Ebooks

An electronic book is a book publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and readable on computers or other portable electronic devices such as the iPad or Amazon Kindle. E-books are usually read on e-book readers or personal computer tablets. Nowadays, smart phones can also be used to read e-books.

 Numerous e-book formats emerged, some supported by major software companies such as Adobe with its PDF format, and others supported by independent and open-source programmers.Since Google books emerged, many books in the public domain can now be read online.

Apart from Kindle, Apple’s Ipad currently has an application for e-books known as iBooks and iBookstore, allowing users to download or purchase e-books from these stores and reading them on their mobile or tablet.

 What is amazing about e-books is that the copies of each book are limitless. Countless number of people can view the same book online without having to wait for a physical copy of the book which is usually limited in numbers. E-book readers are usually compact, light and handy. The thickness of a physical book can often cause inconvenience to readers. By having countless number of pages and books in one single device and still weighing the same is a great advantage.

However, if one were to read e-books on an e-book reader, it is not possible to lend a friend the same copy unlike being able to lend someone a physical copy of a book. If a kindle or an iPad is lost, all the e-book stored inside it will also be lost.

Celestial City 3

So we have reached level 3. In this assignment, we were tasked to create a digital story. From this task, i begin to realise that everything on the World Wide Web often co-exists with each other and are usually not stand-alone. As a marketing strategy, we have used various online media sites such as twitter and blogs so that our story is able to reach a bigger audience. This digital story revolves around the phenomenon of traditional media versus digital media.

Our comic can be seen here. We have used tumblr to embed our comic as tumblr provides a simple design and this is useful for readers to view and follow our comic. In addition, pictures on tumblr can be posted up easily. The all-white background is purposefully used to imitate a comic-like feel when read. The choice of background colour is important in affecting the ease to read a website. This was stressed during the guest lecture on web design and thus, we have decided to incorporate the colour white to give our comic a good contrast. The importance of a blog layout was also stressed during the guest lecture. The layout of this particular theme on tumblr is in such a way that viewers will look from the top post first to the bottom, thus we have decided to place our comic in descending order, from the first sequence of event at the top. In this way, it enables readers to read our comic in a friendly-to-read manner.

Our story revolves around an incident that happened at RMIT University and the conflict between our two main characters, Digitalman & Analogman, who both represent digital media and traditional media respectively. Readers can follow Digitalman’s thoughts as he constantly updates his tweets on the go and also in this way, reach out to the public and his followers instantaneously via social media. Analogman tries to keep up with social media and networking sites but struggles as he attempts to do a html website which turns out dull and plain. Meanwhile, Digitalman is embracing the digital media platforms well by using sites such as twitter and wordpress as a platform to express his thoughts and updates.  As digital media is often more attractive and instantaneous, traditional media gives a much more comprehensive news to the masses. This is illustrated when analogman was able to reach out to the world audience.

As suggested by Filliz Efe in visual storytelling for the web – tips & techniques, a good story is often short, simple, fluid in a way that it has a start, middle and end and last but not least also interesting as it deals with current issues and debates. Edwin also stressed on the importance of extending the boundaries of a story. This is exactly what we wanted to emulate. We have incorporated sites such as twitter, tumblr, wordpress and also a html website for viewers who read our story to have varying perspectives into our digital story.

RSS Feed

I stumbled upon Melbourne Festival while browsing through my RSS feed on google alerts. This is definitely something not to be missed by art enthusiasts. Ranging from theatre, dance, music, film and last but not least visual art performances are amongst some of the activities that is organized. This is an eclectic array of performances that are suitable for both the young or old to enjoy. So what are you waiting for? Do not miss this wonderful opportunity to experience Melbourne’s arts scene. Happening from 11 – 27 October at various locations, be sure to check out what’s instore for you. Better still, like their facebook page for more updates.

How to be Creative

Creativity often refers to ‘thinking out of the box’ or being inclined in arts or design. The truth is, everyone started out with crayons in kindergarten. It is not merely trained with a degree or by a professional although it does help to a certain extent. Creativity has to start from somewhere. And it has to start from you and no one else.

In Steve Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From, he lists the importance of Hunch. Slow hunches are important to give ideas to develop. Collision with other hunches are also essential to further develop our ideas. Essentially, ideas need time, days or even decades for some, to develop. This is the case for the invention of the World Wide Web.

With this, John Cleese lists 5 formulas or ingredients on Creativity.

1) Space – For ideas to develop, or creative ideas to surface, we all need to seal ourselves away from daily pressures. Take a quiet time to discover or do something that stimulates our creative side. When we give ourselves this oasis or space to explore, we are giving room for creativity.

2) Time – Set a specific amount of time for us to be confined in this space. In this way, we are giving ourselves room and a specific amount of time to think.

3) Time – Again he emphasizes on the importance of time. Good ideas generally take some pondering time. Use this time to the fullest and explore all possible options of an idea.

4) Confidence – When we are free to play and not afraid of making mistakes, this is where good ideas come from. We are not limited by specific boundaries. Confidence to be ridiculous, to make mistakes and to say illogical stuff are part of exploration.

5) Humour – With a simple laughter, we can change the mood from a closed environment to something more open and relaxed. When the mind is relaxed, it is not restrictive to certain pressures. This is when the mind thrives.

With all the above listed in mind, remember that patience and passion is key in creativity. Learn from mistakes and experiences as this is vital in exploration. Never be afraid to be the odd one out. Being creative doesnt mean to stand out from the crowd. Avoid the crowd.

