what you’re writing about how your views are shaped by online sources

Elle talks about the current 60 Minutes crew celebrating their release and how major television networks have shaped her opinion on this issue. Similarly, J’aime discusses the story, realising her views are heavily shaped by media bias before knowing the real story.

Lydia discusses how her views of the US campaign have been shaped by social media, especially the potency of Trump on Facebook.

Rhiannon discusses the portraiture of the Queen and how the tension between  her and her American photographer moved through different media sources.

Annie discusses how people perform identity in Facebook in relation to the reading.

Sophie gives an overview of the lecture in reference to the US campaign, and how we can’t help being intertwined in the campaign.

Blogging as Art

Lucas Ihleim has been developing the idea of blogging as art since 2005. Through a serious of blogging projects he has developed a method that:

“involves a regular, iterative cycle of action and interaction through ‘real-life’ encounters and online blog posting. It generates a temporary public sphere around a particular issue, location or cultural event, deepening attention and generating new insights at the level of the everyday”

I thought this would be interesting for those of you that are really enjoying developing a blogging voice.

His website has links to his blogging projects as well as links to some writing his done that theorises blogging as art, including his thesis.

Assessment Task 2: some guidance

Some really good questions have come up already about assessment task 2.  You’ll  (hopefully) notice that what it asks you to do is quite a bit broader than assessment task 1, and this is intentional; it’s challenging you to confront the inherent complexity of these things called networks, the web,online writing and communities.  So here’s a few points to help you get underway.

Continue reading Assessment Task 2: some guidance

What you’re writing about culture and technology

Luke uses mobile phones as an example of how technology has “enhanced the homogenising effects of economic globalisation.”

Claire connects technological neutrality to online trolling.

Emma and Mary provide good descriptions of what simulacra means and give popular culture examples.

J’aime talks about the relationship between Apple and culture from a poststructuralist perspective.

India talks about the limits of thinking about the world as a global village due to technology restrictions in some regions of the world.

Lecture schedule

A couple of people have mentioned that they are not sure which weeks include F2F lectures to attend, and which are online.  To clarify:

Week 7: Online Lecture

Week 8: Public Holiday – No Lecture

Week 9: F2F Lecture – attend

Week 10: F2F Guest Lecture – attend

Week 11: Online lecture

Week 12: Online lecture

I was hoping to record the remaining F2F lectures but this option was unavailable, so please come along to week 9 & 10.

week 6 examples

Today, in the lecture, I used some contemporary examples to think about how media technologies can be analysed through technological deterministic, cultural materialistic, and poststructuralist lenses.

Aaron Dickinson Sachs in a media res article talks about how Netflix would be analysed from a technological determinist perspective.

Reference: Dickinson Sachs, Aaron. “Watching Netflix — Critical Commons.” Video. In Media Res: A Media Commons Project. N.p., 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Internet censorship is a good example to see how cultural forces impact the implementation, format, and content of technologies. North Korea is a country where Internet use is at it’s lowest. Matthew Sparks and Tong-Hyung Kim and Youkyung Lee talk about how the Internet functions in North Korea as a result certain governmental forces.

Continue reading week 6 examples

Week 6 Workshop

We’re getting into some hefty theoretical territory now.  Don’t fear, making sense of this stuff is what we’re trying to do.  This week’s reading is challenging, but on the plus side, it’s an exceptionally eloquent examination of what are very complex perspectives.  Hannah’s lecture will help you get your head around it too, and give some insight into it’s relevance.

Bring on the chit-chat.

Continue reading Week 6 Workshop

Official course blog for Semester 1 2016