YouTube: Creators, Owners, Advertisers September 24, 2008
Posted by tang12 in Seminar.15 comments
[1]David Pitlyuk A History of Advertising on Internet Video and Where is it Going Topics of Interests for entrepreneurs & my ramblings 23 August 2007.
[2]Andrew Ross Sorkin (Oct, 2006). Dot-Com Boom Echoed in Deal to Buy YouTube The New York Times.
[3]Stephanie C. Ardito (May, 2007). Social Networking and Video Web Sites:My Space and YouTube Meet the copyright cops Searcher Vol. 15 No. 5.
As part of Web 2.0, YouTube enables users to to upload, share, save videos under favorites, create playlists and comment on videos. YouTube has created a community that is highly motivated to watch and share videos. The YouTube service is free and has been supported by advertising.
Since its acquisition and launch by Google with USD1.65 billion in February 2005, YouTube had reportedly attracted an audience of 72 million by August 2006. This is achieved mainly due to the accessibility of Youtube, which allows anyone to upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and emails.
It is also highly participatory whereby anyone can join in the community to watch, share and give their comments on the clips. Audiences can see first-hand accounts of current events, relive their favorite TV moments, find videos about their hobbies and interests, discover new artists and filmmakers, and even uncover something unimaginable. YouTube empowers people to share their experiences, talents, and expertise with the world.
The following clip is an interesting version of how some people perceive Web 2.0 and the platform it represents.
While doing the readings, please keep these questions in mind:
1. How do creators, owners and advertisers carry out their roles on YouTube? Are there any conflict of interest? If so what are they?
2. What are the copyright issues involved in the use of YouTube? How have these issues affected the usage of YouTube?
3. Is there a future for advertisers on YouTube? If so what form does it take?
Podcasts, Critical Comments and The Next Seminar September 17, 2008
Posted by Tama in Seminar.3 comments
First off, can I just say to everyone: well done, your podcasts are all really engaging; I’ve enjoyed listening to every single one! 
Following that line, don’t forget you need to listen and share your thoughts. To be fair, it would be fantastic if everyone got two comments on their podcasts (it wouldn’t really be fair for one person to get five comments, another person none). That said, beyond the two critical comments you’re required to make, you’re most welcome to leave comments on the other podcasts, too, if you like!
Secondly, in our next seminar which is on Project planning, discussion and refinement you’ll be pleased to hear there are no set readings. Instead, you need to bring along your thoughts about the major project you’d like to do for this unit. Depending on what everyone wants to do, we’ll discuss potential ideas and then refine them into a form which can be equitable (ie things which can actually be marked alongside each other at the end of the day). Your only major stipulation is that your major project must explore participatory culture and digital communication in a meaningful and focused way. Also, think about what form you’d like your project to take: a straight-forward essay; a short video piece; a longer podcast; some sort of blogged investigation; and so on. Think about something that would be of interest and engaging to you.
Keep in mind, though, that there will be a fair amount of negotiation and refinement needed for each idea, so bring along your thinking caps, and your flexibility!
Let me reiterate, though: your podcasts are all really interesting, and you should all be proud of your efforts!
[Photo: ‘Fireworks at the Taste of Chicago’ by Zesmerelda, CC BY.]
Benedikte’s Podcast September 15, 2008
Posted by rouli in podcast.3 comments
Exegesis
Why is it compulsory to vote in Australia?
Being a newcomer to Australia it is not always easy to understand the reasons behind the Australians behavior and their way of living. Even though Danish and Australian culture has certain similarities given that we share the same common values like democracy and our European roots, there are still differences in the Australian people that are interesting to observe for an international student who is far from home.
The election last week was an interesting event to follow. While not being able to participate in the actual election myself due to my Danish citizenship, I could only observe how the Australians went about it. Besides the tacky commercials on television and the lack of political discussions among my Australian friends and fellow students I learned that it is compulsory to vote in Australia. The fine for not doing so is about 50 dollars.
I could not help but wonder why a country would force their population to participate in a democratic activity? If you have to force someone to do something it is because the person does not want to do it voluntary. But why would the Australians not care to vote and take part in the democracy?
In order to answer my questions I thought it necessary to go out and speak to the Australian people. I thought this would be a great chance for me to do some citizen journalism and post the result of my research as a podcast on the internet. In that way not only I but also my fellow foreign students can gain some knowledge about the Australian people and its opinion on politics, elections and voting.
I interviewed 25 people in the age group 18 – 28. This segment was chosen because I thought it most interesting to find out what the youth of Australia thought about the subject since they are the future voters and the future of Australia.
I got many interesting viewpoints and opinions on the subject and I have selected and used a few of them in my podcast. I will give a more detailed account on the results of the interviews in the following:
11 of the 25 consulted voted for Liberal. 9 out of the 11 would for a various reasons not vote if it was not compulsory to vote in Australia. 5 of the 11 did not know why they had voted for Liberal and 3 of the 11 voted for Labor because their parents did.
