For the next seven days I will be recording and analysing my use of online media, whether creating and publishing my own content or consuming the content of others. Here’s the first cab off the rank.
A major part of my online media use for today happened on Facebook. My studio group for Media 1 is using a private group and message thread to communicate, and recently we have been discussing an upcoming assessment task. We had a practice session at RRR yesterday that not all of our group members could make it to, so I also wrote a long post detailing the things we discussed and decided for the benefit of those who weren’t there. Most of this communication took place on my phone through the Facebook app, though the long post was written on my computer to avoid the possibility of accidentally losing it.
I also used Facebook to passively browse and consume content — either posts and updates from friends and family, or links to external websites and news. I tagged my brother and his partner in a post by Broadsheet Melbourne to bring an event to their attention, as it is an event I expected they would be interested in attending. I also liked a video of comedian/actor Bob Odenkirk posted by triple j — I did this both to express to triple j that I liked the content they posted, and also to draw attention to the content to any of my own friends who would be interested in it (because “Bradley liked triple j’s video” would appear on their news feeds, but I wouldn’t have to actually share the post on my own timeline).
Netflix
In the morning I watched the documentary The Thin Blue Line on Netflix, so that I didn’t have to get up early and go to the screening for my Documentary Studies subject. I watched the film in my lounge room so I could see it on my big screen TV and surround sound system, although because I have seen the film many times before I did occasionally get distracted using my phone.
Blackboard
I used Blackboard on my laptop to access readings to accompany the screening I had just watched, and also watched an online lecture about the film that had been posted by my Documentary Studies lecturer. This lecture was uploaded to YouTube (as an unlisted video) and then embedded in the Blackboard page.
iTunes
Kendrick Lamar released a new song called “The Heart Part 4”, which I downloaded from iTunes and listened to in the evening.
Other
There were a number of other apps and websites I accessed in a passive manner throughout the day. I used all of these websites to keep up with what was happening in the world, to keep abreast of news and current affair, or for entertainment purposes. These websites were accessed exclusively through apps on my phone.
- The New York Times
- The Washington Post