Digital Dilemma By Charles Doebert Digital Literacy Narrative, now that’s a tricky thing to wrap my head around. And I would believe this would be the same case for most people out there. Having said that, the experience that I’d say about “how have digital technologies and multimodal texts been significant in your life?” is that it’s been a rodeo for me. I started using technology by thinking that TV shows/movies and video games were the keys to success in what I wanted to be and still be: a storyteller. However, I soon learned that TV shows/movies and video games were only a sliver/portion of what I needed to consume in order to become a master at my craft: telling stories that not only entertain audiences, but also inspire them to think outside of the box, eventually leading them down the road of thinking outside of the box for themselves, creating their own stories in life. Now you can’t force anybody to really do anything, however, inspiration is a whole different deal, I think. Inspiration is a powerful spirit that’s always on an adventure in unknown territories. And so, when I was only consuming TV shows/movies and video games, I was not inspiring anyone at all; I was not creating the amount of content that I wanted to create then as the amount of content that I create now as I write this paper for this course. To change the amount of how much content I was creating, I changed what types of digital texts that I consumed. This was my new routine: read instead of watching TV shows/ movies until my eyes were red as apples and being a hermit in my bedroom, playing video games until my palms were sweaty and clammy. Gross, right? Anyway, when I started reading stories on my kindle and on the computer, my vocabulary expanded and so did my powers of thinking, allowing me to work with more words for my stories, enriching my stories as a result. And the types of stories that I was writing/ still writing are science fiction and fantasy ones. These types of stories are known for having a boatload of details in them. These details help drive the stories’ agendas, allowing the audiences to enjoy the journeys of the characters’ arcs, then allowing the audiences to enjoy the parts before the characters reach their final destinations. Joseph Campbell is an inspiring figure to me, in any case. What barriers to reading, writing, or technology have you encountered as a user of digital and multimodal texts? How did you (try to) overcome them? Now this question may put many people in a puzzling dilemma. That puzzling dilemma in my opinion is if there’s any solutions to overcome these barriers. In my experience of overcoming these barriers, I found that consuming content on different kinds of devices and platforms have allowed me to see which ones are useful and which ones I can pass over and ignore, recognizing that some of them won’t help me go where I want to go when crafting a story. And when telling a story, the process is the most enjoyable part, in fact. And shouldn’t I enjoy what I consume as well? At any rate, another barrier that I’ve had to deal with is being very selective with what I consume, that’s either digital or multimodal texts. There’s lots of content interconnected with technology to consume for the sake of being a consumer. Though it’s just being a consumer. And if all you do is consume everything around you, not producing anything, then what are you? A wanderer in a world with no purpose? Creation is a privilege. So, I’m very selective with what I consume, not blinding myself on my own accord. I see so many people in today’s world always following a herd, for instance, influencers on social media. Why don’t you influence yourself for a change? This is not to be rude or for bragging rights, this is for your own growth and happiness. Learn to be happy alone before you let someone into your life. And be the pusher, don’t be pushed around. Furthermore, a barrier I have is separating influencers on social media platforms, deciding which ones can relate to my interests and be of aid. And which ones are not the people I need for my story of growth in storytelling. What are ways you use multimodal or digital texts to navigate life in and outside of work or school? One course that I’ve taken here at Saint Bonaventure University that has allowed me to become better with my craft as a writer and reader is Latin. Latin is a dead language today, however, it’s also the origin of many languages that are spoken in the world today. Noting this fact, what studying and writing Latin has taught me is the importance of keeping all my details in order. When studying Latin texts on Moodle, I found how every word was placed in the sentences for valid reasons, of course. Having your words in grammatical order for sentences leads to this result: clarity. And writing things that are clear and concise is hard for most people in my generation to achieve, simply because of the lack of patience and ability to fail to grow. This is the price in my book: be a fool in the beginning to become a master in the end. In other words, suffer now and live great in your craft later in life. Long-term satisfaction is worth it in the long run. Studying Latin with technological devices allowed me to reach a new level of clarity. I believe I was able to do this by trying to learn something foreign to me, then making it normal by constantly practicing and reviewing it daily, perfecting my craft, that then has allowed me to naturally find a way to make progress in all aspects of my life, including telling stories, as matter of fact. Multimodal or digital texts can help you navigate life in and outside of work or school. I think what these texts give me is the opportunity to learn and make progress on an intellectual level and the level of acting in life. Action is power, after all. To conclude this rant/self-reflection about “how have digital technologies and multimodal texts been significant in your life,” I’d say that the old school pen and paper never fails. And the same with reading paper books. Keeping things old school allows me to respect how far humans have come, speaking in the name of