The wiki is completed. This was not an easy feat. The programme is flawed and frustrating.
When we were creating our pages things would randomly change themselves, wiki was teasing us and we were not amused!
I very much enjoyed finding the images to put on the wiki to go with our text. i think that my strengths for this project certainly lie in this area. Im very happy with the end result. The wiki is slick. It is clear, concise and the content is intelligent and intresting. This project was not easy. I think that myself and the rest of the group found it difficult to get our heads around the conept of the project brief in terms of how we were going to approach and explore the subject of identity and also how to use the technology available to us.
However once we decided what themes and issues around identity we were going to cover and got into deciding the colours and the layout in the wiki the project became much more enjoyable.
I am happy to have done this project as i feel its of the up most importance that we get to grips with new media, both technology and the different creative and journalistic avenues the medium alows.
Sunday, 9 December 2007
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Monday, 3 December 2007
love the media guardian......
In our class today the discussion led to the way which journalism is changing today. Much of the class thought that in the future newspapers will become extinct. An future i found my reaction to be one quite sad and scary.
On my way home i decided to buy a copy of the Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror and The Indipendent. I wanted to weigh up what i get from a newspaper. Is it better to hold the material object one buys rather than clicking through the internet version for free?
I found my reaction to be what i thought before. Although the papers content is news and comment in many ways i think them to be artistic objects. I see the all important factors of text, image and layout are representational of a social cultural comment. One in which the newspaper one buys can only truly transgress. For example The Guardians amazing daily 2 page photograph center piece, supplement magazines, recipe cards and posters. With all these extras as well as the process of reading through the paper itself i believe one is getting a sensual experience as well as just absorbing the information.
The process of reading the papers over breakfast, on a sunday in the pub with a roast....Surely not nearly as enjoyable online?
On my way home i decided to buy a copy of the Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror and The Indipendent. I wanted to weigh up what i get from a newspaper. Is it better to hold the material object one buys rather than clicking through the internet version for free?
I found my reaction to be what i thought before. Although the papers content is news and comment in many ways i think them to be artistic objects. I see the all important factors of text, image and layout are representational of a social cultural comment. One in which the newspaper one buys can only truly transgress. For example The Guardians amazing daily 2 page photograph center piece, supplement magazines, recipe cards and posters. With all these extras as well as the process of reading through the paper itself i believe one is getting a sensual experience as well as just absorbing the information.
The process of reading the papers over breakfast, on a sunday in the pub with a roast....Surely not nearly as enjoyable online?
Monday, 19 November 2007
Gender online
Im really intrested in the concept of online gender changes, how people like to represent themselves as the opposit sex whilst on the interenet. I wonder if those who choose to go out in drag stay in in drag. In terms of exploring the concept of identitity i feel this could be a fruitful path to go down. I recently spoke to a friend whos ex boyfriend from New York was performing in his all gay electro group in London this month. This mand made his rent money however not by being in a band but by pretending to be a girl on online 'sexy' chat rooms, talking to straight men who log on wanting female prevocative conversation. This lead me to think about sexuality and how indoviuals represeent themselves online and off. i want to do some academic reading on the subject, starting off with Judith Butler and her work on Queer Theory.
Virtual worlds
We have been discussing in class the concept of virtaul worlds. Nigel has shown us the site Second Life. I found this facinating and almost unbelieveable, how people choose to spend vast amounts of money in online worlds in fantastical realities. I personally would never get involved with such a programme and would think those who do rather odd. However after are group discussion the argument was put that such sites are ideal for those are physically or mentally unable to leave the house or step into physical social situations. These sites enable such indoviduals to live another kind of life communicating with like-minded people or creating identities for themselves which they would never be able to appear as in a physical exsitance outside the internet. I wondered after this lesson if there were othersites similar to Second Life and happily fell apon an article in this saturdays Guardian which highlights the way money is spent on them:
Screen grabbers - crime hits the digital frontier
As a teenager is arrested for stealing pixels, Victor Keegan reports on the rise of the 3-D 'virtual worlds' that could transform the way we work, play, shop and communicate
Victor Keegan The Guardian Saturday November 17 2007 A 17-year-old Dutch teenager was arrested this week on suspicion of stealing furniture worth £2,800 from a hotel room. Four other teenagers were also questioned about the offence. It is believed they moved the stolen furniture into their own hotel rooms. Such a minor incident might not have merited a paragraph in the local paper had it not been for one extraordinary detail of the case: the crime happened not in real life but in a "virtual" hotel in the three-dimensional world Habbo Hotel, a children's game that only exists on the internet.
