Presentation

Yesterday I presented my presentation to the class, it went fairly well.. no matter how nerve-racking it was. But I did it. Glad it's done.

I have uploaded it onto Slideshare: Lee Cunnington IDAT101

PDP

PDP

In week 18 we studied the PDP, this is a structured and supported process which helps us lay down goals in which will help us achieve in later life. It helps me plan my performance and helps me take actions in completing every goal that I have set for myself. The PDP is apparently (or is) a government scheme which helps everyone acquire strategic thinking and helps companies initiate plans for their employees. I feel that this is a great idea to establish goals early to achieve in the close future.

Mapping Media

Using the program called 'FreeMind' I have been able to create a version of what I percieve as 'Media' in this day in age. It may look like a map of the Solar System with all the lines and arrows, but I will explain in more detail to what this means.

Media can be broken down into different categories that can be easily understood. In my opinion it can be broken down into 3 different areas.

Firstly it can be separated to Digital/Electronic. Today over 90% of media is run electronically, through the internet, radio, television and film.

Digital/Electronic types of media are most influential for both Social Media and Industrial Media's because of its influence not just in the United Kingdom, but around the whole world. Social Media can be established faster with little or no skill at all through the World Wide Web (WWW) from blogging, vlogging, internet forumns and email; whilst Industrial Media takes a bit more time with high skill to produce newspapers, television shows like News/Weather and traditional radio broadcasts.

Entertainment is very important in Digital and Electronic media, it influences the whole world and allows us to communicate and interconnect and combine with each others societies. It brings different cultures together through music, games, video and film through things like Streaming Media, Online Games and Downloadable materials. Types of media such as Networking websites like Facebook and Bebo and Instant messaging sites rely on downloadable materials and music/video as Entertainment on these websites and instant messengers to help people who have the same interests as each other connect and share information between one-another. It can help start discussions, relationships and conflicts between different groups depending on what the material is. Youtube can relate to many websites and sites such as Facebook can rely on it as users are able to copy and paste various links to music and videos they want their friends to watch increasing connectivity and relationships on social aspects.

RSS Feeds are also related to media and its relations because it allows everyone who uses it the chance to find out what the weather is, what current issues are locally or even world-wide. Blogging and Social Profile websites use and heavily rely RSS Feeds to address certain types of information to general audiences.

The rest of the 10% which is Physical media is mainly run through newspapers, magazines, leaflets, booklets etc. These are produced by Industrial Media (or Mass Media) which takes alot of time, effort and the required skills to create interesting products and information to be spread across the country or even the world. This can be related to mainly Written Feedback because most newspapers rely on public opinions and local news spread from person to person. People sell their stories to newspapers to show their sides of the story. Speech is also related to physical media through music and radio. Some bands such as Jamiroquai have spread their opinion on world issues through music such as warning people about the environment and corruption of politics; they even covered on social aspects too. Example: They sing about the way Native Americans have been treated, being thrown into reservations whilst nuclear weapons are being tested on their old land. The song 'Too Young To Die' clearly shows this through instrumentals and lyrics.

Physical Media can be used in many good ways, but some can take advantage of physical medias role of addressing a nation. Propaganda is a topic which is mentioned alot especially in my blog. It can be used to scare people, threaten minorities or encourage people to do something for change. Physical media is the catalyst for problems like this. Posters, Radio and Television can be used to these effects on the public. Because so many people listen to the radio whilst they are on their way to work, see posters while walking around the high street or sitting at home watching television; anything the industrial media puts in place can be believed by so many or by so few. However, this can make a great change to the public opinion on something thats on the agenda. Mainly these days, physical media tries to target areas such as the Music industry (to intrigue people to buy music), Electronics industries (to interest people in buying iPods and Computers) and Politics/Environment. Propaganda and Mass Media in general can be used in Politics/Environment to change the general publics mind on political parties, for example the BNP (British National Party) has recently been attacked by almost every radio, television broadcast station and newspaper in the country coining them as evil and unworthy. (which is probably true in my opinion). But what industrial media has done here is use slogans and other techniques to win over the general public against a political party.

