Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape.

According to Henry Jenkins, (an American media scholar and currently a Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts) the New Media Landscape can be defined by eight distinct traits. These traits are as follows;

 - Innovative; "to invent or begin to apply using or showing new methods, ideas, etc."

 - Convergent; "characterized by convergence; tending to come together; merging."

 - Everyday; "of or pertaining to every day; daily: an everyday occurrence."

 - Appropriative; "Adj - right or suitable; fitting."

 - Networked; "Telecommunications, Computers . a system containing any combination of computers, computer terminals, printers, audio or visual display devices, or telephones interconnected by telecommunication equipment or cables: used to transmit or receive information."

 - Global; "pertaining to the whole world; worldwide; universal."

 - Generational; "a single step in natural descent, as of human beings, animals, or plants."

 - Unequal; "not equal; not of the same quantity, quality, value, rank, ability, etc."

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/)(15/11/2010)

Now i shall go through each individual trait and explain how these traits apply to New Media in both accordance to Henry James's blog and my own personal view.

Innovative;
- Is the process whereby comapanies use new media technology to help create new ideas or methods. Facebook regularly change its format and layout and this is to enhance our experiences upon this site. The same as different features are added such as 'the like button' this keeps it new and exciting in the hope of keeping and creating new custom.

Convergence;
 - Convergence within Media is the binding/merging of diffierent media forms. For example; If a new film James Bond film comes out in cinema, it is not just a cinema experience anymore. It is a cinema experience which you can then buy on DVD or Bluray, their will be a computer game for you to purchase and a soundtrack to the film available, there will also be membrobrilia such as, posters, mugs, t-shirts etc etc. In turn from merging all of these forms the producers are gaining vast profits from one individual idea. "Massive media conglomerates" are aiming to create the largest profit, in aid of doing this they channel their produced media through every medium possible ie. films can now be watched on television, online. Or books can be produced in cassette/CD form or online etc etc. Convergence is not only beneifical for the producers, consumers want to be in demand and choose when media is available to them. They want to be in contol and make all the decisions.
 A problem which Henry James explains within his article though, is that consumers are not always going to be in control and this encourages consumers to purchase illegally ie. downloading music and films from online. This could also be interpreted as the consumer taking advantage of the new media technology which has been created.
 It was only after reading Henry James's article that i realised just how huge a role convergence plays within the media. Ten years ago far less films were shown in the cinemas and films were merely produced on videos and that was all, nowadays videos arent even availabl anymore however we can purchase a film in every other form.

Everyday;
- As technology has expanded it has become more and more necessary to our daily lives. The threat however is that the more media becomes apart of our daily routine the more invisable it becomes to us. Henry James compares our media usage as similar to the way a fish doesn't notice the water it lives in just because it has become overally customised to it. Technology has the power to cut the consumer off from people and the environment inwhich they live.
 Mizuko, on the otherhand argues that technology can be used to help us stay in contact with our closest ones.
  I myself would agree with both statements, media can be seen as a new and easier way of socialising with websites such as facebook and twitter becoming more and more popular which isnt the case. I still much prefer socialising with my friends in person and having an actual experience, rather than sitting infront of a computer screen typing. However, now that i am a university student i relyheavil upon media to stay connected to my friends and family back home. Without facebook, my mobile phone and emailing i would find it virtually impossible to stay in contact with people.
 I do feel that people have become oblivious to their new media usage as it has become a part of their lifestle rather than a luxury, we do have to remember that we did not always have these opportunities and therefore we should not take them for granted nor forget about things we did before new media came along.
Appropriative;
- Media is now able to filter advertisements, newsfeeds etc etc to your needs and wants. Websites such as amazon and ebay store exactly what each customer buys meaning that ebay can recommend you something similar to a good that you purchased just by looking at previous purchases. This is how the internet is becoming more and more appropriative. It is able to mould to you as an individual.

Networked;
- This is the process of delivering a message from one person to another or a group of people. Issues surrounding this are centralized around how we are supposed to control who sees our message and who doesn't, as a message may have to cross through several networks in order to be delivered.

Global;
- Media is highly globalised. Media surrounds us whereever we happen to go. Everyone to a degree is a aware of media however there is concerns that the MEDC's (More economically developed countries) will control majority of not all of the media created which could potentially result in a loss of culture and anunfair advantage to those who live in LEDC's (Less economically developed countries.)

