Author Archives: Perfume Log

Essay #1

As a social media user, I want to warn people who follow me to be careful. For some reason, social media is not where you come to see your friends as it used to be the fun of it. Instead, I feel as though I am being fed information. I now see more outrageous accounts that spew hate and try to influence my beliefs to match what I see on platforms. My Facebook is filled with massive amounts of news from accounts that I do not remember following; they have very strong opinions towards specific topics that are very hateful to minorities and vulnerable groups in our society. I am trying to understand why this is happening, and I have been researching to give you information on how our behaviours are being collected. This is to educate the public to utilize the internet carefully as it is a shadow of its old self.

If you see on Twitter, everyone here can agree that we have at least ten bots followers. Most people do not get retweets; instead, they get that random one that gets you excited, and then you realize it’s a fake account again. The article discusses bots and how these bots essentially mimic our behaviours and can be utilized to push traction on news that aims to convince us for political gain (UC, 2022). These bots are created by people who are essentially employees at for-profit corporations that are paid to influence behaviour (UC, 2022). An example is in the last United States elections; the Russian Internet Research Agency hired people who could understand American culture and speak good English to push news, comments and like posts that rile up the population (UC, 2022). These accounts aim to polarize the American public to the point that they would undermine our government and put us on a path to a falling empire (UC, 2022). This is inherently the goal of bots and the cause for their growing number; it is so bad that 8.5% of Twitter accounts are bots (UC, 2022). This explains why you have that one loyal follower that gives you a retweet every time you tweet.

Another interesting journal by Bansal writes about the patchwork of policy working to fend off misinformation (Bansal, 2019). He discusses how the US election created doubt in American democracy, and many experts confirmed that foreign influences played a path in that election. Multiple groups on Facebook that had bots were influenced strongly (Bansal, 2019). Facebook had to roll out sweeping measures, which surprisingly worked and provided relief. However, there is still animosity on Twitter with the hate groups and negative/fake news getting more aggressive in micro-targeting. The new wave of social media sensation is a prime example of this; many young men and almost every person on the planet now know Andrew Tate. The individual was not someone I saw on my page a few weeks ago, but now I cannot stop seeing him after googling him once. It is horrible on Facebook and TikTok.

Governments have started releasing legislation to punish people who push fake news to sway the public. Canada, Singapore, France, Brazil and Egypt have some of the most severe punishments. Another example is the study “SCM,” which presented results on research on a Facebook platform, showing that most people use comments to gauge false and real news (Kluck, 1970). The growing number of bots can, therefore, either undermine factual information or uplift fake news in the worst-case scenario. The article by Beshai (2018) utilizes nodes to illustrate how deep and far false news travels compared to real news on Twitter; very stark imagery called cascades is formed. 3D tools demonstrate how broad and deep false and true news travel (Beshai, 2018). The study uses a visualizing this type of data where “breadth is (how many times a given tweet is retweeted) corresponds to the width of the tree, and depth (how many “generations” of retweeting occur) corresponds to the height” (Beshai, 2018). This imagery provides a more straightforward interpretation of the state of our situation. This is a wake-up call for the public to be wary and vigilant in consuming information.

I am not here to spread doom and gloom but to inform the public that this is real and could affect our society. Hence, I will provide insight into how Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms can reduce how false news penetrates our system. The study called “Real Solutions for Fake News?” (2019) states that using disputed news tags can help inform the public of inaccuracy by about 10% from the base of 29% who believed initially. The other tag used in this study is false news which helped reduce the spread from the base of 29% to 16%, a 13% reduction (Clayton, 2019). I believe some corporate social responsibility is warranted, and companies should invest more in fact-checking to protect society.