It was of interest to the police not just because it was the first time it had happened in the Netherlands but because the currency used in the virtual world - Habbo credits - is exchangeable for cash: a real crime had been committed in a virtual world, in this case by hacking into the accounts of other users.
This is not an isolated incident. Virtual worlds are becoming the next big thing as the internet evolves into three dimensions. Some pundits predict they will be as important as the industrial revolution. Entropia Universe, the Swedish virtual world, which had a turnover of $365m last year - and will soon become the first virtual world to be floated on the stock market - already enables users around the world to draw down money earned inside the game at ordinary cash dispensers. It is still a puzzle to many people how virtual goods that have no existence outside the computer code that generates them can be worth real money. But anything has value if people are prepared to pay for it.
I have a link now on my blog which contains the rest of the article....
Screen grabbers - crime hits the digital frontier
As a teenager is arrested for stealing pixels, Victor Keegan reports on the rise of the 3-D 'virtual worlds' that could transform the way we work, play, shop and communicate
Victor Keegan The Guardian Saturday November 17 2007 A 17-year-old Dutch teenager was arrested this week on suspicion of stealing furniture worth £2,800 from a hotel room. Four other teenagers were also questioned about the offence. It is believed they moved the stolen furniture into their own hotel rooms. Such a minor incident might not have merited a paragraph in the local paper had it not been for one extraordinary detail of the case: the crime happened not in real life but in a "virtual" hotel in the three-dimensional world Habbo Hotel, a children's game that only exists on the internet.
It was of interest to the police not just because it was the first time it had happened in the Netherlands but because the currency used in the virtual world - Habbo credits - is exchangeable for cash: a real crime had been committed in a virtual world, in this case by hacking into the accounts of other users.
This is not an isolated incident. Virtual worlds are becoming the next big thing as the internet evolves into three dimensions. Some pundits predict they will be as important as the industrial revolution. Entropia Universe, the Swedish virtual world, which had a turnover of $365m last year - and will soon become the first virtual world to be floated on the stock market - already enables users around the world to draw down money earned inside the game at ordinary cash dispensers. It is still a puzzle to many people how virtual goods that have no existence outside the computer code that generates them can be worth real money. But anything has value if people are prepared to pay for it.
I have a link now on my blog which contains the rest of the article....
Not having the interet at home has lead to a terrible neglet of blogging on m part, I feel very guilty towards it and my project and have now made a solom oath to myself to jump aboard this blogging train and bring some interesting research and reflections to those who fall apun it. I think that im in a very strong group for this project and am desparate not to let the others down by submitting a week blog at the end of the project against what im sure will turn out to be a user-friendly stylish and informative wiki.
Although I have not been online I have however been collecting bits and bobs here and there that I felt would be intresting in terms of my blog and the project in general. in class we have been discussing our themes of identity and community, much focus has been on online social networks such as facebook and myspace.
The Observer newspaper each Sunday include section of The New York Time to give British readers an idea of what news and debate is being discussed on the other side of the
pond. On Sunday the 4th 2007 the headline for this supliment was ‘Fame Game, Now in Flux’. The dialogue is on a 26 year old Tila Tequila who has 1,771,920 friends on MySpace and is the subject of a reality TV show despite lacking any any discernible talent. “because of new technologies we get to see now what happens when people have the option of making up their own celebrity…we have gone from ‘OH my God, thery’re so much better than I am’ to ‘ Oh my God they’re so good at making themselves up’” .
