Understanding media ethics

 Hello, For my blog today I will be discussing two different topics regarding media ethics. Media ethics is a large term that has many categories and topics within it, for example social media, entertainment and journalism. In these topics media ethics would cover for example how morally correct something is in society. While discussing media ethics I will be referring to two videos that I have watched

The first video is called 'How Dark Patterns Trick You Online' by a YouTube channel called Nerdwriter1. This video discusses a technique of design that is used by many forms of media such as videogames, websites and social medias to  "trick users into doing things that they might not want to do, but which benefit the business in question". 

Prior to watching this video I have never heard anything like this but after watching this video I began to notice how it is used across so many media platforms. In the video one of the examples was the use of the colour scheme green on a button on a game that usually is associated with moving on in the game and playing more levels. However at one stage in the game you are prompted to make a purchase in the game and they use the same colour green in the same position on the screen that is used to progress further. On top of this the X button to close this pop up was blended in using the grey outline colour that was surrounding the pop up. If you were not careful you could easily end up making an accidental purchase. This dark pattern technique can trick people that even have a high media literacy because of how well it is designed. 

Another example of a dark pattern that was used in the video was how difficult it is to delete an Amazon account. Personally I consider myself decent at navigating through websites but after watching the process of what you had to do in order to delete an account I dont think that I would be able to do it without looking up on the internet on how to do it. This dark pattern makes it so people feel like its just too much effort to delete the account so instead they just leave it as it is.

What makes dark patterns a useful technique to use for people like a
pp developers is that it is not illegal as technically there is no real way that it is only physiologically tricking people that may not be paying full attention to what they are doing. 

Now that I know what dark patterns are, the more I am seeing them in my mobile phone games, social media and websites that I have been visiting. A dark pattern that I have experienced is when I got a pop up ad while playing a game on my phone is that the X button to close the ad was so small that it was physically very difficult to hit the close ad button without accidentally pressing the ad and bringing me to the apps page in the Google Play store.

After watching this video I feel like my eyes have been opened more to these design techniques are used to benefit to company. I personally think that everyone that uses technology regularly should watch the video that I have watched in order to get an understanding.

- Sources

- Nerdwriter1 - How Dark Patterns Trick You Online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkrdLI6e6M&t=113s

- Image by Pixabay creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/tuned-on-gray-laptop-computer-163097/

Revising writing from a previous blog

 Hello, for todays blog I will be talking about my experiences from when I received a comment on one of my blog posts. This comment included feedback in what I did well as well as what I can improve on.

The advice that I got was that my blog is worded well and that my structure was well done which made it an easier read. It was also mentioned that when I would quote someone else's work I appropriately give credit to the text that I am referring to. The reviewer can tell that I did my reading of the document thoroughly due to my understanding of it. I was happy to hear this as I was worried that my work might be difficult for someone else to read. I always try to make my blogs easy to read and follow because I know what its like to read something that is difficult to follow.

The constructive criticism that I was given was that  I should give my own point of view on the information that I am giving. After seeing this and reading through my blog again this became apparent to me. I decided to give my own thoughts and experiences after each of the methods of studies that were talked about and how I have previously used those techniques or what my opinions on them were. It was good to hear what I was doing incorrectly because when I write articles in the future I will take this advice into account.

- Blog and comment: https://finnsidmblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/breaking-down-journal-to-encourage.html

 

Breaking down a Journal to encourage active reading rewrite #1

 Hello, in this post I am going to be going through a journal that I have read called The journal of reading by Ernest Balajthy. The journal was published in 1984 by the International Literacy Association and Wiley. First I will be going through that is given in the journal and after I will give my opinion on the research.

When reading this journal you can see that the target audience is aimed at students. The reason why I think this is because multiple times in this journal he makes examples using students in classroom scenarios, for example in the second paragraph Ernest (page 408 February 1984) says " As a skill, self-questioning can be taught to students of all ages. Research and experience have demonstrated its classroom usefulness and its place in models of learning by reading".  I agree with this point that is made by Ernest because I think that it isn't too difficult at any age for students to think of their own questions for information because all students have seen questions that are asked by a text book and by seeing these they already know the format in which questions are asked. 

