Final Creative Gallery

Thoughts on a Snippet!

The future is at our fingertips.

Final Essay

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How Audacious!

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Wowza!

View Mappity Map! in a larger map

Short Story Blog-o-mania!

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Creative Response - revised (Creative Gallery)

After taking a look at a few different projects from last semester I still feel as though I'm on the right track. I may make some sort of short film and possibly a Blog to publish my own photos, videos, and written accounts of adventures I have been on in the past 6 years.
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I think there are a few options for my creative response. I could create my own whitewater blog, I could create a short movie, perhaps design some sort of PowerPoint presentation, or even create a some sort of collage.

YouTube Authorship

YouTube is essentially an interactive internet television of sorts. You can watch a video on essentially any topic you can think of and all the videos are somewhat user generated. I call it a television of sorts, because there are still advertisements. They pop up at the bottom of the video screen and on the sides of the web page your viewing. Initially Youtube was the "go-to" website for posting videos on the internet, now with developments in music copyright agreements and increasing popularity people are choosing to post their videos on other websites such as Vimeo that have fewer rules. YouTube relys on its members to act as authors, but if they keep restricting their member's authorship rights then they will suffer greatly in the long run.

Logical Mapping

MY Logical Map!

Community Collaboration Confirmed.

I feel as though I could use Shirky's concept of collective production and action to help illustrate my topic. This concept allows for an understanding of how a culture can come together through the use of internet technologies to develop and progress socially and artistically.

The whitewater culture is in a progressive stage of development, with more recent innovations in internet resources there is no limit to where we go and what we can do.

Community collaboration is confirmed.

Annotated Bibliography

1.
Buchanan , Eugene . "Kayaking, Art and Activism". Paddling Life. February 27, 2010 .

This article describes about a kayaker who is preparing to embark on what has been dubbed “The Wild Image Project”. It is essentially a two year solo kayak trip where the Daniel Belanger will make a multimedia photo essay containing over 100,000 photographs from around the world. A limitation of this is that the trip is not a whitewater trip. Despite this fact, it is still extremely relevant because it is outlining how the paddling community is making headway in the art community. It is a prime example of how kayakers are starting to seriously document their exploits and make them available to the rest of the world.

2.
Dowd, James J, and Laura A Dowd. "The Center Holds: From Subcultures To Social Worlds." Teaching Sociology 31 (2003): 20-37. JSTOR. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.

This is a journal article about subcultures. It describes different views of the concept and idea of a subculture and attempts to define the term “subculture” so as to make it easier to teach to undergraduate college students. A limitation of this article is definitely the fact that it was written for an audience of sociology teachers at the collegiate level. So there is a bit of technical jargon used and a higher level of thinking is necessary. It is very relevant despite this fact because it is important to understand what a subculture is so as to better write about the idea of a whitewater subculture.

3.
Gilchrist, Paul, and Neil Ravenscroft. "‘Power to the Paddlers’? The Internet, Governance and Discipline." Leisure Studies 27.3 (2008): 129-48. EBSCO. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.

This is a journal article that discusses the internet’s role in the subculture of paddling. It is based on information from England and Wales and reports based on findings on the internet and other relevant sources. It may be limited by the fact that is based out of the United Kingdom, but that should not be too limiting. This article is extremely relevant because it illustrates exactly what I am researching. It is basically the same concept that I am focusing on except it does not strictly concern itself with whitewater. This will be extremely useful.

4.
Johnson, Adam. "Http://www.whitewaterfreestyle.com/." Web Log post. Whitewater Freestyle. 22 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

This is a blog by a friend of mine that describes how to make a photo compilation using Adobe Photoshop. It is limited due to the fact that it focuses on using Adobe Photoshop. The post is just a great example of whitewater paddlers helping each other to become more educated in the photographic community. It will benefit my project because it shows how the internet community of paddles is coming together. It also shows that there is a growing interest within the community pertaining to photographic art.

5.
Joyce, Curt. "Two Days on the Perth." Web Log post. The Perpetual Flow. 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

This is another blog post by a friend of mine describing a multi-day kayak expedition on the South Island of New Zealand. It describes his experiences and offers a bit of advice for others considering this particular stretch of river. It may be limited by the fact that it is a river in New Zealand and not everyone is concerned with paddling there. It is a perfect example of the whitewater community making trip reports available to others to benefit from and use for future reference.

6.
Muir, Matt. "Top Ten Stream Keeper River Pages". American Whitewater March 12, 2001:

This is an article that describes the top ten steward pages on the American Whitewater Website in 2001. American Whitewater is a nonprofit organization that is America’s largest database for whitewater information including trip reports, streamflow information, news about dam releases, and other relevant information pertaining to the river community. The limitations of this particular article would definitely include the fact that it is a bit old, being from 2001. Despite the age of the article it is still relevant in that it shows that there is an active online community that participates in the documentation of river status and conditions.

7.
O'Keefe, Thomas. "Action Alert: Protect the Wild Rogue." Action Alert: Protect the Wild Rogue. American Whitewater, May 2007. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

This is an article calling for members of the whitewater community to contact Oregon senators in order to appeal for a large area surrounding the Rogue River to become part of a protected area. The limitation to this might be that it is in Oregon and may not appeal to all readers. This is very important because it illustrates how the internet is being used to help the whitewater community come together and collaborate to benefit the environment on a grand scale.

