(1) What is your essential question? What is the best answer to your question and
why?
The question, how has social media most affected the ways Americans interact?, has been the drive of my entire senior year and focus for my senior project regarding social media networking. After finding three answers regarding how Americans see the world, themselves, and others, my best answer to my project is that American culture norms and values have changed. Throughout my senior project, whether I would be reading articles talking about how people are becoming more rude or interviewing sociologist professors on their opinion on the identity crisis we are facing today, all my research had an underlying foundation of a change in American culture norms and value. And, to attempt to define culture, that is a beast in itself. So, instead, I coined the term culture norms and values to be vague, but specific in my wording of my answer. Because, essentially the way we interact with one another, whether it is face-to-face or online, are mostly things that we once found disturbing or unacceptable within the last 20 years. With this understanding, my best answer had to be the culture and value shift, because the way we communicate has changed society, and society has changed our culture, vice versa.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
Foundation
First and foremost, arriving to the best answer was always there, but it took a "duh!" moment to actually see it. From the beginning of the year when I did a sudden change of senior topics, I have developed a genuine passion for my topic. Sure I could consider myself an expert of the use of social media networking, but researching about it and its future in our society was always mindblowing to me. Initially I was intrigued with the social impact of social media, since the advent of the Arab Springs and the current events going on in the Middle East really made a mark on me. However, I struggled to shift my focus onto one area of the globe since everything interested me, anything regarding political activism was something I could do a 2 hour on!
And luckily, Mrs. Ortega was by my side throughout the senior project. She was there when we changed it together, and there when she gave me a direction as to where to take it now after exposing myself to different aspects of social media networking. After sitting down and formulating my essential question with her and Mrs. Pittman (whom, without her, I would never had the idea to focus it onto one specific demographic!), I had a complete idea on the foundation of my essential question: to teach a revealing, and profound lesson to the students during my 2 hour about themselves.
Potential answers & best answer
Social media networking has equipped Americans to perfect their identities, and be a part of filter bubbles online. In Ethan Zuckerman's Listening to Global Voices, it was brought to my attention that, as Americans, we believe we have a wide sense of the world, but we don't. The world is getting wider, problems are becoming global, but we still limit ourselves to people that are both close in proximity and very similar to us in the first place. After completing my independent component two, I realized that being who you want to be online, having control of it, and not being afraid gave flesh to my second answer regarding identity.
With the accumulated research and experience with my project, Sherry Turkle's Connected, but alone?, formulated my best answer that whether we perfect our identities or close ourselves off from the world, what is accepted in society has shifted to accustom the social media networking agenda.
First and foremost, arriving to the best answer was always there, but it took a "duh!" moment to actually see it. From the beginning of the year when I did a sudden change of senior topics, I have developed a genuine passion for my topic. Sure I could consider myself an expert of the use of social media networking, but researching about it and its future in our society was always mindblowing to me. Initially I was intrigued with the social impact of social media, since the advent of the Arab Springs and the current events going on in the Middle East really made a mark on me. However, I struggled to shift my focus onto one area of the globe since everything interested me, anything regarding political activism was something I could do a 2 hour on!
And luckily, Mrs. Ortega was by my side throughout the senior project. She was there when we changed it together, and there when she gave me a direction as to where to take it now after exposing myself to different aspects of social media networking. After sitting down and formulating my essential question with her and Mrs. Pittman (whom, without her, I would never had the idea to focus it onto one specific demographic!), I had a complete idea on the foundation of my essential question: to teach a revealing, and profound lesson to the students during my 2 hour about themselves.
Potential answers & best answer
Social media networking has equipped Americans to perfect their identities, and be a part of filter bubbles online. In Ethan Zuckerman's Listening to Global Voices, it was brought to my attention that, as Americans, we believe we have a wide sense of the world, but we don't. The world is getting wider, problems are becoming global, but we still limit ourselves to people that are both close in proximity and very similar to us in the first place. After completing my independent component two, I realized that being who you want to be online, having control of it, and not being afraid gave flesh to my second answer regarding identity.
