Is New Media really “NEW”?

New media is not new, yet transforms into different devices we see around from time to time. According to me “media” is a tool to change the minds of masses. So basically if we see this definition the tool existed at cave men times when the people drew cave paintings and others perceived the message and reacted according to it. The very first form new media emerged in the 19th century when Lumiere Brothers projected the moving pictures of few seconds. Then the first featured length film was made in 1906 “The story of the Kelly Gang”. Later on Radio emerged after World War and became an access to everyone and one could get easily tune into the desired frequency and listen to it. After the radio, television emerged and became a new media, then the new media of “home entertainment” Tapes and cassettes came. And now in today’s world we have internet, online video watching facility, smartphones and communicating with close ones with just click of a button.  As time will progress, there will be new updates to the technology. Like for example smart watches are being developed which will have everything just like any other smartphone and the transfer of new media’s device will shift towards a smart watch in near future.

For me I think new media it not over hyped but a revolution. The biggest aspect is that it has given a free will to the audience to express their views and thoughts.  The biggest platform ever for a common man includes Facebook, YouTube and twitter. With just these 3 aspects a revolution came in the countries of Middle East and toppled down the government.  In just recent in Pakistan, the murder of Shazaib bought many supporters in thousands to support his family and to bring justice. One another example is that Shia killings in Pakistan have bought many supporters on Facebook and with just a single click; thousands received the message and went on the protest areas to join them in the procession.

The experience between virtual community and real community is different. Community means a group of living in a same society having more or less the same quality of lifestyle. Virtually means the interaction between two groups without being present actually in the same location and having no sense of touch and smell between the two groups. That includes using of social websites like Facebook and twitter, Chat rooms and virtual worlds (Sim City).  Even though communicating and sharing knowledge and information with one another is faster and easier approach, people can shop different things by sitting just at home and can view other friends doings by sitting at home but the problem is that is heavily affects their grooming with their peer groups and their socialization with the real world out there.

For example one cannot judge ones personality by just looking over their online profiles and their pictures, they have to at least physically see what the reality is. Another major aspect is the communication problem. When a person does not hang out with other peer groups in real life, then confidence problem builds up and would be bound to face issues in real life. Lastly the problem is that people create avatars on their profile which in some way portrays them but in fact it’s not. Creating avatar basically shows that this is what the people want to be in real life. Avatars hide the true personality of a being thus insecurity also arises and it affects when they both meet up in real life and hardly talk to one another but in fact chat more in virtual world.

In real life when we communicate with authority, we do it with respect, honor and dignity. It all somehow changes when we interact with them virtually. Probably because we hide our own identities and thus we believe that it would be difficult for the authority to track us which is a completely false belief. For example hypothetically speaking when we meet the president of our country, we greet him with respect and on the other hand when we social page of the same president, we will brag and bash the president and opening up facts against him as if we would kill the president the minute we see him/her. Same is the case with the police; there are higher chances that one can miscommunicate with them and when facing them in reality, they would have to pay for the crime.

To conclude yes it does change because that is how we have been trained and constructed to behave and perform according to what the society and the surroundings have made. With the help of Social Media the respect boundaries between the authority and us vanishes and the biggest examples have been the downfall of Arab empire in Egypt and Libya.

Abstract- Experiment video

So this is my experiment abstract video. Constance and Farina were in my group. While I was shooting, I didn’t had anything in my mind what to build up a story, so it all came down to editing. When connecting the clips together, it started to form up something, so this is what I can explain about it. A subject sees the world through his eyes and tries to identify his surroundings as well as himself. I think the shoot of the clouds is powerful and it gives surreal feeling and your eyes boggle when you see camera moving parallel to the grills. I think I did good with the editing. What do you guys think?

Media- Manupilation

So what is Media? According to me, it is a tool that can change the perception the minds of the masses, whether for good or for evil. Yes, the moment you turn your attention towards your news feeds on facebook or when you tune into your favourite news channel, you are being drawn towards manipulated facts and figures. Well there may be certain truth to it, but can anyone guarantee that what is being represented on your screens is the reality?

Hitler himself said, “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” Media uses the techniques that provides a certain version of story and keeps repeating it so much that in the end the masses are bound to believe that it is the ultimate truth. We are seduced by the media; our taste develops accordingly and thus we are exposed to what we want to see eventually.

