Starting my DA was a process, that’s for sure. I went through so much ideating that I went crazy! I decided initially to create a platform that surrounded women. It was called ‘The Eggplant Emoji’ and it was to be centred around feminine literature.
The skeleton of my first draft: ‘The Eggplant Emoji’
Women are not being as prominently shown in the Australian media which was disheartening for girls. I developed the skeleton of a blog for ‘The Eggplant Emoji’ and asked for feedback on whether other people though that women were misrepresented in the media and the response was not great.
The twitter survey, taken on May 5th, asking users whether they considered their time on Instagram as negative or positive
I didn’t generate enough feedback to make a decision on my blog and this made me re-evaluate. I took into consideration the feedback I received on my pitch, that the process was too big, which was true. I decided to continue with my process which I found effective in BCM112. I decided to develop my website, quite similar to my original idea, focusing on women in general. It will still involve books but will incorporate aspects of travel and uni to involve more of an audience. It will aim to be inclusive of girls and give them an space to talk, discuss and debate. It’s important for girls to have a space that isn’t Instagram as many find that their self-esteem is lowered. I rebranded my pitch as ‘The Femme Edit’ and it is already developed so I can grow, attracting more of an audience. I also took inspiration from other sources to be reflected on my site!
The colour palettes and styles I rebranded with
Feedback Loops and Iteration, Iteration, Iteration!
I found that the project wasn’t just about developing but actually reaching people and making a meaningful imprint on the web. It was a learning experience for me, I made mistakes and I worked to remedy them through the iteration and feedback loop process.
I found that I wasn’t gaining enough interaction to make a decision about what to produce on my blog. This was shown in the analytics and stats of my blog and the lack of interaction with my surveys. So what could I do from here? Based on the feedback I had at my hands, I decided to market and promote heavily. I did this through twitter surveys, tweets and posting on Discord. This allowed me to understand my target market and develop accordingly.
The project was also too big to develop properly so I decided to iterate by not completely scrapping my idea, but further developing my previous project, which I found worked in the past but could still use some love. Having an already developed website was also a major help due to the time saving and cost effective aspects (FIST).
Top: More positive stats for ‘The Femme Edit’ compared with… Bottom: The lack of interaction my first attempt had
What next?
Rebranding is a great learning moment for me as it makes the web page less intimidating and more comfortable for everyone. Basically I changed the target audience, altered what I was selling to my target market and I relied on my audience feedback to make these changes! From here, i’ll continue to develop my blog and consistently ask for feedback from my users. Learning from my mistakes and developing accordingly is my prime goal.
With a constant flow of information being stored in our minds it’s truly vital to investigate what ways we perceive and respond to the media. My remediation this week focuses on perception and the framing of information to view a certain way.
Is it the interactions that we have to those similar to us or is it the explanations we see from the selections from the mass media that shape these perceptions? We can explore this further within the quote by Edward Bernays “We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of”. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized” (Organising Chaos, 1928, p1).
This practice of creating circumstances and of creating pictures in the minds of millions of persons is very influential and “no important undertaking is now carried on without it” (Mitew, 2020) The effect on the public could be seen as propoganda but the important thing is that it is “universal and continuous”.
References
Bernays, E, 1928 ‘Organising Chaos, Chapter 1’, p1, viewed 3 May 2020
An explanation of Freedom & Copyright in Australia
“Nothing can be more properly described as a man’s property than the products of his mind, and over the years a system of law has been established to protect the ideas”
BananaIP Reporter, 2018, ‘Copyright Limitations on Media Freedom’, web post, 27 November
In a world where 2.2 million books are publishedworldwide each year, the topic of copyright and freedom within writing naturally arises. Is there enough freedom within copyright today? What are the risks people are willing to take? Is it even relevant? The case of ‘The Little Homie’ v Shawn Carter (commonly known as Jay-Z for those less musically inclined) is a prime case that we, as copyright investigators, can use to pick apart standards and laws in Australia.
Why Does Copyright Matter Anyway?
Copyright is defined as “a bunch of rights in certain creative works” (SmartCopy). These rights are granted exclusively to the copyright owner, who can prevent others from reproducing their work without their permission.
When discussing Australian law, it is vital that we understand both the rights one has as well as the responsibility to publish ethically. The Copyright Act 1968 is Australia’s main legislation.
Copyright governs around 11 categories, including literature, music, sound and TV.
