Ang.Crilley

Project B – Blog Post Rationale June 2, 2009

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!

Greek Riots – u3025442