Monthly Archives: August 2014

Twitter Trolls Need to be Axed

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The introduction of social media has undeniably changed our lives for good. It has enabled fast and easy contact with friends and family and has provided a new platform for meeting new people. Social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram now enable online communication like never before through tags and hyperlinks of which now interlink with one another through one endless networked system. This system however is being stained with insults, offensive language and inflammatory messages all with the deliberate intent to provoke a negative, emotional response in a specific individual and subsequent readers. With this now being such a prominent issue in online communities, especially Twitter, these users have been termed ‘Trolls’ and now even defined on some online dictionaries.

It thoroughly disappoints me to see, that even in the wake of Robin Williams death earlier this week, grieving daughter Zelda Williams has been forced to leave social media as result of being directed links of pictures of what were claimed to be her father’s body while others blamed her for her father’s death.

Linking back to what has been discussed in our previous two symposiums about online language use and defamatory behaviour, it still shocks me to see just how many people fail to comprehend even the simplest online etiquette. Yet what makes me shudder in pure anger is the cowardly behaviour of these ‘trolls’ as I have no doubt that these people would express themselves in such a insensitive manner in the real world, outside of their online facade and away from their rectangular glass shield.

Click Here for the full article on Zelda William’s departure from social media

Learning HTML – The Bare Necessities

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Yes, it happened!

Earlier this week I learnt HTML code!

Never considering myself some wiz bang computer tech, learning HTML is something I thought I’d never find myself doing. Being introduced to programs such as Fetch and Text Wrangler, we were taught the basics of how to use and understand HTML code through the creation of two simple websites. Despite initially feeling quite overwhelmed, throughout the duration of the class everything slowly began to make perfect sense and instead of just seeing a jumble letters and symbols, not too dissimilar looking from this…<><h1doc”head”<>!html>>><..centre.”title”>, I began to actually see a systematic organisation of abbreviations and symbolistic formulas that clarified themselves into neat and meaningful codes like this <!doctypehtml> and this <p><center><img src=”pomegranates.jpg”></center></p>

In learning these formats, what each code then creates on a website and how each of the codes communicate with one another I feel almost embarrassed that I came into class feeling so nervous and overwhelmed. Yes, it is in many respects learning another language (something that I failed miserably at in year 9..), but it is also simply about making the connections between two different sorts of visual information. The code i.e. the “Here’s what I look like under the surface” and the product i.e the “Here’s what I look like pretty and polished”

Knowing HTML code is now becoming a vital skill in the study and practice of media and communications. In being able to use HTML code you are enabling yourself to not just use the internet but understand it.

 

 

Validity, Credibility, Ability and a Little on Elliot’s Hair

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Today we started off the lecture talking about Elliot’s trip to the hairdresser…a seemingly mundane, personal hygiene and appearance maintenance task, but no! He managed to very relevantly bring it back to the issue of how can you trust the validity of the internet? The answer simply is, that most of the time you can’t. Unless you know how to navigate through the copious amounts of pages and posts to find which ones have academic or a reputable authority, a number of links to other sources and, how many people have actually referred to this issue. That is, like what Jason mentioned, until you see how many people have written or posted about it and on what platform. For me, this issue was very relevant as only this morning had I seen the articles on Robin William’s death, and just like Jason, I too initially regarded it as a hoax. Too retrieve the truth on the matter however, I waited for about half an hour before making a post to two of my personal social media sites – Facebook and this blog. And in that time, I searched 3-4 websites and skimmed through my Instagram page and Facebook newsfeed to validate his death.

Before finishing this week’s discussion, we touched on the differences between print and network literacy, and in the eyes of some, our current inability to comprehend the technicalities that are imbedded within network literacy despite our generational reputation. We compared and contrasted the understandings that people hold of print literacy yet does not exist within the form of network literacy. Do we need to understand how toner in a printer works to fully understand print literacy? Is this the same as understanding how a website is developed in order to become network literate?

The Prehistoric Age of the Internet

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All through school we learn about the history of our country, of international and global wars, of cars and the telephone, but I have never, not once learnt about the history of our beloved internet. Now in reading these chapters, it seems so strange to read about the theoretical work behind the internet that is available to us today at nothing more than a touch of a finger, a swipe of a hand or a voice controlled command.

Then I came across Xanalogical storage. straight away i thought,what the hell is that! It sounds like some sort of out of space secret, underground stowing system rather than a term that simply describes hyperlinks and network media. And then, with the mention of floppy discs, I understand that only 20 years ago, even the idea of developing an online system that like of today, did seem like something out of this world. Throughout this reading, Nelson describes perfectly the interlinked system that hyperlinks have enabled. Everyday we use hyperlinks to search whatever we please on the web, navigating from an article to a photo, to a video, to a podcast. Being apart of a generation that has witnessed the revolution of the internet, all the new programs, systems and devices just seemed to happen. I have never stood back and considered that this isn’t the way it has always been, nor did I appreciate that hyperlinks, weren’t just a port to get to a new online location but more importantly are a vital tool in enabling a trail of ideas and concepts, giving people the ability to understand one persons idea through the interrelated links of someone else’s.

Hyperlinks are what allow the storage of ideas and the ability to explore that idea in your own way. Its about having a choice, being an interactive user and having a greater, more diverse access to ideas. I now understand that hyperlinks are exactly what enable the internet to hold a simplistic complexity.

