做自己，因为别人都在做自己。
– Oscar Wilde
这是我新博客的第一篇文章。我刚开始写这个新博客，因此请继续关注。在下方订阅，以便在我更新新文章时您会收到通知。
Stay Home. Save Lives.
When coronavirus first started to outbreak in the U.S., it was around spring break for many universities including USC. Learning about how severe the virus is from my family in China, I decided to cancel my trip to Portland even though I’ve already booked the plane tickets and hotel. However, many friends I knew still insisted on traveling, some to Seattle and New York, and some even to Europe. Even though I tried to persuade them, it seemed that they would not realize the seriousness of the issue. Therefore, I created this PSA, in hopes of raising people’s awareness on the importance of staying home while providing them options to have fun at home.
When researching on the topic, I found many incidents of people violating the social distancing orders, such as gathering for church services, hosting parties, crowding on the beach, going out to the parks, and so on. I put these visual clips at the very beginning of the PSA because I want to establish the current situation and show there are still many people who don’t take coronavirus seriously and violate stay home order. Then I did a lot of research on why it is important for people to stay home during this particular period. In order for people to clearly understand how the coronavirus spreads, I selected clips with visual diagrams and illustrations, so they can see the process of infection by tracking different colors. Then I used data on public health resources and the epidemic curve diagram to emphasize that if we don’t take protective measures now, we would quickly reach the health care system capacity, leading to out-of-control and disastrous results.
Although I want to call for people to stay home except for essential activities, I understand that we all have the needs and desires to connect with others, which can feel extremely frustrating if we have to stay home. Therefore, I researched on various platforms that empower people to continue their communication rituals during quarantine. For instance, Instagram live enables people to hold virtual parties. Youtube serves as a platform for people to create content and share their creativity and feelings towards the epidemic. Zoom allows people to sing a cappella, join a virtual church, and even attend virtual weddings. I selected footages of people continuing these activities through different online platforms during quarantine. Then I organized them by starting with activities that bring people happiness, such as singing and partying, to activities that imply deeper socio-cultural connections such as virtual worship and virtual weddings. In this way, I hope to show people the diverse ways they can stay connected with their loved ones even during this pandemic. At the very end of my video, I added a clip of Oscar the Grouch (from Sesame Street) talking directly to the audience and asking them to stay home. I hope to enhance my message by adding this humorous element and show that even a puppet character knows what is right to do, so there should be no reason for us to still ignore the social distancing order. Instead of spreading the virus, we should spread love and unite in this global fight.
Other sources:
Fox 13 News, Tampa megachurch crowded with worshipers, despite social distancing orders
Potential, Quarantine Tips: What to do when staying at home during the Coronavirus outbreak
Platforms Are Watching You
How often do you see ads on Instagram? How often do you stop at or interact with those ads by liking them or clicking the links? How often do you really end up buying some things through their ads? Have you ever thought about how platforms collect your personal data and target advertise you?
Instagram decides what ads to show you by collecting your online activities on Instagram, Facebook (Instagram’s parent company), and third-party sites and apps you use. That is, you may be fed with ads related to people you follow and things you like on Instagram, as well as your information and interests on Facebook and other apps or websites. According to Instagram’s data policy, Instagram can collect your information and content you provide on the platform, networks and connections, transactions made on its products, information others provide about you and so on. Your information is shared with others including Facebook products, third-party partners who use Instagram’s analytics services, advertisers, researchers and academics, law enforcement or legal requests and so on. If you delete your Facebook account, your data will also be deleted.
As a customer, you don’t have the option to pay for an ad-free Instagram. However, you have access to tell Instagram what ads you don’t like by hiding or reporting an ad, or you can adjust your device settings or preferences on Facebook. Basically, you still receive the same number of ads, but you can choose from what companies you want to receive ads from. In this way, you still work for the platform as free labor by liking content, commenting on or sharing others’ posts, tagging people, and telling it what you don’t like to help it target you more precisely. The platform earns its profits by selling users’ data to 2 million monthly advertisers and 25 million business profiles. In other words, your work also contributed to the $20 billion advertisements revenue Instagram earned in 2019.