civilization. Don’t get me wrong, technology is a wonderful thing to have at our disposal. However, remembering how we started consuming and producing, I feel this then allows me to have a higher class of honor and respect for whatever I’m reading and writing or watching digitally. Honoring and respecting consumption for the sake of producing something worthy for an audience: a storyteller is a magnet of imagination that’s trying to be an attraction to those around them. I wonder if technology can be the same for everybody’s paths and roles in life. Storytime. Social Media Analysis By Charles Doebert Text: “You should be a monster, an absolute monster, and then you should learn how to control it.” Jordan Peterson. This philosophy and approach to life of being a monster for the sake of progress is by Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychology professor. What’s extremely interesting about Jordan’s belief in being a monster is that the majority of people believe monsters to be bad and dark beings that are often cast out from society and painted out as the villains of many people’s stories. Basically, monsters are unwelcoming by most, except for Peterson, in any case. Peterson talks about in many of his lectures on how people have become soft and quiet, decreasing their chances of becoming something that can be eye-opening, having the ability to change the world dramatically: advancing civilization. And he believes that being a monster can help you go where you want to go in life, as long as you can control the monster by having discipline. When looking at the Instagram post that includes Peterson’s quote about the pros of being a monster, the background on the post is dark and it appears to be he’s in a theater of some kind and the seats are emptied. And Peterson is sitting on top of one of the chairs, looking at you with concerning eyes that are highlighted in a shadowy light and he’s also wearing a dark suit with white stripes running down his sleeves and chest. The coloring of the letters for this quote is remarkable. You Should Be is all in white and the last word, Monster, is a dark yellowish tan color. Monster is the key word here that needs to be paid attention to. Peterson colors it in, making sure that his audience knows this is the scary word that will be talked about by him as he breaks down the meaning of his quote. Having said that, Peterson does this with his other quotes as well, coloring in words that are uncomfortable for most people either to have discussions about or understand the meaning of. Peterson is not an emotionless man, but what can be concluded from this post and the others that he’s posted on his Instagram is that he’s a man addressing the idea of stepping outside of your comfort zone, leading you where you want to go. In other words, take on the unknown in your life to find greatness on the other side. Peterson’s quote is broken down in multiple slides with words: Everyone says, “Well you should be harmless, virtuous, you shouldn’t do anyone any harm. You should sheath your competitive instinct”. Then: “You shouldn’t try to win, you don’t want to be too aggressive, you don’t want to be too assertive”. Peterson’s reply: “No, wrong. You should be a monster, an absolute monster. And then you should learn how to control it”. Breaking down his own quote allows him to persuade and inspire people to check their commitments and investments, their attitudes and values, and character and personality. And probably much more than that, in fact. One could argue that Peterson is trying to grab the types of people that have been on the guru and gravy train of hardcore success for a while now, however, he might also be trying to reach out to those people who are held back by fear of others’ opinions of them, causing themselves to fall into the trap of dogma. Dogma in this case would be society status quo. Peterson is giving them a shovel to dig themselves out of the ditch they have trapped themselves into. Peterson is the provider for people to become more than what they believe they’re capable of achieving in life. He’s a hero who embraces darkness. Think of Venom from Spider Man for a moment, many would assume that he’s a monster, however, Eddie Brock still has a good heart, allowing him to help Spider Man with his brute strength once in a while when the two have a common enemy. This is one of many examples where monstrous tendencies and habits can be used and portrayed in a different shade of life. With that said, Peterson’s quote is important because it shows that being good for the sake of being rewarded is not the best route to take in life if you want guaranteed success. Because the truth of the matter is that there’s no guaranteed success in life; you have to workday and night for it, having your candle of labor lit and unlit daily, not making the wishes for it but working very hard for it. What can be said by Peterson’s quote is that embracing the shape and mind of a monster can lead you down fortunate paths in life, ones that you wouldn't be able to go down and make progress with if you were a hero who was a phony positive magnet in disguise. And Peterson’s skills are being brutally honest with mainly men, telling them that they have to get their acts together or else face the consequences. The idea of rebounds and safety nets is not Peterson’s specialty nor is it up his alley, for that matter. Another reason why this text/ quote is so effective is that Peterson is flipping the tables on how the word monster has been perceived as for a very long time and is now creating his own definition of the word. And this leads him questioning the terms of other words that have been set and stone for a very long time in the English language. He’s a psychology professor who thinks outside of the box, then whatever he thinks, he then makes content out of it. It’s a very clever system: questioning what we thought and think we know is right and wrong in our lives. The man is a scholar who is fearless of speaking what’s on his mind, that’s the truth here. The difference between a monster and hero from what Peterson has said about taking on a monster identity is that one is willing to go a little farther for what they want, simply by having higher pain tolerance, freeing them from the cost of regret, a heavy burden to have. So now think of trials and tribulations for characters in a story. The characters who survive the worst stages of pain are often seen at the end of the story, right? They let the darkness invade them, but not let it take them over entirely. And this seems to be what Peterson says when taking on this character: a tamed monster is the winner in life. https://www.instagram.com/p/CgXTNzouQ08/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Jordan Peterson talks about when to be a monster - YouTube
