Mobile Devices and New New Media

When you look at new new media and the place that mobile devices play in the big scheme of things, one thing is for certain. Mobile devices have made communication universal, in that they allow almost anyone to get on the internet and post, or tweet, or load a video at any time and anywhere. There really is no more finding a computer if you don't have one or finding internet service because it is all right there in the palm of your hand. This in turn has led to an eruption in the amount of media that is constantly being exchanged, which in turn brings about constant growth to data and cellular systems. All of the sudden we are watching videos from around the world and seeing more of what is going on in the world. The down fall is that it has taken away interpersonal communication and really made us that much more lazy.

YouTube Promotes Obnoxious Fruit

A friend of mine, by the name of Kelly Chrisman, turned me on to The Annoying Orange one night at a little watering hole I used to frequent.

According to Wikipedia,

"The Annoying Orange is an American comedy web series created by former Minnesota film student and MTV production assistant Dane Boedigheimer in 2009. It stars its creator as an anthropomorphic orange who annoys other fruits, vegetables, and various other objects by using jokes, which are sometimes crude-humored. The YouTube channel "Annoying Orange" has over 3.5 million subscribers.

Despite the show's negative critical reception, the show's popularity after its first episode led it to become the subject of a TV series, a video game, a range of toys, and a t-shirt line. Other accessories, such as costumes of the series characters, have also appeared on the market for the company."

This is just an example of how YouTube can make average everyday people that produce small projects into rock star status overnight.  

 

 

Stop Motion Film

Here is a small stop motion film I created with text from the Grateful Dead song Scarlet Begonias. I like the first half, but I was getting tired with the second part so I kind of rushed it, but since I created it on Movie Maker, I can always redo the second part. This was a fun experience with stop motion, as I have never created any before. I will definitely try to integrate it with future projects.

140 Characters

Mass communication at 140 characters a pop. I used to think that Twitter was just exactly like Facebook, so what was the point of being redundant? Why would I want to pump out the same information 5 different times to the same people, whether they be followers, friends, or whatever the newest thing is. So I did a little research on Twitter to figure out what all the hype was about. The biggest thing that separates Twitter from the rest of the social media sites is its simplicity. With keeping Tweets limited to 140 characters and only allowing links on posts the speed at which Twitter moves is unreal. Pretty cool if you are wanting to comment on what gibberish Bill O'Reilly is spewing out on Fox News, or what Botox Barbra has to say on The View, or even to announce your thoughts on a particular show on the tube; all showing up on the bottom of the screen in real time. Mass communication at its finest. My one major problem with Twitter though is people's stupidity at the speed of light. It is bad enough on Facebook, but only certain people can see it. Even if you have your security settings on, all it takes is for one person that doesn't have any security settings to re-tweet a post, and you are done. Embarrassment by the masses. So here's to the many politicians, and stars who have got themselves in the hot seat or even ruined careers all because of 140 characters.   

Strange Maps Success

Strange Maps is a blog in which Frank Jacobs comments about strange maps that he has collected over the years. According to Jacobs, "some of the maps are real, some are fiction, and some are what if maps." Either way, he has very good insight and an interesting way of dissecting different maps into the reality or fantasy of what they are or could be. Jacobs began this blog on WordPress in 2006 and now writes for Big Think, and has wrote 645 posts thus far. His most famous post is  "US States Renamed for Countries with Similar GDPs" has been viewed more than 587,000 times. There has been a book published by Penguin Books in 2009 that contains a compilation of his many blogs called, "Strange Maps, An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities."   



Jacobs is not actually a cartographer, but has had a fascination with maps since he was a kid. Most of the maps that he posts about are old maps that were hand drawn, and he views them as more of an art form. In an interview with Jacobs on Public Radio International, he explains that a great deal of the maps that he writes about now are ones that are sent to him by viewers of his blog, which accounts to how successful his blog is and to how many people there are out there that are also fascinated with old maps.