Australia and the Stick of Censorship

I recently did something illegal and for the first time I can actually say the government made me do it without it being a convenient lie used to pass blame onto someone else. That’s right I did something outrageously rebellious and it was all because of censorship.

Let me start of by saying that before South Park the Stick of Truth’s release in Australia, I had full intention of legitimately purchasing that game and was in fact eagerly awaiting its release. That was until I found out that the Australian version of the game, despite the introduction of an R18+ rating, had been edited to meet so called moral standards. Well I certainly was not going to pay full price for a game that had content removed because someone deemed it too inappropriate for my 21 year old self to handle. So I did the only logical thing to do in that situation and downloaded the full version for free off the internet. Sorry gaming industry I wanted to give you my money, I really did.

The R18+ category was a much needed step in the right direction for Australia considering the average age of the Australian gamer is 32 and 76% of our gamers are aged 18 and over. (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association)

Until Jan. 1, 2013, Australia was one of the few developed countries in the world to not have an R18+ classification for video games. The highest rating for video games was MA15+, which meant that any game that the country’s Classification Board found too mature for the MA15+ category was Refused Classification and effectively banned from sale.

This meant that people over the age of 18 living in Australia were restricted to playing games suited to 15 year old’s and younger. To me this just seems ridiculous. Especially when other media industries like film are not nannied  in this way. Adult gamers were literally being treated like kids and being told what is too mature for them all because the government failed to recognise the gaming industry as little more than a form of children’s entertainment. On top of this, due to the lack of an 18+ rating, several games made it into the M15+ category that in all honesty really shouldn’t have.

It’s a win for the gamers who wanted to have the opportunity as adults to purchase these games, but it’s also a win for parents because they can be more confident that games that are age-inappropriate will not be available to people under 18.

I remember when I was younger how much I wanted GTA San Andreas. I convinced my mother who knew nothing about games to buy it for me. Eventually she saw me playing it after months of strategically hiding it from her and lets just say she was furious. However by that point it was too late. I’m fine by the way, not emotionally scarred by any means, not violent, not a criminal, not even drug or sex addicted; What a shock! But in all fairness I probably shouldn’t have been playing it.

So what about now? I thought the introduction of an 18+ rating was supposed to prevent the banning of games but here I am downloading games illegally because the government won’t let me play them. I am a consenting adult and yet I am still restricted in the content I am allowed to expose myself to because of where I live.

This reminds of Hägerstrand’s Constraints Theory discussed in an earlier post of mine. My actions or ‘movements’ within the realm of space and time were impacted upon by the constraint of authority that existed due to my location.

The whole situation also makes me think back to my time learning about Mills Harm Principle in my philosophy class. This principle suggests that ‘The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of civilized society, against their will, is to prevent harm to others. Their own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant’. What this means in terms of video gaming is that people should have to right to expose themselves to as much gratuitous violence, sex, drugs or profanity as they please because people have the right to determine what does and does not harm them. The issue with gaming is people have the conception that the interactive nature of playing games somehow has more of an influence than passively watching a film or listening to music.

For example Saints Row 4 was refused classification in Australia because it associated the in game taking of illicit drugs with incentives or rewards such as speed boosts and super strength. Meanwhile, the movie Limitless centers around characters receiving a massive IQ boost, and all the perks that go along with it, from an illegal drug and made it through classification just fine. The hypocrisy here seems to imply that there is a perceived difference between the mature content shown in video games and the mature content shown in movies.

It is for this reason why several scenes were cut from Stick of Truth. The classification board felt that the showing of anal probing after being abducted by aliens promoted sexual violence towards children in real life. Um OK then.

After playing the whole game, I can see why the scense were considered so controversial but I don’t feel particularly influenced by them. All and all I can definitely see why the game needed an R18+ rating which I think is fine as long as that restriction is enforced but what I cant seem to understand is why the censors believe those scenes were inappropriate compared to the rest of the game.

Given the content that the player is exposed to cutting out these short scenes is like taking a cup of water out off a swimming pool and calling it dry.

References

Cushing, T 2013, Australian Government Finally Begins Treating Gamers Like Adults; Approves New ‘R18+’ Rating, Tech Dirt, weblog post, 4 January, viewed 29 September 2014, <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130103/12514221573/australian-government-finally-begins-treating-gamers-like-adults-approves-new-r18-rating.shtml&gt;.

Corbett, J 2001, Torsten Hägerstrand: Time Geography, Center for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences, viewed 29 September 2014, <http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/29&gt;.

gfunk101, 2014, The Australian Government VS South Park: The Stick of Truth, House of Geekery, weblog, 26 April, viewed 29 September 2014, <http://houseofgeekery.com/2014/04/26/the-australian-government-vs-south-park-the-stick-of-truth-2/&gt;.

