Digital Media Project Reflection

Finding a connection between the texts and fashion was at first difficult when I was trying to figure out how I could respond affectively. When  I had to choose what topic/relation to expound and respond about was difficult, but got easier the more I blogged. Compared to the first blog post  my tone, mood, and style of writing changed to became more personally invested. The more blogs I posted, the easier it got for me to type as if I was chatting with a friend, rather then on a public forum. Having reread the blogs I was most invested in, I noticed how the material posted was more interesting and entertaining to read. I found my posts to be more interesting with the various content I chose to use as connections.

Digital design has always fascinated me and I consider myself 'tech savvy'. Blogger, on the other hand, is very unique and tricky when it came to the element of design. I had to stop manipulating the position of the texts and pictures – after realizing that Blogger is mostly concerned with the personal posts. Even though I’ve manipulated the layout and background multiple times it isn’t my favorite platform to use as a visual aid. A layout similar to the one on Tumblr I think would work better with  the “Style” page since I would then be able to link each picture with a corresponding platform.

What has blogging taught me about rhetoric and composition? Well the first week I was stuck in a mental roadblock - confused and unsure of how to write my blogs posts according to the topic. In class we were prompted to scan an article and then find connections in the reading with our topics – looking past the nature of blogs, I was better able to make connections to fashion and myself. Blogging also introduced me to the style of writing I see myself perusing in the future. I’ve always enjoyed writing and analyzing old literature because the purpose was clear and my opinions where based off of facts. If I were to peruse a career in writing it would be to have a column in a fashion, style, or health magazine.

This project showed me how literally every magazine today has a coordinating blog, and the owners are looking for young bloggers to keep up with the new ideas. This was the point in my blog I tried to improve. My first blog post was obviously old news relating to Miley’s crazy performance. One of my favorite posts that I may use in the Portfolio I linked to the new episode of American Horror Story, and Halloween time. Being personally invested in the television shows and holiday helped enhance the article. I tried to improve my style of blogging in many different ways to find out which way worked best. It’s hard for me to keep things short, even though I tried – but I was able to make “subheadings” that had different texts which created a smooth transition when changing topics, and making major points, in such a short post. I’ve held close my love of pen and paper, and honestly, my first few posts I drafted out on paper first. That was my style of editing my own work – writing and rewriting. With the last few blogs posts I found it helpful to just make small notes about what in the texts I wanted to refer too and what the connection would be. Being able to create collages of fashion was fun and I think added an additional element to my blog. It’s hard for me to post online without trying to stick in some sort of visual aid – which I learned to use for more of a purpose then just artistic effect.

Overall, I am happy with how the blog came out. I would give myself a definite A because not only did I create and maintain a unique blog, I thought it was unique and diverse to the fashion community. I also utilized hash tags, links, and videos to connect different social medias. From the first blog, to the last blog, even though writing is just becoming more personal, I still remained true to my intended audience. It's easier for me to write when I can relate, which is why my audience was based on college students (fashion followers), like myself, interests. 

If I were to continue this specific blog, I would want to create links to organize the articles by content – so I can talk about fashion, pop culture, healthy, and beauty.  I’d love to blog for Lauren Conrad daily! The last thing I'll note about continuing to blog is how my blog's set up is SO much nicer on the iPhone! I love the format on the phone so much more then on the desktop - it more simple and has self-explanatory navigation. I plan to continue blogging now that I know how must easier it has become with the free app. Being able to use the app efficiently would also help posting on current events, or things I see every day, rather than hear on the news.

JOHNSON's “Bitmapping: An Introduction”

"our visual memory is much more durable than our textual memory"



You know when you see someone you recognize but their name just won't fall of the tip of your tongue? They start to approach you obnoxiously waving and calling you out by name, which then causes you to subconsciously freak out and only hope that they refer to themselves in third person. This happens to the best of us, and all of us, because of the sole fact that images remain in our conscious state of mind much longer then any given word or text. Modeling is an art that has been extensively manipulated and transformed over the past 50 years ... thanks to the dominance Apple holds over our technologically reliant society, polaroid camera's are now sold in antique stores.


