media diary

I decided to keep my media diary in the beginning of December, namely between the 9th and 13th. The period before Christmas holidays was quite busy so I am not sure if my usage of media was quite relevant but I noticed throughout these five days that I have mostly the habits I have when my schedule is not that busy. I have to mention a detail which I consider important: I have lived without a TV set for almost five years now and I do not intend to buy one. I “divorced” from the TV when I moved to Bucharest and started my studies. Since then computer has replaced it somehow. Even now when I use TV I watch mostly Discovery Channel, History Channel or Animal Planet. If there are good movies in the programme I do not hesitate to watch either, but mostly I watch movies on my computer, online or on DVD. I dislike totally entertainment shows like Big Brother or the kind and I do not watch news unless I am around TV by mistake and hear them. I do not read newspapers, maybe Helsingin Sanomat, the online edition and National Geographic Magazine and Museum (the online magazine of American Association of Museums).
I use mobile phone quite rarely and that is only for messages and conversation, when strictly necessary. I prefer sending messages using my computer. Sometimes I get confused in all the functions that my phone has, I do not know to use them all. I also use the iPod mostly when travelling or walking. I noticed I spend quite a lot of time in front of the computer mostly chatting with friends, reading all kinds of articles and doing my homework. I use the computer both at school and home but mostly at home, as at school I do more reading than surfing the internet. The average time spent online varies depending on the day of the week. Usually in weekend I can spend a whole day in front of the computer. I use Facebook everyday, including the chat, Farmville and Yahoo Messenger mostly. I usually leave them open and I go on doing my stuff until somebody talks to me. I also use Google for finding the information I need and most of the times I end up on Wikipedia, jumping from link to link. I enjoy watching movies a lot, especially horror movies and for that I use tvshack or Youtube. I also use Youtube for listening to music as I do not carry around with me all the cds. I usually prefer listening to metal combined with classical music but other genres such as jazz and folk music are also appealing. I check my Yahoo mail and university portal everyday and most of the times I have mails to reply to. Sometimes I read other blogs; usually I have some favourite bloggers which I follow regulary and I also have my own blog where I post every month. I don’t have any certain topics, I write what I feel and the number of posts varies depending on what I have to say. I think it is very relieving to keep a blog and sometimes quite fun. Also, the online dictionaries are used often when I have to read or write assignments and I am not sure about the meaning of certain words. It is very difficult to spend one day without using the computer and a computer without internet is kind of useless to be honest. Sometimes, (in exceptional cases) when I do not use the computer for one day I feel like something in my life is missing. I do not know if this is good or bad but I got used to the idea that it is a normal thing of my life. I used to live without a computer not so long ago but I accepted that times changed and I changed myself, too. I am not that lonely anymore now when I can stay in contact with my family and friends, even virtually. If it is to name something I cannot spend my day without, that would be computer with internet connection.

I also kept a detailed media diary for the five days on my personal blog: http://silviadimitri.wordpress.com/category/media-diary/

Flikken Maastricht, a Dutch police series.

Back in the Netherlands, I study in a town called Maastricht. Maastricht is a beautiful, old city with a lot of interesting sights.

Flikken Maastricht is a police series which is set in Maastricht and shows the most beautiful spots in a ‘criminal’ atmosphere. It is originally based on a Belgian police series and broadcasted on public television. The day after the television broadcast, you can watch the episode on the website of public television (www.uitzendinggemist.nl). Every week a have to watch the newest episode so you can safely say that I’m addicted.

But why? It’s quite strange that I like this particular television series because I don’t really watch television that often and I almost never watch a television series. I never watched another police series. Another reason why I can’t explain my addiction is the level of reality in the series. Because I live in Maastricht, I see a lot of flaws in the story in order to make it look good. For example, if the ride through one street, the next shot can be in a completely different part of the town. An explanation for these goofs could be the avoidance of the less beautiful parts of town. What’s more, the level of acting isn’t always of a high standard. It’s not annoying but some characters ‘overact’.

Because the series is Dutch-spoken, Flikken Maastricht is not internationally known. The script, though can be regarded as quite international; all episodes follow a certain script and end with a cliffhanger. A week later, we first see what happened the week before.
On the whole, I think that a series like Flikken Maastricht offers some good relaxation for the mind. After a day of work, it is good to relax with a drink and a nice episode of your favorite series.



