Week 1 - Watching Culture: Critical Observations

Date: January 21st, 2025

Location: Java Haute, Terre Haute, Indiana 

Time: 7:30-7:45am

What I Observed

After my lift this morning I decided to go on over to Java Haute. Java Haute is a local coffee shop near campus that I highly recommend! The smell of freshly brewed coffee lingers in the air with a smell of sweetness of the baked goods displayed. The seating area is pretty busy with lots of students and adults, some working on their computers while other socializing with their peers. A man walks in with an blue Indiana State University hoodie and black joggers. He places his order then goes to take a seat at one of the tables. He then pulls out his laptop and puts his headphones in while he listens to music. Towards the center of the cafe a small group of girls walk in. They are all laughing and giggling having a good time. They talk about what they have going on for the rest of the day, and what they did over the weekend. 

The overall space and atmosphere was lively, but not overwhelming. There was a strong sense of routine here, student studying friends catching up and regulars getting what they normally get. Nothing seemed off, just a nice and chill place to grab a drink and chill, or to simply get something to go. 

The Social Dilemma Notes/Thoughts

• One thing that I took away was how additive social media can be addictive. Even sitting here in class and watching I would sometimes look at my phone to check things out. 
• Another would be that people would try to come up with ways to see if people can stay off social media. Like offer rewards if they could do it. 
• Some people think they aren't on their phone as much as they think. In the film the siblings where on their phones a lot more then they thought 
• It also talked about how we don't know if some things are true
• Once its on the web it stay forever, leave a digital foot print
• Mentions many solutions/questions about the internet 
• Talks a lot about conspiracy theories 

Updated website

my website

Black Mirror Reflections & Research

 After reading the two articles Real-life Black Mirror and Inside Chinas Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking here are some things that I took away.

    The social credit system in China serves as an example of how the "fictional future" described in Black Mirror is becoming more and more real. In "Nosedive," character, social standing and access to services are determined by their behaviors which are assessed in real time similar to this China, social credit system assigns a ranking to its .people depending on their conduct. It penalizes certain behavior, such as tax invasion or government criticism while we're recording others like purchasing Chinese goods or doing community service. Highest scorers receive special advantages from the system, such as accelerate airport check-in reduce loan cost, and the mission to prestigious universities. Additionally, it takes into account a person, social network penalizing those connected to a low-score persons. When considering these results, it is clear that social engineering and digital surveillance are being utilized to restrict rights and shape social behaviors. 

    Reflecting, I feel that I have to be aware of my digital footprint, particularly in terms of my social media personal branding since I know that one day our relationships purchases and behaviors may be measured, and you determine whether we are granted or denied services. No, I thought our online presents can have a big impact on how we're seeing and what resources or networks we access motivates me to be intentional in my involvement as I develop my personal brand

Black Mirror Notes

 Notes:

One thing that I took away is that people are are way too nice to each other. They all suck up to each other and act so fake so they can get as many "points as possible" one example is Lacie in the elevator with that one girl. You can clearly tell that she doesn't like her but will still be overly nice because she is a hight 4 rank. 

When Lacie kept on getting low rankings it would completely alter her mood. One thing is, is that she would still try to be overly nice to people. Once she got docked points at the airport and got put on double  damage she freaked out. To Lacie the 

When she got stuck on the highway, the higher up people wouldn't help her but when the lower ranked people offer to help she was skeptical. Lacie ended up having the best conversation with a 1 star compared to all of the other people she encountered with. 

Lacie and Naomi at the end both wanted to use each other. Lacie wanted all of the high rankings from all of her friends that where all over 4.5. And Naomi wanted to get the "pity points" of Lacie because at the time she was a 4.2. 

Brand Yourself Reputation

 

Overall my "brand" was good. The only thing that I needed to work on was when someone looked up my name. When looking up my name there are picture that aren't me, but some were. When it comes to my socials, everything was good. I didn't have anything negative pop up. Overall I was happy with my results!

Lighting Notes

 3 point light set up

Key light- brightest light (Most important) (Left and high) (throw shadow on the right side)

Fill light- help key light (add light to parts that where in shadow)

Hair/Back light- separate subject from background (lights up back of the subject)

Background light- (halo)