Interactive Games & Entertainment Association 2014, Digital Australia 2014, Bond University: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, viewed 29 September 2014, <http://www.igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Digital-Australia-2014-DA14.pdf&gt;.

Polites, H 2013, Why R18+ ratings are still a losing game, Technology Spectator, weblog post, 12 July, viewed 28 September 2014, <http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/7/12/technology/why-r18-ratings-are-still-losing-game&gt;.

Why Aussies Don’t Watch Aussie Films

Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Isla Fisher, Ryan Kwanten… Hollywood loves our Aussie actors and so do we. The thing is we seem to love watching them in American films but pay little attention to them in our own; unless of course  it’s a flashy Hollywood-financed spectacle such as Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby.

According to 2011 analysis by Screen Australia, only nine per cent of all viewings of Australian films occur at the box office. The other 91 per cent are spread across TV and DVD (Roach 2014). It is a curious dilemma as to why Australians are so against watching Australian movies at the cinema when from DVD sales it is apparent they do actually want to watch them.

Out of 100 Australian feature films released between 2007 and 2009 a total audience was reached of 101 million viewings (Goves 2012). When worded as such this statistic doesn’t seem too bad  but when you consider the fact that more than 50 million of those viewings were for just four titles: Australia, Mao’s Last Dancer, Bran Nue Dae and Knowing it gets a little underwhelming. Looking further down the spectrum we discover the top 20 films accounted for 76 million views, which brings forth the question who watched the bottom 80?

My thoughts… NOT MANY IF ANY!

So what is it exactly about Australian film that stops us from flocking to the Cinema?  Many like to pass the blame on Piracy, that darn unstoppable force of evil.

But this belief operates under the assumption that if torrenting didn’t exist people would undoubtedly go and see these films. I believe piracy, although a factor, is more of a result than a cause. Why is it that Australians will go and see an American movie but wait to download an Australian one? There are others who claim the reason is availability as many Australian films are limited to CBD locations and are only run for short periods of time. Again I believe this to be a result rather than a cause. The reason why the screening is limited is simply because the movies aren’t popular enough. Cinemas cut the screening because they are actually loosing money.

After investigating this issue on my own by asking people around me and by hitting up the World Wide Inter Web, I have come to the hypothesis that the reason for our lack of interest is the result of instrumental conditioning. Being exposed to the same style of film over and over again has shaped our perception of the Australian film industry as a whole; stigmatising it if you will.  Film critique Luke Buckmaster sums it up perfectly when he writes…

“Australian producers have long battled public sentiment that locally produced features are one of two things. The first, that they are morose hard-hitting dramas that explore the “human condition.” The sort of stories that follow characters who battle drug addictions, grieve over deceased family members and live dreadfully unhappy lives….The other perception is that when it’s not busy depressing us with films about cancer Australian films are cringe-inducing “g’day mate” comedies. The sort of face-palm productions geared towards jokes featuring things as stereotypically nationalistic as shrimps on a barbie.” (2014)

Writer for The Monthly, Louis Nowra, set out to watch most of the Australian films released in 2009 because he wanted to grasp the condition of the Australian film industry. This is what he wrote

“The general consensus was that Australian films were grim… While Hollywood epitomises illusion and dreams, we are suspicious of ornate language, wit and the visually extravagant. Our humour is daggy and safe. We extol the ordinary over the extraordinary. Many of the films this year have gloried in downbeat naturalism, as if somehow great truths were being revealed.”(2009)

Now I’m not saying deep and thought provoking Australian dramas aren’t good,  I think a lot are great and sometimes a cheesy bogan comedy is just what the doctor ordered, but the truth of the matter is these types of films are not the kind you rush to the cinema for or even consider paying to see. To me they are the type of movies you watch at home because they are on and are surprisingly taken aback by how good they are. Let’s face it no one wants to go out and watch depressing movies with their friends.

Think about Australian film in the 90’s Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert ,  Babe and now take a look at Australian film in the 00’s Rabbit-Proof Fence (indigenous inequality), Japanese Story (romantic tragedy), Look Both Ways (confronting cancer),  Romulus My Father (immigrant family battles adversity), The Black Balloon (family with autistic son)… the intense drama goes on and on.

Screen Shot from Beautiful Kate (2009)

So, if these films, while great, have proven to be unsuccessful at the box office, why does Australia keep heading down the same path. Once again Luke Buckmaster explains it perfectly for me.

“It is the result of decisions made by baby boomers at government-funded film bodies who, threw their weight behind serious and/or distinctively Australian films.

That’s just the way it is, at some point somewhere down the line, someone with power  decided that the only films worth funding were those that were “Serious and/or distinctively Australian” and in the Film industry he who has the funding has the final say.

