Bella

The wondrous world of New Communication Technologies.

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1501HUM New Communication Technology - 2 minute video on Tinder. 

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POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT 

This week we have been given multiple tasks to use technology in a way to discover and communicate politically, the following are the tasks and my findings completing them. 

Sign an e-petition. I decided to sign the GetUp organisations petition online for marriage equality in Australia, It’s very simple to sign as all you need to do is enter your email, name and postcode and click one button. You have the option to receive emails and updates from GetUp when signing the petition and once signed you get redirected to a donation page where you have the option to donate money to the organisation if desired. CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION 

What is Barak Obama up to today? Can you send him a message about the importance of freedom on the internet?  President Obama is currently in Alaska doing various activities, one of the main purposes for his trip was to rename one of the Alaskan mountains back to the original native American name. He visited an Alaskan school on his trip and in the video below you can see him busting some movies with elementary school children. You can send him a message about the importance of internet freedom through the official Whitehouse website. 

What are/were the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")? Back in 2008/09 the government decided to implement a censoring system onto Australians internet use. The goal was to prevent children being exposed to harmful and inappropriate content that was available online. The government would have a set list of websites that would be blocked in schools, workplaces and even homes nationwide. 

What place does censorship have in a democracy? I personally don't believe democracy should have a large role in censorship online. Patrolling what citizens do online unless illegal should not be censored by government authorities. In Australia, the government does have a role in censorship with monitoring internet use in schools and on professional computers/laptops. 

What are the benefits of the NBN? What potential form(s) will the NBN take when it is finally rolled out? NBN is the National Broadband Network which is meant to allow access to faster internet and landline services. Once it is rolled out nationwide after many years in the process it will allow all homeowners to access a fast service that they have not had before within Australia. NBN is still in the process of completion and availability throughout each state. 

Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are. Send one a message. Mick DeBrenni is my local MP, Annastacia Palaszczuk is my state representative and Tony Abbott is the federal representative. I sent Mick DeBrenni an email through a link on his website. 

References

ALP Queensland, (2015). Annastacia Palaszczuk. [online] Available at: http://www.queenslandlabor.org/candidate/annastacia-palaszczuk/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

ALP Queensland, (2015). Mick de Brenni. [online] Available at: http://www.queenslandlabor.org/candidate/mick-de-brenni/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

Anon, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/scholars/internet-censorship-in-australia.pdf [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

Mick de Brenni MP, (2015). Mick de Brenni MP. [online] Available at: http://www.mickdebrenni.com.au/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

Nbnco.com.au, (2015). Home | nbn - Australia's new broadband network. [online] Available at: http://www.nbnco.com.au/ [Accessed 30 Aug. 2015].

Radio National, (2015). Conroy's clean feed. [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/conroys-clean-feed/3138034 [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

The Premier of Queensland, (2015). The Premier of Queensland. [online] Available at: http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

whitehouse.gov, (2015). The White House. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ [Accessed 1 Sep. 2015].

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Social Media survey 

I created a simple 6 question survey on SurveyMonkey about peoples use on social media and asked my friends and followers on social media to partake in it. The pictures above are the results and answers or the participants of the survey. 

Looking at the results you can see that social media is commonly used in everyday life and does seem to be in important factor, the time used on social media is quite high as well and the amount of apps and services they use. Privacy is a big deal on social media and 100% said they have shared a photo of themselves and where they live as well as their birthdate. 

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Mobile phones have evolved rapidly in the past 30 years into what we know and regularly use today.

I created a timeline to show the history of mobile phones. 

References

WonderHowTo, (2011). From Backpack Transceiver to Smartphone: A Visual History of the Mobile Phone. [online] Available at: http://smartphones.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/from-backpack-transceiver-smartphone-visual-history-mobile-phone-0127134/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015].

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Utilising the Griffith Library Catalogue

Stephen Stockwell’s work available in the Griffith Library 

Stockwell, S.E. 2010, Rhetoric and Democracy: Deliberative Opportunities in Current Electoral Processes, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

Isakhan, B., 1977 & Stockwell, S., 1954 2011, The secret history of democracy, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke; New York.

Stockwell, S., 1954 & Informit 2005, Political campaign strategy: doing democracy in the 21st century, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne.

Stockwell, S.E. 2007, "Alternative Media in Brisbane: 1965-1985", 

.Stockwell, S., 1954 & Scott, P., 1961 2000, All-media guide to fair and cross-cultural reporting: for journalists, program makers and media students, Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, Nathan, Qld.

If you were interested in writing an essay on Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville, I would recommend the following three book sources:

MacCabe, C., Eaton, M., Mulvey, L. & Godard, J.L., 1930 1980, Godard: Images, sounds, politics, Macmillan, London. (Nathan & Southbank Campus)

Brody, R., 1958 2008, Everything is cinema: the working life of Jean-Luc Godard, 1st edn, Metropolitan Books, New York. (Southbank Campus) 

Temple, M., 1963, Williams, J.S., 1963 & Witt, M. 2004, Forever Godard, Black Dog, London. (Southbank Campus)

What is a book that will assist you to find out about possible research methods to explore social media? 

