Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

The legacy video chosen is Michal Jackson’s music video for his song ‘Thriller’. The well-known ‘King of Pop’ was actively a part of the music industry between the years 1964 and 2009.
Link to music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?

The music video of the song was released on December 2^nd 1983.

How was the photo or video published? How was the photo or video authored?

The video was built off a $500,000 budget. What can be referred to as a short film due to its lengthy running time of 14 minutes, was written and directed by both Jackson himself and John Landis- an American screenwriter. The video consisted of many hours developing and applying prosthetics to Jackson’s face to create the beast character he was wanting to create.

How was the photo or video distributed?

The successful music video made its debut on MTV; an American pay television channel known for being hosted by television personalities and airing music videos.

Jackson then went on to winning 4 MTV awards. 100 Greatest Music Videos of all Time (1999), Best Overall Performance in a Video(1984) , Best Choreography (1984) and Viewer’s Choice (1984).

Horsfield, Kate. Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art. Video Data Bank, School of Art Institute of Chicago, 2006, pp. 1–9, http://www.vdb.org/content/busting-tube-brief-history-video-art.

Week 5’s tutorial focused on the mindset behind the production and distribution of photographs. By commencing the class with a  short documentary on Henri Cartier-Bresson, the class had a chance to listen to and understand the behind the scenes of some of the earliest on street photographs. 

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

Diane Arbus, an American photographer. Arbus had been practicing between approximately 1946 and 1970. The photo I have chosen to analyse is titled, ‘Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C’. Example image: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2001.474/

With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)? How was the photo or video authored?

The abnormal photograph was taken in 1962 and became one of Arbus’ most recognised images to date. Arbus was well known for using a TRL Rolleiflex 6×6 camera.
This image, along with almost all others of Arbus’ images focused on the atypical humans of society. This particular photograph is a visual way for Arbus to express her thoughts and opinions of how the world at that time had been changing to a negative way of life.

How was the photo or video published?

The image was produced using gelatin silver print- which was also used by Henri Cartier-Bresson.  This technique was a popular way of developing photos and ensuring they would not deteriorate.

How was the photo or video distributed?

Today the photo is estimated to be worth $100,000-$150,000 USD.

Kuc, Kamila, and Joanna Zylinska, editors. Photomediations: A Reader. Open Humanities Press, 2016, http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/ titles/photomediations/ (pp.7-16 Photomediations: An Introduction by Joanna Zylinkska – download direct from the website)

https://www.artsy.net/artist/diane-arbus

This week’s topic was social media and all the ways in which it effects our lives. 10 years ago I had no form of an online identity. I had no knowledge of the online world and never would’ve thought such a thing was possible. Fast forwarding to now, I have an online identity; I have Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, a google account, the whole lot. I don’t necessarily post or share things on those accounts, but I use the sites every single day.

Who would’ve known that 10 years later my main form of entertainment would be looking at a tiny screen all day long instead of being outside just like I use to when I was younger.

Having complete control over your social media account is something that everyone feels as though they have. We decide what photos we post, who we follow and what posts we like or comment on. However, we don’t decide what photos appear first on our feeds and/or for how long that one dumb DIY slime video will haunt us forever.

By understanding that all of this new media is constantly evolving, we are granted the power to use it to our advantage. Instead of sitting and just using apps like Instagram as purely entertainment, we are able to change our perspective and use Instagram in completely different ways. We have the power to use Instagram as a sustainable income. Posting photos, receiving likes and gaining followers can eventually add up to being paid as an influencer. Maybe instead of being an influencer you could be very political and start to share and inform people on things that may be happening around them. You could dedicate your entire Instagram page to what ever you wanted and team up with those who agree with your opinions or organisations.

So depending on your interests, your opinions and your motivation you are granted the power to do whatever you wish with your online accounts and share them around the world.

For now I’ll just stick to my day-to-day scrolling.

REFERENCES:   

Siapera, Eugene. Understanding New Media. SAGE Publications, London 2013.(pp.1-16 )

WEEK 1: BLOGGING (Word count: 220)

Miles, Adrian. “Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning.” Australian Screen Ed 41 (2006): 66–9. Print.

