Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Conclusion - reflecting apon new comm tech
New Comm Tech, which will culminate tomorrow in the exam, has been an interesting educational experience. However, there were many aspects of the courses content which was questionable in terms of its relevance. The main critisicm i would make would be regarding the link between the tutorial, text book and lecture content. The text book tackles the issues of new comm tech with a political economy approach, an approach i found easy to read and very insightful. Steve's lectures could be related to the textbooks content because he also looked at neagative/positive impacts of tech on society. The tutuorials though unfortunetely had little to no relevance to either the book or the lecture. In the tutorials we devoted the majority of our time to superficial analyses of computer programs. Spending two weeks looking at photoshop was, in my opinion, something of a waste of time, considering that when the two weeks was up i was not only uninterested but also quite confused; this is in no way a negative reflection on chris (my tutor), but making two weeks of photoshop interesting is a mammoth task for anyone. I feel that the weeks we spent looking at photoshop, word and excel would have been much better spent reviewing, discussing and debating topics raised in either the lectures or textbook. All in all though it was fairly enjoyable and a good introduction to uni life!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Week 10 - Microsoft Word
The first two exercises in this weeks task were to use some of microsoft words easier functions. Fortunately i have already mastered the art of opening and saving, but it was a nice, familiar place to start and a confidence booster for the advanced tasks to come. In the same vein, using bold, italic, double spacing etc is something i am quite familiar with. The advanced tasks were unfamiliar territory to a tech illiterate such as myself. I encountered no problems in terms of following the instructions given in the tutorial tasks, the instructions were straight fowared and easy to follow and i will now use the 'track changes' feature alot in the future. Though it is in many ways a case of me being perfectly happy the way i was using it before, which was to track any changes with my trusty notepad and pen. So the new method ive encountered makes things mildly easier but i would have been fine without it.
The mail merge on the other hand i really do appreciate. This will save me probably minutes of precious time in the future. It has been fun to learn and if i can remember how to use it in future i will. however i am one of the above mentioned individuals who uses open office so i guess not. bye!!
The mail merge on the other hand i really do appreciate. This will save me probably minutes of precious time in the future. It has been fun to learn and if i can remember how to use it in future i will. however i am one of the above mentioned individuals who uses open office so i guess not. bye!!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
New Comm Tech Essay - Final Copy - Assessment 2
There is no question that the development of new technology throughout the the 2oth century, and the early stages of the 21st, have significantly impacted on every facet of life in western societies. Aside from the obvious impacts at a day to day level, the development of new communications has had a considerable effect on the changing methods that media outlets use to broadcast and narrowcast news and current affairs to the public. The abolishment of Australia's cross media ownership laws are providing increasing opportunities for media moguls with monopolistic agendas to dominate not only existing mediums, but to gain a stranglehold on new and increasingly popular communication technologies. Blogging and Internet news sites, once forums for unbiased ( or at least honest) opinion, are now becoming the domain of the the very companies that dominate traditional sources of broadcast media. This trend is compromising the single most important function that media has in a democracy, to offer objective and unbiased facts to the public so that informed and educated decisions can be made. New Internet based technologies play an important role in this problem, however, they can also play a fundamental role in the solution.
Traditional sources of broadcast mediums in Australia - television, radio and print, have long been the exclusive domain of a small number of companies (Keating,P http://www.smh.com.au/ 2005) . Cross Media laws, created in the 1980's by the then communications minister Micheal Duffy (Birtles,B http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005), restricted the number of media outlets one organisation could own in any major Australian city. The over-riding argument in favour of the abolishment of the laws rested on the idea that traditional news sources no longer carry the same influence; this reduced influence was credited, in part, to the increased public reliance on Internet news sites. However, according to Trish Bolton "online hit rates for News Ltd, Fairfax and ninemsn far outnumber online alternatives"( Bolton,T http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005) suggesting that while new technologies like Internet news sites are indeed increasing in popularity, consumers are accessing news sites provided by the same companies that dominate traditional media. This danger was articulated by opposition Communication spokesman Stephen Conroy who “warns that the new laws will see more power in the hands of existing media bosses” (http://proquest.umi.com). This trend undermines the most significant argument that led to the scrapping of the laws - that the development of new, independently run Internet news sources was providing a wealth of diversity to the public.(Birtles,B http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005).