There needs to be more research conducted into why Australians are not attending the Cinema when it comes to Australian films. We need to look deeper into what it is that demotivates them so as well as get an insight into what things the Australian public is looking for in a film. If we cannot find a way to alleviate this preconceived melancholic association that is  constricting the  Australian Film Industry’s success we may very well be stuck watching nothing but Hollywood for eternity.

References:

Buckmaster, L 2014, Australian Cinema is Still Big, it’s the Audience that Got Small, Daily Review, weblog post, 2 September, viewed 26 September 2014, <http://dailyreview.crikey.com.au/australian-cinema-is-still-big-its-the-audience-that-got-small/11426&gt;.

Groves, D 2011, Who’s Watching Aussie Films?, SBS, viewed 26 September 2014, <http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/blog/2011/05/09/who-s-watching-aussie-films&gt;.

McLeod, S 2007, B.F Skinner -Operant Conditioning, Simply Psychology, viewed 26 September 2014, <http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html&gt;.

Nowra, L 2009, ‘Nowhere Near Hollywood’, The Monthly, 22 February, viewed 26 September 2014, <http://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-louis-nowra-nowhere-near-hollywood-australian-film-2177&gt;.

Roach, V 2014, ‘Local Audiences Snub Australian Filmmakers Yet Hollywood Loves Them’, News.Com, 14 September, viewed 26 September, <http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/local-audiences-snub-australian-filmmakers-yet-hollywood-loves-them/story-fnk853hr-1227057559133&gt;.

Screen Australia 2009, Australian films in the marketplace: Analysis of Release Strategies and Box Office Performance, Screen Australia, viewed 26 September 2014, <http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/cmspages/handler404.aspx?404;https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au:443/getmedia/f78eb112-340e-4760-96c0-ad4d436f8a8e/Release_boxoffice_20Nov09.pdf&gt>.

The Phone of Silence

Smart phones are amazing, they allow us to stay connected, informed and entertained regardless of where we are. As a result of this ease of access the rules of when and where it is appropriate to use them are becoming non existent. We see people using them on trains, in cafes and restaurants, walking down the street and even crossing the road. The frequency of their use in these public spaces is creating a new dynamic of social standards that is changing the nature of public space dramatically.

What I have observed simply by spending time in public space is that people often use their mobile devices as a way to exit public space. Young people know that a stranger is not going to communicate with them if they put their earphones in. I find myself doing it too. If I am alone in a public area and have no friends to communicate with I sometimes feel awkward. So I  go on my phone to make is seem as though I am doing something and so that I have somewhere to look. Most of the time I am not even engaged in what I am looking at on the screen; mindlessly scrolling up and down the same news feed without actually reading anything. I just do it as a way of leaving an uncomfortable shared environment.

“Smart phones, in short, have given users the impression that they move through communal spaces as if in private bubbles…They feel that everywhere they are, they have their privacy…Smart phones have created portable private personal territories”.(Badger 2012)

It is strange how phones have become like a safety net, where you can escape social interaction at will and feel secure knowing that no one knows what you are doing.This false sense of security extends so far, that people have become comfortable, having loud mobile conversations in public areas, playing songs out load and watching videos on full volume without hesitation or concern for established social norms for acceptable public behavior. You would not start yelling at the top of your voice in public for fear of social embarrassment, so why is it then OK to play music on a train?

“As the use of mobile phone in public spaces is increasing, it is leading to the change in social order by blurring the boundary between public and private spaces. What one would typically call a public place is slowly becoming pockets of individual private spaces where people exhibit behaviors as if they were by themselves'” (Geiger 2013).

This is creating a new plain of existence somewhere between your physical presence in the public world and your virtual presence in your own private sphere. Leading to a domain of semi public space where you are in populated area but your activities are isolated to your own bubble that others cannot access.

“The whole idea of public/private as binary is becoming much more complex; instead of thinking about public and private, we have to think about the private sphere becoming more dominant in public”…”For the smart-phone users, they’re totally, constantly engaged with the private sphere, and it’s reducing the basic roles of public space.”…”Smart phones, combine numerous spheres: your social network, your email, your news source, your live personal conversations, when you’re interacting with each of those spheres while walking through a public park, which social code do you follow?” (Hatuka 2012).

If personal devices have the ability to isolate, then public devices such as large screen TVs in open areas should thereby have the ability to connect. This is the traditional idea of media, whereby families would gather around a television set and strangers would stand side by side at store fronts to share a media experience. This off course is not always the case, particularly today where people use TV screens in public areas, again as a way to avoid social interaction. I can however think of a time when I witnessed this togetherness through public media occur.

