EDP cultures group 4

Davis portrays Herme’s “trickiness” as a “technical skill” and how he uses it to his advantage in order to become more powerful in life.  He then relates this idea to how technology could be put in a similar way, where it can be used to gain insightful information that can make humans more knowledgable, or manipulate us in ways we don’t really notice.  This idea gives us attention to this Huffington Post article about Hermes, where Lovekraft says that anytime we invest a lot of our time paying close attention to technical detail about a certain subject, we are “geeking-out” with Hermes.  I find this to be pretty accurate since I feel that the reason we tend to invest a lot of time to learn more about something is basically because we want to put that information in our brain and become more knowledgeable in that subject. What we really want is to just know more information in general, just like the way Hermes lived his life.  Also, the “trickery” part of Hermes is ...

            At first, Mike Wesch’s approach to studying the online community on YouTube didn’t really seem comprehensive of how online cultures worked, portraying a happy image of online interactions. As I continued watching the first video, however, Wesch demonstrated how the good and bad parts of the websites like YouTube are simply a result of our good and bad behaviors and how we choose to act online. Wesch also developed an insightful portrayal of the power that community has on websites like YouTube. When YouTube first came out, there wasn’t an established standard for what one could or should do or publish online, so some of the first sources of content that were posted to YouTube were more experimental than the videos we would find online today. However, as more and more videos were posted to the site, a culture seemed to develop based on what people shared about their life experiences, personas and values. The online mov...

Greetings, My name is Jake Heimburger and I am a second-year undergraduate at University of Denver pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Emergent Digital Practices. I am currently on the board of the DU Computer Science Club, (which is more affectionately known as DUCS), and the DU Programming Board (otherwise known as DUPB). Although my major is in computer science, I am really looking forward to discovering any available opportunities for creative outlets over the course of the next few years through EDP classes. EDP seems to offer an interesting mixture of visually inventive and imaginative right-brain thinking in combination with technically-minded, rational left-brain thinking, so I hope to further develop an understanding of how technology plays a role in expression and communication as well as the impact that the interplay between people and devices can have on society at large. Similar to many other people, I consume a ton of media daily, and the massive amo...

In each of these videos Wesch is trying to explain to us that technology/media is literally taking over our lives in the sense that we will not find new advancements in life if we don’t find new advancements in technology.  For example, the web browser is basically and unlimited source of information for humans to obtain, but the only way this information can get out there is if humans put it out there.  In order to put information out, we first need to figure out THE information that is going on the web, and this is the hardest part of this process.  In the last video he talks about how humans basically act as if we’re robots, where a ton of us learn new information just for the sake of learning it and knowing more information in life.   Yeah it’s a really good thing that we’re going to become more knowledgeable and “smarter” by using technology/media, however, it’s a matter of how we use this knowledge to impact the world in a positive, significant way...

Hi my name is Jason and I am a 4th year game development major and EDP minor.  What got me into EDP was having to minor in it as a result of my major and I am very happy that was the case.  My favorite topics in EDP include video games, 3D animations, and 3D digital fabrication.  My favorite EDP class so far was digital fabrication since it was the class that I learned the most and had the most fun.   Most of my digital media use comes from video games and watching A LOT of videos (Netflix, YouTube, etc).  I have pretty much been doing these two things my entire life and I don’t think I will stop doing them anytime soon.  I have also been getting into the art side of digital media ever since I started taking EDP classes.  These classes helped me appreciate art more as a whole and nowadays I find myself analyzing art pieces with a different state of mind than I did before coming to DU.   Critical reading/analysis is one of my weaker ...

The introduction of TechGnosis by Erik Davis and the various productions of Michael Wesch direct their attention towards the ever changing world of technology, the new terrain that technology creates, and how us as humans interact and navigate these new worlds.  Davis writes about the intersection and the world surrounding the mystical and the technological, two occurrences that appear to be otherwise contradictory and inverted of each other.  He argues that these two worlds and ways of being, the mystical being the human desire for meaning and the unknown and technology, the creation of tools, information, and many other adaptations, do not answer one or the other but work together and build off each other. Michael Wesch’s video The Machine is Us/ing Us points out that the web 2.0 is developing in a manner that is creating completely new environments and ways of thinking and connecting.  Form and content became separate on the web with the switch from the HTML codi...