Source : www.google.com

Source : www.google.com

Love, Desire and Riches

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From intricate lace and soft satin to Swarovski crystal and layered tulle, today I spent the morning wondering through the creaky halls of the Ripponlea Mansion admiring the fashions of wedding dresses through history as part of of their three month Love, Desire and Riches exhibition. Having never been to the Ripponlea Mansion before, simply walking through the front iron gates I was already in awe of the fact that I was not entering a park, nor was I entering an old victorian museum but was walking into a family home that was cherished by two separate families for almost 100 years.

Following a trail of pink and red confetti dangling from the high ceilings of the two story brick mansion, I moved between era’s, designers, celebrities, films, trends and traditions with each room showcasing dresses from as early as the 1800’s right through to the modern day. It was fascinating to be able to view the finest detailing in each of the different dresses and to be able to appreciate the way in which wedding fashion has evolved through time. Looking at the dresses worn throughout the 1800’s, each custom made with their own corsets, bustle backs and wire hoops, it amazed me how the women were even able to move let alone enjoy the many other customs of a wedding day such as dancing, drinking and eating multiple servings of cake…Unlike the styles seen today such as the strapless Tony Maticevski dress worn by Jennifer Hawkins in 2013 or the plunging Swarovski Crystal Collette Dinnigan gown, the showing of bare skin anytime before the 1950’s was almost completely non existent. Instead, the dresses exhibited long trains and veils, lace overlays, tightly pulled ruching and extensive detailing of embroidery, beading and hand stitching.

After over an hour of admiring the breath taking designs of wedding fashion (many dresses quite literally cinching the waist enough to do so), it became clear to me that irrespective of the woman, the era or the design, wedding fashion has never simply been about  ‘the white dress’.  Wedding fashion is, and always has been about expressing a bride through the art of textiles.

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To book tickets, click Here!

Go go gadget Zzzzzz

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Listening to the radio news this morning whilst on my way to my favourite local cafe for a quality caffeine hit and satisfying feed of smashed avocado, I heard something that freaked me out a little. A recent study, by communications regulator Ofcom, has found that on average  ‘British adult now spends more time using media or communications (eight hours, 41 minutes a day) than they do sleeping (eight hours, 21 minutes)! Hearing this I thought to myself, ‘omg, how can people be so obsessed with their phones, laptops and tablets that they’re on them more than they sleep?’ However, in actually thinking and writing about this, is what scares me even more is the fact that on some nights of the week, this is even true for me! I use my phone to text and call family and friends, as an alarm, to use instagram and Facebook, as a stopwatch and music player at the gym, my laptop for uni assignments and note taking, to watch movies and tv episodes and the family iPad for quick and easy access to search the web for things like train timetables and local events and festivals. So, really once its put into prospective, using these media gadgets slightly more than or equal to one’s times spent sleeping is really just living life.

Click Here for the full article including more recent statistics about technology in today’s society

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

 

Copy me, copy you, copy that, copy who?

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Yesterday was our our first symposium that was run on the basis of questions developed and asked by students and then in turn, answered by our tutors. Focusing on one of the greyest areas of internet use; the wrongs, rights and maybes of copyright dominated our discussion.

Beginning with question, ‘How much freedom do we have when discussing someone or someone else’s work?’, Adrian talked about the technicalities of defamation, the way in which it is dealt with as a crime and the ways in which to avoid it. Throughout this segment of the discussion, I found the most valuable and insightful advice Adrian had to give was to simply know the difference between critique and opinion. Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, yet it’s pretty common etiquette to refrain from shouting it out at the local shops. So why should anyone have to read it on the internet? With the way that links and tags are ruling the online word, shouting your self proclaimed opinion in an ear width of strangers is now no different to posting it on your personal blog or Facebook newsfeed.

Following on from defamation, Adrian gave us some much needed insight into the do’s and don’ts of copyright law. Now this was confusing stuff! It really made me question how anyone produces anything textured or interesting on the internet and how blogs in particular have become so well established when what made them so popular in the first place was in fact their ability to share, comment and extend on presented ideas and visual content between one another.

In class today however, Jason Tseng made things a little bit simpler by comparing it to jay walking. Everyone does it even though its technically an illegal offence. However, most people have the common sense not to jay walk across the Monash freeway, across the Westgate bridge, or even through a four way intersection. That, to put it nicely, is just stupid. Similarly, although everyone may post a photo or two off google that they don’t credit, or link a home video of the family cat off vimeo without the producers permission, however most people will not try and claim the footage of the latest Batman film as their own.

Its a confusing world in here guys. Just remember, as yo mamma always said ‘its always better to be safe then sorry’

Overheard…

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Sitting on the tram this afternoon I overheard a woman on the phone behind talking to a friend. Not at all meaning to listen in on their conversation, however there was one thing that she said that sparked my attention.

“She’s not a very social person, she doesn’t even use Facebook”

This got me thinking about what it now means to be social. With social media sites now such a integral part of our everyday lives, what does that mean for those who aren’t on board? If someone doesn’t have an account with at least one of the social networking giants such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, does that immediately make them antisocial? Or does this just make them ‘indie’?

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