This raises a new point of discussion concerning Internet based news sites. In the early days of widespread Internet use, Blogging was the domain of pioneering 'citizen journalists' before it became a medium commonly used by large media corporations (Lasica, J.D http://www.jdlasica.com/ 2003). It can be strongly argued that mainstream media moguls arrived on the Internet news scene relatively late, it would seem however that that hasn’t reduced their ability to have a significant impact in a short period of time. Communication and new media (2007) makes the point that, in the past, the development of new technology has led to the death of older ones.( Hirst,M and Harrison,J 2007 p.360). This would seem at a glance to be the basis for a compelling argument in favour of the media law change. After all, if the increased popularity of Internet news sites is going to cause the inevitable near death of print, television and radio, it surely matters not at all that multiple media outlets in the same city are owned by one company. Such a simplistic argument is sadly flawed to its core. Reid Goldsborough acknowledges that old and new media are in fact co-existing (Goldsborough,R http://www.infotoday.com/ 2005) and it is likely they will continue to do so for some time . It is difficult to specify a time at which the influence of traditional media will have diminished to the point where the abolishment of the cross media laws can be justified, but we can be certain that point has not yet arrived.
Even when the cross media laws were in place, diversity in the Australian media was lacking ( http://www.australianpolitics.com/). Their abolishment has had two important effects. The traditional news outlets are now available to whoever has the money, coupled with the intent, to furthur monopolise them. But perhaps more importantly, there is nothing to prevent the media moguls unobstructed expansion into the world of cyperspace. Robert McChesney has written extensively regarding the dangers posed to a democratic society when the statement “the Internet will set us free” is liberally used (McChesney,R 1999 p.119). He suggests that relying on the Internet to forever be a forum of free expression is dangerous, because “every major new electronic media technology this century . . . has spawned similar utopian notions” (McChesney,R 1999 p.119). These hopes for a utopian future have clearly not eventuated. It is undoubtedly difficult to pass legislation controlling the content of news on a forum of free speech and ideas such as the Internet. If there is a successful movement to limit the online expression and influence of companies such as Fairfax, News Limited and PBL, how long would it be before we saw the same level of censorship applied to everyday 'bloggers', those courageous citizen journalists keeping at least some online content original and honest!
Parts of the above comments have attacked Internet news sites and blogs as being little more than contributors to the problem of increasing media monopolisation. Whilst it is true that the Internet has opened up an arena for media moguls to expand into, the capacity that the Internet possesses to be an agent for free expression cannot be ignored. After all, when a consumer logs onto the net to receive news, they always have a choice as to where they will go to access it. Just because the current trend is towards sites run by Fairfax, ninemsn etc, there is no reason that, as a result of widespread community activism, we couldn't begin to see online news sites with a diversity of opinion receiving the most hits from online news seekers. With a little effort and righteous anger from the Internet using public, the Internet need not follow the traditional media down the path of corporate control and monopolisation. Part of the problem's cause can easily become it's solution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) 'New Communication Technology' http://www.australianpolitics.com/issues/media-ownership/1999ownership.shtml (accessed 7th May 2007)
2) Hirst, Martin and Harrison, John (2007) Communication and new media, from broadcast to narrowcast Oxford New York
3) 'New Communication Technology' http://www.freepress.net/content/about (accessed 5th May 2007)
4) Goldsborough, Reid (2005) New versus old media text http://www.infotoday.com/linkup/lud101505-goldsborough.shtml (accessed 7th May 2007)
5) Lasica, J.D (2003) Blogs and journalism need each other text http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html (accessed 7th May 2007)
6) Birtles, Bill (2005) Cross media laws - new media not quite there yet text http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3994 (accessed 7th May 2007)
7) 'New Communication Technology' http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1148527111&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientld=13713&RQT=309&Vname=PQD (accessed 9th May 2007)
8) McChesney, Robert (1999) Rich media, poor democracy - communication politics in dubious times University of Illinois Press Urbana and Chicago
9) Keating, Paul (2005) A crude end to cross-media laws signals a dangerous power trip text
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-crude-end-to-crossmedia-laws-signals-a-dangerous-power-trip/2005/09/28/1127804547001.html (accessed 7th May 2007)
10) McChesney, Robert and Newman, Russell and Scott, Ben (ed) (2005) The future of media - resistance and reform in the 21st century Seven Stories Press New York, London, Toronto, Melbourne
Traditional sources of broadcast mediums in Australia - television, radio and print, have long been the exclusive domain of a small number of companies (Keating,P http://www.smh.com.au/ 2005) . Cross Media laws, created in the 1980's by the then communications minister Micheal Duffy (Birtles,B http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005), restricted the number of media outlets one organisation could own in any major Australian city. The over-riding argument in favour of the abolishment of the laws rested on the idea that traditional news sources no longer carry the same influence; this reduced influence was credited, in part, to the increased public reliance on Internet news sites. However, according to Trish Bolton "online hit rates for News Ltd, Fairfax and ninemsn far outnumber online alternatives"( Bolton,T http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005) suggesting that while new technologies like Internet news sites are indeed increasing in popularity, consumers are accessing news sites provided by the same companies that dominate traditional media. This danger was articulated by opposition Communication spokesman Stephen Conroy who “warns that the new laws will see more power in the hands of existing media bosses” (http://proquest.umi.com). This trend undermines the most significant argument that led to the scrapping of the laws - that the development of new, independently run Internet news sources was providing a wealth of diversity to the public.(Birtles,B http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ 2005).
