My Overall Experience at iTecGDA

--Originally published at The  tech

After a few weeks from the last day of my Semana i Course, iTec, I can say that it was interesting the way internet and our presence on it was explained to us. Nowadays, being present on the internet isn’t an option whether we want or not and the option here is deciding how do we want to be present on it. Each one of us is the owner of what we think and what we experience, but when we let these thoughts go online, everyone will be capable of knowing that stuff about us and that ownership might not be there anymore.

At the iTec course, we were thought many concepts of how to be present in the way we would like to be, and this ended up with the development of an individual blog where we could express ourselves as we would prefer. This was where each one of those tips or concepts were stablished since we were blogging about what we wanted to be shown from us to the world and with this, our digital identity would more likely be as we would want it to be.

It was really nice knowing that @daveowhite liked my tweet on my #VandR tweet as well as @Autumm, but also @sundilu who liked the way I use my iPad. This tweet showed my personal diagram on how I interact with the different platforms.

Overall, my experience at the iTec course was enriching, since I realized that my presence at the internet depends a lot on what I want it to be.


QUINTO DÍA – FIN DE LA SEMANA I

--Originally published at HEYIT'SDANY

Primero que nada quiero corregir mi comentario de ayer, hoy definitivamente fue mi día favorito de la semana. Empezamos con Ken explicándonos y haciendo preguntas sobre nuestro blog y demás. Diego Zavala, uno de los profesores de la carrera de comunicación (LCMD), vino a darnos una platica sobre los proyectos audiovisuales y nos enseñó a editar. Algunos tuvieron que usar página online para editar su video y otros, como es mi caso, usamos un programa en nuestra computadora. Mi favorito siempre ha sido Adobe Premiere pero en este caso usé iMovie por la facilidad de la edición. Para la música, usé una página que recomiendo bastante porque puedes descargarla gratis y con derechos de autor, lo cual es legal jaja.

Aquí está mi video?

Después de eso tuvimos una conferencia en linea con Rebecca Hogue y Helen Deward. Con ellas platicamos sobre los blogs y cómo deberíamos involucrarnos con el sitio de otros. Les comparto la conferencia.

Finalmente Ken se despidió de nosotros y cada uno se fue a donde la vida lo llevara, jaja. Creo que fue una semana realmente productiva y que me gustó bastante, ya que muchos salieron de su zona de comfort y empezaron a escribir. En mi caso, la escritura es a lo que me quiero dedicar y aunque ya estaba familiarizada bastante bien con los blogs, el estar escribiendo todos los días me gustó mucho.


By the Gods, what have I become? (Final part)

--Originally published at Semana i – Miss F.

Let’s start with a small summary of my morning today. I woke up super late (because I fell asleep very late) and ran to put on my clothes and get ready for today. However, when I was about to open the door and blast out, someone rang the doorbell. I knew no one was arriving this morning, so I decided to go back up and see who was outside through a window. It was a white truck with no company logo on it. I called my house mates to ask if we were expecting anyone and they said no. With all this data, I decided to wait until they left to leave the house. When they finally did, I saw that they left a piece of paper that said “We are your internet provider, we came to install your internet but no one was home, please call this number”. The weird part about this is that, as you probably read in my part 3 & 4 blog postthey did that two days ago. It might have been just a confusion from the company, but either way I decided to not open the door and keep myself safe. Be aware of your surroundings.

rethink son

Today we talked to Rebecca Hogue and Helen DeWaard. The dynamic of this was people asking questions and them answering from their points of views. Helen mentioned that you can share personal information but it can be public, private or a combination of the two. For instance, you can share a picture of your living room, but not tell where in the world you live. This way you share a bit more about yourself but not enough to be exposed to dangerous things. Being vulnerable on the internet is also learning and opening yourself to opportunities and new experiences.

There was a fantastic question about people who commit suicide due to being teased on the internet and their private information, pictures and/or videos being leaked. Rebecca mentioned that Google changed their policies and if you report there’s unauthorized videos of you, they can actually not index them on their browser so it won’t appear to curious people that look for it. She said that if there’s things on the internet that you don’t want people to see, you should create more content! Exposing yourself the way you want to be exposed. However this takes at least 6 months to work. Helen mentioned that you should use your resources wisely, if you see something that you don’t approve, speak up. Being brave is vital these days.

courage

Another topic that was talked about was the power of blogging. People can tear apart any business by writing a bad review on their blog and spreading the word. While it can be great to get feedback from your clients, there might be someone who just doesn’t like you and gives a terrible review. There isn’t much to do about this but understanding that your words have an impact in real life.

