“It is impossible to exist in society without a proper name” (pg.52) This statement concludes Durings’s core argument throughout the text, in that “Identities are conceptually more complex than they first appear” (pg.145). This weeks reading, we are faced with the question of what specific aspects construct our identity (or as During states…’identities’) and just how are these identities established.

During, S, argues that our identities are defined by our traits and consequently we are grouped together by similar traits reducting individuality. For instance During uses the example of being a man but slummed together in a group of all other men reducting particularity.  He states that our identity is socially constructed and we are left with little choice in terms of what name we carry by society. Our name is something imposed on us by society based on “arbitrarily selected features” (pg, 145) we posses (idea of heriditary identities; – no escape from them).

This specific identity we are given can have different meanings and carry connotations, a prime example of this would be the stereotypical use of the term ‘blonde’, in society it is used to imply attractiveness of a female however when used as an insult it implies an unintelligent woman. This is one of the ways that connotations of identities can reflect back on an individual negatively, as it groups all the individuals whom have blonde hair together,  labelling them based on an assumption. This conveys strongly how individuality is undermined within society. Another example would follow, when an African American is described in terms of specific traits such as skin colour and are referred to as ‘black; or ‘nigger’. This identity naming is seen as insulting by society standards however During points out that a person within that ‘trait group’ referring to ones identity using those terms is generally accepted.

During continues the identity debate by introducing the ’identity politics’ which emerged in the early sixties. He discusses the formation of the civil rights movement and shows the struggle one has with the identity of ’being a woman’ - the fight for woman’s rights leading to feminist movements, also the African Americans struggle with civil rights as they are a “racially defined community” (pg, 147). The author hear also argues that our identities are not only determent of our inherited traits but also by the way in which “lives are actually lived” (pp, 150) that being the position of employment.

Furthermore, During also argues that “hybridity is a useful concept” (pg, 151) as groups and individuals have several identities. This is later  explored in an example given in the workings of Stuart Hall where he implies the term ‘Black’ brings together many groups around the world from many countries.  During concludes that we are deeply attached to our “identities given to us as members of particular family, ethnicity, nation and/or gender” (pg, 152) also that “it is through [our] identities that [we] belong to communities” (pg, 152). I think this is such a remarkably strong statement and i agree with it as in society media influences our identities as it provides a stereotype for  groups,(such as people with blonde hair), and in this way we are tied (without much choice) to a particular group ‘community’ within society. This idea can be furthur expressed through the recent controversy in Australia; being the colourful description of identities by Clare Werbeloff as she described the event of a situation as ‘two wogs fighting’. She irnonicaly was given the identity of clare, the kings cross ‘Bogan!’

I found this reading to be one of the most intriguing ones

The article written by Mary Macken-Horaik (M-H) “tackles some analytical challenges of multimodal texts as they contribute to production of racial anxiety about asylum seekers”. M-H uses the children overboard affair in the article ‘the cruel sea’ published by the Daily telegraph as an example of a front page news text in order to explore the meanings which can be interpretedby the reader. She explores how this front page text has given its audience a false image of the asylum seekers which in essence produces a false meaning. In using visual texts and linguistic texts such as the example given the media are able to evoke a different response from the audience and deceive them of the truth. this further conveys how Media’s use of signs and meaning can have grave impact on the public perspectives of particular people.

Visual text is highly used by the media to support their version of a particular story, it is used in a way to promote such a meaning of a particular issue, it is also deemed effective as people almost always look and analyse the visual text first and use it to interpret meaning of a story before referring to the written text, an example of this could be seen in programmes such as currentaffair where the program selects certain pictures of either the victim or attacker in order to portray them to the public in a certain light. The visual text is more focused on as people tend to believe what they see rather than what they read. M-H describes how the division of visual text and linguistic text is used in this front page news article to produce anxiety and worry across the public and in this way visuals are able to provide strong influential interpretations without having knowledge of the text itself as ‘Words provide the facts’ and ‘images provide interpretations’. Through the manipulation of visual text media was able to present the asylum seekers in a negative light.

Macken-Horarik, M.  (2003) “The Children Overboard Affair” Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, pp. 1-16

This weeks reading explores the relationship between sign’s and meaning. The authors aims to convey how language can shape and influence the viewers perception of a particular event.

