...that I am ridiculously in love with hippos?
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Techy Complexities
Publishing ain't hard...however with all of the different ways to link, post and subscribe being promoted on every website it can be a world that becomes increasingly overwhelming. I have just spent half an hour of precious time (I should otherwise be dedicating to reading) on researching the different ways in which I can attach a Twitter widget to a blog...and may I tell you it was NOT a successful mission. I currently publish my thoughts and innermost feelings (not really) on three different platforms on the internet all of which are widely accessible to me. I have multiple advanced publishing networks through 3G network on my iPhone, my home wireless connection on my Macbook Air and through the temperamental Uniwide access at Uni. I can constantly be updating and publishing and for me this is becoming so second nature I forget at the end of the day where the distinction lies between the dissemination of my information publicly and privately.
Given the advancement of technology, publishing has embarked on an interesting journey over the years from the early days, printing press to the bulk production of daily newspapers. Yet today, the news industry is faced with another challenge. How do they compete with the growing online world of alternative and often international news sources?
A major response from newspapers around the world is to offer an alternative method of accessing their newspapers, in a digital format. Yet in order to encourage growth as a business, consumers can only access the e-news through a pay-wall.
One major advancement Australia is making in the next few years in regards to technology is the development of the National Broadband Network which the government is rolling out billions of dollars for. In the long run, the government claim that the benefits will make the extortionate initial spend worthwhile, however at the rate that technology is developing, my guess is that the need for a NBN will end up being redundant as there will probably be some sort of satellite internet connection available worldwide which will inevitably solve all of our problems ("tech-y" language is clearly not my strongest suit). Regardless, given that the government is going ahead with this project, the NBN will provide people who could not originally access the internet so easily with chances and opportunities to keep up to date with the online world and have access to the latest technologies to help them in daily life. The online world of publishing will yet again continue its changing course as new users inundate the forums and begin to access their online 'voices'. The NBN is aiming to be a non-exclusive device to give everyone no matter where they are situated access to the online world.
Given the advancement of technology, publishing has embarked on an interesting journey over the years from the early days, printing press to the bulk production of daily newspapers. Yet today, the news industry is faced with another challenge. How do they compete with the growing online world of alternative and often international news sources?
A major response from newspapers around the world is to offer an alternative method of accessing their newspapers, in a digital format. Yet in order to encourage growth as a business, consumers can only access the e-news through a pay-wall.
A pay wall essentially works through restricting some or all sections of a website until the customer contributes a payment to the paper.
There are multiple opinions on pay walls and many papers who originally were against them are continuously turning to implementing them in light of plummeting numbers of their readership. Felix Salmon (2011) shed light on one of the most notable papers in the world, “The New York Times is taking a more open-door approach, on the theory that the pleasure of reading its content will be enough to persuade a large number of people to pay.” Dan Gilmore further explains, “The Times’s paywall…doesn’t put up a firm blockade the way, say, the Times of London has done. Non-subscribers can read up to a certain number of articles before being asked to pay, and there are numerous ways to get around what is already not an onerous system.” Dan Gilmore (2011).
Given the multiple news scouring sites and blogs at our disposal over the internet, I find it difficult to understand specifically how paywalls are resulting in a gain in profit for businesses. Personally, I would be deterred from a website asking for me to pay, not because I am unethical, only because I know that through a platform such as Twitter I can receive links to alternate news sources. As Steve Busfield (2010) states “If you erect a universal pay wall around your content then it follows you, (you) are turning away from a world of openly shared content".
One major advancement Australia is making in the next few years in regards to technology is the development of the National Broadband Network which the government is rolling out billions of dollars for. In the long run, the government claim that the benefits will make the extortionate initial spend worthwhile, however at the rate that technology is developing, my guess is that the need for a NBN will end up being redundant as there will probably be some sort of satellite internet connection available worldwide which will inevitably solve all of our problems ("tech-y" language is clearly not my strongest suit). Regardless, given that the government is going ahead with this project, the NBN will provide people who could not originally access the internet so easily with chances and opportunities to keep up to date with the online world and have access to the latest technologies to help them in daily life. The online world of publishing will yet again continue its changing course as new users inundate the forums and begin to access their online 'voices'. The NBN is aiming to be a non-exclusive device to give everyone no matter where they are situated access to the online world.
