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In week 4 we took a look at the relationship between new media, social media and Instagram.

Using the analogy of a plant in a jar (thanks Elaine 🙂 ), new media was described as the jar, whilst social media is the roots of the plant and Instagram is the leaves. So this maps out how they are all connected and who is dependant on what. For example social media can only expand to stay within the jar and Instagram is a product of the jar and roots and depends on the development of the other factors to grow itself.

New media we defined as sometimes digital, sometimes online but always evolving. Which i mean i think is pretty accurate, anything in the digital world is constantly evolving, you could blink and we could be in the next generation of technology. Just thinking about how much technology and the internet has changed from when i was a kid or even from within the last 5-10 years is crazy. We have had such an amazing advancement and are living in the future for sure. Its crazy to think how quickly its all changing and changing constantly.

Then we looked at defining social media, which surprisingly can be a difficult task depending on what you personally define as a social application. Personally i think anything where you are sharing content to another human being or community could be social media. Like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogging. You are posting it to a community and i think it is social if you know someone is going to read it or comment on it. I also think it depends on how frequently you use it and that also determines how social it is or not.

But then again you take a look at different definition of social and they are all slightly different. Some sources define it as “needing companionship and therefore best suited to living in communities” (google definition) and other such as the Collins Dictionary say “Social means relating to leisure activities that involve meeting other people” so can we really say we are being social over the internet or through an application. Its all very interesting to consider. Do we get the same fulfilment from online social media applications as we do meeting and socialising face-to-face? You would think not, but are as an evolving species okay with that and prefer to socialise through the internet? or are we just becoming lazy? I dont know.

I think thats a good ending point, what is the concluding definition of social media? my answer is… i don’t know what i define as social media. It changes person to person and also changes depending on the context. Hopefully by the time i come to sit down and write our final assignment ill have my own definition of it that i can share.

In week 3 we looked at “Networks” as a whole.

There was discussion between what defines the web and what defines the internet. Most people when using both terms, use them interchangeable for the same description however i learnt that they are not quite the same. The ‘Internet’ is the infrastructure. It is what everything to do with the online world runs one. Including the Web. In the lecture there was a very good analogy that was used to illustrate this.

The internet is like train tracks and the signalling. Whilst the Web is merely like train that runs on the tracks. The Web is a huge platform that shared the internet ‘tracks’ with other applications such as software updates, peer to peer sharing etc.

We also discussed User Generated Content, Web 2.0 and ‘the long tail’.

In our culture and economy we are seeing an increasing shift away from big markets and rather more niche ones. High end production used in big markets is quite expensive and does not necessarily have a greater reach than niche markets. Blogs and YouTube videos are cost effective compared to newspaper and TVCs and can have more reach depending on the target audience. Most advertising is now on social media and it works. This got me thinking, how many ads to i see on TV vs online. Ever since Youtube, Netflix and other streaming services became so popular, i personally do not watch that much TV unless someone else is watching and its background noise. So from my experience i cannot recall any advertising unless it was on social media, like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

From these notes i guess we can agree that there has been a drastic change in the way we consume media and this will continue to change as Networks, The Web and the Internet keep developing and changing in the future.

In this week we took a look at Affordances, Perceived Affordance, Constraints and how to identify the difference.

A highlight of the seminar was when i was introduced to a video of an enthusiastic Donald Norman who i thought was doing a circus act with objects he found lying around his house. But no, to my disappointment he was just explaining Affordances in a way which entertained me and i would definitely pay to see him live.

I learnt an Affordance is a possibility how an object can be used. This may not be how you would typically use the object but nothing is stopping you from using it that way. Like in Norman’s Video, he demonstrated using a book as a hat for protection from the rain and weather. As well as the common affordance which is obviously reading the book. And that would be your Perceived Affordance, its intended use. In other words the way we were brought up using an object. Its a behavioural thing. Just like we saw in the ‘Affordance’ YouTube Video by Udacity in the lecture. Its prime example was kettle, they mention that even if you have never seen one, you would naturally grab the handle and this stood out to me and i almost had an extensional crisis about a freakin kettle! I have never thought about how trained we are to figure out how to use an object without even consciously thinking about it. We just do it in that split second before interacting with an object. Weird. Because yeah obviously we know that if you grabbed the kettle by the spout, it would burn you and would be hard to pour. So it makes sense to go for the handle. I don’t know why this baffled me but i definitely had a moment.

The final aspect was constraints, these are limitations to using an object whether it was for the intended use or a completely different use. There are four types of constraints and we discussed them in the tutorial.

Physical – Physical limitations constrain physical operations, Eg. You wouldn’t use a chair as a skateboard. 🙂

Cultural – from country to country – Japan doesn’t use water bottles as such, more of a drink-and-throw-out whereas in Australia we use plastic and glass bottles as reusable drink bottles and we reuse them and keep them for a while.

Semantic – meaning of language – “rely on the meaning of the situation to control a set of possible actions” Norman says “Semantic constraints rely upon our knowledge of the situation and of the world.” which help us determine these things.

Logical – A water bottle that is traditional larger wont fit in most a car cup holders. Glass drink bottles aren’t the most practical for taking out and about since it can smash and you can’t put glass bottle in the freezer as well as you can’t have hot liquids in some types of glass. So for these reasons thats why most people opt for plastic drink bottles.

Now i feel like an expert on Affordances, Perceived Affordances and Constraints and feel like i could be Donald Norman in that exceptional video. Donald Norman is my spirit animal for sure. 🙂

 

I chose Networked Media as a course for my final semester at RMIT, because it seems genuinely interesting and should be a great addition to my background in Advertising which is what i am currently studying and going to graduate at the end of this year.

I am fascinated with everything to do with media and technology. I love to learn how things work and fundamentals that aren’t commonly known so i can impress people with my knowledge. Since i am an Advertising student we more so focus on designing and executing the content we would put on social media and traditional media so i am interested to see the perspective on digital media from a Media Discipline point of view.

I feel like the skills i gain through this course will help me further down the track when i have to collaborate with media practitioners and other professionals with the media industry.

Finally, this blogging thing is something i have never down before, nor have i used this website to do it. So i have been slowly but surely navigating myself around the website and trying to make my blog look somewhat appealing. Surely ill be a pro at this by the end of the course and who knows maybe ill really get into blogging… Who am i kidding, i probably wont but we shall see. 🙂