Smart Mobs and smart phones

Though you can't actually click on Habit Burger in Davis commons and leave a met/data, tag infused opinion on the restaurant itself, YELP and plenty of other user generated review site, all accessible from a smart phone, easily change my decision of whether I actually patron the establishment. I don't have to vocally hear from a friend that they recommend the restaurant, or have to suffer through the poor service on my own. These aren't even my close friends posting these virtual bills of (dis)approval, they are relative strangers but, their opinions, and the hundred of concurring ones, all accessed within seconds, can't be that far off.

Another example of the constant connection to the vital data that drives my life is between public transpiration and my cell phone. Unitrans has employed NEXTBUS, a service that tracks every bus via GPS, and using its location and speed on it's route, I can text my bus stop number to NEXTBUS to get an exact time of arrival. While my phone dose not have GPS capabilities, I have MacGyvered a gps bus tracking devise, the microprocessor of my phone's texting capability communicating with NEXTBUS' GPS data.

Blog 13--Who owns the Media

After reading SmartMobs introduction, Reingolds perspective on changes in media is very apparent in my own current life. For example my brother right now is over in South Korea, and before leaving he was informed that his American cell phone would not work over there, because they are on a higher frequency for cell phone, and essentially his cell phone was too “old” to run off of it. However, because of computers my brother although without a cell phone for the time being has been able to skype with me via our computers. Reignold discusses how intercommunicating devices are becoming increasingly useful to individuals. Ten years ago, this type of communication was probably non-existent, and now it is as easy as checking email. This change in media has helped me stay in touch with my brother on a daily basis, where before it wouldn’t have been this easy.

Another is example is when Reingold discusses how in Japan he witnesses an interaction among five people, while the younger people share a text message amongst themselves, they do not with the older people. I can relate this back to my own current life by when I am out to dinner with older people (my parents, their friends) they find it very rude when I take my cell phone and text message, but when I am with people my own age, people not only don’t mind, but don’t even seem to notice it. This demonstrates that over the ages how much technology is more accepted upon a younger generation because we don’t know much else.

Viral VIdeos Extra Credit

In reference to Second Life, Burgess’ discussion of viral videos can be connected through the idea of group participation—to culturally participate in terms of promoting communication rather than simply for entertainment or commercial gain. Rather, the idea of being able to share and communicate amongst the masses is something that both Second Life and Viral Videos seem to share the purpose of expressing/communicating via a particular medium. Second Life is a means for individuals to live out or act out their interests and opinions in a virtual environment. Second Life becomes a forum of discussion, in essence, a Public Sphere in which ideas and opinions can develop. Thus, the innate need for humans to culturally participate is something that both drives the creation of viral videos, and communities like Second Life.

Viral Videos

Jean Burgess’s article is about the construction of viral videos and how cultural participation are what build up to make what we now consider to be a viral video and networking site. Bernhard Drax’s Second Life videos contribute to Burgess’s idea of the viral video and networking sites because that is what you are able to do in Second Life. Without the contribution from the people, a virtual world would not be possible. In one’s life, we are always judged by what we wear, how we look, how we speak, and even by what our sex is. Drax shows us that none of this is of any importance when you are in you Second Life. He mentions that there are all sorts of people there and no critiques of how they look. Second Life is a place for everyone to come together without having all of the criticizing. Both Burgess and Drax make it clear that viral videos and networking sites are not places for critique, but rather places for everyone to be at peace with oneself without worrying about what the other people are thinking.

Blog 12 - Second Life and Burgess (EC)

Burgess' article discusses viral videos which relate to the ones that Drax makes in Second Life. Burgess describes how viral videos are viewed to culturally participate rather than for marketing which people can use as a way to actively contribute and engage in cultural conversation. Burgess also describes the viral video as a producer of culural value where it acts as a place for a wide range of people in the social network to communicate. That is precisely how Drax is using Second Life to mediate the real life and the virtual life. By being the messenger he brings together people of the real world to people who are unable to do it in real life. This brings together people around the world and others who simply cannot be there in person for events like Obama's campaign. He also brings together people with disabilities or other people who are exceptions like republicans for Obama. Second Life also explores different aspects of real life that people may now be able to explore like Guantanamo Bay.

Extra Credit: Viral Videos/Second Life

According to Burgess, cultural participation plays a major part in the foundation of mass video culture & networking or social sites. Drax's videos further affirms this idea by showing and visually explaining that second life lets users participate and discuss feelings thoughts and ideas about certain cultural, social, and economical situations happening in day to day life. The pressure of who you are, what class you relate with, what gender you belong to etc., doesn't matter in this "life". It becomes a means of communication among several masses surrounding the world, where users also get to experience parts of the world they are not familiar with.

