Q. Organise to interview two individuals. Technology - help or hindrance?

"Technology - help or hindrance?"

This was the question posed to 2 individuals holding significant difference in age. The first interview target was a female aged 16 where I found located in my peer support group at school and the second was a family friend aged 56. Both had valid and understandable reasons towards their argument, and after they were asked a few questions about the topic they were found to be discussing the topic freely and intently, giving strong and opinionated comments towards the questions posed.

Individual #1. From my generation

Female, 16 years of age.

1. First off, do you believe technology offers help or is it a hindrance?

"A bit of both. It helps more because you can contact people and keep in touch with people from a far away distance. It just makes it easier to communicate. But then again, some people don't want to be contacted everywhere they go. So I guess it wouldn't benefit for them."

This answer indicates that the generation in which individual 1 belongs to, tends to believe all technology is, is communication devices.

2. Which products of technology do you believe are essential in everyday life?

"Mobile phones, laptops and iPods."

Why?

"They make it easier to communicate with people and they are entertaining because they take up time."

3. Do you have any items of technology on you at the moment?

"A phone, my iPod and a laptop."

3 items. Just in her school bag, she could be obtaining thousands of dollars worth of technologically advanced equipment.

4. Would you be able to survive without any form of portable communication device?

"If they were never invented, I wouldn't know any different. But not now, no. My phone is better than life."

This teenager believes her mobile phone is better than life itself. Interesting.

5. Is there any form of technology that you wish you had, but you haven't purchased?

" I need a phone with more memory already built in and faster internet."

Key word: "need". She needs it, not only want.

6. Do you believe your heavily reliant on technology?

"Yes I do."

How?

"I wouldn't be able to contact Mum and Dad without a mobile phone, most of my schoolwork wouldn't be possible without the internet because I have to email assignments to the teacher sometimes and my life would be boring without my iPod and PS3."

7. Which product of technology do you believe is most at use within your community?

"Probably mobile and landline phones. Maybe other communication devices like email and Facebook I suppose."

8. Is there anything else you would like to comment on the subject of technology?

"No, I like it."

Thank you.

"No worries."

Immediately from this interview we can understand that the generation she belongs to are heavily involved with the use of everyday technology. From this interview, I received the impression that the interviewee thought technology was all about computers and mobile phones judging by what she based most of her answers around. This view changed in the next interview, where I interviewed another female yet aged at 56 years. Lets hear what she had to say about the posing question.

Individual #2. Older generation.

Female, 56 years of age.

1. First off, do you believe technology offers help or is it a hindrance?

"It depends which type of technology your aiming this at I guess. Living without technology all together would defiantly not be as advanced, but we would still survive. I'm going to say it lies in the middle on this one."

2. Which products of technology do you believe are essential in everyday life?

"Electricity is a form of technology, right? I think electricity and maybe transportation"

Why?

"Probably because electricity makes life generally easier and so does transportation. Aeroplanes make it possible to travel the world and reunite with old friends and family members. It keeps the world together."

She informed me that she based her answer on the fact that she is adopted, and transportation made it easier for her to find her family. "So I guess transportation may only be an aspect to consider for me. Other people value cars though, I'm sure of that!"

3. Do you have any items of technology on you at the moment?

"I have a mobile phone but I left it in the other room. I don't need it on me all the time. Constant text messaging annoys the s**t out of me!"

So you're saying you don't value mobile phones or forms of portable communication?

"No, no. I chose to buy a mobile phone. It is defiantly useful! Just annoying sometimes."

4. Would you be able to survive without any form of portable communication device?

"Sure would! Pay phones are on standby if you're grocery shopping and need to contact someone. Costs as much as an SMS anyway!"

5. Is there any form of technology that you wish you had, but you haven't purchased?

"A computer would be different. Don't give me that look! I haven't needed one yet. I've heard email is pretty life changing. I defiantly wouldn't fall to the lows of Facebook though."

What's wrong with Facebook? Or any other social networking sites.

"Just not for me. I have what I wanted in life, I don't need old friends from high school days wanting to meet for coffee. That would just piss me right off. They didn't want anything to do with me back then, so why should I bother now? My daughter would also delete me off it anyway. I'd have little to no "friends""

6. Do you believe your heavily reliant on technology?

"You have to be now days. If you don't have a car, it's a hell of a walk home!"

