Author: rubylanzi

You may be familiar with journaling. It’s a very simple act.

As described by Very Well Mind, “Journaling generally involves the practice of keeping a diary or journal that explores thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of your life.”

It’s true, journaling is just that easy. You can simply sit, lay, stand and write down your emotions, thoughts, feelings, and so much more. However, what many are not aware of, is that this is not all journaling is, there is so much more to it. You can paint, draw, colour, pray, sing or even dance. There are even individuals who dream journal. This is where you write about the dreams you have while sleeping and this has helped people with improving their nightmares and understand the meaning of their dreams for their life. Any form of releasing your emotions, expressing yourself and staying in tune with who you are, is a way of journaling and once looking into it, it appears to be a whole world of its own.

My name is Ruby, and I am a current Uni Student. I have been looking into the benefits of journaling over this semester and what I have found has been so fascinating to learn about. I have not only found an abundance of information about journaling but through this research I have found out more about myself than ever before. I started my own journaling journey with the hopes of reaping and understanding the benefits first-hand and I am so glad I did.

Starting your own journaling journey is something I think you should consider. The remainder of this post will continue on the facts and benefits however right now I want to say my little piece on how it may be able to change your life. Setting aside a very small portion of your day to journal, whether that be talking about your day or how you are feeling or about that work thing that is just really annoying you, will help you to not only start a journaling routine but also participate in self-care. Self-care is something that has been proven time and time again to help increase the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals and journaling fits right into this category. To be in tune with your emotions and your life is a way for you to not only better understand yourself but improve your life as a whole because you are physically partaking in an act that allows you to do so.

As there are so many ways of participating in the act of journaling, I did whatever my mind gravitated towards. At first this was writing but then it turned into colouring and now I am a regular of both. Writing is a great way for me to journal as I can write the feelings and thoughts, I have that I can’t quite say aloud or know how to. Colouring was something that took me by surprise. I do this by setting myself up comfortably and whatever colours come my way are what I use. It is so calming yet I find it so stimulating for my brain. When I have had enough of it, I find that I am more aware of what I need to do for the remainder of the day or if it is at night I am sleeping with a clear and calm mind.

Instagram influencer and YouTuber, Chelsea Roccazella, promotes self-love, positivity and journaling through majority of her posts. When Rocca posts about her daily routine, she always makes the time and effort to discuss her journaling. She has multiple journals all for different reasons. These includes gratitude, day to day journaling, question and answer journaling. Her audience responded extremely well to her journaling chats and so she actually produced an E-book about how to start your own journaling journey. The responses she gained were major and she managed to have some of her audience starting their own journaling journey’s. They have added it into their morning or night time routine and with the help of her E-book, they have also noticed a major difference in their mentality about their school, work, social and personal lives.

After falling down a reddit rabbit hole, I have found so many other ways of journaling that people speak about. These include, scrapbooking, memory planning (when people plan weeks ahead in an aesthetic manner), family trees, making playlists and blackout journaling (journaling on black pages forcing you to be more creative). I joined the group r/Journaling and found so many supportive comments and posts about other’s journaling journeys. It truly is a world of its own.

The journaling community is full of people who appear to just love time to themselves, self-care acts and staying creative. This reddit group allows individuals to share pages of their work or have discussions about journaling. How to gain motivation, other ways to journal, and just stay in touch with each other and know they are not alone in loving this act. People even talk about what their favourite pen to use is and how they like to set up their space for when they are journaling. These include music, pencil cases, highlighters and of course their journaling book. Something that I have taken away from observing this group is how supportive and encouraging everyone is. Not just this but everyone just wants to share their experience and they have unintentionally created this community of individuals who support each other and grow together. There is no judgement. It is a way for people to relieve the stress of everyday life and they want to share it with others who have the same way of doing so.

“ … journaling can be stress relieving when the practice is focused on gratitude or emotional processing.”

When it comes to journaling, you can tackle it one of two ways. You can either put your heart and soul into it, or you can do it with only 50% of enthusiasm. I have found that the days I wasn’t fully involved with what I was journaling, I also didn’t fully gain the benefits that come along with it. Before we go any further, let’s have a little look into what these ‘benefits’ are.

