Paulino 1 Jessica Paulino FILM 20C FREEDOMTOEXPRESS

Summary of the concept:

This projects main purpose is to allow individuals all over the world to connect through a specific network in order to extend their ideas/thoughts on a certain issue whether it is political, regarding economics, controversial issues, etc. This project is an open website that will be available to users all over the world. It will be open to many users around the world who wish to give advice to others or simply have a conversation about controversial issues around the world. Topics/questions will change weekly. For example, topics of the day would be like: What would the world be like without water? People will have the freedom to express their thoughts and feelings on this official website. This is sort of what like Stallman created called the free software movement and his idea regarding the ability to express through writing. The responses to the daily questions/topics do not have a limit. It can range from one word to a page or more. People are free to add on and edit what someone else has already created (sort of like html and the cut-up method) in order to create an interesting statement out of a lot of pieces of information. For example, if it was around the president election time and you were undecided

Paulino 2 on which candidate to select, you would have the opportunity to log into this freedomtoexpress website and be able to read other users ideas and comments on each president and benefit from it; freedom of express and freedom of speech. It will be a beneficial website for individuals who are using it.

DETAILS/PROCESS:
The production plan for this project would take time because it is not an easy process to construct a new website and gain a lot of different users right away. It will take a couple of steps in order to get it done. First of all, in order to make an actual website we would have to download an html program such as notepad in order to run the website. Within this html program, we will be able to create and edit and HTML file. Then, we will use basic HTML commands to start the actual website. We will most likely need a software product such as Dreamweaver or any other text editor for HTML authoring. After this, we will need to upload the files which mean that after creating the HTML content of our home page, we will need to make our own pages visible and available for others to view. We will do this by simply using an ftp program or the web browser in order to transfer the web page to the html directory in the home directory. After the files are uploaded, we have to make sure that the owner can read and write the file but other individuals/users of the website can only read the file. Since we want this website to attract people, we will also take a large portion of time working on designing the page and add cool features, color, etc. The final step is to start letting people know about the website once its done in order for it to be successful and gain a lot of users. This website connects to two of our class readings, one artwork and a screening we have looked at in class. The first one being the connected with Dana Boyds article Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life which talks about how there is a division between race in social networks. Even on MySpace where there is a strong American culture, there is an intense division along race and age lines. (pg.5) In the contrary, this is why we are designing this new website called freedomtoexpress in order for it to be available to a wide range of people and not a specific organization, ethnic group, etc. In her article she mentions how there are so many social sites but a very few tend to support groups from different nation states. She also says in her article, In some sense, people have more control online they are able to carefully choose what information to put forward. (pg.12) I believe this statement is indeed correct and our website confirms it. In our website, people have the power to post what they are feeling online by simply logging in and writing whatever they want without any restrictions. They have the freedom to make changes on a previous answer to a question so other people can benefit from it. This idea also refers back to Stallmans free software movement in which he developed in order for people to have the freedom to make improvements and changes so other people would be able to benefit from it. Therefore, these freedoms would enable people to form a community. Likewise, this website freedomtoexpress also relates to the open source movement which does not discriminate against people or groups

Paulino 3 and does not force people. It is voluntary for any individual to log into this website and comment on certain topics. Moreover, an additional reading that this project is related to is The Author Function by Michel Foucault in which he talks about how there is no need for an author; anyone can write or manipulate concepts. As well as how it confers original, creative power to certain individuals. This is the same power handed directly to the users on this website. There is no main author because it would defeat the purpose of the website; which is to grant freedom to express. My project also connects to the idea from William Burroughs article the Cut-Up Method of Brion Gyson which brings a new meaning to text, gives a different appearance and the fact that no matter how you cut up a poem, it will still be a work of art. He says, All writing is in fact cut-ups. (pg. 3) It is the same with this website; each person is able to delete and add certain text/writing from a question in order to give it a completely new and interesting meaning creating a large community as a whole.

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Works Cited Boyd, Dana. Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life (5,12) Burroughs, William S. The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin (3)