I was at Uni Center, a shared space at my university campus, where power-points and bean bags are readily available for people to curl up and engage in personal media activities. One day The Lion King was projected on the wall for everyone to watch and the way people began interacting simultaneously with this film surprised me. Suddenly people looked up from their laptop screens started watching the projection together. Personal space failed to become a factor for separation as people were now comfortable with moving the beanbags together in front of the screen to get a better view. Before they were all sitting in isolated sections, now they were lying next to one another bonding over their love of the Lion King. Before the film there was silence; broken only by the sounds of typing, mouse clicks and the occasional you tube video. Once the film started people began singing along, repeating the memorable lines and laughing out loud. I couldn’t believe how the simple act of playing a movie in public changed the entire social dynamic of the space.

Me looking away from my laptop to the projection in front of me. Behind me people were gathered and singing along. Next to me is my friend lying down, mind the crotch 🙂

References:

Badger, E 2012, How Smart Phones Are Turning Our Public Places Into Private Ones, CityLab, weblog post, 16 May, viewed 14 September 2014, <http://www.citylab.com/tech/2012/05/how-smart-phones-are-turning-our-public-places-private-ones/2017/&gt;.

Geiger, S 2013, Mobile Phone Usage in Public Places, INFO 203, weblog post, 1 April, viewed 14 September 2014, <http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i203/s13/?p=342&gt;.

Hatuka, T 2012, Smart Phones Are Changing Real World Privacy Settings,
Science Daily, viewed 14 September 2014, <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120510114105.htm&gt;.

You Shall Not MULTITASK!

Multitasking, it’s something we are all guilty of. To be honest I’m doing it right now and I bet you are too. In my opinion the concept of multitasking just makes sense, why do one thing when you can do EVERYTHING?

This kid gets it…

In terms of getting things done multitasking equals productivity right? Efficiency in it’s most basic definition is to get more done in less time. From this viewpoint multitasking is key and particularly paramount for anyone leading a busy life in this modern age. Since the introduction of convergent technologies like that of the inter-web and the smart-phone, multitasking is not only facilitated, it is encouraged. Our lives have become so media saturated that multitasking isn’t even a skill anymore it’s a social norm. But what if I told you our brains were barley capable of multitasking and what we were actually doing was simply diverting attention and veering on the path of distraction…

Psychologist Kendra Cherry says that  multitasking, within the brain, is managed by what are known as mental executive functions. These executive functions control and manage other cognitive processes and determine how, when and in what order certain tasks are performed.

According to researchers Meyer, Evans and Rubinstein (2001) there are two stages to the executive control process. Goal Shifting (deciding to do one thing instead of another) and Role Activation (changing from the rules for the previous task to rules for the new task). Productivity can be reduced by as much as 40 percent by the mental blocks created when people switch tasks. This is because it takes time to adjust to the context and processes of the new task. While the time it takes to adjust is minimal, constantly swapping back and forth causes an accumulation of delay.

A study on the effects of multitasking in the learning environment by Helene Hembrooke and Geri Gay (2003) found that students who have their laptops open during lectures and freely browse unrelated material have a significant decrease in short-term recall of lecture information than those who keep their laptops closed.

They suggest the reason for this is that in the context of learning, the implementation of wireless technology, introduces additional visual and/or auditory  information, aboveand beyond the visual and auditory information presented by the instructor.

“There is a limited processing channel that information is filtered through; when this channel becomes overloaded some information is filtered out while other information is selected for further processing”…”Maintaining a balance between what is required by the message, and the distribution of already limited resources to process that information thoroughly, is the juggling act of the information processor”…”Disproportionate allocation of resources may result from conscious and intentional mechanisms inherent to the individual, or attributes intrinsic to the information or message” (Hembrooke & Gay, pp. 47-50).

To put all that simply, the amount of information your brain can process at one time is limited and so it only concentrates on selective information, being exposed to too much info at once causes the brain focus less on each thing and you are more inclined to pay closer attention to thing you are most interested in or the thing that is most exciting.

To further simplify that… Lecture plus Facebook equals Facebook minus Lecture when it comes to recollection.

This study while very important considering the regularity of laptop use in lectures; is completely unsurprising. What’s interesting is the not results of the study but rather the questions it generates. If we know we can’t concentrate on two things at once why do we allow ourselves to get distracted? Why are we still continuing to attempt multitasking during lectures?

These are questions that I can not answer being a student guilty this practice myself.  (However, not in BCM240 because that lecture is too exciting and I would never want to lose concentration). I still believe my self able to multitask despite the fact I know can’t and  I am especially guilty of doodling during lectures and tutorials :S

I’m not saying that multitasking is not important, it is extremely useful and has subsequently become a major part of functioning society. What we need to do is determine when multitasking is effective and when it is merely a hindrance to concentration. The only way I feel to do that is to find a healthy medium between doing several things quickly and doing one thing well.