Only 2 out of the 25 casted a blank vote even though 17 of the 25 did not have a preferred party and also didn´t care for politics in general. For the same reasons 4 of the 17 voted for the Greens because they believed the Greens focus on the environment due to the name “the Greens” and therefore thought they supported a good case. I asked if they were familiar with the Greens political program, no one of them were. 8 of the 25 consulted voted for Labor and 4 of those 8 would not vote if it was not compulsory to vote.
The reasons for not wanting to vote if it was not compulsory varied. The two most common explanations the consulted gave was: 1) I am not interested in politics 2) I cannot be bothered spending time voting.
To sum up, more than half of the consulted would not have voted if it was not compulsory to vote. If they had not voted, Labor would have lost half of their votes and the Liberals would have lost more than 80 percent of their votes. Had these numbers been based on a national poll it could have great effect on the election. If voting was not compulsory the parties then would have lost the above mentioned votes and in worst case that could change the result of who won the election. On the other hand it is sad to think that the leading party might be in power because people, who did not wish to vote and who din not know what to vote, decided just to give their vote to the leading party.
Asking 25 people their opinion on elections and voting does not give a valid picture of a countries attitude towards the subject. It does indicate though that people in the age group 18-28 have little interest in politics and that their knowledge about it therefore is poor too. It also indicates that more than 50 percent of the Australians would not vote if it was not compulsory which offers an explanation to why it is compulsory to vote in Australia. If less than 50 percent of the population bothers to participate in the democracy when given the chance at election time, it can hardly be classified as a democratic and valid election.
Based on the content of the interviews with the Australian voters I conclude that the Australian government is forced to force the Australians to vote in order to get a – on the papers – democratic election.
Podcast: (4:42)
podcast
Bibliography
http:ia311218.us.archive.org/2/items/PerlssDj_-_Energia_Renovable/PerlssDJ_Energia_Renovable.mp3
Podcast – VJing and Music Festivals September 12, 2008
Posted by annaw77 in podcast.4 comments
Critical Exegesis – VJs and Music Festivals
For my audio project I attended Hyperfest, an all-age music festival, to explore the concept of community and participation. Hyperfest was held at Midland Gate on 31 August, 2008 with 18 bands and groups playing from midday to 8.00 p.m.
A festival such as this offers many different manifestations of community that are each worthy of discussion. For instance, the youth community, the hip hop community, and the music festival community more broadly are possible examples of community that I could have explored. I elected to interview the visual jockeys (VJs) who performed at the venue. I chose this because I was interested to explore how the visual component contributes to a sense of community and participation at music festivals.
Gavranich (2006) describes VJing as ‘one-off, never-to-be-repeated, creative offerings made to an immediate and knowable audience who are able to respond and interact with the artist…The VJ…connects with the moment, the music, the audience and fellow performers to improvise and deliver a…unique show.’ (p. 1). In terms of my audio project, it was not possible to capture a visual medium through an audio medium. However by interviewing two experienced and respected Perth-based VJs, Kat Black and Jasper Cook, I was able to explore understandings of community and participation.
Gavranich (2006) argues one characteristic of music festivals is to move beyond feelings of separateness towards those of connection (p. 7). Schechner (2002) applies Turner’s (1982) term ‘spontaneous communitas’ to the performance arena. The ritual of spontaneous communitas occurs when ‘people encounter each other directly’ (p. 62); where status is abolished; people are treated equally; and the feeling ‘we are all in this together’ is fostered. As Gavranich (2006) argues, VJing is a participatory process as VJs collaborate with artists prior to their performance and the VJs engage in a feedback loop with the audience. I argue that VJing, through its immediate and unique nature, enables spontaneous communitas in music festivals. Gavranich (2006) describes this as ‘transitory uniqueness’ which is a guiding principle of VJing, and is a ‘conscious subversion of the mainstream, mass-produced, mass-marketed and homogenised media product’ (p. 1).
Beeman (1993, p. 379) argues the ‘spectacle’ is focused on symbolic reality. For Beeman, performers are separated from their lives outside the performance, and the performance itself is separated from the occasion. For example, the separation can be marked by the raising and lowering of a curtain, or changes in lighting levels. The VJ spectacle differs from Beeman’s (1993) concept of the spectacle. It aims to be a more immersive, interactive production as the performers (the VJs and the music artist) and the audience become the occasion.
Not only do Kat and Jasper facilitate a sense of community at the dance festival itself, they also foster a community of VJs through their strong online presence. Their web site has multiple links to useful sources, recommended software, as well as links to other VJs in Perth, Western Australia. As Kat described in the audio project, she believes it is mutually beneficial for all VJs to collaborate, share their knowledge and jointly increase the status and profile of VJs in Perth.
The audio podcast presented me with a number of copyright issues that I have not faced before. Until now, my communication has been in the written form, and I have fulfilled copyright obligations by using appropriate referencing conventions. However, with the audio project, I had to ensure that I had permission to record content. I decided to conduct the interview in situ with Kat and Jasper after they finished their performance at Hyperfest. I was conscious that that no music groups could be identified from my audio recordings.
