Howard Garder – Five Minds for the Future

“In the interconnected world in which the vast majority of human beings now live, it is not enough to state what each individual or group needs to survive on its own turf. In the long run, it is not possible for parts of the world to thrive while others remain desperately poor and deeply frustrated.”

This is one of the sentences which stood out to me the most at the beginning of this reading. The author talks about five different ‘minds’: disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical. These five minds are what the author believes will embody the essential ways of thinking in the future. The ethical mind relates to the quote above, as when we take an ethical stance on certain situations, the individual has to understand their place in the world in relation to their region, their nation and their planet. As I spent my gap year doing a lot of travelling, it did open my mind to a lot of questions about my place in and my responsibilities to this world. It is interesting to note that the author believes that individuals who posses all five minds will thrive the most in the workplace.

The author also goes on to state that we should adapt new educational practices, and that the current practises are not working because the world is constantly changing in significant ways. As the world changes, certain educational practises become redundant or irrelevant. It is interesting to note that the author believes new educational aspirations could include learning respect for all different people and minds, as we will eventually all be united and no longer isolated.

The reading then goes on to discuss globalization aka deterritorialization. The reading talks about four unprecedented trends which have occurred: 1. capital/market instruments moving around the globe; 2. humans moving around the world with 100mil immigrants scattered around the world at any time; 3. movement of matter through cyberspace; 4. pop culture circulating the world. If we focus on the workplace, the author talks about how it is largely skills focused, and not really focused on human qualities: how people of different backgrounds and emotional intelligence and perform differently. We need to think more globally, and we need to keep developing the five different mindsets to thrive.

Finding Time in a Digital Age – Judy Wajcman

The idea that technology would eventually do enough of our work for us that we would only really be needed for 3 hours a day is laughable. The reading starts of by talking about how technology has in fact led us to put in more effort when completing tasks as opposed to liberating us and giving us our time back. The author states that we live in an acceleration society, and our lives are very fast paced. In essence, this comes down to how we allocate our time. Whilst we may feel free and in control, information and communication technologies actually control us.

Certain aspects of our lives are accelerating. Work, leisure and parenting are accelerated by technology. I know myself that I have constantly felt like the world was moving faster – according to the author, that is because of technological change, the shifts in the nature of work, the composition of families, and patterns in consumption. It is as if there is always somewhere I need to be, something I need to do, or sleep I would love to catch up on. Un yet I am supposed to be surrounded by all this technology that is designed to eliviate a lot of the brunt work. However, we cannot simply shut off the digital technology which has been so well weaved into our lives. It isn’t as simple as that. That being said, there are some resources available which actually help time management like mobile apps which monitor what you’re doing every minute so you can track where your time is being spent.

It is interesting to note that the reading talks about the bur between work and home, and how work from our jobs is increasingly being taken home to be worked on. With an increase in ICT, there will be more ways in which a person can actually access their jobs from home, and work more mobile. However whilst this may be increasing flexibility and versatility, we could be setting ourselves up for more problems in the future.

So Good They Can’t Ignore You

This quote comes from Steve Martin, who was only 20 when he knew what he wanted. He wanted to be a great comedian. It took him 10 years to master his act and in doing so, presents us with the idea that there is no shortcuts around being great. You need to focus on how you can be better. We ned to have the craftsman mindset. We need to push ourselves. This is opposite to the passion mindset:

Passion mindset: what can the world offer me.

Craftsman mindset: what you can offer the world.

The author discusses how the passion mindset can constantly leave you confused and dissatisfied with what you are doing and where your career is going. These questions might never be answered. However the craftsman mindset offers clarity, and is based on the idea that the world doesn’t owe you anything – you need to work for it. In essence, the author is saying that it doesn’t matter if you don’t know if your job is the right fit, or if it truly makes you happy – instead you need to focus on refining and perfecting said job until you are so good they cannot ignore you. But how do you go about achieving this mindset? At 22 it’s easier said than done to disregard the selfish nagging voice questioning the career path your on and just “knuckle down and get good” at whatever it is you’re already doing. Particularly when all they told us at career guidance in high school was “do what you love!”. In order to master a skill and “be so good they can’t ignore you” arguably, you really have to care about what you’re working towards. Or else you won’t really be all that passionate about it, and you could possibly just never have the drive to overachieve in it.