References:

Cherry, K 2014, Multitasking The Cognitive Costs of Multitasking, About Education, viewed 13 September 2014, <http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/costs-of-multitasking.htm&gt;.

Hembrooke, H & Gay, G 2003, ‘The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments’, Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 46-64.

Rubinstein, J Meyer, D & Evens, J 2001, ‘Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching’, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 763-797.

Space, Time and the Cinema

“Time has a critical importance when it comes to fitting people and things together for functioning in socio-economic systems”

These famous words, written by Torsten Hägerstrand in 1970, played a pivotal role in shaping the concept of Time and Space Geography. A concept  which has effectively broadened our understanding of the nature of human social behavior and is still very much relevant to today.

“Hägerstrand used the space-time path to demonstrate how human spatial activity is often governed by limitations, and not by independent decisions by spatially or temporally autonomous individuals”…”He identified three categories of limitations, or ‘constraints’; These refer to the limitations on human movement due to physical or biological factors” (John Corbet).

For example, it is imposable to be in two places at one time and you cannot travel instantaneously from one location to another, which means “a certain trade off must be made between space and time”. The three Constraints are:

1. Capability – can I get there?

2. Coupling – Can I get there at the right time?

3. Authority – Am I allowed to be there?

Last week I attended a movie with a group of friends and It was intriguing to notice just how much these three constraints affected my spacial movements. To begin with, at this time, my phone was temporarily out of action due to an unforeseen bathroom occurrence. Needless to say it fell into the bowl and was rendered useless. As a result of this mishap, my communications were restricted to words spoken to those within my direct vicinity and messages sent through Facebook. It was in the morning just before I left for work that my boyfriend FB messaged me about seeing Guardians Of The Galaxy that night. He told me the time it was on and asked if he should by tickets for us and our friends. This is where the first constraint (Capability) comes in. I was about to go to work, which meant I wouldn’t be free until 8:00pm. The movie started at 8:20pm. My attendance to the movie and thereby my spatial movement pattern would be determined on whether closing the store took longer or shorter than usual. Unfortunately there was no way for me to be closing the store and attending the movie at the same time.

The third constraint (Authority) only made it harder for me to get there in time. The remaining parking spots were handicapped ones and as this is space I am not legally allowed to park in, I had to drive further away and park on a side street.

The Coupling constraint affected me heavily as there was no way for my friends to contact me. This meant there was a limited amount of time my friends would wait before thinking I was not coming and entering the cinema with the ticket purchased for me. If I did not make it in time to meet them I would not be going at all. It all depended on how quickly I could get to the cinema at the other end of town. If our paths of time and spacial movements did not cross the event of me watching the movie could not occur. Authority would also be a factor here again because if I missed them I would not have a ticket and would not be allowed to enter the room they were in.

As it can be seen from this example “human spatial activity is often governed by limitations, and not by independent decisions”. However my eagerness to see Guardians Of The Galaxy made my motivation to overcome these limitations much stronger.  In my mind nothing was going to stop me and let me just say it was worth all the effort, great film.

The concept of Space and Time Geography did not just stop there, once inside (having made it in time), our movement patterns were affected further. It was a late session on a Tuesday night, so the cinema was practically empty. Authority lost its limitability here as we could sit wherever we wanted. There was not enough people for someone to say “you’re sitting in my seat”. With this new found freedom we decided to sit back and center, spacing the seats out between the six of us, so we could all lie down and put our feet up on the chairs in front. We didn’t have to worry about hogging seats, sitting too close to strangers, fidgeting or making too much noise. We were free to move about as we pleased. At one point we simultaneously climbed the chairs moving several rows ahead to pull a prank on a friend while they were in the bathroom. This type of behavior would not be possible had we selected a busier time.More people = more social constraints.

The emptiness of the cinema made me question the longevity of cinemas in general. Earlier in this post I said it was impossible to be in two places at once, but with the creation of the Internet, that law sort of changes. When you’re online you can be everywhere at once not Physically off course but you get what I’m saying. The point is with the internet, a couch and a projector you can be at the cinema from the comfort of your own home. So why go to the cinema at all?

Personally I still prefer the experience of going out to the movies, it’s still a social activity for me, and makes movies way more exciting. Although I only like to go on weekdays during off peak hours, so I can misbehave as much as I please. As for the continuity of the cinema industry I am unsure, but what I do know is that my movie going experience is shaped dramatically by time.

Reference:

Corbett, J 2001, Torsten Hägerstrand: Time Geography, Center for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences, viewed 29 September 2014, <http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/29&gt;.

