Family Tree

For this week's post I took a step back and really looked what got me into traveling so much. Of course my parents like to travel so I grew up going to different states and seeing different places and cultures but when I got older I started following people on social media mainly including Instagram and various Facebook groups.

My dream would be to make money traveling across the United States going to see different landmarks and checking some cool hiking places off my bucket list and that is what these people are doing and I am so jealous and they also have a sponsor representing them.
                                 
"A Dangerous Business" is a young women I follow on Instagram and I am just amazed at how many different places she has traveled to and she is only like 26. I looked into her website and was reading/trying to find out how she could afford to travel and her link about not having to quit your 9 to 5 job really helps in explaining that.

"The Blonde Abroad" is another young woman I follow on Instagram as well and I would honestly love to be in her shoes and at the bottom of her "about me" page is frequently asked questions that she has answered and it says how she got started and how she can travel and I am just amazed at how "EASY" (somewhat) it is to do if you put your mind too it.

These two women really inspired me to continue my dream of visiting every state and then eventually traveling the world! I have almost done with my college degree in Multimedia and most jobs after you get some experience allow you to work remote which would be perfect and my boyfriend loves to travel as well so we are looking and hoping to travel together for as long as we can!

Interactive Narrative Reflection

For my Interactive Narrative I chose to do a topic that most people thought of at least once in their lifetime. The places I chose for this are places that I enjoy going to and some are places that my fellow classmate help me chose.

The first section starts Somewhere Warm if you like the sunshine and sound of the waves, the second section goes Somewhere Cold if you don't mind the snow and are active, the third section is    Something Big that you only see rich people or celebrities can afford, and lastly is Something Small for those who are more conservative with their money.

The hardest part of this project was deciding on what platform I wanted to use to create. I was thinking about Twine but it is hard to write code and get it the way I exactly I wanted it to even trying to use w3schools.

                               
The funnest part of this assignment was choosing photos to go along with the places I chose and I think after looking at all the photos makes it hard to chose even if you have a specific place in mind, this may change your mind to try somewhere new.

Interactive Narrative

For this weeks blog focus I am going to be creating an interactive narrative.  I see people using many different forms of digital media or technologies to create an interactive narrative in the field which might include Twine or Wikifoundry.

I personally only have a little bit of experience using Twine for some of my classes but for this you have to use HTML or CSS code to create your own code to open up on a website and it can get very confusing. Wikifoundry is have never used or heard of before and I tried to set up a website but it would not let me edit the site so I chose to find a different site to create my interactive narrative on.

The overall goal of this is too create the interactive narrative so that the audience is interested in and can engage in to an extent. For my narrative I will be talking about traveling but with a twist that I think we would all like to happen to us.
                                            

Remix Reflection

What inspired me to do this type of remix about traveling is to show that you do not have to hundreds or even thousands of dollars to go to different places around the United States. These are all places that I have visited to in my lifetime so far that anyone can easily access you just need reliable transportation. 

These photos inspired me to write this narrative because they interest the audience and might make them want to go and visit these places and create memories of their own. The form and content of traveling and the photos go together great because it shows memories and if you took a picture of it then you probably like that spot.

The most difficult part of this assignment was wondering what platform I wanted to use to present or post my remix on and I am glad I decided to go with Google Slides and also figuring out what to say on each of the photos whether they be funny, serious, or a reference to something common.

                                

Some of the artistic choices I made during this project was to edit the photo a little bit by either cropping or enhancing the color to make the photos more vibrant and appeal to the viewer. These are actual real photos that I have taken myself.

The advantages that these mediums offer is to show that you do not have to be rich to travel, the most important thing you need to have is TIME. These places are easily accessible and do not require a lot of walking to get to which is nice so that you have more time to enjoy the surroundings.  

I learned a lot during this creation process that I will carry after I leave this class. I learned that remixing can be challenging at time but also fun at the same time. You have to be careful of copy writing and plagiarism as well when constructing a remix. There are a lot of different creative ways to remix a story that you might not have thought possible but with a little creativity and hard work anything is possible.   

Remixing

There are many ways that you can remix, sample and/or mash-up about traveling. I say this because you can use similar content but change it in many different ways like the content, layout, music, or background music. If you look at some traveling sights so of them overlap but are presented in a way that appeals to the different audiences for example if you are going to talk about the best places to take your kids you will see people put pictures like Mickey Mouse or something, if you are going to talk about places to go hiking you will see people put pictures like the outdoors or trails.

With this kind of remixing you have to also be very careful of the copyright laws as well to protect yourself and your content. The easiest way I think to remix travel information would be YouTube. I say that because you can specifically talk about a specific place and edit/add your own content and music or whatever camera/recording equipment you might have. An example I found of someone making their own video is at Sarasota, FL. 

Guerrilla Lit Reflection

What inspired me to write this narrative was my love for traveling to different places and some people may not know or realize there are some good/special places in our area that people may not know about. I chose to write about the local places because there are many younger people that don’t know what to do around here and hopefully this will help. I came up with this idea because I follow a hiking group on Facebook and asked a bunch of people’s opinions where they like too to go for a walk and majority of them listed the places that I chose in my narrative that I have created.

The form and content work together to compliment each other in this case because it is a new and unique way to tell a story by using Google Maps to see where these places are, and you can also zoom in on satellite mode.

The process of this creation was fun because not many people would think to tell a story on Google Maps and it tells a story in a new way and shows how many cool places there are around our local area to go to or do I just hope that people do not vandalize these places, so they don’t disappear like more places are. The challenging part of this project was picking a story that I wanted to tell because there are many different stories someone could tell. I overcame these challenges by asking the people in the group on Facebook where they like to go.

