Voyant Tools

Voyeur tools is a program for analyzing text. I analyzed the story A Cask of Amontillado and focused on the frequently used words in the corpus. My first step after running the text was to edit the stop words. Stop words are words such as 'the, and, of,' essentially modifiers that are used frequently that do not change the meaning of the text. After editing the stop words I analyzed the frequently used words in the corpus.One word that stuck out to me was the word "friend." That word stuck out for me because Montresors did not like Fortunato  but used the word friend to lure him into the cask. 

On Voyeur, you can look at the word cloud to have a visual of the most frequently used words. You can also access a list of those popular words and by clicking on them individually you can see words in their direct context.
Voyeur tools is a useful tool to use when analyzing text. You can use it to strengthen your thesis because you are analyzing words used in the text and how they are important. 

Wizarding Wars

The wizarding war of Harry Potter goes beyond the battle between Harry and Voldemort. Some people believe that engaging in anything Harry Potter related is a sin because of the witchcraft element of the novels. What people fail to realize is that if they read the books, they would draw the conclusion that, yes magic is a big part of the novel but there are more adversary themes that one can depict from reading the stories. For example, overcoming adversity, standing up for what is right regardless of fear, and friendship are all themes that derive from the series.
If people celebrated the good that derives from the books instead of focusing on what they fear, they would realize that Harry Potter is more that just an adventure story about a child that can wield magic. Harry Potter is one of the first book series that has gotten so many children to celebrate reading. Children were genuinely excited for the release of the books to come out and would go out of their way to wait in line to get their hands on a copy.
No matter what, people will always find offense in literature. It is sad that people overlook good books such as the Harry Potter series, but I do relish in the idea that people should celebrate children reading and encourage it through good literature.

Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?

George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, never intended for Star Wars to become a source of creation for many people. He kept a tight leash on the rights for the films so that people could not recreate their own stories. Once he agreed to allow people to publish their creative work, Star Wars fan fiction, videos, and songs became popular. 

Television shows such as Robot Chicken and Family Guy have made parodies of the films as well as Youbuters. 

Lucas fought for the rights of his show to remain untouched but once he gave up his rights, Star Wars fans became active with the story. 

Convergence of Tehnology

Convergence of technology is using different mediums of technology for the same purpose. For example the cell phone is not only just a way of communicating with people by talking or texting but is now a device that you can play games on, check the weather, or utilize for social media. The cell phone then works almost like a computer.

                Other forms of technology work in similar ways. No longer do people need a computer when they can use a tablet or a cellphone for almost the exact same functions. Apps are now available on multiple devices which gives anyone the opportunity to participate with any device. Viewer participation has become a social norm in our media. For example, years ago when people watched a show they would participate with one another by having a conversation about it and presently when audiences view shows, they are able to communicate about the shows through social media.

                Bert is evil is an idea that was formulated by teenager, Dino Ignacio. Dino took a photo of Bert from the show Sesame Street and cropped his photo with Osama Bin Laden using Photoshop. There was a website dedicated to pictures of Bert with other historically powerful people like Adolf Hitler and had Bert placed with historically horrific groups such as the KKK. Once you enter the website there is a page dedicated to Bert’s mug shot and links to click on that will prove why Bert is evil. There is a gallery of photos of Bert in historically negative situations. The most popular image is the image of Bert and Osama Bin Ladin.

                The picture of Bert and Osama Bin Laden was printed on signs, posters, and even on t-shirts. In a news covering by CNN reporters, the signs with Bert and Osama Bin Laden on them were exposed to the entire world. That exposure then led to popularity for the Bert is evil website.

                The website, Bert is Evil was created by a teenager for fun. He used Photoshop to create seemingly innocent images for his own personal joke. Those photos were leaked and used during a protest. Dino’s website then became popular because of the news coverage. People participate by adding pictures to the website and can share those photos on different Medias such as Facbook or Pinterest.