When discussing active reading, Ernest does not just give his own opinions he also mentions the thoughts of other researchers. An example of this is in the third and fourth paragraph (page 408 February 1984), he show the two opposing views of learning activity with Kintsch and van Dijk believing " retention is automatic with comprehension and can be predicted by analysing the text structure" (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977). Other researchers believe that retention is influenced by their four factors which are: "the nature of the material, the characteristics of the learner, the learning activities applied (cognitive learning strategies and study skills), and the task by which learning is measured"  (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977) (page 408 February 1984). Personally when I want to retain information that I want to learn I usually will read the same paragraph or point of information a few times over until I know the information in my head without looking anymore.

From reading this journal I think that Ernest Balajthy is in agreement with with the active research that he has done on previous studies by other researchers. What makes me believe this is in the second paragraph (page 409 February 1984), Ernest mentions: self-questioning allows the reader to read actively for meaning independent of teacher supplied learning aids (Singer and Donlan, 1982). Ernest gives his own opinion on this research talking about what other advantages these techniques might give to a reader. When I study I use a form of self questioning myself when I use flash cards that have the questions that I have made for myself on one side and have the answer on the other side so by using this form of self questioning I am able to learn the answers to questions quickly.

After reading this journal I obtained useful information that I think that I will be able to use to my advantage. I would like to train how to self question myself better so that I can stay focused on my task at hand and not loose interest in what I am doing. More information that I found useful was the student led discussions and the group competition in the third and fourth bullet points (page 409 February 1984). I think these techniques will help in a group project situation to get everyone in the group to know how to work together and how to do it more efficiently. Another part of this journal that makes it very useful to me is that it is tailored towards students which is what I currently am.

Sources:

- Journal of Reading, Feb., 1984, Vol. 27, No. 5 (Feb., 1984), pp. 408-411, 

- Author: Ernest Balajthy

- original post: https://finnsidmblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/breaking-down-journal-to-encourage.html

starting out in my group project

 Hello, for todays blog I will be talking about my group project. In this I will discuss the topics that are in my project. I will first give a brief definition for each of the topics, then explain what I will be  doing in this project.

The first topic is console games and pc games. This topic details gaming on both console and pc platforms. Each of these platforms have strengths and weaknesses that make them viable choices. The next topic is digital augmentation of board games and table top games. Digital augmentation is mixing real life with the digital world  by using AR technology and filters. This also includes board games and table top games that have been made digital so that you can play board games online with your friends all over the world. Social games are videogames that focus on online multiplayer play that are hugely popular. Social games like Minecraft have brought many communities, cultures and religions  all around the world together to socialize and have fun. Mobile phone games make up a huge amount of people that play video games because everyone has a phone and most mobile games are free and easy to access and play. Monetisation in gaming is the way that games create an income through different ways like advertising on mobile games when an ad pops up for a few seconds or by offering an in game currency of maybe an exclusive item or more content within the game. The functionality of play can be different for everyone. The most obvious of these is to have fun above all else. Agency is what decisions the player makes that can impact either the story of the game or how your decisions affect what happens next, the reason why agency is important is because it shows that a players decision does matter and that it is worth continue playing. This is similar in the case of narratives in story telling games where certain dialogue that you choose in the game can have impacts on certain characters and plot lines.

What made me interested and wanting to work on this topic for my project is because since a young age I have always been a gamer through multiple generations of consoles. Gaming has been a life changing experience for me because I have met so many new friends from all corners of the world and we all share similar interests. Gaming has also been a great way for me to relax after a long hard day and because there are so many different genres of games there's always one that I will feel like playing no matter what mood I am in.

