UPJ Voices - Final Thoughts

I choose this scenario as my final project, because I want to make a change, especially on college campuses. People are constantly making assumptions about a passing conversation or what their friend may have heard across the room. Gossip can ruin a person’s life and before gossip is spread like wildfire, get the facts first. I want people to stop making things sound worse than they really are, because anything you hear could quite possibly be about anything else except what you are thinking. It is important to listen and understand than to start something new and wrong.

Conversations are an essential part of communication between many types of people whether that be friends, colleagues, employers and more. My project consists of myself going to the three places on campus that I frequent most often. I sat in a convenient place in the area where conversation was occurring most. I spark noted as much of what I was hearing around as quickly as possible and did this for thirty minutes. I then created a Facebook page to post each quote. I wanted to open people’s eyes to what this situation may actually look like.

I will be using Facebook as my main digital device. I have made a page called UPJ Voices, where I will post each quote that I heard from each place and then make a negative assumption based on just that piece of information. This will create a negative connotation from that small quote that should not have been made, because so many other pieces of information are missing. The quote could really mean anything, but basing it off the tone of voice, the person saying it, and where the conversation is happening can create a host of problems.

My project is collaborative, location-based, and non-linear. It is collaborative, because I am consuming what other people are saying around me and my own thoughts. It is location-based, because I have to sit in various places on campus to receive the information I need. It is also non-linear, because there is no clear story, but a series of phrases that do not link together much. Together, they create a multi-digital idea that can hopefully send a message.

 I wanted to do this project, because college is a cruel place at times and conversations are almost never private. Not to mention that most of what is talked about on a college campus is usually gossip or trash talk about other people or situations, because it is a college campus. Then with all the gossip currently being talked about, more is created. The situation is like the game telephone where someone hears one thing then another and passes it around. I want people to stop and think about what they hear before the assume the worst. 

Catfish

Recently I watched the documentary, Catfish, which precedes the current television show. In the movie, Nev or Yaniv Schulman is talking with a girl named Abby who then leads to him talking with another girl, her sister. Nev develops feelings to this girl and later starts to notice something off.

We all catfish. Catfishing is when someone fakes who they really are on social media or the internet. We don't normally change the entirety of who we are and lie to people about it, but we do choose what aspects of ourselves are seen. This could come in the form of what pictures are posted, what statuses you post, the pages you like, the things you share, and what your about page contains.

The internet is our own way to only show the best parts of ourselves without ever revealing the worst parts of ourselves. You don't have to give out the information you don't want to and if you do it's almost entirely voluntary. You even get to choose if you even want to be you or someone else entirely. The internet let's you do just about anything and get away with it. It isn't until you're caught or when someone is negatively affected that it really matters. Though, you still have that choice to come clean or not. It all comes down to morals and ethics in the end.

Bathroom Gossip

Bathroom Gossip is a collection of sticky notes placed around women's bathrooms. The location is centralized at the University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown and revolves around empowering women. For a generation, bathrooms have been a location of hatred, sorrow, bullying and worse. Women bash other women in hopes of making themselves feel better. I wanted to change the presence a bathroom has by incorporating positive notes in places that would be hopefully be seen and appreciated.

I was sure to be unseen and undetected as I placed the notes around campus. I wanted to remain as anonymous as possible for the duration of the project in hopes of capturing the attention of women positively without initial connections. I am unsure of this project really made a difference, but I do hope that someone was empowered by my quotes in keeping their head held high and a sassy step in their walk.

4th Grade Conversations

Wouldn’t it cool if we could all read minds, but only when we chose to? We could focus on whom we wanted to hear and then we would. This way we would go crazy hearing everything all the time or hear things we didn’t care to hear. You’re probably thinking that this is a really bad idea, because what if you hear gossip about yourself or accidentally hear something you thought you wanted to hear. Yeah, that sucks, but see you could still chose to do it or not. If you never wanted to do it then you just never would. Simple as that.

I decided to sit in a fourth-grade classroom and listen to their conversations during recess time. It was interesting trying to focus on someone’s voice and accurately hear what they were saying. For all I know I interpreted them all wrong!

What if you could buy headphones that very accurately deciphered a conversation from across the room? They would work by Bluetooth technology and you would just push a button on your phone and be able to hear a conversation. Now in order to decipher the correct conversation, the application would need some quick information. For instance, a compass would be included and the application would ask for the direction in which the conversation is and then it would ask for an estimate on how far away. Once the information is entered you would be able to hear the conversation most accurate to the information given, if it is incorrect, recalibrate and do it again. Yeah it sounds like too much work, but it’s a work in progress and only an idea. 