The Technology We Needed Yesterday: Experience Shaping Expectation

I return again this week after having another conversation with my Uncle Kenny. This time we move beyond the introduction of Television and take a look into the near technological future that is the National Broadband Network (NBN) or as I like to call it the Fiber-Optic-Internet-Utopia. As I am sure it will be made obvious by the end of this post, I am a firm supporter of the NBN and believe that Australia should have started laying out fiber-optic cables direct to the home years ago. While there are many debates circulating over the necessity of such an expensive endeavor, I feel it cannot be denied that our current copper wire network is already outdated and stands no chance of adequately supporting our future internet usage. I worry Australia will fall behind the rest of the world, in terms of speed and connectivity, which will ultimately isolate us from the interconnected age of opportunity.

“Building a broadband network will, as the government has pointed out, have the same kind of transformational impact as the railways in the 19th and 20th centuries”. Rod Tucker

“This gives Australia the chance to leap ahead and give the people and the businesses of our country a head-start in the digital economy. Think about what that can do for job creation and productivity.” Paul Budde

It was interesting to discuss this with my uncle because although he feels the same way about the inadequate nature of the current copper network and understands the level of improvement a fiber-optic network would bring, he, unlike myself, is entirely indifferent to it. While I wait anxiously for progress (despite the fact roll-out hasn’t even started in my area), he is completely un-phased. To be honest, before doing some research of my own this week, I was unaware of what the NBN actually was but I was still passionate about it. All I knew is that I desperately wanted a faster internet connection, so I could finally play my Xbox without lag and stream movies without screaming at my laptop. Anything that promised an end to this first world torment was good enough for me. My Uncle on the other hand knew everything there was to know about NBN and fiber optic cables; including how they worked (which he explained to me against my will). The simplest way he put it was “NBN is like a super highway while copper wire is like a dirt road”…“the dirt is fine when only a few people use it, but once you get everyone driving at once, it’s just too small and eventually it starts to decay”. He told me that the copper wires are already in a bad state and will continue to need constant maintenance which is going be costly in the long run. “This is why”, he states, “the NBN is a far better option to Liberals ridiculous Node system”.

 I asked him what he thought the future held with the introduction of high speed internet and he replied “Major business and economic change” as well as “change in our everyday lives”. Asking him what he meant by this, he gave me some examples such as: connecting in real time with people around the world, sending and receiving large amounts of data instantly, having an all in one home entertainment/internet system that used voice command, controlling your appliances when your away from home and even doctors operating on patients through specialized equipment from miles away.

From these examples I was under the impression Kenny felt a new internet age was a good thing, he had positive images of the future similar to my own. I soon discovered I was wrong. After questioning him about how he expected his internet usage at home to change, he informed me that he didn’t have the internet at all. I was surprised by this, never letting it cross my mind that someone in this day and age lived without the internet. When I asked him why he said it was because “With everything you gain you there is something to loose”. He went on to tell me a story about how his job on the railway was impacted upon by improving technologies. “You used to walk into work and say high to everyone, but now there is nobody there”… “Systems are controlled via satellite from a central operating box”… “There is no social interaction”. He said he felt as though people now days were losing the art of conversation “instead of talking to one another young people are putting in ear phones and looking at their screens”.

Perhaps it is just a generational thing but I am inclined to disagree with some of his statements. It is my opinion that younger generation isn’t losing the art of conversation but rather changing the way in which they communicate. It’s true I always check my phone but this is because I am in constant contact with my friends, and although we are not physically talking face to face, there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t communicate. The point of this blog however, is not to sit here and debate the dangers of internet v’s the benefits, but rather to make comment on the way exposure shapes perception. Am I predetermined to embrace a technological future because of the internet dependent age I have grown up in? Is my uncle so against an online culture because he can remember a time before the World Wide Web? Are our beliefs on the matter of NBN shaped by our own personalities or are we merely subjects of our times? It’s the age old question of nature v’s nurture.

Reference:

Boyd, D 2014, It’s Complicated the Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, London.

National Broadband Network (NBN) 2007-2013, 2013, Whirlpool, viewed 24 August 2014, <http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/nbn#nbn_evidence&gt;.

NBN MYTHS, 2010, What do the Experts Say?, NBN Myths: Debunking the FUD on the NBN, weblog post, 26 September, viewed 24 August 2014, <http://nbnmyths.wordpress.com/what-do-the-experts-say/&gt;.

NBN MYTHS, 2010, Top Ten NBN Myths Debunked, NBN Myths: Debunking the FUD on the NBN, weblog post, 26 September, viewed 24 August 2014, <http://nbnmyths.wordpress.com/&gt;.

Learn About the NBN, 2014, NBNco, viewed 24 August 2014, <http://www.nbnco.com.au/about-the-nbn.html#.U_mq4WPY9ek&gt;.

