New Media Cultures

Today i visited the Leeds City Museum. The museum re-opened earlier this year in its new location in the previous Civic building situated on Millenium Square. I would like to discuss this in my blog today as i feel that it is a strong showcase of the effects of new technologies. this was shown not only in the exhibitions themselves but the actual layout and material within the museum.

The visit was merely intended to just pass abit of time, however i was suprised in how interesting the exhibitions actually were. I remember going when i was alot younger and constantly moaning the whole way around in order for my parents to hurry up and leave. However today was completed different and i don't think it is just because i am quite obviously older and more mature. There were many families there with young chrildren who seemed to be having alot of fun. The exhibitions were kept exciting through alot of interaction, many of the displays were open aired, touch screens that were free to use with headsets showing numerous videos made by local people, and there were countless childrens activites from digging for fossils to making mosaics, many of  which the adults seemed to enjoy just as much!Rhese are just a number of new medias that are now available to us as a society. The use of them encourages learning as it provides knowledge in a new and exciting way.

Everyfloor was filled was fit for a mini explorer, from the Acient Worlds Egypt, Greece and Rome that brought the past to life, literatley with a reconstructed Egyptian tomb, to the story of Leeds itself. This portray life in Leeds from pre-historic to modern times, presenting artifacts and memorabilia from Leeds' finest exports in fields such as music, sport and television. Many of these were exibited through digital aesthetics, therefore playing with our emotions and how we feel. Many of the pieces were of well known events and photographs of people who have made a difference to people's lives, especially local people. A photograph is a digital aesthetic that gives value and something that we can talk about, however they are not always entirely real. Baudrillard talked about the notion of simulation and the end of the social. The real is a social construct but we are moving into technologically motivated societies and my visit to the museum today enhances this thought. A photograph can be made into something entirely different from what it is, it idealises and makes perfect people or objects of desire. This i believe is what was intended when exhibiting these photgraphs that were present in the musuem. They were placed to intend happy and pleasent emotions, a sense of nostalgia.

 

There were many audio visuals as well as the mini films that are shown. This interactive and entertaining theme is why the experience is much more enjoyable, the use of different media's throughout the museum keeps people engaged and wanting to carry on and find out more.

My favourite floor was the exhibition of Life in Earth. It is the ultimate attention grabber, with exploration of millions of years of the planet and the discovery of all the different species that come with. Huge wild cats such as the Bengal Tiger and mammoth deer bones fill the room.

Overall the Musuem made for a great day out.This I think was made possible with the improvements and the uses of new technologies throughout the exhobitions. Interaction plays a key role in keeping people entertained and engaged with the surroundings and it certainly worked today for me.

One of the most prevelant forms of New Media that is available to us and is growing constantly and rapidly is the internet. A global system that allows people access to millions of resources.
Whilst being at University the internet has gave me a number of different uses such as online resources, helping with research, keeping in contact with tutors and up to date with the university. However probably one of the key roles that the internet has played for me and I am guessing for many other people is keeping intouch with friends back home and who i have met whilst at Uni. This has been possible with the well known social networking site Facebook.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University. it was initially a site inteneded for University students, a place where students could interact, share ideas. Now it is open to everyone over the age of 13 and has milllions of active users from all over the world.
Facebook is essentially in my eyes, your life lived online. People who access your page know where you have been, what your plans are, who you have been talking to and what about, they know your interests, hobbies, favourite films, books etc. Infact I know more things about many of the people that i am friends with now that they are also my facebook friends.
However is this 'life online' a superficial one? Many people on facebook have hundreds of friends on their page, but if you were to put them all in a room it would be very unlikely that a long and meaningful conversation could be held with all of them.
Where would we be without facebook... it is for many a diary, an organiser, a personal reminder and ofcourse a planner. Many arrangements and plans are made on facebook and now rather than actually talk, people will say..i'll talk to you on facebook! why do this when it can be done in person? This is because many new medias have made people lazy, why leave the house when everything that you need can be done at a computer. Inventions of this new technologies have given people higher expectations and real life just doesn't seem as exciting anymore. This can explained when concerning facebook as, if you were to sit in a room with a number of people then in order for everyone to talk then there can only really be one conversation held, but on facebook you can talk to as many people as you like at one given time and hold a different conversation with each. Therefore why would people settle for ordinary life when they can have a multi-functional online life.
This is what i mean when i say a life online..the person to person interaction will become less and less and we will essentially be living in a cyber world.
Now that the internet is such an essential part of our lives Facebook and other sites such as these are parts of our daily routines, making them part of our lives. It is so simply to access Facebook now, no effort is needed at all. I mean with the advancement in new technologies even over the last couple of years it allows us to surf the net from our mobile phones, there no matter where we are and who we are with we can access our facebook pages and connect with people, learn new things and essentially get on with our online lives.

