Tag: BCM325

Tweeting up a Storm- Reflections on Live Tweeting Round 2

BCM325

Alright, this blog post is dedicated to the second round of reflecting on the live tweeting process. I think ultimately that after some of the feedback I received on my first blog post, it was clear to me that I needed to give my tweets a little more sustenance. The other thing that I needed to improve upon was making sure that I was hitting the target of at least ten tweets per screening as I previously had a few weeks where I only wrote eight tweets. To help me prepare for more engaging live tweets I decided that I would research the movie before watching it. This ended up being an extremely helpful decision, especially with movies that had more complex plot lines. Taking into account all of these things mentioned I came out with a far better and more complex line of thought, which reflects in the following tweets.

Week 9: Robert & Frank

Robot & Frank was an excellent movie. The movie takes place in an unspecified time in the future where personal robots are available for purchase to take care of the elderly and other people with disabilities that can’t take care of themselves. Frank, the human, and robot, obviously being a robot, form a unique relationship that causes us to question the ethics of caretakers and what their exact responsibility to their patients is, especially in this case as Frank is a ‘retired’ criminal. It had an intriguing plot line that really made me question the role of caretakers in the future and the fact that it has Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon in it may have helped to influence my opinion on it. Using this line of thought I was able to critically think about how the future might affect the daily lives elders as technology increases.

For example, the tweet below demonstrates my ability to question the morality of the movie and allows for discussion from my fellow peers.

Asking the question of whether this could be a reality led me to do some research into the subject and I found the following article which I then tweeted as a relevant resource for others to read.

The following tweet demonstrates my ability to interact with classmates in real time, which is actually quite difficult especially when you are emersed in a great movie!

Week 10: Marjorie Prime

Marjorie Prime was an interesting movie, that in many ways was very similar to Frank & Robot. It too built on the idea of using AI to take care of elders, only in a different manner. Instead of using a fully able and functional robot the ‘carers’ in this film are holographs of loved ones that have passed on, that helps more with the psychological side of things as they are programmed with all of the memories that their human form would have shared with the living people around them.

The idea behind this plot was somewhat unsettling and led to writing the following tweet. I am quite happy about this tweet because it generated a lot of engagement between myself and my classmates. It is a good example of how I would like all of the live tweeting process to be. Below is my tweet along with some of the replies I got to it.

As with the previous movie, I really tried to find useful and relevant links that I could share. This tweet shows my ability to source appropriate material.

Week 11: Blade Runner

Blade Runner 2049, in my opinion, was a so-so movie. To be perfectly honest I wasn’t hooked on the storyline but I do have to admit that it was absolutely visually stunning. The movie is set many years later than its prequel, yet follows a continuing plot line.

Even though this tweet didn’t receive any interactions, I was really excited to share it! Backstories and intertwined universes are (usually) a great way of people to engage.

While watching the move I came across Kassi’s tweet on the Bechdel test. I’m including this series of tweets because I think it shows critical thinking of the subject matter and demonstrates good live tweeting.

Week 12: The Matrix

In one of my tweets, which I didn’t include, I mentioned that I had somehow made it through nearly 28 years of life without ever watching this movie and now after viewing I have realised what a mistake that was! This might just be one of my favorite movies that we have watched in class.

Like in previous weeks I came prepared and found some excellent quotes, articles, behind the scenes, and interesting facts about the movie and those who contributed to its making.

The tweet below is a good example of how live tweet interactions can help to connect ideas and facts that people share.

The tweet below is just for fun but I had to include it because it gives me a good giggle whenever I come across it. Also, live tweeting isn’t only about the serious matter of fact and deep thinking stuff, its also a chance to let your hair down!

Overall I am really happy about my second round of live tweeting. While there is always room for improvement I think that my tweets have vastly changed both in content and in depth of research since my previous round of tweets. I made sure to engage more with my classmates’ tweets, as well as improving my the quality and quantity of my tweets.

 

Beta Than Before -Reflections- Part 2

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Alright, round two for reflections on comments, this time for my classmates beta videos. Since the first round of commenting on other students digital artefacts, we have all developed and fine-tuned our ideas and have some sort of prototype of our projects. I looked at and commented on three of my classmates beta videos. I found this round of commenting a little more challenging than the first round because everyone had really developed their ideas, making it harder to give constructive criticism. Overall I was really impressed with everyone’s progress on their digital artefacts and my comments to them reflect that. The commenting process as well as reflecting on the comments I made to other students, has been extremely helpful in terms of continuing with my own digital artefact.

