Category: BCM112

Controls the Future

Hayden Curley6 Comments

When signing up for something online, often the application, or site contains a Terms And Conditions, which must be agreed to before accessing the content.

But how often do you really read through the whole terms and conditions?

For all you know, the contract you’re agreeing to could contain the most ridiculous of terms, such as Gamestation’s April Fools joke, where they hid in their terms of service that anyone who signs up owes “Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul.”

Most of these terms and conditions contain clauses stating that by agreeing to, you agree to have an online profile of everything you do online, which is then sold to various companies, which market specifically to you.

Often, these agreements remove all privacy you once believed you had, allowing you to be manipulated and controlled, due to the constant fear of being watched. Your privacy is being exploited by the government, large corporations and anyone who can access your devices freely.

Problems with Privacy ft. Vaporwave.

The Beta – NGD

Hayden CurleyLeave a comment

As an avid surfer and surf life saver, I knew I wanted to base my Digital Artefact on the beach, so I was stoked to learn that Kel and Michelle Giddey, both fellow surf life savers at North Wollongong Surf Club, the owners and creators of North Gong Daily’s Instagram and Facebook pages were looking into creating a website of the same name to support both of their pages.

After creating the site, I had to transfer the custom domain name that NGD had purchased for the site, and select the right theme to fit what NGD wanted their site to be. The daily video posting has been successful, and the picture gallery has been started, with 6 images added in and hopefully more pics of North Gong on the way. The “Tees On Tour” section has been created, however, pics have yet to be uploaded and should be posted within the next few weeks. The “Store” page is currently in the very early stages, as I hope to set up an online store, where customers can purchase T-shirts currently, with the aim of expanding to other items of clothing such as hats, allowing NGD and myself to monetise our work.

North Gong Daily’s posting consists of uploading their videos to a Youtube channel, then embedding that video in the post, alongside a picture containing the stats for each day’s weather and surf conditions, and a picture of North Gong Beach. Each video consists of someone, usually Kel, discussing the surf conditions for the day, with the camera then panning across the beach, giving users a look at the conditions themselves, allowing them to decide whether they will visit the beach on the day they view it.

One form of feedback gained from a classmate was that alongside the daily reports, the NGD site could also contain information, pictures and videos regarding what’s happening around Wollongong, especially its beaches, each week, acting as a portfolio similar to a travel guide.

Who controls the past

Hayden Curley5 Comments

Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the original expression of ideas. It enables creators to manage how their content is used.

Copyright is an extremely murky topic, especially in the music industry, where using even three or four of the same notes as someone else can result in copyright infringement. This happened to Marshmello, after he “copied” elements of Russian producer Arty’s remix of OneRepublic’s song I Lived in his song Happier, a collaboration with Bastille.

Every time you access anything on the web, you create a localised copy of it on your device, whether it be an application, image or document which you are able to edit and play with, however, often the owner retains full control and ownership.

“The owner may, for example, post copyright-protected material on the Internet and leave it free for anyone to use, or restrict the abandonment to non-commercial use with or without certain additional requirements” – The World Intellectual Property Organisation

Was the Matrix right?

Hayden Curley10 Comments

Society is currently extremely reliant upon technology, almost to an unhealthy level. When every piece of information, images and videos ever available now on this database, then what would be the point of disconnecting?

When we can form relationships online and interact with people across the planet, why would we need to ever talk to someone face to face ever again?

I don’t have a clear answer, but living in such a simulation is not realistic, as the relationships and content we absorb are just a Simulacrum, they imitate a basic real, which can only be truly gained from experiencing them first hand, rather than online.

When online, we develop a Mask for our personality, masking our insecurities and presenting the ideal vision of ourselves to those we interact with. Though we try to portray ourselves as this Mask, it isn’t real, and therefore cannot provide a completely fulfilling experience.

Break Free.

Framed For Murder

Hayden Curley9 Comments

Framing refers to the perspective or angle that something is viewed from and how you understand it, by applying your experiences, beliefs and opinions to it.

First defined by Robert Entman, “Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text.” For example, this could be as simple as highlighting a piece of text or pointing at something.

When viewing anything, your internal Frames shape your perceptions of what you’re viewing, however, the Media also provides their own Frame of References to what they’re communicating or selling.

Frames are extremely influential on the minds of the public, if the public perceive something negatively, chances are they’ll avoid it or boycott it.

