I am really excited, this is where the website making process begins.

But before creating a website, I need a domain name. The domain name is based on what I love to do which is baking.

I made a list so far:

luscioussweets&confections

freshlybaked

tastytreats

mylittlebakeryshop

sweet&savor

la patisserie

One of my favorite websites that is all about baking and techniques is Sugar & Sparrow

She is also on You Tube and on other social media.

Memes are 100% art.

The word meme was initially created by Biologist, Richard Dawkins. He defined the word meme as ‘to imitate’.

In 1993, Mike Godwin brought up the idea of internet memes.

The first meme I saw a meme looked like this:

Troll face memes were very popular about 10 years ago, I think they still are.

Anyways, I believe that memes are an expression of art, they can be used to self express one’s thought. Others believe that memes are not art, they see art as paintings, drawings, etc.

 

CT 101 has taught me greater values and lessons than photoshop . This class has taught me patience and to be more open minded . If you asked me if you could tell a whole story though visuals , I’d say you’re wrong . This class has exhibited that the main language we all can communicate through is art . When you see a puppy gif , it causes emotion . When you see a gif of someone happy , you start to smile .

These small art pieces have more of an effect than accounted for . These things were created to add emotion to text , emphasize feelings and overall improve quality of communication . I’m fortunate to live in a time like this where technology is so advanced and never ceases to amaze me .  My fellow students have taught me how to downsize images , the importance of tone and the different themes within expression . My favorite topic thus far was the vapor wave . If you’re not familiar with the content , you’d just assume it was a retro statement . Vapor waves are embedded with deep emotion and thought provoking images .

I even  have taken an interest in making my own website aside from my blog on self care . This has shown me that the internet is a means to reach more individuals and touch their hearts . I’m thankful for Mr.Seslow teaching us these techniques and being so understanding . He’s truly a great individual and goes the full nine yards to help students . I believe I deserve an A- or B  in this class .

That is because I’ve done every assignment and given feedback to other students . I’ve spent time building on things I lacked in . I took the time to learn how to edit images from YouTube on my own spare time . I was only familiar with using gifs from iMessage , not actually downloading them . This was a new thing for me , and taught me how to use specific ones that still move . I also learned color schemes and what is appealing to viewers with my classmates critique . I was a team player and joined every class with the intentions to learn a new skill . Thank you for the opportunity and everything you have taught me . Thank you Class and Mr.Seslow

 

I can’t believe this is it. This is the end of the Fall 2020 semester and especially this course. I am both relieved and saddened.

I enjoyed this class so much for many reasons. Professor Seslow helped in so many ways not only to me, but I’m sure other can attest to his great assistance. His kind morning greetings and asking of how our week is going always put a smile on my face. It seems as if that because we are online now professor rarely ask questions like that anymore. Professor Seslow was the complete opposite. He never missed a beat. He never just jumped right into class. He was kind enough to wait at least 7 minutes for at least the majority or everyone to join the session. I found that to be a very kind gesture. It may be something so minimal to others. but to have a college professor wait on their students is a privilege, and I truly appreciated it.

Being that I am completelyyy terrible with computers and anything involving technology related work, recordings of our zoom sessions were helpful to look back on whenever I got confused before doing an assignment.  I also enjoyed this class not only because of the interactions between the professor and all of us, but the interactions between my classmates and I. Leaving comments or reading each other’s posts was a very enjoyable thing for me in class. I took great pleasure in knowing that there would never not be anyone commenting on my work. If no one else was going to comment on my work, I knew I could count on Professor Seslow to. Thank you classmates !!

While there were a lot of good times in this course for me, there was just one mishap for me. I’m kind of disappointed in myself because I was not able to complete my website. I would be working on it and customizing it to my liking and then it would either just delete my last editing completely just  delete everything I worked on. This caused me to get upset and give up. My domain name is registered and all but my website is not done.

 

I’m not proud at the fact that I don’t have my website complete, but after looking at some of my classmates websites/blogs my faith was renewed. I decided that even this course has reached the end, that I will continue to pursue building my website and sharing with the public eye.(friends, family, social media) It’s my fault for not fishing my website on time but I have confidence that when I finish it, it will draw a lot of attention of the audience I’m trying to entice.

I do hope and trust that my classmates will continue to build and grow their website/blogs. I have faith in you all.

