A chronicle of the madness that is always assignment writing for me. I am now starting to actually piece together all the little tidbits of information I have on my IMS audit and it's just... yeah. In theory, it's all very simple, but the amount of things that need to be covered is staggering.
But, this is an MA, not a walk in the park. And so it begins. I'll try to update daily on my progress and try to reflect and what exactly I've taken away from this unit. Let's hope this is one thing I stick to.
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Wednesday 19 January 2011
the great leveller - i think not
As part of my IMS (interactive media strategies) unit, I'm keeping an online blog in which I reflect on the newest trends in industry, as well as my learning process. I suppose it's also a little bit of a resolution, because amidst all the personal junk I link on Facebook, all the whining that goes on on the 2-3 different blogs I write and all the comments and debates I get in to, there must be a glimpse of what I genuinely think of the online world.
I suppose that unlike others, I do remember a time without Internet. Our house was connected to this great wide web that people talk about (imagine the air quotations for yourself) when I was roughly 12. And even then, it was expensive. Our limit was 50mb/month to begin with (it's unlimited now, to get a feel for the massive jump in accessibility to downloads) and my parents acted like a 2-headed Cerberus to make sure that my sister and I weren't accessing every single website we could think of, or worse.
So listening to the BBC's "Virtual Revolution" and their talk of the "Great Levelling", I couldn't help but snort aloud. Not only are the assumptions ridiculously classist, their portrayal of developing countries is patronising at best. For example, when showing how the Internet has taken off in Ghana and Kenya, presenter Dr Aleks Krotoski talks of "Africa [as being] the last continent to connect to the web". And I may be wildly wrong in my assumption and geography here, but South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia are African countries as well; they've also been connected to the Internet for longer. This faux-pas was enough to throw me out of the context of the video and and ensure that my cynicism levels were high for the rest of the programme.
Other marvelous assumptions? That discriminated and marginalized groups are now equal on the web. They are? Really? Then why do I join and take part in debates that cover issues such as privilege, LGBTQ discrimination, feminism? Why, if everyone has an equal say on the web and is taken seriously, do I have to shout to get my point across when I enter debates with cis-gendered men? And this is just the tip of the iceberg in the video. I usually have no problem with criticism, but this is willful ignorance. It panders to the English middle-class, in a sort of slap-on-the-back, congratulations for being "illuminated" sort of way. It just says, "Look at us, the great, enlightened West. We are where people aspire to be. We are the norm and la la la la la, I can't be doing with these criticisms."
It's not a bad series. It's needed because not everyone grew up or became as used to the Internet as I am. But the patronising tone, the "Look at the savages copying us" sneers and the overall annoying voice of the presenter (and yes, I'm allowed to be petty), is something I could really do without sometimes.
I suppose that unlike others, I do remember a time without Internet. Our house was connected to this great wide web that people talk about (imagine the air quotations for yourself) when I was roughly 12. And even then, it was expensive. Our limit was 50mb/month to begin with (it's unlimited now, to get a feel for the massive jump in accessibility to downloads) and my parents acted like a 2-headed Cerberus to make sure that my sister and I weren't accessing every single website we could think of, or worse.
So listening to the BBC's "Virtual Revolution" and their talk of the "Great Levelling", I couldn't help but snort aloud. Not only are the assumptions ridiculously classist, their portrayal of developing countries is patronising at best. For example, when showing how the Internet has taken off in Ghana and Kenya, presenter Dr Aleks Krotoski talks of "Africa [as being] the last continent to connect to the web". And I may be wildly wrong in my assumption and geography here, but South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia are African countries as well; they've also been connected to the Internet for longer. This faux-pas was enough to throw me out of the context of the video and and ensure that my cynicism levels were high for the rest of the programme.
Other marvelous assumptions? That discriminated and marginalized groups are now equal on the web. They are? Really? Then why do I join and take part in debates that cover issues such as privilege, LGBTQ discrimination, feminism? Why, if everyone has an equal say on the web and is taken seriously, do I have to shout to get my point across when I enter debates with cis-gendered men? And this is just the tip of the iceberg in the video. I usually have no problem with criticism, but this is willful ignorance. It panders to the English middle-class, in a sort of slap-on-the-back, congratulations for being "illuminated" sort of way. It just says, "Look at us, the great, enlightened West. We are where people aspire to be. We are the norm and la la la la la, I can't be doing with these criticisms."
It's not a bad series. It's needed because not everyone grew up or became as used to the Internet as I am. But the patronising tone, the "Look at the savages copying us" sneers and the overall annoying voice of the presenter (and yes, I'm allowed to be petty), is something I could really do without sometimes.
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