 

APRIL 1956: yes this issue once cost 60 cents

Growth is a part of nature; but why with our growing use of technology has our short term memory seemed to fade away faster then the 'new' upgrades? An article corresponding to the advertisements and commercials shown during the Super Bowl states how the video camera directors are prompted to change their point of view every "8 seconds", or they will loose the audiences attention. 8 seconds ?! In the early 1990's photographers would spend nights in a black room to perfect and develop a beloved piece of artwork. Now developing pictures is basically unheard of thanks to Facebook, but does the mutual access we share with this technology change our appreciation of it?

Even though we forget names, our media primes us to remember certain cultural figures, almost immediately. You may not know the name, but you know you've seen replications of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe a thousand different ways. An application on the iPhone can also perfect Andy's personal technique in less then seconds. While the picture may not be as authentic, they serves one sole purpose, IMIDIATE gratification. Blogs and all social media follow the pretense that American's need to be entertained almost every other second - therefore change and transformation keeps us interested to learn and master the new applications published.



ANDY WARHOL: a fad that never faded

Even though our generation seems to keep up with the technology trends the fastest, many fashion enthusiast's like myself appreciate the old style of modeling, photographer, and publishing. Pop culture legends such as Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn, we not only know for being beautiful and the mass amounts of pictures they accumulated in their lifetime, but they are remembered for their multiple talents. These women are looked up to by many celebrities, and new photographers try to "remix" the typical 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' stance, but no one is Audrey. Just like Michelle Williams can act, but she is no Marilyn Monroe. These women knew no such thing as social media, or even a Blackberry! So how did Audrey and Marilyn reach an audience on multiple platforms? Not only where they infamous models in two separate genres, both star's could also sing and act - expanding their audience to millions. No matter whose name you forget, you'll always know when you see any culturally defined phenomena that has been imbedded into our culture.



one of the MANY remix/remake of Marilyn photoshoots

BLOOD's “weblogs: a history and perspective”

“As advertisements creep onto banana peels, attach themselves to paper cup sleeves, and interrupt our ATM transactions, we urgently need to cultivate forms of self-expression in order to counteract our self-defensive numbness and remember what it is to be human.”

Weblog's have created this unusual platform that shaped our cultures idea of writing in todays generation - while the art of print won't be lost, in order to grow, we must accept change.

Weblogs allow the consumers and the audience to interchange roles, while the consumer and audience also has their own creations published for the public. Now, who has perfected blogging? How does someone create a following over 1k maybe more? Blogs present "alternative views" and "thoughtful commentary" not found on day to day news. Bloggers pick and choose what they will talk about, and what they feel is worth attaching an external link too. The platform for fashion networks seems endless since everything is becoming electronic, it is easier for fashionista's to find their favorite icon - model or celebrity - follow all of their social media, and find out more about this person then you even planned to find out.

When MySpace died, and Facebook was born ...

the first major difference was the ability to TAG yourself and other people in pictures... this moved us past a "top 8" and onto a more personal way to share events and easily post pictures to a friend's wall. Another milestone Tom neglected at first on MySpace was the ability to build and join NETWORKS - Facebook now organizes your list of friends into groups: work, school, etc.

In the fashion industry you wait for that final moment when the magazine is freshly pressed, and the smell of ink is still overwhelming when model's tear through the pages to see what photo's did and didn't come out right. Instead of that torturous wait, almost all modeling agencies utilize the new technology in order to immediately upload images to the internet. A constant feed of FORD and IMG's latest models are available at anytime. Social networking unties multiple blogging communities with alike interests; networking also benefits up-and-coming models with the ease of advertising their presence in the fashion industry and creating a good rapport with readers.