Generational;
-This focuses upon how different generations use media differently and interpret their usage in a different way. Henry James feels that the three main generations; The older generation (nans and grandads) The old generation (middle aged) and the young generation (myself) all have different opinions upon new media. The older generation tend to disaprove and focus upon the way that things used to be before the inteference of media. The old generation think that it is revolutionary as it something completely new to what they experienced when at school or at work and the younger generation see media as normal and tend not to fully appreciate it.
 I know in the case of my family this is incredibly correct, my nan focuses purely upon the fact that people coped before new media technology came along and chooses to be ignorant to the enhanced opportunities it provides. My parents count themselves as lucky that they are alive to see the development of technology such as the invention of the Iphone and Ipad. I am surrounded by new media and use it daily and therefore probably don't fully appreciate the development of technology and media.

Unequal;
- Technology highlights a clear divide between a community. "Media represents wealth, power and knowledge" so therefore anyone who has not been a part of new media or cannot afford to participate in new media is instantly isolated and inferior.
 I feel very strongly about this point. Whilst i was looking for a job, i was surprised at how many businesses only accept applications online. It is one thing to expect your Curriculum Vitae to be word processed but now YOU HAVE TO APPLY ONLINE. This shows that there is an automatic assumption that the applicant owns a computer and has internet access which is quite ironic concidering computers are expensive and the applicant is quite clearly short of money or unemployed hence looking for a job. I realise that computers are available at libraries for free however this instantly shows the expectations of society.
 As mentioned previously, technology is creating a divide between MEDC's and LEDC's and this is affecting childrens futures. There is an expectation for people to be computer literate, unfortnately LEDC's cannot afford computers and therefore these children are facing a different education system which means that this instantly hiders there chances of getting a good job and having a positive future.
 People without computers are also disadvantaged as the internet now supplies you with a part of your education. All lecture notes are handed out through an online database called Blackboard. This particular module has a facebook group which reminds us of deadlines and lecture times plus gives us direction to useful sights, if i didnt have a computer and the internet i would be disadvantaged to everyone who did have a computer, this is incredibly unfair but unfortunately the way of the world as technology will keep expanding and will continue to increase in price.

Henry James also exclaims that we are all part of a participatory culture. This is based on the relationship between consumers and the media; how we participate and involve ourselves, creating new culture. New modes of entertainment such as, video games depend upon our active engagement, we do not simply consume them we make them happen. In otherwords, we are vital to the success of new media.

Public Sphere?

Public Sphere is an area within social life whereby people have the opportunity to come together and openly discuss, question and identify with societal problems. This discussion is usually in the ad of influencing political action. Groups of people congregate usually via a socializing network such as Facebook or in person, to discuss matters of mutual interest. The aim is to make an informed decision upon what action needs to be taken forward in order to have their rights heard. “The public sphere can be seen as “a theater in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk!” (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111163119275) (04/04/2011)

In the initial workshops surrounding the Public Sphere we focused upon Brian McNair interpretations of the public Sphere. McNair believes that there are five important functions of the communication media in democratic societies, I have listed these below:

Inform: This is how information is distributed from the media to us as the public, this can be done through all forms of media; newspapers, TV, social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Educate: Represents the knowledge the public gain from the information. Without facts there is no sufficient argument in place.

Platform: The public are fed a platform of news via the media .

Publicity: This is very much needed to create a Public Sphere, this is related to the reactions the public give to the information and argument being presented through television footage etc etc.

Advocacy: This is the political imput, the government is very much in control of the media in the sense of what gets printed into our newspapers this means that readers or viewers are biased towards the opinion of the newspaper and therefore the opinion of the current government.
 

This term alone has seen two events which showcase the effects of public spheres. The first being the UNITE AGAINST FACISM which occurred in Leicester on Saturday 9^th October 2010. This was an event whereby people from all breeds of life and culture gathered together to fight against the English Defence League (EDL) in the hope of creating equality.

“The EDL is an organization of racist thugs with links to the British National Party and other fascist groups. It has particularly targeted Muslims in the past in an attempt to stir racist division.” (http://uaf.org.uk/2010/10/leicester-protest-against-racist-edl-goes-ahead-with-solid-support/) (04/04/2011)

Below are pictures of leaflets and forms which were being handed out prior to the events to attract more people to the public sphere.