Relevant links (in English):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flikken_Maastricht
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920448/
http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-19398

Media diary; wasting time behind my laptop?

In the five days that I recorded my media use, I noticed that I spent more time on the internet as thought before. Especially on the weekends, the average time spent behind my laptop was around eight hours. During the week, it was a bit less, around five hours.
Why so much? Because it’s easy to get lost on the internet. I often start with a news website and end up clicking further because I want to know more about a certain subject. Since I moved to Finland, I gave up my subscription to a dutch newspaper and nowadays, I check their website almost every day (www.nrc.nl). I don’t consider this a waste of time because it helps me to stay in contact with the latest developments in the world.

Searching for news isn’t the only thing I do on the internet. Skype helps me to stay in contact with my family and girlfriend. During my personal media diary period, I used skype every day. On some days over two hours and other days around thirty minutes. Before I came here, I never used skype and I just bought the laptop with webcam before arrival in Finland. When I go back, I will basically stop using skype for some time because I am close to my family again.
Other things I did on my laptop quite often (a bit too much, if you ask me) were checking email, facebook and some internet-for a, especially the one from my student cycling association in Maastricht (www.dm-maastricht.nl). I also watched television on it. On www.uitzendinggemist.nl, it is possible to watch public television programmes on the internet. I used this function for about an hour per day.

I brought my laptop to the library once during those five days but I used the computers that are already in the library more often. I used them to check optima, email and other study-related stuff. The time spent on those computers was much shorter than on my own laptop, mostly around 15 minutes. When I used the computers in the library, I both used those that are in the cafeteria and those that are in the computer room. The time I spent on the computers in the café was definitely shorter.

Other places I used the internet were at some friends places. I watched youtube video’s with my roommate for about an hour. We used his laptop for this because he has a good place to sit down for those ‘silly’ things.

I would have used my laptop even more often when I played some games but I decided to stop this a few years ago after playing Need for speed-underground for hours. I thought stopping with games would deliver me a lot more free-time which I could spent sporting etcetera but it worked out that I just use the internet more often. During the five days I only made time to read a ‘real’ book once for a few hours.

A Fan

It seems that I have always lacked something in order to understand the fan phenomenon. How should we define a fan, anyhow? Does the fact that there are certain musicians, writers, actors, movie directors and other creative groups or people whose activity interests me more than some of the others' and I have seen, read or listened more than one piece of work they have produced make me instantly a fan of theirs? Or should I collect some objects related to their production or create actively some new content based on their work in order to be a fan? In case the answer to the last question is "yes", I am definitely not a fan of anything or anyone and for what it's worth I don't feel myself like being a fan of something either. For me, being a fan associates unfortunately mostly with the strange cases of affection like the ongoing one where tens of thousands or more teenage girls and their mums just cannot stop dreaming of Robert Pattinson (leading actor of Twilight Saga that I have been unable to watch for its mawkishness). It may be that I misunderstand something completely about fanship, but fan practices have always seem a bit sad and desperate to me: why want to resemble to a pop-star or fictional character and not just be you? Why imitate or slightly contribute to other people's creation if you could put this spare energy to better use and create something original and your own? To each his own: maybe being a fan just is not for everyone.

Media Diary 10.12-14.12.2009.

I apologize for the diary not being more summarized, but the fully summarized version of it looked so boring that if I had a blog I'd never post it there.

