Ciao!!! with my cultural jamming report

Thank you so much for reading my New Communication Technology study project blog. Before I say good-bye to everyone, I have to write this as I promised before.


I have done another project for Art and Cultural Work study, and this was similar to the culture jamming project we were expected to do on this blog. I could not finish my culture jamming group task as I mentioned before, so I will write about this project instead.

We made a human body stencil.

We cut out a human body shape, and drew on a university wall with white chalk, like you would see a dead body shape in a crime scene. We mixed corn flour and food colouring together and poured it into balloons,

and burst them to paint over the body shape.

Personal attack, cyber bully etc... when we are abused by someone, our self esteem goes down, and we sometimes feel like it is not worth living anymore. However, whatever happens to us, it is only a matter of how we perceive it. When you think your hurt, or hurt by someone or something, it only hurts if you perceive it that way. If you tell yourself it does not hurt or matter, then you can find a way to overcome it. "Nobody can hurt me without my permission (Mahatma Ghandi)".

We hope the tragedy of Tyler Clementi who was a freshman at Rutger University in US, who recently committed suicide by jumping off a bridge after his gay sexual encounter was transmitted over the Internet, that this never ever happens again, and also hope that people who suffer from depression, especially young people, find a way to build the strength to overcome.

 

 
This is all for the blog.
Thank you so much again, and I hope you all have great fun with a world full of new communication technologies.
 
 
Bye xxxx

Essay - mobile technologies and journalism

Essay Question) Increasingly mobile devices are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalists and “citizen journalists”. Outline the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of news gathering. How might it impact on journalistic practices and news values and ethics?



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     In 1895, Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in transmitting wireless signals over more than a mile (Steinbock 2005). This was the birth of radio, and wireless technologies including mobile communications. The first mobile phone service was launched in the 1980s, since then, mobile communication have been dramatically changing our lives (Steinbock 2005). The journalism industry has also been experiencing a dramatic change on the way they gather their news sources by way of the rapid improvement of mobile communication technologies. Any news stories are now able to be delivered to individual audiences without the worry of geographical distance, and no worries about the time neither. News industries are able to gather, edit and broadcast the story by utilising mobile communications and the audiences can read, watch and comment on the news by mobile device. Interactivity of web 2.0 also brought us another phase of journalism. Citizen journalism has started spreading all over the world, and the audience has now started posting the news stories as well as professional journalists. "Anyone can register for free and within seconds you can start posting articles or comments in real time (Typeboard website)."
     This change brought by mobile communication technologies has been affecting journalism on both the positive side and the negative side. This essay examines the advantages and the disadvantages of  news gathering by mobile technologies considering the impact on journalistic practices, news values and ethics.

(photo: http://abhk899.portfolios.cutlines.org/2010/03/29/time-to-stand-up-and-be-counted/)



     New mobile communication technology has been contributing to an expansion of abilities of the contemporary journalism industry. Especially, mobile phones take a large part of the change in journalism. People can report the news over the phone live as it unfolds. This is a huge advantage to report something very quickly, before the camera crew arrive at the incidents. Moreover, most mobile phones now allow users to take audio, video, and photographs. The quality of those mobile phone recordings are now good enough to broadcast or publish, and journalists do not have to miss the moment when something happens without the proper equipment. They can also record an interview with just a tiny device without scaring people with big lighting and camera equipment with many crew members (Wynja 2010) .
     New iPhone4 made another revolution to the journalism industry as well. While the mobile phone itself is getting a huge advantage to the journalism industry, iPhone4 leads the industry with many functions and applications useful to the journalists (Wynja 2010). With iPhone4, people can record HD videos, edit videos, and with a five mega pixel front facing camera which you can see what is recording when the person holds the camera takes him/herself, and LED light to allow shooting in the dark.
     Mobile journalism has also made the newsroom more cost effective as well. Frank Barnett, the vice president of CNN Newsbeam explains "With a Mac laptop and an Internet connection (DSL, broadband, BGAN, satellite, Wi-Fi, wireless card) we can go live and file reports from almost anywhere in the world. This capability has been especially beneficial internationally, as the equipment is extremely small, lightweight and can run off car, truck or camera batteries as well as AC. Also, since some IP transmissions can be done via the Internet there is little or no incremental cost. (Digital SNG: Technology Gains Make Journalists Even More Mobile 2008) "
     Technology devices like ‘Eye-Fi’ contribute to the portability of journalists as well. Eye-Fi is a built-in wireless SD memory card for digital cameras. It can use up to 32 networks where a Wi-Fi network is available, and photos or videos recorded by the digital camera can transfer images to the specified network directory without any other communication devices (Eye-Fi 2010). With this handy memory card, photographers can quickly send their photos via Internet without using even a laptop computer. This technology is getting popular among photo journalists, as during a competitive incident such as big sporting event like the Olympics, speed of news room update is crucial in competed with all other journalists from all over the world (Faulkner 2010). Therefore, this new technology gives journalists a huge advantage.

