Searching da web for dogz

As part of my final group project, I’ve decided to look around the interwebz for some inspiration. I did a google search for ‘why you shouldn’t buy dogs at pet stores’ and the first link to come up was this.

It’s interesting how this website doesn’t have much interactivity. It means well, yet I reckon listing 8 points as to why you shouldn’t buy dogs from pet stores isn’t the best idea, as people will most likely skim through, or click away.

Perhaps if they had made a more interactive space with a Q&A so that people could learn a thing or two, or even just having some images that click through to the treatment of animals in both breeding places and pet stores, so that people can face the facts.

Screenshot 16 May 2016

Screenshot of dot point 3 as to why you shouldn’t buy dogs from pet stores with links (hypertext).

However, they have provided a few links in some of their points as seen in the image above, yet it appears that they only have this for definitions, in case you are unsure as to what i.e. ‘purebred’ means. It’s a start, but the inclusion of more images or sound as mentioned above would definitely make this more appealing to people and would certainly make me more invested in the topic.

Group Project + Week 4 = Ideas boom!

I am one of those people that half start an idea and then completely forget about it. I think it’s just that I’m easily distracted.

Looking through my draft posts on this blog, I found a post in regards to the reading in Week 4. The ideas raised in the Week 4 readings are to be reflected in our hypermedia stories created as a group.

Hypermedia is a nonlinear medium that allows for the use of audio, video and even image to provide information to users.

It’s interesting to think of ways in which this blog is an example of a hypertext/hypermedia especially as I have included a blogroll, categories and an RSS enabling any audience to explore my blog in a way they choose. These options allow for participation that can alter the duration as well as the journey that the texts offer. Every time I post, I am altering the physical structure of my blog. Adding a link to a blog changes the structure of the text as you are guiding the user somewhere else.

My group is planning on creating a hypermedia text that leaves a message about adopting dogs rather than buying them from pet stores. Through various forms of media i.e. audio, text and images, we plan to raise awareness whilst creating a space where people can ‘choose their own adventure’ and become aware of the way animals come into danger when being sold in pet stores.

Where am I now?

This week in Networked Media I started here: www.facebook.com/

and, I ended up here: https://www.youtube.com/user/HubbleESA/featured?nohtml5=False

But why did I even bother to venture outside of the realm of Facebook?

Well, this week’s reading discusses the idea of Hypertext being an ‘open-bordered text… that cannot shut out other texts” (Landow, pg. 114) and the idea that the “supposed end and beginning of a work” does not exist, and that there are many beginnings and endings, if any.

We could say that the internet is almost a ‘choose your own adventure’ space where all you need is a brain and an internet browser.

As Hannah went around the class, many of my classmates mentioned the different places they found themselves in, I think reinforcing the idea that there is no set path on the internet. Even if we all start in the same place i.e. Facebook, we’re all bound to end up somewhere different.

But in regards to Facebook and even Twitter, I think we must also highlight the fact that they are very open in regards to their hypertext. You can really end up anywhere when using these sites, as these social mediums rely on outside ideas and spaces to run (so if we refer to my comment above about why I bothered to venture outside Facebook, this is due to the fact that I was prompted by a sponsored hyperlink on the site to take a look at Swiburne’s Astronomy Program (I was then interested in what they had to say and ended up at Hubble NASA/ESA)). A site like YouTube on the other hand has mainly videos, that link to other videos, to other videos and to other videos within the same website. Uploaders have the ability to link to external sites, but this isn’t always the case. However, often these links are hyperlinks to their own website where they sell merchandise, rather than an external article or anything alike.

We are becoming more and more connected with the world around us thanks to these hypertexts. I cannot wait to see what I will explore next!

Bibliography:

Landow, G 2006, Hypertext 3.0, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 2006. Print. 107-124