Twitter: History's Newest Contributor

Twitter is a very versatile tool. Its uses span from the personal to the professional. Although it has been problematic, in such cases as Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal, it is an excellent resource for businesses to market their product. Twitter allows the instantaneous delivery of brief messages to a vast array of followers and essentially, the world. It is different from most social networks because its main draw is the fact that users can post in short bursts as opposed to Facebook’s space that allows for several paragraphs. The small 140-character space exhibits a challenge for businesses, because they are not allowed to go into extreme detail about a product or campaign, and instead they must develop a concise message to sell their product. In recent times, Twitter has gone beyond the realm of socializing and advertising. It has become a place for advocacy and activism especially in times of peril. Within minutes of an incident occurring, the community of Twitter users, known colloquially as the “Twittersphere”, is buzzing with hashtags and thoughts about an event in real time. An example is the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of the killing of unarmed African-Americans over the past few years. For the first time in history because of Twitter, the world has been able to react to an incident in real time. After the shooting of Michael Brown, celebrities and citizens alike expressed their outrage using Twitter and the hashtag “#BLM”. In a similar fashion, Twitter played a big role in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Social media wasn’t the driving force behind the protests, but it was the actual tool used to carry the plans out and unite the citizens. That in itself was groundbreaking and never-before-seen in history.

Over the past few years, Twitter has become its own entity in the world of news. As Simon Ricketts states in his article “How the Boston Marathon explosions reveal the two sides of Twitter”, when something newsworthy happens, reporters don’t necessarily need to go directly to the scene to get eyewitness accounts anymore. They simply watch how Twitter reacts. The problem is, validity becomes a factor regarding the person behind the tweet. Using practically any recent disaster or terrorist attack as an example, it is hard to determine who is vying for attention versus who is actually knowledgeable and/or there at the scene. This situation creates a level of difficulty to filter out the content in a news reporter’s “funnel” of information. Although it is a different subject, Facebook’s “Check In” feature during natural disasters proves this theory. Users could mark themselves as “safe” from an earthquake, when in fact they were nowhere near the affected area.

Twitter has become useful in virtually all aspects of society and opened up a new door for free speech. The Women’s March protests that took place in January 2017 is a recent example. Not only did women physically march in various cities across the world, but they also took to Twitter in record numbers to show support for the cause using the hashtag “#WomensMarch”. Between the support that was shown on Twitter and the numbers of women that marched in various cities, the Women’s March of 2017 became the largest protest in United States history. Social media, more specifically Twitter, played an important role in the 2016 Presidential Election. For the first time in history, candidates had another outlet to both recruit supporters and address their stances on certain topics. Prior to the days of Twitter, candidates would have to go to news outlets and hold traditional rallies to gain supporters. Rallies and press conferences still occurred during the election cycle, but candidates now had another tool to utilize for their campaign. On a related note, memes and “fake news” articles were shared all over social media changing the way Americans perceive candidates. The 2016 election set the precedent for how modern politicians run campaigns in the 21st century. In short, Twitter was a success in this instance. Regardless of what the candidates actually said in their tweets, the 2016 election proved that Twitter is no longer just a social and marketing tool. Instead, it has evolved into a vital part of the process of winning the most powerful position in the United States.

There is a lighter side to Twitter that makes communities unite as well. Every so often in the Twitter universe, a meme or news topic will send the Twittersphere into a frenzy. 2015’s “#TheDress” is a meme that playfully divided users based on the perception of whether a dress was seen as black and blue or gold and white. In 2017, live streams across all social networks pulled in record numbers broadcasting April the Giraffe, a pregnant giraffe who was ready to give birth at any moment. Live streams lasted for month and the hashtag “#AprilTheGiraffe” began trending across Twitter in anticipation of April having her baby. In April of the same year, April had the baby and users in the Twittersphere rejoiced. Considering all of the negativity in the world over the few years prior to the giraffe giving birth, this Twitter movement was also a success. For a brief moment in time, the Twitter community forgot about the craziness, potential wars, and conflict that we are forced to see on a daily basis and united to embrace the circle of life.

