Category Archives: Uncategorized

Virtual Reality

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Virtual and Augmented Realities allow us to have a sense of exploration and fantasy without actually being in another world or leaving home. Augmented lets us see our actual world and bring in small aspects of fantasy—like having a dinosaur standing behind you in a selfie. Virtual on the other hand lets us immerse ourselves completely in a fantasy world or situation- flying a plane, killing zombies, or walking across a rope that’s 1000 feet in the air for example. VR works due to gyroscopes and motion sensors, small screens for stereoscopic display, and extremely small, lightweight but very quick computer processors. It also has omnidirectional cameras, which allow the 360 views that most, if not all, VR sets have.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are both available to the public for purchase, both becoming increasingly popular as the years pass. Virtual was first, primarily used, between 1970 to 1990 for training purposes in medical fields, flight, auto industries, and military training. The game company SEGA introduced their own VR set in 1991 and Nintendo released ‘Virtual Boy’ in 1995. The Oculus Rift, designed by Palmer Luckey, was introduced in 2010 but not released for 2 years due to video distortion issues. Today, many different video game companies have a VR set of their own, including Sony PlayStation and Valve. Augmented reality is slightly less popular than Virtual, but it is still in use. If you’ve ever played Pokémon Go- which was released in 2016- then you’re familiar with the augmented system. It’s also very visible in football games, as broadcasters are able to draw lines on the field that aren’t actually there, and can analyze plays that way. Historical sites can use Augmented Reality to overlay today’s ruins with what used to be the glorious site that lay there in history, much like Pompeii.

With Virtual reality now in our hands, we can easily do things we might not think possible- both realistic and fantasy. Suddenly, we can be in space with Luke and swinging light sabers around, fighting zombies with Daryl and Rick, and even seeing the Irish countryside and looking off into the ocean below the cliff we’re standing on. We can visit places we might not ever be able to go, if for a fear of planes or boats- like Europe, Hawaii, Japan, or Alaska. It also allows us to practice real-world situations, depending on the reality, like flying a plane for Pilot training, Medical training, and Military practices. Military officials can train their people for raids, dropping from planes, and possible situations without having them in any imminent danger. They can test someone who recently was in a traumatic event, to see how they might react to situations once back in the field, without the possibility of an innocent person getting killed. It also helps Psychologists and Therapists who are aiding a client through fear, as the client can wear the headset in a safe place and look down off a cliff (fear of heights) or be close to an animal (fear of spiders, snakes, or any other animal).

As with most things, there are some dangers to Virtual Reality. Those that have sensitivity to lights, get headaches easily, or have seizures could experience less than a fun time. You could also get injured, if you’re not watching where you are—and are moving around a lot in the VR you’re wrapped in. Tripping over items, running into walls, or even getting too close to another person could all easily end up in injury. Personally, I have an Oculus and I’ve constantly run into things—and it’s not for lack of trying. Despite it having a set area that you can play in, accidents can still happen. I also get headaches within 30 minutes of playing it, despite not having migraine health problems. Once the headache creeps in—that’s when it’s time to stop playing, take a break, something. The most common health concern that occurs is called Cybersickness, which has symptoms similar to motion sickness- dizziness, headaches, stomach awareness, sweating, fatigue, and general discomfort. VR does offer several immersion types, in an effort to combat problems like this. There is non-immersive, where real-world elements can still creep in and combat nausea symptoms. Semi-Immersive combines real-world objects to replicate experiences, like flight simulations. Finally, fully immersive is almost completely digital where you can fully explore environments.