                The Television show, American Idol, is a perfect example of technological participation. If you go to the American Idol Website you can follow them on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and Pinterest. The website even has an option that allows them to remind you to watch the show if you sign up with them.

                The show allows the audience to participate by providing them with multiple mediums. Years back, if viewers wanted to participate with the show they had to call in and vote and that was the extent of their participation. Now they can tweet about the show, follow the contestants on their Instagram accounts, text in votes, or pin pictures of the show on Pinterest. This means that no matter where viewers are they can use their cellphone, tablet, or computer to participate with the show. With this audience participation, the viewer’s feel like they contribute to the show and have say in what happens. This leads to both positive and negative feedback based off the contestants position in the show. But no matter if the publicity is good or bad it is still there which promotes the show further.
                Audience participation for reality shows has become popular but now is becoming a norm for sitcoms. Sitcoms use to be viewed for pleasure but now viewers are given the opportunity to participate during the show. For example, the show Modern Family that is aired on the television network USA, poses questions at the bottom of the screen that viewers can answer by tweeting the show. Then the answers are posted at the bottom of the screen for viewers to see.

                Similarly, the television network TLC often has special episodes of shows that allows for viewers to Tweet to the show. Viewers feel like they get a chance to participate then with the show and maybe get to see their tweet’s on the television. This can be a bad thing if Tweets do not have a gatekeeper, or someone who mages the tweets and only displays the appropriate tweets. If tweets are not gatekept the inappropriate ones could get leaked and then displayed on the show.

Technology has changed the way that we view shows. Participation has become a common asset to shows and how it becomes promoted. Viewers can interact with TV show characters by following their Facebook pages, Twitter pages, Instagram’s, and Pinterest boards. Multiple devices, such as the tablet or cellphone, can be used to participate with shows. Television has changed beyond addressing shows through personal conversation to utilizing social media to converse.This convergence of technology helps to promote viewer participation. 

Wachowski brothers versus Warner Brothers Studios

The Wachowski brothers created the movie, The Matrix. Before the movie was released the brothers created a world for the concept of the Matrix. They themselves created different forums for the movies as well as a video game based on the movie. The two brothers had the concept of the movie's story being told through different mediums.
Other stories have followed suit, such as the Harry Potter series, although, they are on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Wachowski brothers. Warner Brothers studios made the Harry Potter books into movies. Then when the movies became popular, they made forums, video games, and merchandise for fans. The book The Tales of Beadle the Bard was a story written by J.K Rowling and it was based off a book that was referred to in both the book and movie series but the book was not about the characters specifically. The book is considered a transmedia story because it is another medium of the same story.
The Wachowski brothers is a good example of their story being told through transmedia because they themselves came up with the concept of their story being written in many mediums. J.K Rowling wrote the Harry Potter stories but she did not create the other mediums that came about because of the popularity of the movies.
Both movies follow the idea of covering the stories in many mediums but only do the Wachowski brother's truly follow the idea of transmedia.

Transmedia

Transmedia is a telling the same story in different mediums. For example, the movie The Matrix is both a movie and a video game. Both mediums provide publicity for the movie.
Movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings have been adapted into video games but hardly ever is the reverse popular. For example, the movie Prince of Persia was inspired by a video game and made into a movie. People that played the video game before viewing the movie came to the conclusion that the video did not meet their expectation.
Generally people like when a movie is adapted into a video game because they get to experience the story as a game. But when games are made into movies, they lose out of interacting with the movie.
Transmedia allows for participation on multiple mediums and if done right can positively promote media.

Adam Hammer

Adam Hammer works for the St Cloud Times at Saint Cloud University as the director of media relations. He takes part in creating their literary magazine. During his presentation he addressed the process of writing articles. He talked about how he receives emails about certain stories and has an editorial process where he can decide what stories to take on. What I found interesting is that he receives a lot of story ideas but he can go out searching for stories opposite of how working for a newspaper worked. He went into detail about how he organizes the stories in an inverted pyramid so that the most interesting stories are at the top of the page. I loved that he went into detail about the writing process because it gave me an idea of how to structure a literary magazine.
I found his presentation very informative because his line of work as a media relations director is along the lines of what I could do with my New Media Major.

