Well who would have thought that I could have accomplished the class assesment of making my own web page. Well readers if you don’t believe it you better and for evidence of my first attempt of the week six task file:///Volumes/MEDIA_STU/MakingMediaWeb/houseofcards/JeremyFEhyper/JeremyFEroom.html I decided to opt for Lara croft as my rebel. Mainly because she is one known to break the rules not for her own benefits but merely for her sheer enjoyment.
I enjoyed the challenge of putting the puzzles together, the challenge of the reading, the challenge of the comprehension of the code. Learning how we can link manipulate elements of the web was quite empowering, and gives you a sense of the endless possibilities that the internet offers us.
Personally I found the task inspiring as we learn the skills which we can actively enhance by learning new codes and the sharing of ideas and knowledge. By far the most exhilerating experience yet.
Saying that I have to end on a sad not with the results of my vox pop coming back. Not Happy, would be the best way to describe it. I managed to scrape through with just a credit, with many of the problems overlooked because i had demonstrated some effort.
Most of the problems that were with my vox pop were to do with the technical elements. I did n’t quite adhere to the project requirements and opted to do my own little spin which for future reference dont do that.
So week four were starting to engage with conceps and notions of space and the fluid cyberspace that we can interact with by learning to read and understanding the coded languag of the Internet.
Before I go into further detail of this I would like to discuss the second video which i have uploaded here. It is my final draft for the film component assessment. I took the footage with my friend whose currently persuing an acting career. We decided that for the best effect for the project we would approach the box pop sequence spontaineously. I wanted natural honest responses so I did’n't give my people too much information as to what exactly I wanted to ask them. My first attempts were unsuccessful as people were a little confused about what my project was for and hence less co-operative. I think the key point to success in this task really involves the places you go and what time. Because when I took the footage people were having lunch they were more relaxed and more willing to be a part of my project.
Now the other thin which is probably important to discuss this week was the tutorial practical where we learnt to comprehend the nature of the internet’s architecture and how t conceptually tap into this cyberspace network.
Matt this week explained to us the layered nature of the internet and that by learning and becoming fluent in a particular coded language (which is involves a mixture of words and numbers) we can tap into gateways and interact and “surf” through the net. We do so by millions of addresses or IP codes which metaphorically act like a residential address and tell our computers where to go to get to a particular website. I found this weeks introduction to the coding excersizes really insightful, learning how the space of the internet can be manipulated to our own advantage by learnig the coding language. Also this very idea of an infinite space that can be built upon and interacted with when we enter particular codes. Well it was a first for me. Stay tuned for some more of my experiences learning to decode the internet.
Ok so the last two weeks involved the simple task of making a short two minute clip of ourselves talking about particular aspects of the media. As you probably noticed I have uploaded the clip onto my YouTube account and you can watch it on my previous post. I approached the task satirically and then edited it so as to make the clip more entertaining to watch. I think i achieved my desired effect so Im happy with that.
After doing some thinking and a bit of googling around I’v discovered that media and in particular blogging is something which over the last five years has become something quite a sensitive issue particularly in Asian countries. The issue being censorship and regulation of publishing has always been a controversy in Countries such as Malaysia, China and Indonesia. In these countries Japan included (http://www.danwei.org/blogs/blog_popularity_in_china.php) people are less open about their identity especially when it comes to blogging where expressing an opinion which is contradictory to mainstream or government values.
This leads me to much issue, to what extent should internet regulation be allowed. Is it in fact ethical for a government such as malaysia to in fact close down particular websites which publish stories and opinions which may not represent a particular country the way it wants too. For this reason I think today many young Australians take for granted the freedom we have and that the internet has allowed us. It i=has given us a voice. But that also brings me too another issue. Is there a line where we can cross the border with too much freedom. Iv read several peoples blogs who express there personal opinions which go beyond blogging, and eventually borderline reason. They can insight hate and anger between particular communities, and instead as acting as a platform to create discussion it has the opposite effect of making conflict. For these reasons, countries such as China and Japan have strict policies about what constitutes the “fair” blogging.
For this reason most bloggers adopt pseudonyms in order to keep their identities a secret. I find this relationship between falsities and truths intriguing. On one hand we want to speak out but at the same time we also want immunity. Do we sacrifice our identity in order to report or do we report in anonymity??? What would you do or how do you guys feel?
I’m still trying to figure out how to get this blog to work, so bare with me guys… Eventually after I have Joined Diigo, Twitter, WordPress, New South Blogs, all should hopefully run smoothly.
In the second weeks tutorials we moved on from notions of attention to the concept of codes, signs and symbols and semiotics. We looked at how particular images are deliberately displayed or manufactured to achieve a particular idea or grab an audience.
In particular what I found interesting was, how advertisers use suppressive techniques and subliminal messages which manage to get our attention even when the actual product isn’t actually disclosed to the audience. This made me think about how much the media plays an influence on our lives and hence why it is important to study it. Not only are we controlling the media but it in fact controls us.
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Something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest for the last few weeks is that, when I read my blogs or my posts, or when I access my face-book account; the person whom which I identify as me, interacts very differently to the way I would on a daily basis. I feel sometimes that networked media allows me to create a multi-persona, exaggerate my personality, and increases my bravado when I want to speak my mind. Online identities lack of impersonality increase our confidence to say what we actually think without fear of retribution. Has having access to such technics impinged on our social skills in terms of how we relate to one another. I think it has. Sometimes it makes me want to delete my face-book account all together when I find myself checking it at an addictive 7-10 times a day. Its becoming addictive.
In the next coming weeks I will explore using the camera and film. I want to learn more about this creative medium and how to develop skills to evoke an audience.
Welcome to my blog for semester 1 2009. I’d like to start off by introducing my areas of interest in media, which include film production, journalism and audience media participation. Today in our first tutorial we were engaged with several interesting concepts in relation why it is important for us to study the media. I think having an awareness of the media is important as it helps us to see it as a construct. Today tonite’s little segments on average “Aussie Joes” just like me and you are some of the frequent reports that manage to make prime time news television. Furthermore we have these constant emphasises on the need to panic and ways to recover out of the so called “recession”. But I’d like to ask as something Gillian brought to mind in the lecture, is it the culture that has produced these current issues or is it in fact the media itself that manufactures these emotions, feelings of anxiety and so called “problems”?
I think if we look closely, take a step back and actually see the media as something which deliberately creates information to reach an audience, we’d find ourselves questioning the validity as well as how much sensationsionalism contributes tto making good news. This would help us to make more informed decisons when considering whether a particular source has certain biases.
I enjoy film as I see it as an artistic instrument in which ideas feelings and emotions can be expressed in ways which are much more accessible to audiences. Whether it be documentary, or narrative cinema I hope to grasp filming techniques which can eventually lead to some change.
