User talk:Justalex 28

This is my Wikibooks user discussion page. I will be exploring Wikibooks and registering my experience on this page as part of an educational process. Please feel free to share your ideas with me and help explore the Wikibook project. Justalex 28 (discuss • contribs) 14:15, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Wikibook Project 1 (Educational Project)
Hypperrealism is a form of art that surfaced in the early 2000s. It is a genre of art that explores how different mediums can give the effect of real life, portraying a subject as it appears in reality. This art is often seen as unbelievable as it has photographic resemblance, and is so true to life form. However, recent developments in digital media have allowed hypperrealism artists the opportunity to publish their art as a process rather than only being able to show the final product.

Many Hyperrealism artists use Instagram, an app that allows users to share photos and videos with their followers, in order to present the process behind creating hyperrealistic art. Diego Fazio, an Italian Hyperrealism artist, uses instagram to capture his art in various stages of its completion. This allows his followers to engage with the various stages of producing such work which consequently adds a personal connection with the artist. There are numerous of websites that publish the final pieces of artist's work [], however, this does not allow followers or fans access to the development of the art.

Another website called DeviantArt is particulalry popular for artists and art enthusiasts to share and comment on particular pieces. Before the rise in digital media, it was much more difficult for people to access art without going to a gallery or attending art shows. Now, websites such as DeviantArt allow up-and-coming artists the chance to share their art to a wider audience at little to no cost. The website itself is divided into categories such as Undiscovered, What's Hot, and other genres of art making it much simpler for followers to find the art they are interested in efficiently. Such websites mean that by simply searching 'Hyperrealism' into the search bar, people are able to discover new artists within the genre they are interested in with little effort. It is apparent that the new age of digital media has had a huge impact on the art world, and has created an advantage for art enthusiasts as new art is readily available very easily.

Justalex 28 (discuss • contribs) 00:19, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

Comments:

The idea of using Instagram to show works in progress is really interesting! Personally, I really enjoy speedpaints, where artists post time-lapse videos of their creative process from start to finish, which I feel gives me a far greater insight into the work itself. Without YouTube and other forms of digital media, I wouldn't have access to such aspects of art. I have also used DeviantArt, and as well as being useful for people looking to find art, for new or young artists in particular I feel it is especially useful as it provides a platform to receive constructive criticism on their work, as well as positive comments to encourage them. Petrichorblue (discuss • contribs) 11:25, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise 1: Formative Feedback
This is a well written and engaging post that effectively uses wiki markup to point readers towards relevant links. This could be improved by tying your discussion back to core module themes and the academic literature in future wiki exercises. Your comments engage with your colleagues' reflections, but could be improved also by taking a more critical stance when engaging in dialogue.

A post of this standard roughly corresponds to the following grade descriptor: Good. Among other things, good entries will make a clear point in a clear way. They will relate concepts to original examples in a straightforward fashion. They will make effective use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons). They may also demonstrate a broader understanding of the module's themes and concerns, and are likely to show evidence of reading and thinking about the subject material. The wiki markup formatting will be very clear. Sprowberry (discuss • contribs) 10:13, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Wikibook Project 2: Online Visibility
Since the development of social media in recent years, online identity has become a hot topic of conversation amongst scholars and others alike. Since studying online identity a little closer this semester at university, it has made me more aware of my own presence online through the different forms of digital media that I use. Although I try to keep most of my profiles private, it is questionable how much control I may have over other people accessing information about myself. Although many people use privacy settings and passwords in an attempt to keep our details protected, our profiles are probably more public than we assume. Everything we post or share online ultimately leaves behind a digital footprint. When using Facebook, I have noticed that the adverts at the side of the site match certain things I have searched online or browsed on online shopping websites. This perfectly illustrates how our online usage leaves trails that arguably build an online profile of who we are and what we like.

I mainly use websites such as facebook and instagram and apps such as snapchat. Although it may not be completely intentional, it is apparent that the information I put up about myself on these sites may differ. For example, I have family on my facebook that can see what I post and share, and I am therefore more conscious about what I write or the photos I upload. I also have more privacy settings on my Facebook than I do my instagram, as my Facebook has personal information (email, birthday etc) that my Instagram does not. Although it may seem that these privacy settings protect such information, since learning about online footprints it is apparent that once I post anything online, it can be easily accessible to anyone and is essentially there forever. Similarly, people often assume that snapchat is different from other social media apps as the photos you send are 'temporary' and are only visible for a maximum of ten seconds. However, the app is still able to hold data of who you contact the most out of your friends, and how many snapchats you have sent. This demonstrates that although we may think these photos disappear after ten seconds, the data is still held online as a footprint.