The topics that interest me the most in this project is probably console and pc games and monetisation in gaming. The reason why console games and pc games interest me is because I have grown up using many varieties of consoles and have moved to pc gaming. I am interested in the strengths and weaknesses of both console and pc platforms and the rivalry that exists that a lot of people dont know about that exists. I will be researching both of these topics in the group project while others in my group will research the ones that they have chosen.

Monetisation in gaming interests me because every game that you play in this generation must have a way other than purchasing the game to make an income off of its player base. They can do this through various ways such as loot boxes, skins, currency purchases and much more.

-Photo by JESHOOTS.COM - creative commons zero license. - https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-people-holding-black-gaming-consoles-442576/

Peer review #1

 For my reading task this week,  I was tasked with writing 2 comments on 2 of my course members blog posts. These comments that I made were to review the blog post using a work sheet as guidance. We were also given articles to give is a better understanding on giving and receiving feedback.

After reading both "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback" and "be a mirror" I learned that when giving out my feedback to people that I should try to give out positive as well as negative, but when giving out negative feedback dont make it a this is right and this is wrong type of feedback. Instead I give constructive criticism that shows the writer how they can improve on their work.

By doing these feedback comments I have also learned new information that is mentioned that I can apply to myself. An example of this would be in Christelle De Gamas digital media blog where she says "turning on a computer and completing an online job application require different skills”. This section made me realise that in digital media there are vast amounts of different digital literacy skills I have also learned from Kailan Purcells Study skills, active reading and media literacy blog, she says “When the brain learns it is at 100% learning capacity and by 24 hours the next day it will only be at 50% capacity of the information learned due to less frequent revising over time.” The reason why this is useful to me is because I can keep this in mind when studying in the future so that I will be able to retain more information while studying.

Before I started doing feedback I expected it to be limited to just pointing out mistakes and parts where good information was mentioned but in reality there is also a lot of information to be learned about by reading these blog posts.

Sources

- Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith. - https://marshallgoldsmith.com/articles/try-feedforward-instead-feedback/

- Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset by  Gravity Goldenberg - https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2015/12/08/be-a-mirror-give-readers-feedback-that-fosters-a-growth-mindset

- https://christelle19.blogspot.com/2021/10/digital-media.html?showComment=1634674674416#c5118484227633448992

- https://kailanp.blogspot.com/2021/10/skills-active-reading-and-media.html?showComment=1634674550498#c6182986928684826682

The production process broken down into stages

 For todays blog I will be going through 4  videos that I have watched in relation to the production process and go through the steps and stages that are mentioned in these videos.

The first video that I have watched is called 'What is Design Thinking? An Overview'. This video was done by a youtuber called AJ&Smart. Design thinking is a way of problem solving that can be used using creativity to find solutions. The reason why design thinking is so important today is (AJ&Smart) "almost every innovative company in the world uses some form of design thinking". In the video the 5 main steps for design thinking are mentioned that is a structure that is commonly used by the production industry. These 5 steps are empathise, which is trying to understand what a customer needs. Define, is using the information you gathered from the first step to try figure out what the customer needs. Ideate, is the stage where you begin coming up with your ideas to solve the problem. Prototype, is taking the ideas you came up with and taking them to the next stage by trying to see if they are viable. The final stage is test which is to take your best prototypes and get people to test them to see how well they work. This video gave me ideas of sectors that you can apply design thinking to. An example would be if you are a graphic designer creating a logo you could apply these 5 steps to make your logo.

 Another video that I watched was Film Production Stages by the YouTube channel Five Minute Film School. In this video he mentions that production is broken down into 3 parts. Pre production which is at the very beginning where the ideas of coming up with the film. This includes film writing, hiring staff to shoot the film, getting a cast for the film, organising locations to film, obtaining props, making a budget and having a schedule. The second part is production. Once you are at the production stage you should be fully committed to your film because at this stage you are paying salaries for your staff and your cast. The last stage is post production. This mostly consists of editing like visual effects, sound effects, colour correction, picture editing and music.

