Creative Gallery ideas

As of right now, I don't know exactly what I am going to be doing for my creative gallery. I may create a group on Facebook about how the site itself has changed the way we communicate. The interesting part is that it would be discussing communication on the site through the mediums I have discussed in my essay. I may post videos of my friends using facebook and other sites like it to the group on facebook. Take pictures of all the groups that come up under a certain search and put them on the group. I have a general direction that I wanna go in, I just don't know if it would make any sense if I tried to describe it.

Research Essay

Here is a link to my essay on google docs.


I have already finished my rough draft, but I am sure that there are going to be modifications. I like how I discuss that we have used these sites as a surrogate source for friendship.

Authors on Youtube

The great thing about Youtube is that you can share videos with everyone. Anything that you find remotely interesting, funny, or something you created yourself can have an audience. People from all walks of life can post whatever they like on Youtube. Where Youtube differs from social networking sites is that, while an author on Facebook can post pictures and alter their status, on Youtube, authors can be much more creative with multimedia tools. You can see the author if they place themselves in the video, or you can get a more descriptive point of view from a video on Youtube than you can a photo or a comment or status on a Facebook account. I feel like there are more creative or artistics options available to authors on Youtube. I think the reason why Youtube is called Youtube is because you, the individual post videos and watch them much like you would on tv or "the tube".

My diagram

I know this is a pretty bad diagram, but I was having issues!

Click This!

What to use in my essay

Because my project has to do with how our relationships with other people have changed since the advent of social networking sites, I will be using the book "Here Comes Everybody" by Clay Shirkey to discuss social media.

Using the book will allow me to give more information as to how wide spread communication has become due to advances in technology. There was a time when people actually wrote to one another, called, and visited each other.

Now, we instant message, change our statuses, and web-video conference with each other, all of these things that would never have been possible if social networking did not exist. "Here Comes Everybody" will also allow me to distinguish what makes a multimedia writer, and his work gives good examples about how we mass communicate with others.

Based on the work I have done so far, there seems to be much debate on whether or not social networking is beneficial or if it will eventually be the cause that ends our physical relationships with one another. These sites have become a replacement for a real life relationship, be it friendly or romantic, our relationships are forever changed because of this advent in technology.

A connection with no connection at all.

Annotated Bibliography

Derbyshire, David. "Social websites harm children’s brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist." Mail Online (2009): Web. 16 Feb 2010.
This article discusses the physiological changes that occur in the brains of younger people using social networking sites. Neuroscientists have made a connection between social networking sites and the inability of younger people to communicate and concentrate effectively.The article’s limitations are that it is not published in a medical journal, possibly because the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has not been recently updated to include such medical and psychological issues. This can cause some controversy of whether or not the information is supported by other medical professionals.

The audience however, can be both other people in the health profession as well as teachers and concerned parents.This article has proved to be helpful with my project. Because my project is based on how the advent of social networking sites affect our relationships and the way people communicate with others. There have been many medical professionals who have commented on the article stating “the brain of a children, up till high school age are neurologically soft and are vulnerable to disruptions to the development of their neurological skills.”

Karan, Tim. "The Impact of Social Networking on Bands." Alternative Press (2009): Web and print. 11 Feb. 2010.

This article gives an idea of how we can connect to people whom we physically do not know. There are now ways to be connected to those who have the same interests as us who can be half way around the world from us. It also shows how bands have maintained their own publicity through use of these sites. It allows them to connect with their fans as well as to be "discovered".The limitations of this article are that it is in a magazine that does not reach a lot of readers who would fall into this demographic. Because it is an alternative press publication, the viewership is much smaller.

The audience is however, anyone who has an interest in music.This article has helped with my project by providing further proof, which not only have our relationships with the people we consider our friends have changed, but that it is also changing the music industry.

Kornblum, Janet, and Mary Beth Marklein. "What you say online could haunt you." USA Today.com (2006): n. pag. Web. 11 Feb 2010.

The basic concept behind this article is that people need to be wary of the things they post on their social networking webpages.With the publication being USA Today's website, anyone who logs on to read the news has access to it. So there are very little limitations to the article.This article is accurate about things that have been posted being able to come back and haunt you. Now employers are looking up prospective employees on these sites and determining what will come of the situation.