Viral Video and Second Life

Jean Burgess’ article discusses the nature of viral videos while the videos of Drax revolve around the virtual world Second Life. The article states that videos are not concrete messages but rather techniques for communication and mediation among the masses. This applies to Drax’s work because of the way Second Life allows mediation on a virtual level. The online participants of Second Life come from all over the world with different political and social backgrounds where they are able to come together in this virtual world to not only discuss matters of society but to also experience different virtual locations, like Guantanamo Bay. This idea of the viral video and virtual community support Habermas’ idea of the Public Sphere because of the way both encourage conversation and debate over important topics.

Extra Credit Blog 12 Viral Videos

From the perspective of Burgess in the Video Vortex article, the cultural participation has played a more central role in the development of mass video culture and social networking sites. Connecting with the Drax works, this idea of a participatory culture with political, economic and social value is highly exemplified in the Second Life virtual world. In essence, the world of Second Life can only exist if there is a level of production to lead into the consumption. Burgess argues that the knowledge that there is in fact an implication of the viral videos within the real world provides the fuel with which online participants use. In other words, the enticement of oppurtunity and discussion drives mass video culture, not just marketing.

Blog 12 (Extra Credit)- Viral Videos

After viewing the YouTube videos of Bernhard Drax, where they show the virtual world “Second life”, this is a great example of the what the Burgess’s article discusses in relation to having a participatory experience via the internet. Second Life allows users to actually discuss (political issues), move around, and venture into places (ex. Guantanamo Bay) in this virtual world amongst each other. The users rather than just sitting back and watching a video, get to manipulate their digital extension without having to hold back any feelings like they might have to in real life. Second Life really demonstrates what Burgess emphasis as using “the central role of cultural participation in the creation of social and economic value in participatory culture”. These users are allowing other users to follow this “viral video” of Second Life, while then creating their own “avatar” of themselves. These users then put forth their feelings, gender, sexuality, etc. and as Burgess’s describes creates a video “that is not in any way original”.

Video Vortex

In the “The Art of Watching Databases” Geert Lovink writes about Youtube and how it has become a popular Internet avenue for socializing, or in other words, a more accessible space to get your face or persona out to the rest of the world.

In “The Practice of Everyday Life”, Lev Manovich explains how mass media is turning into simply social media and nothing more.

Manovich has a point but I don't believe mass media is only directing their attention to social media. It has become the most prevalent, such as the use of YouTube like Lovink's argument, but there are still other types of media around.

On the Yes Men

The Yes Men’s critique of media is that the line between true and false is often very blurry. They take advantage of the weaknesses in production by presenting lies and getting them passed as truths. They stand on a stage and make a statement in a suit and it is considered valid. Though the media would generally not have a reason to distrust a press conference, their pranks turn the whole thing around. Generally we have real people telling lies. The media is trained to be critical of that. But it is rarely thought that the person speaking could be what is fake. It causes an explosion of self-awareness for the media sources. We are fallible. Additionally, it is a criticism of the fact checking that goes on, or lack of therefore, and even more so, the extent to which these lies can be spread and gain power.
I believe that to some extent the Yes Men take advantage of “false consciousness.” They present information. The viewer has the option to accept or reject it. If the view accepts it, they take it as their personal choice to accept it. But because we know that to reject it is the only way to truth, we can say that they have been fooled into accepting it. There is such a deeply ingrained routine of trust and accountability that if a man in a suit says something, we are tricked into believing it is always right.

Yes Men Fix the World

In the film “Yes Men Fix the World,” the relationship between large corporations and the consumer population is critiqued, as well as the role (or lack thereof) that the government plays in all of this. This system of allowing large corporations free reign over nearly everything, with barely any government intervention, results in an extremely unbalanced situation in which the public has no choice but to take what corporations give them, and have no means of realizing that they are being misled. The idea of false consciousness is strongly emphasized in this film, as the Yes Men’s main purpose is to reveal the true nature of the lies that they are being fed—bringing attention to those who have suffered because of the actions of corporation’s actions and the government’s intentional ignorance. They break the carefully constructed facade that corporations create in order to appear like they are creating a better world, yet in reality they are only interested in optimizing monetary profit.

The Yes Men

The works of the Yes Men align themselves best with Gramsci's Marxist based concept of hegemony, followed by Marx's concept of false consciousness and Chomsky's Marxist-based model of propaganda model.