Some of the artistic choices I chose to use while constructing this project was using actual physical places, asking personal feedback from other people in the surrounding area, using different colors for the different places, and adding pictures so that people can see what these places look like instead of just describing them.

This kind of storytelling is unique different than most because the typical was to read a narrative is either a hardback book or an electronic version, so this is a different kind of way to tell a story with visual aspects to make it more interesting and involve the viewer not just with a description in the story-line. The advantage this medium offer’s is that majority of people use Google or Google maps for directions and it is easy access and can easily be shared with the public.

 I learned a lot during this creation process that I will carry after I leave this class. I learned a different way to create and/or tell a story in the non-traditional way of a book. This project helped me look at various guerrilla lit platforms that you can create a story on like Yelp, Craigslist, eBay, and TripAdvisor just to name a few of the other platforms people could use differently to tell a Narrative. There are a lot of different creative ways to tell a story that you might not have thought possible but with a little creativity and hard work anything is possible.

Collaboration

What do you think the significance of collaboration is? Do you view it differently? What do you personally use it for, work, school, or in general? I use collaboration a lot for school and work a lot. When I have free time I love to travel local and far but I collaborate with other people to get directions to some of the places because they sometimes don't have the specific location. A good example I found to show what I mean would be "Humans of New York".
                  
The value of collaboration can be very important in most instances because it can help you make a decision about somewhere to go by getting feedback from someone else who either knows or is familiar with that place. Their is also some challenges like if the person you talk too had a bad experience that doesn't mean you are going too as well but that's the chance you take. Digital tools make collaboration so much easier because you can get answers within minutes instead of hand writing a letter and sending it through the mail and waiting days to get a response.

Hacking

Most people think of "hacking" as a bad thing and they are right but their is also good hacking as well. Bad hacking is when people try to steal information or overtake a company's website to find out personal information or try and steal money. Good hacking is when specific people are hired to try to break through a security/fire wall so they can change it and make it more secure for the user and the business themselves.

I have personally never hacked or even tried to hack someone or something for goof or for bad because that takes a lot of time and computer skills that I do not have and if you get into trouble there can be a hefty fine or consequence.

In my case with traveling it would be pretty easy for a skilled hacker to put wrongful information about traveling on the internet. "When Pop was Home" is a good example to reference because you can mark or put a location on a specific place and basically lie to other people about either the location or give them a bad review even if the place was very good. Some who can hack well can alter directions or travel information and can be catastrophic in some cases.

Also there is good travel hacking like when people post or use tips and tricks when traveling like using frequent flyer points, booking in advanced, using coupon codes and just personal experience. 

Media and Traveling

There is so many ways that social media has on traveling. Majority of people either have a Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest account if not all three! Each of these media platforms inspires you to go to these beautiful places in the United States and around the world. Most people today share or can share a location with a picture they post which makes it easy to access/find that place. I can honestly say that I have used the location tags on Instagram to find local places to go to and they were very accurate.

People no longer need guidebook that were created a long time ago thanks to advancement of technology. There are many different travel sights on the internet that are popular like "TripAdvisor".  These posts are sometimes edited to make that specific place look good but some of the local places are becoming less and less due to vandalism and littering which isn't right! People need to respect the landmarks and respect the property so that other people can enjoy it as well before they disappear.

When people are looking or thinking about a place to go, people search the internet to look for the top places around the world or a much narrow category like a specific state and a good example of this information is shown above in the link.

   

Location-Based Social Media

My blog’s focus intersects with social media and / or location-based narratives because usually after I take photos at one of our destinations I either post the one I like the most on Facebook and Instagram so that friends and family can see or comment I like to see what other people post to see where cool places are around the area so its really nice when people post locations so that other people can enjoy nature and wildlife.

It is nice and very easy to add a location on Facebook and Instagram because usually google maps is connected to the location as well so you can click on that and easily access the location and it is a good way to keep track of all the places you have been before or if you look back for a specific place social media keeps track.

As a backup to using social media I have a map that I have push pins in of all the towns that I have been too and each state is a different color and I hope to one day travel to each of the 50 states in my lifetime.
                             

Location-Based Narratives

My blog's focus intersects with social media and/or location-based narratives is going to be about traveling to different places in the United States. A good example of this is when I post to Facebook and use the "check-in" location. Another hard copy way I like to also do in more detail is putting push pins on a United States map with different colors for each state.

A good example to show the same kind of concept would be "The Silent History" story. Each place I go has its own unique story that I have to tell about what happened, what we did, what we seen, etc. This is also unique because it doesn't matter what order you view each photo in since it has its own story.

I love traveling and marking different places off my bucket list that I want to visit and I always take multiple photos one because I love photography and to share the memories with my family and friends and like they always say "every photo is worth a thousand words". 

Introduction

I am interested in a lot of different hobbies inside and outside so if I was to have a dream career I would say working/traveling around the world taking pictures for National Geographic or something very similar. I have even thought about being a photographer for a ski resort out west who would take pictures and interact with the skiers/snowboarders on the mountain and in the lodge.

My thoughts on digital media and writing are positive since most people have a smartphone and it is easier to access and word travels faster than ever before which is both good and bad in some cases. Majority of the society reads and learns from what is posted on the internet because the media is more accessible and more convenient than say going to the library.

For my three role models I chose include Tyler Hubbard from Florida Georgia Line, Sahen Skinner a snowmobile guide, and lady named Julie (pinkgemlife) from Instagram. I picked these three because Tyler Hubbard is an inspirational country artist and is always willing to help others. Sahen Skinner is an awesome guy who is down to earth and has his own website that is easy to use and has a nice overall design. Julie has an amazing Instagram page with posts of the beach, which is the main subject, and the sunsets that is just beautiful.