In her chapter Lukin examines how grammar and Nominalisation an be selectively used to distort and conceal real meanings of events presented to the viewers. She conveys how the very manipulation of simple language and grammar choices can influence upon people emotions and hence alter what they perceive a situation or occurrence, in this way media is able to directly choose the attitude a viewer has towards an event and hence influence their response. She explores this through using examples of the Iraq war in order to convey just how the choice of language is constructed and used to influence in the reporting of war. Using the example of the Iraq war Lukin shows how media can quite easily change what is being said and effectively reported on by simply changing the grammar of the language in which it is said. This directly affects the viewer because as a result of the process a different meaning is produced and hence acquired by the individual.

In presenting articles of the same event, Lukin clearly conveys how pros and nouns can effectively be used to exaggerate the same story. I can best relate to this in the viewing of the same criminal case being reported on by two different newspapers. The two articles i read came from the Australian and the telegraph. As i was making a comparison between them it was quite easily to pick out which of the two elaborated emotional prose in order to gain sympathy form the reader. The telegraph used selective nouns in which to exaggerate the unfortunate events told in the story.

The article further explores the concepts of language and how it can be  ‘selectivly’ used buy the Media in order to construct their own meanings truths of an event. Lukin warns that what we read in the media may on be the partial truth. I agree that media does in fact manipulate the truth to a certain extent however i also believe that audiences of the 21st century are wary of this fact and in effect we choose what we believe to be more reliable sources of information.

In this reading, Leslie Haddon poses many questions concerning researchers studding the evolving means of communication in our society, He does so by exploring the key concept; “repertoire of practices”, explaining the mass of audience undermined by new technologies enabling us to actively consume other mediums. Haddon describes a “participatory media culture emerging” (Shane, S) guided by the rapid advancements in technologies providing for us a diverse spectrum of ways to engage with many levels of media in one space at the one time. However, Haddon shows that it is not just the changes to technology creating infinite greater possibilities to be active, he explores the factors affecting our choice of what media to engage with, and what technologies we use to do this. Hence in the outline of four main areas in his article, Haddon shows how the evolving new media technologies are changing audiences use in today’s society.

Whilst trying to take into account all media forms, the examples given by Haddon throughout the chapter show a strong link between our “communication related practices” (pg.211) or ‘acts’ to the use of the mobile phone, this conveys the significance our contemporary society has placed on just one piece of continuously developing technology, this also emphasizes our dependence on mobiles in orientating our everyday life.  Haddon describes what actually constitutes as a ‘communication practice’, in doing this he offers us a broader definitions we may not otherwise naturally think about, (i found this to be quite interesting) in that the act of communication includes  ”giving out our mobile phone number, switching it of and switching it to voice mail” (pg.211) These practices can effectively shape ones repertoire and develope possible future practices.

Haddon proceeds to explain the evolution of the repertoire  by evaluating the factors contributing to the changes in communication choices. One factor is the quality of types of communication which influences our choice of media. The best example i can relate to, given in the text is the comparison between email and text messaging. Last weekend i was organising a function for a 21st where the only option of contact with the event managers was via email. I found this to be frustrating (to sum up in one word) due to the delays associated with email messaging. I received a response  a few days later outlining the problems with organising the function in the desired location. This emailing process continued to a point where it was necessary to exchange mobile phone numbers in order to organise the activity.  This shows the links between media technologies and how the use of one media can lead to another. Haddon describes that ”new innovations complement old ones” where new media practices evolve from old ones, this is described in the continuities between media where society now engages with types of media such as facebook “in announcing the birth of their child” (pg.212) where as previously one would contact their social worlds on a more personal level through the phone. In this way we can question the impact of our practices on our social ties.

Another factor emphasized in the article is social factors and how they influence our choice of communication. considering the idea of aappropriateness is important in deciding the right time to engage with media. A study conducted by Taylor and Harper in 2001 shows how people perceive ending a relationship via a text message as inappropriate yet network members are happy to compose a message while invested in a conversation with another person.

There are many issues present when considering why we use certain types of media to communicate our information, the one being our dependency on technologies to construct our daily lives however as it is also apparent in this text, contemporary society in particular is extremely willing to stay connected to the media and project the sense of always being available. I know myself that there’s this constant need to always bee available and this in result influences my the media i choose to engage with.

