Up to this point our preparation as a group, and my own individual preparation, for the A2 coursework has been progressing at a steady pace. While we have actively been developing our skills in class time, using software and programmes such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dream Weaver to help us when the time comes to make our magazine covers and web homepages, individually I have been researching as well as developing the concept for our film -an idea we came up with from scratch as none of our ideas within the group were suitable- into a fully realised proposal and synopsis (all of which can be viewed in my sixth blog entry below as well as much more).
In class we were taught the basics of programmes we would need to know how to use, and reasonably well, in order to complete certain aspects of our coursework. We were shown how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a professional looking magazine front cover and a web page for a fictitious film we had created as a group. We were also taught how to use a more complicated programme called Macromedia Dream Weaver, which allowed us to broadcast our web homepages live on the Internet. It was very important that we paid attention and learning how to use both of these programmes well, as we would be designing the magazine front covers and homepages individually, instead of as a group.
Having had some experience with Photoshop before, I was familiar with the programme, however needed a bit of a reminded of some of the features. I found making the magazine cover quite straight forward, although the finish result was very basic. I am very determined however to improve my skills on Photoshop before the time comes to make the real thing because although my attempt at the cover was good, there is still room for improvement. Creating the homepage however was a lot more difficult than making our magazine covers had been, simply because the process was slightly more complicated and involved more steps. We had to put together a webpage on Photoshop (similar to what we had done with our front covers), by doing this it would mean that the screen shown would be saved separately. Using Photoshop was only half of the task however, for the second part we were asked to use Macromedia Dream Weaver, a programme that I had never used before. This was the programme that would allow us to broadcast our webpage’s live on the internet. The programme was quite complicated and we had to follow all the steps accurately to get it right. I am currently not very confident with using Dream Weaver as it is such a complicated programme. To improve I will need to revise the notes I made and practice making another homepage and broadcasting it on the internet. In time for making our covers and homepages I would like to know exactly what I’m doing on both Photoshop and Dream Weaver and know how to use them well, resulting in a professional outcome. Practice makes perfect.
(My finish magazine cover for publication ‘Dazed and Confused’ can be seen in my fifth blog. My original notes on using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dream Weaver can be found in my third and fourth).
Monday 25 January 2010
Tuesday 5 January 2010
A2 Media Studies; Media & Collective Identity, Christmas Homework 2009
Media & Collective Identity - Find and list 5 websites that allow readers/users/contributors to create or participate in a collective identity. You are required to provide a discussion of how a specific collective identity is constructed/expressed on each of these sites (including a theoretical discussion of any relevant issues). You should seek to be as detailed as possible, use appropriate subject terminology and link to specific aspects of contextual study.
1. Blogger: First and foremost, the obvious website that allows readers/users/contributors to create or participate in a collective identity is Blogger, a site we have been using for months now as a method of interactively posting our coursework and progress online. Blogs and blogging is a great way of getting comments or feedback back from a thought, opinion, idea –anything someone might want to post as a blog. It allows members of a blogging site or followers of a blog –it’s readers/users/contributors- to contribute and participate in a blog.
The collective identity is constructed by the blogger, who publishes the blog, and the people who reply to it. It is a common interest on both of their parts that makes up the identity. They share the same interest –the subject of a certain blog- or indeed blogging in general- and that is how that certain collective identity is constructed.
Blogging sites are possibly the best example of websites that allow readers and users to contribute to not only their own pages and blogs, but others too. Blogs are often regularly used to ask questions or make enquires, allowing for answers from as many people that choose to answer. I often type questions into Google search engine hoping for an outcome and am led to a blog conversation where a similar or the same question has been answered, which lots of replies from people who have answered the bloggers' query. This brings me onto more subjective blogging groups and sites. People often make blogs or entire blogging sites about one particular subject, so that all the members that join are all interested in that certain subject, whatever it may be, and they have many blog conversations about different things involving that subject. Some examples of these more selective blogging groups could include: bands, groups and musical artists, visual artists, films or film series (eg. Star Wars or the Indiana Jones film series), or indeed television programmes or series (eg. Doctor Who or Merlin), the blogging room discussions go on and on. Blog chats such as these are an example of more individual, subjective collective identities, compared to the more general blog users. The individuals that join and are users on certain blogging chats or subjects have a very clear collective identity and identity in common and are all interested in that same thing, giving them a collective identity as a group of blog users that are interested in a specific topic or subject.
Link to my Blogger Homepage
Link to my Blogger Blogs
2. Myspace: The obvious websites that came to mind, upon reading the task set, were the many Social Networking sites that preoccupy so many of us. The one I personally am a member of is Facebook; one of the most popular of these Networking websites. However this is not the one in particular that I found best allowed it’s members -it’s readers/users/contributors- to create or participate in a collective identity, the one that in my opinion best allows this is Myspace.
