Week 10: 1) Do you agree that you are cyborgian in nature?

 A cyborg is a cybernetic organism a hybrid combination of organism and machine; it is a creature of social reality and a creature of fiction (Harraway, 1985). We are considered as cyborgs in nature because we are a hybrid which is made of the combination of machines and also machine. Therefore, I agree that I am partly cyborgian and partly human, the reason for this is because I am heavily dependent upon technologies such as mobile phones I could not go anywhere without my mobile phone as a mean of communication other than that, I am also dependent upon my laptop to do the assignments and reliant upon the internet or wifi. If it is not available and the service of the internet connection is very slow at some point I feel that could not do the assignments so I would search for places where there is internet which is readily available.

According to Lupton and Noble in 1997 “Many people using computers using computers on an everyday basis is reluctant to embrace the idea of “post-human body” to prefer drawing rigid distinctions between humans and also technological artifact. Most denied to humanize personal computers however, most stated that their computers have human qualities such as agency, moods and also emotional reactions especially at times when the computer does not work” (Bell and Kennedy, 2002).

 “If all media is extensions of human functions then we all have always been cyborgs. The only new aspect of cyborgs is the information society that human beings have become aware of their cyborgian nature” (Loon, 2008). As an example, the society and myself is heavily reliant upon the mobile phones, the computers all ranges and types of media (the extensions of human functions). The only new aspects is that we as the information society whereby almost all information is readily available from websites maninly google, bing and all sorts within few seconds we are now aware that we are cyborgian in nature.

According to William Gibson a cyberspace is a “consensual hallucination”. According to Barrie Sherman and Phil Judkins“truly the technology of dreams” this is because in reality a person cannot make it and control things as they want it to be but in the virtual world a person is able to manipulate it as they want and wish it would be therefore it is a technology of dreams (Robins, 2000). A person can even choose to their appearance, their profession and more.

References:

Hunsinger, Jeremy and Krotoski, Aleks (2012): Learning and Research in Virtual Worlds. USA and Canada: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Harraway, Donna (1991) : A Manifesto for cyborgs science, technology, and socialist feminism in the late 20^th century, In Semians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reintervention of Nature Socialist review. New York: Routledge.

Kennedy , Barbara M. and Bell, David (2002) : The cyber cultures reader. USA and Canada: Routledge,

Loon, Jost (2008) : Media Technology: Critical Perspectives. England: Oxford University Press. Mc Graw Hill House.

Lister, M. et al (2003) : New Media: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge.

Robins, K. (2000): Cyberspace and the world we live in. London: Routledge.

Week 9: Cinema & Television: 1) Name your favourite television show and film. Explain how the film or television show could shape a person’s identity.

Both film and television shows are powerful mediums that have become and grown excessively familiar to the audience particularly. The influential impact they have to the audience may either give positive or negative impact, and it all significantly relies on the subject and setting being presented and shown, thus directly or indirectly shaping an individual’s identity. A person’s identity is mainly formed by the people and institutions in one’s point of life, such as family, friends, educational institutions and workplace. These relationships exist to assist and control an individual interests and repulsions. However, one of the most dominant factors that can shape one’s identity today is media, television show and film in particular. Currie (1997) suggests, “By imagining ourselves in the situation of a character with destructive, immoral desires, and thereby coming to have, in imagination, the desires of the character…”. Its impact surely shapes a person’s idea of who he/she is, what is important, and how to live his/her life.

Figure 1

“How I Me Your Mother” (Figure 1) is undoubtedly my favourite television show of all time. It is a comedy series consists of six young people namely Ted Mosby, Barney Stinson, Robin Scherbatsky, Marshal Erikssen and his wife Lily Aldrine.  The setting of the comedy series is in New York. Although its genre fundamentally focuses on comedy, this series can also be categorised under romance. Their genuine comical aspect and casting are remarkably brilliant, where despite the obvious distinctions or differences among each character; they are able to perfectly blend in together. The series has indisputably made a substantial cultural impact, which still remains until today.

The likelihood of a person’s identity is formed and shaped can be associated with media in general. According to Foucault (1981), “In every society, the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organized, and redistributed by a certain number of procedures whose role is to ward off its powers and dangers, to gain mastery over its chance events, to evade its ponderous, formidable materiality”. This reflects the concept of how a film or television show can shape an individual’s identity with or without one’s knowledge. How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) could undeniably shape a person’s identity in so many aspects.

The roles played by actors will have a vital aspect in convincing and persuading the audience’s view or perception. For example, Neil Patrick Harris role as Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, after admitting that he was gay in 2006, there was hardly any lasting shock, scorn, or embarrassment of any kind. This despite the fact that for a couple years prior to coming out, he had already been in the process of reviving his career by playing a straighter-than-straight cooz hound by the name of Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother.