Journaling is known to reduce stress; it is just a common fact. But in reality, it is so much more than that. Journaling helps someone to better understand who they are as an individual, improves memory functions, even your immune system. It is a form of self-care that has been scientifically proven to improve one’s mental wellbeing. Not only this but it also helps to keep you grounded and in the present moment. Writing down your deep thoughts and emotions, asking yourself the hard questions helps you to ensure you are staying in tune with who you are meant to be and living your life the way it is meant to be lived. Taking those 5 to however many minutes out of your day to process and write down or say aloud or put on paper however you like, your emotions, is the best way to live as you, for you.

In an article titled ‘Science shows something surprising about people who still journal’, opens the article with “they are healthier than the rest of us – and not just mentally.” It goes on to discuss the physical benefits of journaling as they are quite large. According to this article, journaling helps to increase the possibilities of combatting diseases like asthma, AIDS and even cancer. Not just this but it has proven to help make physical sores heal even faster.

“76% of adults who spent 20 minutes of writing about their thoughts and feelings for three consecutive days two weeks before a medically necessary biopsy were fully healed 11 days later. Meanwhile, 58% of the control group had not recovered.”

Journaling is viewed as the most beneficial form of writing, people who write about traumatic or stressful events are seen to be significantly less likely to get sick and were less effected by the trauma or stress. Acknowledgment of the stress or trauma is the first step in moving forward from it and so journaling is a way for individuals to achieve this. That is why the numbers above are a significant change.

When first starting this research, I was so intrigued with the ‘how’. How does something as simple as journaling develop so many benefits? But the fascinating thing for me wasn’t how many benefits but how intense these benefits are. Like, improving your memory function, that is such a large benefit to be gaining. I couldn’t find the answer of ‘how’ these benefits are gained anywhere and it started to frustrate me, like why can is there not one clear answer. But how can there be? There simply isn’t one clear answer for anything when it is as deep as this. Through participating in journaling, I have found my answer of ‘how’.  I find myself more focused and aware than ever. This is definitely a result of my journaling and I am so much more in the present moment. When someone suffers from anxiety or is just stressed out, is it because they are living and thinking in the future. Well there are more factors, but this is the main one. Journaling forces you to be in that present moment and to be fully there, with all of your thoughts and emotions and so doing this on a regular basis has trained my brain to be in the present moment and to be fully aware of what is happening around me. It is making sure that I am here, and I am okay.

So, I unintentionally found out how these benefits are gained through journaling. It is just a matter of a self-care act and these are so important when it comes to an overall increased wellbeing.

I hope someone, after reading this post, is inspired to journal. Think of it as a part of your everyday life. Think of it just like you wash your face or shower in the morning to clean your body. It is a way to clean your mind.

References

Scott, E, 2020, The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management, VeryWellMind, viewed 18 October 2020 < https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-journaling-for-stress-management-3144611 >

R/Journaling Group, accessed multiple times through course of Semester, 2020, https://www.reddit.com/r/Journaling/

Grate, R, 2015, Science Shows Something Surprising about People Who Still Journal, MIC, viewed 21 October 2020 < https://www.mic.com/p/science-shows-something-surprising-about-people-who-still-journal-16207322 >

Bailey, K, 2018, 5 Powerful Health Benefits of Journaling, InterMountain Healthcare, viewed 1 November 2020, < https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2018/07/5-powerful-health-benefits-of-journaling/ >

Ackerman, C, 2020, 83 Benefits of Journaling for Depression, Anxiety and Stress, Positive Psychology, viewed 1 November 2020, < https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journaling/ >

Purcell, M, 2020, The Health Benefits of Journaling, PsychCentral, viewed 1 November 2020 < https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-health-benefits-of-journaling/ >

O’Connell, T, 2011, The Case of Reflective Journals: Is the jury still out? [online PDF download], Research Gate. Viewed 28 August 2020 <  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232947360_The_case_of_reflective_journals_Is_the_jury_still_out  >

