13A homework - 26/11/12

Representation in Kidulthood

In Kidulthood, the film follows three teenagers through their everyday life, mostly it's representing the negative activities which follows these teens in London which makes the film intriguing to others. One of the representations i saw is the playground everyone has their own 'gang' or group of friends; which is typical of every school. This shows that you can be friends with only the ones you can relate to, e.g. Geeks wouldn't associate with the boys which come from the rough estates in London which is Trevor and his friends.  The next representation of youth in London is that coming to school isn't something which they put number. As one group would be seen smoking marijuana in the school premises, while the other would be kissing his girl. The other group would be busy bullying the other kids in the school, this might be due to the social class difference in the school. As the one bullying from the way he speaks you can tell he's from the gritty council houses in London. 'While the blonde middle-class' i probably from the a nice middle-class home which they might envy. The aggressive tone and violence in which the females show in the class, represent that gender isn't a issue when it comes to the fights and bullying. As they were naturally beating her up till she started bleeding and said these words ''I'm a virgin''. This just shows the self respect of girls are at it's lowest, because now being a virgin is something which a girl can be mocked about.

I think the representation shown in the film has it's truth about teens in London to an extend, as this could relate to the uses and gratification as most teenagers around London could identify one or two things from the film. Most youths have said that the representation has been exaggerated as it's like putting a london teens high school life into one whole scene. Maybe this is due to it being a film, but the perception  is a little too much for the teenagers. On the other hand this could be representing how the main media would be showing the youths of London to the rest. The film could be backing up all the representation of the news, which is related mostly to sex, drugs and violence.

To an extend there is a example of verisimilitude, due to the high school environment being perfect as it shows how it is being in high school in London. It has the infamous uniform being worn, kids playing football even in the mud; as their representation when young wasn't important. Then you got the 'cool' groups which are the ones just 'posting' as they get on with what their doing before school. This could either be talking, making out with a girl or smoking; which can be identified with by many teenagers.

The guardian story - 23/11/2012

Magazine publisher Future is banking on a huge sales surge of e-editions of its titles thanks to an expected "tablet Christmas", as digital sales of titles such as T3 and Metal Hammer broke through the £6m mark this year.

Mark Wood, the chief executive of Future Publishing, said the company is already shifting $1m in gross revenues a month from sales of its 100 digital titles, and expects a huge surge this festive season as tablets are expected to sell in record numbers this Christmas. He said the growing market of tablet-style products from makers including Apple, Amazon, which has the Kindle Fire range, and the new Microsoft's Surface will make this a record Christmas for sales.

In my opinion it shows that publishers are now relying their targets to be more digital, and that newspapers are being taken over by technology. The sale rate for these tables are predicted to be high this christmas, as it's something everyone wants - it means the whole internet, social and news are in one tablet, which would interest anyone. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/23/future-tablet-christmas-eeditions

Lord McAlpine - BBC & ITV scandel

Lord McAlpine - BBC & ITV scandal 

The former Conservative politician who was wrongly linked to a child sex abuse scandal as a result of a both 'newsnight' and ITV 'This morning'. Newsnight aled to the peer being mistakenly implicated in a paedophile ring that targeted children at a care home in Wrexham in north Wales.  On twitter he also was subjected to lurid online claims falsely linking him to sexual abuse at a north Wales care home which Schofield attempted to bring to the Prime Minister's attention live on This Morning earlier this month. After a couple of days the allegations made were completely false, as it was found out that the report BBC done was all in accurate. Now his solicitors are helping him sue This morning and the BBC over  the false information in which was published by these industries. Including all the tweeters which circulated these rumors to the public. 