Google AR & VR | Home

What Is VR? A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Reality | Digital Trends

What Is Augmented Reality? | The Franklin Institute (fi.edu)

Virtual reality – Wikipedia

Fun with Apps

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TikTok is a very popular video sharing app, found on both desktop and mobile- but is probably most popular on mobile. While there is YouTube for sharing videos, TikTok is primarily for shorts, or short videos, ranging in topics. Most are funny and meant for laughs, for sharing quick tips, and also for challenges—which most recently TikTok has gotten in legal trouble over a ‘Blackout Challenge’. Primarily this app is used to just pass time, have some laughs, and (for some) get an online following. [1]

While TikTok is meant for younger generations, even older generations use it daily. People of any age can watch the short videos, as even the videos done by younger generations get laughs out of the older generation—and vice versa! TikTok uses an FYP (For You Page) algorithm to get similar content to what people watch, based on what they’ve already seen. Did you just watch a few dance videos? They’ll show you a few more you might like! All generations can get in on trends as well, where you record videos following a short dance or audio clip and post it for others to view. [2]

Another popular mobile app is Instagram, a picture-sharing and video-sharing app used by millions of people all over the world- both individuals and businesses. When you decide to share a picture (or short video) you can use hashtags to get more viewers (as a lot of people search for certain tags) and you can follow other people to see their content regularly. This is good for businesses, especially photographers and small businesses, as the site is free to use and can get their products seen by thousands (and more) daily. There is a filter program that you can use on your photographs, to change the hues and saturations of them to give a different look. [3]

Instagram is mostly used by the younger generations (under 40 years old) but it’s not to say the older generations don’t use the app. A lot of businesses, especially smaller businesses and home-ran businesses use Instagram, so even the mom-and-pop stores can get an influx of customers with a little help from the networking service. When you make a post to Instagram, you can also post it to Facebook- as long as you link your two accounts- as Facebook has acquired the app.

There is a dark side to Instagram however, despite the good it could do for people. There’s a list of known impact on individuals including anxiety, addiction, mental health (especially to younger generations under 25), social exclusion, alcohol/drug use, self-harm risks and pedophilia. A majority of Instagram users are under 23 years old, and there were plans (at one point) to launch an Instagram for children under 13. Social media already harms self-image concerns for people all over the world (especially adolescent females) and if children had their own version, it would make it all to easier for pedophiles to get access to their photos and communicate with them (more than they already can). [4]

[1] What Is the Blackout Challenge and What Has TikTok Said About It? (msn.com)

[2] Why Is TikTok So Popular? Why the Social Network Is Unique (howtogeek.com)

[3] Instagram for Business: Marketing on Instagram | Instagram for Business

[4] Instagram – Wikipedia

 

Fluffy, Digital Clouds

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There are a lot of Cloud-Based networks out there that people use to share information with others and to share with other devices they use. Maybe they are working on something with a partner and need to ensure both parties can see any edits made by the other as they work on their part. Even an individual might want to be able to save a project on their desktop and be able to open it on their tablet without having to email it to themselves every time or put it on a flash drive. Flash drives could potentially become corrupted, break, or get lost. Personally, the main two Cloud-based systems I use weekly, sometimes daily, are Google Drive and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Adobe Creative Cloud is one of the many programs offered by Adobe- and it’s not just a single program. Creative Cloud is a set of programs, offered by Adobe, that gives it’s users unlimited access to a wide collection of software. Subscribers can use these collections to edit videos, for graphic design, web development, and even photography. Not only is there the main computer version but Adobe also has a mobile application. Adobe Creative Cloud has at least 38 different products and services that are offered, all supported on multiple operating systems and available in different packages available to purchase.

Google Drive began being offered to users back in 2012 as file storage and synchronization service. With a Drive account, you can open and edit a document on one computer- then after saving, can log into drive on another computer or tablet, and you can continue modifying the document. It’s not just for documents either, as you can upload photos to it and share them with other Google Drive accounts. They offer users 15 GB for free, with other sizes like 100 GB and 1 TB available through paid subscriptions. Google Drive allows viewing of over 25 file formats including JPEG, Adobe Photoshop, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word. This application would probably not work well if it was not in the cloud, as sharing and editing in live time would be near impossible and the multitude of file formats available would possibly corrupt the files.

There will always be some form of privacy concern when using Cloud software. It could potentially make it easier for hackers to get into if opened on multiple devices- any of which could be at risk. There’s also the chance that, if on a public computer, someone forgets to log out of their account. Now, anyone who gets on that computer has access to anything in your Drive.