I had numerous technical problems using the software. Where possible, I referred to the technical support and manuals available online. I found that the information provided to be haphazard and assumed a high level of technical knowledge. This may be a potential drawback of ‘free’ software there is no requirement to provide ongoing technical support. It is possible that I would be in the minority of users experiencing this issue as most people who draw on this resource would be from a tech-savvy demographic.
In this exegesis, I have explored how the art of VJing inverts more traditional conventions of the ‘spectacle’ and the boundaries between the VJ, the music artist and the audience are merged to form a ‘spontaneous communitas’. Not only have I explored the ways in which a sense of community is fostered at the event, I have also explored the role that Kat and Jasper play in facilitating the VJ community in Perth.
References
Beeman, William (1993) The Anthropology of Theater and Spectacle. The Annual Review of Anthropology. 22, pp. 369 – 393.
Gavranich, Cathy (2006) Creative Industries Project: Exegesis. http://vjzoo.com/downloads/CathyGavranichVJresearchreport2006.doc
Perlssdj. Liberation. (Music), n.d. c.2008
http://ia311332.us.archive.org/3/items/PerlssDj_-_Crossroad_Remixes/PerlssDj_-_01_Liberation.mp3
Schechner, Richard (2002) Performance Studies: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
Turner, Victor (1982) From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications,
Quite Nice Visuals. http://vjzoo.com/
LACE (Language and Cultural Exchange) September 11, 2008
Posted by rouli in podcast.Tags: audio project, iGen, LACE, UWA
2 comments
Exegesis
Participatory culture is the term that used to describe the new form of the relation between media and its audiences. In this new relation, the audiences of the media are not just merely the consumer of the media product, but also have the possibility to become producer or contributor (Jenkins, 2006:3). Digital technology is one key point that enables the audience to archive, annotate, appropriate and recirculate media content in powerful new ways (Jenkins, 2004:2). In my audio project, I am trying to explore another form of the participation. If we talk about participatory culture, most of the time (but not always), we come across to communication in cyberspace. However, in my audio project, I am presenting participation in “real world” communication. By doing this, I want to show that community will continue to grow if the members can be the “producer” and the “consumer” in the same time. In other words, community will continue to grow if there is an active participation from the members and in the same time the members also get the benefit from the community itself.
My audio project is presenting one of the student communities in UWA, which is LACE, Language and Cultural Exchange. This community has an objective to encourage International Student and Local Student join together and share their culture. In this project, I am interviewing one of the staff in LACE to get brief overview about the community. In addition, I am also interviewing several members of the community to show what they think about LACE, benefit they get from this community and also the diversity of their cultural background. From the interview with the members, most of them said that they join the community with the expectation that they can meet other people with whom they can share some ideas or share their experiences and culture. When they come to LACE and they meet their expectation, they will have Sense of Community (SOC). Sense of Community is defined by at least four character; feeling of membership, where members feeling as part of the community; feeling of influence, where members feeling having influence on or being influenced by community; integration of fulfilment and needs, where members being supported and supporting by other members; and emotional connection, where members have the feeling of relationship among members in the community (McMillan and Chavis in Blanchard, 2004).
However, the dynamic of the community is not end up when the members can get the benefit from the community. As in the statement of the staff in the interview, there is also expectation of active participation from the members to contribute their idea for the community development, in terms of giving their ideas for future activities. By doing this, all the activities are relevant, and therefore, fulfill the needs of the members. This is the idea of another form of participation, where the members not only just consumers but also active producers in the community.
This audio project is challenging both in conceptual and technical aspects. In terms of conceptual aspect, it is challenging to see the connection between the course materials in iGeneration unit, which is exploring more about digital communication, with this audio project, which is exploring more about “physical communication”. Then, I decided to present the resemblances of the participation form in both areas. Nevertheless, I found the exploration of the concept of participation is quite short due to the limited time. The project is clear in explaining what is community and benefit for the members, but there is not enough time to explain the participation more clearly. In terms of technical aspect, this audio project challenging because it is involves many persons. The recording process goes on in several different places and it takes some different background noises. This condition requires lot of adjustments in editing process and as a result there are some inconsistency in the voice volume. However, another thing that worked well in this project is being a member of the community. This is one advantage in doing this project, because it allows me to have an access to the schedule of activity in LACE and enables me to meet and set the arrangement for conducting the interview.
Last of all, this audio project is a great experience to explore the concept of participatory and community. In spite of all drawbacks, I learn lot of new things in this project and I quite satisfy with the final product.