Even though the number seems shocking, the reason that more than 500 million people use Instagram on a daily basis shows that many people also benefit from using Instagram. Besides being able to catch up with trends and sharing their own stories, many people also find targeted advertising matching their shopping preferences and help them find things they want easier. For businesses on Instagram, it is beneficial for them to pay and promote their products through the platforms, attracting more followers and increasing their sales. However, the platform is also designed to benefit rich businesses more because they are able to invest more money in advertisements and increase their exposure to the public. Personally, I have been interested in some ads on Instagram but I never ended up buying anything because I don’t like the feeling of being predicted and buying things I don’t really need. After searching my Instagram ads interests, I am surprised to find that the platform put me in 297 categories, which makes me feel that I am made of a group of categories and my value as a person is only calculated as numbers and profits that the platform can gain.
In conclusion, platforms such as Instagram and platform users benefit from one another, though the power dynamics are not balanced. While these platforms offer most of their service for free, they collect personal data from users and sell them to advertisers for profits. Therefore, it is important for us to be aware of how our data is collected and used, so we have more agency in managing our settings and deciding whether to use a platform or not.
Stop Hatred: Coronavirus is a Global Fight
According to my Screen Time, I have been spending 4.5 hours a day on my phone lately, which is slightly less than normal times. The social media platforms I use the most are Instagram and Wechat, on which I spend an average of 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours per recent day. I get most of my news through social media platforms and I often go to news app when I receive notifications.
One piece of media that resonated with me recently is Chiara Ferragni’s Instagram post warning the public about the seriousness of coronavirus. As an Italian model and Instagram influencer of more than 19 million followers, Ferragni used her influence to make people, especially young people, realize that coronavirus is not just a flu and urge them to practice social distancing for themselves and others. When coronavirus first started to spread in Europe and the United States, many young people were not taking it seriously. Even many people I know at USC still insisted to travel to Seattle, New York or even Europe for the spring break. I felt frustrated because although I tried to persuade them not to go, many of them thought they would not get coronavirus and even if they get it they would not die.
Therefore, I really appreciated how she used her influence on young people to raise their awareness of the seriousness of coronavirus. While people might think that acting not afraid and having fun outside was cool, she acted as a role model by wearing her mask when going out and posting about her quarantine life to show that life at home can be interesting and rewarding.
Another piece of news that stood out was quarantined New Yorkers clapping for essential workers, which started from a call on social media to #clapcausewecare. I was moved by the news and all the videos because this powerful act of solidarity brought us all together in this fight, in contrast to misinformation that caused hatred and divided people recently. For instance, Trump deliberately calling coronavirus “Chinese virus” stoked hatred against Asian people and resulted in real-life harm. Two white people showed middle fingers to my Asian friend when she was driving. I was fearful when going out with a mask even though I did so to protect myself and others because one could carry the virus without any symptoms. I felt like whatever we do or say, such as warning others about the seriousness of coronavirus or being preventive after seeing so many tragic losses in China, is not right or won’t be trusted just because of how we look. It’s sad to see explicit racism in the 21st century that impairs our solidarity in this global fight.
Recently, I found my media consumption habit different from before. In the past, I used Wechat more than Instagram because I consumed news by following news account on Wechat. However, I used Instagram more often recently because during quarantine, many people post about what they do at home, including making music, cooking, working out, having zoom parties and so on. People’s humor and creativity during this crisis really inspired me to keep my stay-home life healthy and positive. It’s normal for people have different opinions because they come from different perspectives and interests. But we should remind ourselves that we’re all facing the challogether and should care and help each other out.
Director≠Male
When people think director, they think male.
Dr. Stacy Smith
Professor, Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
According to UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report , the percentage of male directors of theatrical films from 2011 to 2017 is much higher than that of female directors. I used a line graph to reveal the huge gap between male and female directors. According to Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, only 5% of the directors of the top 1,300 films from 2007 to 2019 are female. I used a pie chart to emphasize the shocking contrast between the percentage of female and male directors of the most successful and profitable movies.
This disproportionate contrast between male and female directors is neither due to a lack of female directors talent in Hollywood nor because female directors are less talented than male directors. To prove the first point, I used the data from Sundance and WIF’s report, which reveals that while many female directors participated in the Sundance Film Festival, the percentage fell drastically for female directors of top-grossing films from 2002 to 2014. To answer the gap, I used Sundance and WIF’s data to show that male directors are more likely than female directors to be distributed by a Studio Specialty/Mini Major company, meaning deeper pockets and greater reach to audiences. In contrast, female directors are more likely to be distributed by independent companies, meaning fewer financial resources and lower industry clout. I visualize these two data points through bar graphs so the readers can see the contrast between male and female directors more directly and understand that more proportion of female directors are chosen by platforms that are less profitable and have less outreach. However, Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s research shows that female directors’ average Metacritic score of the top 1,300 films from 2007 to 2019 are identical to and even slightly higher than male directors’ Metacritic score. I put the data side by side in a bar graph to show readers that females directors are not less talented than male directors.