50 Years from Today

2057-the-city-of-the-future

Ever wondered how the world would be like in 50 years to come?

This documentary takes you into an insight of predictions, innovations and creations of the modern world in year 2057. Maybe we’ve all seen sci-fi movies involving flying cars, 3D images coming to life and invisible creations coming to life with the touch of human contact. Ridiculous? These are what scientists in the world today are researching. Not too long ago, touch-screen mobile phones seemed outrageous. Now, it is one of the most highly-owned items around the world. Wireless, touch-screen, voice-enabled functions are now possible with the advent of technology.

In this documentary, scientists predict that 50 years from now, all of the above-mentioned are going to happen. German-based scientists from Fraunhofer Society are now working on bringing 3D images to be animated without the need of a screen. Yes, that’s right. The game that you are playing or the virtual pet you own may just be speaking to you right in front of your eyes. Scientist also predict that we will be able to interact with these simulated images. Now, that is the future. Underground highways, virtual boutiques, auto-pilot cars are just some of the predictions of 2057. However, no we are already witnessing some of this stuff. The existence of online shopping. The new technology of auto-pilot parking installed in some cars nowadays. Underground highways are in abundance in developed countries. We can see that now, Audi, an automobile company is currently looking towards producing a technology for its cars to help detect possible collisions and thus reducing the chances of an accident.

These inventions may sound ridiculous for some. But lets have a look at some of its advantages. If the world is run by computer chips and systems, there is no room for human error. Everything will be programmed according to perfection. However, what if the system fails? Would we be putting human lives to such a high amount of risk with total reliance on technology? I guess it would take decades before we attain perfection. So before we are overruled by robots the virtual world, let us embrace nature at its best now.

Six Degrees of Separation

Isnt it a wonder, in a world of more than 6 billion in population, we are only 6 handshakes away from everyone else?

This is the phenomenon by one of the founder of the theory of Six Degrees of Separation and mathematician, Steve Strogatz have discovered. To test this out, he had sent over 30 packages to different parts of the world and the main objective; each and every single one of these parcels have to be posted to Marc Vidal in Boston. Neither one of these people in this social experiment knows who Marc is. It only takes one link as a point of contact even in the most remote part of the world, Kenya.  This was also tried and tested in the Hollywood scene. Remarkably, the whole of Hollywood’s actors and actresses conformed to Six Degrees of Separation.

Laszlo Barabasi, Hungarian scientist also discovered the term of ‘hubs’ on the world wide web. This is the main phenomenon that ties networks together. He had said that, even if we took out networks with small connections, the network will still exist but will shrink. If we took out the hubs, the network will cease to exist altogether. Hubs were also found in transportation routes, computer chips and human cells.

I feel that with the existence of emerging social networking sites, this phenomenon is nothing new to us. Even on facebook, friends of friends that are ‘suggested’ often could be from other parts of the world. As long as the world is increasingly tapping on social networking sites, the world is constantly ‘shrinking’. We are no longer bounded by borders or land. The internet and advanced transportation routes and technology have connected us one way or another. It is frightening, at the same time enlightening to see how the world is becoming a unit. A unit of networks only 6 steps apart.

Media Students Charter

Above is the Media Students Charter where I have made some changes to. Highlighted in pink are some of the major points I feel as a Media student should possess. Having gone through two semesters now, I believe that as Media students, we should not be sticking within our comfort zone. Creativity, passion and alot of discipline dedicated to self-learning outside of what is not taught in lectures & tutorials are essential towards achieving the most out of this course and the media industry in future. I also believe that lecturers are also your best friend. They are the people that we should look up to and learn from as their experience in the industry is what makes them so much of a role model to us.Thus, whenever in doubt or in need of guidance, do not despair as our lecturers and tutors are there for a reason.

The media students charter have been made using google documents. This allows everyone who owns the right to view this document to edit, and share them instantaneously to everyone else. This is a very useful way to share documents with people in the fastest way possible. No matter which end of the globe you are in, google documents is able to share, connect and view the same document not forgetting making any changes as you wish. Before you complete typing that last sentence, your friends are already updated with the latest edit.

Enchanted Ground 3

 

This is where we shot our short film. It was a Thursday evening when we decided we would film as soon as it was sunset as we needed the lighting to suit the theme of our film. We were shooting a horror story. There were three of us and as each of us had our own roles, we had to be at separate locations. Jasmine, the lead actress, was the acting as the ghost. Alex and myself acted as the supporting roles. When we shot our first scene, Jasmine had to be stationed on the level above us. This was when something weird and unexpected happened. When me and Alex were discussing our script downstairs, we overheard a conversation coming from upstairs. We were dumbfounded. The school was supposedly empty at this hour, who could Jasmine be talking to? When we rushed upstairs, Jasmine was shocked to see us with our pale expression. She asked what was wrong as she had been listening to her mp3 all along and was not aware of her surrounding. Alex and I exchanged glances, looking puzzled. We decided to keep it to ourselves and told Jasmine that everything was alright. So we went back down again and acted as if everything was normal although at the back of our mind, we knew something was amiss. What was great though was how the film turned out. Our acting was as if the horror story was believable and really did took place. Could it be our imagination that we were so caught up with our film and we were hearing things? Or did it really happen and we really did hear those voices? That remains a mystery, up till now.