Multimedia Project Critique

The multimedia project I critiqued was about Mark Zachar’s First Day of School in Diari, Ghana. He was in the Peace Corps visiting when he presented on Ghana. This was a very thought-out project. He had some data visualization. For example, he had a map of where he was staying compared to where his school was located where he was teaching. There was a lot of moving elements in the project. Many videos and pictures are displayed through out the project. It was a project showing his first day of school teaching at the school in Ghana. When a picture was shown, he zoomed in so the viewer can see what he was talking about. He also used a slideshow with pictures with a picture in the background. I really didn’t like this because there was a lot going during the slideshow to pay attention to one thing. When narrating the story, he stumbled over words, which made the presentation not flow as well. The video’s quality was really poor and pixelated. But the videos were very informative and the viewers were able to see everyday life for the Ghana children attending the school. Text was displayed under certain pictures to explain what the picture was. But the author did a great job of explaining his first day and all that he did. Overall, the multimedia project could have been a little bit due to the poor quality of video. The concept was great but needed to add a few more visualizations to help the viewer see some numbers about how many students attend school in Ghana.

Top 10 Colleges MLB players attended

Can't wait to see this view this weekend

Talladega on Sunday

Without Media for 12 hours, to Wrigley I go

Normally, people can’t handle one hour without media let alone 12 hours. For me, it wasn’t too difficult. Over the weekend, I tested out the experiment and it wasn’t too hard. I went to a Chicago Cubs baseball game then went out to eat with my family in Chicago. No texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I thought I was going to be very hard, but it wasn’t too bad. As long as I kept busy, I didn’t need social media. I would only look at my phone to look at my phone and that wasn’t much. The time was on the outfield scoreboard so I rarely looked at my phone. I realized how social media has shaped my life with this experiment. And it was eye-opening.

            Social media has shaped my life for the positive and negative. I am active with Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, Snapchat, and texting. It has influenced the way I go about my daily life. I always check social media to see what everyone is doing in their lives. It’s kind of like a newspaper. Twitter and different sports applications is where I receive most of my information. It is so easy to have all the access in the palm of our hand. I think that’s why people depend on media so much. Our generation’s communications skills will suffer because of depending on media all the time.   Media has shaped my life but it hasn’t over taken my life like it has for others.

            Without technology at times is peacefully, you’re able to communicate with others better not being behind a screen.  Technology has helped me gain access to everything in the world at the palm of my hand or on any type of device.  I’m able to communicate to friends that are back home and others that are half way around the world. That is the great thing about how technology has shaped me. This couldn’t happen if I didn’t venture into different medias like Skype. Friendships are still alive because of technology I have.

            Media has also has some negative points. The Internet is so easy to access that anyone can post anything on there any given time. I sometimes believe what I see on the Internet but it’s not true. Everyone has access to the World Wide Web and that can be dangerous. I never been a victim of a cyber crime but a lot of people have been. I’ve learned to not trust everything that’s out there.

            It was quite relaxing watching a baseball game and not having to worry about social media. Sometimes people share too much information on social media and it isn’t necessary. Social media has both positive and negative effects. I believe that social media and media in general has shaped my life in a positive matter. I will always have my phone on me but this experiment showed that I do not have to always rely on it.

'Dega this Weekend

His Body a Prison

            His Body a Prison is an audio slideshow from The LA Times. The story is about a man named Spencer Sullivan. Sullivan had neck surgery in 2001. His nurse gave him too many pain medications and failed to monitor him. He is now a quadriplegic due to this mishap. The photography and audio is by Liz O. Baylen. 

The uses of pictures were very powerful. Pictures rotated out every 5-7 seconds. The pain on his face and his family’s faces was powerful. The author did a great job with the photographs. Not all were negative pictures. Some captured him fighting and you saw the fight in him with just a picture. Spencer was swimming in one of the photos and the audio was of the water splashing when he was in the pool. 

His mother and father were heard throughout the whole story and also Spencer. You can hear the struggle in his voice. The audio was great. Everything was explained well. In the beginning and the end, they explained what happened. 

At the end, the listener is wondering what happened to the nurse that did this. No music in background and explained what happened to her. It was very emotional. This audio slideshow had the perfect balance of pictures and audio. Very powerful piece and author did a great job of showing the struggle of his everyday life.