(photo: http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/basics)

     These mobile communication technologies have made it easy for both professionals and citizen journalists to publish or broadcast their news stories, and has expand the way in how they deliver their content. This has invited many people to participate in the journalism industry, and therefore,  ethics and news value issues have become controversial. Many websites which allow anyone to contribute in writing news stories are very popular including CNN iReport and Wikinews. Oh Yoen Ho launched OhmyNews in 2000 in South Korea, with their slogan “Every citizen is a reporter”, and took a large part of challenging the existing newspapers and defeating the conservative government on their election (Bentley 2005). In Australia, there are ABC Open, The Razor in Melbourne and Typeboard using GeoMaps. These stories are submitted by unpaid volunteer citizen reporters. While many of both the audience and the journalists welcome this new movement, some traditionalists argue the issues of citizen journalism, such as The New York Times (Brown 2007).
     The tech columnist of Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg criticised as “It’s like citizen surgery … very similar” (Mossberg 2007).
     The first negative issue of the untrained citizen journalists are the objectivity, as the insider stories are often biased (McKnight 1997). The credibility without fact-checkers is another problem (Bentley 2005). When public interest is focused more, the entertainment value has often become more significant as well. For example, political reporting becomes like horse racing aspects rather than arguing their policies in depth. (McKnight 1997).
     However, professional journalists are also often criticised on their ethics. The Australian TV show ‘Media Watch’ recently pointed out that Australian Channel 9 reporter, Laura Turner cheated to make her look like she was deep in depth of flooding water by standing in a culvert (Media Watch 2010). The same show also pointed out that Channel 9 news keeps using the word ‘underbelly’ for describing ‘underworld’ to promote their own TV drama, and they even used a photo of Matthew Newton, an actor of Underbelly, to describe the real person who committed the crime called ‘Mr Asia’ (Media Watch 2010). In America, the poll found more than half of the people are not confident with news media in 2004, after CBS News reported wrongly about President George W. Bush’s Vietnam era (Gillespie 2004). However, the only way that professional journalism can compete with citizen journalism is by maintaining their credibility and authority (Brown 2007).

(Photos: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3010493.htm)



    Mobile communication technologies have changed news gathering and made it easier and faster. News industries are now able to gather, edit and broadcast the story by utilising mobile communications and the audiences can read, watch and comment on the news by mobile device. This invited citizen journalists to participate in delivering news stories, and it caused the ethics and the news values of journalism to become more controversial. The conservative, professional journalists criticised the citizen journalism while people started losing credibility in the existing media. Citizen journalism will become more mature in very near future, and it will become more and more popular, being supported by audiences who are already natural active participants in this digital world. Although citizen journalism would never wipe out the professional journalists, these journalists should aware now that they are standing on the edge. They are now required to report accurate, fair and reliable news stories more than ever to maintain their positions as a main stream of journalists.






References



Steinbock, Dan 2005, Mobile service Revolution – CNN Effect Goes Mobile, Scienece & Technology, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 6, Issue: 2, pp. 133-140, http://hy8fy9jj4b.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Mobile+Service+Revolution%3A+CNN+Effect+Goes+Mobile&rft.jtitle=Georgetown+Journal+of+International+Affairs&rft.au=Dan+Steinbock&rft.date=2005-09-30&rft.issn=1526-0054&rft.volume=6&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=133&rft.externalDBID=GJIA&rft.externalDocID=982974071)


About, Typeboard, viewed 22/10/10, http://www.typeboard.com/about/


Wynja, Nick 2010, What iPhone 4 means for Mobile Journalists, viewed 19/10/10, http://nickwynja.ca/post/674118427/what-iphone-4-means-for-mobile-journalists


Digital SNG: Technology Gains Make Journalists Even More Mobile 2005, Via Satellite, Potomac: Oct 2008, Vol. 13, Iss. 10, http://libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/pqdweb?did=1573810921&Fmt=7&clientId=13713&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Basics, Eye-Fi, viewed 20/10/10, http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/basics)


Faulkner, Heather 2010, News photography1 lectures, Griffith University, Gold Coast.

