Week 12

Snapchat originated from Standford grad students with "not-so-PC intentions." It was originally conceived and launched during April of 2011, to December 2012. From December 2012, to November 2014, Snapchat evolved and began growing in popularity, featuring some of the attributes that we know and see today, alongside collecting millions of revenue. From then on, to August 2016, began to rebrand their product, receiving more and more money breaking the hundred millions. Finally, 2016 onward to today, Snapchat rebranded once again from Snapchat Inc. to Snap Inc. and prepares for IPO in 2017.

Why did snapchat boom so much? Well snapchat was conceived in such a time where Facebook took the initiative. Teens were looking for an outlet, different than what their parents were using, which resulted in migrating to snapchats unique "disappearing photos." Now originally, snapchat was intended as a hookup app, but soon migrated to a form of social media widespread and popular for teens all over the world.

Downsides of the app are due to pornographic material and bullying fairly common. It isnt all that regulated as sexually promoting content flourishes throughout the app, and there is a huge issue with child sexual exploitation...

On a brighter note ---

Some interesting facts: 90% of users are 13 - 24 years old (US). Average monthly users 360 million (US). 64 million users within Europe use snapchat daily. Ireland, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden have the highest level of snapchat users of their population 16 and up.


(Last updated January 25th, 2020)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Snapchat
https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/the-snap-generation-a-guide-to-snapchats-history/
https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/

Week 16

Everybody knows when they download a new app, you have to check off the little box that says you a have agreed and read the terms of service. In addition, everyone knows only those who are either clinically insane, or a lawyer, read those before continuing onto the app. But I found an interesting article on how long those articles actually take to read. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/how-long-does-it-take-to-read-the-terms-of-service-for-each-app-infograph/577235/.
Ideally, in a perfect world, everyone would have the time to read these "fascinating" titles. With leading social media outlet, facebook, having a total word count of 4132, and an average read time of 17:12, could keep you occupied as you, for instance, go to the bathroom! If facebook is a little too "old people'ly" for you, then there is always spotify's 35 minutes and 48 seconds of pure entertainment; it could keep you busy a whole afternoon. This isn't to mention, if you're looking to spice up your life a little bit and find that mystery mistress for you, tinder has a 25 minute and 54 seconds average read time which could help calm those nerves as you wait for your date. Something a little more relevant than that rendevous date would be a zoom date with a 7240 word count. Essentially, 10 of these makes up one of the Harry Potter books, so you're looking at entertainment for hours!

In reality, these are important terms of agreement between the provider and the person using. But there is good news here, it is not a crime to breach the terms and services of an online website (this doesn't apply to breach of contract, don't do this at your job). So go ahead, get banned from tinder. Live on the edge of Instagram, and find a way around facebook's TOS because you are only semi accountable!!!

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/how-long-does-it-take-to-read-the-terms-of-service-for-each-app-infograph/577235/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/07/court-violating-terms-service-not-crime-bypassing

Week 15

Confirmation bias refers to the phenomenon where we tend to search, recall, believe and favor information that coincide with our personal beliefs or biases regardless of actual truth. This is typically what news station biases take advantage of, as they play off certain expectations within governmental parties and blow information out of proportion. There will always be a certain degree of bias within media, their is never a non-slanted source, so this is why splitting it down the middle and watching news from both parties can help smooth out a more accurate unbiased opinion of current matters. The problem is, that is very time consuming for the average American: as we tend to just cut out watching both programs and choose a leading faction. This is a problem because not only will we receive biased news, it fuels anger towards the other party due to a catered experience.

I watched a very interesting video on Risk by Vsauce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-CK8VxMz9g which brought a few similar biases to mind. Michael told a story about how World War 2 pilots would come back with damage around the wings and the tail of their planes upon return from missions into enemy territory. Now technicians could add only so much armor to the plane before it is too heavy to fly. So they put more armor around those areas. The problem was, there was no difference in the amount of planes returning, the same number of planes were lost. The military hired a man known as Abraham Wald, a Hungarian Mathematician, who said to put as little armor as  possible around those areas. The reasoning being that they were fault to survivorship bias. Those planes that were returning were the ones that survived, meaning that the plane could take damage in those areas without plummeting.

As stated previously, this is the problem with "fake news," it typically leads us to believe our doubts on the other party. I see this everyday with my grandma, she comes downstairs everyday angry after reading some ludicrous article online. Its troubling, because the internet isn't as truthful as we all wish it to be. Sometimes it takes an insightful eye to ween out that in which isn't entirely truthful, as confirmation bias is an instinct natural to us humans.




https://medium.com/@snoitan/why-do-republicans-and-democrats-let-other-people-do-their-thinking-dc6d208945e4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Week 13

I think I have a fairly large online footprint. I don't have a personal website, and I don't use social media a whole ton, but I do have my own youtube and a professional instagram page where I post my latest work; off topic, but I just took a few photos for a local wine guild which I am totally excited about. But back to the topic of social media, I don't really post often, unless it is a big change in my life. Looking back at my last post from my personal profile, I took a picture of a steak--which I know contradicts what I just said about a big change, but that steak was so damn good I had to post it lol. Regardless, the one before that was my brothers graduation, which was last summer. I am not the type to share too much about myself, but from what you can gather from me just by social media, you can probably find a lot about me. I mean you probably wont discover my favorite food, or what I like to do on my weekends off, but general information like what school I go to, what I am studying, my hobbies etc. I usually only give out private information in a business setting, or when I am shopping for personal items, which isn't a lot -- Im livin' the broke college student life!