My first comment was to Kassi. For her digital artefact, she is going to be creating three video essays examining the future of how women could be depicted in sci-fi films as well as how they have been in the past. The three topics she will be exploring are equal representation, reproductive rights, and sexuality. I really enjoyed hearing about her digital artefact because I think that the future of women in film is a really important issue. In my comments to her, I mostly praised the work that she has done so far and how developed her ideas were. I’m happy with my comments to Kassi as I clearly communicated what aspects I enjoyed while also contributing a suggestion. I enjoyed her project so much I found it really difficult to give much constructive feedback and I think that I could have dug a little deeper to better help her along in any way that I could have.

kassi comments.jpg

 

My second comment was to Jessica. Her beta video described how she would be making a series of marketing podcasts with an emphasis on digital marketing and how it might be used in the future. I had a difficult time commenting on her beta video because of my lack of knowledge on the topic. I also felt a little unsure of what exactly she wanted to do with it, and these reflect in my comments to her. While I did make a few suggestions, I think I may have been able to give her better feedback if I knew about more about digital marketing. That being said I do hope that my comments to her will help narrow down her digital artefact even more.

Jessica Comments .jpg

 

Finally my last comments were to Leah. Leah’s project is about food, more specifically proteins in the future.  In her beta video, she spoke on how she will be writing three blog posts. Two of them will be on different types of alternative protein. The first is on soy/meat substitutes and the second will be on proteins that have been artificially grown in a lab. In her third video, she will look at how directors of science fiction films portray food in the future. She will pair all three of these blogs with a food entry video in which she will pretend that it is some year in the future and she will be reviewing the different alternative protein types. With Leah’s beta video I was able to give a little more advice as the topic of protein in the future is something that I have looked into for my own digital artefact. I think that my comments to her could have been better. For example, I could have given her some useful links that I came across while doing research for my own project.

 

leah comments.jpg

D.A. Beta

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As I mentioned in my D.A. pitch, this is all a learning experience for me, and I think that the direction I’ve gone with my pitch is a testament to that. I have pretty much scraped a majority of what my proposal was for a few reasons. 1. I completely overestimated my skills when it has to do with anything technology related- I am hopeless. 2. The need to interview people is do able, however it can also be really frustrating to have to rely on someone else to complete your work. And 3. I’ve found a really interesting topic matter that I think is really worth exploring.

Below is a video about my new and improved, work in progress digital artefact.

 

Here is the link to my first blog post about the future that insects may play in in agriculture.

 

Pitch Please… Assessment 1- Part 1- Post 2

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For this part of the assessment I looked at four different blog posts and analysed their digital artefact pitch. I enjoyed this process because every post I looked at had such unique concepts that they wanted to explore, and each pitch also had different methods of execution for their DA project. The feedback system is also extremely helpful in that it allows to us think critically about our own projects and gain insight from others that we might not have thought of.

Scrawl Studio by Caitlin

The first pitch I examined was Caitlin’s. The concept for her Digital Artefact pitch was a VR art gallery. If I understand correctly she will be displaying pieces from her on personal collection that she has created herself. I really like this concept because I think that AR and VR applications will be very prevalent in the future. Already there are numerous VR tours of galleries, allowing easier access to those who don’t/can’t travel to visit the museums in person. In my comments to Caitlin I mentioned that her idea was solid and her methodology was very planned out. She had a good, clear direction for where her project would go and how she envisioned VR and art working together in the future. That being said, along with my inexperience with VR, I felt I couldn’t really critique very much.

Surf Culture by Connor

Connor‘s pitch was in regards to surfing, more particularly the future of surf culture. He will be creating weekly podcasts. Each podcast will be focusing on different aspects of surf culture, i.e, fashion, social media, etc, and some episodes will include guests with knowledge of the topic at hand. As mentioned in my comments to Connor, I believe that he has a good idea and method in place for delivering his DA. I believe that his passion for surfing and surf culture will aid in making his project successful. My only suggestion, which came after reading an article about the future of surfing and whether there will be one long term, was that perhaps he could look at the impact of climate change and pollution, and how that might impact the sport.

20 Years From Today by Devin

The next pitch I analysed was Devin‘s. Devin’s pitch idea is about the impact of climate change on the environment and how that will affect not only our future, but the future of the planet. Her method of delivery for this project will be through a series of photos, via Instagram, demonstrating climate change. While I do think that this a great idea for her digital artefact, I did voice a couple of concerns for the project. I felt that the pitch was very vague, and even after watching the visually impressive video and reading the brief description she wrote, I was left unsure of what exactly she was going to photograph, how they would demonstrate climate change, and how they would address the future. Furthermore, I suggested that to perhaps make it easier on herself she could focus on a couple of specific issues she want’s to highlight, as the topic of climate change itself is much too broad a subject tp cover. I also suggested that another way to link this project to the future could be by somehow examining countries that are leading the way to a greener, more sustainable future.

Robotic and AR Pets by Yuanxin

Finally, the last pitch I analysed was Yuanxin‘s. Her pitch was about exploring the future possibilities of virtual and robotic pets by analysing previous trends and technology. My remarks to Yuanxin’s pitch were, it’s a great concept, there’s lots to explore with this. Her references were great, they really allowed me to see the direction of her digital artefact, and they demonstrated the potential of how we may interact with virtual and robotic pets in the future. In regards to one of her references, robotic pets for patients with Alzheimers, I did suggest that perhaps, as technology improves and robotic pets become more life like, she might want to explore what the implications could be for actual pets considering they require more care, money, and of course real pets die.