Blog 21: Independent Component 2

LITERAL

(a) I, Mariah Caputo, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) "Catfish: The TV Show › Watch Video." Catfish: The TV Show Full Episodes. MTV, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. http://www.mtv.com/shows/catfish/video.jhtml?filter=fulleps

(c) IC Hour Log

(d) I have completed interviewing people who have had online connections, while creating a blog on a popular blog site, Tumblr, and networking in order to post their stories once I reach a particular follower count.  

INTERPRETIVE

My work demonstrates 30 hours of work primarily the significant parts of interviewing, maintaining the blog, and watching other people's stories via the MTV television show Catfish. 

Interviewing I used my iPhone to record interviews I did with people. Two of the three interviews I was able to conduct were face-to-face and people I knew, while the third interview was via skype with a person who I recently met through networking on tumblr. Despite only had been capable of interviewing three people, it was time consuming to transcript 15-20 minute interviews. 

Interview 1

Interview 2

Interview 3

Blog maintenance I used the popular social network site for teen blogs, Tumblr, to execute my project. I created it and put my efforts to make it aesthetically pleasing and fit what a "tumblr famous" blog would be like. I spent a large amount of time customizing and writing the appropriate sections, while contacting fellow seniors to help me with promoting my blog and designing a logo for it. Aside from aesthetics, I was dedicated to networking. I took the time to explore the tags on Tumblr to follow blogs and send a greeting to every LDR, follow4follow, promo4promo, etc. blog and gained followers that introduced myself and asked if they would be willing to help with my project. I did not reblog or create many original posts, due to the fact I was concerned with putting my name out there first by communicating with people to make friends in this unfamiliar community versus reblogging pictures that did not promise follower counts.
California Chocolate
Scripted asks 

Background research Aside from interviewing, I looked towards already existing projects to find inspiration on what types of questions I should ask people as well as how to present myself. This step was critical to my IC because if I had not watched the MTV series of Catfish then my understanding of the subject would not be as in depth as it is now. Of the 11 episodes, I watched 7 episodes and took notes and reaction observations.
MTV Catfish
Previous blogs

APPLIED

My independent component made my answer, that Americans' identities have been the most affected of the three effects social media has had on us. real. This independent component allowed me to see my project in a journalistic angle and conduct interviews with real people, not articles. I feel that the most expert people in the field, are the ones whose lives have been changed by social media and the ones who are an expert in its use, not anything less or more. 

For example, in my second interview, the interviewee had given the example of how they had experienced themselves a person they were romantically involved with not being who they said they were. This event in this person's life helped them explain to me better understand my research I have compiled up until this point about identity by clearly connecting the two together. 

Another example of how my IC helped was watching Catfish. This show was not entertainment for me, but a view of how far people can go to be someone they are not. By seeing the process the TV cast commits to each person on the show, it helped me prove my answer on how hugely social media has impacted us from how we use it to operate and create false personas. 

And finally, by creating a tumblr blog, it helped prove my answer that the way we interact with other Americans (or people, really) has changed because of social media. By actually doing the process that people who want to become "tumblr famous" (a blogger with more than 5,000 followers), I discovered that it takes time, but mostly luck to achieve it. I realized how essential it was to network with others through any possible forum of communication, thus why I spent so much more time messaging blogs instead of reblogging photos, another practice a person who is not there for a follower count but to express themselves.