The author then goes on so squash these ideas by saying that we will always be insecure initially, and the confidence and trust that we are on the right path comes later when we are that good at what we are doing, we no longer have doubt it was never our calling. I feel like I can relate to this so much with regards to the choices I’ve made in relation to photography and videography. How can I be better? How can I learn more? How can I improve? The author claims that adopting the craftsman mindset will be the foundation n which we will build compelling careers, so perhaps it is a mindset I can really embrace.

The Informal Media Economy – Ramon Lobato & Julian Thomas

I initially found this reading quite a depressing as it discussed the informality of employment within the media industry, subsequently resulting in underemployment, irregular and inconsistent wages, and undesirable working conditions. Lobato and Thomas discuss the informality and flexibility of new working cultures, and also the need for the creative individual to ‘keep up’ in a constantly changing field. The quote taken from the 1999 Leadbeater and Oakley report of every media ‘independent’ thinking they will come up with the next “Hotmail or Netscape” hit close to home.

It’s funny because a lot of what Lobato and Thomas discuss in relation to paid media workers is relatable as a student working for free in the name of ‘interning’ or ‘work experience’. The idea of the ‘late nights’ in a sort of ‘sweatshop’. The 85 hour work week for the employee at EA was upsetting to read, but this was an example from 2004; is it still like this now? If you have a solid work ethic, are passionate about what you do, and take pride in your work, can you be easily taken advantage of? Then there is the other side of the coin where there is not enough work, and anxiety fills the empty space between each job. I don’t know which is worse to be honest.

The reading goes on to say that at least in the media industry, the creatives have the capability to be flexible and go with the flow. In other industries, workers do not have such a luxury and hence they have it worse off. I somewhat agree. I know that uni students our age constantly lament that “there are no jobs”. I suppose it depends what you’re looking for, and Lobato and Thomas explain how the “low-wage countries are brought in to do the heavy lifting under insecure and exploitative conditions” i.e. they do the jobs that we consider don’t pay enough. And technically we shouldn’t be angry about it because anyone can be considered a media worker, can’t they?

Abowd, G., Mynatt, E. and Rodden, T. (2002). The Human Experience. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 1(1), pp.48 – 57.

Collins, K. (2015). The future of smart: how our homes are set to call the shots. [online] WIRED UK. Available at: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-future-of-smart [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

As the human race constantly strives for a continuous improvement and sustainment of our quality of life, we progress towards a need for smart cities. In this article, Katie Collins describes a future of smart cities where humans live in homes that are abundant in ambient intelligence that is seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives. The result? Intelligent technology capable of making decisions for us in order to assist and improve our lifestyle.

Collins discusses the foundations of a smart home, which starts with a minimum of three devices which are capable of communicating to each other. Many already have the first: a smartphone. From here, consumers can utilize connections of this smartphone to their television, laptop, bluetooth speaker etc. Currently, we have the choice on whether we chose to connect these different products; however, in the near future we may not have a choice as to whether these appliances are automatically connected. Ubiquitous technology could eventually be effortlessly integrated into our everyday lives that instead of controlling it, it could control us.

Collins discusses how humans have developed into quite a lazy species, and how being made so comfortable might mean we won’t push back against the instant connections made by our ambient intelligent technologies and hence we won’t over concern ourselves with what data is being collected about us. Collins claims that according to her sources, by the year 2022 we could potentially have software that can identify us by our heart beats and devices tuned into pattern recognition. Collins also describes how access to these new technologies will not be an issue – once where now technology was considered high-end, there will always be a $70 version.

Miller, M. (2015). The Internet of things : how smart TVs, smart cars, smart homes, and smart cities are changing the world. Indianapolis, Indiana: Que.

Poelman, R. and van Krevelen, D. (2010). A Survey of Augmented Reality Technologies, Applications and Limitations. The International Journal of Virtual Reality, [online] 9(2), pp.1-20. Available at: http://kjcomps.6te.net/upload/paper1%20.pdf [Accessed 29 Jul. 2016].

