Get Your Popcorn and Soda Ready!

When I think of a weekly task set by my tutor, images of countless hours sat behind a computer screen come to mind.

So you can imagine my shock when I was explicitly told that my task for the week was to go to my local cinema and watch a film.

I hope you can also imagine my face when I realised that a slew of factors were actively working against me performing this task.

Unbeknownst to me, these factors are quite commonplace and were covered quite thoroughly by Torsten Hagerstrand. Hagerstrand outlines three temporal limitations that can govern an autonomous individual’s activities in a spatial context.

The first ‘constraint’ I encountered is referred to as ‘Authority’.

Two authoritative domains were actively working against the possibility of participating in this week’s task. The University of Wollongong, of which I am a student, was restraining my space-time path as a result of the number of assessments it had given me. Due to the institutions authority in conferring upon me these assessments, and their authority in failing me as a result of incompletion, the university was effective in limiting my activities for the week. The second authoritative domain working to the detriment of my autonomous nature was the cost of cinema attendance. This limitation, enforced by the cinema, limited my ability to access this cinema’s services, thus discouraging me from completing this weeks task.

I also encountered issues with regard to time, which is identified by Hagerstrand as ‘capability’.

I could not be in two places at the one time (although this would prove to be a highly advantageous talent).

I had a plethora of assignments to complete, and physically no time to attend a cinema. University commitments, as well as my commitment to work, had placed distinct and unwavering limitations upon my movement. Although a film, generally speaking, runs for an approximated time of about 100 minutes, factors such as travel also added additional time extensions that I could not accommodate into my busy schedule.

Instantaneous travel would be a sure-fire away to amend this issue, but unfortunately I am limited to my feet and public transport as my only form of transportation, adding an additional time and spatial disadvantage compared to those who have access to their own cars.

If having a lack of time was a strong enough excuse not to go to the movies, then the fact that I couldn’t find anyone to attend the movies with me completely terminated the possibility. Unfortunately, not without quite a struggle might I add, I was not able to synch my busy schedule with regard to both place and time with that of my close social circle. Although, if all other factors allowed, I could attend the movies by myself, the thought of being in a given space for a duration of time without immediate social interaction is not the most appealing thought to me. In order for me to complete this weekly task, my space-time path had to link up with another person’s schedule, in which it didn’t. Hagerstrand identifies this constraint as ‘coupling’.

Looking back, and reflecting on all of the limitations stacked up against me, it was no shock to me that cinema attendance has experienced a fluctuating existence with regard to attendance since 1982 in Australia. The introduction of the VHS saw an initial decline in cinema attendance due to the ability to watch film in the comfort of ones home. However, in saying so, although cinema did experience an initial decline of almost 20% in the few years following, the attendance numbers slowly increased yet again. Cinema is still ranked as the highest attending venue/event within Australia, and are actually on the increase once again from 65% in 2005 to 68% in 2014. Although cinema is up against the sweeping influx of Netflix and Foxtel subscribers, the culture around cinema attendance has not changed. Young Australian’s definitely view a trip to the cinema as a luxury, due to the activities positioning outside the realm of ‘normal’ with regard to schedules. This is supported by the fact that 93% of 15-17 years olds had attended a cinema at least once in the past 12 months.

So, although this week the possibility of attending a cinema was at almost 0%, this is not a ‘normal’ week for me. Schedules change, and the hype around attending the cinema on a Saturday night with your friends followed by a Gloria Jeans visit has still not lost its appeal just quite yet.

Pay Attention Ya’ll!

Attention is a concept I struggle with.

Not that I struggle to understand the concept, for it is actually quite simple.

I struggle with its application.

Even now I am sitting on my laptop, furiously trying to write this blog post before I head to work in 3 hours, with 3 tabs open to unrelated topics and my phone open to Instagram.

As you can rightfully agree, I am no savant on finding ways to improve my attention span. But attention goes a lot deeper than we tend to give it credit for.

