When I tell people that I study journalism, they immediately think that my plan is to become a hard-hitter, dive straight in, investigative journalist who 'breaks' the stories. I'm not planning becoming anything close to that, those people actually care about stuff and things. I don't want to be on the front lines with a microphone; I respect those who do though. From what I've learned, investigative journalists have to be passionate and determined to be a good at their job.
The amazing and talented Bruce Redman imparted the 'in's of an investigative journalist. These are, in order of most important to most useful: intelligent, informed, intuitive, inside and invest. Isn't that a handy tool for remembering what investigative journalism is all about? I think so at least. Now let's run through them.
Intelligent - Be intelligent?
Informed - Research what you're writing about. You have to know your topic inside and out.
Intuitive - Foresight is important, in both journalism and in general.
Inside - Either this means that you have to put yourself into the centre of the story to get first hand information and a personal knowledge of what is going on, or stay healthy.
Invest - Investigative journalism requires commitment. Don't just do the journalism, be the journalism.
Obviously investigative journalism is more thorough and significant than those paramount stories about Summer's latest fashion trends. In the world of investigation, documents are combed, facts are checked and more than one person is asked questions. Investigate journalists scrutinise and expose, rather than simply relay readily available information. Information is out there, albeit some hidden, and it's their job to get it into the public conscious.
I didn't retain any other information from the lecture. 90% was dedicated to examples of good and bad investigative journalism. I remember that Wikileaks and the Watergate scandal were mentioned. It was an interesting lecture none the less.
Showing posts with label journalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journalism. Show all posts
Friday, 15 June 2012
Agenda Setting Reflection
Does society influence the media or does the media influence society? I personally think that both society and the media influence each other. This doesn't change the fact that media can be used to manipulate. The all great and powerful Bruce Redman established that reality, as we know it, is a social construct.
I found this lecture surprisingly interesting. The content was stellar and detailed; I learned quite more than I thought I would. I've always been interested in mass psychology and social movement. The lecture opened my eyes as to how important agenda setting is, within the field of journalism.
Agenda setting can efficiently disseminate information to the public, but also manipulate the public. Agenda setting is simply emphasising certain issues for the purpose of making the public perceive it as more important. This means that the media, rather than reflect reality, mould and present it to the public. Agenda setting was utilised during to the Nazi movement to sway public opinion in favour of the Nazi party. Today, mass media sets agenda's on topics such as terrorism, climate change and the global financial crisis. Agenda setting is also the reason why celebrities gets as much or more attention than global issues such as lack of aid in third world countries, civil conflicts, advancements in science and global politics.
I could talk about how agenda setting is immoral; but who am I to decide what's right or wrong when writing about the notion of perception. Overall, agenda setting, to me, is very important. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making my perception of reality as close to reality as possible.
I found this lecture surprisingly interesting. The content was stellar and detailed; I learned quite more than I thought I would. I've always been interested in mass psychology and social movement. The lecture opened my eyes as to how important agenda setting is, within the field of journalism.
Agenda setting can efficiently disseminate information to the public, but also manipulate the public. Agenda setting is simply emphasising certain issues for the purpose of making the public perceive it as more important. This means that the media, rather than reflect reality, mould and present it to the public. Agenda setting was utilised during to the Nazi movement to sway public opinion in favour of the Nazi party. Today, mass media sets agenda's on topics such as terrorism, climate change and the global financial crisis. Agenda setting is also the reason why celebrities gets as much or more attention than global issues such as lack of aid in third world countries, civil conflicts, advancements in science and global politics.
I could talk about how agenda setting is immoral; but who am I to decide what's right or wrong when writing about the notion of perception. Overall, agenda setting, to me, is very important. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making my perception of reality as close to reality as possible.
News Values Reflection
This is the lecture that I have been waiting for. Throughout the semester, our course material has been dancing around the topic of why news is news. This lecture established the ideas I already had in my mind. There are a bunch of researched factors that explain why some news is popular and other news is forgotten.
No one really has to intently look to see why sometimes seemingly pointless stories show up in the national news cycle. I can remember all the major stations covering stories akin to dogs riding surf boards, celebrity weddings and the results of reality television. Those are some of the reasons I don't watch television any more. Somewhere, there are people who are actively listening and caring about news such as this. Celebrities may not be actually relevant to anyone's lives, but some people believe that that they are. I was not surprised when I found that conditions such as negativity, elite nations, conflict, etc., made news stories more popular generally.
From my perspective, as a student journalist, this is interesting. I'm the one who may or may not produce news stories. According to our lecturer, journalists just acquire an ability to produce interesting and popular stories. Media outlets don't have an established set of news values that journalists try to adhere to. I never plan on ending up in a news room for a general media outlet. I also don't plan on becoming a typical journalist.
No one really has to intently look to see why sometimes seemingly pointless stories show up in the national news cycle. I can remember all the major stations covering stories akin to dogs riding surf boards, celebrity weddings and the results of reality television. Those are some of the reasons I don't watch television any more. Somewhere, there are people who are actively listening and caring about news such as this. Celebrities may not be actually relevant to anyone's lives, but some people believe that that they are. I was not surprised when I found that conditions such as negativity, elite nations, conflict, etc., made news stories more popular generally.