Justalex 28 discuss(• contribs) 21:48, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Comments:

I have definitely noticed targeted advertisement on Facebook like you mentioned, mainly for things I've considered buying on Amazon. However, being the only internet literate member of the house and therefore the one that does the online shopping, I imagine my digital foot print looks less like my own and more like an amalgamation of my family. I still occasionally get ads for Minecraft Lego and thermal socks two sizes bigger than my feet. Despite not using Snapchat, I live with people that do so frequently, and I never realized it could tell who you contacted the most. It's strange to think that an app could possibly work out how well you get along with each person you send pictures to based on how often you contacted them. -ReluctantCyborg (discuss • contribs) 12:32, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

The point you make about targeted advertising as an illustration of digital footprint is a good one that I hadn't actually thought of before. The data collection on Snapchat is an interesting point to because I and a lot of other people do think of it as completely temporary while not taking that kind of information collection into account. MoreThanMax (discuss • contribs) 11:03, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

great article,especially wih using the point of view of the targeted advertisement.what interested me was what you said about how conscious you are about what you post.would you say that without our online Identity,our actual identity is compromised or even better if the cyber version of us is different on each platform we use then what does that say about who we are independent of our social media?Pamela.nx (discuss • contribs) 12:18, 26 February 2016 (UTC)     I would like to know what you think, Justalex 28

Although the information I post may differ depending on what media I am using, I generally tend to keep my posts similar as I aim to keep true to myself on social media. However, I think you do raise a good point about how dependent some people may be on social media. I think when people try exceptionally hard to portray themselves in a certain way on facebook etc, it can become dangerous as it cause people to try and live up to their representation in real life. I have also noticed amongst friends (and sometimes even in myself) that self gratification is a major problem when it comes to online identity. For example, a few of my friends become self conscious if their profile picture doesn't get as many likes as they were hoping. This essentially leads to people believing they aren't good enough or they doubt their popularity. It sounds ridiculous, but I think this dependency on others through media can be really damaging. I hope this answered your question! user:Pamela.nx

It's good that you pointed out the use of adverts retaining information from your searches. I remember getting very confused at the beginning of the semester when Youtube kept telling me about PC World deals and then realizing that it was because I had been looking for a new laptop. I agree that it's something often forgotten about. Although I knew it was retained, I never before thought of the data as a Digital Footprint, a term that I believe makes it seem much more realistic. Digitalkitty (discuss • contribs) 11:57, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikibook Project 3 (Information Overload)
There is a very large amount of information available online nowadays, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Although a lot of the information out there is helpful there is a huge amount of information that may not be beneficial. Throughout studying at school and university, I have noticed that since information online is very easily accessible it can be a distraction to me and I find myself procrastinating a lot. For example, when writing an assignment, websites such as 9GAG, Facebook, YouTube and others alike often steal my attention away from working on my essay. Although these websites provide entertainment, it can prevent me from being productive or staying focused. Furthermore, a lot of articles posted online do not have substantial information and it can therefore be difficult to differentiate between what are genuine, academic articles and articles that provide false information. I have found this to be problematic when conducting research for essays, as searching for genuine and relevant articles requires wading through a large amount of irrelevant information. Since I admittedly have a very short attention span, I struggle to find ways to control the urge to procrastinate. However, by allowing myself a twenty minute break every two hours of study I try to restrict my use of social media and other websites to a minimum whilst working.

On the other hand, the wide variety of information that is available can also be beneficial. For example, since the internet has progressed over the past few years there is a wide variety of information available which can be accessed by a click of a button, rather than having to search libraries for hours to find relevant material. Specifically, the website YouTube can provide different forms of information through videos (for example, Documentaries).

Overall, the amount of information available today can be overwhelming and often distracting, however it does provide a much wider variety of information than before the internet was created. If you are successful in getting through all the irrelevant articles you will find a number of useful articles and information online that you can use.

