Assignment #2- To GIF or Not To GIF
of course, in CT 101, there is no option. (not that i’m mad about it)
it is an interesting time to be alive, no longer are we writing sonnets to our beloved, those days are long gone. instead, we can send them a gif of a small animal to illustrate our unwavering love.
this is… in my opinion, a tragedy.
is our need for self-expression through moving media a technological advancement? perhaps it shows how afraid we are now to be vulnerable and express ourselves sincerely…
they say pictures are worth a thousand words but I would argue they are worth much less once they start moving and leave nothing left for interpretation.
although a member on gen z, the generation allegedly born with a wifi signal embedded in their foreheads, I am quite technologically un-advanced… so learning new ways to use the internet is exciting for me but also a little nerve wracking because I tend to be bad at computer related things.
but on the first day of CT101 I felt my anxieties about my computer illiteracy melt away as I realized this would be a fun, painless, creative class. I was excited to learn that we would be making our own blogs because I am constantly changing my creative outlets and perhaps blogging will serve me well and be a place where all of my interests can coincide.
it is cool to not just use these internet tools but to also learn about their history and how to create my own. although, upon reading the smithsonian article about gifs, I was pissed off the learn that the creator of gifs pronounced it with a soft g because that is just not right. but it was very interesting to read about “burn all gifs day.” I don’t believe the average gen z gif user is familiar with its controversial, protest inciting past.
upon playing around with giphy and imgur, I gravitated towards giphy and found it easier to use, perhaps because I was already familiar with it.
I was never familiar with, however, is a class that has a structure similar to CT101… I truly have never been in an academic setting that pushed me or inspired me to be creative and compared to my other classes, is a safe haven. This will probably be the third time in this post that I use this word, but, I am really excited to keep exploring what I can create using the tools of the internet although I personally resent that the digital age has meant the decline of face to face human connection.
