Anabel Davis

Post 2

In the video Everything is a Remix the producer Kirby Ferguson convincingly argues that remixing is a form of creativity.  Ferguson shows us that much of the world is built on the concept of remixing. That scientist, educators, and artists don’t have to have to reinvent the wheel to make the world a more interesting place.

After listing to the new hit song Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and the 1977 classic Got to Give It Up by Marvin Gay, its easy to hear the similarities in the song. In fact there are copy right and legal issues accusing Thicke of plagiarizing.

 

I like when Ferguson states, quote “Creativity isn’t magic.  Its comes by applying ordinary tools to thought to existing materials.” he also points out “By connecting ideas together, creative leaps can be made, producing some of history’s biggest breakthroughs.” I agree everything is a remix. This perspective makes me feel better about my own lack of creativity.

 

Post 3

 

After watching “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube” by Michael Wesch I started thinking about my earliest memories of this website.  I was 10 in 2005 when YouTube launched its first video.  I can’t really remember the first funny videos I watched but I do recall when certain videos went viral and how they became a part of music video or remixed by others.  I still enjoy sitting around the phone or computer to watch mostly funny videos.  I liked how Michael Wesch described his first experience with YouTube with someone on the other side of the world and how it connected them together.

I have a cousin who lives in London and in 2007  he joined my family and I on a trip to Sayulita Mexico.  When he returned to England he posted a funny video on YouTube of my father zip lining.  In it you can hear my little brother screaming in the background.  I remember being surprised about the footage and I thought it was cool that he posted it online.  It also made us all feel connected to our fun cousin.  He recently visited us and we pulled up the video again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqJmCBK6Rv8) and all had a really good laugh again.  I feel my media savvy cousin found a way to reach out to us from across the world.

Since it has been such a visible part of my life, I haven’t really understood the impact YouTube has made cultures all over the globe but Mike Wesch’s enthusiasm about how people and culture have been impacted by it was interesting.  I felt his insights were mostly positive.  He also helped me understand why people can be so mean and nasty on this web forum.  I do like how he demonstrated the way community is strengthened by Internet and described ways people interact with parts of the world they may never have an opportunity.  He also discussed how his student practice participatory research and become part of the experience.  I feel YouTube already has so many opportunities for research and learning about music, art, comedy, health practices, as well as a way to share our own campus and community research.

Post 5

In a previous post about e-waste and addiction Dr. Jaxon suggested that I take a look at Chris Jordan’s photography.  His images are created using long zoom artwork from data depicting mass consumption and waste. You can see his presentation on TED (http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html.) In his short presentation he artistically captures the sheer amount of stuff we make and consume everyday from plastic cups to cigarettes. Even more disturbing than his slide presentation on things we are addicted to is his newest film called Midway (http://www.midwayfilm.com). This film is a powerful artistic journey about how thousands of baby albatrosses die with their bodies filled with plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch.  They live on a tiny island far from any civilization and are greatly effected by our addiction to fossil fuels and reliance on everything made of plastic. While these links don’t directly tie to my initial research about internet addiction or electronic waste, they do address the first stage of understanding addiction which is awareness about a problem. I like how Chris Jordan challenges our thinking with visual references of how our everyday life impacts the planet. I would like to learn to recognize early warning signs and find out how to stop internet addiction before it gets out of control.