Adrian Miles’ article “Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning” is an insight into how the use of blogging can easily become very beneficial to the education of young children and adults. Miles begins his article by describing his past with the use of blogging, stating that he has “maintained an academic blog since [the year] 2000” (Miles, 2006. p 66). By describing his own experiences in the past with blogging, Miles has allowed himself the chance to demonstrate his knowledge of how exactly blogs are in fact, beneficial in education.
Miles briefly explains that blogs are able to be used to promote reflective and processed learning, encourage collaboration work, record achievements and further push for the creation of new ideas. By maintaining a blog online, the student has the opportunity to expose their work to the general public and are forced to write in a way that is clear enough for readers with no prior knowledge of the topic are capable of comprehending the work.

The learning opportunities that arise when using an online blog  are simple ways to give evidence to how beneficial they can become in educational circumstances. However, Miles’ persistence to use blogs throughout education is not completely bulletproof. The students that are completely unfamiliar with the general public’s criticisms may struggle due to never have their work so exposed before.

WEEK 2: AFFORDANCES (WORD COUNT: 282)

Norman, D 1998, The design of everyday things, Basic Book, New York (Sections: Preface vii-xv; Chapter one 1-13; Chapter 4 (constraints) 81-87; (computers) 177-186).

‘The Design of Everyday Things’ by Donald Norman is quite humorous . “You would need an engineering degree from MIT to work this” (Norman, 1998. p 1) is a line someone once told him while trying to work out how to use a digital watch. Norman states that he actually has an engineering degree and yet he still doesn’t understand how to function things that can often be seen as simple gadgets. Microwaves, washing machines, cameras sewing machines and so on. Almost all of these pieces of technology can be found in your average households, however to most people they really are quite difficult to function.  Norman is putting forward the idea that whether you’re a professional engineer or not, there will always gadgets that seem merely impossible to use.

By then moving onto  the concept of affordances, Norman explains why exactly objects are used in such specific ways.  The term ‘affordance is described as “the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine how the thing could be possibly used” (Norman 1998, 9).  Essentially, what this means is that the relationship between the object and the person can determine what the person can do with said object. If a block was sitting in a room it could be used as a chair, a step, a weight or even be used as protection from the sun. It is up to the person and whether or not they can think of new things to do with the object. That specific block may have been created for sitting however it can afford to be used as all those previous examples because the user thought of them and the object had the correct potential.

WEEK 4: SOCIAL MEDIA (WORD COUNT : 264)

Siapera, Eugene. Understanding New Media. SAGE Publications, London 2013.(pp.1-16 )

Knowledge of what exactly is ‘new media’ is uncovered throughout Eugene Siapera’s informative book.  ‘Understanding New Media’ is split into sections. What new media is and the terminology of digital and online media.

New media is something that can be found almost everywhere. Each and every household contains multiple versions of new media. Siapera’s thoughts on new media consist of  new media being associated with a new world. By constantly having new media all around us, we have changed the ways in which we live our lives. Social media has easily become a part of a very large portion of our societies everyday lives. Technologies such as televisions can be found in many more rooms of a house instead of just a living room; bedrooms have televisions, offices, even stores and schools.

The term digital media is something that can easily be compressed, such as online books, and things that can be loaded onto USB sticks and hard-drives. Digit media can be accessed very quickly and easily by anyone that has some form of laptop/phone technology system.
The term online media is however, a direct reference to the internet. “Connectivity is crucially attribute” (Siapera, 2013. p 4), without it you are unable to link with other users to widen your availability of information.

Although a world of new media is exciting to some, it affords us the opportunity to use these things (such as social media) in ways that were not intended. Bullying and abusing online has become easier than ever to do. Even with new media constantly evolving, it may not always be entirely for the better.

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 766 WORDS

ALL ABOUT DESIGN

I remember our first family computer setup. It was a box, it was heavy and thinking back now.. wow it was slow. I use to play this game called JumpStart, but all I remember from it was some colourful character saying “who left the juice in the caboose?” Don’t bother asking me what that even means because I have no clue either. It’s just a line that will forever be embedded into my memory, poor me.. I remember loving that game; even though I kind of had absolutely no idea how to actually properly play it.

You know when you just press a heap of buttons on the keyboard until the screen does something? Yeah, that was me.

So if I had no clue what to do while playing the game, can you then imagine little 5 year old me trying to turn it off?? THAT was a mission.

My parents have always been awful with technology, I’m actually kind of surprised we even had a home computer set up. Other than for me and my whacky leaning games, that box was untouched.  Even today my mum has that typical pointer finger typing style whenever she sends a text, my dad on the other hand literally doesn’t have the patience to find the correct letters on the keypad so instead he sends voice records.