7. Which product of technology do you believe is most at use within your community?

"Internet! Every company uses it. Every student uses it for educational reasons, and then the leisure comes later. Everything is located on the internet and most people use it."

8. Is there anything else you would like to comment on the subject of technology?

"I think you've got it all!"

Thank you.

Just out of personal interest I then deceided to interview my 10 year old sister. She didn't quite understand most of the questions as she was playing her brand new portable gaming console. This cost $650. She is 10. Let me pose this question again, technology, help of hindrance?

Post 5 - Roles in digital media

Online marketer

An online marketer is generally responsible for the advertisement of the product they are attempting to sell on other websites. These are often those annoying little popups located on the top and sidebar of the screen on most of the websites today. The market is not responsible for designing these advertisements however, but they are to find websites which would be most suitable to advertise their product, website or proWgram on.

An online marketer is also the one who needs to make sure the website for that particular product, company etc. is easily located when searched for on popular search engines.

Web design and development

Web design is the art of creating presentations which are then transformed into website material and submitted onto a website which they have created for business purposes.

Web designers are those who obtain the role of constructing the entire website. This is an example of digital media as it is presented digitally on a website for others to view.

Advertisement

Being in the business of advertising can be an important role in digital media. Advertisers spend hours digitally enhancing images which create a suitable look for the company they are publicly representing. There are many forms of advertisement. It could include:

• TV commercials
• Billboards
• Posters
• Pictures in newspapers and magazines
• Website ads
• Infomercials

Post 4 - Roles in electronic media.

Camera "man"

A camera man in the wide world of media is the informal term to describe one who captures the video recording evidence or examples to describe to the viewers of particular television items detailing current affairs and hot news topic.

It is the camera man's job to capture as much footage of the particular event or to focus their work upon an anchor man who is broadcasting the information to the targeted audience. This film is then taken and transformed into an edited version which is then broadcasted on the evening news, a current affair related shows and many more types of visually based mediums which are used by the media.

Radio announcer

A radio announcer is one who provides narrations which are projected through the radio. These narrations cover topics such as the news, local events, comedy skits, talk show type conversation, regular local news updates and conversational discussion over a series of personal interest topics.

Web Journalist

A website journalist is detailed as someone who obtains the job of maintaining the information on a website. Each individual would practice web journalism whilst keeping the information about themselves displayed on social networking sites such as Facebook up to date and correct to the present date. This is an example of the work entailing website journalism.

To be successful as a website journalist, you may wish to secure a position as the editor of an online newspaper or magazine. This could be significantly similar to being the editor or writer of the paper itself, although you only add the key stories to your website from the paper and contribute any information relevant to current events and local news.

Post 3 - Roles in print media.

1. A columnist is detailed as a journalist whose job is to voice their opinion in a short article with a restricted amount of words to a piece. A columnist can be assigned to different work where they are expected to create opinion pieces for different mediums. These can include:

• Magazines


• Newspapers


• Websites


• Books


• Film, music and TV reviews


• Advice columns etc.

2. An editor is referred to as one who edits and corrects the product before final release. To acquire a skill in editing you are required to be familiar with fields such as creative skills, human relations and obtaining an accurate set of methods.
There are many different levels of editing which link the entire practice together. The author of the original piece is also a tight requirement in the equation. The levels which develop the complete workload include:

• Junior editorial assistant


• Senior editorial staff


• Senior executive staff

The senior executive staff are the one who end up having the final say in the end result of the piece right before publication.

3. Newspaper journalism entails researching and constructing stories which relate to recent local events which hold significance towards the people of the community. This work is printed daily and submitted to the public, available to purchase. Newspaper journalists cover a whole range of different topics and learn to write in many forms and styles. They have a major role in print media because a newspaper appears to be top of the many products that has been produced in terms of print media. A newspaper journalist could also fall into the categories explained above as you are able to be positioned as a columnist or an editor for a company which produced newspapers. Eg. Sun Herald, Sunday Telegraph, Illawarra Mercury etc.

To be a Columnist...

A columnist is generally referred to a journalist who writes for a particular series. This 'series' could be in the shape and form of many mediums, some being a newspaper, magazine or someone who adds a bit of humour to the section of a website.

