media representation

 Hello, for todays blog I have watched 3 videos that are related to the ethics of media of how many media sources portray races, sexualities, ethic groups, politicians and genders. To help me discuss this topic, I have watched 3 videos related to these topics in media. The first video I watched is called 'why representation matters', the second was 'Stuart Hall's Representation Theory Explained! Media Studies revision' and the third video I watched was 'Miss Representation Female Leadership'.

The first video 'why representation matters' by StoryBlock and it goes over cultural representation in the world of media. In the video the issue that there is not a lot of cultural or racial representation in the stock photos industry. The stock photo industry is huge supplying thousands of photos for people to use online for things like advertising.

 I have noticed myself that there is barely any people of different ethnic groups and cultures in stock photos when you look at their content. Mostly it consists of white people in straight relationships. The goal of StoryBlock is to bring light to this subject by encouraging companies to employ people for stock images of a mix of different races, ethnic groups and sexualities in order to diversify the market.

This will also provide content to a far more diverse audience and consumers to media if the market becomes more diverse in its representation of other people.

The second video that I watched was 'Stuart Hall's Representation Theory Explained! Media Studies revision'. This video goes over the theory that Stuart Hall has on representation and about how different medias portray events. We live in an age where there are so many different media platforms we can consume information from. However these different medias can have varying opinions on certain people or political alignment which can alter what they create. 

This creates a bias and disinformation in the media which can affect peoples opinions. A great example of this would be how people feel about Donald Trump during his presidency. Most people either strongly hate him or love him depending on which medias they follow Republican media agencies would praise Donald  Trumps acts and decisions while Democratic aligned medias would criticise his actions.

This is something I have personally seen from American news channels like FOX News and CNN. Making sure we do our own research and fact checking what we see in media helps us get a full understanding on what is happening.

The way media portrays certain groups of people like ethnic minorities can be very damaging to these people, for example the stereotype that migrants are criminals that want to take peoples jobs has been very damaging on how people think they are like in the past and current migration crisis's from war torn countries coming to Europe. This further enforces that you should always investigate into the media you consume to see if there is any bias or misinformation.

The third video I watched called  'Miss Representation Female Leadership' was one that I found very concerning after I watched. The video is about how women are discriminated in the political world and showed American politics as its example. 

Examples in this video showed the bias of some media platforms in how they portray women in politics. An example would be that when women object or disagree to something and are quoted by media the verbs used are often portraying women in an annoying way by saying things like she complained or cried, as oppose to men being given verbs like disputing or challenging which gives men politicians a more professional look .

Women are also given a large amount of abuse from media by sexualising them rather than actually taking them seriously. Some media also ridicule them with stereotypes saying that they should stay at home and be in the kitchen. 

In my opinion I think its outrageous that they can be treated with this disrespect and the politicians that say these things dont face any consequences. The video is backed up with numerous examples of these sexist quotes and the politicians that have said them.

 

Bibliography

- why representation matters by StoryBlocks

- Stuart Hall's Representation Theory Explained! Media Studies revision by The Media Insider

- Miss Representation Female Leadership by Jennifer Siebel Newsom

- image by Pixabay on Pexels

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)

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/

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/

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/

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/