10.12 Thursday. Wrote the art and visual culture essay most of the day, so used the PC around 12 hours that day altogether. Used several internet sources for the essay (Google Books, for example). Also used several books in hardcopy. To get a rest and distance from an assignment time to time I read news from the internet (Estonian-language sites), checked the status of friends in Facebook and watched one episode of Estonian Idol from TV3 online archive. Stayed logged out from MSN for the whole day in order not to be distracted.
11. 12 Friday. Thought about finishing the essay but decided that I need still to gain more distance with it in order to revise it properly, so I finished a RPG Dragon Age: Origin that I had had in the PC for quite for a while, instead. Was unhappy with the ending of the game, because the only ethical choice to "save the world" was for the main character ("me") to commit suicidical self-sacrifice. Finished writing the essay. Posted an entry about it in Facebook and had a small discussion about the coming assignments with "sisters in pain".
12. 12 Saturday. Skimmed through a paper version of Iltalehti. Didn't get any new information but got an impression that there were even more reports of crimes that involved firearms than usually. Logged into an internet bank and for few minutes to Facebook. Searched info about hotels in Varanasi, India and sent an e-mail to one of them. Watched Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) with boyfriend who by some miracle hadn't seen the movie (probably seen it for 20 times for now, but it's still good). After that we couldn't miss the "rare" opportunity to watch Jaws (1975) from MTV3 before falling to sleep.
13. 12 Sunday. Put two new videogames to download (readers, it would be nice if you wouldn't report me to some authorities now for making that confession). Started with next essay. Didn't get the inspiration for it so spent a lot of time for doing nothing that also involved reading people's comments from online media and a internet forum Perekool (Family School). (The forum has become of the place where women who are suffering home-abuse or have found out about their husbands affairs come to pour out their hearts, so I'd call it endulging in a kind of "social-porn".) Talked with friends and the father in MSN.
13. 12 Monday. Continued with the essay. Used few printed books, some scanned books and some sources from the internet. Logged into Korppi and Optima for a few times. Also checked several of my mailboxes (have seven of them, unfortunately) and sent some e-mails. Skimmed through the headlines of online newsportals (Estonian). Continued writing the essay. Watched the documentary about Guantanamo prison from ETV.

Conclusion and some additions. My main media source is internet. I get news from online newsportals and internet is also a source for entertainment. I use the mobile phone every day but mostly just to talk and send messages, very rarely for internet, taking pictures etc. I tend to forget that I have a TV. Before coming to Jyväskylä I used it mostly for watching films and as a late-night background noise when being home alone. Finnish TV-channels show approximately 5 times less films than Estonian channels and finish their programs too early to fit with my rhythm of the day. I read newspapers printed on paper only if someone else has bought them and also tend to go through the printed newpapers in bars and restaurants if they're available. I work for the art and visual culture magazine kunst.ee (published in print), so apart from that I do not have an urge to participate in any other form of media (to create new content). I do not have a blog and except for Facebook that I use for keeping in touch with my friends I also do not feel the need to be overly active in social networks. The five days above didn't differ relevantly from my usual use of media.

Convergence Culture

One of Jenkins’s core claims, a change of the relationships between media and us as a consumer of media indicates our use of technology, might be a good way to start thinking about the future of digital culture. According to Jenkins, a convergence culture represents a shift in the way as we think about our relations to media, that we are making that shift first through our relations with popular culture but that the skills we acquire through play may have implications for how we learn, work, participate in the political process, and connect with other people around the world (p 23). In this regard, a convergence of cultural activities seem to appear as we expand popular culture through the use of information technology (mobile phone or internet as a platform, for instance). And we learn to apply such skills (skills to use information technology whatever the way possible) to get involved politically as an individual, to acquire knowledge and to build a relationship. It might not be overstating that such a new notion of media, which described here as convergence culture, is growing. And it is mirroring changes in our lives how we purse a more convenient and fulfilling life by expanding the use of technology. It is overwhelming how we always find a way to use new media technology and how much we relay on information technology in a daily life. Needless to say that there is only a fuzzy boundary between who creates and controls media and people who consume them at the moment. And I believe we keep pushing the boundary as the use of technology seep in our lives.

fandom

I have been thinking for a while what I am fan of. I am not a fan of anything particular. I feel this is a disadvantage for me not being a fan of anything (at least disadvantage for being in this Digital Culture program). The reason might be that I enjoy doing many things and cannot narrow down to few things that I would be absorbed in. I used to read a lot of mangas (Japanese comics) when I was in primary school and junior high school. However, I was never obsessed with any specific manga or writer. Osamu Tezuka was one of my favorites but was not crazy about his works. I used to listens LP records my parents had. MD, MP3 or music online never attracted me. I prefer using a manual camera than a digital camera. I used to go fishing often but was never happy about using a fancy fishing gear or a fishfinder (a machine which detects fish under water). I love watching sports, especially baseball and football, but prefer to go and actually see the match than on TV or game. Perhaps, another reason that I am not fan of any media would be that I am used to a paper format (paper book & paper photo) and manual machines and afraid to change such habits.

Diary of a Media Addict

     I am as a media and communication student; I realized that I spend the most of my time with technological devices. The first thing that I do every morning when I wake up, just going to in front of my computer, turn it on and then be online. I always consider why I am doing this. Is it obligatory? Is reason being  an addict? Or being human in the 21^st Century?

