Video Communication

While watching the multimedia presentations I couldn’t help but think about our blog and how the videos also relate to modern communication.  Documenting by making videos is a form of communication for some people.  On facebook you can post videos of yourself on a friends wall, or in a message.  Video communication is growing in our generation and can sometimes be more expressive than having a normal conversation.  Artsy students and film majors spend their time editing videos and using photo shop to convey a message to an audience that will perfectly describe them.  Using bright colors can be interpreted as energetic or happy; whereas, blacks and grays can be interpreted as sad or depressing.  Expressing ones’ self through video and design can be therapeutic and allows others to get to know you in a different way.  While creating my multimedia video project, I chose songs from my itunes collection that I thought fit the mood of the video but was also a good representation of me.

I personally do not use videos to communicate with others or to say something about myself, but there are many people that post their videos online, onto youtube.  Youtube is a growing site where people can post whatever they want for others to see.  There are tons of home movies, music videos, funny blooper videos, sports high lights, and even some movie clips.  I look at videos on youtube when I am bored, or in need of a laugh.  We have looked at some of my favorite youtube videos in class, such as, Marcel the Shell with Shoes on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU

I find that by picking my favorite videos someone could get a sense of the kind of person I am, or at the very least, my sense of humor.  By comparing favorite videos people are able to communicate with one another and find common interests.  Throughout the summer I will most likely post youtube videos that I find funny or interesting on my friends facebook walls as means of keeping in touch with them.  Modern communication takes many forms, whether written, audio, or visual and is transitioning to being mostly all online, on computers.

- Alexa Barach

Keeping in Touch in These Last Few Weeks

As finals approach and we enter into this last week of classes facebook will be my worst enemy.  I go on facebook more times a day than I should.  Most of the time I am checking up on what’s going on on campus, and different social events that could be coming up.  Other times I sit and look at my news feed and see what all my friends have been doing.  I use facebook to communicate with others and make sure I am kept up to date on what is going on around me.  Because finals are coming up the temptation to procrastinate will be very large.  I am going to try and spend as much time as I can with my nose in the books instead of on facebook.  It is important to me to do well in my classes so that I can learn, and get good grades.  I know of some friends who have had others change their passwords on facebook so that they won’t even have the temptation of going on, and spending time looking at what others are doing. 

In addition to being tempted by facebook for means of procrastination, I find that I am tempted because I want to communicate with my friends from my hometown of Concord, MA.  I have been talking with them and finding out when everyone will be home so that we can all start to reconnect and compare our first years at college.  Because I live so far away from school I have been anticipating going home for a while and have been getting pretty excited.  My family has only been down to visit once, and I have only gone back home for major holidays.  I have been communicating with my friends and family mostly through facebook and texting.  I do talk to my mom just about everyday whether it is through facebook, texting, or actually calling one another.  I believe that especially if you live far away, it is important to keep in touch and talk to the people you care about as frequently as possible.  I have found the skype is also a very useful form of modern communication that allows me to stay in touch.

Skype is an online way of video chatting with other people.  If you have an Internet connection and a computer you can skype with anyone from any part of the world.  It is free and is a great way of staying in touch and seeing each other without actually being around one another.  Most of my friends from back home go to school in the north and I skype with them at least once a week to stay in touch.  This week has been a little stressful, trying to prepare for finals and I have depended on my friends at school and my friends at home to keep me calm and just listen to what is going on in their lives.  I have even skyped with friends at Clemson to study or ask questions about different assignments.  Skype and facebook are the new ways that people are communicating with one another without actually having to be around each other.