Dan Gillmor (2011) ‘The New York Times paywall: the faint smell of success’, The Guardian, August 3, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/03/new-york-times-paywall>
Salmon, Felix (2011) ‘How The New York Times Paywall is Working’, Wired, August 14, <http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/08/new-york-times-paywall/>
Busfield, Steve (2010) ‘Guardian editor hits back at paywalls’, The Guardian, January 25, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/guardian-editor-paywalls> (The Editor of The Guardian, against paywalls).
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Old-school is Cool.
For most people, publishing seems like a very straight forward term, yet when one delves into an explanation, it proves seemingly not as simple as anticipated. The concept of 'publishing' can perhaps best be described as, "the process of production and dissemination of literature or information — the activity of making information available to the general public.” (Wikipedia)
The advancement of technology has allowed for some huge changes to the ways in which information is published and accessible. One of these changes can be particularly seen through the development of the e-reader. Judging from the movement from one year having a hard-copy 200 page plus paper reader to the next year where we are asked to read 20 readings online and abolish any form of tangible textbook or reader, one can already see both the effects of technology on the life of a student and as a result the prominence of technology in particular the e-reader.
Currently there are approximately 100 varieties of e-readers available on the market and considering their novelty only a year ago it seems that in the short space of 12 months they have quickly become an acceptable household item.
The reception of the idea of an e-reader has not been so widely embraced as I feel most people like to keep the notion of a book something tangible and able to be flicked through at leisure and not left to the pressing of buttons to simulate a new page of words on a screen.
The rate at which the world is changing and adapting to new technologies never ceases to amaze me, however one thing I know I am pretty adamant about keeping in tact is the beauty and tradition of owning and reading a book with one part ink and the other part paper sourced from trees beautifully bound at the spine.
Some of the problems associated with transformation of books into a digital format can be seen through the issues faced by Kindle users who raised the question of ownership given that, at the end of the day they may have purchased the e-book however Kindle still have the power to erase the book in the face of copyright breaches. John Naughton (2009) highlights some of the issues facing the e-transformation of information. "Technology enables content owners to assert a level of control over the reader that would be deemed unconscionable - and unacceptable - in the world of print." Although e-readers can allow the user to travel with the possession of over 100 books, they cannot allow the user to have tangible rights to the literature and in turn the user is unable to lend, read and hold the text as they would if it were in its traditional form. This lack of possession thus potentially leads towards an "arteriosclerotic narrowing of freedoms" (Naughton 2009).
I feel that although it is inevitable with the decline in book sales and closure of book stores such as Borders that the e-reader will saturate the market, it will always be important for people to have something that will remind them of past experiences they shared with a tangible book. In saying this I am directly referring to book sensations that have occurred over the past few decades the biggest being Harry Potter. The experience in itself of awaiting eagerly the release date and then rushing to the book store to collect your pre-paid hard copy of Rowling's most recent release was phenomenal and one I don't think exists through the relationship of a reader and their e-reader device.
Rowling herself mentioned that the e-reader is perhaps a generational thing, however I would have to disagree with her there, being in a younger generation and after speaking to a wide group of friends, one of which has just finished a 600 page paper-back thriller, they all said the same thing. That no matter what, they will always buy and borrow paper books ahead of any technological device. And what can I say? I wholeheartedly agree.
‘Publishing’, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing>
Naughton, John (2009) ‘The original Big Brother is watching you on Amazon Kindle’ The Guardian, July 26, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/26/amazon-kindle-book-deletions>
Lacy, Sarah (2012) ‘Confessions of a Publisher: “We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us”’, pandodaily, January 26, <http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-publisher-were-in-amazons-sights-and-theyre-going-to-kill-us/>
The advancement of technology has allowed for some huge changes to the ways in which information is published and accessible. One of these changes can be particularly seen through the development of the e-reader. Judging from the movement from one year having a hard-copy 200 page plus paper reader to the next year where we are asked to read 20 readings online and abolish any form of tangible textbook or reader, one can already see both the effects of technology on the life of a student and as a result the prominence of technology in particular the e-reader.