The Yes Men criticizes corporations and free market for making profit/monetary gain the primary concern. In the process, the negative externalities/means of production/risks is over-ruled by the end result. The end justifies the means. (such is the case in the Bopal disaster, in which human lives are overruled for profit and then after the disaster "erased"; such is the case of Katrina and post-Katrina restoration process-- that the welfare of human lives are overruled by profit.

The Yes Men's critique of the media seems to be:
-that media (both news and corporation generated media) fails to bring consciousness to the people. and that this is a failure of democracy in the public sphere, in which ideally the media should/could serve as the public watchdog. Through what's reported and what's not reported, media plays along, and is controlled by hegemony- that media themselves too, do not think they can change the system, and are blinded just as the readers/viewers are.
-that the media, as a way to facilitate the private sphere and the authority, is dominated by the power of the free market and capitalism, that the powerful and relevant voices that do appear in media often belong/align themselves with big money corporations-- they are the ones to get to speak, but other voices are irrelevant (as shown by The Yes Men's invitations to speak on news channels and conferences when posing as these powerful figures, but their voice and opinions are made irrelevant and trivialized when media finds out that they do not have the position they claim to have).

The Yes Men's pranks work as an analysis that breaks down and explains the workings of the media by addressing the two issues listed above (respectively):
-who has the power in media? Yes Men's opinions are promptly dismissed, trivialized, and marginalized once media finds out Yes Men do not hold the position they claim to have-- this demonstrate media's way to determine whose voice is heard, what news is reported, and what are relevant (or not).
-Yes Men lends mirror to hegemony: Yes Men's prank of NY Times lends a mirror to the news as it currently is-- that news media do not believe they have the ability to change the system, that they serve to suppress, coerce, and persuade the mass (and they themselves is persuaded by hegemony)

Yes Men lists the veil of false consciousness by connecting the means of production to the end product and by listing the false veil of the sense of inability to change matters. Yes Men's pranks illustrate hegemony, as there is some positive response to their pranks by some members of the society, such as members of the mass (NY Times prank) and some members of the corporate world(Katrina prank).

Youtube

In the “The Art of Watching Databases” Geert Lovink writes about Youtube and how it is quickly becoming a part of our society and culture. It made the internet more accessible to the average person.

“Practices of Everyday Life” basically elaborates on the notion that the internet is transforming from a media to a social media.

I feel like the internet isn’t purely media or just social, it is ultimately a mixture of both.

Video Vortex

In the article,” The Art of Watching Databases”, Geert Lovink said that nowadays people are easily addicted to “Snack culture”, such as YouTube because of its searchability and anonymous power that unnecessarily push people to keep watching and cliking it, even though we can hardly find the depth of context under multitasking media experience.

And in the article “The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life”, Lev Manovich explains how the mass media converse from consumption by users to production by users under the concept of “Web 2.0” and makes some points of this uses-generated media controlled by tactics as strategies of companies in the everyday media life and how the Web 2.0 redefines cultural consumption and production.

Yes Men Fix the World

In the “Yes Men Fix the World”, we can see there is obvious gap between the reality and the appearance on the media. To prove it, Yes men find the pranks, which can be the model of media responsibility, are not the example of free market. The media in the free market is not appropriately controlled by government. And also to let people know the “false consciousness” laid behind the profit for the government and the media conglomerate, Yes men try to give critique of media by analyzing the pranks.

fearroyo on The Yes Men Fix the World

The Yes Men criticize the media for allowing conglomeration and globalization hide the fact that industries taking advantage and tapping into out-of-state resources have little regard for the hosting state’s population to serve their interests.

The Yes Men use and incorporate the main societal problems that are promoted by major businesses. Essentially, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno attend conventions where individuals with major stakes in a company attend, the one of the two men gives a discourse that lays out bare truth of the outside implications businesses have made regarding resources and people. The Yes Men make an attempt to bring out major concerns in the form that investors and entrepreneurs should be able to recognize, in the guise of expanding corporate interests, and make the observers question whether, or not the idea presented is ethical. The Yes Men attempt to handle the workings of the media by trying to speak to the figureheads that own the media corporations and conglomerates to extrapolate and critique the overall message.

The Yes Men incorporate culture jamming in their pranks.

The Yes Men Fix the World

In "The Yes Men Fix the World," their critique of media is that the government and large corporations control everything that we are told. Their critique is that the government is not doing their job in terms of thinking about the people and what is best for them. Their critique also shows that the free market is not regulated the way that it should be and the people are being lied to and not given any hopes for better lives. Their pranks work as an analysis that breaks down and explains the workings of the media because they are visions of what the media should be doing and they are giving them the reactions that they would get from the people that have been waiting for years to hear that. Their pranks serve as a model of what the companies should be doing when it comes to taking responsibility for their actions even if they did not have very good outcomes. One of the terms that they use and we have learned in class is “false consciousness”. They show us that what we think the free market does can be very different from what they have actually been doing for years now.

viral vortex

Lovinks argument is that Youtube ins a deceptive drug of the media, addictive in its unlimited and infinitely variable content and constituted of user uploaded media.
Manovich, on the other hand, revels in the ability to produce a content of the masses, for the masses.

