Author: rubylanzi

Learning about how the telegraph opened up the world is kind of inspiring.

Basically, in the 1800s Samuel Morse invented the telegraph, because, after
receiving bad news about his wife, he was unable to communicate fast enough to
be there for her. And so, he dedicated the rest of his life to fast
communication. And boy did he open up a new world.

The telegraph appeared to be complicated for personal use, so multiple
inventions were then created. One of these being, the radio. When the radio was
invented, so was the living room. How does this happen from one invention? The
telegraph literally was a growing point in the lives of individuals all over
the globe. Literally creating the living room in each household for families to
listen to entertainment and news all came about because Samuel Morse had a
goal. Real life communication. Before we knew it, the world became a nervous
system.

When I say this, I mean everything was connected by these ‘mystical’ wires
that enabled the world to connect with each other like never before. It was
mystical because people couldn’t physically see the connections but they knew
it was there, yet so foreign to them. Literally looking and acting like a human
body’s nervous system.

And that, is how the internet began.

Until Next Time, R.

“Social innovation refers to new ideas that work in meeting social goals.” Pol, E and Ville 2009 Social Innovation. This was the quote that formed the foundation of our app Hide and Seek. My group wanted to create something that was not only relevant for our age group but that was also benefiting a niche market. This is why Hide and Seek has so many features.

These features portray convergence culture. Henry Jenkins describes convergence as “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who would go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they wanted.” Convergence culture is the combination of multiple media platforms into one, which creates an easier platform for one to use. It is the emerging of different forms of media to enhance technology and social media. Hide and Seek aims to better enhance the health, safety and social goals of festival goers.

We came up with this idea by discussing what part of festivals really make the experience difficult and then formed a solution to these problems. The first one, and most major one for all festival goers, is the lack of reception at the event which, after much research we decided to use Facebook Aquila Drone service. This enables our app to differ from other media platforms which may also cause digital disruption. The reason for this is as our app has no connection issues, we are placed at a higher level to other media platforms that heavily rely on internet connection, 4G and 5G.

Other issues we came across was losing friends at the event, injuring yourself and trying to find a safe ride home after the festival has ended. This is where the mapping aspect to our app comes into play. The map on this app is a live app that not only allows users to find their way around the festival but also track their friends, so they know their whereabouts. On top of this, the QR coding system enables users to send codes to emergency services to help an injured individual or someone in danger at the festival. Also, the message, call and video aspects of the app ensure that communication at the festival is seamless without the hassle of wondering if the connection will fail halfway through a call or text. Not only this but to actually attend the festival, a ticket must be purchased and so to really tie the app together we decided on having a ticket storage function. We truly believe that this function really brings the whole app together and achieves our goal of creating a space where all festival needs are in the one area and so there is no need to go from one app to another.

Overall, I truly believe that my group has created something that we are all really proud of. The app has enabled us to solve a social problem and has achieved goals of meeting health, safety and social needs. We really tried to guarantee that the app was realistic yet never heard of before.

REFERENCES

Jenkins, H. 2006, ‘Welcome to Convergence Culture’, Henry Jenkins Blog,

http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2006/06/welcome_to_convergence_culture.html [accessed 16 June 2020]

Jenkins, H. 2006, ‘Convergence Culture’, MediaWiki

https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/MIDDMedia/Convergence_Culture [accessed 16 June 2020]

Losinno, R. Pickering, S. Schembri, C. Smith, H. 2020, ‘Hide and Seek’, Google Forms,

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UxIKHrtz3qpS7gQuxOCnTbzj6TZMzbWh_RbHVAtQFj4/edit#slide=id.g730da0deea_2_6

[accessed 16 June 2020]

Rouse, M. 2019, ‘Digital Disruption’, Tech Target Network,

https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/digital-disruption [accessed 16 June 2020]

What. A. Semester. This semester has been the definition of a rollercoaster and so has this assignment.