Rather than being discredited, Neil Patrick Harris has grown vigorously since coming out of the closet. His Barney Stinson character is so popular that people have no problem forgetting he’s gay, and have sort of combined the character and the actual man into pop culture’s most benign and beloved fake ladies man. In the series, if you’re a straight guy and watch HIMYM, there’s about a 90% chance Barney Stinson (and by extension, Neil Patrick Harris) has become your personal hero by now. Barney’s a serial womanizer who prefers to prey on women with transparent self-esteem issues is now the new hero.

According to Jensen Brauhn “ A good film is not an advertisement for the newest fashion” (Jensen, 2012).One of my favourite is “Saving Private Ryan”, starring Tom Hanks. It is a war film whicha group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

It is one the films heartfelt films and is deeply moving. This film is able to shape a person’s identity especially soldiers and as well as individuals  It depicts how an individual can be a great leader in war.

Reference:

Currie, G. (1997). Image and Mind: Film, Philosophy and Cognitive Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jensen, Brahn Klaus (2012): A Handbook of Media and Communication Research, Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies (2^nd. Ed). London and New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Foucault, M. (1981). The Order of Discourse. In R. Young (Ed) (1981), Untying the text: a post-structural anthology (pp. 48-78). Boston: Routledge.

Smith, M. (1995). Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion, and the Cinema. Clarendon: Oxford University Press.

Week 8: Photography: 3) How do captions and cutlines reframe the meaning of an image?

It is suggested that typography determines every aspect of the way printed words are presented. It is significant to have the ability to make decisions about “various sizes for headlines, subheads, captions, cutlines, and the body of the text” (Lester, 1995). According to Prosser (1998), captions are used to set the photographs in their appropriate and conventional context. In other words, captions and cutlines are very often attached to provide and generate a slight knowledge but still offers understanding to viewers.

For instance, if the caption were not displayed, the possibility to this picture would make Lionel Messi a convict, with gun pointing on his face, threatened and intimidated by the policemen. However, the narrative stimulates the visual image by providing an actual story to the audience, where Lionel Messi is being escorted through a Saudi Arabian airport when one of the guns belonging to a soldier protecting him ended up near Messi’s face and for a split second the footballing maestro appeared to be stunned by the commotion.

Robert Heincken and Barbara Kruger combine images with text to make critical comments about popular culture. However, Lacey (1998) suggests that an image’s meaning can often be ambiguous. There is a proverb that goes “A picture is worth a thousand words” may be precisely accurate, but what happens when meanings of images are manipulated by changing the captions and cutlines?

In conclusion, in most circumstances, the objective of captions and cutlines is to help and assist aviewer to further understand the meaning of specified images. Although we have the ability to naturally interpret images, it is unbelievable unusual to catch or encounter any visual images without the support of captions and cutlines. However, the meaning of an image can also be vague and imprecise due to some changes in captions and cutlines.

Reference:

Barthes, R. (1977). Image-Music-Text. Glasgow: Fontana

Lacey, N. (1998). Image and Representation: Key Concepts in Media Studies. New York: St. Martin’s Press

Lester, P.M. (1995). Visual Communication: Images with Messages. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company

Prosser, J. (1998). Image-based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers.London: Routledge

Week 7: Narratives: 1) Why is narrative important when shaping a visual image to the audience?

Week 7: Narratives: 1) Why is narrative important when shaping a visual image to the audience?

Narrative as defined is a form of storytelling whereas it will consist of a series of events which will develop parallel to the story in which that actors exist to develop the stories in accordance to the time and location or in other words a proper setting has been made up by the story maker in order for the viewer to fathom with the story and so that they can share the same idea or knowledge of what is being presented by the narrator.

Narrative is important and can be considered as crucial in shaping the visual image of the audience whereas it is to point what is being told and how it is being told, so that the audience can get the picture of the story and they can understand the content that is being presented.

If the image was presented without a narrative, it would minimise the audience’s understanding, and assumptions to the story may be made and altered. For instance, the picture above would be interpreted as two people of different races hugging each other or is it anti racism advertisment? The real story can only be known when there is a narrative, the white guy in the picture is hugging Takunda Mavima who just killed his son, Mavima who back then was 18 had just finished high school and was driving home from a graduation party when he crashed into another car full of his classmates at Wyoming Park High School. Tim See, 17, and Krysta Howell, 15, died in the crash and now Mavima, who was also 17 at the time of the crash, will spend the next two-and-a-half to fifteen years in jail as a result.

However, it must be taken in that not every visual image or story includes a narrative. It relies on the objective, motive and intended piece of information or message one desires to construct. Visual images very often require narratives to influence the audience; consequently they are able to grasp the meaning and purpose, as well as to visually regard and clarify the image of the story.

