When I was thinking about what I wanted to create for my BCM112 Pitch I knew I wanted it to be something meaningful towards women in the media whilst also contributing to my portfolio and encouraging my writing passions. This is how the idea for the ‘Eggplant Emoji’ came about. The concept is to create a WordPress blog for women, encouraging their voices and discussing all things literature and women in the media. This blog will have weekly posts regarding female authors of the moment and their thoughts on the current state of literature. When creating my blog, I had to think about my audience and why they would want to look at my blog in particular over the thousands of other mediums out there. I specifically targeted 18-25-year-olds and surveyed them through interviews, receiving 100% positive responses. The most popular answer to my question “would you read a blog designed for women in the media” was “yes” and when asked why Ally* stated, “because it would inspire me and make me feel more confident”. Taking this fast, inexpensive, simple and tiny method, I turned this into an easy and no-cost WordPress blog in order to reach a larger audience and engage specifically with university girls with simple, engaging posts.
This is my survey and the results I received.
Reflecting on our lectures, I took on the concept of: Fail Early Fail Often
After my BCM114 DA, The Femme Edition, I recognized that I didn’t promote my posts enough and didn’t take the feedback I received on board. Changing this, I took what responses I have already received for my blog and intend to focus and really draw in on what girls want to talk about, why women aren’t represented enough in the media and what we can do to change this. As shown in this quote by the Harvard Business Review “women are far less likely than men to be seen in the media with women making up a mere 19% of experts in news stories” (Rattan 2019) so let’s make a change!
Harvard Business Review 2019, Tackling the Underrepresentation of Women in the Media , Rattan A, viewed 18th March 2020
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? The grouchy look and huff at the girl sitting next to you in the cinema, obsessively typing on her phone and shining her light right into your retinas while you’re trying to concentrate on Ryan Gosling’s abs. The shoulder nudge at that concert towards that guy getting a bit too close? Even celebrities seem to have the same issues as us plebs! Shia LaBeauf’s breakdown at ‘Caberet‘ or Patti Lupone (bless her heart) snatching an audience member’s phone mid-show?
I’ve been a member of hundreds of audiences; operas, musicals, movies, concerts, tv shows but specifically I want to draw in on my experience of Groovin’ the Moo (an annual music festival held in Canberra). Being a festival, rules such as being quiet and calm, no eating or drinking and no phones don’t really apply (sorry Patti), actually, it’s quite the opposite. These ‘unspoken rules’ that we all believe to be gospel when being part of any audience are actually what makes festivals and concert experiences so much fun! Just take a look at this clip and imagine if everyone was silent and standing still? Not very fun right?
Stop dancing! Come back and read what I have to say!
One of the main things about audiences is that they have shifted from being passive to active throughout history (O’Neal, 2020). As John Fiske (1989) states “pop culture is made by the people, not by the industry”, so why are we as a group so focused on the rules and regulation of being an audience? We should be critical, responsive and active! (o’Neal, 2020)
Stage Two: Begrudging Acceptance
So how does this relate back to what we’ve been talking about all week? We’re supposed to be laughing with our mates and singing, enjoying amazing food and drinks and recording our favourite artists on our phones, even though at other experiences such as movies, this would be condemned. As stated in this week’s lecture, “having the same experience together in one place” is what makes a good audience (O’Neal, 2020). The anxieties surrounding audiences have faded over time. Gustave Le Bon’s theory that audiences couldn’t distinguish fact from fiction (the whole darting from the fictional train on the screen didn’t help matters) (O’Neal, 2020) has shifted over time as audiences have understood John Fiske’s way of thinking that “pop culture is made by the people, not by the industry” (O’Neal, 2020).
Think about the last concert you went to, think about the singing, laughing and dancing you witnessed and participated in. Being an audience member does have unspoken rules but once again, reiterating this week’s lecture, a good audience is “active, critical and actually uses the media as a part of their lives” (O’Neal, 2020). David Gauntlett also points out in his text ‘Ten Things Wrong with the Media Effect Model’ that for years many individuals were perceived to be easily influenced and extremely passive viewers of the media, however with the fluidity and ever-changing nature of media forms, we evolve, as do our standards for viewing it. An example of this idea of thinking would be shown in the quote “surveys show that the public feel that the media may cause other people to engage in antisocial behaviour, almost no-one ever says that they have been affected in that way themselves” (Gauntlett 2020, p.7.) In other words, even though past audience portrayals have been negative, this isn’t always the case! People should be given more credit for their viewing habits.