For graphic designers, Photoshop is a necessity to get the job done. There is so much to learn about the program even for advanced users, so following Photoshop on Twitter is a must for the designer with any level of expertise. Just like any other community, graphic design is constantly evolving and it is important to stay on top of all of Photoshop’s hidden intricacies and tutorials.

The study of typography and graphic design go hand in hand, so Fontsmith is an excellent source for designers who are looking for new fonts as well as to study them. Fontsmith often post new fonts and font-related news, including some links for free or cheap fonts.

Lastly, if one wishes to add a little entertainment, right-winged ignorance, and mindless drivel into their Twitter timeline, look no further than the leader of our nation, President Donald J. Trump.

Twitter opens up a whole different world than blogging. As was previously mentioned, Twitter’s short 140-character bursts propose a challenge to all bloggers because they have to truncate their messages exponentially. Twitter is very convenient and more personal than blogging due to the ability that it allows an equal platform for all users. In other words, one has the same probability of getting an answer from their friend as they do a celebrity. Of course, users don’t have to respond to each and every tweet they are mentioned in but that feature is one of the main ones that sets Twitter apart from other social networks.

Creating An Abstract Film

When creating a movie, multiple elements must be taken into account: The plot, characters, settings, camera angles, etc. For a theme such as abstract, this is a very wide-open topic with multiple ways to achieve the goal of creating a film. Other themes can have a linear and direct storyline but an abstract film needs to be the opposite. A central theme based on abstraction may sound easy to develop, but it is actually quite complicated.

To take a theme, such as getting ticketed on campus, and make it abstract is running a creative risk. Usually a film’s message is shown directly, but because an abstract film is not a normal film, the theme must stray away from the norm. The director must take a theme and make it subliminal as opposed to direct. The spectrum of abstraction can be shown using two extremes: On one side of the spectrum, an idea can be straightforward and the audience may understand fully. On the other end, one can make the idea so abstract that the actual message is lost. The key to making an efficient abstract piece is to find a balance between both.

When creating an abstract video, the creative process is quite different than other videos. While other films may be straight-forward, what makes an abstract video different is the fact that the video must not be straightforward. Deciding what theme to use and how exactly to execute it visually is perhaps the biggest challenge. One can write a storyline for one idea and end up with something completely different by the end. As was previously stated, finding the balance between two extremes can complicate a simple idea in an abstract piece.

Each visual and auditory element was used with a specific goal in mind. The overall topic of ticket-giving could have been changed to ticketing bike riders, but then the audience may end up confused and assume the director has an agenda against bicyclists. That is why choosing to ticket students for minor infractions over another form of transportation was best for the project.

Another element that could have been altered was the music. The music was meant to mirror the feeling that one feels when getting a ticket, but keep the overall mood light and funny. The person could be having a “good” day and then things come to a sudden halt when they get a ticket. Subsequently, their day is ruined. If different music was used, such as “F**k Tha Police” by NWA, then the message could be taken as a direct insult to law enforcement when in fact that was not the message at all. “Tickets” is simply a parody of everyday life on a college campus.

If “Tickets” was created using a different medium the effect may not be the same. A comic strip might be the next best way to achieve the goal, but that is strictly a visual medium. Music helped separate “Tickets” from direct political commentary, whereas if it was drawn in a newspaper as a political cartoon then it could be aligned with other satire and possibly ridiculed. Other mediums such as writing a story or making a song would lose the message and lose the audience. Photographs may be somewhat effective if there are multiple, but using a single photo may appear odd out of context. Simply put, the idea would not be able to be executed in any other way except by video.

The initial topic chosen was nowhere near the subject of “Tickets”. It took multiple run-throughs of the previous topic to realize that it would not be effective. The public nature of the project helped fuel the creative process and evolve the film into what would eventually become “Tickets”. Knowing that it would be shown to the class and possibly future classes helped mold the film because the plot of “Tickets” is something that every driver on campus could relate to. Choosing to present the topic in a humorous way was the best method for “Tickets” because humor’s ultimate goal is to make society look at its own absurdities in the mirror.

