Favorite Reading and/or Concept

My favorite reading and concept was one of the main readings and concepts I also found most interesting was on Ellis's article on Be who you want to be iand how the articles discusses how identity is portrayed online through our Facebook comments, pictures, and statuses. This was my favorite reading and concepts because I did not used to think how much of an impact our identity has based on our profile comments and pictures and statuses. Every time we post a certain comment or picture or status, we are portraying a certain identity that our audience gets to see. I have always been cautious on what what goes on my Facebook profile because I know if I put a certain comment or status or picture on my wall or a friend's, I am portraying my identity to my audience a certain thing. I like my profile to be a somewhat clear extension of what I am face to face because I don't want to portray myself to be something that I may not be or give my audience a different impression of me. The beauty of Facebook and other social networking sites I have noticed and believe is that, when we are friends with people we may not get to see often or are acquaintances with and we get to interact with them online and get to know them better through SMS, I find it to be very helpful and convenient. I chose this concept and like it because I am able to get a more clear and concise meaning of why people portray themselves online the way they do and why they give the audience that certain identity on themselves.

What I've learned/Favorite/Least Favorite Thing

What I have learned from and throughout this class that there is a lot more to technology than meets the eye. Before this class, I was not aware of how mig of an impact certain techonlogies have had on our society in the past and currently. I have learned abour identity and Facebook, the evolution of media, how online social networking sites have an impact on individuals socially and virtually and face to face interaction. My favorite thing about this class was well everything from the articles which were all very fascinating to creating a different blog post on each question related to the article and then being able to see what our classmates have to say on the article and being able to comment on their blog. When some of the readings were more challenging to interpret and understand more than others, it very helpful to be able to see what the classmates thought of the article(s) and it helped me to have a more clear understanding on the articles. I don't really have a least favorite thing about this class. The only thing I found to be challenging at times were how some of the articles were pretty long and detailed. It made it hard to comprehend everything. However, detail in articles is always helpful as well so we know exactly what the author is trying to state. The only thing I believe can be improved in this class is how some of the readings are a lot longer than others and sometimes were challenging to keep up with and follow. However, all the articles were all fascinating and I learned something new I never knew before on new media.

Interesting concepts/readings

One of the main concepts and readings I found most interesting was on our very first course article on Katie Ellis "Be who you want to be: The philosophy of Facebook and the construction of identity, because before this article and this course, I never really thought of how identity is shaped from the virtual world. I did not think how big of an impact our social networking sites especially Facebook can portray our identities based on our status updates, our pictures, and comments on our friends’ walls and pictures as well. I also found The Evolution of Media to be interesting because this article made me more aware of how different types of technologies have evolved over time. I didn't realized how big of an impact the typewriter had in the past generations and how it has faded away over time.The reason why I think this concept/reading is interesting is because the idea on how identity is portrayed through how we communicate to our friends online through our Facebook profile. I have always noticed that a lot of people I am friends with online for example from high school and my good friends have told me this as well that, people sometimes give this certain impression of themselves online so they will feel more accepted and portray themselves to be a certain way virtually, however when you meet or see that individual in person, they may not be the same person they portray themselves to be online. I found that concept and reading to also be beneficial to me as well since I am now more aware of why individuals portray themselves online the way they do and the identity they are portraying.