8. Roberston, Jason. "New USGS Maps Provide Views of Flow Data". American Whitewater September 26, 2002:

This article describes the new flow information page made by the USGS. It is a website that provides important stream flow information for whitewater enthusiasts. The USGS website has water level information for rivers and creeks around the country. Its limitations would possibly be that the information is geared toward a specific audience and therefore may seem irrelevant to many people. This is an important article for my research because it illustrates how technology is playing a large role in the whitewater community. The fact that you can access information about the water level of a river in California, while sitting at a computer in West Virginia is immensely beneficial.

9.
Stanford, Evan. "West Branch Montreal River Internet Flow Study". American Whitewater October 2007:

This article describes an internet flow study of the West Branch of the Montreal River. Flow studies are needed for certain rivers that are dammed because it allows the hydroelectric companies to determine how much water is acceptable for release when they let water out of the dam. A limitation of this article would be that it is written in a very scientific manner and may be difficult for some to understand due to the amount of jargon used. It is extremely relevant because it reinforces the idea that the internet is extremely beneficial for helping gain access to rivers for the whitewater community. The flow study conducted in very important for the paddlers because it allows them to have a certain amount of input with the hydroelectric company.

10.
Stoll , Mike . "Helmet Camera Buyers Guide". Paddling Life. February 27, 2010 .

This is essentially a list of different aspects to consider when buying a helmet camera. It has information on cost, ease of use, battery type, where to buy, and warranty among many others. This could be limited by the fact that it is only talking about helmet cameras and they are used generally for specific purposes. It is relevant because in recent years there has been a growing trend in the whitewater community to document your river trips through the use of a helmet cam. Generally they are easy to use and the quality of picture is pretty decent.

So far...

My project so far is starting to refine itself and is therefore becoming more of a project then just a topic or idea. What initially started out as just a rough concept is evolving into something more measurable and traceable. I have been having a bit of difficulty finding articles that relate to my topic simply because it is such a specific concept. Due to this inevitability I have resorted to finding articles on a broader spectrum which can be practically applied to my project. For example searching for article about the development of subcultures on the Internet instead of just finding articles discussing the whitewater culture and the progress it has made.

Project Summary

At this point my project topic is the evolution of subcultures on the internet (for example the whitewater culture) has led to the development of a mass amount of multimedia authors. The issues that are brought up by this might include issues with ownership of photos, videos, and articles. Another issue could potentially be the idea that with the development of these cultures they are expanding and networking on a global scale, providing information and personal connections. I think that everything that is coming from this development is very beneficial and is essentially building a stronger community, both globally and locally.

Final Trailer: a different perspective

Here is the final trailer. I tried putting it on youtube first, but because I had music that wasnt found in their database they wouldnt allow me to use sound. So instead I uploaded it through blogger. Let me know what ya think.

Author without a ship

The term author is being used daily on a broader scale. People who write blogs are authors; people who take photographs are authors, people who make videos… and so on. It is interesting to consider just how much this word means to some people. If you were to take a picture and someone else used it for a class project would that mean you weren't the author? I took Music of Africa as a class last spring and it made some interesting points about authorship. Similar to what Lessig states, most cultures in Africa didn't have a written form of language for hundreds of years, so they would pass on their songs, stories, and laws through oral tradition. This may be hard for many Americans to comprehend a lack of ownership within their culture. But, you must ask yourself: how can you own something that is not tangible? The idea that we are evolving into a free culture is magnificent. America was founded on the idea that in this country we can be free, so why not allow our authors to be free in the sense that they can use any means necessary to make art, literature, film and so on.

Project Draft Preview

Trailer Preview ideas

I am not entirely sure what I'm going to do for this trailer. I have a great deal of brainstorming left to do, luckily I have all weekend to figure it out. I will probably try to use a combination of videos and pictures to outline how an entire community of whitewater enthusiasts have established themselves on the internet through the use of blogs, forums, videos, pictures, and other informational websites. This might be a bit tricky.

Research, what?!

The two questions we are asked to answer are very broad and leave a great deal of room for interpretation as far as answering them. I am not entirely sure what I am going to do my project on, although I have considered the idea of exploring the online world of whitewater as related to multimedia. There is an entire culture that has expanded to the web in recent years and it would be interesting to research the extent to which it really goes.

The Call of the Copy Cat

I decided to read Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence" for this second assignment.  There were some very interesting points brought up that really made me think about the actual idea behind the word "plagiarism".   First it is important to consider the fact that as humans we learn through the act of replication.  We replicate, repeat, and reproduce. When we learn to write our first words, are they not the words of our teacher that we are writing?  We learn to walk and talk by watching the people around us.  So wouldn't it make sense that when we learn to write music, poetry, or draw pictures that we learn from the influence of others?

History is full of instances of people who took other ideas and applied them to their own situations. So the idea of plagiarism seems to be a moral disagreement between society as a whole and the artist individual.

First Post!

I am a digital native! The internet was used throughout my childhood. Everyone in my immediate family utilized the internet. The days of dial-up still linger in my memories. I lived in 5 states growing up and we had the internet in all of them. When I was younger I remember it used to take what felt like hours to get on the internet. Now the internet can be accessed in a matter of seconds. All of my family is fairly internet and technology savvy, my grandparents are slowly being brought into the age of web technology utilizing programs like skype.

I use many different sites on the internet. I usually use the school website quite often to check my email. I also use the facebook rather frequently to keep in touch with friends throughout the world. American Whitewater is another very important website that I use, it is essentially a database detailing whitewater river gauges throughout the country.