How to Catch a Unicorn

How to Catch A Unicorn

How to Catch A UnicornPatterns in Millennials talk about technology

during a course on Media & CultureCommunication DepartmentUMass Amherst, Spring 2011Lost?I find myself constantly lost in the directionmaybe thats just it - there isnt a lack of direction but many directionsa war zone almost. We all have so much to contribute and say that we are always moving in different directions. (ktrychon)getting lost and let[ing] technology take over (Becca)stuck out to me the most (ddavies)Steph then goes on to discuss that the opposite of being lost is knowing where you are (ddavies)Lost?we can stay lost in technology, or expand out (ckmetz)how our society gets lost because we use selective attention, or that our society expands to the outside world and has a balance (ckmetz)You dont want to get lost in technology but find a medium with it (Hdanfort)Lost In TechnologyIs all this technology actually going to be this catastrophic? (ddavies) need to be liberated from technology (BrittR00)what kind of impact technology really has on us (Carl Danoff) our reliance on technology show how this technology is driving our world and changing it for the good and badhow consumed we are (Kimdelehanty)

Lost In Technologysome people had a depressing feel to their video while filming their computer, while others had a happy feel (Nate)

quotes or images based off of letting technology take over (BConn63)we all fit the stereotypes of our generation and are controlled by technology (BrittR00)WAIT!This is Your ________ Life!Patterns in Millennials talk about technology

ANALOGDigital Realities & Analog LivingLost In Technologytwo sides of technology; an optimistic attitude, and a fearful, pessimistic attitude (ckmetz)we still use a lot of technology even when we try not to (Hdanfort)what we see in media and technology is becoming more of a culture (Jamer574)the options we have of working with or against technology .options.or limits (hbcohen91)LOSTFINDING OURSELVES WITHIN TECHNOLOGYLost In Technologytechnology used throughoutneed to find a happy medium (Kalf917)Seth Gore discussed with us the role of technology in his everyday life, as well as how he maneuvers through our acoustical world as a deaf human being. When telling his story, he used ASL, which was then interpreted into spoken English. This connects to the Origami Unicorn because he is using a different medium to tell his storysee our worlds collide (AlPal13)FINDING OURSELVES WITHIN TECHNOLOGYBenefits of technology?to help us become the best that we can be in life and improve the world (ddavies)why is there variation (BrittR00)we all experience different things and combining them would maximize what we see (Kimdelehanty)

Benefits of technology?we have to give people what they want to see and make it interesting and entertaining, As well as putting our ideas and messages out there. We want the audience to see and understand the same way we do. (Jamar574)The scene in Demis video where her phone is her alarm clock can show a potential benefit of technology (Kimdelehanty)Harms of technology?keep going on the next and the next. I find myself going and going and not understanding what it all means, Im not making connections (ktrychon)the scene in Brandons video where all of his friends are using multiple types of technology may be used as a negative example (Kimdelehanty)KimdelehantysstatisticsGPAs being lower for those who take notes on the computer. (ddavies)Harms of technology?a war zone almost (ktrychon)facing a situation that is already there, positive and negative attitudes keep fighting (sichenchina)Crap!We have to manage ________ Realities!Patterns in Millennials talk about technology

DIGITALDigital Realities & Analog LivingCreating balanceBeccas suggestion of balance reminds me of what journalists seek to maintain. They want to be neutral and only report what are accepted by the general public. However, it is ideology of the power[ful] that shapes our understanding of be[ing] normal (C&H) (Csi)Middleness - although this is not a real word - I find it is the best way to describe what it is we are all looking for. The middle.. .The direction we are supposed to go in (ktrychon)Creating balanceusing all these different mediums, and all these different worlds, and making them coexist into one final product. It is kind of like a Venn Diagram (Nate)things in common because we are all students living here on this campus, but our videos are also very different (ktrychon) see visible differences in the small things (sgershlak)Each one of us is building a different part and we need to find out how these parts fit to have a good balance (Jwegrzyn)visionwe need to collaboratively come up with one powerful messagethat will connect with the audience, springing up multiple conversations amongst whoever watches the video; possibly even springing up ideas displayed in our own individual videos and they can take our own individual idea further and make something of their own, something much more in depth than what we had originally made. (Carl Danoff)open-ended, where the audience can form their own interpretations (BrittR00)vision the line between reality and illusion is constantly blurred(NatashaKapadia)time telling its ownno beginning and no end. To make this video symbolic in what mediums we want to tell our story and what stories we want to tell (Jwegrzyn)