Tank, A., 2020. This Is How Journaling Can Make You A More Effective Leader. [online] Fast Company. Viewed 28 August 2020 < https://www.fastcompany.com/90423383/the-benefits-of-journaling-for-leaders >

This is a link to my Contextual Report about my Digital Artefact ‘Ruby Reviews’.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/149uPHccM1DR_x6UrgDNeDS00wncpPCoAVylWXsbsLlI/edit?usp=sharing

[proper layout + images are in the google doc: this is the wording]

Analytical Framework 

For my Digital Artefact I watched and reviewed game shows by creating blog posts about them. Using the streaming service Netflix to watch the shows. I discussed the rules and spoke about the contestants’ gameplay and my recommendations when it came to the game show. The game shows I reviewed include; Awake, Floor is Lava and Glow Up. While contributing to the Digital Artefact I didn’t use any secondary research as I wanted the reviews to come from me and not about articles on the shows. I think this gave my DA a more personal feel to it and allows people to read a review and not another article on the show. I find that my DA is useful to users as it helps users gain an understanding of the game before they watch it and are able to read up whether they will enjoy the game or not.

Iteration Cycle and Feedback Loop 

For my DA my idea continued to stay the same throughout the entirety of the semester. From the feedback I received from my original pitch, my audience appeared to like the idea of me uploading my reviews in a blog post format. I think this idea made the most sense when it came to writing reviews. 

However, in my Beta I mentioned that I was thinking about expanding my DA to other platforms. The platforms mentioned were Tik Tok and Instagram. I thought of this as these platforms are a great way to gain an audience and to ensure you are engaging with them to know what to produce and keep them interested. The feedback on my Beta seemed on board with me expanding my DA to other platforms but as seen, I haven’t done that. The reason I chose not to expand platforms on my DA was I really struggled with coming up with an aesthetic for myself. I also felt that expanding to other platforms would take away the initial meaning of Ruby Reviews. I just wanted it to be a place where people can go for reviews about game shows, not a whole fancy online space that you will get lost down a rabbit hole in. 

Although making the decision to now follow through with the expansion to other platforms, it truly showed that I didn’t take on board the feedback of my audience as I have not had any audience engagement with my blog. A blog is just one of those things that media users don’t look for, but reviews are. The trajectory of my DA appears to be at a standstill however the future could hold a website or even something like ‘rotten tomatoes’ where my audience would also review the shows. 

Methodology 

My blog posts were set out quite simply. Just one chosen image relating to the game show and the post itself. The last 2 blog posts I wrote however have a recommendation section at the bottom which I feel gives my posts more flow and more of a ‘review’ feel to it rather than just discussing the game itself. I wanted the posts to stay simple so they were easy to read and follow and I am happy with how they turned out. 

Background Research

Although my DA did not really require me to have any secondary sources, the artefact itself was based around the second lecture of this subject. This being, ‘game analysis and the prehistory of games’.

After listening to this lecture I knew I wanted to produce something that was reviewing game shows as it is something that interests me, because I am a lover of game shows. In this lecture, Christopher Moore says “when analysing a text, we have to take into account the way we make meaning of a text and the way others might make meaning of a text.” That is exactly what I wanted my DA to be about. Me, making sense of a game and seeing how my audience also made sense of that game. 

Something that is common knowledge is how shows bring people together. Individuals having the same likes and dislikes about a show or characters in the show, is something that ensures people communicate with each other and this is exactly what game shows also do. Game shows spark a conversation when watching TV. This could be as a family or with friends. The question and answer aspect to certain game shows are a conversation starter as views start to discuss the answers to the questions. Game shows where contestants compete against each other, however, you will find the room’s conversation to be about who they like and don’t like, who they want to win or even whether they think they could compete the challenge better. 

I wanted this DA to be somewhere people could go and to spark a conversation with strangers about a common interest or a common disinterest. Game shows represent this for an audience and I hope in the future, that the path my DA leads me on is one where this is a possibility.

Stay True, R.

“Pretty much any physical object can be transformed into an IoT device if it can be connected to the internet to be controlled or communicate information.”

