Three more days to go… and i’m in WebDesigner Magazine!

Major hand-in weds eek! I’ve pretty much finished but still nervous. Dispite stress with work, i’ve had a pretty good week! Got my major featured in Webdesigner Magazine yay! They also put in a couple pics of my portfolio which is great You can view my portfolio here.

Went to the beach for some time-out a couple days ago, which was nice. Got burnt despite using suncream, probably not used to the sun after being in the labs for the past 7 weeks. But I felt much refreshed after my top up of Vitamin D, and ready to get this project over and done with! Slightly worried about the PA, but will come to that when I start to write it.

That is all for now =)

Asda employee sacked for his comments on Facebook

Writing my dissertation I have come across something interesting. I have been talking about how people have information on their social networking site profiles (e.g. Facebook) which they would be unhappy for certain people to see. For example, your employer seeing drunken pictures of you. Does anyone remember the story of that Asda employee who created a Facebook group that portrayed the company in a negative light? It was called something like ‘I work for Asda and they’re shit’. Anyway, in January there were a number of signs around Asda’s staff premises explaining that disciplinary action will be taken for posting offensive or negative content about the company on blogs and social networking sites (“Don’t blog your way into trouble”).

It is interesting that any such story can no longer be found in Search engines or on user-generated-content video sites such as youtube.com. Hmm…

Company Names

Here are a few company names I thought of for my Major project. Please leave a comment with your two faves, or any others you think of. See my previous post for description of project/website. Thanks guys!

pixelwings.net
webartfolio.com
scetch.org
myscetch.com
exhibitique.com
mygallerie.co.uk
neucanvas.com
blanckanvas.net
galleriasuites.co.uk
galleryme.co.uk
gallerie.me.uk
exhibity.net/org
elevator99.com

Ideas

I’m so pleased i’ve finally come up with ideas for my minor/dissertation, even if they aren’t completely finished.

Dissertation:

- Idea 1) How/why people become addicted to media forms, more specifically Facebook. Displacement, addictions.
- Idea 2) Dangers and benefits of online networking websites. Conducting research on Facebook (specifically). Issues to include ID fraud, personal information, personal safety, online portfolio/work, education, personal development (speech), communication (and lack of one-to-one communication), time/life management, what this means for the future).

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We had an intensive day of pitching/coming up with ideas for our majors yesterday which I found very helpful. The 9 questions to apply to my idea helped, and i have been over them again and come up with even more ideas. Here’s a summary of the questions below…

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1. How can i adapt my idea to another subject? e.g. instead of basing my idea around photography, why not books?
2. What would someone in a different profession look for in my idea? e.g. an Artist might look for Aesthetically pleasing qualities.
3. Could i combine my idea with another product? E.g. my idea + facebook = Facebook application.
4. Can i magnify aspects of my idea?
5. Can i modify the purpose of my idea? E.g. instead of a portfolio website, make ita 3D game.
6. Can i put my idea to other uses? In what other ways can it benefit people?
7. Can i eliminate anything from the idea?
8. Can i rearrange aspects of my idea? E.g. Instead of uploading artwork, draw it online.
9. Can i reverse my idea or aspects of my idea?

SAVE OUR LECTURERS!

Ii went to the ‘Save our Lecturers’ petition against staff cuts this afternoon. It was well organised and i’m glad i went. I think it is disrespectful that tutors have to re-apply for their jobs. Students come to the Media school because it is vocational! IMP won’t exist much longer if they sack too many people!

Masculinity – Uni Project

It is hard to define one text that has sparked my thinking about different ways of viewing masculinity because it is partly an experience of people, a personal idea. Some may say that post-feminism has threatened masculinity. That is it dying because women are becoming more dominant and stereotypically men are supposed to be dominant.

A friend once said “Saying that a man being under threat by masculinity is like saying a well is under threat by water”. In other words, Masculinity is derived from what it is to be a man. However, i do not believe masculinity is only associated with men, it is also associated with women, for example, women can play sports and still be feminine. Nowdays masculinity is becoming much more open; men can be masculine and still hold the ‘traditional’ feminine traits. For example, men can now use beauty and maintenance products and therapies without being labelled as “feminine” (and not masculine). Products such as skincare treatments were traditionally targeted towards women a few years ago and it was considered not masculine to wear face-cream and was only accepted in society if the man was homosexual.

“Keep your face looking great with Moisturizer”

(askmen.com)

As for defining ‘masculine’, the media had established and perpetuated stereotypes over time. Not only is it established when a man is dominant, strong, competitive, but masculinity isn’t appealing now unless it comes with a heart. The new James Bond film (Casino Royale) reflects this change in definitions of masculinity; old Bond films show an indestructible chauvinistic superman, whereas Casino Royale shows a masculine emotional Bond.

An emotional man and a man that is conscious about the way he looks can still be immediately labelled as homosexual, and this is still the case in a few media texts. In the new TV series Ugly Betty, an extreme fashion-conscious man is portrayed as homosexual. However, in the television show ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’, a ‘feminine’ homosexual man teaches a hetrosexual man how to dress and act, bringing a more feminine side (and more attractive side) to the hetrosexual man. This makes it more acceptable for a homosexual man to take on feminine roles.

So is masculinity under threat? Or has it just changed so that it is more acceptable to take on traditional feminine traits and still be considered masculine? It can only be a good thing that in our society men can be sensitive and fashion conscious. It gives us all more freedom and a more open-mind.