“If you don’t create a digital identity, one will be created for you”. This was said by Rebecca and is, in my opinion, the most important thing of this course. Having a digital identity in this day and age should be like having a birth certificate. It shows the world you exist and who you are. The cool thing is that, both IRL and virtually, you can decide who you want to be and the image you give of yourself to others. Many people choose to have alter egos for themselves on the internet (I know a couple of them) and I think it’s brilliant. This allows you to explore a different phase of you and share it with those who like similar things. I have the itch to do something like it, but I haven’t landed a concept I’m comfortable and happy with. If I ever do, I’ll let you know.

This post ends my experience as an intruder in a digital identity course. I want to thank Ken Bauer for allowing me to be here this whole week and also I want to thank you, my readers for not thinking “this is lame content” and not leaving any hate comments on my blog, hahaha. Seriously, though, I appreciate you all for reading me. As for this blog, it will return to its normal information security and hacking content.

thank-you

 

All gifs were obtained from giphy.com.


Conclusiones y new perspectives

--Originally published at Digital Identity

Idiomas: Español, English

Consideraría éste último día como dos partes:

  1. Introducción a la creación y edición de videos con Diego Zavala
  2. Conversación con Helen DeWaard y Rebecca Hogue.

La primera parte tenía como objetivo final que lográramos hacer un video de manera individual o en grupo, en mi caso trabajé con mi hermana en un video corto sobre la depresión desde nuestras experiencias, espero poder poner el link pronto, ya que el tiempo destinado a las clase, al intentar empezar de cero, nos tomó más tiempo del esperado. Diego nos mostró un video, de una de las plataformas que recomendó como recurso, que me pareció una excelente idea, muy creativa y que logró resonar conmigo particularmente por el tema y contexto del mundo y Estados Unidos.

Since I’ve posted two days in Spanish and two in English I thought it was adequate to write the last post in both languages.

The conversation we held with our guests consisted on what we share and why we share it. They had interesting perspectives on cyber bullying and complemented the ideas previous guests had stated. Fortunately for me they kept inspiring and pushing us to keep writing.

Before this course I had started a blog, hoping to be read but at the same time hoping not to. I’ve always been private and I tend not to share my feelings and thoughts on certain topics, so I was having a tough time fighting against myself and again, since I wouldn’t tell anyone about my blog there was no one encouraging me to continue blogging, and finally as a happy coincidence I ended up in this course.

I’m deeply thankful to all the guests and the teacher for helping me overcome certain fears I had before the course and even some insecurities, although I’m still hoping no one I know in real life reads my personal blog. Thank you for your time, insights and encouraging words. Sorry for not participating as much as you deserved, would hope or I wanted to, I’m shy.

I’ll keep blogging somewhere else.


Context and struggles

--Originally published at Digital Identity

Warning: This post, like its predecessors, contains little to none information, it serves as a compilation of my opinions and understanding of topics discussed during the course.

Is context really necessary? How important is it?

Earlier this week we had started a conversation about the importance of context, today Ken showed us an image regarding misinterpretation, the image had a group of people looking at their cellphones implying that instead of hanging out with people next to them they rather ignore them, the next part shows the conversations they’re having through their cellphones; we also watched a video of a group of girls taking selfies during a baseball game, the narrators were making fun of them, since the video became viral the girls were invited to the Ellen Show and got the chance to explain their side of the story, admitting they were all part of a sorority that uses the baseball game to get to know each other and they actively help an association, and used the fame that came with that video to help even more. While I had watched the first (and viral) video before, I was angry (again) at the narrators because at the beginning the explicitly ask for people to send their photos and when this group of girls do they became the target of their jokes.

I personally think that our generation is criticized for said behaviors far more often than older generations and the criticism comes from them particularly. Reading about this some time ago, I agreed with the writer that stated that the generations that came before cellphones, internet and such useful resources, probably faced a similar battle with their predecessors in regards of phones, tv, electric light, and others, and they are repeating the same mistake: assuming the new generation is being handed everything without a struggle.

Now, it is true technology keeps making life easier than before, but as stated by Uncle Ben: with great power comes great responsibility. So most likely our parents didn’t have google to help them with their homework or investigations and we do, but we are confronted with the idea that since there is a lot of information easily accesible, we need to make an excellent use of it, so we need to dive into the immensity of the internet, read a bunch of information, discern valid from made up, find the most recent studies regarding the topic, recollect it from various sites and sources, to finally put it all together in a flawless summary of no more than a certain amount of pages. Again a nice group of skills to learn and put to good use, but when are these kids or young adults going to go out and socialize after the amount of time invested, so now we are all day staring at our screens doing nothing instead of living real life.

