NDM News Index

Week 1 & 2 Social media is harming the mental health of teenagers, the state has to act & Why a police record for sexting teen
Week 3 & 4 Forget 'Dislike' – here are 12 new buttons Facebook really needs & Apple products article
Week 5 & 6Universal internet access to combat poverty & Amazon launches gaming and 4K streaming fire TV update
Week 7 & 8 Muslim gang violence & Ad blockers are wreaking havoc with the online revenue of newspapers
Week 9 & 10 Tech companies urged to protect young from dangers of excessive screen time & USA today's Facebook - inspired use of emojis gets thumbs down
Week 11 & 12 Google launches 150m fund for publisher’s digital news project & PewDiePie: how the youtube king locked up 40m fans and 10bn views
Week 13 & 14 Labour to introduce bill outlawing revenge porn & TV must push back against Apple and Netflix, says Discovery boss
Week 15 & 16 Everyone is downloading the iOS.9 for the middle finger emoji & How Netflix and chill became the code for casual sex
Week 17 & 18 BuzzFeed Journalist attack & Disney to launch UK film and TV streaming service for £9.99 a month
Week 19 & 20 Can Twitter reinvent itself with packaged news before it gets sold? & New wave of podcasts aimed at younger, wider audience
Week 21 & 22 The sun jumps the gun with claims with London spy sex "row" & Why the BBC is worth saving?
Week 23 & 24 Pins 'obsolete within five years' - and pay with mobile or fingerprints instead & The decline of print doesn't mean the end of journalism.
Week 25 & 26 Spotify to offer staff six months' parental leave on full pay & Muslim Council of Britain takes out advert denouncing Paris attack
Week 27 & 28 No, your Instagram account wasn't hacked - it was only a bug & Surf the internet in virtual reality with Samsung's new browser for the Gear VR headset
Week 29 & 30 Amazon releases video of new 'octocopter' delivery drone prototype & Google’s new quantum computer is '100 million times faster than your PC'
Week 31 & 32 Apple Pay could soon let people pay others through a text message or a phone call & Charity launches website to give people 'greater control over their death'
Week 33 & 34 Self-driving cars hog the road at CES & Google, Facebook and Twitter among internet giants attacking 'snooper's charter'
Week 35 & 36 Spread of the internet has not conquered 'digital divide' between rich and poor-report & Bug displays chrome users porn hours later on Apple computer
Week 37 & 38 Shops can track you via your smartphone, privacy watchdog warns & News Corp denies rumours company wants to buy Twitter
Week 39 & 40 First driverless buses travel public roads in the Netherlands & Apple issues global recall for AC power adaptors after ‘electrical shock risk’
Week 41 & 42 Winning MIT design for Hyperloop passenger pod revealed by Elon Musk & Police data could label 'suspects' for crimes they have not committed
Week 43 & 44 Uninstalling Facebook app saves up to 15% of iPhone battery life & Newsnight gets a repeat as BBC news channel cuts breaking stories
Week 45 & 46 Windows 10 update deletes some programs without alerting users & Apple launches ‘Support’ Twitter account, allowing people to tweet at it
Week 47 & 48 Smartwatches that allow pupils to 'cheat' in exams for sale on Amazon & US agency reaches 'holy grail' of battery storage sought by Elon Musk and Gates
Week 49 & 50 Amazon stops encryption on Fire tablets, leaving data vulnerable to attack & Startup pitches anti-drone launcher as answer to rogue UAVs
Week 51 & 52 FBI could force us to turn on iPhone cameras and microphones, says Apple

1) Reading the Riots

2) Post-colonialism: Destiny Ekaragwa film analysis

3) Post-colonialism: theory and clip task

4) Feminism: post-feminism article and No More Page 3 research
5) Feminism: Feminist theory and Beyonce video analysis

6) Feminism: waves and feminism and online activism
7) Identity and Film - Media Factsheet task

8) Collective identity and the media

Identities and Film

1) Read Media Factsheet 142: Identity and Film.

