MEDIA PORTRAYAL: CYCLONE DEBBIE

 

 SOURCE: Cyclone Debbie hitting Queensland

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie in 2017 was the strongest tropical cyclone in the Australian region since Cyclone Quang in 2015, the lengths Queensland and Northern New South Wales media went to report the dangers of the storm- While positioning themselves within the destruction of the storm wasn’t just ridiculous; it made for great television and the whole of Australia went through the roof with tuning in.

Source: Inundated breaking stories from every media channel

“The morning shows live for big stories like this, We know that people switch regularly during breaking news — so the way to keep the audience is to ensure best pictures. You can’t guarantee best pictures unless you have multiple crews in the field.” Adam Boland from Sunrise told news.com.au

And constant coverage, forewarnings and inundated breaking news from the media did pay off, along with the help of social media sites during and after the disaster, public transport was offered free to people needing to get home, farmers saying that the hashtag #cyclonedebbie was the only thing that saved their harvest. With help from websites and online pages to help support those caught in the aftermath of the crisis, Support Relief Efforts were organised to donate money and goods with support events also being organised. (Controversially hardly any help from the Federal Government, might I add. Queensland applied for $220 million in Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, the Government paid $29 million and offered local businesses loans)

SOURCE:Springbrook's Pine Creek Road. Great captured content

With live communication updates online and on television played a major role in informing viewers and many affected by Cyclone Debbie. Another ‘pro’ to the internet and social media being a savvy and helpful tool in our modern day society.

ADA LOVELACE, LIVE!

I found Ada Lovelaces myspace profile from 2006? WEEEIIIRDDD

REVIEWING THE REVIEWS: CATFISH (2008 DOCUMENTARY)

SOURCE: Catfish Documentary

Massively criticized documentary CATFISH, is a 2008 post-modern film that, considered a hoax, follows the story of a film maker named Nev, a guy from New York who befriends a young country girl named Abby after she emails him a painting of his work. Nev engages a friendly online relationship with Abby's family; her older sister, Megan, and their mother, Angela over Facebook. As he becomes more and more romantically involved with Megan via IMs, texts, phone calls, little details start to become twisted and introduces the implications and dangers of online identities and the people behind them. 

 

SOURCE: Nev on his way to hunt down fact from fiction. A review from The Independent suspicious of real and fake.

In viewing this “documentary” I felt an array of emotions, first dark mocking humour for the good-looking guy about to get his heart broken to the audacity of lengths people will go through to construct false or extended identities for themselves online, to then feeling sympathetic and sad for those same people.

SOURCE: A post modern review on the film relate-able with my reckonings

It’s definitely a rollercoaster of emotion with relatable and relevant representation of (real) characters in this film, at any time you are able to empathise and put yourself in the shoes of all involved; the protagonist, the antagonist and the anti-hero, with good fairness of depiction (once the boys had ‘figured’ out what was going on) to the characters, all but one: Little Abby. With having no thought for potential damage, the film may cause her while growing up, all involved didn’t stop to think exploiting this young girl could inevitably result in facing the fall out of her mothers fantasy life that was displayed in cinemas across the world, without being given the correct coping mechanisms to help her manage the ordeal she had no say in to begin with.

The Guardian Fact or Fiction is another review which presents issues supporting the falsities behind the documentary.


 SOURCE: An idiom turned meme which is a popularized cartoon in The New Yorker, it has come to illustrate an understanding about the way privacy and anonymity work on the Internet.

TED TALKS : HOW THE INTERNET ENABLES INTIMACY (ONLINE IDENTITY)

SOURCE: Ted Talks

So recently in viewing particular Ted Talks that delve into the significance of ‘online identity’ I came across one particular video that took my fancy in a really peculiar way. I quite often mock the internet, in one hand I detest anything to do with online interaction while I part-take willingly in all forms of social media with the other. My relationship with the internet/online communication is drenched in sarcasm and an unhealthy dependence, which often feeds off each other and will make for a satirical online persona. But aside from my rejection to modern technology, the ability to contact my loved ones in an instant is why I my social media accounts are still active.

I found myself relating very heavily and sympathising to the talk which Stefana Broadbent gave on ‘How the Internet Enables Intimacy’ she basically striped away the substantial layers of the internet and spoke of the fundamental, basic acts of love we can communicate to our loved ones while on the road, workplace, classroom or office. A communication that allows us to break daily isolation institutions impose by having presence on the internet and online identity. She gave such examples of a baker who must wake extremely early for work with the opportunity to sneak away from kneading dough at 8am to message his wife who is starting her day, or a mother who is able to wish family members goodnight while she starts her late shift.

Examples like these really reiterate why being apart of online society and having social presence and identity is important, I think, anyway. 

Above is an embedded video of Stefana Broadbent's Ted Talk on How the Internet Enables Intimacy

HIDDEN FIGURES IN COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY: DR. MARK E DEAN

Computer Technology; Ohhhhh ohhh the world we’d live-in if it wasn’t for-‘em (sometimes I think much better off but that’s for an entirely different blog post) Every house hold has a computer! Every house hold has more than one! And being such a recognized house hold device there are so many hidden figures to the invention, developing processes and programming that make up the modern computer, although when we put faces to the names that shaped computer technology in history- we think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steven Hawking even Ashton Kutcher(?!?!) But there are many names that have been left out of the (predominantly white male) communication technologies history hall of fame.

One of which is an African American man Dr Mark E Dean. A computer scientist and engineer who worked for IBM in the 80’s (manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software) Dr. Dean was instrumental in the invention of the Personal Computer (PC) and led a team that designed the ISA bus—the hardware interface that allows multiple devices like printers, modems, and keyboards to be plugged into a computer. This innovation helped pave the way for the personal computer’s use in office and business settings. Dean also helped develop the first color computer monitor, and in 1999 he led the team of programmers that created the world’s first gigahertz chip. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon.

CONSUMER COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES TIMELINE

A COMMUNICATIONS TIME LINE!!! A timeline I made that consists of  consumer communication technologies found from our Lab Task slides. My timeline is from the birth, or invention of each item, we have;


1900: Kodak Brownie Camera 
1956: The Remote Control for television
1965: Kodak Super 8mm Film
1982: Rotary Telephone
1982: CD ROM
1982: Beta Cam VCR
1985: HI-8 Video
1992: Mini Disk Player
1992: 56K Dial Up Modem
2000: The Floppy Disk

For all those eager to listen of ten hours worth of 56k internet dial up, click above ;) you're welcome