Wyres, M 2011, Alan Jones and the NBN Fail!, MichaleWyres.com, weblog post, 25 May, viewed 24 August 2014, <http://michaelwyres.com/2011/05/alan-jones-and-the-nbn-fail/&gt;.

 

 

Six Seasons and a Movie

(CAUTION LANGUAGE WARNING IN VIDEO)

The reason why I have shown you the hilarious video above is because I believe it makes a thought provoking statement of truth… “Ratings don’t matter in the internet age”… “It’s 2014, we tweet about our shows and binge watch them at our own convenience”.

For shows like that of Community this statement couldn’t be more true as I feel traditional forms of ratings measurement no longer have the capacity to reflect modern viewing habits. Just because no one is watching a show on television does not mean it is not being watched. As a result of this miss-reflection thousands of loyal fans almost lost what is in my opinion one of the best shows on television, without ever making it to the highly anticipated #SixSeasonsAndAMovie.

http://seriesmonitor.com/cancelled/community/index.html

Community Viewership By Season

Big Bang Theory Viewership By Season

These two graphs highlight just how poorly Community has rated especially when compared with Big Bang Theory, CBS’s number one watched comedy sitcom, who just so happened to be one of Community’s time slot competitors. From a networks perspective it is easy to see why NBC made the choice to cancel Community after its fifth season. Audience numbers were on a steady decline throughout the course of the series. Compare that to say Game Of Thrones’ Ratings and you would be crazy to keep the show running.

Game Of Thrones Over All Ratings

The problem is however that measuring a show like Community through its television viewership does not accurately depict its fan base, in fact it does not even begin to scratch the surface. The reason for this is because the very type of fan base Community attracts (Tech Savoy, Pop Culture Loving, Sarcastic humored, Nerds) are the type of people who prefer to watch shows online rather than on television. I, myself am one of those nerds. I have never even watched a single episode of Community on TV before, but I certainly have watched all of them to date, numerous times. This style of TV watching seems to be the trending thing now days which brings forth the question, Do ratings matter in the age of the Internet? Personally I like to wait until a season is finished so that I can watch all the episodes at once in a glorious lazy weekend marathon. Yes, I am a binge watching pirate and no, I am not ashamed to admit it.

When Community was cancelled its massive following suddenly made itself known through social media. Fans tweeted out #savecommunity and #sixseasonsandamovie, encouraging others to tweet advertisers to let them know they saw their ads during Community and to sign petitions. Fan made videos began to pop up on the web begging NBC to keep the show running and bunch of fans even flash mobbed NBC’s Headquarters. Six Seasons and a Movie, originally a quote from Community itself, became the war cry of Communities mass underground following who would not rest until that benchmark was met (Jaworski 2014).

Further evidence of Community’s fan base was seen when Community won the right to be on the cover of TV Guide after a  competition was held to vote for your favorite show.

After all the cry out and support for the show, Yahoo saw an amazing opportunity and have agreed to keep the show running at least until season six and a movie. The show will be entirely online which works out perfectly for the average Community fan.

“It’s season six of ‘Community’ — you’ll be watching it the way you always watched it, only now, it’s legal!” creator Dan Harmon quipped of the show’s loyal fan base, which always seemed to find ways to watch the perennial bubble show even when it was bounced on and off NBC’s lineup” (Prudom 2014).

To me as an internet watcher, all of this goes to show that there needs to be a better way of measuring a shows success in the modern era. I propose less concern over a shows television ratings and more attention paid to its level of overall media penetration.  Otherwise more great shows like Community could end before their time.

The Big Bang Theory Graphs 2014, Series Monitor, viewed 17 August 2014, <http://seriesmonitor.com/thebigbangtheory/graphs.html&gt;.

Community Graphs 2014, Series Monitor, viewed 17 August 2014, <http://seriesmonitor.com/cancelled/community/graphs.html&gt;.

Game Of Thrones Graphs 2014, Series Monitor, viewed 17 August 2014, <http://seriesmonitor.com/gameofthrones/graphs.html&gt;.

Jaworski, M 2014, Six Seasons and a Movie: A History of How Community Beat the Odds, The Daily Dot, weblog post, 9 May, viewed 17 August 2014, <http://www.dailydot.com/geek/community-saved-fans/&gt;.

Prudom, L 2014, ‘Comic-Con: ‘Community’ Cast on the Move to Yahoo, Six Seasons and a Movie’, Variety, 24 July, viewed 17 August 2014, <http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/community-yahoo-season-six-movie-comic-con-1201268681/&gt;.

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Everyone Remembers Their First Time… Watching TV That Is

This weeks task was to interview someone about their first experience with the great almighty television. I chose to interview my uncle mainly because he was the oldest person within my immediate vicinity and also because I thought he might have some interesting stories to share. My uncles name is Kenny and as he likes to so elegantly put it he has been 42 (the number of life the universe and everything) for over 25 years; in other words he is 69 years young.

