This week we had our first online Zoom class (first of many it seems). In the online class Seth cleared up any of our confusion surrounding Assignment 1. He then used a student’s Assignment 1 draft as an example as how we can get a good grade. Overall I found the Zoom online class to be a good substitute for face-to-face classes in a time like this as it still allows for collaboration and has useful features like screen share. Although, as ironic as it may seem coming from a student, I can’t wait to get back in a classroom.

After the online class was the lecture which focused on multiple key words from the course prompt. ‘Affordances’, ‘Instagram’ and ‘the network’.

In the lecture Elaine defined new media, social media and Instagram and there relationship between each other. She used an analogy of a plant in a jar to help define these terms.

New media is like the jar. It’s a container with the capacity for things, cultures, communication practices to move/grow/emerge. It is digital, sometimes online and always evolving. “A strategic term for studying all kinds of media formats as long as they are evolving” (Siapera 2012, 5)

Social media is the like the roots. It takes advantage of mew media’s capacity and produces in accordance to the environmental conditions, however it is limited to mew media but can take many forms.

Instagram is like a leaf. It is a consequence of, and dependent on new medias and social media conditions for its own growth.

New media, social media and Instagram all exist in the same micro climate, with new media being the main context.

I found this to be very clarifying as I have in the past used the terms new media and social media interchangeably. I now have a better understanding of what they are and their relationship between each other that dictates their definition.

After the clarification of new media, social media and Instagram, Elaine then focused on ‘the network’ especially focusing on Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

Web 1.0 was the previous mode of the internet that resulted from the web being too technically inaccessible for most people to create and interact with. It was harder to publish and produce content as it required technical skills. This resulted in passive usage habits and higher production costs as it was harder to market effectively to the public.

Web 2.0 on the other hand is the current mode of the internet that involves a high degree of participation. Compared to Web 1.0, it has a lower barrier to entry allowing for easier publishing, producing, authoring and accessing of content. This resulted in more engagement and interactivity. It also saw the explosion of user-generated content which made it easier for marketers to gain insight for their demographics.

Although we have already briefly looked at ‘affordances’, ‘Instagram’ and ‘the network’, it is useful to revisit them at the end of the first Assignment before moving onto the next assignments and other key areas of the course prompt.

This week in the tutorial (the last one seemingly for a while) we had Elaine as Seth was sick. Because last week’s tutorial and lecture fell on a public holiday we didn’t have it, so this week Elaine recapped and went through last week’s topic which was affordances. After we were up to date Elaine then went through what is expected with the blog posts and the first assignment.

After the tutorial was the lecture which focused on this weeks topic of: ‘The Network”.

From the readings, we gathered 4 main insights.

1. THE INTERNET IS NOT THE WEB

This was something that I wasn’t aware of as I used both terms interchangeably, which now I realise  isn’t the case. Elaine used a great a analogy to make both terms clear. The internet is like the roads, and the web is the shops. The internet is the framework that the web lives in.

2. THE WEB DECENTRALISED INFORMATION

The three main methods of distributing information is centralised, decentralised and distributed.

Centralised information when all information comes from one point. For example a village having one newspaper.

Decentralised information is when information comes from multiple points. For example a city having multiple newspapers.

Distributed information is when every person has access to information. For example everyone having their own newspaper.

The web radically distributes information in a mode that is highly networked and non-hierarchical. Information on the internet uses the distributed mode of information dissemination.

3. “THE NETWORK” IS A COMMUNICATION PARADIGM

The internet depends on communication. It is like a train network, each stop (or website) is visited by commuters using the rail tracks and trains (internet) to connect information in a hyper decentralised form.

4. USER-GENERATED CONTENT AFFECTS US ALL

The web affords user-generated content to be shared and viewed by anyone with a connection. This is great as it democratises everything from information to video content. We no longer rely on people educated in a specific field to show us what we need. For example, we can now watch videos on YouTube filmed by someone with their phone. Rather than watching a video on a projector managed by a projectionist, filmed on a video camera by someone who went to film school to use. “New media technologies have profoundly altered the relations between media producers and consumers” (Jenkins in Lister et al 2009, 222). However, this means things that are false can be shared with with everyone thinking they’re real allowing things like false information to be shared and widely believed.

I found these insights from the readings very useful in understanding how the network works. Getting a better understanding of the network has made understanding the course prompt easier.

Due to the Labour day public holiday falling on a Monday, we didn’t have a lecture or tutorial. However, the lecture slides were made available online for students to read at home.

This week’s lecture was focusing on ‘affordances’ which nicely tied into the course prompt:

“How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?”

This focus on affordances were supported by the readings which were:

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

Norman, D 1999, ‘Affordance, conventions and design (Part 2)’, Nielsen Norman Group, viewed 1 April 2012, http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordance_conv.html”

The author of this weeks readings, Don Norman, a cognitive scientist and usability engineer, explains early on in the book The Design of Everyday Things that although people are often keen to blame themselves for having trouble with a products function, it is not the fault of the user but rather the product is poorly designed as designers don’t completely consider the products relationship with the user. I found myself falling victim to this since reading it and have been seeing why my interaction with products are being tested.

Norman focuses on user-centered design and explains the meaning of ‘affordances’ through simple videos. Norman defines affordances as:

“Perceived and actual properties of the product primarily those fundamental properties that determine how the product could possibly be used. It is the relationship between the person and the product and what the person can do with that product.”

But to understand affordance you must also understand conventions:

“A convention is a cultural constraint, one that has evolved over time. Conventions are not arbitrary: they evolve, they require a community of practice. They are slow to be adopted, and once adopted, slow to go away. So although the word implies voluntary choice, the reality is that they are real constraints upon our behaviour. Use them with respect. Violate them only with great risk”

Taking both these terms and applying them to the class prompt I can begin to think about the affordances of Instagram. Seeing how people are actually using it and how its relationship with users affects the way photos and videos are shared online, which is being guided by conventions stemming from traditional print media.

We started our first tutorial of Networked Media on the first day of Semester 1, interestingly before our first lecture. In the tutorial we briefly discussed what the rest of the semester would consist of and what was expected of us and the aim for the course, which is to:

“think far more critically about the media you use”

Then the lecturer briefly introduced themselves and their career so far. Students then introduced themselves to those around them.

This then led nicely into the “meat of the sandwich” which is the course prompt for the semester:

“How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?” 

In small groups we discussed what we liked and disliked about Instagram then shared those thoughts with the class whilst the lecturer noted them down. Our group liked how Instagram takes most of the best features of the other major social media platforms with features like direct messaging, disappearing photos and stories. However, we didn’t like the self-centered behaviour Instagram encourages with people getting caught up in the likes and followers number games and the impact it can have on mental health.

We then briefly read the text Software Literacy. Education and Beyond from pages 1-12 and discussed different points of it in our small groups and then presented those thoughts to the class. The lecturer mentioned this reading was the last reading of last semester but for this semester was the first reading. I believe this was done because the article outlines the software foundations that our modern society is now built upon and that to understand these terms and theories makes understanding more complicated and specialized areas of software and social media easier.

During the lecture we discussed the differences of authoring, publishing and distributing media online compared to traditional media and social media. Essentially in traditional media each one of those areas has a more defined section. For instance making a film: production is authoring, editing is publishing and distributing the final product throughout cinemas is distributing. Where as in social media it is a more abstract process as authoring, publishing and distributing is done with a couple of button presses and filters.

Then we returned to the course prompt to round off the end of the lecture.