UOW

Media Ownership & Citizen Journalism Prezi

Link ~ ~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

Media Ownership & Citizen Journalism Prezi

Because of tools such as twitter and Facebook, we can receive an almost live stream of information about current events, whether it be the riots of Ukraine, or the process of your mum cooking dinner. Twitter is a tool that allows for citizen journalism, but, it can have positive and negative impacts towards the modern day journalism. Can it be considered as a primary source of information? Is everything we see on twitter actually true? Things need to be questioned. Question Citizen Journalism with the hashtag #BloodyCourseMaterial

ABC Video

Promotions that fans love.. Transmedia Stories

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Transmedia is a principle involved with books and movies, basically anything that has a narrative. Henry Jenkins explains that “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” Henry Jenkins (2007). Transmedia creates synergy across different platforms to work together and provide the audience with a good story, you can’t just “copy and paste” (Jezam Interactive) the content across platforms. But how does this concept work through The Pirate Bay?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll be aware that The Pirate Bay is a torrenting website, and it’s through this torrenting that transmedia takes place. People can upload and download whatever media they want, which can expand their potential audience, and it’s this factor that makes The Pirate Bay so amazing. If enough people seed a particular torrent, people will notice and think “What’s all this fuss about?” and they may or may not be urged by their curiosity to download and watch it. Seeding not only allows for it’s potential audience to grow, but it gives access to those that want it. It can also be seen as “…basically a new promotional strategy” (Jenkins Henry 2010) . If people want the media for a potential narrative, whether it be the original content, or fan-made content expanding on the particular show’s ‘universe’.

Jezam Interactive explains how transmedia creates synergy across platforms

The Pirate Bay’s search feature allows you to find more stories, some you may not even be aware of, and allow you to access and download it. Webisodes are a great example, they’re an extension of a tv show, usually about a topic that’s interesting to the big fans, but not as important or relevant enough to fit into a normal episode, or maybe they just explain a story behind a particular character. As a big fan of ‘The Office’ (US version, because let’s face it, the UK just doesn’t cut it), I was trying to download a copy of the latest episode, and found all these Webisodes! I could not be happier. Here’s my favourite Webisode from The Office, if you’re not a fan of the show, it probably won’t make much sense. All you need to know, is that Kevin has a relatively low IQ and likes to eat.

The Pirate Bay creates these databases for each story, and allows people to access whatever part of the story they desire, and they’ll always be there, unless of course the website eventually get’s taken down. This principle of accessibility is one of the many reasons why The Pirate Bay is so popular, you can get what you want, when you want. You can go on the website for one thing, and leave with something completely different. It creates fanbases for every type of media, and can be arguably one of the reasons why some tv shows have so many fans internationally.

Sources:

Jenkins Henry, 2011, Seven Myths About Transmedia Storytelling Debunked, Fast Company, Weblog, 8th April, Viewed 21/4/2014, <http://www.fastcompany.com/1745746/seven-myths-about-transmedia-storytelling-debunked >

Jenkins Henry, 2007, Transmedia Storytelling 101, The Confessions of an Aca-fan, Weblog,  22nd March, Viewed 20/4/2014, <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html >

No Name, No Year, What is Transmedia?, Jezam Interactive, Weblog, No Date, Viewed 20/4/2014 <http://jezaminteractive.com/what-is-transmedia/ >

Who Is Justice Beaver?

~ jakepascoe ~ 4 Comments

ImageAs i’m sure you’re all aware, Justice Beaver is a crime fighting beaver from Canada, and has managed to stop most crime in his country. In all seriousness, Justin Bieber is a 20 year old from Canada, and almost every week has an exclusive news piece about him. He’s a popular media figure to talk about, because of all the childish things he does, and how immature he still acts. He has millions of followers called ‘beliebers’ who treat him like some sort of gospel, so he’s constantly looked up to as a role model.

You can argue that having a popular figure in the media is both positive and negative. Popular figures can make good role models for young and impressionable kids, but it depends on the celebrities lifestyle. If they have a particular negative lifestyle, involving negative aspects such as drugs and violence, they’ll have an impact on the people that look up to them. And this can be seen as part of the reason of ‘What’s wrong with kids these days?’.

