International Week

Flags from different countries at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, NY

International week celebrates the diversity on the George Mason University (GMU) campus every April (International Week, 2016). The event categories that are held during this week are doing culture, talking culture, tasting culture, and viewing culture (International Week). By viewing all of these events from different parts of the world shapes our campus culture to be more diverse and aware of how the world operates and how to feel more included in world events or culture.

A view of George Mason University from Mason Pond

George Mason is the home to many citizens from all over the world. According to the Office of International Programs the regions represented at GMU is Central American and the Caribbean, East Asia, Europe, Middle East, Northern Africa, Northern America, South America, South and Central Asia, South East Asia and Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa (Office of International Programs and Services, 2015). Totaling 2,885 students from outside the United States that can bring us a diverse community and teach us of other countries (Office of International Programs and Services). Our campus is not only diverse from states around the United States but from around the world- teaching us their homeland traditions and showing us how they grew up.
Some of the ways that GMU ‘does culture’ is with the “iWeek Parade, Zumba-thon, and Sports Tournament” (International Week, 2016). The parade includes a march of students “displaying a flag, carrying an artifact, or wearing attire that represents [their] nationality, ethnicity, heritage” (International Week). This is a simple way of showing other students on campus simple things from the student’s home country. Another way of ‘doing culture’ is through sports. Some of the sports that were available for participation or to watch in 2016 were: cricket, Ga-Ga, Zumba, Badminton, and soccer. These are traditional sports from around the world that some of our fellow students have participated in while living in their home countries.
Some of the ways of “Talking Culture” during International Week in 2016 is “lectures, forums, and workshops” (International Week, 2016). Some of these talks are from experiences from traveling abroad and others from studying abroad. This would be a great time for a student who wants to travel abroad but unsure of where to travel; they can hear life stories from students from these places or stories from students that have traveled abroad in the past. Sometimes we can learn an area the best by hearing past experiences of students who have been there or are from there instead of the internet or outside sources.
With the “tasting culture” students from all over the world have set times and locations to bring original dishes from their home countries. This exposure to other cultures allows us to grow our taste palette over our time and can expose us to food from places we may never see in our lifetime. Some of the most original meals are not made in a restaurant but in the homes of the natives of the land. Natives of countries that we have on campus are able to make the most original food from their countries. This can also help students who are looking to travel abroad they are able to have a sampling of the food from the country they are interested in traveling to.
The last and possibly biggest part of International Week is the ‘viewing culture’ part. This part of International Week has “film screenings, a fashion show, and dance competition” (International Week, 2016). Native films from all over the world are shown at different locations across campus to expose our student body to different types of movies that are made across the world. Not everyone would think of movies from any place but Hollywood, California but there are many iconic locations that movies are filmed all over the world. During International Week George Mason University students are able to get a glimpse at movies that are typically seen in other countries around the world. Some of the countries where the movies came from are: Bollywood, Germany, and Kyrgyzstan. The fashion show gives the student body a chance to see typical clothing from around the world. Some countries have traditional clothing that is worn for special events or even everyday depending on the culture of the country. This is a time for students to be exposed to clothing from around the world and the names of different of the articles of clothing.

The dance competition takes place at night at the Center for the Arts (International Week, 2016). The dance competition takes traditional dances from all over the world and students that are from those countries are able to perform them for their peers.some of the countries represented in the 2016 dance competition were: Ireland, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Afghanistan. We are able to get first hand exposure to traditional dances from all over the world that we may have never seen or heard of before. The most interesting part of all of the dances is that our fellow student body is from their family homeland.
We may not think that our student body is from around the world but we are. We have almost 3,000 students that have traveled from other countries to further their education at our university. While we may talk to International students while walking across campus or while in class we may never truly know about their homeland until International Week. This week is filled with culture rich events that teach us about the entire world and how it operates. We can learn things from traditional clothing to traditional foods to traditional dances. All of these things we may have been exposed to from the Internet or others talking about it but may not have had the opportunity without participating in International Week while at George Mason University. Traveling abroad can be very expensive for students and we may only get to travel once or twice in our lifetime so we should be exposed to different places while in college to travel to the places that interest us the most. If we are not able to make it to these countries we can at least be exposed to the culture while at GMU.
While participating in International Week at GMU if any questions arise about a tradition or a dance or just something general about a country or area we should be able to find someone who has the answers to help us learn more about these unknown areas. We will become familiar with what countries International students are from and we will be able to direct those country questions to those students, if any shall arise.

