The reflection

At the beginning of the session, when asked to produce a blog I immediately began to feel anxious as I always have in the past with similar assessments. Creating and sharing content on a blog means putting myself out there for the world to see, exposed, but I was determined to improve on my blogging skills nonetheless.

A blog is a ‘regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style‘. There are millions of blogs online, and you can be sure to find one on almost any topic of interest; cooking, health and fitness, fashion, pets, you name it they have got it. With this knowledge alone the main question that immediately began to surface is why would someone want to read my blog? What is it that will interest them and why? What will attract attention and keep it?

Before I begun composing content for the session to come, I immediately scanned over my current blog and begun to take note of it’s layout, design, navigation and general aesthetics, jotting down anything that needed to be changed, edited, added or removed. The aesthetic appeal of a blog is the first point of contact you have with a potential reader and can affect the way people choose to interact with your blog. Upon further inspection I immediately noticed particular aspects that needed to be changed. This included the layout, font, colour scheme and tabs. The overall feel of my blog was too cluttered, messy and unorganised, although the biggest problem was the navigation, or lack there of.

Marie Asselin, the author of Food Nouveau explains that ‘A well-edited navigation menu is essential to a blog. It’s the gateway to everything’. I for one know that if I find a blog visually unpleasing and hard to navigate I will not be staying for long. Using WordPress’s customising function and their numerous editing tools I was able to integrate a more user-friendly navigation system (after much confusion when trying to get the tabs to work) that would allow finding content easier.

The most time consuming aspect of this project was without a doubt the research phase of the blog posts. I myself like to research the topic I am going to blog about. This not only includes reading over articles and relaying back to lectures and class discussion, but also reading other peoples blogs in order to gain perspective and inspiration, as well as generate further questions. Joshua Fields Millburn says that aside from researching your topic in order to ensure your content is engaging and unique you must follow the following steps:

• Be interesting
• Be honest
• Be yourself

A blog is more than just a space to communicate information, your content is not what makes your blog. As Millburn says ‘You are what makes your blog different; it’s about your perspective, your creativity, the value that you add’ is what draws people in. I can say that although I have grown more confident in writing and expressing myself little by little through each post I still have a long way to go, not only have I found that I can express myself through my words but also through the use of images and memes, allowing myself to break up dense content and further engage the reader.

Through the past 9 weeks I have found that one of the most important parts of blogging is to stay connected. One of the main purposes of creating a blog is to gain readership and without staying connected through various means of contact, it is impossible to do so. By linking your blog with social media platforms and sharing your content, you are able to ensure that your blog is visible and accessible. Thus, able to attract an audience. Through the progression of my blog I had begun to share posts on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and had further discovered the magic of hashtags. The use of the hashtags such as #BCM240 and #media alone has impacted on my blog greatly, receiving hundreds of views both within and outside of Australia, within months of blogging.

Whenever I tell someone that blogging is a part of my university work they are usually confused as to how it could be considered useful by any means and I can’t say I blame them. At the beginning of the semester I was a little skeptical as to how blogging would help me develop my abilities although quickly found my concerns were misplaced. As my blog continued to grow and develop so did my writing skills, I have found that I am now more able and confident in expressing myself through my writing and sharing opinions, and have also found that I need to pay more attention to my writing technique as it still needs improvement. Blogging these past few weeks has also helped me understand the importance of communication and sharing content, this is one aspect that I hope to improve on in the future. I am not an overly socially active person online, and so I find it difficult to keep up to date and share through media such as twitter and even more so on Facebook. This could definitely help widen my audience and gain more attention. As well as staying connected through social media, I will also look to further interact with other bloggers by commenting on their posts in order to create discussions.

Blogging has proved to be useful in many ways over the semester and there are many reasons for one to blog. For one blogging allows you to improve writing skills, gain confidence and open your mind to new perspectives and ideas. I myself find that reading blogs of a variety of topics inspires me in many ways. Health and fitness blogs inspire me to live healthier, travel blogs inspire me to explore and see the word, academic blogs inspire me to be better and try harder. Fore these reasons I wish to create a blog outside academic purposes where I can express my ideas and experiences, and hopefully inspiring others in return.