The article argues that its routine to dismiss such people as Tequila and complain about ow much culture has sunk, Tequila is a caricature, an almost imagined identity. Such a persona will be interesting for my group to look at as part of our project is going to be focusing on online personalities and identity's in a postmodern context. Tequila i think we can say is very postmodern. Such identities are ripe foe academic study and comprehension.
Although I have not been online I have however been collecting bits and bobs here and there that I felt would be intresting in terms of my blog and the project in general. in class we have been discussing our themes of identity and community, much focus has been on online social networks such as facebook and myspace.
The Observer newspaper each Sunday include section of The New York Time to give British readers an idea of what news and debate is being discussed on the other side of the
pond. On Sunday the 4th 2007 the headline for this supliment was ‘Fame Game, Now in Flux’. The dialogue is on a 26 year old Tila Tequila who has 1,771,920 friends on MySpace and is the subject of a reality TV show despite lacking any any discernible talent. “because of new technologies we get to see now what happens when people have the option of making up their own celebrity…we have gone from ‘OH my God, thery’re so much better than I am’ to ‘ Oh my God they’re so good at making themselves up’” .
The article argues that its routine to dismiss such people as Tequila and complain about ow much culture has sunk, Tequila is a caricature, an almost imagined identity. Such a persona will be interesting for my group to look at as part of our project is going to be focusing on online personalities and identity's in a postmodern context. Tequila i think we can say is very postmodern. Such identities are ripe foe academic study and comprehension.
Not having the interet at home has lead to a terrible neglet of blogging on m part, I feel very guilty towards it and my project and have now made a solom oath to myself to jump aboard this blogging train and bring some interesting research and reflections to those who fall apun it. I think that im in a very strong group for this project and am desparate not to let the others down by submitting a week blog at the end of the project against what im sure will turn out to be a user-friendly stylish and informative wiki.
Although I have not been online I have however been collecting bits and bobs here and there that I felt would be intresting in terms of my blog and the project in general. in class we have been discussing our themes of identity and community, much focus has been on online social networks such as facebook and myspace.
The Observer newspaper each Sunday include section of The New York Time to give British readers an idea of what news and debate is being discussed on the other side of the
pond. On Sunday the 4th 2007 the headline for this supliment was ‘Fame Game, Now in Flux’. The dialogue is on a 26 year old Tila Tequila who has 1,771,920 friends on MySpace and is the subject of a reality TV show despite lacking any any discernible talent. “because of new technologies we get to see now what happens when people have the option of making up their own celebrity…we have gone from ‘OH my God, thery’re so much better than I am’ to ‘ Oh my God they’re so good at making themselves up’” .
The article argues that its routine to dismiss such people as Tequila and complain about ow much culture has sunk, Tequila is a caricature, an almost imagined identity. Such a persona will be interesting for my group to look at as part of our project is going to be focusing on online personalities and identity's in a postmodern context. Tequila i think we can say is very postmodern. Such identities are ripe foe academic study and comprehension.
Although I have not been online I have however been collecting bits and bobs here and there that I felt would be intresting in terms of my blog and the project in general. in class we have been discussing our themes of identity and community, much focus has been on online social networks such as facebook and myspace.
The Observer newspaper each Sunday include section of The New York Time to give British readers an idea of what news and debate is being discussed on the other side of the
pond. On Sunday the 4th 2007 the headline for this supliment was ‘Fame Game, Now in Flux’. The dialogue is on a 26 year old Tila Tequila who has 1,771,920 friends on MySpace and is the subject of a reality TV show despite lacking any any discernible talent. “because of new technologies we get to see now what happens when people have the option of making up their own celebrity…we have gone from ‘OH my God, thery’re so much better than I am’ to ‘ Oh my God they’re so good at making themselves up’” .
The article argues that its routine to dismiss such people as Tequila and complain about ow much culture has sunk, Tequila is a caricature, an almost imagined identity. Such a persona will be interesting for my group to look at as part of our project is going to be focusing on online personalities and identity's in a postmodern context. Tequila i think we can say is very postmodern. Such identities are ripe foe academic study and comprehension.