The third category on my mind map which doesn't have a percentage but has a role within media using Digital/Electronic and Physical media as it's sole purpose of spreading the message is the Social Interface. Social Interface is important as anyone who is able to use the internet or produce a newspaper or radio broadcast are able to produce media to the nation. Feedback is important within the society we have today and this is because of freedom of speech, the right of opinion and the right of open information. Anyone and everyone is allowed the freedom to express their own opinions in our Democratic society. Social Interface can be channelled into the obvious three categories which are related as: Written, Electronic and Speech.

Written feedback is based and related on physical types of media.. Newspapers, music, posters, leaflets and billboards can express public or personal opinions to things such as politics, environment and social issues that go on in local and national societies. Written feedback is very important as a social interface in small towns such as Ivybridge (my hometown). We have local newspapers such as the Gazette which expresses personal opinions on underlying issues such as the 'Ivybridge, Lee Mill' Incinerator plans which are taking place. I for one am against the proposal of this abomination of an idea.. - This is a true example of written feedback and social interface. Written feedback can also be used to tackle false information and powerful sources of media such as Propaganda. Propaganda is created through Industrial Media.. it takes a bit of time to get out to the general public; but once it does, many people seem to believe in it especially in countries like North Korea where Authoritarianism still exists.

However, Social Media can produce Propaganda in small doses (mainly on websites or images) which can bring a big effect on the nation. This information on the internet can spread fast, making people believe or disbelieve in the information they are recieving. A random example could be 'An Alien Attack' filmed and obviously altered using Photoshop and After Effects. I've seen in on Youtube before, some comments I have seen are ridiculous.. people actually believe in some of the footage. Whilst others do not.

Electronic Feedback through the Social Interface can relate to the whole spectrum of Digital/Electronics types of Media. Through the Internet, it can be used in almost any type media out there. It is heavily relied upon in Networking. Social Networking is the term for this as it involves many people all socialising over the internet through many different means. To name a few examples on the mind map I've put down things such as Forums, Instant Messaging, Social Profile, News and Email. These different types of Networking can be broken down into Forums such as gaming and technical support sites where anyone can express their problem to an audience that is 'Logged in' or signed up to the forum. Opinions can also be expressed through Instant messaging such as Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo. The Social Profile is very important in this day in age, we have Facebook, Bebo and Twitter which contantly brings opinions and personal news to everybody who is connected with that person who is spreading their opinion. Blogging is another important step to social interface, like right now I'm talking to you through a blog spreading my own ideas and opinions electronically. Vlogging is also a very useful technique in portraying someones opinion through speech and visuals, music and general topics. This can be related to websites such as Youtube.com as it's a free source to upload on so everyone can watch.

Speech is the last Social Interface I will be mentioning today, this can be used in both Electronic media and Physical Media. This type of social media can be expressed on blogging, vlogging sites mainly. So it basically shows a person on camera talking about their beliefs, opinions and ideas of what their world is currently, what they are doing etc. Speech can also be used as an interface in physical aspects, on live television and radio broadcasts for example. It could be someone talking about an upcoming band, a gig or tour announcement; it could be somebody talking about daily life, politics, sciences, religion. All of these can be portrayed as a personal opinion through one voice, or by many. It could even be used through Propaganda motives to encourage people to support this belief and that cause to influence the nation or even the world into believing in them.

Manifesto: Democracy

Democracy

This is what I believe in: Democracy.

Democracy is carried out by the people for the people; it includes having equality, understanding, free opinion and political expression but most of all. Freedom. This is what I like about Democracy because it doesn’t control us in a way that makes us all brainwashed fools like Communism does to its people. It introduces us to the system of Capitalism, gives our people whatever it needs, helps them start new business, helps us trade through money to build a stronger economy. Democracy brings security to our nations with strong police enforcement, intelligence and counter-terrorism systems which do their best to protect the people. The system does its best to help the working people with free health care, trade unions and public liability cover. Education is top of the list, Democracy encourages that every child (male and female) have compulsory education until they are 16 years of age to help them build skills in English, Maths and Sciences; they are also allowed to choose subjects of their interests such as History and Foreign Languages. Democracy also encourages the rise in technology and helps through political power to improve technological advances such improved health care (machines, chemicals and drugs), improved agriculture, industry and through consumer goods. No other political system is capable of what Democracy can do; this is what makes it completely superior to others.

