Reflective ‘meta’ post June 12, 2009
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Firstly, I’d like to start with listing my 3 nominated blog posts:
- Data. Everywhere.
- Web 2.0
- Folksonomy & Taxonomy
I can honestly say that overall this unit has been one of my most thought provoking and I have almost certainly learnt the most from it throughout the semester, and will undoubtedly continue to branch off from topics studied and continue to do so. The lectures and tutorials were a great help, both informative but not to the point of being spoon fed information, they allowed individual research and learning which I feel help me direct myself towards certain interests of my own, making the unit more enjoyable.
For my blog, I have researched and browsed sites and other blogs that are interesting to me, and have included content that I feel relevant both to the unit but also my own interests. This gives it a more personal feel and gives it some direction and chance for further development down the track. In each blog post I reflect on either the lecture, tutorial, major piece of assessment we are working on at the time or a discussion relevant to networked media, often presenting the topic in a format understandable to myself and re-written in my own words, with further research to prove so.
My audience specifically for this blog is the NMP crowd, as this is why I have created it in the first place. For obvious reasons, the blog deals with topics relevant to NMP, although does have other links and discussions about artists and filmmaking. So in retrospect in could appeal to a more creative audience, although their interest might fade through only the limited entries regarding these areas in comparision to those about networked media. I didn’t manage to gather an audience though, as my blog doesn’t turn up in search engines or anything of the like and I’m not sure how to make that happen, so it limits the audience to those who I give the URL to. This group consists of the NMP blogroll, and selected family and friends. I did – upon request – post the URL to my blog on a friends facebook page, and this resulted in quite a few people having a look. Although I received feedback from it on my facebook page and in person, as opposed to on my actual blog. I assume this is due to people only following this link due to boredom or curiousity, not because they are genuinely interested in the topics and specifics on networked media production. So it didn’t get directed to the right audience unfortunately. This then resulted in a low level of connectivity between my blog and other social networks. Like I said it did interact with facebook, although not at a very high level.
I think that the connectivity of a blog is due to multiple factors though, not just one. Often if the author of a blog is consist and loyal to writing frequently, it is likely to attract more hits. It shows that this person is devoted and a committed socialite, an online contributor and thus is more likely to have something interesting to say than someone who delves online and posts their thoughts once a month. This is not always the case, but an audience may tend to think that if a blog hasn’t been updated recently it may have been binned or abandoned with irrelevant topics. And that then provides the next point, that the topic or subject of a blog can determine how well it connects and links with other forms of social networking or social media, such as an interaction between facebook or twitter. A current, frequently updated blog discussing popular topics such as video games or photography would usually have a much broader audience than one focusing on a more abstract or specific theme such as folk dancing. This can be refered back to the theory of the ‘long tail’, with more generic topics being more popular and others being less sought after, thus more generic subjects having greater connectivity with other sources and a wider audience. The friends of a blogger can also contribute – if they have popular friends, their followers may stumble across and simply browse their friends blogs, sometimes discovering new blogs and subscribing. Also, if someone has a large group of followers or subscribers, it is often assumed that their blog is more interesting than those who have little or none. This prejudice often leads people to pay more attention to those more popular blogs, which just fuels this assumption as more popular blogs just gain more and more social awareness and are connected to a wider network.
The internet is basically a massive source of data through which I frequently use to gather information through search engines such as google, or use for social networking through sites such as facebook and flickr. Personally, these are my two greatest uses for the internet, and this blog potentially could be become part of my web world permanently, encompassing both these aspects as it is a form of social networking and provides specific information to a wider audience.
Project B – Blog Post Rationale June 2, 2009
Posted by angelacrilley in Project B.Tags: athens, creative commons, google, greek, maps, networked media, Project B, rationale, riots
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From the word go I have anticipated creating option B – a ‘Geo Narrative’ – as I found it the most appealing and thought it outlined my strengths more so than the other options, which would hopefully result in a better mark (honestly). The most difficult part was thinking of a good story, something original and NOT in Canberra. I tossed up ideas about a Nazi concentration camp I visited in Germany, or a shipwreck holiday, but ended up with my experience in the Athens riots in December 2008 whilst backpacking through Europe. I settled on this because it was true, so I could write about what I knew, I had photos and video footage from the event, and I could almost guarantee no one else had ever done this story.