        As I said, every morning when I wake up, the first thing is pushing turn on button of my laptop and then eating something. It claims that, Internet and computer are more important than main needs of my body. I spent time in front of computer around 5-6 hours in a day but I am talking with people around 1-2 hours. I check my mails and Facebook profile generally more than 15 times in a day and there are maybe just 3-5 new important things happen on my profile and I receive maybe 2-3 important mails each day. Therefore, I spent maybe half of the time with internet for just surfing. I am reading Turkish newspapers, I am looking videos on YouTube and I am talking with friends and family on Skype. When I was in Turkey, I was watching TV around 3-4 hours in a day but in Finland, I do not have TV and also if I had, I do not think that I will watch it because language is very important thing for watching TV because when people watch TV, they generally want make their mind empty and relax so people prefer their native language speaking TV channels, in addition, for me it is meaningless to watch TV in Finland. Internet and computer take TV’s place and I am also watching Turkish TV series and channels through Internet. In Finland, mobile phone is not as important as in Turkey but still I always need to carry it with me everywhere. It makes me feel that I am connected with the world somehow and when I want to reach someone and if somebody tries to reach me, it is perfect way for me to have mobile phone. However, last week, I forgot my phone in my room and during the day, I always felt uncomfortable and “naked”. I was always checking my pockets because every hour, I forgot that I do not have my mobile phone with me. I felt helpless and hopeless because if I want to call someone and if there is an emergency, I could be totally lost without my phone. When I went back to home in the evening, I immediately  checked my phone, there was no calling or message and I felt strange, and I realized also when I have my phone with me, I am talking maybe once or twice time in a day and some text messages, nothing more and busy. Recently, the most important thing that I realized is how my computer is important for me. Two weeks ago, my laptop computer was broken and everything changed in my daily life because I was spending my time between home, school and friends. After I lost my laptop, I have not been in home as much as before. I felt that, everything is going on the Internet but I was out of that thing. I started to spend my time more in the school computer labs or in the library. I needed my mobile phone more than before to keep in touch with people and I met with my friends more often because there was nothing special to do for me at home after all.  When I was at home, I spent more time to read books. Generally I read book for 1 hour before sleeping but without computer, I started to get used to read books in daytime and any time when I got bored and I realized I started to read around 2 hours and maybe more. When I was reading, I felt that, I was doing more useful things than before and spent more time to improve myself. Also I realized that I have nice games on my mobile phone because I got bored without laptop and I checked what I have on my mobile phone to kill time and I found few good mobile games. My phone became more important for me after my laptop left me.

    It has been 20 days since my computer is broken and I think when I get my new laptop, everything will change to same as before and my new computer will be my new friend but after this nice and long experience, I will try not to lose myself in the labyrinth of the Internet and I will turn my face to real life more than before. This experience taught me, we can live without our computers but now, ironically, I am in a computer lab, I have got special key to enter to this computer lab for 24 hours and I am writing my summary on the computer to send it to my lecture blog on the Internet. Therefore, there is no escape from this big heaven of media and technology but I think the point is, we should control our using of these devices and media , and we should not let them to control our lives.

Con Air

Con Air is a typical Hollywood action movie. There're enough explosions, chases, and fights to keep most fans of this sort of thing happy for weeks, and the acting is actually very good and believable all round. But it brought a different feeling to me from other Hollywood action movie gave me, maybe it’s because of Nicolas Cage’s perfect acting skill. The movie tells us a touching story besides the action scene.

Nicolas Cage,(Cameron Poe) plays the nice guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, and goes to prison after inadvertently killing someone harassing his wife in a fright. The judge decides that Cage, as an ex Ranger should know better than to use his considerable fighting skills on worthless drunks and sends him into prison. During his prison term his daughter is born, whom he refuses to let visit, but collects all of her pictures and letters. He also beefs up, grows his hair long, and acquires a stack of white vests, to help show off his physique. Well sure enough, after getting parole he is being transported on a prison aircraft for a ride home, when the plane is seized (through a planned and elaborate hijack) by the other inmates. Of course, the plane is packed with the worst criminals from across the whole country. Cameron got the chance to get off the plane and go back home to see his wife and daughter, leaving the other prisoners behind. But as an ex-Army Ranger, he chose to stay at the plane and saved his companion. He pretended to be a prisoner sentenced to death and get the trust of the escaping prisoners on the plane. After a long period of fright against them, he finally manage to take the plane under his control. With the help of a clever police he successfully caught the run-away prisoners and return to his families safely.