The garde I believe I earn in this class is a B-.  I say I deserve this grade because I believe I did good this semester. Did I do exceptionally well as I could have…definitely NO. However the odds were surely against all of us this semester just as much as the last and we were still able to conquer and get our assignments in. My website is incomplete/possibly vanished but I promise to myself that what I learned in this course, I shall apply to possibly helping others with there digital story telling work. I would definitely recommend this course to a friend not only for the credits  but also for the beneficial skills you will acquire after taking this class.

Copyright.gov states that Copyright” literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work.”  Copyright exists so that the person. group of people responsible for creating a certain type of content can get the recognition and ownership entitled to them.

For this assignment, I watched Larry Lessig’s “Laws that choke creativity” Ted- talk. I find that what Lessig had to say was very insightful.  His approach to breaking down the similarities and differences between law, technology, culture, creativity, and etc, was rather interesting to take in. One quote that stood out was ” we live life constantly against the law, ordinary people live against the law, and that’s what I– we are  doing to our kids. They live life knowing they live it against the law. That realization is extremely corrosive…. That was Lessig’s closing statement to the audience. I was completely blown away. Those words forced to me really try and understand where he was coming from.

The fall semester has finally come to a close. I can imagine that everyone is sighing in relief that it’s over. Now,  we can plop onto our beds, face first onto the pillow and take nice long break from this anxiety filled mess that was this fall.

When I look back at this semester I feel jaded and robbed of what was suppose to be exciting semester. With this being my second go around of doing online classes, I was less than thrilled to hear the news half way through the seamster that the spring was going to be same thing all over again.

A huge disappointment but not a surprise. All we can do is look forward and push onward. I will have to say though that during this period of solitude at home. I’ve had time reflect on the past and grow a deeper appreciation of life pre-pandemic. I always found myself sitting by my window with drink in my hand just staring down the way towards Manhattan and getting lost in my memories.

I came to learn that there are many things that we’ve taken for granted because we have grown accustomed to expecting that they will be there tomorrow. Friends, Family, your local coffee shop, even plans. No one in there right mind would think that at the turn of new decade we would be facing global health crisis and lose all semblance of normality within our society.  It’s like an atomic bomb had just been dropped on us and now we’re just sifting through the debris of what is left.

But the bomb wasn’t the pandemic itself. No, that came afterward. The pandemic was the catalyst that set it off . The count down was set in motion long ago. There was no way to predict when it was going to go off but it finally did.  It erupted with a fury that engulf everyone, a summer filled with protest and violence that has shaken us to our core.

Tension has been mounting for year for an issue that has still not been resolved. This pandemic only amplified that disparity that exist between Black and White pitting the issue on the for front of everyone minds. There was no escaping that harsh reality that plagues this nation. I say this to emphasized that tool we call the internet has play a vital roll in bring this struggle inside each and every house hold in America.

If there is any bright side to this crazy year it is that this class has given at-least for me an outlet to relieve stress and enjoy something new.  A way to block out all of the insanity on the news and to be able to create. That is what I feel is the purpose in creating the The Phantom Chronicle . A place where I can pour out what I’m feeling and what I see both Journalistically and personally all in the same place.

Through the guidance of Prof. Seslow and through the influence of my fellow classmate work. I learned how take the power of the internet and put my own spin to it. As a journalist my goal is to report what is going on in our neighborhoods, our nation, and the world. We do that by creating stories that allow our readers to connect to the issue on a personal level. This class has been an amazing asset in giving me new, creative and unorthodox methods my storytelling abilities in ways I never thought of before by using memes, gif, art, videos, and sound to enhance the experience.

Now, in traditional news print media this would never fly, maybe in magazine writing but you are still limited compare to on the web. You have more freedom and tools at your disposal. You have hundreds of choices and directions you can take to create a unique but compelling story. That to me was the biggest take away from this class.

My website will eventually have a bunch of different projects, pieces of writing, and art in the near future. Move forward, I will be trying to actively post every day or at least every other day with new and creative content. I guess you can call this my little creative play ground.

To explain my website set up, I broke my pages down with my blog being the second option next to the home button since it is where most my time will be spent through out the weeks. This will be where my daily personal blog post will reside and I named it the “DAY TO DAY” since I’ll be recounting my experiences and personal thought that are on my mind at that day.

Next “News” which will eventually encompass news articles I write about York from Pandora’s Box and of the city overall. This will later  be broken down to subsection with specific topics of intrest such politics, breaking news, business, etc.

