The format of digital allowed for audiences to transcend the boundaries of traditional media. Information doesn’t have to be a linear process anymore and the flow through platforms is an example of how people are taking back control of information.
The mobile phone is now an extension of ourselves. This part of the lecture I was very interested in. With infinite knowledge at our finger tips this made me think of humans a s AI with extra steps. Collective intelligence is becoming more prominent with this format and further links between knowledge in being created
So in the never ending debate of apple v android that is filled with bias, passion and misconception what is the difference in these two means for information. The platform of apple has heavy control over the products it is closed sourced therefore unable to be manipulates, on the other hand android is customisable as it is open sourced.
It is for you to decide which you prefer and which meets your needs. Which one wins for you?
Hyperreality is the inability to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. The media has the ability to present something that does not accurately reflect actual reality. Hyperreality is the post modern semiotic concept and refers to the inability to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. This concept is relevant due to our technological advanced society that allows for fake realties to be passable. An example of Hyperreality in technology is the use of AI generated images that represent humans. This can be found here https://www.thispersondoesnotexist.com/ … I found this super interesting to look at as if I did not have the insight that the images were computer generated then I never would have guessed that they weren’t real humans.
This image plays into the notion of not being able to distinguish between what is true and what is happening through the theory that we ourselves are in a simulation without our knowlege.
This week I have created a comparative video thats point is to explain the concept of framing and perception. It is mainly humour to bring awareness to the existence of topics such as sensory stimuli, schema (memory based of experience) and association chains. The main point that is trying to be achieved is that perception relies on individual experience and therefore association chains must vary person to person as they develop overtime. This diversity is exponentially important as lack of draws links to exposure filtered by propaganda. It is vital that both my perception and the donkeys perception are different as we do not nor should not share the same experience.
A donkey can always see all four of its feet and almost 360 degrees and therefore their schema will always be different on an exposure level.
So through the process of ideating creating and prototyping my digital artefact I have curated the website “Mouthabet.”
The beginning of this process started by creating and organising four personal kits avaliable to purchase. After pitching a podcast idea as my initial idea, outside circumstances lead to discarding this idea and starting fresh. These same circumstances gave me the inspiration to create a platform for Mouthabet. It is a phonics teaching research aimed towards parents and teaches in helping younger children and thoes who need assistance in learning to pronounce letters and words. I thought that with parents and teachers working from home a digital learning rescourse was the way to go.
These products that helped to create with my Mum years ago have been sitting in a google drive. If I have learnt anything from BCM112 it is to make the most of your content by posting it to different platforms and that is what I decided to do.
A – AYE B- BEE C-SEE…. You can see why this is can be confusing for youngsters.
I started by creating a logo. I decided to include the product into the logo for the “th” sound with the breath symbol. I think it captures the essence of what I am trying to achieve with my digital artefact.
After organising the folders into four sellable kits the next step was to transfer all of the products and information onto a website. I did a bit of research and most reviews said that for making an online store Wix was the way to go.
It was a tedious but relatively easy process and once finished I was able to publish the website. Tranfering the products onto the sights template, adjusting the asthetics until I was happy with the outcome.
The term propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relation ns of the public to an enterprise idea or group – Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928, p25
A brief bit of background about memes to give context. So the phrase was coined by Richard Dawkins who defined a meme as a unit of cultural transmission or imitation. The CIA define memes as cultural bits of information replicated and transmitted from mind to mind.
This brings us to memetic warfare, why the heck would government agencies be using memes?! Something we ourselves dont take seriously.
Memes have the capacity to influence and alter ideas, they have the potential to be modulators of perception. This has been seen in the infiltration memes have had on particularly the 2016 presidential election. Now it’s her turn campaign is an example explored in the lecture and how the slogan was turned into radical memes. Minds take an idea and they run with it at tremendous speed as an attack. The hashtag draft our daughters was trending a week before the election.
Memetic warfare comes in many forms, fake news, exaggerating the truth all in an attempt to push an idea. In this way you can relate it to guerrilla warfare, small bursts of attack and then disappearing into nothing only days later. Untraceable to where it originated.