Each Social Networking site appeals to, and attracts, a certain group of people- a certain collective identity. This is not an intentional occurrence on the sites part, but these groups of people begin to ‘own’ the site they use, simply because that collective identity is the majority of the people that use it. For example I have found that Bebo is widely associated with ‘chavs’ and generally adolescence and younger people rather than adults. Myspace is widely occupied by ‘scene kids’, ‘emo kids’ and ‘indie kids’, again mostly younger, however there are still many older users, where as Facebook seems to be used by a much more varied audience. Adults and older people seem to prefer using this Social Networking site above the other for which ever reason, and they make up the vast majority of the users. There is no obvious reason I can think of that explains why certain groups of people or collective identities choose certain sites over others. The only link I have made refers back to Myspace. Myspace is very famous for it’s promotion of music and bands, it allows known, and unknown bands to advertise themselves and their music for free, and allows Myspace users to find and listen to their music, also free of change. It is a suggestion that this is the reason the majority of Myspace users are the younger stereotypes stated above -‘emos’, ‘scene kids’, ‘goths’, ‘indie kids’, etc- because they are perhaps more interested in finding and listening to new and upcoming artists and music, and again specific types/genres of music, than Bebo users and Facebook users.
Myspace stands out amongst the other Social Networking sites in the sense that it allows its participants or members to reveal more information about themselves than any of the others I have come across. It is unique in the way that it has so many different sections in which to fill out about yourself. From more general subjects like: About Me and Who I’d like to meet, to more focused topics like the individuals interests: General, Music, Movies, Books and last and but defiantly not least; Heroes. All of these sections give an individual the opportunity to write about themselves, talk about themselves, maybe even lie about themselves if they so choose. (And what’s to say that that majority of people filling in these sections are not lying about themselves to whoever might observe their page? Or at the very least exaggerate or ‘big-themselves-up’).
Apart from the ‘Blurbs’ and ‘Interests’ that hit you as soon as you open the persons page there is a section named ‘Basic Information’ where the user can add personal details such as their name, what gender they are, their date of birth, and their address down to the post-code. However if you think that’s personal, move along to the next box titled ‘Details’. In this section the individual can edit their marital Status, sexual orientation, hometown, height, body type, ethnicity and their religion. As well as information on whether they smoke or drink, have children and their education, occupation and income, information that’s is personal and private and maybe should not should not be shared with your entire ‘friends’ list. Last but not least we have the ‘Pictures’ and ‘Videos’ section of the profile, where the member can post any image or video they may choose –within reason- exposing themselves to the world (again, if that is really who they are).
The reason I chose to analyse Myspace over the other Social Networking sites out there is because it puts this information; the Blurbs, the About Me’s, the Interests –the person’s personality- out there on the front line unlike any other does. When you click on someone’s page it is the first thing you see, what that person has chose, or rather allowed, you to see.
Link to my own Myspace page
3. Youtube: Youtube is another website the allows it’s users to contribute, participate and feedback interactivly, however in a different way than any Socail Networking sites or blogging sites do. Instead of using words to feed back to, Youtube is a video sharing website which allows users to upload and share videos, and also comment and feedback on fellow uploaders videos, too. The sites is used for many things, however many people use it for purely entertainment purposes, uploading videos they have made themselves. It is not only members that can view the videos available on Youtube although you do need to be a member to upload your own or feedback on others.
My only experience with Youtube has been to upload AS Media Studies coursework, so that it could be viewed by an examiner interactivly. Apart from this breif encounter however I have only used the site to view other users videos, like the majority of the people who use Youtube.
Link to my priliminary AS Media coursework exercise
Link on my main AS Media coursework exercise
1. Blogger: First and foremost, the obvious website that allows readers/users/contributors to create or participate in a collective identity is Blogger, a site we have been using for months now as a method of interactively posting our coursework and progress online. Blogs and blogging is a great way of getting comments or feedback back from a thought, opinion, idea –anything someone might want to post as a blog. It allows members of a blogging site or followers of a blog –it’s readers/users/contributors- to contribute and participate in a blog.
The collective identity is constructed by the blogger, who publishes the blog, and the people who reply to it. It is a common interest on both of their parts that makes up the identity. They share the same interest –the subject of a certain blog- or indeed blogging in general- and that is how that certain collective identity is constructed.