GROHOL's “Psychology of Blogs (Weblogs)"

“This development was inevitable. When thousands of people start replicating a form that was once unique or interesting (e.g., think "FrontPage Web site"), the form itself will eventually suffer. We shouldn't lament the passing of the form, but rather embrace the diversity that bloggers and their blogging have the potential to offer.”

Even though you can tell apart an amateur blogger from someone who is paid by a business to blog – both authors share a common goal which is to reach there audience. Blogs today differ in design, format, and content in order to fit a specific genre. Blogs also must be aware of how a webpage translates from a desktop to a smart phone – the blogs must be compatible with iPhones and just as easily accessible.

Once bloggers make their information accessible through many different links, they have to find something about their webpage that sticks out. A good blogger finds their own personal voice and reflection to add a sense of quality and individuality that creates a name for their blog. Relating to fashion, the multiple platforms used to showcase the latest fashions appeal to a broad range of audience. Similar to updating the applications on your phone daily, the rate at which blogs are updating there fashion knowledge must precede the competition in an ongoing battle for precision and accuracy when reporting on globally announced milestones - such as Fashion Week.

 GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST … but Generation Y can text even faster.

Growing up in an age of emerging technology it became more difficult to realize how far technology has expanded in the past generation. Generation Y a.k.a. the “Millennial Generation” are those lucky children born between the years of 1980 and 2000. Our generation has a unique set of characteristics, one that caught my attention is our preoccupation with keeping up with the new and emerging technologies. Business Week quoted worldwide that the millenial's “spend over $170 billion a year.” That seems like a lot of keeping up to do for our generation, and in fashion, it’s a constant battle to stay on top of the latest fashion trends, similar too updating our electronics when each and every bug is fined and tuned. Not only does Generation Y spend billions on technology, but we also seem to have a preoccupation with the attention we pay to brand names and labels.

POSTER's "Information Please"

What is censored? Not the new American Horror Story.

AHS viewer's should know that little to none
 of Emma Robert's new and improved (?)
 role's vulgar façade is being censored.

Halloween is the highly anticipated time of year when you can dress up as 'anything you want to be', but what about the rest of the year? Halloween seems to be less about the candy, and more about the opportunity of playing up our dark side. Vampires and witches have become increasingly popular in television and book series. Halloween and supernatural creatures have always been a part of our culture, now so more then ever these entities seem to even be semi-celebrated; while other societies choose to censor out this holiday. The internet is made up of bits and pieces of contributions made worldwide - specifically linking fashion - models worldwide can contribute feedback and post pictures.

Although certain platforms such as Tumblr and Lookbook cater to modeling, blogs seem to be keeping up just fine with there activity and responses in relation to the fashion empire. Models and information today now have to contribute to a "global market" or "global audience." Where the line is usually drawn is clearly shaky via internet censorship especially - which Poster demonstrates. Freedom of Speech has always been questioned when possibly crossing the boundaries of prejudice.

Online modeling agencies, online look books, tumblers, Instagrams, and style blogs show how truly connected we are in the world. When I first created LookBook one of my first followers was from Sweden. Living half way across the world you think our sense of style mash not mesh well, but she happened to be one my most hyped. The picture on the left is a category found on LookBook where you can look up models specifically from which country they are posting from.

From Athens, Greece.







 





From Australia.











From Hungary.

BARON's "From Pencils to Pixils"

 

The most common fashion blogs created are the type that focus on the daily portrayal of 'self-style'. This blogging style sends us a daily flow of selfies and allows us to follow a persons life, and more specifically there personal fashion sense, off of Facebook. Self-style blogging intentionally showcases the highlights of there lifestyle through a manipulated lens; this manipulated lens restrains the bloggers ability to 'shed light' onto their intended audience. While a picture can tell a thousand words, what kind of story does a thousand pictures tell collectively? This type of blogging gets to pick and choose what particular attributions of their own identity, unique sense of style, and interests they will disclose with there audience. This #OOTD obsessed blogging style uses a novel way to connecting there audience with there: daily errands, travels, and the stories multiple photos seem to unfold about there day to day lives and there personalities. Forgetting Facebook and twitter this type or forum, similar to a personal portfolio, can help you better advertise yourself, or what Baron pointed out as "self publication".

