My trip to Japan!

During the third school term at ASMS I went on a student exchange to Kyoto, Japan

When I got there it was still the Ritsumeikan student's summer break. So I got a chance to go shopping; my host mother Kyoko took me to Animate an anime specialist store.

When school started again many of the students were very tired and slept during classes.

Soon after school started I decided to join the art club, art club was my favorite thing in Japan and I miss my friends so much.

During the school festival, art club put on an oil painting exhibition, I finished my painting just in time to have it put on display.

put your face on -Emma Hobbs

My homeroom went out for tea after school festival

Jo the other exchange student and I went touring every Monday. 

On Taiikusai (sports fes) in the club relay, we ran with our paintings.

My host family went out for dinner at a Japanese style restaurant.

I can't wait to go back!

ENDER'S ANSIBLE blog analysis 2

Textual Conventions

This blog is an unofficial fan made blog promoting the upcoming science fiction movie 'Ender's Game'. Being a movie blog, it would be expected to have the latest news about the upcoming film it's oriented around. It fulfils this textual convention by updating its viewers with reviews of the film, trailers, announcements, articles, events and predictions as to what's going to happen.

However, this blog provides not only the one sided 'news to reader' service but also as shown in the above picture, has a variety of different functions and services which one would not often find on a fan made blog. A movie fan blog is not expected to have a chat room, podcast service and extra content; this is what you would find on an official company provided web service in most instances.

Stylistic Features

The weblog's layout features a three column organisation design. On the left column it displays links to more areas of the site in big white bold lettering and bright colours that don't match the rest of the blogs colour scheme. This might mean that the blog designers really want the reader to have a deeper look at the website as they really stand out. The middle part is the news feed showing latest to oldest posts and news, this is handy for people who want the latest news as soon as they visit the blog. The last column refers to external links to other formats you can track the authors and receive the news on the film. For example a twitter and RSS feed service is available.

The style of the blog excluding the internal menu is all very coordinated within itself. It uses a futuristic battle scene picture as its header against a navy blue back drop. In all of its posts it includes a visual addition to add to the style of the blog.

Language techniques

I'm going to be using the most recent post as a general indicator as to what language techniques are implemented. The most recent post is a review of the Ender's Game movie by username EnderSpeaker. They start of by introducing you to a red herring, they make you suspect that the review will be from a negative bias. Apart from this the author briefly foreshadows emotional events in the film and makes use of assonance when they write 'contracted, 'this does not detract'. The review is written in first person present tense and uses casual language to communicate to the reader.

Reference: Cassandra 2013, Ender's Ansible, Viewed on 27th October 2013, <http://www.endersansible.com/>.

'GLITCH OR DIE!' Blog Analysis 1

Stylistic Features

Glitch or die posts the author's own original glitch art pieces, the posts are all pictures and there are no text posts. The style of the art posts give off a broken feeling, however on the contrary they were manufactured by Estonoesaca to look damaged on purpose going by the glitch art style. This kind of art is an acquired taste and would only appeal to a certain demographic audience, most likely people who play and are interested in video game style art or individuals who have nostalgia for old technology they grew up with that often glitches

The author aimed to give the viewer an uneasy feeling, a common feature of the art being repeated patterns woven through a mash of similar vibrant colours. It’s possible that the art was man made by the author, however just as likely (s)he used old technology such as gaming consoles, televisions and video cassettes to create an authentic piece of glitch art.

The blog is hosted by blogging site 'Tumblr', choosing Tumblr to host the author's content was a choice made most likely due to Tumblr being a picture/gif based blogging host; the majority of blogs hosted are art/photography blogs.

Language Techniques

The title of the blog 'GLITCH OR DIE' is a possible pun, it also hints as to what the blog is about. The words 'OR DIE' could be personification of the art style.

Texual Conventions

This blog, run by username Estonoesaca is an art blog. The layout of the blog displays the blog's title up the top in an appealing font and directly under includes links to more pages of the blog. The posts go from most recent to old each having their respective tags and 'notes' underneath each post. The posts are divided into 4 columns and when a post is clicked an enlarged version can be seen with more information.

Contradicting the conventional text blog convention, GLITCH OR DIE uses very little text and communicates almost entirely through art. The blog is most likely more than just a personal diary for their art, but also an online profile for themselves as an artist. Unlike most authors they have decided to keep everything anonymous.

Reference: Username: Estonoesaca 2013, Tumblr.com New York, viewed 27th October 2013 <http://estonoesaca.tumblr.com/>.

