Perks

April 5th, the final day of blogs. Wow, has this semester ever gone by quickly. I felt it appropriate to leave my last blog for the final day, just as a nice way to end this experience. That’s not to say I won’t continue blogging – this assignment has opened my mind to so many new and different ideas on citizen media and social networking. If I scroll down to my first post back in January, I can see how close-minded I was to the idea of blogging. I genuinely thought it was an illegitimate version of pseudo-journalism. I thought wrong. The following are the rest of my experiences with social media and citizen journalism in a nutshell from this past semester:

I experienced some interesting things on my Youtube channel where I watched the popularity of one of my videos skyrocket. The power of social media caught me completely off guard.
I worried about my “Google Juice” when applying to jobs online, wondering if prospective employers would search my name and find out that I once rode away with an alien in my bicycle’s basket.
I began to work on my final project for the course, working through dilemmas and finally presenting a mash-up remix that I then uploaded to Youtube for all of you, and the world, to see and comment back on.
Then the world stopped when my Playstation 3 wouldn’t play any games. Without thinking, I found myself hunting for clues on the Internet, realizing how important and useful the Internet and social media sites such as forums truly are.
A classmate annoyed me and made me question when social media and things like cellphones and MSN are appropriate?
And then I came across a website that showed me how social media and Web 2.0 could be so much better if it all focused around me, and not them.

As you can see, all of these experiences, all of these blog posts were about how social media and our course discussions and topics effected my personal life. How I perceived things and how I interacted with the digital world around me. This was my goal.

I also had a goal not to write some boring, unenthusiastic blog posts filled with theoretical knowledge that I pulled out of my…course readings…but about the practical nature of social media around me. I want my readers to be entertained every time they stumble upon my blog, smiling as they read, and knowing that I care about what I'm writing about. I think the worst thing is reading someone's blog and being able to tell how uninspired they are about the subject matter.

I want my readers to be able to relate to what I have to say, because ultimately, this isn’t just about my practical experiences with social media – we are all experiencing the same things these days. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube – it’s difficult to go through a day without seeing or hearing these names. Cellphone videos submitted by pedestrians, opinionated blogs, online polls - these things have become common place, at a frighteningly fast pace.

Social media permeates our existence today. It’s everywhere and it’s all around us. We are all experts on it, even though we might not know it. Perhaps that’s why it’s been so easy and fun for me to write about these things. They interest me. They’re topical. They’re relevant. And I guess it’s always fun to write about something you know so well.

I tell people that one of my assignments for a course is to maintain a blog having to do with social media, and in response I’m told how lucky I am, how fun that sounds, how they wish they could do something as entertaining as that for school work.

My response?

"I guess those are just the Perks of Being a Comm. Student"


"I have decided that maybe I want to write when I grow up. I just don't know what I would write." ~ Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Future Is Bright! Or Is It...Tumbling?

I was thinking about it, and I realized that the majority of this course told me the state of social media today. I was informed on how it has progressed over time seeing as the Internet is such a new technology, and how social media sites and establishments perform today. From Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Blogging, Twitter, you name it, and we’ve covered it. This is the situation today.

But what’s the situation of tomorrow?

What do I want social media and networking to become in the future? How do I want it to change? These are the questions we could and should be asking ourselves. We are the future of the Internet and social media networking.

So I asked myself these questions, and I realized that I want my social media to be about me. Not everyone else out there. I don’t want to see a camera and think “Oh God, this picture’s gonna be on Facebook, I have to look good” when I’m out at a bar having fun. I don’t want to post videos of myself on Youtube because it will make me popular (although that would be sort of nice…). I want to post videos because I want to post videos. Because I want to share my talent, talk to people with similar interests, and get feedback on how I can improve.


Social media networking and Web 2.0 is all about everyone else. Facebook exists for you to post for other people. You create an image of yourself that may not necessarily be completely accurate. Your Facebook page almost exists to impress others.