Taplin, R 2013, 5 Quick Ways to Improve Your Blog’s Design, Blog Tyrant, viewed 27th September 2015, <http://www.blogtyrant.com/blog-design/>

Asselin, M., 2014, ‘The Five Most Important Elements of a Blog Layout’, Food Bloggers of Canada, 4th June, viewed 29th, September 2015,
<http://www.foodbloggersofcanada.com/2014/06/the-five-most-important-elements-of-a-blog-layout/>

Millburn, JF 2015, ‘How to start a successful blog today’, The minimalist, 1st october, viewed 1st October 2015,
<http://www.theminimalists.com/blog/>

Becker, J, ‘15 reasons I think you should blog’, becoming minimalist, viewed 1st October 2015,
<http://www.becomingminimalist.com/15-reasons-i-think-you-should-blog/>

Its classified

I remember all to well back when I was a kid sitting down to watch the Lion King on VCR but not before sitting through 15 minutes of ads and classification warnings that I never really paid attention to.

While we may no longer see these classification warnings before movies (especially since the wonders of the skip button) as much as we had in the past they are still there. The Classification Board of Australia a classification and censorship body formed the the Australian government is a board that classifies video games, music and films.

Through giving these classifications the classification board aims to protect viewers from content they may find offensive or hard to watch, these include themes such as violence, sexual themes, nudity, drug use and language to name a few. These are all then categorised into separate ratings. Not only can the board classify media but it can also refuse to, this means that they can officially make in illegal to exhibit, sell or hire within australia.

As much as the government tries to prohibit viewing of certain media depending on age, is it really applicable at all? Im pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say that none of us have followed the classification system to a ‘T’ growing up. We have all watched a M-rated movie unaccompanied before we were 15 and when was parental guidance really necessary in a PG movie? When it comes to video games it seems that most thoughts on classifications go out the window, for example my nephew and his friends not even 10 years old are constantly playing COD (call of duty) most of which are rated M.

With the easy access we are granted to information and content (special thanks goes out to the internet) it is almost impossible to monitor what children and young teens are doing, viewing and downloading. What about in situations where your child is over a friends house? Or they have decided to take it upon themselves to buy any movie they please (self check out, who’s gonna stop them? The baggage bay?). As much as people say children should be monitored according to the classifications, half the children’s movies out there are classified PG for one, who is willing to take 5 hours out of their day to sit and monitor their child marathon Shrek?! All in all in situations such as these is it really all that easy to monitor what people watch, and the media they engage with?

Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, ‘Media and Student Resources’ in Australian Classification, Australian Government, viewed 25th September 2015, <http://www.classification.gov.au/Public/Resources/Pages/Media-and-Student-Resources.aspx>

#SayCheese

It seems that in this day and age everyone is their own personal photographer; phones, laptops and tablets, if you have a device you most likely have a camera. All in all this makes documenting a special moment or memory quick and easy, although what about those times when you simply must catch a moment…that isn’t quite yours? Is it ethical?

My position on this matter is at times gray, as I feel that as long as the photographs are not being used in and damaging or demeaning ways it shouldn’t be a problem although feel confronted by images such as these.

Matt Stuart

Although street photography such as this can be used to raise awareness of the poverty and harsh conditions many live through it does little to provide a way in which to help and support these people or a information on how to make a difference at all. At times it seems there is an overflow of images such as these that do nothing but gain attention for the photographer and create a discussion amongst passive activists.

If I were to have my own code of ethics some things that would be included are:

• Getting permission from parents or guardians when photographing minors
• Do not record without permission
• Ask individuals for permission to take photos of them
• Do not take photos out of context or use them for negative purposes

Aside from being able to capture memories I believe that the ethical standard may vary depending on the circumstances and the reasons behind the photograph, for example photographs can be used to relay information or evidence to authoritative figures in situations that may call for attention.