My use of digital communication and how it empowers me

Empower

verb
[with object and infinitive]
give (someone) the authority or power to do something:
members are empowered to audit the accounts of limited companies

•  [with object] make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights: movements to empower the poor

This definition is taken from the online oxford dictionaries, it identifies an external cause enabling an individual to have more control in owning and making changes to their own life. This post is about how I personally am empowered by the internet. 

When I grow up, my absolute dream and passion is to end up making films, to get there I'll work as hard as I have to. I've had this passion for over a year now and whenever there's a chance to make a video I'll take it and do my best. The internet empowers me by letting me make as many preparations as I can imagine for my career goal way ahead of what I can do with schooling alone. 

With the internet I can get a feel for how the global film industry is so diverse from itself and how it functions. I can watch with my own eyes the developments and innovations being made by various countries’ film companies from all over the world. I can view Japan's Gainax's latest instalment of the world famous Evangelion science fiction series mere months after its release (actually this part is abuse of power really, not quite empowerment). I may also watch these foreign films on a comprehensive level by viewing them with subtitles produced by other individuals having access to the internet. This world wide experience gives me insight into the direction of films in the world, not just Australia and America.

With the help of blogging websites and forum sites, sharing my opinions and discussing them with others becomes very easy and possible. This is another way the internet empowers me. For example on the launch day of the Ender's Game film adaption trailer I wrote a post on Tumblr letting everyone interested in the film know my predictions and I even had some replies with which I debated the Ender’s Game production further.

When I get the chance to develop my skills and make my own short films I often publish and share these on the internet using websites like YouTube to present my work to an online audience and I often receive feedback and advice from them. This empowers me by giving me the option to showcase my material not just to Australia but to the rest of the world. Considering I'm just a 16 year old high schooler with no job experience, I find this pretty spectacular!

So with the internet's capabilities I am empowered; I have been given the ability to plan out my options for the future with more insight and expectations. Without the internet it's very likely I wouldn't have discovered this dream of mine or thought about what I could achieve with it using the digital connections available.

With the helping hand of our global communications systems I will make this dream a reality!

Reference: Oxford Dictionaries 2013, Oxford University Press United Kingdom, viewed 26th October 2013, <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/empower>.

Issue Study

So I was recently watching a TED talk video about a full functioning school system 'in the cloud'. The guy presenting, Sugata Mitra presented his solutions to the issue of a lack of accessibility to schooling in remote areas and the redundancy of modern schooling in places you actually can access it. You can check out the TED talk here. Mitra explains that in times when the technology we have today wasn't available the modern schooling system was developed to help create a global communication system. This required everyone to have these three skills: to read, have nice handwriting and able to calculate mathematic problems. 

From this he reasons that since today we have computers to type with and do maths for us we no longer require this schooling system. His solution? Schooling in the clouds, this focuses on using the internet to let kids teach themselves complex ideas like the composition of cells, what an electron does etc. and more importantly giving every child the opportunity to participate.

The groups dis-empowered in this issue are the children living without access to modern education systems, and conceivably the children with it are empowered. However a point Mitra made with his talk was to say that even the empowered are dis-empowered by their education system being semi redundant. So the issue at hand is more complicated, it's not a just an issue of making the dis-empowered more empowered or modern education more available but fixing what modern education actually is by integrating the use of our digital communication system. 

My opinions on the issue and Mitra's solution are mostly supportive except when it comes to what the school in the cloud seemingly assumes. I agree with changing our current education system to fit a modern world that has only just started growing, however I disagree that his school in the cloud is a complete curriculum. 

I acknowledge that right now it is a very good idea and can supply and empower children all over the world with the use of technology but being taken on as a standard is where I start seeing problems. I can research and learn (remember) anything from the internet by myself in half an hour sure, but whether I actually understand the information is questionable. I believe teachers as a sort of mediation is fundamental to learning. I think a better investment in time would not be googling answers to a teacher's questions but spending it on personal projects based on interests and getting hands on experience. 

Even though learning through the internet is useful and definitely relevant in today's education, it should not be based solely on this as a source of knowledge. Learning by doing is my favourite method. For example I want to make films, yet the information I could get from a hundred internet searches and books is nothing compared to the method I teach and develop myself when trying to make films.

In conclusion I believe that the way to encourage self-learning is to focus instead on what the children are interested in and inspired to do, not just telling them what they have to teach themselves to research.

Reference: TED ideas worth spreading 2013, TED conferences LLC New York, viewed 15th October 2013, <http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html?quote=2065>.