Adam Hammer

You can find out more about Adam on his website.

American Idol

The show American Idol is a prime example of converging of technology. The show allows audiences to vote for the winners thus making the show interactive. The website, http://www.americanidol.com/ is set up so the audience cam view the consistence and learn information off their page as well as track their progress in the show. This allows for the audience to keep tabs on their favorite artists and interact with the show. They have behind the scene access to the show that viewers just watching the show on the television are not a part of.

This cultural changes has had a positive impact on the show. Viewers use to rely on watching the show to find out results on their favorite artists but now they can track them through social media. The website directly links Twitter, Facbeook, Gmail, Pinterest, and Instagram. By doing this, viewers can use multiple forms of media to advertise for the same show.

"Bert is Evil"

“From his bedroom, Ignacio sparked an international controversy. His images crisscrossed the world, sometimes on the backs of commercial media, sometimes via grassroots media. And, in the end, he inspired his own cult following.” Page 2

I thought this quote was significant because it depicts how much of a reality one person’s hobby became. Dino Ignacio had an idea to post the image of Bert from Sesame Street with terrorist as a joke claiming that Bert was a part of that terrorist’s attack. His image became popular and were used in protest.

What is most interesting to me is that this became popular and it started from some teenagers bedroom as a joke. 

Convergence of Media

The most recent Disney film, "Frozen" was very successful in box offices and became popular online. People have made parody's of the movies most popular song "Let it go." Pixar and Disney teamed up for this video and sang the song entirely in different characters from different Disney movies. The movie was uploaded to youtube and shared around Facbook, Tumblr, and Pinterest.
The short clip brings popular promotion to "Frozen." Many people have uploaded their versions of the song to Youtube. Some videos were parodies making fun of the song but some fans uploaded videos of themselves singing which brought awareness to the film.
These videos provide advertisement for the movie, thus creating a buzz.

Cellphones

The use of cellphones has changed over the years. Ten years back, the phone was used simply to call people that were not in close proximity of you. Now a days, phones are used as a GPS, as a search engine, and even for entertainment purposes such as games and music.
Pre-smart phone ages, cellphone's were a useful tool for people. It was deemed a resourceful way to communicate people virtually wherever you were. They made landlines and payphones obsolete. No a days, most people do not even have a landline and  payphone's are rarely used.
The creation of cellphones has also changed the way people behave. For instance, before people had the ability to pull up GPS on their phone, people would have had to go to the gas station or a public place and ask for directions. No a days, people find those kinds of things socially awkward and depend on their phone to help them find direction.
There is an unwritten phone etiquette that people abide by in our generation. For example, if someone is talking on their phone you generally do not interrupt them. But people have also become attached to their phone to the point where the outside world is obsolete to them. Often times you will see large gatherings of people that instead of having face to face conversation, have their heads buried into their phones.
Our generation has become accustomed to this boarder lined rude behavior and accept it. With the creation of smartphones, more and more stuff that we take for granted becomes obsolete.  

"The Medium is the Message"

Having a smart phone as the medium for a message has a different meaning five years ago from now. Phones are not only used to communicate with people through phone calls but now can be used to instantly share messages, play games, read the paper, and check into places you currently are. Phones have given people an outlet for coming up with more excuses to get out of everyday things such as reading the paper because it is too much of an effort to buy a paper from our local Walgreens instead of simply downloading an news App onto our smart phones.
What you can do on your phones has transitioned to being able to use other devices for the same application such as using a tablet or a Kindle. We have come up with a plethora of technological devises that can perform the same function.
The message is that we are becoming a society that is dependent on technology. We supply our children with cellphones at a young age and most teenagers cannot imagine a life pre-technology. We are ridding ourselves of items such as a map and instead we use the GPS on our phones. These mediums are becoming unappreciated.
I am not projecting a anti-technology view but more or less I am expressing that technology has changed dramatically in a short amount of time and is only going to progress providing users with more options in the future.

