Paratext - Blurring the lines of reality?

According to wiseGeek, Paratext is ''any additional text or other reference material that is added to an author’s published work. One of the most common ways to think of this type of material is in the form of the various items that publishers include in the average book, such as a book jacket, inside or back cover blurb, and author profile.'' 

In digital terms, Genette defined the paratext as ''those liminal devices which wrap or accompany the text in order to make it both present and presentable – from titles to tables of content and from footnotes to notebooks.''

Put simply, it means that a story or a literacy work is open for development, it keeps on going through a majority of mediums. It could start as a book or a game, it will develop into morph into new things such as fan fictions or spin off's  Depending on the context and the background, it can sometimes blur the lines of reality, in that it becomes unclear to the audience what is real and what is fake. This can also alter the meaning or reading of a certain text, as Genette argues that paratexts take a text and 'surround it and extend it'. 

For example, when a new film is released, it starts with teaser posters and teaser snippets/mini trailers before the actual trailer is released. When it is, there are often billboards and commercials on and off TV advertising the release of the film. The film would have a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account before it's even released. When it is, the characters from the film may have a Parody twitter account or Facebook page, such as 'Fat Amy' from the recent film 'Pitch Perfect'. This does blur the lines of reality as it is if the character is an actual person because of the personal Twitter account  and the interactions with other Twitter users. Fan Fiction is a very popular form of paratext. These written texts take already created stories and characters into different situations. I first came across these when I was a much younger devout Harry Potter fan, and was eagerly awaiting the release of the next few books. Whilst trawling the internet I came across what I thought was a sneak preview of the next book, however what I got was a poorly written account of what Hogwarts would be like if it were a school for sexually confused and frustrated homosexual wizards. 



Similar to paratext is the concept of the 'open product', this means that something could start off as a game or a book book however will transform itself to fit different audiences. It usually does have an beginning, middle and an ending like any usual narrative, however it usually has some form of alternate ending where the ending isn't actually the ending. For example the Pokemon franchise started off as a game. You have to follow the story line, however when you think you've finished the game, you actually have to go back through the game and complete the Pokedex, where you have to capture one of each Pokemon.

In the workshop this week, we had a guest lecturer who introduced us to the idea of Augmented Reality, which had been discussed before however this time in more depth and with physical evidence before our own eyes. We were shown a smartphone app which simply needed to scan a bar code  this time in a newspaper, and the images and words on the page would become 3D on your phone screen. The context we were shown was a continuing story, almost game like where you had to scan a different code every week to get the next part of the story. I can see how this would enjoyable and interesting however personally It doesn't reach to me as I prefer the old fashioned way of reading and watching films, however I can understand why someone else would be attracted to it, for the technical and new side of it.



In terms of journalism, there are already phone apps for newspapers that are literally just links and articles laid out like a newspaper on your phone. With augmented reality, the app for newspapers could be a lot more exciting and informative, in that videos and pictures can pop up which relate to a specific story. It could give you much more accurate detail in terms of location and time of events, particularly if they are near you. It could also give much faster news as breaking news headlines will be the first thing you see and it would be incredibly noticeable.

The downside to  this could the continuing decline in the popularity of traditional newspapers and news delivery. Also as mentioned previously in my posts about digital democracy, if electricity and the internet were to be completely obliterated, the new mainstream way of giving and receiving news and information would be no more, and with the assumed destruction of everyday newspapers, there would be no way of getting out news and information.



References/Read More:

Genette, Gerard. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation and http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/50663
More on augmented reality: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/augmented-reality
http://www.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2013/apr/23/independent-plus-media-monkey

How does Digital Democracy affect you?

OK, so we've covered the basics of democracy and the concept of the Public Sphere. We know that journalists act as a reflector for society and the bourgeoisie, or the 'ruling class', or the government if you prefer. But what has this got to do with the digital world?

Well, as naive, internet obsessed teenagers we don't realise just how much political and topical influence there is on the internet, even on places we consider to be quite personal such as Facebook. I've pointed out countless times in this blog how influential the internet is and dependent we are as a society on technology as a whole, however we really don't realise how much we depend on them for literally everything.

According to Forbes, Mark Zuckerburg has claimed there are over 1 billion Facebook users. It's hard to find someone in contemporary UK without a profile, granting they're under 70 years old. We don't realise how much time we spend on Facebook, as soon as I turn on my laptop my fingers get a mind of their own and immediately tap on to Facebook without me even thinking about it.