Ava DuVernay, the first black woman to win the directing award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere.
By designing the infographic vertically and dividing the two points visually with the use of purple text box, I hope the readers can follow the flow of my argument. After learning about the current careers of female directors in Hollywood through the first two data, they can then understand that the pipeline of female directors is not small, while female directors are not less talented than male directors. This flow of logic leads to my argument that the problem is not within female directors but within the industry itself because it does not give equal access and opportunity to female directors. Therefore, the industry has the responsibility to foster an environment in which female directors can flourish, changing the implicit bias held by many people that directors equal to males. I also highlighted data and messages in yellow based on color contrast with the background so the readers can pay attention to them. I intentionally designed the female and male directors icon at the top of the infographic to represent the current stage of disproportionate female directors in Hollywood. At the bottom of the infographic I added more female direcor icons to convey the message that Hollywood should improve its diversity by providing more balanced access and opportunity for female directors.
Sources:
UCLA, UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report
Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Inclusion in the Director’s Chair
Sundance & WIF, Exploring the Careers of Female Directors: Phase III
EPIX, The 4%: Film’s Gender Problem. Think Director. Think Male.
Not Your Marilyn Monroe
The photo I chose to edit is the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe’s “flying skirt” shot by photographer Sam Shaw during the filming of The Seven Years Itch. Marilyn Monroe’s original name was Norma Jeane Mortenson. Regarded as a legendary sex symbol in American pop culture since the 1950s, Norma Jeane was famous for her irresistible “combination of creamy beauty, sexual allure, and playfulness” that she conveyed so naturally.
The photo was taken in when Norma Jeane stood over a vent that blew her skirts up. The men standing behind her were smiling and taking photos of her, which uncomfortably reminded me of the male gaze and how Norma Jeane was perceived as an object:a body that men long for. Therefore, I blocked their eyes with rectangles to express that Norma Jeane’s value should not be defined by men.
I made this image a cover of Bitch by adding the magazine title and the bar code. I chose Bitch because it is a magazine that empowers women and approaches pop culture in a feminist way, serving as a platform for me to challenge the male gaze and gender hierarchy.
I utilized bold colors such as bright yellow and red to emphasize that Norma Jeane has no need to hide her beauty and personality and should be able to take ownership of herself instead of being viewed as a body that pleases men. I changed her quote “I just want to be wonderful” to “I am wonderful” because I want to empower her and all other women by conveying that we are already wonderful enough and we should love and respect ourselves regardless of how men view us. I deliberately chose to use her original name to give her the agency to present herself in a genuine way, instead of the Marilyn Monroe that people see.
Trump’s Family Support: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Article Still Standing, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Step Back in the Spotlight, was written by Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers. Maggie Haberman is a journalist who works as a White House correspondent for the New York Times and a political analyst for CNN. She has won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia. Katie Rogers, who is also a White House correspondent for the New York Times, has covered Washington in the Trump era, sexual harassment in Congress and so on. It can be seen that both authors are experienced in political journalism. With the tendency to use more left-centered word-selection or stories, the New York Times’ motivation in publishing this article is to principally persuade its readers that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump had remained silent because they hoped to wait until criticism towards them die down so that they could continue their projects and aid Trump.
The authors used parallelism at the very beginning to reveal the unpopularity of the couple and attracted readers’ attention by pointing out their conflicts with Mr. Trump. Then the authors transited to the fact that Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump are still staying to aid Mr. Trump even though several of their allies in the White House have already departed. Many first-hand sources were used. For example, quotes from Mr. Trump joking that he “could have had Tom Brady as a son-in-law or saying “Jared hasn’t been good for me.” By using these direct quotes from Mr. Trump, the standard of proximity is met. However, Mr. Trump’s interests are not independent of Mr. Kushner and his daughter. The contrast between what Mr. Trump said to the public and the truth that the couple is still staying to assist him became more interesting, invoking the readers to examine more closely on decisions they are making for the country and any potential nepotism involved.