Podcast: LACE (5:00)
Bibliography
Airborne sound, “Acoustic pop melody”, n.d, http://www.soundsnap.com/node/58111
Dynamedlon, “Lounge 08 black lounge L2″, n.d, http://www.soundsnap.com/node/56265
Airborne sound, “Optimistic acoustic pop melody”, n.d, http://www.soundsnap.com/node/58124
Dynamedlon, “Pop 11 APF paperman L1″, n.d, http://www.soundsnap.com/node/56040 (n.d)
Blanchard, Anita (2004) “Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community in the Julie/Julia Project”, Blogosphere. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html (accessed 10 September 2008)
Jenkins, Henry (2004) “Cultural Logic and Media Convergence”, International Journal of Cultural Studies, http://ics.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/1/33 (accessed 9 September 2008)
Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: When Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Podcast:Reduce , Reuse and Recycle—Help the Environment in Australia September 10, 2008
Posted by yanm in podcast.2 comments
Audio Project Exegesis
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ——Help the Environment in Australia
Aim of the podcast
The reason of why I came out this idea for this audio project which comes from my personal experiences. In my country, the government neglects the environment pollution of heavy industries instead of focus on developing economic growth. However, Australia is a vast country which has similar land range with China; but the advanced environment protection system in Australia is to help the country green effectively and efficiently. Some issues should be considered: Is the problem from the government’s lead or because the normal people lack of environmental conscious? Can Chinese green communities draw lessons from Australia to improve the living environmental quality in China? The podcast is used for a living program in China Radio International Channel to advocate the Chinese pay attention to the environment near them and call on protect the living area from the detail aspects in everyday life.
Theories in the audio
This audio project has two main theories which I want to explore which are citizen journalism and documenting digital audio resources.
1. Citizen Journalism
There are two characters in this audio, one is broadcaster, and the other one is special invited guest. Actually, the guest stands for citizen journalism in this project. From my perspectives and voice, it is efficiently to explore the facts and reality in Australia, and show my own opinions about the social issue. As we can see, the core feature of citizen journalism is that “people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.”[1] Compare to professional journalism, the citizen journalism is open to everyone, and any personal media fertilities can be used in the reporting. So anyone can do the job, the guest in the project illustrates that as a student of university has qualified with information to be a reporter about the specific problem and the broadcast may arise conversation when the Chinese listen to the radio. That is an appropriate example to illustrate the citizen journalism can be anyone at any time.
2. Documenting digital audio resources
The project needs some statistics when doing it, it need to be planed well about the information I got. So whether it is to creating a number of digital audio files or individual project, the most crucial thing is to document key information about each digital project or group projects. “In the digital environment, the information is called metadata (or ‘data about data’). “[2] In order to develop appropriate documentation for the digital resource, there have some principles may follow: the first thing is to understand the environment which it will be used. The next step is to choose the information which will be included in the recording .Then indentify the concepts, items and events that wish to document in the recording to organize a proper structure for the matadata. At last, it is usually to export records to another format, so the technology which be used to store the information will influent the structure. The most important thing is to keep the documentation process consistency. This theory was used when I did the project; I feel some steps were hard to act, like to identify the concepts and events , may be because I am not really familiar to some chemicals’ names, so when did the recording , I try to ignore this , but it is not good to do.
Participation and Community
How is the project relate to the participation, one thing is obvious , we all live the same world ,the same earth, no one can escaped of the responsibility to keep our home green. However, if this audio project be used in some environment protection agency or green community to educate the citizen in China, it will be more efficient to improve conscious of making environment clean. After listen to the radio, it must brings about discussion in people to reflect their own lives, how they using the materials in life? How much waste they create one day? How these landfill methods will influent the health of earth? I think it definitely will help them to participate in this activity and change their life style to make our earth more comfortable. For the ways to reduce, reuse and recycle of the sources not come from one person’s idea, these are collective intelligence. Only when people active participate in the social issue, they may seek the effective ways to solve the problems.
Work and Challenges
The contents of the audio depend on the statistics and information from the survey in Australia. Therefore, the collection about evidences is the vital thing need to be done first. Fortunately, the resources are rich on the websites and easy to access. The challenge is that the way to organize the audio and what kinds of materials should be sorted and used in the recording. To solve the problem, I keep on comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of living styles of the Chinese and Australian, and choose the RE-system to explore. For I think that the RE-system will benefit to China a lot if the government force the policy be acted by law. The audio project need s the supports of media technology. The familiar process of iPod‘s functions and Garageband software is also a challenges. However, this problem can be concurred if practice more.
Note: The music of this project created by Yan Man by Garageband.
References
[1] Mark Glaser (2006) ‘Your guide to Citizen Journalism’.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_ci.html
[2] Catherine Owen and Kate IIles.(2002) “ Creating Digital Audio Resource:
A Guide to Good Practice”.
[3]http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/environmental_management/waste/waste_minimisation/reduce_reuse_recycle/
[4]http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Environment/Waste/WhatTheCityIsDoing/PlasticBags.asp
[5] http://www.recyclingpoint.com.au/benefits_of_recycling.htm
Podcast: help-the-environment-in-australia2[4:50]
Podcast: When blogs clash people September 10, 2008
Posted by guans01 in podcast.2 comments
Exegesis
When blogs clash people
The relationship between participatory culture and weblog
The digital technologies are changing the way we people learn, play, communicate and participate in civil life. Under this special background, there is a new form of culture called participatory culture which gradually is recognized by the citizens.
This culture encourages people to increase their public roles as media makers and communicative participants. “This is a culture which members believe their contributions matter and feel some degree of social connection with one another” (Henry&katie).
