RWAV Blog: Week 3 & 4 (and maybe a little bit of Week 2) – The Demo

As the Room with a View studio begins to really kick off with groups formed and demo’s being recorded, I thought I would reflect so far on how the class has been going and the demo my group recorded.

This task asked us to get together in the studio and record a full hour of a show so that we could reflect on our work and practice before the real live show as a group and in our specific roles. It was great to finally get together and practice using a run sheet that would be similar to the one for the live show. It allowed us to have a play around with song choices, ways we present and stings/promos we could use. The intro was also played many times to practice how long it needed to be played for on the actual day. Of course, I have never presented with Dusty before nor worked with her so ultimately  this demo session was important for us to work out how we communicate with each other whilst on air i.e. hand signals or live updating of the script. It was also an important time for Rose to work out how exactly to panel operate and to ensure the running sheet was adequately filled with promos and stings so that it could be templated for our actual show.

At this stage, we were still finalising our interviewee’s so instead, we interviewed each other. In week 2, in order to get ahead so that we were not snowed under with other commitments, we attempted to get our demo done and dusted. Only issue was that I had to leave early and we rushed too much into it… therefore didn’t have a proper working run sheet. In this circumstance, Liv filled in for my presenting role for the rest of the session so that Rose could practice panel operating.

From here in Week 3, we went on to record our demo with a working run sheet and script. However, as the hour was over, we realised that audacity had recorded the show going live to air, rather than our pre-recorded show. At this point, we were all feeling pretty exhausted after having just done what we thought, was a perfect show.  However, we knew that the demo just had to be completed so we did it then and there again. I think what we learnt from this process was that it’s important to ALWAYS test everything required before the show, something I will definitely think about when recording my interview. I think this also did us some favours as we were able to have an extra live session together before the real live show, allowing us to start to understand deeper into how we all work and how the show might actually turn out. I think Dusty and I started becoming quite good friends at this point which obviously helps with on air chemistry. This time Liv had to leave early but being the in the producing role, this wasn’t such a big deal as a lot of her work is about the pre-live show i.e. organising interviews etc.

At the end of the day we knew there were a few things we had to work on. This included ensuring that Dusty and I balanced out questions so that one of us doesn’t take TOO much of the lead during an interview. It’s sometimes difficult when you get caught up in the moment of the interview and continuously ask questions to find that the last 5 questions have been from the same presenter. This will be fixed for the live show by ensuring that Dusty and I sit in a way that allows us to both see each other and the interviewee so that we can communicate with each other i.e. with eye contact + hand gestures.

You can find annotations on the more technical issues and things that went well on the demo recorded under my username ‘sammyscrammy’, as well as any other comments left by my teammates. Here: https://soundcloud.com/user-960295125/rwav-demo or see embed link below. 

I’m really looking forward to doing my individual interview and the live show!

Week 8 is here.

This week in class we discussed the ideas around Online Privacy. Now that we are all venturing into our own communities and exploring ways in which we can interact with people within them, it’s important to remember how our comments can come back to us.

In regards to my community, the main space I use is Facebook. Because I use a Facebook group to interact with fellow Wentworth fans, my name is over every action or word. I need to be careful about my actions as they could potentially come across incorrectly, causing detrimental effects to my current life and future aspirations.

Whilst some extreme cases of issues surrounding online privacy were mentioned in class, I think it’s important to consider them as they remind us as to what can really happen.

One girl mentioned the fact that a woman had tweeted a very racist comment before getting on a flight to Africa, and once she had landed, the tweet had gone viral and she was met with journalists and reporters at the airport.

I will ensure that whatever I do post is still in line with RMIT’s guidelines and it’s something that I would be happy for others to see if it were to be leaked.

 

Reading Week 2 – Network Literacy

The reading for Week 2 in Networked Media made me really consider the way the world is changing. Because of the fact that we are becoming more technological than ever before, we can begin to compare the old ways of finding a categorised book in a library to finding information on blogs and being able to categorise information.

It fascinates me that there is this term ‘network literacy‘. You would think that it means that one is literate in computers (understanding the functions of a computer). But in actual fact, network literacy is the ability to participate in various networks that we can share knowledge through. It’s an understanding of the “logics or protocols of these networks” (Miles, pg. 26). It includes a basic comprehension of network identities, privacy settings and communities.

This idea reminds me of Twitter and the ability to use hashtags. I am a huge user of Twitter and I find that I have definitely been able to voice my opinions over the years with hashtags. I’ve even had photos posted and retweeted several hundred times, as my opinion is shared by many. Screen Shot 2016-03-11 at 12.19.20 PM

Hashtags allow any user within the network to comment on a particular topic, allowing any type of person to comment on something. These people don’t necessarily have to be professors in the area but just need some sort of opinion on a topic.

In order for me to become more network literate, I have decided that I want to further comprehend information filters within various networks. This will enable me to assess and interpret the quality of various information I find more efficiently, allowing my blog posts to become a lot more concise and to the point.