Socializing networks such as Facebook and Twitter have recently become more connected with public spheres as most of these organisations and events are set up on Facebook initially to attract the general public who are interested in making a public and political stand. Here is one of the groups for the UNITE AGAINST FACISM campaign on Facebook :

This is where majority of the political stands we hear about in newspapers and on the news originate from. Just a simple group on Facebook unites people of the same interests and therefore creates a public sphere. When enough people join they can begin to plan actions.

I believe that public spheres can be used for both positive and negative reasons. When I was back home in Birmingham, my friend and I decided to go to the cinema to see London Boulevard in the city centre. When we arrived at the city centre we were surrounded by police and several roads were cut off. We asked if we would still be able to go to the cinema and if so how to get there, the policemen instructed us upon our way, so we began walking. When we eventually reached the road that leads to the cinema, we discovered that what was actually occurring was a riot. It was an Asian Attack Against The BMP! All roads were slowly shut off and guarded by armed police, we had to be escorted to the bus stop by three policemen as the large groups who were rioting began to get violent, throwing stones at buses, pushing their way past police etc etc. Needless to say my friend and I were incredibly scared and were glad to get home safely. When we returned home we discovered that the protest had initially started on Facebook as part of a harmless group however enough members inspired action and hence the outbreak in riots.

I am all about standing up for what you believe in however I believe that violence and chaos is not the way forward, I think you have to be incredibly sensible when getting involved in groups and public spheres alike.

The next famous protest of this year which did affect me somewhat was the protest against the rise of student fees. This was the problem:

£9,000 a year to carry on your education in the aid of creating a better life for yourself seems a little ridiculous and so it came as no surprise to me that the public (students in particular) decided to stand up against this and create a protest. This is another public sphere which was created on Facebook and twitter initially. Notice in the top right hand corner there are links to socializing networks that have groups surrounding this topic, this also represents how these public spheres are created.

Unfortunately, similar to the previous events mentioned the student protest which took place in London last December ended in a riot which showed students in a negative light through the media. Students have the right to stand up against this change however when depicted as violent youths who vandalise and forecast anti-social behaviour because they don't immediately get their own way, the cause is practically lost. I think the organisation and the purpose behind this protest is very worthy however the risk did not fully pay off in this public sphere possibly because of how large the public sphere actually was. It is rumoured that over 45,000 students gathered in London to begin the protest. Thats unbelievable but if i did not have a deadline the following monday i would have happily been one of those 45,000 +!



Awareness Video Campaign

As part of our media project, my group decided to use the opportunities which new media technology presents us with to create an awareness campaign based around drinking and the effects that alcohol can have if mis-used.

 We have chosen to focus our attention specifically upon Binge Drinking, Alcohol Related Domestic Abuse, Drink Spiking, and The Relationship between Alcohol and Sex. We have chosen these topics as these are all common scenarios that the general public can relate to and are situations which could occur easily in any drinking environment.

 The campaign is not designed to stop anybody from drinking FULLSTOP (as this would be vastly hypocritical coming from myself as a university student) however we would like people to think, be responsible and know their limits to ensure that these situations are avoided.

SO MAKE SURE YOU THINK WHEN YOU DRINK!

 http://thinkwhenyoudrink.tumblr.com/ << This is the finished Project!

As we had a number of different topics that we wanted to tackle, we decided collectively that it would be best to do four seperate videos each focusing specifically upon a different area listed above. The process of making this video was incredibly fun however the editing side was incredibly tedious especially having picked four seperate scenes. I feel that the BINGE DRINKING video is by far the strongest as it looks far more professional and we had more footage to edit and include. The other videos do still fufill their purpose of raising awareness about alcohol. Here are some print screened views of all four videos on the Tumblr site;

 

As-well as raising awareness about our chosen topic we hope that our video campaign inspires people to use the technology which is constantly developing around them. We hope to raise awareness about the positive causes that media can aid, as the media is so often criticized for being a negative aspect of society.

 I think it is important for the public to realise the benefits that new media technology supplies us with. For example; first year media students can now produce awareness campaigns which identify with serious social problems to real people at no expense.

This was my favourite out of the three main projects that i was involved in during my first year of university as i got to be involved in both the creation, the acting, the filming and the editing. If i had the opportunity again i would love to participate in another video campaign; hopefully with more time to enroll more actors, experiment with different setting in order to capture a more proffessional looking video however, i am very pleased with the end result as i feel it exerts the message we intended.