"technocultural anthropology" and the practice of "digital ethnography." “The Machine Is Us/ing Us” depicts a brief coverage of the way information is recorded in terms our movement to digital text on the internet. This tool allows all those with access to it to post their own content and also search through the database that the video depicts we organize ourselves.Because everyone can post, the information available begins to represent an anthropology of mankind, where prior information was not mass spread unless distributed or produced by those of power. This leads to the conclusion that this tool is becoming us as we are teaching it the ways in which we live, think, relate to one another, tell stories, and so on. “An anthropological introduction to YouTube” discusses how Youtube allows anyone to post content, giving the public a voice and they are taking advantage of the opportunity. Prior, the most similar medium was broadcast, however this was one to man...

Journal Prompt: 3/28/18                 The reading and videos examined how media shapes our society from an anthropologic perspective. In my opinion, media and communication through media is so rapidly evolving that societies are adapting just as fast. Keeping up with this rapid adaptation in media is dominating not only our interactions with others, but our sense of self. Media is hard to define because it has expanded so quickly, and it is no longer just people in power that reach a large audience As Michael Wesch explains in his video explaining knowledgeable behavior and information, platforms such as YouTube have opened media for the common person to express themselves to a lot people. Before, you had to be on TV to be seen by a mass audience, which is a difficult task. Now, potentially anyone with wi-fi can produce content that will be seen by millions of people.        ...

Wesch’s “Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/Using Us” covers hypertext and the malleability of digital text while “An anthropological introduction to YouTube” covers society’s favorite video sharing platform and "From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able" discusses knowledge ability and the media. In all three, new users are producing content in ways both similar and different than those traditionally doing so. The culture becomes accessible to the average user. Now, anyone can publish a blog, upload a YouTube video or even act as a reporter. Wesch describes this as making us “all producers”.   These videos, however, are also dated. The technology in each video now plays an even larger role in our lives, a decade or less later. For example, in terms of YouTube, the Numa Numa video now has millions of views. It could even be considered an icon. Hypertext and our ability to act as media dissemination points have also evolved in similar ways, a pattern I firmly believe will continue...

My name is Sarah Steck. I am a junior with a major in media studies and minors in marketing and EDP. This is the first EDP class I am taking, although I have a few friends who are EDP majors and have talked to me about it. However, I became interested in taking these classes when helping a friend find classes to help him pursue his interest in graphic design. This which lead me to research the EDP program and talk to my art professors about how it could be the best option from him, but also me. I want  to learn how to use the tool the produce digital art as I feel this will help me in my  professional life while also being a creative outlet.  Digital art is a medium I do not yet have much experience in, so I think taking classes to help me learn the foundations of how to produce it and also what I can do with it is a good place to start.  I feel that my media studies major and marketing minor can work as a guideline to incorporating art into my caree...

Hello, My name is Jack Trembath, and I am a second year student at the University of Denver with a Theater Major (concentration in Acting and Lighting Design), and a Film Studies and Emergent Digital Practices Minor. As this is my first EDP class, I am not exactly sure what I'm looking to gain from this field of study.  In terms of tying it into my work in theater, I would like to use the technology to help enhance performances and performance spaces.  This may be through projections and other forms of technology that I am not yet familiar with to create environments in which stories are told in new and unique ways.  With a major in a more traditional field, I think it is important to bring in advanced tools, such as technology, to help create better and more interesting work.  (By no means do I think technology necessarily makes things better, but I do think it has the potential to improve or create new perspectives.) I would say my primary uses of media are w...

Hi, I'm Symone. I am a communications major with a minor in EDP, also a second-year student. I connect with EDP because I'm passionate about communication; and digital media plays a large role in the way we communicate with one another. Communication has so many practices that I wanted to really fuse the digital media with communications and use this learn how to communicate my ideas both orally and virtually. I have a lot of ideas and questions about topics like pop culture, social media, and other interactions and my goal is to expand on those ideas while in school.    Secondly,  I've recently started to scratch the surface of learning about music production because I've always been interested in music and I find myself listening to the little details of music and the entire picture. I was in choir from 6th-12th grade at home, and I learned some basic music theory in that time. This drives my interest in music production because I was taught to learn all the layers ...

Hi, there! I'm Kenna Keller. My interest in EDP stems from my passion for social media, both in my personal life as well as throughout my education. I’m a senior strategic communication major and much of my internship experience as well as my studies have centered around the amorphous social media landscape. I'm a big fan of writing for social media (and get a kick out of ensuring the voice is juuust right) on top of consuming social media constantly in my personal life. Instagram is my baby and I love creating content for my personal channel as well as utilizing Instagram for business. There is a categorical consistency I appreciate in the hashtagging, and I really value the clean newsfeed and emphasis on quality photos. I'm not a photographer myself but it is my favorite medium to admire. Throughout the course I'd like to gain more insight on digital media as a whole, and think more critically about the 'space' we all inhabit via social media. I feel more ...