The world of music is so large and diverse that it’s safe to say there is something out there for everyone. But there’s a stereotype that goes along with some music, such as pop music sung by boybands. In the 1960s we were given The Beatles, in the 90’s there were The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. But in 2010 a new boyband was in charge. One Direction, now considered the biggest boyband in the world, were formed in 2010 on the British talent show X-Factor. Then in 2012 when the band released their first album they took the world by storm. Within five years they have released five albums and have gone on four world tours. But One Direction would be nothing without their dedicated fan base called “Directioners.”
I first researched the fandom on social media and was truly surprised by the mass of fan accounts. Thousands of One Direction fans invade the internet. They post on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and create various other websites dedicated to the pop band. It is on these sites where the fans can connect with one another and express their admiration for the band. Directioners are also able to follow the members of the band allowing them to keep up to date with the boys and what they are doing. An intriguing aspect of the fandom I discovered was the large amount of writing the fans do. Writing called “fan fiction” seems to be a very popular creative outlet for the fans. Through writing they put themselves in a fictional world with the boys allowing them to imagine what it would be like to personally know the boys. To some this may seem disturbing or obsessive but it seems no different than any other fictional writing.
While the fan accounts and fanfiction appear innocent, there is a much darker side of this fandom. I began to realize how possessive Directioners were over their favorite members, so possessive in fact that any time a member had a girlfriend she received an obscene amount of hate. Rude comments are left on their social media and they may even receive death threats from fans. This is easily the most distributing part of the fandom and although it is a smaller percentage of Directioners that participate in these activities it gives all Directioners a bad reputation. But to be fair we cannot stereotype all Dirctioners by assuming they are all crazy, obsessive preteen girls. There truly are fans at all ages both male and female. That is the beauty of music, it brings people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds together for a common purpose. The common purpose being to enjoy the music and support the band.
Walt Disney World has four theme parks, and all four of them are so cleverly themed that I forgot that I was actually in Florida when I went to make my first observation. The Magic Kingdom was the first park created and is arguably the most beautiful. It welcomes guests with the sight of Cinderella's Castle. The beautiful structure dwarfs guest with its gold-painted towers, stained glass windows, and detailed brick work. That first impression of the park can be seen before guests even enter it. Guests park their cars at parking lot miles from the park and either take a monorail or a ferry boat to get to the Magic Kingdom. This built up the excitement for me because I was able to see Cinderella’s Castle get bigger and bigger the closer I got to the park. Upon my arrival, I walked down Main Street, U.S,A,, a place filled with shops designed to look like an old American town. Friendly employees greeted me with a smile and by waving at me with Mickey Mouse gloves. Disney is a place for the young and young-at-heart, so employees pay special attention to children. I noticed that they would bend down to talk to a child instead of staring down at them. They would also hand out stickers to children and call the little girls “princesses”.
One thing that immediately impressed me was the cleanliness of the park. Despite the fact that tens of thousands of guests walk through it daily, the park is impeccably clean due to the constant presence of custodial workers and the large number of trashcans. Litter does not linger in the Magic Kingdom. Music was also always present. Even at the parking lot, called the Transportation and Ticket Center, instrumental and upbeat music was playing. At the park, the style of music would change depending on what land I was in. For example, Fantasyland, themed like a medieval kingdom, used a lot of violins in the music whereas Frontierland, themed like the American Old West, had banjos playing.
The park even smelled good as well. The Main Street Ice Cream Parlor smelled sweet and delicious while the Frontierland turkey leg cart smelled like mouth-watering meat. At night, the park was lit up like a Christmas tree. Cinderella’s Castle changed colors and Tomorrowland had bright LED lights that gave it a futuristic look. Just like employees wished me a good morning at the beginning of the day, they wished me a good night at the end of the day. It is no surprise to me that millions of families flock to Walt Disney World for vacation every year. Being in a place that makes the stresses of the real world disappear due to amazing theming makes Disney a place that is fun to observe and easy to enjoy.
Sarah Miller ENC1101 Revised Field Notes Assignments October 28, 2016 As I started to research the Pretty Little Liars Army, I began to explore the characteristics that construct the army into one family. To start, I looked up PLL Army on facebook and observed and analyzed the pages that came up. Specific information that stood out to me was that the fan base communicates through posts on Facebook in order to retrieve recognition from each other and possibly the actors in the show. I noticed many of the fans also post saying, “like for a like.” I started to wonder, “Why do these fans want recognition?”, “What makes social media so powerful to their fan base?” Looking through Facebook, I also saw the term, “ship”, a numerous amount of times. I researched on urban dictionary what ship means, I found that ship means- short for romantic relationship, popularized in fan fiction circles. It intrigues me how relationships and “ships” are a major part of this army. It seems that this aspect contributes to an important part of one of the motives of being in the PLL Army. In Pretty Little Liars, there are many “ships” and certain ships are favored more than others. For example, I saw twice as many pictures of Aria and Ezra on one of the Facebook pages while seeing less of Spencer and Caleb. I did not see the fans obsessing over the PLL boys as much as I expected. I was surprised to not see the fans drooling over Ezra, Toby, and Caleb, as much as I thought they would be. This makes me question the fans intentions, do they love to see the characters together (shipped) or do they want to see them single and therefore available to the public on the show and in real life? Do the fans vicariously live through the relationships of the characters on the T.V show, or do they follow the characters romance off of the show? Are they part of the army because of the “hot boys?” Something common that I found throughout all of the social media was that they all know certain language or share a bond through knowing secrets about the show or beliefs about where the next episode is going. For example, I saw conversation on a post determining the difference of certain characters, such as black swan and black veil. I do not know what that means but simply because I am not a consistent watcher of the show. This leads me to wonder, what makes one in the PLL Army? A supporter of the show who has social media to show their devotion or someone who simply watches it? Still searching for more, I log onto twitter and search a PLL Army page. On this page there are 288 people following and 2,763 followers. I notice there is a lot of communicating through different fan pages and a lot of mentions. What I have gathered is that the army supports each other and are not envy or jealous of each other as other fandoms are. This also makes me question the intentions of being in the PLL Army and what their main goals and aspirations obtain. I also found that the communication between the cast/producers and the fans is very important. I noticed that during each episode, the cast is interactive with the fans and is asking how they feel about the episode. Over all what I have witnessed is that there is a great connection between the PLL Army and the cast, which is very important and because it shows that the love between the cast and fan base is mutual, unlike many fandoms which is disturbing.
Katie Palmer ENC 1101-0M14 Revised Field Notes Assignment November 2, 2016
The Planner’s Lounge: Behind the Scenes of Weddings and Events Debbie Orwat has been planning weddings and other events for over ten years. When she was first starting her career, she craved knowledge. She wanted to know everything there was to know about wedding planning; she wanted to be the best she could be in that field. However, at that time, social media was not yet a big deal, so there weren’t very many solid communities for wedding planners to share their experiences and advice. Instead, Debbie attended educational conferences, read books, worked with coaches, and planned over 200 event to gain experience. She decided to share all she’s learned about the industry with aspiring wedding and event planners so they would have the place to learn that she never had; the Planner’s Lounge was born.
The Planner’s Lounge (plannerslounge.com) is a website open to the public. It is geared towards all event planners, but as I explored the site, I noticed that there seems to be a special focus on wedding planners. It looked as if the main attraction on the website was the blog. The blog was filled with articles on all kinds of topics relating to weddings and events. These ranged from shining a spotlight on event planners who started their business after the age of 40 to the importance of having a Plan B. As I moved from page to page on the Planner’s Lounge website, I noticed that there were tons of accessible pages of information that would be beneficial to anyone in the event industry, not just those starting out. I was enjoying reading bits and pieces as I toured the website. As someone who is pursuing a career in the event industry, this is certainly a website I will be frequenting throughout my career.
There was only one feature on the website that was a bummer for me, the VIP Lounge. The VIP (Very Important Planners) Lounge is a forum those in the industry can use to communicate with one another. It seems like an awesome place to share stories and ideas and help each other out. It was a bummer for me because, to access the forum, I would have to purchase a membership. Because I had no membership, I couldn’t explore this part of the community yet.
One thing that was surprising to me was that Debbie is still very involved in the website. From what I’ve seen, she has replied to almost all the comments that are left on the blog posts. She had this idea of sharing her experiences and advice with whomever wanted it, and she brought her idea to life. That is very admirable. Debbie doesn’t feel the need to keep secrets to herself; she wants everyone to learn and grow. The slogan at the top of all the pages on the Planner’s Lounge reads: The Event Planners Community Planners Lounge- relax, talk, learn, inspire. This represents the Planner’s Lounge perfectly.