Nicolas Cage is one of my most favorite actors in Hollywood. Although he is not a man with the wisecracking charisma, his sad eyes deeply attract me. And his perfect acting skills made the movie out of a common action movie. He successfully showed us both a good husband and father. Although he has to be sent to prison, he still tried his best to protect his wife. And after killing the man who harassed her wife, he bravely took the responsibility. I think his wife was a lucky woman who can marry a husband willing to protect her with his life. I admired her.
And there’s one scene that impressed me the most in the movie ——the last scene. Cameron prepared a rabbit toy for his daughter as her birthday present. On the plane after the worst guy discovering that Cameron was cheating, he used the rabbit as the hostage asking Cameron to put down the gun in his hand, which will put him in great danger. But Cameron did follow his requirement because the rabbit was so important for him that he couldn’t lose it. From this we could see how deeply he loved his daughter.

At the end, the rabbit fell in the dirty water where Cameron picked it up and stretched it to his daughter with the utmost care. At first his daughter was a little afraid of the big dirty guy with blood on his face because it was the first time she had seen his father. But blood is thicker than water. Soon she caught the little dirty rabbit and called “Dad”. After hearing his daughter calling him “Dad”, Cameron tightly held his wife and daughter together, including the little rabbit.

Then came the theme song of the movie:

How do I,

Get through the night without you?

If I had to live without you,

What kind of life would that be?

Oh, I

I need you in my arms, need you to hold,

You're my world, my heart, my soul,

If you ever leave,

baby you would take away everything good in my life,

and tell me now

How do I live without you?

I want to know,

How do I breathe without you?

If you ever go,How do I ever, ever survive?

------- “How Do I Live “ Leann Rimes

here is the link of the movie from imdb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118880/

here is the link of the theme song from youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFnD3uwKHag&feature=fvst

Media Diary

My media diary was from 3rd to 7th of December. The reason I chose these days is because I went to Helsinki and Tallin at this weekend. Usually, my weekend is just like the normal weekdays if I am staying at home, surfing on internet, chatting with my friends or families, watching movies, listening to music and reading some books. We don't have TV in our apartment, so we never watched TV ever after we got to Finland. I think it would be interesting to record some days that are different from usual to see what will my life be when I'm not with my laptop. I had Finnish exam on 3rd of December so I went to university in the morning then came back home at around 6. Between the speaking exam and written exam, I spent several hours in the library. I logged in Facebook from the computer there and chatted with my friends in China for a while. Since I came here, the time differences made it difficult for me to talk with them. I never change the time of my laptop into Finnish time just to remind me of their time. In the evening, I watched a Finnish movie pretending that I was doing that for the listening exam on 4th December. It was a good movie and I thought it felt really different to watch a movie of that country after you've been living in there for a while.

I went to bed early on Friday because I had to take the 6:30 train to Helsinki and then to Tallin. I took some picture in Tallin by my mobile phone and sent them back to my friends in China. Then I realized that I hardly use my mobile phone as a phone here in Finland. I used to text a lot with my friends because I didn't like talking on the phone, however I did most of the talk with my friends and classmates here on internet. We share the information on Facebook instead of text message. Then my phone is just working as the alarm to wake me up early in the morning and sometimes as a camera because it's easier to carry. I talk to my mum on Skype several times a month. At first I didn't tell her my phone number because I knew she would start to send me message or call me if she knew the number but it cost too much. I taught her how to use the web camera and Skype before I left. But she insisted to get my number and promised that she wouldn't use it unless there's anything emergency. Well, I know that's not gonna happen because I'm receiving her message quite often now. It's interesting because she's the last person to send message from mobile phone to me when I was in China but now seems to be the one who texts me the most.

I took a lot of pictures in Tallin and Helsinki. During these two days, I didn't even have the time to think about what's happening on Facebook or on MSN. But whenever I'm with the laptop, I can always find something to do. Time really flies so fast when I am using the digital media. I could spend the whole day sitting on my bed watching movies and also watched the snow outside my window during the break between movies :D I enjoy enjoying the life with digital media however I also think it's a good idea to be away from them once a while then I can come back to reality and know exactly how long 24 hours really is!!!