Personally I think social media is an outlet to express inner psychological needs that aren't being met socially, like there is always an ulterior motive. For instance, someone posts them and their friends hanging out.

So I say yes and no. It depends on the individual, whether or not social media makes you feel lonely. Personally, I only use social media to commemorate moments I wish to treasure or share, to let people know what I am up to and that I am well. But a lot of the time, I would rather save an occasion to tell people about it in real life rather than on a story timeline. I want to leave some mystery about where I was over the weekend, what concert I went to, or who I was with. I think social media isnt making people feel depressed, I think its making people boring.

Week 3;

Among the Judicial branch of government is the Supreme Court; accounting for all cases deconstructing and construing our 200 year old constitution, and as the name "supreme" implies, the Supreme Court's word is absolute. The people who are appointed by the president to serve on the Supreme Court, are known as Justices; unlike the president, justices serve many more years, averaging 16 years in the least. These 9 justices gather to highlight and set the limitations of government reign: in other words, they are the states', congress', and the president's boss.

Week 14 Privacy

Id like to start this blog post with a Vsauce video I watched on "How People Disappear" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPBJgpK0Ulc. He begins the episode with a story about an angry dad storming into target because his high school daughter was receiving coupons in the mail for things like diapers and baby cribs. Turns out, targets purchase algorithm has been tracking his daughter's most recent purchases which co-aligned with a woman who is pregnant. In fact, his daughter was in fact pregnant and was due that coming August. It is creepy knowing that the world around us has a much more closer eye on us than we anticipate. Christopher Soghoian talks about how Apple has taken steps towards encryption technology so we can be more and more safe against foreign agencies with ill intention blob:https://embed.ted.com/e286b8ff-cf91-4b63-a6a6-046d9248831b. It has become the norm for tech companies to include default encryption ware within their products. Well not only does this encryption conceal our information to those with ill intent, but it hides information from our Government. He makes a point that there are bad people in this world, and that these bad people are using the same cell phones and computers everyone else is using. But he proposes a question: should we encourage "Big Brother" for the sake of our own safety, or do we do we take the democratic approach and create space from the government and escape with our own privacy at the cost of endangerment. In an ideal world or community, we would chose the latter safer option to opt out of endangerment. But realistically speaking, we are better off encrypted. Information is king: although it can be useful, it can also be just as harmful to us and others simply through wiretapping. My personal stance is that I want my privacy.

Values Week 11

I suppose individual self-fulfillment would be the the value I, for lack of a better term, value the most.  It is important to me, not only as a human being, or a citizen of the United States, but as a content creator; it is critical to be able to express myself to others through artistic media. For instance, I created a music video for one of my favorite songs and uploaded it to youtube. Now it may not be the best video, or even a good one, but it makes me incredibly happy to be able to have the option of doing this (of course I gave credit where it was due). That is why I have so much respect for content creators on youtube. So many unique voices and so many different subjects, topics, points of view, or even sides of stories are expressed upon in such an accessible medium. While I do not condone those who chose the latter option of copying others work, I acknowledge those among the community who pour their time and creativity in creating a video to share with the world; It serves an example that the ability to express yourself is not out of reach. After all, we are a social creature; we should be obligated to speak and express one-selves to further our connection, our commitments, our knowledge, and our voices.

This has always been a personal dream of mine, and I am so happy to be able to actually pursue it. I grew up watching movies and television and always thought to myself, "I'd love to do something along the lines of this." Not exactly that, but it had the same gist, with a little more of the line, "I wanna do this to become rich and famous." Thankfully I had a little slice of humble pie since then, but that same dream always lingered. As a freshman, I began with the idea of becoming a nurse. Quickly, I changed majors and found media production: which has been all that I ever wanted and even more!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClAdf0F-O03cG-SKU_L-KsA?view_as=subscriber This is my youtube. I have on it a PSA ad I did for TedX Charlottesville, my music video which is a tribute to Radiohead, and a faux professional interview I made on my friend Ryan Foster.