Works Cited
Office of International Programs and Services. (Fall 2015). George Mason University. Fairfax, VA. Retrieved from http://oips.gmu.edu/oips-data-report/
International Week 2016. (Last Updated Fall 2016). International Website of George Mason University. Retrieved from iweek.gmu.edu
[George Mason University]. (April 11, 2014). International Week: Dance Competition. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaDM_i9u9yz8

Reading Response 3

One of the most eye opening things to happen to me this semester is the Edward Snowden documentary, Citizenfour. I had heard of Snowden before but was not sure about how he released the information and how private he had to be. The most surprising thing I saw when he was sitting in the hotel room releasing the information was that he had to unplug the phone because they can still listen to voices and information even if they are hung up; the only way to stop this was to unplug it. How much of what we do in our daily lives and these large companies or government officials see online profiles that we create.

Google is able to collect information on us whenever we are on their site. Some of this information includes “IP addresses (numbers assigned to a computer when it logs into an Internet service provider, which indicates the provider and the user’s general location), search queries (which constitute a record of everything we care about, wonder about, or fantasize about), and information about Web browsers and preference settings (fairly trivial, but necessary to make Google work well)” (Vaidhyanathan, 2011). Having Google able to access the inside of our computers and web browsers there is nothing we do that they do not know about. This is a scary thought to think, nothing we do on the Internet is private no matter who is around us. Internet sites and providers and even government (thanks to Snowden) are watching over us at all times. This can be a scary thought to any ordinary citizen but is helpful when something might need to be seen by these people for the safety of every other citizen.

Although most of this seems like you are just being watched on the Internet its not only the Internet but just about everywhere you go. “Every street in New York has a surveillance camera. Each time you swipe your debit card at Duane Reade or use your MetroCard, that transaction is tracked. Your employer owns your emails. The NSA owns your phone calls. Your life is being lived in public whether you choose to acknowledge it or not” (Vaidhyanathan, 2011). We are being watched/tracked with everything we do or say; this can be a scary feature of the world we live in. As a person who travels to New York City many times a year, I will be there in less than a week, it can be scary to know that someone could be watching cameras to know exactly where I am at each point of my day. I know this is helpful for government agencies to find a missing or endangered person. I feel this should be the only time a person should be tracked as intensely as the article is stating. Most people would consider their lives boring so having government agencies watching those ‘boring lives’ is a waste of government funding.

Another way we are being watched is by car companies and how they can access the devices built into cars. Ford Motor Company has said “We know everyone who breaks the law; we know when you’re doing it…We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing” (Andrejevic and Burdon, 2014). Not only are we being watched on the streets and on the Internet but we are being watched and listened to when we are alone in our cars. This takes listening and watching in on our lives to a complete different level.

It seems like the only time we can be alone is if we are in our own home but we still never know if the phones are tapped into (thanks to Snowden) or if we are some how being watched through street cameras. There is no way to ever be sure that you are alone or not being watched or listened to. While this does have good and bad effects the bad outweigh the good. We should not feel like we are constantly being monitored or watched while we are living our daily lives.

References:

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. (2011). “The Googlization of Everything (and why we should worry). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_F8lxpywuFNHlFdUZycEx3cjQ/view

 

Andrejevic, Mark and Burdon, Mark. (2014). “Defining the Sensor Society.” Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_F8lxpywuFNWJ1dXNvZ05vUkE/view

 

 

Research Post 5

This is an in detail view of the events that happened during International Week 2015. It is very detailed to what is happening what day and at what time; guaranteed to not miss any activities you would like to see if you use this calendar of events. This article also contains a wonderful photograph of the opening parade that kicks off the events of International Week every year at George Mason University. In the photograph it shows students carrying flags of their home countries as they march around campus. International Week has a huge variety of events all over campus with ways for everybody to be involved and interested in some other country or learn about their culture. Celebrating International Week every year develops our diversity as a campus and makes us more inclusive with students that may be different than us. Participating in International Week can also give us things to talk about with students from that country as a way of including them into conversations.