 

Adobe Creative Cloud – Wikipedia

Google Drive – Wikipedia

Bullies Are Everywhere

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Bad behavior is everywhere you look when you’re online. Hackers and scammers try ruining your life one way or another and everyday bullies try to make you feel terrible. Bullies take many forms, and most aren’t afraid to act in public, however, there are those cyber bullies that hide behind their screens and post cruel words against an individual that they might not actually have the courage to do in person.

Social media is a wide ground where bullies can search for targets and easily post their hateful words. For instance, if we looked at Twitter and the Professional Wrestling community, we could find a slew of bullies and posts aimed at the wrestlers, especially in light of everything that has gone on as of late. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has released a lot of its talent since early 2020, whether from budget cuts, talent not performing to a standard, or individuals requesting their leave. Now, as fans- no one knows what goes on backstage; we can’t say that talent is difficult to work with, that they have a poor work ethic or they deserve anything. However, recently on Twitter, there have been a lot of posts against recent talent releases and even current superstars out with injury. Sasha Banks (recently released) and Rhea Ripley (out with injury) recently are some of the more recent victims of a cyberbully—who has since deleted his tweet. His words spewed hate toward the two ladies, essentially stating they were terrible at their job and deserved to be physically attacked. Rhea herself responded to his tweet, stating “Demi here… ya know, the real-life human inside Rhea. Just wanted to point out that WRESTLERS and any form of ENTERTAINER is a real-life human off-screen. Don’t wish harm on ANYONE. Don’t wish for anyone to be BURIED. Don’t wish for anyone to be FIRED. F’n disgrace”. Her response has currently gained over 1300 comments (most of which encourage her and are in agreeance) and over 23,000 likes.

Hate against individuals like this is very common, as the ‘fan’ doesn’t like a talent, doesn’t agree with something they say or do—or even what they’re doing on-screen as part of their job—and lash out against them. Sometimes they gather like-minded individuals, but most of the time they only receive backlash as ‘true fans’ lash out against them. The guy mentioned above, as I stated, has deleted his comment, probably in response to the backlash he received, but he’s only one of the thousands out there that make comments like this against wrestling talent. No reprimanding is done, no justice to those that are attacked by the words. The only damage done is against their ego and pride, especially when they can’t get the satisfaction they were looking for.

Instances like these are the primary reason I don’t comment on things anymore. A year or so ago I commented once on someone’s tweet, showing my support to them—and what did I get in response? A bully responded to me, telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about, that I was stupid and needed to go kill myself. I’m a naturally sensitive person and having someone tell me that in such a hateful way crushed me. I felt like crap, despite the fact I knew it was common and he had probably done it to many people. I left my comment up—not giving him the satisfaction of deleting my praise of someone—but I disappeared from Twitter for a while. I reported his tweet to Twitter as Hate speech, and they merely asked if I wanted to block the individual. That was all that could be done—because it’s really all that CAN be done. Virtual hate comments like this, until they get to the stage of harassment, are technically not illegal and that’s why people do it because they know they can get away with it.

Cyber Security and Potential Threats

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When it comes to digital threats, more and more types pop up as the years pass. Cyberattacks are done intentionally to gather intel from organizations or individuals mostly for financial gain, information theft (like social security numbers, addresses, and private documents), sabotage, and espionage. As of June 2022, there are several different sources of digital threats including, but not limited to, Malware attacks, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, Software Supply chain attacks, Password attacks, and Social Engineering attacks. Malware can be a simple link that someone clicks on or vulnerabilities in operating systems that install without the user knowing. Once installed on your device, it monitors everything and sends the data back to the attacker. Malware attacks include worms, spyware, ransomware, and the well-known Trojan virus. Social Engineering is similar to Malware but it affects people more on the psychological side, making you think you have done wrong and their offer is the only way/quickest way to correct it. Things like Scareware Security software, where the program does a fake malware scan and detects something in your device—despite there actually being nothing there. The scareware then asks for you to pay to have the fake threat removed, and if you go through with it, they now have your financial details and your money is good as gone. Software supply chain attacks can be malware that is pre-installed on cameras or USB drives—or even your cell phone and can compromise devices owned by third-party vendors. Man-in-the-Middle is essentially an eavesdropping attack, where the attacker is waiting in the server to either pose as the client and get information or gain access to a different server with much more information on it. Password attacks are another common one, where the attacker uses force (by trying many different passwords trying to get the correct one), uses common passwords to gain access to the network of a victim, or uses Social engineering to systematically get the correct password. This is why most sites ask you to change your password after so long, and to not use previously used passwords or use simple ones. ABCD1234 will no doubt get your accounts hacked, easily and quickly.

