It was a pleasure to be a part of CT101 with Prof. Seslow and the rest of my peers. This course has taught me on how students have creative minds that they can portray with fun assignments from this digital storytelling course. The thing that I have enjoyed about this course is that we are able to show our creativity through the weekly blogs. In addition to that, I also enjoyed how we are able to discuss and explain each of our experiences. With doing all these assignments, the skills that I have gained is to be more creative and manage my time efficiently. Although Prof. Seslow has been lenient on the due dates of each blog, I believe that is a plus point for us as students to be more responsible on when we should submit our assignments. As I mentioned above, this course has brought out our inner creativity that we were able to express through our blogs. 

 

I believe that as this semester comes to an end, it was very interesting to build a website. So far, creating a domain is the easy part of creating a website but the tedious part of building a website is to customize it to your liking. I believe that I wouldn’t be able to upkeep with the website that I have created due to the other interests that I have in the near future. Although I have created a website before using a different hosting website, it was a pleasant experience using Reclaiming Hosting to create my WordPress website. My website is based on a bubble tea shop, Pila de Boba, which is located in the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. I haven’t completely finished the website but it is in a state that I can keep adding more content to update the website and make changes that can be pleasing to the viewers. 

 

Couple of things that I did not appreciate while creating the website is how the tool bar for the text is separated from the toolbar that controls the image aspect. Inserting images is an easy task and doesn’t require much time to add them but when you are trying to move around the header or the footer, something else accidentally moves. This causes a frustration that then leads to more time being used in order to make everything look neat and clean. When adding text, you are only allowed to add text within the selected box and cannot click on anything else to edit text unless you select them in the previous page. Therefore making it slightly more challenging to add text whenever you would like to.

Overall, I had a great time creating the website. Although certain things caused frustration at times, it was an experience that I don’t believe I have had before from any other course. Enjoyed being a part of this course during this semester and I am looking forward to see more students take this course in the future.

As per following the previous week’s assignment, we created a domain and started to build our website. I’ve mentioned before about my bubble tea and I want to create this website based on that. The website is going to be a summary of what we offer and I would like to keep it minimalist as possible. The theme that I am going for is the “Twenty Twenty-Two” theme and the colors that I’ve selected are black and white. The website is not finished being built but I am in the process of creating multiple tabs with pictures and short paragraphs. I’ve attached screenshots of the preview and how it is going to look. Navigating through the interface is somewhat complicated because of graphics and text editor are separate categories. 

Creating an account through Reclaiming hosting was pretty explanatory. The instructions posted on the assignment 9 tab were easy to follow and I was easily able to create an account. Going through the process of creating the website was somewhat challenging because I accidentally installed WordPress twice. But after I looked through how to use the website, I was able to navigate my way through to creating my website. Although using this method to create a website is easy, I believe that other ways to create a website are slightly easier than using Reclaiming hosting.

Creating a domain name, from my understanding, is easy and hard at the same time. The easy part is to submit your domain name and build your website but brainstorming and coming up with a few domains can be the hard and tricky part. As for the domain that I would like to come with, I want to make it associated with my bubble tea shop. These are few of the name that I was able to brainstorm:

• feedmeboba
• everybobaever
• thebestboba
• bobaworld
• toomuchboba

Brainstorming domain names can be a struggle if you are trying to look for perfection. But these are a few of the names that I was able to come up with and have not yet decided the domain that I would pick to create my website on.

As we are midway through the semester, I have learned a few things during this class. We have learned about using gifs in our posts and how to create blogs with gifs. Prof. Seslow has shown us to use giphy.com, ds106 and mmm.page along with other useful websites. These websites that we have been introduced to can be very useful in order to create any type of visual content. When signing up for the class, I had an idea of how this class would be because I’ve taken Prof. Seslow for CT201 and honestly that class was one of the best classes that I’ve had so far. 

In regards to making my weekly blog posts, I’ve been behind on creating them due to other classwork that I have been busy with. But I do enjoy making blog posts on the CT101 website. I feel like us as students can express our inner creativity and show what we are capable of by taking this course. So far, I have enjoyed this course and believe that most if all students should take a course related to digital storytelling because it can spark the creativity inside of you. For the assignment that I am missing, I am completing them soon as possible and putting my best effort into them. The improvements that I need to make are to obviously submit assignments on time and try to be more creative when creating blogs. 

Other ways of improving in this course would be to interact and engage with my peers who are also taking this course alongside me. I believe that time goes so fast with a snap of a finger so trying to maintain all the blog posts with other classwork can be difficult at times but very doable. All in all, so far hoping for the best for the rest of the semester.

For this assignment, I decided to use mmm.page to create something that I would like to have in the future. When using the website, I was able to create an account and start making my post. Using the website was clear and easy to use because of the instructions on the first main page. It walks you through on how to customize your main page. From messing around with all the tools on the side toolbar, you are able to add images and text boxes and adjust them to your liking. 

