Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Reflections on Media Culture Class

The previous class had been really interesting. Sure the lecture was abit boring. Its not that the lecturer are boring..but the very subject itself. Like i have stressed on earlier...words on powerpoint doesn't really attracts young audience anymore.

The video was the kick-in. I tihnk i understand 90% of the video. This level of understanding beats a roughly 20% max understanding of the powerpoint. After i ask a few of my coursemates and they too had similar experiences. The video was interesting, and the idea of the media stereotypes enters the head with ease.

Enough of that lets ponder on media stereotypes. As far as i can see it, the Stereotypes in movies and animations had gone through a rapid decrease over the years...thank god. Whether it is due to the globalization world where more and more audiences are exposed to one another...or the Japanese Animation 'non stereotype' concept gain more popularity...i do not know. Nevertheless it is clear that the marketing sense of steretypes hold a much critical state at the moment.

But...lets face it ...stereotypes are ....inevitable. It has sunk soo deeply into the very nature of human beings that rejecting it now is not only difficult but almost impossible. Our entire lifes had been socially depending on some media stereotypes...so much that it begin to form the human culture.

Let me provide an example to stress my point. An example of Media Stereotypes involve skinny woman, with a standard average ratio of breast size, hips, waist, etc is considered stunningly beautiful. A muscular man, a clean face with not much of hair, and a deep growling voice is 'hot'.

Would it appear 'natural' if i would say, an extremely fat and grumpy looking lady is beautiful and sexy? How would a fat fully haired faced man appear to the ladies? Can we...who understands Media Literacy, even change this small stereotype?

....it is a losing battle.

Media Literacy

"Media literacy is the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see, and read. Media literacy education provides tools to help people critically analyze messages to detect propaganda, censorship, and bias in news and public affairs programming (and the reasons for such), and to understand how structural features -- such as media ownership, or its funding model[1] -- affect the information presented. Media literacy aims to enable people to be skillful creators and producers of media messages, both to facilitate an understanding as to the strengths and limitations of each medium, as well as to create independent media. Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy. By transforming the process of media consumption into an active and critical process, people gain greater awareness of the potential for misrepresentation and manipulation (especially through commercials and public relations techniques), and understand the role of mass media and participatory media in constructing views of reality.[2][3]"

Or so and so and so base on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy.

Media literacy can be summarized as an understanding of the media, mainly on the 'hidden aspects' of a particular media. Its something which enable people/viewers to ask themselves why and what is behind each media, to ponder and reflect on it instead of being 'zombie followers'.

Media Literacy is without a doubt important for us, especially FCM students. Its pretty obvious with the name FCM referring to Faculty of Creative MultiMEDIA.

Media Literacy allow us to identify the hidden meanings of media, as well as much higher understanding of the field of work we are about to merge ourselves into. "With great power comes great responsibility' and we will be given the opportunity to manipulate this power...power of the media. Media Literacy enable us to understand it better, to comprehend the concepts, abide the ethics, as well as knowing the do's and don'ts.

Understanding the media and its hidden meanings also enable us the power to manipulate the media to our advantage. Advantage here meaning...our goals of gearing the society to a path more preferable. For example, if we would to 'shout' to the public the usage of drugs is bad...hence Media Literacy allow us an understanding of how to 'control minds' of the audience to futher belief our point that drugs is bad. A sufficient understanding of Media Literacy enable us to produce a better work, better design, and a much more comprehendable design for the public.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Reflections on MLC class

There werent any classes due to holidays...

Give a very short basic explanation of what media stereotype is? (Keep it short please!) From your personal experience, what other media stereotype (b

Media stereotypes can be roughly summarized as a...a solid representation of a certain specific subject...mainly of a particular racial background or historical event into the media.
This stereotypes are later used as an identification of a specific background, thus indirectly creating an illusion or a mutual understanding at the very instant a viewer look at it. In another term, it is similar to logo. For example, KFC is always associated to chicken, colonel, white and red, etc.

Media stereotypes are oftenly used today in the business sector. For example, beautiful woman are often used in comestic products, and heavy macho man are used in male-related products. Putting aside that those models used were minority there are people who believed they will look like them when they use the product. This is a basic of stereotype.