This week, we learnt all about the Internet of Things. As the very simple explanation states above, it is essentially any device or thing that can connect to the internet. Computer, Tv, Phone, Apple Watch, Laptop or even now Google Home.

However, in the 21st Century, as technology is getting smarter and humans are getting dumber, we now have technology where we do not even have to touch to be able to access the internet. Who would’ve ever thought we would be here? It’s probably bad to say but I am glad we are. Do you know how handy Siri is?

I can almost guarantee you that 70% of my texts are sent by Siri … I am one of those people I know. It is just so convenient. Have a random question? Ask Siri. Want to send a text but not move? Ask Siri. She does it all. My remediation this week is taking a massive dig at myself. I am someone who is a regular user of Siri because I can’t be bothered to pick up my phone to use it but I am also at the gym 5 – 6 days out of the week.

The latest thing however, are Smart Homes. These are homes where every device is essentially connected to the internet. You can literally google something off your fridge … that’s so wild. You can connect everything in your Smart Home together and you can play music through your whole house, see who is at your front door and so much more.

Really makes me wonder about who can access all that data and find out what your household is doing.

Be You, R.

“Cyberwarfare refers to the use of digital attacks — like computer viruses and hacking — by one country to disrupt the vital computer systems of another, with the aim of creating damage, death and destruction.”

The above explanation of cyberwarfare is the perfect one for not only those who do understand what it already is, but for those who don’t as well. Cyberwar has been around for a very long time and is something that not all internet users are aware of.

We are all familiar with hackers getting into people’s bank accounts and social media accounts. We are also familiar with primary and high school systems blocking games/social media and figuring out a way to get it on the school computer. My remediation this week focuses on this.

Moving away from the light hearted nature, something that might never come to mind are the major hacking schemes.

One of the most famous hacker stories, in 1999, is of a 15 year old boy names James who hacked into the computers of a US department of Defence division and managed to get access to thousands of emails which held usernames of passwords from the US Government as well as military online information. Using this, James was even able to steal a piece of NASA’s software. What James had hacked into was work $1.7 million as it held information of the living space such as the humidity and temperature of space. James was caught later on and only suffered a minor sentence as of his age. In 2008, he committed suicide but in his letter he denied other allegations that were made on him about other major hackers.

Something that I think should be taken away from not only James’ story but reading up about Cyberwar is how real it is for people. Although it is online and just words, numbers and pictures on a screen, it is something that severely affects lives.

Learning about hackers was something I never expected to come across through this degree. However, Ted has proven me wrong, once again.

When hearing the word ‘hacker’ I immediately think of a system or social media account being hacked into, wiped, personal information shared or taken and all the other bad stuff that hackers do. But did you know there are actually good hackers? Like it is a full on thing to be an ethical hacker. That’s wild.

All different hackers apparently ‘wear different hats’. A white hat hacker is the good type of hacker. These hackers exploit into systems to acknowledge and better the security of the system or network. They recommend these improvements to the company or person for them to better their system and ensure the bad hackers don’t do their job of well, unethical hacking. White hat hackers work with companies to hack into their system, identify where their weak points are and strengthen them.

My remediation shows not only how confusing it was for me to wrap my head around being a white hat hacker but also how, kind of, relevant it is for these types of workers to exist.

I wonder how many times I said the word hack or hackers in this blog post.

Be You, R.

p.s. I counted, it’s 15.

“Jeff Giesea, defines memetic warfare as “competition over narrative, ideas, and social control in a social-media battlefield. One might think of it as a subset of ‘information operations’ tailored to social media. Information operations involve the collection and dissemination of information to establish a competitive advantage over an opponent”.

Meme’s have become the new way to spread information, and spread it fast. This can be dangerous to most political events/people however it is also dangerous to the world. Meme’s have been known for spreading false news around the globe and yet there is no way to stop memes from continuing on in the media.

Although this is the case, I wanted to talk very briefly about people who ‘accidentally became a meme’. There are a number of people who either has a leaked photo of when they were younger to people screen shotting them in a video and turning them into a meme, and many more. Buzzfeed has a whole series on their YouTube about people who accidentally became memes discussing their experience. Here is an example of one of those videos.

