Media Space

David Mindel’s article, “Approaches and Considerations Regarding Image Manipulation in Digital Collections,” discusses image manipulation within academic and cultural heritage institutions. Mindel first introduces some things that experts look at when viewing an image, such as color management and bit-depth. He then goes through the steps to properly manipulating an image so it can become a “visually appealing and information-rich source of local and cultural identification” (179). First, digital photo manipulation requires equipment that is “properly calibrated,” including the histogram within the image scanner, which can capture and image’s highlights, midtones, and shadows. Mindel then goes on to discuss the positive applications of image manipulation. For example, he shows an…

In the age of big data and social media, nothing can stay a secret for long, especially when celebrities or politicians are involved. While social media sites such as Twitter are good at exposing the truth, they are also good at clouding the truth with rumors and opinions. Those false rumors can often go unchecked in the vast realm of social media, pushing a scandal into further chaos. Overall, in the age of Twitter, scandals move faster. Firstly, the scandal would have been discovered much sooner nowadays. If an illicit photo or hushed word about the scandal reached Twitter or any social media, it would spread like wildfire. For the…

As our world has become increasingly digital, so have our elections. Candidates for all levels of government focus much more of their attention on their online presence because, in the end, a candidate’s social media pretense is what can make or break their election. We saw how Donald Trump used social media to his advantage since loud, inflammatory posts usually get the most attention. The race between Ben Cline and and Jennifer Lewis is much lower stakes than the presidential race, but we can still glean important information about each candidate’s values and campaign strategies from their online presence. Ben Cline has the more prevalent online presence of the two…

Tonight I did some light reading through Instagram’s riveting privacy policy. They have their policy split into 9 parts which I will attempt to summarize for your convenience. The first part is titled “What kinds of information do we collect?” First we must note that because Facebook and Instagram are now the same company, Instagram’s privacy policy is directly linked to Facebook’s privacy policy which opens up a whole new can of worms. None of the information Instagram collects is very surprising: your posts, location of your posts, communication with other users, purchases and transactions, and information others share about you. Instagram also claims that some information such as religion,…

When thinking of my online identity, I usually split it into two categories: academic and social. While I actively post to social media knowing that my post is public and people beyond my followers can possibly see it, I am also aware that my academic online footprint, while supposedly secure, is probably not as secure as I would like to believe. After reading Eric Sheninger’s article about the digital footprint, I am more cognizant about what I post online and what I am tagged in because I know that future employers can dig up almost anything about me online. My primary social media is Instagram. I don’t post too often,…

According to her Facebook, Professor Abdoney seems to have been born into a middle class family in Florida. After attending public high school she was able to University of Florida for undergrad and University of South Florida for grad studies, indicating that she is very well educated. Politically, she is very left leaning according to her Twitter posts which are primarily about feminism, lgbtq rights, and poking fun at the Trump administration. Also, her twitter and Facebook posts about digital culture and library stuff show that she is very passionate about her job. Her likes include cats, cross stitch, and knitting as evidenced by the extensive photos of those things…

For me, technology can be a double edged sword; I need access to the internet to complete 99% of my coursework, yet the same thing that is so essential to my academic success is also a huge source of distraction. During the last 24 hours, the most used app on my phone was Instagram. Granted I only had 41 minutes of on-screen time, but I definitely could have used that 41 minutes to read that book that was due in my English class or simply just get ahead on work that will definitely pile up later. My other most used apps were Snapchat, Safari, Facebook, Twitter, Outlook, and GroupMe. I…