For my topic, i’ve chosen to talk about Justin Bieber, and the impacts he has in the media. We see every week how much mischief he’s been up to, whether it be spitting on fans, or getting arrested. One of the most famous examples of how Bieber has impacted people from the media is the ‘Cut For Bieber’ that a lot of teenagers participated in. While Bieber had no act in the trend, because of his popularity and drug smoking habits, it was thought that this was a protest towards his marijuana smoking. It needs to be said, self-harm shouldn’t be joked about, even Miley Cyrus tweeted in saying “#cut4bieber? Cutting is NOT something to joke about. There are people who are actually suffering from self-harm, this is so disrespectful“. But I think it’s important to highlight the stupidity of these people.

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This of course was started by some internet trolls from 4chan, and became very big, very quickly. People were uploading photos of themselves self-harming for their ‘idol’, thinking it will actually make in impact. I think this illustrates how much influence Justin Bieber has over his fans, even when he’s not making the influence personally. Things that happen to him in the media and online involving him can impact his fans in positive and negative ways. But I think this also illustrates how easily young people can be influenced by media itself. Even if it’s not real. Because of the relationship they have developed with this figure, they have automatically decided to do whatever is asked of them. It reminds me of the famous question, “Would you jump off a bridge if they told you to?”. And as we’ve seen from the #Cutting4Bieber trend, I think some people would. People are so influenced by what they see in the media, and how they’re represented that it’s almost tragic. People need to take more control over their own values, but it’s easier said then done.

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And now’s the time where we reflect on the past 6 weeks, and we talk about how awesome the course is, and how much we’re loving uni and blogging. And that’s the truth, I love blogging. So to blog for my assessment is just amazing. Over the past 6 weeks, researching for the various topics we have covered have helped me question the validity of everything, and to view everything from outside the box. To take a step back and think “How is this changing society?”. And that’s something I’ve never really done before. I didn’t look too much into what was happening into the media, and how it’s shaping our future morals and values. I’ve found everything we’ve covered very interesting so far, so i’ve enjoyed learning about it, while some things covered I’ve previously known, it’s interesting to learn more about. Blogging makes learning much more interesting, and makes it easier to show your learning. And as I pointed out in my introduction post, having an academic/profesisonal blog and an online presence always looks good on a resume and for potential employers.

References:

1. Watkins, J 2013, ‘Cutting is NOT something to joke about’: Miley Cyrus weighs in on sick ‘Cut for Bieber’ Twitter trend sparked by Justin’s controversial marijuana photos’, Daily Mail, 8th January, Viewed 14th April, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2258778/Cut-Bieber-Miley-Cyrus-weighs-sick-Twitter-trend.html >

2. Stanley, T 2013, ‘Justin Bieber fans urged to cut themselves to stop him from smoking weed. This Belieber madness must cease’, The Telegraph, 8th January, Viewed 14th April, <http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100197042/justin-bieber-fans-urged-to-cut-themselves-to-stop-him-from-smoking-weed-this-belieber-madness-must-cease/ >

3. D’Addario Daniel 2014, Of Course the media should cover Bieber, Salon, Viewed 14th April 2014, <http://www.salon.com/2014/01/23/of_course_the_media_should_cover_justin_bieber/ >

The Chasers War On…. What exactly?

~ jakepascoe ~ 13 Comments

Millions of Australians will remember The Chasers, and their hilarious stunts and pranks they pulled. While it was on air as ‘The Chasers War On Everything’, they were a very popular show, averaging between 600,000 and 800,000 viewers each episode at it’s peak. They used comedy satire to relate the news to the public, which most notably was evident in their ‘What Have We Learnt From Current Affairs This Week?’. And personally, that was one of my favorite segments on the show.

“The Chaser is a satirical media empire which rivals Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in all fields except power, influence, popularity and profitability.” (The Chasers)

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They’ve had to re-brand their show several times for various reasons, more recently their show was called ‘The Hamster Wheel’ which was more focused on the media, but it was announced that in late 2014, they would be airing a show called “We’ll have to leave it there”.

“This is a leaner and meaner Chaser, basing its attack less around public stunts and ambushes and more on substantial exposure of the absurdities and idiocies of the media.” (Ben Pobjie 2012)

But how did ‘The Chasers War On Everything’ actually contribute to debate in a mediated public sphere? Well, they brought the issues up, and weren’t afraid to embarrass themselves and get into trouble if it meant they got their message across. The Chasers aren’t what you call ‘Journalists’, they rather use the media’s and politicians own words against them in a hypocritical manner, but more importantly, in a humorous way. This allows the public viewers to understand and learn about what’s in the media, but more importantly, what seems like bullshit. The Chasers are great at nitpicking speeches and media reports, and finding inconsistencies.

