Week 8 Blog 2

Forgot to post this - For my essay I have decided on the topic - Does the extensive use of computer/video games have an adverse impact on the health of young people. What are the most recent papers? Clarify what both sides of the argument claim and only then offer your reasoned opinion based on facts.

Back in week 4, we were asked to discuss computer games and the effect they have on people. While writing about it in my week 4 blog, I found I had a lot to say on the matter and could've kept rambling on. So when looking at the topics for the essay, I thought I would go with the one I'd find most interesting to research and easiest to write; alas choosing this topic.

While researching back in week 4 I found a lot of useful resources that could help me with this essay. To me - Creative Commons is a great idea. I've been making videos and using them for assignments, YouTube projects and various other things in the past and I'd say I'm stepping on some copyright infringements every single time. I also use music - and have never thought of copyright laws. I suppose since my videos are not going anywhere special, the original publisher will never know. This is wrong, but at the same time I also think it depends on whatever you're using. If its a quote - definitely reference. But in situations like our short videos we had to make for New Comm, I don't think there's any reason to contact the original publisher of a song when it's used for 30 seconds in a clip where less than 30 people will probably ever see it.

Week 9 Post 2 - the Video

Here is the final product of our video. Enjoy.

Week 9 Blog 1

What opportunities can you find for political participation via the internet. How many of the following can you achieve while sticking to your political beliefs?

    * Sign an e-petition.


I used Google to search "Current Australian e-petitions" and it directed me to this link of Australian petitions. I then went to the petitions page and had a laugh at some of the petitions. Jokingly, I was going to sign the 'legalize marijuana' petition but as the blog states we're meant to stick to our political beliefs I decided I would keep looking. I then saw one to Ban the killing of pitballs in Melbourne, but hey, if Pitbull wants to tour in Melbourne I think he should. Joking. Finally I decided to sign for telecommunications access for deaf people. Having experience with deaf people I feel strongly to this cause and would happily sign the petition for the purpose of this task as well as self gratification. 


    *  What is Barack Obama up to today? Can you send him a message about the importance of freedom on the internet?


In an attempt to stalk Barack Obama I found it quite easy being directly linked to http://ochairball.blogspot.com/ which is in fact called 'Today with President Barack Obama'. It has everything you need to know about Obama, including a daily schedule which is perfect to answer this questions. Obama's day on the 22nd of September goes something like this:

1:00 AM	The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press
10:30 AM	The President meets with senior advisors Oval Office Closed Press
12:30 PM	The President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews South Lawn Open Press
12:45 PM	The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route Cincinnati, Ohio Joint Base Andrews Travel Pool Coverage
2:05 PM	The President arrives Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport Open Press
2:30 PM	The President delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act Hilltop Basic Resources Open Press
3:50 PM	The President departs Cincinnati, Ohio en route Joint Base Andrews Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport Open Press
5:10 PM	The President arrives Joint Base Andrews Joint Base Andrews Travel Pool Coverage
5:25 PM	The President arrives the White House South Lawn Open Press

    * What are the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")?


I got this information by searching Australian Government's plans to censor the internet "clean feed", which was pretty standard. I got linked to this website which gave me this information.

"The Australian Federal Labor Government has a "plan" (since late 2007) to mandate that ISPs block adults' access to Internet content on a secret blacklist, compiled by a government agency, that the Government deems unsuitable for adults.

The Labor Government's "plan" has changed at least three times since they were originally elected in November 2007, and their 2009-2011 plan bears zero resemblance to Labor's November 2007 election policy. On 15 December 2009, the Labor Government announced the third version of their mandatory ISP-level blocking policy/plan stating (contrary to their 2007 election policy) that adults will not be able to opt-out, and that ISPs will not be required to even offer to block any adults-only material, i.e. X18+ pornography or R18+. Hence, the mandatory ISP blocking system will be utterly useless for a purpose of protecting children online.

The sole purpose is to require ISPs to (attempt to) block adults' access to content that the government deems unsuitable for adults. If implemented, the Labor Government would be the first government in a "western democracy" to mandate that."


http://libertus.net/censor/isp-blocking/au-govplan.html

Week 8 Blog 1

Today we began editing our video. We had a couple of problems, but nothing that we couldn't fix with a simple google search or with a little help from the 'Help' menu in iMovie. The first problem was that the photos were set on 'Ken Burns', which automatically, and slowly zoomed up on every photo which wasn't very visually appealing considering each photo was timed for 0.5 seconds in length. It was a bit like motion sickness. I then 'trouble-shooted' the problem by googling how to stop it from happening. We found an answer on Yahoo Answers which explained the 'Ken Burns' effect and how to get rid of it. 