Omegle :)

After hearing about the influx in chat roulette style websites, my flatmates and I decided to join in on the experience and see how chatrooms worked. Here is a print screened example of an omegle conversation that we had with a random person from India.

I was very surprised to discover that people from all around the world join these chat-rooms to engage in normal conversation. It is a new phenomenom. I think that it is perfectly normal to talk to people online aslong as you are sensible with it and dont give out any personal information etc etc. I much prefer a face to face conversation however it is an interesting way to meet new people and start friendships. It is all apart of online culture which interlinks with the subject of SOCIAL CAPITAL!

“Social capital is about the value of social networks, bonding similar people and bridging between diverse people, with norms of reciprocity.” (Dekker and Uslaner 2001; Uslaner 2001). Sander (2002, p. 213)

Everybody knows about the classic social networks like Facebook and Twitter, however most people are totally oblivious to the millions of social networks that are available online. Omegle is just one of the chatrooms that most people would be unfamiliar with.

The arguments surrounding social capital are whether or not social networks can be classified as having value. Some issues that have been raised in the study of social capital are;

Despite these inequalities I believe that social networks do have value. It is just another way of connecting people and an alternative way of gaining information. With twitter becoming a new form of journalism it acts instead of or alongside the newspaper, just because its not a tangable copy doesn't make it any less important and therefore it should not be under-valued.

- Social capital is not equally available to all. Geographic and social isolation limit access to this resource ie. Someone in Barbados won't necessarily have the same easy access as we have here in the UK due to economic status.

 -  Not all social capital is created equally.

The same as true friendships can be made from chatrooms such as Omegle and Chat-roulette, i know numerous people who have made longlasting friendships with people they have met online, all it takes it a similar interest to spiral off a decent conversation that is just as worthy as a face to face communication. We need both strong and weak ties within our lives. Strong ties referring to true friends who we have known for a long period of time and whom we have a strong and true connection to. Weak ties being new and distant friends, socialising networks can be useful in creating both of these factors and can act as a bridge for weak ties to become strong ties.

Blogs are also classified as a kind of social network, blogs act as journals meaning that they allow people to free-lance their thoughts and feelings without feeling pressurised. Facebook can also be thought as a journal as it allows you to write what your thoughts upon subject matters as well as creating a portfolio of yourself.

To conclude; social networks are vital!



Copyright Laws and Regulations!

For our final seminar upon Copyright Laws surrounding New Media, we were divided into two groups; one group supporting the current copyright laws and one against the Copyright laws. We were asked to come up with arguments for a number of different aspects such as education and creativity in preparation for the class debate.

 The debate was a good way of learning the effects in which copyright laws and infringements can have as we heard both positive and negative comments for each as well as taking into consideration the role of the consumer and the creator.

This is the current Copyright Law in which we were debating about:

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is the current copyright law within the UK. Since 1988 the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works have had the right to control the ways in which their own material can be used. This copyright act covers any work by an individual or company which can be classified as original and “exhibits a degree of labour, skill or judgment.” (www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary(2009)) Normally the individual or collective who authored the work will exclusively own the rights to cover any copying, adapting, renting, distorting or public broadcasting of their work and only the owner or his exclusive licensee can bring proceedings in the courts against an infringement. Currently titles, colors and short phrases are not considered substantial enough to be covered under the Copyright law nor can an idea behind a creation be pre-owned. For example, someone is allowed to write a book on the same topic but is not allowed to use the actual content from a book prior to their own work. It is evident therefore that the current Copyright Act is favoured more by the creator than the consumer.  

Everyone has the rights to;

FREEDOM

CREATIVITY

CULTURE

EDUCATION

The copyright law is deemed as a moral act however is depriving us from these four factors, MORAL?

As you may be able to tell I was part of the ‘against’ team and below is an example of how the counter arguments were presented in our debate:

REMIX CULTURE FOR CONSUMERS:

One concern for the consumers is the restrictions the current copyright laws have upon remix culture. The current laws restrict freedom of the individual and limits their abilities to be creative. Law Professor and copyright expert Larry Lessig states that “Our intellectual property laws are behind the times and do not reflect the needs of our remix culture.” (http://greatdance.com/thekineticinterface/2009/03/remix-copyright-dance/(2008))

 Digital technology has developed and now anybody who owns a computer can edit, build upon and mix any type of digital content: music, videos, images and text. Due to the expansion of easily accessible internet people can share their remixed work with the global internet community via sites such as Youtube.