Finally and privately discussing more on Maha‘s views on censorship, I share her opinion that censoring a certain term that is obviously intended to insult another person in regards of their race, preference, or religion to cite a few, but not others is certainly a form of discrimination. With this I don’t mean that for example black people in the US have achieved their desired point of equality, rather they have been oppressed the longest and are beginning to receive part of the respect they evidently deserve (although the US is still far far away from erradicating racism towards black people). So reflecting on that particular situation and considering the time latinos and other minority groups have been migrating and establishing in the US, at this rate, I would have to wait more than my expected lifespan before seeing changes; and don’t get me started on censorship and gender equality because that rant may never end.

 

 


By the Gods, what have I become? (Parts 3 & 4)

--Originally published at Semana i – Miss F.

First of all, if you wish to read part one, click here. If you wish to read part two, click here.

So, this was Wednesday’s course and I couldn’t attend? I spent my morning waiting for the internet people to arrive and later on I geeked out on my Wireless Network course❤. I literally had Amy’s look the whole time during said course. And my boyfriend, of course, had Sheldon’s look…

me

Anyway, back to what matters. Day four. This morning was about people commenting on other’s blogs. They had the chance to actually read what their classmates wrote and give themselves a different perspective on certain things.

Today’s talk was with Maha Bali, she’s a professor at the American University in Cairo. As one could expect, her culture is 180° different to ours and I found that incredibly fascinating. Many people asked questions and started creating conversation, Maha talked about how people can take things you said out of context and use it against you. She talked about creating public and private digital presences depending on what you want to say to the world. Creating private connections online is equally important. A recurring topic was the opinion people have on “ignoring” each other due to social media or phones. The thing is that when you’re on social media, WhatsApp, Telegram and all these apps, you actually are socializing.

Older generations tend to bash technology blaming every social problem on them mainly because it’s the “unknown” and that can always be scary. Not understanding something doesn’t mean that it’s bad, it simply means that you don’t get it and aren’t used to it. Be respectful to others thoughts and ideas, please. Which takes me to my next topic: censorship.

unacceptable

Maha talked about censorship and how in the country she lives in she doesn’t like to express her view on politics for safety reasons. She talked about Donald Trump and how he is never censored and thus, everyone that follows him and agrees with him isn’t censored either despite giving a full-on hate speech. So Maha asked: “Is the solution censoring?” and proceeded to talk about freedom of speech, religions and cultures. You can’t just censor someone because then you’d have to censor everyone and create an attack on freedom. The whole thing turns into a complicated dilemma.

I think her talk made people think about how the world is a huuuuge place and everyone lives through different things. At least that’s what I got left from the whole thing.

Be ready for tomorrow’s blog. The last blog.

 


CUARTO DÍA – BLOGS Y VIDEO SAFARI

--Originally published at HEYIT'SDANY

El cuarto día de la Semana I, debo decir que esta semana ha pasado bastante rápida. Creo que hoy ha sido el día que más me ha gustado de la semana, por todo lo que hemos hecho. Primero que nada me compré un café para sobrevivir al aire acondicionado del auditorio y relajarme. Ken, al igual que los demás días, nos dio la instrucción de leer los blogs de nuestros compañeros y dejar uno que otro comentario. Yo leí varios y la verdad hubo algunos que me gustaron bastante y que me tomé la libertad de comentar en estos. Me gustaría checar los blogs de todos los que están en el curso pero sería muy tardado y cansado de hacer.

Después cada quien se puso a buscar diferentes herramientas que hicieran más fácil la tarea de bloggear. Las que yo encontré y ya conocía están muy muy padres, son las siguientes:

  1. Lightroom

3734444_orig

Este programa es excelente para la edición de fotografías. Es una herramienta en la que puedes cambiar los settings de tus fotografías: el color, la exposición, los filtros, etc.

2. Piktochart

piktochart-banner

Piktochart es una de mis herramientas favoritas para crear imágenes, infografías y presentaciones. Aunque el sitio sea para eso, se pueden hacer cosas ilimitadas. Se puede organizar la información de forma que se vea bonita y ad hoc.

Además de estas dos herramientas, encontré un post que contiene 100 páginas para ayudar a los bloggers. Está muy completo y creo que tiene páginas muy buenas. ¡Denle un vistazo!

VIDEO SAFARI

La segunda actividad del día fue salir a grabar cosas que nos gustan e interesen. Al principio no sabía qué grabar pero al pensar un poquito más, me di cuenta de que hay muchas cosas a mi al rededor que me gustan y disfruto ver todos los días. Me gustó mucho esta actividad porque soy una persona muy creativa y me gusta mucho producir videos (soy comunicóloga jaja).