Another basic stereotypes are hairy men. Back in the early 20th century hairy men were considered macho or 'the man!' However the media begin to change it, and by the early 21st century people will encounter girls going to hairy man and shout 'EW GROSS!!!"

On the left, recent cover magazine...on the right.....early 20th century actor.
Stereotypes are dominant around the earlier 20th century cartoons. Fortunately Anime and Manga's which dominate the world animation today has less stereotypes agenda going on. Thank the heavens...

In warner bros cartoons even though it may seem minimal or in a joking manner, there exist alot of racism agenda within their movies. And it is thankfully that Japanese Anime do not really share the same agenda. Perhaps this is part of the reason of why Japanese Anime is a more prefered choice of entertaintment then Warner Bros.



Can you see the differences? Just for the record, the left i anime style and the right is warner bros style.
Here comes the critical reflection...at least i think so..
Stereotypes are actually created due to propagandas....Politically it was used as a shout out which urge the nation to abide by political schemes. That was how it was long ago, and this eventually leads to racism, misconception, etc and sadly it last until today. The view on middle-easterns unfortunately have not change much in a hundred years.
Stereotypes has its advantages however. The japanese had seen this factor and had turned it into a contributing factor over the years. Stereotypes can be actually manipulated and used as a good source of perpetuating good ideals. For example, the japanese uses media as a tool to spread their culture and heritage to the world.

This indirectly creates awareness and respect over their culture. Everyone from every corner of the world understands geisha, samurai, katana, etc... We should make good use of this.. too. Lets hope that by year 2020 everyone from every corner of the world will recognize Baju Kurung.

Stereotypes is all about power and control of the media. Should it be redirected into a proper path, it may benefit the world in the most remarkable way imaginable. Stereotypes may be the main tool in creating a new world order. Lets hope the new world order will not be a horrible one...


Reflections on the class

Nothing much to ponder on this. The class was the same as usual, with students trying their best to get whatever was taught on screen. Some people not trying, some gave up trying, some pretended to be trying...and some who when you yell at them 'wake up!" and they goes, " huh? what? im...listening...."

It takes time to understand what was taught...once i get a clearer view of what was taught i'll come back and write it here.

Do you often take what is on the Internet as truth without thinking much about it?

Regarding the two critical reflection, to be honest i do not really know to separate them into two. I know i am being abit rebellious, but simply reorganizing all my thoughts into two is really not my style. Not only that it is not my style but it restricts me to express my views.

It is true that sometimes what is written in the internet isn't true. I usually ponder on this too, and i think that the internet has its lies. If we just stop and think about this, we will realize that perhaps 70% of the knowledge we know might not be truthful at all? Isn't that scary? This is due to the fact that there are many internet sources which are deemed untrustworthy since it practised free writing. Free writing here means anyone or anywhere may just login into a specific account from a specific computer anywhere in the world and type something and be counted as the media.

There were debates regarding the websites having those modulators and regulators to check the authencity of the articles or the informaiton provided. But let face it people, those modulators and regulators are afterall mere human, and only a handful of them against the entire world of viewers. They can only do so much of filtering 10% of data at a time. Besides that, modulators and regulators isnt really a fix profession, thus it is clear to say that most of them do not really have the professional abilities to decide the truth of the information either.

When i view a specific site, i will usually read its contents, and take them as reference, not actual fact.......I will the use those information and compare it several times with the rest of the sources; aka books and newspapers.

Even so, there are some websites which i tend to trust. For example, the information from university archives or specific organizations websites to me are deemed to be trustworthy. Even more when those writers place their ranks somewhere in the webpage.


In conclusion, the internet has a lot of data which can be used as reference; i repeat ; reference, and from there more and more of that particular topic can be searched from a web to another, a source to another, a media to another and the the picture will get clearer and clearer.

