Media Niche: Australian Shorts

Ethnography, put simply is ‘the writing of culture’ (Atkinson, 1992) where the researcher assumes ‘the role of an apprentice’ who aren’t afraid to ‘ask dumb questions, repeat themselves, make obvious mistakes, or become the subject of ridicule.’ (Hasbrouck, 2018).  

I have chosen to study Australian short films in relation to audience engagement and discussion as this is an area of genuine personal interest and has purpose that according to Murchison, J. (2010) will be more successful. My choice has evolved from questions stemming from my own curiosity rather than from any one else. Which leads to being able to put more passion and energy into researching and forming a digital artefact, that I’ll be able to be proud of and have use for in my future.

In the last two years, I’ve been part of several short film productions with various roles in production and post production while completing a Diploma of Film. I’ve discovered a profound interest in this media form, its artistry, potential for collaboration and mode of pure creative expression to capture a single moment in a beautiful, humorous or emotional way. Only after beginning my studies in film did I start to watch and enjoy many short films. I want to explore the wider community in getting to know who shares my passion and who are my potential audience.

It seems more common for feature films and television shows to be at the centre of conversations but I want people to see the potential of this short films with its simplicity and suitability in our fast paced-time-poor world. Short films are accessible, undemanding of much time, commitment or personal investment and are at the core of storytelling, sharing culture and emotion. As a filmmaker, I want to be able to engage with my audience and understand their desires and expectations, what better way to achieve this then through an ethnography.

Short films

The Art of Carrying Fruit from Claire Couson. I was the assistant producer to which it screened at Internacional Queer Film Festival Playa del Carmen;QUEER-Streifen Regensburg and A Student Film Festival on LGBTQ Elders

Recommendation: Concern for welfare, watch via SBS on Demand https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1155347011855/queer-for-short-concern-for-welfare

 
References

Daymon Christine and Holloway Immy (2011) ‘Ethnography’, Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. Routledge: New York.

Hasbrouck, Jay, (2018) ‘Cultivating Curiosity’, Ethnographic Thinking: From Method to Mindset, Routledge: New York. pp 9 – 15.

Murchison, Julian (2010) Ethnography Essentials: Designing, Conducting and Presenting Your Research, John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco.

 

Film Studies: How Analysis strengthens Production Quality

There is much to learn by constructively analysing existing film from both understanding it’s weaknesses and strengths along with its reception with audience and the reasoning of how its features excelled or on the other hand failed to support the film’s purpose. Techniques and technology used in a good film should be used optimally with what production resources are available in order to support the films main purpose. Without the knowledge, foundations and required critical skills there is a direct sabotage on a films potential and production quality. To reproduce such cinematic techniques, an individual should be able to visualise which is best through examples.

Source: via youtube

Previously, I wrote briefly on my viewing of Godzilla (1954). I was particularly interested in its production and my amazement of the amount of effort and detail in creating such a set to allow such a film to exist in its time in contrast with today’s normalised computer-generated imagery (CGI). Tsuburaya cleverly used “low-angle camera placement” and “rapid back-and-forth edits” to enhance Godzilla’s size (Ryfle, 1998) whom was played by an actor, Nakajiima in a 100 kilogram suit that according to Nakajiima reached 140 degrees celsius inside. Today there is no need for a human actor but according to Nakajiima it “Lacks the human touch” (Hongo, 2014). The limitation of technology can be seen as an advantage used to strengthen the film and its authenticity. After each miniature was beautifully built it was set “ablaze” by “kerosene soaked rags” (Ragone 2007). In my opinion this is truly more impressive considering the realness of a physical fire needed in the special effects process that today’s technology allows with much less effort. This acknowledgement is important with film not being truly understood without film studies and history.