Bentley, Clyde H 2005Reconnecting with the audience: what they say--not what we think--is what counts. Neman Reports 59.4 (Winter 2005), pp.26-29, http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A141213641&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=griffith&version=1.0


Brown, Fred 2007, When the audience does the reporting: with media outlets clamouring for more ‘citizen journalism,’ who will be left as the voice of authority?, The Quill 95.2, pp.35, http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A164105294&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=griffith&version=1.0


Mossberg, Walter 2007, Wall Street Journal, American Journalism Review 29.3: 14, http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A165807319&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=griffith&version=1.0


McKnight, David 1997, Public Journalism- A response to the crisis in public life, Australian Press Council News, February 1997 vol 9, No1, viewed 20/10/10, http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/apcnews/feb97/public.html


In-depth flood coverage 2010, Media Watch, episode 32, viewed 20/10/10, http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3010493.htm


Mr Actor not Mr Asia 2010, Media Watch, episode 11, viewed 20/10/10, http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2876793.htm


Gillespie, Mark 2004, Media credibility reaches lowest point in three decades: CBS news incident latest in long history of media mistakes, The Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing, http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A125782243&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=griffith&version=1.0





Bibliography


Scott, Ben 2005, A Contemporary History of Digital Journalism, Television & News Media Vol.6 No1, http://tvn.sagepub.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/content/6/1/89.full.pdf+html


Mosco, Vincent 2009, The future of journalism, Journalism 10, pp 350, http://jou.sagepub.com/content/10/3/350


Bahnisch, Mark 2008, Theme: The public right to know – 1.Political blogging in the 2007 Australian federal election: Beyond citizen journalism and towards civic creativity, Pacific Journalism review 14(2), pp.8


New Communication Technologies lectures and tutorials 2010, Griffith University, Gold Coast.

course overall

'New Communication Technology' is a course I have been studying and why I have been posting this blog, it is for my one of the compulsory subjects I am required to study to obtain a degree as a Bachelor of Communication. I am not really a computer geek and if I had a choice, I might not have chosen this subject. However, I found it was very interesting study thinking about the range of issues surrounding new communication technology and the Internet.

The Internet is a very new media and there is not many sources or opportunities in our everyday life to comprehend overall issues, histories and philosophies regarding the Internet, but everything there is very closely related to our everyday life already. I cannot imagine a life without the Internet, and I do not think I can live in a world without the Internet, although I can live without a TV set. It is a media which takes huge part of many people's lives these days. I really enjoyed attending the lectures every week (this is not only for trying to get a better mark, honestly!). Especially the story told last week by Adam who is one of the Doctor's in our lectures, he was truly really interesting. He mentioned there is a conspiracy theory that Facebook is owned by CIA! And he pointed out the various evidence surrounding how much the CIA is funding Facebook indirectry, and the connection between other CIA funded companies. He concluded he is not sure the conspiracy theory is true of false, however, we should think about our privacy and the personal data that Facebook and other websites are collecting. This made me think a lot about the Internet.

Of course, I prefer a peaceful world. I hope the Internet is not harming us at all. However, we have to protect ourselves, and we should consider there are many risks to harm us on the Internet. It is exactly the same as we should not walk alone in the dark to go home after the work. I know that criminal people should be punished, but we have to protect ourselves as well, and we should not be silly to invite the criminals. It is sad, but that is the world we live in. I do not agree that people's private data should be controlled by commercialism, but it is the time that people should know more about how we can protect ourselves from the risks of the Internet. Journalists are very responsible and can educate people more and bring these issues out and help us all focus more. The government is also responsible to ensure young children are educated at school as well.


Anyway, this is the last post to write everything frankly, and the next post will be an academic essay to finish this blog. Thank you so much for reading my blog, and I hope we all have a great future with the new communication technologies!

Cheers.

cultural jamming group project - continued from week 5 task

We were given a task to conduct a cultural jamming project with a group of our classmates (see this my previous post - cultural jamming ideas - week 5 task). However, the project fell apart........ I have not seen some members of the group for a while in the tutorials, so we decided to do the project by ourselves, individually. Originally, we were going to spread a rumor that someone found a gold nugget at the construction site across the road of our university, and create a discussion using a facebook groups, who should own the gold. It is very unfortunate, but I guess the life is tough!


So I have decided to report my project for another course as a part of my cultural jamming assignment. I am studying 'Art and Cultural Practices' as well, and we are going to have a stencil project on 9/10/10. I know it is a little bit too late for the due date of the marking of this blog posting assignment, but I thought it is better than nothing to provide for this cultural jamming project.