The Letter

The Letter, an adventure story based on the inevitability of death. Death can happen in a number of ways, but you can't escape its clutches. It will only be more peaceful if it's accepted and the character sees that chance. The character understands the inevitable and somehow finds peace in the same way every time. The Letter grips the unfamiliar truth about dying in unexpected, tragic ways to only end the same way.  Choose your own path on how that happens.

Googling My Problems

Doesn't everyone hit up Google when they have a specific problem and need answers? Yeah, me too. I always head to the page to check EVERYTHING that goes on in my life. I compare what I am feeling and experiencing to what others' have experienced to see a possible outcome. We all want answers, but Google isn't always the best place to go for the solution to an issue.

I decided to Google a problem that I am always having to see what results would pop up and I wasn't too disappointed. I searched for an answer to "tiredness" and received a number of credible sources. Google didn't let me down this time.

But what if there was an easier way to do all of that? What if there was a way to search for whatever you're feeling as accurately as possible to receive an actual plausible answer? I think it would be beneficial to create a search scanner that could very accurately depict what you want and need to be answered with real outcomes. The search scanner would be a program within some electronic device that would scan your figure and take that information from your brain, demeanor, and biological levels. You wouldn't even have to say or think out the best way to ask, the scanner would already know and would send you a list of sources that can be trusted and a better way to figure out the answer you need.

It would just be really cool, wouldn't it?

Tipping Your Opinion

I have never been a barista or someone who could be tipped as extra cash during my job, but I decided to create a tipping war. I have never seen a tipping jar war either, but in whichever case it would probably be fun. I was given four sections to create four different tip jar wars are as follows: "College" Winter Break vs Spring Break, "Travel" London vs Paris, "Electronics" Android vs iPhone, and "Animals" Hedgehogs vs Foxes (The animal that would have won would be the pet that I get).

If I had to relate this to a digital medium I could post each one onto instagram and the section with the most likes would be the tip war that I would conduct. I could also video scenarios for each part and let people watch them to figure out which is better. So I would make short videos of each scenario, the best scenario for each one, and show them in the instagram posts too. Then which ever section won, I would create QR codes for the two videos and let customers scan and watch before they tip their bid!

Remixed Photography

My project consisted of taking my own photos and photos from my instagram newsfeed and alternately posting them in a new instagram account called @remixed.photography. For each posted photo I also posted a caption. On my own photos I stole a caption from the hashtag that is tagged on the photo and on the stolen photos, I wrote my own caption.

This project is selective and reflective, because I mixed up original parts with stolen parts and combined them into one piece. I took to instagram, because it is a medium that people overlook the power of; many use it to promote ideas and originality while others purposefully steal others' photos and captions without blinking an eye. I wanted to capture the realism that is instagram in a way that still keeps its simplicity as a photo sharing forum. 

I also very much enjoy photography from both taking and looking, because it's an art that is often looked at as a general form of expression when in reality it takes talent to capture the beauty of the world in one snap. Though, my feed does not have that much of a theme, it tends to show the difference between a hobby and a job in photography.

I have already linked the instagram account above through the screenname.

Below I have attached screenshots of the account.

#RemixedUPJ

 This post is all about creating memes out of someone else's work; combining two different works together to make an entirely new one. It was rather difficult to choose from the limited amount of works that we had to. My class had to look under the hashtag #remixupj and use an image or text from another person and mash them up meme style. 

 

In today's day in age memes are a form of expression using real life experiences with humorous pictures as their backdrop. Most of the time both text and image are stolen, but sometimes the text is stolen and put on top of an original image, the text is original and the image is stolen, or both are original. Originality in my generation is creativity of the unoriginal, therefore, finding a way to present unoriginal information or ideas in a new way or form, which makes the piece new and original. More or less mashups can be original even though they are made from unoriginal pieces, they are still presented differently in a new and unique way. 

It was rather difficult to create memes out of the images and pieces of text given to use. I was very limited and, so I had to be very creative in how I presented the two together. Putting random pieces of text with random images was fun. I pretty much took two pieces that would seem very humorous to myself and hopefully others and then mashed them up. If I saw something serious as text and something humorous as an image I put them together. 

I tried to maintain my originality by quickly putting two pieces that seemed to fit well together. I imagined the memes I would normally see on social media and then mashed up what fit to that form. Originality with this type of culture would mean something very new, that has never been heard before using unoriginal works. If a song mashup uses unique songs that another DJ has never used together, it would feel more original, so memes would rather be seen as different meanings, using one feeling of text with the same picture would be more original than using the same text on multiple images. 

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasures are the core of any one person and determine the the wants we lust after in everyday life. There is no way a guilty pleasure doesn't find its way into your life, you may be able to control them, but they will always be there. If anything a guilty pleasure can reduce stress and brighten your day. If it was possible to have any of your guilty pleasures at your disposal that would be pretty nice. My life would be so much happier, because my stress would be virtually handled very easily all the time.