Attention refers to your brains capacity to enhance particular information whilst inhibiting other ‘distractions’. This can be both an autonomous or conscious decision, and plays a crucial role in the way an individual lives both with regard to direction and even safety.

Within any given day, we are bombarded with an overwhelming number of perceptual information. Our brain cannot humanly process all of this information at once, and so allocates precedence to particular information deemed as either consciously important or a deviance from the regular perceptual environment in which you generally find yourself in.

Think of a large party filled with music and shouting. This is quite commonplace, and perceptually overwhelming. However, you are still able to hear your name called across the room because your brain has prioritised this information as both important and unique.

So I decided to explore this with my sister.

As a person growing up in a society overly saturated by technology, I gathered with quite a bit of confidence that my sister would allocate the buzzing of her phone as an important piece of perceptual information.

And so, without acting like I was studying her every move, even though I totally was, we set up to watch 40 minutes of our favourite television show. (If you were wondering, it is Orange Is The New Black).

It didn’t take long for the phone to be picked up, and all attention to be diverted away from the television screen. A total of 23 times the phone was picked up, and not all for a quick glance either.

It was evident, both before and after we spoke about the observations that I made, that the buzzing of her phone called for immediate attention.

The quick, sharp vibrations were an obvious contrast to the still and largely quiet leather lounge that the phone was placed on.

The significance my sister placed on the alerts received from her phone, coupled with her upbringing in a society that showcases extreme reliance on their mobile phones, proved to me that her mind had prioritised the mobile phone over the task at hand (television watching) for further processing.

The Stanford Psychology Department have explored this phenomenon in a study on the causes and implications of attention.  To truly understand attention though, and the factors shaping attention especially with regard to my sister, I think it is appropriate to explore why her attention to the television failed. In the instance of the mobile phone vibrations, it was providing a quick stream of new information to my sister. So in order for my sister to process this new information, she had to ignore the information that she was already processing at the time of interruption (the television). The reason this ‘selective attention’ occurs is so that the brain avoids being overwhelmed with information, because not only would that be painful, but also a living nightmare! In my opinion, the television in this case is symbolic of any task, which practically becomes obsolete as a result of our dependence on our mobile phones. The mobile phone, because of its ability to gain the complete and undivided attention of its owner by virtue of its alerts and appeal, is in my opinion causing a decrease in productivity and attention capacity due to the constant expectation of distraction.

This sounds like a big claim, but I feel it is aptly supported by Anne Treisman’s research (1960). In her study, she provided two separate messages to each ear. After the message was played, she asked the subject to state the message in the right ear. She then, unbeknownst to the subject, switched the messages and asked the same question but received the same answer. This is because, subconsciously, the brain had favoured and prioritised a particular set of incoming information due to the brains ability to focus on one word. Although not an identical observation, but one that is similar, my sister was only able to focus on one set of incoming information and that just happened to be the mobile phone due to its alert function.

Contrary to popular belief, the concept of attention goes a lot deeper than people tend to give it credit for. But it is only through these investigations, similar to the one that I had conducted, that we truly understand the way in which our mind prioritises information based on the environment in which we are placed.

Now that is remarkable.

Jonathon Tooke- The Inspired Mind.

The soft, mellow hum of the base guitar reverberates through the wooden floorboards into the lounge room resting just above.

This room has been his world for the past 4 hours and although the time for us above has clocked by tediously, it has ceased to exist within his creative grove.

His fingers, moving on the mixing console under the thick veil of darkness blanketing the room, control the sound which echoes throughout the house.

Jonathon Tooke, 22, is at ease within his artistic sanctuary.

As soon as the lock of the door clicks into place, and the blinds are drawn to a close, Jonathon is enveloped by the room from which his passion stems.

Analysing other students works.

The audio post ‘Not Like Other Teenagers’ was quite successful in capturing the subjects positive and jubilant perspective of the oval in which she plays at. The overlay of a consistent musical number, although it was conducive to the overall tone of the piece, can at times become overbearing as a result of the volume chosen. Reducing the volume of the background music will still attain the desired effect, without taking focus away from the story of the piece.