Short Biography

In the practical the other week we were given the task to talk about ourselves through an autobiographical sense. We had to link every word which relates to something for example a car can be linked to a certain website.

Hello, my name is Lee Stephen Cunnington. I was born in Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom. Currently living in Ivybridge, Devon. (Lived there all my life).
My family: Mum - Julie, Dad - Stephen, Sister - Faye
Pets: Irish Terrier, Tropical Fish
Studied at Stowford Primary School, Ivybridge Community College and currently studying Multimedia, Production and Technology at The University of Plymouth. I used to study Computer and Information Security in 2008/09 but decided to change course during 2009.
My interests include, computing, website designing, gaming, designing and animation, networking/social. Sports such as fitness training, weight-lifting; swimming and cycling. I enjoy days out to the beach, driving my Ford Fiesta Flight with 33,000 miles on the clock and of course – Movies and Cinema. Other interests include playing musical instruments such as the Bass Guitar and the Keyboard/Piano. I enjoy studying History (The war years) and Geography (Mapping).

Networks

Networks

The other week, we studied a thing called networks. Not just any old 'network' but networks which have meaning to corporate strategies, animal behaviour, banking and open source software.

From what I can see in the diagram above, I can identify that each of these networks have different properties and effects which determine how successful they are in the outside world. The centralized network is based on the princple of one Master identity, for example Microsoft - They have their central director/president (now Steve Ballmer) and links are distributed from him to upper management stations who control the companies assests and co-ordinate corporate strategies and inspect work areas. If the Centralized diagram continued, then the links are distributed from these managers to supervisors/workers stations who they are in control of. So it's some sort of hierarchical approach going on here... the higher you are in the chain, the more powers and control you have in the company. This is a weaker network when it comes to controlling all the stations and links in the company. There is too much to manage for one Master Identity to control, causing a collapse in communication.. especially in banking sectors. Too much demand for money can cause the links to shatter causing poor co-ordination to parts of the company meaning these stations to dissolve (loss of jobs or loss of customer support/interests).

Decentralized networks still has the principle of 'Master identities' but power is distrubuted across several stations which have links to each other, but have their own spread of links to seperate stations (this could also spread into more and more stations depending on the size of the business or entity. Decentrilized networks can be used in an example such as an Armed forces role. Each ranking General command lower ranking stations (people) such as leutenants who will command whoever is lower ranking than them. If the Decentralized network was expanded in the diagram, the leutenant stations would form different links down to the next ranking station which is most likely to be majors. The lower the rank toward Sergeants, the more soldiers there are to command. This Decentralized model is fairly ideal for this kind of commanding job as it shares powers to different areas whether it being Army, Navy or Airforces. This helps distribute the command to head Generals who can co-ordinate and communicate each force easily in military campaigns and is ideal for organisation but only to a certain degree because links are not distributed to other commands. This network is again like a Hierarchy but it is more distributed and no central master entity exists. So power is distributed between the links more carefully.

Distributed networks is very common in the animal world with flocks of birds and schools of fish. All stations in this network have links to each other and there is no actual central identity so power and organisation is equal sharing. So for animals, the flock of bird and the shoals of fish look out for each other, when a bird is ill the other birds will guard it, when the shoal is under attack from a shark the fish will form a mirage to try and trick the predator. Distributed networks are not always the best choice for huge businesses as it is based on how much resource is available such as communication and the speed in which is is delivered. Terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban use distributed networks to share power between their infidel splinter groups which is useful individual tactics in terms of espionage and sabotage. Because Communication technology has developed so quickly, radio, internet and mobile capabilities have made these small terror groups efficient against larger stationary armies.