Here at this company, we begin our protection protocol with a simple plan: a very complicated password. It would probably closely resemble a license plate, with a few letters and a few numbers, in random order and would not be connected to any one employee. This password would only be known by the device user and we would never write it down- it’s up to the device user to memorize it. That way, if it were to be written down, it couldn’t get lost on a desk or placed in an easily accessible area. We also discourage any form of password sharing and an employee should never log in for guests, contractors, or new hires. In case any devices are stolen in a break-in, we also have ‘find my device’ programs on all company laptops, phones, tablets or devices, so that authorities can easily and quickly locate our property. The next step we have in place is encrypting all of our data and backing it up, then storing it separately so it’s not easily found by hackers if they got into our system. A major process we have is more aimed at our own employees, as no personal devices for work-related items. If you use a device for personal reasons (your laptop, mobile device, tablet) then that can not be used for accessing work-related documents or programs. Our company accounts may be safe, but your device could have a hacker just waiting for the right opportunity- and the second you use it to log into the company account, we become vulnerable. Our last digital defense we have (that we’re sharing anyway) is restricting IT tech admin rights. By only allowing certain individuals to access sensitive information we can better protect our company. By following these five processes alone, we as a department can keep our company information out of the hands of attackers and protect all of our client information. We don’t want competing companies getting an idea for how we’re going to run the next six months, because they can alter their plan and out-perform us or even steal some of our customers away from us by offering them lower costs or ‘better’ performance.

I recommend that our company should adopt five simple tasks to become more safe and secure, ensuring our customers can rely on us with their information. Always avoiding unsecured websites when using company devices is a major idea. If we stay off of these types of sites, it keeps cybercriminals from being able to access sensitive data that is being stored on that specific device. Not only should we stay off of unsecured websites, but staying off of unsecured networks is also a major key. This ties into using personal devices for work-related issues; sure, we all like the convenience and being able to access work from home- however, that could easily cause a major malware or phishing attack and we could lose sensitive data. We should train all new hires on important cyber security steps and let them know exactly how pertinent it is that they follow these steps. Explain to them that any lapse in judgment on any step could be devastating for the company, but also for them as an individual. Investing in security insurance and seeking out a specialist for advice on security insurance would be beneficial to our company’s financials and help lower any security risks that the department might overlook. If we add these simple steps into our security tasks, in addition to the protocols we already have in place, it will make our company the bane of any cyber attacker and they will not be able to get into our system. Our customers’ sensitive information will be safe with us for a very long time.

 

21 Top Cyber Security Threats: Everything you Need to Know (exabeam.com)

Five Ways To Protect Your Company Against Cyber Attacks (entrepreneur.com)

Help Everywhere You Look

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When you’re doing digital art, sometimes you run into issues and don’t know how to best move forward. Maybe it’s a tool issue or a file problem, but something isn’t adding up and you’re beginning to get frustrated. Don’t worry though! There are tons of websites out there, videos from professionals in the industry, that more than likely have the exact answer you need. Search around a little bit, and I am almost certain you’ll find the answer you need. Here are three sites I found that have multiple tutorials of all kinds, and really explain the processes behind them- as well as explaining the programs.

FixthePhoto has been around since 2003 and is a trusted online photo retoucher. They have several tutorials including manipulation tutorials, ranging from a Harry Potter Patronus to fantasy portals and giant rhinos or elephants. These tutorials are the hottest thing right now in 2022, as the fantasy ones are pretty popular within movie tropes- due to Harry Potter and Marvel. FixthePhoto has a blog with even more tips that they share with readers, and the instructions given in the tutorials is super easy to follow. I myself definitely see myself going back to read through tips and tutorials to improve my artwork.

