Personal Media use and Production Diary

   Over a period of ten days, I recorded my media usage and used the data I collected to compare it to a survey taken by approximately 432 other journalism students.

Looking at my log, it is clear that most of my time is spent from online - this is more than likely due to its accessibility. With the push of a button I can be connected to friends, family and the latest news and entertainment happening locally and around the world.

   On average, I read online newspapers (mostly ninemsn.com) daily for around 15 minutes, I am on Facebook from two to three hours per day and I am tweeting my life away on Twitter for about 20 minutes per day. In comparison to the survey, these look to be mostly with the majority of the people who took the survey. 43.1% of students who took the survey get their news online and 29.6% of them spend two to three hours a day on the internet, with 91.9% of these people spending the majority of their time on Facebook - exactly like me. With blogging, I read or write blogs anywhere from from 10 minutes to 30 minutes a day - this coincides with 6% of the students who took the survey. This is a very small amount but one of the main reasons I have taken to reading and writing blogs is for this course. Before this course, I had never written on a blog before but I would sometimes read them because it is interesting to see what people's take on certain topics are.

   I would think that this is largely due to the fact that 78.2% of students own an internet-enabled smart phone. Owning a smart phone makes accessing online news and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, so much easier and it allows us to easily stay connected to what is happening around us.

 In terms of television and radio usage, the majority of students watch television for one to two hours a day and they listen to the less than one hour of radio daily. It seems that again, I am with the majority. As seen above in my log, I watch television for entertainment and news for an average of 30 minutes to one hour per day with my radio usage only coming up every several days and always being under half an hour. I tend to only listen to the radio if I am in the car – like 89.9% of students - and am in the mood; otherwise I just plug in my iPhone and listen to music that I want to listen to. This brings us to the next topic of music. I generally listen to music through my iPhone, on my laptop or if I am seeing a band live. This coincides, again, with the majority, with 89.1% listening to music on their iPhone, iPod or smart phone, 74.1% listening to music on their computers and 25.9% listening to music live – the best way, I might add!

I tend to prefer getting news from television and online sources because then I am easily able to share it with others as well. For instance, if I watch something on television, then I am able to look it up on YouTube and share it on Facebook or Twitter – a classic example of how social media can be a powerful tool in communicating ideas, opinions and news. With radio, I listen to it more for the music or for traffic updates, but it is not high on my agenda as a way of getting my daily news as it would be for others, who perhaps, travel long distances to get to university or people who just rely on it.

My behaviour of relying on the internet in order to get my news is most probably due to my generation. This should not be a surprise as my generation, generation Y, is known to be the technology generation. We take the internet for granted. It is something that has always been there so we rely heavily on it to provide us with what we need – entertainment and news.

As you can tell, I gather most of my news from new media, rather than from old media. Technology plays a great part in how I receive news and I prefer it this way as it is much more accessible and easy to gather more information on rather than buying a newspaper. With newspapers, your information is limited to what is written on the page, but online you can simply Google a topic and you will be provided with more information that you could possibly imagine.

This study was quite an interesting one as it gave me a lot more clarity as to how people use media for news and entertainment. It also made me realise how much I use and rely on the internet. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, if I could marry the internet, I would.

Lecture 1

I know it is a tad late, but here is my take on the first lecture of the semester! And what I'm getting from it is that...

WE ARE THE JOURNALIST! 

But what is a journalist? Honestly, whenever someone mentions the word journalist, I think of the newspaper editor from Spider Man. Love that guy.

  If I'm a journalist, then does that mean that everything I write from now on is considered journalism? Is this blog considered journalism? I have my doubts but some people strongly argue that blogs are a form of journalism. But eh. On the other hand though, isn't journalism, more or less, informing the public? So with all the different types of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, does that mean pretty much EVERYTHING is a form journalism? Or is it just the content that we decide to put on it? 

News outlets were traditionally thought of as television and radio but these days technology is taking over the world! Therefore, online newspapers are fast becoming an easy and accessible way for people to get their daily news and even more so, is social media. So really, are we, "as journalists", changing the way of journalism already? I feel quite empowered thinking of myself as a journalist.

Hoorah for being a journalist! 