 

Menchhoff, Hannah. (April 9, 2015). “iWeek List of Events”. Retrieved From http://gmufourthestate.com/2015/04/09/iweek-list-of-events/

Research Post 4

This is a complete video of the George Mason University (GMU) dance competition from six years ago. This is a more intense look into the dances of other countries around the world that are represented at our university. We can learn about a person or their homeland by the dances represented and the traditional attire worn during the performances. Being able to see the dances like this give us the traditional feeling like we were seeing this in the home country that it would originally take place. Seeing something as simple as a dance and how different it is all over the world shows us how diverse our planet and our campus is. We are able to see these students in our classes and across campus but we do not realize the diversity until it is fully shown to us during International Week events such as this. Although this dance competition is from six years ago it is just like the one that happens every year to display this different countries of students.

 

GMULife Tech Integration. (April 25, 2010) George Mason University International Week Dance Competition Chapter 2. [Video File]. Retrieved From https://vimeo.com/11214809

Research Post 3

The data report from the Office of International Programs has information on countries that are represented by the diversity on our campus. This data report shows students broken down into many categories, such as: students by region, by country, and by world area. The data report also answers some of the questions we would have when doing research such as who is doing the search and why. It explains who they are as an office on the George Mason University (GMU) campus and what they strive to accomplish on campus. This data report will also break it down into gender from certain countries or regions and also what school the student from what country is currently enrolled in. This report also talks about special programs George Mason has and what is included in them. This article will be able to give me a great understanding of where GMU students are coming from and how diverse our campus truly is.

 

Office of International Programs and Services. (Fall 2015). George Mason University. Fairfax, VA. Retrieved from http://oips.gmu.edu/oips-data-report/

Research Post 2

 

This YouTube video shows the dedication and hard work that goes into one part of International week at George Mason University. During International week there is a dance competition to show popular dances of all around the world. In this video it shows the students preparing themselves then their dances to be able to adequately show the rest of the student body how their homeland would see a traditional dance. The students that are participating in the dance are also wearing the attire that would be worn if they were back home and participating in the dance. Everyone that is not used to or has never seen a dance from a country will be able to experience it first hand like everyone in his or her homeland does. Every country around the world has ceremonial and traditional dances that are organic to that country and being able to bring them together at George Mason is special.

[George Mason University]. (April 11, 2014). International Week: Dance Competition. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDM_i9u9yz8

Research Post 1

This is the George Mason University website for International Week. Using this website I will be able to look how past years have been celebrated and what kind of activities are included. This website includes a schedule of activities for each day during International Week, which was April 8 until April 17 of this year. The schedule includes how activities are broken down: viewing culture, tasting culture, talking culture, and doing culture. This website also includes a list of every country that a George Mason student has citizenship (last updated fall 2016) during International Week their flag would be represented during the parade, which kicks off the week. Located at the bottom of the website is a contact us link which I am able to email the office in charge of International week if I were to have any questions that would need to be addressed by the office that coordinates this week.

International Week 2016. (Last Updated Fall 2016). International Website of George Mason University. Retrieved from iweek.gmu.edu

 

Reading Response 2

Everything we post on the Internet, even social media, can be used by the website to make a profit off of us. Most everything on the Internet is used for other things than just our entertainment. Our photographs, comments, and stories become property of that site once we post them on the Internet. Free labor is done on the Internet by most everyone through social media, commenting on news stories, posting photographs, and i-Reporting.

In the article “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy” by Tiziana Terranova she explains free labor as “a trait of the cultural economy at large, and an important, and yet undervalued, force in advanced capitalist societies (Terranova, 2000 page 33).” On the Internet we are used as free labor for everything we do- from social media to adding our comments on news articles to uploading images on sites to learning a new language on smartphone apps. Most people do not view this as work but just surfing the web or scrolling through social media or catching up on the news but these sites can make a profit off what we contribute.

The i-Reporting article by Lindsay Palmer examines how CNN enhanced their citizen journalism by creating i-Reporting. i-Reporting is described as a way to “cover the globe by uploading images from every single country” (Palmer, 2012, page 367). By having CNN encourage its readers to post local photographs from all over the world they are able to cover stories from around the globe without having to pay for professional journalists to travel. When a major event strikes and reporters are not able to get to an area locals who are already in the area are able to take photos or videos and upload them to websites like CNN i-Reporting. This keeps CNN from having to send professional reporters to possibly dangerous areas or areas they may not be able to get into (due to natural disasters).