After watching these videos I would say that the most useful one for me at the start of m
y project would be 'What is Design Thinking? An Overview'. The reason why this video would be most useful to me is because of the 5 steps that were mentioned in this video and how they can be applied to the process of making a project.

In a group project I think that it is important to organise ourselves into roles for example someone can be a leader that can organise what work needs to be done and give people roles. Another role would be the researcher which could try find information that can be useful. Another role that could be used is scheduler/timekeeper which is making sure that there is enough time allocated for specific stages in the process and also to make sure that goals for deadlines can be reached.

A role that I think that might not be in the group project is the leader role because depending on the group they might all want to be equal and make decisions together as oppose to one person choosing what happens.

-Sources

-AJ&Smart - What Is Design Thinking? An Overview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGN6hs2gZY

- FiveMinuteFilmSchool - Film Production Stages - Five Minute Film School - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5EoMcoUI2Q

- Science Filmmaking Tips - The Process of Making a Documentary: Pre to Post Production - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hPFlGiAwEM

- Indy Mogul - 4 Easy Steps to Film a Short Documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-K_XbCLtVk

- Photo by Canva Studio creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-using-laptop-3194519/

The importance of media literacy

 Hello, in this blog I will be discussing the importance of media literacy. For discussing this topic I have read 3 articles related to the topics of  digital media companies, misleading information regarding Covid 19 in the UK and News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news.

The first article I read was about how digital media companies are failing to help its users to understand the information that they are seeing online. A survey conducted in Ireland said that 62% of people were concerned about misinformation online. personally I see this as a very important issue that needs to be addressed in a serious manner by all digital media companies because of how much people consume information online. To combat misinformation digital media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft have all signed up to the EC code of practice on disinformation. This code of practice is monitored by the European Regulators Group for Audio-visual Media Services. In my opinion this is a step in the right direction to get these companies to enforce rules on disinformation,  although it is only a small effect on a large issue. Personally I feel that if everyone could enhance their digital literacy it would be easier for everyone to find sources that are reliable and know how to spot misinformation.

The second article I read is regarding misinformation about Covid 19 in the United Kingdom. Ofcom have been researching misinformation being spread on the internet by conducting surveys. In one of their surveys they discovered that half of the people that they surveyed have come across false or misleading information about Covid 19. Ofcom have been doing these surveys periodically through the pandemic to monitor what misinformation is being spread and where people are coming across it. One figure which I found concerning was that 4 out of 10 people were getting their Covid 19 information from social media which can easily be misleading. luckily most information regarding Covid 19 came from trusted sources such as the BBC. Another concerning figure I have seen in this article is that 35% of Northern Irish participants said they found it hard to know what's true and what's false. This shows how important it is to have good digital literacy in the modern world.

The third article I read was News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news. This article focuses a lot of its content on American politics about political parties, sources of information and media literacy.  A part of this article I found interesting was about the news sources that people were looking at for their information. I discovered that certain news channels such as CNN would bias towards the Democratic political party by giving them positive praise while on other channels like Fox News would have a bias towards the Republican party.  An interesting survey in this article showing the age, gender, party ID, opinion on the importance of news and media literacy education can effect their opinions. From this survey I discovered that depending on someone having media literacy education greatly effects someone's opinion of the importance of news which was important for nearly everyone that had media literacy education, rather than what political party they vote for.

After reading these articles I have discovered how immensely important it is to have media literacy in todays world where there is so many sources of information which have a possibility of being false or misleading.

Sources

- Digital Media Companies Found Lacking in Helping Users Understand The Online Environment - by  Dr Niamh Kirk

- Ofcom research: Nearly half of people across the UK nations have come across false or misleading information about Covid-19 - by Rebecca Lennon, Regulatory Affairs Advisor at Ofcom.