Blog can be viewed as shape the flow of media to circulate this participatory culture.
To really understand the blog, Jill said that a blog, however, can not be read simply for its writing, but will always be seen as the sum of writing, layout, connections and links, and tempo. (Rettberg).Blog offers some opportunities for grassroots citizen to join in this new media everyday. When they set up their personal online website, bloggers can easy to communicate with their target audiences by this web platform. Bloggers just care about what other people think about and what they have created. In the blog society, bloggers play different roles between a producer and an audience at the same time. The interactivity and participatory that investigate is endless.
How my audio podcast reflects the participatory and community
With the shift to digital media and related communication technologies, the amateur voices of millions of grassroots online cultural producers are cohering to form a realm of participatory culture which is often exemplified in the form of the weblog or simple weblog.(Tama) My audio focuses on reflecting their true meaning of blogs which give amateurs and original writers a way to show their personal past and current experiences. It also provides with a way to show their feeling, emotions and represent themselves to the public. In a word, online diaries can therefore be said to be the representation of inner spaces as well as of the self-consciousness. So people just appreciate and care about what people write in their blogs and think about what they talk about, at last forward some comments to the producers form their audiences.
Another aim of my audio podcast which shows the participatory culture is that, traveling in the blog world; bloggers can get all kinds of different benefits from each other. This just reflects the aim of blogs is including the peer- to-peer learning, a changed attitude toward personal experience, and the diverse of the culture and self –consciousness expression. What is more important? Entry this participatory culture and those blog community, the youth will get what they need.
There is a research concludes that the most popular topic among bloggers is me, speed, reach, anonymity, and inter-activity all provide the base for blogging. Yet the blur between private (me) and public (everyone who is-hopefully-reading about me and writing to me and linking to me) are truly the most interesting features of blogging. So blogs invite “the peculiar intersection of the public and private. Being at the same time private and public, individual and collectives, weblog invoke the notion of a contradictory genre and activity, with you, and me and everyone in between being brought into a single, semiprivate or semipublic spaces and experiences.( Laura& Smijana) As we know , this is the power of the blogs.
Challenges do I Face
However, when it comes to personal online blogs, it also produces some branching.
Not all the blogs can have positive effect on the audiences or producers. In the different perspective, upholding online self-representatinal writing may also turn out to be necessary given the attacks from the comments,(Viviane) it does not reach some good achievements as we want to original desire getting from this kind of participatory culture. People do not care about others and assault their personal experiences and troughs in a violent rant, this situation is not we need, but as we know, it still comes into existence. Therefore, sometimes it is a little confused me. I am not sure that this kind of culture always brings good outcomes.
Another challenge for me is that to some extent it is different to choose suitable background music because of the copyright, so I can not use music at random way .So I use the GarageBand to create all my music, but I think I am not professional musician.
Conclusion
By recording this audio assignment, I have learnt and understood a lot of knowledge both theories and practices about how blog represents the participatory culture. And I am more familiar with applying the Software-GarageBand than before by editing audio assignment. So I think I-generation study brings us not only enlarge our scope of cognition of new media but also the real practice experience. To make more music, become more creative, and become more critical.
Podcast:
Bibliography:
1Henry J.&Katie C.2006,Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning,Chicago, MACAR Foundation.
2Laura J.& Smijana, A2008, American Behavioral Scientist: The psychology of Blogging: You, Me, and everyone in Between ,Published, SAGE Publication.
3 Rettberg, J.W. 2008, Blogging, Polity Pr John Wiley & Sons
4 Tama Leaver dot Net. 2006, The blogging of Everday Life, http://tamaleaver.net
5 Viviane S.2004, The Mirrror and the Veil: An overview of American Online Diaries and blogs, Amsterdam, New York.
6 Siyang G. The background music by GarageBand,(music),2008.
Podcast: ‘Singlish’ For English Language Speakers September 10, 2008
Posted by Alvin in podcast.3 comments
Exegesis
‘Singlish’ for English Language Speakers
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Singapore Colloquial English (or commonly referred to as ‘Singlish’) refers to “informal English as spoken in Singapore” (WordWeb Online, 2008)[i]. While Singlish is based mainly on the English language, it differs from the English as spoken by native English speakers in more ways than just the accent. Singlish contains influences from other languages such as Malay and Tamil (and also various Chinese dialects). To an ‘untrained’ ear, Singlish usually sounds little more than a gibberish language that uses English words. While staunch advocates of ‘proper’ English language use may not accept Singlish as a ‘variant’ of the English language (even the Singapore government discourages its use among citizens), Singlish seems to have its position set as the unofficial lingua franca of Singaporeans.