The actual story itself was surprisingly simple, yet was effective. The subjects audio captured why she enjoyed the oval, and what the place meant to her in a clear and concise manner. The splitting and dispersing of audio, seconds apart also aided in the clear projection of the story to the audience, making it easier to follow and digest. It also helped establish an effective rhythm which aligned perfectly with the background music. The subject however could have explored the reason as to why she enjoyed this oval more so than others in order to perfectly meet the criteria of the task.

The ambient sounds of the audio was brilliantly executed and really did establish a positive tone to the piece. The choice of ambient sounds were keenly chosen and explored/established the environment in which the subject was speaking about.

The Pervasive Internet Connection…

This blog post is great in many respects.

First of all, it allowed me to return home to see my family which in and of itself was a blessing. However, it also compelled me to investigate the composition and layout of the internet connection within my mum’s apartment.

Walking throughout the apartment, actively viewing the spaces I passed, I noticed that every single room was equipped with some form of technological device.

I’m talking televisions, mobiles, laptops, gaming consoles, and the list goes on.

Now, that is pretty commonplace within the general house as it is. The number of technological devices within the home, which will be assumed to have an internet access, is set to increase steadily over the next decade. Which is crazy considering the fact that I was already astonished at the current realisation at how flooded the apartment was with technology.

“So, where’s the modem within this place” I turned to my mum and asked, genuinely unaware of where I would find it.

My mum pointed over my shoulder, compelling me to turn around and search for the illusive object. I really should have guessed, but the modem was fixed firmly and proudly on the wall adjacent to the couch.

This positioning revealed to me so much about the dynamic and composition of the household, and answered so many questions that I did not know existed.

The rooms, which systematically lined the hall way, seemed to have a close orientation to the modem.

Asking my sister which area in the apartment had the worst signal, she replied with “To be completely honest with you, none. The apartment has the best connectivity, regardless of the room you are in”.

This was interesting for the simple fact that there was no escape from the internet within the apartment, and so this has shaped a lot of the social dynamics and interactions that occur within.

Even if the modem were to crash, every single family member has a plan that allows them to have access to an unending supply of data.

This did not surprise me however. According to a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics research plan into Internet access within Australian Households, it found that more than three quarters of Australian houses had access.

The household, regardless of the small nature of the apartment, is completely consumed by the internet and devices all because of the speed of its dissemination. It allows members of any household to continually interact with the world around them, whilst simultaneously affecting the way they interact with others in their general vicinity.

I am still undecided on whether this is inherently damaging, or socially expansive…

Take a look at this video and decide for yourself.

Solace- Part II

Before undertaking the task of this recording, I tried to imagine the way in which i could portray the enclosed and creative space in which Jonathon Tooke has constructed for himself to generate music. Although, upon uploading all recording sounds I realised that there were a lot of intricate noises that I had missed when trying to capture Jonathon’s passion. My aim for this piece was to showcase Jonathon’s creative capabilities, and how he utilises his makeshift recording studio to manipulate and generate sound/music. Jonathon’s life has always revolved around music and the complexities of sound, and so this self-constructed environment provides itself as a temporary escape from the influences of sound outside. This space, located on the ground floor of his house, stands as a world where he can truly manifest his musical expertise and impose this upon the sounds that he either generates himself or attains through recording other musicians. By providing the sound of the door closing at the beginning of the piece, I had hoped to provide an insight into the secluded nature of this space, followed quickly by the ‘booting up’ of his computer to facilitate this idea. All in all, using Hindenburg wasn’t too much of a challenge, and proved itself to be quite an intriguing and entertaining task.

Statistics, Statistics Everywhere…

Sitting in class, listening to the varying and widely unique media experiences of my classmates made me question the reliability of research which I had read in the past.

