Re/search

My research professor always says: "Research is built upon repetition. Otherwise, it would be called search." So let the adventure begin!

I am currently in the process of contacting College Unbound. I would like to involve them and their vision in the VOST2011 project. It would be interesting to see their success and student comments about the program.

Research Plan:
Week 1 (Feb 21-27): What are the boxes on campus? How far do they extend and what do they enclose? Delve into the book "Mediated".

Week 2 (Feb 28-March 6): Understand the concepts behind un-schooling and determine if I want to represent it within my video. Determine if Ken Robinson is applicable for video voice-over. Start mixing music if audio cannot be found.

Week 3 (March 7-13): Read "The Saturated Self" by Kenneth Gergen and "Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity" by Charles Taylor. Manipulate concepts within my thesis.

Week 4 (March 14-20): Design video clips that represent box schooling and extend it past the department walls. Finish previous week's readings and music mixing.

Week 5 (March 21-27): Focus on video design and craft a solid storyline.

Please feel free to add any ideas for my future research!

War Going On For Your Mind

Motion Design!!!!! This is the medium I intend to use for further expression of my student vision. Not only is this video mesmerizing, it also has the perfect music!

There is a war going on for your mind.



Ideas:

• Questions professors are asked
• Questions students "want" to ask
• Hierarchy of courses
• Ideas of great minds
  

Beginning Tunisia Revolution

From the beginning, my group for Dr. Wesch's Mediated culture class has been interested in studying social movements. We want to know the extent in which online movements become offline. Originally the plan was to study mediated culture within England because we have a known contact with a background in that location. Although, the pervasive concept of studying "social movement" drastically warped our original plan of research.

Our first group meeting occurred last week, and during our conversation we became captivated by the Egyptian Revolution that was stimulated by the events in Tunisia. Through our research, we discovered this article that describes how the Tunisia Revolution began. One of the major factors in the revolution was breaking the barrier of the media blackout. This article provides a perfect description of the origin, and we intend to further study the development/cause/effect. There now exists a research wiki and a diggo group for this project.

We live in a world where the online/offline dynamic can create this:



What does it really mean to be mediated? What does the click of a mouse button do?

Enclosed Thought

My first video, Class/Room Mediated, is an experiment with how the classroom is formated. "Enclosed Thought" is an idea that I approached while walking home from school one day. As I was walking, I realized that the university has its own structure outside of the classroom. I asked the question, "What does a wall do in a campus setting?" My mind exploded with a new video concept!

The audio of this video was the true adventure. I found that my interview with another collaborator did not retain the idea that I intended to express. I basically had to interview myself, which is why this video is also the culmination of my first vlogging experience.

As I began to vlog, I realized that talking to a video camera is near impossible! I can talk to a friend, to a mentor, to a class of 20 students/peers, and even to a lecture hall of 200 students/peers. The video camera acted as an arrow, and it had the potential to pierce my deepest thoughts. This intimidated me and caused me to continually criticize myself. I attempted to work with the camera and treat it like a peer, but I eventually had to improvise.

I have this Beanie Baby lemur that my mom gave to me and his name is Peepers. Peepers became my peer and through him I was able to vlog. It is interesting how conversation is embedded within human interaction. The other day, my philosophy teacher asked us about the masks that we wear. Is there a mask for vlogging? Because I could not find mine!

Thanks to Stereofloat for the awesome music titled Crashed!