Source: dangerousminds.net

Source: Gojira (1954) uploaded by FilmStruck via youtube

Hongo, J. & Tsuneoka, C. 2014. “Godzilla Was Very Different 60 Years Ago”, The Wall Street Journal (accesible: https://www.wsj.com/articles/godzilla-was-a-very-different-beast-60-years-ago-1414666269)

Ryfle, S. and Goldstein, B., 2007. Godzilla 50th Anniversary Pressbook. Available from: http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007/12/06/godzilla-50th-anniversary-pressbook/

Essays, UK. 2013. Gojira 1954 And Godzilla 1998 Film Studies Essay. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/film-studies/gojira-1954-and-godzilla-1998-film-studies-essay.php?vref=1

#NotBuyingIt: Part 2

In my last post I introduced the anti-sexism hashtag “#NotBuyingIt” that challenges  corporations to re-assess their negative portrayal of gender in advertising. “The main goal of the campaign is to make consumers think twice about their purchasing power” (Imran Siddiquee, social media coordinator of MissRepresentation.org) In this post I will further expand on the case study, looking at the organisation and the responses of perpetrators that have been particularly targeted by the campaign.

Some past examples include:

• X-Men apocalypses promotional material depicting Jennifer Lawerence being strangled: The advertisement was pulled with Twentieth Century Fox claiming: “Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women.”

• CNN: In an article, “irrelevant details” about the mother of a teen who died in police custody, “The Representation Project sprung into action with a #NotBuyingIt campaign. Within three hours, CNN had removed the description.” (The Representation Project, 2016)

• Barbie: With current under representation and sexism of women in technology industries, its quite shocking to see Barbie supporting this divide and reinforcing such stereotypes of a lower female competence. Whether this was intentional or accidental, it generated massive outcry with Barbie issuing an apology and promising to an apology and a promise: “all Barbie titles moving forward will be written to inspire girls imaginations and portray an empowered Barbie character.”
  Source: Twitter

In 2015, it was claimed by the Representation Project that they had “found that Super Bowl 50’s ads were more respectful to women than previous years”.

While its difficult to measure whether these are a direct result of actions made by the campaign, The Representation Projects campaign is definitely a major influencer with  “30,000+ people have downloaded the #NotBuyingIt app”(Miss Representaton-Twitter, 2014) approximately a month after its release. In 2013, during the super bowl it generated “more than 10,000 tweets and reached more than 8 million people on Twitter” (spokesman for Miss Representation, citing statistics from Topsy and Hashtag.org.)

On the other hand, its questionable how effective calling out sexism via #NotBuyingIt will have on a brand. With many corporations being openly and obviously sexist in its Super Bowl advertisements, its questionable to whether or not brands actually cares about such anti-sexist campaigns like #NotBuyingIt. In fact, like GoDaddy.com they may embrace this “commercial controversy” which was stated by a spokesman of GoDaddy.com (CNN, 2013)

In the same year, Audi created an advertisement that sparked controversy in its spontaneous kiss. With responses that questioned the consent of and such responses like this: “@femzkenz: stop teaching our boys that bravery is kissing a girl you’ve never talked to & that girls are simply objects or rewards @audi #notbuyingit“.

Audi claims  “in no way was the kiss something less than mutual.” and “While trying to tell a complete story within the 60-second format, much of the backstory has to be implied or set up off-camera,” the spokesman said in an e-mail according to CNN.  In this case, while its questionable moral standpoint the company makes a valid point, with the advertisement intentions to easily be debatable without providing enough contextual evidence to suggest either interpretation.

Overall, the campaign sends a positive message and empowers individuals to consider their purchasing habits as well as reinforce the unacceptable use of sexism. While, this campaign alone cannot counteract the use of stereotypes, sexualisation and objectification in the media. It has the power and even more potential to influence advertising landscapes of the future.

Please post any responses, thoughts or requests on anything that you would like be to expand or specify on.