Facebook also shows the effects of globalisation. We no longer live in a world of small communiies and networks, it is a Global markey with global networks. Independant nations are no longer as important as the cooporations that own them. Communication technologies have helped in the development of globalisation and has also helped grow the new phenomenom of the 24 hour world which is visable in buisness, banking, education etc but also in networking and this is quite obviously apparent in terms of Facebook.
Culture is what we say it is and we can impose different concepts of culture, therefore this new concept 'life online' is one that we have gradually imposed upon us through new generations and their expectations.

A new year brings more shows involving public interaction, and on January the 2nd the new series of what may be described by many as the ultimate ‘reality TV show’ started a new series of its celebrity edition. Big Brother not only promotes the type of new media that I have already discussed in previous posts but also the notorious invention of CCTV or surveillance.
CCTV was first used singly by governments as a crime prevention device and came into use around the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was used in the United States before it was eventually brought into the United Kingdom. Then as it become better known and sought after, other big companies started to begin to use the systems. It is now used in all sectors, with closed circuit television being in shopping malls, train stations, car parks, it is situated throughout city centres and towns and within city estates, in order to enhance security and protection for the public.
When we talk of surveillance within western society it can cover a number of different areas. We live in a society that follows laws and regulations. If these are broken the justice system comes into play and the right actions are taken. Surveillance is a key role within this. Many of the time it allows access to view these crimes being committed and provides evidence. It can be used within cases and often helps in identification of people, time and place.
Now this same kind of technology is used within entertainment television shows such as Big Brother. The illusion that there is always someone watching. In this particular case it is the public watching through the many camera’s that are situated in the Big Brother house and filming the housemates every move. The public are essentially surveying the housemates.
It is said that power arises from the production of knowledge, and it can be argued that this is the basis of our legal system. The ability to use surveillance gives us knowledge and therefore power. This enhancing the security that was initially intended by the government and businesses that put these systems into place, it can therefore protect and create order but can this also be relavant in this case. We the audience have the power to change dynamics, decide who stays and who goes - our very own reality tv democracy?
In this recent series of big brother we have had the power to have a deciding factor within one of the tasks. This was done by viewers going onto the the Big Brother website www.channel4.com/bigbrother and watching a video clip . If the clip gathered a set amount of hits (10,000) then that part of the task was passed.
here is a small preview of the clip that had to be watched.

With this power that the ability to see and hear everything that goes on in the Big Brother house also makes a vote, more than just a vote. It is an expression of opinion, it is the ability to change a persons life, and this would not be possible without the availability of the new media’s that we have access to. A press of a red button, a telephone call or a key on a laptop can make 1 person one hundred thousand pounds richer.

I have deciced to focus my blog on the recent increase in reality/talent television shows. These type of shows have become more and more popular and are now connoted by some as the 'highlight' of our Saturday nights. Shows such as The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing are just a selection of these shows that involve public interaction and which are becoming more a part of our daily lives. Is our nation becoming obsessed with reality tv and is this because of the New Media Culture in which we live in?

The Help the Hereos campaign promoted by The X Factor is one of the reasons that encouraged me to discuss these issues in my blog. The cover of Mariah Carey's Hero by the 12 X Factor finalists was the fastest selling charity single of the decade and this was only made possible because of the new media's that are available to us. There are all kinds of new media's that we come into contact with everyday, including the internet, digital television, mobile phones, ipods and mp3 players.  With this charity single the internet played a very large part in it becoming the fastest selling of the decade. After the finalists performed the single on the night, the shows host Dermot O'leary announced that the single would be available for download from midnight and that the details were available on the website. This can be seen in the clip below

The single ofcourse reached number one in the UK charts and was a top seller on play.com and itunes, both of which are websites that music is purchased from.