Gay marriage in Australia

I love this article! It's about time gay marriage was made legal in Australia. I especially agree with him where he says that it will reduce homophobia in society.

Full story: Marriage is about love, heterosexual or otherwise

Negative effects of social networking...

What can be meant as a satirical joke can be interpreted in a very different way, especially online via social networking. Posting this tweet had serious implications for this individual...

Have a read:

Full story here:
Student jailed for vile tweet about Fabrice

Media Usage Diary

Since the invention of the Internet in the 1990’s, Generation Y has been the first generation to be born into a world where technology dominates, a world where technological advancements have taken over and where technology aids us to complete even the simplest of tasks. I’m not saying this is a bad thing (don’t get me wrong, I love my iPhone) but these notions have only really become apparent to me after completing my very first JOUR1111 assignment: a media usage diary.

So, over the past 10 days, I have kept a record of all of my media usage, including which type of media I was using and for how long. The following table is a summary of all of my findings, and furthermore, my observations about my usages and how they compare to the rest of my cohort. I broke down my media use into eleven categories: books, online news, iPhone applications, music, Internet browsing, YouTube, SMS, TV, E-Mail, magazines and Facebook.



Note: All the numbers are in minutes.

The information broken down:

Like 44.2% of my cohort, I have an iPhone, and I use it constantly, as it provides access to hundreds of useful applications and resources, even when you’re on the go. Unlike a computer, an iPhone, or Smartphone gives the consumer the ability to access information wherever they are. By completing the media usage diary, I realised I use my iPhone more than I thought…

Everything can be found on an iPhone, from Facebook, the Internet and various social networking sites, to simpler things such as games or even health tips, which you can download special iPhone applications for. Such a vast amount of information can be obtained via an iPhone, and I found that I use my iPhone subconsciously, and of course, every day. Whether it be only a few minutes, or a long period of time, my iPhone is definitely something that comes in handy for me for any task.

I found that my iPhone and Internet usage were interchangeable, and often I would be using both of these types of media at the same time. Because the Internet is so accessible via an iPhone, I actually found I would use it as often or more often than using my computer. The Internet has so many purposes: blogging, social networking, reading online 'newspapers,' researching or just general browsing.

One of my main observations that I hadn't really picked up on before was the fact that most of my communication is done either on Facebook, or via SMS. Like 94.7% of JOUR1111, I have one Facebook account, and althought I don't sit on Facebook for hours and hours pressing refresh on my news feed, I still use it as one of my main forms of communication every day. With all of my family and friends back in Sydney, I think it's a great way to keep them up to date with what I'm doing, through status updates and photo sharing.

What I also noticed from Facebook is that you can obtain a significant amount of online news through the site, not just with people posting updates about what's happening in the world, but also nowadays big newspapers are putting their articles as links on Facebook. Newspapers such as the Guardian are available to read via Facebook, and you are also able to see what your friends have been reading on your news feed. Like many people, especially aspiring journalists, I enjoy keeping up to date with what’s happening in the world. I read online news every day, and found that 43.1% of my cohort read online news too. I found this number quite surprising, as in a journalism/communications course I would have expected that at least more than half use the Internet to read online news.

With all the resources available with Smartphones, Tablets and iPads, who needs to read a book, right? You can get thousands of books online as e-books, and can download them all onto one device and read from there. Well, I must admit, I am still a sucker for a good old fashioned book. I read every night before bed, and I honestly don’t think there is anything more satisfying than turning the pages of an actual book. I think it will take a lot of convincing for me to be converted to the e-book!

My observations for how often I listen to music were really fascinating. I absolutely love music, I think it comes in handy for so many things, but I didn’t realise how often I listen to music. Right now, as I type this, I am listening to music. I listen to music whilst walking to uni, whilst running and whilst on the bus. Once again, my music is found on my iPhone and iPod… Maybe Apple really is taking over the world…

So after reading through all of my observations and results, I leave it at this. Smartphones are the future. Almost every single category my media usage was split up into, could be obtained via an iPhone or Smartphone, which had never really occurred to me until this exercise. It's amazing how much skips your mind until you have to study it! I thoroughly enjoyed doing this exercise, and I definitely have learnt a lot more about communication, technology and just how often we rely on media in every day life.

Lecture 4 (16/03/2012) "Picture Stories"

This weeks lecture was focused on pictures, and picture stories. I thought it was a good lecture, as it contrasted with last week's lecture about the importance of text.

Picture stories have played a major role in history. Take the Australian indigenous cave paintings - these have been a fundamental way to interpret stories from thousands of years ago, without even one word. They also reflect Aboriginal customs, culture and tradition.

Another example are the holy stained glass windows that appeared in churches many years ago. Back then, only a small amount of people could read and write, so the images that appeared in churches were one of the only ways they could communicate biblical stories to people.