Although Facebook is plainly a social networking site, it's developed into a place for news and topical discussion, with Facebook pages and groups being made almost instantly in discussion of a certain topic. For example, on March 5th 2012, this video was put onto YouTube and linked onto Facebook. Within minutes there were thousands of views and shares. These statistics show that within a week the video had over 100million views, making it the fastest ever video to reach this target. The video was seriously enlightening as personally I was completely unaware of Kony and what went on in the African countries, and I honestly felt empowered to do something. But what could I do? The fact is that because of the flexibility and broadness of social media, the video and therefore the issue was brought to the attention of the world, and pressure was put on to the top dogs to do something about it.


Unfortunately, KONY 2012 never really stayed around for long. I got plenty of Facebook event invites made my activists in my local area wanting to stage marches and sleep outs in support of the cause. This again shows how digital democracy and social networking combine together to create a physical reaction.

We all get annoyed when our 'friends' on Facebook rattle on about a political event or figure currently in the media because they may want to seem intelligent and attentive, or they may just be looking for attention, but fact is that social media sites the Internet in general has opened up a new space for sharing and for discussion, and not just about funny cat videos. Things like e-petitions are actually used in political movements now, simply because of the convenience and ease of them. This just goes to show how digital democracy affects reality and builds an accessible bridge between the public and the politics.





References/Read More

1 billion Facebook users: http://www.forbes.com/sites/limyunghui/2012/09/30/1-billion-facebook-users-on-earth-are-we-there-yet/
Kony statistics: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/apr/20/kony-2012-facts-numbers
E-petitions: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19266497

Digital Politics and Power: The dream of democracy/The public sphere

In this lecture we looked at how digital media has effected concepts of democracy. As a journalism student want wannabe know-it-all, it's important for me in my chosen career to be aware of how journalism and the media does and has affected society. I mean I haven't got the brains to be a doctor, the patience to be a teacher or the attention span to be a lawyer so I might as well do something worthwhile with my life. It's also important for me and for everyone to be honest to be up to date with Politics and know the simple background of key concepts and events.




Ok, so we are a democratic society. We use Representative Democracy, which basically means we choose as a society who to give the power of decision making too, and they have the final say in what goes and what  doesn't. We choose representatives of political parties who have different ideas, who all want to be in power. As we are such a diverse nation we would never all agree on anything, so we choose who we personally think would control the country in the way that would best advantage us. For example, a student wishing to go to University may vote for the Liberal  Democrats because one Mr Clegg promised not to raise the fee's but it turns out Mr Clegg is a liar. He said 'Sorry' though.

''I'm Sorry''

Moving on, another type of democracy used in places such as Switzerland is 'straight democracy'. It is literally what it says on the tin. This is the most straightforward form, where people physically congregate to make joint decisions on things, and majority rules. The other kind is Liberal Democracy.

 Ok, so now we're all politicians, what on earth has this got to do with Journalism?

Well, in the lecture and in other areas of my Journalism course, I've come across this strange character Jurgen Habermas. This sociologist and philosopher defines the Public Sphere simply as a group of people combining together to make a 'public'. This was traditionally thought to be 18th Century men who would join together and discuss topics in that weeks newspapers, mainly politics and current affairs. They would then transmit their opinions and ideas on the topics to the rest of the public, and they would therefore have a voice in society. Habermas says this links to modern times, looking at it as if the 'public sphere' were journalists who spread political news and put it in ways for the general public to understand and so everyone can debate on. It could be argued this is a key point for democracy, as everyone is supposed to have a say in the way politicians run the country.



References/Further Reading:

What is Democracy? http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/democracy and http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond/iraq/WhaIsDemocracy012004.htm
Types of Democracy: http://samaunvong.hubpages.com/hub/Types-of-Democracy
Liberal Democracy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy
Habermas Explained: http://culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/jurgen-habermass-public-sphere.html

Gaming culture - part 2. ''Flow''.

Having previously looked at the process and evolution of gaming culture and how important it's become to modern culture. This week we looked at why people play games and what it means for them and for society. With such a wide variety of the genre of games aimed at different audiences, there are many different reasons as to why someone might play games.

