Playing russian roulette with my final project

After a lot of thought I figured I would do my final project on 4chan.org. Which is a huge "no-no" if you are an active member of that community. The reason is, it's an anonymous website with a huge community of hackers and jerks who feel like elitist even though it's free to the public and has a giant user base. Yet any form of trying to promote it and involve new people breaks some made up "fight club" style of code that starts a shitstorm amongst them and usually provokes some kind of cyber attack even if minor.

Then again I do not feel like I am exposing the website or defending it, I am simply sharing information that can be accessed by googling "4chan". Therefore, I am not too worried.

The topic is just too interesting to pass up and I think 4chan is a direct example of how powerful web 2.0 has become. I feel like it is one of the few places left in the world that is truly free.

Enjoy and as always, thanks for reading.

Google really gives you anything you want

There is a lot of debate on if companies like Google (companies that tend to buy up all other types of services to offer it as their own) seem to be helpful to the expansion of Web 2.0. Personally, I have always liked Google, for a lot of reasons. For one, it's always been about simplicity. Google has not only been my favored search engine but also web browser, email, and video and photo upload service. I knew little about Google docs, but after using it I am very impressed. I am glad a company other than Openoffice is offering a Microsoft Office type of software for free. It' ability to merge with all my other Google tools and accounts is wonderful and I see myself using it more often. I got a little off track there, I also wanted to add that Google also has amazing marketing which allows it to accumulate a massive user base in multiple categories. It's impressive, and honestly I am glad Google exist and will always be a loyal member. I personally feel that all this is leading to a Google operation system which I would completely support.

Stumbling upon delicious information!

I really had no clue what "social tagging" was until this week. I am the type of person whom sometimes just loads a blank browser window hoping to find something amazing and random, but without a clue of step one. For the most part I relied on websites like reddit or break, but it would never fully quench my thirst for information. When I found out about stumbleupon, I was ecstatic! I literally spent hours on this website the first time I used it, it has a perfect interface for somebody with ADD like myself.

On the other hand, we find ourselves with a similar site called "delicious" which seems to be a more news focused type of social bookmarking. The layout seemed like a poor-man's Facebook and didn't appeal to me as much as stumbleupon does. Now I'm not saying one is indisputably better, I just notice one is more face paced and fun and the other is more organized and direct.

Short story short, I will be spending many a nights on stumbleupon.com and reccommend everybody else at least give it go!

Hashtags and cadillacs.

I still don't fully understand the big deal with twitter. I remember when it was introduced, I felt it was pointless since Facebook practically does the same thing yet more intricate. As I watched the years pass and twitter grow, I still have a hard time justifying why I should have one.

I understand it's purpose, it's a great tool for quick information on your personal interests, plus I see how it's kinda cool to see what your favorite celebrity is up to or how they feel. I just don't know why I would have one, unless for some reason I become some form of famous then hell yes I will have an account, maybe even six.

Until that day, I will keep my new twitter account active, but it feels a tad goofy tweeting when I have less than 5 followers. I better get crackin' on fixing that!

My first video blog is quite Evil!

I had so many ideas on what to make my first video blog about, everything from how-to videos to funny skits, but I decided to go see a movie I have been excited about and record a review about it. This assignment also gave me the opportunity to use my new camera that I had to purchase for photography class which I am currently doing terrible in.

My topic on my video blog is about the movie, "Evil Dead (2013)". This video runs about 8 minutes, but I had a really good time recording it and I left in some funny edits. So ladies and gentlemen, I give you.... me:

Facebook is massively important and annoying.

I am a member of the social network generation. I had a live journal, myspace, and currently a facebook. I could remember spending my late teens and early twenties completely absorbed with the idea of my own personal website where my opinions, problems, announcements, and life events could not only be expressed but organized and shared with practically anybody. Then again I have never shy'd away from attention.

Facebook still astounds me, especially since the older I get I tend to meet new people, share new experiences, and practically document it all with various mediums. The entire reason I live in Eugene OR, is because of facebook. I met people, networked and learned information on the city. I was able to talk to students of LCC in advance about the school, cost of living, night life and so on. This medium of communication is so helpful I couldn't imagine life without it. Facebook is by far the best self promotion tool freely available, but with this amount of freedom comes the annoyances of everybody elses opinion. 

In recent years I have witnessed a hike in this "digital activism" which drives me practically insane. The same people I used to enjoy reading updates on now just spam pictures and propaganda on things from religion, politics, to even personal obsessions. It's a shame to release that amount of information widely, now everybody in the world knows how to exactly piss you off and that's some ammunition I would like to keep to myself (no pun intended).

Generally I'm a happy person who loves to live a free and outgoing life. It's very obvious on my profile my interests and activities show my nature and demeanor.  Very rarely will you see my insecurities or personal opinions on serious matters, however if you want to know what those are, then have some coffee with me. ;)

wiki tiki tumble

I really wanted to add to the class wiki, but it seems (as for a lot of my classmates as well) that the class wiki website was taking too long to accept my registration. However, I have used quite a few wiki's in my time ranging from Wikipedia to specific wikis for video games. The concept is truly brilliant, the first time I used Wikipedia I remember laughing about how I began my search for information on Hawaii, and ended up looking at a list of American gladiators. In nearly every argument I am involved in, Wikipedia is always the knowledge referee, and will have the final say even if suspiciously edited.

This exchange and community of knowledge really does show how evolved the Internet has become, it's also a grand analogy of the Internet itself. A vast collection information contributed but millions of people, yet somehow I use it to memorize the first series of American gladiators.

*Once accepted to the wikispace I will update as needed for this assignment and future assignments that require the class wiki.

Social Media is more powerful than we think, also it's pretty rad

My name is Brian and I'm very spontaneous  When I thought of naming this blog I literally hit "random article" on wikipedia twice and viola, my blog has it's name. I found it very appropriate that I would use wikipedia to label this blog, a blog that exist to discuss my personal views on social media and Web 2.0 technologies. I find it astounding the amount of information we have available through the internet, and not just for study, but the personal diaries and general database of humanity. I am old enough to know how far along social media has evolved and I personally accept and promote it. However, I am known to be an extrovert and have been  found guilty on multiple occasions of loving attention, so yes I am bias.

We are so much more powerful now thanks to the advancements in social media and "web 2.0. Sound weird? Well, let me explain: Imagine you were a big stupid jerk, and you really wanted to offend two hundred people in a single day. Let's also add that you are not famous in any way, nor have access to television feeds. How impossible would this task be in 1995? Now, how easy is this to do tomorrow? I personally have over 700 friends on my Facebook, and if I really wanted to offend 200 of them, I could do it in under a minute. We have gained an ability to be looked at, I prefer to use it to promote my projects and crafts instead of pissing off hundreds of people, but sometimes that happens if I drank enough scotch.

Consider the following: If we had to describe to a person living in 1950 our advancements in technology today, it would sound like this: "I possess in my pocket a device that links me to a network of endless and ever-engrossing information, I have the ability to learn anything I please and share with the world my ideas and creations. And yet, I use it to look up funny pictures of cats and have pointless arguments with people I will never meet."