Technology and Identity

How does technology influence our identity? Nancy Hass pointed out in her article, "In your facebook.com," that people, mainly college students, try to portray themselves through different categories. First I would like to talk about facebook.com. The Facebook is a networking webiste in which you can keep up with old friends or befriend the new people you meet in class. By becoming friends with someone on facebook, they can have access to your personal page. The things on your page such as your dislikes/likes, groups, and all of your actions done on the site will be visibile to everyone you are friends with. Hass says in the article, "These communities can be postive or negative." This is relvent to what you put on your page becuase what a person puts on their page will reflect a positive or negative image of the person. The facebook member needs to keep in mind what they put on their page can come back and bit them in the butt, in a sense. Everyone will be able to see what they aredoing including future employers. If the person page portrays themselves as always drinking beer, partying, and have inappropriate sayings on it labels them negatively.

Technology does influnce our identity. Hass says "Facebook illumintes the changing nature of public and private identity." The internet allows people to voice their private thoughts to the public. Many people seem to feel more open about how they feel when they writting on either facebook or another blogging site. The private is now public. Technology is ever changing, and more and more people find ways to access a persons private profile, so all in all a person needs to think before they post certain things about themselves.

What is an effective website?

What is an effective website? Faigley says there are three components that make an effective website. They are credible, usually appealing, and fast to upload. I agree with this because I feel if a website is unorganized makes searching for the information you need difficult. The purpose of the website should be to be credible while persuading the website visitors. The colors are also very important because you do not want too many colors so you do no overwhelm visitors. The colors hould be warm and inviting like orange and greens. The site should have some whitespace to give the visitors eyes a break.

I feel that amazon.com is a great website. It is secured, persuasive, easy to use, and is organized. They do not use too manyt colors and is appealing to its target audience. Also, I believe that abercrombieandfitch.com is an awesome website because it is easy to use and has unique features such as a "online changing room" where you can put different articles of clothing together to make outfits. It also features an online shopping cart where you can put items you wish to buy in the future or now. The site is very organzied too. At the top of the page you can choose men or women and if you want t-shirts, jeans, or accessories. It is very appealing to its target audience.

Analyzing Images and Visual Texts

Analyzing images and visual texts can be ambiguous in meaning depending on who is looking at the image. What i belive the meaning of the image to be could be completely different from another person because of either my gender or even race. Gender and race can play a role in the way people see images because women find that a bloody image is gross and unappealing while some men would think that the ad is powerful and cool. In Faigley, he discusses the structure of a SUV vs a Mini Van. The two vehicles represent two different messages. the mini van represents and gives more of family vehicle and promotes safety. The SUV is more sporty, but good for families.

When looking at an image the colors can represent different meanings. For example, if the SUV was orange, it would represent a cozy and comfortable vehicle while a red SUV could mean powerful and fast.