Our other issue was the music. Finding the perfect song was not hard, we decided to use Port O'Brian's song 'I Woke Up Today', which is an upbeat song that suits the mood of the film as it is all a bit of fun - although we have to find our way around copyright infringements. At the moment we're planning to just use the song and see if we can get away with it. I've uploaded videos to YouTube years ago using songs that I didn't create and they are still online today so I don't think we should have a problem. If we do, Jess has recently made a song in one of her classes so I'm sure we'll use that. It's no Port O'Brian, but who knows - we may be launching Jess into the music industry if we have to use it. Finally we inserted the credits, which run over the final image of our clip before it fades to black and silence and our video is complete.

Week 7: Part 2 Response

Today me and my partners Jess Kelly & Lizzy Keen took photos for our short film. We wanted to do a movie compiled of images that formulate a story. Set at Griffith, both Jess and Lizzy star as the same character - the story tells a day in the life at Griffith University, where both Jess and Lizzy walk out of New Comm Tech, go down the elevator and out of G_23. They walk along a red wall, sit along a bench, teleport per metre square, with a mix of straight line walking and spinning all the way to a grass patch. There they walk around a tree, bump into each other, meet each other and as a clever twist we decided to make Jess dissapear, leaving Lizzy in shock. We're not planning a sequel, so unfortunately you'll never know what happened to Jess. All I can say is that there is a reason "the ute" is credited at the end. My lips are sealed. Just think about it.

So from here on we edit. We will upload the images from Jess' iPhone 4 onto her Macbook and use iMovie to edit. I think we've agreed on using a song over the top and perhaps adding some text to make it that extra bit abstract.

Week 7: Part 1 Response

Blog Post 1

How is Wikipedia useful?


While everyone snobs Wikipedia, I personally find it incredibly resourceful. I'd say I use it everyday. Not for the hard hitting news stories or for articles I can potentially use in essays, but for day to day information or whenever I'm curious about any sort of topic or person, I know I can rely on Wikipedia to get me what I want asap. Often when I go onto a Wikipedia page, I find myself going from link to link and it's interesting to see where one Wikipedia search can take me on the site - there's so much to look at.

Has anyone here edited Wikipedia? How hard is it?


I've never edited Wikipedia. One time, I tried - but the process of setting up an account seemed all too difficult and pointless when I didn't really care all that much. Was just trying to help out.



Why does Facebook work?


Facebook works because everybody either has it, wants it or at least knows somebody on it. It's everywhere and as long as its active everyday, we're all going to continue to use it.



What would it take for you to close down your Facebook account?


I've deactivated my Facebook account numerous times basically for the sake of my degree or my OP back in the day, but other than that I can only see myself closing down the account permanently if it was unsafe for me to have it. 


Is citizen journalism the end of traditional journalism?


Definitely not. While citizen journalism isn't professional and not always accurate, it is still really beneficial and useful. There is no problem with people publishing new information before a professional journalist because nobody cares how hard-hitting urgent news is announced, people just want the information instantly. Let citizen journalists enlighten the world with immediate news and let traditional journalists present it to us with more reliable info and a nicer article to read. 

Week 6: Part 2 Response

Exploring cheap AV production tools


This week I was unable to make class - but classmate and friend of mine Lizzy took it upon herself to assign me in a group with her and Jess, thankfully. She came to us with an idea of a short film comprised of still images - which is always entertaining and not too difficult to produce.

1) how you can add elements that you have created (photos, music, video from your phone etc) into the production?


If we decide to do a film with still-images I'm sure we'll be using a tone of photos, probably using our iPhone cameras and uploading the photos onto one of Jess or my Macbook's. It should be an easy transfer from the iPhone to the Macbook where I assume we will use iMovie to edit our film - Jess and I both have experience using this program from Youth and Society last semester.

2) problems you may have with copyright over elements that you did not create and 


We shouldn't have any copyright infringements. I can only assume the only problem we may encounter is the audio we use over our film as I'm sure we're all leaning towards a song as a soundtrack rather than a voice over - especially considering it's under 2 minutes in length.


I guess next week all we can do is brainstorm, think of a story that works for all of us and go from there. We're all pretty open minded people and I can't imagine there will be any conflict in story so this film should be a breeze.