Sunday, 3 July 2016

Film - straight outta Compton
Topic - racism
Debate - within the film straight outta Compton there a references and scenes of racial abuse within the city of Compton between the hate of black people. The white officers are picking their next 'victim' through the colour of their skin and harass them, in the case of the film there are white officers abusing black African Americans although there was also a black officer who was violent towards the black males which subverts the stereotype.

Film - American history x
Topic - racism
Debate - American history x is a film which is based around a male who was part of a white supremacist group, they would target those who are black and carry out violent acts of hatred towards them, this was due to the mindset of them thinking that African Americans are taking away their idea of American and running the country by taking jobs that white Americans deserve to have.

Film - Fruitvale station
Topic - racism
Debate - this film is about how police in America specifically target black African Americans and label them as being criminals, they are treated worse than the rest of the citizens in America as they are labeled this way and the police do nothing to stop this but only promote this.

Film - Boyz n da hood
Topic - crime
Debate - this is a film based in South Central La and how there are black on black crimes. The death of black African Americans on a day to day bases and how they are treated in the American system. There is also police who promote black people to be inferior even the black officers stereotype the younger African Americans as being violent criminals so theres an element of old vs young within the film and their mindset of society and people.

Film - along came a spider
Topic - kidnapping
Debate - this is about a girl who is kidnapped by a male who pretend to be a teacher and abducted a girl. There is a police officer who is trying to find the criminal so there is good vs bad and the law vs lawbreaker which is seen in the film as there has been a crime committed by someone.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

This article is about social media and surveillance and it introduces ideas about government surveillance and converging life spheres such as family, friends and school. According to Edward Snowden's revelations, the American and British government are seeking total surveillance of the Internet. They are doing so by embedding tags into gadgets, clothes or under one's skin. These can be transmitted wirelessly and connect instantly with satellite systems that record your digital footprint. The article also talks about data mining. Many people trust companies to behave in ethical manners however, this trust can be misplaced.

Are you bothered with tracking?

Yes I am bothered about tracking because I feel that it is an invasion of one's privacy. In today's society, people are exposing their personal information and details without knowing which is deceiving and shouldn't be allowed as people aren't aware of it. I feel that one's private and social life are not two separate things which I see as a problem as people cannot escape from the harsh reality of the online world as it is a part of their private life.


Is it a small price to pay?


To some extent it is a small price to pay because it makes online searches more personal for the user. It also personalises people's social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat by using advertisement which are personalised to this specific user. This is done so that one's experience online is more efficient.


On the other hand, some would say that it is a large price to pay because it gathers personal information which some people find to be unethical as the person may not have given full consent to this due to information being collected by Google and the individual not realising. This could combine both private and social life together which is not good as your social life will consume most of your private life.

Thursday, 9 June 2016

Introduction to NDM: reading and blog task

The first article is talking about the way that young people are using social media and how they balance it out. There is ways that behaviour can be tracked online and monitoring people who are on websites and even social media websites. There is also ways that the media is used differently both at home and in school and the common differences between the two ways that they are used. Social media is a big part of peoples life's in today's society and this is mainly with the younger generation and how people socialise through social networking.

The second article is about the new Periscope app that was recently released earlier this year. Periscope is an app that was purchased by Twitter and there are concerns about the safety of peoples privacy on Periscope. There are also things that are really positive about this such as being able to teach students in a class about another country or culture and being able to contact someone who have give this insight and information straight away because they are easy to access due to the use of Periscope.

The A2 exam was on spotify and how spotify use their app to get coverage on music and the different genres of music. It is and easy way for people to access their music all from one place without having any of the issues before such as going out and having to spend money on a physical copy of each artists that you listen to. The essay itself was very good because it gave lots of examples throughout the essay and when talking about it, it evaluated spotify. The essay had a clear structure present and when answering the question it made it easier not to drift off so you could answer the question which is why the essay got full marks.

The media has changed over the past 5 years in a positive way by introducing more advance technology so that its easier to access things on online. This has had an impact on everyone's life as they are able to spend less time looking for the things that they need. Although, this can be a disadvantage as they would be spending more time as it is time consuming, it has also had an impact on things such as TV, print media and radio as more people are online and not consuming media as much in those ways anymore causing a significant decline.