After that we have the “OP-ED” section which will hold all of my journalist and overall formal opinion on news related topics. Finally, the “Review” section is where where a I will putting up my journalistic opinion the latest, “Films”, T.V./ Streaming  shows, and “Music” releases I think this deserved its own page because these are my favorite topics to write about on my free time. 

My goal is by the start of next year I am looking to have all of these pages and categories completely populated with a whole bunch of content. This being my first “Day to Day” Blog post. Marking the beginning of new chapter for this site.

Im not big fan of grading my own work because of how subjective it is. Your perspective is automatically screwed because we’re our own worse critic. We can either be to nice to ourselves or to harsh. It’s just hard to be impartial to your own creativity. Nonetheless, after I evaluated the grading policy for this class, my overall work ethics, completing all 15 post required for the course, and having built a website. I think that for the semester I deserve an A or an A- at-least.

To all my fellow classmates and to Prof. Seslow I want to thank you for a wonderful semester even with how crazy it was. I learned a lot and really enjoyed reading everyones post through out the weeks. They brighten up day when things got bleak. I hope you all have a restful break, I wish you all a happy holidays and Merry Christmas !!!

FAREWELL AND GOOD LUCK NEXT SEMESTER.

A Semester In Review

 

Welcome to my final blog post!

Let me tell you guys how my experience was during CT101…

 

 

 

 

Although it was hard learning all these new things and making sure my blog was perfected,

To reiterate what I said in the mid-semester reflection, this class did teach me how to be more creative and how to use the website and the writing I have for good. All the technical stuff I learned was new but the impact that digital technology has on us and that it continues to make in this world is something I took for granted. For example, the idea that memes are art might be weird and bizarre to some, but in this day and age, it’s true. As Lessig argues in his TED talk about copyrights, technology is a “tool of creativity…[and] of literacy for our generation. It is who our kids are.” My parents tell me all the time that I’m not focused enough in school because of my phone or that I’m lazy because of my phone and all sorts of things. I admit I am a bit dependent on it, but after taking this class, is that necessarily a bad thing, given what it has done and what it can do?

Therefore, in addition to making me more creative and improving my communication skills, I would like to thank this class for making me reflect on my relationship with digital technology. It has its cons, but I am truly grateful for it!

Because I’m a journalism major, I have no choice but to apply these skills to my career in the future. Given that I’m a college student and have a part-time job, it will be hard to maintain my website, but during breaks and maybe even after college I’ll keep it as a blog for me to keep posting on and expressing my thoughts (assuming that I have access to it a year from now). My website will be a blog to me but also a way to share to the world things that are going on, to bring awareness, and to provide people with resources that they can use to make a change. Also as a journalism major, this is really helpful and can help me practice those skills. It definitely took some time figuring out how to delete all the defaults that came with the site and make it my own, but it was worth it. After all, good things come to those who wait! 

In terms of what grade I think I should earn in this class, I think I serve an A- because all though, I haven’t caught up on all the assignments on time, I made sure I did everything with all of my efforts. My blog isn’t as creative as others, but there was just as much effort put into it and this blog post. As you can see here, I think I made use of all the skills we learned in this class! But in the end, you’re the teacher so…

 

 

 

 

As I said before, being able to create a website is easy and accessible, but making it your own is what takes time (but then again that’s up to your discretion, you could leave it as is). Using apps like WordPress does aid in the process and gives you easy ways to customize your site. Regardless, it’s cool what you can do, and if you would like to have a blog or website, then this is a great place to start. I 100% recommend it for beginners like me!

It’s bittersweet to be writing this and have this class end, but I’m glad I was able to take this before I graduated. Thank you Mr. Seslow, to all my classmates and viewers, and have a good break! 

*and scene* 

May we meet again

―The 100 (THE best show on earth)

 

There’s one quote that I think pretty much sums up the argument of Lessig’s video and it’s this: “The architecture of copyright law and the architecture of digital technologies, as they interact have produced the presumption that these activities are illegal. Because if copyright laws at its core regulate something called copies, then the digital world, the one fact we can’t escape is that every single use of culture produces a copy, and therefore every single-use requires permission, and therefore without permission you are a trespasser.” I love this quote because it’s essentially saying these copyright laws halt innovation! 