References

Dockterman, E. 2014, “Commercials Have Been Super Sexist Lately” Time, <http://time.com/68045/sexist-commercials-directv-bourbon/&gt;

Donnelly, M. 2016, “Fox Apologizes for ‘X-Men’ Ads Choking Jennifer Lawrence”, The Wrap, <http://www.thewrap.com/fox-apologizes-for-x-men-ads-choking-jennifer-lawrence/&gt;

Grinberg, E. 2013, “Sexist Super Bowl ads? #NotBuyingIt, some say” CNN <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/05/living/super-bowl-ads-notbuyingit/&gt;

The Representation Project, 2016 “Impact”< http://therepresentationproject.org/the-movement/notbuyinglt/>

Autoethnography: Investigating Godzilla (1954)

I’m coming into terms with the challenging nature yet importance of conducting a Autoethnographic study. Its difficult in the sense that since high school we’ve been taught to remove as much subjectivity as possible, to avoid bias and to always avoid using first person. Yet, text can never be free from the author’s views and contextual background.  Its important to consider how as researchers, we developed this  hypothesis, methodology, initial interest and whether there is any possible conflicting interests. There’s a whole other side that we emit and only through auto-ethnography can we generate this expansion of reflection and clarification.

Revisiting my initial thoughts on Godzilla(1954). I want to focus on two key self-observations: 1. Interest in its production 2. Annoyance at female character portrayal

I grew up at a time when special effects generated by computers were normal. Almost anything imaginable could/would be able to be rendered through digital drawings and image manipulation. I can’t even imagine a life without the use of personal computers and software. To create Godzilla and the efforts of its destruction without such use of technology is almost mind-blowing. After searching I found an article looking back at the production of the film. I could particularly relate to the following line made by Nakajima, Godzilla’s suit bearer:“They can create any monster…by using computers, but inevitably, it lacks the human touch, it lacks the emotion.” I particularly sympathized with Godzilla upon his death -at that moment he felt alive and real yet misunderstood. The article emphasises the absolute need for perfection – with one chance of shooting each scene, a remake would be too costly and time consuming. This is a massive contrast to content creation in the current age where editing is generally possible and it is even encouraged as well as utilising multiple takes/rewrites.

My dissatisfaction on female character portrayal is largely based on the current global issue of gender inequality as well as previous readings and conversations on Japans perceptions of women: from comfort women in World War 2 to current views of the expectations of wives and mothers-not only in Japan. As a child I had always been frustrated when class teachers would always ask the assistance of  “Strong young gentleman” to assist in anything that required any lifting. Gender stereotyping bothers me. It bothers me when woman and girls are displayed as the “weaker sex” because its a sad reality of many peoples attitudes of the past and present. I did follow up on researching women in 1950s Japan. Where the 1947 labour standards law enabled women to have the same capabilities of men at that time. Yet the attitudes of Japan seemed to be frozen in a more traditional time. According to Ronald dore’s surveys of Japanese women in the 1950s, femininity was represented through such terms as: “quiet, reserved, obedient, submissive, loyal, modest and gentle.Beginning in 1955, articles in Fujin kôron declared that onnarashisa, or femininity, was the goal of most women.

“Only now do we realize that what the established political party demands from women representatives is that they add a bit of color to their public relations. They do not expect women’s social and political growth, nor do they hope for women’s substantial participation in politics.” Miyamoto, 1998 in the Newsletter of the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo – Japan in the 1950s

Source: Godzilla (1954)

#NotBuyingIt: Case Study, Part 1

#NotBuyingIt is a hashtag that is used to “publicly call out sexist advertisers” (Bahadur, 2013) This includes advertisements that use “Sex appeal”, Objectification and reinforce gender sterotypes. Users of the hashtag aim to publicly shame and declare their refusal to purchase brands that uses sexism and sexual objectification to sell. The campaign was initiated by “The Representation project” who’s aim is to:

“inspires individuals and communities to challenge and overcome limiting stereotypes so that everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, or circumstance, can fulfill their human potential.”(The Representation Project, found on their about page)

 

Source: Twitter

One question to ask is: Is this a reinforcement of Censorship? #NotBuyingIt attempts to limit and critisise particular types of advertisements, whether this is considered justifiable or not it is essentially rejecting components of creative freedom. It could be argued that any advertisements featuring people, living organisms or even inanimate objects could offend someone in some way. It can be difficult to determine if it is an instance stereotyping or simply a reflection of its use by the target market. For example the excess use of women in domestic roles for cleaning products. Is this generating expectations or stereotypes? Or could it be a possibly unfortunate reality of how a majority of household chores or at least purchasing fall into the responsibility of women?

