Week 7: Working In/With New Media

So during the Easter break I ventured home to northern NSW to catch up with friends and family, only to be met with the same two questions being asked over and over, "What degree are you doing?" and "So... what can you do with that?". Though I got pretty used to being asked these questions, I never quite knew how to respond to them. It made me begin to wonder, why am I doing this course?

When we gave our presentation we tended to focus on the difficult aspects of working in the New Media world and it really got me down. Gill (2007) describes the attributes needed for someone who works with New Media as, "one needed stamina, the ability to work very long hours, and a desire to learn all the time with some of the other  qualities mentioned again and again were energy, networking capabilities, flexibility and an ability to live on very little money."

Gill really has a way of making me realise my career path wont be as fantastical as I thought it would be...

Jacob shared a lot of the same feelings as I did in terms of the difficulty of actually getting a job. It's suprising that I never really listened to sayings like, "It's not about what you know, but who." until you realise it's probably the only way I will get a job.

Gill, R. (2007). Informality is the New Black. In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures: 24-30 & 38-43

Week 6 - New Media, Health & Well-Being

God, how I miss the 90's.

The cartoons were awesome, there were only 4 flavours of chips and the fashion was as bright and colourful as we all thought our future would be. They were simpler times, no one knew or cared what calories were, people ate what they wanted to and spent more time outside and actually talked to people face to face rather than screen to screen. People were more carefree, for better or worse. Ignorance was bliss.


This fantastical view may be influenced by the fact that I was only a child at the time, but you cant deny that the Internet hasn't made us all a little more aware and informed about a whole bunch of stuff we didn't care about back then.

Don't get me wrong, being informed about healthy diet and exercise is a fantastic thing. TV programs such as Masterchef and The Biggest Loser are fantastic ways to project proper exercise and dietary habits to the general populace in an interesting way. It's a great change, though if abused, this obsession with health can be taken advantage of by companies claiming to have a new miracle 'natural' vitamin that essentially is a $90 placebo.

Don't pretend you don't know someone who swears off this garbage.

I know you do.

...I know...

Week 5 - Connecting/Narrating/Branding me

The Internet has been a massive contribution to both media consumption and production. I'm sure I don't need to explain this to anyone reading this blog... on the Internet.

This weeks readings were a little dry for my taste, though they covered the topic areas quite well. I found it interesting that China has such a large audience for mobile technology. Not that I don't think they wouldn't be interested in them or have uses for them, but rather the fact that one would think they would be harder to regulate with the strict Chinese firewalls. (That sentence made more sense in my head.)

Relating to last week's topic, you could associate 'branding me' with the anonymity that the Internet provides. People could choose to express who they are completely differently to who they actually are, or just put themselves out there for the world to see.

I couldn't tell you how many of my friends are genuinely who they project themselves to be on Facebook, or even if I would consider them friends at all if we hung out more in real life rather than online. Janicke makes an interesting point in her blog, explaining that people who don't have a Facebook profile or who don't regularily update their status have become the anti-social ones.

I guess that's just how our generation likes to express themselves.

Week 4 - New Media, Beliefs, Politics and Ethics

Ahhh the Internet. My beloved time-sink and reason why I am always terribly late for assessments/parties/bed. Why must you give people the false sense of anonymity that turns regular people into racist, homophobic rageaholics?

Not only do people turn into 'dickwads', they seem to feel the need to over accentuate (lie) about themselves and the things that they do. I don't think the 12 year old I was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops against last night actually did have sexual relations with my mother, nor did he have a 10 inch penis. Regardless, with the illusion of being hidden behind a user name he chose to tell me these 'facts' in great detail with his high-pitched American squeal of a voice. Rosie made some very interesting points about online bullying that directly reflects this facade of invincibility, her blog can be found here.

I'm not saying that the internet has created a generation of liars, that would just be ridiculous. As Hamelink stated, "Some of the messages are purposely constructed by PR professionals, propagandists, journalists, and marketers." (2006, 116) These jobs are made for good liars to lie and gain a favourable outcome.

Lying is a natural part of being a human, I just wish children would stop trying to convince me that they have regular relations with my direct family members...

 Hamelink, C. J. 2006. "Chapter 7 : The Ethics of the Internet : Can We Cope With Lies and Deceit on The
Net?" In Ideologies of the Internet, edited by Sarikakis, Katharine and Thussu, Daya K, 115-130. New Jersey: Hampton Press Inc.

Week 3 - The New Media Amusement Arcade: Music, Games and Film

I've never been interested in having the most extensive music library ever. I enjoy music, don't get me wrong. I can appreciate a good song from most genres, but I never found it a necessity to have every song by every underground indie band that no-one has ever heard of.

The whole 'iPod wars' thing just sounds like a bunch of self-conscious hipsters looking for validation for their  forum lurking abilities. As Levy (2006) pointed out, "In any case, the iPod era doesn’t mark the end of snobbism but a scary acceleration of it." Janicke (2011) made the hilarious observation that "as soon as Justin Biebers “Baby”  is played in public, people hesitate to sing along, although they know the lyrics by heart."

 *Huff* Well there is my rant for the week. On to Bollywood!

India has always fascinated me. I love their food and their culture, but I haven't had much experience in regards to their Bollywood movies. It kind of comes with how and where I grew up, but reading mostly anything about another culture just reminds me of how ignorant I am. Not in a truly negative way, but the fact that I find it really interesting that other countries have their own movie stars makes me realise I don't really know much outside western culture.

Makes you think.

Levy, Steven. 2006. The perfect thing: how the ipod shuffles commerce, culture and coolness. 1st ed. New York: Simon & Shuster Paperbacks.

New Media: Internet, Self and Beyond. 2011. "Week 3: Are you what you listen to?" New Media: Internet, Self and Beyond, March 20. Accessed May 02, 2011. http://janicke-walle.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-you-what-you-listen-to.html

Week 2 - Social Networking

Since the introduction of online social networking, the way we communicate with each other has changed dramatically. Beginning with the website, 'Sixdegrees.com', social networking has become widely popular amongst internet users and continues to evolve and shape its way into and around our ways of life.

As explained by Donath and Boyd (2004), Social Networking is when "participants create a self descriptive profile and make links to other members". This brief description explains one of the main uses of social networking, though over the years websites such as Myspace.com, Facebook.com and Twitter.com have changed and added features to the concept, changing the way we use social networking websites.

Some users choose to display themselves online as who they are, what they believe or use social networking to co-ordinate their social and/or business lives. As Donath and Boyd explain, "social status, political beliefs, musical taste, etc, may be inferred from the company one keeps". This could clarify why some people use social networking websites truthfully as they may be proud of who they are and who they associate with. On the other hand, the Pearson (2008) reading, "All the World Wide Web's a Stage: The performance of identity in online social networks.", delves into how some people use social networking to "construct identity performances fitting their milieu".

Interesting stuff.