Early newspapers contained line pictures and limited text. The first photograph appeared in a newspaper in 1879 "Steinway Hall" in the Daily Graphic New York. This marked the beginning of photography appearing in journalism. Throughout the years, there has been significant progress in photo journalism, assisted by new developments in technology, such as the introduction of digital cameras.

Other not so nice developments in photo journalism are that of photo "editing." Every day we see hundreds of airbrushed celebrities on the cover of magazines, some even with feature articles about celebrities telling us that "beauty is from within..."

But how can this be when pictures of already beautiful girls and boys are being distorted in such a way that they don't even look like themselves anymore?

"Fauxtography?"

What makes a fantastic photo?

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and Point of View
• Exposure
• Timing / Shutter speed
• Capturing the moment

What makes a fantastic moving picture?

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and Point of View
• Exposure
• Timing and editing
• Capturing the scene
• Inclusion of sound
   

The Rule of thirds / the Golden Mean:

"A picture has no meaning at all if it can't tell a story."

I found this lecture great, as we got to study different types of pictures, their importance in journalism and how pictures communicate to us a certain message. I left the lecture theatre thinking about what Skye had mentioned previously about the importance of text and now what Dr. Redman had said about picture media, and concluded that there are many ways to create great journalism. Each type of journalism is special and communicates a different message to us. Combined, both pictures and text make a great team, but seperated they can also speak to us in different ways, and I find that something remarkable.

 

 

 

Lecture 3 (12/03/2012) "Text"

This week, our lecture was run by Skye Doherty, a very experienced journalist who has worked all over the world. I found her lecture very interesting and you could tell she had a great deal of knowledge. I would have loved to talk to her personally about her experiences and what she did to become so successful.

Skye said that text is:
- Fast
- Flexible
- Complete control
- Dominates online
- Searchable

She also said that evaluating texts' success is done in an inverted pyramid, in other words an upside down triangle; the top of the triangle being the most important text, and the bottom being the least.

For example, in a newspaper article, the headline is almost always in a bigger font and in a bold font, comparing to the actual text of the article in a smaller font. This is an example of text's inverted pyramid in use, the more 'important' text being bolder and more noticeable than the smaller text.

Examples of 'text': story content, headlines, standfirst, break-out boxes, pull quotes, captions, links...

But also: E-mails, blogs, tweets, Facebook updates, comments, forums...

"Bloggers' use of and engagement with various social media tools is expanding and the lines between blogs, micro blogs and social networks are disappearing."

Skye also talked about hypertext. Hypertext is defined as text with references (or hyperlinks) to other text that is readily available to the reader. Hypertext is fundamental to the foundations of the Internet, and is a great way to focus readers attention on to 'related stories' to the one that they are reading. I couldn't help but think about Web 3.0 (Bruce Redman's "New News" lecture) and how hypertext is often tailored to the interests of the reader. For example, I was just browsing on Facebook the other day in my spare time, and noticed a group of ads to the right of the webpage with images of cats and shoes, two things I had talked about in a post a few days earlier. There was even an advertisement there including a word I use often as a joke in posts! It's quite amazing how the web is becoming more and more catered to the producer than we think.

Poynter eyetrack: The reader's attention is drawn to the most dominant headlines - especially top left or most often (but not always) top right. Skye also said that contrary to popular belief, photographs aren't always the thing that catches our eye the most when entering a webpage or reading a newspaper. I found that fascinating. It seems that text is most definitely dominating our webpages and newspapers. Good for journalists I guess!

Skye also talked about 'tagging.' Tagging makes articles, blogs and journals more accessible, as when a reader types one of the tags appearing in a text, the text will appear more readily in search engines such as Google. In fact, underneath this blog as I am typing, I have the option of tagging this blog with a few keywords to make it more accessible. Not a bad idea at all.

Obesity Epidemic - a growing cause for concern

This is a piece from one of my favourite TV shows, Supersize vs Superskinny, a British show that explores different peoples' bad relationship with food, dieting, exercise and body image. A survey conducted in 2007 and 2008 in Australia found that one in 4 Australian adults were overweight or obese, and that there were just as many people that were overweight that were a normal weight (in other words, an estimated 38% of Australian adults are overweight.) Source: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/web+pages/statistics

In contrast to this, a staggering 90% of 12-17 year old girls and 68% of 12 – 17 year old boys have been on a diet of some type due to issues with body image. (Source: http://thebutterflyfoundation.org.au/CMSPageDetails.aspx?CMS_Page_Id=77&Parent_CMS_Page_Id=4)

I find it amazing that us people, not just in America and Britain, have such a distorted view of what is healthy, and what is not healthy, from both extreme ends of the scale. Advertisements appear everywhere, 'educating' people about how to lose weight, what to eat, what not to eat, what will make you 'fat' etc... Could this sort of advertising be affecting our relationship with food? Moreover, could it be distorting it in such a way that these figures of obesity and eating disorders could increase even more with time?