Strategic designshow people our selective attention or lack thereof (AlPal13)take it a step farther and address questions like, What does that mean for us? What does it matter? (BrittR00)work carefully through these videos again, looking for things we are agree with and disagree with (Csi)

Strategic designpresent all the facts but then take them a step farther and push viewers to think about it a different way (BrittR00) Instead of Ali narrating herself, she used the song lyrics as what she is trying to express (ckmetz)show our initial confusion with the wiki, so we could show our final wikis and how complex they areour progress (AlPal13)Strategic designlead the audience down different possible paths in the quest for understanding and articulation (BrittR00)clips that flow one into another telling one story, but at the same time telling its own (Jwegrzyn)To make this project an origami unicorn it would need to be that each small video could be self-contained but together works the way we want (NatashaKapadia)

Our Message: ( How to ride a unicorn? )sit down and digest the information (ktrychon)the bigger picture and consider what the implications are (BrittR00)its not over and that there is no final answer (BrittR00)critique the commonsense assumptionsthe way we live is not the only way to live (Kimdelehanty)Our Message: ( How to ride a unicorn? )Media structures our society. We create our own culture of media based off what we want and how we react to certain sources of media. (Jamar574)Our Message: ( How to ride a unicorn? )this media that surrounds us everywhere and at anytime will be used to tell a story (jameshoffman)involve the distinction between time and space and how our society moves within the day (ckmetz)show both sides of the tension what [is] the middle (csilv17)craftinga Digitized LifePatterns in Millennials talk about technology

Representing a Millennial IdeologySelective intelligencefunction as a cultural attractor and a cultural activator (NatashaKapadia)We are an example, like the Matrix, of an origami unicorns (ckmetz)Currently, we are in a computer lab, with so many different mediums around us (ddavies)The audience might not understand or be able to put all the pieces together until the end, when they start to fall into place and form a cohesive point (BrittR00)Juxtapositions Selective Intelligence In Actionin Jamars video when the Kid Cudi song is playing (ddavies)The juxtaposition of many doors and hallways [Nates] can relate to the options we have of working with or against technologyin some videos you never see past the doorin othersmoving down a hallway and into the outside world. (hbcohen)different anglestook place in a car and showed the roads and the things that were passed while driving (Kalf917)Juxtapositions Selective Intelligence In Actionthe library was used to show that the books are part of the past and that when your at the library you are using your computer and other technology (wallybeckler)compare the two daily lifestyles of deaf people and hearing people (sgershlak)compare the millennial time period, to [Ruth Moores] time period s(gershlak)Juxtapositions Selective Intelligence In Action maneuver[ing] through our acoustical world as a deaf human being (AlPal13)juxtapose Ruths ideas about technology over Seths and how they have a common ground that can say something about our class (ckmetz)in search ofselective intelligenceAn extension of Michael Weschs digital ethnography project:Visions of Students TodayCreditsStudents in Media and Culture a Communication course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Spring 2011David Croteau and William Hoynes (2003). Media Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences (3rd Edition).Henry Jenkins (2006). Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. Pierre Levy (1994). Collective Intelligence: Mankinds Emerging World in Cyberspace.Glenn Yeffeth, Ed (2003). Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix.With thanks to Seth Gore, author of The Buzz Buzz Boom, and Ruth Moore, for their guest appearances in our class.Funding and Sponsorship provided by the Communication Department, Umass Amherst and the ASL Program at Hampshire College.