On video vortex:

In Geert Lovink’s opening essay argues that the structure of YouTube has transformed our entertainment viewing from contrived and structured to something that attempts to have structure by emphasizing things that are “the same” and thus reducing the value of our entertainment.
Thomas Elsaesser’s essay emphasizes “constructive instability”, a phrase which essentially describes the internet’s contradicting association, allowing the series of code to feel to chaotic.
Lovink and Elsaesser both agree that YouTube is altering our society, though to what extent is a little different. For Lovink, the issue with YouTube is that it creates and promotes conformity or being the same. He sees it as a system of social pressures to not be left out of the crowd. But for Elsaesser, YouTube is great for its ability to be so random. It sees the possibility of discovery as it’s major asset.
Though both argue the opposite point, I do believe that both are correct. There is a hybrid answer: YouTube utilizes “sameness” to create search results. But from this “sameness” we can find some awesome things.

Yes Men

“Yes Men’s” critique of media is that people believe the media to be reality and only a few people are really controlling it. They pose as if they are the people they are critiquing and then instead of spreading the mainstream message they try to expose it. False consciousness is the disconnection between appearance and reality. This directly relates to the “Yes Men” because their purpose is to make people aware of falseness of their perceived reality.

Video Vortex

In the first article, “The Art of Watching Databases,” Geert Lovink discusses the popular video database, YouTube, and how society has become addicted to this sense of “snack culture” where searching for videos has become just as important finding while we develop ADHD tendencies and are submissive to the power of the anonymous Internet.

In the second article, “The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life,” Lev Manovich illustrates on the transformation of media into social media, while discussing the concept of Web 2.0 and how large producing corporations are expanding on the strategy of ‘Do It Yourself’ products for their consumers.

Both articles acknowledge the rapidly changing world of media and society’s use of the Internet. However, “The Art of Watching Databases” concentrates more on the power of video-streaming websites like YouTube and society’s addiction to “clicking” while “The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life” focuses on the concept of Web 2.0 and the concepts and strategies that people can build on with the revolution of social media.

Yes Men Fix the World

The Yes Men’s critique of media is that the measures the government acts upon, especially in time of crisis, are monetarily driven and do not represent the whole truth of an event of a story. An example of this that the Yes Men uses throughout their documentary is Milton Friedman’s viewpoint of “Only a crises produces real change.” They critique this stance, illustrating that this ideal is in the minds, like Friedman’s, of those with a sole interest in monetary gain, regardless of the loss of life. Their pranks work as analysis and break down of what is really going on behind a situation and from that they are able to reveal the truth. For example, in the documentary the Yes Men posed as a member of the United States Housing and Urban Development that spoke at a convention concerning the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. He stated that HUD would begin to work on construction of affordable living for those who had lost homes in the disaster. Although this was not true and the Yes Men had no affiliation with HUD or the government of Louisiana, they were able to bring attention to what the government could have done for the people who had lost their homes. The Yes Men’s tactics of analysis brought out the truth behind this crisis. A critical concept that we have discussed that would be most aligned with the work of the Yes Men would be Karl Marx’s idea of False Consciousness, the notion that there is a separation of appearance and actuality. The Yes Men prove that there is this separation through their pranks and experiments where they constantly reveal the truth, the reality of False Consciousness, with what society sees through the media, the appearance.

Yesssss Man !

The "Yes Man's" media critique mainly exposes the use of culture jamming. The audience witnesses several pranks on major corporations and governmental agencies that are performed by these "serious anti-globalization activists". Essentially, creating a disconnect because it benefits the free market

In a specific instance they give faux corporate interviews pretending to be the executives in which they supposedly announce setting up a $12 billion fund for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster that killed 1,773 people. The BBC fell for this prank and aired the faux interview. This caused DOW's stock rapid fall. The oblivious "heroes" celebrate their power, but don't realize that most of DOW's stock is held by pension funds; in other words, regular working class retirees. The dynamic duo conveniently found a few such victims who claimed to enjoy the hoax and its impact on DOW's stock.