Source: Twitter

The campaign may also be percieved as negatively isolating, shaming and devaluing the participants of the advertisement. “Choice feminism” argues that it should be the individuals choice to what he or she chooses to wear, similarly with behaviour. Controversial campaigns such as “Free the nipple” and the organisation “Femen” challenge traditional views of breasts being sexual objects. They argue that women should have the same freedoms of men in terms of “toplessness”. It becomes a matter of individual perception to what is considered sexualised in contrast to a freedom of expression.

 

One weakness of using hashtags as a platform for a social media campaign is the ease at which it could easily be transformed into something that goes against its original intentions. It could be a deliberate attempt to sabotage ones campaign, especially considering the trend for many people to reject, fear or misunderstand Feminism. There is no barrier for this to occur. This also may be a gradual shift away from initial aims to something that was not intended. Occasionally, the hashtag has been used in a judgmental way to call out fashion trends that are less conservative. Is it not sexist to attempt to control the preference of attire and ones own standards of comfort?

Source: Twitter

While it may put pressure on corporations to assess their image and social responsibility, it is quite difficult to see how this hashtag will have an effect on the advertising industry in the long term. There is an ongoing dispute to whether or not “Sex Sells”(Lull, Bushman, 2015) yet it is impossible to ignore the fact that controversy grabs attention and focus. Consider the previous campaigns mentioned or alternatively the attention paid to presidential candidate, Donald Trump. My final question for now, Does using #NotbuyingIt actually do the reverse of the intention, adding to the controversy and generating more brand awareness?

These questions and others will be followed up in Part 2. Where the effectiveness of the campaign will be further looked into with specific examples with focus on Super bowl Advertisements. Stay tuned.

References

Bahudur, N. 2013, “#NotBuyingIt App Counters Sexist Advertising, Offers Users A Community To Discuss Offensive Ads” Huffington Post<http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/notbuyingit-app-sexist-advertisements-commercials-community_n_2924328>(accessed 8/08/16)

Lull, R. & Bushman, B. 2015 “Do Sex and Violence Sell? A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects of Sexual and Violent Media and Ad Content on Memory, Attitudes, and Buying Intentions” Psychological Bulletin, American Psychological Association, Vol. 141, No. 5, 1022–1048

Murphy, M. 2011, “Choice Feminism” Herizons <http://www.herizons.ca/node/526&gt; (accessed 8/08/16)

The Representation Project, 2016 <http://therepresentationproject.org/&gt;

Twitter, 2016 <https://twitter.com/hashtag/notbuyingit&gt;

Autoethnography: Exploration via Godzilla (1954)

Both the  introduction of the term “Autoethnography” and the weekly chosen text of Honda’s “Godzilla”(1954)  was startling at first. Autoethnography, was simply an unfamiliar term. My initial concern with Godzilla (1954) could be considered as somewhat superficial based on past lack of interest with older films. I find it more difficult to emotionally connect with older film’s settings, characters and digital quality, enjoying colour and visual scenes in contemporary films. Unfamiliarity of Godzilla could also be extended to a major difference in culture between being a Chinese-Australian to 1954s Japan. However, I think these initial concerns were an unnecessary over-reaction because thankfully, I did enjoy the film and have become more understanding of the term “Autoethnography” after the reading “Autoethnography: An Overview“(Ellis, Adams, Bochner, 2011)  as well as attending DIGC330: Digital Asia Seminars.