Finally, I believe guides from the article “Fake News” will help reduce society’s vulnerability. Questions I recommend asking oneself are: “Does the article come from an established, credible and rigorously fact-oriented news organization such as ABC, The Guardian or The Wall Street Journal? If not, encourage students to consider the general character of the publication: how are its stories presented? Who owns the organization, and are they interested in promoting a particular view?” (Henry, 2020). Other possibilities are checking the URL link, checking for satire, using fact-checking websites, a simple google search and various types of bias (Henry, 2020). Confirmation bias is one that I found myself falling in tune with some news outlets. This could be as simple as stereotypes about a place, and then a story comes up that could run as evidence for the said stereotype. The last article shows how the use of fact-checking, either imposed or voluntary, reduces the spread of fake news by 25% (Chadwick, 2021). The study also highlights the reduction of false news sharing by 67% per viewer by educating them on fact-checking and increases their sharing of fact-checked news by 58% (Chadwick, 2021). Hence, I believe being vigilant in self-awareness can be a massive tool for navigating the internet in these times of upcoming mid-term elections.

References:

Beshai, P. (2018, March 9). Cover stories: Visualizing the spread of true and false news on social … Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat4382

Bansal, S. (2019, October 4). The patchwork of policy working to fend off misinformation. Centre for International Governance Innovation. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.cigionline.org/articles/patchwork-policy-working-fend-misinformation/

Clayton, K., Blair, S., Busam, J. A., Forstner, S., Glance, J., Green, G., Kawata, A., Kovvuri, A., Martin, J., Morgan, E., Sandhu, M., Sang, R., Scholz-Bright, R., Welch, A. T., Wolff, A. G., Zhou, A., & Nyhan, B. (2019, February 11). Real solutions for fake news? measuring the effectiveness of general warnings and fact-check tags in reducing belief in false stories on social media – political behavior. SpringerLink. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-019-09533-0

Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C., & Kaiser, J. (2021, March 17). The amplification of exaggerated and false news on social media: The roles of platform use, motivations, affect, and ideology. figshare. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/The_amplification_of_exaggerated_and_false_news_on_social_media_the_roles_of_platform_use_motivations_affect_and_ideology/14223083

Henry, E., Zhuravskaya, E., & Guriev, S. (2020, June 4). Checking and sharing alt-facts. SSRN. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3597191

Kluck, J. P., Schaewitz, L., & Krämer, N. (1970, January 1). [PDF] doubters are more convincing than advocates. the impact of user comments and ratings on credibility perceptions of false news stories on social media: Semantic scholar. undefined. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Doubters-are-more-convincing-than-advocates.-The-of-Kluck-Schaewitz/f32cfce6e8ec2331481a300085ff39e99ecaac6b

UC, S. B. (2022, November 8). How is fake news spread? bots, people like you, trolls, and. Center for Information Technology and Society – UC Santa Barbara. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/spread

Mini Assignment #4 (video remixing)

Grilled Salmon Recipe from YouTube Shorts

I was craving grilled salmon steak today and saw this juicy recipe. Today, I decided to make my own grilled salmon steak by remixing the recipe!

Recipe:

  • Salmon
  • Black Pepper
  • Salt
  • Mustard
  • Mayonnaise
  • Garlic
  • Green Beans
  • Enoki Mushroom
  • Oyster Mushroom
  • Yellow Potato
  • Olive Oil
  • Rosemary
  • 1 Table Butter
  • Green Onion
  • Sugar

First, you have to marinate the salmon with black pepper and salt. Do not marinate the skin so we can cook the salmon crispy. Leave it for about 10 mins, and let’s make the sauce! Mix 1 teaspoon mustard with 1 tablespoon mayonnaise and add two spoons of sugar. If you want more sweetness in your sauce, you can add more sugar. Slice the green onion and mix it with the sauce. When you’re done with making the sauce, slice the garlic thinly and take out your favourite frying pan. Put about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the garlic until it’s brown and crispy. When the garlic is crispy enough, take out the garlic and put marinated salmon into the garlic oil.

Press the salmon for about 10 seconds, so the skin is grilled crispy enough. Lower the heat and leave the salmon for 5 mins. Take out half the butter, rosemary and more sliced garlic and add to the frying pan. Let the butter melt and mix with the scent of rosemary and garlic. When it melts, use a spoon to spread melted butter oil over the thick part of the salmon so that all parts of the salmon are cooked evenly. Do not throw away the oil because it will be used to cook vegetables.

