This week we learnt about the attention economy and the long tail effect. For this blog post however, I will be speaking more on the attention economy as I found it quite interesting.
Above is a meme I created to show how much times have changed. I remember vividly when I was a kid, my family going to the video store and picking out movies for us to watch that week. It was so exciting and a social event because we used to be regulars and became friends with the owner of the video store (despite my brother ending up working there for 5 years).
It used to be such a fun experience going to the video store and binge culture didn’t really exist because we were so limited to what and how much we could watch but now with streaming services such as Netflix and Stan, viewers are watching more than ever before and video stores don’t even exist. It’s crazy to think that one day my kids won’t even visit a video store … like that’s weird.
Through the rise of media and the advancements of technologies all of out attention is so focused to what is happening on our screens. You can go onto Facebook or Instagram and within a couple of minutes I have learnt what Sally had for lunch today, Brendan’s new soccer shoes, Jacksons second girlfriend of the week and Kates workout routine. All of my attention has been focused on my screen and I already have an abundance of information – hence attention economy.
Maybe this week lets put our phones down and see what colour the trees are.
Katie’s DA is about the Mario Kart culture and she will be playing the game and uploading Tik Toks of her doing so. I really liked reading up about her idea and thought her pitch was super informative and factual as I genuinely learnt so much. I had no idea that Mario Kart was its own culture.
My comment on Katie’s pitch was reiterating the fact that her pitch was super informative and how and why Tik Tok is a great platform for her to use. I also suggested her to potentially use other platforms such as YouTube to reach to even more of an audience for those who don’t have Tik Tok (even though everybody does now). I also suggested that Katie live stream her playing the game as I feel her audience will be super into that as Mario Kart is such a fun and interactive game and there is so much to talk about during and after playing the game. I also linked an article I found on more background information about Mario Kart so that Katie is super informed with her game media and can understand fully the game she is playing and looking into.
Michaela’s DA idea truly got me thinking. Basically, her idea is to play the mobile app game ‘Episode’ and analyse it by looking at the gender sexualisation of the characters, more specifically the females. This pitch got me thinking about how important it is to look at this aspect of life with global societal issues because simple things such as video games has more of an impact on us than we realise when it comes to this sort of thing.
The comment I left on Michaela’s post spoke about my views on the topic. I thought it was super relevant for me to do so as it shows that she does have an audience and that her pitch gets people thinking about what she is talking about. I also thought that her uploading these videos of her playing the game to YouTube is a really good idea as it is the best way to engage with this type of audience, as I too, watched the example and inspiration behind her DA idea. I linked a PDF file to some information on the undermining of females in video games which I found really interesting and is relevant to her idea.
Lydia’s idea is something different that I would never have come up with. Her idea is to interview her friends and others to talk about the positive effects that video games have on them and things such as their personality, beliefs etc. I think this idea is so interesting and a really important thing to consider. I think we don’t realise how much of an effect things such as video games have on us, whether that be positive or negative.
My comment on Lydia’s post spoke on my views of what her idea is and that maybe she could not only talk about the positives but also the negatives. I suggested that she could also look at people of a younger age as well as the age group she has requested as that way she can compare the effects of video games when they first came out to video games now that they have evolved so much. I also linked her to an article about the effects video games have on sleeping as this is another aspect of our lives that she could look into with her interviews.
Overall:
My 3 comments contributed to the above pitches as I gave my views on the topic and gave other suggestions on how to expand their DA ideas. I gave relevant links of which I found interesting to show them the types of things their audience will be into when looking and following their DA. I think I could be more engaging with my comments by possibly suggesting more things, such as other games or maybe even books rather than only articles.
I learnt so much about all 3 areas that I read up about when commenting and what I liked most about all 3 pitches and ideas is that they all got me thinking about the topics. I truly cared and was interested in what they were talking about which just shows the relevance of their ideas and how well it is being received. Not only did I learn so much about their topics but I also was thinking about my own views when it came to their DA ideas. Therefore, out of this experience I learnt a lot and found out that I am interested in more areas of life than I thought.
This semester for my ethnographic research, I will be researching into journaling and diminishing the stereotype around ‘journaling is for 12 year old girls’.
It has come to my attention that many academics find there is so much to gain from a journaling journey. Journals keep one’s mind working and always thinking and reflecting. It helps one to not only remember and understand their life as a whole but also helps students remember important information that they need. It extends an individual’s self-awareness which is a great way to improve your quality of life.
Also, the benefits of journaling are incredible. Once you remove the stigma of what you think journaling is, you will slowly see your life improve once starting a journaling journey. Although there are countless mental benefits, there is also so many physical benefits which even include boosting your immune system.
As my main method of research is participation observation, I am fully aware that a bias end result may occur. To lower the risk of this in my final findings, I will be comparing my results in the participation to secondary research of scholarly articles and other sources. Not only this, as I will be asking fellow students and online participants poll-based questions for my quantitative data, this will be done in hopes to balance out the bias in my final result.