Going straight for the hard hitting questions I asked him if he remembered his very first encounter with television and sure enough he did. He explained that he would of been about 12 at the time. This makes perfect sense as it would place the year around 1957 two years after televisions full scale introduction into Australia, when it was still relatively new and awe inspiring. He was in the car on the way to his aunties house when his mother joyfully informed him the purpose of this particular visit was to take a look at her new Television. He described to me the anticipation he felt sitting in the back of that car as they drove closer and closer towards the house. He had seen TV in store windows before but had never had a full scale, personal experience with one.

I asked him to tell me what it was like seeing it for the first time and he simply said he could not describe it. He did however remember being enthralled by it, sitting in front of the gigantic box with the grainy pictures and bad reception, taking everything in for hours. He could not even recall what it was that he was watching but he said he will never forget that day. He even said the adds were exciting because they were something entirely knew to him. This surprised me as my uncle isn’t particularly found of adds these days, so much so that he mutes the television every time they come on.

Speaking of days that he will never forget I ask him if he remembers the Kennedy assassination he replies with “Off course, everyone  remembers that day”. He then proceeds to tell me his story… “I was running late to work when I heard the announcement on the radio”… “I stopped the car straight away and pulled over to the side of the road, other cars did the same so I knew they were also listening”. After siting there and listening to the broadcast for several minutes he eventually continued on to work. He told me that he must of been about 30 minutes late, but nobody noticed. “It was if the world stopped functioning for a moment, like time had stopped”.

I pondered on what a  moment like that must have felt like. When a simple broadcast of information has such power and spread that it can stop an entire world in an instant. The closest thing to that experience I can recall  is 9/11. As a child I remember waking up to watch my morning cartoons and thinking, whats going on? Where is my Dragon Ball Z? Then i just sat there watching the replay over and over. I felt extremely saddened but I didn’t exactly understand why. I continued to watch alone in the living room as I waited for my mother to wake up and explain what was happening.

My uncle also had a 9/11 story which differed greatly from mine. He was arriving home from night-shift at 11pm and turned on the TV to what he thought was a repeat of Die Hard or some other, in his words, “stupid action movie”. He was confused as to why they kept playing the same scene. Thinking this is one poorly directed movie it suddenly dawned on him that this was not a movie at all.

Wanting to end this interview on a more positive note I change the subject by asking him what shows he liked to watch. He said that he liked all of them, particularly Pick-A-Box hosted by husband and wife duo Bob and Dolly Dyer. Pick a Box was one of first game shows to be broadcast on Australian television airing from March 2, 1957 to June 28, 1971.

Bob and Dolly

Top 20 shows of 1966- Australia

He also said he liked the classic movies best, he asked me if I remember any of them or any show in black in white for that matter. I laugh and tell him I was borne in the 90’s. He then tells me that in a way I am lucky because watching a film back then was like watching one now with the volume and saturation down while someone holds a sheer curtain in front of the screen. He then goes on to say that I am unlucky because shows today just aren’t as good. His favorite thing about modern TV is that it allows him to watch classic movies in high definition, again this makes me laugh.

 

My Media Space Knows My Name

This is the first blog of many to come for this semester studying Media, Audience and Place. Our Opening task was upload an image of our own personal media space and talk a little about ourselves. I’d like to start of by saying that my media space just so happens to be the very thing I describe when I am asked to introduce myself. This is because my media space is my life. I am still undecided as to whether I shape my life around my media or my media around my life, but lets just say the two go hand in hand.

This is a photo of my luxurious and comfy Media Space; which is where I spend the majority of my time (hence it being my life). The Sun to my proverbial media galaxy would have to be the XBox One, it is the central hub for all things Technology and Communication. It’s where I play my games, watch my movies, surf the net and communicate with friends. Most of the time I’ll be doing all of these things at once; playing Assassins Creed on split screen with Instagram or Facebook open on the other side all the while having a group conversation through the headset and downloading the latest ep of whatever show I’m interested in at the time. It really has become a major part of my life and is personalised specifically to me. It knows my name and greets me when I walk in the door, It suggests the things it knows I like and it even listens when I talk.

What I mean when I say my media is who I am is that my interest outside of digital media still revolve around it. My hobbies include drawing Characters from the shows I watch and reading the Graphic Novels of films and TV shows. Even my sense of humor, taste in fashion and the aesthetic of my room is shaped by my love for media. Because of this my media space has become a driving force in the creation of my personality.

Just a few from my Collection

A Drawing I did of the Character Rei from the Anime Evangelion.

I love Anime so much that my room is filled with posters and figurines just like these two. Particularly from One Piece, Japans #1 rated Anime. This is Sanji and Nami two of the main characters.