Stage Three: Bit of shhh at the movies, bit of boogie everywhere else
Heading back to my own personal experience as an active audience member, I believe that this version of media is actually enhanced in its own specialised way, as is with every other type of media. I try to believe that it’s okay for audiences to have a set of ‘unspoken rules’ such as only talking when invited to or remaining alert but I also think that we’re smart enough to adapt and view our media in more critical ways.
Here, Here!
Gauntlett, D., 2005. Moving Experiences. Eastleigh, UK: John Libbey Pub
O’Neal, K 2020, ‘Media Audiences’ Moodle Slides, BCM110, University of Wollongong, Viewed 14 March 2020
So after a MASSIVE day of planning, thinking, stressing, planning and thinking some more ya girl has finally come up with an idea for my Digital Artefact! Firstly, I went right back to basics and literally just put pen to paper to jot down some ideas that I had. I asked myself ‘what do I love?’ and you’d think I could fill up a page but shockingly it was super hard. I struggled to come up with ten things I felt true passionate about so I asked myself another question, ‘why am I studying my degree and what do I want to do with it?’. That drew me towards literature and the publishing industry! (how could I forget after months of trying to find internships and stress-crying over not being able to!!!). So how can I talk about books everyday while still actively contributing to my online prescence and portfolio for the future? Easy! A book blog.
So a book blog seems easy enough but how can I narrow this down and challenge myself just that little bit further… theres a few ways.
I could…
Make this a feminine fiction blog, specifically talking about womens fiction and the promotion of ladies in the media
Sidenote: I started brainstorming but stopped because I actually really liked my first idea, let’s stick with that for now 🙂
Hi everyone! For this session’s Digital Artefact I did want to step out of my comfort zone by not just copying my last semester’s idea (if you want to have a browse it’s under BCM114). I want to expand my horizons by creating something new and fresh that could also assist me in my future. This week I’ve really been zoning in on what interests me and how I could turn this into a Digital Artefact. My passion life is books and I hope to turn this into my career so how could I incorporate this in my life? The first thought that popped into my head was book reviews but as I learnt from last semester, I need to make people want to read mine so how did I stand out? Stay tuned for more…
So we’re finally here!! The ‘Making’ phase of my Digital Artefact!. Just like as it states in the Week 8 module presentation by “one of the best ways to grow is to share!”. Thus, this is exactly what this process was aimed at for me. I wanted to continue sharing and gaining feedback so I cold grow and reach my digital artefacts maximum potential! On of the main issues for me as a beginner Instagram blogger was the fact that there was so much competition but I utilised this to my advantage and grew my audience this way for example, I chatted to other bookstagrammers an DM’d people who liked their content and ended up enjoying mine!
so many bookstagram accounts already!
Testing
This module for my digital artefact was also mainly involved around testing! After making my tangible models in my prototyping stage, I placed the emphasis on testing the changes I made through feedback loops. The whole point of this process was to create a ‘natural endpoint’ for the prototyping stage by evaluating the changes I made. It was vital that I didn’t halt my progress altogether but instead altered to meet what would benefit my project the most. So how did I do this? The main issues that arose during my prototyping stage involved the competition I would face in the bookstagram community as well as how to make my project stand out amongst others while still gaining valuable feedback. I mind mapped (as shown in my beta presentation and below) while also asking for feedback on my blog (a successful example of a feedback loop) and once I gained this, I evaluated how to input this into my artefact. An example of this occurring in my model was the feedback that I should focus on a particular genre for one month as his may attract more people and narrow down my focus thus giving a unique interpretation of book reviewing. I evaluated this advice and moved on to testing. I created a blog post specific to horror novels for the month of October and Halloween. The response I got was successful as it attracted a whole other demographic; horror-novel consumers. This allowed me to come to conclusion that in order to successfully share, I must utilise feedback and test this different user groups to gain my audience and followers.
It was also vital for me to test with users who, in a sense, had no interest in my project. It was incredibly interesting to see if my project could gain traction amongst users who wouldn’t normally interact in the bookstagram community and could give me feedback that wasn’t biased and based on others work. I did this by asking friends and family, whom are not readers, to rate my blogs and also twitter users, who do not know me personally. This allowed me to gain large responses in a short amount of time (#FOST anyone?) and also narrow down a perspective for feedback. I did this through online surveys which allowed users to remain anonymous which further allowed for honest and helpful responses. I then received this and adapted it to meet my demands.
