Another revision of a past blog post

 Hello, today I am going to be going over how I improved on a blog post that I had done a few weeks ago on the importance of media literacy. Since when I made that blog post I have learned more about proof reading, layout, revision and peer reviewing which has allowed me to become a better writer. 

For the preparation to rewrite this blog post I read 2 articles relating to feedback and revision. In the feedback document I found useful information like in Brilliant Academic Writing, Pearson Education Limited, 2012 in chapter 14 its said: "The simplest form of feedback is the mark itself. If it’s good, you’ll know you’re reaching the required standard; if it’s not, you’ll know you need to do something to improve". (Bill Kirton Brilliant Academic Writing, Pearson Education Limited, 2012).

I found this information to be very useful because by knowing that you are getting a good grading on your work you can  tell that what you are doing is in line with the marking scheme and should stick to the way that you are approaching your work, and if you are not getting good marks then you should probably change your approach.

In the second document I also learned useful information to do with revision. I learned that revision is even more extensive than proof reading because your going through every detail to make sure it is right rather than just skimming over the work.

 When I revised my old blog post I took into account what advice I got from peer reviews in the past. I decided that I would separate larger paragraphs into smaller ones because I had seen other peoples blogs and from a readers perspective I thought it made the blog easier to read. Another change I did was leave links to my sources in the bottom where I had only left author names and names of documents making it easier to access the information. I also had made minor changes to the way I worded sentences.

Sources

- Brilliant Academic Writing, Pearson Education Limited, 2012, Chapter 14 - Bill Kirton - (link)

- Writing a paper: Revising - Walden University - (link)

The importance of media literacy rewrite #2

 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, 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 - (link)

- 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. - (link)

- 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 - (link) 

Learning about media compresion

 Hello, in todays blog I am going to be going over the topic of media compression. Media compression is when you lower the size and quality in different areas of a video in order to make the file size of the photo or video smaller so that it can be accessed online much easier and for a wider audience. Before watching these videos I already had a decent knowledge with media compression as I have done photography in the past as well as experience with audio files. I will be talking about some of the ways that compression works and can be used.

First I will talk about compression in relation to video quality. Videos have a wide variety of quality that they can be rendered in each having their own strengths and weaknesses. The most commonly known video qualities that are seen on online websites like YouTube. 

The higher qualities are 2160p 4K which is the highest quality available on the site. Others like 1440p and 1080p are in HD. Once you go lower than 720p on YouTube to for example 480p and below go from 60 frames per second down to 30 frames per second. The downside to high quality videos is that the higher the quality, the more strong of a connection that you need to stop it from buffering and the files are usually quite large. By having the video quality lower you need a less powerful internet connection and file sizes are much lower but compromise the quality of video.

Compression is also present with audio files. The most common file format for audio files like music is MP3. MP3 are a small size file that can retain a high quality with minimal quality loss. However if you drop your MP3 quality from for example 320k down to a lower MP3 quality like 60k you loose a considerable amount of quality and sound can sound distorted and hollow.

Another area where compression is present is in photos. The highest quality file for photos are in raw mode in a camera. These files are very large because of their high detail but can be compressed to much smaller file sizes like JPEG. JPEG images are very small in size but can retain a decent quality but when you zoom into the image you can really see where the quality has been compromised. Although JPEG are no where near as high quality as a raw file, they can be downloaded and uploaded around the internet very easily while raw files can sometimes not be able to be uploaded to websites because the file is too big.

-Sources

- Techquickei - Video Compression as Fast As Possible

- Double A - What You Lose When You Compress Music to MP3, M4A, WMA, etc.

- Qencode - Video Formats, Codecs and Containers (Explained)

- image by Amar Preciado - creative commons zero license - (link)

Finishing production of the group project

 Hello, in todays blog post I am going to be going over the work that me and my group have been doing for our group project on the topic of  play, agency, and interactive narrative. At this stage in the project we are confident and excited to finish the project so we can see what the end product looks like. Each of us in the group have our strengths in certain areas in the project which helps us benefit off one another.

So far each of us have done extensive research into our topics and are able to confidently speak about them. We have been script writing our sections in the project that each of us are going to speak on and had to make sure that our scripts remain in the maximum that the video length can be.

Prior to this project most of us have had limited to no experience in video editing but through learning with tutorial videos and also through someone in our group who is experienced with video editing we have been able to learn the basics in order to make the video. We planned that our video wouldn't be too complicated to avoid us getting stuck or confused. We are using stock videos and also footage that we have captured ourselves in videogames to show examples while explaining them. We noticed the importance of having subtitles in our videos and have made sure to pick a font and colour that is easy to read. We also planned on adding copyright free music at a low volume in the background of our video that suits the topic that we are discussing.

To add more information on the topics that we discussed, we made a survey to compile information from people and what their opinions are on topics. The survey was a big success because we had so many different opinions and views on topics and unexpected majority votes we didn't expect.

This whole project has been a great learning process for everyone in our group as we all learned something new like for example someone in our group didn't have much experience with gaming but was able to learn about the topics quickly. Another example would be that we have been learning off one of our group members on editing. We also learned how critical it is to keep communicating with our group members often so that we can help and update each other on the progress that we have been doing in order to work more effectively. Group chats and voice calls were very effective for this.

Sources

- image by Canva studio - creative commons zero license - (link to image)

Peer review #2

Hello, for todays blog post I am going to be discussing my second peer review work. In this I will talk about the experience as a whole and what I have learned throughout the process and on the topic of peer feedback. Firstly I am going to discuss my thoughts before doing feedback and what my attitude is towards it now.

Prior to participating in peer feedback I always experienced it from getting feedback from my teachers. This kind of feedback can range from being very positive saying you did very well all the way to giving heavy criticism like telling you that your work is unacceptable which can give you low esteem.