In saying this, I myself feel awkward enough as it is taking a photo of someone without their knowledge and even more so asking their permission, #stalker comes to mind in all honesty.

Kim, E (2011). Are There Any Ethics in Street Photography?. [online] Eric Kim Blog, viewed 2^nd september 2015 <http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/01/26/are-there-any-ethics-in-street-photography/>.

The connection conundrum

Growing up I never really interacted with the world of the Internet until 6^th grade and even then I remember constantly bickering with my brothers over who wanted to use the landline. It was pretty exciting at first, being able to use the Internet but I must say the dial up connection got real old real fast and looking back on it I am so glad I no longer have to wait for 6 hours for a 30 min video to buffer.

In my household we have 4 data plans and 14 devices with Internet connection between 4 people, now I know what you’re thinking a little excessive isn’t it? Yes, yes it is.

For the most part the current data plan in our house is quite reliable, fast and unlimited (which saves me from losing my mind and stressing the hell out when it comes to tutorial enrolments and assessment submissions).

Recently coming back from a holiday in abroad and meeting fellow backpackers, one comment I often encountered was “have you guys in Australia got internet yet?”, yeah yeah laugh it up buddy, I get it we all get it we’re the but of the joke. It seems as Australia is so far behind other countries in terms of technology it is only natural that the same goes for the Internet connection and speed. Currently Australia ranks 44^th in the world when it comes to Internet speed (Donovan,S 2015), which is shocking within itself as many people believe that Australia is far more developed than others and we are apart from technology that is.

After sitting down and discussing the changes and improvements the National Broadband Network (NBN) would bring with my mother, I continued to question her on weather she was at all excited with the change and if she was at all apprehensive about having to learn a new system knowing she wasn’t versed in the current technology as it was.

While my mother mostly uses the internet for communication and keeping up to date with the news, weather, and family, she expressed that faster connection would make it that much easier for her to communicate although was indeed a concerned when it came to learning a new system.

Before I had left for my holiday, upon request I had taken to teaching my mother how to use Facebook (a frustrating process for both of us) so that she could ‘Facebook stalk” me while I was away in order to ease her mind that I was safe. Along with this I had taught her to message and call me via Facebook chat and she later (to her excitement) discovered how to video chat. Knowing the concepts and navigation of Facebook were annoying enough to her, and the constant change in technology I can see why she is apprehensive.

All in all technology and the internet is seen as an important communication tool by my mother, and even though I also find that aspect of it important honestly couldn’t imagine a life without it (as sad as that sounds) as it is so integrated with our lives. As Boyd (2014) states ‘social media has evolved from being an esoteric jumble of technologies to a set of sites and services that are at the heart of contemporary culture’ and so staying in touch with the present is almost impossible without having at least some knowledge of how to use technology.

Boyd,D 2014  It’s Complicated, online PDF, viewed 20 august. viewed online: http://www.danah.org/books/ItsComplicated.pdf

Donovan, S (2015), ‘Internet speeds: Australia ranks 44th, study cites direction of NBN as part of problem’, ABC, 13 Jan, viewed 20 August. Viewed online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-12/australian-internet-speeds-rank-44th-in-the-world/6012570

Search and Re-search

As I’m writing this post I find that I am researching what research is and that within itself is redundant as I clearly already know what it is after all I am doing it now, and I realise we ALL know and do it regularly, but are rarely consciously aware of it. In simple terms research as defined by Arthur Berger is to seek information.

Lets be honest when I hear research I think uni, assignments and hours of boredom, but that is only academic research being done, so what about everyday research?

Without knowing it we research everyday on a regular basis casually and selectively, whether you are purchasing a new car, planning a trip to Europe, looking for a new TV series to binge on as you procrastinate on doing uni work or simple asking irrelevant mundane questions like when will science give us dragons? It is still all research.

Not only do we research using the Internet search engines, through reading textbooks and documents but we also research through posting on opinion columns, watching videos, special interest forums and simply asking friends and family, and by doing these things unknowingly we collect both primary and secondary information that we later evaluate to come to a decision or conclusion.