//giphy.com/embed/l3nWnGXqhvaK0IYpy

via GIPHY


By the Gods, what have I become? (Part 2)

--Originally published at Semana i – Miss F.

I arrived kind of late and when I came in, everyone was making collages, I felt back in kindergarten and primary school. The activity was taking pictures of words and things that represent who you are, to take fragments of yourself and create an artistic picture with it.

photo_2016-09-27_10-04-12

Wish picture taken at Yoko Ono’s exposition at Mexico City.

Later on, there were four video calls with four different people, I will talk about each one of them below:

Laura & Lee

The first two speakers were Laura Gogia and Lee Skallerup, they’re two amazing ladies very involved in the digital world as a whole. They both talked about their experiences with social media in their own personal lives (at school, work, with their families, etc) and gave tips and tricks on how to become more open on the internet without creating a bad reputation. I loved the way they respected the privacy of others. Interestingly enough the first question popped up pretty quickly.

photo_2016-09-27_11-29-49

This question is interesting to me, because it specifically talks about discrimination in social media, something we (as humans, I mean, not just women) have to deal with daily.

Lee talked about how there have always been people that hate-read her and left nasty comments, and how she got support from other followers and readers, and how she changed her perspective on who reads her and what’s important. The point of blogging is getting what you want. If you’re not, you should reconsider what you’re doing and what you’re writing about. She also talked about how marginalized communities are  moving into closed spaces due to the hate they’ve received. Lee mentioned that it’s great having many different channels through which people can communicate.

Laura, on the other hand, said that for her it was about using the media to communicate different things “we don’t have different personalities in each platform, we just use them in a different way”. I found myself feeling identified when she mentioned this because, for example, I rarely use Facebook to communicate things but I use Twitter literally all the time. What I post on Facebook are more “serious” topics and on Twitter I sometimes even rant about things that are happening in my life.

Another question that caught my attention was “what are the risks of having a popular digital identity”. Part of the answer was “why do you want to be popular?” They mentioned that their Twitter and blog presence have gotten them jobs and life opportunities. There’s a risk on oversharing, of course, but in the end it’s your choice what you share and what you don’t. In the end it’s all about how much of your life and thoughts you want to share, and who you want to share them with.

Alan & Amy

Next were Alan Levine and Amy Burvall. People asked a lot about how to know if what you’re writing is good enough. To that, Alan answered in the most brilliant way, I even tweeted it:

Amy has a really artistic way of expressing herself and I really admire that, her Photo Safari is inspiring and is also a way of communicating online. I think people don’t like daring to do something different or original because they’re afraid of being judged by others. I can’t blame them, the internet is full of haters and judgy people that will leave bad comments about you or your work. Be like Amy, people, dare to be creative and share that with the world. Here’s a link to her YouTube channel where she gives history lessons in a very unusual way.

Alan talked a lot about content and the concept of stealing on the internet. It’s incredibly complex to control what people on the internet do with the information you post. He’s even got a post on said topic. He’s been cat-fished a bunch of times and there’s nothing he can do about it except for talking about it on his blogs. There are ways of reporting people impersonating you or using your pictures claiming they’re someone else, but the problem is, you can’t report them until you actually find them. I hope none of you, my dear readers, go through something like this, but if you do, you can ask Alan about it.

If you wish to read the first part of this blog, click here.


Visitor vs. Resident

--Originally published at Lucía's iTec Blog

I’d like to start this post by showing you the following video, it’s short and explains you the concepts of visitors and residents, if you want to be more familiar to them I encourage you to watch it.

Now that you know what a visitor and a resident are I want to tell you about the talk that we had today in our Digital Identity course. It was about our digital presence (which is different from digital identity).

I liked it when Bonnie said that our digital presence is our sense of us as human beings, It was really like a revelation because, to be honest, I don’t think of me as a person even when I know that I am one. Maybe this is why I find it so difficult to interact and not only consume but attribute to others online, I don’t even do it in my regular life.

The fact that Bonnie, Autumn and Sundi have created professional relationships through their online presence, inspires me and I’m determined to overcome my shyness and start having a stronger online presence, because presence creates opportunities and allows you to be in the conversations that you want to be.

After this talk we made a map where we wrote the social media that we used in our personal and professional life and classified them according to the way we used them; as visitors or as residents. This is my map:

TEXT HERE.png

 

Then I talked to my dad about this and asked him to report his experience with social media and technology, I liked the approach that he gave to the topic. If want to know how my dad feels about technology you can hear the audio below.