Category: Notes

Is The Internet Costing Us Our Freedom?

The questions raised in this week’s symposium were centred on the importance of the Internet in our lives, and how we can use/teach it better.  As Adrian mentioned in the very first symposium, network literacy, whether we like it or not, is paramount to not only a career in the media, but to life in general.

It’s incredible how much we use the Internet in our every day lives, instant messaging, Facebook, email, research etc. In fact, there is an expectation that you are connected to the World Wide Web in some way or another, making it a difficult choice to disconnect.

I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s so I remember very clearly what life was like before the Internet. We had library lessons every week where we leant how to use catalogue systems, people sent letters to each other, my mum had a work pager, and when we had nothing better to do with ourselves we played outside.

My younger sister on the other hand, was born in the year 2000 and has never known a life without the Internet. This makes me feel a little sad for her because in a world where online connection is pretty much unavoidable, my sister will never experience the simplicity of life pre-Internet.

But maybe there is a small glimmer of hope.

Is it possible to quit the internet? Paul Miller did it and has some very interesting lessons to share about his experience, which without the Internet we wouldn’t have the opportunity of knowing. I have embedded the video below, it’s well worth the watch if you have a spare eighteen minutes.

I feel privileged to have known what life was like before the Internet, but I feel that in the media environment of today it is necessary to be connected. However, it doesn’t have to cost us our freedom. As Paul Miller said in his TED Talk, find out what’s important to you and use the Internet to do that thing. We are in control and we can choose to prevent the Internet from ruling us. In this way we can have the freedom of the pre-Internet age and the advantages of an online presence.


 

Banksy On Copyrighted Advertising Material

Banksy
Banksy

The week two readings on Copyright and Creative Commons have got me thinking.

First of all, I must tell my little sister who spends a lot of time blogging about fashion, to be careful. I’m sure she has no idea about Copyright laws, or where to find material that can be used freely.

Secondly, the discussion on Copyright makes me think of something Banksy wrote on Copyright in the Context of Advertising.

I think Banksy’s view on Copyrighted material is a valid one. What it comes down to is keeping money in certain people’s pockets, money that comes from us, the subjects whose public space is saturated with this material. So, why can’t we have a slice?

Adrian’s example from last week, the case of Michelle Phan shows how Copyright laws protect the wealth of big conglomerates. It’s interesting to note in this case that the creative artist (Kaskade) was happy about Michelle’s sharing of his music, because he’d gained a healthier following. However, it was the record company (Ultra Records) suing Michelle for using material that is legally owned by them. I wonder if they’d have bothered suing Michelle had she not made money out her of blog? Probably not, as there’d be nothing in it for them.

To expand on this a little further, what about when Copyrighted material is used to create something new? Why shouldn’t we be able to use other people’s material to create new things, new ideas and new cultures? Is anything really original anyway? What is original? Is there such a thing?

In my opinion creativity is for sharing, but it seems money and greed are the biggest thwarter of creativity.

Rhyme or Reason?

Tuesday’s symposium left me feeling a little unsettled.

How can a story not have a beginning, middle and end? Isn’t this the intrinsic pattern of everything?

Adrian made a helpful point in his blog post on Tuesday evening; if a book were not bound together with each page numbered, how would we make sense of it? How would we distinguish its beginning, middle and end?

This made me think of a children’s game that allows kids to create their own story. The best way to describe this game is to imagine a picture book with its binding and page numbers removed. Children are then free to arrange the story’s pages in whatever way they like. For example, what was once a middle might become a suspenseful end, or the beginning might start with the end, and so on.

Source: Flickr
Source: Flickr

If we forget about the conventions of a book we are free to create the meaning of our choice. The point I am trying to make here follows on from what Adrian said in Tuesday’s symposium; language can override reason (the reasonable conventions of a book i.e. beginning, middle and end) even though most of us think that reason comes first.

Laura Doguet’s post on this week’s symposium points to the internet as a contemporary communication platform that exists without traditional conventions, like a book without binding and page numbers. Does this mean the internet allows us to freely arrange (or rearrange) meaning in a similar way to the children’s game I mentioned earlier?

I will stop now before I completely confuse myself, but I think this is an interesting way to think about language and reason.

Knowing How and Knowing What

Source: Flickr
Source: Flickr

An important distinction made in week one’s symposium was between tacit and explicit knowledge. Essentially, this is the difference between ‘know how’ (tacit) and ‘know what’ (explicit).

Tacit knowledge, or knowing how to do something is not easily communicated. I like to think of it as something the body just knows how to do.

On the other hand, explicit knowledge is something that’s easily communicated. You could say the majority of what we learn at university is explicit knowledge.

Something I’ve always known how to do is sing. I never learnt how to do it, it just came naturally to me from a young age. I know many people who’ve had singing lessons and developed their voices to a decent level, but I think there’s an obvious difference between a person who can sing naturally (tacitly), and a person who has learnt how to sing (explicitly). The quality is different. I know this makes me sound like a singing snob, but it is what it is.

In my opinion tacit knowledge is special because it can’t be taught. Anyone who is somewhat determined can go to uni and gain explicit knowledge, but tacit knowledge allows people to be individuals with unique talents.

Here are some more examples of tacit knowledge Ten Examples of Tacit Knowledge

I’d love to know your thoughts. Do you think tacit knowledge can be taught?

Get Your Blog On And Participate

Source: Flickr
Source: Flickr

After reading ‘Blogs in Media Education’ by Adrian Miles, I’ve come to a better understanding of the importance of blogging. It’s not just a means of expressing one’s views, passions and ideas i.e. communicating in the traditional sense, but a fundamental part of a network of media, which represents the contemporary communication environment.

One idea from the reading that struck me as particularly important is that blogging enables us – consumers – to not only learn from others, but to play an active role in the production of information. Thus, it facilitates a culture of participation that subverts the conventional idea that media is produced by certain actors and passively absorbed by consumers. Furthermore, blogging or participating in an online network of media, allows us to have a say in the meaning of things, thus we are not limited simply to the information produced by media powerhouses.

Now that my critical response to the reading is out of the way, let me show you what people are actually blogging about. What kinds of information are people like you and I producing? The answer is, anything and everything! You name it, from Politics to baking it’s being produced.

I’ve spent the last couple of days searching for blogs to add to my blogroll, and I’ve come across some that are more like works of art! Check out the 2013 winners of the Australian Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blog for some inspiration. Applications for the 2014 competition are already closed, but if you really get into it you could be in the running for 2015!

Best Australian Blog 2013 Winners