From my perspective, as a student journalist, this is interesting. I'm the one who may or may not produce news stories. According to our lecturer, journalists just acquire an ability to produce interesting and popular stories. Media outlets don't have an established set of news values that journalists try to adhere to. I never plan on ending up in a news room for a general media outlet. I also don't plan on becoming a typical journalist.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
An Inside Look at Video Game Journalism
A few months ago I had an assignment for my Reporting JOUR1112 class. One of those articles was about the life of a video game journalist. I wrote up the article at the last minute and submitted it. I received an expectedly average grade for the article. I then got caught up in other assignments and a lot of League of Legends so I put in the back of mind. Now that most of my assessment items are over, I have come to the decision that I will completely rewrite the article for my blog. I don't feel that the article I submitted for the assignment was very good because I was really limited by the parameters of the criteria. A 200-300 word article written in third person wouldn't do this topic justice.
So how do you stand out if you want to become a video games journalist? First and foremost, you have to write well. Your intricate knowledge of the Mass Effect universe isn't going to help you if you don't know how to engage and communicate with readers. The advice given to me by Tristan was this; write as much as you possibly can to get yourself to a high standard. Also, you should always be prepared to work for free. Tristan knows a few people that started out freelancing for nothing, and have gone on to have comfortable careers getting paid. Finally, being proactive is your best way of getting yourself noticed, especially since you're mostly going to be competing for attention on the internet. Write pieces and send them off to editors, sign up for social media and start networking and take advantage of unpaid freelance work where you can get it. The final piece of advice; you're going to have to knock on as many doors as you can until you get your foot stuck in one. Until that time comes, just keep on knocking.
I'm not a very passionate person.
I've always had trouble with motivating myself to do even the most important things. Eating, sleeping and playing video games are the only things I do without people telling me to do them; as of right now, I really just feeling like playing video games and writing about them. I know I haven't really been writing about video games, but that's because I can't afford to buy any games. I was recently given Diablo 3 as a gift and I bought the latest Humble Indie Bundle, so expect some reflections on games in the coming weeks.
I've always had trouble with motivating myself to do even the most important things. Eating, sleeping and playing video games are the only things I do without people telling me to do them; as of right now, I really just feeling like playing video games and writing about them. I know I haven't really been writing about video games, but that's because I can't afford to buy any games. I was recently given Diablo 3 as a gift and I bought the latest Humble Indie Bundle, so expect some reflections on games in the coming weeks.
This leads to the article. When I was younger and I was thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, being a video game journalist was near the top of the list – next to a power ranger or something like that. So when I found that, as a part of my reporting class, I could write some articles on whatever topic I wanted, I knew I should try and get an inside perspective on life as a video game journalist. I emailed Tristan Ogilvie, Video Content Manager at IGN Australia and asked him some questions about his career, day to day responsibilities at IGN, and how to get into video game journalism. I was surprised at how detailed and in depth his answers were. He answered each question in length and even offered words of encouragement with my career endeavors. Obviously, he is a passionate gamer so I enjoyed the short discussions we had via email. It turns out that like me, he is a big Bioshock fan. I too was engrossed in Rapture's stunningly beautiful decay and its horrifying residents. Overall he was very helpful and I am truly grateful for his charity.
 |
| Tristan Ogilvie bribing wax Richard Nixon |
Tristan has been working in the video game news industry for a while. He originally entered into that career while studying a Bachelor of Computer Science and Information technology at Sydney University. In his third year of study, Tristan entered a nationwide competition held by Official Playstation 2 Magazine to find a journalist for their magazine. He made it into the finals of that competition and, soon after, got offered freelance work. He then ended up as a staff writer for the Official Playstation 2 Magazine. Since then he has had a range of jobs, including content manager at Playstation.com, deputy editor of OPS2, editor of the Official Xbox 360 Magazine, and currently he works at IGN Australia as their video content manager. Tristan has worked in several video games news outlets, both online and print, gaining experience in both avenues of work. I personally am quite jealous that he has had so much involvement in an industry I am really passionate about.
Back in the day, when runescape was my whole existance, I had the childish idea that video game journalism was all games and no work. It wasn't until I got older that I discovered that, like every other job, you actually work at some point. Tristan assured me that the world of video game journalism is a lot like other fields of journalism; there’s a little bit of playing video games, and a whole lot of writing and making content. There are deadlines like with any other news outlet. Print journalism runs on a rigid monthly cycle while the world of online journalism runs on a slightly more flexible weekly cycle. So if you're hoping to land employment writing about video games for either a print magazine or an online website, be prepared to spend late nights working on a unique angle that makes your review of the latest game stand out from every other review on the internet.
