Being a third year Media student, it has come to my acknowledgement for some time now that the world of media is a highly dynamic, ever changing place. When I started my first step on my way of being a media practitioner in 2018, I got to experience the world of media from the very first steps, and considered these steps to be the baby steps. Learning from the basics like video editing to experiencing more specialised aspects of media like film-making or news production consolidates my initial, although vague, thought of the media world is one of varieties. I also got to experience opportunities in the industry in my own country of Vietnam, from news to television production, which was eye-opening with valuable experiences. I am an experience-driven individual and love to learn a new thing or two.

I bring that always-ready-to-tackle-new-challenges mentality into my last year of the Bachelor degree, with Networked Media being my first selection for an elective this semester. The course tempted me most because of a simple but problematic word: “platform”. Half way through my first year of uni, I had my first opportunity in the sport journalism field during World Cup 2018. The site I worked for content wise was essentially one of the presses, but on paper it called itself a “social media platform”. This clash of platform was confusing for me. While it might be a way to get around with regulations and licenses, this experience made me question the lack of distinction of the online network. In other words, to put it into a proper question, is the form of network that important in an online media environment? I feel the course will help me come up with some kind of an answer. About that site, it has not lived up to expectation and might be closed down soon, especially if the coronavirus pandemic gets even worse. I wonder if the platform issue that I have questioned might have a role to be played there.

The course’s prompt focuses on Instagram, which I find to be really amusing. I think discussing about Instagram would be worth a blog itself, and of course the blogs will slowly contribute to answering that question. It would be interesting to focus on the affordances of Instagram as this would focus on many aspects. On the top of my mind: images, texts, hash tags, stories, advert (potentially). Hopefully I could come into understanding this concept more in the past few weeks to draw up a better discussion. After all, this is the introduction, a fresh start of something new for me to learn.

The reading provided for this week has one point that stands out for me: software overall and software studies are somewhat undermined. There are many points in the reading where the authors discuss of the lack studies that have been done on various scales and matters regarding software studies. I find this to be rather surprising as we have come to the age where technology is one of the most important aspects of life. Considering how long essential applications such as PowerPoint have been around, it is really surprising. Another interesting point that makes me consider is “software is also an evolving part of culture.” (2017, p.3). It is interesting how Instagram is now one of the most significant apps for photo sharing. Did that change how photos are produced and share? I think that would be the case as people would look into finessing specific components and ways to share photos. In other words, it is more problematic to share a photo as the photo itself, the comments, the hash tags and many other aspects would play a part in producing culture. And maybe vice versa. In the end, I guess the only factor that is eternally benefited is our creativity.

Reference

Khoo, E, Hight, C, Torrens, R & Cowie, B 2017, ‘Introduction: Software and other Literacies’, Software Literacy: Education and Beyond, pp. 1-12.