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 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