The article also quoted from Sarah Sanders on why the couple kept a low profile under recent intense criticism against them. It also quoted from Steven Mnuchin, who the couple asked to speak on their behalf and talked about how useful the couple is to the president’s cabinet. Although Steven Mnuchin is experienced as the Treasury secretary and he is also closely working for Mr. Trump, one should not ignore that he is one of the allies invited by the couple to speak for them. Therefore, what he said is not independent of the couple’s public image but may tend to advocate the couple.
The authors used a lot of evidence to reveal that Mr. Kushner tried to achieve things that he prioritized through his position in the White House and fulfill his “desire for control.” For example, Mr. Kushner asked Kim Kardashian to speak about Alice Johnson, ending up with Trump freeing Johnson without paying attention to the concerns of his advisers. The authors also provided a list of aides that Mr. Kushner tried to undercut and a list that he approved to be his allies in the White House. This evidence further supported that although Mr. Kushner and Mr. Trump had different opinions on some policies, they utilized each other for their own ends. The logic of the article was arranged from presenting some conflicts between Kushner and Trump, then revealing that Mr. Kushner still stayed and aided Trump’s administration. After that, the article indicated Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner’s shared obstacle, which was Mr. Kelly. Following this flow of thought, the article tried to imply that although the two appeared to have some conflicts or disagreement, at the end of the day, they were on the same boat and aligned with each other.
Overall, this article included different stakeholders in the topic, such as quotes from Trump, Ms. Trump, Mr. Kushner, a Democratic strategist disappointment towards the couple, Mr. Kushner’s detractors and allies. Therefore, there were not really main stakeholders that were left out. With the use of such a logic flow in this article, the authors guided readers through opinions from different stakeholders and constructed the message in a way that urged readers to think more critically and be vigilant about Mr. Trump, Ms. Trump and Mr. Kusher participation in the White House and the decisions that they are making that would affect the country and even the broader global society.
Learning about My Socially-oriented Media Consumption
My Media Consumption in Twenty-four Hours
| Media Consumption Log | |||||||||
| S=smartphone C=computer T=tablet V=television P=paper R=radio | |||||||||
| Time of day | Device (S, C, T, V, P, R) | Path (How did you get there?) | Content Source | Time with content | Action (share, comment) | Location (where consuming content) | With whom? (in person, virtually, alone) | Were you multitasking too? Doing what? | How were you feeling at the time of use? |
| 7:45 | S | Notification | Fenghuang News, Wechat | 10min | None | Dorm | Alone | Yes | Sleepy |
| 8:00 | S | App | Netease Music | 50min | None | Dorm | In person | Yes | Relaxing |
| 9:00 | S | Notification | News summary | 5min | None | Dorm | Alone | No | Chilling |
| 12:30 | S | App | Netease Music | 70min | None | Dorm | In person | Yes | Happy and hungry |
| 1:30 | S | Through a friend | 10min | None | Dorm | With a friend | Yes | Energetic | |
| 1:45 | S | CNN Good Morning | 5min | None | Dorm | Alone | No | After lunch rest before washing dishes | |
| 2:45 | S | Notification | People’s Daily | 5min | None | Dorm | Alone | No | Tired |
| 6:30 | S | App | 10min | Share | Restaurant | With a friend | Yes | Bored | |
| 9:45 | S | App | 5min | None | Restaurant | With a friend | Yes | Bored | |
| 11:15 | S | Notification | Fenghuang News& Weibo | 20min | Share | Dorm | Alone | Yes | Resting |
After observing my media consumption within the last twenty-four hours, I was ashamed to find out that the time I spent consuming news was surprisingly short. For example, I recorded that I usually consumed news when I was resting, such as cooking, eating, or waiting in a line. I often just spent 5 to 10 minutes each time scrolling on news from the public accounts that I am following in WeChat or email newsletters from CNN.
Living in China since young and coming to the United States about one year ago, I find myself still heavily depending on WeChat because it is a platform frequently used by my friends and family. As you can see from my screenshot, I spent more than half of the time using WeChat on that day. Besides WeChat, I also consumed media on platforms such as Weibo (like Chinese Twitter), People’s Daily, CNN News, Overlooked News, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and so on, all of which are on my smartphone.