In my opinion i believe that these big industries took a huge risk to publicize such information on their broadcasting network. They probably didn't investigate these allegation enough to find out the real truth about Lord McAlphine, and to do this without the right information could cause these industries a lot of money as it did. It also shows the impact the internet and social networking has on people opinions in this generation, as it's what controls the world now. More and more people rely on the information which is published on the internet, then the cliche quote 'Innocent, till prove and guilty'. 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4645566/lord-mcalpine-anger-bbc-newsnight.html- The sun 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2236867/Phillip-Schofield-ITV-pay-Lord-McAlpine-125k-damages-Tory-paedophile-list-blunder.html - Daily Mail 

Case study: Young people in London (19/11/12)

What Kind of representation of young Londoners can you find?
The representation that I can find from these different articles is that most of them have a negative perceptions of young youths in London. The London riot would have certainly caused this, so the newspaper would be showing this through their actions. The pictures which have been published are truly epic as they are pictures taking live from the scene when the riots were happening. Some of these picture could be a moral panic to the audience, and this is the reason why the newspapers chose these pictures as it shows the young people of London in a way no one has seen them before. 'Trouble in the hood' this is slang headline for any newspaper to be using, as hood is something which young teenagers would be calling their territory. Indicating that these 3 days of rioting, London was owned by the youths of London. The pictures which contrasted with this headline was various of pictures which were stereotypical black youth of London. They were all hooded up and their faces were covered, with fire behind them to show the destructions they have caused in London. This would be a terrible representation of the young Londoners as they are being shown to be ruthless, destructive and heartless human beings just by these pictures. Another quote which was said by the cops 'we'll find these thugs who organised the looting', the word 'thug' shows us that the cops are not impressed by the youth of London at all. This implies to the us that the youth of London have a bad reputation already with the youths in the city.

Can you link this to any media theory? 
- Uses and gratification theory - identify - The audience know people that were involved in the riots or known someone who went in prison because of this. Inform - It also informs the audience about the riots, as this is the biggest riots in the history of London. So people would be intrigued about the trust about what the youths of London would be doing in the city.
- Alvarado theory - Dangerous - The

Case study - Young people in London

1. What kind of representation can you find
- The majority of the people that committed the riots are young and mostly black people - This is shown in the news report in sky news
- This can be linked to the young black model that was jailed 'riot model faces jail' (moral panic), picture of the young black girl in one of her model pics to show how a success young black girl can even commit this crime.
- 'Mindless violence' with a picture of a young black boy covered up with a fire right behind, this connotes the evil and the ruthlessness of the young people.
-  

Post-colonialism: end of unit essay

Does the British media reflect the modern, multicultural nature of the British society?

In this century the world is surrounded by the media, and in Britain the media can have a massive impact on the society. Also the British media represents the multicultural background of Britain of this day in age, but is this all stereotypes or does it really reflect the modern society. 

Films are popular nowadays due to it's entertaining and escapism factors, which is linked to Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory. One film which represents the teengers of this society, and how race is nothing to do with their bad behavior is 'Kidulthood'. This is a urban film showing the everyday life of a few teenagers in London. The main characters are three 'ganster' teenage character Jay, Mooney and Trive. These are two black and one white youths, which shows it challenges the media representation of the corrupted kids in London always being black. The film is located in a west London rough estate which shows many different types of origins live; black, white, middle east and Asians. This shows the viewers the multicultural backgrounds in London, and they mostly do live in a working class area. it shows how these young teenagers are going out of school just to have sex which shows how young girls in Britain are becoming pregnant by even the age of 13 which is a major moral panic. As parents who are watching the film could be seeing this, which could make them wary about their children if they would be doing this. In the last scene there was a huge clash between two character which ended in a fight. This represents the everyday life for these teenagers, and how violence always is happening. The two characters were black which links to Alvarado's theory of themes in racial representation, and in this it would be dangerous. Which is something that most people in England already see most teenage black people. Which is a negative stereotype as not all of them are dangerous and rough. But due to the news and urban films like this it could strengthen the view which people could have towards young black boys in Britain. 

In the summer 2012, it was a great year for London and sports as the Olympics were held here.The opening ceremony was predominantly seen as a success and a good representation of modern Britain with multicultural themes running through out the performance. however, some could argue that the whole ethnicity has to chase the same ethnicity could represent the fact that people might still believe in segregation. In this day in age anyone can date each other no matter what colour origin you are. So out of all race the boy was instructed to chase her which could offend the audience as they might feel that the English people have still not accepted them as their people as well. Another race and ethnicity is being represented is through the use of an nuclear family. An example of this is when the White mum comes out of the Cooper with a mixed race child. This connotes that diversity is still occurring in the world and that there is cultures mixing which represents the modern day Britain. There is black father which is shown as educated and family orientated, staying with the family helping them out. Which challenges the daily stereotype that black fathers run away from their family or they could be drug dealers etc. This sort of representation could be linked to Frantz and Fanon theory that the  black man is putting on a white mask to fit in. This could be that he could have dropped his whole cultural background has become this new man with a 'white mans mentality'. This could be a way of the Olympics showing the viewers that this is the way to become successful if you aren't British. It also reveals that this type of family was difficult to find in Britain, a stable and successful nuclear family which bring a negative stereotype again that a black man cant raise a family and be successful at the same which could offend many people.