1.2 As to the effectiveness of Singlish as a ‘communication tool’, the language does, to a certain extent, ‘facilitate’ communication between the different races in Singapore’s multicultural society. However, problems arise when Singaporeans ‘bring along’ their Singlish language when they travel abroad. Using Singlish to communicate with a non Singlish-speaking counterpart (albeit subconsciously) may not only be rude but is certainly ‘unprofessional’ to say the least. In fact, Singlish has been viewed (in local schools) as “an obstacle to the development of students’ literacy skills in standard English and…the practice of classroom codeswitching between the two varieties is strongly discouraged” (Rubdy, 2007)[ii]. Nevertheless, in view of the ubiquity of the language among Singaporeans, and an increasingly globalised world where international travel for business or pleasure is commonplace, this podcast serves as a brief introduction into the ‘minority language’ used by the tiny nation of less than 5 million people. Audiences would be in a better position to understand conversations in Singlish. Having said that, the aim of the podcast does not extend to encouraging one to learn Singlish for its use or as a language for formal or business occasions.
2. PODCAST
2.1 The podcast consists primarily of 3 sections: ‘introduction’, ‘content’ and ‘conclusion’. A piece titled ‘Listen to the Wind’ (feat. Hayley Westenra)[iii] plays in the background of the podcast, consistently maintaining a softer volume than the main podcaster’s voice.
2.2 Introduction
2.2.1 The podcast begins with the host posing a question to the audience. This serves primarily to seek the attention of the listener and also, at the same time, allow the listener to ‘gauge’ whether the theme/content of the podcast is something they are interested in. Should the question apply to the audience’s experience, they would likely continue with the podcast.
2.2.2 Following the question would be some ‘attempted humour’ (i.e. the phrase insinuating that the listener had been eavesdropping on conversations). Audiences would then be given a brief introduction to Singlish and how it came to exist. This forms the official introduction of the theme of the podcast.
2.3 Content
2.3.1 Several common Singlish words would be introduced – together with simple examples. As English words used in the Singlish language may not adhere to recognized rules regarding sentence structure and grammar (words in the Singlish language may also not have the same meaning as in the English language), the examples provide the audience a clearer picture of how the words are used in practice. As the words chosen are very often used in Singlish, they form the cornerstone in the basic understanding the language.
2.4 Conclusion
2.4.1 As the podcast progresses, audiences would be informed that while Singlish is commonly used and accepted as a day-to-day language, learning it as a language is not encouraged. This is an important aspect lest audiences assume that the aim of the podcast is to advocate the learning of the language. Rather, the podcast merely seeks to introduce the language and aid in the understanding of conversations.
2.4.2 The podcast ends with a ‘practical activity’ (i.e. using Singlish in a realistic environment – using the words ‘jiat gentang’). However, the activity is structured in such a manner that audiences would understand that it is not meant to be taken seriously (nor were any negative or racial connotations intended).
3. CHALLENGES
3.1 A major challenge would be to include sufficient information in a 5-minute podcast while keeping audiences engaged. An introduction into the ‘workings’ of any language would usually take more than 5 minutes. Therefore, ‘cramming’ a lot of information into a 5-minute time frame may confuse the audience and also cause a decrease in the efficiency of content delivery (i.e. not everyone is able to remember that much in such a short time span – though audiences may listen to it repeatedly). On the other hand, having too little information may not serve the full purpose of the podcast – the audience may, after listening, not gain much more information than what they would already have known beforehand.
3.2 There was also an attempt to use humour in the podcast. Depending on how this is perceived, it may also be a ‘risky’ move as some audiences may feel offended while others may not even understand the apparent humour.
3.3 The use of music in the podcast was also explored. Its main purpose is to set an atmosphere (i.e. creating a particular mood) and attempts have been made to ensure that the volume of the ‘background music’ does not ‘drown out’ the podcaster’s voice (i.e. ‘ducking’). Nevertheless, individual audiences may still find it distracting.
3.4 Lastly, the recording of content itself was a challenge. Despite having a transcript to read from, difficulties were faced in terms of pronunciation, volume of voice and errors in speech (i.e. saying the wrong words, ‘tongue-tied’, etc). In fact, the podcast was recorded in ‘segments’ and put together during post-production. This posed other problems such as ‘atmospheric sounds’, ‘speech volume’ and ‘pitch of voice’ which have to be ‘normalized’ across the whole clip so that it would not be so obvious that it was recorded in segments. Having said that, the final podcast clip sounded rather well in this respect.
4. CONCLUSION
4.1 By the end of the podcast, audiences would have a better insight into this queer and unofficial ‘variant’ of the English language. While audiences may not become ‘experts’ simply by listening to the 5-minute podcast, they will likely be able to understand the basic ‘workings’ of the language (i.e. why some words are used in a particular manner) and become interested to find out more by conducting their own research. As such, the podcast would have become a ‘stepping stone’ in introducing the Singlish language to the English-speaking community.
Podcast
\’Singlish\’ for English Language Speakers [4:59]‘Singlish’ for English Language Speakers [4:59]
References
[i] WordWeb Online. (2008). Singlish, Retrieved 29 August 2008, from http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/SINGLISH
[ii] R. (2007). Singlish in the school: An impediment or a resource? Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development 2007, 28(4), 308-324.