The first struggle I came across was refining my topic. I knew I wanted to further research into Uni students and the friendships they have made but I was so interested in every aspect of it that I just didn’t know how to refine it. Then that is where I thought to write about how the different types of relationships formed at Uni are conducive to a positive student experience. I wanted to know the good that came out of meeting people at Uni.

I conducted and tweeted my survey around 3 times and replied to countless people who all said they did my survey. I got 30 respondents and I am more than positive I did well above more than 30 surveys but that is okay, we let that go.

I knew I needed more information from my primary research, so I made a second survey and sent it to people based off of what they answered in my first survey. I wanted people who were going to give me detail and were open enough to tell me more about their student experience. After the 8 individuals completed this, I had all the information I needed. Then I came across my next struggle, what the hell do I write about now?

I didn’t have enough information off of the different relationships that could form through Uni to write a piece about it, so this is when I came up with the idea to write about the benefits of making friends at Uni. And I finally had a question to answer, pat on the back for me.

If I could change anything about my process it would be to not do a survey. I think interviewing people would have helped me so much more, just getting straight to the detail instead of trying to get 100+ students to answer a survey where I don’t even know 98% of them.

I am, however, happy with the results and the final (finally*) question that I answered and the researching findings that came along with it. I actually really enjoyed reading up about friendships and seeing how everyone else in my degree are meeting people and what they think of the friendships they have formed. It has given me a sigh of relief as I have most definitely lacked in that area, but hey, I’m growing and learning.

Stay True, R.

For this semester, I will be researching into Uni students and lifelong relationships, whether that be a friendship or something a little more. What I want to find out is, whether or not students are connecting with their peers on a personal level and are forming lasting friendships. I want to research into how other students met their current Uni friends. Was it in a lecture, sitting in a tutorial or simply fate bringing them together by randomly crossing paths?

A young woman named Rachel is currently blogging her life experiences and she wrote a post about how she didn’t make any close friends attending Uni. Reading her weigh up all the possible solutions as to why this occurred, it begins to make me wonder, why are some people failing to make friends while others seem to find it easy?

Furthering on this point, Year 13, a very well-known organisation amongst most Australian students published a post by Genevieve Miller, who was an Australian Uni student. In this post, similar to the one above, she spoke about by the end of her first year she hadn’t met anyone that she would consider a ‘close friend’. “People will tell you that Uni will be this amazing experience where you’ll meet tones of people who will be there for you till, you’re old and grey.” This point is quite intriguing to me. Should we leave the stigma of University helping students make lifelong friendships behind? Why? This article also helped me to realise that my research topic is timely as the primary research conducted will be on second year and above students.

My idea for this research is, to begin with whether or not students knew people before starting their uni course. This, to me, has such a major effect on a student’s experience and can create such an issue among peers. I created a poll on this question.

The results of the poll interest me and I am very excited to further dive into whether or not knowing people or having friends start Uni with you positively or negatively affects Uni students making lasting connections.

Coming up with this research topic, a thought did come into mind, so much of our content that we need is online, is this affecting whether or not students are personally connecting with each other? In 2020, The Conversation uploaded an article about online lectures and a point was made that University not only teaches students content but it also teaches students how to communicate with each other and work in groups. This article has shown that my research topic is relevant as being online is a huge part of being a student in the 21st Century. The rate of online schooling continues to increase daily, especially through this pandemic that students and the world population are working through right now, proving again that this topic is relevant.

Another article on The Conversation about University campus experience, discusses the life of Australian students and a point made was “Students also indicated they were less engaged with their peers than students in the past have been”. This not only shows the relevance of my research but also affects my research topic greatly. If students are not engaging with their peers, then this is a major issue as to why some students are not creating lifelong friendships and connections.

I believe that my research topic is achievable as I have access to asking relevant students the right questions. These students are all second year and above, who are studying the same subject as me, so therefore this makes my research not only achievable but also relevant. These students have gotten a good feel of what their Uni experience will be like and know what they need to change or keep the same when meeting people.