Now the salmon is cooked, it’s time to cook the vegetables. Make a hole in the potato with a sharp fork and put it in the microwave for 8 mins. While the potato is cooking, Put enoki mushroom, oyster mushroom, and green beans into the oil that we cooked salmon. Add half the butter and stir until the mushrooms are slightly brown.

Finally, decorate the plate with sauce, rosemary, and fried garlic and put everything we cooked! It’s time to eat, yum! 🙂

Here’s my actual result; it was so crispy, buttery, and had so much flavour! Hope you love it too.

Grilled Salmon Steak Cooked By Me

Process post #9

Copyright is a very sensitive subject because there is nothing more resentful than losing what you have created to others. When I chose the subject “perfume review” as my blog theme, I wasn’t even thinking of copyright. Everyone has a different opinion about the perfume, but some may have the same opinion. Then am I violating the copyright of the person who wrote the perfume review before me? The copyright for the Perfume review seems very vague. The definition of copyright I know is that you shouldn’t take someone else’s idea and claim that it’s your idea. However, the copyright for the opinions on perfumes is so vague and extensive that I cannot give an accurate definition.

In the article You Say Tomaydo, I say no copyright infringement: Recipe book not an original compilation by Henein; recipes are not subject to copyright because they are technically just a collection of facts. I actually never thought about the copyright of recipes, so this really shocked me. Are the representative recipes of famous chefs in the market not copyrighted? Perhaps the chefs are already famous, so the public will know that they are the chef’s recipes without copyright. But what about the recipes that ordinary people post on their media? If the recipe becomes very popular in the future and everyone insists it’s my recipe, the person who first shared it will be very sad. Since the recipe also has no copyright, there cannot be a copyright for perfume reviews which are vaguer than recipes. However, I don’t want to take someone else’s ideas and offend them, so I should be more careful from now on.

Reference:

Henein, P. (2015, October 29). You say tomaydo , I say no copyright infringement: Recipe book not an original compilation – copyright – canada. You Say Tomaydo , I Say No Copyright Infringement: Recipe Book Not An Original Compilation – Copyright – Canada. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.mondaq.com/canada/copyright/439012/you-say-tomaydo-i-say-no-copyright-infringement-recipe-book-not-an-original-compilation

Process post #8

Today, all issues in the world spread rapidly online and dominate people’s beliefs and opinions. All the news and videos that spread online often divide and incite people. Online is no longer a safe place. Can we really believe all the content and videos we see online? As mentioned in “something is wrong on the internet” by Bridle, the culture, politics, and interpersonal relationships considered central to own identity were shaped by the internet, and in ways that are beneficial. However, looking at the many controversies and stereotyped writings raised online today, I often wonder whether this online space will positively affect future generations.

I want to talk about how scary media manipulation is to people. It’s an intractable subject, but I’ll try to give you my honest opinion. For example, the famous George Floyd incident who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis. This was a genuinely devastating incident, and the police officer’s reputation went down to a very bad image ever since this incident happened. I think that all unreasonable and discriminatory police officers should be removed from their job titles. Hopefully, there will be a change within the police department through this case.

However, I also agree that media incitement has made all the police’s perceptions so bad. Now people only post bad things about police in their media; they never post good things police have done. It seems like they are trying to find a way to hate the police department and make the public to distrust them. We should know that while there are bad police officers, many good officers work hard every day with good motives to help citizens. These days, there are less police personnel, and very few people are applying to the police. Police are essential resources in society, but if people’s stereotypes of police do not change, it is going to be hard for police to help citizens. I feel that so many people are easily swept away by the media these days. It is important to train ourselves not to be too influenced by the media. 

