Class Meeting 4/16/07 Techno-Pop Culture

Techno-Pop Culture
How has technology become a part of mainstream pop culture?

Jessie's timeline of arbitrarily selected technologies:

Sony's Betamax ($1300 player) Video (1975) & Pong @ home (1975)
VHS Video (1977) Apple II personal computer (1977)
Sony Walkman (1980)
Music CDs for sale in retail stores (1983)
Nintendo (NES) (1985)
Compuserve - retail stores sell "box" for service (mid 1980s)
Prodigy - regional introduction (1988)
Prodigy - US-nationwide (1990) LCD Displays (1990)
Super Nintendo (1991)
WWW gains interest (1994)
CompuServe, America Online, Prodigy as ISPs (1995)
Nintendo 64 (1996)
MP3s online via Winamp (1997) AOL Instant Messenger (1997)
4 years after 1994 over 30 million people online (1998)
Napster (1999) Tivo (1999)
Google - resembling its current incarnation (2000)
iPod (2001) Nintendo Game Cube (2001)
Friendster (2002) Blog - as distinct online format (2002)
MySpace (2003)* Second Life (2003)
Blog - increase in blog titles - political content (2004)
YouTube (2005) Facebook.com (2005) Webkinz (2005) Blog - use by mainstream media for commentary & for primary source reporting of major world events - Madrid Train, London Tube, Hurricaine Katrina, Tsunamis (2005)
Nintendo Wii (2006) Unless you're me, then it's still not on the the timeline b/c they're always out of stock!

Myspace:
The service has gradually gained more popularity than similar websites to achieve nearly 80% of visits to online social networking websites. It has become an increasingly influential part of contemporary popular culture, especially in English speaking countries (Wikipedia)

What is Second Life?

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 5,583,649 people from around the globe.

• From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
  
  
• You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents.
  
  
• The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world unit-of-trade, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden Dollar exchanges.
  
  

Welcome to Second Life. We look forward to seeing you in-world.

Webkinz
Ganz stuffed animals with a secret code for kids to use online in Webkinz World

What are Webkinz pets?

Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code that lets you enter Webkinz World and play with a virtual version of your pet.

What are all the cool things I can do in Webkinz World?

Where do we start? First, you adopt your pet and name it. Then you can custom design a room for it. You can play games in the Arcade, or compete against other players in tournaments. You can answer quizzes in Quizzy's Question Corner and enter contests, too. All of these things earn you KinzCash, which you can use to go shopping for your pet in our W Shop, where you can buy toys, furniture and clothes. There are stories to read and fun daily activities. The best part is that we add things to Webkinz World frequently, so it's always getting bigger and better.

Discussion Questions:
Does virtual representation (re)create the gender norms and appearance of difference between the sexes?
Has technology altered gender norms? Does technology have the capacity to alter our understanding of what it means to be a man or a woman in a less-concrete, virtual world?

Class Notes 4/2/07 Group work (Rose "Hidden Politics")

Group Work for 4/2/07

Notes by Katelyn R.

Class Notes

Rose Tricia, "Hidden Politics: Discursive and Institutional Policing of Rap Music," 396-405 (GRCM)

Argument:

• Media is associated with the portrayal of rap-related violence which directly relates to the general portrayal of the black community.
• Hostile environment towards rap creates a hostile rapping community, in turn, this indirectly creates the violence created in much of the music.

Target

• Music industry and the way music is produced.
• Police community because they help to create the hostile cycle stated above at many of the rap concerts due to presumptive assumptions and stereotypes.

Audience

• Black community for the defense of rap music and its cause.
• People who only view rap music as an expression of violence. Serves as an explanation.

Categories to Address

• Race, Gender, Age

Final Statement

• The discourse involved with rap concerts and music directly influences the institutions and power which gives people an excuse to discriminate.

Class Notes 3/22/07

Liz S.

Notes on 3-22-07

Some things you guys need to know:

- Evaluate/grade everyone in your group except the liason this week

- The group scoring will expire Monday at beginning of class

- FYI: Send the emails to the liaisons via socs if the ones I supply are incorrect for some reason (their names are here)

Marketing and Political Economy Team

- Want to focus on sales in popular culture, economy and consumerism. Focus on ads and merchandising on blogs.

- Where people are looking and who- what are the most popular topics. Will have a blogger and a blog of the week possibly! (whoever leaves the most comments). This will be used to promote the blog!

- If you have constructive criticism, put it in the contributor blog. (even if they are not the blogger of the week). Amanda will send us address to send it to.

- Jess T- comments on what consumer topics are out there and used technoroti to see what was the most popular blog.

- Other Jess- has links of actual merchandise (there are a bunch of links for this for each topic).

- We focus on reality T.V. and gender. People want to see stuff about poker, money, and Paris Hilton.

- They use ads to analyze what’s posted on the blog.

- Analyze ad cents. How ads “live together in harmony” (but only 9 people have them)!

- Ads- most are about beauty and losing weight and eating disorders. They contradict what we should write about,

- 2^nd part- start getting name out there.

- Want us to click on ad cents stuff.

- Person to punish of the week! Click and look at site. Make them pay! Do not click on your own ads!

- Set code for stat counter. Visitors from all over! They have a keyword analysis.

- Fix technorati with your link (if not it goes to Amanda)

- Titian2@tcnj.edu- group liason (Jess T.)

- Melissa and Eric= ad cents

Creative Team

- Try to make blog look better

- Put own pic on, class logo, video, audio, etc.

- They copy and pasted Picassa info.

- Music- free of charge. Name, info, password. Can put into your own blog! Name what songs you want in your settings (page element). BE WARNED- copyrighting issues!!!

- Adding graphics. Online and pic relates to your blog. Right click, properties, add image from the web. Put in the link.

- Can also take a pic on cell phone and use it.

- Add video (it’s easy). Youtube.com ex. Copy the link. Paste code on scription box. Can also add own videos.

- Can get really customized templates, but you need to add stuff through the script, and it’s just pretty darn complicated so don’t do it.

- Nicole= audio website. Can do audio blogging. Costs money though. You just call a phone number and will get added to the blog.

- Need to download Picassa to use collage feature.

- Pat is the liason.

Buzz Team

- Liason- Dan G.

- Email is the way he wants to be contacted.

- Proposal: Generate info and feedback so people can better find them and us.

- Digg.com

- Posted all the individual blog sites to digg- added names and individual blogs. Found stories on ones not our class blogs. They’re behind the scenes, trying to get traffic.

- Tell how to get story on digg.com. Post will be on digg if “it’s descent.”

- They hope to get our name out there more.

- People are angry! They are haters! You can “undigg” them! (I should know, I got the “I hate this shit” comment lol).

- We will digg people to make them look at our stuff.

- You can post what you’ve found and it will generate interest.

- You can digg what the professor has dug.

- Our blogs have been dug many times!

- Easy to create digg profile! (not a search engine, lol!)

- Like using url instead of your name as a signature.

- Jessie found widgets site. Can link. Expand widgets on html.

- If someone wants to dig, can just use tag (Go to Jessie’s office hours). Put urls to blog there as well.

- Can digg everything someone else did.

- Start digging for each other!!!

The P.R. Team

- Job to get the word out on our blogs

- They made a facebook group. They’re trying to get the people on campus to check us out.

- “Check us out, we’re bloggers!”

- Get friends to join!

- Put links to blogs on facebook page and on myspace.

- Campus radio. Hourly promotion of project on air. Leo chatted about it for a ½ hr.

- They have a team flyer! Check it out! Can save and put on myspace and facebook!

- Devon is group liason.

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