With the accumulated research and experience with my project, Sherry Turkle's Connected, but alone?, formulated my best answer that whether we perfect our identities or close ourselves off from the world, what is accepted in society has shifted to accustom the social media networking agenda.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
The biggest problem that I encountered during my senior project was finding mentorship. Because I changed my project at the end of September, I had to turn down CalPoly's spot for me to help out with their rose parade float. With the help of Mrs. Ortega, I got in contact with LA Youth and became a staff writer. This experience was helping me gain an understanding of the journalistic aspect of my project, until it closed down in February and left me with no mentorship again. To resolve this, I focused heavily on research to gain a deeper understanding of my topic so I could apply it to my presentations while talking to other teachers for a possible break through. At the moment, I am facing this problem of mentorship again, however this time, I am going to follow up with a few missed opportunities and hope for the best.
A few other problems I faced during my senior project was my independent component two and designing engaging activities for my two hour. I am a type of worker to set high expectations for myself, however for my IC 2, I feel that I did not meet the goal I set for myself and dropped the ball. I wanted to help others with social media, and in the end I only managed to meet my hours, and that was all. To resolve this, I am teaming up with Angel to create a facebook page for her blanket drive to practice my skills as a social marketeer. To resolve my activities dilemma since I had no idea how to incorporate my findings with students, I spoke with Mrs. Pittman who suggested specific social experiments as an activity to serve as a revealing experience for students.
A few other problems I faced during my senior project was my independent component two and designing engaging activities for my two hour. I am a type of worker to set high expectations for myself, however for my IC 2, I feel that I did not meet the goal I set for myself and dropped the ball. I wanted to help others with social media, and in the end I only managed to meet my hours, and that was all. To resolve this, I am teaming up with Angel to create a facebook page for her blanket drive to practice my skills as a social marketeer. To resolve my activities dilemma since I had no idea how to incorporate my findings with students, I spoke with Mrs. Pittman who suggested specific social experiments as an activity to serve as a revealing experience for students.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to
answer your essential question and why?
The two most significant sources I used to answer my essential question was my interview with Dr. Dennis Loo and Sherry Turkle's Connected, but alone?
My interview with my sociologist professor at CalPoly Pomona, Dr. Loo, provided me with insight on the human aspect of my project rather than the technological side of it. I gained an understanding on social groups, American norms, newsmedia, and the essence of sociology.
Sherry Turkle's Connected, but alone? video featured on TED was the piece of research that led me to my best answer. I gained a huge understanding of how social media has affected our culture norms and american value system, while pointing out the bad side of social media and coining the term for me "alone together."
My interview with my sociologist professor at CalPoly Pomona, Dr. Loo, provided me with insight on the human aspect of my project rather than the technological side of it. I gained an understanding on social groups, American norms, newsmedia, and the essence of sociology.
Sherry Turkle's Connected, but alone? video featured on TED was the piece of research that led me to my best answer. I gained a huge understanding of how social media has affected our culture norms and american value system, while pointing out the bad side of social media and coining the term for me "alone together."
(5) What is your product and why?
-The product I gained from my senior project is knowing how to utilize research-based learning to enhance investigative projects. As mentioned, I had a terrible time getting the necessary mentorship needed in a typical senior project. And, to resolve this problem, I turned to research to gain a deeper understanding for social media myself.
While completing the Expert Source Analysis component for Mrs. Pittman was very helpful to me for my project, taking college courses tied it all together. I was further exposed to research tools with the CalPoly Database, and was expected to use it as I took college courses there. With the combination of the component and research paper I wrote for one of my classes, I realized how essential it was to apply this knowledge to my topic, since mine is especially one of those topics that can get funky Google results on the first page. And, not only that, learning how to apply my research to my project is a practice I am very glad I learned this year, since I wish to continue investigative projects in my future career as a journalist.
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