These ideas have been turned into theories which relate to why different people play games and for what reason. One of these theories is that of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is a Hungarian professor of Psychology.  He is famous for studying happiness and creativity. He is also most famous for coming up with the concept of 'flow'.


''What makes a life worth living?''



Flow generally relates to the balance between your level of skill and your level of challenge being presented to you. When you're in 'flow' it means you're being the most productive without being stressed. This then links to balance between boredom and anxiety/panic. This relates to games as we like playing games that challenge us in different ways as we are stimulated and we get more enjoyment out of it. However when it becomes too challenging or stressful we tend to get bored quicker and panic depending on the game. This concept can also apply to every day life as we all like a challenge that tests us however when it gets too much it's a human trait to become stressed and anxious and generally give up.



This can explain the evolution of games, in that simple games such as Pong or Pacman work well in flow as they get harder with each levels however the actual content is fairly boring and you find yourself unable to play them for too long.


Games that offer narrative and special effects are on top of markets in the 21st century. These games more often than not revolve around the theme of war and or fantasy. A list of the US best selling games show:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
2. Madden NFL 13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Vita, Wii U)
3. Halo 4 (Xbox 360)
4. Assassin's Creed 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
5. Just Dance 4 (Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, PS3)
6. NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Wii U, PC)
7. Borderlands 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC)
9. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, Xbox 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, Vita, PC)
10. FIFA 13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PSP)

These games, apart from Just Dance 4 are predominantly male orientated, with the stereotypical view that mainly men enjoy gaming that involves shooting, racing and sport, however females are not ruled out of the gaming audience. These games, as previously mentioned all have narrative and story lines, as well as being so technologically and graphically advanced that the special effects are always new and interesting to the gamer. This means that there is a constant 'flow' as there is a constant challenge however you are enthusiastic about the challenge, and enjoying it which means you're more likely to succeed and the flow will be constant.

In our workshop we discussed flow and talked about how we could make University seminars and lectures more capable of the concept. We discussed what made a lecture boring and what made it exciting. Personally I find it incredibly boring and hard to concentrate when I just have to sit and listen to a Power point, as I never give it my full attention and always wonder what the point is in being there, as the Power points are always available online anyway. This unit in particular usually consists of this in the lectures, which I find really hard to concentrate as personally I find the content sometimes irrelevant and frankly doesn't interest me. However, whilst posting blogs some of the content does interest me and I'm really able to delve deep into the topic, which does prove the concept of flow. On the other hand, when the blog post is uninteresting I find it hard to concentrate and get enough content into the post to match the criteria as I'm simply uninterested and find it hard to care.

The fact that most units are assessed through coursework of some kind (in my case anyway), and all have deadlines around the same time at the end of the year makes it seem like an easy ride for the first 6-7 months and then a mad roller-coaster of panic, cheap energy drinks and all night cramming to get it all done. as Rhiannon discusses in her blog entitled ''Applying game theory to education'' feedback would be desirable throughout the duration of the coursework for at least some reassurance that you are on the right track.

Cyber Warfare

The concept of war has always been a massive problem for society. Throughout history there are vast examples of wars between superpowers and countries that have resulted in mass devastation and that have also changed and even benefited society. Historically, war has been portrayed as a bloody battle on a field between two armies, using swords and spears. As time passed, new technological developments meant new methods could be used in war, such as guns and bombs in WW1 and WW2. One of the more recent developments of war is that of the nuclear kind. This extremely dangerous has the practice has the ability to literally destroy mankind and the world itself. This is shown in such disasters as Hiroshima and Chernobyl, where thousands of people were killed and effected, and living areas were labelled unsuitable for people to live in because of the infection and devastation it has and still is causing. However, a new type of war has been declared, in terms of Cyber warfare.

It's most commonly thought that technology will be the making of humankind and it can only make our lives better. However the development of the Internet and cyber space, this new form of war, which is quite literally a virtual war, can effect reality and cause a lot of devastation without even physically harming anyone, completely contrasting to the stereotype of war. 


As Deena mentions in her blog, ''Even militaries now have branches committed to defending and running cyber warfare.'' This shows the seriousness of the matter that there has to be a specially trained team to tackle the issue. I investigated Deena's point and this article enlightened me that institutions such as the Army and Navy are teaching cadets ''to combat increasing security threats to the nation’s computer networks''. 