Yes men fix the world

The Yes Men's media critique employs the tactic of culture jamming. They are notorious for posing as spokesmen from profit-driven corporations which intent on satisfying their greed. as these fake spokesmen, they speak at conferences pitching their fake ideas in a serious manner. Though their ideas are sometimes preposterous like the killing of plant workers to make flesh-scented candles, some are what people expect greed corporations to do like DOW chemical liquidating union carbide to pay for the suffering of the people of Bohpal after the UC plant their exploded. concepts related to them include culture jamming, plausibility vs. profit, the advertisements of ideas and feelings rather than factually selling a produt, and truth in advertising.

Yes Men Fix the Wrold

The "Yes Men's" critique of media is that the power to control it is far too centralized and that it is blindly being accepted as the reality with which society follows. They explain how people take what is given to them without criticism or questioning. Their pranks serve to satarize and magnify the method by which corporations, politicians, and other powerful figures in society use media to manipulate the public. For instance, when they got the news channels, which are a direct medium that the average person uses to learn about the current happenings around the world, to believe that they were CEO's, they showed just how easy it is for people to be manipulated and lied to. It is easy to fake, lie, and cheat. A concept that best describes this is false consciousness. People think that corporations and politicians etc. have this "other" meaning that can be very different from the real purpose.

THE VIDEO VORTEX

The Video Vortex

In the first article “The Art of Watching Databases” by Geert Lovink, there is a strong emphasis upon the fact that youtube has become a significant item within society; dictating our actions, as well as monopolizing a large amount of our attention and time—the constant bombardment of so many videos has reduced our attention span and response to media.

The second article, “The Practice if Everyday Media Life,” Lev Manovich describes media and technology as a progression driven by mass consumption; he references the numerous social websites that now exist, stating that society has become one that is rooted within social interaction and mass consumption of media.

These two authors pull references from similar sources (youtube) and also discuss how media had impacted human behavior and interaction with each other and with media. However, Lovink solely focuses upon video sharing sites (youtube) while Manovich referenced a broader spectrum of media networking online.

fearroyo on Video Vortex

In Thomas Elsaesser’s article “’Constructive Instability’, or: the Life of Things as the Cinema’s Afterlife?” he brings up the idea of a constructive instability as the progression of recent self-sustaining media systems (that develop from user-generated content) of intricate of algorithms that seem to provide an endless portal of access to user-generated and commercial content.

Lev Manovich’s “The Practice of Everday (Media) Life” focuses more on the proliferation of using online video sites through commercial strategy and user tactics to adapt and alter the commercial strategies meant to sell the user products through the popular medium of online marketing (social networking, and online video blogs).

Elsaesser’s argument mostly concerns itself with establishing that with the advent and availability of cheaper and effective technologies available to the general public, there is a considerable amount (an average of a 1% of the total online video community) that contributes to posting their user-generated content. His approach appears to encompass a more chaotic thermodynamic description of the new mode of copying and altering commercial property and art to suit the needs of the viewers and consumers. Constructive instability refers to the inevitable tendency for systematic operations to fall apart after time, but in the meantime these self-sustained systems feeding off of information through algorithms from online human behavior are able to produce search results for viewers to access desired content.

Manovich takes two critical components from De Certeau’s tactics and strategies both deployed differently depending on the circumstances of user-generated content versus that of commercial content. There is still an apparent attempt by marketing research firms to collect information and employ strategies meant to obtain information from online users, the users in turn use their human tactics to negotiate and manipulate commercial incentives to suit their needs. The issue of marketing in new untapped spaces towards new consumer pools is the main cause of concern with the evolution of the Web 2.0 that Manovich describes throughout the article.

Video Vortex

On the first article “The Art of Watching Databases” by Geert Lovink, he talks about how YouTube has changed a lot of people’s lives and attitudes online. He also mentions that a lot of people waste a lot of their time on it rather than reading a book or doing other things.

On the second article “The Practice of Everyday Media Life” by Lev Manovich, he talks more about how things turn into what they are today along with the strategies used and considered for corporations like YouTube.

Both, Geert Lovink and Lev Manovich agree on the fact that YouTube has helped in the change from mass consumption to mass production and that now there are more ways for people to sell their image online.

Video Vortex

Geet Lovink in the Art of Watching Databases, discusses that instead of consuming time watching TV or reading books we now click through useless videos on YouTube, which are essentially just mirrors of people, that really have no substancial meaning to us.

Lev Manovich in the Practices of Everyday Life discusses a “Web 2.0” and how our culture has progressed from a media culture to a social culture, which is currently run by Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

These two authors agree on the fact that our culture is now consumed with social networking sites, and spend countless hours clicking through web pages. Although I felt as if Lovink discusses Youtube and other sites as if they can articulate what its users would find interesting based of what they are viewing more than Manovich finds possible. Also Manovich went into much more detail, for example about music, comments left by users, and art.