Media diary

The period I kept a media diary was from friday 20.11. untill tuesday 24.11. and it was a very typical week for me, except the tuesday when I was sick. I actually thought I use less of media in my everyday life what actually happened. It feels I never have time to do anything, but now I can see it´s not totally the truth. I talk on a phone few of times a day for 5 to 10 minutes at time. Once or twice a week I talk longer with a good friend of mine, but even then the call lasts mostly for 20 minutes. I´m never on-line anymore. I used to be, but after my younger son was born, there is just no time anymore. I also marked out I´m doing many things at the same time, reading mails, watching tv, doing household works, playing with the boys, watching children tv programmes, talking on the phone and calming a child in sleep. Even in the evening after children are in bed and I get to spend my own time, I´m watching movies or tv programmes and doing homeworks and maybe talking on a phone too. Guess I can´t concentrate in silence anymore. Only time I´m actually focusing on one thing only is while I´m playing Nintendo Wii with my son. These sessions are also short, 20-30 minutes most, we played on friday and saturday. I was on a phone even when I was jogging, that´s really sad I think. I get a chance for a private sport moment maybe once a week and even then I´m doing something else but focusing on performance. I read a newspaper on one day only and watched the news on one day. I used to read a newspaper on every morning, or in the evening at least, if the day was a catastrof. Nowdays it´s good if I find time to read the paper on sundays.

All of this, except some phone calls, happend at home. I use my own computer, sheldom a friends one or the ones in University. I also marked out I didn´t surf on net at all.

MIITTA TÄTI (Aunt Miitta) tv show

Wellknown finnish comedienne Miitta Sorvali makes a comic show Miitta täti. Miitta täti is a selfeducated socialpsychologist, who runs therapy sessions for finnish socialites in the field of entertainment, sports and politics. When the guest first steps in the ”therapy room”, Miitta täti whashes he´s/she´s feets. She also holds the guests in her arms in a therapy chair, she asks questions and make songs with them about their situation. She plays with tabus and atrocitys.

Miitta täti´s way of talking to the guests is not so profitable I guess, but that´s exactly why the show is so fun to watch. Some guests have been quite stunned about the way she talks and that´s the most of fun.

On last show I´ve seen, her guest was Krisse Salminen, a finnish comedienne herself. Miitta made Krisse act like an elderly and ask her to luy down on hospital bed wearing hospital clothes and diapers. Miitta was wearing same kind of costume, but suddenly she had to take a piss in a pisspot. Ha-ha-ha, Krisse was laughing too. Miitta´s humour is based on her own humor, she sayd in an interview of IltaLehti (newspaper). The show is actually really rube and I don´t normally laugh at these kind of things, but Miitta does it so well.

Sorry, these sites are all in finnish:

http://tv1.yle.fi/ohjelmat/viihde/miitta-tati

http://www.iltalehti.fi/viihde/200911070171351_vi.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMqvzMy5WeI

Convergence culture

I have read Jenkins' book before, and I am re-reading it now, under a new light, after what was discussed and learnt this semester in our course. But there are some topics in the book, which called my attention above others, that I would like to discuss here, hoping to get back some comments and critics about it.

The first point that called my attention was the change (and/or inversion) in the roles of the media usage. Before the advent of the digital media as we know nowadays, the media (publicities, ads, publications, etc.) was used by the companies as a mean to impose and/or influence the customers (basically, all of us). It was clearly a top-to-bottom relationship, as pointed by Jenkins. And, although we always had the power to influence back through the consumption of a given product/idea, the media control was, without any doubt, in the hand of the companies. Who controlled the media had the true power. Being from a country as Brazil, this power is even clearer than I believe it was possible to notice in Europe.

With the advent of the digital media, this control changed. There is still the top-down control used by the companies to influence the customers, but we are not helpless targets anymore. Having in hands the possibility to research, comment and exchange ideas about pretty much everything, we have the power now to influence the companies and media on how we want things to be. And the companies are adapting themselves to this new reality and using it as much as possible to have the customers as allies and partners, instead of confronting them.