This kind of media consumption across culture and language allows me to learn about events from different perspectives and gradually form my own view. For example, last semester when the Hong Kong Protest was frequently reported, it was interesting to see how the protest was viewed from different standpoints and portrayed differently among Chinese, Hong Kong, and the U.S. media.
I realized that my means of media consumption have become narrower since I have come to the United States. This is probably because now I don’t have a TV or subscribe to newspaper at home. I also stop listening to the radio when driving to school anymore since I live on campus now. On one hand, I don’t think consuming media from a smartphone is necessarily a bad thing because we can access content from different sources on our phones. However, I did find myself becoming more and more attached to my smartphone and it often distracts me during work .
Socially-oriented Media Consumption
As I have mentioned earlier, the reason that I spent half of my time on WeChat is that it is a platform frequently used by my friends and families. Personally, I find myself consuming media that people I know are discussing on social media platforms because I want to keep myself up to date with what my friends are discussing. For example, one recently ongoing news is China’s growing virus outbreak that has spread from one city (Wuhan) to more cities such as Guangzhou and Beijing. I realize that I tend to consume media that is more closely related to my life or people I know and care about. However, this may lead to a more biased or narrow perspective when it comes to media consumption.
Passive Media Consumer
By writing down my media consumption within twenty-four hours, I am ashamed to learn that I am a passive media consumer. I realized that I hardly took any action when consuming media unless it was closely related to people that I care about. For example, I shared the news about 2 Chinese citizens getting killed in Madrid, Spain to my friend who is studying abroad in Madrid and asked her not to go out alone at night.
Another instance that I took action with the media I consumed was when I learned that the virus in China has already spread to Guangdong Province, where my family lives. I shared the news with my family and reminded them to buy masks and not go to places with a lot of people.
However, I realize that I am not the kind of active media consumers who would re-post and comment on an article or news they read on social media platforms as some of my friends do. Although I read what they post and may have opinions different from them, I found myself not expressing my opinions publicly. This probably has to the with the education I have received since young. A typical class in China fills with the teacher lecturing and students listening carefully and taking notes. Therefore, I have not formed the habit to speak out and express my opinions in front of others. But I always admire those who are brave enough to express themselves freely, so I am also pushing myself out of my comfort zone by forcing myself to answer at least one question every class. I hope by pushing myself to consume more diverse media in more depth and training myself to speak out, I can become a more active and engaged, fulfilling my responsibility as a global citizen.
自我介绍（示例文章）
这是一篇示例文章，最初作为 Blogging University 的组成部分发布。报名参加我们十个项目中的其中一个，立即开始撰写您的博客。
您今天要发布一篇文章。不必担心您的博客的外观。如果您还没有给博客命名或是感到不知所措，也不必担心。只需点击“新文章”按钮，告诉我们您来此处的原因。
为什么要这样做？
- 因为它能为新读者提供背景信息。让他们了解您是做什么的，他们为什么应该阅读您的博客。
- 因为这将帮助您专注于自己对博客的想法，以及您想用博客来做什么。
文章可短可长，可以是对您的生活的个性化介绍或是博客宗旨说明，也可以是对未来的宣言或是对希望发布的内容类型的简要概述。
为了帮助您开始撰写，不妨思考以下几个问题：
- 您为什么要公开写博客，而不是写个人日记？
- 您认为您会写些什么话题？
- 您想通过博客和谁联系？
- 如果您的博客成功写到明年，您想要达到什么目标？
您并非一定要受此限制，博客的一个奇妙之处在于，随着我们学习、成长和与他人互动，它们是会不断演变的，不过如果知道从何处入手以及为何开始，这将会颇有益处，并且明确您的目标可能会激发您写其他一些文章的灵感。
不知道如何开始？只需写下您脑海中闪现的第一件事即可。Anne Lamott 是一位作家，大家都喜欢她写的书。她指出，你要允许自己写出“蹩脚的初稿”。Anne 提出了一个很好的观点，先开始写，之后再去考虑如何编辑。
在您准备发布时，给您的文章贴上三到五个标签来描述您博客的关注点 – 写作、摄影、小说、育儿、美食、汽车、电影、体育等。这些标签将帮助关注您话题的人在阅读器中找到您。确保添加“zerotohero”标签，这样其他新博主也可以找到您。
Ally's Wonderland 