When I heard that we were doing peer feedback in IDM I was initially worried because I thought that I would have to give in some cases negative criticism towards someone which I dont like doing because I have experienced  negative forms of criticism before and know that it can be a punch in the stomach sometimes. Luckily when I actually learned the process of giving peer feedback and making our own feedback comments on blogs I learned that criticism doesn't have to be condescending it can be constructive and used to help you build and improve on your current and future work.

When I give criticism I make sure that it is constructive so that people can build off their mistakes rather than receiving criticism that only offers criticism without ways of improving on it. 

Something that I really enjoyed about giving peer feedback is that when you look at multiple blogs on the same topics you can see the many approaches that people take and the techniques that they use. Another part that I enjoyed about peer feedback was getting feedback from others about my blog.  The feedback that I got back from my peers were constructive helping me to improve on my work.

When I am giving my peer feedback for blogs I try to put myself in the person that receives its shoes and think what I would like to hear for feedback. For myself I like to know what parts that I did well, parts I didn't do so well and what I can do to improve my work in future. I use this as a framework to make my feedback as useful as I can.

- Source

- The Power of Giving Feedback and Receiving Feedback in Peer Assessment, Volume 11, Number 2 Page1 by Lan Li and Valentina Grion.

Peer review 1

Peer review 2

The technological evolution of media

Hello, for todays blog I am going to be discussing the technological evolution of media that I have learned from watching some videos related to the topic. I will also be giving my own thoughts and opinions on the information that I learned.

The first video I watched was a  video called 'Technology Evolution | 100,000 BC - 2020' by WatchMedia showing various advances in technology and inventions from the very beginning of human existence, all the way up to the modern era. What I found interesting about this video is how quickly humans create and advance already existing technologies. For example in 1827 the first picture ever was taken and less than 100 years later the first television was invented which could broadcast live footage.

The second and third videos that I watched broke down the history of media itself from its invention, all the way up to the modern forms of media. These 2 videos were done by Crashcourse. As far back as ancient Greece philosophers like Plato gave his opinion on people writing things down they need to remember saying “If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder." Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E). I find this quote very fascinating because in the modern era this still applies for social media where  people can post something on the internet and can be found years later and can be used against you out of context. 

Another topic I found interesting is how the printing press and in the United States the Penny press had a big influence on the populace of the nation. An example would be when the USS Maine sank in 1898 outside Cuba which was a Spanish colony at the time. When this incident occurred an investigation was going to be carried out to find the reason the Maine sank but 2 days later the press made dramatic headlines suggesting that the Spanish were behind its sinking and showed illustrated images of men sinking with the ship. This caused tensions to rise to the point where war broke out between America and Spain. It is later thought that the probable cause of the sinking was ammunition catching fire onboard by mistake. This shows how powerful the influence of the press was at the time and how they rose tensions between 2 countries in order to get more papers sold. 

In the third video types of defensiveness's were discussed including cultural, political and moral. Cultural defensiveness is when certain media doesn't effect people from different cultures. Political defensiveness is when people need to be protected from false beliefs and ideologies. Moral defensiveness is where the effects of sex, violence and consumerism in media are the biggest concern.  

  

An interesting topic brought up is how famous people in media influence their followers. For example if a famous person smokes, maybe their followers will or if a famous person votes for a political party will their followers do the same?  Influence by media personalities in my opinion can be most seen in kids as they can be looked up to as role models.

Sources:

 - WatchMedia - Technology Evolution | 100,000 BC - 2020 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJM3yuIDDPQ

- CrashCourse - History of Media Literacy, Part 1: Crash Course Media Literacy #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXf0F4GYzWQ&t=95s

- CrashCourse - History of Media Literacy, Part 2: Crash Course Media Literacy #3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUjvNtgWAs&t=152s

- Image by Ola Dapo - Creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-headset-3345882/

My preparations towards production

 Hello, for todays blog I will be giving an update to what work I have been doing this week for my group project. This week I did a lot of research into the topic of console and PC games.

So far I have done some in depth research into the topics of console and pc games as well as monetisation in gaming. Console and pc games both have their own strengths and weaknesses and I decided to look into this. Console gaming is usually the first platform that people that want to play games that are high in quality usually go for and there are reasons for this. The first reason is because consoles are heavily advertised on television, billboards, on the internet and also through your friends mentioning them. Even if you are not a gamer everyone has heard of the big names such as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. Each platforms have their own exclusive games and its up to you which one tailors to you the most.

Consoles are also very easy to operate because of their main function is to play videogames. This makes playing games with your friends very easy. PCs are not solely designed to play games so if you are not very good at navigating a computer  Console exclusive it can be difficult. games that are not available on other consoles and PC makes them a big pull factor. Their relatively small price in comparison to PCs is also a big factor that affects peoples decisions. 

Now that I have talked about the positive reasons for console popularity, I will now talk about the reasons why people play on PCs. The absolutely huge library of games that you can choose to play on PC is endless because of the many games providers and websites that do not exist on consoles as consoles only have one store to buy from. Most PCs depending on how good their components are usually perform much better than consoles. On PC you also do not need to buy a subscription in order to play games online.

In this group project I think that I could contribute well in the video editing. I have previously used Adobe software's such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and Animate. Although I only have little skills in video editing software's such as Premiere Pro I still think that I might be able to pick up on how to use it very quickly as the Adobe software's do have a lot in common with each other in terms of layouts and tools. 

Another way that I can see myself being helpful in a group project is sharing some of my knowledge in certain categories in this project. This project has a big focus on gaming and I have always played games since I was young and have seen a lot of these topics around me over the years that I have played.

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- Image by RF._.studio - creative commons zero license.