 

Where Ethnography seeks to explore cultural phenomena and the processes of life by its practitioners, Autoethnography is a study of ourselves, the formation of our views and ideas after such exposure. Autoethnography is a critical element of research as it “Acknowledges and accommodates subjectivity, emotionality, and the researcher’s influence”(Ellis, Adams, Bochner, 2011). Such writings can be considerably important in assessing research methodology, accounting for ethical responsibility and seeking leads into the train of thought held by researchers.

“Autoethnography was a method of inquiry in which the inner dialogue of the researcher was considered valid, that encouraged systematic reflection, offered an organized and traceable means of data analysis and resulted in a scholarly account” (Wall 2006 recounting Duncan(2004))

 

On that note, I would like to share my thoughts on viewing Godzilla (1954) for the first time.

 

My first reoccurring thought was in regards to how beautiful the destructive side of nature was portrayed beginning from the opening of the film where the sailors appeared to be watching the water “spontaneously explode” to the fires generated in Godzillas reign of terror. It would be fascinating to see the production of these forces and compare this to remakes after technological advancement.

 

The film’s structure seems to also differ from American films with the duration of time spent on initial character development. More recent supernatural horror productions that I have watched, have a tendency to spend an excess amount of time developing character context and unnecessary, overused “back stories” and subplots. Godzilla on the other hand seemed to have launched into conflict, engaging with protagonists in the resolution process. Many scenes tended to focus on the Japanese residents as a whole rather then individual characters. I’m curious to know if this is a common theme and/or a reflection of their collectivist orientated culture.

 

I’m also interested in gender roles during the time of the film. I am aware of Japanese mistreatment and sexist issues as a society toward women yet I am not familiar with the extent during 1954. Firstly the elders story of the frequent “Sacrifice of a young girl” to Godzilla grabbed my attention – What was the reason that the gender of such sacrifice had to be female. Is there an assumption that Godzilla would prefer one gender over another? Would one gender require less sacrifices? or is this simply a demonstration of their value of women, is there a perception that women were less useful? Also I’m curious of the choice of Emiko to be included in the investigation of the radioactive Island yet at the same time she is treated as someone who is need of protection. The lady in court was highly vocal yet ultimately she is overlooked and juxtaposed with the dominance of power by men. While it is easy to be frustrated at directors, its important to step aside and realise this is likely to be a reflection of society of the time.

 

My favorite line of the film was “We’ll be joining daddy soon” because of the associated emotion of sympathy attached. This was said by a mother holding her children, watching the destruction of her city. I also sympathised with the sacrifice made by Serizawa and the death of Godzilla.

 

I found it interesting of both Serizawa’s new technology and its unveiling. I particularly like how it was not initially not revealed, creating suspense and a thrilling exposé.

These will be some thoughts I hope to research as part of my autoethnographic investigation.

Source: Godzilla (1954)

References

Ellis, Carolyn; Adams, Tony E. & Bochner, Arthur P. (2010). Autoethnography: An Overview [40 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), Art. 10, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101108.

Wall,S. (2006). An autoethnography on learning about autoethnography.

International Journal of Qualitative Methods,5 (2), Article 9

Cybercrime: Under No Single Jurisdiction

The Internet has no physical location, beyond borders and is globally inclusive. As a result, devices are interacting from all parts of the world, controlled by completely different people whom all have a different standard of ethics to one another. This variation in ethics and justifications along combined with no single body monitoring cyberspace leads to the common practice of cybercrime. Criminal activity is even committed over Cyberspace via government bodies including North Korea, Russia, China (Perl, 2007) Cybercrime is highly complex, the perpetrator or group could be in another country, use software, proxies, or have some other kind McGuire’s (2012) found that up to “80% of cybercrime could be the result of some form of organized activity.” With those involved based in “loosely associated illicit networks rather than formal organizations (Décary-Hétu & Dupont, 2012). Consider the greater range of skills, resources and capabilities of cybercriminals through having underground connections.