Analysis
The next step in the making stage was to analyse my results, see what worked and what could be improved. I documented results found in surveys and acted accordingly. The main consensus was that people used Instagram the most, liked bookstagram because it showcased their passions or adversely didn’t like it because they weren’t interest in books. While the fact that people who didn’t like literature might not like a book related Instagram was already known, it was helpful to gain this as it drew attention to my artefact from a different audience, one that was impartial and could help. Thus I analysed by carefully observing my audience, interacting with them regularly and implanting the advice I got, no matter good or bad. I always implemented the idea that I should ‘test presuming I was wrong’ (Mitew, 2019). I was open to change and knew that what I did could be done better and always can, hence why I will always look for feedback.
‘The Femme Edition’ is a design focusing on the exhibition of literature aimed at young adults. TFE was “designed by women, for everyone” and is presented in the form of a website, which includes monthly and weekly blogposts, as well as an Instagram page which connects me to followers. I wanted to create the Femme Edition because through my research, I found that the bookstagram community was lacking in spaces for young people to grow and come together to chat about literature. As noted by ‘The Lit Nerd’, “Bookstagram can be a part-time job and is very competitive” (2019) so I wanted my space to be unique and my own but also incorporating #FIST. The Femme Edition can therefore act as a social unit, bringing people together whilst also contributing to my passion and hope to become a publisher. This digital artefact is essentially providing users with something they don’t already have by targeting young people and the love of all literature, not just one genre.
Based on my research involving online book communities, I decided to make a website and Instagram as this seemed the most effective way to reach out and share my thoughts whilst also engaging In the aesthetically-pleasing side of bookstagram. It is widely known that the book sharing side of Instagram is forever-growing and although it is a “part-time job” (2019) for many people, I knew if I was passionate and incorporated #BEBO (blog early, blog often) I could reach a number of people. I thought this method of sharing was useful for my audience because it would reach the most amount of people possible while not limiting myself to one platform.
To the left is she evokes and the following I gained after 3 weeks. To the right is the following I gained after 3 weeks as ‘The Femme Edition’
The Femme Edition was a project that required a lot of effort but was successful. Incorporating ideologies from my pitch and beta, we can see a timeline of progression e.g. my project started as a webpage involving a number of topics with no clear focus and was later specified into a book related website and Instagram.
Sheevokes, my first attempt at my artefact. I wasn’t passionate, there was no colour scheme or weekly layout as there is with my project now.
Beginning with my pitch, I originally planned to form a website for young women that involved a range of topics and issues such as body, health, travel, fashion etc… but after feedback from Instagram users I sensed that my project had no sense of direction. Whilst my project did incorporate the process of producing and curating content, it wasn’t particularly aimed at anyone. Moving on to my Beta section of my digital artefact, I had then narrowed down my original DA to suit the needs of myself and users, taking on advice through feedback loops to alter my artefact for maximum engagement. My pages were now growing and gaining attention. As shown in comments, direct messages and Instagram analytics, we can see that my page is growing and getting more likes and feedback the more I post (#BEBO). Step one was to plan out physically what I wanted to show. I mind-mapped and used other Instagram pages such as ‘The Lit Edit‘ for inspiration. I took incentive from how others spoke to their followers e.g. “How are you liking this book? Let me know in the comments” and their designs on their pages, usually bright and simple. One example of a feedback loop that I found beneficial to my project was the advice to blog about a certain genre one week, I took this and applied it to my blog and found that the response was good whilst also adding a range of ideas to my page, therefore engaging a wider audience.
The response and community reaction I got when going my instagram community of book lovers!
One of the accounts I took inspiration from!
Whilst critically analysing the growth and social utility of my project, we can see a clear aim of the audience (book-orientated people) and the progression it made to meet the standards I am at now. Below is a cycle displaying the growth of my project, week by week, based on the changes I made. Firstly I made, asked for feedback and changed, then iterated.
Some of the feedback and conversations i had over the course of my instagram
More feedback and advice that I utilised in my iteration process! I took this advice, changed to suit it and found my project turning out better. A vital step in the ‘testing’ process.