Lars Gustaf Jiborn ENC 1101 Revised Field Notes Assignment November 1, 2016
A Surprisingly Pleasant Gaming Community: Notes on Playing in the World of Warcraft Community
I begin the field observations with simply logging into the game and entering the world on my main character ’Muushoo’, a level 110[max level] pandaren[panda-people race] monk brewmaster. The first observation would be the trade-chat window constantly being spammed by ‘guild recruitment messages’, in which a guild simply states that they are looking for members that are down for x difficulty of content and what players they are looking for: i.e melee DPS (melee damage dealers), or healers. The reason that this chat window is so full with ‘spam’ is most likely contributed to the fact that the server I play on is one of the largest servers in WoW. Now tradechat wasn’t just full of guild recruitment spam, there were a couple of messages that actually had to do with buying and selling items. However, after cross-checking prices posted in chat with the actual market value of those items these posts are complete ripoffs, sometimes halving or doubling prices in favor of the person doing the posting. Which brings to question, do people really fall for these posts and screw themselves over with those trades? How trusted can the posts in tradechat really be, and are people even concerned with harming their reputation through posting lies and scam trade-deals? How does this trade chat and its interactions differ from smaller to larger servers?
After fiddling around in trade-chat it was time to hop into voice chat with my healer buddy Artreezy and run some dungeons with randoms. The communication found in our voice chat is often quite toxic and annoying, however as soon as we go to running serious upper-level content a switch goes off and we are the polar opposite. I noticed it profoundly with Artreezy, he is a very annoying individual (by most people’s standards) constantly spamming memes, making weird noises and screeches, I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with him, but my golly I enjoy his company. However as soon as things get serious he becomes quiet and only speaks when a call out or misplay needs to be addressed. I on the other hand get quite loud and find myself making the majority of the commands and call-outs while we are clearing content. I wonder if this has to do with my role as the tank and his role as healer. The tank usually heads the group and is the one who decides what enemies are to be engaged, and where they are to be fought. Whereas the healer watches over everyone and makes sure they don’t die. Is this a common communication trend amongst healers and tanks?
Communication between strangers was a wee bit different in that it was more formal and polite. Joining a random a group we’d be greeted by a “Hi”, “hello”, “welcome”, and other polite greetings. I assume this is just a social norm that isn’t necessarily tied to the game itself, rather it’s tied to the fact that players don’t want to create a counterproductive, negative atmosphere in the group, because everyone wants to succeed. However, we did experience a couple of groups that had negative, uncooperative atmospheres, and those groups would for the most part fall apart and fail. Does the attitude you have towards your group affect the effectiveness at which you clear that content? Friendly discussion about the game sometimes occurred, as well as negative discussion on some broken, bugged or unbalanced part of the game. These conversations seem to be large contributors to how opinions or ideas are spread through the warcraft community. Which make them really important because it allows the developers to understand what issues the playerbase have with the game, and eventually may lead to those problems being fixed, balanced, or adjusted; ultimately improving the quality of the game and making it more enjoyable for everybody.
Kirah Shakoor ENC 1101 Revised Field Notes Assignment November 1, 2016
Professional Game Players Notes on the Smash community Smashboards Gamers young and older, from the noobs to the experienced, from the uncoordinated to the skilled; all of them can play the game super smash and all of them are accepted into the community of smashboards. The purpose of the website smashboards is to provide a community where gamers can join and talk about the game, learn about different events tournaments, and other players who play extremely well, with a chance of bettering themselves at the game. Smash is a game where players can choose between many different Nintendo characters from various video games and use them to fight each other in matches. The love of this game is the reason behind the creation of smashboards. Players come together and form their own competitions with set rules that everyone must abide by. I find this very interesting because it is very organized and everyone agrees upon the rules used in competition which is surprising since some of the rules seem a bit complicated and the players have to keep track of multiple factors throughout the game. Part of the reason why smashboards is such a good community is because the members help each other out. They have forums where members can ask different questions or discuss different topics and everyone is able to partake in the discussion. The topics can range from which character to choose as your main to which controller is better to use to which stage gives better advantages. I find this interesting because players give other players advice on just about every aspect of the game, they can be very helpful. It’s also intriguing how members will write guides for characters for others players to read, it’s so helpful to them because players get to learn about the characters’ moves and they learn of effects that they may not have learned by observing the game themselves. What I find surprising about the forums is that they have discussions about serious topics like feminism, philosophies, abortion, and discrimination; that’s not what I would think someone would find on a typical gaming website. Another thing that I find surprising is that the content of postings on forums is very strict; they can’t use certain words, or engage in conflict which I find extremely strange since most games are competitive and players will engage in arguments, “throw shade” and become “salty”; I didn’t expect a gaming website to be so strict and professional. Smashboards is a very welcoming website to people who want to join but personally I think that is a little more difficult than it seems considering that a new member has to learn to navigate the website and know what they are looking for. Apart from that smashboards is very accepting of new members because the members are helpful, informative, and they discuss more than just the game. It is a community that comes together but has bonded over a certain game.
Raymond Malanyaon ENC 1101-0M14 Tues. Revised Field Notes Assignment November 1, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
The users and members who browse and use Imgur daily are an interesting group in individuals. As an image sharing site itself, Imgur is much more than that. Certainly, the community is filled with members who enjoy uploaded photos, especially dank memes. Surprisingly, the community caters to a wide age group. Ranging from as young as 13 years old to old men in their 50’s, this community mixes and integrates all age groups. To my amazement, the atmosphere, generally, is positive. Though it is primarily an image sharing site, the comment section under each submission brings in a social aspect that makes Imgur a true community. Within the comment section, members try to embrace and promote a safe environment. The level of awareness and concern for each other makes it seem like that everyone is on good terms with each other. This aspect of Imgur is surprising. Negative and hateful post or comments may slip into the front page, where all members can browse. Despite that, the Imgurians try to bring logic and enforce the safe environment of status quo within the community.
The fact that this community is image-based with a heavy focus on the comment section aspect brings many disturbing outcomes. Outright not safe for work (NSFW) content can freely be posted. Though, as a default, members have to go to their settings and activate the NSFW filter. However, the fact that content such as racist jokes make front page and become popular among Imgur’s members is disturbing. There are members in this community who support this type of content, and it can create a hostile environment in the long road ahead of Imgur.
The diverse content posted to Imgur is fascinating within itself. From the community’s favorite, dank memes, to simple and cute animal postings, Imgur fosters a place where all content is allowed. To the members who post material, they do not worry about whether it is going to be liked by the community or not. The submission itself will bring in the members who enjoy that type of content. This is intriguing, as we will see a wide range of material posted. As stated before, hate material can be posted but this does not represent the Imgur community as a whole. The community will not usually voice their dislike on a topic. There seems to be a set of “invisible” rules within Imgur. For instance, if a post receives zero likes and no comments, it is implied that the posing made by the member is not worthy of being on Imgur. Through subtle activities within the community, submissions seem to be swayed by these set of “invisible” rules.
Brooke Klaiman ENC 1101 9:50pm-10:30pm Revised Field Notes Assignments November 3, 2016
Known for her showy style, beautiful voice, and being the lead star of Hanna Montana, Growing up Miley lived with her younger sister Noah, mother Letita Jean and father Billy Ray. Billy Ray is a well-known musician and sometimes actor, which had a huge influence on Mileys famous lifestyle she now lives. With her sense of humor and love for people as a kid and still till this day, her parents used to call Miley, smiley because she was always so happy that her presence would brighten a room. Once Miley’s fame grew she used her nickname and thought of her fans as her “Smilers.” Just like Miley’s family her fans are there to support her through good and bad. While researching Miley what surprised me was the foundation she started not to long ago. This foundation was called the Happy Hippie Foundation that had a mission to bring together young people and fight the many injustices people face till this day. The people that benefit from this foundation were mainly the homeless, LGBTQ and needy communities that just need a boost of positivity and help so maybe one day they can be the one helping others. After searching information about the Happy Hippie Foundation I soon became intrigued with how much her fans support her. Miley first became known from the Disney television show, Hanna Montana. Being a watcher myself, I was able to see how Miley was portrayed on the show and while at different award shows. This sweet and innocent looking Miley soon changed throughout the years. After just a few years of the series Hanna Montana ending, Miley became known for her crazy new performances, songs, and looks. This change of perception also led her into posting photos that all her fans would see, including smoking illegal substances. With this change that Miley made, her smilers were always there for her and supported her till this very day. Yes, the change wasn’t fully beneficial to MIiley but her fans didn’t care as long as she was happening and living her life. The disturbing part of Mileys fan base was how they know her every move meaning what she eats, where she is, and basically what she is doing at every second. For me, personal space and having things to myself is an important aspect of my life. I wouldn’t be okay with someone knowing my entire life or yet thousands of people. It is flattering that people want to know about Mileys life but at the same time it can be a tad bit crazy. As Miley still grows as a person, her smilers are able to see that which makes her fan base so amazing.