It is actually similar to real life archives. Not everything written is considered true, for truth is something gray. History are written by the winners. Ponder on this readers, is our history references even true? Are letters of ministers truthful? Are newspapers giving its right authencity? Are religious books as original as how it was made?
For more 'professional' view of this matter.....pls refer to this particular website i found which is pretty interesting on internet credibility. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Is-Wikipedia-Trustworthy-15597.shtml

A word of truth - MLC Dilemna

Before i would dwell futher into this topic, I would like to point out to my dearest and respectable Lecturer Helena and Lecturer Radzi, MLC is an important lesson as all of us knows it. However, with the rise of the other subjects which demands higher priority and time such as computer graphics and design fundamentals, i believe that the amount of attention towards this particular subject must be kept at an adequate level.

MLC is a theory basis, where reading, pondering, and understanding is a really important factor, but what we are doing right now such as putting audio examples and video examples and etc in my opinion is very very very much more of a research or a thesis.

I do hope that my respectable lecturers with their much brilliant minds will come in term to 'ponder' and give a critical reflection on this matter. Not everyone of us are as talented or remarkable in their other subject's progress. Me for example is really far behind in every fundamental aspects, namely drawing, designing skills etc. My free time is unfortunately is filled with practising, experimenting, and reading designing concepts. MLC is interesting and productive, but if its too much i'm afraid it will jeopardize the very reason we learn MLC. As it is, apart from me my friends are begining to treat MLC as a side or a burden.

No apologies are forwarded, for this is nothing but my sincere opinion.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Reflections on Social Media Part 3

Oh my god i hope i don't have to rewrite this for the 4th time.

chathra_weeraman says:
The phenomenon called social media is best described as online based media which has certain characteristics that makes it distinct from individual media ( print and broadcasting media). Social media encourages feedback and contributions from each and every user who are interested, which basically enables the user to participate in a two-way conversation. Whereas traditional media only provides limited access to share information, which eventually makes a line between media and audience. Social media forms such as Blogs and Social Networks have, undeniably, become popular among communities worldwide as it allows to communicate and share information effectively.

Pretty similar to Chathra's description, salutations to him for summarizing my ideas over dinner.

So here comes my long version. Social Media is a new thing, and is online based. (the main reason i am rewritting this is because i did not focus much on the online aspect of social media. )
Social Media to me can be metaphored by a Democracy Ruling type parliament comparitively to Individual Media - Dictatorism/Tyranny.

Individual Media is give give give ...while Social Media is give and take. Its a two way progression, involving the rapid change of ideas and theories...and involve the evolution of ideas from a stage to another. Most of the time, this act give birth to even more brilliant ideas which push mankind a step ahead.

Lets narrow this down to my experiences and how it affected my life. When we discuss abou Social Media, we do not escape from Blogs. Its quite obvious, even at this very moment you readers are affected by blogs. This wont happen in the past 10 years. Neither of us 'commoners' will be able to make our opinions public without the aid of 'higher ups'.

About say 15 years ago to be able to accomplish such a feat of making your views public you must either be a writer, a journalist, or someone freaking important. Thus you get a view from only ONE side of the media. Before that particular time, lets take a look at an older age, The Dark Ages.

During that time, only The Church able to spread their ideas and influences. I don't have to go into detail the effects of it. At the birth of Johann Gutenberg mass printing Media, we enter the 20th century progression. Blogs is the next revolution PEOPLE!! welcome to the 21st century.

Lets narrow down even more. With the existence of social media we are able to connect to the world far more then ever. Even though the borders in our stupid maps still exist i personally think those ugly lines are very fickle..and its disappearing as I speak and as you read this post. Why? Countries talking to countries..races talking to races....people talking to people...and above all..children from one corner of the world talking to another corner of the world...chatting and debating on why the cinderella over there looks different.

We are uniting the world...We are now one world.

Secondly is political. It does affect my life, and though unintentionally everyone;s lives. The recent Election of Malaysia was a big whoop to the politics when the results of the poll was out. One major reason why this happen is obviously the birth of blog wars on the internet...which our very pitiful 'old' politician face their backs to. Free exchange of political ideas and national ideas were spreading in lightning speed from a viewer to another....and thus the spread of influence as to who to vote. With the whooping of ideas...the old versus the new....we will see alot of changes in years to come...in every...single.....aspect.....lets wait and see.