Chatman (2004) states that narrative also consists of a structure of semiotic, in other words, it is necessary to interpret a story when an audience encounters a narrative by making assumptions and premises. This is vital in creating a narrative for a visual image particularly, because it provides a possibility to the audience to add their own understanding and insight, as well as to provide additional features and imagery to what is seen or viewed.

According to Brooks & Warren (1979), the importance and objective of narrative in forming a visual image is to provide instant involvements, a recognition of the occurrence before it is seen, involving the appeal, interest and conceivably compassion or empathy of the audience. This explains that the narrative has a purpose and goal to achieve in drawing the audience’s attention to the image and story as a whole. This also concerns about the style and procedure in which an audience can follow and appreciate the beginning and ending of the story, equipped with pertinent elements, such as who, what, why, when, where, how and why.

It is safe to conclude that narrative is truly vital as it enables the audience to view and understand the manner in which a story is created and composed in a visual image, provided with a text that is placed accordingly. Therefore, it is the understanding of the audience that is the chief element in adding a narrative to a visual image.

Reference:

Brooks, C., & Warren, R.P. (1979). Modern Rhetoric Fourth Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Chatman, S. (2004). Story and Discourse. Retrieved October 29, 2010, from http://www.icosilune.com/2009/01/seymour-chatman-story-and-discourse/

Whitaker, W.R., Ramsey, J.E., & Smith, R.D. (2012). Media Writing: Print, Broadcast, and Public Relations. New York & London: Routledge.

Week 6: The ancient art of rhetoric and persuasion Before coming to class, bring a print advertisement that you believe persuades the reader rhetorically. Explain your case using the concepts learnt this week.

Rhetoric refers as form of persuasion.  Advertising meanwhile, has been comprehensively commended and censured (Perloff, 2010). With the existence of many forms of advertising, numerous companies have well utilised its use and objective to reach as well as to persuade the audience. Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.” This further illustrates the importance of advertisement to not only be remarkably persuasive, but it must also have an argument followed, thus defining and completing the concept of rhetoric in advertising.

The purpose of the advertisement is to encourage people to buy the Nike product. The audience in this context is meant for athletes and Nike Consumer. Nike has customers of all ages and gender. The audience can be high school student in a football team, young woman who loves to run, an old man who enjoy golf and others.

According to McQuarrie & Philips (2008), rhetoric in advertising is more concerned with style than content. Figure 1 proves this statement that the print advertisement has its focus on style more than content. For instance, the advertisement uses balance by choosing picture with an empty space. The boy peeing on the wall and his dog occupy the left side of the page. This gives the designer the opportunity to insert their own text on the right side. This balances the overall structure of the design and conveys the message to the viewer. The message the designer has is plain and simple, “just do it” means just do it and get it or buy it. The advertisement use asymmetrical balance. It counterbalance with contrast by placing the logo in black bold letters with the red check mark on an off white wall, in order to catch the viewer’s eye.

Whalen (1996) states that the study and practice of persuasion is not new. It must be noted that print advertisement is not something that has been recently developed. In fact, any advertising concept or style has existed since the distant past with different rhetorical styles, such as rhymes, repetition of a phrase, antithesis or synthesis

As it is essential to be persuasive in advertising, it is also vital to have an argument to finalize rhetoric in advertising. Advertising style consists of the medium, genre, strategies of production and creative imageries to show an argument.

Reference:

McQuarrie, E.F., & Phillips. (2008). Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric.

Perloff, R.M. (2010). The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21^stCentury. New York: Routledge

Whalen, D.J. (1996). I See What You Mean: Persuasive Business Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Week5 Gestalt Effects and Schema Theories Tutorial question: Name three laws of Gestalt Theory and provide examples to illustrate your point. Gestalt Theory have five laws: Proximity, Similarity, Common Fate, Pregnantz and Closure. I will choose three of them for explanation here.

First of all, the Pregnantz, it means using different forms or arrangement to convey same information. For example let's take a series of advertisement from Absolut Vodka as shown below.

This advertising campaigns, which using various kinds of ads to reach a particular audience. Absolut Vodka is a famous brand of alcoholic drinks. It's pure, simple and perfect are the core value of the brand. They do their marketing management and advertising around the core. Just like these ads, they combined the shape of the bottle and the unique feature of different cities to show the core of the brand to audiences. 

These series of ads also have good achievements. This is a good example by using Pregnantz. Different images, different combination, but the same idea can send out the same information. Because it shows us that even diversity can also provide us the same information. 

The second one I want to explain is Closure. This here means we see objects as a whole. Even though it's just a part of the whole, or there are something wrong in what we look at but we still can understand, and unconsciously to manipulate them to a right track. Look at the following example:

Week 4: visual syntax semantics and pragmatics

If all interpretation of visual communication is subjective, then what is the point of studying visual communication? In my opinion, the point of learning visual communication is to give us a direction of  visual design.