35 Best Photoshop Manipulation Tutorials in 2022 (fixthephoto.com)

PHLEARN has been around since 2011 and is a worldwide tutorial site that offers both free and paid, professional tutorials (which are much more in-depth and focused). They have over 600 recorded tutorials, some of which you can find on YouTube- where they are watched by over 190 countries. PHLEARN seems like a pretty good site and I do believe I’ll go back and watch some of their tutorials. If I had the extra money I’d probably do their in-depth ones. I took a quick listen to one of their free tutorials and it seemed very easy to follow and the guy doing the voice kept my interest and made it fun to watch.

The Best Free Photoshop Tutorials + Lightroom and Photography As Well (phlearn.com)

Adobe themselves has multiple tutorials on all their programs, from photoshop to Illustrator and those are definitely a big help when you’re trying to figure out the ins and outs of what each program is capable of.  All of their tutorials are very easy to follow and they go step by step, including explaining all the smaller tools and bits that you might not think are important (but actually are). It’s all extremely well written, which is something you’d expect from a top company like Adobe. I took a sneak peek at the Illustrator tutorial page, and there’s a lot to the program I didn’t realize, so I will definitely be saving the link and going back to read more.

View all Adobe Illustrator tutorials

CMS vs HTML

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Understanding ‘content management system’ is a huge time saver when it comes to managing your own website(s). With CMS on your side, you no longer have to write codes yourself for all the different pages on your site. It completely eliminates the need to code at all! That alone is a huge relief, especially if you don’t fully understand code—or don’t understand it at all. With the content management system, it helps build strong webpages and storing images without destroying the quality, leaving you to focus more on other key parts to your site. The best part is, CMS is not just for websites! It can also help you with managing documents!

Building a website from scratch is definitely fun, but it can get overwhelming very easily, especially if it’s your first attempt. Even experienced site builders get overwhelmed at times when things aren’t going to plan. HTML (or HyperText Markup Language) is the fancy code that is the building block to all websites, used by creators to design and develop their webpages. It’s the most common, as you can find html in all links, but it’s not the only one out there. If you can understand HTML and code easily, then that’s one route you can take. However, coding takes a lot of patience and even more time. The smallest mis-type can completely destroy your webpage and set you back on launching your site. This could be especially time consuming if you have more than two pages to create. However, if you have only a few pages that will rarely need updating,  then HTML is the way to go.

Content management systems aid the web design industry to an extent. Small businesses can easily start up their own website and get the ball rolling. However, there could come a time when even that small business needs extra help with their site. Maybe there’s more work than the business can handle, maybe they’re getting swamped with low employees and can’t keep up with the site as much as they need to—and suddenly they need a massive amount of updates. Things like this help keep professional web developers in desire, as small businesses can reach out and hire them to assist wherever it is that the developer is needed. Maybe it’s to upkeep the site (or find an easy way for them to do it even with having their hands full with their own orders), maybe there’s some features (plugins) that will assist and even improve the site, to which the owner didn’t even think of. Unless every professional web developer in the world suddenly all have their own small business and can do their own pages, there will be a continuous need for them and the knowledge they have.

~ – ~ – ~ – ~ – ~ – ~

What Is a Content Management System (CMS)? (kinsta.com)

CMS vs HTML: Why Use a Content Management System? | Core dna

How Recent Trends Affect CMS Website Design Companies (onebricktech.com)

Demographics Rule

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According to WordPress, the top three Social Media platforms in 2019 were (in order) Facebook, YouTube, and in third Instagram. Facebook has over 2.2 million active users every month—a staggering near-third of the Worlds population. YouTube is highly used by podcasters/broadcasters to share their videos, which in turn earn them money- due to Pay Per Click ads put on videos. Instagram, which can be used for personal or business, has the third-highest Monthly Active User count for 2019.