[iii] Hayley Westenra, ‘Listen to the Wind’ (Music), n.d., Retrieved from http://freemusic.freeculture.org/media/tags/instrumental on 24 August 2008, CC BY SA 2.5
Podcast: Japanese Tea Ceremony September 10, 2008
Posted by tang12 in podcast.2 comments
Critical Exegesis on Audio Assignment
Japanese Tea Ceremony
The topic of my audio project is the Japanese culture of tea ceremony. As legend has it, the custom of drinking tea first came from China approximately 5000 years ago (Leddy: The Japanese Tea Ceremony). But later it was the Japanese who had developed and perfected the drinking of tea into an art form. From this audio project I hope to explore the essence of the tea ceremony and its benefits. I chose this project also because of its reflections on participation and community.
Firstly, the motivation of this project stems from my interest in the Japanese culture. The Japanese being a homogeneous people and their emphasis on various forms of courtesy have been a source of interest for research. And the tea ceremony being a combination of both the visual arts and the cultivation of an internal discipline has the advantages of presenting a more holistic study. Therefore from this study of the tea ceremony, I wish to explore the idea that appreciation of the arts and intake of tea can lead to health and longevity.
Indeed as one examines the various aspects of the tea ceremony, one cannot but help to notice that it draws on the ideas of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. These are namely the four precepts of the tea ceremony (Eastern Tea.com). As one focuses and reflects on these qualities of life, it therefore helps to calm oneself and bring forth a sense of peace. To quote Nakano Kazuma, a famous tea-master, ‘The spirit of cha-no-yu (Japanese tea ceremony) is to cleanse the senses from contamination’ and ‘The art of tea is after all a spiritual discipline, and my aspiration for every hour of the day is not to depart from the spirit of the tea, which is by no means a matter of mere entertainment’ (Leddy: The Japanese Tea Ceremony). It is not hard to envision one could thus attain health and longevity in such manner.
As discussed in the beginning of this course that participation is a very current issue and it affects many areas in our lives. For example, the setting up of online interface for Japanese anime fans to participate and alter or change the story outcomes, online discussion boards to facilitate ongoing discussion of Asian series, etc. These are just a few examples of participatory culture. This form of culture has extended to the more traditional tea ceremony as numerous blogs are set up for like-minded people to join themselves up forming a community. Although this community seldom or does not gather physically, but it is still a community as ideas are exchanged and as a collective whole it allows others to draw upon similar experience.
Then as one turns to the other elements of the tea ceremony like art, craft, poetry, calligraphy, floral arrangement and music, one begins to appreciate the wide range of skills which is involved in a tea ceremony (Web Japan, Tea Ceremony). It can be said that the Way of Tea (Cha-do) is the way to get all senses involved. It is when one begins to read the scripts, see the flowers, hear the music, smell and taste the tea and touch the tea utensils that participation in the ceremony occurs.
An important part of the tea ceremony is the appreciation and conversation surrounding the tea utensils (Japanese Green Tea Hibiki- an Japanese Tea Ceremony). The objective is to focus on the usage of the five senses and not to engage in small talk or gossips. The guests are expected to give comments and discuss about the origin and beauty of the tea utensils used.
As stated earlier that the essence of the tea ceremony is that of harmony, the benefits of such an essence can be further explored with regards to health. Other than the multiple benefits for health in the tea itself, the Way of Tea or teaism is in essence the practice of mindfulness (Tea Origins and Effect on Health). It has the tendency to curb violence and help one to focus on beauty. It reduces anxiety and imbalance in the human body. It can bring about political agreement and social order.
The challenges faced while taking up this project included preparation of the script for recording and choosing the areas to be included in the discussion. The reason for such challenges is due to the amount of articles and information available. One of the areas which was considered but not included eventually is the history of Japanese tea. However when it became clearer that the focus should be on the benefits and skills involved in the ceremony, the audio track was successfully recorded.
In conclusion, the exploration of whether the Japanese tea ceremony enables one to attain health and longevity is a fruitful one. The evidence presents itself in the fact that tea ceremony has become a social event and that it is embraced by people of various backgrounds and religious beliefs. People found it meaningful to spend at least three to five hours sitting down drinking tea and conduct conversations based solely on the utensils presented in front of them (Keenan, 1990).
Japanese Tea Ceremony. Japanese Green Tea. Hibiki- an www.hibiki-an.com
Leddy: The Japanese Tea Ceremony.
www.crbs.umd.edu/programs/eastandwest/lessons/leddy- tea.htm
Plutschow, Herbert (Spring/Summer 1999). An Anthropological Perspective on the Japanese Tea
Ceremony. Anthropoetics 5, no.1. www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0501/tea.htm#b11
Tea Origins and Effect on Health. www.stillinthestream.com/files/tea.htm
Web Japan. Japan Fact Sheet. Tea Ceremony: The Way of Tea
www.web-japan.org/factsheet/pdf/TEACEREM.pdf
Keenan, Joseph (1990). The Japanese Tea Ceremony: Tea For All Nations.
www.teahyakka.com/keenanlayout.html
Music for audio track:
Pipa Song. www.library.thinkquest.org/28110/instruments/chinese/pipasong.zip
Podcast: The Leonardo da Vinci Machines Exhibition September 5, 2008
Posted by ramfelsean in podcast.2 comments
An Exegesis on the Leonardo da Vinci Machines Exhibition, Perth
Perth is lucky to host the Leonardo da Vinci Machines exhibition at the new Esplanade. It is a great opportunity for the locals, both young and old to experience first had the genius that was Leonardo. The historical significance of Leonardo da Vinci’s machines played a great impact on technologies of the modern world as most of his inventions and ideas were basis or considered as the precedent of today’s technologies. Thus, it is befitting to experience and have a glimpse on these machines and how they simply revolutionized the world through its practicality and intricacies.