Reference:

Bridle, J. (2018, June 21). Something is wrong on the internet. Medium. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2

Process post #7

I’m going to be honest .. most of the websites I visit are online clothes, so I’m going to talk about https://www.fashionnova.com/ website, which I frequently visit. I believe if you’re a woman and love shopping online, you will for sure know about fashionnova because it is so popular. Whenever I visit their website, I never think about their design. From a design standpoint, the site has a lot to offer but is a little bit messy. I can’t say this website is well organized because when I first entered this website, it took me a while to understand their homepage. There is too much content on one homepage. It is noticeable that the website editor wanted to emphasize their anniversary sale. Still, the typography they chose does not really suit the website, and the size is too big, which makes the letter blurry. Also, there are way too many pictures and fewer explanations. Trying to put so much content on one page makes it difficult for readers to grasp what they want to find at a glance.

I noticed that they did well with dividing categories by section using many menu bars. There are so many different types of clothes that it is difficult to find a specific style that consumers want. However, all of these types are divided into sections, allowing consumers to enter the website and immediately click on the item they want to buy to shop. In addition, at the bottom of the page, there are links for information necessary for consumers, such as how to contact them, and the track order is clearly stated. Sometimes it’s hard to find the contact information on some websites. It was good to see that the information that is important to consumers was well organized at the bottom. Moreover, in the part that lists the wearing image and price of clothes, the price is written bigger and bold than the name of the clothes, making the eyes comfortable. It is also very convenient for consumers to find the available colours of the design without having to click on them because the editor displays a small coloured circle showing the colour’s availability.

lots of menu bars

Overall it is a good website that contains lots of information and products. However, if they organize their homepage with fewer photos and a smaller size of the font, customers will find the website more accessible and more convenient. 

https://www.fashionnova.com/

Process post #6

In fact, I didn’t spend much time maintaining my blog in October. Whenever I enter my blog, I try to fix many loopholes, but it is difficult to touch them because I am afraid of making them worse. Finally, my blog has been reorganized to some extent, and I have learned a lot during that period. As I mentioned in my previous process post, my desire to make an aesthetically pleasing website is important, but accessibility also matters. I made up my blog, constantly thinking about whether the direction I was pursuing also coincided with the accessibility factor. 

My biggest problem was building my main page, which is the homepage. I tried to separate my homepage from the about page, but then there was not much to put on my homepage since I chose a very white and minimalistic theme. The white theme made my empty homepage look even more empty. So I decided to put the About section on the homepage. Therefore, as soon as readers enter my blog, they can see what this blog defines right away, and my blog looks full. Also, when readers first entered my blog, too many menus could confuse them, so I left a minimal menu bar and erased all the rest. Considering the accessibility factors of readers, I was heading in the direction of the blog I wanted. I’m still inexperienced, but I’m proud of myself for decorating the blog considering both of these things, and I want to make this blog more accessible in the future.

Process post #5

When I first started blogging for this course, I was worried that I wasn’t doing the right thing. My whole life, I was far from being creative, diving into something I could create by myself. Youtube, influencer, blogger, the world is changing, and now you can earn money by being creative and just being yourself. It was hard for me to be creative because my whole life I was trained to do what others told me to. 

Like Cory Doctorow mentions in his article “The Memex Method,” Blogging isn’t just a way to organize your research; it’s a way to research a book, essay, story, or speech you don’t know you want to write yet. It’s a way to discover your future books, essays, stories, and speeches. What he mentioned in his article really helped me boost my confidence because I don’t have to be the shame of doing a bunch of research on what to write in my blog.

Blogging is such a unique thing to do because it requires your own creativity but also needs to attract an audience. You have to think about the audience first such as what they like. Personally, I feel like it’s a newer version of a diary. You keep your own thoughts in a diary and don’t share, but when it comes to blogging, you have to share it with the audience, and they should like your writing. I think writers and editors differ because editors don’t have to follow the rules. As is mentioned in Tanya Basu’s concept of the digital garden, It’s more of focusing on what you want to cultivate over time. 

After reading those two articles, I feel better about my blog and writing. I want to entertain my audience, but at the same time, it’s also my personal garden, which I should feel confident with whatever I’m posting. 

References:

Basu, Tanya. “Digital Gardens Let You Cultivate Your Own Little Bit of the Internet.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 3 Sept. 2020, https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/. 