For the “self-portrait” aspect of the film, each individual story involved every group member. One or two students would act and then the other student would shoot. Instead of doing three separate stories with all of them coming together at the end, “Tickets” ended up being vignettes with one overarching theme. The whole film is initially a dream sequence based on the protagonist being ticketed in the beginning. It takes place in a fantasy world where students have authority to ticket other students for minute infractions such as leaving garbage behind or putting makeup on in public.

Developing the plot and planning the film was harder than editing the film itself. Social media (In this case, YouTube) provided no complications. Since the movie was so short it uploaded to the website right away. iMovie is a relatively easy program to use, especially for those familiar with the iOS system on other Apple products. Once the shooting was done it took virtually no time at all to piece the whole film together. The only trouble that created complications was the creative limitations iMovie has. During one part in “Tickets”, a student is talking to another one with bad breath. The original idea for this part was to use a green-yellow filter that waved slowly, mimicking bad breath like in cartoons. Due to iMovie’s limitations on altering its filters, this was not possible.

Overall, this project was relatively simple despite the challenges in the beginning. The only problems that arose were during the creative portion: Ultimately deciding how to execute the abstract theme without venturing too far away from the message. For the group dynamic, there were no quarrels among group members. The work output was consistent. Each member put forth equal effort and contributed excellent ideas. The final product contains a skit imagined by each member, and everyone had input whether they were in the specific vignette or not.

Writing A WIkiHow Page: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

For someone who has no background in HTML or coding, writing a wiki page may be challenging. Thankfully, WikiHow makes it somewhat less intimidating with its easily accessible interface. It’s relatively easy to use. Features like the ability to insert a picture within a few clicks, as opposed to writing several lines of code, enables the user to move through the wiki creation process with ease.

The main advantage of teaching someone how to do something in person is just that - Being in front of them to demonstrate the step and explain it further if needed. Perhaps the most challenging part of creating a wiki (That isn’t something that’s already written down elsewhere such as a recipe) is figuring out how to get the key points of a topic across within the confinements of a writing space. The easiest way to do this when writing a wiki that is teaching a skill, is for one to put themselves in the shoes of someone who has absolutely no background on the subject. If it is on a topic that is expanding on common knowledge, then the reader can understand what to do right away with no further assistance. However, if it is a skill that requires prior knowledge and understanding of certain terminology then the article must contain the information before the tutorial can take place.

For example, if one wanted to learn “"How To Cut Down A Tree", then the prior information needed would be how to use the tools required, where to cut into the trunk for a clean cut, etc. This would all have to be explained before the reader makes the first cut. Without it, the reader may not know exactly what to do and risk injury or death. Although every topic’s conditions aren’t as extreme, the principle is the same: One must know how to operate the chainsaw before trying to cut into the tree.

Contrary to an in-person demonstration, the WikiHow author can only explain the skill so much and assume the person understands what is written down. In person, if one is lost at any point then they can stop the instructor and ask questions. When reading or creating a wiki, that option isn’t readily available so the explanation must be crystal clear. When doing a physical demonstration the instructor can actually show the “student” how to do the task precisely, while WikiHow enables the use of photos and external YouTube links as a substitute. In the WikiHow article “How To Write A Rap: The Advanced Method”, most of the photos do not directly accompany the article because there is no visual way to teach writing a rap verse or song. The exception is the “Syllables” picture, which demonstrates a method of breaking down each word into separate syllables. The subject of rapping is something that has to be explained thoroughly but is somewhat tough to communicate through text, proposing a challenge for the author.

The “How To Write A Rap” article was written strictly using over 15 years of personal experience. The author never wrote down a proper formula or method to teach it prior to the article. When writing the article, the author broke the process down into four essential parts: “Looking For The Perfect Beat (Borrowed from a song title by one of the founding fathers of hip hop, Afrika Bambaataa)”, “Finding The Pocket”, “Establishing Syllables & Writing”, and “Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!”. The thing is, hip hop is not an art that can be mastered overnight from reading the article once. The steps listed are merely the starter kit for the aspiring emcee. One must put in many hours of work using the four steps and then must continually practice them, just like any other trade, in order to develop the skill to the fullest extent.

