1. For my research project I plan to discover and uncover how much of a public space the internet has actually become. I plan on narrowing down to a specific community but I will show that the Internet is actually a public space.
2. I plan on discovering my information for my project through deep research, interviews, and using, myself, whichever online community I may choose.
3/4. I will talk to others who are a part of the same community that I will research, even if I have to do it via the Internet.
5. My biases about this topic is that the Internet is ruining public space in the real world. I believe that too much time is spent using this medium of communication and its many other uses everyday.
6. I will not be biased in my project because that may hinder the outcomes I want to really uncover. I, myself use the internet every day so I will act as a normal user and gain information that way.
7. I expect to discover a ton of information that relates to real world public space within the internet.
I found looking at signs in certain places and seeing if they belong, also. Banksy’s work and the billboards were probably one of the most interesting things we’ve done all semester because of our in class discussion. There was much debate as to what belonged and what didn’t. We gave many opinions about what looked cool, did not belong, and what was completely inappropriate. I liked also the discussion after we discussed the forum with the picture of the pink triangle and how signs can have multiple meanings or certain meanings in certain places. Also, I liked when we discussed the role of signs in public space, and how they could be completely transgressive and mean certain things to certain people. You never really realize what signs mean because you only think about what they mean to you. There are many more meanings out there than we could ever understand because many mean nothing or something different than it does to someone else.
I most enjoyed looking at peoples body language in certain situations because that is what our group did for our project at the end of unit 1. I found it so interesting what each group came up with, also, not only ours. For our project I liked how we went out into a real life situation on Marshall street and got real reactions from people while pointing a camera at them or asking to take a quick survey.
A lot of our discussions were very important to preparing us to see the function of signs in public space and brought up many big questions that could be researched. I liked questions that we brought up about surveillance. I liked it a lot because as I said, our group used a camera and surveys for our project to see how people felt about surveillance. After doing our initial research there were many questions that came to mind. One of my favorites that I would like to research was, why do some people like surveillance and some dislike it? What type of people actually like surveillance? Does it have to be young or old? There were many questions after our group research.
The biggest idea that I have had for my formal research project was about the internet and video games. I have been sort of thinking about how they both are definitely now, in this era, forms of public space. So many people throughout the world use it every day for so many things, especially video games online. It is an online playground that has almost taken over parks in real life public space.
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With the Olympics going on right now I thought a lot about how many flags there are in the world. These flags represent areas throughout the world. This symbol of the United States that is in the picture is my country and is completely in the right place for me. I was thinking that, for many though this flag is completely transgressive. I decided to think about this assignment in a cultural way. I saw Germany win an event the other day and I know that they hold flags to represent their country and themsevles, but for me the flag was completely transgressive. It’s not that I don’t care or respect the fact that they are proud of who they are and their country, but I am not from there, nor am I German at all. There are many flags that are transgressive for me throughout the world, that is why I chose the one that is not. If an immigrant comes to America and sees this flag flown, they may believe it is transgressive because even though they are here they may not consider themself to be an American. This sign is very important to me and my country and it was created a long time ago to represent the original states of our union. It has been the one symbol of our country for many years and Americans should be proud of the symbol we have to represent us. At the same time, as I said this sign could be transgressive to many who are not American. There has been public uproar around this sign, such as people burning it in the middle east becuase of the dislike and hate aimed at our country. This sign is in the right place for me if I see it almost anywhere because it represents me and who I am and especially where I am from, but for many it is out of place, such as a Canadian flag in America would be for me.
I chose this because of the way that it really tried to hit home on the fact that we are cruel to animals. This advertisement tried to take something, a human, and use it’s life to show that animals have lives also. It shows that we are eating something that is alive just like you and I. They try to control social behavior by getting people to not eat meat. They took many people and stuck them in these containers and slapped stickers that read “Human Meat” on them so that people would realize what they are actually eating. We could be eaten also and animals are just like us and we should not kill them. This is not a personal belief but the advertisement would make one think this way. There are also statistics of how many animals are killed on the label.