Everton Dennis Jr. ENC 1101 Revised Field Notes Assignment November 6, 2016
This month has been quite interesting in terms of eating at 63 South. As someone who eats there regularly, I was able to keep an eye out for anything that was intriguing to me. Believe it or not, there were plenty of things that caught my eye. There were some things that surprised me throughout the time that I was observing the diner. About two weeks ago, November 3rd to be exact, it was supper time and I was walking to 63 South with my roommate when we suddenly find numerous people standing outside of the diner. As we start getting closer, we notice some smoke coming out of the building and realize that there must have been a fire. It was not anything too serious because the building was fine; it was just a small fire on the grill. I found this surprising because you would expect a professional restaurant to be able to prevent fires from occurring. One thing that intrigued me was the fact that they stopped making smoothies in the morning. You are probably wondering why this is so important. The main reason is that they used to make smoothies everyday in the morning. Not only that, but they tasted great and very nutritious, which is very difficult to find nowadays. My roommate and I were very bothered by this so we asked the manager of the diner about this issue. It turns out that they stopped making smoothies everyday because there was always a long line for coffee. Basically, most of the time there was always one person behind the café section who was in charge of making coffee and making smoothies. So they decided that making coffee in the morning was more important than making smoothies. Therefore, they will only be making smoothies once a week from here on out. Now I like coffee so I didn’t mind this, but my roommate on the other hand, greatly despised this idea hence the fact that he doesn’t like coffee. Something that disturbed me had to do with the dirty dishes section of the diner. It was Halloween and they had the whole diner decorated according to this holiday. It was amusing to see the extent that they would go to decoration-wise. Lunch was the best that they have ever made before. They even had little Halloween deserts that enticed anybody that looked at it. Overall, it was a good day for 63 South… that is until the unexpected happened. That afternoon when I was finished eating, I walked over to the dirty dishes section to drop off my plate and I was astonished by what I witnessed. The whole section was overflowed with dirty dishes, silverware, cups, and even wasted food. It got so bad to the point that the plates were falling to the ground and people had to watch their steps. I felt sorry for whoever had to clean up that hell of a mess.
Kay Jakubski Prof. Longhany ENC 1101-0M14 Revised Field Notes Assignment 6 November 2016
I started my research on the EDM/Rave Community by looking into the history of EDM itself. I found information I had not previously known about how EDM started and when it started. In the 1980’s-90’s the disco movement faded out and electronic production started to take over the music industry. As technology was advancing, EDM became more mainstream as many different types of artists incorporated it into their songs. After knowing the history, I then looked into the people that listened to this genre of music. More specifically, I looked into the rave community. I found a group on Facebook called “East Coast Rave Community”. Since the rave community is huge and spans across many countries around the world, I decided to restrict the community to only the east coast of the US. In this communities Facebook page, people post about new music, new remixes to songs, and events (such as festivals, shows, and raves) going on in the east coast. I analyzed the data by scrolling through the discussion page and putting each post into a category, and writing down patterns that I see. To further add to my knowledge of the rave community, I attended one of the biggest EDM festivals in Orlando over the weekend, called Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). EDC is a two-day festival hosting many well known DJ’s and is located in a huge venue with three different stages, and many amusement park rides. While I was there I gained a lot of knowledge first hand, that I would not have learned just by researching the community online. What surprised me most was how many older couples I saw throughout the days. The majority of the rave community consists of the younger generation, so it shocked me to see middle-aged people in the crowd dancing to EDM music. Fashion plays a huge part in attending a festival or rave. People (mostly women) are commonly concerned what they should wear to these types of events. Most people would think that every girl is typically wearing skimpy clothing, but what intrigued me was that there is a huge variety in what people wear. People come to these festivals to express themselves, and with that being said, people wear some crazy stuff. For example, one of my friends wore a cape, crocs, and a penguin hat, and she got so many compliments throughout the night. On the other hand, the typical girl would usually wear a crop top, rave shorts, and converse, as open toed shoes are very dangerous at raves. Rave culture is commonly paired with drug influence. As I was going through the days, I could definitely tell that some people were hyped up on drugs, and that made me feel unsettled. I don’t see the reason for having to do drugs to have fun, and it made me uneasy at times when some people would act crazy from being on drugs. At Sunset Music Festival (SMF), a person died from overdosing on drugs, and this just goes to show how serious misuse of drug consumption can be. Of course not everyone that goes to festivals are on drugs, as I've talked to people who swear against it at EDC.
There are very few jobs left in the world that incorporate highly distinguished levels of craftsmanship with fluid cohesiveness between hundreds of workers. Yet, custom home building seamlessly blends these principles of trade as well as many others, making it one of the most unique industries in the American economy. To understand this area of work more in depth it is essential to analyze the key backbone of the industry itself, the job sight. The job sight of a multi million dollar custom home/remodel parallels to that of none other in the entire construction sector. On the job foreman and head contractors must devise and outline a plan for the build that sub contracts jobs to the right workers, collects enough material within the budget for the house, pulls city required permits and obtains other necessary legalities, and stays on schedule during the entire building process. While all of this goes on individual workers such as carpenters, painters, electricians, and plumbers must work meticulously in order to adhere to the expectations of buyers in the million dollar housing market. Nevertheless, there is a key communicative value within this high strung blue collar community that is important to note. On the job sight in particular, workers in a variety of different fields are in constant communication. For the most part the communication serves a clarification purpose as it is used to figure out when one worker has finished there aspect of their job so the other worker can come in and begin his. For example, a painter often has to wait for the carpenter to be finished creating and installing doors, crown molding, and baseboard for the house before he/she can begin painting. Thus, painters will usually frequently contact the foreman to ask if the carpenter is finished in which the foreman contacts the carpenter to ask for himself and reports back to the painter. This process is fairly routine in the world of custom home construction and continues throughout the building of the home.
Frank St. John ENC 1101-0M14 7:00pm-8:30pm Revised Field Notes Assignments November 6, 2016
It’s been about 6 years since I’ve been a somewhat part of the dungeons and dragons community, or “adventurers” as they call themselves, so I was definitely excited to see just how much has changed. After spending an extensive time in the the D&D subreddit, I was surprised by the amount of fantasy tales shared amongst players. These were intricately detailed stories with menacing antagonists, in depth conflict resolution, and heroic acts of bravery. After a couple posts, I began to realize these were just interesting stories worth sharing, they were detailed accounts of all the events that occur in game! With detailed content this captivating and original, I knew there was only one thing to do, actually view a game for myself! I called a co-worker of mine, someone who has been very active in the D&D community for years, if I could sit in on a game for this project. Something I’ve noticed about this community is they are extremely inviting, because he immediately refused my request to watch, and stated I must play the game with them to fully grasp the true experience. I accepted his offer and we met at his friend's house. I was at first intimated the large number of books and dice provided to me. But after some short explaining, I was able to wrap my mind around the rules and we got straight to playing. The game functions like this: the dungeon master, who controls the entire ingame world (full of interesting characters, monsters, and magic), and creates obstacles for the “party” (the remaining group of players) to overcome so they may complete a predetermined objective. The whole game functions as a turn based interactive narrative. There was a variety of things that intrigued me. The first thing that was there are no pieces or board required at all play to this tabletop game! The game is an “RPG “ or Role Playing Game, meaning the game took place entirely in our collective imagination, therefore clear and constant communication is required. The second thing was my “character” (my avatar in game) was allowed to do literally anything within reason. You would think a game that allows you to do anything, would have a highly intricate rule system, however it’s quite the contrary. In the most basic of terms, you declare what your character wants to do, then a dice is rolled. Based on the difficulty of the action, you must roll high enough to have successfully executed the action within the world. The third thing, was the genuine bonding experience that occurred between me and these 3 other people I’ve never met before, due to intense teamwork and communication required to succeed within the game. No wonder the community is so tightly knit. They’ve battle alongside each other for years! Lastly there were a few things that disturbed me, since the game allows anything to be done, I’ve in forums of some pretty deplorable actions taken in game by players who choose to use the game as a method of living out twisted fantasies. thankfully , these members are immediately banned from joining the majority of groups, or join a group that allows such behavior. Another thing that didn't necessarily disturb me, but I found peculiar nonetheless, was the vast amount of knowledge some community members have for entirely fictional material. The amount of information within the game such as, monster traits, spell functionality, and mythic lore, is ridiculously extensive (hundreds of pages), so the fact that some of these players have memorized all of it simply blows my mind.
A broader aspect of LoL and its community that spawned out of this seriousness for gaming is Esports. Esports was created long before LoL, but over the course of LoL’s existence, it has become the most popular game for Esports. I recently viewed a stream for the World Championship of LoL where teams from all over the world compete for the title. What astonished me about the event was the sheer number of people present at the actual stadium. There were fifteen thousand screaming fans. The only related experience I could draw on was watching Orlando City soccer games. LoL fans are no different from regular sports fans: people communicating about common interests. When differentiating between Esports as a non-sport and soccer as a sport, the community revolts. I performed a test about this discrimination before a match in a lobby. The severe amount of backlash I received rivaled protesting at a Trump rally. Community members hold LoL tightly to their heart.
League of Legends spawned out of Riot Games seven years ago. Seven years ago, nothing of the sort had ever been attempted. So, everyone leaped at the opportunity to be a part of this community. League of Legends has since become a game attracting all ages and has formed a diverse community. Even the pioneers of LoL are still playing today.