My aims on having this audio project are to relate how ideas of Leonardo da Vinci through his codices changed the technological world and paved way to conveniences we are experiencing now. We can also see the significance of the exhibition to participatory culture through the historical, technological and cultural awareness it brings to the people of Perth and to the major international cities that hosted it, from news reviews and online discussions. Blogs, websites and consumer products were named and dedicated after the maestro himself a manifestation on how people admire his lasting legacy as part of our heritage.
The significance of his inventions helped shape our modern lives, history and culture as civilized people. This rare opportunity will enable the people of Perth a glimpse on the works of the master as precisely reconstructed by the artisans of Florence known as the Teknoart. Though the exhibition will only run on a very limited time but its legacy to the locals of the swan will surely have a lasting memory. We can always ask why other people didn’t think of the same ideas da Vinci had during his time?
The exhibition’s relation to participatory culture can be experienced firstly on the interactivity of its displays as people can have a chance to first-hand experience his machines, reconstruct and play with it.
One of the trends that Henry Jenkins is talking about in new participatory culture is the economic trends favouring the horizontally integrated media conglomerates, encourage the flow of images, ideas, and narratives across multiple media channels and demand more active modes of spectatorship. We can relate that by looking at the time of the Renaissance where artisans earn money through the patronage of wealthy people. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci had the support of the French King Francois I, Cesare Borja (son of Pope Alexander VI) and other wealthy people. In search of prestige, love of art and revival of intricate visual things the European royals and influential families used their money and influence as they are in comparison to the media conglomerates that Jenkins is referring to. The patronage of wealthy and influential people encourages minds to create new artworks and ideas; clearly we can incorporate the idea on the historical significance of patronage in the Renaissance to what Jenkins implies about economic trends.
The machines that Leonardo envisioned were products of his imagination and concepts that is way beyond his time. We can clearly have an idea that the developments of today’s modern technologies based on the ideas of Leonardo are products of collective intelligence. Pierre Levy visualizes it as a new ‘knowledge space’, though Levy is more concern on modern media as a whole, we can envision and see how helicopters, gliders, a parachute, tanks and factory machines developed through-out the centuries after da Vinci’s death. The codices gave the future inventors a mere background on how things would work following the natural laws of nature and physics. Throughout time these machines and technologies were tried and tested through a trial-by-error scheme so they may be perfected and be useful on what purpose it may serve. Going back to history more and more people particularly during the Industrial Revolution tried to perfect machineries. A common method was for someone to make a study tour, gathering information where he could. This practice was carried out by individual manufacturers anxious to improve their own methods. Study tours were common then, as now, as was the keeping of travel diaries (we can associate this with travel blogs). Records are made by industrialists and technicians of the period are an incomparable source of information about their methods. For the modern era of cyberspace it will be the information we all gather to create the wikis for online dissemination of collective knowledge.
The exhibit itself uses a local television channel and the internet with its own website to promote and advertise. A blog from wordpress.com has a section dedicated to the work of the genius, though the blog is mainly in Italian and English, ideas and opinion exchanges are all about things that concern on Leonardo’s cultural, inventive and historical legacy. Live science also has a blog dedicated to Da Vinci’s best ten ideas. Online, we can see websites on how the Italian population in general names so many things after da Vinci, such as schools, scholarship program to pizzas and pastas.
Leonardo’s legacy continues to amaze us on how we see the modern technologies as they developed for the past centuries since his death. Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967 says; “Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge, … Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe.”
Da Vinci’s ideas continue to influence on how people imagine and ponder about his art works and concepts, prompting Dan Brown to write a conspiracy-theory novel “The Da Vinci Code”. Leonardo’s legacy has been part of our culture, society and way of life. That is why I do agree that Leonardo di Sir Piero da Vinci is a man that thinks centuries ahead of his time.
The Leonardo da Vinci Machines Exhibition (4:40)
Bibliography:
Maggie Doucet: sonnet 116 (music)
Blastwave FX: Musical Twinkle by soundsnap.com (sound effects)
Blastwave FX: Harp Apprigio (sound effects)
Bortolon, Liana (1967). The Life and Times of Leonardo. London.
Leoni, Maria Teresa Zanobini (2006). Leonardo da Vinci. Florence, Italy. McRae Books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/collective%20intelligence.html
http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab_1.html