The Distributed network idea is commonly used in computer networking. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo, Myspace where users of the site add people who they know. When the person accepts the friendship request a link is joined with the person who added them. This can continuously grow and grow until there are no more people left that the person knows. There is no master identity in networking as friendship adding and social networking is only involved. No individual person can take control and everyone has the same amount of control as the other person does. The Internet as a whole is a Distributed network because everyone can access entertainment such as Online Tv, Online games, social sites, the latest news/weather; music and radio all at once. Everyone has free access to this, all you need is a computer and an internet connection and you're up and running.

Open Source is Freedom?

Freedom to do whatever you want is exciting and very rewarding in terms of gaining free useful software from the internet which brings me to my next topic: Open Source Software. Open-source software is a new approach of giving the public free-software for them to use for Free and only free - no catches. Open-source gives the freedom for developers to give something to the public for free. Many people actually donate money back as a sign of good will depending on how great the product is. For some companies, Microsoft and Apple dislike the idea of Open Source as it undermines their corporate strategies and makes them look greedy. (Fair enough if they want to keep profits). But this isnt a good idea when listening to public opinion. The public want cheaper software from these big companies. They want it as convienient as possible so they can carry on with their lives enjoying the products they need for computing. Open-Source operating systems such as Linux churns out some great O/S' such as Ubuntu which normally gets updated every 6-12 months to even better software is regarded as one of the best free-sources ever. Recently Microsoft has released Windows 7, and I tell you it wasn't too bad for price. Students can earn the software for just £20-£30. I recently purchased a laptop from Comet and they offered me Free Windows 7 upgrade if I paid just £10 P&P and a week later Windows 7 was on my doorstep. It shows that at least some big corporations are look at different strategies to selling their products as cheaply as possible to the general public. However, Open-Source really does benefit in popularity and is starting to make Apple and Microsoft compete to gain the upper hand in the 'Popularity Market'.

Update 29/10/2009

A website called Dreamspark is available for university students. It's made by microsoft and is designed to offer free software such as Visual Studio 2005,8 and even 2010! As long as the student has a valid university email and hotmail account, they are allowed to access many software which is ideal for most university courses.
This is a great example of Microsoft trying to compete with open source. http://www.dreamspark.com/

Social Media?

We have recently learned of the History about Social Media and how it affects our societies all over the globe industrially and socially.

This is quite an opinionated subject to tell because other people may have different views to what I may have or they may have the same as mine. So saying the right thing maybe incorrect to others.

Social Media is designed from human needs and social interactions using many sources mainly through the Internet and the World-Wide Web. It can also be from newspapers, televisions, word of mouth, prints and public speaking. All of these techniques feed Social Media and it's influence across the globe.

Industrial media is normally named as Mass Media. Industrial media has the capability to reach the largest of audiences and even small ones.

Comparisons between Social and Industrial Media:

Reach: Social and Industrial Media enables anyone to reach global audience

Accessibility: Media tools are available to everyone through Social Media. Industrial Media can be private or government owned. Huge corporations normally abide through this system.

Usability: Industrial Media requires special skills, training and years of experience, however social media does not require as much skill. Social media is open for everyone as long as they have the computer and software to work with.

Time Scale: The time industrial media gets to its audience it could be days or even weeks. Social media is obtained instantaneously through the web such as Blogging.

Permanence: Magazines (made by industrial media) are permanent and cannot be changed, whilst Social Media can be altered through editing or comments.

Social Media as a global system has been increasingly growing since 2006 due to increases in networking, socialising, blogging, instant messaging and other forms of communications electronically. This has really changed the perspective on the World we see today. It has been used for so many positive things. It has helped all of us connect together with people all over the world, it helps us communicate whenever it needs be and is really useful for addressing emergencies and problems between two people, businesses and even through the global media spectrum.