However, being a video game journalist obviously comes with a lot of perks. Tristan's career has taken him to places such as London, Tokyo and New York. He's been to E3 and TGS, industry events I wish I could go one day. More importantly Tristan has met and interviewed industry legends such as Ken Levine, Warren Spector and Hideo Kojima; the people behind some amazing video games. I want to become a journalist just so I can be involved in an industry that I love, just like Tristan does.
So how do you stand out if you want to become a video games journalist? First and foremost, you have to write well. Your intricate knowledge of the Mass Effect universe isn't going to help you if you don't know how to engage and communicate with readers. The advice given to me by Tristan was this; write as much as you possibly can to get yourself to a high standard. Also, you should always be prepared to work for free. Tristan knows a few people that started out freelancing for nothing, and have gone on to have comfortable careers getting paid. Finally, being proactive is your best way of getting yourself noticed, especially since you're mostly going to be competing for attention on the internet. Write pieces and send them off to editors, sign up for social media and start networking and take advantage of unpaid freelance work where you can get it. The final piece of advice; you're going to have to knock on as many doors as you can until you get your foot stuck in one. Until that time comes, just keep on knocking.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Ethics Reflection
The lecture on ethics was a few weeks ago, but I'm going to try and reflect on it as best as I can from memory; It was a pretty interesting lecture after all.
I wasn't prepared for how far the guest lecturer attempted find the root of morality. It didn't focus on training us to maintain a clear and unbiased perspective at all times. In the end, I listened to a lecture on whether morality is an external or internal creation.
There were some pretty big words thrown around that, even if I could remember them, I'm not going to use this blog post. I'm not going to try and articulate and explain something that I'm still trying to figure out myself. I might write about it at a later date if I do manage to figure it all out.
However, I will 'reflect' on the lecture by adding a few general sentences on the topic of ethics so I can get an acceptable grade.
In my long and challenging years as a middle class Caucasian Australian, I've noticed that some groups of people live by sets of principles that seem universal and logical. All the while, there are others who live by conflicting principles who still consider themselves to be righteous and good. Every human being is able to justify their actions, and those who choose not to suffer in regret.
I wasn't prepared for how far the guest lecturer attempted find the root of morality. It didn't focus on training us to maintain a clear and unbiased perspective at all times. In the end, I listened to a lecture on whether morality is an external or internal creation.
There were some pretty big words thrown around that, even if I could remember them, I'm not going to use this blog post. I'm not going to try and articulate and explain something that I'm still trying to figure out myself. I might write about it at a later date if I do manage to figure it all out.
However, I will 'reflect' on the lecture by adding a few general sentences on the topic of ethics so I can get an acceptable grade.
In my long and challenging years as a middle class Caucasian Australian, I've noticed that some groups of people live by sets of principles that seem universal and logical. All the while, there are others who live by conflicting principles who still consider themselves to be righteous and good. Every human being is able to justify their actions, and those who choose not to suffer in regret.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Sound Reflection
It's six in the morning. Two days ago I walked into Woolworths and found that Mother was on sale. I've been up all night watching Supernatural and I don't plan on actually sleeping for the next twelve hours either so I thought I would try catching up on some blog posts.
The sound lecture was surprisingly interesting. The lecture wasn't actually a 'lecture'. It was a downloadable mp3 file of two interviews cut together one after the other. The people who were interviewed seemed to be radio personalities who use the medium of sound every day. I'm pretty sure the hosts were interviewed for the purpose of teaching journalism students about how 'sound' relates to journalism. I've never actively thought about just how distinct the medium of sound is compared to forms of media such as television and print.
Some of things I learned seems obvious when pointed out. For instance, radio is an intimate form of media. You're only using your sense of hearing so you have to focus on what's being said. You can't rely on other senses to to understand and process what is being said.
Overall, the lecture was engaging and made me think about journalism in relation to sound.
The sound lecture was surprisingly interesting. The lecture wasn't actually a 'lecture'. It was a downloadable mp3 file of two interviews cut together one after the other. The people who were interviewed seemed to be radio personalities who use the medium of sound every day. I'm pretty sure the hosts were interviewed for the purpose of teaching journalism students about how 'sound' relates to journalism. I've never actively thought about just how distinct the medium of sound is compared to forms of media such as television and print.
Some of things I learned seems obvious when pointed out. For instance, radio is an intimate form of media. You're only using your sense of hearing so you have to focus on what's being said. You can't rely on other senses to to understand and process what is being said.
Overall, the lecture was engaging and made me think about journalism in relation to sound.
Thursday, 5 April 2012
I'm Going to Supanova
A few days ago, I got an email back from the publicity manager for Supanova. He informed me that there's going to be a media pass waiting for me at the Gold Coast. I'm incredibly excited about this opportunity to attend this amazing event as a journalist. The manager was even nice enough to give my friend, Rhys, a media pass, because he's going to be following me around with a camera.
I really want to go all out on this assignment. I'm going to be recording the event and some interviews so I can make a three minute video due in May. I've been brainstorming, because I'm irritatingly limited to recording with a smartphone only. I'm currently organising getting my hands on a few items: a recently developed smartphone, microphone, microphone to iPhone adapter, extension cable, and an external audio device.