The events of last night

  Last night was pretty normal I thought. I went to bed after a long day only to be woken a few short hours later by a text from my sister, Bec, informing me of what had just happened at our home on the Gold Coast. The story goes like this. It was around 11.30 at night and she saw a man climbing over our fence into our backyard. Like anyone would think, she thought it was a robber and started banging on the window and yelling at him, thinking he was going to attack her. So she called mum downstairs and they started freaking out because he was just sitting on a step on our deck bleeding everywhere. So eventually they calmed down and he told them his story.

His name was Michael and he is actually our next door neighbour. At around 11pm he heard a knock on his door and the people outside were telling him that they were his neighbours and they needed his help. Upon hearing this, he opened the door to find himself face to face with three people in balaclavas, armed with guns and knives, who instantly pushed him then proceeded to drag him to his bed and tie him to it while they robbed his house. Then, on their way out, they struck him on his leg with a gun, breaking it, then left the house. 

After they left, Michael freed himself then, scared, made his way outside and, with his broken leg, climbed the fence to our house. Unluckily, his two roommates weren't home at the time, though he yelled out for them when being tied down. So after Michael told his story to my mum and sister, they called the ambulance, who took him to the hospital, and the police, who they gave statements to. Channel 9 even rocked up this morning to interview my mother and Bec about it but I haven't seen any TV or online coverage of it today so maybe the police don't want the public to know about it just yet. My advice to you? Install a peep hole in your door! Or just don't answer the door at night! Better to be safe than sorry. 

I'd always thought my home on the coast was in a safe neighbourhood. It's a new area and mostly filled with young families. Plus it's on a giant hill in the middle of nowhere so I didn't think robbers would even bother. At my last home, we were also burgled there while we were sleeping. The robber took a lot of valuables, including my mother's wedding ring. It was only me and mum home that night as my dad was working overseas and my sister was on school camp. Mum said she had heard weird noises outside until early in the morning. She thought it was our dog but when she looked outside, our dog was fast asleep. She then fell asleep with the light on but woke up as she was turning over to see a man crouching near her bed. So she shouted at him and he ran away, luckily not hurting her. 

But just knowing that there is so much crime out there and that it's so close really scares me. I know it's the Gold Coast and that the crime rate is crazy, but you just always think that it's not going to be you. I mean, this time around with the way that Michael was robbed is so much scarier than when we were robbed. I was freaked out hearing about it and I wasn't even there! I was so scared for mum and Bec. And knowing that the robbers could have easily picked our house instead of Michael's scares the hell out of me. 

So from now on, I am never answering the door. I am keeping all the doors locked. I don't care if Barack Obama is at the door with a suitcase full of hundies. I am making sure of my safety and you should do the same!

Semantics

  As I sit here at my desk to reflect on the second lecture of JOUR1111 I can't help but feel slightly weird about writing about something I didn't actually go to. If you have read my previous post you'll know that I can't attend either of the lectures because of clashes with other classes. But anyway, here we go!

The first thing I got from this lecture was... everyone got jellybabies?! What is this madness! I want jellybabies! Is this what all first years get now? I didn't get that sort of treatment last year... I should probably tell you that I am a second year journalism/psychology student. This is so not fair. But moving on. The title of this week's lecture is "New News". I don't think I've never really given much thought about news being either new or old but it all seems pretty straightforward. Old news is newspapers and such and new news is technology. I suppose it's because I take news for granted, much like everyone else in my generation. If I want to know something, all I have to do is type it into my iPhone, iPad or laptop or turn on a TV. With one click of a button, I have every piece of information I could possibly need on a subject.

With all this new media fast outgrowing old media, I believe, to some extent, that some aspects of journalism (ie. newspapers) have a very real chance of dying out. But in terms of what people would pay for online, newspapers come in at the lowest percentage with only 14% of people saying that they would pay for online news. Does this mean that physical newspapers still have a chance of survival? Or are they doomed even more so?

The internet will forever continue to grow. I think we all know that. Web 1.0 (companies and advertising) has come and gone, we've all seen the effects of web 2.0 (the social web) and how it uses social media to target and build a profile on specific people in order to advertise effectively. And now we are facing web 3.0 - the semantic web. What does that mean? Well, my good friends, it means exactly what I just wrote. Semantics is meaning. It is the study of what things mean.Sigh. Isn't that what life is all about?

