Fanfiction

Fanfictions are fictions written or by fans taken from the original work. These fanfictions are never really published or recognised as they are not authorised to be published. These reproduced fictions are commonly made within a certain group of people, that is, a fannish community and have the right to be shared online in the form of archives or in print. It an area only for fans. Their fictions are read only by other fans. It is said to be a widespread activity where stories are written daily. Fancfictions take a lot of forms and does a lot of different things.

What is Vidding?

For some people it is love, for some it is connections while for others it is life. But Some may even find vidding a stupid hobby. What is actually that thing called "Vidding"? To my understanding, it is somewhere we can create music videos or more visual media sources. We can take our favourite TV show and our favourite music and merge them together. It can act like a mashup in  a way as it is combining things together to produce something else. Vidding started in 1975 using many technologies. It comprises of slide projectors, VCRs, and computers. When home video-cassettes recorders became available in the mid-1970s, vidders began to produce live-action vids that were recorded onto media that could be shown at fan conventions and further distributions to fans. We should be able to differentiate good vids and bad vids. Bad vids are vids which have no sense. It is like they want to make something but could not really figure out what they want to do. Bad vids suffer from bad planning. The most important component of a good video is good choice of music or song; a song that mean something and also that is easy to understand the lyrics too. The song has to be related to the source material. A good vid should have a strong story to tell. It should also contain movement and good beats. Moreover. it should contain a message and it has to have something to say.

Marco Cucco's "The Promise Is Great"

After reading this article, I came to know that "The Promise Is Great" is Hollywood's blockbuster. Entertainment is a cut throat business that is out to make the maximum amount of money from the masses.  After the 1950's blockbusters, it was the "Jaws" which took a big bite at the process of marketing such big films and influence the way they are released today. The use of TV, home video, broadcasting as secondary markets afforded film companies more expensive projects. Blockbusters are usually said to be expensive to make. The two biggest reasons are the special effects used and the fact that there are highly actors and directors. Special effects are meant to be experienced in cinemas to ensure the longevity of the film. We can say that blockbusters today, have a bad reputation for not being particularly creative. they tend to remake a lot of sequences and concepts. Cucco explains that blockbusters are internationally commercial products used to cover other studio films that do not do well. So having blockbusters as base, they support an entire studio. With regards to Jenkin's theory of loyals, it makes sense that a fan will go see the movie and buy the merchandise despite the reviews. I also noted that according to Cucco, for a film to be a blockbuster, there are different aspects to take into consideration. It has to be simple, easy and immediate. A blockbuster film will be heavily advertised on TV and on the net and then released worldwide just to get the maximun audiences and next to no competition. They should also see to it which audience is being targeted and wheher they are willing to spend their money and time for it and if they are loyal to the concept. With such wealth of evidence to support that blockbusters are made to take money even if they are all special effects and no substance.

Entertainment

Entertainment is an action, event or activity that aims to entertain, amuse and interest the public. This audience can have a passive role as in the case of a play, tv show or movie.The entertainment can attract the audience and make them think. It influences their actions and thoughts. When we talk of entertainment, fun, enjoyment and laughter come to our mind.Entertainment  is seen as the second best to news and current affairs in media sociology. Media consumption is about a correspondence between textual meaning and cognitive understanding. Media audiences are consumers; people who buy and use information and entertainment. Media institutions are established, often-profit organisations that deal in the creation and distribution of advertising, entertainment and information services.Remediation is a refashioning process. It is taking a form of media and reproducing it in another form of media, for example, an article to a video.

The Medium is the Message

This is a phrase by Marshall McLuhan which means that he form of medium embeds itself in the message. The media mostly used ascribes particular modes of understanding to the culture in which it operates. Each medium has the power to reveal communicate and instill important aspects of reality and truth. The medium has become like a railway.

Participatory Culture

The term participatory culture is applied to the production or creation of some type of published media. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Our public policy is getting anxious about cultural change. It is the gender dimension which contributes to the politics of fear. Nowadays, we fear about everything; media effects on people and our children. They are exposed to various forms of media. They have access to social networking sites where they are at risk to sexual molestation or sexual exposure through content sharing. These fears arose because of recent  efforts by the Internet Safety Technical Taskforce to shift terms of debate about youth's digital access. Before taking any steps on most policy issues, we need to develop strategies for decreasing the role of ignorance and fears in public debates about new media. For the past decades, it has been insured that every American child has access to networked computers. the struggle of technological access has brought some real changes. The participation gap refers to other social. cultural and educational concerns which block full participation. not having enough free time outside school or workplace make it harder  for some to contribute content or participate in online communication then others. The MacArthur foundation's Digital Media and Learning Initiative has brought together hundreds of researchers around the country who are seeking to reinvent public institutions to reflect this alternative understanding of participatory culture. They have taken the initiative to provide a large scale of ethnographic of many different sites through which young people connect to the world. Social networks which involve young people are blocked by federal and local educational policies. Wikipedia or Alternative Reality Games offer real examples of the ways that social networks may pool their resources and solve many problems that we cannot imagine. We should encourage alternative platforms and practices to explore the potential of collective intelligence to get a better understanding of ethical, pedagogical and political principles which must be in place before any new forms of citizenly engagement. Through expansion, it is known who has access to the means of cultural production and distribution and who has the power to widen the range of stories and ideas in circulation. Most of the model for user-moderation of content stars=t from the majority principles with no commitment to diversity. The struggle of the intellectual property can be the most important on the battleground to get the future of participatory culture. American newspapers are becoming extinct and news media are tightening their budgets and recovering  their coverge and journalists turning jobless because of economic crisis. Journalists are being replaced by a volunteer army of  "citizen journalists."

Did you know 4.0?

This video is about the the evolution of media. It compares and contrasts the old media and the new media. It also mentions futuristic technologies. A surge of new technologies and social media innovations is altering the media landscape. Convergence is everywhere. It has been made easier to reach a large audience but harder to really connect with it. These changes are having an impact on people's behaviour. We see lots of changes. Every one do almost everything online. Surveys were undertaken to know the percentage change which occured. The computer on our cell phone is a million times cheaper and a million times more powerful. Ray Kurzweil suggested that "what used to fit a building now fits in your pocket and what fits in your pocket now will fit inside a  blood cell in 25 years."

What is Media?

"Media" refers to various means of communication. For example, television, radio and newspapers are different types of media. the term media can also be used as a noun for press or news reporting agencies. Media is communication channels, through which news, entertainment and education are disseminated. We can draw the line between old media and new media. Old media is traditional print, that is, newspapers and new media is web-based and very interactive. Media convergence mean merging the mass communication outlets.It also has an impact on the way people consume media. Where media convergence is concerned, it makes us think about how it affects the mass.There is also convergence culture which is the collision of old media and new media. This is where it all started. It can also be defined it is where the power of media producer and the power of media consumer interact in several ways. In participatory culture, both producers and consumers off media are participants. Collective intelligence is when people talk about media they consume. This later turn to collective intelligence.

Engaging with media

New media is a two way process. We do not only consume media but also produce media. It is interactive; everyone can have their opinions and thoughts. They can also share different views and in my opinion this is how we engage with media.