Writing a wiki can be both fun and frustrating. Users who do not know HTML will find difficulty in trying to make the page look the way they want it to. Centering text, bolding text, and italicizing text all require lines of code. HTML is sensitive, so if one character is erased then it can offset the whole page and may cause many errors. A frequent error that develops in the wiki creation process is every step appearing as “Step 1”. In order to fix this, one must make sure that there is no spaces between any of the lines of code.

Another frustration one will encounter is facing the admins. When creating a wiki, WikiHow has very strict guidelines and admins that monitor every single detail that is changed on the website. Pictures, for example, are heavily monitored for copyright infringement. One must be cautious of the pictures that are included in the article and make sure the copyright is owned by the author. Within moments of the page going live, the WikiHow admins will message a user if the picture remotely resembles one used in another article or elsewhere, whether intentional or not. After that the author must confirm that the pictures belong to them. The admins are VERY strict about the topics listed on WikiHow as well. Even if the topic is an “advanced” method of a previously established topic, or it is approached in another way to make users see it from a slightly different angle, the admins will not approve of the topic and will not publish the page. After “further investigation” by an admin, the “How To Rap” topic unfortunately could not be published.

WikiHow allows anyone to be an expert on a topic of their choosing, so that can make the experience of creating a page fun. The ability to include images to help convey the message (when they are applicable) makes topics like recipes easy to understand as well. Also, the interface is immersive and allows for virtually anyone to be able to learn it, even if they have little to no experience in HTML coding. Overall, wikis require a little bit of patience but they can be a lot of fun if one gets their page published.

The Web: Past, Present, Future

The Possibilities Are Endless

Web 2.0 was revolutionary for the technology industry. The computer was initially used as a tool for research, but with the invention of Web 2.0 we were able to use it as a tool to connect. I personally think that Web 2.0 is all about human interaction.

Web 1.0 paved the way for interaction but didn’t actually allow it due to lack of technology. Social networking was a huge part of 2.0’s innovation, and because of that I believe that 2.0 lived up to the hype surrounding it plus it gave us a tool that we still use today. After 2.0 came 3.0, which took information and technology that we were already familiar with and sorting it. In addition to sorting it, we were now able to delve deeper into databases using more specific searches.

The need for a place to store all of our information gathered since the beginning of time was necessary by the 20th century. Web 1.0 was essentially a filing cabinet for thousands of years of information. The only problem was, like books, the information could not be changed. This need sparked the need for the next level of the Web: 2.0.

Web 2.0 provided users with a more interactive Web experience. This was necessary because prior to 2.0, communication was very limited among users. For casual browsers it allowed them to get more enjoyment out of their Web experience. Users were now able to browse around websites instead of visit them and leave like before.

I’m a firm believer in technology so I believe 2.0 was a positive change. Technology is supposed to fulfill a need and that is exactly what 2.0 did. In a short amount of time, users went from using computers as reference tools to fully immersing themselves in the World Wide Web. Around this time, the computer became another source for hobbies as well. Online gaming, shopping, etc. all came about because of Web 2.0’s potential.

I admit, even though I’m a technology advocate I didn’t fully understand the need for Web 3.0 until I researched it more and related it to the one thing I know best: Music. Picture the Web as a brand new guitar. If one with no musical experience picks up a guitar they do not become the next Jimi Hendrix at that very moment. It takes time to learn chords, hand placement, etc.

The Web, as humans learned more about it, became easier to learn and utilize. We’ve become more familiar with our once brand new instrument. First, with 1.0 we were learning our hand placement and basic theory. We knew we had a tool with a ton of potential but we had to get familiar with it first. 2.0 allowed us to become more advanced and we were able to play songs, and with 3.0 we started playing solos. The thing is, like a guitar, the possibilities are endless so while we believe we mastered the Web there is probably a lot more that we don’t know about. I believe that 3.0 is taking us in a great direction. I’m excited to see where it goes next and the sounds we will be able to make, metaphorically speaking.

