Creative Video--UPDATE

Professor Baldwin,
As I told you in class on Thursday, I had done my video at the library, and I was unable to retrieve any work that I did there.  I was rushing and running late for class and it wouldn't let me e-mail the video to myself, and YouTube was being extremly slow.  This is all that I have, and I have tried multiple ways to download this video, although I was unable to find any embedded video downloaders (that didn't look sketchy and would put some killer virus on my computer).  I wanted to add some music to it, but I just thought that maybe I could be CREATIVE...and just add a link to an MP3 that you could play while watching my trailer ?  I put a lot of work into doing this, and I really like it the way it is, I just need some music to put in there to make it more worth while to watch.

YouTube Video (play while watching the video trailer)

http://youtu.be/DOYvhumpDZw

Final Paper- Cyber Bullying and Youtube

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Yk5Vqcv-1YS4LYaYoTByU7rDOWILo0UERMscsSPStQ/edit?hl=en_US#

Places I've Been

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217447453040123374293.0004b1cb76bf48cd960c7&msa=0&ll=38.933776,-80.57373&spn=6.143155,14.27124

Thoughts on Creative Project

I think that we have a lot of great ideas for this project.  With forming a social network site, it was certainly hard at first considering trying to get 20 peoples opinions to agree is hard in itself.  But with such a topic, we are all very knowledgable on this subject.  Social networking sites are something we are all very familiar with, which snowballed into tons of different ideas for this project.  I think that once we get it all together, we're going to come up with an awesome ending product.  Incorporating others opinions on social networking is good too, because then we'll fully understand what it takes to create the ultimate website, made for our users.  I think it will good to come up with our own ideas for DubU which would make our site different then others, not just take "screen shots" from websites such as facebook or twitter.  With all of our creativity put together, I think we will be able to create an amazing idea for DubU!

Found

I have never heard of Found before, but looking around it really interested me as a reader.  Why is it that we love to read watch and learn things about other people that we don't know at all?  It's like it makes our lives seem better by reading things by other people that are more dramatic or embarrassing.  Reading some of things in Found magazine interested me, but I'll never understand why.  For example, when the boy confesses his love to his substitute teacher.  I liked that one in particular because it was almost creepy to me, and I really like creepy things and situations (as long as their not happening to me).  Well, when I say "like", I mean its purely entertaining to me.  I wasn't able to view a lot on this website because it kept giving me error pages.  However, I think this is website I would like to visit in the future.  Reading things like this make you interested in what's going to come next; the next bigger, better, weird thing the next person will find.  But not only did I find kind of weird things on this page, I also found something that sparked a little bit of saddness.  Someone found something that was written by a friend that had passed away.  That would make anyone sad, but then it is also uplifting when you find it because it makes you remember the great times you had with that person.  "Finding" things can create many different types of emotions for everyone.

Facebook

If we're friends on facebook, does that mean were friends in real life? Most likely not. As we all know, Facebook is a social networking site that has taken over the world.  Interestingly enough, I had to write a paper analyzing my Facebook profile, and on Microsoft Word, if I didn't capatalize Facebook it told me I was spelling it wrong.  Facebook has gotten so big that it has taken over all of our lives.  How many times a day do you catch yourself saying "So I saw on Facebook that..." or "So and so friend requested me today...".  To some it is just a social networking site, and to some it is a way of life.  Personally, I really like social networking.  I have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and an old Myspace account floating around somewhere that I haven't used for years.  But, in all honesty, I am kind of getting sick of Facebook.  I feel as if it causes more problems amongst people than it is even fun anymore.  I'd rather Tweet than be on Facebook.  Twitter is just a place to share my thoughts, interest, and lifestyle; not a place where people can stalk the shit out of my life.

The World of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most used websites, yet one of the most unreliable at the same time.  Personally, I like to use Wikipedia to discover new information, however I then have to check the validity of it since anyone using the internet is able to change the information to whatever they want.  Ever since high school, I have always been told not to use Wikipedia for any type of paper I am writing, since it is an open site for anyone to edit.  However, its hard not to use it because when someone tells you not to, it makes you want to use it even more.  What makes it even harder not to use the website is that generally when you type something into your search engine, Wikipedia is most likely one of your first options to choose.  I do like to read Wikipedias to gain some general knowledge of the subject, then find my research elsewhere.

I learned that Wikipedia is ran by a non-profit organization- The Wikimedia Foundation.  Wikipedia makes revenue by purchasing new servers to keep it running.  The Wikimedia Foundation also relies on public donations, which come from fundraising that happens about three to four times a year.  Wikimedia also recieves grants and corporation sponsors.  It just amazes me how to site can mantain its stability without the use of advertising, which you rarely ever see.  People who write for Wikipedia are called "Wikipedians".  Anyone who wants to write for Wikipedia is allowed to, and you can post whatever you want.  The number of "named accounts" is currently at 15,518,247; however only a minority of these accounts are accessed frequently to create and edit Wikipedia pages.  As if that number isn't big enough already, there is also a large number of unknown , unregistered Wikipedians that contribute to the site.  After a conducted survey as to why people contribute to Wikipedia, the main response was simply just a leasurely activity, and are motivated internally by feeling "efficacious and self confident."

Lastly, there are five pillars to Wikipedia which consist of:
Blue Pillar: Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia
Green Pillar: Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view
Yellow Pillar: Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute
Orange Pillar: Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner
Red Pillar: Wikipedia does not have firm rules