The Remix’s Story: The terms "red pill" and "blue pill" refer to a scene in the 1999 film The Matrix. Taking the red pill is about exploring the unknown, not knowing what negative and dark truths you may find along your travels. While with the blue pill you are content with what you have and where you are in life. In other words, taking the red pill means that you’re doing something new, and the blue pill means that you remain the same, becoming stagnant and settled. The illustration that I’m presenting with my meme here is that sometimes it’s hard for us to decide and decipher which pill is better for us to take. Because of this, this can cause us to spiral out of control in our thinking, just like this guy here who’s sweltering, and his eyes are telling us that he’s alert. The Matrix is a mental struggle and campaign. The one who takes the pill is either the watcher or player in life, however, which color pill gives them which role? Choose wisely.
A/V Project
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Reflection
By Charles Doebert When designing my website, there were many design choices that I had to consider and make decisions on. Having said that, the approach that I took to design my website and make decisions was by experimenting with all the tools that my website had to offer me for creation. The tools I had come from where I created my website on: Weebly.com. I first started with the theme. I started with asking myself what message I’m trying to deliver before I have my audience dive into my written works. I did this by choosing three different formats, then I used my own process of elimination to decide which one would be the best for my website. The three different formats: first having my words all in italics, hoping that this would give off the idea or feeling that my audience was reading an old document, because most things that we read are not in italics. Along with the italics I had a boat load of artistic pictures surrounding the words themselves, wanting the pictures as well as the words to pop out and grab the audience’s attention in a heartbeat, however, I soon saw this was overwhelming to do when I showed it to one of my friends who loves surfing the web and is a very technical person. And his technicalities did not match up with this theme: Eye-opener, so I crossed it off my list right away. A second theme that I tried was a business one: posting pictures of people doing business and the history of rich people with their innovations, showing how they made their wealth and claim to fame. To be completely honest this was very fun to try out for a theme, mainly because I was showing fancy people on my website, delivering the message that what I have to say and offer on my website is so fancy that it will make you filthy rich. Having said that, I soon saw the flaws in this theme. The flaws were that I knew this could come off braggadocious or elite, meaning only selected individuals have the right and ability to visit my website because of the prestige they feel they have or don’t entitle to. And this is not the approach I was trying to go for at all. The approach that I had in mind was people would be invited to visit my website and see what I have to agree and disagree with about Digital Technologies, hoping as a result that they would tap into the unknown parts of their life: thinking outside of the box; thinking what they can become in this thing we call life. Nevertheless, the second theme was eliminated. The third and final theme was to have a mix of artsy pictures and pictures about the mind, delivering the message to the readers to think for themselves while reading what I have to say. And this is the theme that I chose to have on my website. Customization was one of the most enjoyable parts of designing my Website- First Draft. A couple of reasons for this is because my mother is an art teacher and my sister majored as a web designer in college. With that noted, I first tried out all dark colors for all my words, thinking that readers would focus on the words more because they’re dark and that’s common for most texts that are written: black, the primary color that we see the most. So, I stuck with doing black for some of the words on my website and I stuck to making some of my words white and having some that were other colors as well. The reason I did this is because I did not want to make my website look like a jumbled-up rainbow where the reader had to find my words through a rainbow ray. Black and white were the two colors I favored the most and I had a couple of headings, but I wanted to focus more on the content itself instead of how it first appeared, knowing the words is the main thing that I felt I’m delivering on this website, after all. I wanted to make each word legible and count, for that matter. One website that inspired me was DC.com-The Official Home of DC. DC is unique in the idea of having the white and black color font, keeping things very simple, but also mixing some more vibrant colors in there like blue and yellow for headings and another range of colors of the pictures that they have posted on their website. Furthermore, DC has their pictures and words spaced out from one another, this allows someone browsing the web to not get caught in the trap of what they should explore first. Instead, with the space between the words and pictures evenly distributed, it allows the one browsing to go at their own pace on the website. A second website that inspired me is Ubik Group, Building World-Class Tech Solutions. This website is one that I’ve been hired to do tweaks on, as matter of fact. Doing an internship with Saint Bonaventure University, I’ve been matched up with working for this company as an intern. I’ve been assigned to work alongside Mike Bysiek, the CEO and Founder of the company. Having said this, doing the tweaks for this website has reminded me a lot of what we’ve done in class: discussing how to present and format content, with the greater picture being in my eyes the power of technology, seeing what regions of creativity we can make and visit for ourselves and others. This website inspired me to write my papers with the message being that innovating things, places, people, or yourself is the golden rule to follow if you wish to grow this part of your life. Charlie Doebert