I am going to place dead body stencils, like we see body shapes on the ground drawn by a chalk in a cop shows. My partner (of this project ) and I are thinking to draw on the pedestrian crossings, beaches, cliffs etc. We are also going to use many different materials such as human hair, blood like red fluid and slime.

This is to send messages about risks, dangers, deaths and lives of our society.

I will report this project as soon as possible!



Meanwhile, I conducted research related to our original project instead, to avoid getting a late submission penalty for the cultural jamming project.


In Australia, people have a right to own the surface of the land, but we cannot own under the ground. If we find gold, hot springs, oil or any valuable mineral resources, the local state government have rights to own them. The owner of the land have absolutely no rights to own anything underneath the ground. Not only that, the government normally try to pressure you to move out the property if access to those resources is required. They say the arrangement and compensation must be agreed by both parties, however, if they cannot reach to the agreement, they simply take it to the court (Land holders rights, access arrangements and compensation under the Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991, viewed 7/10/10, http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/minerals/titles/landholders-rights/petroleum_onshore_act_1991). So you might be able to get a better arrangement at the court, but it does not sound like you cannot insist to stay there.

Is that really fair????  Are we living in a communism country to share all the assets among the all nation? Why does the owner have to be forced to move away for the benefit of the country? Is the right of the human really lighter than the assetts of the nation?
On the other hand, in a few other countries including USA, you can own the land and the mineral rights (Mineral Rights, geology.com, viewed 7/10/10, http://geology.com/articles/mineral-rights.shtml). I loooove a US TV drama called 'Brothers and Sisters', and the last episode of the season 4 which broadcast in June 2010 here in Australia was about finding water resources on their land after the family business had gone broke (episode recap from abc.com: http://abc.go.com/shows/brothers-and-sisters/episode-guide/on-the-road-again/439852?page=2). They can do it there. If they found that the land had water beneath it, they own the right of the water as well. Same as Japan. People often find a hot spring under their personal property in Japan and they can make a fortune. However, their right is sometimes limited in the metropolitan area, and they can only own up to forty metre deep, so that underground public facilities like subways can be built (土地所有権は地球の裏側まであるか?, viewed 7/10/10, http://www.tyu1.com/korya13.htm).

What is fair to the nation? What is fair to people? What is the best way to set the mineral rights?


It is a very interesting argument. What do you think?

essay topic - week 9 task

Now we have to write an essay by week 12, October 22nd. We have to choose one from these six essay topics:

1. Discuss the impact of TWO of the following figures on the development of digital technologies and digital culture: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, William Gibson, Kevin Mitnick, Alan Turing, Ray Kurzweil, J.C.R. Licklider, Douglas Engelbart.
2. Explain what Creative Commons is and, using examples, show how it is different to other forms of copyright.
   
   
3. Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users? Discuss with reference to at least ONE social network service (or other web2.0 service).
4. Is the “virtual community” (Rheingold, 1993) a useful way of understanding contemporary online life? Discuss using one example of an online community OR a video game world (Virtual community is not to be confused with a “social network” site).
5. How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?
6. Increasingly mobile devices are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalists and “citizen journalists”. Outline the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of news gathering. How might it impact on journalistic practices and news values and ethics?

No 2 and 6 are both very interesting to me, but I think I am going to choose number six question about the mobile journalism. As a photojournalism and media study student, it is a very interesting discussion. The photographer does not even require a laptop computer to send their high quality images to editors these days, as there are mobile devices which allow their images to send from their cameras directly to the Internet. I heard the media rooms of the big sporting events are getting smaller and smaller as editors do not have to be on the actual sites anymore. These mobile tools of the journalists are changing the world in many different dimensions.

Mobile communication tools, such as mobile phones and laptop computers have been making the journalism world totally different. Many news channels on the TV are now showing the footage captured by these mobile devices. Do you remember this video when we had a Tusnami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka on the Boxing day( December 26th) in  2004?





The people who were enjoying their Christmas holiday at the resort took this footage with her personal video camera, and this video was broadcast all over the world. I remember I saw it so many times on our local TV stations. This kind of footage, being right there on the natural disaster, is almost impossible to capture by the professional journalists. There is a huge advantage on citizen journalism when something like this happens.

Because of web2.0 and interactive Internet abilities, citizen journalism which is the news stories posted by everyday people have been getting very popular.

I have to do research about a few famous websites of citizen journalism such as CNN iReport (http://ireport.cnn.com/) to start with. Then I have to find a few academic journals arguing citizen journalism, and find out the pros and cons about news from non professional people.

I might have to define journalism and professionalism as well.


Well, I will post my essay on this blog before the due day, so see you soon in a couple weeks!!