What is Digital Media?

So, I came to this blog at a loss of what to write. What kind of digital media should I write about? What IS considered "digital media"? I subsequently took a break and started chatting with a friend online. The person sent me this article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/us-turkey-police-idUSTRE73Q56I20110427 which I found entertaining enough. I decided I would try to do my blog entry on this article, but was at a loss as to how. An international story, not at all related to technology, what is there to discuss digital media wise? That's when I took another look at the article and it hit me: I am reading this article on the internet. I received this article through an instant-messaging service. Honestly, is there a day that goes by that does not involve digital media?

What struck me most about this article is how many ways a person can share it and how easy it is to do so. I think of myself as fairly knowledgeable of the internet but I still thought it was a little overwhelming. This website gives the users a myriad of ways of sharing this article, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, or just plain Email or Print. Now, I don't even really know what Digg is, something about counting readers? Of the other three, I was rather surprised to see LinkedIn paired with Facebook and Twitter. I have a Facebook, Twitter, and a LinkedIn profile, but I always thought LinkedIn was a bit more professional than the other two, not a place you shared articles and such. But perhaps if they are business related articles? It made me rethink the importance of sharing media over social networking sites. Even sharing on LinkedIn is important? Could sharing an article help a person get a job? Something to think about.

I also couldn't help but recall my last blog entry while reading this. The article is almost engulfed by side-bars, appealing to our attention-deficit society. Click on the link and look to see what I mean. Ads, options to share, related news articles, requests to log in, Most Popular list, related videos, comments and more!! It's overwhelming! There is even a section called Social Stream where you can see who has linked this article elsewhere on the internet, mostly through Twitter. Why would anyone need to know who's sending what to who? This is a confusing, public world we live in.

Now I know if I am ever at a loss in discussing Digital Media Literacy, I only need to open my eyes.

ATTENTION!

I'm definitely blaming digital media for my inability to just FOCUS. The sheer amount of possibilities it gives is mind boggling. And the scary thing is, my mind has somehow gotten used to this, to the point where I need it all the time, to the point where I HAVE to multitask. It's not even enough to just watch TV anymore, I'm usually on my laptop on the internet WHILE watching TV! Even when I'm out doing something, hanging out with friends, I have that urge to check my email or see something online. It's horrible. In this modern age, digital media has delivered so much information overload that it has now become the norm to be overloaded. If I'm not overloaded on digital media, I feel like I am wasting time or doing something wrong.

How often are you online everyday? The answer for me is definitely more often that I'd like. Sometimes I would like to think I could break this habit. Surely there are people out there who don't have the internet and they live perfectly healthy lives! Possibly healthier even! Why can't that be me? And then I realize just how much our lives are dependent on the internet. Even now, I have to be on the internet just to complete this assignment!! And once I get on, I have no will-power to keep myself from checking email, watching Youtube videos or any number of internet activities. People, including myself, are certainly developing an addiction to the internet, and I fear how far this addiction can go. Possibly soon there will be rehab centers for internet users. I wouldn't be surprised, hell I'll check myself in.

Internet Influences 3/? Online journals

Why is it that we now want everyone to know everything going on in our lives? Facebook, Twitter, even this blogger site is because we want as many people as possible to know our thoughts and activities. When did that start happening? I like to think of myself as a private person, but how can I say that when I have a Facebook? However, in comparison to many of my peers, I AM a private person because I don't write a status every single day or tweet whenever I do or see anything remotely interesting. This blatant sharing of personal information has become so popular thanks to the internet and social media websites and I don't know if I like it or not. Sure, I think Facebook is a great way of keeping in touch with acquaintances or making friends or networking. But it can easily become addicting and ties into our self-esteem more than it should. People try to gauge how "social" or "popular" they are based on the number of Facebook friends they have, no matter how shallow the connection. I fear that the younger generation will rely too heavily on these sites and fail to make meaningful relationships.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Saying that, I also see the positive side to online interactions. I am apart of a site called Livejournal, which is basically a site for people to keep their online journals, much like Blogger.com. I don't know much about Blogger.com and perhaps it also has this feature, but the aspect of Livejournal I most appreciate is the addition of communities. Along with creating a personal journal, it is possible to create a "community" which is set up like a journal, and other people can interact and post on this community using their own journals as identification. Some of the unique aspects of Livejournal is that there are thousands of communities on the site but they are all connected due to a certain language and a certain type of user. It is a place where people can comfortable share their interests and their fandoms with others. I mention this site because I see many positive interactions and friendships created. Livejournal communities have even contributed to charities, currently there is a community called help_japan: that has already raised almost $50,000 by auctioning off art and services by their users for their users. A similar community was created for the disaster in Haiti, among other international crises.