AV Analysis The video that I’m analyzing comes from YouTube. The Youtuber is SWFT. The video is called STAR WARS | Darth Vader. The video is about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader, then returning to the light side of the Force. The light side is the character becoming Anakin Skywalker again. Furthermore, this video combines the most pivotal moments throughout the films and TV shows of Star Wars that shows how the character spirals out of control but finds some way to make a return to his former self. At any rate, SWFT uses video and music from different films and series in the Star Wars universe and applies them to this video. The Youtuber has made a mixed storyline about the character. And this is an editing decision that the creator made on purpose to deliver the importance of the character’s storyline on a darker level. Most of the scenes in SWFT’s video show Anakin Skywalker in a state of rage and despair. And these are the words by SWFT on the video that he made here: “Here's my new tribute to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, one of my favorite characters of all time. I've tried to fix any shortcomings I felt my prior video had in this one while also adding in footage from the new Obi-Wan Kenobi show. I've added more on Anakin's mother and showing some of his younger self before he was corrupted by the Jedi and then Palpatine.” The purpose of this text is to show the power of emotions. The power that we have and control, for that matter. And when emotions are challenged or in disarray because of us having outside factors influencing them, then that can lead us down a slippery slope in who we want and who we will become. Moreover, this video is meant to portray the constant clash this character must deal with when coming to the price he’s willing to pay for power and his love for his wife. The same rule applies to all heroes in life that have become crestfallen in their stories. An audience that has never watched Star Wars before may think that this is a love story with no successful conclusion. But they may be able to relate to the idea of having a tough break up with someone they loved or someone who they cared for that suddenly passed away. In other words, this can help highlight the fact that people come and go in our lives all the time. We have people who depart from us, and sometimes we leave them for valid and invalid reasons. Now some of these valid and invalid reasons can bring us down when we're all alone, developing dark tendencies on how we behave and perceive others and the world we live in. One can also compare Anakin Skywalker’s/Darth Vader’s storyline to their own in the idea that our greatest fears in life can become our reality if we think about them so much that we become the fears themselves, engulfing the good in our hearts in the process of going down a dark path. This video can also be seen as a story about a soldier who has PTSD and can’t find a cure for it, causing him to become the PTSD themselves. PTSD is the sense of fear in this video by SWFT. Either way, the audience can see that there’s difficulties for this character’s life. Noting this, the video shows audiences that people’s lives are not always states of perfection as we make them out to be. On the other hand, an audience may respond to the text differently compared to what I have said above, mainly because not everyone has trials and tribulations in life that are identical to one another. All our lives are different. We may be humans, but we’re not clones. Or are we all the same? It’s a puzzling question without a clear answer. Moving on to the next subject of this matter: Observing the A/V text itself. I notice the expressions on all the characters’ faces. They are all expressing concern, giving the audience the goosebumps of what adverse event is about to unfold. In this case, it’s Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader; the hero on the rise of turning into a villain. With that said, another detail that I notice is how SWFT flipped the images of the character’s story constantly, showing pictures of when he’s good and then when he’s bad, but about halfway throughout the video, he’s showing the character be far more evil than good, telling us that the character is at the beginning in becoming a monster. The monster is Darth Vader, of course. Some other things that I hear in the video are people that are the character’s companions, who soon begin to become his foes overtime. There’s screaming and crying from three women: his mother, wife, and apprentice. And there’s constant lecturing from his master. Then there’s one figure who is inserting these visions of darkness in his mind, causing him to have these nightmares. Nightmares about death. The one figure that is constantly talking to him plays both sides: dark and light. Because of this, when you hear this figure speaking to Anakin Skywalker, he’s influencing him to do his bidding. The influence is manipulation. Another detail is Darth Vader’s breathing. He uses a machine to breathe and makes these heavy noises that sound like someone running out of breath and then everything goes dead silent all of a sudden. The heavy-duty breathing machine is helping build up to the climax of this