Top 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms In 2019 (wordpresswpthemes.com)

Facebook can be used by a wide range of individuals for an even wider range of reasons. People have their personal pages, which they can use to keep in touch with friends and family or if it’s what they choose to do, add thousands upon thousands of random people as friends. People can use the platform to share their business, garner support for charities and build volunteer lists by getting the word out. Individuals can share videos, either pre-made (videos they’ve made or share another person’s video) or can go ‘LIVE’ and share videos that way, they can share pictures, and information about events and invite people to those events on an Event Page. People can make an actual page for a business, share information and invite people to ‘like’ the page, thus building a customer base.

YouTube has been around for a while, but in the past ten years or so it’s really become a platform for business-minded individuals or creators to share their content. Musical Artists release their Music Videos for the songs, talented home musicians can share videos of them making a cover for a well-known song. You even have the podcasters and Vloggers who put together videos for entertainment purposes. Take for instance two Youtubers that have a huge fanbase—Markiplier and Ethan Page. Markiplier has been sharing since close to 2012, mostly doing ‘let’s plays’ where he plays video games and shares his screen for viewers to see. If you watch a video of his from when he first started and compare to a more recent video from this year you can see a huge difference because he’s evolved over the years, not only on a personal level but he’s gotten a better mindset for what programs to use and what equipment works best. He’s done several interactive videos where viewers can choose a path, which takes them to a different video, the most recent being ‘In Space with Markiplier’, as well as built a clothing brand named ‘CLOAK’ which he advertises stealthily on his clothing in videos. Markiplier also runs a podcast with two of his friends, fellow YouTubers Muyskerm and LordMinion, which he advertises for in every video he posts. Ethan Page, on the other hand, is a Professional Wrestler, who has primarily taken to doing weekly videos of him and some of his friends doing ‘Toy Hunts’, where in each city they visit, they find a comic store or toy store and look for collectibles. Those are only two Youtubers who use the platform to build their brand, and build their fanbase via the video platform- but there are millions more who use it for similar and also different purposes.

Instagram started as primarily a picture-sharing platform, which grew due to the use of Hashtags (that Twitter likes to use as well). Now, videos can also be shared, mostly short ones. Users can promote products of their business through images or videos, using the rapid growth of Instagram to really benefit their promotions. Individuals can make personal Insta profiles, or like Facebook, can make a business page—and you can follow other businesses in the hope for them to do the same, and help promote each other.

Top 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms In 2019 (wordpresswpthemes.com)

Demographics are important in social media because it shows the range of characteristics of customers. Businesses can better understand who is purchasing from them and can get a good idea of who will buy from them in the future, maybe even change their demographic to get more customers in. If businesses can understand their demographic customer base, they can figure out their target market and get the right customers for what they’re offering. It can affect factors outside of the customer base as well, such as pricing, services offered, and packaging of products. If a business has the right demographic understanding, sales have the potential to increase. Some demographics a lot of businesses look at are purchasing power, geographic area, age of (potential) customers and family status.

Demographics – Overview, Variables, How they Affect Decisions (corporatefinanceinstitute.com)

Facebook demographics show that more users are male, sitting at 56% over 44% being female and the majority age range for all Facebook users are between 25 and 35. While the majority of users are mid twenties to mid thirties, the smallest demographic falls to the senior 65+ population, at only a 4.8% of users. The largest population on Facebook isn’t actually in the United States- it’s India, with over 320 million, towering over the U.S’ 190 million.  

Youtube has similar demographics, with 53.9% of global users being male, and only 46.1% being female. The highest percentage age-range for U.S users are the 18-29 year olds, holding a 95%, while only 49% of the 65+ population use Youtube. India, again, leads against the US as the country with the highest number of users at 467 million.

Instagram sticks to the demographic outlook, as females users are 48.4% compared to male users are at 51.6% and 31.2% of users are between 25-34 years of age. The U.S alone has 123 million Instagram users. The majority of Instagram users are outside of the U.S, a staggering 87% of users—and 17.6% of the Worlds population use Instagram. Out of the U.S teenage population, 25% of them say Instagram is their go-to preferred Social Media platform. A lot of Influencers and businesses use Instagram, as it provides a good interaction between them and their followers and customers.  Fun fact: the most liked photo on Instagram- at over 55 million likes- is a photo of an Egg.