Week 6: Petroglyphs

To begin, what is a petroglyph? A petroglyph is an engraved image created by chiseling at a rocks surface. Prefix -petr, in Greek, meaning stone, and suffix -glyph, meaning carve. The word quite literally means stone carving. Found worldwide, petroglyphs are most commonly associated with prehistoric people and as recent as Native Americans. Not to be confused with hieroglyph, which in a sense, is its own form of petroglyph: main difference being that hieroglyphs are logographic scripts comprised of the ancient Egyptian method of using characters, as it was a definitive writing system. This, opposed to petroglyphs which are primarily images that would, in effect, demonstrate a significant meaning in a sociocultural aspect. Not particularly a specific “language,” or “character,” but a representational image: The distinction between image and character is important. We would assume they are a form of complex primeval communication. Not only the images, but the placement, and surround icons, orientation, and even the geographical locations in which they are engraved have significant meaning and relay distinct messages. For example, a petroglyph is found on a rock by an open field. The image on the rock would communicate with whoever comes across it telling that person that this is occupied territory with which you are trespassing, or a hunting ground which you would have to take careful and deliberate steps to not alert any animals in the surrounding area. 

Example of a petroglyph depicting a mother with children:

https://pixabay.com/photos/american-indian-petroglyphs-wyoming-2134123/ User: 4064462 

The evolution of dating and discovery is also progressing. Technology today influences petroglyph discovery: a new method of dating can indicate the date that the mark was made itself, rather than analyzing the material coating the site. That being said, its a precise method of analyzing the erosion phenomena that the material the petroglyph is presented on: in other words, the erosion of the rock. By analyzing the rock type and geographical climate, we are able to index the age via micro-erosion. This theory is coined by R. G. Bednark, A New Way To Date Petroglyphs. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1992.tb00498.x

https://www.nps.gov/petr/learn/historyculture/why.htm https://www.visitphoenix.com/blog/post/petroglyph-hikes-phoenix/ https://www.askdifference.com/petroglyph-vs-hieroglyph/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaQxcBhnTMo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph

Week 7: Early Cinema

      The Purple Rose of Cairo, a film by Woody Allen, perfectly demonstrates the struggles of living in the 1930's, during The Great Depression. Although fiction, it signified the relevance of cinema during those hard times, how fantasy carried many through. His portrayal of life during the 1930's was certainly on the right track. Theater, although contrary to speculated beliefs, was booming in a sense. Comedies and films depicting life during the depression were incredibly popular. This success is coined to the late inventor, William Dickson.
      Direct employee of Thomas Edison and Scottish inventor, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, invented the kinetograph in 1981, the first movie camera. This housed the opportunity to capture moving images on film, which then could be viewed at a later date. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope
      The kinetoscope is what you would use to watch said films; unconventional to what we have today, it is most related to VR. Through a peephole located on the top of the device, you can view film gyrated at a speed to create the illusion of movement. Essentially, its the first version of a film reel, only exception would be that you would watch the movie from the film itself rather than through a projector. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope

Week 2; Defectors, America, and North Korea.

This post is a little late as I am still understanding the ropes of blogging. Suffice to say, I watched two youtube videos with competing opinions and insights on North Korean defectors: Hyeonseo Lee, and Yeonmi Park. It was interesting learning some of the "woodworks" of the secluded nation and their views of the outside world. That being said, from an early age, these people are subject to jingoistic propaganda and an intense animosity towards America, South Korea and Japan. Artwork depicting frightening fabrications of caricature American soldiers driving nails through the heads of North Koreans riddle school houses and allow children to grow up in fear and hatred of Americans; "To North Korea, America is... a mortal enemy that cannot coexist," says the first of the three defectors interviewed on Asian Boss' youtube video depicting what North Koreans think of  America; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXo-Vov_98Y. Public executions are commonplace...  That same escapee previously mentioned that he saw his first public execution when he was 12 or 13. Hyeonseo Lee mentioned in her Ted Talk that she saw her first when she was 7; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdxPCeWw75k. The graphic horror that depicts the absolute monarchy of Kim Jong Un's distorted reflection of society is most disturbing when knowing of the famine reigning North Korea. 1994 to 1998 was known as the arduous period known as the March of Suffering. It was responsible for killing 2 to 3 million citizens of North Korea. Yeonmi Park, one of the survivors of this famine, said "I passed starved dead bodies on the way to school;" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVPjoEN1a8k. The words "famine" and "hunger" were banned, and had serious consequences, because it implied government failure. In summary, this doesnt even scratch the surface of the horror that is the state of North Korea. Defectors say both Trump should urge change and push against Kim Jong Un's regime, others say Trump is reckless and Kim Jong Un is on thin ice so repercussions could be catastrophic. Regardless, this was a depression blog to research.

Introductory Post

For the most part, I mentioned the majority of this in the about me page. My name is Sean Marcus, I am a media production major with an interest in film. I have worked at a few TedX events and I am currently employed as the High Point University Paper's official photographer. That being said, I hope in the future I will score a position on a featured film production crew: specifically a cinematographer. In my free time, I write scripts and short films, as it is a necessary step in learning film.