Society without a network would mean chaos! Because Networks are independent on themselves and other networks. In this way they are “self-reconfigurable, complex structures of communication that ensure…unity of purpose and flexibility…to adapt to the operating environment” (pg.5) This emphasizes Castells argument that “networks constitute the fundamental pattern of life” (pg.5) Furthermore, Castell explores how the process of interacting with networks has changed overtime, where information has always been signified knowledge however the way we process and deliver information has changed.

Castell goes on to describe the key to a most efficient network, as the result of  ”three major features of a network…flexibility, scalability, and survivability” (pg.5) Survivability being more central to the concept of  an effective netowrk as a decentralised network, supported by new technological environment. In this way as people become increasingly dependant on technology they become extremely dependant of networks to organise and provide structure for their daily lives. An example of this would be the phenomena of Internet, including email and use of facebook to enter our social worlds and organise and construct activities regularly for the day. The more technology we are introduced to the greater dependency we have on our networks, applying ourselves to a web of networks which form patterns of our everyday life.

Reference -

Castells, M. Excerpts from “Informationalism, Networks, and the Network Society: A theoretical Blueprint” From The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, pgs 3-7 & 36-45

Nightingale defines convergence as the flow of content across different media platforms. She argues the complexities of convergnce oin exisitng media industries referring to the process of internetisaton and mediatisation.

The reading examines the implications of how media is changing including the shift of devices we access certain mediums with.  Nightingale describes our access as a rather complex interaction as the evolution of ‘new media’ enables users to access media from a variety of devices and technologies all in the same space of time. For instance, we are able to experience a number of activities eg. e-mail, txt, file sharing, data downloading and television viewing all within the same space of time from a singular mobile phone device. The author infers their concern for the effects of furthur rapid media changes and the way in which the complexities of convergence are resolved.  

The focal argument presented in this article initiates a sense of awareness within the reader of the disruption and complexities involved in this new visioned trend; that being the transition of ‘old media’ (television and radio) toward a ‘new media’ ( Internet, mobile phones). This process  of convergence is challenged by desired differences between the two, in result changing our patterns of day to day media consumption and essentially the way in which we choose to interact with different mediums. It is argued that the way these challenges are resolved will shape the nature of the emerging digital world. This article poses the question of how society is going to deal with digitised media and the ramifications invlved in our adaption to the ‘new media’.

The saying ‘in with the new, and out with the old’ reflects the process of convergence descibed in this article as Nightingale argues the idea of ‘digitization’ as the driving force behind the immensely rapid changes made by traditional media in order to better accommodate the shift of audience formations. “Within five years, conventional terrestrial television programming Will be overtaken in viewer preferences by the explosion of online video content” (Kitney 2007 p.52, in Nightingale p24) This statement supports Nightingale’s core argument and concern presented in this text, conveying the convenient changes television has made over recent years in order to retain audience participation. 

The changes made of traditional media are described as forced changes where television is offering “enhancements” as a new way for audiences to participate in the viewing of the show. This is primarily due to the fact that traditional media is facing. They have even gone to the extent of paternering with online businesses eg. seven network with yahoo and Nine network with MSN in attempt to retain audience participation. In this way the key point put forth by the author is that television and traditional media is facing disintermediation, deconstruction and ‘re-segmentation of its audience ’ (p24) as an outcome of ‘new media’. This entails complexities and the birth of issues such as copyright laws and income , also posing the question of whether we will be receiving the same ‘richness’ found in traditional media. Furthurmore, i see the process of convergence as an interesting aspect reflecting the roles of media industries. People essentially are aware of the shift of broadcast to network however do we realy consider how complex our media interaction has become? Where the producer now has a direct relationship with ‘active’ consumers. Where our desires command sequential access to multiple media from a singular device. I agree with Nightingale view where the shift of media carries consequential complexities instead of making daily life less difficult.

Through conducting a sample study of participants and analysing their patterns of mobile phone usage the author can support the argument that ‘japanese teens mobile phone use is structured by the power geometries of place’.  The most prevalent idea argued by Ito in this article is that the rapid emergence of mobile media, ‘enables young people to escape the demands of existing social structures and parental survehilence’ (p120) Through making a comparison of Japanese youth’s use of mobile phones to that of the west, we can understand how particularly mobile media has served as this ‘escape way’ for societies youth; to an extent where mobile phone usage is becoming a prevalent issue and resulting in the change to the social & family interactive patterns we form on a day to day basis.