I like to think that I’m relatively in the know with how technology works, then again I have absolutely no clue how to a Samsung phone functions. I’m an apple kind of girl.

Cringe.

This concept of not understanding technology and what should be simple tasks for the everyday users of these crazy gadgets ties into the book written by Donald Norman called ‘The Design of Everyday Things’.  Throughout the book he describes how if everything that were ever made followed a list of simple requirements, there would never be anyone that questions how to use said objects ever again. Learning would become easier and users would become more confident with other gadgets that may be slightly different to what they’re familiar with.

REFERENCES: 

Norman, D 1998, The design of everyday things, Basic Book, New York (Sections: Preface vii-xv; Chapter one 1-13; Chapter 4 (constraints) 81-87; (computers) 177-186).

I have a routine for whenever I meet someone new. Hi I’m Sarah and I’m from the country. I find that once I reveal where I’m from people become a lot more intrigued. I don’t know if that’s due to me being so vague as to where exactly ‘the country’ is or whether I don’t particularly fit the aesthetic of what a country girl is supposed to look like. Thanks to the success of the product; Cobram Estate Oil has put us on the map. That where I’m from, Cobram!

A small town along the Murray River, approximately 265km away from Melbourne. A town where everyone knows everything about everyone and where every second block of land has either been used for dairy farms, orchards, or to be completely blunt.. a place where rebellious teens can harvest weed (this sounds fake but I can promise you it’s not!). Fun fact, my big Italian family probably adds up to be about half of the towns total population…it’s so much more different in the big city.

Just when you would’ve thought I’ve talked enough about me, here’s a little more fun facts about Sarah! Enjoy…
My daily routine consists of a lot of social media time. When I wake up, while I’m eating, getting ready, while I’m travelling and as I’m going to sleep. The number of times I click onto that little addictive icon is actually horrifying. I’ve always heard people saying how bad being on the internet is for you; but to be completely honest, the internet is where I learn and hear about things I never previously would have.

Let’s take the news as an example. Every night at dinner time my family and I would sit around the table and dad would always have the news on. No talking, just listening. I hated it. It was my least favourite time of the day, no matter how hungry I was. I found the news boring, and being forced to watch it didn’t help at all.
“This is your future Sarah, you need to learn about the world.” – My dad, every single night of my childhood.
When my brothers and I would be naughty we didn’t have your usual punishments. There wasn’t any “no supper for you” or “you’re grounded.” Nope. Our punishment was to sit in front of the television with no other distractions and be forced to watch the news from 4pm until 7pm. I can’t even explain to you how torturous that form of punishment was. I would rather have been grounded for a month than suffered that kind of pain.

Fast forward 10 years and I still hate watching the news while its live on air however, when scrolling through my Facebook news feed if a news report appears I’m more than happy to watch/read it. When watching the news on television you’re forced to watch all the small stories that might actually have nothing to do with you. But when scrolling on Facebook, people I’m friends with are sharing news reports that are actually relevant to me and where I live.
When it comes to Instagram I’ve always referred to myself as a snooper. I’ve had the same account for nearly 9 years and follow over 300 other accounts even though I could probably only list off around 10 to you that I actually care about. I never post pictures or like/comment on other peoples posts. I guess I just like to see what other people are posting instead of actually engaging with the app and digital world. Maybe I’m less of an Instagram user and more of an Instagram abuser.

Wait that sounds really bad.. I just don’t contribute to the Instagram community.

Good save Sarah…

In Adrian Miles’ article ‘Blogs in Media Education: A beginning’; Miles emphasises on the importance of keeping blogs alive and in particular, using them as a useful tool throughout student’s educations. Miles states that “blogs can help you to recognise that your work is able to make a contribution to a larger community” (pg 67). By uploading thoughts and facts to the internet, we have the power to reach out and educate so many more people.
Now if we think of Instagram as being a form of a blog page, which I guess it is; we see that it’s a place where we upload and share whatever we want to the world- educational or not. Pages such as Tasty from Buzz-Feed have the power to educate and motivate people to start cooking or even try out new recipes they never would have made before.

Let’s face it, most people are more inclined to learn from a video or a photo instead of reading a book anyway.

REFERENCES:
Miles, Adrian. “Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning.” Australian Screen Ed 41 (2006): 66–9. Print.

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