Every answer will be anonymous, besides my personal experience as I truly want the end result of this research to reflect the raw emotions that journaling is all about. If no emotion come about through this research, I still would like the end result to have a personal feel to it as I find journaling to be such a personal journey.
This is why I have decided for the Digital Artefact to be a blog post. When I write and read blog posts, I feel as though it is a time for the writer to truly connect with their audience and that is the whole purpose of this research. As my original media niche is wellbeing/lifestyle influencers, they share their personal life to their audience just like I want to mine. If I think my findings appear to not be portrayed correctly as a blog post, I will consider other options such as an audio log or YouTube video.
Daymon Christine and Holloway Immy (2011) ‘Ethnography’, Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. Routledge: New York. viewed 19 August 2020
13 Years of Schooling is not only good for education, but also for forming lifelong friendships. Taj, diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, was bullied through Primary School and decided to change his mindset transitioning into High School in order to start making friends.
In: “For me, primary school was a pretty hard time in my life.”
Out: “… and learnt a lot more about myself and correct a lot of the wrongs that I was making.”
Continuing on from the attached video, this digital artefact will be highly relevant to users as if the audience of a game show wishes to read about the show, my blog will have the information for that. Not only this but individuals who want to watch a particular game show and doesn’t know if they will like it, my blog posts will provide information for that. I also intend to utilise my twitter account and ask fellow students what game shows they recommend me watch and review, this way my digital artefact is staying relevant.
In Stephen J. Goul and Pola B. Gupta’s ‘Come on Down’ paper on Game shows and product placement, the article discusses how game shows differ from every other type of show. As these shows are not scripted and put their contestants on the spot, the audience views contenders as ‘real people’ and therefore enables them to truly indulge in the game rather than wondering who scripted what.
Bob Stewart was the inventor of video games and his first game was ‘The Price is Right’. His fans and audience described his games as communication games as the ones showcased were mostly for people to say one word or even talk about.
The first of game shows were quiz shows and through the decades, turned into game shows that veered away from just quizzing contestants. Game shows such as Family Feud, Minute to Win it, Have You Been Paying Attention, Talkin’ Bout Your Generation are extended versions of the original quiz shows. However, shows such as Big Brother, Survivor, The Amazing Race, My Kitchen Rules, House Rules or even Australian Idol, have extended the views and definition of a game show. Nowadays, Bachelor in Paradise is under the ‘game show’ category, what happened to just finding love on national television? Crazy.
Throughout my research this semester, the paradigmatic and theoretical framework I will be using are mostly social media and its users. More specifically, I intend to post and analyse on Reddit and Twitter and analysing on Instagram and YouTube. The reason for this being that I find Reddit and Twitter to be platforms where engagement is extremely high and so through this I will be able to better understand journaling and research further into its problematisation. I will also be analysing more Instagram and YouTubers as influencers I follow that journal post regularly about their journeys and so I can engage more with this to see another side to journaling and researching. Not only this, but through The Routine’s journal ‘Questions for Myself’, I will be starting a journal of my own and see if it changes my life and mental wellbeing in any way. This way, I am fully immersing myself into the culture and society of journaling.
Reflective journals are defined as ‘… written documents that students create as they think about various concepts, events, or interactions over a period of time for the purposes of gaining insights into self-awareness and learning’. The article hyperlinked explains the relationship between reflective journals and students. Many academics find there is much to gain from journaling and this is why the frameworks I have chosen to work with will better my understanding and my audience’s understanding of journaling. It essentially is saying that journals are a great food for thought and keep the student remembering facts and information given to them. Not only this but it allows them to write down – or illustrate – things that happen to them through the course of their life and this throws them into self-awareness and understanding ones self.
Another article written by Fast Company also shows the benefits of journaling. This article shows that once the stereotype of journaling is removed, the benefits are tremendous. This is even including boosting your immune system. Staying in tune and understanding your emotions has all these scientific benefits and what I want to do, through my ethnographic research of the chosen frameworks, is diminish the stereotype and showcase the benefits of journaling.
Through using scholarly articles and social media with my ethnographic research I will most definitely stumble across multiple ethical issues that I plan to avoid.
Ethical issues that I expect to come across are individuals names and privacy issues, bias research and being unable to correctly reference work. These issues are quite common with research as a whole but as an ethnographic researcher in this instance, it becomes a bit more difficult.
I will ensure that my audience on Twitter and Reddit know that what I am posting and asking questions about, is for research purposes and every answer will be anonymous. This will be done through blacking out of names (even though reddit is 90% anonymous anyway). When it comes to this research I can see issues arising with bias as I will be participating. In order to avoid this, I will make my final research report very clear that I have participated in my own journaling journey and so some responses to stereotypes and problems within journaling may be bias in relation to my own personal experience but I also will be ensuring that my answer varies with sources. This is why I have chosen multiple frameworks, social media, the world wide web and participation. Lastly when it comes to referencing scholarly and peer-reviewed articles I will hyperlink and Harvard reference the links to ensure that all workers rights are allocated in the correct direction.