There was one student who detailed how her childhood media exposure was highly restricted due to the busy nature of her week, stating that the only time that she was able to watch television was at her Nan’s or if she was sick. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum there was a boy who interacted with media religiously, due to his parents’ working pattern’s and his own family dynamic. What these stories show to me is that there are copious factors that influence the media environment within the home. My media experience, both as a child and now, would be vastly different compared to the person sitting next to me in the lecture for example. Although similarities could be drawn, so could particular nuances in the archetypal ‘home media environment’ across varying students within the lecture hall.

We are constantly surrounded by these highly homogenous and seemingly accurate measures of human behaviour. Whether that be on billboards, television or even placed upon the front cover of our favourite magazine, I often wonder how the producers of such research came to this statistical conclusion.

How applicable could such a statistic, regardless of its focus, possibly be within our society?

I have found that commercial research focuses predominately on the producers of media content, and then how the consumer fit into this, as opposed to placing the consumer at the very centre of the research, with a keen recognition of the unique nature of their experiences with media.

The need for this recognition is aptly observed within the Oztam report into Australian home viewing habits.

Although largely based in statistical research, which has allowed for a broad and insightful inspection into the behaviours of the Australian public, this kind of research poses a large degree of limitations to those people desiring a more widely inclusive conclusion on the topic.

The research categorically divides Australia based entirely on age brackets. This type of data collation, from an outsider’s perspective, assumes the stance that all Australian’s are similar in nature. The research views Australia holistically, paying no regard to the way that factors such as culture or geographic location could influence the way in which media is consumed within the home.

The research chart found on page 7 is a poignant example of this point. The participants’ media consumption is analysed with regard to the device in which the media is interacted with. The data however highlights that age is the defining factor in these results.

Now, it very well could be, but to say it is the only defining factor is arbitrary.

The research fails to recognise whether media consumption on varying devices is budgetary, geographically influenced or due to a desire for advertisement evasion, for example.

With Oztam’s aim in gaining an insight in to Australia’s home viewing habits, it seems entirely redundant to not desire a glance into the unique home viewing habits of the nation through qualitative ethnographic research.

This form of research is essential in attaining as much information and understanding of the subjects at hand. This is because it places people at the centre, and aims to understand them in a larger context, prompting an analysis into their motivations and circumstances.

Numerical data often highlights a wide array of ambiguities, whereas qualitative data aims to stretch out all information in the hopes of a clearer inspection into the subjects lives and culture. This is done by virtue of subject discussion and idea expansion, which goes beyond the ‘yes/no’ boundaries of quantitative research.

Collaborative ethnography is defined as “both a theoretical and a methodological approach for doing and writing ethnography” by Lassiter (2005). Within the article, Lassiter discusses his in-depth and highly appropriate study of the Narcotics Anonymous community. The branding of his study as ‘appropriate’ I feel is not misguided. Every individual’s involvement within the NA community and program is vastly unique, which can be seen through Lassiter’s collaborative ethnographic studies of a recovering drug addict by the name of Mike. Through this collaborative ethnographic study, Lassiter was able to provide the NA community with a detailed ethnographic text, which could benefit them in the long run. Lassiter has also indicated that his study was highly conducive to his discipline and even went as far as to “enrich his understanding of culture and meaning”. This enrichment allowed Lassiter to increase the relevance of his research, whilst also providing the audience of his research with a wider perspective on the issue which is shaped by people’s experiences. By ensuring that the aims and results of the research are meaningful to the audience by virtue of collaborative ethnographic studies, academics like Lassiter are able to not only increase the validity of their research but also delve deeper into the issues they are investigating.

Reference:

Bowles K 2015, Measuring the audience, lecture notes distributed in Media, Place and Audience 240 at the University of Wollongong, NSW on the 10th August 2015.

Solace.

That 70’s Show…Literally.

Facing each other, with our backs placed firmly against the opposing armrests of the large, brown leather lounge, we begin our journey down nostalgia lane.

Well not for me that is, but for my Mum this conversation seemed to evoke strong emotions of happiness and contentedness as she constantly shone her smile my way in between every pause in conversation. We sat in the lounge room of her Lane Cove apartment, body’s adjacent to the television which distributed Judge Judy’s stern voice throughout the interior of the living room.