This raises a new point of discussion concerning Internet based news sites. In the early days of widespread Internet use, Blogging was the domain of pioneering 'citizen journalists' before it became a medium commonly used by large media corporations (Lasica, J.D http://www.jdlasica.com/ 2003). It can be strongly argued that mainstream media moguls arrived on the Internet news scene relatively late, it would seem however that that hasn’t reduced their ability to have a significant impact in a short period of time. Communication and new media (2007) makes the point that, in the past, the development of new technology has led to the death of older ones.( Hirst,M and Harrison,J 2007 p.360). This would seem at a glance to be the basis for a compelling argument in favour of the media law change. After all, if the increased popularity of Internet news sites is going to cause the inevitable near death of print, television and radio, it surely matters not at all that multiple media outlets in the same city are owned by one company. Such a simplistic argument is sadly flawed to its core. Reid Goldsborough acknowledges that old and new media are in fact co-existing (Goldsborough,R http://www.infotoday.com/ 2005) and it is likely they will continue to do so for some time . It is difficult to specify a time at which the influence of traditional media will have diminished to the point where the abolishment of the cross media laws can be justified, but we can be certain that point has not yet arrived.
Even when the cross media laws were in place, diversity in the Australian media was lacking ( http://www.australianpolitics.com/). Their abolishment has had two important effects. The traditional news outlets are now available to whoever has the money, coupled with the intent, to furthur monopolise them. But perhaps more importantly, there is nothing to prevent the media moguls unobstructed expansion into the world of cyperspace. Robert McChesney has written extensively regarding the dangers posed to a democratic society when the statement “the Internet will set us free” is liberally used (McChesney,R 1999 p.119). He suggests that relying on the Internet to forever be a forum of free expression is dangerous, because “every major new electronic media technology this century . . . has spawned similar utopian notions” (McChesney,R 1999 p.119). These hopes for a utopian future have clearly not eventuated. It is undoubtedly difficult to pass legislation controlling the content of news on a forum of free speech and ideas such as the Internet. If there is a successful movement to limit the online expression and influence of companies such as Fairfax, News Limited and PBL, how long would it be before we saw the same level of censorship applied to everyday 'bloggers', those courageous citizen journalists keeping at least some online content original and honest!