They do of course, go ‘over the line’ often, whether it be a stunt, or a comment about an individual. This can cause controversy, and again cause people to question the validity of content in their show. It’s because of this, The Chasers War On Everything was pulled off the air. Their most famous ‘over the line’ stunt was when Australia hosted the APEC summit in 2007, where one of the Chasers dressed up as Osama Bin Laden, and managed to get inside APEC. The full video can be found here on Youtube.

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The show had/has a large social side to it as well, it brings together the people who watch the show to talk about the content online, and discuss what was over the line, and reach even more people to educate them about what’s happening. And of course, there is the direct conversation, “Hey did you watch The Chasers last night”, and without even knowing it, their actively participating in a public sphere. To finish, here’s a two hour collaboration of every segment of ‘What Have We Learnt From Current Affairs This Week?’ aired, but I suggest only watching it when you have no homework to be done, because once you start, you wont be able to stop.

References:

1. No Author No Date, About, The Chaser, Viewed 6th April 2014,  <http://www.chaser.com.au/about/ >

2. Pobjie, B 2012, ‘Biting Hamsters puts media in its place’, The Sunday Morning Herald, 18th October 2012, Viewed 6th April <http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/biting-hamster-puts-media-in-its-place-20121018-27smv.html >

Friend-Zoned With The Pirate Bay

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You are in a constant friend-zone with The Pirate Bay. You just are. No matter how many gifts it gives you, or how many gifts you give other people through them. That’s how The Pirate Bay rolls, and it’s totally fine with it. For those of you that don’t understand my poor analogue, the way The Pirate Bay works, is that it works like a search engine. You find torrents that other people are seeding, and it allows you to download from them. The Pirate Bay just direct internet traffic to where it needs to be. And when you seed, it allows other people to download from you. And because of this, the audience, you, not only control The Pirate Bay, but provide the content and functionality behind the website. It would be nothing without you. And I think this is the very concept of Prosumption, being an active user and creating content. Unfortunately a lot of people have the mentality of an actual pirate when it comes to seeding.

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The audience is crucial to The Pirate Bay’s success, and it’s downfall. It’s popularity around the internet has made it VERY popular world wide. Alexa, a web information company, ranked the website at 92nd world wide, and 80th just in America. That’s pretty amazing considering participating on this website makes you a criminal. The Pirate Bay relies on dialogic media, meaning that it facilities a two-way conversation for each torrent, and this is commonly known as a ‘comment section’. This allows the audience to talk about the material, give information and reviews. “You participate to contribute information” (Christopher Moore 2014)

“Building a tool that allows an ads-based business to get in front of more eyeballs is not politically relevant by itself, but it can contribute to a larger conversation about censorship, free speech, and Internet freedom.” (Nathaniel Mott 2013)

One of the main cultures that is associated with The Pirate Bay is the issue of copyright. Nathaniel Mott from Pando Daily points out that within the culture of censorship and internet freedom, it can be used as a “political tool” within context. And it’s interesting to know that on a deeper level, just by torrenting movies and tv shows, you’re fighting censorship and copyright laws. You may only be a speck of dust in a massive sand storm, but it all adds up. You can do so much by seeding. So start seeding!

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References:

1. No Author 2014, thepiratebay.se, Alexa, Viewed 3rd April 2014 <http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/thepiratebay.se >

2. Moore Christopher 2014, ‘Audiences: Power, Access, and Participation’, Lecture Week 5, UOW, 1/04/2014

3. Mott Nathaniel 2013, ‘Is the Pirate Bay a bastion of internet freedom or just an illegal downloads site?’, Pando Daily, Viewed 3rd April 2014, <http://pando.com/2013/08/12/is-the-pirate-bay-a-bastion-of-internet-freedom-or-just-an-illegal-downloads-site/ >

North Korea Is Best Korea!

~ jakepascoe ~ 4 Comments

North Korea has been in the media a lot over the past few years, especially with Kim Jong-Un, becoming the new ‘Supreme Leader’. The country is infamous for lying to their public and threatening every nation in the world that isn’t North Korea with their nuclear weapons arsenal and war. I chose the picture below because I think this photo tells us so much about the views of the public in North Korea, as well as the government towards each other.

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You can clearly see the concerning faces of the adults who can understand the authority and power that Kim Jong-Un possess, and how reckless and cruel he can be, while the kids who do not understand the political controversy and state of their nation seem calm. Kim Jong-Un and his General, are standing straight and look seemingly happy to be there. The two completely different reactions can be contrasted to visually see the opinions of the North Korean government of both sides.