Thinking back on my own childhood memories seemed appropriate before posing the question to my mother.

Television and I always had a symbiotic relationship. It provided me with an obvious and immediate escape from the stresses of my childhood, by virtue of being transfixed on the screen for sometimes hours at a time, while I saw it as the epicentre of our family dynamic and so treated it with the respect it deserved, regardless of how absurd that sounds.

The grey plastic border of the television, mounted firmly and proudly on the wooden cabinet stood as an escape into a world of relaxation and comfort.

Looking at my mum, I posed the exact same question to her, now fully self-aware of my own experiences.

“What was my relationship with television as a child?” she questions pensively, almost as if she were searching for the key in her mind to unlock those long forgotten memories.

“I remember the very first television that my family owned had a strange wooden laminate on it” she exclaims, latching onto the very first memory that she got a firm hold of.

She details the composition of the room.

Large television, with built-in cabinetry, placed proudly at the head of the room. All furniture, whether it be lounges, coffee tables or bookshelves, seemed to vector toward the midpoint and star of the space.

The children of the family were the main users of the television, as the adults of the household were too pre-occupied with their working lives to find the time to invest hourly in the television.

However, with that being said, Mum reaffirmed her strong sporting commitments as a child, emphasising her relationship with the television as a compliment to this demanding lifestyle.

One thing that stood out as a stark contrast to my experiences with television was the changing of channels. Something considered as a simple, and an almost autonomous task for myself, was quite a laborious chore for my mum and her brothers.

The television which she had in her living room, which was emblematic of the 1970’s, had a dial switch which controlled the channels. What this meant was that a general consensus on a television show had to be decided on before the three could relax on the lounge.

“If you wanted to change the channel, you had to get up and actually move to the television. Most of the time we just ended up sitting on the floor close to the television, so that we wouldn’t have to move too far” she giggled, reminiscing on the times of her youth.

This task has been a massive eye opener.

The way I viewed experiences regarding television were always based on a personal level. Listening to my mum’s story, I have realised that even so closely entwined within my own personal life, could experience television in such a contrasting way to my own experience.

Collaboration Is In, Standard Print Is Out.

//storify.com/kurtishughes1/collaboration-is-in-standard-print-is-out/embed?border=false[View the story “Collaboration Is In, Standard Print Is Out.” on Storify]

Within our contemporary society, Journalists have evolved from the simple type and print form of storytelling we were accustomed to for many years, developing their stories around or using the multiple media platforms we now have access to. With the rise of the digital age, concepts such as accessibility, collaboration and originality which were at times uncharted territory, have become natural components of a journalists storytelling arsenal. Through utilising these advantages that convergent media have afforded our society, Journalists are able to develop and disseminate narratives in a way that were inconceivable prior to the 21st century.

Following the death of Cecil, the Lion in Zimbabwe, social media blew up in outrage toward the dentist who had committed the killing. However, all content created around the issue of hunting on multiple storytelling platforms was centralised on the topic of Cecil and his death. Through the use of Storify, the ABC was able to aggregate multiple stories and images through the hashtag ‘hunting’, revealing just how routine the act of hunting is in these countries. The importance of this form of multimedia is that it showcases to audiences the plethora of participants within this barbaric act, from a wide range of demographic backgrounds. The collaboration and aggregation of images and posts from other media platforms helps produce this story in a way that is accessible, cohesive and in the one location https://storify.com/abcnews/hunters-in-our-midst.

It is within the BBC where we are also able to witness the collaborative and convergent practices of our modern day storytellers. ‘Giant Animals That Are Almost Impossible To Find’ is an article which focuses on multiple species of animals which are considered as visually rare. The author of the article, Ella Davis, employs the works of multiple photographs to compliment her detailed and intricate descriptions of these exceptional creatures.
Davis also accompanies her article with multiple links to other sites containing evidential proof to the information presented within, truly showcasing the collaborative nature of her storytelling technique http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150720-giant-animals-youve-never-seen.