What Do You See in a Mirror??

As usual I’ve written a bundle of blogs for my BCM assignment. This semester entailed writing as a researcher. Having only finished my last blog a few minutes ago, I can tell you, I know my blogging strength has grown, and I can appreciate how important blogs can be. I think this has been my most beneficial semester yet, which is quite refreshing. Being able to connect with my mum and connect some dots has helped me open my mind, and engage with a wider blogsphere.

When I started blogging again this semester I looked at lifehack.orgs post most influential bloggers.

I looked at some of these top bloggers and took note on how they write and what they write about. The two people I thought were most inspiring were “Meet Andrew Sullivan” (thedailydish.com) and “Harvey Levin” (tmz.com).

In research it’s important to know your topic, and it was evident within these blogs. Because they knew so much about their topic I felt like it helped them write their blogs easily, and concisely. They were straight to the point, making it easy to read quickly, which I feel is a good quality in blogs.

I then looked at other bloggers from my BCM course, to take note on how they wrote their responses and set out their blogs. This helped me see what sounded good, what caught attention and what didn’t look so good. It helped me understand that being too formal sounded a bit dull, and having interesting pictures was a good way to lure people into the blog.

I also looked at tips for writing blogs:

http://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/- this website had some helpful hints how to write successfully.

My favourite thing it said was tip 3: you don’t have to work work work and give 110%. I think this was my greatest block to writing blogs effectively in the past.

I decided to take it slowly and then things suddenly came to me. Instead of thinking about what things other people might like to hear, I wrote as if I was talking to myself.  Beforehand, I had been trying too hard to write my blogs, sounding smart, how I can be better than the others. Whenever I think, funnily enough, things don’t come to me. So instead I’ve just been myself, and voila!, things just came to me. I may not have beaten other people, but I’ve bettered* myself.

* (Bettered is highlighted because it sort of looks like battered, I did not batter myself in this process, promise).

Looking over all my blogs there were a few things that stood out:

• I understand more about mum. My favourite blog “Hidden TV Love” really connected me to mum and helped me understand how important little things can be in life. It showed the different perspective that being a researcher can have on how I understand things. Instead of assuming things, asking questions can gain a deeper knowledge of things that I have never thought of asking.

• Technology was referred to within practically all my blogs, from this session and others. It’s clearly a very important part of today’s society connecting the whole world and how virtually everything is done in today’s society. It impacts how we do things, jobs and everything!

• Google is my best friend: this is possibly one of the most important things learnt from this task. Since our blogs were a research task, I think every single person who did this assignment would have to agree, that if we didn’t have Google, we would not have much to say, and what we would have to say we wouldn’t have any evidence to back it up.

This semester of blogging I feel was an important revolution to my blogging world. Firstly, I actually don’t hate blogging anymore. The topics given were things that were relatable, which made it easy to talk about and those personal touches made it interesting to research. I was Googling how to be interested in researching and stumbled upon another blogger in my position. http://hypervision2.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/how-to-enjoy-your-research.html . I thought it was funny, because this shows how we Google everything, and that possibly this lady’s answer, is that she isn’t emotionally connected enough to her research topic.

The biggest help (besides Google) was looking at other student blogs. They helped me form meaning and give pointers about how to go around what I needed to say. I usually have a good idea, but never know how to express it correctly. I also looked at how they structured their responses, what looked good and what didn’t, such as font and making words stand out. This influenced me to use bold words to highlight what my main points are.

Looking at other blogs showed me that in my opinion, writing too formally is quite bland. When I read a blog it’s not fun to be baffled with an abundance of boring words.

Though this was a research assignment, I feel like there’s no point doing a bunch of research if the physical appearance of the blog isn’t fitting and boring. So I tried harder to make my blog more accessible by adding a “Media/ Audience/ Place” tab, making it easier to reach my blogs.

I used a simple image and heading of “Something to Talk About”, making it easy to understand what I’m trying to convey.

By the end I tried to convey my points more clearly with bold words, and easy to read paragraphs. Using more references and referencing other bloggers was also a way to bring people in, and gain a better understanding of where my ideas were coming from.

Another feature I added was “categories” which I previously hadn’t had in my blogs. I feel like all together my blog site has grown and matured.

All together I’ve established a stronger blog. It looks and reads better. And the topics I wrote about were interesting. I put in effort to research and connect to my own ideas. Research isn’t just about what others say and choosing a side, it’s also about adding ones input, and I feel like I’ve grown to accomplish that.

My Helpful Sites:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/top-10-most-inspirational-bloggers-the-world.html

http://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/8-things-every-blogging-writer-should-know

P.S: The answer to my title is “Reflection”, since it’s my reflection and all.