If You’re Having Legal Problems I Feel Bad For You Son…
‘TheLittle Homie’ is an Australian retailer, created to “make learning cool for biggies and smalls” (The Little Homie, 2020). Jessica Chiha, the company founder, is “obsessed with hip-hop” (The Little Homie, 2020) and created the brand as a way of incorporating her love of R’n’B into her work.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Chiha infringed intellectual property, “injuring the reputation and goodwill of Mr Carter”, by profiting off of his name and printing his lyrics to rap song ’99 Problems’ throughout her book. The lyric in question is ‘If you’re having alphabet problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but my ABC’s ain’t one!”. Carter owns the trademark to the name “Jay-Z” in Australia and argues that Chiha has infringed upon it. The company rejected this, claiming that the use of artists’ names does “not constitute or imply the endorsement, recommendation or approval of those persons”.
Creators must understand these issues as they influence the way authors and the training media are publishing their work. It may spark cautiousness and awareness into the legal implications of using someone elses trademark without permission.
“Licensing is a legal authorisation from you to another party that permits them to use some (or all) of your copyrighted works”
Business and IP Centre, ‘Three Reasons For Copyright Protection’, British Library, 2020, p1
How free are we really?
Freedom of speech isn’t expressly written in Australian constitution but it’s implied by the UNs Declaration of Human Rights. So why would Jay-Z be going to court over his name and some lyrics? It’s because copyright is antithetical to freedom of speech.
Whilst the internet, e-books and fan fiction open up a new world for creators, it is easy to discount copyright as a legitimate legal matter. As the Special Rapporteur acknowledges, “like all technological inventions, the internet can be misused to cause harm to others”.
Let’s focus in on our case…
As the case at hand is still ongoing, is it vital to clarify that no ruling has been made in favour of either parties, however, as we are educating and explaining, it is vital to draw educated conclusions from the Australian law we have provided to us.
Chiha claims not to have broken any standards of laws and her freedom to use a popular figures name and lyrics has thus created a challenging legal case. Adversely, if we were to argue that there is not enough freedom implied in theCopyright Act 1968, we may also say that Carter has gained international fame and therefore may be automatically utilised as a means for other platforms of entertainment.
In the case of ‘The Little Homie v Shawn Carter’, we can already see that song lyrics and graphics are protected under the Australian legalisation, however, ideas or someone’s reputation is not.
Jay-Z is filing under the grounds that the Australian retailer is attempting to “use his intellectual property for their own commercial gain” (Bussel, 2019). So are these claims worthy under Australian copyright codes? Australian Standards of Practice- Statement of General Principles: August 2014 states that:
Where material refers adversely to a person, a fair opportunity is given for subsequent publication of a reply if that is reasonably necessary to address a possible breach.
Work must be original and the result of the author’s skill and effort
As the childrens book does indeed reference Carter by name and utilises his lyrics, one may say that this is a breach of copyright in terms of the above standards.
What are our rights as publishers?
Australian law states that we must “avoid publishing material which has been gathered by deceptive or unfair means, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest”.
Whilst Carter claims that the company copied his lyrics in a “glaring and flagrant way” Chiha rebuts this with her disclaimer: “any reference contained in this book to musical artists or their works does not constitute or imply the endorsement, recommendation or approval of those artists.” So can we use this as a defence for copyright in the Australian court of law? This is where our rights and responsibilites enter the chat.
What are ‘Performers Rights’?
Performers Rights basically state that the internet streaming of live performances and unauthorised use of physical work must not be copied, which therefore limits the freedom of authors but protects the artist at hand. It also vital that consent and integrity of the original work remains in tact, which one may argue is not the case with ‘The Little Homie’. E.g. Carter’s lyrics originally being “girl problems” and “99 problems but a b**** ain’t one” altered to “alphabet problems”.
We must understand that whilst there is a disclaimer on the companies site, there is something to be said about the lack of copyright protocol in terms of reproducing someone’s original physical work and utilising this for financial benefit.
Oh no! I’ve broken copyright law! What now?
In accordance with Australian infringements, actions and remedies:
A court case or ‘civil remedy‘ may occur with outcomes ranging from the payment of damages, the delivery of infringing articles or an injunction prohibiting the further damaging of the plaintiff.
or
An individual who is guilty may be fined up to 550 penalty units or imprisoned for up to 5 years, or both.
Are we being hindered by the laws surrounding copyright? We must ponder whether artists and writers, such as Jessica Chiha, are being wrongly affected by copyright laws, or whether their employment in Australian media is doing more bad than good.