As human’s research is how we survive, evolve and progress, we are naturally curious beings and are constantly questioning and dreaming. We are continually hypothesizing, researching, experimenting and distributing knowledge ultimately setting up the basis for others to question and start the cycle again. It is important for us to go above and beyond what we hear and what we are told, to seek out information and even more so to find truths.

When asked what aspect of media I would like to research I was immediately stumped, when I thought about it I realized there’s so much to research. Pop-culture, gender representation, stereotyping, the phenomena that is social media, YouTube, the evolution of the geeks and nerds, the obsession over reality TV that seems to have swept over the nations, but as I took a step back I realized I question things I saw everyday without realizing.

Over the past few weeks I have been seeing countless articles, posts and videos appearing on my Facebook feed particularly regarding feminism. I was surprised to see although the message may be positive there were some responses in the comments that did nothing but slandered the true meaning of feminism and this made me question what exactly was feminism? What did I think it was? Was I wrong? What did people think it meant? How was it represented in media to have given people such an impression? How does media promote feminism?

ps. on my feminism research spree found this thought it was quite nicely worded  🙂

 

Berger, Arthur A. 2014, ‘What is research?’, in Media and communication research methods : an introduction to qualitative and quantitative approaches, 3rd ed., SAGE, Los Angeles, pp. 13-32

Owning your thoughts

 

http://spiritofjubilee.com/billions-for-the-bankers-6-a-debt-free-america/

Who controls the media? What difference does it make? Why does it matter? And why is this of any concern of ours? Not many think of these questions, but perhaps we should. Why? Simple, do you like being told what to think, what’s right, what’s wrong and what opinions you should have? No? Then why let those who control the media do just that?

As technology continues to move forward and improve we become more and more dependent on the media in order to be informed about current events both internationally and locally via newspapers, TV, magazines and the Internet, to be able to communicate with one another through social networking such as Facebook, twitter, and Skype and to be able to function in our day-to-day lives. Have you ever lost power during a storm and been left with no TV, no reception and no Internet, what is pretty much todays version of being reverted back to the Stone Age? This is when we understand just how dependent we truly are on the media.

So in saying this, Australia’s media ownership is amongst the most concentrated in the world with only a handful of people pulling the strings. For example Rupert Murdock’s News Corporation (formerly News Limited) is one of the worlds largest media groups owning companies in a wide range of media channels such as:

• News papers
• Magazines
• Film
• TV
• Advertising

 

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread829671/pg1

 

In having News Corp. owning such a large percentage of our media, its coverage and influence is immense 14.7 million Australians. We must ask how much of the information we are given is unbiased, is there another side to this story, has any additional important information been left out to suit their views, and is this propaganda?

 

http://digitaleskimo.net/portfolio/newsstand-infographic

Media provides us with information on the causes and scope of social, cultural and political problems and so shapes the public views.With one company in charge of so many media outlets we lack the diversity of views, opinions and information needed in order for us to draw our own conclusions. When we are repeatedly being fed the same idea from every direction which in the end all context lead back to the same origin, we tend to conform to the greater opinion shared by the majority.

In saying this with everyone agreeing on the same thing since we are all being fed the same information it makes it difficult for us to gain an interest and be engaged in what’s happening in the world around us. We speak of freedom and independence but how can we be if we are not given the opportunity to think for ourselves, provide our own opinion and thoughts when there is such a concentration of media ownership.

 

Donovan, D 2011, Concentrated media ownership: a crisis for democracy, viewed 6 april 2014
http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/concentrated-media-ownership-a-crisis-for-democracy,3259

Goncalves, R 2012, Factbox: Who owns what in the Australian media, viewed 6 april 2014 http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/06/22/factbox-who-owns-what-australian-media

Week 4 Lecture Slides/Readings:
http://ereadings.uow.edu.au.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/harte1.pdf

http://www.newscorpaustralia.com/