Another example of multicultural representation in Britain is through a film called Yasmin which is about a young Pakistani girl in living in Britain. It shows how the girl is changing from a her muslim clothing with the head scarf to a whole different clothing; which includes tight jeans, a jumper showing the shape of her breast and her hair showing. These are all forbidden for a muslim women to be wearing to be wearing this, it could be linked to Frantz and Fanon theory that she's trying to put on the white mask. As she wants to fit in the community when she's working so people don't treat her differently due to her believes. Even though she's went through that trouble to change her appearance, it don't change the fact that she's Pakistani. When she went into the pub, the locals looked at her different like she didn't belong there. This is where the theorist Edward Said is involved, as those people see her as different as she's from a country in th east which people have a negative view against. This view is dangerous as she's from a country which has been suspected of many terrorists attacks, which is stereotypical of them. This film shows how living in Britain is a struggle for the different multicultural people, as not everyone has accepted the right the people have to live in Britain. So other culture try their best to fit in this society, but however they try there will always be people that have this clash against the east. Which just shows that people's cultures will follow them however hard they try to change this, as they try fight to fit in the western society. 

Overall the media does represent the modern, multicultural nature of the british society in their films mostly so the public can identify themselves which can be linked to the uses and gratification theory . If the representation of the society in film or media was fails then people wouldn't have no interest watching this as it wouldn't have no relation to the society they live in. Some of these representation might be stereotypical in some ways but this is just how the British media of this generation are. 

Feminism: end of essay

To what extent do you agree with Judith Butler's theory that gender roles are socially constructed? Use examples from the media in your response.

Gender roles for decades have been argued to either biologically constructed or socially constructed. In this essay I will be analyzing Judith Butler theory that gender roles are socially constructed through society and their surroundings. This means that their performance and the way they the gender roles act are all the same for males and females .  Some may argue that gender is socially constructed due to how society interprets colors  toys, primary socialization and biologically. However, some may argue that it depends on the persons own performance, this may be affect their feminism and masculinity through the media which could push them even more to become gender socialized. 

On some levels I do agree with the feminist Judith Butler due to the traditional ways of parenting children. From a young age genders of kids are socially divided by the way they dress, which is a major factor of gender roles. Male children are bought clothes which are male colors e.g blue, black, grey etc. Girls are also constructed to wear pink, purple and all these 'girl colors  which is to show/inform that they have a female child which links to the uses and gratification theory of informing the public. This would also be linked to their lifestyle; the decorations in their rooms, the toys they are bought and the places they might be taken to. The decoration in their room would be representing what their genders enjoy and should be watching. For example; a girl would be having a bright pink color to represent the innocence and her cuteness  with a posters of a mermaid and barbie. This would mentally effect her in a long term as this might reflect her personality when she grows up. The posters of the mermaid or barbie, would be showing the girls what type of shows they should be watching, instead of wrestling as this might have an impact on her when she grows up to be a taught and fighting women. The boys would be the opposite as they would be given toys like power rangers; as these are more manly as everyone wants a strong minded man physically and mentally. All these different decision made for the children when their young would in some ways construct the kid to grow up to act like the socially constructed genders of this society. e.g. as the Boys would be buying jeans and t-shirt when they grow up instead of buying very tight jeans which have been socially constructed for women to wear.