Whilst many say that media platforms are at threat due to copyright laws, it is vital to remain true, authoritative and law-abiding in the publishing of works. It is also important that individuals have equal access to information that hasn’t been tampered with but must handle it respectfully. One may state that freedom of media and publication has been hindered by the challenging of Chiha’s use of lyrics, however, we must align with the law and the federal courts of Australia to completely ensure that no copyright infringements have occurred in order to halt any disregard or hypocrisy to the copyright laws of Australia.
Aligning with standards and codes is the only way to avoid a copyright case and the above penalties.
How can I do my part to publish responsibly?
Now the distinction between law and ethics needs to be established. Ethics are the principles and guidelines one uses to guide themselves through what is right and wrong while, adversly, law is a systematic regulation governed by an authority such as government.
Whilst Chiha may not be found guilty for copyright against Carter, it could be seen as morally and ethically wrong to use someone’s name and lyrics without their written permission for monetary gain. As previously stated, ethics and law must be distinguished, however there is a clear interplay and interaction between the two.
So why do some reporters and columnists seem ready to steal the words of others? Why do those same people take umbrage at others lifting their work? Is it an easy way out of the hard-wrok that comes with respected reporting? The answers to these quesitons lie within a lack of ethical guidance and the true lack of care for the reprecussions of copyright infringement. The same could be said for aspects of the case study we’ve looked at. The most important advice to take away from this explainer is that by following the guidelines and laws provided by our Australian acts and standards, you can produce strong, truthful and respected works with a greater understanding of your rights and responsibilties in the publishing world.
“Plagiarism offends the values of honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others“
Pearson & Polden, 2015 ‘The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law, 6th Edition’, Queensland, p 407
References
Pearson & Polden, 2015, ‘The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law, 6th Edition‘, Queensland, p407, viewed 20th April 2020
This weeks topic was particularly interesting to me. The discussion of meme warfare and how this can influence different people’s attitudes, beliefs and in particular, their behaviour formed my remediation above. This may come in the forms of political elections to general public online presence and opinion. Within the lecture, the ideologies and differences between legacy media and distributed were discussed. It is vital to look into distributed media, “a strategy of content distribution that no longer relies on native websites to host and distribute content” (Cision, 2016, p1), and the way this relates to the idea of meme warfare. Looking at the way this influences propaganda has shaped the way I think about the way the future is heading. The reason why distributed media has increased in popularity, is due to the fact legacy media depends on the audience not acting as a publisher. Social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has created such a decentralised platform, it has decreased the centralisation causing legacy media to not work effectively. Take the structure of the news model
Story –> Coherent narrative about reality
Frame –> Spin/ideology/propaganda
Event –> Real or Imagined
By looking at the structure above we can see that distributed media and collective intelligence can become very unreliable system where information can be altered and propaganda can cause meme warfare. I, for one, am not sure we are prepared for the outcomes that meme warfare may bring due to the insecure nature of storytelling in today’s society. The perfect summary may be found in the week 6 lecture, stating “the people formerly known as the audience are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another— and who today are not in a situation like that at all.” (Mitew, 2020) A great example of meme warfare would be the unauthorised use of an individuals wedding picture, posted and posed to look like an ad campaign for Hilary Clinton . These disinformations and half-truths are the essence of ‘meme war’. (Technology Review, 2019,p 1)
This week we discussed the way the internet paradigm alters the role of audiences in their interaction with digital media platforms and content. I didn’t realise how much I participated in networked participation and collective intelligence every single day. You probably do too! One part of this topic that I really resonated with was the ideology of ‘Produsage’, found within Dr Axel Bruns text ‘Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation’ (2007) This concept revolves around the fact that there has been a shift and rise in the way we use social media. Facebook, Youtube and Instagram are all platforms in which user-led content creation is prominent.
An example of produsage in action is TikTok. Tik Tok is an ever-evolving platform in which users can re-use and remix “existing content into new artworks which are then able to be further reworked by subsequent generations of users” (Bruns, 2007). My remediation revolves around this idea of using exisiting media, reworking and resubmitting it on my on platform.
We are all capable of infiltrating this notion of produsage and interacting with media platforms as creators and now, given all of the access in this era of Web 2.0 (Mitew, 2020), we are more capable than ever.