character’s story: a hero turning into a villain. Nevertheless, the voices of all these characters show multiple elements that play a part in the hero losing his way: love, fear, friendship, and redemption. SWFT does not dwell on certain parts of Anakin Skywalker’s/ Darth Vader’s stories for an exceedingly long time. Instead, the Youtuber is emphasizing how quickly everything has fallen apart for this character of two personas, using the color of his lightsaber to dictate his words and actions. Blue is good and red is evil. The organization can be seen by SWFT selecting the prime spots in the Star Wars timeline where everything is sunshine and rainbows or when everything has gone haywire, not using any medium or mediocre scene to connect the two parts of the character’s story: hero and villain. Now all these details that I have noticed from watching this video help shape the concept that people will take drastic measures in life for things that they fear losing or things that they want in life. Drastic measures that have costs, in fact. My experience of watching this video is sad because it tells me that people who we may have looked up to as figures of goodness and heartiness may not be all that almighty and immune from committing evil deeds as we thought they were. And that’s where the rule of making assumptions comes into play. Making assumptions on high and popular figures can lead the inspired person to be disappointed, failing to recognize that everyone has flaws. Flaws that can ruin someone or flaws that can be fixed with practice and effort, all depending on the choices of that person with the flaws and the level of action they are willing to take towards them. What made me think of the rule of making assumptions in this video is this: all the voices of all the people who are crying out for the character’s aid when he’s both a hero and villain. Crying is one of the contributors to the character's internal state. The social meaning: I feel this video highlights that people can be wicked and good, but sometimes we don’t really know what they are, even when they are seen speaking or someone else watches and studies their actions very closely, jotting down notes about them, then referring to those notes to make their claims about that person. The eye-opener is that both words and actions of people can have secret agendas, causing the people around them to be tricked into believing something that’s not true, it’s only a mirage of that person and their secret agendas are disguised, letting them pull off a selfish deed and get away with it right before our eyes and in our presence, blinding us from the truth about them. For example, Chancellor Palpatine, the man who tricks Anakin Skywalker to bend his ways to join the dark side, does this by pretending to seek what’s best for the young warrior, while at the same time he’s evil behind the scenes, setting up his rise of being an emperor of an empire and a galaxy, using Anakin Skywalker as one of his pawns to claim his position. You can hear Chancellor Palpatine’s tone change throughout the video, all depending on Anakin Skywalker’s mood and state. Countering these points, not all people are devils who wear the masks of angels for the sake of being rewarded with goods. There are honest and authentic people out there in the world. And I would assume that people are aware that definitions are definitions, concrete and detailed. Still, people have been seen warping themselves with their own definition of words. For example, Anakin Skywalker wants power. Some would say power is good to have to take care of the ones that are closest to you. While others would say they want power to rule an empire, being the best and mightiest ruler in the galaxy. As one can tell, Anakin Skywalker took the second route, becoming Darth Vader, a machine that’s no different than a shadow that remains the same. And the gift that’s returned to him is his emotions of hate and wanting revenge against the people he once cared for as Anakin Skywalker. Switching gears to one of the readings we’ve done in class: One line from Bogost I feel that can be coloring in and amplifying this character’s transformation: “Everything is falling apart, it seems, even the sensor and the software that runs your camera”. This is where Anakin Skywalker turns into Darth Vader. Now the question from watching this video by SWFT is what our fate will be. Will it be real or an illusion? And one line of dialogue from the character that’s being focused on in SWFT’s video is a line of dialogue that’s highlighting the personal battle that Anakin Skywalker has with his identity: 'Anakin is gone. I'm what remains.' The sensor and software are the character’s mind and heart. And the camera is what he’s witnessed and the deeds he has committed during the dark times of his life. At any rate, the major point is that actions, words, and how we define things are not all the same as we make them out to be sometimes. Videos like this one can show us that rule of thumb. Look, there is a lot to ramble on and on about what’s true and what’s not, wanting us to tear out our eyes and say we’re done with this clashing of definitions and defining those definitions themselves. Though the biggest picture for this video is that SWFT challenges us to think of what a hero and villain are supposed to be. And how we should or could interpret them for not only ourselves, but for others, despite being unclear about what the benefits and consequences will be in the end. Risks are taken no matter the outcome of a character and their story and that’s the same with life. Taking risks can lead to discovery and change for someone’s story, whether it results with light or dark. There are results either way. The breadwinner question is this: Is watching videos like this one about darkness and becoming a shadowy figure a risk for the viewer of this video of going down a dark path in life? Or can a video like this not be taken so seriously and in such high regards? System Analysis
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System Analysis
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