People have some feelings in common. For example, when people listen the Beethoven's Ode to Joy, they will feel energetic and joyous, which is like an inborn ability. This is the same like the visual communication. We can't know everyone's idea but we can study the common sense of people. From there we can conclude the useful principles of design, including colors, compositions and lines. This is one of the reason we study visual communication.

Hume said: 'when the mind, therefore, passes from the idea or impression of one object to the idea or belief of another, it is not determined by reason, but by certain principles, which associate together the ideas of there objects, and unite them in the imagination.' So the people who study visual communication should learn to combine various factors, and most importantly our visual communication should be based on reasonable imagination, which is the people's common imagination and feelings. Then the creativity of visual communication designs can play their roles, and the communication can achieve the desired effect.

Tutorial question:Look at the image of Adam Lambert. Explore the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of the fashion shoot:

Syntax and Semantics:

Jacket,skinny pants,bracelet boots:rock style,fashion,appealing to younger generation;

Eye shadow:Sexy,beautiful,attractive

Black background,flash brighten up people:make him stand out

Dark color:mysterious,special

Pragmatics:

Whole style of dress is like a rock singer

His manners fix the impression he give audience,sexy and attractive.

Body language and eye expression are tempting,beautiful but man.

Reference:

David Hume,A treatise of human nature.Penguin classics,1985-10-31

Gillian Rose.SAGE publications,Visual methodologies.2006

Wendell C.Crow,Communication Graphics,Prentice-Hall,Englewood Cliffs,New Jersey 07632

Week3 semiotics revisited Tutorial Questions: Provide examples of signifiers, signifieds, and connotations.

The term semiotic is the study of signs in part of everyday life. Semiotics tells based on how things are known in language which taken for granted by society.  The study of signs will assists us to analyse how visual images are culturally constructed. The basic forms to analyse a text is from the sign itself where a sign is a combination of signifier and signified which was introduced by a Swiss linguist Ferdinand De Saussure.

Sign can be divided into three different sign in terms of symbolic, indexical and iconic. In semiotic sense, sign take the form of words, images, sounds, gesture and objects. Signifier, on the other hand, takes the form of five senses sight, smell, touch, taste and sound. Signified is the mental concept generated from the signifier.

Other basic elements of textual analysis of semiotics are denotation and connotations. The term denotation is the literal description and meaning of a signifier or sign. Both denotation and connotation are used to observe the relationship between systems. Denotation and connotation are not separated from a sign they are the elements of sign.

The image above will demonstrate how semiotics is analysed through a DVD cover. A sign can be seen through the rock sign from the man and the tongues come out from Gene Simmons family including his dog are also representing a sign. The signifiers are a man and his family also the words gene Simmons family jewels in the DVD cover signifier they are rich family this is because the colour of their clothes is a black dress which signifiers as powerful. A denotation can be examine in more detail about the image above for example, Gene Simmons, a millionaire is seated cross legged on a gold chair while his right hand showing a hand rock sign and wearing black glasses. His wife and a dog are standing on the right side also his daughter and his son is standing on the left side. The tongues of Gene Simmons family suggest the meaning of a connotation where the tongue decodes Gene Simmons identity.  The image below shows the tongue of Gene Simmons is a connotation of an iconic signs of the image above. The connotative meaning of Gene Simmons tongue is his identity as a lead singer from a band known as Kisss. Kiss your expectation goodbye in the DVD cover also represent the connotation. Moreover, the word kiss is an anchorage which is widely known by society around the global. Also the word DVD is also an anchorage which is has been perceived.

Eco.Umberto.A Theory of Semiotics.Bloomington:Indiana University Press,Midland Book Edition.1979

Chandler, D. (2005). Introduction. Semiotics for beginners. Retrieved June 19, 2010

Week 2: 1) Seeing and Perception

1)      Perception are the foundation for our understanding of the world. Humans tend to form whole perceptions from partial images. This is part of the human's natural ability to quickly interpret limited information.

Perception is an active mental restoration of the real world that surrounds us. As a result, our brain take to pieces what appears in our eyes into some kind of information that match up in the final analysis to a sort of emblematic representation of the outside world.

What we perceive really depends our cognitive decisions and conclusions. The brain usually makes these on its own without us having to bother. In doing so, it uses previously collected knowledge, experience, expectations, and prejudices.  Once the brain has learned something, it is often no longer especially bothered about the actual realities.

  Perception is the interpretation, the meaning you give to what you see, what you hear and others. It is one’s personal experience of the world and therefore grew accustomed to it. 

 Due to this personal experience, individual react to new events with reference to ‘their world’ and they filter all new experiences through it. Put another way, a man project ‘his world’ onto new events to make sense of them. If something does not fit ‘his world’, he often simply discards it.