I've never filmed, recorded, and edited an event like this, so this is a new, but scary experience. By the date, I should have everything I need for Supanova. I'm beginning to think about how I'm going to approach the event as a journalist. I'm going to film interviews with the event organiser and the attendees, the main floor, the panels and the exhibits. Both the article and the video will focus on the exhibits, activities, the fans and the atmosphere of Supanova. Closer to the date, I'll write a blog post detailing my plans further.
Here's a video from Supanova in Melbourne from last year.
Here's a video from Supanova in Melbourne from last year.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Photography Reflection
It's time for another one of these reflective posts. I actually have fun doing these because I can practise writing. You don't probably think it's that interesting, but I have to do it. The photography lecture was pretty straight forward; we learned about the history of photography, digital capture and upload, digital manipulation and some of the basic tips for capturing a good photo. This lecture actually made me think about how I am going to approach photography as a journalist.
In case you haven't noticed, I don't include photos of how journalism relates to me in my blog posts. I'm a hypocrite, because like everyone else, I expect all online news to include photos. I like articles to have at least one relevant photo to the written content. I believe that images give readers context for what they're reading. Most of the photos in the articles I read are screenshots from video games.
I don't include images in my posts mostly because I find it hard to find images that best suit this blog. At this stage, my approach to journalism is browsing reddit while in my underwear. However, that's not the only reason I don't take and upload photos.
Even though I can write a few decent paragraphs, I'm not used to photojournalism. I don't have the technology to take photos that are relevant to what I write about. I plan to invest in a smartphone with a better camera than my current one and a screen recording program for capturing online content.
If I'm going to become a journalist in any sense, I'm going to have to commit to photography to connect readers to my content. I think that if I produce my own images for articles, it would add more personality to what I write. Of course, for some writing projects I won't be able to produce photos. However, I will include relevant images when able. I'm going to write real articles soon instead of just reflecting on what I learn doing lectures.
I'm not going to be a world class photojournalist, nor do I want to become one. For this blog, I will probably be taking screenshots or linking movie trailers. However, I should be able to snap a few photos with my iPhone when the time arises.
In case you haven't noticed, I don't include photos of how journalism relates to me in my blog posts. I'm a hypocrite, because like everyone else, I expect all online news to include photos. I like articles to have at least one relevant photo to the written content. I believe that images give readers context for what they're reading. Most of the photos in the articles I read are screenshots from video games.
I don't include images in my posts mostly because I find it hard to find images that best suit this blog. At this stage, my approach to journalism is browsing reddit while in my underwear. However, that's not the only reason I don't take and upload photos.
Even though I can write a few decent paragraphs, I'm not used to photojournalism. I don't have the technology to take photos that are relevant to what I write about. I plan to invest in a smartphone with a better camera than my current one and a screen recording program for capturing online content.
If I'm going to become a journalist in any sense, I'm going to have to commit to photography to connect readers to my content. I think that if I produce my own images for articles, it would add more personality to what I write. Of course, for some writing projects I won't be able to produce photos. However, I will include relevant images when able. I'm going to write real articles soon instead of just reflecting on what I learn doing lectures.
I'm not going to be a world class photojournalist, nor do I want to become one. For this blog, I will probably be taking screenshots or linking movie trailers. However, I should be able to snap a few photos with my iPhone when the time arises.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Media Diary
Being able to understand and analyze the media I use is essential to how I approach journalism. My personal media use and production may also indicate where journalism and communication as an industry is currently heading. For ten days I had to log my personal media use and production and in this post present and analyze that information.
Here is some of the media I logged. I only included relevant links in this list that best represents my overall media use. You can see a more complete table of my media usage lower in the post.
Thursday 8th of March
"My australian house mate sent this onto me. Nope" - via r/wtf
"The Call of Duty generation..." - via r/gaming
Bioshock Infinite lets loose the Motorized Patriot - via Destructoid
Friday 9th of March
Played three hours of League of Legends
Heavy Rain creator's stunning short film showcases new game engine - via Games Radar
Uncharted 3 Co-op shade survival mode DLC release date set for next week - via Games Radar
Saturday 10th of March
Played an hour of Pokemon Heart Gold
Kony 2012 - via vimeo
Official Men in Black 3 Trailer - via youtube
Official All In Trailer - via youtube
Official Meeting Evil Trailer - via youtube
Sunday 11th of March
Minnesota girl alleges school privacy invasion - via CNN
Jet Set Radio Future Trailer - via youtube
Animated GIFs: The Bird of a Medium - via youtube
Extra Credits: So You Want Be a Developer (part 1) - via Penny Arcade
Played
Monday the 12th of March
The year role-playing games broke - via Joystiq
Dishonoured Info Blowout: A Stealthy Steampunk Sandbox - via gameranx
Tuesday the 13th of March
Journey Review - via GameTrailers
What song has been so beautiful it moved you to tears? I have 2. - via r/AskReddit
"Internet humor from a time before memes..." - via imgur
Wednesday the 14th of March
IGN AU Pubcast Ep. 40: A Threesome of Threequels - via IGN AU
Thursday the 15th of March
Confessions of a 'Bad' Teacher - via The New York Times
Friday the 16th of March
Watched Community
Saturday the 17th of March
Played Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Table of Media Use
Before I analyze and offer my opinions based on the my media diary, I feel like that I should recognise technological convergence as an issue. Technological convergence makes identifying forms of media difficult. In modern society journalism, entertainment and social networking are overlapping. Twitter is an example of this, it's used for all these purposes and more. I personally use it as a tool to find entertaining and informative content online and also connect with other journalism students, less as a form of microblogging. Technological convergence is something that journalism and communication as an industry is going to have to adapt to in order to compete. You can already see media outlets harnessing advancing technology and Web 2.0 for the purpose of spreading content easier and efficiently and creating a public sphere.
