Week 16

Monday 11-30

Jefferson Goolsby, professor of New media here at UMaine, came in to speak to us today. He stressed to us that we live in a world of fluidity and that we must take advantage of this train of thought by being more flexible, adaptable, and migratory.

We spoke to Jeff about how we had been learning a lot about collaboration and the importance of being able to work well in groups. His response to this was something that is always stressed in my CMJ courses. He stressed the importance of a partner that will challenge you. It makes sense. If everyone gets along and no one disagrees then no one is being pushed to be better.

On a fun note, towards the end of his talk he told us not to take our 20's too seriously. It is an extremely hard thing to do. We that our in our 20's have no perspective to look back on but listening to people like Jeff really helps put everything into place.

Wednesday 12-2

Owen Smith came in to speak to class again today. But this was different. It was not his usual faculty position of informing us about our paths through the program. Today he simply told us of his life through his artwork. he showed us all the different phases he went through as he grew up and experimented with all sorts of mediums. the concept that i took away from Owen's passion for art is that art can be whatever you want it to be. All art is, is a form of expression. It just takes an idea and a passion to create any form of art a person can think of.



Friday 12-4

And here it is... the very last journal entry for the semester. It has been quite the semester and I can say with knowledge and confidence that this class offered more insight and reflection than any other introductory level class I have ever experienced.

An important "wrap-up" concept we talked over was "show the people your view". We talked about expressing our ideas through our creativity. As designers, artists and creators of any sort, it is imperative to success that we make our audience feel what we feel.

If we can figure out how to consistently reach human emotions throughout our careers, we will be successful in creating whatever it is we will need to.

Thanks for the semester Bill. Taking a class like this gave me just what I needed in terms of getting my feet wet into the waters of the ever challenging and vast field of New Media.

Readings

"Living in Exponential Times"- I had seen this video a few times before and it is just as staggering every time. It really gives us Americans perspective on just how far behind we may be. It is my feeling that we as Americans have this attitude that we are the biggest, the strongest, the smartest, and the best.... It is simply not the case.

Not only does this video stagger me in terms of national comparison, it is staggering in terms of global consumption and exponential growth as well. Although it may be extremely alarming and startling to see these facts and numbers, it is also nice to see just because it gives you perspective on how you see the world. So often people can get stuck in their little bubble. This forces you to see the bigger picture.