In week 1’s lecture we were introduced to Blogging. Adrian spoke about how Networked media promotes tacit knowledge and leaning through participation. He discussed how blogging enables us to do exactly that through writing in such a personal way. The importance of finding your own voice was something that struck me because it made me question whether I actually have a particular style of writing or not. I’m hoping as the semester progresses I can look back at these blog posts and gain a clearer understanding of my writing style.
One of the requirements of having this blog is to create posts relating to media that we are interested in but perhaps not directly related to what we are learning in tutorials etc. When I thought more about this I realised I would really like to explore the idea of ‘vlogging’. Vlogging as I understand it is a style of blogging through moving images rather than words.
Personally I love watching travel vlogs or video diaries. They’re usually shot using accessible technology such as an iPhone. I think this adds to the viewing experience, making it more personable and relatable. You can so easily watch a travel vlog and feel like you yourself have been to that particular place.
A great example is the YouTube video linked here – Blogger Jessica Stein’s California video diary.
For the past 2 years I have been lucky enough to have spent my mid-year break in Europe. What I found most interesting upon returning home, was realising how great Melbourne actually is and how much I take living here for granted.
I decided that I wanted to trial vlogging myself. I’m aiming to post weekly and use this form of blogging to give other people an insight into what its like to live in Melbourne and hopefully prompt myself to experience more of it. I also want to use this as an opportunity to further develop and practice my editing media skills from last semester.
SOOOO… This is officially my first trial at a video diary or vlog! Aside from being slightly embarrassing, I actually really enjoyed filming and editing it. Initially I thought I would use a higher quality camera but it was too big to carry around with me and I remembered what Adrian had said in his lecture about iPhones being both accessible and high quality. He also made it clear that if you can’t take good footage on an iPhone it doesn’t make a difference what technology you use. So why not start at the bottom, right?
This first vlog features a few aspects of Melbourne including The Camberwell Market and The Gertrude Projection Festival. I shot it on Sunday the 27th of April whilst spending the day with my twin sisters and our family friends. (I should note that the music used was royalty free and sourced from YouTube’s Audio Library).
Ps. If you would like to see the HD version click here
– Caitlin