Another way gender is socially constructed is the roles and activities males and females are doing. When kids are growing up around the ages of 8-9, the parents would feel that it's time they are shown different things those genders do. For example, males are taken to football matches or to a football team at a young age as this is what they do at these ages. By constructing what sport they play at early age it means that they can enjoy this more and more while they are growing up. This means that they don't go into other activities which are constructed for women e.g. ballet and netball. Females on the other hand some families more which are the traditional families from the eastern countries  They would teach them about the roles of a female at a young age, which is to cook, clean and take care of some of the younger children. By doing this they are socially constructed to learn their roles when they grow up to have children and more or less become a housewife. This method could be argued as now more and more women are leaving these roles behind and are becoming more stronger in the working world. As now the harsh views on women not being not as strong minded and independent has changed for the better of women.

Another way gender roles are constructed is through the Hollywood movie industry which has a huge audience affect on the whole world.  One example is in the film 'Sweet home Alabama' , which is a romantic film. These romantic have always the same Todorov narrative theory; everything is normal and the two characters meet each other, everything is going, something goes wrong, then the man has to get her back. This time in this film it subverts the last part, as it's the female chasing after the man, which finally shows the world it isn't just the mans job to be chasing after the girl like mindless lovers. The film also shows the different things a male should be doing, with a young boy around 5 in love with a girl. He's twice told her what to do, so that she wouldn't get hurt which shows the protectiveness of a male breed already inside this young little boy. He's much taller then the girl which shows the general society now, as you hardly would see a taller girl going out with a shorter man. This overall is showing the stereotypical brave and protective man, with the innocent defend less women which needs a man to survive even at that age maybe. 

Possible Critical Investigation

Production

- Viral advertising campaign using print and website

Critical Investigation

- Whether or not print media is still a viable option when creating a viral marketing campaign

Production 

- Create a short 5 minute opening scene of a British sitcom to show female representation 

Critical investigation 

- How females are sexually represented in American sitcoms 

Production 

- idea viral video on new gritty black youth drama

Critical investigation 

- Critical investigation-investigation on black youth+crime

Guardian news story

Twitter blocks neo-Nazi account in Germany

Twitter has blocked the account of a neo-Nazi group accused of inciting hatred towards foreigners. In what amounts to an unprecedented move for the company, Twitter announced it had complied with a request by German authorities who have been monitoring the activities of the banned far-right group Besseres Hannover (Better Hanover) for some time.

The move came after an investigation into about 20 members of the neo-Nazi group in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, after they were charged with inciting racial hatred and forming a criminal organisation. The group was banned last month by the state's interior ministry. In particular the group, which is estimated to have around 40 active members, stands accused of being behind a threatening video that was sent to the social affairs minister of Lower Saxony, Aygül Özkan.

In my opinion i believe this is the right decision for twitter to block these neo-nazi account, as these are a extremist who are there to follow the ideologies Adolf Hitler. This has been stopped many years ago and for people to still be carrying this on, would affect a lot of people and upset them, due to the mass murders the nazi's have commited. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/18/twitter-block-neo-nazi-account

video - new media vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFq4-I3wr-M

cover work - internet

How much information is in circulation on the internet (in gigabytes)?


An average person consume 34GB on a average day to overall consumption total of 3.6 zettabytes, but according to the guardian newspaper is 500 billion gigabytes.


What proportion of the world’s population can now go online?


The total usage of the internet since 31st December 2011 is throughout the whole world is 2,267,233.742 billion which means a 32.7% of the population penerate the internet with a 528.1% growth since 2000.

WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS December 31, 2011
World Regions	Population ( 2011 Est.)	Internet Users Dec. 31, 2000	Internet Users Latest Data	Penetration (% Population)	Growth 2000-2011	Users % of Table
Africa	1,037,524,058	4,514,400	139,875,242	13.5 %	2,988.4 %	6.2 %
Asia	3,879,740,877	114,304,000	1,016,799,076	26.2 %	789.6 %	44.8 %
Europe	816,426,346	105,096,093	500,723,686	61.3 %	376.4 %	22.1 %
Middle East	216,258,843	3,284,800	77,020,995	35.6 %	2,244.8 %	3.4 %
North America	347,394,870	108,096,800	273,067,546	78.6 %	152.6 %	12.0 %
Latin America / Carib.	597,283,165	18,068,919	235,819,740	39.5 %	1,205.1 %	10.4 %
Oceania / Australia	35,426,995	7,620,480	23,927,457	67.5 %	214.0 %	1.1 %
WORLD TOTAL	6,930,055,154	360,985,492	2,267,233,742	32.7 %	528.1 %	100.0 %

This shows how many people in the world go online on the internet, Africa is ranked to have the highest users to go online. Asia is second probably because of all the technology which they produce daily, which mean internet must be something important in their lives. In the UK it's around 72% usage which is one of the highest leading internet users.