Blog 10 - Video Vortex

In the first article "The Art of Watching Databases," Geert Lovink writes about how Youtube has changed the way we act online and how we waste a lot of time on it. He mentions that we have so many choices which make us masters at multitasking and also have ADHD. Also we don't ever need to find anything, we just search it up.

The second article "The Practice of Everyday (Media)Life," by Lev Manovich is more of a how things evolved into what they are today. Manovich describes how people were going from mass consumption to mass cultural production though the two aspects of people being able to become the producers of internet content and the shift between having the internet a place of publishing to this new idea of a place of communication.

Both of Lovink and Manovich both see the difference of this new era. They see that now there are many choices for the internet and that there are more ways for people to sell themselves and their image, the idea of the mirror. However they both differ in the ways they present their ideas, Lovink talks about the Video Vortex project and bluntly characterizes what he sees while Manovich uses another source the book The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel De Certeau.

Video Vortex

In the article The Art of Watching Databases by Geert Lovink, new media and technology such as Youtube is described as search based rather than well defined programming, further resulting in a more divided attention span and a greater since of self-reflexivity.

In the article The Practice of Everyday Media Life by Lev Manovich, new media and technology is described as user driven and a mass source of production, further creating new strategies and tactics for corporations and media businesses like Youtube.

Between these two articles, the author's are mostly in concurrence with each other on the topic of Youtube. They both acknowledge the substantial shift from mass consumption to mass production, as well as the new mentality of the user when searching through databases and looking for things rather than simply viewing.

The Yes Men- Fix the World

The “Yes Men”’s critique of media is that the government and media shape what is told to us to benefit themselves (Friedman/free market), not what may be the truth. Their pranks work, (ex. when they are Dow spokesmen), as an analysis that breaks down the idea that as easy it is for them to dress up and pretend they are somebody, someone will believe what they are saying. Andy states after his true identity is discovered (that he is not a Dow spokesman) that this is what Dow should come out and say. Essentially, they are demonstrating that if anyone (the media) is creative enough, and seem “credible” enough anyone will believe what they are saying and follow in their footsteps of what they state as “reality”. I would say the term that is most aligned with their critique would be Karl Marx’s false consciousness. They seem to think that there is a disconnect between what the government and media “appear” to show on TV, and with reality. They create this disconnect because it benefits the free market, rather then show consumers actual “realistic” ideas and concepts, which would suppress their system.

Blog 11 - The Yes Men

The Yes Men's critique of media is that the government is not doing its job in regulating the free market. Since the free market is not being regulated there are many things in our society that is wrong. People are living in the mindset where Milton Friedman's ideals are important to everyone. They are told that human greed and self interest are good just as long as they are promoting the welfare of the consumer and where human sacrifice is okay just as long as someone profits. The pranks that these Yes Men do analyze the idea of companies doing the right thing and taking responsibility of their actions. These pranks explains the workings of the media because they show how information can be blocked and often misunderstood. Many people who listen to the media often don't realize the horrible things going on with the world because it is all hidden from the TV, newspapers and on the radio. The Yes Men represent many of the topics that we are learning in class. One of the terms is the false consciousness which is best shown in the movie by how we think that the government and the free market are there to help and better our communities because they represent us but in reality they are just trying to profit from society.

Yes Yes, Yes Men.

The "Yes Men" believe that the government and big corporations are often dehumanizing to the public, and they choose to raise awareness about these issues by impersonating the very people they don't like. They make fake websites, speeches and events and utilize culture jamming to prove their points. Culture jamming in this context is like when the "Yes Men" imitate a company but instead of promoting mainstream ideologies, they exploit corruption. The "Yes Men"'s last prank in "The Yes Men Fix the World" is a fake copy of the New York Times, where they printed all of the news that people essentially want to read about. The challenge is that the government and public should be working to make those headlines true (ie ending the war in Iraq). As a media critique, the "Yes Men" demonstrate the influence the mass media has on these issues and how they could influence change if they chose to. However, the media instead conforms to the same norms as the government and corporations driven by profit and self-interest.