"Opinion won't keep you warm at night" is a song which is performed by the Australian band Kisschasy whilst obviously stating that voicing your opinion may not always satisfy you in life. A Columnist can take this theory and reject it. Being a Columnist entitles you to construct a small article on a provided topic, based on your own opinion. Wouldn't that be any one's dream? To have your opinion published and read by many people who would also agree with what you have commented on.

Some of the most famous Columnist's have been sacked from their jobs due to accidental stuff ups. Most recently you may have heard in the news that certain posts submitted on 'Twitter' have placed Australian columnist, Catherine Deveny, in hot water.

"I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid"

Obtaining a job as a Columnist is often started off in your local area. After possessing a degree that proves you have proper training and professional expertise in this area, you need to gain some experience somewhere.

A recommended direction to travel in when beginning your career as a hopefully sucessful Columnist, is to start your own advice column, locally. Once you have gained experience in the area and also gained a small respected audience behind your field of expertise and continue to increase public awareness of your work, you are off to a great start. More people will begin to buy and discuss your work with other local members and then when applying for a position which requires experience, you have your previous work to back you up.

Post 2 - Emerging technologies

Technology is all around us. Currently, I am typing on a keyboard which is linked to a computer which is also linked to a large network of computers sharing the same Internet system and right now, you are reading this on your own computer screen. A simple example of technology at its prime.
The use of technology benefits each individual in their own unique way. Whether it be used in our homes, for educational purposes, in the workplace or just socially, the ever growing product line that technology has produced influences our everyday lives.
During the process of traditional news gathering, journalists use different methods and apply unique procedures in order to collect the appropriate data to use in their work. This technology could range from one journalist meeting pen to paper, right up to another carrying around a recently emerged touch screen hand held gadget where they store all their notes and critical information.
Emerging technologies provide today's journalist with easy and time efficient devices to guide them in a suitable direction to make their job a little easier. This help could range from the simple use of a mobile phone to communicate with information sources to a wide network of computers which may hold the secret quote to prove their article truthful and yet this is only a fraction of the ways emerging technology has transformed journalism overtime.

Post 1 - News Media Industry

The News Media Industry of today can be branched into many different categories, yet these can all be linked back to journalism.
Journalism is defined as the reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience associated with varied content.
The work produced by the industry can be the result of an article published in your favourite magazine, the dialogue presented in a teen-crazed soap opera or even the images produced when you secretly google "Justin Bieber" on the school computers to feed your sick fetish.
The News Media Industry effects our everyday life without us recognising it as something necessarily important. This is why today, the industry has evolved into such a critical aspect towards the lives of many and even though many may disagree when I state this, plays a larger role in our lives then we have initially assumed.

Just another teen movie?

http://movies.about.com/od/thelastsong/fr/last-song-review.htm

The movie The Last Song stars the contemporary famous actors Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth and follows a storyline which has been set to present it's audience with dramatic romance with unexpected complications.
This movie was brought to life from the ideas of a Nicholas Spark's novel, which according to about.com's Rebecca Murray, is almost identical to the rest of his novels.
The review began with a comparison to an also recent film Dear John whos characters and storyline are also apparently "freakishly similar to those in The Last Song."
Murray continues her review by labelling whole plot idea "Strangers become friends". She believes this idea is used in many recent films, therefore the last song is just another one of those Strangers become friends, teenaged chick-flicks.
Rebecca Murray's review is different from a news story as it presents more opinion than fact. In a news story, you would have had to include mostly fact and almost no opinion on the topic.

This review has been written by someone who has not neccessarily enjoyed the movie or is under the impression it is a copy of all the other movies hitting the box office in 2010. This however, does not mean the article is not well written. Even from the perspective of myself, who enjoyed the movie, the article is constructed in a way which links opinion to fact, and then uses example to prove her 'all the same' theory which leaves the audience entertained and creates a humourous theme for the review.

Youth gangs - opinion.

Graffiti is everywhere, you can't escape it. Gangs of teenage morons seemed determined to deface our city with their juvenile scribblings. Why?
To me it comes across as stupid and thoughtless and costs our city of Wollongong millions of dollars a year. Why should we have to pay for that?
Most graffiti we see is what is known as a "tag" and most gang members have their own individual tags as well as the one that signifies their particular group. For example - post codes, "Warilla Boys", "Port Boys" "Oak Flats Elite" "One Seven Soliders" etc
Why do young boys feel the need to join gangs and what are the consequences? It all begins from the point a youth gang forms, until each current member is locked up.
So is this the end of it? Not yet. Locking members up makes the gang stronger, family members, close friends and keen locals insist on continuing the violence to prolong the name of their "boys", "girls" and suberbs violent history.