It didn't surprise me that most of the media that I consume, I discovered online, as opposed to print and televised media. I mostly instant message with friends on Skype, play videogames and browse the internet; specifically Reddit, 4chan and videogame news sites on my laptop. I also use my iPhone mainly to communicate with friends and family, stay connected to social networks and play games. I personally use online media largely because I can search for content that is specific to my interests or goals. I have a large interest in news relating to videogames, film and television that are made easily accessible with the internet. However, 71.1% of Introduction Journalism and Communication students recognised "TV" as their source of media, while only 67.8% of students use "Online newspapers". Furthermore, 51.6% of JOUR1111 acquired news from "newspapers". These statistics show that despite a large amount of students simultaneously using all three forms of media, the most popular resource of news is television.
The survey conducted of other Introduction to Journalism and Communication students shows that other students and I spend our time on the internet similarly. 61.3% of students recognise "General surfing and browsing" as a primary use of their internet; 43.1% of students also spent their time online "Reading online news". However, I don't identify Facebook as a large use of my time online, compared to 91.9% of students who do.
The biggest difference between my personal media use and other students is the amount of time spent each day on the internet. During that ten day period I spent sometimes up on eleven hours connected online with friends via Skype throughout the day. While on skype I browsed various sources of news and entertainment each day. However, only 3.5% of students surveyed indicated that they spend upwards of 6 hours online each day. These results surprised me; considering how easy it is to access the internet. It's presumed that all students own or have easy access to a computer with internet access and also 77.3% of students own an internet-enabled smart phone according to the survey. Ultimately, the survey indicates that constant internet access is completely expected of the 17-25 year old demographic. I believe that those in the field of journalism and communication are completely aware of this. Like I mentioned earlier, media is utilizing this knowledge to gain larger and more connected audiences.
By logging my personal media use over a ten day period I can say that without a doubt my relation with journalism and communication is unsurprising. Basically, my style of consuming news and entertainment is parallel with emerging forms of interaction. Traditional media is obviously still around, but it's also being reshaped and redefined by the internet. I also expect how I go about reading, listening and watching news in the future will adapt along with the altering landscape of journalism and communication.
Edit: This assignment got a 6.5 overall.
Here is some of the media I logged. I only included relevant links in this list that best represents my overall media use. You can see a more complete table of my media usage lower in the post.
Thursday 8th of March
"My australian house mate sent this onto me. Nope" - via r/wtf
"The Call of Duty generation..." - via r/gaming
Bioshock Infinite lets loose the Motorized Patriot - via Destructoid
Friday 9th of March
Played three hours of League of Legends
Heavy Rain creator's stunning short film showcases new game engine - via Games Radar
Uncharted 3 Co-op shade survival mode DLC release date set for next week - via Games Radar
Saturday 10th of March
Played an hour of Pokemon Heart Gold
Kony 2012 - via vimeo
Official Men in Black 3 Trailer - via youtube
Official All In Trailer - via youtube
Official Meeting Evil Trailer - via youtube
Sunday 11th of March
Minnesota girl alleges school privacy invasion - via CNN
Jet Set Radio Future Trailer - via youtube
Animated GIFs: The Bird of a Medium - via youtube
Extra Credits: So You Want Be a Developer (part 1) - via Penny Arcade
Played
Monday the 12th of March
The year role-playing games broke - via Joystiq
Dishonoured Info Blowout: A Stealthy Steampunk Sandbox - via gameranx
Tuesday the 13th of March
Journey Review - via GameTrailers
What song has been so beautiful it moved you to tears? I have 2. - via r/AskReddit
"Internet humor from a time before memes..." - via imgur
Wednesday the 14th of March
IGN AU Pubcast Ep. 40: A Threesome of Threequels - via IGN AU
Thursday the 15th of March
Confessions of a 'Bad' Teacher - via The New York Times
Friday the 16th of March
Watched Community
Saturday the 17th of March
Played Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Table of Media Use
*unit of measurement is in hours
Pie Chart of Media Use
Before I analyze and offer my opinions based on the my media diary, I feel like that I should recognise technological convergence as an issue. Technological convergence makes identifying forms of media difficult. In modern society journalism, entertainment and social networking are overlapping. Twitter is an example of this, it's used for all these purposes and more. I personally use it as a tool to find entertaining and informative content online and also connect with other journalism students, less as a form of microblogging. Technological convergence is something that journalism and communication as an industry is going to have to adapt to in order to compete. You can already see media outlets harnessing advancing technology and Web 2.0 for the purpose of spreading content easier and efficiently and creating a public sphere.
