The final blog, now with blogs.

Wowsers. So I can not believe that I actually made it through this semester alive and with my sanity. This is actually the last blog I will be writing for this subject, or maybe ever due to my intense hatred of writing. It brings me such pain to type the right words onto the computer, although this is not a particularly strenuous activity physically. Mentally, I feel as if I’m being beaten continuously with a heavy, blunt object. (maybe that’s a bit of hyperbole, but it’s how I feel sometimes!) Here is the first installment of the task. The next blog is here, which I feel is in a very similar vain to the first one. After re-reading these blogs, I feel like a very cynical individual, indeed. This is a post that hopefully has a slightly different tune. Moving right back into cynical town is this gem. The final blog for the collection is situated here, which I believe wraps up everything I’ve been saying in a neat little package. Or not. Stories are in the eye of the beholder.

at least for one subject…

The end is nigh…

This week’s lecture marks the last lecture of the semester. In this lecture, we reviewed everything we learned throughout the course. We discovered that the metadata retention law had been passed and now the government can see everything we have done online for the next two years, all in the name of ‘National security’. I makes me wonder why the data is being retained, when the authorities failed to thwart a shooting in Sydney, even though law enforcement around the world had enough incriminating data to stop the crime before it happened, Minority Report style. If these ‘laws are not protecting civilians, then what is the point of them? Some people (myself included) believe that these laws have been put in place because the government have been pressured by big entertainment corporations to prosecute, then subsequently bankrupt the average schmo that chooses to download a movie or TV show. The paradox is that content is not released in Australia for sometimes months, and the only option for consumers to watch that heavily publicized new release is to acquire it sneakily from sources online.

They will find you…

Now, how does one stop this invasion of privacy? The most obvious option is to cease and desist all illegal online activity… But in the real world, There are ways around this. Firstly, one could download a browser such as the TOR browser to get onto the dark web, but I have heard that using TOR sends out a red flag to authorities. Another more secure option is to invest in a VPN, which can be very private, but dangerous if you choose a dodgy carrier, who may sell your information on, defeating the purpose of obtaining one in the first place. My advice is to abandon the ‘computer internet’ all together and prepare ourselves for ‘bird internet.’

It’s coming.

Blog catch up time

The final blog post for this subject is due later this week and I believe that my blog output has been way under what is required, so I am attempting to catch up as much as possible so I have a substantial submission. In the previous week’s lecture, we learned about digital sweatshops and outsourcing to keep the running costs of technology low. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will aid in growing this industry. Click farms are also another form of digital sweatshops, that are paid to generate more ‘likes’ or ‘clicks’ when a transmedia campaign does not generate enough likes for the platform.

The interesting thing is that the click farmers create enviable profiles of people who don’t exist, making a need to impress these non-existent people. We also saw the conditions of the children mining coltan, which makes me cringe to see that these pictures are recent and not from the time of the industrial revolution. Most of these mines are worked in by child slaves or soldiers. The Foxconn factory in China came up as an example of electronics manufacturers whose conditions had dramatically changed after a slew of suicides from poor working conditions and being prohibited from leaving the grounds.

 Products of slavery.

We found out what happens to our hard rubbish after it’s collected. It’s fascinating to find out that our electronics are shipped overseas to be stripped and the precious metals harvested then imported for further manufacturing. Although there is lots of information regarding the manufacturing and consumption of technology, but not very much information is available regarding the disposal of the obsolete or broken technology. This industry is the one with the highest environmental impact throughout the supply chain. In the lecture, we were urged to find out our slavery footprint, and honestly I didn’t think I was such a monster! However, I do try to buy ethically sourced goods when I can, but sometimes you have no choice. Also, are you aiding to slavery if you buy second-hand things that were manufactured by slaves?

Down to the wire

So, here I am, 20 minutes before this project’s due, not even close to completion. It’s just so amazing how much one relies on the internet for so many components of life. This project would definitely have to have been my most challenging yet. Our internet went down for about two days, and only came back this afternoon. There is literally nothing more frustrating than internet failure. The only reason this issue was so stressful is because I left work to the last 2 days to complete. I learned from this assignment  that i need to employ better time-management skills, and found that I actually preferred working with a partner, as there was a harder deadline to have things completed and you didn’t want to let your team mate down. In this case, I have not been a very good team mate to myself by not keeping to allocated time frames and procrastinating far too much. In saying that, at least I’ve learned something and I guess it’s better to hand an assignment in late than incomplete. I think I felt much more confident about this project in my last blog, when I was unaware of the impending doom that was being internet-deprived.

I did prevail, however and managed to get it all together. For my video component, I created an eyewitness news story, regarding ‘escaped criminals’, Ziggy and Astro. I have also fashioned a ‘fakebook‘ profile of the cats, complete with wall posts from their ‘friends’ and the police have a post as well. for the third transmedia component, I have made some wanted posters, which I originally wanted to photoshop into different cities, but ran out of time so I just decided on the posters.

Given all the time and budget, ideally I would have liked to have developed a ‘whodunnit’ style scavenger-hunt video game, where the cats leave clues and the user has to solve a series of puzzles to find them. But alas! Feeling very glad that there were no other requirements (I think). Now all I need to do is scan in my wireframes, and I will be caught up to the rest of the class… Yaay. Wish me luck in dealing with my dinosaur of a scanner. I’m going to need it…

OK> Mission accomplished. I managed to scan and upload my concept wireframe, first wireframe, the next wireframe, and the news storyboard.

Now I must go and start on my next assignment, so I’m not in this predicament again.

Trans-Mediation, in a blog.

Snap! Welcome to ‘semester’s almost over’, All of the work is due at the same time situation. I am actually relishing in the filming of this project, as it basically entails myself following my bratty cats around with a handycam. Getting the idea from a previous lecture we had, in which we discussed the popularity of cats on the internet and were shown videos of the famous Maru, a Japanese Scottish fold cat and then a video depicting an advertising agency where the talent comprised entirely of cats. I figured, why not jump on the cat train, when I already have the subjects at my disposal. So far my idea is to create a news-cast style of video, reporting two escaped criminals, who are then revealed to be Ziggy and Astro and cut to footage of them sneaking into things and looking generally shady. I then either wanted to create a fakebook page of either the cattens, or of the police, appealing to any citizens to post sightings of the cats or something. Still undecided on which way to go yet. I also wanted to create ‘Wanted’ posters for each of the cattens.That always seemed like a fun thing to do.

The handy thing is that I discovered a website that allows the user to create a false Facebook profile, which I will utilise to create a profile and incorporate it into my project. Given the time constraints, three components seems very realistic to attain, as opposed to all the ideas that I have going through my head for this project, which would take me forever to complete satisfactorily.

Getting the appropriate footage has proven to be quite the challenge, as whenever the cats do something interesting, they stop as soon as the camera is ready to record. They say never to work with children or animals, and I completely agree with that statement. I have so much boring footage that I now have to sift through in the editing process, but I think it will be worth it in the end, as they are actually really funny when they’re not being camera-shy. I assumed that they would not notice me following them around, camera in hand, but alas! They are not as oblivious as first imagined.