In response to Facebook suicide

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-youll-never-quit-facebook-even-if-you-think-you-want-to-2010-5#youre-not-going-to-go-back-to-waiting-an-hour-to-send-an-email-to-30-people-with-40-photos-attached-1

Self Surveillance Project Conclusion

In conclusion, I found that this assignment to be fascinating study of the private self versus the public self, in which I have come to realize that behavioral patterns change very distinctly between the two. In private, there is less of a worry of upsetting social norms, however, in public, there is continuous surveillance to deal with; my partner and I have agreed that nearly any location in the public contains some form of monitoring device, in which even the internet or cellular phones would also qualify as monitoring devices. Being in the public eye seems to strongly condition individuals to think and act in a manner that is most acceptable—something that is very deeply ingrained in people. I found myself struggling to separate what I considered the public self and the private self. These two facets of an individual serve as a means of coping with being part of part of the public media, as well as being bombarded by the media. As a result, this project has allowed me to realize just how much subconscious thought goes into maintaining an acceptable public self, and that in truth, there is rarely a moment of true privacy.

Self-Surveillance Presentation Summary.

Throughout the course of the self-surveillance experiment, I came to several realizations. My body posture is affected by the amount and saturation of surveillance equipment within the vicinity that I am residing (this is not limited to surveillance cameras, but sensory sliding doors, security tag detectors, conspicuous alarm systems). I have a very poor sense of privacy in that I mind the presence of individuals more than surveillance equipment monitoring my movements. In an attempt to insulate myself as much as I could from mere online advertisements, I inadvertently went out of my way to teach myself counter measures to eliminate embedded advertisements from a majority of websites I visit on a daily basis. I seek out privacy, but more out of the internet than the real world. The act of being public is more of a nuisance because I must constantly remember to monitor my own life than depending on established systems to do it for me. In the sense of my private self the media played a significant role in making an unwelcome appearance when I would browse online; in terms of my life, various questions would well up within me seeking the purpose of an advertisement I may come across. In the sense of my public self, the media plays as a convenient system to track my own actions, movement, and behavior. I feel that the manner that I express myself is consistent throughout my day; distinguishing my public and private self is difficult for me.

Surveillance Project

a)

After comparing instances of surveillance in our everyday life, we found that surveillance is ubiquitous in our everyday life. Some instances of surveillance are: red light cameras, surveillance cameras at stores, the MU, buses, cell phone, and Internet. We are constantly under surveillance, being watched and tracked, or being made aware of these instances of surveillance. Surveillance is not confined to space: we might expect surveillance in public space and commercially owned properties, but in the privacy of our own space, surveillance in the form of tracking through cell phones and internet are present, if not 24 hours a day.
We are exposed to media and surveillance throughout the day and from public space to the privacy of our own home. Media and surveillance are part of our everyday life (and in term, part of human subjects). It is not clear which theorist's idea on media-human subject relation apply the best, but what's clear is this: media makes allowances for the public sphere to merge into the private sphere, and vise versa.

this is a good example of affairs in the public sphere merging in the private sphere: as a photo taken during the 48 hour “private moments” period, dinner time at the privacy of the house is combined with study time for school.



b)
Being in the public sphere, or to be made into a subject in the public sphere, definitely made me feel as if I have little privacy-- during the 24 hours of surveying surveillances, like Foucault's prisoners in Panopticon, although the surveillance is not everywhere and any time, being aware of the possibility of under surveillance made me self-surveil and self-regulate myself to behave in ways that bear greater coherence with socially acceptable public behaviors.
During the 48 hours of self-surveillance, my actions aligned themselves to present a human subject that reflect the social norm and/or or reflect my ideal self: there were definitely less instances of procrastination-- I was a quite responsible student and adult. Some other actions, however, reflect difficulties and anxieties toward being in public, and be subjugated to the gaze-- such as in the case of this:

presumably, this is an attempt to exert some agency-- distorting the human subject into an eye-eyed eggsandwich freak monster is, apparently, a proven-true tactic to repel the spectator's desire to exert power and dominance in his or her gaze.

c)
Media's role in my sense of public self tend to be of social control and regulation. Cameras installed by businesses and government play the role of the hidden guard in the Panopticon. And media in the capture model regulate my behavior and reinforces hegemonic dominance, as in the case of internet.
Media is integrated into my private life through the capture model. I use cell phone for communication with family and friends, and I use internet for entertainment and art-related affairs, which I consider to be private.
A public persona is useful when I am in the public sphere-- representing myself to be in coherence with hegemony yields rewards that are, unfortunately, sometimes necessary.

Self-Surveillance conclusion

In my sense of a private self, media still plays an important role. In fact, I think media plays more important role than of my public self. The very first moment I woke up, I checked my email. Many of us may think that this is where we can have privacy, but the truth is this can be tracked by Internet system. I can be engaged more profoundly into media via Internet, phone, or TV. Even tough I am in my public self when I am in public, I will have my private self when I open up my laptop and engage myself into it. In our daily lives, we are always involved in public gaze even at the moments we do not know. In order to mediate our lives to the society, we may need to expose our privacy to media.