It didn't surprise me that most of the media that I consume, I discovered online, as opposed to print and televised media. I mostly instant message with friends on Skype, play videogames and browse the internet; specifically Reddit, 4chan and videogame news sites on my laptop. I also use my iPhone mainly to communicate with friends and family, stay connected to social networks and play games. I personally use online media largely because I can search for content that is specific to my interests or goals. I have a large interest in news relating to videogames, film and television that are made easily accessible with the internet. However, 71.1% of Introduction Journalism and Communication students recognised "TV" as their source of media, while only 67.8% of students use "Online newspapers". Furthermore, 51.6% of JOUR1111 acquired news from "newspapers". These statistics show that despite a large amount of students simultaneously using all three forms of media, the most popular resource of news is television.
The survey conducted of other Introduction to Journalism and Communication students shows that other students and I spend our time on the internet similarly. 61.3% of students recognise "General surfing and browsing" as a primary use of their internet; 43.1% of students also spent their time online "Reading online news". However, I don't identify Facebook as a large use of my time online, compared to 91.9% of students who do.
The biggest difference between my personal media use and other students is the amount of time spent each day on the internet. During that ten day period I spent sometimes up on eleven hours connected online with friends via Skype throughout the day. While on skype I browsed various sources of news and entertainment each day. However, only 3.5% of students surveyed indicated that they spend upwards of 6 hours online each day. These results surprised me; considering how easy it is to access the internet. It's presumed that all students own or have easy access to a computer with internet access and also 77.3% of students own an internet-enabled smart phone according to the survey. Ultimately, the survey indicates that constant internet access is completely expected of the 17-25 year old demographic. I believe that those in the field of journalism and communication are completely aware of this. Like I mentioned earlier, media is utilizing this knowledge to gain larger and more connected audiences.
By logging my personal media use over a ten day period I can say that without a doubt my relation with journalism and communication is unsurprising. Basically, my style of consuming news and entertainment is parallel with emerging forms of interaction. Traditional media is obviously still around, but it's also being reshaped and redefined by the internet. I also expect how I go about reading, listening and watching news in the future will adapt along with the altering landscape of journalism and communication.
Edit: This assignment got a 6.5 overall.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Journalism is Hard
I've got three assignments due this week which are really getting in the way of spending my non-existant money on some really good games that have come out recently. I'm going to try and organise my thoughts while making another blog post at the same time. I've got two lectures to reflect on, I have to pitch three stories and I have to make and present a media diary. "Pitching the three stories" stands out to me the most. I'm going to be building on top of the assessment next month by writing three different types of stories. These story types are news, information and human interest. I've been emailing my tutor about how to exactly approach this assignments, so now I think I've got some ideas.
First off, the news story is the easiest. I decided that I would try and cover Supanova this year at the Gold Coast. I've never attended it, but my friends attest to how amazing it is. It's basically a geek subculture exhibition catering to those who enjoy anime, science fiction, comic books, videogames, cosplaying and anything geeky. The people behind it manage to bring together fans and the industry folk. I emailed the publicity organiser about getting journalistic privileges and possibly even an interview. However, I haven't heard back from them yet. If I were allowed to attend as a journalist, that would be amazing. Even more so since it would be the first time I've ever attended Supanova. I plan on attending anyway this year to check out everything that's got to do with videogames and my favorite tv shows. I might even enter a Magic: The Gathering tournament if I'm brave enough.
The next story I've put thought into is the information story. I only remembered today that soon the Australian senate is going to be looking at a bill essentially allowing an R18+ classification for videogames. It's surprising that for so long Australia has gone without an adult rating for videogames. For years games have either been refused classification and simply not been sold within Australia or have been altered to receive an MA15+ rating. I personally believe that censorship like this is completely ridiculous when compared to other forms of media. Today, I contacted two creators of websites that support an R18+ classification for videogames; Somebody think of the children and R18 Games. Hopefully, they'll get back to me soon and I can get the ball rolling.
The media use and production diary is starting to catch up on me. I've logged my media use and I'm ready to start but I don't know what I can do besides just presenting a graph and a pie chart of my media use. I don't know what to analyze besides just how much media I use compared to other students. I guess I'll just have to start it and see how I go.
That's all I thought I would write about. I'll update the blog if theres any advances in my assignments.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Reflection on Text
Our third lecture for Introduction to Journalism and Communication covered text in the field of journalism. Sky or Skye, one of those two names, guest lectured on the topic. She spent fifty minutes educating all of us about such things as 'the inverted pyramid', 'hypertext', text within digital platforms and just how fundamentally essential it is to the journalism industry with the rise of social media. But you already know that don't you? You're reading this just to see how other people in your course are handling their blogs. I don't need to explain to you something that you can just go and watch on Blackboard. So I'm going to give you my opinion on the lecture and text as it relates to journalism.