 

Self promotion can help set you apart from other bloggers, and help you find 'a niche audience' to connect with. When you and your audience correspond back and forth it helps to better satisfy there needs. Especially when posting daily pictures, you could also show them demonstrative videos via YouTube on how to wear your hair in a specific braid. Rather than hiring a photographer, IPhone's now have become significantly improved graphically and better equipped.

Even if you cant afford all of the different types of attachable lens' there are multiple free applications with filters. Filters again take away from natural beauty, but can be nice when used in creatively and in moderation. You don't need to by a different lenses to change the picture and lighting of a photograph anymore! Being able to take a decent photo of yourself with your cellphone takes modeling to a new business level.

 

If you get enough hype on the internet or on Lookbook it wouldn't take much for an agent to seek out your talents. Many college graduates can use the internet as a creative source to advertise and promote their abilities and showcase their talents. Now that pictures of increasingly good quality are being edited, and uploaded automatically, the 'self style' bloggers can easily post numerous pictures daily.

BURGESS and GREEN's “How YouTube Matters”

Burgee and Green talk about one of the most popular applications used today – YouTube. The articles states that in 2006, YouTube was bought by Google. YouTube was the first platform to completely shake live television broadcasting, news anchors, and even television shows. Magazines started to utilize YouTube as a way to show live footage of fashion shows, personal interviews, and other coordinating material they choose to publically post.

 

Glamour and Vogue magazine both have linking YouTube sites that include commentary on different “how to “ tutorials and "behind the scene" first looks. Lauren Conrad also has a pretty popular YouTube page with merely 61k followers. LC gives us tutorials on how to decorate your apartment with floral arrangements and how to make wrap-around headbands.

 

 YouTube, ran by Google, has of course been bombarded with advertisements because of the amount of people who use or stop by the site each day. YouTube renamed the typical American home video by making access to posting nearly live videos easy, fast, and available to everyone. This lead to the live streaming of television ... before NETFLIX.

Before Netflix remember blockbuster?

 

Walking down the aisles of a DVD store distracted by multiple covers and the 2 for 1 raisonettes ? Redbox is a lot more sufficient, but this year Netflix has gained the grand total of 36 million subscribers, with almost 30 million in the United States. With that being said, YouTube began this fascination with taking videos and television – and also moving them onto the internet platform.

An article from The Hollywood Reporter quoted “… chief content officer Ted Sarandos 'television is about what’s on the screen, not what size the screen is or how the content got there’." This summer's Emmy Awards had MANY nominations from VERY popular Netflix based television series; a few being: Arrested Development, Hemlock Grove, House of Cards... and the newly infamous Orange is the New Black.

JENKIN's “Why Heather Can Write"

Jenkin’s makes a VERY valid point about the internet; how it has turned into a fully functioning device constantly creating a steady flow of news and information updates. Jenkin’s emphasizes the idea of “collective intelligence” – which says that thousands of people worldwide contribute to today's media, and we have confined in the internet to hold this mass amount of knowledge. The internet has allowed people to take on the role of both the audience and author interchangeably when it comes to writing, and to what extent is it censored?

When looking through blogs, you want to find someone who is “relatable” to you or who shares your point of view and interests. If you care about the persons opinion and/or lifestyle, you'll be more interested to keep reading updated posts. Jennifer Lawrence is a down to earth model who is soon to be staring in her sequel to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire which opens next month !

If the world is “sharing” information and knowledge, openly, in a common platform, how can we expect it all to be credible? The millennium’s issue in modeling – the new reliance and mastery of Photoshop. The idea that some of the most beautiful editorial models are having already amazing photos perfected and edited to fit this unrealistic image.

 

 

 

 

 

Filters and other photo editing are useful daily, but these things are often used out of context.