So in short, I'm rather conflicted about these social media sites. In some instances, prevent people from making deep, real-life connections. At the same time there are other sites that can have very positive influences on people and even society. It's all a matter of how you use them.

Advertising Strategies

Finding the right advertising strategy is obviously an important part of running any successful business. Beyond logos, companies may have to create billboard designs, a clever magazine ad or a compelling commercial, among other options. In this entry I'd like to focus on the importance of finding the right spokesperson for one's product by using a piece of digital media from another country.

The Japanese company Nintendo is known world-wide as one of the three main superpowers in the video game world. So for them, marketing is no longer a huge issue because they already have a huge fanbase wanting to buy their products. Still, every company wants to expand and Nintendo is no different. I was quite impressed with Nintendo's new choice in spokesperson for their products in Japan.

Arashi, pictured here, is an insanely popular boy band in Japan, known for their huge body of extremely loyal fangirls. Most video game companies know that their main market is largely male and they naturally create advertising campaigns geared toward them. However, Nintendo decided to go a different route. Confident that males would buy their products regardless, they decided to target a completely different audience: pre-teen to teenage girls. It started out with two Arashi members playing a new Mario game. The ads quickly became a huge success as fangirls jumped at the chance to support their idols and play the same games that they play. Nintendo began using this boy band to advertise all of their major new products and watched the raise in sales.

Eventually, Nintendo got to the point where they could release ads like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJSRdrJg4WU Basically, these are a series of 15 second ads, showing each member's reaction to playing the 3DS. Again, Nintendo knew what they needed and what they didn't need. Why bother spending money and time making a complicated commercial? The hype the 3DS had created already ensured that the video game community was aware of the 3DS and didn't need a commercial telling them to buy it. Arashi fangirls may not know about the 3DS, but all they really need is to see the members of the band in a commercial using it and they are sold. No need to get fancy, Arashi's presence does all the work for Nintendo. It's a case of work smart not hard and Nintendo has definitely learned how to work smart in Japan.

Internet Influences 2/? - Memes: I'mma let you finish...

Internet memes can be created from any number of things and if they are good enough they can be surprisingly long lasting. And even if they don't last forever on the internet, they can last in our hearts and minds right? Okay maybe not, but they're good for some laughs. Let's take a meme created from a current event. In 2009, Kanye West caused a media uproar by interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Music Video Awards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z8gCZ7zpsQ

Of course, the internet (I speak of the internet as those people who never seem to leave the internet) jumped on this story and used it to create hilarious photoshopped images, as they are wont to do:

The more people made them, the more ridiculous they became. The sheer amount of them that I was able to find surprised me. The image board 4chan, infamous for the sheer depravity that can often be found on its countless pages of discussions, is often the culprit for the creation of these types of image-heavy memes. Someone creates a picture about a current event, posts it onto 4chan or any site, people see it and like it, and then everyone else tries to make their own version. Creating a successful meme I imagine can give a person a boost in self-esteem, even being a part of it makes you feel like you are popular for a moment, even if it is just on the internet and no one knows your true identity. You know something you created has entertained people and it makes you feel good. I believe this is the basis for most internet memes. It's similar to being an artist or performer, except there is no chance of ever getting money out of internet memes. In a way that makes it a purer form of digital media, no corporations are involved just a person on the internet, like you, created something funny and wanted to share it.

And the more fluent a person is in memes and media in general, the better chance a person has of creating content that people on the internet will enjoy. It is almost like a status symbol, showing off knowledge of the internet to make yourself look cooler. I am always impressed by the amount of time and effort people must put into creating some of these memes, and the cleverness involved in them. However, if they are created or used on 4chan, the potential for them to become horribly offensive high. Even for this little meme poking fun at Kanye I found some offensive, black humor type versions that I could not repost. With the anonymity that the internet gives, people will not hold back in the least, so you have to be careful where you surf.

Internet Influences 1/?

Do you ever find yourself wanting to "Like" statements in real life? Or want to say things like "lol" "irl"? This is a clear sign you are on the internet too much. Don't worry, it can happen to the best of us. The average young person these days spends inordinate amounts of time on the internet, whether it be Facebook or Youtube or any kind of internet website or forum. I know my friends and I are guilty of the same, often slipping famous internet memes into conversation whenever possible.