But thats okay! After the ideation process it is vital to enter the prototyping stage. One of the main components of this phase is iterations and changes from feedback loops which made the parts of my DA that weren’t working obvious. Prototyping basically means making tangible physical models of the problem solving you generated in the ideating stage (Mitew, 2019). In order to do this I incorporated lots of feedback devices as well as paper prototyping! I physically jotted down what was working and what people weren’t engaging with and came to the conclusion tat people aged more with a particular topic instead of a wide range of interests. My website ‘SHEEVOKES’ focused on many components but I narrowed this down to my main passion, literature. bookstagram and book blogs are so incredibly popular amongst the book-loving community so my purpose and audience was automatically fulfilled.
So how did I find and fix the necessary changes?
The answer? Feedback loops and lots of them! Firstly I ironed out what needed improved. I received comments on my blog, Instagram and through Instagram stories letting me know what I should change, an example being having a clear topic each week to chat about. I then incorporated this into my blog by making “book of the week” and monthly top tens! I iterated through many feedback loops, one being from students and tutors encouraging me to interact with my followers, doing so I gained more reach whilst also increasing my blogs likability as well as an increase in connection with my followers. In the charts below of Instagram analytics it is obvious from the comparisons that my first attempt at social media wasn’t reaching out to anyone in partular, however, ‘The Femme Edition’ has a clear audience who share the same interest but also benefit because my blog has its own quirks and uniqueness. Below we can see exmaples of feedback from instagram users, letting me know that my aim wasnt very clear and that i should narrow it down. We can see by my followers before and after that the feedback loops and iterations were effective.
Within my prototyping stage it was also vital for me to ensure my project was in line with the concepts of #FIST (fast, inexpensive, simple, tiny). I ensured this by keeping my blog and Instagram which are free to interact and create. I also needed to step up my #BEBO (blog early, blog often). This was encouraged by my audience in feedback loops so it was vital that I was interacting every single day and taking comments on board. It also made me seem like a real person and not just a website or piece of technology. Prototyping is such a vital stage in the digital artefact process and I can clearly see an increase in my interactions as well as an expansion in my online content curation through feedback and hard work.It was helpful to relate this and utilise the lectures as well. Teodore’s lecture on prototyping gave me insight into step-by-step DA building and how to engage with my followers. I put the notions of #BEBO into action and the results speak for themselves.
While heading through the prototyping stage of my Digital Artefact, the iterations and changes from feedback loops that I needed to make became obvious. So prototyping basically means making tangible physical models of the problem solving you generated in the ideating stage. So firstly I ironed out what needed improved and I did this through the process of feedback loops. I received comments on my blog, Instagram and through Instagram stories letting me know what I should change, an example being having a clear topic each week.
I took this and started simple. I sketched out physically what I wanted to achieve in a mind map (as shown below) . I iterated different topics such as travel, fashion etc.. until I landed on literature! So now I incorporated the concept of #BEBO! Building early and building often was vital in the feedback process as it allowed me to observe how ym audience behaved to these changes. I tested on twitter and Involved my followers in the models I made and got positive feedback so I continued on my project due to the engagement I was getting!
The main focus for me was making a difference and serving a need so I was open to getting feedback early and starting over if need be! It’s so important to remember Eric Raymond’s quote “spending time looking some else almost-good-enough is more likely to give you good results”. I took this with me through the prototyping process, was influenced by others and it really helped.
Cultural appropriation VS cultural appreciation is a pretty fine line in today’s era of ever-evolving music and media, especially with the amount of nonconformity and variance of genres around the world. Music is a quintessentially nonrepresentational medium so how do we, as individuals, define what can be classed as appropriating?
Cultural appropriation is nothing new to the music industry. For years, people of varying descent have been accused of misrepresenting the art-forms of different cultural groups and attempting to make them their own. Whether it’s Beyonce dressing as a Hindi woman or Iggy Azalea utilising the hip hop genre to gain in her career whilst contributing nothing to the African- American movement, cultural appropriation is a transnational issue that has been around since the early 20th century. African-American music has been judged and stereotyped since its beginnings. While this level of criticism has always existed, there has also been a level of attraction to the culture surrounding, found in white American listeners. This is recognised to be extremely challenging and problematic, especially when it comes to modern-day music. Recalling the mention of Australian-born rapper Iggy Azalea, the ideoscopes and ethnoscopes (Turnbull, 2019) surrounding her tend to point towards the appropriation of African-American culture. Eberhardt (2015, p 1) recognises this when stating “it is the appropriation of language, along with discourses of race and the content of her music, in which she subscribes to stereotyped notions of blackness”. This is a particularly rich example of a white dominance that views cultural resources as ripe for the picking. Iggy Azalea as a rapper has ‘glocalised’ (Turnbull, 2019) hip-hop in Australia, but has done so in a way that does not give back to the true meaning of the genre.
