Blame

Catfish. What is a catfish you might be asking? It is a freshwater or marine fish with what school are you barrels around the mouth, typically bottom dwelling. Basically it’s a fish. The meaning of the word changed completely in the 2000s. What is the new meeting meaning you ask? Well a catfish is someone who doesn’t appear the way that they said they were online. It was a lure. They blatantly lie and trick you into a relationships or friendship by means of a fictional online persona. Then the most prominent platform to get catfish is social media. Networks like Facebook, Twitter,or Instagram allow people to hide their true self with the mask of a person. In the documentary, Catfish, you see a woman called Angela manipulating a man named Nev. She uses her daughter to get closer to him. They then proceed to message each other to discuss Angela’s daughter fascination with Nev and the photos he captures. The relationship blossoms into a friendship. Discussions lead to talk about her family life with Nev. He seems to be more comfortable with the family and their life. This leads him to get closer with someone by the name of Meghan. Meghan is supposedly Abby’s older sister. As things started to heat up, the relationship started to get deeper and it turned from friendly to intimate. Nev starts to realize that somethings just don’t add up in the web of lies that the family has spung. However, Nev ultimately decided it is time to meet the family and get to the bottom of these lies. It’s scary really. This is how today’s society really is. We never know if you are a real friend, real person or genuine with your feelings. These situations almost make you scared to become close with anyone. After this documentary, I’m sure the Nev became less trusting of people. With today’s society it is hard for us to truly trust someone. We don’t get close to people so we become detached. And in certain situations we do not know how to react. We often downplay the situation or turn it comical because we don’t know how to react anymore. Society needs to work on this. Maybe it’s from social media. You have this screen that allows you to be anything you want and say whatever you want without consequences because no one knows who you are. We become these giant asshole of people.

On Target with College Central

As a college student it is very hard being involved in most college community events. The reason being that i never know when stuff is happening. Because of this I have trouble working around my work schedule. I think college central would be a great idea if it was actually released. An all in one platform for college campuses is something that should have been done years ago but here we are with like 3 different websites that we have to log into everyday. If the creators of college central could implement a way for me to input my school and work schedule and then notify me for events that i could attend that would be great.

The book trading feature of the website is a nice idea but i don't think it could be a possibility of saving money right now. Classes are always requesting the newest version of the book and sometimes books come with access codes for an online activity that if bought alone cost almost the same as the books. So unless colleges start to move away from  publishing companies that rip students off i don't see book trading as a possibility. 

The study group idea would be great for me personally because i can never seem to organize enough people to study with. the study group feature could even help freshman students meet new people in there major and help them make new friends. This is probably one of the best features of college central because it is completely student based and voluntary. 

The events feature of the website is a good idea but i feel that it still needs some work. The way in which people sign up for events lends itself to be full of irrelevant and fake events. there should be a verification process  to make sure that there are no bogus events. There should also be someway of organizing group outings to certain events  since most people don't want to go to an event by themselves. 

The food feature of the app was in my opinion unnecessary and just provided filler. The school would have to be on board to make cafeteria food better and that doesn't seem likely. Its nice that the page shows deals of the day at restaurants but as college students most of us are trying to save money. Going out to eat seems like it goes against that.

College central is great idea overall. If colleges implemented a one stop shop for everything college based there would be less confusion, more involvement, and most importantly, less passwords!

Tiny Homes Review

In this project the team were trying to solve the issue of empty wasted space in cities whilst at the same time trying to combat the issue of expensive living. They wanted for people to buy these houses with the ability of taking them wherever they go. One of the main issues I found with this project is that these houses are so small that you can support up to 3 people max with one of them being a child. Any family beyond that capacity will not be able to live in one of these houses. The durability of these houses does not allow for anyone living in area with heavy weather or people who live in California on the San Andreas fault line are also out of the equation. With housing in California being so expensive i'm sure they would love something like this if it were more durable. Another issue I see is with the rubber roofing. Tires are so expensive to replace. The average tire for an 18-wheeler is $250 now just imagine how much it would cost to replace the roof for families of low income. Rubber can dry out and degrade very quickly when in constant sun exposure without moving around.

901- Eats Review

Food waste in America and in the world in general has become a very big issue. Based on statistics in the United States alone there in is a food waste of 60 million tons of food every year. This is roughly 160 Billion dollars worth of food that is wasted. There are many ways to combat food waste but that does not mean every way has worked.

The 901-Eats project is another possible way of reducing food waste here in the Memphis area. They have a truck going around local businesses and acquire food that was soon to be thrown out. With the trucks they can pick up food made for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner service and be able to distribute it to people in shelters. This projects is a very useful way of combating food waste in America and could potentially translate over to different countries.

Vote-ified App

Out of all of the presentations, I feel as though Vote-ified had the best concept. Voting is a privilege that many people take for granted whether it is because they are too busy or just lack of interest in general. Personally, I am not a person that is very interested in politics so when it is time to vote, I do not know who to vote for because I do not take the time to educate myself about the candidates and their positions. It is also hard to find information on candidates that are not biased or skewed by other people’s views on the candidates. An app like this would just make everything easily accessible and more convenient for someone like me to stay informed and try to keep up with everything that is going on during an election. The only problem I see with this idea is that they would have to be very careful to disclose information that is unbiased and to show both the good and bad sides of the candidates. Showing only the candidate’s bios that they made themselves does not fully show who the candidates truly are but rather a sugar-coated version of themselves. There would need to be some sort of system to display only the facts and leave out opinions from other people. Another problem I see is that the app is mainly for people who already want to vote. Though the point of this app is to raise the number of voters, I really do not think it will do so until it advertises to all people. I would not find this app myself unless it was advertised to me in some sort of way. Someone made a comment in class suggesting the group to work with high school students and I believe that this is such a great idea. I feel like high schools would also not charge much or any at all to encourage students to vote and use the app. This would be able to spread the word to a wider audience and a younger audience which I think is very important. People around the ages of eighteen or early twenties tend not to vote because they do not really feel as it would be effective , but in reality if everyone in this age group voted, it would make a huge difference in the outcome of an election. I hope the group keeps these suggestions in mind. I think if they did, they could really create something unique and useful for our society.