But overall, could this be the end of journalism? The death of journalism? DUN DUN DUNNNN. With all this new technology, will newspapers, books and basically anything that can have an electronic copy, die out? Will all future generations learn to read off a tablet or a laptop? Maybe everyone in the future will need glasses by default. Imagine that you're reading a book and you are at a cliffhanger and are about to turn the page - what if you were reading it on a tablet? What if the battery died or the screen froze? How would you survive?? I know I probably wouldn't. But I really don't think that this will all be the death of journalism as a whole. Maybe for some aspects of it, like newspapers, yes, but as a whole, definitely not. People want to watch TV, they want to look things up, they want news. So as long as journalists are supplying them with it, I think we're safe. As Dumbledore said, "Death is but the next great adventure." So we'll see what happens.

Whinge, whinge, whinge

  Before I start complaining, I would like to point out that Twitter has made me feel t0t3z popular! I still find it a little creepy since all it is used for is stalking other people and their thoughts. Not that I'm complaining. I do my fair share of innocent creeping but try to be more subtle, I can see you hiding behind that bush through my window.

Anyway, more to the point of this post. As you may have noticed from the title, I would very much like to have a little whinge. About lecture times, in fact. Before semester started it was at the perfect little time (perhaps a tad late) of 6pm. And as I signed into si-net to sign on to the tutorial and lecture, I found, to my very great surprise, that it was now at 2pm and 5pm with no notice! And then the 5pm changed to 4pm. Unfortunately for me, JOUR1111 was my last sign on so I had already filled out my timetable and am physically unable to attend any of the lectures. Seriously. If I tried to walk over to the John Hay building I would probably collapse from exhaustion from being unfit. But really, I have other tutes and lectures during both of the time slots which sucks poo! And I know what you're thinking. Just listen to it on lectopia nyeh nyeh nyeh. I WOULD LOVE TO. But I moved into a new house this year with my sister and my friend and our internet is being a humongous pain! We set it up two weeks ago and the stupid internet people can't connect it because apparently there must be something wrong with the box with all the phone and internet wires in it. AGGGHHHHH. So the only way I can get any info from the lectures, apart from the slides, is when I actually have time to go stalk some poor person down in a library to steal their computer.

And I must tell you, I have the worst luck with computers in the library. Just the worst luck in general. Did I mention my train back to the coast where my parents live was delayed 30 minutes this morning? I didn't really mind that though. So I eventually got onto the train and got a bus home and as I was sticking my key in the front door it didn't unlock because there was a key in the other side of it - my door is annoying like that. So then I had to wait another hour (after two hours already) for the next bus and from there I took three buses all to get to my sister's chemist where she is on placement, grab the car keys from her and travel home. See you later, five hours of my life.

I do apologise for my rant. I'm sure you stopped reading a while ago, in which case, one would pose the question, "Then why are you still writing........" Yay life.

This guy...

  So I, like everyone else, would like to spread the word about Joseph Kony and give you my two cents. I first saw Kony pop up in my news feed on Facebook, watched it, cried my little eyes out and now the thought sits in my heart and my head, and will, until this terrible man gets what he deserves.

Joseph Kony of Uganda is leading the terrorist group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Within this group he abducts children, forces them to kill their parents, mutilate others' faces, rape, torture and murder innocent civilians along with countless other unthinkable acts. It is estimated that he has kidnapped and brainwashed at least 65 000 children. The people that Kony is abducting are kids! I mean, I still think of myself as a kid while many of the children being forced into doing these terrible things are probably a decade younger than I am. It just really makes me feel. And despite the fact that Kony is topping the world's most wanted criminals list, the majority of the world still does not know who he is or what he has done. 

Fortunately, "KONY 2012", a thirty minute documentary created by filmmaker Jason Russell, a campaigner for Invisible Children Inc, has received the internet's undivided attention. As Russell states in the documentary, "...more people are on Facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago." Oh the power of the internet! For once, the world (aka The United States) is taking action because the people demand it, not due to self defense.

Watch the video here and spread the word people! Make Kony known so this Voldemort of the real world can be found! Yeah yeah!