Daneka Gibson ENC 1101-0M14 1:00-2:30pm Revised Field Notes Assignment November 5, 2016
Beyoncé Beyhive When I began my research, I started by google searching the “beyhive fan club” the first thing that that immediately came up was the Beyhive Forum. Once you click on the website link you are greeted by a humongous picture or mural of Beyoncé mid performance. I was pleasantly not surprised cause I expected Beyoncé, Beyoncé and more Beyoncé. But before you can go any further into the forum as always with a big fan club you must since up and basically confess your life to the life of fan girling over all the things Beyoncé does on a daily basis. I was surprised about how much information one can gather about one person on a daily. These so-called fans dig up so much about Beyoncé, her family, her dancer, her stylist, all the way down to the type of water she drinks when she goes on tour. While going through the forum, you see all kinds of stuff about her personally. Most people where posting pictures of her as a baby or as a child that I don’t even has eve touched the internet outside of the forum. They have pictures her mom and dad dating back to days before they were even together and Beyoncé was even thought of. What Intrigued me was how hard her fans go to protect her and her brand. One thing I learned while reading and analyzing the forum and I knew prior seeing it on social media is that the Beyhive DOES NOT play when it comes to Beyoncé. Anybody that comes for Beyoncé on social media they will literally drag them to the filth. I look at it like the beyhive has super powers because they will literally find out everything personal about you and if you have a skeleton in the closet they will expose it out on social media just for coming their Queen.
Erin Moats ENC – 1101 Revised Field Notes November 4th, 2016
The glossy floors of the second story of the Rosen College office building practically glistened, while professionally dressed businessmen and women cross occasionally with looks of determination and strides of confidence. The clacking of the Student Services secretary’s fingers over the keys as she responded to emails added to the sounds. A young woman, I assume around her early thirties approached me with a polite smile and an outstretched hand. In keeping up with my hospitality based background, I was used to this type of greeting, as I was usually the one supplying it to others. The woman was kind and offered for me to shadow her to the board meeting. From the arrangement, I had set up, this was supposed to be led by the many members of the Entertainment Management Major Board of Advisors at the Rosen College of Hospitality, where I currently attend as an Entertainment Management major myself. Following the woman, now knowing her as Karen, I kept up with her brisk pace down a few hallways of meeting rooms to one with the door propped open. From just outside, I could hear several voices engaged in conversations while a smell of coffee was clinging to the air around me.
Once we entered the board room, I took note of several familiar faces. Many of these members, while famous in their respective fields, were known to me as my professors. Greeting the head of the department and my personal favorite professor, Mr. Ron Logan, with an eager handshake and a general hello and thank you for the opportunity, was my first move. To my surprise, Mr. Logan gave a big smile and proceeded to show me to my seat personally. Through the course of the meeting, I took note of many of the playful antics tossed between the members of the board while addressing the courses and major. The whole meeting lasted a little over an hour and was genuinely one of the most eye-opening experiences career-wise, that I have been exposed to thus far. Taking in the questions, I added many notes and refined them to a few, more specific inquiries.
As this was just the first phase of our field notes to narrative piece, I kept my questions to a minimum and focused more so on being aware of the surroundings that I was placed in and the emotions and feelings they triggered during. This was a bit of a struggle as the people in this meeting were and are the heroes of my career and hobby based life. I feel that it expanded my field of learning and understanding to include more background research skills.
Talia Zilberstein ENC 1101 Revised Field Notes Assignments November 6, 2016
One Direction is known to be one of the most popular and well-liked bands of all time. The band consists of 5 gentlemen who go by the names of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik. The group signed had signed with Simon Cowell’s record label “Syco Records” in 2010. Right before the group had signed, they were competing on the TV show “X-Factor”. The boy band finished in third in the seventh series of the very famous television show and soon became a sensation. Their social media accounts had become an international success, gaining millions of followers and attention. Between The United States and Great Britain the boys have over 3,000,000 loyal fans. Forbes has ranked them the 4th highest earning celebrities in the world, topping at almost 130 million in a year. One of their largest fan bases is a group called “ The DIrectioners”. A directioner is a person who is not only obsessed, but extremely dedicated to the band. They are said to know more about the One Direction boys than they do about themselves. They spend hours watching YouTube videos of these boys and even understand all of their inside jokes. What makes the directioners special is that they are brought together by their love and dedication of anything and everything that the boys do. I find that very special because of the way it connects and bonds people from completely different backgrounds all over the world. To become a “directioner” one must: know everything about One Direction, love everything about every single boy, know the lyrics to all songs, and be familiar with all important dates related to the band. There are four types of directioners. There is the obsessive, there from the start, creative, everyday, and closet types of directioners. The intentions of The Directioners are very good. This group brings together all types of people, from all different places, with all types of backgrounds who most likely would not communicate or interact with each other otherwise. Today, there is a lot of racism and stereotypical judgment that gets in the way of people from all different races interacting with one another. So personally, I really believe that the whole concept of this community is a very good way to mix people with totally different lifestyles together with one goal, which is to love One Direction.
Israel Soria ENC 1101-0012 Revised Field Notes Assignment November 6, 2016 7:00P.M., Wednesday, October 26, 2016 Greetings Summoner! Notes on the League of Legends Community I began my notes by launching the game client and pressing the “Launch” button. I log in and there are two tabs off to the side of the main screen. The current tab is the default one where new announcements are shown and community projects are displayed for everyone to view. I noticed that many of these projects can range from exceptional fan art that the community creates, stunning recreations of the many champions one can play, and many videos that the community creates for entertainment. The other tab is temporary and showcases many highlights and information on the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) games. What surprised me the most is how immerse the community is. I noticed that there are many sub categories within the community such as those who play competitively versus those who do not and people who follow the LCS teams versus those that don’t. When watching one of these competitive games one can see the large fan base in the audience supporting their favorite teams by cheering them on and by dressing up. This also intrigued me as I never realized how much people were dedicated to this game and how much support they had for it. Many fans from the community have shown their love for the game by either creating artwork of their favorite characters or have created detailed costumes of a character. Also the amount of support that goes into the LCS community is intriguing due to the large fan base that express their support for their favorite teams. I remember watching the finals for the competition this year as the audience roared whenever massive plays happened on stage. People in the audience wore team shirts or painted themselves in team colors just like many sporting competitions. It made me realized just how dedicated some people in the community were. However, some of this enthusiasm kind of disturbed me also as there are some players that are simply too into the game. Some players play excessively for days on end and forget about other responsibilities. Also what disturbs me is that a couple of times one will encounter someone who is “toxic” in game. This means that the player will try to verbally harass either teammates or the enemy. Some even go as far as intentionally dying to the enemy to make the game less enjoyable for his team. Why would people go that far to make the game less enjoyable for others? Others try to hack the game to try to ensure their victory which makes it unfair for the enemy team. Things like this I found appalling. Thankfully the community can report these players to make the game experience better for the community.
Shaquille Marcano-Quiles Professor Joseph Longhany ENC 1101 November 6, 2016 The Knight Library Field Note Report (Take 1) When you walk into a room that is practically empty and is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop, it is a "do not enter" sign that is telling you not to waist your time. However, if you see a building that is full of raging drunks having the time of their lives and it is only 10 pm, entering is not even a question. For "research", I decided to take the latter. The Knight Library or "Library" for short, is a modernized club and bar that is known for its sticky floors, belligerent, and the best memories one can ever create. The Library is the UCF college students' way to take the stress that they are given in their classes and exchange it for the best fun someone can ever have. The Library brings together all of the components that a college student loves in one building: music, atmosphere and excitement. Being brand new to college scene, it was the duty of a novice to figure out the secrets of what The Library has to offer.
As I began my quest into what is known as "UCF's greatest club", I started my notes with all of the processes that on would have to go through before actually entering the club. To begin, security immediately asks for the patron's identification card to verify that they are over the age of 18 which automatically makes your entrance fee to be 10 dollars. However, if you are 21 and over, the price reduces to 7 dollars due to the fact that one would be spending money on drinks, unlike the underaged patron. In order to identify that one is over 21 in the club, the individual is given a band and is asked to show the band to the bartender when purchasing a drink. This is actually a gret way to make purchase swift and easier. Once you pass outside security, the real excitement trully begins.
You take your first step into the club and all hell breaks loose. You turn to the left and it is the club's bathrooms with lines overflowing in the girl's restroom. Turn your head to the right and there are 3 security guards sitting on stools overseeing the club like gargoyles on the top of a cathedral. You look forward, and the overflowing crowd of people really give you the feeling that you are not there to lounge around. Music is bumping and the hairs on your arms stand at attention. The rhythms and rhymes of the trap, house and grind music take you to a whole 'nother dimension. As you walk closer and closer to the crowd, you find yourself becoming one with this being of excitement and exilleration. The music builds, the blood rushing through your veins and your heart wanting to jump out of your chest brings you to the conclusion that something is about to happen that changes your college life forever. Then, their is a silence. A quick second for you to realize that you are with your friends and you are about to make the best memories you will never forget. The DJ drops the bass and the night has offically begun.