This journal article is quite a lengthy discussion on the developments of augmented reality technology, and how it can assist us by enhancing our hearing, touch, sight and smell. The authors investigate how computer-generated objects have the potential to co-exist with the real world, and how we have already somewhat embraced AR (augmented reality) through our smart phones (which is an example of hand-held AR). This article proves to be quite a dense discussion on the technicalities behind producing a digital augmented reality, but it does touch on the effects of AR on humans and how it can enrich a person’s lifestyle.

Firstly, the applications of augmented reality are unlimited.  The authors discuss AR as a potential contributor to the consumers personalised information system, whereby correspondence over e-mail or phone can be applied as a seamless overlay to our daily lives. Furthermore AR can assist touring and travel, where people are taken on virtual tours of places far away. Whilst some applications of AR may be frivolous, other serious applications can be utilised, including military training, medical purposes, education and collaboration.

The authors do touch on the negatives to AR, including the potential for the collection of data which can track us, assess our environment and so much more. Hence the progression of AR into an easily accessed technology opens the door to overload and over-reliance. Furthermore, the current technology requires helmets and gloves – the authors discuss how AG needs to be less obtrusive in everyday society and more socially acceptable to wear.

A World of Differences – CHRIS LEDERER AND MEGAN BROWNLOW

According to Lederer and Brownlow, entertainment and media companies were expected to struggle when keeping up with the economy, but are actually keeping up due to its diversity and sustainable growth. Revenue across entertainment and media companies is slowly shifting from publishing businesses to video and Internet businesses. The five dimensions of the global E&M landscape are demography, competition, consumption, geography, and business models, and these are the dimensions in which the biggest shifts are occurring. According to their research, younger people consume more media than older people, and are more open to adopting digital behaviors and hence are more inclined towards digital spending.

The reading went on to talk about content, and how it is still of paramount importance in the E&M landscape. Content can apply to a large scale audience, or a more specialized local audience. Netflix can provide for all different audiences, whereas television tailors certain channels to appeal to different tastes. Talent shows, dating shows, and cooking shows all have a universal appeal, but because of their local characteristics, they largely succeed in domestic markets. We are able to pick and chose which media we consume, and this is why Netflix is so popular. You can pick what, when, and where to watch their content. There is no need to download, simply stream. The prediction is that as Netflix continues to grow, it will provide different services tailored to different needs at an array of different prices and costs to suit everyones digital diet.

The part of this reading that really stood out the most to me was Tom Goodwin’s quote from 2015 that pointed out that Uber doesn’t own cars, Facebook doesn’t create content and Air BnB doesn’t own real-estate. These companies are simply digital platforms thriving because they provide a low cost service which develop and  grow according to demand.

We are currently in a digital revolution, but as chapter 2 outlines, our engagement and interaction has the potential to create undesired outcomes. When reading about the fourth industrial revolution in regards to biological factors, films like Gattaca (1997) and The Island (2005) from nearly two decades ago come to mind. The depressing commentary on humans taking digital revolutions too far has always been dissected in film, with the human race painted as self-centred and selfishL our interests always being the top of the agenda.

The reading discusses that we need to be aware of these technological transitions in relation to our narrative and the global society. Whilst certain advances have the potential to be great, they can definitely go the other way. An example discussed was the ‘human cloud’ and how workers could be able to take their work home and by connecting to the cloud, could work anywhere and anytime. This means that companies could source skills which they don’t presently have in person with their works, but can find in someone connected to the cloud. Two cons related to this could be that work is unregulated and job satisfaction could decrease. But I believe the choice is ours and it is up to us how we navigate these revolutions. We need to all have a conscious or else society could become more isolating and uncooperative, despite unity and collaboration being the initial intention of these new technologies.

This week I have started on making the fake accounts for our micro-nation within our transmedia story, ‘Connor’. And let me tell you, its not all it’s cracked up to be. After making a couple of accounts it’s actually really annoying because Hotmail and Facebook both start getting suspicious and lock you out of doing any more accounts. Secondly, its hard thinking like a 17 year old (I know it was only 4 years ago, but a lot has changed). I can’t even remember what my priorities were as a teenager in school, but I think the general consensus for 17-18 year olds is that parties, alcohol, and boys/girls are paramount. At least that is the case for the ‘cool’ kids we are creating who bully Connor. I guess the group Instafame )who are doing a story about a girl called Emily who constantly updates her tumblr) are going through similar challenges as they too have to think like a young teenage girl.