  It is not difficult to understand the perspective of artists who wish to maintain control over their artistic work and vision, and prefer for audiences not to be given free rein to revise and modify the underlying work however if the amateur artist identifies the original artist and only claims the new remix as their own, surely it would be profitable for both artists. It intern creates more recommendation for the original artist who has inspired the new media and allows the opportunity to advertise other material that they have done previously.

PROFITS FOR CREATORS:

 If the Copyright reform occurs and the laws become more lenient to consumers using and downloading the work of others, a serious concern is that there will be a decline in media industries as their work will be less profitable. With people having consent to legally download material from online sources, album sales, DVD sales will inevitably decline as well as a smaller income for cinemas and businesses alike.

  

 The counter to this argument is that despite the rise in illegally downloaded music and pirate copied films there is still a high gross profit for both industries. In 2009, Avatar was released and the film broke several box office records. It became the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, surpassing Titanic. Avatar was the first film to gross more than $2 billion, $77million being produced in the opening weekend. Similarly, 2009 was an extremely profitable year for a variety of music artists and holds the title for the most UK single sales, “2009 surpassed the previous all-time record of 115.1m, set in 2008. After ten weeks trading £117m worth of singles had been sold.” (http://www.bpi.co.uk/press-area/news-amp3b-press-release/article/2009-is-record-year-for-uk-singles-sales.aspx(2009)) Can this be classified as a struggling industry?

EDUCATION:

One aspect which is often disregarded is the impact in which copyright laws have upon education. The A2K (Access to Knowledge Campaign) has carried out multiple research investigations based around the disruption of education due to copyright laws. As more constricting copyright laws are being introduced, the impacts upon education are evidently clear. Copyright law leads to excessive pricing, limited adaptability and unavailability of suitable learning materials. Increasingly governments will not be able to afford to put books in to schools. If the costs are therefore passed onto parents, parents will be unable to pay for their child’s education, forcing children out of the system. “More and more children are being forced to endure a second rate education in which they only ever capture momentary glimpses of text books or other primary sources.” (http://www.actionaid.org/main.aspx?PageID=134(2008)) Education is vital in order to progress. We have to use other people’s theories in order to develop our own unique theories. Children cannot instantly have original ideas about a topic they have never heard about, they need to research and learn using other people’s works. “Replication feeds a culture of creativity and might even be programmed into our DNA; it should be encouraged, not criminalized.”(http://www.utne.com/Media/Cory-Doctorow-Copyright-Activist-Reform-BoingBoing.aspx(2006)) Everything is developing due to the expansion of theories and the involvement of others knowledge, whether it is music, education, technology or even our own self-identity. Copyright is blocking children’s access to knowledge. Copyright laws are created in order to establish morality and justice, how can the restriction of our education be classified as a moral act?

COUNTER:

 Governments have responded to this and movements have occurred in the copyright laws in the form of The Berne Appendix, the IIPA (The International Intellectual Property Alliance) and WTO (World Trade Organization.) These associations allowed the competent authorities of a country to grant a compulsory license, authorizing companies or individuals to reproduce and publish works without the copyright owner's consent. This was introduced purely for the purposes of education and can still be classified as a copyright infringement if used for personal book piracy.

My overall view is that the UKs copyright law does need to be updated. When updated I do believe it is beneficial to both the consumer and even to some extents the creator to be more lenient with the infringements. As noted above both the music and film and other media industries are still extremely profitable despite the increasing amount of consumers buying illegally. Consumers will continue to buy illegally whilst the copyright laws remain so strict. I’m all about the NEW COPYRIGHT LAW!

This is the Future:

Jaguar Skills is forecasting new and innovative skills by using other peoples works (songs), adding creative new beats, remixing his own work to create what I classify as a totally unique sound.

Cory Doctorow is a copyright Activist who strongly believes that we need to fight against the current copyright laws. Doctorow claims, "There's a word for all the stuff we do with creative works — all the conversing, retelling, singing, acting out, drawing, and thinking: we call it culture." Doctorow goes on to explain that without culture the media industries wouldnt survive therefore the only reason we have copyright laws today is because of our rights to be creative and orginal individuals. We should have freedom. 