14 day's until Halloween

GROHOL’s Psychology of Blogs (Weblogs): Everything Old is New Again

It’s easier to try and find a common link or theme between bloggers, rather than figure out what exactly it is that makes any given blog, out of thousands, stand apart from the rest. The ever growing list of tech-savvy devises are all meant to serve some sort of purpose;

the purpose or goal can be delivered in many different ways,

while the same idea can be used for multiple different purposes

(i.e. entertainment, information, business, social networking, and creativity). Grohol talks about how learning our history can benefit our future, because it builds our future. Similar to blogs, which need attention to grow, so does technology. Technology can be thought as an “evolution” – similar to Darwinism – overtime the ‘strongest and fastest’ networks survive. The internet holds a mass and culturally diverse audience – bloggers can be found responding to posts made across the globe. This is how ‘good news’ literally travels fast now-a-days (and bad news) – blogs have the capability to compile and stream bits and pieces of press and news releases globally.  The internet has created the most efficient way to bond ideas, news, pictures, and videos globally in a matter of seconds.

MASS MEDIA CANVAS

Etsy – what first seemed to me like a knock off of EBay, dedicated to jewelry – has evolved into a highly profitable online business. You can make, and sell, not only jewelry, but just about anything. Etsy has generated an organized manner to recreate our Saturday morning garage sale hunts to find that perfect handmade piece – now, you can find jewelry, clothing, home décor, and just about anything handmade from artists worldwide.

Custom design has also moved past our awkwardly tall friend, who happens to wear size 11, and is trying to find shoes in Aldo? Customizing your own tee-shirts with a group of friends is also a thing of the past. Creating your own personal pair of classic Chucks or Nike ID’s – you may just think about renewing your gym membership.

The big brand’s whom always had access to shipping and handling have set room aside for upcoming designers to showcase their attire. Nasty Gal, I don’t think much else needs to be said. Which started as a “side project” allowed this influential designers business to have been deemed the “Fastest Growing Retailer” in 2012 by INC Magazine.” This article talks more about the not so nasty girl's success.

HOURIHAN's What We're Doing When We Blog

“The linking that happens through blogging creates the connections that bind us.
 Commentary alone is the province of journals, diaries, and editorial pieces.”

Every magazine now has a coordinating website – for the people who on occasion use a laptop, and rely solely on handheld Apple technology – mainly every high fashion magazine has coordinating links and app’s to keep their listeners busy. Certain applications such as: Tumblr and Instagram are directed towards photography enthusiasts; when Pinterest, and YouTube can be helpful in giving images and video direction of “how to do this” and “how to do that”; Twitter and Facebook allow us to have a constant feed of your every thought… and at times pictures and commentary on what you’re up to. Magazine marketing has come into the tricky business of having to create multiple social media platforms to entertain a diverse audience.

Fashion bloggers must also learn the 'technique of timing' since this enhances the writers likelihood to systematically record and follow the change occurring daily in the fashion industry ;

since many trends tend to fade, the topics of interest switch even faster. When you first enter a blog, Hourihan realizes the “Reverse-chronological order in which posts appear, when a reader visits a weblog, she is always confronted with the newest information at the top of the page.” Living in our media-dominated Western Culture, we ALWAYS want to hear about the new and upcoming news first; history class usually isn’t a favorite.

Does is always matter who gets the information first? Do we even know what does come first nowadays? Who found out about Kanye and Kim’s pregnancy – Enews, twitter, Facebook, the front page of People, Kim’s notorious Instagram (most likely), or her family? The difference between live television and hard copy magazines – we can see WHO the information is coming from. When you’re looking for a good blog, you most likely are looking for a credible source, or at least someone to share the same point of view as you. The fashion industry’s large following create the specific demand to not only be informed, but have bloggers that perfect the art of consistency and reliability.