Reference
Dawkins, R. 1976, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
“The personal and social consequences of any medium- that is, of any extension of ourselves- result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, by any or new technology” – Marshell Mclullhan
We have made a significant paradigm shift in the process of creation. A shift to the digital. This allows many things new ways to view, create and participate in media. We are able to move across platforms without the restrictions such as gatekeepers, this is consistent with the emergent media economic model which is decentralised, therefore making everyone the gatekeepers of knowledge.
The shift from passively consuming to actively participating has been established as audiences are now integrated into the process through continuous feedback loops.
The process of mass customisation is relevant in this Giph as this ability to customise has lead to the creation of the glitch aesthetic as well as other aesthetics online. This aesthetic can be considered a form of visual art that provokes emotion on nostalgia and linking ideas. Digital content allows artists to use thinks like pixels and unpredictability to craft their own content. With this perspective we can see how the medium is used to curate.
We (as in myself and Gus) are going to begin a podcast! Content topics will be driven by what the #BCM112 cohort wants to hear, current events in the media and what we feel like discussing. Since university has become digital, we want to make our podcast human and relatable and to discuss topics that transcend university boarders.
How are we achieving this?
Well, with a microphone and quality banta plus some research. After tweeting to past and present BCM students the verdict of what platform was almost unanimous. ANCHOR! We have started getting familiar with the platform.
How is this relevant to users?
Our audience will be entertained and informed and the podcast will be designed for more casual listening rather than professional. With a bit of research the ‘sweet spot’ for podcasting is around 30 minutes per episode.
The development of the digital artefact Devouring Wollongong has come a long way since the ideating process with many alterations made.
The initial concept of Devouring Wollongong was finding the best places to eat in the area. We operated a prototype of this idea in our first video; Eat Street Markets. After the completion of this video, we decided as a group that some alterations were in order and this was reinforced through feedback from our tutors and friends. These changes were needed for two main reasons:
Creating weekly videos together was overly complicated to produce and the projects were becoming too large for the response we were receiving . Our artefact did not aline with the FIST structure.
We were spreading the content over a multitude of media platforms that weren’t effective.
Our Eat Street video was quality content, but it was also a fail when comparing it to the rest of our operational prototype since implementing our changes. Failure means a learning experience. We now give ourselves the flexibility to post other formats of content that range from photos, posts and video. This change encourages consistency and enhances audience engagment. We can get content out faster and dividing it up simplifies the creation and export process in-between occasional larger videos.
We also expanded from documenting only food in Wollongong as it was expensive. Devouring Wollongong is able to keep the same name as we still look at the best food to consume, however, we also look at consuming other things Wollongong has to offer, like experiences, hikes and attractions.
Another large change was the cull of our Instagram and Twitter. We now all co manage the Facebook page devouring Wollongong and focus mainly in that space. I noticed that the University of Wollongong also concentrates their marketing heavily on Facebook. The majority of Devouring Wollongong’s audience are uni students (see below) that consume our content and the analytics back up the hypothesis that the university students congregate and engage best on Facebook.
Who’s your audience?
The audience for Devouring Wollongong is 18- 24-year-olds from Australia which is both our intended audience and our analysed audience. We have successfully targeted university students in the area. Our tutor gave feedback on the limitations of a digital artefact that targets an audience on campus for the educational content that we are creating and that it would only be useful in March for first years. This is reflected by the stunt in growth experienced after our initial creation of the Facebook page.
Inspiration?
Our decision to really focus in on our Facebook account stemmed initially from research into UOW Admirers, a Facebook page that is successful in engaging with an audience similar to our own. Although we do not have the same kind of content, the interpersonal interaction was something we were trying to achieve.
What readings were most helpful?
One of the most helpful readings from moodle was Todd Clarks ‘Complete Guide to Content Curation’ “to learn what’s working, what’s not and to change” listening socially was an important element that I personally ignored in the very beginning of my digital artefact. Once I discovered that the content that was easier to produce was in higher demand, I understood lengthy youtube videos weren’t working. The blog post really broke down different options and avenues to focus on when beginning including to ‘mix it up’ and ‘schedule it.’
LAURA 