I follow everything that Doctorow states, i believe we do deserve to have freedom to create new ideas, in turn the artists involved in this process have increased promotion and recieve extra profits.

Doctorow believes that, "If culture loses the copyright wars, the reason for copyright dies with it." I agree!

*Reference - http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2008/11/cory-doctorow-why-i-copyfight.html (01/04/2011)

Psyho-Geography Project :)

Our interpretation of a psycho-geography project aims to develop our understanding of the world around us. In this particular case Leicester. We have collectively taken two pictures of each area in aid of showcasing the binary opposites. Every image can be perceived differently. One person see’s yellow and interprets it as happy, mellow and warm. Another person interprets yellow as dull and boring. We have attempted to introduce a new vision to the sites of Leicester to encourage everybody to look at the sites around them a little differently.

 We have used Tumblr to create two different sites one called Utopia and one called Distopia. Utopia meaning; An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspect., evidently represents pictures representing a more positive side to Leicester and highlights features which would normally be overlooked such as trees in a park. Distopia meaning; An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.  represents the slightly more negative pictures otherwise known as reality through a non-psycho-geographer. Hopefully by focusing upon different angles more of the general public will take notice to the small yet beautiful things around them.

The original idea which I presented to the group was focused more specifically upon the ignorance of the public. Through looking into other Psycho-geography projects I discovered just how oblivious people actually are (including myself) to the world around them. Therefore I wanted to photograph small things such as leaves, litter and graffiti. Similar to the our actual project, I wanted one picture through the life of a normal person and one photo through the eyes of the psycho-geographer. The psycho-geographer noticing the beauty and the potential of the items. Some pictures that inspired this are here;

Here we see litter, rocks and leaves being presented as colourful, beautiful and inspirational. I think this alone highlights the power of technology as it can make something that is generally seen as irrelevant actually beautiful!

As a group we decided that this idea was too complex and far too time consuming for the time that we had for the project however in future I would like to carry out this project as I feel it would deliver a stronger and more unique message.

Below are the Links to the final outcome of our Psycho-Georgaphy project which we then presented on Tumblr;

www.modernutopia.tumblr.co.uk

www.moderndistopia.tumblr.com 

Influences!

Henry James’s points about EVERYDAY uses of media creating ignorance to the younger generation about the luxurious opportunities we have been fortunate enough to receive through media; encouraged me to log both mine and my flat mates media usage throughout the month. I kept record of how often I logged into Facebook, how often I updated a status, how many hours I spent on the internet, reading books, newspapers, how much time I spent on my mobile whether it be texting or calling.

Here is what the statistics look like:

DANIELLE                                                                     CLAIRE

Total Call Duration In one month:

8 hours 6 minutes                                                           2 hours 35 mins

Amount of Calls dialled:

3 hours                                                                            1 hour 15 mins

Amount of Calls Received:

5 hours 6 mins                                                                1 hour 20 mins

Total Amount Of Texts In One Month:

10,195                                                                             2,049

Sent Texts:

4556                                                                                1001

Received Texts:

5639                                                                                1048

Amount Of Newspapers Read In One Month:

4                                                                                     1

Amount Of Books Read In One Month:

4                                                                                     1

Amount Of Hours Spent Listening To The Radio In One Month:

30 Hours                                                                        20 Hours

Amount Of Time On Videogames In One Month:

12 Hours                                                                        8 Hours

Amount Of Time Spent On The Laptop In A Month:

200 Hours                                                                  250 Hours

Amount Of Time Spent On Facebook In One Month:

110 Hours                                                                  150 Hours

Amount of Status Updates In One Month:

4                                                                                 7

Amount Of Pictures Taken On A Digital Camera In One Month:

200 pictures                                                               100 Pictures

Amount Of Visits To The Cinema In One Month:

2-3                                                                             2

I think that it is evident why I chose media, as I engage with media a lot more than I would suspect the average person to. I was generally shocked and actually appalled at how much of my life is dedicated to things like texting and Facebook, especially considering majority of my time on Facebook is not spent socialising but merely stalking other people.

 One cancellation however is that when I am at home my time upon Facebook, the amount of calls I receive and make and the amounts of texts I send are very much lower as I do rely heavily upon these devices to stay in contact with my close friends and family back home.

Since viewing these stats I have made an effort to reduce some of these times as I believe I do fit into Henry James’s category of being an ‘ignorant user.’