Following the quantum amount of data compiled in cyberspace, technology was once something to use in our “free time” in order to be entertained. Applications have brought gaming, hobbies, and severe addictions to Bubble Breaker to another level… having said this, applications have also rebuilt a lost and unheard of connection. The applications that we collectively use has opened the once locked doors for many celebrities and models to also download, create, and use in their down time – there posts are followed and made public for their millions of fans to see.

Speaking of credibility and being entertained…

While many avid bloggers are preoccupied with the idea that the information they have attained from ‘John Doe’ makes them the most reliable confidant – but most comedy is comedic and entertaining because it’s completely absurd and bullshit.  Laguna Beach, The Hills, to The City… reality TV we have seemed to grow up with. We turn into our favorite station in hopes of being entertained, and we are looking for entertainment from “average” people and the “drama” which occurs in their “reality”.

LC... California's sweetheart. Today better known as Lauren Conrad - she has built a pyramid of success that swiftly followed her choice to escape the ‘reality MTV’ puppet show.

Lauren Conrad played her role to a t – and her books (L.A. Candy - incredible!) told an INSIDE story of how much was ‘reality’ and what was left to the choreographers i.e. producers. She talked about how the season was drawn on, connecting and plotting where responses and reactions would lead them – as long as the viewers were tuning in on edge to find out more every week night. WE ALL know there is nothing REAL about REALity television, yet for the sake of entertainment, America cared enough to see the alcoholic members of Jersey Shore become millionaires.

Lauren Conrad has traveled far past her first publications of L.A. candy and is now the most sought out fashion adviser and author –  she's utilized multiple social media platforms to track what she’s been up to years after Laguna Beach. Away from the video cameras, Lauren Conrad was able to make her own identity and draw in a huge following. Not only do I routinely check her personal blog updates, I follow her on Instagram – or what I think is my fastest most for information.

This is the first ‘couple pic’ LO posted on Instagram of her and the new hubby. Before this picture, she only talked about cooking and going places with her newly announced love interest; this popular post was just 9 weeks ago (from today). This Instagram post preceded her freshly circulated picture of the “surprise” engagement ring… shortly after this post ENEWS displayed Conrad’s pictures and told the world about LO’s new engagement, and who this lucky man really is.

who need's the photographer? we have filters

 

MILLER & SHEPARD's Blogging As Social Action: A Genre Analysis of Weblogs

Miller and Shepard emphasize how the 21^st century has redefined the meaning of genre, and rather shifted the focus away from being “concerned with the knowledge and amount of work done”. Genre today is categorized through the new millenniums role in what Miller calls “self-organized communities” which allow multiple bloggers to connect their ideas into a stream. Social media, especially in the field of fashion, is an easy and fast way to advertise… but how do you reach your intended audience outside the google search engine? Hash-tags are now one of the most communal, and often times overused, way to link multiple people on various networks who are involved in sharing common interests.

           

Bloggers and the use of hash-tags allow a wide range of shared pictures and ideas to be posted and connected in mere seconds. The activity of bloggers is now emphasized by the amount of time they put into elaborating their social networks, and posting on events in a timely manner. Once upon a time fashion enthusiasts had to set time aside to watch runway events, and find time for a morning coffee and to scope through a freshly printed magazine. Similar to the archive you find in the first pages of any magazine to direct you to “whats on the cover”, hash-tags have allowed people to read articles or scan multiple different views of what was covered and revealed in Mercedes Benz Fashion week.

Today, any celebrity who attends a fashion show can immediately uploaded to Instagram their front row view of an event. Jessica Alba, for example, has slowed down on major publicity, but still continues to post daily on Instagram. Less than a month ago, Alba posted on #nyfw and created an image that displayed some of her favorite fashions from a designer I haven’t heard about – Narciso Rodriguez. http://instagram.com/p/eGcIJesukO/# Just from posting a single image, I was able to find out what specifically Alba enjoyed about this designer – sharp, short, sexy – and link straight to the designer’s own Instagram, allowing me to look through Rodriguez’s other designs. Instagram is a new way to gain fast access to select celebrities’ personal style views and find out which designers and styles grab their attention.