Doctorow, Cory. “The Memex Method.” Medium, Medium, 10 May 2021, https://doctorow.medium.com/the-memex-method-238c71f2fb46. 

Peer review #2

For the second peer review activity, I was able to explore one of my peers, Kristen’s fitness journey, http://kirstenlifts.com/. When I first entered the website, the homepage’s representative image caught my eye. The image of her working out clearly shows what this blog is about: Kristen’s fitness journey. This represents the distinct identity of Kristen’s fitness blog, and it gives the audience a hint of what she is going to share. It made me wonder who she is and how she got into this fitness journey, such as what motivated her. Her motivation for fitness was well written on her about page. She is in the process of losing weight and wants to share her experiences with weight loss also hopes to inspire someone who comes to her blog with the same interest. As a full-time university student, I agree that staying healthy and working out regularly is hard. Looking into her journey and fitness goals have already inspired me to work out and made me wonder how she will reach her goals. 

However, the theme she has chosen does not really reflect the vibe of the fitness journey. Her theme seems more appropriate for a management company or a small startup company. Also, the logo of her blog reminds me of the management company site rather than fitness. It would have been more noticeable if her theme choice had been more suitable for fitness since it gives a slightly dull feeling. The colour of the homepage is too dark, blurring the overall atmosphere and making her picture less eye-catching.

Moving on to Kristen’s blog posts, it is noticeable that all the posts are kind of short and lacking details. If I’m a subscriber, I want to know more about her workout routine and eating habits, but the posts make me wonder what information she is hoping to share because important details seem to be missing. In order to bring readers to the blog, it would be better to elaborate details on her own tips, such as her workout routines and what diet helped her lose weight. Posts that are too short and lacking in detail can dampen readers’ interest.

Overall, Kristen’s blog has a lot of potential for development. I’m looking forward to more fitness journeys and tips she’ll upload soon. Her enthusiasm and love for fitness are clearly shown on her blog and will surely impress many subscribers. 

If you are looking for an amazing fitness journey by Kristen, please click here! http://kirstenlifts.com/

Process post #4 (Imaginary Audience!)

Imagining who my audience is for this website, I have to go back to when I first decided on the topic of my blog. It seemed like deciding what i want to write on my blog was easy. However, even after a day or two, there was yet to be a topic I was sure of. Then suddenly, I saw my perfumes unexpectedly and asked myself a question. Do I love perfume? Do I know perfumes well enough to recommend them to others? The answer was yes! There was nothing to hesitate about when the topic was decided.

As it is a blog that explains and recommends perfume, I wanted the blog design to be as minimalistic and white as possible. Why does white come to mind when you think of perfume? If you ask me, I have no choice but to say “just because”.. perfume is like clean white paper to me. Perfume is colourless like white paper; It is colourless and unnoticeable, but perfume leaves a strong impression on people and sometimes makes them reminiscent. Just as a dot on the blank paper changes the mood of the drawing paper, so does the perfume. The smell and atmosphere vary widely depending on what you draw on the clean white paper. People like me who are interested in fragrances and love perfumes will understand why white comes to mind when they think of perfumes.

The readers of my blog are people who are interested in perfumes like me. I tried to express the noble feeling of perfume through the impression of a blog that looked as concise and clean as possible. To talk about the content, there are two main things that people who are interested in perfume want to look for. A realistic review of the perfume they are curious about and a perfume recommendation. I tried to satisfy two things that perfume lovers would be most curious about.

To be honest, I’m very picky and sensitive when it comes to perfumes. The scents that most of the public loves are often just such perfumes for me. I like less well-known, unique and neutral scents that others don’t use much rather than scents that the public will prefer. My writings would be quite interesting for readers who really love perfumes and spend time looking at perfume reviews. My reviews will also be welcome for those who are tired of non-realistic perfume views that include ads. The readers I’ve imagined so far are people like me who love perfumes, are tired of dishonest perfume views, and are looking for unique perfumes as well as recommendations!