It's pretty apparent just how important text is to communication. It's unavoidable in journalism. I don't think I can add any more to what was covered in the lecture. Now I'm forced to write a blog post reflecting on the incredibly ambiguous idea of 'text'. I'm supposed to reflect on these lectures about what I learnt. I didn't learn that much though.
Sky (or Skye) just gave me new terminology for the ideas I already had. You would think that using important information in the headline to catch the reader's eye would be a straightforward concept.Most of the lecture slides were just examples of news stories with Sky (or Skye) explaining just how much effort is put into headlines, captions, straps, leads, excerpts and other attention grabbing combinations of text. The latter half of the lecture was just a lesson on blogging and getting your posts into the search engines. For someone who has little experiencing writing and reading content online, this lecture would have been helpful. However, I took very little away from our third week lecture.
It's pretty apparent just how important text is to communication. It's unavoidable in journalism. I don't think I can add any more to what was covered in the lecture. Now I'm forced to write a blog post reflecting on the incredibly ambiguous idea of 'text'. I'm supposed to reflect on these lectures about what I learnt. I didn't learn that much though.
Sky (or Skye) just gave me new terminology for the ideas I already had. You would think that using important information in the headline to catch the reader's eye would be a straightforward concept.Most of the lecture slides were just examples of news stories with Sky (or Skye) explaining just how much effort is put into headlines, captions, straps, leads, excerpts and other attention grabbing combinations of text. The latter half of the lecture was just a lesson on blogging and getting your posts into the search engines. For someone who has little experiencing writing and reading content online, this lecture would have been helpful. However, I took very little away from our third week lecture.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Goals and Stuff
I just checked an email about this Journalism course and apparently I have to write a blog post about every lecture. I thought I would simply be even more retrospective and write about my first lecture in JOUR1111. It was what most people would assume the first lecture of an introductory university course would be like. Bruce Redman, our lecturer, introduced himself and explained how the course would run, went over our assessment, answered our questions and tried as best he could to get us excited about journalism. He said a very quotable phrase which I'm sure he's been using for a while, "you are the journalist". I would be lying if I said it motivated me in the slightest but it did remind me that I should probably explain right here what I want to accomplish with this blog.
Journalism to me is simply a way to involve myself in my hobbies and interests and still have a job at the end of the day. I have almost no interest in politics, world news, sports and celebrities but that doesn't mean that I can't be a journalist. I'd much rather read about Pokemon, League of Legends, The Walking Dead or the Dark Knight Rises more than anything else.
Most of my days entail playing videogames, watching film and reading, watching and listening to videogame and film news. I check websites, watch reviews, listen to podcasts and have very heated discussions with friends about geeky things. I have spent the last three days at a friend's new place watching Community while playing Magic: The Gathering because they had no internet and we all had a cold.
I also like to think I can form sentences pretty well, so I'm essentially trying to combine the two things in the hopes I will actually be content some day.
I'm hoping that this degree will get my metaphorical foot into the metaphorical door of creative industries. If everything goes according to plan in a few years time I'd be writing for a videogame news or a film review website. If not, then I'm probably going to pick up some skills which could be applied to an array of jobs. I'm essentially hoping that journalism will point me in the direction that I want to go. So expect posts about things like how fucking incredible Bioshock Infinite is going to be.
Journalism to me is simply a way to involve myself in my hobbies and interests and still have a job at the end of the day. I have almost no interest in politics, world news, sports and celebrities but that doesn't mean that I can't be a journalist. I'd much rather read about Pokemon, League of Legends, The Walking Dead or the Dark Knight Rises more than anything else.
So fucking awesome
Most of my days entail playing videogames, watching film and reading, watching and listening to videogame and film news. I check websites, watch reviews, listen to podcasts and have very heated discussions with friends about geeky things. I have spent the last three days at a friend's new place watching Community while playing Magic: The Gathering because they had no internet and we all had a cold.
Imagine this but with better looking people.
I also like to think I can form sentences pretty well, so I'm essentially trying to combine the two things in the hopes I will actually be content some day.
I'm hoping that this degree will get my metaphorical foot into the metaphorical door of creative industries. If everything goes according to plan in a few years time I'd be writing for a videogame news or a film review website. If not, then I'm probably going to pick up some skills which could be applied to an array of jobs. I'm essentially hoping that journalism will point me in the direction that I want to go. So expect posts about things like how fucking incredible Bioshock Infinite is going to be.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
The Internet and I
For my Introduction to Journalism and Communication course I have to maintain a blog. It's a place where I reflect on my lectures and tutorials as a minimum. I have attempted blogs before but I've always gotten bored with them too quickly. Hopefully the fact that this blog is where all my assessment for the course will be submitted will motivate me to actually write regularly and well.