A study in the US found that “75% of cases referred for prosecution to federal authorities were declined, primarily due to lack of evidence (Smith, Grabosky and Urbas, 2004). However legal punishments may not stop, as there are cases where even in prison, cyber-criminals have found ways to access the Internet to continue on with their illegal and disturbing activities such as paedophilia (Smith, 2004) this returns to the inclusiveness and accessible nature of cyberspace.

Considering the number of methods and technologies that allow Cybercrimes to be easily committed, it opens this debate up of whether or not cyberspace should be governed. Despite our “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”, it’s completely reasonable that in any case an illegal act did occur that the support of policing and law would be able to assist in the investigation and justice of offenders. Without laws regarding behavior on the internet it would lead to vulnerabilities to common people.

Recommendation: Disconnect (2012) A film looking into the carrying out, handling and reality of Cybercrime through looking at three interconnected stories of Credit and Identity fraud, Cyberbullying and the creation/distribution of illegal adult only entertainment conducted by underage teenagers.

References

Smith, R. 2004, “CYBER CRIME SENTENCING: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSES”, Australian Institute of Criminology International Conference, Melbourne

Broadhurst, R. and Grabosky, P. and Alazab, M. and Bouhours, B. and Chon, S. “An Analysis of the Nature of Groups Engaged in Cyber Crime (February 14, 2014). An Analysis of the Nature of Groups engaged in Cyber Crime, International Journal of Cyber Criminology January-June 2014, Volume 8 (1): 1-20

Cyberethics: Open for Discussion

Cyberethics is fragile, controversial, and variable. In a sense that one groups idea of what is ethical and moral is likely to completely differ to another groups. Its a matter of perspective and what people want out of Cyberculture. Consider the viewpoints on on Torrenting, unauthorised streaming and downloading – all illegal within many countries including Australia but that has not stopped people from doing so and many people do not agree with those laws.

There are multiple viewpoints on the issue. Firstly, the “fundamentalist protectors” against piracy. Where pirating equates to stealing a car. A consideration to make is the people involved in the production process, whom some believe deserve the credit, appreciation and to be paid for their work. Some suggest that piracy is lowering the incentive and desire to produce new and innovative entertainment.

Alternatively, there are the “fundamentalist libertarians” that believe that information and content should be shared, and that we should move away from “permission culture” toward “free culture (The Economist, 2004). Where all information should be free and accessible for all people, content belongs to no one and there is a blurred boundary of what is intellectual property. Some views include: There is nothing being physically destroyed, it“doesn’t hurt anyone” and it has not excluded anyone from its use, or ability to benefit from content, simply circumventing the ability to exclude others from its use. (Barry, 2015) with some suggestions that copyright even constrains individuals from creating new works.

Pirating has resulted in alternate means for content to be released. Some corporations have moved to “freemium” models or selling data but this also raises some ethical considerations in the collection of personal information to pass on to third-party companies for marketing purposes. There is also a move from traditional advertising banners to advertorials – sponsorship/advertising disguised as content but this creativity in earning money comes as a result of the peoples choice to pirate, and use ad-blocking software. This banter between these different parties just encourage the instability and challenging of Cyberethics further.

 

Source: Rock Paper Cynic

References

Barry, C. 2015 “Is downloading really stealing? The ethics of digital piracy” <https://theconversation.com/is-downloading-really-stealing-the-ethics-of-digital-piracy-39930> (accessed 27/04/16)

The Economist, 2004, “Killing Creativity”, <http://www.economist.com/node/2592996&gt; (accessed 1/04/16)

 

BCM: Career Aspirations

For my research project I intend to explore the career aspirations of Bachelor of Communication and Media Students at University of Wollongong. As in what kind of fields ideally they intend on entering and what kind of jobs are they seeking. In 20 years, where would they realistically like to be.