The number of people who could access the internet in 1995?


In 1995, it's around 0.04% of the world could only go online, which has now risen to 32%. this means only a third of the worlds population can now use the 'cloud'. 


The number of people who can access the internet in today?


Now in the 21st century around 2 billion users, which means the internet has become widely important to everyone in the world mostly in the western civilisation.  

Nature of information

The Web has succeeded so spectacularly as a new publishing and communication medium for many reasons—the ease with which anyone can publish, the ability to change and update content, the interconnectedness from linking, the lack of a limit to the quantity of information published, and more. While many Web sites, including some of the most popular ones, continue to use the print model of publishing information in somewhat static articles, others are experimenting with improving overall information quality by having broader participation in the writing, correcting, and updating of content.

With the linking patterns on the Web, sites can create virtual communities of interlinked sites that provide different views, related information, and varying interpretations while still linking to each other. Following the links between the sites can create a more complete information portrait of an issue. [http://www.infotoday.com/online/sep04/OnTheNet.shtml]

Communication

Before the internet, the only way to communicate with someone is face to face or over the phone. If you had to write to someone, you had to send a mail over to their place. We were content with that. However, we look back at it now, we are pretty limited. Now, the internet has somewhat merged the three forms of communication together. Instead of mailing a letter, a lot of people email each other. It is a lot quicker than the other way. A lot of people now communicate through texts. Now, thanks to Skype, you can have video chats over the internet with. Social Networking has contributed a lot to this change. A lot of friends are keeping up with each other on platforms like Face book. The internet has also gone mobile. You now have phones that are computers which can surf the web and communicate through various methods.

The internet has revolutionized a lot in the world. Communication is one medium that has definitely been influenced by the invention of the internet. A lot of people can stay in touch with each other even if they move miles apart from each other thanks to the World Wide Web.

[http://www.intersectweb.org/2011/07/14/how-the-internet-has-changed-communication/]

Over the past couple of decades, the internet has quickly changed the way the world has communicated. From discussion boards found all over the internet to the new wave of VoIP (voice over internet protocol); we have seen a substantial change in the modern way people interact. Communicating over the internet has made it possible to affordably communicate worldwide with the same quality you would expect from your standard phone lines. The internet holds the most of its information in searchable discussion logs and public viewable pages which not only allow you to review previously discussed topics, but the ability to find this information quickly and easily. It also contains more information than any library in the world.

Without face to face interaction, people are more willing to openly discuss more personal topics such as health, love, and life in general. Users are also able to fully think out their discussion board post, email, or message before it is sent which can allow a more meaningful conversation. The connection between different regions and cultures also provides a very unique experience.

[http://ezinearticles.com/?How-The-Internet-Is-Changing-Communication&id=662004]

privacy

In an interview with TechCrunch last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said sharing private information online with the faceless masses had become a "social norm." Interpretation: Privacy is a has-been luxury, a relic of a bygone, unwired era.Today, oversharing has become typical of online social networking, with people publicizing real-time information of where they are (Foursquare, Gowalla) and what they're doing (Twitter, Facebook).Whether we're constantly updating our Facebooks and flickrs or not, we still leave behind a virtual breadcrumb trail anytime we hop online, thanks to data tracking software, cookies and web bugs that log what we search for, where we land and what we do once we get there. http://news.discovery.com/tech/is-the-internet-destroying-privacy.html

We are in the midst of the Information Era! There has been an enormous information explosion, and the mushrooming popularity of the Internet and its World Wide Web puts huge amounts of information right at your fingertips. How much of that information is about you? Are you concerned about it?