In my blog post titled ''Digital Divide'' I mentioned how we are dependent on technology, and mentioned how Egypt's government turned off the Internet for the entire country. In this workshop and outside we discussed and researched the concept of EMP weapons. According the linked article, they do exist and to be honest it's quite a scary thought. Now I'm not technical or interested in complex science in any shape or form, and all the mentions of words such as 'flux' and 'compression' is only making me think of Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly, however researching into the topic has led me to believe the invention isn't such a bad thing. It's built to bring down Military's, not communities, and would therefore be much less of a disaster  than that of a nuclear bomb. 

Now this weapon is said to be obtained by American forces, who thankfully for us our are best friends. However, if an opposing side got hold of this weapon and set it upon the Luton area, we would have literally no electricity, and all this research would go to waste because there would be no Internet to see it any more  (Please, please don't do it until I've submitted this!). It would quite literally take out all electricity. Put simply, it'd be like a massive microwave with the door open, sending out waves to destroy electricity. It's not just the internet, we'd have no lights, no cars, no phones, no TV's, no hair straighteners, no fridges or freezers, no ovens. It'd be like going back to the stone age. Would you survive? Could you? I don't think I'd want to live in a world without Spotify. 







References/Read more

Cyber warfare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare
Teaching defence: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/army-navy-air-force-academies-groom-cadets-for-cyberwarfare-to-face-national-security-threats
Explaining EMP weapons: http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb4.htm

Digital Divide

In my previous posts, I've stated again and again that digital activity and the internet is a massive part of society in 2013. It's hard to get by in everyday life today without having some sort of technical interactivity. Even shops use electronic devices to pay now, as well as travelling with oyster cards and electronic tickets.

So can you survive in 2013 without technology?

Truth is, everywhere uses technology. I am using technology and digital means to right now to write this blog. The same will be used to mark and grade this blog, and then the same again for me to see the result of this assessment. Without technology or digital devices, this unit wouldn't even exist. Most of us have our own mobile phones, according to these statistics more people have mobile phones than they do access to working toilets, which is very surreal. To get through the stages of typical life in modern Britain, you must know how to use a phone and the basics of a computer at least. You must use the phone to talk to organisations such as call centres when you need help with something such as a bank account or a transaction, and you learn how to use the basics of  computer in school in ICT, where you learn how to use programmes such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and others. In further education, depending on which courses you choose, you may have to learn to use much more advanced software such as Photoshop or Final cut. These will be essential tools if you were to choose a career in Media or film for example.

This chart, courtesy of  the BBC shows which countries contrast to each other in digital activity and connection.



This shows that some of the countries considered to be third world such as Ethiopia are almost completely out of touch with technology. This reflects in the reports of complete poverty in these areas. In places like Ethiopia and other African countries, people struggle to find food and clean water to drink so it's no wonder that their internet connection is the least of their worries. However with past examples of how the Internet has boosted economy, it's easy to see how if made possible the Internet could massively advantage these third world countries, such as it has for places like South America.
In such remote, poverty stricken countries, the idea of a fully functioning Internet connection is quite extreme for obvious reasons.

This video explains a business idea to bring laptops to children in third world countries and improve the Geographical digital divide. It costs $100 which may seem like a good price for a fully functioning laptop with all the cool added bits on such as being dust proof which would be ideal for a place like Ethiopia. This short documentary shows the laptops in action and what good they can do for such a community. Although a good and thoughtful idea of how to spread the digital world to disadvantaged people, there are many other factors that contribute to the possible and most likely failure of the system, such as affordability as well as James (2010) stating that ''the project would divert resources from other important projects that may be of higher priority and have more impact on development.''  
This in mind, it is a valuable point but surely with all the resources the internet has to offer, with the right teaching and the right environment, the standard and rate of education could grow, meaning that the economy of third world countries could possibly grow so vast that there will no longer be a third world category, meaning the entire global economy would be better off as there wouldn't be as much cause for other countries to contribute funds to others. 

Of course, to say that giving everyone in the world access to the Internet would solve everything would be ridiculous. On the contrary it could have completely undesirables circumstances, such as the recent Internet cut in Egypt at the protests, where the Egyptian government cut off the Internet for the whole country when it was discovered it was being used to arrange and encourage protests against them. If the government has the power to cut off the internet, what's to stop anyone being able to do it? What if we were completely reliant on the Internet and it got hacked or destroyed? We would be completely and utterly lost. 