Parts of the above comments have attacked Internet news sites and blogs as being little more than contributors to the problem of increasing media monopolisation. Whilst it is true that the Internet has opened up an arena for media moguls to expand into, the capacity that the Internet possesses to be an agent for free expression cannot be ignored. After all, when a consumer logs onto the net to receive news, they always have a choice as to where they will go to access it. Just because the current trend is towards sites run by Fairfax, ninemsn etc, there is no reason that, as a result of widespread community activism, we couldn't begin to see online news sites with a diversity of opinion receiving the most hits from online news seekers. With a little effort and righteous anger from the Internet using public, the Internet need not follow the traditional media down the path of corporate control and monopolisation. Part of the problem's cause can easily become it's solution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) 'New Communication Technology' http://www.australianpolitics.com/issues/media-ownership/1999ownership.shtml (accessed 7th May 2007)
2) Hirst, Martin and Harrison, John (2007) Communication and new media, from broadcast to narrowcast Oxford New York
3) 'New Communication Technology' http://www.freepress.net/content/about (accessed 5th May 2007)
4) Goldsborough, Reid (2005) New versus old media text http://www.infotoday.com/linkup/lud101505-goldsborough.shtml (accessed 7th May 2007)
5) Lasica, J.D (2003) Blogs and journalism need each other text http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html (accessed 7th May 2007)
6) Birtles, Bill (2005) Cross media laws - new media not quite there yet text http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3994 (accessed 7th May 2007)
7) 'New Communication Technology' http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1148527111&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientld=13713&RQT=309&Vname=PQD (accessed 9th May 2007)
8) McChesney, Robert (1999) Rich media, poor democracy - communication politics in dubious times University of Illinois Press Urbana and Chicago
9) Keating, Paul (2005) A crude end to cross-media laws signals a dangerous power trip text
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-crude-end-to-crossmedia-laws-signals-a-dangerous-power-trip/2005/09/28/1127804547001.html (accessed 7th May 2007)
10) McChesney, Robert and Newman, Russell and Scott, Ben (ed) (2005) The future of media - resistance and reform in the 21st century Seven Stories Press New York, London, Toronto, Melbourne
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Essay websites
Here are a few of the websites ill be looking at for my essay
1)www.onlineopinion.com.au
2)www.smh.com.au/news/opinion
3)www.bandt.com.au
4)www.presscouncil.org.au
5)www.getup.org.au
These sites have some good argument about cross media laws specifically discussing the effect internet news sites have had on the industry so check them out!! theres a good mix of opinion, some of it damn laughable, worth looking at.
1)www.onlineopinion.com.au
2)www.smh.com.au/news/opinion
3)www.bandt.com.au
4)www.presscouncil.org.au
5)www.getup.org.au
These sites have some good argument about cross media laws specifically discussing the effect internet news sites have had on the industry so check them out!! theres a good mix of opinion, some of it damn laughable, worth looking at.
Week 7- an angry, angry week
I have finished with my photoshop experimentaion and the results can be seen in the altered photograph to the right. Whilst experiencing photoshop was interesting in small doses, I cant say that it is a new technology that i found particularily engaging. It is a new technology with a purely artisitic and aesthetic function; it serves little practical purpose in terms of better connecting people or promoting the free spread of ideaS - in my eyes only technologies that acheive either one or both of these are worth using. To photoshops credit, it does allow any random individual with an aspiration to be an artist a creative outlet, but any aspiring picassos still have to be creative within the constraints of an artificially created program. True creativity is best acheived with as few constraints as possible, in photshop all one must do is get the right combination of mouse pointing and finger clicking happenning and 'presto!!!' art is created baby!
While im on the soapbox, i would like to see technology being subjected to much more critique in this course. The writers of the textbook use an excellent combination of commentary and critique when discussing new technology, but this is not backed up in the lecture and tutorial content. Not meaning to hark back to old times, but those PR guest presenters actually spent 5min PLUGGING BLACKBERRIES!!!!!!!!! ahhhhh righteous anger, feels so good! I personally would like to see more time spent looking at the positive/negative impacts of technology on the lives of the everyday citizen. I know we do spend some time on it, i would like to see much more.
On a final, positive note i became an uncle for the first time last friday and am therfore going to change the name of my page from 'toms new comm' to 'uncle toms new comm'. Cya!!
While im on the soapbox, i would like to see technology being subjected to much more critique in this course. The writers of the textbook use an excellent combination of commentary and critique when discussing new technology, but this is not backed up in the lecture and tutorial content. Not meaning to hark back to old times, but those PR guest presenters actually spent 5min PLUGGING BLACKBERRIES!!!!!!!!! ahhhhh righteous anger, feels so good! I personally would like to see more time spent looking at the positive/negative impacts of technology on the lives of the everyday citizen. I know we do spend some time on it, i would like to see much more.