I believe this topic is worth researching, not only as this is something that interests me, but it will also be important for current and future students to learn about Uni and lifelong relationships. We are constantly being told, “follow each other on twitter”, or “create a poll for your fellow peers”, but this isn’t helping students connect on a deeper level, or maybe it is. That is what I want to find out.

Deakin University, in 2018, wrote about meeting people and making friends and the article states that students must be open minded to meeting people in order to form these friendships, which brings me to another question, were students looking forward to meeting new people or was studying the only thing on their mind?

To sum up this research proposal, I simply want to learn as much as I possibly can about students and lifelong relationships. The overall idea is to find out how they are meeting, what type of connections are they making and what are factors that are influencing the relationships they are making?

Be Kind, R.

Every uni student has a different experience, even if they are completing the same degree. One aspect of uni life that I am extremely interested in is whether students are making life long friendships and connections.

During the completion of this media degree, we are asked to tweet, upload, create an online presence but are the students of this media degree making friends and life long connections? This idea is very close to my heart as connecting with people, making friends and potential partners is something that has always interested me. I love to know how people interact with each other, how 2 people met or even how a friendship group was formed.

An article written on The Conversation based around the changing experiences of campuses looks into Australian campuses. In this study, the writer discusses how Australian students spend more time studying at home rather than on campus and how students are spending less time with their peers than other students were years ago. I want to further on this research and find out why this is occurring and whether it is affecting students making life long relationships.

To complete this study, I will further research articles about Australian students life, on and off campus. Also, by conducting a survey to find out whether or not UOW Communication and Media students feel as though this degree is hurting or helping them meet people. This way, my study and research will be relevant to UOW and current Australian students.

Be Kind to Yourself, R.

How many meaningful connections do you think you have made in your life? This is something that interests me.

Maybe who you sit next to in class or the library, or walking a certain way to a lecture determines whether or not genuine connections are being made.

This semester, we need to find a focus on what we are curious about and last week I tweeted about what I want to focus on this semester.

I should’ve worded it differently, but we will move on from that. What I want to know is, whether people are making connections in real life, despite being in a media degree. I want to know if people are making friends, and not just a ‘oh yeah I know them’ friend, I want to know if people are making life long friendships and connections.

I am not someone who is half half, once someone knows me, they know all of me which is why I make, what I like to consider, soulful connections with the friends I have. Furthering on this point, I want to know if other students have struggled with connecting with people, and why they think their answer is what it is.

I want to know if people are being brought together through their media study, rather than staying behind a screen. Are we surrounded by these other specific students for a reason? What are things that are bringing people together and is there genuine connections being made?

I guess you never know the connections that are pending.

Only From The Heart, R

Despite the fact that this post is meant to be about the ‘making’ of ‘Project Five’, this area of the DA is where my group failed to actually create content. So, instead, I have decided to talk about the lessons I have learnt when it comes to making a DA and group work.

Before I get into the lessons learnt, ‘Project Five’ did establish a certain type of aesthetic in videos. These were as follows:

When it came to making content in a group, the main struggle is to make sure everyone is in love with the idea and has enough enthusiasm to create content. The reason for this being that this degree is very self directed and so no teacher is going to be on your back about it. If nothing is made, that’s on you.

Having this DA being about a specifc type of content, made it difficult to ensure all five of us were on board with that weekly idea. On top of this, meeting up with the five of us there was another struggle and learning curve I came across.

Having communications and media being part of my double degree, I have a passion for this subject and also this DA. As other group members do not feel the same way, it was hard to constantly have this on the back of my mind as I wanted to be creating content but felt as though I couldn’t.

In summary, this semester has taught me a lot about myself, and about how different everyone’s outlook and characteristics are. Next semester, I think I will be coming up with a DA of my own so therefore I don’t feel the need to rely on other people for content.

– R.