Lesson Six: It's Not What You Know, It's If You Can Figure Out What To Do With It

University is a place I dread, I'd admit that. There are reasons behind this. I live 2 hours from where I study. I have no motivation, experience, connections, and sometimes even interest in what I am currently studying (BoBusiness/Media & Communcication). But most of all, I'm a critic of the system. Theory over practice. Much like Todd, I am left completely stumped when asked what field I would like to work in when I'm finished and am left asking myself "Why am I even doing this?"

"What about a degree in New Media?" you ask. Well, according to Gill (2007) many of the New Media practitioners interviewed for his study had a degree in media and communcations. Check (hopefully). Creativity, communication skills and an eye for future trends. I'd like to think so. But what is this? Passion and enthusiasm for the field, long working hours, poor wages and working conditions, and a reliance of personal contacts and connections to find work. I'm not so sure. If having a passion or desire for the industry you wish to work is the key to a successful and happy career, then I'll stick to a skate shop, or a record store. And then there's the high failure rate of Australian small business...




(Source: ShortFilms13D [Yep, that's me])

This whole 'searching for a career' thing is a headache, but I'm sure I'll figure it out some day.

Gill, R. (2007). Informality is the New Black. In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures: 24-30 & 38-43

O'Brien, T. New Media, Internet Self and Beyond. toddobrien.blogspot.com

Lesson Five: If Pain Persists, Consult Your Nearest Practitioner

(Source: TopNews.in)

Gaining sound practitional advice, in many instances, can be a painstaking process. Being passed on from one professional to the next takes time, money and patience, often only to receive a incorrect diagnosis and poor expert advice. Rather than sit in the appropriately titled 'waiting room', New Media has allowed users to access health information in an instant, linking their exact symptoms to an approximate diagnosis using sites such as MedHelp.org. I have experienced this personally, having visited 6 different professionals between 4 clinics, only to be incorrectly cleared on two seperate occasions of muscular injury.

Having this kind of access to medical information online, however, can provide a misinterpreted diagnosis of ones symptoms. Lewis (2006) raises this issue in his article Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria? Cyberchondria, according to Yellowlees (2000), "occurs in anxious or hypochondriacal patients who start spending too much time chasing around the Web searching for information which may make them more anxious".

Like health supplements, which should be taken as directed in unison with physical activity and other professional advice, information and advice taken from New Media tools such as MedHelp.org should be used to narrow the scope for your local health practitioner, rather than a quick-fix or self-diagnosis of your medical condition.

Lewis, T. 2006. Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or a bad attack of cyberchondria? In Media, Culture and Society.

Med Help. 2011. Available at http://www.medhelp.org

Yellowlees, L. M. 2000. The World Wide Web is becoming a new medium of medical practice in The Medical Journal of Australia, 173 (629-630).

Lesson Four: Living Under the Bleak Gleam of 'GOD, the Media', Isn't So Bad.

In Jim Carrey's 1998 film 'The Truman Show' a world is depicted where we unconsciously go about our day-to-day lives under the absorbing affect of the media. A false world where we are made to believe what we see, unconsciously or not. Mark Deuze's 2011 article 'Media Life' attempts to explain that our reality is indeed not that far separated from the life of Truman Burbank, by claiming that our lives too, our own reality, is no longer existant or we are oblivious to it because our lives have become so consumed within our 'media lives'.

We may live in a society where the force of media is so controlling that we never question, nor critique its presence or accuracy in our own realities. But when we begin to recognise the glitches in this media life, we can begin to question what reality and freedom actually is, and what it has become. Deuze explains "If we live our lives in media and we choose to take responsibility for it, what exactly are our options to constitute each other and ourselves in society, to be free and mediated at the same time?" (2010, 144).

One solution can be made: ignore it. Although he does make some valid points about how each personal can create multiple personalities of themselves and others, Deuze dramatically overestimates the control that media has on our lives. Sure, we might be oblivious to it, but according to most of the human race, we aren't living in a reality TV show, nor pretend to in our daily interactions with others. If we cannot properly understand how the media controls us, like myself, then why complicate the course of life by attempting to question it? As far as we're concerned, the realm that we are living in now IS reality, no matter how different it might seem to our nihilistic post-industrial academics.