On a final, positive note i became an uncle for the first time last friday and am therfore going to change the name of my page from 'toms new comm' to 'uncle toms new comm'. Cya!!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Rough essay draft
There is no question that the development of new technology throughout the the 2oth century, and the early stages of the 21st, have significantly impacted on every facet of life in western societies. Aside from the obvious impacts at a day to day level, the development of new communications has had a considerable effect on the changing methods that media outlets use to broadcast and narrowcast news and current affairs to the public. The abolishment of Australia's cross media ownership laws are providing increasing opportunities for media moguls with monopolistic agendas to dominate not only existing mediums, but to gain a stranglehold on new and increasingly popular communication technologies. Blogging and internet news sites, once forums for unbiased ( or at least honest) opinion, are now the becoming the domain of the the very companies that dominate traditional sources of broadcast media. This trend is compromising the single most important fuction that media has in a democracy, to offer objective and unbiased facts to the public so that informed and eductaed desicions can be made. New internet based technologies play an impotant role in this problem, however, they can also play a fundamental role in the solution.
Traditional sources of broadcast mediums in Australia - television, radio and print, have long been the exclusive domain of a small number of companies ( find reference) . Cross Media laws, created during the Keating government, restricted the number of media outlets one organisation could own in a specific region. The over-riding argument in favour of the abolishment of the laws rested on the idea that traditional news sources no longer carry the same influence; this reduced influence is credited, in part, to the increased public reliance on internet news sites. However, according to Trish Bolton "online hit rates for News Ltd, Fairfax and ninemsn far outnumber online alternatives" suggesting that while new technologies like internet news sites are indeed increasing in popularity, consumers are accessing news sites provided by the same companies that dominate traditional media. This trend undermines the most signifigant argument that led to the scrapping of the laws - that the development of new, independently run internet news sources was providing a wealth of diversity to the public.
Traditional sources of broadcast mediums in Australia - television, radio and print, have long been the exclusive domain of a small number of companies ( find reference) . Cross Media laws, created during the Keating government, restricted the number of media outlets one organisation could own in a specific region. The over-riding argument in favour of the abolishment of the laws rested on the idea that traditional news sources no longer carry the same influence; this reduced influence is credited, in part, to the increased public reliance on internet news sites. However, according to Trish Bolton "online hit rates for News Ltd, Fairfax and ninemsn far outnumber online alternatives" suggesting that while new technologies like internet news sites are indeed increasing in popularity, consumers are accessing news sites provided by the same companies that dominate traditional media. This trend undermines the most signifigant argument that led to the scrapping of the laws - that the development of new, independently run internet news sources was providing a wealth of diversity to the public.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Week 5 Blog
Well i did my best, but i am definetely going to need another week of experimenting with photoshop in my tute before i can successfully upload some decent photos to my blog. I altered some photos last week but then had problems getting them directly from photoshop to my blog, i tried to add them as page elements but it failed miserably. The computer just wouldnt do it, apparently they were in the wrong format?? so ill try and resolve that this week and get them up there over the next couple of days.
Predictably enough, photoshop is yet another example of new computer technology i really didnt know existed. It is truly confronting and exciting new frontiers we are crossing on a weekly basis in this subject.
The early stages of my essay research are coming along very nicely, there is an absolute wealth of information out there for the topic i want to address. In fact, i have difficulty sitting down in front of the TV of an evening without another issue regarding new media and technololgy flashing accross the screen. I am now fine tuning my idea furthur by beginning to concentrate specifically on how the abolishment of Australia's laws regarding cross media ownership are making it easier for the packer/murdoch etc presses to dominate new technologies as well as exisitng ones.
Hopefully the coming weeks tutorial will help me furthur in my heroic struggle to understand photoshop better, unless i encounter some major stumbling blocks i expect to have some altered photos on the blog in the next few days. Apparently we will be watching an instructional video which is great, because frankly i can use all the help i get!! cya!
Predictably enough, photoshop is yet another example of new computer technology i really didnt know existed. It is truly confronting and exciting new frontiers we are crossing on a weekly basis in this subject.
The early stages of my essay research are coming along very nicely, there is an absolute wealth of information out there for the topic i want to address. In fact, i have difficulty sitting down in front of the TV of an evening without another issue regarding new media and technololgy flashing accross the screen. I am now fine tuning my idea furthur by beginning to concentrate specifically on how the abolishment of Australia's laws regarding cross media ownership are making it easier for the packer/murdoch etc presses to dominate new technologies as well as exisitng ones.
Hopefully the coming weeks tutorial will help me furthur in my heroic struggle to understand photoshop better, unless i encounter some major stumbling blocks i expect to have some altered photos on the blog in the next few days. Apparently we will be watching an instructional video which is great, because frankly i can use all the help i get!! cya!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