- News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news - by Melissa Tully The University of Iowa, USA Emily K Vraga George Mason University, USA Anne-Bennett Smithson George Mason University, USA

Understanding digital media

 Hello, for todays blog post I will be discussing digital media. Digital media is a type of media that can be consumed on devices like computers, phones and tablets. Examples of digital media would be websites, social media, videos, videogames and online advertisements. For this blog I have watched three videos in relation to digital media. while discussing these videos I will also be giving my own opinion on the topics that are mentioned in these videos.

The first video that I had to watch was called Digital Media Are Networked | Digital Literacy 101. This is a short video that discusses the basics of digital media. In this video it explains that traditional media such as television, radio and newspapers are one way which means that you dont really have any other alternative sources of information. But with digital media there are so many sources with all kinds of view points. Digital media also has many online communities for all kinds of people. The downsides that the video discusses relating to digital media is that anyone can post something online which can be misleading and fake. The video recommends that you always make sure that what you are reading or looking at is true by looking for other information relating to that and making sure you are using trusted sources. Personally I am always very conscious of what I am looking at online by always looking at all the view points on certain things I see in the news and make my own opinion on something rather than having someone else say what I should think.

The second video I will be discussing is called Digital literacy and why it matters. Digital literacy is having the knowledge and skill to be able to use digital technology such as computers to be able to navigate, use and communicate through different platforms and software. It is mentioned in this video that it is very important to have digital literacy in the modern world. I agree with this because there are so many jobs that require the use of computers and the many software's that are used in businesses such as the Microsoft products like Word, Excel and OneDrive. It is also important to have digital literacy for communicating with your work colleagues with communication apps and social media such as Microsoft Teams, Discord and Skype. According to the video 90% of new graduate jobs need high level information and communication skills. This is very important to have in todays job market because employers will be picking people that have high digital literacy skills over people that aren't as experienced.

The third video that I have watched was a TED talk called The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TEDxWarwick. In this video Doug Belshaw talks about how important it is for to prepare the next generation of potential web developers. He mentions that the company Mozilla, the creators of the popular web browser Fire Fox have created a tool called Hackasuarus that shows what is behind a website in how it functions and how you are able to remix it with HTML. Doug Belshaw thinks that digital literacy is not a linear skill and has many elements that define it. He mentions 8 essential elements of digital media such as cognitive, constructive, communicative, civic, critical, creative, confident and cultural. These 8 elements are at the heart of remixing content online. Doug mentions the big impact that meme culture has on todays world as they can be used as a creative way of creating propaganda for each side of arguments.

Sources

- MediaSmarts - Digital Media Are Networked | Digital Literacy 101 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HXiObDDnA&t=17s

- University of Derby - Digital literacy and why it matters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2k3C-iB88w

- TEDx Talks - The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TEDxWarwick - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yQPoTcZ78&t=555s

- Photo by Picjumbo.com - creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-laptop-461077/

Breaking down a Journal to encourage active reading

 Hello, in this post I am going to be going through a journal that I have read called The journal of reading by Ernest Balajthy. The journal was published in 1984 by the International Literacy Association and Wiley. First I will be going through that is given in the journal and after I will give my opinion on the research.

When reading this journal you can see that the target audience is aimed at students. The reason why I think this is because multiple times in this journal he makes examples using students in classroom scenarios, for example in the second paragraph Ernest (page 408 February 1984) says " As a skill, self-questioning can be taught to students of all ages. Research and experience have demonstrated its classroom usefulness and its place in models of learning by reading.

When discussing active reading, Ernest does not just give his own opinions he also mentions the thoughts of other researchers. An example of this is in the third and fourth paragraph (page 408 February 1984), he show the two opposing views of learning activity with Kintsch and van Dijk believing " retention is automatic with comprehension and can be predicted by analysing the text structure" (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977). Other researchers believe that retention is influenced by their four factors which are: "the nature of the material, the characteristics of the learner, the learning activities applied (cognitive learning strategies and study skills), and the task by which learning is measured"  (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977) (page 408 February 1984).