It's actually already been a few weeks into this course so it looks like I've got some catching up to do. I thought I would start of this semester long party of a blog by reflecting on the internet and it's relation to journalism and communication. In the second week of this semester during my JOUR1111 lecture the topic of Web 2.0 and other web iterations was brought up and discussed with an understanding of what is the internet.
It's too well known just how interconnected human beings are today. Every single day I hear a new mind blowing statistic about just how many facebook users there are or how many years of videos on youtube are being watched every day. Everyone is connected and it's actually scary just how well the internet can organise itself against someone or something. A few examples are when 4chan rallied an operation against Rebecca Black, recently Anonymous declared a war on religion, and the social media campaign against KONY recently became the most viral video of all time. The largest recent organised protest online was definitely the blackout to campaign against two pieces of legislation, SOPA and PIPA that was threatening to integral structure of how online content was produced. Reddit was at the forefront of the campaign and spearheaded the blackout.
I don't need to explain that the internet has completely changed how we interact with one another. I'm one of those people who uses the internet for almost everything. I primarily use facebook and reddit to entertain and educate myself but I also dabble in 4chan, tumblr, youtube, twitter, wikipedia, rss feeds, podcasts and many other websites. I use Skype to talk to my friends every day in addition to texting and instant messaging on facebook. In fact, Skype is the reason I have most of my best friends today. I play lots of online games on both my Macbook Pro and my PS3. If I can I will usually try eBay, Amazon or Etsy before going outside and looking for something I want. Basically everything that I do to entertain and improve myself is dependant on a wifi connection. I haven't sat down and watched a television show in almost a year and I cannot remember ever reading a newspaper. I'm not really a big fan of current event news anyway. r/gaming, r/worldnews and r/technology keeps me up to date with everything that would possibly be important to me. Most of the news I read is niche and is related to videogames, movies, television and music. I cannot live without being entertained. In fact the only reason I'm actually writing this right now is because the internet is of something that is of interest to me. It can be really difficult for me to get motivated sometimes.
So how does this relate to Journalism? I actually believe that trained journalism is becoming redundant. It's so easy these days to set up a blog or a website that there's an over saturation of news. Things trend faster on twitter than they can get it onto the 6 o'clock news. The lecturer mentioned something known as a 'citizen journalist' which I believe is evolving the way news is spread. These days people can tweet, post and live stream events as they're occurring and everybody in the first world can have access to the technology to do so. If general people of the public took it upon themselves to go and research and investigate anything, they have the resources to get the story out there immediately. As long as the internet is accessible, information will be available, discussion will be possible and news will spread.
It's actually already been a few weeks into this course so it looks like I've got some catching up to do. I thought I would start of this semester long party of a blog by reflecting on the internet and it's relation to journalism and communication. In the second week of this semester during my JOUR1111 lecture the topic of Web 2.0 and other web iterations was brought up and discussed with an understanding of what is the internet.
It's too well known just how interconnected human beings are today. Every single day I hear a new mind blowing statistic about just how many facebook users there are or how many years of videos on youtube are being watched every day. Everyone is connected and it's actually scary just how well the internet can organise itself against someone or something. A few examples are when 4chan rallied an operation against Rebecca Black, recently Anonymous declared a war on religion, and the social media campaign against KONY recently became the most viral video of all time. The largest recent organised protest online was definitely the blackout to campaign against two pieces of legislation, SOPA and PIPA that was threatening to integral structure of how online content was produced. Reddit was at the forefront of the campaign and spearheaded the blackout.
I don't need to explain that the internet has completely changed how we interact with one another. I'm one of those people who uses the internet for almost everything. I primarily use facebook and reddit to entertain and educate myself but I also dabble in 4chan, tumblr, youtube, twitter, wikipedia, rss feeds, podcasts and many other websites. I use Skype to talk to my friends every day in addition to texting and instant messaging on facebook. In fact, Skype is the reason I have most of my best friends today. I play lots of online games on both my Macbook Pro and my PS3. If I can I will usually try eBay, Amazon or Etsy before going outside and looking for something I want. Basically everything that I do to entertain and improve myself is dependant on a wifi connection. I haven't sat down and watched a television show in almost a year and I cannot remember ever reading a newspaper. I'm not really a big fan of current event news anyway. r/gaming, r/worldnews and r/technology keeps me up to date with everything that would possibly be important to me. Most of the news I read is niche and is related to videogames, movies, television and music. I cannot live without being entertained. In fact the only reason I'm actually writing this right now is because the internet is of something that is of interest to me. It can be really difficult for me to get motivated sometimes.
So how does this relate to Journalism? I actually believe that trained journalism is becoming redundant. It's so easy these days to set up a blog or a website that there's an over saturation of news. Things trend faster on twitter than they can get it onto the 6 o'clock news. The lecturer mentioned something known as a 'citizen journalist' which I believe is evolving the way news is spread. These days people can tweet, post and live stream events as they're occurring and everybody in the first world can have access to the technology to do so. If general people of the public took it upon themselves to go and research and investigate anything, they have the resources to get the story out there immediately. As long as the internet is accessible, information will be available, discussion will be possible and news will spread.
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