2) Complete the Twenty Statements Test yourself. This means answering the question ‘Who am I?’ 20 times with 20 different answers. What do they say about your identity? Write the 20 answers in full on your blog.

Who am I? I am a student
Who am I? I am a female
Who am I? I am in love with make up 
Who am I? I am a feminist
Who am I? I am in Year 13
Who am I? I am not going to Uni
Who am I? I am going to travel the world 
Who am I? I am going to open up my own business
Who am I? I am a chilled person
Who am I? I am a part time hairdresser/stylist
Who am I? I am the oldest sibling
Who am I? I am going to turn 18 in March
Who am I? I am not eating chocolate 
Who am I? I am getting married in 6 years 
Who am I? I am going to learn how to drive
Who am I? I am going to live in Dubai
Who am I? I am a fan of hip hop music 
Who am I? I am a calm person
Who am I? I am studying business
Who am I? I am also studying Media studies 

3) Classify your answers into the categories listed  on the Factsheet: Social groups, ideological beliefs, interests etc.
Social - I am a student, I am a female, I am a feminist, I am in Year 13, I am the oldest sibling, I am going to turn 18 in March, I am studying business, I am also studying Media studies. 

Interests -I am in love with doing make up, I am a hairdresser,I am good at netball, I am interested in make-up
Ambitions - I am going to travel the world, I am going to live in dubai, I am going to open up my own business and i am going to get married in 6 years. 
Self-evaluation - I am a chilled person, I am a a friendly person, I am going to learn how to drive, I am a caring person, I am a calm person. 

4) Go back to your favourite film (as identified in the lesson). What does this choice of film say about your identity? Are there any identities within the film (e.g. certain characters) that particularly resonated with your values and beliefs?

5) Watch the trailers for the five films highlighted as examples of gay/lesbian representation in mainstream film. How are LGBT identities constructed in the trailers and how are audiences encouraged to respond to these representations?

Wilde - the story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realization of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with his obsessive love for Lord Alfred Douglas. The concept of fatherhood makes it harder to be accepted to be a gay as there are many responsibilities along with it.  

Philadelphia - Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination. It's very rare that lawyer's come out as homosexual due to their superior position and important job role.

The Wedding Banquet -  The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet.

The Kids Are Alright - Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a married lesbian couple living in the Los Angeles area. Nic is an obstetrician, and Jules is a housewife who is starting up a landscape design business. Each has given birth to a child using the same sperm donor.

Pride 2014 - Realizing that they share common foes in Margaret Thatcher, the police and the conservative press, London-based gays and lesbians lend their support to striking coal miners in 1984 Wales.

Weekly Homework

Uninstalling Facebook app saves up to 15% of iPhone battery life

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/08/uninstalling-facebook-app-saves-iphone-battery-life

• Facebook is one of the most downloaded apps on iOS and but it has long been cited as a cause of fast-draining iPhone batteries
• last year it was accused of using background tricks to stay active even when it wasn't being used. 
• Facebook admitted bugs existed, and fixed them, but questions of the app’s impact on battery life remained.
• Similar concerns about Facebook’s Android app led to the discovery that deleting the app saves up to 20% of a phone’s battery

 Newsnight gets a repeat as BBC news channel cuts breaking stories

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/04/newsnight-gets-a-repeat-as-bbc-news-channel-cuts-breaking-stories

• BBC2’s current affairs show will air again at 11.15pm to woo younger audiences to news channel, which also gets a new local news programme
• The BBC’s 24-hour news channel is to introduce a nightly replay of Newsnightand launch a new local news programme in a revamp that will mean less breaking news.
• From the end of February, Newsnight, BBC2’s current affairs programme which airs at 10.30pm, will be broadcast again on the news channel at 11.15pm with a focus on boosting viewing among a younger audience. 
• “We will work closely with Newsnight to promote this showing including teasing that night’s programme highlights in the news channel’s 11pm headlines, and promoting the slot to younger viewers via social media,” said Sam Taylor, the head of the BBC News Channel in an email to staff. “The Newsnight playout … means we should be able to dedicate more effort to the earlier part of the evening.”
• Newsnight will run in a slot that currently features breaking news, with The Papers being moved to 00.30.
• The channel is also dropping an hour of breaking news between 7pm and 8pm, replacing it with an as yet unnamed programme which will “showcase the best of the BBC’s reporting from the UK’s nations and regions”.