Currently there are approximately 100 varieties of e-readers available on the market and considering their novelty only a year ago it seems that in the short space of 12 months they have quickly become an acceptable household item.
The reception of the idea of an e-reader has not been so widely embraced as I feel most people like to keep the notion of a book something tangible and able to be flicked through at leisure and not left to the pressing of buttons to simulate a new page of words on a screen.
The rate at which the world is changing and adapting to new technologies never ceases to amaze me, however one thing I know I am pretty adamant about keeping in tact is the beauty and tradition of owning and reading a book with one part ink and the other part paper sourced from trees beautifully bound at the spine.
Some of the problems associated with transformation of books into a digital format can be seen through the issues faced by Kindle users who raised the question of ownership given that, at the end of the day they may have purchased the e-book however Kindle still have the power to erase the book in the face of copyright breaches. John Naughton (2009) highlights some of the issues facing the e-transformation of information. "Technology enables content owners to assert a level of control over the reader that would be deemed unconscionable - and unacceptable - in the world of print." Although e-readers can allow the user to travel with the possession of over 100 books, they cannot allow the user to have tangible rights to the literature and in turn the user is unable to lend, read and hold the text as they would if it were in its traditional form. This lack of possession thus potentially leads towards an "arteriosclerotic narrowing of freedoms" (Naughton 2009).
I feel that although it is inevitable with the decline in book sales and closure of book stores such as Borders that the e-reader will saturate the market, it will always be important for people to have something that will remind them of past experiences they shared with a tangible book. In saying this I am directly referring to book sensations that have occurred over the past few decades the biggest being Harry Potter. The experience in itself of awaiting eagerly the release date and then rushing to the book store to collect your pre-paid hard copy of Rowling's most recent release was phenomenal and one I don't think exists through the relationship of a reader and their e-reader device.
Rowling herself mentioned that the e-reader is perhaps a generational thing, however I would have to disagree with her there, being in a younger generation and after speaking to a wide group of friends, one of which has just finished a 600 page paper-back thriller, they all said the same thing. That no matter what, they will always buy and borrow paper books ahead of any technological device. And what can I say? I wholeheartedly agree.
‘Publishing’, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing>
Naughton, John (2009) ‘The original Big Brother is watching you on Amazon Kindle’ The Guardian, July 26, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/26/amazon-kindle-book-deletions>
Lacy, Sarah (2012) ‘Confessions of a Publisher: “We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us”’, pandodaily, January 26, <http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-publisher-were-in-amazons-sights-and-theyre-going-to-kill-us/>
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Warm, Wise, Witty, Wonderful: Wendy.
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Three weeks ago, my news reporting class at UNSW was required to interview local celebrity Wendy Harmer in a news press conference style. Wendy attended our lecture and our aim as students covering the piece was to report on the new launch of her website The Hoopla. The Hoopla is an interesting site and one that many would argue (including myself) boasts nothing majorly different to its brothers and sisters otherwise known as New Idea or Mamamia. Overall it proved to be a rather interesting interview, regardless of whether or not Harmer let her guard down or not. I certainly walked away with a much greater sense of respect and admiration for a woman of which I had only previously recognised as a well known name. Following is the article I submitted as part of my assessment - happy days.
~
Thursday 1st September 2011
By Rebecca Mason Fashion editor and opinion columnist Georgina Safe will perhaps now think twice before calling plus sized models both ‘fat and ugly;’ after the ‘whack around the head’ she received from the media queen: Wendy Harmer.
Harmer insists that online media ‘is the most fun you can have,’ and you can see how through the ease with which her opinion articles such as: Size Apartheid. We’re over it. reach out to the women within her latest project: The Hoopla.
With one of the most well known faces in Australian media, Wendy Harmer who has spent the last 30 years offering her opinion through the radio, TV and newspapers, has recently launched her new website: The Hoopla, aimed at the female 35+ age bracket.
Littered with Australian colloquialisms, Harmer, 55 exudes an excitement for her new website through the passion she displays for women alone and particularly those in her similar demographic.