Westlake, E.J. "Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance." MIT Press Journals 52.4 (2008): 21-40. Web. 1 Mar 2010.

The article published in this journal gives a fresh perspective on how people first started reacting to the news that Facebook was to allow others in the network to see your news feed. The news feed meaning that anyone and everyone you are connected to on the site would be able to know every time you changed or added and information to your Facebook account. From the beginning Facebook was meant to connect college students on many different campuses across the country, and it has become a phenomenon.

The author claims that people were outraged by the idea that their information was broadcast over the net for everyone to see. This information is all too familiar and has just become a part of the everyday Facebook user’s life. While the information in the article is very informative of how people felt looking back in retrospect, it still serves as a guide for us when it comes to how we have evolved with technology.

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and Patricia Greenfield. "Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships." Future of Children 18.1 Princeton University (2008): 119-146. Web. 1 Mar 2010.

The article gives insight into how technology and the use of social networking sites has become so mainstream in adolescent life that they are interacting more and more with complete strangers. The major usage of online communication or social networking comes from teenagers and younger adults who are bombarded with new forms of technology and are well equipped to grasp onto any form of technology with little effort. These online sources of communication and social networking sites have taken on a role of a life aside from the one we live every day.

The limitations I can see from this article, are that while I am doing my project on how relationships have changed between people since the advent of social networking sites, the article basically shines a negative light on the whole of online communication and such when being used by adolescents. There are negatives and positives that can come from using this technology. The article is very informative, but the information seems to be biased. I can use this source as a way to provide information on both sides of my project, both the pros and cons of social networking sites on our relationships.

Hamilton, Chris. "10 Curious Facts about Facebook." WebUpon. 05/27/2008. Web. 2 Mar 2010.
The article gives information into some little known facts of Facebook. The article gives statistics claiming that Facebook has 70 million daily users. There are some other informative pieces of information, such as countries that have decided to ban social networking sites. I feel like this source will be helpful for my project, mainly because it has random facts that the majority of other sources do not include. There is no bias in the information provided, so I can use the information in the way I see fit.

Nauert, Rick. "Relationships on Facebook, Social Networks." PyschCentral. 03/31/2009. Web. 2 Mar 2010.

This article was very informative. It gives a little information about how people connect to one another in cyber-reality compared to how they connect face-to-face. People are still more likely to befriend someone online that they themselves know or someone they know knows. They are still apprehensive about befriending a complete stranger. The article points out some weaknesses that these friendships have in comparison to our friendships with a person we physically know. These relationships we develop with people on social networking sites have a limited range of conversational ability.

Pirillo, Chris. "Are Social Networks Destroying Offline Relationships." Chris.Pirillo. 04/1/2008. Web. 2 Mar 2010.

This article is based on the two different perceptions about how social networking sites have affected our relationships with others. We now use these sites as an artificial replacement for a real-life connection with others. People on these sites have a large number of friends who they do not physically know, they may be connected by some sort of interest. There are people who agree that these sites have done wonderful things for how we communicate with people from every possible location, and those who feel that they have lowered our ability to communicate effectively in real-life situations.

Randerson, James. "Social networking sites don't deepen friendships." Guardian. 09/10/2007. Web. 2 Mar 2010.

The article argues that using social networking sites does not help you to have relationships that are close and personal, while still being honest. The people we connect with on these sites may be considered our friends, but they are not close personal friends. We lack the face-to-face interaction needed to truly form a close connection with a friend. A larger problem with these friendships is that we do not know if the person is being truthful with us. I believe this article makes some very rational points. There is a bias presented in this article that you can have a meaningful relationship with someone that you have met online. However, I feel that this article can be used to show how these sites affect our communication and relationships for my project.

Francois . "Social network-based relationships are not shallow – they are stronger." Emergence Marketing. 11/26/2008. Web. 2 Mar 2010.

This is a blog of sorts, where the author gives different scenarios of how social networking allows us to form stronger bonds with those whom we do not get to see. The author also claims that through these sites, we can in fact gain more personal information about the person we are interacting with because we have a tendency to let our guard down and be less concerned with things such as appearance; you get to know the person inside the body. I feel like this blog is biased, but it gives different scenarios so that you can see how the sites have improved our relationships. I can use this source as a positive reflection on how these sites affect our relationships.