Interesting article I found

I read an article in MX (a free afternoon Brisbane newspaper distributed to commuters in the city) last week that I thought was interesting.....

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Bloggers get literary nod

The short list for a literary prize aimed at honouring the best books based on blogs has been announced.
On the list is American artist Frank Warren’s My Secret: A Post-Secret Book. It grew out of his weblog PostSecret, which encouraged young people to mail in their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. The blog attracts 3.5 million visitors a month and has won best topical and best community categories at the Bloggie awards.
Last year’s winning “blook” – Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously – has now sold more than 100,000 copies and is being made into a film.
The 2007 Blooker prize – with prize money of $7,750 for winners in fiction, non-fiction and comics – aims to encourage cutting-edge literature, much of which starts in the blogosphere.

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Keep up the blogging hey.....you just never know who will be nominated for a Bloggie!!! =)

Second Life

Did anyone watch Four Corners on Monday night?

Well it was about this - well I'm not sure what you would call it - program/game thing called Second Life. Anyway in essence it's a virtual world that has been created by this company called Linden Lab. I didn't catch the whole story (regrettably - and I'm trying to get my hands on a tape of the whole show!) - only about 15 minutes - but have been frantically googling and researching it trying to find out more - basically Linden Lab (which is a company formed by these 2 young guys out of their garage in the US) has created this virtual world where people can create an account, log on, create their own identity and basically do anything they can do in the real world....but online! You can shop, make things, build/develop property and even meet other people in these virtual places. And it's catching on really fast. Two things that make this virtual world different to anything that has come before it is the fact that firstly, everything you create in this world belongs to you - the IP is your, not the companies - and secondly, you can sell things to other users in this world and exchange your 'Linden dollars' for real US dollars!

Lots of companies across the US and all around the world are quickly catching on to the possibilities in this virtual world and are jumping on board. Companies like IBM and buying and developing land and building buildings etc and offering 'virtual' services that they can charge people to use. Even being seen in this virtual world is probably worth gold in advertising dollars anyway!

You can go into boutique clothing stores and dress your online character in the latest fashions, while at the same time buying clothes for yourself. The virtual world even has it's own 3D search engine that they are talking up as 'the next google' - and it even has it's own virtual prostitutes who earn over US$4,000 a week!!! Virtual items from second life are even auctioned on eBay - it seems everyone wants their own unique piece of this virtual world.

Seriously - this thing seems massive - and if you don't believe me check this out - on the four corners story they featured this women who had developed her own company around this world. She is a virtual property developer - she had over 50 people working for her who buy barren virtual land from Linden Lab and develop it into luxury resorts/apartments/buildings/and island etc and sell it to other people or companies and make an absolute killing. She is now a millionaire and last year was featured on the cover of America's prestigious BusinessWeek magazine.

I just thought this was particularly interesting in light of the set readings for this week which were all about the golden age of the Internet and how the Internet has developed and grown and how it goes through booms and busts etc. It was just interesting and timely to catch this story and learn more about this phenomenon during the week, whilst I was also reading about the golden age of the Internet...............

(I have included some links you may find interesting - transcript from the four corners piece, the four corners home page which has lots more info about Second Life, the second life home page which is interesting to cruise around and get an idea about how big this thing is getting, and finally a link to a video I found that features the two creators of Second Life presenting to a bunch of google employees (i think) about Second Life - it's interesting viewing to see these guys in action)

Week Three - Lecture Two (Media Theory)

In week two's lecture on media theory Steven covered a lot of information to do with communication and media theorists in USA, UK and Europe and the history of communication studies and the theories that have been associated with them over the past century.

There were a few points in particular in this lecture that I found of interest:

• At the start of the lecture when Steven was saying that professions like communications, journalism, advertising and PR etc weren't around like 30-40 years ago. I think this is a really interesting point when you think about how far these professions and careers have developed and adapted in such a relatively short amount of time. And it's weird to think that when the study of communication began with Ferdinand de Saussure (see the link i included about him) in 1900 with the study of semiotics - that it took another 60+ years for these professions to actually establish themselves!
• When Steven was discussing communication studies (US) and the theories that have been associated with them I found the media effects models very interesting and is something I may consider further developing for my essay. What I find interesting are the minimum, mixed and maximum effect theories. I find it interesting that there were times throughout history when scholars and citizens etc believed that there was ONE way that the public would respond and be effected by the media. (see the link i included which lists ten things wrong with the media effects model - interesting read!)
• And finally, another area of the lecture I found interesting was when Steven spoke about media studies in the United Kingdom and Stanley Cohen's studies into moral panics.

In this weeks lecture we also viewed a film titled Le Jetee. I found this film actually interesting. I've never really been a fan of old films (especially black and white ones!) but the concept behind this film is interesting. Firstly, I found the plot about them using technology to try to go back in time and change things interesting because it illustrates that how far back the notions of time travel and technology really go. Secondly, I've never seen a film based on still images before - even though there was that random scene where that persons eyes moved!?!? Thirdly, I enjoyed the twist at the end - in all honestly I did not see it coming and it kept me watching it! (see the link I included that about La Jetee). Also something interesting i stumbled upon in my research after this lecture was that La Jetee was named as one of the 100 best films of the 20th century by The Village Voice - it came in at number 66! (See the link to this site!)

Well that's all really for this week - until next time.....

Week Two - Tutorial One

Hi!

My name is Bec Cassidy and I am in my final semester of a Bachelor of Communications majoring in Public Relations and Journalism. I am currently doing two first year subjects (this and Defining Women).

I currently work at Boeing Australia doing Communications which I absolutely love! I started at Boeing at the end of last year - I scored a 3 month paid summer internship in the Communications department and since my internship ended they have decided to keep me on. So I am currently working four days a week at Boeing's head office in Brisbane and am at uni one day a week finishing my degree. Once I graduate they are looking at creating a full time position for me. I also work casually at a radio station in Brisbane called Nova 106.9 in the newsroom, which I really enjoy as well.

I decided to enrol in this course because last year I undertook quite a bit of work experience at various public relations companies, radio stations and media outlets and one of the things I came to realise is that to be successful in this industry you have to have some level of knowledge on new/digital media. One of my tasks at one of the PR companies I interned at was to put together a document and presentation for the directors of the company about how digital media is impacting on the media and public relations industries, and how PR companies around the world are incorporating digital media into their communications plans for clients.

Before I started that task I honestly didn't know the first thing about new media. I couldn't have told you what a blog, wiki, RSS feed or anything like that was - let alone how they effected or impacted on the media industry. However I came to see that digital/new media is not a thing of the future anymore - it's very much here and now - and if the media industry is to continue to be successful and cater to it's audiences it has to evolve and continually find new ways to cater to it's ever changing audience.

Take the newspaper, for example. With the growth of the Internet and new media, a few years ago print media was a dying outlet. However instead of just sitting back and waiting for it's circulation to run dry - newspapers began to adapt and grow to cater to the changing demands of it's audience. You can now read newspapers from around the world online. Online versions of newspapers are now interactive - they generally have regular news updates, you can comment on stories, submit your own story ideas and participate in polls - all at the click of a button. Newspaper journalists are no longer simply writers either - they now submit their stories online and can also provide photographs and footage to accompany their story. The growth of this forum has even meant that there are now online news journalists who submit stories to their online editor for publication online rather than in the newspaper.

Anyway I've just realised how long this blog is actually turning out to be - but that's basically why I enrolled in this course. I wanted to get a greater understanding of this emerging and ever growing forum, not just for my own knowledge, but to also increase my employment prospects in the future.

Adios!