Communication Breakdown, It's Always The Same. I'm Having a Nervous Breakdown, Drive Me Insane...11/14/2018 Digital communication breakdowns are a consistent problem in the digital age. The lack of consideration of the newly increased size of the average person's audience has negatively affected the lives of many social media users. Social media users tend to forget the whole world is watching and have a habit of posting things they would only share with close friends. The increased anonymity on social media platforms such as Twitter, can cause users to rapidly fireback at their responders without knowing who is really on the receiving end. This is exactly what happened to short-lived NASA intern, Naomi H.
Naomi H. was more than excited when she was accepted into the NASA internship program. Naomi went straight to Twitter to let everyone know how proud she was with this tweet - "EVERYONE SHUT THE F**K UP, I GOT ACCEPTED FOR A NASA INTERNSHIP." One Twitter user simply responded to her tweet with "Language." Naomi, not knowing who exactly the old man telling her to watch her language was, responded with "Suck my d**k and balls I'm working at NASA." Noami must not have known who the old man was as he responded "And I am on the National Space Counsel that overseas NASA." The older gentleman who responded to Noami was Homer Hickam. Hickam is a former NASA engineer and author of the 1998 New York Times Best Seller "Rocket Boys." While Hickam was understanding of the situation, Naomi's response to Hickam caused her to lose her internship with NASA. Naomi could have easily avoided this misunderstanding by simply searching for Hickam on Google. One Twitter user responded to Naomi by asking how she could even be awarded the internship without knowing who Homer Hickam was. Did Naomi even deserve to work for NASA when she did not even recognize one of the most famous former NASA engineers? Was Naomi just too excited to about the internship to notice? Twitter and other social media formats are so fast paced that this could be the case. Naomi could have only payed attention to the response and not the author. This situation shows how one's personal actions on the internet can affect their work life. Naomi made an honest mistake by acting without thinking and it cost her the NASA internship. The consequences were necessary as NASA must be careful of their public image and Naomi would not have been a positive influence on the NASA brand. It is important to make sure that students do not have this sort of impact on the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Students that are working on the project need to be mindful of the way they present themselves publicly as it affects how Belmont and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival are portrayed.
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For my introductory website, I used the dark portfolio html design template from w3schools.com. I decided to use my band, Woozle, as the main focus for the website as it is a large part of my identity. Assembling a group of musicians along with a strong supporting team for Woozle has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old and I finally found the group of people needed for this vision in Nashville, and specifically through Belmont. My vision for the website was to have a simple and easy to follow design with “about”, “contact”, and “media” pages. This is not an idea for an official Woozle website, but more of an introductory website for the band so that viewers can see who we are and what we are about.
The “home” page includes Woozle as the title of the website along with a quote by southern rock/blues legend, Tinsley Ellis. I chose this quote because it is bold in it’s statement and it is from a reliable trusted source. The quote is also an external link to a recent jam Woozle played that I am rather proud of. I included this link to act as a “here is why” response to the quote - “Woozle is the most promising jam band since Widespread Panic” and here is a video to prove it. Under the title and quote sits our official band logo. I was not sure how the logo against black background would look, but I like the harsh contrast between the photo and background. It helps the viewer to focus in on all the details of the complex logo. I used our official EPK (electronic-press-kit) biography for the “About” page. The biography accurately sums up our progress as a band so far. The “About” page includes an external link titled “A Woozle Is Very Confusel.” This link takes the viewer to youtube for an excerpt from the Winnie The Pooh movie titled “Heffalumps and Woozles.” While the band did not choose the name based on the character (We chose the name after reading about the Woozle Effect), we did adopt the character as our official mascot (see woozle logo). The “photos” section uses three live photos of the band. The first photo is of a recent show we played at a fairly well known outdoor-hippie festival in Muscle Shoals, Alabama known as Joestock Jubilee. It portrays the psychedelic hippie-jam-band aesthetic of the band with the Joestock decorations in the background. The second photo was used to portray our DIY house-shows we throw every month and how Woozle provides a fun and appealing high energy experience through our live shows. I included the third photo because unlike the first and second photos, it portrays the band in a classic professional setting on an inside stage with professional lighting and audio. The final page on the website is a “Contact” page. This page includes the current location we operate from, my personal phone number, and the band’s official email. Using a template was helpful because it allowed me to bypass the most time consuming part of building the website which is setting up the parameters and styles from scratch. I am a visual learner and learn a lot more by trial and error. I have a difficult time understanding HTML resources as I am not well versed in the vocabulary, but the templates allowed me to make changes and understand what works without threatening the progress I had already made. I originally tried to start from scratch which made the project seem too daunting and overcomplicated. From the first time I touched a computer, I have been compiling a list of information about myself - whether I have realized it or not. It is fairly easy to take a look at someone’s social media profile and get an idea of the things they like and don’t like, important moments in their life, and even their location.
Facebook has played a major role in my online and even in-person presence. I, embarrassingly enough, remember the day I set up my first facebook profile - the day I sold my soul. I was in fifth grade and begged my parents to allow me to setup a profile. Everyone in my class had one! Why couldn’t I? From that day forward I have been collecting and compiling a public portfolio of things about me whether I knew it or not. From the first time I played Farmville to the clickbait I was drawn into yesterday or even the cat fails video I watched this morning - you can find it all on Facebook. As I have aged, Facebook has developed a new role in my life. Instead of trying to let everyone know exactly what I am doing at all times and pushing my agenda on the other mindlessly addicted social media users, I have started to mindfully use the platform to carefully curriate an image for my online presence. As a musician and entrepreneur, Facebook is a useful tool for keeping fans and peers up to date and connected. My Facebook profile consists of lists of inspiring artists, musicians, and events as well as lists of upcoming tour dates and band events. Instagram has been another major platform in my social media presence. After attending Berklee College of Music for a semester, I was introduced to an alumni who ran a company specifically focused on curating and developing thriving social media profiles. The company’s specialty was Instagram profiles. I spent 4-5 months developing my Instagram presence with them. I learned about the patterns and consistency needed to grab new followers. Using hashtags (#), “@” people, tagging other profiles, and location pins are all very important in grabbing the attention of followers across the globe or even followers in a specific region. I have been even more careful with the content on my Instagram than on Facebook. You don’t have to be famous or influential to create the illusion that you are. Posting quality photos and videos with the proper mix of business, personal life, and narcissism can go a very long way when it comes to gathering more likes and followers. Apple Music has been the silent killer for my online presence. Apple Music tracks all of the music you listen to and most notably, your guilty pleasures. Most of my peers in the music industry follow my Apple Music profile. I was not aware that unless I turned the function off or personalized my profile, all of my followers can see what I have been listening to lately as well as all of my playlists. Music is the most personal part of the human experience. While I am proud of the endless list of Grateful Dead shows on my profile, I am not as happy about that Cardi B song I streamed a few minutes ago popping up on my “recent” list. This is a good example of how everything I do can somehow be located using the internet. I don’t post much on social media anymore, but when I do I am very thoughtful about what I post. How will it look to a peer? How will my comments on politics affect my employment? How will my grandparents react to that foul language I just shared? It all adds up and changes the way people think about me. I am careful not to post about my location until I have left that location. It is bothersome to know anyone could find out where I am or where I am not just by logging on to Facebook or Snapchat and now that social media platforms have started to link together, it only takes one account to find out everything about me. |