As he states in the video “it was a role given to me by the internet people”, this only proving how powerful social media is. I have used the leaked stock photo to create a relevant meme of my own, to show how easy it is for people to continue on using and sharing an image and turning it into a meme.

Stay True, R.

Comment One: Michaela Shales – Gender Sexualisation in Games

Michaela’s DA is based around gender sexualisation in games. Her idea was to originally play the game Episode and post to YouTube of her playing this game, however as she lacked motivation and doesn’t like playing games (just like me) she changed the idea to writing blog posts. I think this was a very smart move as instead of playing a game she doesn’t truly want to play, she is researching into games and still sticking to the same topic of discussion as the original idea. And gender sexualisation in games, is something that I believe people, especially gamers, should be discussing or even shedding light onto.

As Michaela stated that she doesn’t really have an audience, within my comment I linked her to a site that helps blogging beginners to gain an audience. I also spoke on the topic of gender sexualisation in games and reassured Michaela that I personally think the change of idea was a smart one.

Comment Two: Lydia McGahey – Positive Effects Games have on Children Development

From Lydia’s pitch, she decided to narrow down her DA to focus more on two specific games and the positive effects they have on a child’s development. She wants to shed light on the positive effects instead of the negative effects, like the media feeds us constantly. She has also made her new DA extremely easy to navigate and access for her audience.

As my comment states, I think the narrowing down of the DA creates a much better one for Lydia as it helps her to gain an audience. Being part of the 21st Century, the children of this generation are constantly surrounded by media and games and so this will have a major effect on their development. The media is crowded with information on the negative effects games have on us and our development but what about the positive effects? Lydia covers it and that is great. I truly believe that parents will be interested in Lydia’s DA and so if she could think of a way to reach out to new and upcoming parents I feel her DA will do so well. Not only this but young adults and adolescents will be intrigued in this as it will help them better understand why they are the way they are.

Comment Three: Amy Micallef – Hufflepuff Gaming Among Us

Wow was I interested in Amy’s DA. My comment felt like I was writing an essay and trying to persuade the reader into why Amy should do this DA (sorry about that lol). Amy changed her DA from her original idea and is now going to stream and post about her and her friends playing the new craze – Among Us. She has created such amazing online spaces so she won’t have to even show her face and she has her own aesthetic, which the media will be attracted towards.

My comment on Amy’s post however, I really encouraged the fact that I think she should continue on with this idea. Her energy and enthusiasm came out of the screen and slapped me in the face and I loved it. She really could make someone’s day. A point that came to mind when writing my comment on Amy’s beta was that the world right now needs connection. Tik Tok blew up because it allowed the world to connect like never before. I could watch someone in Canada do a dance, copy that dance, then someone from Japan could see me do it and copy it, next thing we know the whole world is doing the same dance all from one video. That is truly amazing. Among Us allows users to connect. It allows them to play with each other, talk to each other and really create a safe space for people to get away from the real reality of the world we are living in. If Amy could display this over media, I truly think this DA could be a game changer (pun intended). I also hope this is all making sense, because I truly believe I have thought of a new thing.

Summary

I think my comments have improved from the pitches comments. Each comment has an effective and relevant link to what I feel the individual needs help with. Not only this but each comment I made, I was genuinely interested in and was immersing myself into their post and the media that they led me off into. I learnt so much, from gender sexualisation to brain development to world wide phenomenons. All three topics so original, unique and interesting in their own way.

Until Next Time, R.

For this semester for my Digital Artefact, I decided to create a blog dedicated to all things journaling, The Daily Journal. Here, I intended to begin my own journaling journey, blog about it as well as information about journaling. This includes; benefits, prompts, facts and so on.

Coming up with a name for this DA came naturally to me, which is where ‘The Daily Journal’ came about. I just feel like it fits the theme and feel of what I want to create, as it literally just is basically what I am doing. An aspect to this blog that took me a while to grasp was making an aesthetic. The reason this took me so long is that people are attracted to things that are ‘aesthetically pleasing’. In today’s media, if things do not have their own aesthetic or are aesthetically pleasing, individuals will not gravitate themselves towards it and so I was okay with spending so much time on this. I am still not 100% happy with where my blog is at, looks wise, but I think the idea is there it is just a matter of me playing around with it more to find how I want it to be presented properly.

