The arrangement of yesterday’s ‘Q&A-style’ symposium was unique to any lecture I’d experienced before. It almost felt like I was a part of a studio audience on some sort of talk show –call it ‘Media Talks,’ heat up the debate a little and insert some dramatic sound effects. Jokes aside, it was interesting to hear the variation in tutor’s answers to the questions raised.
Related to the week’s previous readings on copyright, the first question discussed the fine line between critique and defamation. A key concept I took away was the fact that your ‘intention is no defence.’ I thought I’d write a little story to explain this further…
Bob is your everyday top bloke. Builder by day, blogger by night. He writes a blog post on his view of how male tennis players should be paid more than female tennis players. He critically outlines his reasoning, such as how males play longer games, attract bigger audiences, and so on. Bob uses the tennis player Sally as an example to add some depth and substance to his argument. Bob has no intention of offending Sally, and tries to be as gentle as possible in addressing the sensitive subject. However, Sally happens to come across Bob’s post and she is immediately shocked and offended. She claims that Bob is being a sexist pig towards her, and thus her people take action against him. Despite Bob’s protests that he didn’t mean anything by it, he is sentenced to prison.
Okay, so that ending was a bit dramatic. I’m unsure of what the specific consequences of that scenario would be but whatever the case, the outcome wouldn’t be a good one for poor ol’ Bob. A hefty fine is more probable than a jail sentence, but for the purpose of the story, let’s just roll with it.
My question is, what if Sally made these claims, but she was clearly out of line? What if Bob said something so innocent and the only one who interpreted it as being sexist was Sally? Does a formal judge decipher if something is truly sexist, or is that only Sally’s call to make? It seems almost ridiculous that merely one interpretation can be the determining factor. There are some pretty oversensitive people out there, and how is it fair on Bob if Sally is one of them?
I might have to do some more research or raise these ideas in class. #fightforbob!
So currently I’m sitting on a bus en route to uni this morning. Instead of falling asleep like I usually would, I’m doing my best to stay awake so I can squeeze in a blog post. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is!
Looking around me, I would say that about 80% of my fellow bus riders are looking down at an electronic screen in front of them. This got me thinking about how our phones, tablets and laptops are influencing our social nature in public situations.
Many people passionately argue that these devices are making us anti-social and isolated as they cause us to miss out on life and reality around us. They might have a point, as yes, no one on this bus is having a conversation with the passenger that sits next to them, and yes, the vast majority are somewhat oblivious to their surroundings. I too sit here with my eyes fixated on a screen, ignoring the fellow that sits beside me. But honestly, before these devices came to exist, was it really so different?
There are many more logical ways of explaining this ‘lack of social interaction’ instead of just jumping to the conclusion that technology is swallowing our souls. For example, before we carried phones or tablets on public transport, it was a book or a newspaper that grasped our attention. It is by no means a new notion that we wish find more productive and engaging things to do whilst on the commute. Furthermore, one of the very first lessons we are taught as kids is ‘do not talk to strangers’. We didn’t do it in the past, and we’re not about to start now. Thus, I do not think that new technologies are the blame.
Whilst travelling, these devices enable us to be a lot more fruitful with our time and lives. Instead of awkwardly talking to the stranger next to you, you can engage in a meaningful conversation with actual friends and family via Facebook. Instead of aimlessly watching the cars go by, you could catch up on your emails and take care of last minute work. In my case, instead of passing out and going to sleep on this cold and early morning, I can write a blog post!
Something for any technophobes out there to think about.
Last semester in ‘Editing Media Texts,’ a particular assignment presented us with a remarkable challenge. The task was to create a ‘audio visual self portrait’ which was somehow representative of who we are. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. The specific requirements and criteria we had to meet made the project deceptively challenging. For one, the piece had to contain content sourced entirely from the public domain, either non-copyrighted, or published with a Creative Commons license (due to last week’s readings on copyright, I thought this would be an appropriate time to post this!). To make matters worse, the piece had to strictly contain seven still images, two video images, no more than 50 words of on-screen text and four sound files – trimmed, treated and mixed. No more, no less. We were also encouraged to make the video close to two minutes as possible, although it could not exceed this limit. With slight apprehension, I accepted the challenge (yes, I realise I had to do it to pass, but that doesn’t sound as courageous), and after what would cumulatively add up to be days straight of work, this was what I was able to come up with!
Laura Doguet Audio Visual Self Portrait from Laura Doguet on Vimeo.