The world of music is so large and diverse that it’s safe to say there is something out there for everyone. But there’s a stereotype that goes along with some music, such as pop music sung by boybands. In the 1960s we were given The Beatles, in the 90’s there were The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. But in 2010 a new boyband was in charge. One Direction, now considered the biggest boyband in the world, were formed in 2010 on the British talent show X-Factor. Then in 2012 when the band released their first album they took the world by storm. Within five years they have released five albums and have gone on four world tours. But One Direction would be nothing without their dedicated fan base called “Directioners.”
ReplyDeleteI first researched the fandom on social media and was truly surprised by the mass of fan accounts. Thousands of One Direction fans invade the internet. They post on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and create various other websites dedicated to the pop band. It is on these sites where the fans can connect with one another and express their admiration for the band. Directioners are also able to follow the members of the band allowing them to keep up to date with the boys and what they are doing. An intriguing aspect of the fandom I discovered was the large amount of writing the fans do. Writing called “fan fiction” seems to be a very popular creative outlet for the fans. Through writing they put themselves in a fictional world with the boys allowing them to imagine what it would be like to personally know the boys. To some this may seem disturbing or obsessive but it seems no different than any other fictional writing.
While the fan accounts and fanfiction appear innocent, there is a much darker side of this fandom. I began to realize how possessive Directioners were over their favorite members, so possessive in fact that any time a member had a girlfriend she received an obscene amount of hate. Rude comments are left on their social media and they may even receive death threats from fans. This is easily the most distributing part of the fandom and although it is a smaller percentage of Directioners that participate in these activities it gives all Directioners a bad reputation. But to be fair we cannot stereotype all Dirctioners by assuming they are all crazy, obsessive preteen girls. There truly are fans at all ages both male and female. That is the beauty of music, it brings people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds together for a common purpose. The common purpose being to enjoy the music and support the band.
Sights Fit for a Princess
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney World has four theme parks, and all four of them are so cleverly themed that I forgot that I was actually in Florida when I went to make my first observation. The Magic Kingdom was the first park created and is arguably the most beautiful. It welcomes guests with the sight of Cinderella's Castle. The beautiful structure dwarfs guest with its gold-painted towers, stained glass windows, and detailed brick work. That first impression of the park can be seen before guests even enter it. Guests park their cars at parking lot miles from the park and either take a monorail or a ferry boat to get to the Magic Kingdom. This built up the excitement for me because I was able to see Cinderella’s Castle get bigger and bigger the closer I got to the park. Upon my arrival, I walked down Main Street, U.S,A,, a place filled with shops designed to look like an old American town. Friendly employees greeted me with a smile and by waving at me with Mickey Mouse gloves. Disney is a place for the young and young-at-heart, so employees pay special attention to children. I noticed that they would bend down to talk to a child instead of staring down at them. They would also hand out stickers to children and call the little girls “princesses”.
One thing that immediately impressed me was the cleanliness of the park. Despite the fact that tens of thousands of guests walk through it daily, the park is impeccably clean due to the constant presence of custodial workers and the large number of trashcans. Litter does not linger in the Magic Kingdom. Music was also always present. Even at the parking lot, called the Transportation and Ticket Center, instrumental and upbeat music was playing. At the park, the style of music would change depending on what land I was in. For example, Fantasyland, themed like a medieval kingdom, used a lot of violins in the music whereas Frontierland, themed like the American Old West, had banjos playing.
The park even smelled good as well. The Main Street Ice Cream Parlor smelled sweet and delicious while the Frontierland turkey leg cart smelled like mouth-watering meat. At night, the park was lit up like a Christmas tree. Cinderella’s Castle changed colors and Tomorrowland had bright LED lights that gave it a futuristic look. Just like employees wished me a good morning at the beginning of the day, they wished me a good night at the end of the day. It is no surprise to me that millions of families flock to Walt Disney World for vacation every year. Being in a place that makes the stresses of the real world disappear due to amazing theming makes Disney a place that is fun to observe and easy to enjoy.
Sarah Miller
ReplyDeleteENC1101
Revised Field Notes Assignments
October 28, 2016
As I started to research the Pretty Little Liars Army, I began to explore the characteristics that construct the army into one family. To start, I looked up PLL Army on facebook and observed and analyzed the pages that came up. Specific information that stood out to me was that the fan base communicates through posts on Facebook in order to retrieve recognition from each other and possibly the actors in the show. I noticed many of the fans also post saying, “like for a like.” I started to wonder, “Why do these fans want recognition?”, “What makes social media so powerful to their fan base?” Looking through Facebook, I also saw the term, “ship”, a numerous amount of times. I researched on urban dictionary what ship means, I found that ship means- short for romantic relationship, popularized in fan fiction circles. It intrigues me how relationships and “ships” are a major part of this army. It seems that this aspect contributes to an important part of one of the motives of being in the PLL Army.
In Pretty Little Liars, there are many “ships” and certain ships are favored more than others. For example, I saw twice as many pictures of Aria and Ezra on one of the Facebook pages while seeing less of Spencer and Caleb. I did not see the fans obsessing over the PLL boys as much as I expected. I was surprised to not see the fans drooling over Ezra, Toby, and Caleb, as much as I thought they would be. This makes me question the fans intentions, do they love to see the characters together (shipped) or do they want to see them single and therefore available to the public on the show and in real life? Do the fans vicariously live through the relationships of the characters on the T.V show, or do they follow the characters romance off of the show? Are they part of the army because of the “hot boys?”
Something common that I found throughout all of the social media was that they all know certain language or share a bond through knowing secrets about the show or beliefs about where the next episode is going. For example, I saw conversation on a post determining the difference of certain characters, such as black swan and black veil. I do not know what that means but simply because I am not a consistent watcher of the show. This leads me to wonder, what makes one in the PLL Army? A supporter of the show who has social media to show their devotion or someone who simply watches it?
Still searching for more, I log onto twitter and search a PLL Army page. On this page there are 288 people following and 2,763 followers. I notice there is a lot of communicating through different fan pages and a lot of mentions. What I have gathered is that the army supports each other and are not envy or jealous of each other as other fandoms are. This also makes me question the intentions of being in the PLL Army and what their main goals and aspirations obtain. I also found that the communication between the cast/producers and the fans is very important. I noticed that during each episode, the cast is interactive with the fans and is asking how they feel about the episode. Over all what I have witnessed is that there is a great connection between the PLL Army and the cast, which is very important and because it shows that the love between the cast and fan base is mutual, unlike many fandoms which is disturbing.
Katie Palmer
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M14
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 2, 2016
The Planner’s Lounge: Behind the Scenes of Weddings and Events
Debbie Orwat has been planning weddings and other events for over ten years. When she was first starting her career, she craved knowledge. She wanted to know everything there was to know about wedding planning; she wanted to be the best she could be in that field. However, at that time, social media was not yet a big deal, so there weren’t very many solid communities for wedding planners to share their experiences and advice. Instead, Debbie attended educational conferences, read books, worked with coaches, and planned over 200 event to gain experience. She decided to share all she’s learned about the industry with aspiring wedding and event planners so they would have the place to learn that she never had; the Planner’s Lounge was born.
The Planner’s Lounge (plannerslounge.com) is a website open to the public. It is geared towards all event planners, but as I explored the site, I noticed that there seems to be a special focus on wedding planners. It looked as if the main attraction on the website was the blog. The blog was filled with articles on all kinds of topics relating to weddings and events. These ranged from shining a spotlight on event planners who started their business after the age of 40 to the importance of having a Plan B. As I moved from page to page on the Planner’s Lounge website, I noticed that there were tons of accessible pages of information that would be beneficial to anyone in the event industry, not just those starting out. I was enjoying reading bits and pieces as I toured the website. As someone who is pursuing a career in the event industry, this is certainly a website I will be frequenting throughout my career.
There was only one feature on the website that was a bummer for me, the VIP Lounge. The VIP (Very Important Planners) Lounge is a forum those in the industry can use to communicate with one another. It seems like an awesome place to share stories and ideas and help each other out. It was a bummer for me because, to access the forum, I would have to purchase a membership. Because I had no membership, I couldn’t explore this part of the community yet.
One thing that was surprising to me was that Debbie is still very involved in the website. From what I’ve seen, she has replied to almost all the comments that are left on the blog posts. She had this idea of sharing her experiences and advice with whomever wanted it, and she brought her idea to life. That is very admirable. Debbie doesn’t feel the need to keep secrets to herself; she wants everyone to learn and grow. The slogan at the top of all the pages on the Planner’s Lounge reads: The Event Planners Community Planners Lounge- relax, talk, learn, inspire. This represents the Planner’s Lounge perfectly.
