So the second reading that we had to do for Media One this week didn’t really make sense to me and I couldn’t exactly wrap my head around what was being said, so I thought I would discuss another reading that I had done over the weekend which was in relationship to my 4th assessment for Popular Culture in Everyday lives. For this assessment I am looking about misrepresentation online and fake profiling. I first became interested in this when I watched the movie ‘Cat Fish’ which is about a guy called Ned and he builds a relationship firstly with a girl over Facebook and then her whole family, but when he goes to meet them it is nothing at all what they claimed to be. I thought that this would be an interesting topic of internet culture and social media platforms to look at as people underestimate the effects of putting all your information online, and the dangers of creating relationships online. I read an article about this which was about introducing your online and offline identity. What was said is that your offline identity is who you really are, what you cant change mentally and physically about yourself, it is the way you were born and a part of you that you have to accept. Your online identity is one that you can manipulate to the image you want people to see you as, or the image you believe represents yourself more effectively then who you truly are.
In this article there was a diagram which showed three different types of versions of yourself: What I think I am, What I think people think I am and What people think I am. These three versions can be so different and today with the development of social media and internet, the ability to manipulate these images is becoming so easy. This is the issue with misrepresentation online, it in a way can be beneficial to the person conducting it because you are able to show yourself in the way you believe is correct, but it can also lead to more harmful versions where you effect other people by getting involved with them and they fall into believing you are someone you really aren’t. There are so many positives to media platforms, but this is particularly one issue that people need to be conscious of as technology is developing at a rapid pace and people are becoming effected by this.
I think it is an important reminder for people to take a step back, think about who they associate with online and what they share with the public community because there are a lot more fake profilers out there then you would realise. It is so crazy to think someone can be so genuine, but behind the computer they are making it all up. I am really excited to keep researching about this because it is an area I think that gets covered up in the media world because it is secretly growing without the attention that it needs.
The first reading of this was a discussion about the relationships between culture and technology. These two mediums have a close connection now in the twenty first century because of the way technology has taken over our everyday lives to retrieve information and produce it. One quote that stood out to me in this reading was “The computer is an extension of the brain”. I find this very true, people continue to argue that we depend to much on technology, but it can be so useful and help us function to a better ability of our everyday lives. This also particularly contrasts with the media industry. Without technology, media itself would not be able to grow at the rapid pace that it is. It is a given that the media industry is one of the most dominant in society today where it grasps the attention of society all over the world in, and without technology platforms it would not be able to do that. Back to the realtionship of technology and culture, in this reading the writer made it very clear that it is hard to define the meaning of culture, but it focuses around the idea of human activities and what people do beyond their basic necessities. This is shown to relate to technology because it is “used to transform their natural environment”. It is easy to understand what technology means, and what culture means but to put them together I find is more difficult to people to understand. What I got from this reading was the idea that technology helps put our cultural identity into works, for example as I said before culture is about how human activities, and technology helps us do that. These two areas have a close bond where cultural activities are becoming dependent on technology. A key example that they used in this reading was tourism. Tourism has become the world’s biggest industry because of technology, and this is also a culture because it is something that people do beyond their basic necessities.
What I think was important to take away from this reading was about the realtionship between culture and technology and how it plays a huge part in peoples everyday lives. If you think about it carefully every decision or move someone makes plays a part on the culture you are personally involved in, and in some point you will rely on technology to develop that. I found this reading really interesting because I always look at the two as separate, but really they feed each other and societies everyday lives
Yesterday in our workshop was a good time to really outline how we were going to structure our audio essay. I am feeling so much more confident about this as we have a chronological structure about what we are trying to portray about gender in superhero films in a effective way. In order to do this we each chose a part of the essay to focus on then on Monday we are going to put it all together in a more conversational type with sounds and background effects to enhance what we are trying to convey. Knowing specifically about what need to focus on for me, which is how these gender representations are identified in society today has made it easier to refine my research and I have been able to choose examples of particular superhero narratives that support my argument. I am now feeling a lot more confident about this audio essay because I think we have a clear argument that can be demonstrated effectively through audio and not needing a visual effect to show what we are conveying.
Our group is working really well together so far and we all have some great ideas which contrast together to build a strong argument. This weekend I am going to focus on getting my script done in a conversational way that includes examples and clear dialogue about how the image in superhero narratives is effecting the way gender represent themselves in society.
This workshop my group is going to have to do a lot of work about our audio essay as next week the rough cut needs to be completed… We need to focus on getting our script finished and gathering materials for this such as sound effects and background atmosphere. I am getting worried about this because we haven’t started our audio essay which we really need to get a move on with!!