This advertisement tells a story of animals being killed because of the sticker that was placed on it and they take the human within the package to an extreme using blood and a very “dead-looking” position. This interactive participant is representing how meat looks when it is packaged and ready to be sold. I think that it is a good approach for this advertisement but in my opinion I think it has downsides, also. I know that I would never eat a human and I like meat, and for me it didn’t hit home as hard because I couldn’t compare the two, but for many they see animals as precious things that should not be slaughtered and this ad would work perfect for them. The way they use a human to show that animals are the same as us is a good strategy.
#1 The first picture that I wanted to use was an xbox 360 controller. The picture itself is an icon because it is a picture of something in real life, but the controller in the picture is full of symbols. The grey circle in the middle has a green “X” in it. This X has come to be known as the XBox 360 symbol. The buttons on the controller all represent something as well. There is a yellow Y, a green A, a blue X and a red B. These don’t exactly mean anything without a game, but when playing a game, they all mean something special. These are something you must learn for each game, but each button represents an action or something in the game.
#2 The second picture that I used is a picture of a recycling bin. This little symbol is known internationally as the symbol meaning recycle. It can represent a spot to recycle or on a sign telling you to recycle. The arrows around in a kind of triangular circle representing a never ending cycle. I believe that this could also be considered an index because it is almost pointing to the recycling bin and letting you know to recycle in there.
#3 The third first I believe is an icon, it represents something in real life, which is “Uncle Sam,” who has come to be known as the symbol for our country. We have learned that Uncle Sam represents the United States as a symbol. Uncle Sam has been used in many wars, and his origin dates back to the War of 1812, and he is based on a real man.
My name is Brian Balduzzi and I was actually born and raised in Syracuse, NY and wouldn’t have it any other way. I fell in love with Syracuse University since I was a child and only spent one year living outside of this city. There are so many different sections of Syracuse from very rich to poor and I am from a small suburb on the west side. Many would say that it is a mainly white middle class area. I loved growing up in this small suburb because it was a small neighborhood where all of my close friends and I could grow up and go and do whatever we wanted without any worries. Even though growing up in this small suburb was nice, there was still a lot of Syracuse that I had to learn about as I grew older. It is a very culturally diverse city and there are many different groups of people who live throughout it. There are Irish sections, Italian sections, Native American sections, African American and many more. I grew up not really knowing the difference between cultures because I always encountered such diversity I felt as if it was normal and this is how everywhere was. It wasn’t until I was older until I learned the different races and realized how diverse my home city was. I learned the wealthier and poorer parts through different signs and symbols that I would encounter while traveling through the city. One important part that is a reservation with many native symbols on buildings, and I can even remember seeing the billboard in the syllabus and having to ask my parents what it said about the Onondaga reservation.
With the many sections of Syracuse, there are many different schools. Kids are all divided up by areas, and this mainly means rich or poor, or by culture, such as Lafayette being mostly Native and Fowler being mainly Black, and many more. There are many predominantly white rich schools, and also very poor public schools. I made the choice to attend a private catholic school, which I think was the best choice. There was another very wealthy private school, but my high school was a lower end private school. I enjoyed it because in my class were kids from each part of the city. There were kids from all 4 corners and it is funny because by the time you reach high school, you can tell who is from which end. I found this to be a great experience because you are not stuck with only the kids in your neighborhood but you learn to understand the city and the people who live in it as a whole. I found myself going to parts of town I had never been to go see friends, and each part of the city was different. The only problem with so much diversity is that there were power struggles at times. In one point in 10th grade there was a sort of “war” between races. The blacks and whites could not get a long and our school was said to be a “dangerous” place because of this, but for the most part all the groups got along within our diverse high school community.
In my opinion, the private school experience was so much better to realize how great our city is and how well the different areas could be together as one. I now know people from all areas of Syracuse and I know many that are stuck in their little “bubble” thinking that their section is the best in Syracuse and not knowing much outside of their hometown. Where I grew up has created an open mind for all who learned to accept that power can be divided, but also learned the different signs throughout the city that meant different things, such as rich, poor, or something cultural.