The second topic brought up by Jenkins and that called my attention was the idea of cultural convergence, mainly due to the fact that the technology allows us to mingle between different cultures, systems, political realities. There aren't limits to the interaction allowed by the digital media. I can personally see a good side and a bad side of it (I believe you can come up to several other pros and cons in this matter): The good side is the possibility of exchange ideas and information with people and cultures coming from different realities and such a situation was impossible before the usage of digital media was spread. This certainly enriches the cultural experience, improves the technology and creation of new concepts and ideas, among other benefits. But I can also see a bad side: With time, there is a possibility that there won't be anymore any unique culture, traditions defined by geographical situation, everyday life, etc. Everybody will be so inserted in the digital world and so aware of what is going on in other places that they might forget their identity as an unique person in an unique place in the planet. I hope I am wrong though.

But there is a third topic that called my attention and somehow answers the questions that I brought up in the previous idea. The information and data available in the digital media is so vast and rich, no one is able to absorb everything and everything is absorbed in a different manner by each individual. Therefore, no matter how open and available the information is, how easy it is to know more about any topic, the way this topic will be learnt will be different, so there will still be peculiarities in each culture and way of living, which will be kept. The question I see here is that these differences won't be influenced anymore by geography, by way of living or weather, as it was in the past. The main factor will be the way people understand the world and interact with it and how one understands the changes in the society and culture.

I'm very sure new topics will intrigue me, now that I am reading the book again. Nevertheless, there is no doubt this is a great book and a wonderful source of information for us.

Media Phenomenon - Queensryche

I don't know if many of you heard about this band before, but when Raine talked about Media Phenomenon, I immediately thought about the Queensryche.

The Queensryche is a progressive metal band, formed in 1981, and which is still active and quite famous in the industry. They are very talented and respected and they have been one of my favorite bands for years, together with Motley Crue (www.motley.com). If I had to talk about my favorite band, it would be Motley, but Digital Media certainly remembers me of Queensryche and I will explain why.

Besides all CDs and DVDs every band publishes in their career, Queensryche, in 1994, released a game called Promise Land (same name as a CD from the same year - http://www.amazon.com/Queensryches-Promised-Land-pc/dp/B000FJ01DM). In this game, it is possible to visit the island in Washington where the band recorded their CDs, visit each band member's world (including the chance to play musical puzzles, save the whales, go outer space, etc.). When one finishes the game, it is possible to watch an exclusive video, of an exclusive song, recorded specially for the game. It doesn't seem as a big deal, specially nowadays, but it was great at the time, as fans could learn more about each band member and share a bit of their lives, hopes and dreams.

And, although the game is 15 years old, it is still playable and its technology can still blow someones mind, as it was done as a movie, with original footages and the possibility to walk through the island while visiting each world.

I totally recommend it, if you can buy it or find the torrent to it. I lost my CDs some years ago and I'm still looking for it.

To know more about the band, visit www.queensryche.com

Media diary

The period I decided to keep track of my Media usage was from November 26 to December 01. As it was also the time I had all the Finnish course assignments, I was curious to see how it would change my everyday life.

I usually spend much time online on Facebook and MSN, even if I don't do anything related to social networking. It just stays online, forgotten until someone talks to me. And I watch TV every night: CSI, the news, Friends, The Simpsons, some movies, if there is any available. It is my routine in accordance to media usage.

Notwithstanding, this week was different. I spent more time reading and studying than in the computer. And, when I was in the computer, I was working with other softwares, as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, in order to prepare my assignments to the courses. Or listening to Finnish music and/or watching Finnish movies in order to prepare myself to the Finnish exams. However, I can say I spent 80% of my time reading books and doing exercises. Not a very digital week, I might inform.

The evenings seem to have changed too: I have spent longer hours reading and writing than usual and reduced my TV time to 1 hour per day. And I was usually too tired to pay attention to what I was reading.

Another curious data I collected this week is that I never use any kind of digital media in friends' places. I might use the Internet to check my e-mail in the university, but that's mainly it. 99% of my Digital media time happens inside my home, with all the comfort and secrecy. It is usually followed with coffee and music. Except this last week, when all my attention was focused in Finnish language and culture.

I hope I can come back soon to my digital life though. I miss it already.

The summery of my media usage daily

The period I kept record was from last week and had lots assignments to work on. Therefore, the time I spent on net surfing appeared to be slightly more than usual.

About media…Normally there would be more time spend on playing with my digital camera and photographs, posting articles and photos on my blog and so forth. The use of media for entertainment (DVDs & video blogs) would add a couple of hours to the records below (Last week, I didn’t have time for watching them). http://www.illdoctrine.com/ and http://vodpod.com/jgoroncy are my favorite video blogs. By the way, I highly recommend http://www.ted.com/ . You might find a useful speech for your thesis!