The ‘Public Sphere’ and it’s technological development overtime
Imagine a coffee house. A place where you can go to debate, converse and chat about any social, cultural or political issues that the world is faced with. It could be the climate of global warming or the latest in COVID-19. Anything you want. This ‘coffeehouse’ is for you, a place to find out what is happening and why. Now even though this imaginary coffeehouse might not necessarily exist (i’m truly sorry if I’m making you pine for your local cafe in isolation) we all have spaces like this. We can thank a man called Jurgen Habermas and his ‘Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere’(1962) for this theory. Calhoun (1992, p1) states that the German text has been one of “Habermas’ most influential” and has been translated into many languages, reaching many cultures all over the globe. So what defines the perfect Public Sphere? Habermas stated that the ideal public sphere is “seperate from the state, economy and is egalitarian and open” (Middlemost, 2020).
A figure representing Jurgen Habermas’ Ideology of the Public Sphere
Be My Guest
It’s not a surprise that the Public Sphere most suitable to myself is university. It is mediated, provokes debate about current issues and the rise of the internet over the past twenty years has made this space ideal for communication and the delivering of information easily. With increasing knowledge available over time, university students like myself don’t have to imagine themselves in this idea of a coffeehouse, we are already in our own little microcosm of debate and conversation. Although university and the face to face interaction of discussion makes for an extremely valuable and interesting Public Sphere, its not without it’s issues. Take this current climate of COVID-19 and all of the adaptions you’ve made in your life. Now let’s relate this back to our idea of a Public Sphere. Social isolation and quarantines would make getting together to chat impossible, right? Wrong. This is where we introduce the notion of the ‘Public Sphere Web 2.0 (Middlemost, 2020). It isn’t as simple as it once was. The Public Sphere doesn’t need to be a physical embodiment or space anymore. The rise of technology and online platforms have actually improved our communications and has given us the access to overcome barriers such as COVID-19. We’ve melded and transformed our public sphere’s alongside technology with platforms such as Moodle and Discord to communicate, debate and delve into current issues in a fresh and modern way. This basically shows us how Jurgen’s idea of the Public Sphere (1962), though outdated in some aspects, can translate through time and still uphold it’s core values of communication.
Let’s Get Technical
So we’ve talked about me for a while, let’s go back to our friend Jurgen Habermas and think about how his ideologies have transformed to meet our technological climate. The original idea of the Public Sphere wasn’t perfect. It excluded ideologies regarding western feminism and rejected critiques (Middlemost, 2020). Over time, this idea has become mediated with the increase of online platforms, and the rise of the internet has made discussion and debate easier and cheaper. This isn’t to say this rise hasn’t been challenged. Some may say that the Public Sphere being introduced onto higher technical platforms has been degraded by consumerism and capitalism. However, it’s actually more common than you think and I can guarantee you’ve come across many Public Spheres today. A great example of a more technologically advanced Public Sphere would be the introduction and rise of podcasts on iPhones and the web, especially with people having to stay indoors lately, podcasts allow people to discuss issues on a media platform without actually seeing each other face-to-face, taking the view that the “enhancement by emergence of different spaces, e.g. the web, have a successful and innovative affect on the community today”. (Middlemost, 2020).
So in this current climate, let’s utilise our own modern perspectives on Public Sphere’s, whether it is your local sporting team or a group discussing politics. We must continue to modernise and adapt in these times in order to keep the discussion and debates flowing!
References
Middlemost, R, 2020 ‘The Media Theory Toolbox’, Powerpoint slides, BCM110, University of Wollongong, Viewed 11.4.20
Calhoun, C, 1992 ‘Habermas and the Public Sphere’, London
Habermas, J, 1962, ‘The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere’, Germany
My remediation inspired by the Vaporwave aesthetic! Created using PhotoMosh
Here we go again! This crazy concept (that I’ll hopefully get right this time) ‘The Medium is the Message’ has come back to haunt us all. It’s for a good reason though, it’s what sparked my fabulous remediation above!
I started this week in a very creative mindset. Before watching the lectures and trying to confuse myself, I just educated myself on what the Vaporwave aesthetic was and had some fun in the creation of it. Basically, the Vaporwave phenomenon is an internet trend that also links into this ideology of digitisation dissolving the boundaries between production and conception. Vaporwave is a genre of music that evolved from internet culture in early 2011. It has a retro feel. So how do we relate this funky aesthetic back to our topic?
The first element that we need to look at is the Emergent Media Economic Model. Unlike the Legacy Media Model, production in Emergent Media is low-cost and has no filter for content or quality. This shifts the rules of the game because now anyone can make content. This is shown in the Vaporwave style where iteration of appropriated material from the 80’s and 90’s music styles have been shifted with surrounding subculture, often with nostalgic sentiments to create a whole new piece of aesthetic which relies on it’s filters.