I have made Connor Flanagan’s Facebook, but am struggling to fill it with information. I guess thats mostly due to the fact that Mia is writing his blogs and Tiana is filling his diary, so both of them have a better and deeper knowledge Connors psyche. I’ll have to pass along Connor’s Facbeook details so that they can both add the extra parts into his Facebook page that I’m clearly missing.

This week in class, we worked on our transmedia assignment, as well as worked through quite a difficult reading. The reading was by Renira Gambarato and was actually quite a hard one to get through. Honestly, it sort of lost me at the bit with the algebra…

…but after picking it up again, there are a couple of things I can take from it. The main of which is that “a transmedia story could be seen as a super system composed of nested systems”.

• The super system is the transmedia storytelling: the interaction and participation of the audience and on what platform.
• The system is the story: plot character, genre, location etc.
• And the sub-system is the character: hero’s journey, character arc, demographic.

Also, the unfolding of content is what is important. If certain elements don’t add to the story then they are not necessarily important. The story needs to bring together people who share common interests and goals. They need to want to interact with the story. The relationship between the audience and the story falls under two categories, the first of which is interactivity (where audiences view the story but aren’t able to change it) and participation (where the audience engages and have an impact on the story). An example in the reading was Sofia’s Diary which is a multiplatform production by BeActive. What it is, is Sofia asking for advice from the audience about how to survive high school. Through the use of online blogs, twitter, texts, magazines etc, the content of Sofia’s Diary was able to be effected by what the audience gave back (i.e. a ‘participation’ relationship between the audience and the story). Gambarato goes on to explain that because members of the audience may have impacted the direction in which the production went, they felt that they owned a certain part of the story and hence had a greater respect, involvement and appreciation of the story.

Something else which I took from the reading was that Gambarato states that a transmedia story needs to have at least 5 main areas in order to be engaging. I do believe our story has that many areas and so will hopefully be somewhat engaging.

We have divided the jobs for our Connor project into what suits our best strengths.

Diary – the diary will be maintained by Tiana is she enters in writings, pictures, and maybe other physical things to help construct an idea of Connor and what he is really like under the surface. We will be taking inspiration from Elliot Rodger’s manifesto titled ‘My Twisted World’.

Photo album – I have been put in charged of organising how and when we will be taking the photos for the party at which Connor executes his murders. I have been thinking about the best way to handle this artefact, as staging a party could be quite cheesy. Perhaps we will hijack an upcoming 21st? I’ll keep brainstorming ideas.

Webisodes – we have decided to scrap the webisodes as we have decided that the vlogs will be enough media material.

Vlogs – this will be Tom’s opportunity to act as Connor and perform the character for audiences to watch. These vlogs need to start being made as we need to start uploading them, as YouTube doesn’t allow backdating of videos and progressive timing for the narrative is very important. Mia is writing out prompts for the vlog for Tom to work off and build on with his own interpretation.

News article – In order for us not to have to re-enact the murders or stage them in any way, the gruesome details will be covered by a newspaper article. James will be organising how the article will be distributed and what it will say.

So far progress appears to be moving along quite nicely. We have developed somewhat of a character map around Connor which will act as a magna carta for all of our artefacts. It is important that we are working off the same character building blocks, or else our artefacts will appear to be extremely segregated and there will be a loss in flow.

The biggest thing I’m struggling with in making Connors profile is trying to make him original. It seems like we have a tendency to associate certain things with a murdering character (“oh, he’s into World of War Craft and porn – definitely an antisocial, introverted, weirdo”). I want us to make an original character, but its also hard, because we aren’t killers ourselves, and we don’t really have the same experiences that our character is going through hence this goes against one of the statements made in Stanton’s TED talk earlier this semester: “write about what you know”. We’re trying to make this character believable, but I’m concerned that we might over do it with the cliches. Here’s hoping we don’t!