“There are more women (aged) 45-65 than in any other age group…why wouldn’t you want to cater to these people?”
And that is exactly what The Hoopla aims to do. Fostering a balance between opinion pieces, recipes, and wellbeing advice; The Hoopla finds a creative platform that both connects and caters to mature Australian women, who quite simply, as Harmer puts it: “are not catered for in commercial talk radio and marginalised online.”
“It is a space I thought I could happily occupy,” and with the response of over 2000 comments on various opinion pieces in the short space of only three months, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Happily married to environmentalist husband Brendan, with two young children, the online media sphere is perhaps now more than ever appropriate to her needs. Providing an example of the process of a typical ‘Hoopla’ story, Harmer described stumbling across fashion editor Georgina Sparks’ controversial article early one morning in the Sydney Morning Herald. Sparks who wrote the opinion piece on her qualms with plus sized models was certainly in for a surprise when Harmer had her retaliating article published and online within an hour, rapidly attracting praise in the form of comments, twitter re-tweets and even multiple ‘Like’ s on The Hoopla Facebook page. Harmer assures us: “Now that, is really fun…and is as fun as it’s going to get.”
With an abundant record of highs and lows, Harmer exudes both a vibrant and animated personality reflective of the decades she attributed to both the stage and microphone, yet simultaneously also an unassertive humbleness accredited to her unpretentious and at times challenging childhood.
“I think that one of the hardest things …is to actually get to know yourself and have the courage of your opinions and say what you think and not let it bother you anymore. It has been a journey for me to get to the point where I am much (more) confident in who I am and what I think about things. The only person I am competitive with, is myself.”
With prospects to further her name in the Australian political sphere, combined with her popular children’s book turning into a musical; managing The Hoopla and keeping it active in the online media world remains a top priority in Harmer’s eyes. If there were an award for ‘multi-media-platform conquering’ this one-of-a-kind comedienne/journalist would have it sitting alongside her best selling novels: Pearlie and Farewell My Ovaries.
Over many decades, Harmer has made a vital contribution to the Australian media landscape and through The Hoopla -her latest project- has empowered women previously unacknowledged in the online world.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
I think I want to marry you.
Well maybe not you...but certainly Dallas Green from City and Colour. I know it has been a while since my last post but what better way to kick off my new bloggin' period than with a song that not only is wickedly inspiring but also so melancholic and truly and simply b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. if you haven't already heard it...well I will forgive you momentarily. Get on it y'all!
Once again. Dallas Green...MARRY ME!
Once again. Dallas Green...MARRY ME!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Oh how I completely endanger the integrity of my bank account.
At times I really feel as though my bank account should live in fear of my spending patterns. I really have concluded that it is not normal to play a game with your account to see how close you can come each week to a balance of $0. Most people usually have a base of say $2000...let's just say I like to live on the wild side.
Regardless my point being this week's little endeavour is to destroy my balance with items from Topshop. I fear this is not the first time I have discussed this word on this blog and that in itself says a lot. My excuse this week however is that my birthday is quickly approaching and suitably I definitely need an outfit (inclusive of dress, shoes, and perhaps even extending to glasses and tights?)
So my shopping bag currently consists of beauty #1:
Hello pretty....
The danger with the dress is it is very exclusive and probably only going to get a couple of wears...however let me enlighten you with my next product which i like to pertain to being....diverse.
GAH need I say any more to express my utter lust?
My credit card is currently still in my wallet...but if I do make progress (which is looking promising) I promise this purchase will deliver all sorts of little luxuries.
Regardless my point being this week's little endeavour is to destroy my balance with items from Topshop. I fear this is not the first time I have discussed this word on this blog and that in itself says a lot. My excuse this week however is that my birthday is quickly approaching and suitably I definitely need an outfit (inclusive of dress, shoes, and perhaps even extending to glasses and tights?)
So my shopping bag currently consists of beauty #1:
The danger with the dress is it is very exclusive and probably only going to get a couple of wears...however let me enlighten you with my next product which i like to pertain to being....diverse.
My credit card is currently still in my wallet...but if I do make progress (which is looking promising) I promise this purchase will deliver all sorts of little luxuries.
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