You’re Funny Looking *Takes Photo*

There’s so many times in my life where I’ve taken photos of people just because they look funny. The person doesn’t know I took a photo, like why would I ask them for permission?, what if they say no?, then I’ll have to get rid of my photo which I think is hilarious. What guidelines do I actually need to follow? Are there even guidelines? I researched into this area and there are two main documents which I found helpful in describing the issue One by Arts Law Centre of Australia (n.d ) and another by Colberg (2013). Outlining do’s and dont’s.

I’ll start off with showing you my favourite picture I took in public. The train is always a fun place to see some interesting people. In the foreground here is my friend josh, being seedy, and behind him is a lady sleeping. Her mouth lazily open, black Audrey Hepburn sunnies and her cascading double chin, there’s just something about her that gets me giddy. But, am I allowed to share this photo?

Arts Law Centre of Australia (n.d.) outlines that “there are no publicity or personality rights in Australia, and there is no right to privacy that protects a person’s image”. So, technically my image is legal. Though, there are some guidelines which may deem itself as an offence. Arts Law Centre of Australia (n.d.) explains that sexually arousing images are against the law described in the Surveillance Devices Act 1999. I’m sort of on the fence with my good looking sleeping beauty back there.

New Zealand Police Department (n.d.) outline some other areas which images are illegal:

• Is naked, in underclothes, showering, toileting etc.
• Is unaware of being filmed or photographed.
• Has not given consent to be filmed or photographed.

Even though these are New Zealand, they’re also relevant to Australia, reinforced through my other resources.

Davidson & Gattineau (2011) give a thorough understanding of laws regarding what’s not allowed under the sections of

• Criminal liability regarding trespassing and offensive images under the crimes act 1958 and summary offences act 1966
• Civil liability regarding nuisance and breach of confidence, contracts and copyright

Nowadays with all the technology in the world, it’s easy for people to take a photo and upload it to social media. Snapchat and Instagram are growing. Snapchat has over 100 million daily users and Instagram have over 300million monthly users (Adcorp n.d.). These sites are enablers of spreading public photos without peoples consent. In a way, posting onto Instagram is some way of a normal person being a photographer, which stresses the need to be lawfully and ethically aware of its consequences.

Colberg’s (2013) article deems itself useful in this sense. Colberg  looks at ethical dimensions of public photos. “Given that many people just don’t want to be photographed without their consent, photographers should be more careful about this. In other words, it might be perfectly legal to photograph someone in a public space, but something being legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical as well” (Colberg 2013).

In looking at ethics and relating it to my sleeping friend, I never actually thought about any ethical decisions must be known. I took the photo, sent it to my friend, he posted it as his profile picture, people can then download it, now I’ve re- posted it on an open website, so it can spread fast. Who knows the lady might see it and come after me.

Furthermore, Colberg (2013) states “in actuality, it would be impractical to ask every person in the frame whether they’re OK with a picture. That said, if someone clearly does not want to be photographed or if they are for their photo to be deleted after the fact, and then I do think those wishes have to be respected.”  Which in itself is simple to understand, and it’s a basic principle to follow.

So over all, yes you can take photos of people in public spaces. Here are some basic guidelines, and it’s important to think ethically. Just make sure you know that no one will be hurt in the process and you’re good to go.

Reading through other blogs also helped me understand multiple dimensions of this stuff. Many other bloggers undertaking the same research cited Colberg here are some I found interesting…

https://tiarneblackwell.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/photographing-in-public-spaces-are-ethics-essential/

https://thechangeiscoming.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/the-rules-of-phones-in-spaces/

References

Adcorp n.d., The Rise of Snapchat and Instagram, accessed 4/10/15, http://www.adcorp.com.au/news-blog/The-Rise-of-Snapchat-and-Instagram

Arts Law Centre of Australia n.d., Street Photographers Rights’, accessed 4/10/15, http://www.artslaw.com.au/info-sheets/info-sheet/street-photographers-rights/

Colberg, J 2013, The Ethics of Street Photography, accessed 4/10/15, http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/the_ethics_of_street_photography/

Davidson, M Gattineau, T 2011, Taking Photographs in Public’: What’s Lawful and What’s Not? Report to Centre for Contemporary Photography, Monash University.