In contrast, Paul Simon’s album ‘Graceland’ acts as a catalyst for the appreciation of cultural difference. Studying the underlying factors of Azalea’s music, we can see the difference between the two. Authenticity. Graceland was largely critiqued for ‘exploiting ‘ South African folk music in order to potentially further his Simon’s career. However, Simon was interested in the sounds of South African music and took the time to educate himself on the cultural differences. Even South African tribal leaders and certain musicians took the chance to celebrate this and saw it as an opportunity for the world to hear this music due to the respect that was shown in the process. A quote from Simon states “Culture flows like water, It isn’t something that can just be cut off.” (Taylor, 2014 p 23) Simon understands that his “culture” isn’t his to own: it is intellectual property of the Southern African musical genre.
Taylor, T, 2014, p23 ‘Global Pop: World Music, World Markets, Routledge, NY
We can see the problems that arise when it comes to transnational media flows and the challenges that accompany them. However, one thing will always be certain: authenticity is will always be a pure force driving a musical genre. It is constructed as outside the purview of such ideas as appropriation. However, cultural forms are open to the construction of impurity when they are not respecting or valuing this work, or even worse, claiming this culture as their own.
Quentin Tarantino’s newest thriller opens it’s viewers up to a world that to it’s younger viewers is brand new but to some is a wave hello to a past time. Made in Hollywood, Tarantino creates an engrossing, kaleidoscopic, detailed nostalgic collage of a film, an epic tale of backlot Hollywood in 1969, which allows him to pile on all his obsessions. This also gives viewers a peak into ideologies of homogenisation/hybridisation, cultural proximity as well as the divide between the Global North and South. The question I asked myself before witnessing what this cinematic throwback is: will I be able to relate to events that didn’t happen in my time or country? The answer: Of course. Tarantino brings the 1960s Los Angeles to life with great detail so that we, at no matter what age or knowledge of the Manson family or 60s stars, can sense the spirit of what was at stake. Tarantino’s utilisation of modern stars such as Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, Mark Moh as Bruce Lee and Leonardo DiCaprio as a struggling Western star dabbling in Italian film gives a new take on Hollywood while interspersing cultures and lifestyle to suit a global audience.
Cultural Homogenisation/Hybridisation is an ideology which categorises films in the way in which they reach audiences. Homogenisation of culture refers to a one-way flow from richer to developing countries. Once upon a time in…Hollywood seems to take the opposite approach and utilises hybridisation through Italian film and Chinese culture interspersed in the film. ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ or ‘Euro Westerns’ are showcased which actually contributed greatly to the film industry in that time. More than five hundred Italian Western films were produced between 1962 and 1980, the time period showcased in OAAIH. Tarantino’s use of this different film culture in his primarily American feature parallels the idea that the ‘genre’s use of urgency and violence held a fascination amongst audiences around the world in the 60s’ (Fisher, 2011 p3) Tarantino therefore cleverly intersperses this historical time stop in our film history through the “de-westernisation of Western ideas” (Allen, 2010)
Quentin Tarantino delves into the Global North and South divide in his use of Chinese cinema and actors. The Global North/South divide is a line that divides the wealthy developed countries and developing areas. China falls under the south divide whilst America is one of the largest industries in the world for filmmaking. Tarantino intersperses the story of Bruce Lee and his motion pictures to educate the audience of a different culture therefore opening the film up to a relationship between different continents and blurring this imaginary line. Iwabuchi (2002, p 23) touches on this idea of a transnational media flow in Asian movie culture in the sense that the “emergence of Asian media practises since the 1980s reflect the fact that industries and cultural forms are playing a substantial roll in global cultural flows”. Tarantino is no rookie when it comes to this interspersion of Asian culture, Kill Bill for example. Tarantino has been utilising the growing Japanese and Chinese film movement since the 1980s and 90s, opening up audiences around the globe. Finally it is important to recognises that media is not only just made in America, Zhao (2007, p 145) stating that while America “has not homogenised the world, it has diffused a series of cultural formats in it’s industry”.
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