Matt Scinto's Blog

The start of this semester entered me into a world I never really knew existed. Sure, I’ve looked day by day at signs in society, graffiti around me, advertisements, or other visuals, but they meant little to me other than what they were on the surface. In studying geosemiotics, it is hard to look at signs in society and have this same surface level meaning; everything is much deeper. I may see an ad on the television and try to analyze it and give my opinions on it’s effectiveness. When talking to someone, it’s interesting to see how their body language is affecting the conversation. It’s all too analytical now. In our studies this semester, I was most interested/enjoyed our discussion of advertisements as well as our discussions on secure spaces. Advertisements always interested me as they are a means of showing the public an object or message in a creative way (or at least it should be creative). There are great ads and bad ads; it’s interesting to see examine why these ads are good or bad. I would tend to do this myself, but in learning about the ways to analyze advertisements, I’m able to put some sort of method to sorting out what I like and don’t like, and why I feel these ways. My favorite class discussion was the day that everyone presented their ads, and we sat and talked in depth about each one. It was interesting seeing what everyone felt about each ad; I liked getting a different perspective from each person, as well as sharing my own thoughts and ideas. It sparked an interesting discussion, especially about the Montana Anti-Meth campaign.

Secure spaces were also of interest to me, as our discussion sparked some ideas for my research project. In class, we talked about how most of us didn’t mind being watched by cameras, as we had nothing to fear. However, in previous generations, many may feel that CCTV is infringing on certain rights, or at least makes the majority of people feel uncomfortable. For some, the thought of constantly being monitored is bothersome. It is simply too much to have a camera watching them throughout the day as they walk by them. My classmates and I had a different feeling, a feeling that may be echoed by the majority of people my age, that as long as we are law abiding, then we having nothing to fear. If we don’t stand out in a crowd, then we shouldn’t have to worry about standing out in the eyes of a camera lens. We aren’t individuals in the eye of a camera. There are thousands of people that may walk by a street camera every day. What makes me stand out more than the person next to me? Perhaps our generation is no longer afraid of surveillance.

In terms of specific sites that interest me, I’m curious about what people my age feel about space on the internet and secure spaces we may find there. This is something that has not been discussed and I think it has potential for growth into large being. The internet is most peoples new domain; it is where they spend the majority of time, in a cloud where there is public and private spaces. We experience these spaces every single day we open our web browser, while it may be something that goes unnoticed. Are there limits to what we can do in public space? Net neutrality is a big topic now a days, and is certainly an issue I would love to do more research on. Should the internet be something that is equal, or should heavy users or websites that have a lot of traffic be off a pay to play system? What are the social and financial implications with these decisions?

As I begin describing above, for my research project I would love to talk about public space on the internet and where it may be going in the future. The government and large companies are always trying to figure out how to do with congestion on the internet, and many people oppose this. They feel it limits innovation on the web and will only hold back it’s potential if regulations and rules are put forth. Net Neutrality would be put forth to ensure that service providers never charge to view certain websites (for example, paying X amount of dollars for a Youtube/Google/Facebook package), which many fear will happen in the near future. Users may have to pay ISPs for website bundles, where as now they have access to everything on the internet for free. Viewing charges may be a future for the internet if Net Neutrality regulations are not put in place. I think this links to the issues of public space we have been talking about; the government and businesses are able to privatize and modify public space now, and this is something we may see happening on the internet in the years to come. I think this is a little known issue to many, and something that needs to get out there in order to prevent negative consequences on internet users.