If we are looking at this in a practical sense, we can see that the emergent media model is low-cost, can be curated rapidly and has the ability to be customisable. The Vaporwave style demonstrates this through it’s ability to be created anywhere at anytime and it’s layered digital material (sound, image, colouring and texture). The message here is that by incorporating these ideologies of little to no cost and easy curation for anyone, styles like vapourware can be adapted and shift into what meme culture is all about. Katie Bunnell states “A direct relationship with tools enables the maker to engage intimately with materials and process to create finished objects with a high degree of autonomy and control over quality”. We can truly see this relationship develop amongst the Vaporwave style due to our nature of ease and ever-growing control over what we create.
References-
Bunnell, K, 2004 ‘Craft and digital technology‘, World Crafts Council 40thAnniversary Conference, Greece
A critical search into media control and why we should challenge it
Be scared (if you know what’s good for you)
I never really thought deeply about the media I was consuming, who owned it or how they shaped what I was seeing and believing in my everyday world. I woke up in the morning, clicked on MSN (owned and founded by Microsoft) had a scroll until I reached the really juicy part (entertainment and TV, duh!), saw who had been booted from Survivor then dragged myself to the TV to watch channel 7’s ‘Sunrise’ to have the life scared out of me about all the horrible and terrifying things going on in our wonderful world. It was pretty exciting stuff. Then I started to question and challenge this ideology of taking in whatever our media is feeding us and just accepting it because it’s there. Frankfurt School had a point. In week four’s lecture it’s also shown how Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory that mass culture ideology revolved around believing and accepting what they were told, just because it was there (Middlemost, 2020). Let’s delve deeper into why we do this and why it should be challenged.
Why should we care?
Honestly, it’s a good question! Why does it matter who owns the media we consume and why should we care if it’s biased or controlled? I also want to touch on newspaper’s political bias. If we think about China and the media they consume, I think it would be fair to say that their media environment is highly controlled. The Chinese government owns most newspapers, therefore, they have a large say in what is printed, economy and business-wise. Although this obvious form of control in Chinese newspapers is easy enough to find, in contrast, media bias can be extremely hard to pinpoint and measure (Strömberg, 2018, pp 2442). Interest topics may vary across newspapers, language use can change over time (also relating back to the key theory of linear communication models and ‘noise’ or interruptions in the flow) and different media sources have different audiences. However, this theory does not apply to a highly suppressed environment like China or Russia because negative thoughts or comments are blocked and censored (Strömberg, 2018, pp 2442) .
Let’s talk about this in terms of our own personal media usage, shall we?
Lidberg (2019, pp 15) relays that “media studies show that Australia has one of the most concentrated markets in the world”. News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media, Seven West Media and APN News, and Media accounted for more than 90 percent of the revenue in the 2015-2016 financial year (Lidberg, 2019, pp14). This national dominance of news disparages the concept of all news being neutral and fair across the board. We just need to look at David Mcknight’s in-depth research on Rupert Murdoch to see this. Murdoch uses journalism to gain commercial advantages. This is done via hiring editors who think like him, meaning that there is no need for explicit instructions regarding content and editorial direction (Lidberg, 2019, pp14)
We don’t need to be in a highly censored, restrictive country to be a victim of bias and control in the media.
Challenge Accepted
After some deep thinking and reflection (what else is there to do in isolation if not ponder our possible biased and controlled society?!?) I think it’s safe to say we can’t take what we read on our usual news or gossip column as gospel. We, as an intelligent and independent society, need to trust the power of research and questioning and work harder in our search for news, otherwise, what’s stopping us from becoming another website-blocked country or a person unknowingly affected by propaganda. We can and should do better.
References
Lidberg, J., 2019. The distortion of the Australian public sphere: Media ownership concentration in Australia. AQ: Australian Quarterly, 90(1), pp.12-15.
Middlemost, R 2020 ‘Media Industries and Ownership’ Moodle Slides, BCM110, University of Wollongong, viewed 3rd April 2020
Qin, B., Strömberg, D. and Wu, Y., 2018. Media Bias in China. American Economic Review, 108(9), pp.2442-76.
Marshall McLuhan’s Ideology ‘The Medium is the Message’ is quite an obscure and different idea to what I’m used to but after this week’s lecture and readings, I feel quite confident in explaining what this message relates to. So what does it really mean? When we’re talking about mediums, the content is what we usually focus on rather than the actually form of the medium itself. McLuhan is trying to reiterate that while the message may be important, it is the medium that makes the message in the end… Let’s try to break it down a bit further.
