Just take a look at this video for a moment:

This weeks symposium is one I really took something away from . Following on from the symposium my friend Kelsey and I did some research on the idea that schools are like factories and we both stumbled across a talk from a man named Ken Rogers. One of his most striking points is that the present system of education was developed for a different time. In other words, it was conceived in the intellectual culture of enlightenment and the economic circumstance of the industrial revolution.

One of the points that interested me was that he believes schools are organised on factory lines. This meaning that there are separate facilities, subjects and ringing bells. Something also to note which we don’t tend to notice or criticse is we educate people in batches based on birth. Now surely we all know that we develop differently and therefore this whole process which we as a civilisation have continued with may not be the most efficient or effective way to educate ourselves and our children. Rogers notes that different kids have different abilities, talents and struggles. Ken Rogers opposes this current system of ‘standardisation’ and believes we as a society and educators should be going in the complete opposite direction.

Key points from the Reading:

• Definition on hypertext generally includes an emphasis on non-sequentiality, as does the one provided by Landow and Delany “Hypertext can be composed, and read, nonsequentially, it is a variable structure, composed of blocks of text
• Main dilemma lies in the definition of Hypertext due to the word sequence. As used in the definitions above, sequence and sequential denote a singular, fixed, continuous, and authoritative order of reading and writing.
• However – sequence can also mean “a following of one thing after another; succession, arrangement.
• Readers of print narratives generally begin reading where print begins on the first page of the book, story, or article and proceed straight through the text to the end
• In the last 20 years the concept of reading as a passive activity has become theoretically passé, an untenable stance held strictly by the unenlightened.
• Readers are now ‘breathing light’ into the texts
• Reading print narratives is far from being a literally interactive activity

Debrief from this:

I found this to be another great read in relation to the survival of the print medium. I strongly believe that the more individuals become interactive, the  harder it will be to sustain print media. At the moment, I think the print and digital medias are living together harmoniously.  However, we all know it’s just a matter of time before the beloved print medium becomes redundant and no longer relevant in our modern society. This is because we all know how much easier it is to click a link on a page rather turn turn it physically. In my opinion, that is the direction in which our society is heading.

It was time to dust off the old IT Applications Unit 3 &4 text book this week as we delved into the world of html code. After a whole year of web design in year 12 and being relatively familiar with html code, it was still very interesting to get an additional insight and lesson into HTML. It’s interesting how quickly we tend to forget these sort of things and it took me a little while to get back in the swing of things.

After mainly using Adobe Dreamweaver and Fireworks in year 12, it was a nice contrast to be introduced to programs such as Text Wrangler and Fetch to upload our very own html sites.

Jason went through the basics of html code and made sure we were all on the same page in doing so. From someone who feels comfortable with html code I still was able to take away a couple of things from the workshop. I learnt that in order to be successful in html coding, I need to take my time more. I remembered a lesson I learnt in year 12, where I lost marks in a SAC for rushing things and consequently screwing up the code. Additionally, although a basic skill, it was great to learn how to hyperlink an image to linked webpage.

All in all, a productive lesson!

Hi Guys,

To all those wanting to review my blog from the Thursday 3:30pm apologies! I’ve been writing all my blogs on microsoft word and haven’t got around to posting them yet!

They’ll be posted over the weekend sorry for any inconvenience

Should all be up by Sunday night 🙂

Mitch

This week’s symposium entailed an in depth discussion into the validity of things online. There are various factors that determine the validity of online content – here is bit of what was discussed by the panel

As an online audience, we need to determine what is reliable and what is considered bias.

Online content that is reliable ticks all the boxes for the following:

• Sources should be cited and accurate
•  If stats are presented, they need to be relevant and all values/figures cited
• Well presented – layout, navigation (Not always an indicator or reliability but gives browser some peace of mind)
• The date of publication is recent

In terms of bias, that is fairly easy to recognise. When sites are using strong, informal, abusive or insulting language, that is usually one indicator that bias is present. Additionally, if the arguments display lack any logic or are not supported that is also a prime example of someone’s general opinion/bias on a particular topic. Nonetheless, the key indicator of bias in my opinion is the exclusion of an opposing view. It’s pretty obvious, but if someone is only presenting one side of an argument, then the validity of the content must come into question.

NETWORK

– Linking of things: People, Pages

– Pages: Sound, text, images, videos, links to new pages, information

CONNECTIONS

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PAGE?

• – Interesting content
• – Informative
• – User Friendly
• – Easy to Navigate
• – Intelligible
• – Aesthetically pleasing

Something very interesting we discussed in class this week was the whole idea of copyright. In terms of media that is in print, recorded etc – it’s fairly easy to distinguish what belongs to who. However, the world wide web is a completely different story. It’s made it extremely difficult to determine what belongs to who.

This whole issue is particularly relevant to our blogs. It’s important to note that when an individual creates their own blog, they are creating material that is copyrighted to them. The Copyright Act of 1968 states that protection is automatic and that it protects literary, artistic, dramatic and musical works as well as films, sound recordings, broadcasts and published editions.

Thus, for me and all other students, we need to be aware that what we find on the internet is most likely copyrighted. Therefore, it is pivotal that we as media students seek ways to obtain permission if we wish to use protected works on our blogs.

In saying this, things like facts and ideas are generally fine to report.

This weeks talk about Copyright and the discussion in class has got me thinking about copyright and how it is applicable to me in my everyday life. One of my many jobs is working as a media consultant at BMW financial services in Mulgrave, which is the head office for Australia. As outside contractors, my partner Brent Tebbutt and I work with the HR team to create various videos for their induction processes as well as for general use to promote their corporate culture and sales processes. One of the obstacles we face in our line of work is copyright with music. As BMW is a very well known brand, we have to be extremely careful in terms of what music we use and how we source it. One prime instance where this was an issue was when we were shooting a video promoting the mentor program that operates within BMW Financial Services. We wanted a nice smooth tune to go with our piece, and immediately thought the song “Young Blood” by The Naked and Famous would best suit our video. However, we couldn’t get onto their team as much as we tried. Thus, we therefore settled for the song “I’m Home” by the Lyke Giants, a band that is easy to communicate with via their details left on the Triple J site. I thought this was an interesting experience that related directly to discussions in the symposium and in class.

Struggling to get back into the swing of things following an amazing weekend at the annual Splendour in the Grass Music Festival. The atmosphere was electric in Byron Bay with many uni students and older rockers all uniting to a common cause – the love of live music. Here is one of my favourite flicks from the day. 

Hi guys! It’s begun! We’re up and racing. Can’t wait to get stuck into this blog and hope you guys enjoy reading my posts! This will be a fantastic opportunity to share some of my thoughts and ideas with anyone and everyone. I will be writing posts relative to my course in the media and communications subject Network Media. Additionally, I may add a few posts on my passion which is footy, specifically media hot topics.