Lars Gustaf Jiborn
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 1, 2016
A Surprisingly Pleasant Gaming Community:
Notes on Playing in the World of Warcraft Community
I begin the field observations with simply logging into the game and entering the world on my main character ’Muushoo’, a level 110[max level] pandaren[panda-people race] monk brewmaster. The first observation would be the trade-chat window constantly being spammed by ‘guild recruitment messages’, in which a guild simply states that they are looking for members that are down for x difficulty of content and what players they are looking for: i.e melee DPS (melee damage dealers), or healers. The reason that this chat window is so full with ‘spam’ is most likely contributed to the fact that the server I play on is one of the largest servers in WoW. Now tradechat wasn’t just full of guild recruitment spam, there were a couple of messages that actually had to do with buying and selling items. However, after cross-checking prices posted in chat with the actual market value of those items these posts are complete ripoffs, sometimes halving or doubling prices in favor of the person doing the posting. Which brings to question, do people really fall for these posts and screw themselves over with those trades? How trusted can the posts in tradechat really be, and are people even concerned with harming their reputation through posting lies and scam trade-deals? How does this trade chat and its interactions differ from smaller to larger servers?
After fiddling around in trade-chat it was time to hop into voice chat with my healer buddy Artreezy and run some dungeons with randoms. The communication found in our voice chat is often quite toxic and annoying, however as soon as we go to running serious upper-level content a switch goes off and we are the polar opposite. I noticed it profoundly with Artreezy, he is a very annoying individual (by most people’s standards) constantly spamming memes, making weird noises and screeches, I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with him, but my golly I enjoy his company. However as soon as things get serious he becomes quiet and only speaks when a call out or misplay needs to be addressed. I on the other hand get quite loud and find myself making the majority of the commands and call-outs while we are clearing content. I wonder if this has to do with my role as the tank and his role as healer. The tank usually heads the group and is the one who decides what enemies are to be engaged, and where they are to be fought. Whereas the healer watches over everyone and makes sure they don’t die. Is this a common communication trend amongst healers and tanks?
Communication between strangers was a wee bit different in that it was more formal and polite. Joining a random a group we’d be greeted by a “Hi”, “hello”, “welcome”, and other polite greetings. I assume this is just a social norm that isn’t necessarily tied to the game itself, rather it’s tied to the fact that players don’t want to create a counterproductive, negative atmosphere in the group, because everyone wants to succeed. However, we did experience a couple of groups that had negative, uncooperative atmospheres, and those groups would for the most part fall apart and fail. Does the attitude you have towards your group affect the effectiveness at which you clear that content? Friendly discussion about the game sometimes occurred, as well as negative discussion on some broken, bugged or unbalanced part of the game. These conversations seem to be large contributors to how opinions or ideas are spread through the warcraft community. Which make them really important because it allows the developers to understand what issues the playerbase have with the game, and eventually may lead to those problems being fixed, balanced, or adjusted; ultimately improving the quality of the game and making it more enjoyable for everybody.
Kirah Shakoor
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 1, 2016
Professional Game Players
Notes on the Smash community Smashboards
Gamers young and older, from the noobs to the experienced, from the uncoordinated to the skilled; all of them can play the game super smash and all of them are accepted into the community of smashboards. The purpose of the website smashboards is to provide a community where gamers can join and talk about the game, learn about different events tournaments, and other players who play extremely well, with a chance of bettering themselves at the game.
Smash is a game where players can choose between many different Nintendo characters from various video games and use them to fight each other in matches. The love of this game is the reason behind the creation of smashboards. Players come together and form their own competitions with set rules that everyone must abide by. I find this very interesting because it is very organized and everyone agrees upon the rules used in competition which is surprising since some of the rules seem a bit complicated and the players have to keep track of multiple factors throughout the game.
Part of the reason why smashboards is such a good community is because the members help each other out. They have forums where members can ask different questions or discuss different topics and everyone is able to partake in the discussion. The topics can range from which character to choose as your main to which controller is better to use to which stage gives better advantages. I find this interesting because players give other players advice on just about every aspect of the game, they can be very helpful. It’s also intriguing how members will write guides for characters for others players to read, it’s so helpful to them because players get to learn about the characters’ moves and they learn of effects that they may not have learned by observing the game themselves. What I find surprising about the forums is that they have discussions about serious topics like feminism, philosophies, abortion, and discrimination; that’s not what I would think someone would find on a typical gaming website. Another thing that I find surprising is that the content of postings on forums is very strict; they can’t use certain words, or engage in conflict which I find extremely strange since most games are competitive and players will engage in arguments, “throw shade” and become “salty”; I didn’t expect a gaming website to be so strict and professional.
Smashboards is a very welcoming website to people who want to join but personally I think that is a little more difficult than it seems considering that a new member has to learn to navigate the website and know what they are looking for. Apart from that smashboards is very accepting of new members because the members are helpful, informative, and they discuss more than just the game. It is a community that comes together but has bonded over a certain game.
Raymond Malanyaon
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M14
Tues.
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 1, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
The users and members who browse and use Imgur daily are an interesting group in individuals. As an image sharing site itself, Imgur is much more than that. Certainly, the community is filled with members who enjoy uploaded photos, especially dank memes. Surprisingly, the community caters to a wide age group. Ranging from as young as 13 years old to old men in their 50’s, this community mixes and integrates all age groups. To my amazement, the atmosphere, generally, is positive. Though it is primarily an image sharing site, the comment section under each submission brings in a social aspect that makes Imgur a true community. Within the comment section, members try to embrace and promote a safe environment. The level of awareness and concern for each other makes it seem like that everyone is on good terms with each other. This aspect of Imgur is surprising. Negative and hateful post or comments may slip into the front page, where all members can browse. Despite that, the Imgurians try to bring logic and enforce the safe environment of status quo within the community.
The fact that this community is image-based with a heavy focus on the comment section aspect brings many disturbing outcomes. Outright not safe for work (NSFW) content can freely be posted. Though, as a default, members have to go to their settings and activate the NSFW filter. However, the fact that content such as racist jokes make front page and become popular among Imgur’s members is disturbing. There are members in this community who support this type of content, and it can create a hostile environment in the long road ahead of Imgur.
The diverse content posted to Imgur is fascinating within itself. From the community’s favorite, dank memes, to simple and cute animal postings, Imgur fosters a place where all content is allowed. To the members who post material, they do not worry about whether it is going to be liked by the community or not. The submission itself will bring in the members who enjoy that type of content. This is intriguing, as we will see a wide range of material posted. As stated before, hate material can be posted but this does not represent the Imgur community as a whole. The community will not usually voice their dislike on a topic. There seems to be a set of “invisible” rules within Imgur. For instance, if a post receives zero likes and no comments, it is implied that the posing made by the member is not worthy of being on Imgur. Through subtle activities within the community, submissions seem to be swayed by these set of “invisible” rules.
Brooke Klaiman
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
9:50pm-10:30pm
Revised Field Notes Assignments
November 3, 2016
Known for her showy style, beautiful voice, and being the lead star of Hanna Montana, Growing up Miley lived with her younger sister Noah, mother Letita Jean and father Billy Ray. Billy Ray is a well-known musician and sometimes actor, which had a huge influence on Mileys famous lifestyle she now lives. With her sense of humor and love for people as a kid and still till this day, her parents used to call Miley, smiley because she was always so happy that her presence would brighten a room. Once Miley’s fame grew she used her nickname and thought of her fans as her “Smilers.” Just like Miley’s family her fans are there to support her through good and bad. While researching Miley what surprised me was the foundation she started not to long ago. This foundation was called the Happy Hippie Foundation that had a mission to bring together young people and fight the many injustices people face till this day. The people that benefit from this foundation were mainly the homeless, LGBTQ and needy communities that just need a boost of positivity and help so maybe one day they can be the one helping others.
After searching information about the Happy Hippie Foundation I soon became intrigued with how much her fans support her. Miley first became known from the Disney television show, Hanna Montana. Being a watcher myself, I was able to see how Miley was portrayed on the show and while at different award shows. This sweet and innocent looking Miley soon changed throughout the years. After just a few years of the series Hanna Montana ending, Miley became known for her crazy new performances, songs, and looks. This change of perception also led her into posting photos that all her fans would see, including smoking illegal substances. With this change that Miley made, her smilers were always there for her and supported her till this very day. Yes, the change wasn’t fully beneficial to MIiley but her fans didn’t care as long as she was happening and living her life. The disturbing part of Mileys fan base was how they know her every move meaning what she eats, where she is, and basically what she is doing at every second. For me, personal space and having things to myself is an important aspect of my life. I wouldn’t be okay with someone knowing my entire life or yet thousands of people. It is flattering that people want to know about Mileys life but at the same time it can be a tad bit crazy. As Miley still grows as a person, her smilers are able to see that which makes her fan base so amazing.
Everton Dennis Jr.
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 6, 2016
This month has been quite interesting in terms of eating at 63 South. As someone who eats there regularly, I was able to keep an eye out for anything that was intriguing to me. Believe it or not, there were plenty of things that caught my eye. There were some things that surprised me throughout the time that I was observing the diner. About two weeks ago, November 3rd to be exact, it was supper time and I was walking to 63 South with my roommate when we suddenly find numerous people standing outside of the diner. As we start getting closer, we notice some smoke coming out of the building and realize that there must have been a fire. It was not anything too serious because the building was fine; it was just a small fire on the grill. I found this surprising because you would expect a professional restaurant to be able to prevent fires from occurring.