In my contextual study Popular Culture in Everyday Lives we are doing a group project about Internet Culture and Social Media. The specific area that I am focussing on is this misrepresentation of individuals on social media. I am finding this so interesting because there are so many different examples of people getting caught out for false representation and claiming to be someone they aren’t. I feel like this is a huge issue in social media because people like to present themselves they want others to see them, rather then the person they really are. I can see this in two lights. Firstly, it lets you express a part of yourself in a way you want to be accepted, I don’t see what can be wrong with this if it isn’t harming or effecting anyone else but then there is the other side about lying about your identity and affecting other people by getting into relationships with them.
For example there was a girl called Lonelygirl15 who started a video blog
in 2006 where she claimed to be an 16 year old American home schooled girl who struggled with the issues of religious parents. Audiences got so involved with her because they enjoyed her stories and she would interest them by posting things such as “I shouldn’t be posting this…” etc which evoked attention from other vloggers and audiences on the base of YouTube. What was found out was that she was actually a New Zealand actress who had made up this profile. To her this didn’t seem like a massive issue, but audiences felt they had created a personal relationship and empathised for her, but really none of it was true.
This is the part that I don’t understand, why would people want to create fake realtionship with someone and make someone else feel they have found a companion/ someone they can connect with when it is all fake. I am really excited to look more in depth into this and see the reasons behind why people do this and how they feel they need to be someone else in order to be accepted into society.
This second reading we were set to do, was not quite something that interests me and to be honest I don’t completely understand the relevance of it towards what we are doing. This reading talked much about broadband speed, internet and the politics about it. It was interesting in which I don’t really think about broadband speed in a deep level only to the point where I am trying to load something I get frustrated when it doesn’t work fast. The understanding that I got from this reading was the idea about how households don’t understand the Australians National Broadband Network (NBN) in relation to infrastructure networks, communication devices, location etc. Today we buy a broadband pact for you’re household hoping that it loads research fast, being able to stream online and not run out. This is what we view it as, but behind that there is so much more detail that the NBN has to go to in order to aline with this perception. Without broadband media would not be in the frame that it is today, and for that audiences and the media industry have to thank.
This weeks first reading is about how television has had to incorporate different sources of media in order to develop and keep up with the audiences desires and needs. Years ago television would be able to provide entertainment for people without having to try that hard because it was the only thing around, but now they are having to interact with audiences on a more personal level. For example we now see on T.V different adds and opportunities for audiences to get involved with what they are watching, support T.V shows, films or actors they really like to a certain extent they feel on a personal level with them. A interesting point that was raised about televisions institutions is that they want to engage with social media platforms in order to become more profitable but increasing commercialisation with Twitter, Facebook etc has threatened to compromise public value. I can understand the point of view with this as audiences are becoming harder to please and they are expecting more, but it is the point of how far with televisions, especially in this reading European television companies etc. What was also addressed is that T.V has started to do more interactive television rather then just a show such as game shows, dating etc which enables the audiences to be involved and therefore will share there experience through social media.
There is a fine line between T.V and social media because people can become annoyed with the amount of advertising and trying to get people involved, as some people just want to watch a show to relax. There has been many shifts in order to engage with social media platforms, where today the generation is growing at a fast pace so these Television industries are going to have to keep up with what audiences want to see but in a way that is acceptable and now over powering towards social media.
I have spent my weekend driving to and from Albury which I had NO IDEA was so far away… Whilst doing that I had a lot of time to reflect on what I want from this course and about why I am enjoying it. I always wanted to get into the media industry because it is one that will continue to grow and also is so interesting in how media targets different audiences. I feel like so far I am growing my knowledge about media and the different parts of it (which there is WAY more then I thought…)
I have also started to do more research into PB4 and the different approaches that I think our audio and visual essay should take. I have watched a few superhero films but not a lot. It is something that interests and when thinking about it or looking online you can defiantly notice the difference between men and women and how they are represented. What I sometime struggle with is that I always get the information that I need to support my argument but never actually hit the nail on the head of what I am trying to say. I am happy that this is in a group project so I can get ideas off the other members about how we can effectively do this and hopefully do well in PB4
This workshop we went around the class and talked about how different ideas- I love doing this because its so interesting the different ideas that people come with in regards to their topics. This was also beneficial to my group because people suggested different ideas about what we should do and how we should focus our idea about gender representation in superhero narratives. I really need to get a start on this and looking more deeply into what our argument is going to be.
Happy Friday 🙂
Silly me completely forgot to look under the reading tab in media one where I found we did have readings! This reading specifically talked about the definition of what is an audience, and how that has changed over time. This made me think about audiences in the future, what will audiences need in order to be satisfied? People are becoming harder and harder to satisfy as it is so easy to disorientate yourself from what is being viewed. The Media industry is having to think of new and exciting ways to interest audiences specifically through television, film and texts.
I find this part of media interesting because it shows how active they have to be in everyday life finding out what audiences are wanting to be shown, and also gaining a personal relationship with them so they stay active in what is being produced.