Since the 1930's, Media was basically advertising through posters, newspapers and radio broadcasts. In my opinion this is when the first series of ' Military Propaganda' took strides to calm and grip the nations. It was used in graphical posters such as comical art and daring artist drawings to inform, amaze and even scare citizens into submission. War Propaganda, especially in Germany was used visually and by mouth (one-to-many) through special radio broadcasts to encourage the German population to continue support for Hitler's Nazi Germany.

These techniques were used heavily for the German war effort and has made media so effective for bad and negative actions.

The Road To War for Britain however took strides to calm the Nation after the economic crashes, using different types of propaganda using Slogans, Repitition and Oversimplication to continue work effort and keep peace from the opposing threat of Nazi Germany.

Capitalism or Communism?

Capitalism is a socioeconomic system which deals with means of production known as capital. Many first world countries are reknowned as being a Capitalist country. Market is the main operator for dealing with generating profits which fund labour, technology and industry.

Social classes matter when Capitalism is involved. A Hierarchy can be created using principles of income, social status (such as rich, poor, military, royalty). The richer you are, the higher you are in the capitalism hierarchy. In my opinion, this isn't fair for poorer, hard working classes to get little profit after a long days work. They are the ones who generate the profit in the markets whilst the ones working in the offices and in management work little and achieve more wages. However, the ones that work in the offices and manage the factory for example supervise the workers below on the workshop floor for build quality and to find any risks with production. Money spent on items such as Ipods, foodstuffs and transportation gets put back into the system and is paid through the hierarchy. Meaning that the managers and chairmen/women achieve the greatest profit whilst the working classes recieve lower wages.


Capitalism uses Social Media and Industrial Media in every way possible to sway the country in favouring products, interesting them in new technologies and keeping the country running as a whole. Without media advertising in social media forms, every Capitalist country in this day in age would not be successful in achieving market profits and the system would crash miserably.

Social and Industrial media has such a great effect on our society, it governs everyday things such as television adverts, radio broadcasts, internet pop-ups and webspaces. It's even still in print process such as magazines, newspapers and billboards. Media makes the world go round with Capital is involved as it's the only catalyst for citizens in each country to become encouraged or intrigued to purchase products.

Communism is another socioeconomic political ideaology which is known as classless and apparently lacks a heirarchy system. This means that common ownership owns the means of production and property in general. The use of socialism is its primary goal to make the population believe that everyone is equal and every product made through the means of production is equal to all and that profits are equal to everyone within a factory or business. In my opinion this is not true in the ideal world because the dictatorship that governs these ideas are not equal to the working people or 'proletariat'. Instead of the profits being measured equally through the society, the governing head takes as much profit as possible just like in a capitalist hierarchy.

I'm not a fan of Communism because of the ways that the working people are treated. When Stalinism was in force, the working people were forced to work sufferable hours in poor working conditions. Fatalities from these poor working conditions are too high to count. The system becomes corrupt when the governing power takes more profit and distributes 'low pay' equally to the working people even though they have been promised equal profits from everyone.

Communism today still uses propaganda through social and industrial media. Especially in places such as the Peoples Republic of China and North Korea. These communist states shun out Capitalism and try and endorce their policies using media types such as internet, radio, newspapers and televisions to keep the working people under the governments control. Living under fear using slogans and strong communist footage to brainwash the population works on the misguided. Using these tactics makes the working people work for anything just to make a substantial living.

Social and Industrial Media can be used in different way. In some ways good and some ways bad. Now it's being mixed with politics which can be used to either inspire the population or to break their spirits. Whilst in industry and businesses, Social media and Industrial media can be designed to inspire professionalism and this will easily lead the population into believing different ideas and to try new products and items.

Mind Mapping

We were given a task in IDAT101 to create a mind map about ourselves. It can contain anything as long as it's about yourself and the things around you that make 'you', YOU.

I came up with this mind map using a handy tool called FreeMind, I would recommend you all to use this.

However it is hard and confusing for the majority of beginners to use the program.

It basically creates the mind map in a simplistic way once you find what controls you want to use to draw the mind map together. It took me a few hours to grasp this program and to complete the mind map.

Enjoy!