The world at the moment is in a major crisis and I feel like my DA is a great opportunity for people to stay grounded, and aware of what they are feeling. Acknowledging, accepting and talking about one’s emotions is so important, especially through this time and so my blog is for people who need that extra push. I really hope at least one person can follow along with me, take 5 minutes out of their day to create a better life for themselves.

As mentioned in the video, my reddit posts have been where I am gaining the most engagement. Here is what some of my reddit posts have been looking like:

What made you begin from Journaling

Favourite Way to Journal from Journaling

Motivation from Journaling

From here on out, my main goal is to gain an audience. Hopefully for the remainder of this semester I am able to get the motivation that this requires.

Until Next Time, R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XufUUkwvlTI

Despite my lack of motivation to contribute to my DA, I am still happy with the way I chose to handle this project. Out of the many aspects to games, this is the only area where I have an interest in or even relate too.

Something that I have struggled with, although, is gaining an audience. I only really have feedback from my pitch video and all of them were – in short – telling me that my idea was great and they would be interested in reading something like this. However, from there, I have had little to no engagement with my work.

I did try to post on Reddit and ask for a discussion in a group dedicated to Netflix, yet I again, didn’t receive any responses.

[DISCUSSION] Awake – Game Shows from NetflixBestOf

Despite this, I am still determined to contribute to my DA, I just think I may need to reach out to other platforms. Possibly Tik Tok and Instagram, both of these social media platforms allow for a lot of engagement and are rising in popularity every single day.

As of my research and stated in the above beta video, I have discovered why game shows began in the first place and I still truly believe they serve the same purpose. Game shows are relevant and include the happenings of today’s society and that is what people want to see. Viewers want to watch their favourite celebrity versing an everyday person talking about the issues of society and the worlds news. Not only that, but is free to watch and with the global pandemic it is a great way to find out what is going on in the world but also be entertained. I find that so incredibly fascinating and I am sure I can find an audience that is interested in it as well.

This is the link to the dedicated blog, feel free to give feedback on the work I have done: https://thedailyjournalblog.wixsite.com/mysite/gaming

Until Next Time, R.

References

Unknown, 2014, ‘Game Shows’, PBS Pioneers of Television, viewed 24 September 2020 < https://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-programs/game-shows/ >

Tisdale, J, 2020, ‘What To Stream if you Like Netflix ‘Floor is Lava’, Cinema Blend, viewed 28 September 2020 < https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2549375/what-to-stream-if-you-like-netflix-floor-is-lava >

*cite was under construction when I went to reference it, so I couldn’t access referencing information* viewed 24 September 2020 < https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/game-shows >

Feudalism, way back in Medieval Europe was where individuals were viewed as ‘free peasants’. In the words of Ted, feudalism “describes relationships between lord and vassal (peasant) organised around property and allegiance.”

This basically meant, the peasants were free to do as they please with their land, however their lord told them how to use their land and what to do with it. So, were they really free? Well they sure thought they were. This sounds familiar doesn’t it.

Through the 21st Century, feudalism is now, as described by Ted, ‘Feudalism 2.0′ which is pretty much the same thing but an online version – just like everything is now. Heres how it works; users = peasants, lords = stacks, FAANG Walled Garden. This probably makes no sense to you.

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (FAANG) are all contributing to the internet and through this they have their own users. Their users think they are creating content, posting or watching for themselves when in reality, they are paying their walled gardens simply by using the program. Not only this, but the FAANG wall garden are controlling users content through monetisation, copyrighting, etc.

My remediation above, shows how us users are all just like sheep to a farmer. We think we are living freely and doing as we please online when in reality we are being told what and how to post content, and end up all looking the same. We are paying our walled gardens simply by using them. There is just no other way of saying it.

I am about 80% sure this post makes no sense to people outside of my degree.

Stay True, R.