Just in case it didn’t translate, I will briefly explain what my intentions were with this piece – although like anything else, it is of course open to interpretation. The video is basically representative of my development and growth into the person I have become – from the shy, self-conscious youngin’ I used to be, to the confident and positive person I am today. I attempted to achieve this with particular focus on colour and pacing. By beginning my piece entirely in black and white with quite slow, dramatic clips, I aimed to denote my previous personal state. As the music builds and heightens, I made the visuals intensify simultaneously, with bursts of colour beginning to appear. The colours appear more vividly and frequently as the film progresses, representational of progressive personal transformation. As the song finally reaches its climax and ‘drops’ to the upbeat and joyful track, I aimed to create ‘explosions’ of colour to symbolise the bubbly and colourful person that I am today. Overall I was happy with what I was able to achieve, and ironically I feel like my editing skills definitely ‘grew and developed’ as well.
To see a full list of attributions and sources for the material included in my piece, see the full video and description by clicking here! Peace.
The frightful world of copyright is something we must be aware of as online publishers. Adhering to the rules of copyright is not only Internet etiquette, but can also save you from a nasty court case. Just on that note, I’d like to make an official disclaimer in saying that if I happen to post any copyright material (and if I do so, I didn’t know, I swear!), please don’t hesitate to let me know and I will happily take it down. Last thing I need right now is to be sued… So please, let’s just be friends and forget it ever happened!
Back on track. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a system where content creators could give consumers them permission in advance to share and re-use their work? Thankfully, there is! It’s known as Creative Commons, and this in fact was the subject of our weekly readings. Basically, Creative Commons is an online licencing system in which the creator offers their permission for their work to be used by others, in accordance with certain standardised guidelines that they themselves determine. The elements of Creative Commons are as follows:
- Attribution: The user must acknowledge the content creator.
- Non-commercial: The user can not make any financial gain by using the creators work.
- No derivatives: This means that the creator has not given permission for the user to alter their work.
- Share-alike: New creations that use the material must use the same licensing terms.
Creative commons licenses always attain the Attribution condition, but it is the creator’s choice to pick and choose which of the other elements apply to their work. Therefore, the less elements chosen, the more freedom the user has; the more elements chosen, the less freedom the user has. I think Creative Commons is a great system, especially for media students like myself, as it allows content to be shared and used in a legal and friendly way. You go, Creative Commons!
A couple of weeks ago, I headed up to Mt. Buller with some of my best friends from high school. Despite multiple tumbles and average weather, it was a great trip. Here’s a photo I posted on Instagram:
Feel free (in fact I’d encourage you) to follow me on Instagram here!
I’m feeling proactive tonight – fresh out of the lecture theatre and straight into blogging! Adrian Miles continues to surprise us with his unique approach to networked media, and today’s symposium was no exception. Adrian delved into ideas of materiality and storytelling – how they interrelate and what they mean for networked media. He encouraged us to question our familiarity of common objects by analysing their purpose and function.
Through the use of long-winded analogies and naïve questions, we established the fact that materiality matters, and the way through which a story may be told is subject to its physical form. For example, a paper-back book always has a beginning, middle and end, not only for completeness sake, but also due to the limitations of the material it’s composed of.
In today’s generation, the means of storytelling has drastically changed as a result of material evolution. A 300page book generally only contains one story, yet a slim, portable iPad can contain thousands. The Internet then takes this notion to a whole new level, leading us to wonder if a traditional narrative can ever exist in this form. I would argue, however, that independent stories with a beginning, middle and end, can absolutely exist within the world wide web. It is true though, that due to the internets ‘unlimited’ capacity, networked media has great strength as a medium and thus stands out among many traditional forms.
I apologise in advance for the amount of times the word ‘blog’ and all its derivatives will be used in this post, but unfortunately it is somewhat inevitable when blogging about blogging! This week’s reading by RMIT’s own Adrian Miles, ‘Blogs in Media Education,’ definitely made me analyse the use of blogs from a new and enlightened perspective. Ironically appropriate to the subject ahead of us, Adrian outlines all the good that can come of actively upkeeping our own professional-style blogs. As media students, it is imperative that we are up-to-date with ALL elements of the media scene to prepare us for the constantly changing and evolving industry that we are throwing ourselves into. Thus, creating an online presence through blogging seems the obvious first step to this involvement.
Some of the ideas raised in this excerpt had never occurred to me before, but certainly made a lot of sense. Blogging, unlike keeping a private journal, is a essentially a form of publishing. In writing a blog, we post reflections with the assumption (and hope) that they will in fact be read by the public. This interactive nature of blogging has the power to create blogger-reader relationships and to secure a position for bloggers in the reputable online community. This can prove beneficial as valuable contacts can be made and potentially raises the possibility of career opportunities.