Collective Identitiy

Collective identity: blog task

Read the Media Magazine article on collective identity: Self-image and the Media (MM41 - page 6). Our Media Magazine archive is here.

Complete the following tasks on your blog:

1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'
Who are you section - we're all constructing an image to communicate our identity.  There is a difference between the person we think we are, the person we want to be and the person we want to be seen to be.

I think, therefore I am - we present ourselves based on social constructs, constructed outside of our selves; class, religion, gender and the predetermined roles

The rise of the individual - idea that beneath the surface there was an ‘essential self’ – the core of who you actually are.

Branding and lifestyle - Branding is the association of a ‘personality’ with a product. Advertisers sell the personality rather than the product, so that people will choose products that match their own self image.

2) List five brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.
Apple - own multiple apple products, always using my phone constantly

Twitter - active user, use Twitter to check up on news, especially to do with hip-hop culture

Mac - enjoy using make-up products from there, use those products often daily

Instagram - post up pictures daily

Adidas - own loads of clothing from there and use their bags for sports wear

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

This notion of self-image being defined by brands and products, rather than by authentic human experience, I agree with this statement especially considering the fact that society has constructed this factor the idea that designer brands represents who you are. 

4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more. 

Baudrillard theory of ‘media saturation’ results in high cultural value being placed on external factors such as physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits such as intelligence or compassion

5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?
Social media is there to give the reflection which the user wants to construct out to others. Some people are cautious as to what they portray because of the critical response they might get from family/friends. Personally, pictures on social media is 90% media saturated, which promotes how the user wants to promote physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits. Self-image is communicated through the technical and artistic decisions made.

6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?

Data Mining - allows corporations to create products designed to meet the needs we reveal in our personal information and ultimately we end up selling our selves. This is an invasion of privacy as corporations have our personal details, also when signing up to social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the license agreement 99% of the time is never read by users, ultimately everyone is signing up to social media sites to sell away their private details. Although, sometimes it's useful to see products based on your social media privacy but that's very rare. 

Feminism

Beyonce-Why don't you love me?

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

In this music video Beyonce takes on traditional domestic roles - such as cooking and cleaning which could be viewed as socially constructed roles in society. It could be seen as a "performance" as it could be viewed that Beyonce is performing these roles in a provocative fashion in order to please men and uplift that meaning of the song which questions why her partner doesn't love her for the good things she can do because in reality it could be interpreted that her partner could be with her because she looks pretty and disregards her other talents.  

2) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women?

McRobbie would view Beyonce as empowering as the concept of the music video is of Beyonce doing domestic roles. Even though she takes on domestic roles the video ultimately emphasises how that is automatically expected for a woman to do. Beyonce is seen as empowering as she's raising he ultimate question "why don't you love me" and is seen as speaking out for women who aren't loved for who they really are but their physical looks. 

3) What are your OWN views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey)?

In my opinion, I believe Beyonce created this music video in order to mock thestereotypical view of what women are seen to be in society. Beyonce does both: empowering and reinforcing the male gaze. She empowers women by showing that she is an independent woman, who is just completely about performing domestic roles - this is particularly through the choice of costume - wearing excessive makeup, dresses and high heels. Furthermore, the fact she's smoking and drinking in the video shows the freedom women have to do what would be viewed asmasculine roles. However, the fact Beyonce has her cleavage on show throughout could be used to entice men and is the main foundation for the 'male gaze' as she is providing visual pleasure by exposing her body.