One circumstance where a public persona would be useful to me was when I was doing a UCD Fashion Show on picnic day. The eyes of people, cameras, and camcorders were tracking my every little performance. I felt really good when people were watching me at the time because I wanted to boast my meaningful and beautiful moment to the public a lot better than my real life. Therefore, I try real hard to fulfill my schedule to do something good with happy face. However, tracking myself for 48 hours and being public persona was boring, tiring, and discouraging. It was little bit tough to keep going this.

Self-Surveillance Presentation Summary-- Zack, Erica, Minhee

After bringing together all of our results from the self-surveillance experiment, we found that our experiences were largely the same. First of all, we all noted how the only place where we were really in private was at home, however, we established that even at home we are being watched. Once we open our laptops and log into the internet, we are being tracked. We also conceded that, even though the internet is not private, we are still willing to use it. The internet, phones, and other tracking devices are almost essential in order to be included in our mediated world. It would be very difficult socially, economically, and perhaps even politically if we were to give up these tools, even if it means losing our fundamental privacy.

Self-Surveillance images

Surveillance project

Part I

1. 24 Hours 5.3.10

I woke up and turned my laptop on to check up my e-mail and Facebook. By logging into UCD and Facebook sites, the sites were able to track me. After class, I stopped by ATM machine to get some cash, and I realized that the bank was tracking my bank account and the security camera watched me. Around lunchtime, I went to San Francisco Japan town with my friends. On my way to there, I saw the traffic camera on the Bay Bridge that records live traffic including our car. At the Japan town center, I saw the surveillance camera at several areas on the walls and ceilings. When I paid for the ramen I ate with my debit card, I knew the information was engaged with tracking system. I noticed that in this sophisticated world, I could barely find privacy in the society or even in my home.

2. 48 Hours 5.4.10- 5.5.10

I woke up at 9a.m. and washed my face. I turned my laptop on to listen to the music. At around 11a.m., I cooked some kind of noodles and after eating them I went out to school. I went though arboretum path to get to class and the class had a field trip to east Davis area. I visited Sierra Sod Company and looked around their lawn field. It was too hot to keep walking after the trip I went to Jamba juice. Then I met my boyfriend and we cooked our dinner Szechuan Pork together. After studying for 2 hours, we went to park to take a walk with his puppy and I came back home around midnight.

I woke up at 10a.m. and took a shower. I went to class at noon and after class I went to batting cage to practice softball. After practicing softball, I went to my boyfriend’s house and we watched DVD movie “Intolerable Cruelty”. We made and ate seafood pasta together. After coming back to my home, I did homework and read Bible and went to sleep.

Part II

a. The very first moment I woke up, I checked my email just like many other UCD students. Many of us may think that this is where we can have privacy, but the truth is this can be tracked by Internet system. Also, ATM machines track our bank accounts’ balance and every activity including something that I do not want to be exposed in front the machines. Additionally, live traffic cameras at random places are also tracking us when we don’t realize. In order to mediate our lives to the society, we may need to expose our privacy to media.

b. I wanted to boast my life to the public a lot better than my real life. I wanted to show the public that my life had something meaningful. Therefore, I tried real hard to fulfill my schedule to cook special menus, to exercise, and to study with happy face during the survey. Besides tracking myself for 48 hours, it was boring, tiring, and discouraging. It was little bit tough to keep going this.

c. In my sense of a private self, media still plays an important role. In fact, I think media plays more important role than of my public self. I can be engaged more profoundly into media via Internet, phone, or email. Even though I am in my public self when I am in public, I will have my private self when I open up my laptop and engage myself into Internet, phone, or email. In our daily lives, we are always involved in public gaze even at the moments we do not know or feel. One circumstance where a public persona would be useful to me was when I was doing a UCD Fashion Show on picnic day. The eyes of people, cameras, and camcorders were tracking my every little behaviors and kept track of my performance. I felt really good when people were watching me during the special event.

Mark's and Lleeya's Surveilance Project

We both found ourselves exploring our online time as another form of surveillance and media interface, reading blogs, watching videos, playing games.

We both are self conscious in public, especially concerned with our appearance. We are concerned with what other people think of our clothes and if we look good.

It's good to have a public persona when people will judge you in the sense of a job interview. There is a social norm, what people think is normal, what your wouldn't necessarily do in private. You should look good and be professional. It is important to separate your private and public life and image.

Hanna & Jayne Group 2 Pictures

If walls could talk:

partner: Janelle Bitker