Bloggers not only write to reflect for themselves, but also to inform readers of the broader context of their thoughts and ideas. Entries must be clear and succinct, whilst still having that balance of personality and proffesionalism. Due to this new and somewhat foreign style of writing, successful blogging, like any other form of literature, can only be achieved with practice. I feel as though great blogging, similar to many other life skills, very much depends on the time and effort you put into it.
Starting a new semester is a bit like starting the year all over again. New subjects, new classes and new teachers… Maybe for some a new haircut, or even some brand new Nike Airs. On an semi-related side note, I’ve come to realise I have a problematic shortage of winter clothes as I’m currently in savings mode and resisting the temptation of retail therapy. If any of my fellow class mates are reading this, please don’t judge me if I continuously outfit repeat!
Okay, back on topic. The initial nerves I felt about starting fresh wore off quickly however as a cohort of familiar faces filled the classroom. Our tutor, Betty Sargeant, introduced the subject Networked Media and all of the work and major assignments that stand ahead of us. Needless to say, it’s definitely going to be a busy upcoming thirteen weeks!
I am looking forward to the challenges that our four major assignments – our blogs, participation assignment, a HTML task and a critical essay – may present. The HTML task (in which we are required to produce two basic HTML pages) is slightly intimidating as it is pass or fail only, and if we fail, we fail the entire subject. Funnily enough I used to be quite the expert in the area back when Myspace was cool, using HTML to make a mean layout to impress all my year seven pals… However, as we are all very aware, Myspace days have been and gone and with it went my knowledge of anything HTML-related. Shame, really. Anyway, my point is that I’m looking forward to rejuvinating my old skills, and hopefully it gets me the pass. Hit me with your best shot, Networked Media!
After a long, relaxed and let’s face it, extraordinarily lazy six weeks of holidays, semester two of uni was into full swing as soon as we entered the lecture theatre on day one. The subject Networked Media began with an interesting yet slightly overwhelming (not going to lie..) lecture, essentially about where our media degrees are going to take us and how. Adrian Miles drew particular attention to the ideas of scarcity in the industry, with some of his main points summarised as follows…
– The scarcity of industrial media (print, TV, radio) – eg. minimal broadcast channels which only allow for one program to be screened/aired at any one time.
– The PREVIOUS scarcity of equipment, which now exists abundantly (access to equipment used to be a major reason for studying media at university in the past).
Immediately I felt somewhat alarmed, and very surprised, at this peculiar way of introducing a subject. His points however were eventually justified in the way that the study of media at RMIT has been adapted to account for such scarcity (phew!). Instead of focusing on knowing ‘what,’ our course intends to highlight ‘knowing how.’
If we were given say a detailed guide on how to operate one brand of camera, or how to use one particular editing program, this learned information would soon enough be useless. New technologies are continuously emerging, so instead of merely learning instructions (the WHAT), we need to have the capabilities to mould our knowledge and skill base to keep up with change (the HOW). For this reason, this degree is very much self-driven – there is no ‘formula’ to success in this industry, and our lecturers cannot give us the ‘answers’ to be able to walk into a job. It is very much about experience, application and adaptation. Bit of a reality check to say the least, yet motivating all the same.
Hello and welcome to my blog! As you can probably gather, my name is Laura Doguet – pronounce it however you please! I am 18 years old and am currently a first year Media student at Melbourne’s RMIT University. I like to think of myself as a very positive and hardworking person, with big dreams and aspirations for my future. A passion for media and content development struck me in my late years of high school and thus I spent Year 12 striving towards acceptance into this degree.
I have thought about starting a blog many a time but have found difficulty in deciding where and how to begin. What I should call it, what to specifically blog about, who would be my niche audience… The list goes on. All these unanswered questions delayed me from actually getting started in doing something I wanted to do.
After semester one of uni was done and dusted, semester two commenced and as did a new stream of subjects . Within the first couple of days, a particular subject titled ‘Networked Media’ constantly stressed the value and importance of blogging. In fact, it is actually one of our assignments to upkeep a professional-style blog. This was exactly the push I needed to get my head into the blogger mindset.
So this leads me to here and now – my very first, official post! As I continue, I intend to find my online voice, develop my skills in website building and, overall, enhance my confidence in my own abilities. I hope to be able to make it fun and engaging, for both myself and any readers out there, whilst still adhering to the requirements of the subject. Let the blogging begin!
