It is always the things that hide in plain view that conceal themselves the best; and it’s embarrassing recognising this after being blind for so long.
Today’s class raised t
he idea of media not being a ‘thing’, but rather a space in which we all reside. The idea itself seemed a bit ambitious at first – but with demonstration came clarity.
The second half of the class was the source of complete awakening – realising how enraptured we are with media, and how it permeates the most subtle instances of our everyday lives came as a colossal shock. I never realised how often I went to check the time, and went to pull out my phone.
I was walking around Melbourne Central, observing and finally noticing the different forms of media. It was quite overwhelming. The sheer number of screens, posters and sounds was enough to make the already bustling central seem crowded.
This exercise not only opened my eyes to the loud subtlety of media in our everyday lives but also to the array of different types of media around us.
I was astonished at how easily I was able to infer meaning from the different forms of media after truly noticing them. So many different forms of media carry so many different messages, and so many of these messages we don’t consciously notice.
This weeks reading and lectorial helped open my eyes to the media world around me and helped me realise that media isn’t something tangible – but it is the world we live in.
This weeks reading also helped me realise how I actually learn, I think that I learn best through experience, I find it very hard to sit and read sheets and sheets of paper and then talk about it – it just doesn’t work for me.