In summary, the ethnographic research project that I will be producing, has every intention of being ethical and unbiased. Although it is in our human nature to be bias when we are in participation, I will be taking into account the secondary research conducted and weigh up the primary and secondary sources, to compare and come to a fair conclusion of research.
Today’s society is based around the balance of work/social life but individuals seem to be so stuck in their working worlds that we often forget that maybe we aren’t ‘living our best lives.’ When I say this I mean that we are so focused and centred around working, staying employed and continually making decisions which will help our future that we forget about our ‘now’.
We go to school to go to Uni to find a better paying job. Or, we leave school early to start our working lives before our friends and be ‘ahead of the game’. We are so centred around the notion of working our whole lives when really there is this massive uncertainty of where work will take us or where our next employment will come from.
I feel that most Communication and Media students feel the angst of uncertainty when it comes to employment because of the various fields we are able to be apart of after we finish and not having one simple direction. Personally, this isn’t worrying me at the moment, I am here because it is interesting to me and I know it will be helpful for my future at some point.
With all the stress of the global pandemic and the constant information fed to us by the government over the year of 2020, I have decided to create The Daily Journal.
The Daily Journal, will be my Digital Artefact for BCM 206. This artefact is dedicated to individuals who wish to start (or already do) a self-care activity everyday. More specifically, journaling. I gave into the Instagram advertisements and bought The Routine’s journal, Questions for Myself and throughout this semester I intend to fill it out.
Week by week, I will write and upload about my journaling progress, speaking of the pros and cons. Not only this, but I will be engaging more with an audience on Reddit through the subreddit R/Journaling and discuss various forms of journaling while finding prompts and other information.
I want this space to be an escape from the negative information from the world and for someone to take 5 minutes out of their day and dedicate it to self-care in a creative way.
My remediation this week, resembles the role of ICT, that can send real time communication through great distance. This real time ICT was formed as a result of a ‘ripple effect’ situation where one communication technology, led to all communication technologies that we know of today.
Another side to Ted’s lecture this week, was all about Cyberspace. Something major that stood out to me was John Perry Barlow’s, Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. Barlow wrote out an email on February 8, 1996 about cyberspace and what he believed about the Internet. This was that the government can’t and won’t control the internet. Below is a powerful quote from the declaration.
When I, personally, first think of journaling, what comes to mind is a 12 year old girl, sitting in her room writing in her diary. But, after minor research, journaling does not even come close to fitting this stereotype. Therefore, when it comes to problematising journaling, my first initial thought is to try diminish the stereotype that ‘journaling is for 12 year olds’.
After briefly doing some research and seeing the tremendous benefits journaling can have on individuals, other problems began to arise. Steven Stonsy wrote that journaling can have a negative effect on your behaviour and well-being as it can make you live too much in your own mind. Not only this, but Amber Beam also wrote on the negative effects of journaling and how to avoid these. A problem that arose from this article was that journaling can mean you are thinking too deeply into all your negative thoughts and problems and may end up being a repetitive activity where you continue to speak of the ‘bad’ that has happened to you.
As journaling can be a time for one to reflect on their life choices, events and emotions, some negative things are going to come about in all of that, it is just human nature. For most, writing them down helps with letting go and moving forward but for some it brings up old emotions that haven’t been solved yet. Journaling may also invite you to overthink your life and this is where journaling can be harmful and problematised.
Although these issues may arise when one is a regular journalor, it is not only rare but very easily avoidable. Therefore, throughout this semester I intend to ensure that others are aware of these problems and know how to avoid them or handle them if they come about.
Something that could be understood better is seeing that journaling can be for anybody and doesn’t have to be in written form. Before this semester I had no idea that an individual can journal in multiple ways. These include painting, drawing, audio, prayer, reading, travel and so much more. So, I would like to reiterate the knowledge of journaling to others and show that it really is just a ‘time out’ and doesn’t have to connect to ones deepest emotions.
Research Plan
Throughout this semester, I will be observing my niche through various social media platforms. These including, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube comment sections and a new one brought to my attention, Reddit. Through these social media platforms I will observe the individuals I am aware of that journal (influencers) and also be asking others about their journaling journeys.
Below is a quote from one of our week one readings, Daymon Christine and Holloway Immy (2011) ‘Ethnography, Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications’.
Therefore, the approaches that I have mentioned here are all ethnographic research methods and this is why I will be truly immersing myself into the world of journaling. I would like to find out as much as I can when it comes to keeping a journal.
Are males or females more likely to journal? What’s the most popular way to journal? Why do these individuals journal?
Schedule of Research
As stated above I will be using social media to gather research for this project. I will also be conducting a thorough secondary research to seek the true benefits and disassemble the negative connotations and stereotypes based around journaling. I will also begin my own personal journaling journey.
I will be using The Routine’s journal Questions for Myself and take myself on the journey too. This meaning, I will be doing a participatory observation for my ethnographic research project.
Below is a Gantt chart I created to roughly show my process of using these ethnographic research methods and methodologies.
Daymon Christine and Holloway Immy (2011) ‘Ethnography’, Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. Routledge: New York. viewed 19 August 2020
immerse into media 