Some of the threats to privacy have been widely publicized. The Federal Government wants the FBI to be able to access any one's PC. Amazon has been sharing customer information with others in their "purchase circles". And worst of all, a major security hole was revealed in Microsoft's Hotmail service that allowed anyone to view any hotmail member's mailbox by using a correctly configured URL that included the username, but not the password.

If you are running a business, you probably want information to be easily accessible about your products or services. You don't want potential customers to look elsewhere because they could not locate information about your business. Possibly you want your name to be readily recognizable, too. It may enhance your career standing. But what about your personal telephone number? Or your personal home address? Do you want your e-mail address to be accessible to all? Do you want just anyone to know about your personal interests? What information would you expect to remain private and unavailable to anyone with an Internet account? Are your expectations realistic, and what can you do about it? This page will give you some answers. http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/privacy.html

Online safety

The Internet can be a wonderful resource for kids. They can use it to research school reports, communicate with teachers and other kids, and play interactive games. Kids who are old enough to punch in a few letters on the keyboard can literally access the world.

But that access can also pose hazards. For example, an 8-year-old might do an online search for "Lego." But with just one missed keystroke, the word "Legs" is entered instead, and the child may be directed to a slew of websites with a focus on legs — some of which may contain pornographic material.

That's why it's important to be aware of what your kids see and hear on the Internet, who they meet, and what they share about themselves online.

Just like any safety issue, it's wise to talk with your kids about your concerns, take advantage of resources to protect them, and keep a close eye on their activities.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html

Business 

Why business through the Internet? The answer to this question is very simple. It is estimated that 10 million people in Poland use the Internet. Therefore, it is an enormous market of potential clients with almost infinite absorptive power.

With a well-positioned website or shop, our web page on the Internet can be visited for instance by 300 000 people a month. Such a situation in a traditional shop is almost impossible. Assuming pessimistically that one (person) in 300 makes a purchase at our Internet shop, it gives us a thousand clients a month. It is enough to earn on each of those 1000 people 10 zlotys and our monthly revenue amounts to 10 000 zlotys. It is the opportunity of reaching a broad range of clients that makes business through the Internet so profitable. We also need to remember that our shop can sell goods to people from around the world, which gives us a market of a billion potential customers.

The most important advantages of running a business in the Internet are:

1. no premise-related costs

2. an enormous market of potential clients

3. the opportunity of selling goods to foreign customers

4. flexible working hours when running an Internet shop

5. limiting the number of employees, which means lower costs of the company's activity

6. low open costs

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1000629

Copyright 

Copying songs, films or images from the internet without permission is illegal under Britain's copyright laws, which would be draconian were it not for the fact that they are so frequently flouted and with so little comeback. The principle, though, is straightforward: unless a copyright owner has given permission for content to be shared – whether via YouTube or the photo-sharing site Flickr – copying, even for private use, is illegal.

Which is why, more than 10 years after the iPod was launched, it is still in law not permissible to rip songs from a CD on to a computer or digital music player. The only legal exemption is the so-called "time shifting" exemption, which allows people to record television programmes for personal use.

So draconian is the existing law that a parody song, such as the viral online hit Newport State of Mind, can be taken down, because, in this case, the writers of the original Empire State of Mind don't approve.

Ministers intend to relax the rules once the Hargreaves review into intellectual property is implemented, which would give Britons the same freedoms from copyright actions as their American and German counterparts, but consultation into how to do so finished only last month.

However, few people worry about the reality of the law: although there is a growing recognition that copying media, and in particular music, can harm creators, the true barriers to piracy are technological. Most people are too confused by "torrent" illegal download sites, and so prefer legal alternatives. At the same time, despite various efforts to force internet providers to send warning letters, or agree to other stiffer measures, the truth is that it is not economic for media companies to pursue small copyright infringers. British copyright law and internet copyright reality remain some distance apart. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/18/british-copyright-law-internet

internet penetration

At current growth rates, broadband penetration among active Internet users should break 90% by mid-2008 in the U.S. Overall, broadband penetration is 57% in U.S. households, according to a recent Leichtman Research survey. In a related study by Connected Nation, the U.S. could realize an economic impact of $134 billion annually by accelerating broadband availability across all states.

31.4 bradband per in habitants this year
Uk has one of the highest internet penetration in the world, it has around 92% people using this