Which source should we trust? Well that I’m not sure of, but I do know that one should not judge the book by its cover, one should keep in mind that this story that is being shown is showing just one side of the coin, the other side of the coin has to be discovered, what is the truth in the end is all about how you perceive it.

How will you comprehend it?

What does a soundwave look like?

heal_frequency
Sound waves exist as variations of pressure in a medium such as air. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain interprets as sound.
In the diagram below, the black dots represent air molecules. As the loudspeaker vibrates, it causes the surrounding molecules to vibrate in a particular pattern represented by the waveform. The vibrating air then causes the listener’s eardrum to vibrate in the same pattern.
loudspeaker-waveform

Aspect Ratios- What are they and why are they important?

An aspect ratio is a relationship between the width and height of the image. It is usually shown in this format (W:H) where W is the width of the image and H is the height of the image. For example 4:3 aspect ratio means 4 units is the width and 3 units is the height of the image. The aspect ratios are important because it describes relationship between the main subjects to the sides of the frames and the amount of empty space left around the subject. In today’s world, there are many devices with different aspect ratios so it is important to display your product setting at a certain aspect ratio to make the most of the devices out there.

Mr Cage

The man who famously treated ‘silence’ as a sound. Is there actually silence? I would say no, there is sound present even when are quiet, you hear the sound of ambience. John Cage was a American composer, an artist who mastered the craft of non-standard use of musical instruments. He is famously known for his 4’33” composition.

On August 29, 1952,  pianist David Tudor in Maverick Concert Hall, near Woodstock, New York performed “4’33”. It has been called the “silent piece,”its main purpose as per John cage was that there is no silence, sounds are present everywhere. During the performance, there were sounds of raindrops pattering on rooftop, people walking in and out, winds stirring. John cage was of the view that people didn’t know how to listen and what they thought of silence were accidental sounds.

It wasn’t until in 1961 after publication of Silence that Cage’s music (collection of John’s lectures and poems) that found a place in few of the minds of American audience and understood the concept of 4’33”. People were riot and thought his piece of work a bizarre, stupid and even ridiculous. Like it or not, Cage will have a presence in our lives for a long time, in form of his work, his theory and his compositions.

References:

 

Gilgoff, D 2002, ‘Fifty years ago, John Cage played the sound of silence’, U.S. News & World Report, vol. 133, no. 6, p. 38

Ross, A. 2010, SEARCHING FOR SILENCE: Onward and Upward with the Arts, The New Yorker Magazine, Inc, New York, N. Y.

The issues with Selfie

Is it just me or has selfie made us narcissistic? Some may say that it is just a way of exploring different shades of us, but actually we have been taking selfies to be socially acceptable into the online community. We see ourselves daily in front of the mirror so there is no point to keep a picture of ourselves and post it on social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to openly showcase what we are doing or where exactly are we, then expect our friends and family to comment on how beautiful or handsome we look. Why do we have to go online in order to be accepted by your peers? This really troubles me.

slefie

 Image source: Stock photo

Selfie is just another type of narcissistic behavior that I have seen. People deliberately take picture of themselves at either some famous place in the background or a famous personality standing next to them. While taking a selfie, it’s like telling others that we have the control over our lives and that it was us who grabbed the moment and not anybody else since that selfie was taken by you using the front camera. By posting it online you make your peers jealous and expect them to be amazed by the great achievement you accomplished in that frame.Isn’t it strange that we are lonely to the extent that we can’t even ask another person to take a picture of ourselves and want to grab attention from our social circle?
Along with the narcissistic behavior, there is another problem that arises with selfie phenomenon and that is cyber bullying. We may seem to be boosting our confidence by posting a selfie but there are people who may take that chance to demoralize you by either commenting about something that you may not expect or probably take advantage of you if you are not careful of what kind of selfie you are posting online. There have been cases that have caused regret among many teenagers just because they were not too careful of their control on posting their selfies.
To these issues, there are solutions, First and foremost, you need to be sure from whom you are taking validations form online, are they trustworthy? Remember it is you that has the control of your social life and it is your responsibility to look after it. We all have a bit of narcissism, just keep it under your control and don’t let your emotions take over.