Sunday, 28 October 2007
This week the lady's in my group joined forces on monday to discuss our chosen subject for the project identity. We have been intrested in exploring the ideas surrounding pseudonyme's in blogs, their credibility and possibilities they create for the blogger. Were also intrested in how and why people construct an identity on myspace or facebook, to understand this further we thought of createing a fake 6th group member and to create a page for them on these social netwoking sites and to measure how and why they could make friends when not actually physically exsisting in the real world.
After last monday's lesson wher nigel introduced us to the second life phenomena id like to know if there are similar website to this, if the concept of second life is going to grow with multiple websites each offering a different type of virtual world to live in. Being the dedicated media student i am if have noticed that Digitalisaton and the power of the internet was repeatedly mentioned in this weeks papers, in monays media section of the Indipendant the main article was an interview with Helen Boden who is head of news at the BBC. The corporation has recently announced hundreds of job cutsdue to the decision to scale down in the process of "necessairy modernisation". Questions over the quality of the news content have been asked, but it is the speed and power of the the ever evolving internet technology which forces these decisions to be made.
Another internet sea change to develop this week was written about in wednsdays Guardian wher they reported that "This online revolution could finally give journalism its place in history". Many of Britains top newspapers including The Economist, The Times, The Observer and the Guardian will be creating online archieves of their papers text over the past hundred years or in some cases going back longer. Such a resourse is an icredible revolution. Another step in Britains technological acievements making news past and present ever more readily available at the click of a button.
Im looking forward into getting stuckinto the project this week, its difficult not having internet at home so again now im writing in a friends bedroom where you can only get online in a certain corner staeling from the videoshop next door. Even in Lodon one of the most connected online spots in the world wi fi is not a option for everyone. Again pushing the question of the gap between our ever 'developed' and 'developing' world. I cant help thinking that in many ways the internet is running away with us all.....hummm enough blogging for today!
After last monday's lesson wher nigel introduced us to the second life phenomena id like to know if there are similar website to this, if the concept of second life is going to grow with multiple websites each offering a different type of virtual world to live in. Being the dedicated media student i am if have noticed that Digitalisaton and the power of the internet was repeatedly mentioned in this weeks papers, in monays media section of the Indipendant the main article was an interview with Helen Boden who is head of news at the BBC. The corporation has recently announced hundreds of job cutsdue to the decision to scale down in the process of "necessairy modernisation". Questions over the quality of the news content have been asked, but it is the speed and power of the the ever evolving internet technology which forces these decisions to be made.
Another internet sea change to develop this week was written about in wednsdays Guardian wher they reported that "This online revolution could finally give journalism its place in history". Many of Britains top newspapers including The Economist, The Times, The Observer and the Guardian will be creating online archieves of their papers text over the past hundred years or in some cases going back longer. Such a resourse is an icredible revolution. Another step in Britains technological acievements making news past and present ever more readily available at the click of a button.
Im looking forward into getting stuckinto the project this week, its difficult not having internet at home so again now im writing in a friends bedroom where you can only get online in a certain corner staeling from the videoshop next door. Even in Lodon one of the most connected online spots in the world wi fi is not a option for everyone. Again pushing the question of the gap between our ever 'developed' and 'developing' world. I cant help thinking that in many ways the internet is running away with us all.....hummm enough blogging for today!
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Blog number 1!
After a school week of pondering over this blogging buinsness saturday morning has arrived and im finally read to enter the "blogosphere"! I have been forsed out of my flat this morning by drunkard dirty housemates and have escaped to the sancury that is also my workplace hoxton square bar and kitchen. The bar is a dark sweaty laberinth of boozing east enders at night yet by day all those arty media types wonder in for coffee and fill the space with a sea of apple macs illustarting photoshopping and flashing. Opting for a public area to be creative in instead of sitting at home the east end bar/coffee house commuity reminds me of the impressionis in the turn of the 19th century post enlightnments children, yet instead of sipping at the absenth here most go for a macchiato!
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