Diving Into "Open Sky"

Paul Virilio's book Open Sky radically addresses the evolving world of media and technology and how it is effecting our lives. While the content was slightly intimidating at first, once I finished the first of three parts in the book, I was better able to understand the interesting and innovative claims made about our information overwhelmed culture.

One of the first concepts that truly resonated with me was that of "generalized arrival", or that of an object or piece of information arriving without ever having to truly leave the previous location. While I am sure this mind bending concept is not something people ponder (or even notice) often, it is amazing to think of the high paced, highly digital world we live in. Just think, the minute I post this blog writing, the information will have reached your screen without myself or the writing ever truly leaving my desk. Crazy, right?

In thinking about such phenomenon, it is also important to question how such changes in time and space effect our society. In the book, Virilio discusses how people become "channel-surfing" automatons when we have significantly less work to do with our own minds. Again, just think, how many websites are there that can convert measurements for you? How many applications on the phone that can do such human things as lock the front doors of your home? How many banks where you no longer have to deal with a human teller to deposit a check? Much like all eras of technology have changed the public in which they are born, technology and the instantaneous ability of a machine to do exactly what we can do (if not better) raises questions of how we function as a culture.

It seems to me that one of Virilio's main concern is that such shifts to technology and a lulling waterfall of information makes us a more distant, less personal society. He begs the question of the importance of "real time" vs. "real space". In simpler times when the internet and machines didn't feed on our fascination, our society could flourish in an environment based on human contact, service, and a sense of common good. Now, in a world where "real time" dominates "real space", conversations are centered around the touch of a button, board meetings no longer require the people to sit around the same table, and dating is something often defined by an online profile.

Just an Virilio raises the argument of what we are willing to lose as a society to gain in technology and efficiency, I can't help but wonder if it is worth it to live in a world where "reality is ubiquitous". While I often look to my forms of technology-my phone, computer, tv- with fondness and appreciation, I can't help but ask what skills am I losing to be gaining a machine that will think for me?

What questions did the first portion of the book raise in your mind? Do you think technology fully helps or fully hinders a society (or a portion of both)? What are the fears associated with a technology dominated society?

The Key to Websites: Getting It Right

With our final project of making our own website on the horizon, it is important to know the ins and outs of creating a successful and effective site for both yourself and your users. As with many aspects of communicating we have discussed, Chapter 2 of Janice Redish's text "Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content That Works" deals with 7 steps of understanding your audience. As the article states and life supports, people react differently to differnet websites based on a number of factors. For this reason, it is important to understand your audience before creating the site. The 7 steps are briefly listed below.

- List your major audiences
- Gather info about your audiences
- List major characteristics for each audience
- Gather your audiences' questions, tasks, and stories
- Use your info to create personas
- Include the persona's goals and tasks
- Use your info to write scenarios for your site

The step that stuck out to the me the most was gathering the audiences' questions, tasks, and stories. Seeing that we are creating websites that hightlight our resumes and work, and will be sending them to future employers, it is important for us to gather from people with experience questions they will be hoping to answer. Knowing what employers are looking for will help us to write in a language that pleases the audience as well as answering the right questions.

In Chapter 3, Redish gives advice on creating a successful home page, the jumping point for the whole website. Home pages need to be attention grabbing, well organized, and easily skimmable. In using these "five major functions of home pages", I hope to make my home page of my website appealing and useful for audiences. Here are the 5 functions Redish lists.

- identifying the site, establishing the brand
-setting the tone and personality of the site
- helping people get a sense of what the site is all about
- letting people start key tasks immediately
- sending people on the right way, effectively and efficiently

I hope to acheive all these functions positively by giving my website a personality that reflects my own. I also hope to create a home page with tabs to send my audience to my resume, writings, and personal bio. The Redish article was very helpful in giving great advice about creating a website.

What is the most important aspect of your website going to be? What tone are you looking to create for your website and what will it help you acheive?

A Call to Uncover the Upstate

This video story is a call to people in the Upstate South Carolina area to uncover local restaurants like the four that I feature. With such beautiful cities surrounding us, it would be a shame not to experience these wonderful restaurants and meet some kind people along the way. The restaurants featured are Duke's Doggs in Travelers Rest, Grille 33 in downtown Greenville, Mug and Muffin on Augusta Road, and The Beacon in Spartanburg. Hopefully this video will inspire you to Uncover the Upstate!

Special thanks to all the restaurants as well as Kristy Burns -owner of Duke's Doggs- and Maggie Austin, Anna Fluevog, Elizabeth Griffin, Molly Gunson, and Nanne Remington- my loyal and helpful friends.

Making a List, Checking it Twice: Online Editing

Unlike print editing, online editing is quick, constant, and ever-changing. Much like it is a very different medium, there are very different roles and skills required for online editors. In Brian Carroll's book Writing for Digital Media, he discusses online editing in Chapter 6, "Online Editing, Designing, and Publishing". Like many things in life, Carroll stresses how important it is to double (even triple) check every aspect of a website or online publication. While there are many important aspects of online editing, he lists a "universal checklist" (taken from Carolyn Rude's Technical Editing) to give a "jumping off" point for online editors. The items discussed are briefly listed below.