The following record of the media usage is from between 25.11 and 29.11.The number of hours is the average. The average hours I spent in front of PC are roughly 7.5hrs per day. It seems quite a lot but I am sure many people spend more than that. (I don’t have a fancy mobile phone and am mobile phone illiterate. I did not include it in the record).

At home (weekday), it is 5.5 hrs.

- OnlineNews - about 10 min.

- Net surfing - about 4 hrs

- Emails, Facebook & blog – 20-40 min

- Photography related software & web (organizing, editing, etc.) – 1 hour

At home (weekend), it is about 7 hrs.

- The usage detail is almost same as above.

At school (weekday), it is 2.5 hrs.

- Net surfing - 2.5 hrs

Convergence Culture

Ok, seems like I am the first to have read the book. I actually started reading Convergence Culture before we started with the course because Jenkins book contains this whole new field of studies that I am interested in but knew only little about. I can say that at least for me the book presented a very good introduction to the topic of not only transmedia but also digital culture. The topics described in Jenkins book are not unfamiliar after all because many are participating already in this transmedia space almost on a daily basis. I think he provides a very good outline about the convergence of new media and culture and the modern subjects represented as a participatory culture. His fluent and comprehensive style of writing make the book digestible for laypersons and experts but also for the same reason it seems that he is merely touching the tip of the iceberg in his argumentation. Thus in my opinion it presents the perfect introduction to the topic examining how boundaries between production and consumption are breaking down. He starts his argumentation from the point of view of the audience giving examples from reality TV, literature and political campaigns and their representation on the internet, analyzing how the audience participates while simultaneously recreates the given structures.

The increase of mass media and both, mass and popular culture changed daily interaction as well as people’s life. “Once upon a time” audiences have been claimed to be passive receivers of media with little power. But, as mentioned by Thompson in Ideology and Modern Culture, mass communication which generally involved a “one-way flow of messages from the producer to the receiver” nonetheless instituted “a fundamental break between the producer and the receiver”. However, back in the early 1990s recipients had rather little capacity to intervene in this communicative (dis)course. Only little recipient response could be found hence presenting an obviously existing “fundamental asymmetry” regarding the communication between producer and consumer.

Nowadays this perception has changed 360 degrees and as Jenkins shows, the audience presents an active participant in the current media discourses developing its own opinions of what the companies/media/producers should or might do. By choosing this point of view Jenkins exemplifies how the perception of a once seemingly “subordinate” audience has changed and which, if taken from his point of view, can be ascribed with a rather equal or perhaps even superior role.

In the last three chapters, which I think are the most interesting ones, Jenkins talks about the building of new communities, their participation, the remixing and appropriation of former groups and how we/they deal with moral and cultural questions applying them to literature, media and politics and how they can be applied in the increasing sphere of a transmedia world.

Jenkins also challenges the question of control. Those who had it once have to adjust and even give some of it up. At first powerless, the audience, gains more possibilities to participate and “how-to-interfere” while constantly learning about its increasing opportunities.  While challenging power structures are the norm on the internet (eg political parodies, media criticism, etc) Jenkins also emphasizes the spread and growing practice of adhocracy (a principle well adapted by Wikipedia) while opposing it to the “old” patterns of bureaucracy. On the one hand Jenkins ascribes greater power to participatory culture but on the other he also admits that “concentrated power is apt to remain concentrated” (267). I think I can agree with Jenkins in the point that within this fast changing environment of online cultures and the collaboration and collision between old and new media it is difficult to say what kind of effects it will have on producers/contributors and receivers/consumers. I think this fast changing technical environment presents one of the main problems because the possibilities of participation are endless, difficult and can also contain dangers that no one is aware of yet. It is hard to keep track with all the new developments in this technical environment and many participants (and also media producers) are learning by doing hence the outcome is rather unpredictable.

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Thompson, John B. Ideology and Modern Culture. Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press, 1990.

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Welcome to this student forum on media culture. There are three main topics covered in the posts: 1. Media Usage, 2. Fandom and Media, 3. Critical perspectives on Media Theory. The related Labels are: 'usage', 'fandom', and 'theory'. When posting, always use one of these Labels.