Where to Invade Next

In the documentary Where to Invade Next, the main character, who was born in the U.S., decides to visit and explore different countries in Europe in order to take their successful ideas and bring them back to the United States as a sign of invasion. During the documentary he visits countries like Italy, France, Finland, etc. All with different good qualities and characteristics, and some specific ones that our main character decided that are good enough for being imported to the U.S. Some examples of the things he brings back to the United States are free tuition, healthier food, paid holidays, or no homework. The take home message of this documentary is a wake up call to a country that everyone who lives in think it is the best, showing a different reality and a more accurate objective perspective of it. The United States has the potential to be the greatest country in the world, as it was not a long time ago, but still has a long path to go.

In my opinion, this documentary fairly represents the reality of the world we live nowadays. Each country has great ideas and proposals, but they are all far from beecoming perfect. Woth technology we can now learn and understand, to a certain point, what the situation is in other countries and try to improve by the example of others.

As an international student, one of the biggest changes I have seen is tuition. In countries like Spain or France tuition is basically free; while, in the U.S. the sotuation is completely different. That being said, the college experience is also far from being the same in both countries. In the UmS yoy pay for room and board, you pay for a experience, for sports, for different events during the year, for food, for extra activities and free trips offered by the school, etc. On the other hand, in France you pay a minimum amount but you only go to college for a maximun of 3 hours per day. In France, a student doesnt live on campus and his/her life is not related at all with the college besides those 3 hours. No extra activities, no college sports, no dinning hall, etc. Just a classroom for 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes, the grass looks greener on the other side, only until you get to the other side. Things are not always as perfect as they look.

Toyoma Chapter 5-7

From chapter 5 to 7 of Greek Heresy, Toyoma spends most pages talking about social changes and the promotion of such by media. For the author, this idea can sometimes go wrong. Sometimes, the knowledge in a specific place about a certain medium doesn't  meet the requirement of such medium. In other words, if a specific population doesn't have all the necessary information and capacities to use a specific technology, the consequences of that media in relation with the social change would be different than expected. The specific population won't benefit from such technology because they don't have the skills to use it. Within these chapters, multiple examples are giving about when media does not promote positive social change; but, nowadays, we can also see some examples of when this social change does occur in a more powerful and prodictive way because of different media and the correct use of them.

These chapters bring an interesting discussion to the table: to what extent can media be useful to promote social change? With examples that argue in favor of both sides of the discussion, now is up to the opinion of each individual to understand and explain why or why not media and new technology should be used to promote a social change.

I personally think that media has been helping, in most causes, to make revolutions and social changes more effective and powerful than they would be without them. By connecting a social movement or a social change with social media, an interaction with other people is established. This connection strengths the movement and improves it by adding new ideas to it over time. That being said, it is true that in order to make every social change more powerful by media, we need to be able to use the right media for each population. This means, some information has to be taken into consideration in terms of demographics or development, for examples, in order to use a medium that meets the requirements and skills of that specific place. A great example of a good job taking into consideration differences in demographics, was the social movement hole-in-a-wall that we talked about in class. In that case, the medium used was known by the population, but was considered relatively knew. It helped strengthen the movement and make it more successful over the years.

Greek Heresy

In the Introduction and first chapter of the book Greek Heresy, by Kentaro Toyama, the author focuses his efforts in explaining and asking us questions about technology and the power that it has in our society and social changes over the years. Toyama finds specially interesting how technology has been able to change our lives and how we are capable to, nowadays, reach the world by a simple click using our fingertips. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same power in terms of technology. Demographics, the place you have been born and raised, is key in terms of power and reach. Opportunity, as the author of this book perfectly describes, is not equal and fair to everyone; therefore, talent is not always shown fairly because the conditions are not always the same for everyone around the globe.
The point that Kentaro Toyama brought about demographics was specially interesting for me as an international student. Overall, also considering that West Europe and the U.S are pretty similar in terms of conditions and opportunities, I personally see a big difference in opportunities among countries in terms of technology and the privilege some people have compared with others. 