Blogging sites are possibly the best example of websites that allow readers and users to contribute to not only their own pages and blogs, but others too. Blogs are often regularly used to ask questions or make enquires, allowing for answers from as many people that choose to answer. I often type questions into Google search engine hoping for an outcome and am led to a blog conversation where a similar or the same question has been answered, which lots of replies from people who have answered the bloggers' query. This brings me onto more subjective blogging groups and sites. People often make blogs or entire blogging sites about one particular subject, so that all the members that join are all interested in that certain subject, whatever it may be, and they have many blog conversations about different things involving that subject. Some examples of these more selective blogging groups could include: bands, groups and musical artists, visual artists, films or film series (eg. Star Wars or the Indiana Jones film series), or indeed television programmes or series (eg. Doctor Who or Merlin), the blogging room discussions go on and on. Blog chats such as these are an example of more individual, subjective collective identities, compared to the more general blog users. The individuals that join and are users on certain blogging chats or subjects have a very clear collective identity and identity in common and are all interested in that same thing, giving them a collective identity as a group of blog users that are interested in a specific topic or subject.
Link to my Blogger Homepage
Link to my Blogger Blogs
2. Myspace: The obvious websites that came to mind, upon reading the task set, were the many Social Networking sites that preoccupy so many of us. The one I personally am a member of is Facebook; one of the most popular of these Networking websites. However this is not the one in particular that I found best allowed it’s members -it’s readers/users/contributors- to create or participate in a collective identity, the one that in my opinion best allows this is Myspace.
Each Social Networking site appeals to, and attracts, a certain group of people- a certain collective identity. This is not an intentional occurrence on the sites part, but these groups of people begin to ‘own’ the site they use, simply because that collective identity is the majority of the people that use it. For example I have found that Bebo is widely associated with ‘chavs’ and generally adolescence and younger people rather than adults. Myspace is widely occupied by ‘scene kids’, ‘emo kids’ and ‘indie kids’, again mostly younger, however there are still many older users, where as Facebook seems to be used by a much more varied audience. Adults and older people seem to prefer using this Social Networking site above the other for which ever reason, and they make up the vast majority of the users. There is no obvious reason I can think of that explains why certain groups of people or collective identities choose certain sites over others. The only link I have made refers back to Myspace. Myspace is very famous for it’s promotion of music and bands, it allows known, and unknown bands to advertise themselves and their music for free, and allows Myspace users to find and listen to their music, also free of change. It is a suggestion that this is the reason the majority of Myspace users are the younger stereotypes stated above -‘emos’, ‘scene kids’, ‘goths’, ‘indie kids’, etc- because they are perhaps more interested in finding and listening to new and upcoming artists and music, and again specific types/genres of music, than Bebo users and Facebook users.
Myspace stands out amongst the other Social Networking sites in the sense that it allows its participants or members to reveal more information about themselves than any of the others I have come across. It is unique in the way that it has so many different sections in which to fill out about yourself. From more general subjects like: About Me and Who I’d like to meet, to more focused topics like the individuals interests: General, Music, Movies, Books and last and but defiantly not least; Heroes. All of these sections give an individual the opportunity to write about themselves, talk about themselves, maybe even lie about themselves if they so choose. (And what’s to say that that majority of people filling in these sections are not lying about themselves to whoever might observe their page? Or at the very least exaggerate or ‘big-themselves-up’).
Apart from the ‘Blurbs’ and ‘Interests’ that hit you as soon as you open the persons page there is a section named ‘Basic Information’ where the user can add personal details such as their name, what gender they are, their date of birth, and their address down to the post-code. However if you think that’s personal, move along to the next box titled ‘Details’. In this section the individual can edit their marital Status, sexual orientation, hometown, height, body type, ethnicity and their religion. As well as information on whether they smoke or drink, have children and their education, occupation and income, information that’s is personal and private and maybe should not should not be shared with your entire ‘friends’ list. Last but not least we have the ‘Pictures’ and ‘Videos’ section of the profile, where the member can post any image or video they may choose –within reason- exposing themselves to the world (again, if that is really who they are).
The reason I chose to analyse Myspace over the other Social Networking sites out there is because it puts this information; the Blurbs, the About Me’s, the Interests –the person’s personality- out there on the front line unlike any other does. When you click on someone’s page it is the first thing you see, what that person has chose, or rather allowed, you to see.
Link to my own Myspace page
3. Youtube: Youtube is another website the allows it’s users to contribute, participate and feedback interactivly, however in a different way than any Socail Networking sites or blogging sites do. Instead of using words to feed back to, Youtube is a video sharing website which allows users to upload and share videos, and also comment and feedback on fellow uploaders videos, too. The sites is used for many things, however many people use it for purely entertainment purposes, uploading videos they have made themselves. It is not only members that can view the videos available on Youtube although you do need to be a member to upload your own or feedback on others.
My only experience with Youtube has been to upload AS Media Studies coursework, so that it could be viewed by an examiner interactivly. Apart from this breif encounter however I have only used the site to view other users videos, like the majority of the people who use Youtube.
Link to my priliminary AS Media coursework exercise
Link on my main AS Media coursework exercise
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