What if there was a room where all your guilty pleasures would just appear to make you feel better and indulge life a bit? I would probably be there all the time, because my guilty pleasures are the best at making me feel better. The room could project whatever your guilty pleasure is or it could actually simulate the experience. Even if it made food for you, if that is what a guilty pleasure for you is (Let's be real everyone loves some food). I would just love to be in Paris, eating whatever fat food I could find, while playing with hedgehogs; I'd be in heaven. 

My guilty pleasures are in the picture below:

Hedgehogs are my ultimate guilty pleasure; I want to own one so badly and one day I will. 

Collaborative Narrative

This narrative (Death By Cliffs: A Murder Mystery) is comprised of interrogation videos from each suspect. Watch each file and try to guess who may have killed the victim then comment who you think actually murdered the victim in cold blood. Read other comments for different views and even talk with one another to discuss who may have done it!

Each file contains the suspect description and the interogation video. You may view each file in any order, but do view every file for accuracy in your guilty guesses.

Our project consisted of; creating the interrogation questions, the prologue story, the suspect bios, and filming of the videos. We asked five UPJ students to partake in our project as the suspects whom would be questioned by Aaron and Michaela. They were shown the questions and bios right before then told to answer however they'd like. Our collaboration was conscious and we even asked viewers to comment their guesses leaving the guilty party up to them. We decided to not have an epilogue so that the mystery still remains.

*Participants did not want to be named

We Build Hope On Rusty Backs

 ‏@BrandonK31  "We build hope on rusty backs." #cmoa6words Photo Credit: Pete Marovich

Her feet fell hard against the pavement 

As she laughed cheerfully down the sidewalk.

Nothing could ruin the happiness her face evoked.

All the care in the world did not matter.

The vines wrapped around the home, 

In a way that gave it the character it needed.

She looked upon the greenery in such awe

That she thought to herself:

"I want to be hugged the way the plants hug this home."

She touched the rotting porch step

And gazed upon the weathered home.
Then looked back to the place she had just come from.
Turning away from from the rustic place,
She ran away.

A Letter to the Future Aliens

Ever wondered what would happen if our world ended, but we had enough time to each write a letter to future explorers who may find it?

I completed a prompt that had me write a letter to alien explorers. I started off with my typical quirkiness then gradually escalated to thoughtfulness as if I was actually writing a letter to aliens. It made me think about what might actually happen if our world was to end and I had the time to write a letter. It didn't matter if anyone would find it, it just felt odd at first then natural at the end to be writing something like this. It would be cool if I had the tech to just mind jump it to something in the universe so that my letter would never be lost. I mean if our world was ending how would a letter be found unless it was a plaque or something that simply wiped out humanity. The tech could probably be a chip that encased a hologram that would read my letter or just by touching the chip it would immediately find its way into the brain.  *My letter will be pictured at the end, I will not type my prompt this time. 

What if the world ended, but we had the technology to create another, in space. Not even a spaceship to hold everyone, but an actual planet.

Picture it like the movie Elysium which has a society in space, because Earth is ruined. They have exceptional technology and more less have a new planet on a ring like structure. This isn't the first time a ring planet has been thought up. 

Think about the video game Halo (Pictured below), in the game it describes the planets as rings in space that could be weapons of mass destruction and so forth. What if we had the ability to create such a planet that we could just travel to before our current world destroyed us. This would mean that we would become aliens so to speak. I'm no scientist, so I don't actually know how a planet could be created, but it would save the world if it ever needed it.

The new planet would contain far better living conditions than our current world does. I can see it being normal looking, though, Not like that futuristic silver crap, but a mirror image of Earth to the best of the creator's ability in ring formation. There might even be new species of animals or new types of plants; that would be cool.

What if the new planet was Pandora from the movie Avatar and we inevitably created a humanoid species before we even landed? Or we recreated Pandora and ultimately found Pandora after being in space for so long? Either way the new planet would be totally badass. 

Film Is My World

Movies are one of my favorite time killers. Watch a two hour movie and BOOM it's finally dinner time, to which you completely forgot your stomach was screaming for that chinese delivery. Movies can be an insight to who you are too. Love romantics? Well it's probably, because you love seeing people happy. Like adventure? You probably want to travel or visit new places even if its the new restaurant three blocks away.

I remember watching a film named "Existenz" which is set in a future world where gaming is a much more developed system. A game developer creates this video game where you are actually immersed into a world, sort of like virtual reality, but more intense. You can alter the world you are immersed in and everything that happens, happens because of a choice you made. It takes your thoughts and feelings and generates them into the world, to make it seem that much more realistic. *Below is the trailer.