This image is very powerful, and can be interpreted by us in many ways. Personally, the obvious meaning (the Denotation) is that the people of North Korea hate Kim Jong-Un. And perhaps by looking further into it (the Connotation) is that North Korea are trying to advertise themselves as a happy country, where everyone loves their ‘fearless leader’.

All signs point to Kim Jong Un trying to present a cuddlier, more family-friendly image to the world. (Huffington Post 2012)

If there’s one thing to take away from this photo, I think it’s the fact that even though the North Korean government and media are trying to shape the world perspective of themselves (unsuccessfully I might add), this photo can illustrate a governments, an individuals or organisations influence in the media, and what they can do with it. It shows the dangers of how easily we can fall for a false message (If it’s done right), and how much it can influence people’s ideologies.

We have to give him some credit though, after all he did stop the production of nuclear weapons to prioritise their major hunger crisis. So I guess that’s good in some way.

Kim Jong-Un

 

References:

Unknown, 2012, North Korean Family, Image, news.com, Viewed 27th March 2014, <http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/this-north-korean-family-is-just-loving-life/story-e6frflri-1226453845192 >

Ryan Craggs, 2012, Kim Jong Un Family Photo: North Korean Leader Poses With Terrified-Looking Family, Huffington Post, Viewed 28th March 2014 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/kim-jong-un-family-photo_n_1812069.html >

You Wouldn’t Download A Car.. Or Would You?

~ jakepascoe ~ 4 Comments

In today’s modernised world, copyright is all around us, and dictates what we can, and cannot do every day. It’s like a bad smell. No one wants it, but even with all it’s negative attributes, it plays an intricate role in life. Christopher Moore put it well, “Intellectual property has changed how we share material” (2014). The rights people have claimed on certain works have made people rich, and people poor. It’s changed the economic and artistic world, and affected the creativity of almost everyone on the Earth. The concept of copyright began to spread around with the first copyright law in 1709. It established the legal right to copy texts, creating an enforceable monopoly, but limited copyright duration to a maximum term of 28 years. Then as the years rolled on, copyright laws swayed in the favour of the creators, more than doubling the copyright duration, even CRIMINALISING the distribution of copyrighted works, which again limited the creative minds of millions.

There’s the famous (and very old) advertisement on almost all produced movie DVD’s these days with a copyright ad and warning, which attempts to compare downloading a movie illegally through the analogies of “You wouldn’t steal a handbag” and “You wouldn’t download a car”. Ironically, and rather hilariously, this advertisement, itself uses copyrighted material illegally. I’m bringing this up to try and highlight the complexity and backwards nature of copyright at this point in time. It illustrates how copyright GIANTS break copyright law themselves without realising it. Also rather hilariously, you CAN download a car. The comedians down at Honda are making the concepts for several of their cars available for free while Hollywood is surely furiously looking for a new ad campaign. “The company is offering 3D printing data for five of its concept cars for free” (Luke Vandezande 2014).. ‘FOR FREE’. I’ll take three thanks.

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Source: http://www.meh.ro/

In terms of The Pirate Bay, copyright is a HUGE issue. It would take someone years to to find out how many copyright infringements have been made because of TPB.

“All of us who run the TPB are against the copyright laws and want them to change, We see it as our duty to spread culture and media. Technology is just a means to doing that.” said a Pirate Bay operator.

The website can be seen as a symbol of rebellion against copyright law, an active defiance and protest showing that they don’t believe in the current state of copyright laws. The ‘Terms and Conditions’ of using The Pirate Bay is rather small compared to most organisations and websites. ‘Digital Trends‘ writes a nice ‘play by play’ of the whole document, and summarising what parts are important, and what everything means. Plus it’s a lot easier to read.

But to put it simply, they’re being the ‘safety’ police, allowing you to downloading anything for personal use, and protecting the users from virus’ by threatening dangerous file uploaders with a fine. They protect your privacy, and allow themselves to post personal emails involving copyright claims.

Fun Fact: You can download a back-up of The Pirate Bay that’s only 75mb.