I will be sure to take note to observe any trends between mature age, gap year, and students who changed courses and those that began this course directly following High school the previous year. I hope to distinguish them also by the number of years they have spent studying this course and if they intend on entering further studies after completing this degree.

The Bachelor of Communication and Media course itself is quite open, consisting of several majors. Yet even within these branches of studies, there is a wide range of possible careers that follow. This data could be used reaffirm that subject content is fitting and sufficient for the future employment of the faculty’s students. Alternatively, it could assist in determining the direction subjects could be taking in order to meet the ideals of students or whether students were unsure of the career paths they intended to take.

Through research, I stumbled upon a useful study  “Degree ladder maps: Helping students make earlier, more informed decisions about educational goals” it firstly identified the issue that many students in community colleges in the USA were undecided in what they planned to major and where they wanted to go. Then discussed the importance of such research by reference to the following social theories.

• Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of social reproduction: “individual’s choices are guided and limited by perceptions of what is possible”
• Bean and Metzner (1985): “Students who are better informed about structured opportunities for change and achievement will be more likely to take advantage of those opportunities and, therefore, persist and complete at higher rates.”
• Deci and Ryan’s (2000) theory of motivation: “Student engagement—an established predictor of student success—can be improved to the extent that college environments foster three student mindsets: (a) a sense of belonging, (b) focus on an intrinsically meaningful educational goal, and (c) clear understanding of how to achieve the chosen goal.”

Through interviews they found out of the two colleges that were studied, “neither provided links or other information that would help students make an informed choice among options”.

Similarly, I hope to discover whether students are informed and have a career goal in mind. As demonstrated as clearly important through the above social theories. The study will focus on students alone rather then the causation of their decisions to get a broad range of the areas and ideal job positions in which Bachelor of Communication and Media Students are aiming toward.

The above will be accomplished through distributing surveys to a range of students from multiple stages of completing the Bachelor of Communication and Media degree. This study will be inclusive of those completing it as part of a double or single degree. The use of interviews may also be used to get more detailed responses if necessary.

At the end of my research I hope to get a greater understanding into the ideals and goals of my fellow peers. I will also ensure that the data will be insightful and a use to other students, the faculty and Universities.

Source: Reddit

Reference

Schuetz, Pam; Rosenbaum, James; Foran, Amy. “Degree Ladder Maps: Helping Students Make Earlier, More Informed Decisions about Educational Goals” Community College Journal of Research and Practice, v40 n3 p228-236 2016. (EJ1085643), Database: ERIC

Cyberethics: Something to consider

Through new technologies, society develops new capabilities – some potential capabilities considered questionable and raise the concern of liability. Consider the moral dilemmas of Google’s self-driving car in terms of responsibility, liability, legalities, harm selection and minimisation.

(Source: Technology Review)

These questions and possibilities lead toward the notion of Cyber-Ethics: the study of societal principles of what is considered appropriate and “moral” in the use of technologies.  Ethical standards may lead to legal, programming and personal constraints that will reflect on the capabilities given to machinery and software. Cyber-ethics is an interesting study, considering its distance and complexity from legal frameworks and the common viewpoint of cyberspace being outside of state “borders”.

Hayles article connected human’s to the term “organic machines” encouraging the discussion of what separates our species from robots and machinery. The development of robots and cybernetics leads to more ethical discussions in their treatment, rights and potential.

Lundström’s “Äkta människor (Real Humans)” is a fictional television series that explores these ideas further. It introduces opposition, social, legal and ethical conflicts that may be raised in an approaching reality of humanoid robots. There are numerous corporations developing technologies that imitate human movement and actions. In turn, generating questions of in what manner these new technologies will be considered acceptable in our lives.

(Source: Youtube)

References

Barlow, J. 1996, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Electronic Frontier Foundation, <https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence&gt; (accessed 11/03/16)

Hayles, K. 1999, ‘Chapter: One: Toward Embodied Virtuality’, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, The University of Chicago press, Chicago

Spinello, R. 2011, Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Jones and Barlett Learning, Canada