New Zealand Police Dept, n.d., accessed 4/10/15, http://www.police.govt.nz/faq/what-are-the-rules-around-taking-photos-or-filming-in-a-public-place

Cinema: 70’s and Now

Well who doesn’t love the movies? Overly priced tickets, food, popcorn over the seats and people who use phones yay. We can almost honestly say we’ve all been to the movies at least once in our lifetime. The people we go with and who we are seated around each influence our judgement of the movies. It is in fact, a public space. To welcome a more thorough understanding of movies as a shared space, I’ve interviewed my mum Mary once again. Her perspective of movies back in the mid-70’s is quite interesting, in order to see how people undertook the whole cinema outing.

Firstly, Torsten Hagerstrand’s 3 time- spatial constraints will help guide my differentiation between movie attending then and now.

His 3 constraints are:

• Capability constraints– limitations on the activity of individuals because of their biological structure or the tools they can command.
• Coupling constraints– limitations that define where, when, and for how long, the individual has to join other individuals, tools, and materials in order to produce, consume, and transact (Naess, P 2006).
• Authority constraints– limitations on the domain or time-space entity within which things and events are under the control of a given individual or a given group.

(Corbett n.d.)

My body of writing will highlight how movie going back in the 70s and now highlight where these three constraints may come into practice.

Mum described movies being quite an outing when she was growing up. Being one of 9 made it quite impossible for them all to go to the movies together.  As one half of the family was able to go to the movie, the other half would have to stay at home (Capability). Back then it was important to dress accordingly in their nice clothes. Mum loved sporting her knee length skirt with her t-shirt tucked in and white sandals (Funny how trends come back right). Being Italian, the family thought it was important to fit into western culture, and the way they dressed was how they tried to camouflage into society (Coupling). Nowadays there’s less thought given in what to wear, and it’s not such an important “event”. Jeans and thongs are quite appreciated where I come from (Bit over the top for some actually).

Not only dress was important to note, but also money. Back then it was much cheaper for families to go to the movies, with less time constraints (Authority). The average ticket price in the 70s was around $3.50 whereas now we can spend well over $20 for just one ticket (Screen Australia 2014).

Now, because of women working and the costs of things making people start work earlier, there’s less time for families to attend the movies all together (Coupling) (MPAA 2012).

It’s funny because back then they had less choice with their movies and seating arrangement. Though now, there’s so many “classes” that you could go to. Gold Class, V-Max, normal, the whole aura of the movie theatre tends to have changed (Lowbrow 2014). It’s not just for a social outing anymore, now it’s more of a way to be with while being away. (Cork 1995).

She reflected that it was quite funny, yet embarrassing back when they went movies, because the Aussie kids would be allowed to buy their food from the cinema, but mums family thought the food was rubbish and overpriced so ensured they brought home packed food (Some things never change).

When it was just the kids going, since mum was too young to drive, she’d need to convince one of the older ones to take her. So, naturally as siblings do she’d need to bribe them somehow. Doing their chores or simply taking the blame was a good enough swap. (Coupling, Capability)(Naess, P 2006).

Back in those days theatres weren’t just part of the streetscape, it was also an important part of social life (Cork 1995). This was one of the only times mum would go out, and do something away from working or being at home. Nowadays there’s a myriad of options. Going to the movies was an experience back then. Time and thought was put into what to wear, when to go, what to see. But all that’s changed now. Technologies triumph in today’s world has influenced the move going outing full throttle. Especially with the introduction of Netflix, a legal way to watch an abundance of movies on our high speed internet’s, at a low cost, in the comfort of our own home (Authority).

As you can see, movie going over time has made some dramatic changes. The economy of the world and influences of technology have been major impacts in how people attend movies and why. It’s important to note, that movies have long been a form of outing, and even though it may not be as formal and exciting now as it used to be, it’s still important tool in connecting people and history.

 

References

Corbett, J n.d., Torsten Hagerstrand: Time Geography, accessed 1/10/2015, http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/29

Cork, K 1995, Cinema as “Place”: The case of the picture theatres in a group of towns and villages in the Central West of New South Wales, accessed 1/10, 15, http://www.rossthorne.com/downloads/CINEMA_AS_PLACE.PDF (Found this one of the more interesting reads)

Lowbrow, L 2014, 5 Ways Going to the Movies has Changed Since the 1970s, accessed 1/10/15, http://flashbak.com/5-ways-going-to-the-movies-has-changed-since-the-1970s-24946/

MPAA 2012, Theatrical Market Statistics Report, accessed 1/10/15, http://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2012-Theatrical-Market-Statistics-Report.pdf

Naess, P 2006, Urban Structure Matters, Residential Location, Car Dependence and Travel Behaviour, Routledge.

Screen Australia 2014, Audiovisual markets: Cinema, accessed 1/10/15, http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/research/statistics/cinemaboxofficeprices.aspx