• Identify with the readers/purpose of the content 
• Define document structure and links
• Define the style 
• Edit
• Copyedit
• Copyedit II
• Write headlines
• Test usability 

As Carroll emphasizes, all of these steps are crucial in creating a coherent and accessible web production. Out of the steps on the list, I want to highlight the importance of identifying with the readers and testing usability. As a user of many online websites, I know I often get the most frustrated with websites that fail to target me as the audience and miss the boat on making the site user friendly. 

To avoid problems with not knowing the audience, it is important to focus not only on their needs but also on technical factors such as what kinds of software they will be using. Nothing is more frustrating than your computer not being compatible with a websites software. Solving this problem involves much research and thought, steps that fall under the job description of the online editor.

As for testing usability, in my eyes, this may be the last but the most important step. Target is one of my favorite places to shop, yet there website is a bit of a train wreck in my eyes. The site is cluttered, confusing, and unintuitive. Due to these problems, I use Target's website very little and would be more willing to shop online at their site if it was tested more, making it more user friendly. If the editor designs and tests a site that is intuitive and enjoyable to use, it will be much more likely that the site will get proper attention and use. 

What steps on the checklist did you find most important? What steps do you think often get overlooked or aren't executed properly on your most used websites? 

The Ins and Outs of Editing

When I first started planning for my video project that will highlight four more Upstate restaurants that I have uncovered, I have to admit I was a little nervous. I have never really shot video footage before, with the exception of playing around on my iPhone, of course. I was apprehensive about asking restaurant owners to let me film, shooting the footage itself, and editing the clips to make a seamless story of my eatery adventures. I doubted myself and my video making abilities. After reading the chapter The "Aesthetics of Editing" in Ronald Osgood and Joseph Hinshaw's work Visual Storytelling, I feel like I am much informed and prepared for video editing.

While the chapter discusses many important techniques of editing, I will focus on three that I find important and want to use in my video. Those three techniques are listed and quickly defined below.

• b-roll or footage that visually describes the story 
• continuity or maintaing story consistency from shot to shot and within scenes 
• establishing shot or a shot providing indication of the location of the scene 

The chapter suggests that b-roll helps to describe the story visually while a person is speaking about the topic at hand. I plan to use b-roll with each of my restaurants while interviewing owners and friends. While the person I am interviewing answers questions about the restaurant or the experience, I will cut to clips of different images/scenes in the restaurant such as a close up of the food or friends ordering at the counter. 

Osgood and Hinshaw also state that keeping continuity in my video "helps to add to the believability of the scene and maintains realism". In the filming I have already done, I have been very careful to shoot footage that connects, makes sense, and pieces the story together in an obvious manner. Since my topic is fun and personal, I don't want to confuse my viewers with unrelated, unconnected jump cuts. Instead, I want them to feel as if they were along for the journey by making it easy for them to see why I have enjoyed uncovering all these delicious restaurants. Continuity will help achieve this goal. 

The final technique that I think will add to my video is the use of establishing shots. The chapter discusses the importance of letting the audience know where a scene is taking place by way of an establishing shot or a cue in the dialogue. In my shots, I have been starting every time with a clip of the front of the restaurant, highlighting the sign especially. This will hopefully show my audience where the next scene will take place, keeping them informed and interested. 

For someone who has little experience with filming and editing, reading helpful tips such as those in this chapter help immensely. What techniques are you excited to try in your future filming and editing? Do you find it harder to film and get the right shots or edit your filmed material? 

Storyboarding: Getting My Ducks in a Row

Pointing Out Point of View

Point of view is something we have heard about our whole lives. In my experience, point of view was usually brought up in an English class in relation to a novel or poem we were reading at the time. I would have to decide, it is first person, third person, second person in the "you" form? While I admit it was never the most exciting thing to learn about, point of view is very important in all aspects of life. It is crucial to know whose point of view a story is being told from, what it is supposed to mean, and who it is supposed to target. In the article The Art of Technique by John Douglass and Glenn Harnden, chapter 3 is titled Point of View.

While this chapter deals with the same first, second, and third person lessons we have been taught over and over again in classes past, I particularly enjoyed the portion on point of view and attitude. It brings to light phenomenon that we as consumers of media deal with everyday - conflicting point of view pieces and texts addressing the same topic. The chapter referenced conflicts such as depictions of the Catholic church and French Colonial occupation of North Africa and how they might be received differently based on different points of view. However, being a 20 year old female, the example that stuck out to me the most was that of the portrayal of love. To me a perfect example is the popular Nicholas Sparks novel-based film, The Notebook. The article beautifully balances first and third person narration as well as plays to different audiences with different points of view. Again to me, the girl that falls too quickly, loves a good cry, and likes to hope that fairytales do exist, the movie appeals perfectly to my point of view and attitude. However, show The Notebook to a 20 year old male and the sentiment might be quite different. The point of view and attitude just might not line up.

After looking at this example, it is easy to see why we should be thanking our high school English teachers for hammering point of view into our brains. As a producer, or in our case, the creator of a class video, it is crucial to understand point of view to not only know how our work will be taken but also how are specific audiences will be touched.

What are some examples of effective use of point of view? Can you think of other popular movies that may reach audiences very differently? Can you appreciate movies and texts even if they don't line up with your specific point of view or attitude?