Everything you put on Twitter is for other people to read. It’s not about you, it’s about projecting an image of your thoughts and insights. You need to be smart, witty, intelligent, otherwise who wants to follow you?

I want social media to be about us. About me. Not about who I want you to think I am. I guess Facebook has somewhat acknowledged this, where advertisements are specific to your account based on the interests and information you’ve entered into your profile. But I find that kind of creepy.


A step in the right direction, which I happened to stumble upon today, is a website called Tumblr.com. You make an account like you would on Facebook. But instead of projecting an image of yourself to other people, Tumblr allows you to hunt for things that you personally like and keep on this pseudo-blog. You can follow other people that seem to have the same interests as you, but Tumblr is for you and only you. You collect the things you love and it’s as simple as that. A virtual keep-sake box if you will.

So is this the future of social media? I really hope so. I know it’s called social media, but I’m over the whole popularity contest thing. That and I’m tired of always looking good in my Facebook photos.

It’s a work in progress, but here’s my new Tumblr Account in case you wanted an example: Phil's Tumblr Account

I encourage you to make your own!

Is This Real Life?

As the school year winds down, lectures tend to get more important. We’re given final exam reviews, important hints and instructions for essays and assignments, and so on. This isn’t to say that lectures aren’t important throughout the year; quite the contrary actually. I find that going to lectures genuinely helps me gain a better grasp of the material, rather than sitting in my room by myself reading lecture slides or the textbook.

As this is my final year of university, I have yet to understand one thing about certain students: why bother coming to lecture if you’re not going to listen? Trust me, I’m no saint when it comes to surfing the Internet here and there when I get a little bored. My mind wanders, and I need to take a little break from paying attention. I allow myself at least that, and once I’ve satisfied my Internet-roaming ways, I pull up my notes and continue listening.


A fellow peer of mine has urged me to write this blog post. I do not know her name. I know nothing about her. She often sits next to me in lectures (she is in two of my courses), and not a lecture goes by where she is not constantly connected to some form of social-networking.

She never pulls up a single page of notes on her laptop. Instead, she writes to people on Facebook, chats with friends on MSN while she browses the Internet, and keeps her Blackberry at her side so she can text and use BBM. Worse yet, each time I have witnessed this, her and I have been sitting in the front row of the classroom, in visible sight of the Professor lecturing.

First of all random girl, why come to class? If all you’re going to do is NOT pay attention, couldn’t you be doing that in the comfort of your own home? You don’t need to inconvenience yourself with walking all the way to campus so that you can not listen to what the Professor has to say.
Secondly, you are ruining a good thing for everyone who owns laptops and likes taking notes on them. Random girl, you are the reason Professors want people with laptops sitting in front rows or to get rid of them altogether. You are single-handedly creating a stereotype for all laptop users out there.
And lastly, you are paying for these lectures – don’t you care?


I suppose at the end of the day, none of this is really my business; it’s her choice whether she participates or not. But that’s just the issue now, isn’t it? Participatory culture and social-networking has seeped its way into our everyday lives, ultimately distracting us from the things we should actually be doing and caring about. Will she remember what she talked about on MSN in a few days? Probably not. But when exam time rolls around, will she regret not taking notes in lecture all those times? I’d have to say most definitely. It comes down to whether we think social-networking takes precedence over the “important things” in life – the things that happen in “real life”, so to speak, as opposed to our online life.

Is social-networking ruining the way things ought to be? Is there a right and wrong time to be connected to this participatory age? Let me know if you share my frustrations.

Oh, and P.S. – “random girl” isn’t in our class, so you can all rest easy, I would never rant about you guys :)

The Day The Nerds Stood Still

A little over a week ago my life flashed before my eyes. Well, my virtual life. I was sitting down in the comfort of my bedroom after a long day of school and turned on my Sony Playstation 3. I inserted my game of choice to relax and play some video games and I received this message: “8001050F Error Code. Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will now quit.” I was startled. Did I accidentally delete my trophies? And if so, when? I didn’t understand, but I knew something strange was a foot.

