Paperback Writer

A Farewell

2008-02-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

well, i dunno folks. as many of you will soon find out, i have taken a leave of absence from RPI for the rest of the semester. my one regret is that i won't be able to attend class with you guys. I'll continue to watch your podcasts, and may even provide some useful feedback, who knows. As soon as I've got my technology situation at home figured out, i may even attempt to continue my own video podcast, but I'll make some noise if that ends up working. Anyway, it's been short, but I've enjoyed Participating in Culture with you all. End Captain's Log, Over and Out.

Episode 1 up and running.

2008-02-07T20:19:00.001-08:00

sorry for the wait, here's episode 1 of the World International News Report. I'm still working out the kinks in the system, so it's not where i would like it to be yet. anyway, enjoy. http://redwhiteandfuckinpresidential.blogspot.com

Hey, can someone help me with the HTML for the WINR blog? i would like some American flags in the background or something like that.

Connection Experiment

2008-01-31T13:05:00.001-08:00

My idea for this video blog is to conduct an "experiment" of sorts, which will be documented by video. I consider myself very cut off from the world of the news, sports, and pop culture. I don't read the news online, i don't get the newspaper, and i haven't had a working television in two years. this being said, my experiment will consist of me attempting to both report the week's major news events, as well as attempting to provide some interesting commentary. "Day one" of this experiment has already been shot, but i realize that it will only be interesting as a retrospective. however, it will be posted this weekend in conjunction with the first episode. what i hope to do with this project is to have a retrospective of my understanding of the news world with particular focus on the presidential election. I've taken a few steps to help expose myself to this information: I've taken out a subscription to the NY Times, and I've fixed my TV. hopefully this will be an entertaining and educational endeavor.

Infinite Monkeys

2008-01-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

i dunno about you, but the thought of infinite monkeys scares me. what would we possibly do with that many monkeys? but on a serious side, Keen makes a good point. a lot of what is on YouTube, Google Video and Blogger, is just mediocre ranting. the reason singers, directors, and writers are as highly paid/reclaimed as they are, is because they have what most YouTube artists and Bloggers lack: namely Talent.

now, some of you will make the fair point, that i myself have a blog and submit videos to Youtube. am i hypocritical? probably, but what YouTube offers to me and to 250,000,000+ people each year, is a stage for what talent creativity we do have. Very few people on YouTube are visionary film directors or rock stars or professional dancers. But some are.

Keen said that the internet is "an endless digital forest of mediocrity." and it is, for the most part. The internet also is host to those with serious talent, and who deserve to be recognized for it. perhaps these people have less guts than Mick Jagger or Quentin Tarantino, perhaps they don't have the courage or the money to perform live or direct a film, but does that mean that they shouldn't be recognized for their talent?

So the Internet is a "forest of mediocrity," i don't see how that's any different than before. People will try to express themselves in all sorts of ways. Doesn't everyone have a relative who knits or makes pottery or paints or something? I think YouTube and Blogger are great inventions, because they provide people with a medium to be creative. and what should you care Keen? You don't have to watch us.

A Short History of the Internet Response

2008-01-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

well, um. i really don't know how to respond to this article. i guess, what one could take away from it is an appreciation of how brilliant the Internet really is. i also enjoyed the anecdote about the beginnings of e-mail and how the system admins were not pleased. i realize this post will probably receive very little credit, so I'll be sure to talk a bunch in class to make up the points.

Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: A Response

2008-01-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

This article made a lot of sense to me. i particularly connected with the section on Media Convergence. For a long time now, I've understood the Hollywood mentality of "take something that works, and milk it for all it's possibly worth." this is the mentality we can thank for such great films as "American Pie: Band Camp," "Saw IV," and "Scary Movie III." This article, however both confirmed my belief in this mentality and recognized that it is no long localized to the film industry. now we have Family Guy: The Video Game, Donnie Darko: The Soundtrack, and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Picture Book. because of this I think it's important to contribute to culture, so that we're not stuck watching "Shindler's List II: Payback Time."

RSS Slideshow about Participartoy Culture

2008-01-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the link for my RSS Slideshow:
http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/deliShow/sneezembop/participatoryculture/

and now, for a little description of each site:

Theme Magazine - Tobias Wong
I would like to premise all of this by first saying that I'm not sure how to change the order of the pages in my slide show, so these may seem out-of-order. please forgive me. anyway, what i was going for with this page was that participating in culture isn't limited to the Internet, although that is what this class is focusing on, and i thought it would be appropriate to include one. I was really intrigued by Wong's artwork, especially the pad of dollar bills.

XKCD
This is actually the second part to the link that follows it. great ordering, i know. but my point with this page was that Facebook, which is a relatively recent phenomenon, has almost created a culture of it's own, which is entirely fed by user input.

Facebook
yah, yah, yah, Facebook. like i was just saying, Facebook works on user input, so without us, the users, there would be no Facebook, and thus no Facebook culture. kind of cool, i suppose.

Pulp Fiction Picture
This isn't supposed to be a part of this slide show, but i guess it does sort of represent how fans have a much larger audience and medium for their responses to "Pop Culture."

The End
I like this page, it may not be original, but the message is clear and believe it or not, is an example of participatory culture. not the greatest execution, but i suppose, if i could stumble upon it, so could others.

OK, so here's where i ran into serious problems with the slide show. from here on out, I'll be describing pages that aren't actually on the slide show, but are part of my del.icio.us bookmarks for Participatoryculture. who knows...

http://www.venganza.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/trends.gif
This is mostly just silly, but a good example of someone using a mainstream media tool to promote counter culture. i think it mostly just speaks for itself though.

http://www.open-video.org/ (the open video project)
i thought this site was pretty cool, this website offers a large library of stock footage in categories ranging from historical, to documentary, to public service. i marked this website because i think it's a good step in the "liberation" of media.

http://i-generation.blogspot.com/ ( iGeneration)
This is the website of a class like ours at the University of Western Australia, i found it interesting to read some of the posts on this blog, and see what other people are discussing about Participatory Culture.

http://participatoryculture.org/ (Participatory Culture Foundation)
I think these guys kind of missed the mark. and while their gadget is cool, it isn't really participatory culture. their product helps enable people without cable or TV, to stay in touch with the mass media. whereas, i feel that participatory culture ought to be media by and for the masses, not mass media.

http://www.askaninja.com/ (Ask a Ninja)
this site is probably familiar to a bunch of people, but i thought it would be a good idea to start off my slide show with a few of the podcasts that i watch. i know, way to go RSS, putting it at the end. whatever.

http://www.redvsblue.com (red vs blue)
Again this is probably familiar to many. i think the concept behind this site, and in fact the whole field of machenima, is very cool. i would link this with the silly Google picture a few pages back, because the creators of Red vs. Blue, are using a mainstream media tool, namely Microsoft's Halo, to create their own media.

http://www.rocketboom.com (Rocketboom)
This is the first podcast / video blog, i started watching but, unfortunately, i fell out of touch with it for a few years. Rocketboom searches the Internet and mainstream media for stories and then report them, like a news room for the Internet.

deebeda, deebeda, deebeda, that's all folks!