 

References:

Moore Christopher , 2014, ‘The Stationers Company’, Lecture Week 3, UOW, 18/03/2014

Whitehouse Alex 2012, Piracy Advert Used Stolen Music, PC & Tech Authority, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/309432,piracy-advert-used-stolen-music.aspx >

Vandezande Luke 2014, Make Your Own Acura NSX With a 3d Printer, AutoGuide.com, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2014/01/honda-releases-concept-car-3d-printing-data.html >

Couts Andrew 2013, Terms & Conditions: The Pirate Bay’s fine print is still punk rock, Digital Trends, Viewed 29th March 2014, <http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/terms-and-conditions-the-pirate-bay/#!B2Up7 >

Ernesto 2013, Download A Fresh Copy Of The Pirate Bay, With Permission, Torrent Freaks, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://torrentfreak.com/download-copy-of-the-pirate-bay-with-permission-130220/ >

 

The What Bay?

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

For my media technology, I have chosen The Pirate Bay, and the torrenting technology behind it. I’ve personally always been interested with The Pirate Bay, and I’ve followed most of the history and drama behind the website for the past few years, being a user myself. The moral and ethical implications involved with the website and the social impacts it has is interesting if you really consider the whole picture.

The way The Pirate Bay works is similar to Google. It acts as a search engine for people to find and download torrents. The Pirate Bay shouldn’t legally be held liable for the torrents on the website, the uploaders should. This is like trying to hold Google liable for porn illegal websites.

The documentary ‘The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard’ highlights these points very well from the perspective of the developers and owners of the website, and the issues involved both from a legal and moral perspective, as well as from a technological perspective. It’s an hour and a half film, but it’s definitely worth a watch. I’d recommend watching it at home after Uni or work, because it needs full attention in order to understand everything that’s being said.

Having said this though, The Pirate Bay is under constant threat from media companies of all sizes concerning the torrents available on their website. The Pirate Bay holds a consistent view on these threats which is evident in their statement’s on their legal page, “0 torrents have been removed, 0 torrents will be removed” (Legal Threats Against The Pirate Bay 2005). The constant threat from legal companies are always going to be a major problem for The Pirate Bay, but another major concern that it faces, is the constant upgrades and maintenance it requires. To run the Pirate Bay, it requires immense hardware to be running in the background, and a lot of money to continuously update it all.

There’s a large moral issue to using The Pirate Bay, the main one being that you’re not ‘supporting the creators’. But in today’s society, supporting the creators isn’t a priority. The priority is ‘I want this content now!’ and this in turn has affected the industry. Especially when content isn’t available to certain demographics! Back in the last decade, people were proud to own an entire series on DVD or VHS, but these days, no one really cares because of how easily accessible everything is online. There are a lot more issues I wanted to include in my first post, but I really couldn’t fit it all in, so stay tuned!

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References:

1. No Author, 2005, Legal Threats Against The Pirate Bay, The Pirate Bay, Viewed 24th March 2014 <http://thepiratebay.se/legal>

2. Ann Harrison, 2006, The Pirate Bay: Here To Stay?, Wired, Viewed 24th March 2014 <http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/03/70358>

3. Klose 2013, TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard, online Video, 8 February, The Pirate Bay, Viewed 25th March 2014, <http://watch.tpbafk.tv/>

First Week of Uni Complete!

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

My first week as a uni student is officially complete! And I’ve got to say, i’m loving it so far. I love how interactive the lecturers are, especially when it comes to twitter and wordpress! So far, every single one of them have shown such enthusiasm and passion for the subjects they teach, the kind that’s very rare to find in high school teachers. And i’m loving it. It somehow makes attending these lectures and tutorials so much more exciting.

I’m off to a good start with my BCM110 and BCM112 subjects, because I already had a blog set up, and it’s allowing other students to use it as an example, or to take inspiration and idea’s. And I love that. I even got retweeted by both my BCM110 and BCM112 lecturers when I offered help to all the new bloggers, which drastically helped my view counter! It’s a bit of a personal milestone, reaching 297 hits in one night. That was crazy.

My MEDA101 class at the innovation campus was awesome. It’s all about digital media, and digital art. And that’s exactly what I love. Being able to represent idea’s and emotions through digital forms to reach people. A lot of people found it dreary, and similar to English in High School (which I can see), but this time it isn’t about books or poems. It’s about audio and visual! And to me, that’s so different! You can actually interact with it.

If i’m going to be honest, my French was a little scary. The lecture was great, but when it came to the tutorial, it just got very intense very quickly. It’s going to take a lot of patience and studying to get good at it. But hopefully hard work will pay off. I’ve currently stuck sticky notes all over my room labelling objects in french, so hopefully that will work too.

But all in all, my first week of uni was great, and im excited for next week. Oh, and I managed to fill my car with exactly $20.00 so im pretty excited about that.

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