The first week of ds106 bootcamp is finally done…thank God! It was full of frustration and confusion but I’m glad I came out of it alive. Through all the mess of creating new accounts, websites, and videos, I actually came out with a renewed sense of the internet. I understand it more and appreciate the things that programmers and artists put out there for us to watch.
With that said the videos we watched for our weekly media review also added to my new outlook on the internet and media.
The Robert Hughes video really made me think about “what art is?” and “what is considered art?” To be honest I can’t answer either of those questions. But it made me feel better about not understanding “art” when I look at it and think “this is something I could do.” In my opinion, art needs to convey something meaningful and deep, not just “a row of bricks on the floor,” as Hughes states in the video. I go to an art museum and see some string and cans and people say “this is art”, but is it really? I think that when “art types” see something basic and every day they think “wow there’s so much meaning behind it” when really I think they are overthinking it. Granted, as time goes on the media and subjects of art evolve, but to this day I can’t look at a painting of a bowl of fruit from the 1600s and one from present day and consider it art.
My favorite video is the one by Steven Johnson. I think that he puts the process of ideas together in a really clear layout that people can understand. I like the concept of building upon other ideas and the emphasis that it is not just a “Eureka!” moment. The media he uses in the video is also very intriguing to me, with the drawing and the building up to the light bulb which is the representation of an idea. I would love to make a video like this using continuous drawing or whatever it’s called. The more I watch these videos the more excited I get about creating new media!
The Kelli Anderson video is also a great one! While her main point was to change reality by looking at everyday things and using them to create extraordinary things (which is awesome), I took something different away. I really like the idea she pointed out in the beginning of the video about the little pieces that make up a bigger picture, like lettering, texture, etc. This hit me (maybe because I’m a little bit OCD) because it is so important to me to pay attention to little details. In my opinion, little details like color or which font to use can change the entire vibe you’re trying to portray in a project. I hope to accomplish this in my blog and Anderson’s words really helped me to think about how to incorporate little things into my blog (and other projects) to make boring things way more awesome!
And finally from John Cage, my favorite rule has to be #7: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. This speaks to me in so many ways because I have been working since I was 14 and I don’t think I could have gotten where I was today without work. Whether it’s working hard in school or at my job, everything I’ve done has helped me to become who I am and it could not have happened if I just sat around being lazy. It’s something I think about everyday and it’s something I will continue to do in order to be happy with all that I do.
My First TDC
One of the first things I learned to do with this class is to make and upload a video to YouTube…and what an awkward adventure that was. The task:Â Find nearest over-looked everyday object. Fabricate a story about it being a key part of your childhood. Of course I chose something that I overlook (but wear) everyday. It was nothing fancy and the video quality was choppy but it definitely helped me break out of my comfort zone. I really don’t know how people make videos all the time without sounding so awkward!! Guess a career in acting is out for me. Anywho, here is my first TDC and (as I say in the video) hope they become less awkward as times goes on!
Links to my accounts:
So here are my account links (most of which I already had, apparently):
One of my first thoughts on ds106 on twitter:
@cogdog greetings from another student in #ds106!
— Fairuz Maggio(@fairuzmaggio) January 16, 2013
Aside from sharing all my thoughts through these media accounts you can learn more about me here. I will probably update it throughout the semester because my likes tend to change a lot 
Weekly Reflection
So let’s be real, I am taking this class to fulfill my gen-ed and I thought it was going to be easy. BOY WAS I WRONG. Even with help from google, Professor Levine, twitter, AND friends I still managed to get thoroughly frustrated by technology on at least 3 occasions this week. I never considered myself technologically disabled but after trying to set up my website this week with multiple issues, I looked a lot like a crazy person. Setting up the social media accounts was a simple task (especially since I had most of them already) but using them for more than their basic requirements was not what I expected.
Confession time: I don’t know how to use YouTube. Obviously I can type things into the search bar and find videos but I never knew how people just “stumbled” upon awesome videos without someone showing me the video first. Hopefully I’ll learn this semester so I can come up with YouTube gems like the rest of the world. So with that being said you can imagine how difficult it must have been for me to create a video for my first Daily Create. Thankfully, after some tinkering and google help I managed to make a (semi) decent video and I only pray that they get better as time goes on (and hopefully less choppy). After this week I’ve managed to get a video up, follow a new channel, and even have a couple of views so I’m pretty proud of myself!
I thought using WordPress was going to be hard, considering it took me what seemed like FOREVER to set up my site. Turns out I was wrong there too. Apparently I’ve used WordPress before but I didn’t know it was WordPress. I had a blog when I was abroad and just did basic blog posts but I could never figure out how to embed tweets, videos, pictures or change layouts! Thankfully there are the tutorials to help!
This semester is definitely going to be an experience and now that I’ve gotten (what I think are) the hard stuff out of the way, I think the rest of the semester will be an exciting journey into the world of internet media! I’m excited to see what this class has in store and how I can apply it to the things I plan on doing after graduation!
Until next time!
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