Justalex 28 (discuss • contribs) 19:48, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikibook Project 4 (Evaluation)
Over the course of this semester, myself and other classmates have had the task of working collaboratively on a wikibook project, by discussing numerous topics about digital media. The process has involved a lot of pressure to meet deadlines and to be able to contribute relevant feedback to other classmate's work. The group wikibook project was definitely the most challenging aspect of this assignment. This was due to each person attempting to achieve a high grade, and subsequently left little room for development or original ideas. If the wikibook groups were smaller this may not have been as much of a problem as trying to contribute to a page that over thirty other people are also contributing to becomes very challenging. It was evident that other people's ideas or contributions were claimed by others which caused a lot of tension between people in the groups, making the experience quite stressfull. Due to this, the aim of attempting to provide a collaborative piece of work was lost due to the lack of team work present. It very much felt competitive rather than supportive.

From this experience, I have gained the knowledge of how to create a wikipedia talkpage and how to contribute on Wikibooks. Although this may emphasise the importance of collaborative writing on digital media formats, I doubt I will be using this method in the future. Furthermore, wikipedia is not viewed as a substantial resource within academia, and therefore this is problematic as many of the skills we have learnt seem irrelevant to our course. It could be argued that by studying the subjects covered in lectures in a different format, such as essay writing, it would provide a deeper understanding of the topics, on a more academic level.

However, the topics covered in lectures were a delight to study and they provided a lot of useful information about digital media which is most definitely relevant to today's society and our consumption with different online sources of media. This made the research on these topics enjoyable as the content provided the motivation to contribute to the wikibook project. Upon research it was evident that each topic had a high number of various areas to cover, allowing a lot of space to develop your own ideas and contributions in a positive way. This effectively portrayed the idea that the internet definitely provides an 'information overload' but it can be beneficial if used correctly.

Overall, using Wikibooks was a method of learning that had its problems. Initially, getting started with the wikibook pages was stressful as it felt unclear what the goal was. The group work was also challenging and it highlighted the negative issues that can arise when building a knowledge community. Although it is apparent that using a form of digital media during this module is relevant, there are definitely ways it could be used more effectively. On the other hand, the content of the topics covered were extremely interesting, making the project overall much more enjoyable.

Justalex 28 (discuss • contribs) 22:13, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Marker’s Feedback on Wikibook Project Work
There's limited evidence of understanding and engagement through your contributions to the project. You largely failed to engage with colleagues' through either responses to their exercises (for which, the expectation was two per exercise), and there are only cursory glances of engagement on the chapter discussion. Your contribs are clustered over a short period of time, which made it difficult to integrate your work into the larger group project. While you demonstrate some understanding of core module themes and concepts in both the exercises and contributions to the chapter, you are lacking a real critical engagement with secondary sources to push your thinking further.

Content (weighted 20%)

 * Your contribution to the book page gives a satisfactory brief overview of the subject under discussion in your chosen themed chapter. There is a fair range of concepts associated with your subject, and an effort to deliver critical definitions. There is evidence that you draw from relevant literature and scholarship, however your own critical voice in the building of a robust argument is slightly lost, perhaps due to a variable depth of understanding the subject matter or over reliance on rote learning. The primary and secondary sources you found about the chapter’s themes cover a somewhat circumscribed range and depth of subject matter.

Understanding (weighted 30%)

 * Reading and research:
 * appreciably deficient evidence of critical engagement with set materials;
 * lack of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material
 * Argument and analysis:
 * poor articulation and lack of support in argument;
 * lack of evidence of critical thinking (you tended to not taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, nor did you support this position in discussion);
 * lack of evidence of relational thinking (you tended to not make connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, nor did you support these connections in discussion);
 * lack of evidence of independent critical ability

Engagement (weighted 50%)

 * Evidence from contributions to both editing and discussion of content suggests minimally sufficient standard of engagement (i.e. volume and breadth of activity as evidenced through contribs)
 * Acceptable engagement with and learning from other Wikipedians about the task of writing/editing content for a Wikibook
 * Limited reflexivity and creativity, and a somewhat insecure management of discussion pages

Overall Mark % available on Succeed

FMSU9A4marker (discuss • contribs) 14:48, 3 May 2016 (UTC)