One thing that intrigued me was the fact that they stopped making smoothies in the morning. You are probably wondering why this is so important. The main reason is that they used to make smoothies everyday in the morning. Not only that, but they tasted great and very nutritious, which is very difficult to find nowadays. My roommate and I were very bothered by this so we asked the manager of the diner about this issue. It turns out that they stopped making smoothies everyday because there was always a long line for coffee. Basically, most of the time there was always one person behind the café section who was in charge of making coffee and making smoothies. So they decided that making coffee in the morning was more important than making smoothies. Therefore, they will only be making smoothies once a week from here on out. Now I like coffee so I didn’t mind this, but my roommate on the other hand, greatly despised this idea hence the fact that he doesn’t like coffee.
Something that disturbed me had to do with the dirty dishes section of the diner. It was Halloween and they had the whole diner decorated according to this holiday. It was amusing to see the extent that they would go to decoration-wise. Lunch was the best that they have ever made before. They even had little Halloween deserts that enticed anybody that looked at it. Overall, it was a good day for 63 South… that is until the unexpected happened. That afternoon when I was finished eating, I walked over to the dirty dishes section to drop off my plate and I was astonished by what I witnessed. The whole section was overflowed with dirty dishes, silverware, cups, and even wasted food. It got so bad to the point that the plates were falling to the ground and people had to watch their steps. I felt sorry for whoever had to clean up that hell of a mess.
Kay Jakubski
ReplyDeleteProf. Longhany
ENC 1101-0M14
Revised Field Notes Assignment
6 November 2016
I started my research on the EDM/Rave Community by looking into the history of EDM itself. I found information I had not previously known about how EDM started and when it started. In the 1980’s-90’s the disco movement faded out and electronic production started to take over the music industry. As technology was advancing, EDM became more mainstream as many different types of artists incorporated it into their songs. After knowing the history, I then looked into the people that listened to this genre of music. More specifically, I looked into the rave community. I found a group on Facebook called “East Coast Rave Community”. Since the rave community is huge and spans across many countries around the world, I decided to restrict the community to only the east coast of the US. In this communities Facebook page, people post about new music, new remixes to songs, and events (such as festivals, shows, and raves) going on in the east coast. I analyzed the data by scrolling through the discussion page and putting each post into a category, and writing down patterns that I see.
To further add to my knowledge of the rave community, I attended one of the biggest EDM festivals in Orlando over the weekend, called Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). EDC is a two-day festival hosting many well known DJ’s and is located in a huge venue with three different stages, and many amusement park rides. While I was there I gained a lot of knowledge first hand, that I would not have learned just by researching the community online. What surprised me most was how many older couples I saw throughout the days. The majority of the rave community consists of the younger generation, so it shocked me to see middle-aged people in the crowd dancing to EDM music.
Fashion plays a huge part in attending a festival or rave. People (mostly women) are commonly concerned what they should wear to these types of events. Most people would think that every girl is typically wearing skimpy clothing, but what intrigued me was that there is a huge variety in what people wear. People come to these festivals to express themselves, and with that being said, people wear some crazy stuff. For example, one of my friends wore a cape, crocs, and a penguin hat, and she got so many compliments throughout the night. On the other hand, the typical girl would usually wear a crop top, rave shorts, and converse, as open toed shoes are very dangerous at raves.
Rave culture is commonly paired with drug influence. As I was going through the days, I could definitely tell that some people were hyped up on drugs, and that made me feel unsettled. I don’t see the reason for having to do drugs to have fun, and it made me uneasy at times when some people would act crazy from being on drugs. At Sunset Music Festival (SMF), a person died from overdosing on drugs, and this just goes to show how serious misuse of drug consumption can be. Of course not everyone that goes to festivals are on drugs, as I've talked to people who swear against it at EDC.
There are very few jobs left in the world that incorporate highly distinguished levels of craftsmanship with fluid cohesiveness between hundreds of workers. Yet, custom home building seamlessly blends these principles of trade as well as many others, making it one of the most unique industries in the American economy. To understand this area of work more in depth it is essential to analyze the key backbone of the industry itself, the job sight. The job sight of a multi million dollar custom home/remodel parallels to that of none other in the entire construction sector. On the job foreman and head contractors must devise and outline a plan for the build that sub contracts jobs to the right workers, collects enough material within the budget for the house, pulls city required permits and obtains other necessary legalities, and stays on schedule during the entire building process. While all of this goes on individual workers such as carpenters, painters, electricians, and plumbers must work meticulously in order to adhere to the expectations of buyers in the million dollar housing market.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, there is a key communicative value within this high strung blue collar community that is important to note. On the job sight in particular, workers in a variety of different fields are in constant communication. For the most part the communication serves a clarification purpose as it is used to figure out when one worker has finished there aspect of their job so the other worker can come in and begin his. For example, a painter often has to wait for the carpenter to be finished creating and installing doors, crown molding, and baseboard for the house before he/she can begin painting. Thus, painters will usually frequently contact the foreman to ask if the carpenter is finished in which the foreman contacts the carpenter to ask for himself and reports back to the painter. This process is fairly routine in the world of custom home construction and continues throughout the building of the home.
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DeleteFrank St. John
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M14
7:00pm-8:30pm
Revised Field Notes Assignments
November 6, 2016
It’s been about 6 years since I’ve been a somewhat part of the dungeons and dragons community, or “adventurers” as they call themselves, so I was definitely excited to see just how much has changed. After spending an extensive time in the the D&D subreddit, I was surprised by the amount of fantasy tales shared amongst players. These were intricately detailed stories with menacing antagonists, in depth conflict resolution, and heroic acts of bravery. After a couple posts, I began to realize these were just interesting stories worth sharing, they were detailed accounts of all the events that occur in game! With detailed content this captivating and original, I knew there was only one thing to do, actually view a game for myself!
I called a co-worker of mine, someone who has been very active in the D&D community for years, if I could sit in on a game for this project. Something I’ve noticed about this community is they are extremely inviting, because he immediately refused my request to watch, and stated I must play the game with them to fully grasp the true experience. I accepted his offer and we met at his friend's house. I was at first intimated the large number of books and dice provided to me. But after some short explaining, I was able to wrap my mind around the rules and we got straight to playing.
The game functions like this: the dungeon master, who controls the entire ingame world (full of interesting characters, monsters, and magic), and creates obstacles for the “party” (the remaining group of players) to overcome so they may complete a predetermined objective. The whole game functions as a turn based interactive narrative. There was a variety of things that intrigued me. The first thing that was there are no pieces or board required at all play to this tabletop game! The game is an “RPG “ or Role Playing Game, meaning the game took place entirely in our collective imagination, therefore clear and constant communication is required. The second thing was my “character” (my avatar in game) was allowed to do literally anything within reason. You would think a game that allows you to do anything, would have a highly intricate rule system, however it’s quite the contrary. In the most basic of terms, you declare what your character wants to do, then a dice is rolled. Based on the difficulty of the action, you must roll high enough to have successfully executed the action within the world. The third thing, was the genuine bonding experience that occurred between me and these 3 other people I’ve never met before, due to intense teamwork and communication required to succeed within the game. No wonder the community is so tightly knit. They’ve battle alongside each other for years!
Lastly there were a few things that disturbed me, since the game allows anything to be done, I’ve in forums of some pretty deplorable actions taken in game by players who choose to use the game as a method of living out twisted fantasies. thankfully , these members are immediately banned from joining the majority of groups, or join a group that allows such behavior. Another thing that didn't necessarily disturb me, but I found peculiar nonetheless, was the vast amount of knowledge some community members have for entirely fictional material. The amount of information within the game such as, monster traits, spell functionality, and mythic lore, is ridiculously extensive (hundreds of pages), so the fact that some of these players have memorized all of it simply blows my mind.
A broader aspect of LoL and its community that spawned out of this seriousness for gaming is Esports. Esports was created long before LoL, but over the course of LoL’s existence, it has become the most popular game for Esports. I recently viewed a stream for the World Championship of LoL where teams from all over the world compete for the title. What astonished me about the event was the sheer number of people present at the actual stadium. There were fifteen thousand screaming fans. The only related experience I could draw on was watching Orlando City soccer games. LoL fans are no different from regular sports fans: people communicating about common interests. When differentiating between Esports as a non-sport and soccer as a sport, the community revolts. I performed a test about this discrimination before a match in a lobby. The severe amount of backlash I received rivaled protesting at a Trump rally. Community members hold LoL tightly to their heart.
ReplyDeleteLeague of Legends spawned out of Riot Games seven years ago. Seven years ago, nothing of the sort had ever been attempted. So, everyone leaped at the opportunity to be a part of this community. League of Legends has since become a game attracting all ages and has formed a diverse community. Even the pioneers of LoL are still playing today.