I shut down my system and restarted. I unplugged all of my cables and plugged them in again. Nothing worked. What most confused me is that my PS3 was not connected to the Internet, therefore there was no possibility it was some kind of virus. It was definitely something wrong with the system hardware itself. That’s when I noticed the date on my PS3 was set to December 31st, 1999. The day before Y2K.

I started to panic and decided that I’d stop messing around with the system and instead I rushed to my computer. I typed in the error code I was given into Google, and clicked around. Nothing was helping. After some web surfing, I found a forum that discussed the error, but the posts were 2 years old. As I scrolled through, I noticed that more and more people were posting that very day (Feb 28th, 2010), mentioning the exact same issues I had been having. Then I realized that the forum thread went on for another 20 pages. Clearly it wasn’t just me, and I took a breath of relief.

Eventually, I discovered that every Playstation 3 across the globe was having the exact same issues. There were people from numerous countries complaining about the same things that were happening to me. Eventually it was announced that it was an internal clock error (likely something to do with the fact that leap years occur on Feb 29th). The next day, the issue was corrected, but millions of PS3 owners lost data that they could never get back. It was deemed “the biggest system blackout in the history of the videogame industry” (IGN.com).


What I find so interesting here is that in the culture we live in today, I found that I, almost instinctively, went to the Internet and was able to find help from a random online virtual community. I was able to read what was happening to others on the other side of the world, which helped me understand what was happening to me. In this way, we were all interconnected and assisting one another. I had the answers at my fingertips – I had my peers at my beck and call. And much like when any other devastating news arises, virtual communities allowed all Playstation users to come together and mourn the loss of their trophies. I know I did. R.I.P. trophies. R.I.P.

Taking On The Most Powerful Ladies of Pop

I’ve got an important announcement to make! Well, it’s actually not that important…and now I’ve got your attention, and peaked interests and what have you, and some might even end up disappointed, there are expectations to fill…Whatever. For the final assignment given to us for CS400h, I chose to take on the final project and use my know-how with Youtube in order to do it. So, because we’ve talked so much about participatory media, as well as remixing, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. What I did was listen to some versions of other songs on Youtube, and put together my own original compilation, or remix, if you will, of three contemporary songs that I’m sure we all know: Britney Spears’s ‘Circus’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Just Dance’ and Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’.

It took me a while to turn it into what it is now. After about three weeks of practicing, I didn’t realize how truly difficult it was going to be to take on my own remix. All three songs deal with different subject matter lyrically, they all have different tempos, and each artist sings them quite differently. Not to mention the fact that the key was one I had never sung in before (I guess that’s what happens when I take on three songs sung by females). I didn’t want it to sound stupid, and I definitely didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew. And three songs everyone knows and loves? What was I thinking? Well, this is what I thought anyway. After changing which lyrics I would sing, or where each section of a particular song will go, I think I’ve finally come to a version that I’m actually quite proud of.

What I’m asking for from you guys, my faithful readers, is to provide any comments, either through this blog, or if you have a Youtube account, comment on the actual video there (and even rate it using the star system). This way, I’ll be able to use all this feedback in order to strengthen my final report for the project. Now, be critical, be kind, be whatever you like – these blogs are anonymous (except for the few of you who I know the identity of. I guess you’ll have to be nice, haha, kidding!). It’s all for the love of music, and participatory media. It’ll make me a better artist, and at the same time, it’ll help me earn some grades!

With that said, here’s the video. Enjoy!

Can E.T. Get Me a Job?

As quickly as it arrived, reading week has quickly gone, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. Except for this awesome video game I bought called Uncharted 2, but that’s beside the point. Actually, now that I mention it, I have been applying to various jobs for the summer in Banff, Alberta. Myself, along with three of my friends are planning to head out west to experience the beautiful Canadian scenery, and make some money while we’re at it.