My reflections on Media Culture Class

First of all i would like to apologize, because i was not in the previous class. I overslept...rushing for Computer Graphics Assignment.

But i would like to comment on the Media Culture Class as a whole. I think that this particular subject is unique, and different. It is important, it is vital and it is historical. Its fun and exciting and informative. But i think that the implentation of the knowledge through lecture doesnt quite cut it.

For example, in the week 2 occasion. The class was dead sleepy and bored throughout the course of lecture. Even me, putting into consideration of my passion of history and theories even i was yawning. The situation and the time and even the place is not condusive what so ever for a long lecture.

But the moment the videos were played, VOILA!!! I think that since we are entering a media age, videos can be a replacement for teaching. Theories can be taught indirectly and unothordoxly through videos. Graphics, moving images, and espescially music keep the attention active...and with an active attention leads to clear minds...and with clear minds...leads to direct access to the memory system of the brain.

In Media Appreciation alot of videos are implemented into the studies. Little did the audience know, the culture of the Yakuza through the film Brother; or the hard-life of Korean Village through film the Way Home, or even the communism time of China in The Road Home is indirectly transmitted into the audience.

Videos and movies and songs and musics and even poems work wonders in instilling information and knowledge through the brain,...and the indirect way usualy tend to be in critical thought and even far more lasting then mere wordings on a projector screen.

Social Media Relfection Part 2

I rewrite this post because I believe i had misread or misunderstand the question given by my dear lecturers properly.

Discuss how this new phenomenon is affecting your life and the lives around you.

1: Well, obviously its affecting me in a good way, considering i am a consumer most of the time. More and more varieties are coming up in the market which is deemed to be more user friendly and consumer-based then ever before. Ideas by consumers to the salesman for the consumers turned out very well. The salesman gain more profit, and we consumers satisfys our needs. A two way progression- perfect.

2: However, there is a problem. I experienced this before; where a particular group of people may certainly have different views on a specific product. For example, a Latte flavor coffee may deemed to be too sweet by a group of people whereas the other will say its really fantastic, make it bitter. This spur the question..WHO exactly do i abide by? Should this company; Starbucks for example change it and diluted it to less bitter, then Me specifically will be highly disappointed. This occurence happened to alot of coffee lovers especially those into Nescafe. I'm really sure that other then myself began to realize the decreasing concentrated-ness of the coffee over this few years.

3: Then we come to the fact that not ALL citizens are fully qualified or actually understands fully in whatever they are commenting. Some may say that solar power is for example...really bad, and their reasons is interwined by religious aspects. But if we think of it commercially, then it will definitely bring in more benefits to us! This kind of rapid and free debates held by consumers among consumers with the salesman as an audience is bound to lead to excessive violence should it is not controled properly.

Critical Reflection on Social Media

Before i began, here's the link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE. The short video is some kind of documentary regarding Social Media, and here are my reflections on it.

1: Obviously, the world is growing, and old traditional commercial methods are going to be a dying breed in the next few years to come. New ways of promoting and sales are being introduced almost daily in every corner of the globe. Scoopville in particular proved that standard 3 flavours of icecream lifestyle can be broken. With the arrival of new tools and equipments the citizens of Scoopville manage to create far more variety and unique flavors of icecream ever imaginable. As new tools and equipments are created, more and more new findings can be found. The Society must not miss this rapid opportunity.

2: The idea allowing the customers as a major role in the sale is also a very good plan. The main purpose of sales is afterall : serving the customer's need. To be able to efficiently serve the customers, the businessman have to undestand the customer's thoughts and views. So giving them the open door into the business is like opening doors for more gold. Customers rate and give opinion of the flavors, ratings, and ideas to improve their own products. This is a more user friendly environment - making the sales business more homely.

3: Just an addition, as the world turning and more into new productive methods involving the common people, professional specialized jobs such as business analysis and advertiser will began to lose their opportunities. They have to work even harder and find a new creative way ...NOT to halt this rapid change, but to support it even more productively.