Lecture 2 (5/03/2012) "New News"

Today was our second lecture for the semester. Dr Redman called this lecture "New News", and talked about the focuses of different types of web iterations and their effect on journalists and how news is conveyed to the greater public.

Dr. Redman began by talking about "Old media" (a.k.a. Heritage, Legacy or Traditional Media)
- Newspapers
- Radio
- Magazines
- Television

--> All forms of MASS COMMUNICATIONS

Types of  "Old Media" have been described as 'platforms' for other types of media to emerge. As 'instruments of mass communication,' they have played a significant role in engaging with audiences and specific markets, and conveying their message to them. Perhaps old media has paved the way for new types of media to subside: social networking, online newspapers, blogs and websites, all which play a similar role to that of old media.

WEB 1.0
- 'Brochure ware'
- Full of content we can surround with ads and banners
- Seen as 'an extension of offline media'
- Standard flat web: just hyperlinks and text, no interaction
Focus: Companies

WEB 2.0
- 'The Social Web'
- User generated content, interactive
- Prod-users: where 'users' act as producers throughout the production process
- What we have now, incorporates social media into means of communication
Focus: Produsers

WEB 3.0
- 'Semantic web'
- Multi-layer questions
- Meta-tagging: iPhones, iPads, Tablets etc
Focus: Individuals

Web 3.0 has implications, both negative and positive for news:
- Hyperlocalisation (what is happening where you are)
- Specific content delivery: - News my way and advertising specifics (pluses) and ignorance/lack of knowledge (minuses)

Dr. Redman also gave us students a taste of what advertising, media and communications in the future may be like. He demonstrated using jellybeans (luckily for me, my favourite snack), allowing us a few, then taking them away from us. This showed that the public perceives many forms of communication, such as newspapers or television to be an entitlement, rather than a priviledge.

ENTITLEMENT: Could it be the death of journalism? Could paying for news that is deemed to be an entitlement kill journalism?

There is a severe reluctance from the public to pay for  news online. Could news, something that is cheap, readily accessible and been around for years, have to be subscribed to? Could people stop paying attention to the news because of the fact they may have to pay for it?

I find these questions highly distressing, however they do raise some interesting points about the future of journalism and how 'new news' is conveyed to us as consumers. Interesting!

Lecture 1 (27/02/2012)

"Journalism can never be silent; that is its greatest virtue, and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air."

The 27th of February, last Monday evening, was my very first lecture at university. I'd been told about all the horror stories of university and what it can lead to... Weight gain, severe stress, excess alcohol consumption... (One person going so far as to say that the 'HSC was a walk in the park compared to university.') Comforting words to have whizzing around your head on the first day of a new adventure, I know. Having said that, I braced myself and entered the lecture room with a positive attitude and an unconvincing 'I'm really not intimidated at all' smile.

I sat in the front row next to a girl sipping a grande latte and a boy who wouldn't stop drawing cartoons in his book. (They were quite good actually but I tried not to focus my complete attention on them.) Dr. Bruce Redman, our lecturer, presented to us a slideslow outlining the course, our assessments and what is to be expected this year. Finally, my nerves calmed. I realised I was going to love this course. I know it's 'early days'  but still, I knew what I was going to learn about would be right up my alley and my nerves made a quick changeover to feelings of excitement and anticipation.

Dr. Redman's slideshow was also really entertaining; he had compiled a few quotes about journalism, all with varying perspectives about the profession itself. One of my favourites was "the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shits into law." Okay, so it might be a little biased, considering my lifelong dream and ambition has been to become a journalist... But that doesn't matter, the point being that the quotes about journalism Dr. Redman included in his powerpoint, whether they be satirical, uplifting, controversial or inspiring, all furthered my ambition and made me extremely excited about what lies ahead of me this semester and in the future.

"I know of no human being that has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter."

Dr. Redman also presented to us the current challenges faced by journalists today, the main factors being:

- Technology: potential death of newspapers (its replacement being the Internet), Paywalls, Social media
- Public perception of journalists: i.e. The News of the World scandal. How journalism is often seen as 'gossip' or 'exaggerations.' - "I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it out to be." (Tom Rogers)
- User generator content: Citizens journalists
- News with a purpose to entertain, rather than inform

In additon to this, Dr. Redman asked us 'Why study Journalism and Communication?'

Although I think Dr. Redman's question was rhetoric, I liked being in the position where I got to think and make a decision for myself. Drawing on Dr. Redman's points, I summarise the pursuit of studying journalism and communications like this:

Journalism is part of everyday life, we are intrinsically linked and are exposed to journalism on a daily basis. It is a compilation of what makes up social foundations and values. Journalism is always there, readily available to us, presented through different eyes each time. Journalism also speaks to us in different ways, and can reflect our own ethics and values, as well as those of others and of society. Finally, journalism has a profound influence on us, and competes with other elite compartments of society (religion, education, government) to maintain their influence.

"A news sense is really a sense of what is important, what is vital, what has colour and life - what people are interested in. That's journalism."