Is this a bad thing? In some cases yes. Overuse of the internet can cause health problems such as obesity and have a negative effect on a person's sleep habits to name just a few. There is also the possibility of negatively affect a person's ability to use proper grammar. I can imagine if today's young people grow up using the internet often, internet speak can have a serious impact on a young student's ability to properly use their own language in an academic setting. But if used responsibly, the internet can be an extremely fun, and intellectually stimulating multicultural place. I love seeing the brilliance inherent in these extremely popular memes and how people use them and often eventually mold them into new evolutions. I find it exciting to see how people twist their language into something new and fun on the internet. For me, I know I'm on the internet too much, but I just can't bring myself to look away.

What Should I Do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BZAP4JvdOg

Here is a piece of digital media that weaves together a variety of forms of media that are all interconnecting. So before you watch this clip, you need a certain amount of media knowledge. Remember the whole LeBron James story that was so huge in summer of 2010? From my viewpoint in Chicago, tensions were high when he finally decided against joining the Bulls. Or the "Summer of Bron" as this article refers to it as: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/10/25/lebrons-nike-ad-asks-what-should-i-do/ which also includes the subsequent ad campaign Nike created to go along with the story. Then there was the BP spill the same summer when BP aired ads to apologize: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKcrDaiGE2s&feature=related

And here is where South Park comes in. Anyone who watches South Park knows they are famous for their satire on current events, especially in recent years. In the same episode from Season 14 entitled "The Coon vs. The Coon and Friends," South Park parodies both of these commercial ads. First there is the Nike parody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clb_GMavg-o&feature=related and then the parody of the BP ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWaP58rzn6w&feature=related

And then we come back to the first clip of this post. Some clever person managed to interweave both of these paraodies from South Park with the actual Nike ad and uploaded it onto Youtube. So let's take stock of all the digital media we have here: first the original news stories, Nike and BP making ads from these news stories, South Park taking these ads and recreating them in their television show, and then finally some media consumer taking everything and uploading it to Youtube. And if you miss just one piece you can very easily get lost. The reason I chose this example is because I experienced this lost feeling when I watched this episode of South Park. While I had read about the news stories, I didn't have a television that summer so I had never seen the commercial. So when a friend showed me the South Park episode we had to stop and go on Youtube to find the original commercials. I find it amazing how interdependent digital media has become and I love exploring it.

Logo Success

What makes a logo recognizable? The best kind of logo is one that can be recognized without text, giving it the potential to be recognized worldwide and transcend language barriers. It is usually an eventual transition to textless that logos go through once they become popular enough. Though I don't remember myself, I'm sure there was once a time when no one would instantly recognize the golden arches as "McDonald's." Now Starbucks has gone the way of textless logos, expanding the siren and cutting off the surrounding text. Many try to have a logo that at least partially describes the name. Taco Bell has a purple bell, Firefox has a fox made of fire, and Nike (even though it may not be common) has the swoosh, which is supposed to represent the wings of the goddess Nike. But given that not everyone does realize where the swoosh came from, that means that it is not always important to have the logo describe the name. The Blackberry logo isn't a black berry, it's just a bunch of shapes but everyone still knows that when they see those shapes it means they are looking at something that involves a Blackberry. So how do they manage it?

I invite you to answer this because I certainly couldn't tell you. It's a matter of having a simple design and the ability to get it out there as much as possible. The Blackberry was successful because there are a lot of functions on the Blackberry that you can use in many places, so people see that "Blackberry compatible" symbol everywhere and it gets ingrained in people. How would you design a successful logo?

First Post

When you look hard enough, there are so many symbols and signs that permeate our consciousness through digital media. I used to spend a lot of time watching the television, and the one thing I noticed that was growing at an alarming rate was product placement. This is when a TV show or movie will subtly (or sometimes not so subtly) advertise a certain product because they are getting funding from that company or business. You might see a character driving a getaway car in an action movie and suddenly the camera zooms in on the Honda logo on the car. Or perhaps a character whips out his or her phone and the camera zooms in enough for the audience to see that it is an iPhone. I believe this shows just how much of a consumer culture we have become in America. Now companies are even invading the stories within our movies and television shows to coax us into buying their products. It really doesn't take much either. Just a flash of a logo or a mention of a name by a character is enough to plant the seed of desire in the audience's mind. It really is astounding how much power a simple symbol can have.

Sometimes a show will actually make a parody version of a popular symbol to show the audience what product they want to mention but don't have the permission to vote. I noticed one show in particular, a children's show entitled "iCarly" using what they called "Pear" products with pear logos on them. When you see these products it is obvious they are meant to be "Apple" products by the way the products are designed and the way they look on the show. The Pear logo looks as close to the Apple logo as possible, and the laptops and phones the characters use are the models and designs of the actual "Apple" product. It is funny that some companies are so huge and their designs are so distinctive in popular culture that people will recognize their product no matter what, even if it is a parody.