I found this book through the Griffith library on exploring social media and possible research methods. It is called The Handbook of Online & Social Media Research 

Reference : Poynter, R., ebrary, I. & Books24x7, I. 2010, The handbook of online and social media research: tools and techniques for market researchers, 1. Aufl.; 1 edn, Wiley, New York.

Questions I found the answers to using the Griffith Libary online database

What is the latest medical thinking about internet addiction? 

Through research, I have found research into adolescent sexuality and how it is impacted through internet addiction, Whether it is exposure to pornographic images at a young age and whether it is ‘traumatising’ and always available. As well as exploring Sexuality and the age sexual activities are first partaken and how it hasn't changed since 1990. Sexual orientation is also explored within this chapter and how teenagers can use the internet to explore their sexual orientation and not feel so isolated but are their feelings towards this online going to replicate their feelings in real life. 

reference: Price, HO 2011, Psychology of Emotions, Motivations and Actions : Internet Addiction, Nova, New York, NY, USA. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. 

Identify a theme you could write an essay about and cite three papers that would be useful.

An essay theme that one could write about is LGBTQ youth, I have found three appropriate sources that could be used in the forming of this essay. 

Google Books, (2015). The Moral Defense of Homosexuality. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Sciencedirect.com, (2015). Does It Get Better? A Longitudinal Analysis of Psychological Distress and Victimization in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

The discursive construction of gay teenagers in times of mediatization: youth's reflections on intimate storytelling, queer shame and realness in popular social media places. (2015). Journal of Youth Studies. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

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Getting Personal 

Technology and social media as a use of communication is very important to me, all my extended family live in Europe. I use social media to stay in contact with friends and family as often as possible and it's extremely useful with time differences. It is easier for myself to message my friend at 7am before I go to university and receive a reply 10 hours or so later. It also allows for cheap and affordable communication as calls and texting to international numbers can cost extreme prices. I would say Facebook, Instagram, snap chat & WhatsApp to be the apps and websites I use the most to connect with overseas family and friends. Whereas Tumblr & twitter have been platforms I have used to meet new people world wide. I have been using social media since I was 7 or 8 years old, with Bebo & MSN being the two main sites I would use. When I was 10 years old I joined facebook and this allowed me to communicate with friends and family through a various of different ways and has ultimately helped me stay in contact with people I can rarely see face to face. I believe at such a young age I was influenced by trends when I joined up for these social media platforms but possibly too naive and juvenile to understand the sites when it came to my own privacy. I now fully understand my privacy when it comes to what I share online and what companies can access this information; but I deal with this by following my own morals and standards on what I feel comfortable sharing with friends or complete strangers in this new era of technology and social media. I have used various apps and websites that have allowed me to meet people from all around the world with similar interests and hobbies. I believe I have made friends who I am only able to speak with online due to distance. I have also made friends by meeting up with people off the internet, which I do with all my personal safety in consideration. The internet and social media has allowed me to stay in contact and socialise with people from all around the world and has also allowed me to create new friends who I regularly see and meet up with in everyday life. Technology has definitely influenced my life in a positive way. 

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BEING A GOOGLE SUPER USER 

I love to use modern technology and social media company site Buzzfeed to help me discover tips and tricks on different websites, I wanted to learn some tricks that I would have never thought of myself on google and with a simple youtube search I found the following video. 

This video teaches the viewers quirky secrets about google and how you can use the search engine to its full potential. I also used youtube as a site to help me how to embed a video into the updated 2015 Tumblr set up. 

I was also provided a link through blackboard learning on how to become a Google super user and you can find that HERE 

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Introducing myself

A little bit about me <----- click this -----> 

I have created this blog as an assessment for University, a subject focusing on new communication technologies. I will be posting a minimum of once a week about my assessment and other topics to do with this course. 

My name is Isabella Loftus, Bella for short (not like twilight), most people tell me that my name means beautiful in Italian but I am of Danish heritage and it means God in Denmark. 

I have blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. 

I was born on the 28th of July 1997 with a fraternal twin sister born 7 minutes older than me. Therefor making me a Leo 

I aspire to travel the world and use my degree of PR and Communications to work as a social media manager or communications manager for global companies. 

I currently work as a bar maid and waitress and have for 3 years and plan on continuing to until I graduate university but would one day love to open my own cafe. 

Here are some random questions from a google search: 

Last song I listened to: All the pretty girls - Kaleo 

Favourite food: Sushi or Pad Thai 

Travelled: Yes, England (x7), Wales (x3), Scotland, Paris, Copenhagen, Avignon, carcassonne, ville franche, Barcelona, Phuket & Bangkok. 

Go to Karaoke song: Rock the boat - Hues corporation, Stop - Spice Girls , Mambo No5- Lou Bega or Naive - The Kooks. 

Favourite Colour: Turquoise 

Last text: To my friend Tia from perth, “It was before he got famous though” 

So enjoy my updates and adventures with this course assesment and I hope this helped get to know me a little better. 

P.s. All the songs mentioned are linked through clicking the titles, enjoy some good tunes.