When we look at my original remediation (clever, isn’t it), we can see many different elements that all relate back to this one concept of ‘The Medium is the Message’. We can see elements such as old-school telephones and Netflix to display the shift of medium’s overtime. We can see this concept of a ‘global village’, our medium’s extending out into the world and interconnecting us all. The technology that the message is transferred through is said to shift us as individuals and societies. It is the technology that holds the power. When discussing this concept, it is also valuable to state that “the medium is an extensions of ourselves” (McLuhan 1964). In a nutshell, I believe this concept to mean that our technology and communication can create a “global village” (McLuhan 1964) and the medium that we communicate through holds more meaning than the message itself.
If you’re still confused (i must admit I think myself into confusion) In the words of the master himself, he uses “the right hemisphere, they use the left” (McLuhan, 1964).
References:
McLuhan M 1964, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, p 1-3, England
Before reading all about my opinions (I know how much you want to), I want you to take five minutes and think about what you see in the above image. Think about how you interpret the situation. I can guarantee that your thoughts will be different to the person sitting next to you (if it’s your dog, show him the picture and get back to me).
At first glance, this image shows a bunch of kid’s standing around observing two soldiers relaxing on the ground. For many, this is where the understanding and meaning might end and that’s okay! But there are hundreds and thousands of interpretations and understandings of media, this image included. Just take a look at this picture here, believe it or not, there’s actually a young AND old woman in the picture.
Let’s delve a bit deeper into this theory and look at the history of experimental audience research and how this affects how we thus perceive media. Many experiments such as the Bobo doll experiment (1961) aimed to show us that media is the direct cause for the way people act. This is also called causality (Middlemost 2020). There was a tendency to blame media for the worst that occurs in society, which, following the Columbine High School massacre on April 20th,1999, we now know is definitely not the case. Following this clear-cut idea, one may also assume that audiences may look at an image and take one meaning from it. This somewhat outdated theory can be proven otherwise when we begin to look at linear models of communication and why things aren’t always black and white.
Looking at our main image it is possible to draw one conclusion. We might also see kid’s in a war-town country observing the men that are protecting them. We may see a bunch of aspiring young soldiers looking on to their heroes or we might see three children in a foreign country not knowing who these strange men in uniforms are. It is possible to read this image in plenty of ways and unlike Aristotle’s idea of a linear communication model (Middlemost, 2020) which states that there is a one-way, unproblematic flow of information from one receiver to another, we may take the opposite approach of Stuart Hall. While Aristotle’s work is classified as “the most influential during the last 2,300 years” (Bodhi, an interdisciplinary Journal, 2008, p 272), Hall’s-
Aristotle’s Line of CommunicationStuart Hall’s Model of Encoding/Decoding
-encoding/decoding model (Middlemost, 2020) supports the idea that there is never a clear-cut way of looking at things and there is always going to be ‘noise’ or a problem that interrupts this one-way flow. This noise may come in the form of a lack of knowledge regarding war or soldiers, a lack of understanding why the children are watching them or something as simple as a differing of opinion or interpretation. Therefore we must assume that when perceiving and interpreting images (encoding) there is always a creation process, a medium that is affected by noise before reaching the decoder.
Semiotics also play a large role in the representation and interpretation of images. Semiotics is the science of signs and their meanings or what is evoked in the mind of the receiver (Middlemost, 2020). Charles Pierce is largely known as the ‘godfather’ of semiotics, a large part of his theory being our ability to perceive images. Take the uniforms of the soldiers. This is clearly a sign of war or order. This correlation was completely by chance but it is a known fact and can therefore affect how people see the image and what they take away from it. If the soldiers were dressed normally we would have completely different interpretations of this picture.
When discussing the nation-wide audience, we must give credit to the fact that there is not a linear unproblematic flow of communication and there is always different interpretations and meanings to what we see! Now go and google some more image illusions, hint hint: they’ll keep you entertained during isolation!
All images and dates hyperlinked
Adhikary, N, 2008, ‘The Sadharanikaran Model and Aristotle’s Model of Communication: A Comparative Study’, Nepal Journals Online, vol.2 , no. 1, p./pp 272
Middlemost R, 2020, ‘Representations and Interpretations’, Lecture Slides, BCM110, University of Wollongong
tegans.home.blog 