Blog Posts
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Miles, A 2006, ‘Blogs In Media Education: a Beginning’, Australian Screen, vol.41, pp.66-69 [Accessed 29th March 2019]
In this article, Miles introduces and explores the possible uses of blogs in media education. Furthermore Miles discusses how blogs are different from other forms of publications such as print literacy and how blogging has become a more engaging way for students and individuals to learn and self-express. Miles gives the reader context in the beginning of his article by discussing his academic background at RMIT University. As well as this he also comments on how he has maintained an academic blog since 2000. Miles article is organised in an easy to understand way, with sub headings categorising the article into small sections creating a reader friendly approach to his main ideas. Some of the sub headings include “Why use a blog?” and “ What is a blog?”. In doing this Miles creates an easier way to read his comments as readers can easily identify what each section of the article is covering. Miles writing style is basic and fluent which makes it accessible for anyone to read. It is also written sophisticated enough where information on this subject can be taken in a way that is not overwhelming for readers.
In regards to the course prompt relating the affordances of Instagram to Miles article itself, this article provides a good insight into the benefits and downfalls of posting content online. An example of this that Miles comments on is how users need to take care posting online because of the publicness of blogging in general. He also mentions how users need to take more care in writing their posts as it has to be user friendly and easy to read. Although Miles is about blogging at its core in this article the points that he discuses can also be applied to Instagram and other social media networks. Miles talks about how blogging creates a sense of community for those who chose to blog. This was something that I reflected in my week 1 blog post on how I felt a part of a community on Instagram by posting photos and having like minded people like my photos or comment on my work. This is a great point that is relevant to the prompt because it highlights the benefits of joining a part of a network or community with people of similar interests. It creates this sense of contribution in the community where ideas and work is created better by others.
A drawback of this article in relevance to this study is the time it was created. This article was published in 2006 so it can be perceived that the article has an absence of what is occurring on social media platforms in 2019. This article was released 4 years before Instagram was created which can mean it lacks the awareness of how social media operates in the current time period. Miles also comments on how the internet is ‘decentralised’ which can be argued isn’t entirely true as these days internet is centralised or run by servers instead of peer to peer networks. Another limitation of this article is that blogging is essentially made up of literacy, where as Instagram is visual based with images and videos which Miles does not cover in his article.
Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A critical Introduction, Routledge, New York [Accessed 29th March 2019]
In this book Lister dissects a ‘comprehensive introduction’ to the culture, history, technologies and theories of new media. This book considers the way the ways in which ‘new media’ really are new, assesses the claims that a media and technological revolution has taken place and formulates new ways for media students to respond to new studies. Lister gives the reader context about this book from the start with an introduction to what the book is about and its key features, as well as giving the reader some information about the education of the authors. The book itself is fairly large and as a result has an easy to follow contents page which helps readers find what they are looking for in an easy way. As well as this each topic has their own heading with sub headings underneath such as with chapter 3 which focuses on ‘Networks, Users, and Economics’ and then is broken down into easy to follow sub headings. All these sub headings also follow a linear numerical system which helps with the flow of the book. Lister’s writing style can be described as academic which helps Lister to emphasise his points in a more thorough way.
In regards to the course prompt of the affordances of Instagram and the way that content is published and distributed through the network, Lister’s book is relevant is more towards the networking side of the prompt. Lister’s section in his book titled ‘User Generated Content: We are all fans now’ relates closely to the idea of networks in relation to the course prompt. Lister comments on how the new media technologies have “profoundly altered the relations between media producers and consumers’. In relation to Instagram this could be seen as them introducing things such as live streaming where Instagrammers with a large fan base can live stream to their fans. This is also directly related to his section titled “The Long Tail” which talks about the more economic side of new media. Lister comments “The incredible diversity of blog culture has of course generated its own ‘short head’ in the demand curve, in which a small number of blogs command a very large amount of attention and advertising revenue” which can be directly related to Instagram and their ad revenue or paid promotions through Instagrammers.
One drawback from this book is that because it is quite lengthy at times it feels as if there is an information overload. Although the book is organised in a linear way, paragraphs are quite long with some intense scholarly language which can deter readers from truly reading the actual content, which may lead to some miscommunication. As well as this the article was published in 2009 which was one year before Instagram was created. This means that the content in this book even though it is not talking about Instagram, rather social media as a whole, can lead to some misconceptions on what the social media environment was like back then compared to today’s standards.
Norman, D 1998, The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Book, New York [Accessed 29th March 2019]
In this book Norman discusses the design of objects such as doors and the troubled designs of everyday objects. The book has an introduction to Norman and his background in England whilst on a sabbatical when he first stumbled upon his frustrations of poorly designed things. The book also features a preface where Norman discusses his ambitions about his book and why he decided to write it. The book is fairly easy to follow with a table of contents clearly highlighting what Norman is going to discuss in detail. The book also has a suggested reading section where Norman highlights some other work that is also relevant to his. Normans writing style is very clean but to the point which helps readers to stay engaged with the content. As well as this Norman asks rhetorical questions throughout his book which also adds some character to his writing, which helps make his writing more captivating. Norman also references a lot of other sources in his work, including a reference page at the back.
In regards to the course prompt of the affordances of Instagram and the way that photos and videos are authored, published and distributed into the network, Normans book helps to understand more of the backbone of Instagram. An example of this is when Norman is discussing what affordances are. “ The term affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of how the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used”. This statement made by Norman can be related to the Instagram and what their perceived vs actual use of Instagram is. Instagram originally started as an app to post photos, but now it has become an app that is used more than just for photos. Normans section in his book titled ‘The Foibles of Computer Systems’ also related to the course prompt more in terms of how content is authored, published and distributed into the network. In my blog post I talked about how Apple creates software which essentially makes it easier for non-computer people to use new technology. And as a result more software and apps are created for users to consume. It also correlates to perceived vs actual use as consumers don’t just buy a phone to use it as a phone, they use it for social networking as well.
A limitation of this article would be the year that it was published. It was published in 1998 which was when the internet was blooming into the dot-com bubble. As a result the internet at that time was web 1.0 which pretty much does not exist today. As a result this book can be seen as not as relevant because the web today is drastically different. As well as this the book itself is not talking about social media which can create difficulties when applying Norman’s ideas and theories to the course prompt. Also another potential limitation is that Norman does not touch on software affordances, which can make it hard to relate his ideas to the course prompt.