63 Facebook Statistics You Need to Know in 2022 – Omnicore (omnicoreagency.com)

Instagram by the Numbers (2022): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts (omnicoreagency.com)

Roughly half of the global population, 51%, use social media each day and on average, those 3.96 billion people spend 144 minutes on the different platforms. However, let’s take kids under 13 out of the equation- since most Social Media limits anyone under that age from getting an account. That leaves 65% of the world’s population on social media, and that total number has surged over the past year by 10%. The average U.S citizen spends just over 2 hours on Social Media, while the average time for a person in the Philippines is almost double that at 3 hours and 53 minutes.

How Much Time Does The Average Person Spend On Social Media? (digitalmarketing.org)

Out of the three highest-used Social Media, from the information I went through, Instagram is definitely growing the fastest. I believe this is due to the interactive ability between poster and audience. Sure, Facebook has nearly the same capabilities: share a photo, comment below, and like. However, not a lot of people use the Hashtag system on Facebook, but on Instagram, it’s hashtag city and that makes it a lot easier for people to find posts and businesses that they’re looking for. Want some new art or cuisine ideas? Search # healthy quick foods or # modern art and you’ve instantly got hundreds of posts at your fingertips.

When I was looking at the demographics for the three sites, I noticed the higher percentage of users accessed the platforms via mobile. It’s quicker, it’s easier for a lot of people—especially if you’re out of the house running errands and need to waste some time.

History of the WWW

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More people are accessing the web using mobile devices instead of computers. The growth of people using mobile devices to access the web keeps growing with each passing year. According to this article written in 2021, as of the year 2018, a staggering 92% of households had a computer. Smartphones have overtaken all other devices, like tablets and laptops, however, 84% of households had smartphones- which is at least 5-20% higher than households with desktops, laptops, and tablets. It’s also more common for Urban dwellers to have computers and internet access, with a higher rate of subscription to broadband internet. Older populations, people 60 years of age and higher, are less likely to have a computer in their home, and even lesser likely to own a smartphone. [1]

Who controls the internet and all it offers? It’s widely believed that the different Governments around the world control the Web, as they control everything else for their respective countries. China, for instance, has more strict control over its inhabitants’ usage, what sites they can visit, and sites that are banned. For China, it’s become more relaxed than it used to be, but compared to a lot of other counties, especially the United States, it’s very strict. The U.S Government monitors its citizens’ usage as well, flagging certain sites, and tracking illegal activities with surveillance. What was thought of and created as a tool for information is equally used for control and repression of the same people that use it. [2]

If the Government controls the internet, did they create it too? Not quite. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, born on the 8th of June in 1955, is best known for inventing the World Wide Web in 1989 at the age of 34. After graduating from Oxford University, he went on to work at CERN, a Physics Laboratory, and helped develop the tools that would go on to help his invention of the Web. There are now many different reasons for accessing the web, from information like books and news, to videos and blogs. [3]

A blog is a page on the web, designed by either an individual or a group, that they can freely write and post written documents on whatever subject they feel strongly about. Blogs help with movements, small mom-and-pop stores, and almost anything that someone can write about. It gets the word out about anything and everything, and with helpful tags, anyone who searches the internet can easily find them. There is the written blog and then there is also a vlog or a video log, which people can upload on multiple different sites, like Youtube. Some bloggers create the posts on the computer, and some do it on the go with their smartphones and tablets, just like the people who read their posts. Thank goodness for responsive website design and dynamic content!