Function Vs. Interaction

In its early stages, the Web’s initial purpose was to connect people and ideas. While there is no arguing that it accomplished this goal early in its life, the missing link was the ability for people to actually interact with each other. Because of its limited amount of data, it was used as more of a reference tool as opposed to the limitless amount of data available now. Related to that, information was presented in a very basic way but they did not have the opportunity to participate in discussions or engage in interaction.

Web 1.0’s main focus was functionality. Overall, sites were very minimalistic in their appearance. This was the first step in the Web’s evolution so programmers had databases full of information that they needed to put on display. As a result, even though the information was finally available to the public the websites weren’t very “welcoming” and mainly existed to serve the purpose of providing information to visitors. This would change in a few short years with the invention of Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 bridged the gap between users and interaction because pages were no longer just “read-only”. People were now able to contribute to discussions, browse around their favorite websites, and perhaps most importantly add the missing element: Social networking. Forums allowed users to have conversations in a public environment and enabled the trading of ideas. When social networks such as MySpace and Facebook developed, they also changed the course of how users browsed the web. Users were interacting on the Web like never before. Unlike during the Web 1.0 phase, users were not just onlookers to information anymore. Instead, they became contributors to a rapidly evolving online culture.

Web 3.0 changed the way all of the data on the Internet is organized. Instead of having to sort through a ton of Google search results and wait for slow web pages, now users were able to find more accurate results at lightning speeds. The evolution of connection speeds helped accelerate this process because of broadband connections as opposed to dial-up in the early stages of the Web. In addition, users were able to Google specific sentences (not just phrases) to get more detailed results.

In conclusion, the Web has come a long way in a short amount of time. No one knows what the future holds for the Web but one thing is for sure: It is not slowing down. Just like all technology, the next big breakthrough can be discovered in the blink of an eye. In just a few decades, the Web has evolved from strictly functional and archaic to interactive and complex and now, virtually anyone can use the Web and get enjoyment out of it.

Social Media's Evolution

In the past decade, the evolution of social media has been very rapid. In 1999, I only had an AIM account and I used it to talk to my friends and nothing else. That was essentially social media’s purpose in 1999, but it has become so much more since then. Nowadays, the various social media platforms can be utilized for many reasons. Besides contact with friends, the main reason I use any of them is for business purposes, specifically Facebook. I am a graphic designer as well as a rapper and producer, so Facebook has given me the opportunity to connect directly with promoters to book shows and clients for graphics. If I wasn’t on Facebook then I would have never made connections that led me to opening for multiple national acts, too. I encourage anyone who has business aspirations to utilize Facebook to expand their brand.

Although I am a strong advocate for social media for business purposes, one of the reasons I don’t like social media is because I feel like it intrudes on our daily lives. One example is how social media has changed social gatherings. At any given concert, a large amount of the people in the audience are recording the event instead of living in the moment. At a party, bored people are scrolling Facebook while the others are posting drunken antics to Snapchat.

That being said, I feel that there is most definitely a responsibility for using social media. Personally, I rarely post anything that would be considered personal. For example, there are no pictures of my pets or family on any of my pages. I believe that the user has the right to express themselves but, especially when the user is in their late 20’s and up, certain content [Ex: Party pictures, etc.] should not be posted and there should be a professional element to their profile. As college students and job seekers, we also have to be careful because we represent our college and our brand as potential employees.

I feel that social media has made it too easy for certain people to voice their opinion. This leads to them to abusing their privileges and getting into trouble. One tweet can ruin a celebrity’s reputation or at least alter the public’s perception of them. There have been countless examples, perhaps the most known one is the Anthony Weiner scandal in 2011. Weiner accidentally posted graphic pictures of himself online, thus tarnishing his reputation and forever altering his political career.

In the future, sadly, I foresee social media becoming an integral part of human interaction. Recently, Facebook announced that they have created a “virtual hangout” app using the Oculus Virtual Reality system, thus allowing people all over the world to “hang out” together in a virtual space, eliminating the need for physical travel. I [kind of] understand the need for this, but it is only a matter of time before we abandon physical interaction totally and rely on computers to accomplish every task.

Screenshot from "Black Mirror (2016)" Episode: "15 Million Merits"

Avatars replace real audience members on a TV show.

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