The Japanese youth and their ‘communications are overwhelming developed within the frame of adult-run-institutions of family and school’. I can identify with my own experience that up until now we have used the phone to converse with our peers and ‘shut out the parents and siblings’ (p137) for much needed privacy. I say ‘much needed’ because for students whom live with their parents find it difficult to acquire their privacy as parents attempt to continuously monitor their communication interactions.  The home land line previously applied limitations as to whom we can converse with, for instance; as described in the text; adolescence would be reluctant to ringing the opposite sex at home. With the emergence of the mobile phone, our communication interactions have broadened immensely where “for teenagers living with their parents…mobile phone can be the primary means for staying in touch’ (p124) this includes conversations occurring at late hours of the night, ‘overcoming the spatial boundary of the home’ (p137).

The majority of the Japanese youth has ‘less private space’ in comparison to the west. Their urban home is structured in a way where the idea of this ‘private space’ seems almost impossible. The mobile phone in effect has removed the ‘gate way’ (being the parents) to our active social worlds. The emergence of the mobile has created a boundary perceived as problamatic by parents in particular. This issue demonstrates the adverse afect of mobile communication on the interatcive relationship between the parental figure and youth and hence and the effect it has on their daily routines.  Parents continue to describe the use of mobile phones as an ‘obsession’ where kids are ‘constatly cheking their mobile email’ (p124). Social behaviour and mannerisn has also been presented as an issue linked to the argument describing youth abusing the privillages of the emrgence of the mobile. I agree that the mobile phone has influenced social behaviour and also plays a significant role in shaping youth’s identity as a high percenatage of society can opensly state “i cannot live without my mobile phone”.

Scannell’s concern presented in this article is that of broadcasting and predominately the more central media, including television & radio. He argues that our sense of dailiness is profoundly contributed by the media & the way in which it clearly structures our experience of time. The  core issue of broadcasting exerted by Scannell further explores the idea of how broadcasting is fundamentally linked to our experience of time & conversely how new technologies, for instance, the global Internet, alter this particular experience of time.

Time is a given constant in our rhythmic cycle of dailiness. It is essentially a concept of continuity! We are unable to alter it, hence it can be described as a subjective sense, it is in-dependant of our experience; universial and particularly institutional. We rely on time to regulate and co-ordinate our activities.“We live in the routine repetitive cycle of days, weeks, months, years.”(p.153) Here Scannell conveys the idea that time controls what activities we engage with, in everyday life, essentially it controls how we ultimately orientate our social worlds.  Deep in our consciousness we abide by our self created schedule of daily activities in which are repeated on a day to day basis & form a rhythmic routine in our lives. This is essentially where the media comes into play, as this ‘schedual’ is largely influenced by media profoundly affecting our experience of time.

Scannell places emphasis on particularly the programming of institutions. He conveys the idea that broadcasting and its “routinization” of programing are designed to compliment our rhythms of our day, “Breakfast radio and television thematizes itself of attending to the present moment” (p.148) In this way Scannell illustrates that these institutions are profoundly linked to what we are essentially engaging in. We continually tune in to the way the radio punctuates our day, for instance, one of my own personal routines would include listening to the kyle & Jackie O breakfast show on the way to uni each day. Another prime example would be the sunrise morning show on television, the segments are programmed to begin early as 5:30am -6:00am as this is the time people awake to begin there working day. News Broadcasts are scatted across space of time and linked to hours of arrival to the home by the working society. In essence the program of the station is closely mirroring the types of activities we are engaging with during our day, for instance the news is broadcasted at the specified segments mentioned because that’s when the majority of the population are able to become active public viewers from the their private space, that, being the home. This also conveys that our rhythms of our day are still profoundly connected with industrialization time.

Furthermore scannell argues that media contributes to rhythms of our day as our individual experience of time is linked to social order and predominately our social world is entirely reoccurring through the media.  Scannell goes on to describe the extent of out exposure and use of the media  in everyday activities and how conversely media is engaged in these activities on a consistent routine. Scannell also emphasises our need to stick to this routine as it provides self fulfilment.

SOURCE -  O’Shaughnessy, Michael, and Jane Stadler. “What do the Media Do to Us? Media and Society” Media and Society: An Introduction, Third Edition. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press, 2005, 31-58