May Project

I am going to do the life video project.

For this project, I might have to scan a lot of the pictures and possibly convert all the videos to some sort of digital file. I might start with my baby pictures from when I was in Singapore and then include some pictures from every school year. I'd probably also include pictures of activities I was in as well as pictures of friends. Possibly put some people in my life who were very important to me or very influential. Maybe also use some pictures from favorite vacations. Might signal a new year with possibly a school picture. I might include clips of my first birthday.

Collaborative Writing Thoughts

All in all, I kind of liked the whole collaborative writing. It was interesting to see everyone's different writing styles. In a way, just reading other group members parts of the story helped me in developing writing or gave me ideas on ways to improve on my writing.
One of the things I thought was kind of difficult was getting all the parts of the stories to coordinate or to match up that way it wasn't like 5 different stories that didn't go together at all. It was hard because you either had to make something general and let the other person fill in the details, or you had to wait for someone else in order to proceed. These things often times led me to stop writing until someone else had finished or we told eachother how we were going to have something happen. Apart from that, I thought it went fine. Using google docs was very efficient and helpful because you could read your other group member's progress and be able to continue your part of the story or see where they were going and change yours accordingly.
Another thing I found difficult, at least for our story, was finding a way to intertwine all the parts. Most of us had written about the same events, but in different points of views. Even if everything was the same, it was difficult finding a way to place everything, so we ended up placing each part separtely according to what we thought would have the best flow and coherence. Other than that, I thought everything else went fine. Everyone did their part.

Collaborative Project

I think that we should do either a fiction story, collection of short stories or poems, or maybe even a screenplay. For a fiction story, I think the genre should be along the lines of a drama or a comedy/humorous story. For short stories or poems, we could maybe pick a topic/mood/setting to all write about but have everyone write a different story/poem with that common element or theme.
I think it'd be really cool to have everyone just write a page of whatever they want and then try to link it somehow to everyone else's writing. Another idea would be to have one person start of a story or drawing and then have the next person somehow tie their own idea to the previous one. This could be a mix of drawings, poems, stories, basically anything.

Future of Communication Video- Free Writing

One thing I found interesting was that many people are now "prosumers"- people who create information and also use the information.
I think that while many of the things mentioned in the video are possible, I don't think all of it should be done. A big focus towards the end of the video was the ability to recreate reality or basically have a virtual life. While I think that'd be really cool, I don't think it's necessary. I also don't want to spending half of my time on the computer/internet in order for me to fulfill some needs in my life.
I think that many media forms, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television will eventually go completely digital. This is already happening today, where many newspapers and magazines are now online. I remember reading a recent report on how some newspaper subscriptions are loosing a large number of subscribers because people are now getting their news from the internet. Many people now watch many shows and movies online on sites like YouTube and even from the channel's official site.
However, despite that most media can go completely digital, I don't think it's current forms should be completely terminated. I enjoy being able to open up a book. I like sitting in my room watching the tv and flipping through channels.

Email Etiquette Notes

Composing:
*Be sure to have a meaningful subject line.
*Use standard spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
*Compose e-mails in MS Word/spellcheck, then copy and paste into e-mail.
*Be friendly and cordial, but be careful about jokes/joking around.

Responding:
*Respond as quickly as possible.
*Answer questions, can answer them inside the e-mail.
*Trim back, delete stuff on the bottom.

*Double check everything (careful of reputation)

Focused Free Writing- Social Revolution Video

I was completely surprised by all the numbers and statistics related to social media. What I found the most interesting was that if Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest country. What was even more surprising was that China's own social network alone was larger than Facebook's and had over 300,000,000 users.
I think that social media is not a fad. It makes a lot of things convenient. It makes communication easier. It's easier to stay in contact with other people. About 1 in 8 people have found their significant other online. In the past, it was uncommon to meet someone online or it was looked down upon. Now, it's probably a common way.
Wikipedia has over 13 million articles and is said to be more accurate than the Encyclopedia Brittanica. This just shows how much more of a convenience technology has made it to access information.
I do think, however, that there are way too many social networks these days.

Free Writing Activity

She stood in front of the platform, just waiting. Waiting for the unknown. The unknown feelings that would surge through her. The platform lights flickered above her and the ground beneath her rumbled. A train passed by, sending a breeze of mild, cool air. She let out a sigh and looked behind her at the giant clock. The time drew nearer to what would be the most nerve wrecking moment of her life. More trains passed by, and more time flew by. She was growing restless in the wait. Not long, a train came to a stop. Afraid, she swiftly walked towards one of the benches, sat down, and cupper her face in her hands. She heard the chatter