Most jobs in the area offer accommodations (much like first year residence, including food!), so why the heck not, right? Well, I finally got around to sending in some applications and e-mailing away my resume this reading week, when I got an e-mail requesting a phone interview! “Awesome Phil, you did great!” I said to myself as I replied back expressing my enthusiasm. What does this all have to do with the subject of our course, you ask? Well, I’m getting to that. So be quiet. But in all seriousness, soon after getting this e-mail, it hit me that these are the first jobs I’ve ever applied to online, where I’m unable to be there in person for the interview. What this leads me to believe is that these employers are likely going to attempt to find out as much about me as possible (or this is the conclusion I’ve jumped to). It’s as simple as typing my name into a search engine and clicking on the results.

So that’s just what I did, because I’m paranoid. In doing this, I discovered that employers would see that I make videos of myself singing and playing guitar on Youtube. They would see that my friend Sheena and I had a radio show last year on Radio Laurier called “Phil and Sheena’s Infinite Playlist”. They would also see that there is a Phillip Maciel living in California who has Twitter (and I always thought I was the only Phillip Maciel in the world. Damnit.) Lastly, they will see my Facebook profile, which I’ve set to private. But then I got paranoid about my display picture and wondered if it showcased me in a positive or negative light. I considered changing it to something that made me look more sophisticated, intelligent, and mature than this did:


But then I changed my mind. Obviously I have nothing to hide from employers – none of this is really embarrassing or incriminating. It shows I have a sense of humour, I have a passion for music, and I have a doppelganger living in California. But I honestly couldn’t believe how insane I started acting when I realized that so much can be assumed when my name is googled. I suppose this is the world we live in now, and I need to get used to it. The majority of us are all over the Internet, and all it takes is a quick engine search to find out more about a person. It’s a scary thought, but Web 2.0 is now our resume. Yet the question remains: do I really want to be remembered as the kid riding a bike with E.T.?

Note to Self: Do Not Underestimate Glamberts

Before blogging, I chose to start putting up videos of myself singing and playing the guitar on Youtube. It’s something friends told me I should do a few years back, and I assume this is because the popularity of Youtube was growing immensely. “You can get famous!” some friends told me, bringing to mind artists like Esmee Denters (Justin Timberlake discovered her videos on Youtube), and I laughed in their faces. Although I’m nowhere near famous, I did however have an interesting experience when I uploaded one of my most recent videos.

I covered American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s first single off his debut album (of the same name) titled “For Your Entertainment”, putting my own acoustic spin on a song that’s originally quite dance-y. Shortly after uploading the video, I began getting a fair number of comments, views and subscribers, but since I've uploaded 17 videos, this has happened before and I thought nothing of it; sometimes the popularity of the song gets you a fair number of views at first, but the rush slowly dies down. To my surprise, I got even more views in the coming weeks, first breaking a thousand, two thousand, up to five thousand. My sister and I were quite surprised at this, so we began to Google. Soon we found that people who had watched my “For Your Entertainment” cover had tweeted (using Twitter) about my video, ensuring that their friends watched my version of the song as well. Not only was it on these Adam Lambert fan's Twitter page (in which they ingeniously call themselves ‘Glamberts’), but my video was the talk of numerous American Idol forums and fansites. One comment that stands out: “I think he's Canadian! He has Wilfrid Laurier University tags - a university in Waterloo, Ontario (Phillip Maciel). Go get him ladies and/or gents!” (BlueIndigoSky, idolforums.com). My sister and I found this extremely entertaining...If you actually click here, a website called “Ubervu” compiles a range of reactions and feedback for my video, and even organizes them into a line and pie graph displaying how often Twitter and Youtube were used to discuss the video. Crazy!

Not only did I underestimate the loyalty of Adam Lambert’s fans, but so too did I underestimate the networking capabilities of the Internet, specifically participatory media like Youtube, Twitter and forums, at least in regards to the way it could affect me personally. Check out some of my videos, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Have any of you guys had a similar experience with Youtube or any other form of participatory media?

Phil's Youtube Homepage
Phil's "For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert Cover"