I believe that the tools provided on the sidebar make it very efficient to create any type of post and customize them to one’s liking. As for using shapes and lines, it is also very easy when scrolling and hovering over with your cursor on screen. I have created a small page of two vehicles that I would like to own in the near future. I have provided my link below:

https://mmm.page/umarkashem.main?first_page/

While looking through the DS106 daily create website, I’ve selected two assignments that I am able to accomplish. I have linked them below:

https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/looking-back-to-the-past/

https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/create-finsta-instagram/

Both of these selected assignments are similar and the way that I believe I can tackle these assignments is through the current business that I own. As to my prior blog to this one, I’ve mentioned my bubble tea that I currently have, Pila de Boba, where I have created an instagram for and have posted multiple different types of posts. Opening an Instagram account for any business can be a terrific way to market your brand, engage with your audience, and highlight your goods and services. There are a few steps that I have used to market/advertise on the platform:

1. Open a new account: Click the “Sign Up” or “Create New Account” option after opening the Instagram app or website. You can choose to register using your phone number or email address. To create your account, select the way that suits you the most and then follow the on-screen instructions.
2. Once your account is set up, go to your profile and tap on the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner (or the gear icon on the website) to access the settings. This will change your account from a personal account to a business account. Then, choose “Switch to Business Account.” Making the switch from a personal account to a corporate profile is something Instagram will walk you through.
3. Create your business profile: After your account is changed to a business profile, you can enter the information about your company. Go to your profile, select “Edit Profile,” and add pertinent details such as your company name, username, website address, contact details, and a succinct bio. Use a profile photo that effectively conveys your brand, such as a logo or a stunning image.
4.  Adjust your settings: Review and adjust your account settings as needed. Filters for comments, notifications, and other features are all under your control. Think about turning on tools like “Business Category” to help Instagram better understand your company and provide pertinent content to users.

And from there on you can create content and start posting it to engage your audience after your business profile is put up. Posts that are aesthetically appealing and interesting should represent the tone and style of your company. Share compelling images, motion pictures, and captions with your target audience. As for Pila de Boba our instagram (@piladeboba_) has various types of content posted frequently and we try to interact with our customers everyday.

Growing up, my friends and I used to always grab bubble tea during high school. I witnessed many people start their first businesses while I was growing up, and they consistently achieved great success. So, from the beginning, there was a spark that made me want to open my own business someday. At the time, my childhood friend who also wanted to launch his own business but I wasn’t aware we both had a strong desire to start a highly profitable business. 

As the years passed, we were unaware that we had a desire to run our own company. Toward the conclusion of high school, we were having a talk when the subject of business came up. We both aspired to launch our own businesses, which shocked me at the time because I had finally met someone who shared my perspective. As our conversation progressed, we came to the conclusion that we should launch a company together. We made the decision to come up with an idea that would work rather well and would bring people together as we were both nearing the end of our high school careers. Consequently, we agreed to launch a joint venture to create a business that suited people of any nationality.

We had time on our hands during COVID since we were under lockdown and everyone was confined to their homes. We both came up with ideas that we could combine to make something that the broader public could use. So, a bubble shop was a concept that we both came up with. However, we didn’t want to create a typical bubble tea establishment, so we thought of the concept of giving it a South-Asian touch. From there, we traveled to a bubble store called Pila de Boba, which serves South Asian or Desi Bubble tea that is infused with bubble tea and contains a variety of desi ice cream flavors known as kulfi.

Meme art has merged with pop culture and politics; it now appears in our Facebook feeds, first mocking a tone-deaf Pepsi commercial before taking the form of hand-scrawled signs at anti-Trump protests. Nothing on the post-internet Earth escapes the comedy meme’s gaze, and the meme’s shape is now viewed as an artistic medium for this particular internet era. High-art purists avoid the topic, although the pre-digital art historical canon has a significant influence on the social influence of modern meme civilization.

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I believe that memes are a form of art because of how memes are portrayed to us. Memes can symbolize many things such as giving meaning to a thought or showing an image that can display a message. Similar to this, memes provide a highly engaged and accessible platform for production that is ripe for conflict and dissent, with controversy and disagreements just adding gasoline to the fire of a successful meme truly going viral. More memes fizzle and go.

Depending on how they are utilized and interpreted, memes can have either beneficial or bad effects on art. On the one hand, memes can aid in boosting the exposure and appeal of particular works of art or artists. The ability to readily share and circulate artworks across social media platforms allows them to be turned into memes, reaching a wider audience and perhaps introducing individuals to art they might not have otherwise encountered. Additionally, by making art more relatable and approachable for a younger generation that may not have had much exposure to traditional forms of art, memes can help make art more popular.

Memes may be used to tell stories, yes. Memes can be used to convey messages and concepts that are more serious in nature, even though they are often linked with humor and satire. For instance, a lot of memes include pictures or captions that express a narrative or tell a tale. These tales can be straightforward and lighthearted or intricate and thought-provoking. Memes can also be used to visually narrate stories, conveying ideas or messages through pictures and videos.

Memes can also be used to impart a cultural experience and unite people through narrative. People can connect over similar experiences, viewpoints, or ideals by exchanging memes, fostering a sense of belonging and community. Overall, even though humor and entertainment are frequently associated with memes, they can also be an effective tool for storytelling and communication.

The first day of the CT 101 class, I didn’t think much of it because I already took CT201 with Professor Seslow so I had similar expectations to last semester. I believe that this course would be a better introduction course compared to CT201, which it is.