6 of the images were mine, and the further 5 were others work, which I was unable to remix due to copyrights. I found 3 of my images through Creative Commons, which in my experience I’ve found to be an invaluable site for exchanging work informally, but with formal copyrights applied. The rules are clear and concise, which makes it really easy to recognise how you can and can’t use certain images for certain purposes or in specific ways. Because none of my images were being used for commercial purposes, I had hardly any trouble having pictures excluded from my search because of copyright issues.
One of my images was from the direct website of a place I referred to – Athens Backpackers. I emailed the hostel, which was the owner of the image, and requested permission to use it, explaining my topic of the riots, the assessment piece and criteria, as well as providing a link to the direct outline. I was granted permission, provided it was used only to demonstrate what the apartments looked like, which in turn I think worked out in their favour as it promotes their website and accommodation facilities, and now has spread further across the web to a broader audience and expanded their networks.
My final piece of work from an outside source was a video I found on Youtube, which was a news report about the riots. I wanted to use a news report as I felt that it would outline the situation and better explain the story in a more interesting, formal and clear way than if written or from just an amateur film. Gaining permission to use this video was frustrating, as it needed to be obtained from a company which usually takes longer as opposed to personally from an individual. Fortunately it was created by an online news company, who operated solely through the internet and were able to respond to my email and grant permission. The company was also based in the middle – east, and focused mainly on European and third world issues, which gave it an advantage over Australian news stations due to its location and access to information and footage – another reason I chose this company.
This was not the case when I requested to use an audio file from the ABC website though. I wanted to use an audio file, which was an interview in relation to the riots. I emailed ABC almost 5 weeks prior to the due date with similar statements as I mentioned when emailing Athens Backpackers, although I still didn’t get a reply. Even though it was myself being interviewed, I didn’t want to breach any copyright laws so had to result to publishing only the transcript and a link to the audio file. It didn’t have the desired effect but it was the best I could do.
I’d never created my own map in ‘Google Maps’ before, so initially found it confusing. That was resolved by watching the 3 or so minute tutorial and that pretty much solved all my issues. The previous assignment I did, creating an online exhibition, had taught me all my html skills so I was knowledgeable in that regard and didn’t have any problems knowing how to embed images or videos, and knew my way well around editing text with html.
This task of creating a geo narrative through visual images can be related back to networked media, as this is a collaboration of work coming from various sources over the internet, which is being redistributed in a different format and the content recycled. This project requires an online community to contribute and participate in the creation of a unified piece, and decentralize it from being the work of a sole author – myself. This assessment piece encompasses everything learnt in the entire unit as it is a production of networked media.
I have embedded my map below, titled ‘Greek Riots’ and posted the direct link for it underneath that. Enjoy!
Week 14 June 1, 2009
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This week I’ve basically just been working on my Project B. I’ve decided to create a Geo Narrative, actually I decided this a while ago but I have a bad habit of changing my mind at the last minute with things that are crucially important.
I’m finding it so frustrating contacting certain people regarding the copyrights to things I’m using in my assignment. I emailed ABC news – well the website – a request to use something and they still haven’t replied…its been 3 weeks! I understand that they’re a massive, multi million dollar corporation with probably no time to deal with petty requests like mine but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. I’m tempted to just take it without permission, seeing as it’s an interview and it’s me that they’re speaking with, but I don’t want to risk breaching any copyright laws and getting in trouble…ahhh…the frustrations of someone trying to obtain copyright permission.
Apart from that my project is coming along relatively well. I’ve written out the story and plotted my points, it’s just a matter of sorting through everything I’ve got and putting certain pieces in certain places. I was a little concerned as I’ve spoken to a few others doing the geo narrative, and they’re doing about 20 points with an absoloute novel at the bottom apparently. I was under the impression that it said in the outline that it was to be 10 – 12 points…and that anyone breaching these directions would be penalised. Apparently not. I wish exceptions such as these were listed in the outline, as I probably would have more points and depth to my story. I don’t wish to re-arrange and re-write my whole story though, as I feel I have abided by the guidelines and shouldn’t have to add to the criteria when it states that what I have done is exactly what is requested. So I won’t. I will be thoroughly disappointed if it does though…