Ranting about books

I think a lot of book lovers will enjoy this video because there is so much to relate to!:)

Twitter

With the ability to compose a tweet of 140 characters, a person can really make an impact on the internet. You can use those characters to express how your day is going or what food you ate, or like many people you can use it to pose your own views on social problems. People use Twitter to express their personal biases. By doing this, they are creating a turbulence in the internet because when a person starts a fight it creates a ripple effect that spreads into other people’s news feed thus everyone can jump on the bandwagon and form their own opinion.

Hash tags are then made and retweeted thus bringing more attention to that tweet. The popularity of that tweet may last for a short amount of time but it would create a buzz and spread outside their friend group. Twitter is designed to spread communication all over the world. When one person creates a tweet they are expressing their thought for everyone to see. When this privilege is taken advantage of then things get spun out of control; however, if used correctly, Twitter is an entertaining outlet for one to express their thoughts. 

Pinterest

As an English for New Media major, I am always on the lookout for new ways to advertise. After I graduate I want to use social media in the world of advertisement. One of my favorite social portals I have come across has been Pinterest. Pinterest is a useful tool of advertising because of its user friendly set up. People browse through pictures which makes it easy to use the website. Once you become a user, you have your own personalized boards in which you can pin pictures to.

With this easy to use navigation users are prone to this site. I think Pinterest has become a great source of advertisement because people will dedicate boards to their favorite shows, fashions, and books. Once a pinner has pinned something, the general public catches wind of it then it becomes popular. People have started utilizing Pinterest to advertise for their own business. People can create pins of anything and pin I to their page, thus causing a buzz about their business. Pinterest is an app you can download for free on your phone and can be accesses through computer or tablet.

Because of its popularity, Pinterest has become a resourceful tool for advertisement. 

Inspiration for Tumblr

Tumblr has become a huge social portal within the last year. I have been trying to convince myself to stay away from Tumblr because I thought I would feed into the addiction that many people have of spending hours upon hours browsing through countless pictures and stories.
I was on Pinterest and I stumbled upon a Tumblr blog that caught my eye. It was an inspiration blog on a girls lifestyle change. I myself am going through a personal healthy eating lifestyle change so I gave her blog a chance and was pleasantly suprised with what I found.
Taralynn McNitt is the creator of the Tumblr Blog, "Undressed Skeleton." Her story itself is inspiring but what caught my attention was how her blog was laid out. It was very user friendly. I like that because I am not great at managing Tumblr. Also I liked that she had ways in which to visit her other forms of social media.
What I learned from going through her blog is how I could better manage my own and how I can use social media as a tool of information and advertisement. After going through her blog, I think I am going to step out of my comfort zone and give Tumblr a try.  

Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is the creator of the Huffington Post which is a compilation of up to date news stories. She has written fourteen books and has been granted with many awards. I think her most significant award is the Forbes most powerful women's list in 2013. Among the Forbes award was her award Times magazine’s list of 100 most influential people and in 2012, the site the Huffington post won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.

According to addictedtosuccess.com she was awarded the first place for The Top 10 Famous Multi-Million Dollar Bloggers. http://addicted2success.com/news/the-top-10-famous-multi-million-dollar-bloggers/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/ 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com 

House of Night

When I fall in love with a book series, I love to know everything about it. I explore their websites to find out upcoming events and to learn more about the author and book series. When websites are interactive, they provide more entertainment. The book series, House of Night, has a very interactive website. On the website, you can take a tour of the campus, explore the novels, create your own vampire tattoo, and search through the yearbooks to learn more about the characters. With so much to explore, I learned more about the series. I would love to be a part of an organization that works with authors to manage their marketing department. I have skills working with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest which would aid in advertising their series. Incorporating new media with books encourages reading. Teens spend a good amount of their time online and with online advertisement, they would be subjected to great literature which would spin off into reading more. My goal in working with new media is to encourage reading for young adults.House of Night