As well as being a global matter, it could also be a problem closer to home. Our dear Grandma's and Grandpa's try their best to be cool and down with the kids, however when it comes to Blackberry's and Facebook, they are quite simply hopeless. Surprisingly, statistics show that 43% of British senior citizens aged 55-74 are frequent users of the Internet. However for the majority that don't know how, simple every day tasks can become a trek. Having personal experience with this working as a cashier in a Supermarket, it's not even laughable any more when an older person puts their back card in the wrong way up, it's quite concerning as to how vulnerable they are.

References:

James (2010) http://impactofinformationsystemsonsociety.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/week-2-technology-and-third-world-development/
News feed http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-study-shows/
BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8568681.stm
The Blaze http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/01/28/provider-egypts-internet-suffers-severe-outages/
ISpreview http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/03/22/senior-uk-citizens-revealed-as-some-of-europes-most-internet-savvy-surfers.html

Gaming Culture - one

Gaming culture has become a thing. However it is not necessarily a new thing. Games have been around for centuries. The Olympics themselves are thousands of years old, being dated back to 776 BC in Olympia of Ancient Greece in honour of the God Zeus. This is one of the oldest gaming traditions that we have. 'However, 'gaming' nowadays doesn't typically relate to the Olympic, or in fact any other physical form of gaming such as sport and athletics like it used to. It usually relates to childhood, in that we play games with our friends or on our own when we are children, such as fancy dress or role play or with toys. They can also relate to things like board games and card games which anyone can play.

Now, if you told someone you were a gamer, they would presume you meant video games, and they'd probably be right. The evolution and popularisation of video gaming have encouraged the increase of 'gamification'. 

Video games themselves started with the concept of  'pong' in the early 50's. 'XOXO' was next in 1952, followed by other computer games in the 60's/70's including 'The Magnavox Odyssey' the first video game console which was battery powered with no sound. In 1972 the Atari company was founded and officially released 'Pong'. The popularity of the Atari grew and grew until competitors emerged  and the Atari company went down because of a few reasons, such as selling too cheaply and the bad quality of gaming. Other companies and competitors emerged with more to offer consumers such as Sony, Sega and Nintendo.

Space Invaders on the Atari. 

Old school Mario which started out on the Nintendo 64 but has branched out to be one of the most iconic gaming characters in the world, with games on new consoles such as the Wii and the Gameboy DS.

The task for this particular blog post was to think of a way to solve University attendance by using gamification, to make it more fun and enjoyable to increase the number of people coming to their seminars and workshops. 

We discussed methods such as giving out balloons when you walk into the lecture to encourage people to enjoy their time. More encouraging methods however outrageous could be letting people bring their duvets into the lecture, as sleeping in is one of the main reasons students miss their assigned lectures and workshops. From personal experience, they don't want to get out of their warm cosy beds to sit in hard desks and not listen for an hour. Bringing their beds with them may encourage attendance as they have no excuse. Another method could be to make the lectures and workshops more interactive, in that talking much louder perhaps into a microphone or structuring the room differently, for example in a circle may be effective as it wouldn't have the usual classroom effect. 

Tea and biscuits could be a way to make students more interested. A hot drink and something to eat could make you engage more with the lesson as you have something to enjoy and focus upon rather than thinking about how much you really want a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

Without using the threat of expulsion or exclusion from the course, you could use the threat of taking away the privileges of bringing your duvet or having a cup of tea, for example to get to bring your duvet or get a cup of tea you had to of been present the previous week. Maybe your old MySpace or Bebo pictures will be put on every single slide of that Power point? That would definitely make me have 100% attendance. 

Other methods of increasing and securing attendance in Universities could be for the lecturer to do some sort of quiz which meant the winning team didn't have to do the assignment that week, which would encourage students to not only attend, but also to do a bit of self study without realising it to win the quiz. Reverse psychology in a way. 

Overall, many of these ideas and others given in discussion are quite unrealistic and far-fetched as things like classroom rules and budgets come into context when thinking of these ideas. Students won't always have perfect attendance and it's predictable they won't turn up all the time or even on time. It's hard to think of a method to secure attendance every time as there are so many issues and problems which arise.