Identities: Feminism and new/digital media

Key notes

Waves of feminism
First wave: early 20th century, suffragette movement (right to vote).
Second wave: 1960s – 1990s, reproductive rights (pill), abortion, equal pay.
Third wave: 1990s – present, empowerment, reclaiming of femininity (high heels, sexuality etc. See Angela McRobbie's work on women's magazines).
Fourth wave? 2010 – ongoing, use of new technology and digital media (e.g. Twitter) for activism.

Fourth wave?
Many commentators argue that the internet itself has enabled a shift from ‘third-wave’ to ‘fourth-wave’ feminism. What is certain is that the internet has created a ‘call-out’ culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be ‘called out’ and challenged. 





http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/07/female-journalists-women-trolled-feminism-sexism_n_5946346.html

1) Summarise this example for the rest of the class in one paragraph
The story here is that three women who were all journalists received the exact same message on Twitter threatening that there is a bomb that will explode outside of their house. It highlights that women with opinions are targeted more with death threats and are in more danger.

2) What was the initial incident or situation that sparked this example?
A Twitter post threatening that a bomb will blow up outside three journalists house at 10:47.

3) In your opinion, is this an example of a valid campaign or something of a witchhunt against people who are not doing any serious harm?
In my opinion this is an example of a valid campaign as women in positions of power that have made a career and are able to give their opinion are being threatened for this. There is no valid reason to do this and needs to be addressed. Although the threats turned out to be fake they could have just as easily been real and shows that something has to be done to prevent this.

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too

1) Summarise this example for the rest of the class in one paragraph
The example is about Emma Watson's speech to the UN for gender equality not only for women but also men as well. The speech was given using examples from her own life explaining how she was lucky and didn't have any inequality growing up.

2) What was the initial incident or situation that sparked this example?
The initial incident was the constant fight for equal rights for women

3) In your opinion, is this an example of a valid campaign or something of a witchhunt against people who are not doing any serious harm?
In my opinion this is an example of a valid argument to gain equal rights for men and women and will have a much bigger impact coming from a well known celebrity who is known for her leading role in a massive movie. This shows viewers that even a female with an established career still wants to fight equal rights for female.

1) Summarise this example for the rest of the class in one paragraph
The article is about a footballer accused of rape and a petition to stop him from returning to his former club gaining 160,000 signatures preventing this from happening. It caused huge uproar and ruining his career which many believe is not enough.

2) What was the initial incident or situation that sparked this example?
The initial incident that sparked this was the alleged rape of a woman by a footballer.

3) In your opinion, is this an example of a valid campaign or something of a witchhunt against people who are not doing any serious harm?
In my opinion this is definitely an example of a valid campaign and the fact that it is a famous person accused of the dreadful act just raises the stakes in how carefully it has to be dealt with as it cannot be seen that because he is famous he cannot get away with it.

Weekly Homework

Winning MIT design for Hyperloop passenger pod revealed by Elon Musk

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/hyperloop-elon-musk-passenger-pod-design-student-competition-mit-winning-a6852751.html

The article is about a new mode of public transport called the hyper loop that can travel at speeds of 600mph. The new transport is being tested in California on a mile test track currently being built by SpaceX. However a problem is getting the pod to stop again.

• Hyperloop will begin testing in 2016
• Elon Musk to build the test track 
• The hyperloop between LA and San Francisco 

In my opinion this will be a good mode of transport so long as all the problems are sorted out and it is 100% safe for the public to use. It however shows the advancements in technology are rapid.

Police data could label 'suspects' for crimes they have not committed

The article is about how new technology available to police allows them to scan a persons identity and look into there records including internet searches and social media posts to determine a threat level allowing them to put them on a list labelling them as a potential threat to society.

•  Real Time Crime Center
• processing “billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep web searches and the [person’s] social media postings”
• officers can know at a glance what level the threat is: green, yellow or red.

In my opinion this is a invasion of privacy and is not fair to label people for crimes they have not committed and may never even commit by just looking at their internet searches. It is an example of how technology is being used more and more to invade peoples privacy.