No matter how long I gaze at these scribbles, I still cannot identify any talent in the hand of an under developed pre-pubescent boy scribbling “F*** off” or “2526” across people’s prized possessions, or better still, stabbing their ex girlfriend's new romance.
This costs money the people inflicting this cannot afford even with a whole years pay! Leave our cities alone! It will benefit you when you’ve aged and hopefully formed into bigger and better crews, such as the team of employees at your job. As you screen the city’s skyline from your balcony on the hills you will inhale the clean air and thank your community for keeping it’s surroundings pristine and murder free.
Seriously, enlighten me with your reason, your ‘excuse’ for these murders, "tagging" and brawls .

State Of Play

By Hayley Speechley

The film "State of Play" stars an ageing Journalist (Russel Crowe) and a rising Congressman (Ben Affleck) who previously share friendship. This friendship begins to re ignite as Stephen Collins (Congressman) becomes the key link to a series of suspicious events.

Nearing Collins presidential peak, his assistant (also secretly his mistress) is viciously murdered. This is when bitter fact begins to seep through the to the surface and then bends Collin's original game plan.

The film continues by unfolding this 'series of suspicious events' which have called for excessive heated commotion and difficult decision making. All this heated commotion has resulted in Collin's being put under pressure and is being viewed closely by the public eye. This is when the truth is unfolded and after where incorrect fact and unwanted opinion has previously positioned them, Washington insiders come to a conclusion.

In conclusion, the director of "State of Play", Kevin MacDonald, has put together a well structured film and represents his ideas and emotion successfully through the dialogue and camera techniques, which presents his movie as a sucessful one.

Class Activity.

9/03/2010

The search for the identity of four men has begun in response to the recent murders committed near the Rock's area.
Over the weekend, two men gunned down, central to some of the city's most exclusive real estate.
Police report that they believe at least 20 shots were fired last week from multiple semi-automatic hand guns at close range.

As a result of this incident and many similar, Anti-firearm lobby groups have called upon Government to halt the spread of illegal hand guns in Sydney whilst the NSW Opposition leader has accused the Government of letting gun crimes the same as this inncident spiral out of control.

Police having been already aware of the sudden gangland war outbreak, are concerned this incident will provoke a drastic escalation in Sydney's turf war.
"Bob Carr has run out of excuses" states Brogden, "His policing strategies aren't working when criminals think shooting people in highly populated, tourist areas is easy"

Hayley Speechley

Ben Kohler

Ben Kohler (16 years of age) hails from Woonona High School.
In Ben's spare time, he enjoys basking in the sounds of Punk-Rock bands such as the Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Misfits, Black Flag, The Clash and also appreciates a bit of Marlyn Manson! As well as listening to the music his favourite bands produce, Ben also plays the bass guitar which falls into the list of his many hobbies.
On a weekend, Ben entertains himself by "reading alot". He enjoys reading novels written by Stephen King, as well as snooping the internet to find media sources which are usually politically based articles. He likes that kind of stuff!
Ben is currently unemployed yet he feels he should really get a job! Anyone hiring? Unfortunatly Ben would have to be very reliant on public transport, he is almost 17 and doesn't have his L's! Although this doesn't seem to worry him.
Changing schools 5 times and once living in Nowra, Ben must be close to seeing it all! Yet his career path is still being deceided.
From the 10 quiet minutes I have spent one on one with Ben, I have walked away with the knowledge that he is quite smart, has strong beliefs and is a generally nice guy.

Life cycle

In life we are thrown about within this enclosure we recognize as our ‘comfort zone’.To even be slightly nudged against the barrier of your zone you begin to underestimate your capabilities as a simple human being.During the lifespan of a semi average person, (basing this assumption of the community surrounding myself) you learn to cope with the heavy emotional impact certain episodes leave you finding yourself tangled within, we learn from the paths we choose to follow and grow uniquely in this direction. We will live, and we will live as thoroughly as we possibly can. We must promise ourselves that on this earth that we will take up every oppurtunity that has bounced our way. We should not criticise, but we should learn from the mistakes of others. In doing this, we will be able to live. Live for ourselves