been as possible in print literature.
My feelings from the last reading are laid out in the “Is Google Making Us Stupid” article. As I read it I feel, It all makes sense, this is exactly how I process what I’m reading. This is me, and this is why! So cool. I can understand all the digital mediums changing us and how we process information because our minds are so malleable. I feel this is a great example of why we always need to be consistently changing the way we deliver the messages that we feel we need to put out there. People are consistently changing how they process and retain the information so we need to keep up. We need to be as adaptive in our practices as our brain is at receiving information.
The [S]creed started off with a plethora of images in my mind. The writing was something that immediately spawned crazy images in my mind. I thought to myself i could imagine this done as an amazing video presentation to open a lecture.
What the [s]creed embraces seems very technical at times and over my head but it’s interesting to go through. I didn’t quite get why it negates some forms like digital blogs, digital story telling, etc.. I’m hoping to gain further understanding of this reading and it’s importance in this case.
I am a young impressionable creative and I have no idea how I want to portray myself on the internet. I have many great ideas, thoughts, and life experience, yet I don't know how I want to tell my story.
ReplyDeleteAs the readings were a bit difficult for me to get through, my ADHD and inability to ignore my cat when she is snuggling me had me struggling. However I found it intriguing to see how we humans have developed in story telling and spreading information.
While reading the first link on history and context, I couldn't help but to make a comparison with the Contemporary App-Fiction, Kinetic Literature and the Snapchat feature called "Solve", it is a digital, touch-screen narrative being told at the pace of the viewer requiring to click through the story and help solve a true crime based "case". At the end of the narrative, it gives the viewer an opportunity to vote on a poll to see who they think the killer is. Its interesting to see such a way to communicate a story - which surprised and intrigued me into becoming a regular viewer.
I really struggled with some of the required readings - I usually have Kurzweil to help read long or difficult to read content... which I no longer have access to (something I will be changing in the very near future).
A line that really stood out to me while reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid" was 'Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski'. I feel that I can really relate to that analogy. Even just a couple years ago, I could read novels for hours and really find myself immersed in the narrative, and I notice myself recently skimming and reading what I deem necessary. I think this may come from a lot of the "clickbait" articles on social media, most of the information in the article is either irrelevant or filler to get you to click to the next page, and read this affiliated article, and download this app, and donate to this kick-starter fund (point being, there seems to be more strings attached nowadays with the articles we find on social media).