Anyway, I would want to create a system that links to your brain and can view your mind to allow you and friends to immerse themselves into the film world. It could be called a video game for lack of words, but here the player wouldn't be able to alter the course of the movie, but rather be added to the group of characters. They would play a role that best suits their personality, and they would automatically understand how to portray the character without messing with the movie. Only the player(s) would see themselves in this film and therefore cannot ruin it for anyone else, unless they want to upload a playback online (under their discretion). The best part would be that they're real bodies wouldn't move in the real world, they would only manipulate the fictional world through their mind.

I, myself, would be very interested in using this device to have fun, explore worlds and places, and ultimately relax. It would allow people to 'get away' and actually feel as if they are 'away' in another place.

Here is a list of movies that I want to currently see:
1. Assassin's Creed
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
3. Thor Ragnarok
4. Wonder Woman
5. Pitch Perfect 3
6. The Fate of the Furious
7. A Dog's Purpose (Maybe)
8. Split
9. Passengers
10. The Girl On The Train
11. A Cure for Wellness
12. Black Panther (2018 :( Sadly I have to really wait for this one! )

* Trailer for Existenz:

The Best Thing...

Have you ever sat down and thought up of all the things that have happened to you recently or years ago? Do you even remember what you had for breakfast or the color of underwear you wore yesterday?

I have those days too. I can remember something that happened three years ago, but ask me what bra I wore a week ago and I'll have no clue. Ever wonder why some things are more easily remembered over others. Well do those things you remember from months ago have some sort of meaning over the daily routines we currently have? Probably. If anything those memories were either of great joy or tragedy.

These memories will eventually be forgotten, because newer and bigger experiences will happen to you, right? Wouldn't it just be great if there was a way to keep those memories stored somewhere besides your brain? What if there was such a technology, would you use it? I would! Being able to look back as such memories and experiences would be a treasure. I'd be seventy years old, watching my grandkids run around the house, and I would still be able to remember that very day I was accepted into college and all sorts of memories happened.

If such a technology existed, how would it look or work? I feel like it would be something that either copied and stored the memories like a flash drive or iCloud. It would be simple and quick, something like a contact or memory chip placed into the memory complex of the brain that bluetoothed and connected to a computer.

I would actually enjoy the chip more than the contact only, because I still have the inability to wear regular contacts. One day this will more than likely be available, definitely not in my lifetime, but at some point after that.

Here's some of the best things that have happened to me:

Yesterday - I slept in until 1pm and woke up refreshed

Last Month - I spent New Year's with my boyfriend's family; I bought a new laptop

In the Past Year - I met my current boyfriend; Became and RA (Resident Assistant); Went to Florida                                 for the first time

In My Life - Graduated High School; Was accepted into college; Made the Dean's list at my college

Who Am I Really?

"Pseudonyms - a fictitious name, especially one used by an author."

I'm an author, of sorts. Actually, yes I am an author. There are times when an author uses a fake name to produce a work of writing. I'm assuming you're asking why, right? Well it more or less started when women began well known authors in the 19th century, or should I say men. Basically women wanted to write and others to know about their writing, but women were domestic house maidens under the authority of the males. Women didn't write let alone anything that wasn't housework, caring for the child(ren) and their husbands or fathers. Women decided to start sending in their manuscripts under male names so that they would be published. 

Now that you know part of the reasoning behind why pseudonyms became so popular or in the very least , there's a reason I'm writing about it.

Have any of you ever created a twitter account under a name that wasn't your's?  Same; twitter is a very popular social media platform and most young people use it.

I created myself ten different names that I would use as twitter pseudonyms:

1. Kiwi McCoy
           Kiwi is my nickname  (only my friends may ever use this name)
2. Katie McCoy
          My actual name is always mistaken for Katie or Carrie.
3. Carrie McDonald
          Same as 2. I just wanted to change my last name.
4. Cheyenne Ian
          My middle name and my boyfriend's middle name.
5. Holly Jacobs
          I performed in a play as a girl named Holly and my counterpart was name Jake.
6. Kitty Fleur
          Another nickname of mine and Fleur is a reference to France, home to my favorite city, Paris.
7. Jewel Alex
          Two of my cats names.
8. Jemma Simmons
          A character from one of my favorite shows and universe.
9. Aphrodite Lynn
          I always loved Greek mythology and she's my favorite goddess.
10. Ophelia Jones
          In general this is just pretty.

It's like having a completely different personality if you create a twitter account with a different name. You pretty much start to create a life and new personality for the pseudonym.

This post reminds me of that new movie Split where a guy kidnaps like three girls and he has multiple personalities, all with different names aka pseudonyms to his first personality.

*Trailer below: