LEVEL 6 - Not baby making, media making.

Were we born from a computer? I think some people were. Some people were just born to create things, create simple yet structured media for everyday use. 


In this day and age, we create things for media every time we go online. Whether it be creating:
 a Facebook status

Or uploading a new image to Flickr

Or if you're as computer-savy as Andreas Illing you'll create an iPhone app that will give you about a million dollars in revenue and you'll never have to work again. Tiny Wings

Deuze discusses in his writing that convergence culture is important to study when looking at major corporate control, because it isn't just about the big guns any more. It's about the creative class, like Andreas, that keep simple mediamaking a business. This everyday creativity gives more control to the user and we are able to control the flow of media around us. Deuze sums this up like this:

"Media forces us to retreat into our own personal information space, where we exercise an unparalleled degree of control over what we watch and what we hear, what we keep discard of forward."


So when Deuze goes into the case studies in his article, he isn't just referring to the genius' who created Amazon and Counter Strike, he's referring to the fact that they have opened up a window of opportunity for users and consumers to become one. These platforms enable people to be creative and pick and choose what they want rather then the media controlling them. It is't just about professionals and amateurs any more, it's about being that person to create something as simple as an iPhone app. Perhaps Andreas Illing was born from Apple, who knows...

LEVEL 5 - Newsflash Walt Disney STEALS!

It is impossible to own an idea! It is merely just an idea. A formation of thoughts that can come together and create that one spark needed to start a giant fire. I suppose if you were a lawyer you would take that spark, put it on paper, copyright the s***house out of it and then roll in your creation’s revenue...but not everyone is a lawyer.

It was news to me to find out that Disney stole the idea of Steamboat Willie from an already existing silent film, but what I did already know was that Disney steals parts of other cultures to re-create a film for kids. I shouldn’t say “steals” but rather Disney borrows its aspects and creates something that can be simply understood. When I think back to watching Mulan for the first time, I remember thinking how different this movie was to the rest I had seen. This was a brand new culture I had not seen before, nor did I know anything about it. But it was out there.

Lawrence Lessig makes a good point when he says:


"Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the creativity that went before and that surrounds them now"

Obviously different cultures and symbols mark a good place for creators to start thinking; even fictional stories must have a birth place in the heart of everyday life. In the case of doujinshi, these comics survive by being copycats of manga comics. They use an already-thought-of idea and copy it to make the doujinshi comics. In the same way that culture jamming uses already-thought-of symbols to create a message for the consumer market. For example: the McDonalds symbol

I believe that Lessig is bothered by the fact that not all creative rights are free. Perhaps if they were, more things like doujinshi would exist, however we do have to live under the law and “intellectual property” is that law, but it can have holes. Hence why Walt Disney Inc. has and will continue to re-create existing ideas for the growth of their company.

Lessig L, 2005, ‘Free Culture: The nature and future of creativity’, Penguin, Sydney

LEVEL 4 - Who cares about STD's when there is the TSD? The Truman Show Delusion

Jim Carrey in The Truman Show

A concept designed by Joel and Ian Gold to inform the population that we now live 'in' media not with it. This 'disease', as Mark Deuze (2011) calls it, presents to us the idea that we are no longer creating our own identities but are rather being forced into something we aren't through the means of media. Deuze writes in his article that:


 "the TSD contains a belief that one's life has ceased being spontaneous, as one is always aware of the scripted and broadcasted nature of everything one does." (2011, pg 141)


I personally think Mark Deuze was scared out of his mind that technology will take over the world. But while his article focuses on the dark side of this aspect, it lacks the lighter one. What has arisen with the introduction of everyday media? More jobs. Equal rights. Self-governance. A window into pure imagination.

Inception

Our reality is now one that includes media and as Marshall McLuhan states "media is an extension of man". So be it. That is why we study media, so we can understand how it has and will continue to become ingrained in our everyday lives. It is not necessarily a bad thing, it just keeps happening. We are living in our own personalized, digitally-based, edited reality where we allow room for more creation. Is this so bad???


REFERENCE:
Deuze M, 2011, 'Media Life', Media Culture Society Journal, January, Vol 33, No. 1, pp 137-148

LEVEL 3 - We still need somebody to fix the plugged toilets of the world.



IT IS TRUE!! We still need somone to unplug our toilets, and deliver the post, and draw the Mona Lisa and serve us in a clothing store. Although our society has grown to depend on the Internet, it is not the only thing.



I interpreted Kelly's book as a way in which he decribes the complexity of the Internet but also questions where it is going in the future. How can companies keep up in their online sector? Will that company fail if it does not meet up with the current online shift?

I wanted to use Kelly's book as a way to reinforce the apparent decline of the retail industry. It has been all over the news lately that the carbon tax will mean a greater loss in the retail sector but also that people are just not physically shopping. And why would you? If the price of your product is 20% cheaper online than in the store.

For companies to move forward in this current digital age they must move faster and continue to look at ways to ensure their company will flourish online. Websites such as Catch Of The Day are successful because they aim at an online market. They buy goods in bulk and can sell them for much cheaper prices that in stores. For example, in the first week of July, Catch Of The Day announced they were selling Dell Notebooks for a very cheap price. The ABC covered a story on this event and claimed that Catch Of The Day sold all their Dell Notebooks within 2 hours of their release.


Kelly is right when he discusses the future of companies, they have to succeed in higher online capacity than ever before. And this includes the retail industry. I believe more needs to be done within the retail sector to ensure its survival.

To view the differences between the retail industry and the E-tail industry click here.