Both of these articles look into free labor on the Internet and how companies are making profit from it. CNN and many other new sites are still able to get all the news coverage from around the world without having to send professional journalists to the scene. Whenever we are around something happening most everyone pulls out their cell phones and either takes photographs or videos and shares it with new sites or social media. Once is it posted on the Internet anyone is able to find it; if a news site needs or wants to show it on their website or news broadcast they are able to message the original poster and see if they are able to use it for themselves; most times they are able to.

The way we receive and share our news has changed extremely over the past years since social media and news sites all us to post our thoughts, comments, and photographs. Without eyewitness testimonials, photographs, or videos much of what happens around the world would not be known in another country. Using free labor allows us a window into the world and what is going on in it.

Works Cited

Terranova, Tiziana. (Summer 2002). “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy.” Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_F8lxpywuFWlY0dlpJekFncjA/view

Palmer, Lindsay. (2012). “iReporting’ an Uprising: CNN and Citizen Journalism in Network Culture.” Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4_F8lxpywuFZ0M3V1FLcU9IMHM/view

 

Reading Response 1

Throughout the short time we have been in class I have learned so much already. From each reading I can take something and apply it to my everyday life; whether it is critically looking over the internet, or how much is followed by what we search or look at, or how the inside of the internet really works. Looking closely at articles from our class so far I can relate them to me and my life.

I learned so much from one of the first articles we read in class called “Literacy: Are Today’s Youth Digital Natives?” by Danah Boyd. Before reading the article I would have considered myself a digital native- which is considered a person who grew up with the Internet and technology and are assumed to understand how to use it and how it works (Boyd, 2014). By the end of the article I easily changed my opinion on being a digital native. Yes I know how to operate computers, phones, and tablets, but I don’t know the internal side of things; why google brings up certain sites or how ads now what you have previously searched for. The parts of the digital native definition that I would say I consider myself under would be the part of growing up with the technology and knowing how to critically look in to it and see if it is too good to be true or if it is the real thing.

The main function of the internet that most “digital natives” are good at is the public sphere part (Habermas, 1974). Teens today are always checking social media sites and posting their thoughts and ideas to share with their friends and followers. While this is not the typical definition of a public sphere because it is only reaching a small amount of people it is what is happening today as a virtual sphere (Habermas, 1974). With a virtual sphere we as people can connect with others all over the world having a more diverse sphere then in past times. The only people excluded from our virtual sphere is ones without access to internet; public or at home. Before reading these articles I never thought critically about how the internet connected us as a world or even a country. Having devices with internet connection (i.e. Phones, tablets, and computers) can connect us to a world of people that we may never meet face to face; this becoming our virtual sphere.

Both of these articles relate to the same topic-the internet. They both talk about how we can use the internet to our advantage whether it be connecting with others around the world or just looking up sources for a homework assignment. The invention of the internet has grown our population and made it easier to stay in contact with one another and also easier to find information we are searching for.

Out of all of the class readings we have had so far, I believe I have learned the most from these two articles. I was able to relate both of these to my daily life and how I use the internet and a computer to interact with others and with research information. They were also helpful in critically thinking about how I use the tools available to me and how I could use them better.

 

 

Boyd, Danah. (2014) “Literacy: Are Today’s Youth Digital Natives?” Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4_F8lxpywuFcVZrbGc3S0Fka28

Habermas, Jurgen, (Autumn, 1974) “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article” Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4_F8lxpywuFUUVIY2ZQV3NiYnc

 

Pyramid Writing Class Excercise

 The Super Twisted History of the Dakota Access Pipeline–

• All major information (numbers) in the first 2-3 paragraphs
• Quotes to follow
• broken down into separate sections based on category
• links to source information-instead of just restating what was already said in another article/post

For as long as it takes: Native American protesters defy North Dakota pipeline construction

 

Neighbors say north dakota pipeline protests disrupt lives and livlihoods- NY times

For native americans, land is more than just the ground beneath their feet Atlantic