Deuze, M. (2011). Media Life. In Media, Culture & Society, Volume 33, issue 1, pp. 137-148.

Lesson Three: Wanted for Speaking in the Land of the Free (Speech)

(Source: Care2 News Network)

WARNING: This article contains raw, unedited war footage which may be sensitive to some viewers.

The case of Wikileaks, the non-for-profit organisation allowing the public freedom to access confidential government and military cables and documents, has sent shockwaves through international governments and citizens alike. My opinions aside, there are obvious criticisms to be made on both sides of the fence.

Clay Shirky asks how ubiquity of the internet affects U.S Government interests and policy. He highlights Hilary Clinton's promotion to freedom of access, production of content and speech online (2011, p28-29). Fast forward one year since her January 2010 announcement, the U.S is trying frantically to shut Wikileaks down and have Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, charged with espionage. All the while, Wikileaks has burst the freedom of access argument wide open by refusing to reveal the identity of their sources, while openly displaying the confidential details of others.

(Source: The Young Turks)

While the news media continues to toss the hypocrisy card from one side to the next, we are forgetting the fundamental aspect of this argument: the freedom of opinion within the public sphere. In Marrissa Prince's self-titled blog, she states “you cannot deny that new media is making the barrier between the people and the government more transparent than ever” (2010). With not even 3% of Wikileaks 251,287 leaked U.S embassy cables released in the four month since their obtain (wikileaks.com), there is still much to be speculated, argued, and thankfully, publicly discussed.

Prince, M. 2011. 'Internet = Freedom of Speech?' from Marissa Prince.

Shriky. C. 2011. “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology; the public sphere and political change”from Foreign Affairs, Vol 90 Issue 1: p.28-41

Wikileaks. 2011. Cable Viewer. Exact URL hidden.

Lesson Two: Where's the Essence?

Back in the 80's, when our vinyl and cassette collections were our most prized possession, our exploration into the unknown music realm was limited to a few print publications, the occasional gig poster, and word-of-mouth from those in the know.

Fast forward to the 21^st century: the internet, digital music, and Apple's market dominance with the iPod (over 70%) and iTunes music store; where it's become almost too easy to classify yourself as a 'music collector'. The ease of access to both the information and the product (music) has created a shift in power, from what used to be a minuscule collective of the musically 'informed' to a small, yet powerful minority. As Steven Levy states, “we seem to be immersed in an age of musical voyeurism, not to mention musical exhibitionism” (Levy 2006, 23).

Although this shift into the digital age, “when one can routinely access information in seconds that once required a week of library excavation to retrieve” (Levy 2006, 24) can we claim complete superiority over the 'less informed' population, from a collection a digital files stored in a small, rectangular unit with an audio jack? What happened to the essence of the tangible product? The joy of examining and listening to your CD or record collection with your peers has now been replaced with the satisfaction of shoving an iPod into an observers face (Levy 2006, 22-25).

Levy, S. 2006. "Identity" in The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, 21-41. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Lesson One: About-Face in the Social Space

"Never judge a book by its cover"

Metaphorically, we are told not to do the same to others; to make judgements of others based on the conclusions from our personal interactions. These can include interests, morals and beliefs and personality, among others. The intergration of social networking sites into our lives, however, has made us as a culture do the exact opposite.

Our first impressions are made when we enter onto a fellow social network user’s profile page. For those who are not a part of our own online social networks, profile access is limited, therefore a profile pictures, selected interests and a small about me is all we have to make a judgement. If impressed by this narrow scope into their personalities, whether it be fabricated or not, we add them to our networks to investigate the reliability of our observation. While we assume that most online personalities are in alignment with the personal identity, this process allows the user to more accuratly clarify the integrity of the other. This process, however, requires an large investment in time and if unsatisfied, will throw the other back into the social networking abyss.

Social networking sites are a great tool for establishing and reestablishing connections, but provide an incorrect or incomplete assessment of others, and cannot replace face-to-face interation.

Donath, J. and Boyd, D. 2004. “Public displays of connection” in BT Technology Journal, 22 (4). Accessed March 14, 2011.