From reading this journal I think that Ernest Balajthy is in agreement with with the active research that he has done on previous studies by other researchers. What makes me believe this is in the second paragraph (page 409 February 1984), Ernest mentions: self-questioning allows the reader to read actively for meaning independent of teacher supplied learning aids (Singer and Donlan, 1982). Ernest gives his own opinion on this research talking about what other advantages these techniques might give to a reader.

After reading this journal I obtained useful information that I think that I will be able to use to my advantage. I would like to train how to self question myself better so that I can stay focused on my task at hand and not loose interest in what I am doing. More information that I found useful was the student led discussions and the group competition in the third and fourth bullet points (page 409 February 1984). I think these techniques will help in a group project situation to get everyone in the group to know how to work together and how to do it more efficiently.

Sources:

- Journal of Reading, Feb., 1984, Vol. 27, No. 5 (Feb., 1984), pp. 408-411, 

- Author: Ernest Balajthy

Learning new study skills and how to think critically through media literacy

 Hello, today I will be discussing how the study methods and skills that I have used during my junior certificate and leaving certificate differ from the study skills that I have learned through watching informative videos about science based study tips and active reading strategies for textbook assignments. After discussing these videos I will then talk about a video about creating critical thinkers through media literacy. 

The first video that I watched was a video called the 3 best science-based study tips by a YouTube channel called Mike and Matty, 2 brothers that are both doctors. In this video Mike talks about 3 study tips that are backed by science evidence that he cites from 2 books the first being called Make it stick by Peter C Brown, Mark A McDaniel and Henry L Roediger III, and the second book called How to become a straight A student by Cal Newport. The 3 tips that he uses are quizzing, spacing and mixing.

 The Quizzing technique is putting your mind into the scenario of an exam where you are put under pressure and your mind to the test to see if you retained the information that you learned. From testing yourself you can see whether or not that the information that you learned has actually stuck. Personally I would cover a topic in a subject and then quiz myself to see weather or not I am ready to move onto the next topic.

The second technique is spacing. Spacing is to spread your study over time which has been studied by Yale as an affective way of studying. Spacing allows someone to retain information over a longer period of time by having a little bit every day to retain more information. For me I would study around 3 different subjects a day over a few hours but after seeing this technique having positive results I may consider using it in the future.

The last technique is mixing. Mixing is to study multiple topics in one day. Mixing is a technique I have used before and is useful in getting more topics learned in quicker time which can be useful when an exam is not far away. 

The second video is from a Youtuber called Thomas Frank. The video is called  5 active reading strategies for textbook assignments. The video discusses strategies for active reading. Active reading is to read information from for example a book or a newspaper and to pull specific information that is useful to you. This is also called Pseudo skimming. 

Thomas also gives a tip to give yourself questions while reading to see if you managed to retain the information while you were reading. He also suggests marking the book with notes that you can look back on after you finished reading. I personally used this a lot in secondary school for novel reading. You can also use sticky notes to flag certain pages if you dont want to write on the book. Another useful tip he gives is to bracket paragraphs that contain important information that you need.

The third video I watched was a TED talk from Andrea Quijada who is a media literacy educator. She educates children on deconstructing media so they can have a better understanding of media like ads, sitcoms and newspaper articles. I found this video helpful in getting a better understanding of what the reality is behind certain companies or advertising. I think that everyone can benefit from learning about deconstructing media so that they can formulate their own opinions about different medias.

Sources

- Mike and Matty - The 3 BEST science-based study tips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJmgaFQUH8

- Thomas Frank -  Active Reading Strategies for Textbook Assignments - College Info Geek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL0pqJeE4_w

- TEDx Talks - Creating critical thinkers through media literacy: Andrea Quijada at TEDxABQED -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAApvHZ6XE

- Photo by Pixabay - Creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blur-books-close-up-261909/