A responsive website design is essentially one that a viewer can open on any device- computer, tablet, or smartphone. No pixelation or links that are inaccessible, and no difficulty reading any text or seeing images. Responsive websites are necessary to the public because creators don’t know who will view their websites. Without knowing who will view it, there’s no way to know what it will be viewed on. Mary could view it on her tablet with an 8-inch screen and Devon could open the website from his laptop which has a 14-inch screen, while Janice could view the site from her 3-inch smartphone screen. Without responsive website design, if we only think about the 14-inch screen, then anything smaller, like the tablet and smartphone cannot view the site, which means less traffic. Fewer people view whatever website it is, which can hurt business. How do people find all the different pages on the web though? Through search engines! [4]

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization, which helps improve a webpages visibility or search results. This could drive traffic, sales, and readers or followers to your business or cause. The unfortunate bit to SEO is that it’s extremely tedious with a lot of technical decisions that need to be made, business decisions that have to be approved and in the end, there is no guaranteed result. There are six different steps for SEO; research, planning, implementation, monitoring, assessment, and maintenance. Even if you get through four of the steps, and pay into it, there is no guarantee that you’ll swing a profit. You have to find loyal customers, keep them engaged and keep them coming back for your product- with no worry that they will go to one of your competitors instead. [5]

Now, dynamic content is a sites way to personalize the users experience. Anything that a page designer can use to keep the process engaging for each visitor to the page. Page counters each time someone’s on there, weather and temperature for that visitors area, etc. It keeps each different visitor engaged, happy and hopefully saving your page so they can come back to it later. Of course, if it’s a page with multiple authors, and they live thousands of miles away, how do they seamlessly work together on updates? That’s where CMS comes in. [6]

Content Management is a system that was designed to manage website content that is used in collaboration by any number of people. Wikipedia, widely known as a dictionary of sorts to people, is a content management system, since any visitor to a Wikipedia page can edit the content that is displayed. The infamous Cloud is another, where people can upload their documents, and others can download them, edit and reupload to the cloud. [7]

A youtube channel is one person or group’s personal account, where they can upload videos to share with a targeted audience. There is a wide range of people who have channels, from academics like Bill Nye to video game enthusiasts like Markiplier. News outlets, musicians, and artists; all can have a youtube channel to upload videos to share whatever message they want to get across. From personal life updates, upcoming events, new games that came out, scientific discoveries, and more!

[1] Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2018 (census.gov)

[2] Who controls the Internet? – Harvard Law Today

[3] Tim Berners-Lee (w3.org)

[4] What is responsive web design? (adobe.com)

[5] What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? | Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF) (interaction-design.org)

[6] What is Dynamic Content? Definition & Examples- Omniconvert

[7] What Is a Content Management System (CMS)? (kinsta.com)

Obligatory Introductory

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Hey guys! My name’s Jessica, I’m 29 and I am here at COTC for an associate degree in Digital Media and Design, concentration in Graphic Design. Originally, I am from Arizona but have lived in Ohio since 2003 (with the exception of 2019-2021 when I lived in Iowa). I’ve also lived in Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington for short spells- and have been to almost every state West of Ohio. Here’s a quick map to show you, as it’s so much easier than explaining! Each state with a star represents a state I have been to, through, or lived in at some point. As you can see, I’ve yet to travel to the East coast, and for a brief time when I was a teenager, I was convinced I would live in New York when I got older.

I have 4 pets, which include two cats and two dogs- the newest one being Louis. He’s a four-month-old YorkiPoodle; I also have Faith (male, 11 years old, mixed color), Spike (male, 6 years old, Lab and Coonhound), and Jewel (female, 2 years old, white).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve always had an interest in anything creative- painting, writing, drawing, photography- and loved playing any kind of game, especially those with amazing character stories and world-building. Playing games with extensive, in-depth characters and well-crafted worlds really helps me when I work on my original novel. It’s something I’ve worked on since 2006/7, which started as a simple school project of a short mystery novel and expanded into this 4-part fantasy saga. I’ve re-written it about three times since then and have recently looked back into it, in hopes of actually finishing it and starting publishing. Being into art as much as I am, I’ve constantly changed the look of the cover art– the most recent change I am most happy with. Here, you can see how it’s evolved over the years in such a short 5 year span.

I can’t wait to get started with the rest of this course, to see what it teaches me. I’ve always wanted to have a blog or even a vlog, but each time I try I end up forgetting about it and not posting for months on end. Maybe this class will help me improve at that!