Often it is easy to trust any site that you Google, but I think it’s important to use my resources through university, my fellow peers or preferred blogs as often their ideas will be more precise, or more creative.

As Adrian Miles states, it’s important to use tags to catalogue different works. This makes it very easy for others to roam through your blog to find information they are after and also makes a blog become a part of a wider community of users who also tag posts of similarity. This allows you to become a part of a broader community of users.

Week 2 Reading: Miles, Adrian. Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge [online]. Screen Education, No. 45, 2007: 24-30.

Featured Image from: https://blogs.extension.org/militaryfamilies/files/2011/09/netlit_wordcloud.png

Reading Week 1 – Why do we blog?

After a bit of printing and highlighting I have now been able to understand why the use of blog’s at RMIT is so important to my studies.

Blogs can be used like a journal or diary as an educational tool that allows us to reflect on ideas or to record progress in certain activities or creation exercises.

I think that it is so important that I continue to use my media blog throughout my degree as it is a public document that showcases my folio of work. It also enables me to become a part of the “larger community” (Miles, pg. 67) whenever I contribute/others comment on my work.

Blogs allow for anyone to become the “publisher” (Miles, pg. 66) rather than an “author of a single or even a series of web pages”. It allows me to have a public space where I can write whatever I want within reason, having a balance between a scholarly and conversational voice.

It’s vital that in this day and age, we are taught about using online spaces like blogs. We are moving towards an incredibly technological age where nearly everything is now online. Keeping a blog allows me to develop my online media skills and potentially gives me a leg up against those who don’t have the same skill set as me.

I am not 100% sure as to the direction that I want this blogroll to go in as I am interested in a lot of things. I absolutely love music, theatre and travel to name a few things, so I am hoping that my blog will head in this direction. I am also heavily involved in social media, so I will be writing a little bit about my experiences online as they will relate to my Networked Media class.

Week 1 Reading: Miles, Adrian. Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning [online]. Screen Education, No. 43, 2006: 66-69.

RMIT Student Charter

http://www1.rmit.edu.au/staff/studentadmin/studentcharter

Keeping in touch with the RMIT Student Charter, I will be posting quality work that reflects my respect for all students and staff alike at RMIT. I will also keep in mind the responsibility I have to keep my blog safe and respectable as it is a personal folio of my work.

/ Media 1 – Seminar 5 – Practice with Video Cameras /

Above is an unedited video of the video camera practice we had before using them for our next assessment (Self Portrait on another person).

Here we experimented with using the tripod (both stable and moving) and handheld (including zoom).

It was a great way for me to learn how to use the camera as I have not used many in my lifetime and this one seems extra extravagant.

 

What’s the difference between a selfie and a self-portrait?

A selfie and a self-portrait are both expressions of oneself created by a person. They both can be completely valid and true to the person but can also be false as it is very simple for one to change an aspect of themselves to please others/make themselves look better.

Having read the article about the rise of selfie-taking – BBC: News Magazine article on ‘Selfies’, it has come to my attention that our generation is becoming more self-confident and perhaps at times, a little narcissistic. But who doesn’t love a bit of self-confidence? After all, isn’t that what we seek? To be proud of the way we look/who we are?

I have always had self-confidence issues. Haven’t we all? It’s hard living in a society where there are many images projected in the media of ‘perfect’ women with ‘perfect’ bodies/hair/personalities… you name it. So I wouldn’t say that selfie-taking is a bad thing. I’m glad people are beginning to appreciate the way they look and have the confidence to take a photo of themselves. Everyone should be happy in their own skin!

Now ever since I found out about what a selfie was, I have been taking them nearly every day. The article mentions that the likes of Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Justin Bieber take selfies proving that it has become a world-wide phenomenon where even the most popular people within a society are following the trend. and  I don’t particularly see myself as very self-confident. I take selfies because I like to share information with my family and friends on apps like ‘Instagram’ of where I am at/who I’m with etc. They “invite us to photograph on the spur of the moment, regardless of location or company” thus proving that they are an easy way of sharing information to friends and family without having to write any text. It is also an incredibly unique way of sharing information as there does not have to be any text involved for others to understand the image “a picture paints a thousand words”.

The article mentions that selfies “tells other people how we want to be seen” however I believe that is completely up to the ‘poster’ of the selfie. I will post any (appropriate) image whether I am smiling or making a funny face. I do not try to differ my ‘online identity’ from my ‘real identity’ as I believe that it is important and healthy to be who you are always as creating false identities can create issues.

The article also mentions ‘sexting’ and how selfies are related to this. Again it depends on the type of selfie that is taken. Obviously if there is nudity then that will create issues, however if an individual takes a ‘selfie’ of oneself smiling (fully clothed) and sends it to a friend, that can be hardly classified as sexting as there is no form of ‘nudity’ within the image.

For me it is perhaps not the photo but the captions/comments that come with the selfie. But that takes me off the topic of the photo itself.

To conclude, I believe that both self-portraits and selfies are the same thing as it is completely up to the individual as to how they wish to be seen in both cases.

Thanks for reading!

Peace xoxo