web assignment – Writing 304 – Reading and Writing in Digital Environments

When thinking about a historical figure for the “What They Might’ve Done in Social Media” DS106 Assignment, Rosa Parks instantly came to my mind; she is a strong historical figure, and with all that is currently going on with the “Black Lives Matters” protests, I found this fitting for the point our society is currently in.

Thinking about who Rosa Parks was, she sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger, and this was caused all based off of the color of her skin. From her refusal to give up her seat, her act was what lead to the end of racial segregation in public places and facilities. Without Rosa Parks standing up in this way, we could still be dealing with the racial segregation that haunted her times; however, all it takes is one act to start a movement, and her act definitely did such a thing.

If social media was around during Rosa Parks’ time, I would assume her posts would look similar to what is pictured above; this is a Twister post I created for Rosa Parks back on March 5, 1954, before the Montgomery Bus Boycott movement started. It places her back in her time when people of different color had to give up their seats for those of white privilege, something she faced all too much during her time, all for a seat on the bus.

I feel if social media was around during Rosa Parks’ time, she would have started the boycott a lot sooner than 1955; this is due to the power social media has. Social media gives individuals the ability to post something they chose, and that content can be liked, shared, or commented on by as many people that wish to. With power like that given to an individual, the awareness for racial segregation back during Parks’ times would have received a lot of attention I feel, especially if majority of people were showing this was an issue and needed to be resolved quickly.

ds106assignment

The third WEB assignment is to “Remix Guinness Book of World Records” by following the indicated directions: “Remix a Guinness Book of World records web page. Pick any record you want and somehow remix it. Try and connect it to a story, and add some background inspiration into your idea for inspiration. Maybe it was the record you always wanted to set, or break. Or maybe it fits perfectly into a story you are creating. However it fits be creative and have fun with it.” This is when I directed myself to the Original Guinness Records wesbite and stumbled upon a record I wanted remix: the Noisiest Land Animal.

The noisiest land animal in the world is the Howler Monkey (Alouatta), with a full vocal production able to be heard up to 3 miles away! I chose this Guinness Record to remix with X-Ray Goggles because I have seen these monkeys in the wild before and have heard their howling screams.

During my second semester of my junior year at UNE, I took the Costa Rica travel course where over spring break, students traveled to San José and Palo Verde, Costa Rica, to learn more about the rainforests and dry forests. In the rainforest, students would hike upwards of 10 miles a day into the jungle, sometimes being able to see different types of species (i.e., iguanas, sloths, bats, birds, etc.). One of the favorite species among the class was the Howler Monkey; when we would walk through the jungle, we would start to hear the low rumbles of the howler’s screams when thunderstorms or rainstorms were approaching. We could also hear their howls early in the morning as the sun rose, greeting each day with a welcoming howl.

To remix the original webpage, I started off my adding a picture of a Howler Monkey, as the original page did not have this. I chose this picture because it pictures a beautiful male howling with all his might in a treetop branch. I also played around with the “Where” aspect of the page and changed it from the “United Kingdom” to “Screams can be Heard for Miles (Costa Rica)”, as this is this connects to the story behind why I chose this record to remix; I also chose this as the “Where” aspect because their screams can be heard for miles, rumbling through the rainforest and making you question whether it’s a Howler calling or a thunderstorm rolling through.

I also remixed the description aspect of the page; I kept the original text, as this is factual information about the animal, and added the two sentences at the end: “Their screams can be heard for miles through the rainforest! Better wear your soundproof headphones just incase.” This added a fun element to the description by cautioning people how loud these animals are; soundproof headphones are strongly encouraged if you are in close proximity to these animals in the jungle! Along with these elements I changed, I also altered the title of the page from “Noisiest land animal” to “Loudest scream ever produced by an animal”, as I felt this was a twist on the original title of the page. This was an overall fun assignment and I enjoyed employing X-Ray Goggles to understand what I learned from my Codecademy lessons on HTML and CSS.

ds106assignment