Technology reproduces and innovates itself based on past mistakes and past innovations; it is constantly making copies and reproducing copies in different ways. That is how success and innovation is created, and as Lessig argues, this is the culture. Similar to the planes who were trespassers back then flying over other people’s land, planes or any other aircraft can’t function without flying over other people’s land, that’s their purpose, like technology. Therefore the functions and opportunities that technology is meant to produce, what makes it a tool of creativity and a tool of speech for our generation and many more to come, are being limited by this age of prohibition. 

I do agree there needs to be some sort of artist choice on how their work is available because the presumption that these activities are always illegal  (sometimes people are just flat out stealing other people’s work) is “dangerous” to our generation and the very function of technology. A solution like this allows us to continue being creative and produce innovations because as Lessig says, it gives us “the opportunity to develop creativity and that competition can teach one lesson to the other.” What a great TED talk!

Vaporwave can be seen as multiple things. According to Wikipedia, it is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and a type of internet imagery. Thinking in terms of the purposes of this class, it includes culture from the 1980s and 90s, for example, glitch art, 1990s web design, greek and roman statues, and 3D art. I honestly think Vaporwave is pretty cool in terms of a visual style. I really liked the “choppy” triangle picture of the vulture. Not all are really appealing but some are, as I’ve provided above. I can’t see myself making such art based on your tutorial, but it would be a nice addition to my website. When I checked the student vaporwave gallery, the choppy triangle picture of Spiderman looked cool as well. From afar, the choppy picture almost looks really clear!

Here are just simple examples of the “vaporwave” I created:

This is just an image of the Brooklyn bridge at night (I know, it’s beautiful), but if I didn’t tell you that you wouldn’t be able to tell! I just love the colors. 

This is an image of my cousin and other people in her play during her freshman year of college. They have this event every year for MLK day and this year’s theme was Sankofa. I love the unity in this picture. In the background, you also see the Malian flag, which is where I’m from! 

 

Sell Ads online – The world of digital Marketing. I don’t know if this is Adrian’s business, but so far. He has a really nice aesthetic to his site, and as a business owner, I would definitely take a look at his recommendations on how I can maximize my budget on online ads. That idea for a website was also really creative :).

Another favorite of mine was this website: $imply Psycho (simplypsycho.com).  Everything about the site is so unique. Not only do I love the look of the page, but the content could also be extremely useful to me as well, as I’m not an expert in money management. I’ll definitely be using one of those apps that they mentioned on their page that helps one keep track of their money. Great job and keep up the good work. I need to step my game up!

Outside of social media, I didn’t really think it was accessible to create a digital identity. In fact, I thought the way most people created their digital identity was through social media!

Not only did I learn what a domain is and its purpose,  I learned how to use this to create a website.  I thought this was something only coders knew. One of my biggest takeaways is how simple the process is. I can definitely say it has made writing an easier process for me. It definitely has allowed me to be more creative because I was blogging and personalizing my posts. I was also more reflective because I don’t usually “journal” like this for the rest of my classes. In terms of my strengths and weakness, I’d say I’ve become a better writer, but I feel like I need to catch up with my blog and use it to do more good. Sometimes, I tend to take a break from social media and just being on my phone; however, I want to be consistent with my blog and continue to talk about things that matter in the world. Because we had to create a series of blogs which is kind of like journaling to me, I was able to write in my own voice, be creative with it (something I can’t or just don’t usually do on social media) that is clear to my viewers. I understand how you can’t communicate the same way to different audiences (especially because of the difference in culture). I decided to call my domain name this:

THE Blog – Author: Fatoumata Minaj (fatoumatakoureichi.com)

I think I’ve earned a B in the class so far, and I will continue to put more effort into my blog. Moving forward, I want to use this site to talk about my life and bring awareness to the things going on in my community. Besides just sharing things about BLM on social media, I can now write about it and share resources with other people so they can get involved as well. 

 

It was a bit tricky at first because when I downloaded WordPress and tried to log in, it wasn’t working and It was because I didn’t verify my email. However, there wasn’t really anything to dislike about the process; it was pretty straight forward.  But because it was so easy, it shows how easy it is for anyone to create a digital identity (although it cost $32 to create our domain, I’m pretty sure there’s somewhere on the internet where you can get a domain for free!). With a computer and some money, creating a WordPress site seems pretty accessible. With this new website, I’m excited to see how I can personalize my site and create a unique digital identity.