As David Bach states: “a frame not only structures the public debate but also plays a key role in determining the eventual outcome.”

By adding a red circle and text telling you where to look, I have changed the salience of this gif, therefore reframing it in your mind.

Meme Politics

Hayden Curley13 Comments

Propaganda is extremely prevalent on the internet, though Users are often blind to it, and dismiss it as if it were nothing.

Although memes are often used as jokes and funny scenarios which Users relate to, they can often be used to brainwash masses of people into thinking something.

“If an emotional response can be invoked in the audience, even the most irrational piece of information can be sold to any willing observer” – Me on Tuesday

Hillary had nothing to do with these posters.

Take the #DraftourDaughters twitter trend – what was believed to be horrifying political campaigns spread by Hillary Clinton, were actually disturbing memes made by certain 4Chan users which had copied everything she used and remade it in a darker tone. This in turn made many people dislike Hillary, despite it not being her fault. This use of propaganda is reminiscent of 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 in that propaganda is often weaponised.

To create an emotional response in the audience to convince them is a lot easier than having the audience come to the decision themselves.

No longer just funny images, now, memes are used as propaganda and warfare.

Let Me Speak

Hayden Curley2 Comments

Prior to the invention of Social Media, communicating through the media was extremely centralised, with messages having to go through a central “Gatekeeper” who would approve and send through the message to its intended Audience.

However, Social Media has become decentralised, by cutting out the middle man and removing the Gatekeeper, and eventually, will become distributed amongst the Audience. For example, Imagine the Facebook network without Facebook. We as an Audience are no longer passive, and now have the ability to universally broadcast and distribute our own message for no other reason than “because we can“, participating has become addictive all of a sudden.

The removal of a central Gatekeeper has allowed for the Audience to post what they want, without the fear of their content being rejected. Therefore, aside from the murky legal restraints they face, the Audience is free to post whatever they want, just as I am posting this blog post.

Ohh but He can.

To Boldly Go…

Hayden Curley11 Comments

The switch from Analog Media (such as Film, TV and Radio) to Digital Media as the main source of information has presented many benefits, such as easy access to resources, the ability to ideate, produce and curate their own work, as well as allowing the audience to become active participants involved in the media as if it were a conversation. However, Digital Media has allowed users to bypass copyright laws and instead access and use content without paying royalties and giving credit to the owner.

As stated by Kevin Kelly, “The internet is a copy machine”, but also, “Unlike the mass-produced reproductions of the machine age, these copies are not just cheap, they are free”. Therefore, on the internet, Users may obtain, reproduce, edit and customise content however they like, and regulating this is a seemingly impossible task. The ability to produce and customise allows for all users to become involved, and often trends or themes, pick up, like memes and gifs having a “glitch” style as presented below.

Digital Media has allowed us “to boldly go where no one has gone before”

Pitch Perfect

Hayden Curley1 Comment

As an avid beach-goer, surfer and surf life saver, I am passionate about North Gong beach and having a website which gives daily information to myself and other Surf Club members could be extremely useful.

With the pre-purchased domain name northgongdaily.com, I shall research into creating this website through either WordPress, wix.com, or GoDaddy, whichever site has the best plan for what’s needed of the host.

One of the issues which may arise from this project, is how feedback will be obtained from users. To counteract this, the North Gong Daily facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/northgongdaily/) can be used to ask for feedback from users.

the site will consist of a home page and a videos page, and potentially a photo gallery page and a store, where users may buy North Gong Daily shirts and hopefully other items.

Potentially, If the feedback is positive, the next step that could be made could be developing an app to accompany the site.

Enjoy x

The Internet Paradigm

Hayden Curley1 Comment

According to Marshall Mcluhan – “The medium is the message”, however, 50 years on, this sounds convoluted and unnecessarily complex. But, take a step back and truly think about this statement and it becomes a whole lot clearer.

Most readers interpret this statement and Mcluhan’s work as referring to the Medium as the means of communication, for example, the Television or radio. However, it seems that many people “jump to the mistaken conclusion that, somehow, the channel supersedes the content in importance”. From this, it can be drawn that the “medium” that Mcluhan is speaking of instead refers to the effect of the message. Therefore, Mcluhan is actually theorising that whatever effect the message has on the reader (for example, sparking joy or sadness, or making the reader feel involved) is in fact the whole point of the message.

I made this for you, I hope you understand.

References

Federman, M. P. (2004) What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message? Vol. 1 :1