Digital versus Paperback

Avid readers can agree that one of their favorite parts of reading a new book is physically having the book to page through and even the smell of the pages is enticing. With E-readers, people lose that physical connections with their books. But is that aspect important enough to discard the idea of investing in an E-reader? My experience with my Kindle Fire has proven that having an E-reader has made me enjoy reading even more. Often times I research new book series and I love that I can obtain any book I wanted within seconds. Having a virtual library to thumb through helps me collect more novels for my personal library. I may not be able to smell the physical pages of a book but having thousands of books in one device is far better than having to wait to go to the store. It’s hard for people to change their mindsets. Most people do not want to transition to E-readers but they would be surprised at the advantages they would gain if they did.

Facebook

Facebook has become an addiction for most. It is our source of news and our portal for anything a person could possibly like. Most importantly, Facebook has become a way to waste time; however, if used to its full potential, Facebook can be a resourceful tool. Facebook has become a portal for advertisement. Businesses can make a fan page. People can then like that page which shows up on their friend’s news feed which promotes that business even more. Supporting businesses tends to be something done purposely by users; however, people inadvertently advertise for movies and tv shows daily. When liking a fan page or making a status about a show you just watched, a person is creates a buzz about that show which makes advertisement for that show. Most of my friends utilize Facebook for posting statuses about television. With the transition of new media becoming the primary source of advertisement, Facebook is a resourceful tool to use, if used correctly.

New New Media

Paul Levinson’s book, New New Media is a culture shock because of its depiction of new media portals. Levinson introduces us to the concept of the consumers becoming the producer. It’s a concept that I had never considered until I read the very first chapter of his novel. With the unlimited internet access that everyone has admission to, anyone is able to become a producer. Internet users spread advertisements without even realizing it. Say you watched the finale of your favorite television show and you wanted to share what you just witnessed with everyone. You would just hop onto Facebook and make a status about it. Then you have people commenting on your status therefore advertising that show. People absentmindedly use social media as a form of advertisement on a daily basis. These portals have plat formed businesses as well as crumbled others. For example, most people hear about the news from Facebook, Imgur, or blog posts instead of tuning into the local news station or reading it online. The New Yorker is an example of a business that lost readers because most people can read the same news stories from other social media. Does that mean internet users have too much power in their hands? Not exactly. It just means that we are advancing and business need to learn how to work with the consumers. Internet popularity has spiked over the last ten years and is only going to become more progressive. With the transition towards New New Media, businesses can thrive.

Harry Potter-Tale of the Three Brothers Depiction

I am a Harry Potter nut. I love the books and the movie but one of my favorite parts from the seventh movie was the telling of The Tale of the Three Brothers. I enjoyed how the movie transitioned from live action to a cartoon depiction of the story. It would be interesting to take a piece of literature and create a story using drawings and pictures. The retelling of the story using technology interested me.

Thoughts

1. Software that I use and are familiar with.
I am familiar and thus far like using Photostory and Windows Movie Maker.

2. Media that I engage with.
I am obsessed with my Kindle Fire. I love being able to obtain any book within seconds and having hundreds of books with me on one device. After reading with the Kindle I have come to the conclusion that I have become a faster reader.

3. Ultimately cool convergences of english for new media
I like making Word Clouds from different texts to see what words are incorporated the most.
I love the telling of the story "The Tale of three brothers" from the book, "The Tales of Beadle the Bard" depicted in the Harry Potter movie. The movie transitions from real life into animation.

4. Engaged in websites that I like that no longer exist
When the third Harry Potter movie cam out, there was a website that I would go onto regularly to play games and take quizzes. Once the fourth movie came out the cite no longer existed.

About me

My name is Katie Barbetta and I am an English for New Media Major at Dakota State University. My favorite aspect of being an English major is reading. I read fantasy novels and romance and usually stick with young adult authors. I aspire to use the skills I learn in my major towards a job that requires utilizing social portals for advertising.