To be completely honest, what I have to say about a specific political topic in the U.S is not going to be taken into consideration as equal as what a person from Uganda, just mentioning a random country and with no intention to harm anyone, has to say about that same topic. People simply won't see it as equal points of view. And, opportunity to reach out your perspective to others is a key concept in this situation. In this specific case, I would have a big advantage in terms of reaching other people, more technological access and advantages, and in terms of demographic privilege. All goes together. Toyama tries to explain to us, using the topic of technology, the differences between countries and demographics, and the outcome of those differences. As one of the sentence of the book said "Talent is universal, opportunity is not." It is time to realize this difference and, with the power some of us have in comparison to others in terms of technology, use our power to try to minimize this situation and give everyone and equal opportunity to talk and express themselves with the using of social media and technology in general.

Black Mirror Episode 2

The second episode of Black Mirrors introduced us to the topic of Advertisement and how involved it can be in our lives. In this episode, our main character lives in a world of monotony in which his one and only work is to pedal on a bike in order to get points to then be able to buy everything they want. It could be defined as the currency in that world. The days consists of doing the same thing over and over; never seeing the natural light. Our main character, and the rest of the characters in the episode, are commonly bothered with different advertisements, mostly porn or a talent show, about how they can change their lives and have a better life. Those advertisements also try to convince people to watch those TV shows so they can get more viewers. In order to delete the advertisements a fine has to be paid. Our character meets a girl who is a great singer and falls in love with her. After convincing her and paying for her ticket to participate in the talent show, he sees how she is convinced to end up on the porn channel and is taken away from him. With hard work and consistency, he gets a chance to now participate in the talent show and let everyone know how he feels abut this advertisement world and fake lives they are selling them on TV. Finally, he gets offered a job in that world that he accepts it, making him one of them.

This episode of Black Mirror brings an interesting statement to the table of how the real world works and how it can end up being in the future. Media is nowadays presented in every single moment of our lives, and advertisement is one of the big things that media is exposing us to in a daily basis.

Media has changed our lives drastically in the last decades. We are now way more attuned to everything that is happening in the world, we can access things quicker, buy things easier... But, we are also giving up a big amount of our privacy that can be used at any point against us. This episode was a way to open my eyes in terms of how advertisement can be able to control our lives to the extreme. We can already find adds personalized to our interests every time we access the internet. What now only appears while we are in the network, can easily appear in the future while we are walking on the street, or any time we are outside, which could have a totally bigger and different impact on us and make us act different towards the world of advertisement. What nowadays is helpful for us to find the things we like, can easily end up being a nightmare for a lot of people in the near future. The world is constantly changing and not every change is good.

History of Advertisement

Advertisement is, nowadays, one of the most powerful weapons to communicate and interact with people, captivating them to do what you want them to do. Although, we see everyday new and better ways to advertise in our communities, advertisement has a long history since the beginning of it as such. On Thursday November 3rd, Liza Vedder, who works at Free Press Media as an Advertisement Sales Manager, came to talk about the history of Advertisement and how over the years has changed at the same time that has also changed our way to perceive media and advertisement.

I wasn't able to attend class that day; but, from what I heard from classmates and friends, it seemed like Liza Vedder really did a good job comparing and differentiating the advertisements we were used to see in the past and the advertisements nowadays. Changes have happen from the reach of the advertisement in terms of population and distance, to the media used in order to advertise a particular item or movie. Advertisement has changed, and the future is scary. Advertisements are able to control us in an unconscious way to unimaginably levels, are things could get worse. As we have been talking in class about domestication, we are so used to advertisement that nowadays they appear everywhere and we are not even aware of it. We are in a phase where advertisements are starting to control us in ways they weren't able before. People behind advertisements of a particular product are people trained to know what people want to hear and people with enough experience to make things look and seem better than how they actually are.