Daneka Gibson
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M14
1:00-2:30pm
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 5, 2016
Beyoncé Beyhive
When I began my research, I started by google searching the “beyhive fan club” the first thing that that immediately came up was the Beyhive Forum. Once you click on the website link you are greeted by a humongous picture or mural of Beyoncé mid performance. I was pleasantly not surprised cause I expected Beyoncé, Beyoncé and more Beyoncé. But before you can go any further into the forum as always with a big fan club you must since up and basically confess your life to the life of fan girling over all the things Beyoncé does on a daily basis.
I was surprised about how much information one can gather about one person on a daily. These so-called fans dig up so much about Beyoncé, her family, her dancer, her stylist, all the way down to the type of water she drinks when she goes on tour. While going through the forum, you see all kinds of stuff about her personally. Most people where posting pictures of her as a baby or as a child that I don’t even has eve touched the internet outside of the forum. They have pictures her mom and dad dating back to days before they were even together and Beyoncé was even thought of.
What Intrigued me was how hard her fans go to protect her and her brand. One thing I learned while reading and analyzing the forum and I knew prior seeing it on social media is that the Beyhive DOES NOT play when it comes to Beyoncé. Anybody that comes for Beyoncé on social media they will literally drag them to the filth. I look at it like the beyhive has super powers because they will literally find out everything personal about you and if you have a skeleton in the closet they will expose it out on social media just for coming their Queen.
Erin Moats
ReplyDeleteENC – 1101
Revised Field Notes
November 4th, 2016
The glossy floors of the second story of the Rosen College office building practically glistened, while professionally dressed businessmen and women cross occasionally with looks of determination and strides of confidence. The clacking of the Student Services secretary’s fingers over the keys as she responded to emails added to the sounds. A young woman, I assume around her early thirties approached me with a polite smile and an outstretched hand. In keeping up with my hospitality based background, I was used to this type of greeting, as I was usually the one supplying it to others. The woman was kind and offered for me to shadow her to the board meeting. From the arrangement, I had set up, this was supposed to be led by the many members of the Entertainment Management Major Board of Advisors at the Rosen College of Hospitality, where I currently attend as an Entertainment Management major myself. Following the woman, now knowing her as Karen, I kept up with her brisk pace down a few hallways of meeting rooms to one with the door propped open. From just outside, I could hear several voices engaged in conversations while a smell of coffee was clinging to the air around me.
Once we entered the board room, I took note of several familiar faces. Many of these members, while famous in their respective fields, were known to me as my professors. Greeting the head of the department and my personal favorite professor, Mr. Ron Logan, with an eager handshake and a general hello and thank you for the opportunity, was my first move. To my surprise, Mr. Logan gave a big smile and proceeded to show me to my seat personally. Through the course of the meeting, I took note of many of the playful antics tossed between the members of the board while addressing the courses and major. The whole meeting lasted a little over an hour and was genuinely one of the most eye-opening experiences career-wise, that I have been exposed to thus far. Taking in the questions, I added many notes and refined them to a few, more specific inquiries.
As this was just the first phase of our field notes to narrative piece, I kept my questions to a minimum and focused more so on being aware of the surroundings that I was placed in and the emotions and feelings they triggered during. This was a bit of a struggle as the people in this meeting were and are the heroes of my career and hobby based life. I feel that it expanded my field of learning and understanding to include more background research skills.
Talia Zilberstein
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Revised Field Notes Assignments
November 6, 2016
One Direction is known to be one of the most popular and well-liked bands of all time. The band consists of 5 gentlemen who go by the names of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik. The group signed had signed with Simon Cowell’s record label “Syco Records” in 2010. Right before the group had signed, they were competing on the TV show “X-Factor”. The boy band finished in third in the seventh series of the very famous television show and soon became a sensation. Their social media accounts had become an international success, gaining millions of followers and attention. Between The United States and Great Britain the boys have over 3,000,000 loyal fans. Forbes has ranked them the 4th highest earning celebrities in the world, topping at almost 130 million in a year.
One of their largest fan bases is a group called “ The DIrectioners”. A directioner is a person who is not only obsessed, but extremely dedicated to the band. They are said to know more about the One Direction boys than they do about themselves. They spend hours watching YouTube videos of these boys and even understand all of their inside jokes. What makes the directioners special is that they are brought together by their love and dedication of anything and everything that the boys do. I find that very special because of the way it connects and bonds people from completely different backgrounds all over the world. To become a “directioner” one must: know everything about One Direction, love everything about every single boy, know the lyrics to all songs, and be familiar with all important dates related to the band. There are four types of directioners. There is the obsessive, there from the start, creative, everyday, and closet types of directioners.
The intentions of The Directioners are very good. This group brings together all types of people, from all different places, with all types of backgrounds who most likely would not communicate or interact with each other otherwise. Today, there is a lot of racism and stereotypical judgment that gets in the way of people from all different races interacting with one another. So personally, I really believe that the whole concept of this community is a very good way to mix people with totally different lifestyles together with one goal, which is to love One Direction.
Israel Soria
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0012
Revised Field Notes Assignment
November 6, 2016
7:00P.M., Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Greetings Summoner!
Notes on the League of Legends Community
I began my notes by launching the game client and pressing the “Launch” button. I log in and there are two tabs off to the side of the main screen. The current tab is the default one where new announcements are shown and community projects are displayed for everyone to view. I noticed that many of these projects can range from exceptional fan art that the community creates, stunning recreations of the many champions one can play, and many videos that the community creates for entertainment. The other tab is temporary and showcases many highlights and information on the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) games. What surprised me the most is how immerse the community is. I noticed that there are many sub categories within the community such as those who play competitively versus those who do not and people who follow the LCS teams versus those that don’t. When watching one of these competitive games one can see the large fan base in the audience supporting their favorite teams by cheering them on and by dressing up.
This also intrigued me as I never realized how much people were dedicated to this game and how much support they had for it. Many fans from the community have shown their love for the game by either creating artwork of their favorite characters or have created detailed costumes of a character. Also the amount of support that goes into the LCS community is intriguing due to the large fan base that express their support for their favorite teams. I remember watching the finals for the competition this year as the audience roared whenever massive plays happened on stage. People in the audience wore team shirts or painted themselves in team colors just like many sporting competitions. It made me realized just how dedicated some people in the community were.
However, some of this enthusiasm kind of disturbed me also as there are some players that are simply too into the game. Some players play excessively for days on end and forget about other responsibilities. Also what disturbs me is that a couple of times one will encounter someone who is “toxic” in game. This means that the player will try to verbally harass either teammates or the enemy. Some even go as far as intentionally dying to the enemy to make the game less enjoyable for his team. Why would people go that far to make the game less enjoyable for others? Others try to hack the game to try to ensure their victory which makes it unfair for the enemy team. Things like this I found appalling. Thankfully the community can report these players to make the game experience better for the community.
Shaquille Marcano-Quiles
ReplyDeleteProfessor Joseph Longhany
ENC 1101
November 6, 2016
The Knight Library Field Note Report (Take 1)
When you walk into a room that is practically empty and is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop, it is a "do not enter" sign that is telling you not to waist your time. However, if you see a building that is full of raging drunks having the time of their lives and it is only 10 pm, entering is not even a question. For "research", I decided to take the latter. The Knight Library or "Library" for short, is a modernized club and bar that is known for its sticky floors, belligerent, and the best memories one can ever create. The Library is the UCF college students' way to take the stress that they are given in their classes and exchange it for the best fun someone can ever have. The Library brings together all of the components that a college student loves in one building: music, atmosphere and excitement. Being brand new to college scene, it was the duty of a novice to figure out the secrets of what The Library has to offer.
As I began my quest into what is known as "UCF's greatest club", I started my notes with all of the processes that on would have to go through before actually entering the club. To begin, security immediately asks for the patron's identification card to verify that they are over the age of 18 which automatically makes your entrance fee to be 10 dollars. However, if you are 21 and over, the price reduces to 7 dollars due to the fact that one would be spending money on drinks, unlike the underaged patron. In order to identify that one is over 21 in the club, the individual is given a band and is asked to show the band to the bartender when purchasing a drink. This is actually a gret way to make purchase swift and easier. Once you pass outside security, the real excitement trully begins.
You take your first step into the club and all hell breaks loose. You turn to the left and it is the club's bathrooms with lines overflowing in the girl's restroom. Turn your head to the right and there are 3 security guards sitting on stools overseeing the club like gargoyles on the top of a cathedral. You look forward, and the overflowing crowd of people really give you the feeling that you are not there to lounge around. Music is bumping and the hairs on your arms stand at attention. The rhythms and rhymes of the trap, house and grind music take you to a whole 'nother dimension. As you walk closer and closer to the crowd, you find yourself becoming one with this being of excitement and exilleration. The music builds, the blood rushing through your veins and your heart wanting to jump out of your chest brings you to the conclusion that something is about to happen that changes your college life forever. Then, their is a silence. A quick second for you to realize that you are with your friends and you are about to make the best memories you will never forget. The DJ drops the bass and the night has offically begun.