The Networked Media course has allowed me the chance to further my knowledge of how to write content online and how to distribute it and communicate in ways my audiences can relate and access. As a musician, an online profile is extremely important. As mentioned, blogging should be ‘loquacious and occasionally garrulous’ (Miles, Adrian, 2006). These words at first created confusion, leading to a realisation that my personal knowledge of the online community was fairly barren, leading to more interest in the course and what it entailed. Research lead to loquacious meaning talkative and garrulous meaning excessive talk on trivial matters. Adrian Miles continues by discussing how blogging leads to ‘multiliteracies’ and how bloggers are ‘creators’ not ‘passive consumers’ (Miles, Adrian, 2006). For most of my online history, being a passive audience was easy, but venturing into being a creator of the content was a big step. Blogging has made me more proactive as a writer. I’m predominately a writer of music, a skill I have worked on for years. However, marketing myself and talking to my audience by the means of an online profile was a new skill to be learnt. Thus far, this course has broadened my horizons and opened a new world of creating my business. As Blogs are ‘heuristic’ (Miles, Adrian, 2007), I had to assess what I wanted to achieve with my writing. However, after heavy research into blogs and reading of Mile’s texts, my idea of blogging changed. Miles asserts that blogs are useful for ‘encouraging and supporting reflective and process-based learning, nurturing peer support and collaboration, providing a record of achievement and assisting in idea creation’ (Miles, Adrian, 2007). It was this information that cleared my idea of what blogging is. Originally prior to conducting this course, blogging to me was posting news of one’s life. However, it is after such readings that I understand that it opens up networks with other people online on a much deeper level. In week two of the course, a Creative Commons Licence was created. Once again prior to this course, I believed blogs were just one’s thoughts online. However, using a Creative Commons Licence acted as a copyright. This lead to the realisation that blogs were in essence, like books.
At the start of this course I was under the assumption that I’d be unable to produce content due to my lack of computer based skills. However, as said by Miles, ‘network literacy is being able to participate as a peer within the emerging knowledge networks that are now the product of the internet, and to have as ‘deep’ an understanding of the logics or protocols of these networks as we do of print’ (Miles, Adrian, 2007). This lead to a confidence boost to do my very best to be a successful blogger. However, week three readings further brought my attention to how serious blogging is in terms of online rules. The use of others media without permission has serious effects on the one who takes the content. However, as stated, ‘internet services and their content now chat among themselves’ (Miles, Adrian). The idea of a ‘networked media’, between different content providers or ‘creators’, is extremely inviting for someone like myself who wishes to use the internet to communicate my musical endeavours and my hopefully profitable business. This drive keeps the notion of blogging interesting and creatively satisfying, something originally I was sceptical about, due to lack of knowledge. The new knowledge from the readings and conducting the blog has opened new possibilities for clearer communication with my audiences.
However, week four’s readings of the meaning behind ‘hypertext’ once again opened up a new challenge. Confusion of the notion of technical, cultural and practical elements to hypertext has once again distanced myself from the idea of blogging. However, more research into such information will likely clear up any confusion. But it is important to note that such information is a set back into fully enjoying the concept of blogging. The quote ‘Hypertext thereby blurs the distinction between what is inside and what is outside of a text’ (2006:117-118) perfectly details my personal understanding of online media and how it is different to just writing. Writing text without the knowledge of a networked media is personally easier. However, that curiosity keeps the interest continuing into each workshop.
In my own blog posts, I have personally drawn out these feeling towards online media and foreign all concepts are. My first post clearly stated how the internet wasn’t something I knew much about, and how foreign such deep understandings were. However, as time progressed, I posted about my understanding of important blog information, online services and then personal accounts of my music career. These posts detail what is meant by being ‘creators’ and not ‘passive audiences’. I was now detailing important aspects of who I am and what my business is. In conclusion, blogging, a term foreign to me before starting University, has now become an active part of learning and broadening my online profile. While some aspects have been challenging, I am slowly getting a good grasp of what is means to be a part of a ‘Networked Media’.
Miles, Adrian. Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning [online]. Screen Education, No. 43, 2006: 66-69.
Miles, Adrian. Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge [online]. Screen Education, No. 45, 2007: 24-30.
http://www.artslaw.com.au/info-sheets/info-sheet/legal-issues-for-bloggers/
Landow, George P. Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006. Print. 69-71, 77-85, 107-124
Declan Zane 