A good example of an advertisement that has changed drastically over the years are Trailers. Movie trailers have advanced a lot since the first movies came out. As an example, the difference in terms of the trailer since the first Star Wars movie and the last one that came out a year ago are enormous. From new and better special effects, to more entertain and intriguing audio and visuals that captivate the audience, are some of the changes that trailers have been going through. But, advertisement for movies doesn't stop just in trailers. Nowadays, a trailer is just one small piece of the advertisement of the movie, while in the past trailers were the only way to advertise a movie. Apps, video games, or messages and posts in different social media are just examples of how advertisement has grown in the last decades in terms of movies. A growth that doesn't seem will stop any time soon.

Creators Guide to Transmedia pt.2

During chapter 5 and 6 of the book Creators Guide to Transmedia the author talks about the different important steps in order to create a good transmedia storytelling and how to conduct that story through the length of it with a good plot, characters, and connections with the audience, In the first chapter, the author specifies that a transmedia story is created in order to make a business case and use somebody's creative vision. In order to create a good transmedia story four things are necessary. First, you need to create a world around your story; this can be a real world, like Romeo and Juliette, or a fiction world, like Star Wars. Then, creating the characters. The characters of the story are the ones who create a connection and an interaction with the audience, who will be the one involved with the story and spending the money on it. Ionic states, the change of the characters and environment within the story, and backstory and exposition, parallel stories that can help to understand the main story, are also key in order to create a good transmedia storytelling. In chapter 6, the author broadly talks about how to create and develop such story using all the potential it may have.

While reading this two chapters, two things attracted my interest in a special way. On one hand, the importance of the characters, for the author, and their development thoroughout the sotry; before, druing, and after. On the other hand, how transmedia stories use alternative types of media just to explain or give a background story of what happens in the main story. It is a way to explain why things are the way they are, but that it wouldn't make sense to explain in the middle of the main story. This new media stories create more interest in the audience and create a higher number of spectators.

Good examples of this two characteristics can be Harry Potter and The Office. Harry Potter is a great example of the development of the characters within the story. During the story of Harry Potter, their books and movies give us an idea of how the characters were before and at the beginning of their adventure. Then, as the plot develops, they develop and grow with it. At the end of the main story, the characters are completely different than how they were before. Also, books and theater plays, other media, also represent how they are after the story. Also, a movie that will be released this December, Magic Creatures and Where to Find Them, tells the story of how Hogwarts was created and why the creatures that appear in Harry Potter are there and are the way they are. The Office, on the other side, is also a good example of character development through the 9 seasons of the show, the creation of new characters, and the death of others. The office is also visible in other platforms that tell background stories of each character. Finally, there are also rumors that a new movie may be coming up for next summer.

Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is broadly defined by the author of this article as the telling of a story by using a combination of different medias, all related to each other to a certain extent. Transmedia uses multiple platforms with the goal of telling a single unified story. Stories in each medium can either be a segment of a story that connects with other media to tell the full story, or a stand alone story. During the reading, the author distinguishes two types of transmedia storytelling; west coast and east coast. For the author, east coast is more related with independent movies, theater, or books; while west coast is considered the Hollywood and big franchises word. Within each group he also gives some examples.

Transmedia is a concept that most people, included myself, are not related to hear on a daily basis. But, the definition of such concept is something that definitely sounds more familiar to me as an individual, and probably to most people that have heard of it. Good examples of transmedia storytelling are stories that we see and hear daily like Entourage, or books and movies like Star Wars.

Entourage is a world known story that combines multiple platforms as TV shows and a movie. In this scenario, the stories told in both platforms are stand alone stories; but, when the platforms are combined the story interrelates. On the other side, Star Wars is a combination of books and movies that are segmented but connected together with the purpose of creating a complete story. Both the books and the movies are based upon the same content. These are both examples of West coast transmedia storytelling. Good examples of East coast transmedia storytelling would be Bear 71 or 3 Weeks in May, both examples of small budget interactive stories that combine blogs, websites, and videos all available for the public.