Week 9: People Networks

I've been amazed by the content on these blogs over the past six weeks. You've created some amazing narratives. And, hopefully you've had some interesting adventures along the way. Remember to put the skills you've learned (i.e. academic blogging) on your resumes :-)

The portfolio feedback will probably centre around technical stuff  - referencing, grammar, structuring evidence & arguments, etc. Things that will hopefully help when it comes to editing for your case studies.

Speaking of case studies  ...

You will be assigned & sent details of your group for the final assignment this week. The groups need to be based on your case study theme (people, food, nature, stuff).  

You also need to email me a dot point plan of your essay by midnight on Friday 27th sept. For a further 5% of your case study grade.  

Also, ...

Do the Ma Mung (2005) reading and answer the tute quiz questions (located in the week 9 folder on learnJCU).

There are 3 short answer questions that you need to complete. You have two weeks to get it done (it closes at midnight on Oct. 5th and has been opened a week early to accommodate the shift around in the lecture order). 

Quiz Hint: Make sure you look at definitions and types of diaspora when you do the reading.

Finally, ...
  

Watch the lecture and share your thoughts on people networks,  and diasporas (their similarities and differences); use the questions in the tute guide as, well .. a guide .. and let us know what you think. 

p.s. Next week is lecture recess,

so remember to take at least little bit of guilt -free time out from studying.

The stuff of dreams

When we think of 'stuff' what are we actually thinking of?  Material goods, tangible objects?  What about ideas?  How do ideas fit into our perception of assets?  Tuan (1991, p.684) tells us that we speak things into existence.  Therefore our ideas are embryos waiting to be born, waiting to be made real.

Prospero; rider on the storm.

Wilkinson (2013, n.p.) illustrates how ideas affect us at the most profound levels. His example of Fordism resonates. The implementation of this method changed the fabric of society, affecting everything from how we work to how we make love.  The standardisation and homogenisation of human beings.  Of course, although that idea held for the best part of a century, it's time has passed.  Human beings are too complex, too diverse to be boxed as a uniform product rolling off a production line. "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on", mused Prospero in Shakespeare's (1611) 'Tempest', marking how conditions inevitably change.

Given the numerous examples throughout history of how systems alter it stands to reason that inevitably capitalism will change also.  We now see internationally a great imbalance in living conditons due to the effects of globalising processes on local markets.  Communities in developing countries literally struggle to survive on a daily basis, while communities in developed countries thrive in comparative opulence (Dicken, P. 2007, p.438).  However, with the advent of, and access to the internet, more and more people are aware of this imbalance.  As much as we might try, we cannot ignore the situation.  Furthermore, the impoverished will not let us ignore their reality.  As the divide grows and discontent festers, the topic is debated; on the street, in social media and consequently in the halls of power.  Ideas are exchanged and explored.  As a storm builds in nature due to conflicting elements, so too does it in society.  Ultimately equilibrium must be restored.

Reference List

Dicken, P. (2007). Gloabal shift: mapping the changing contours of the world economy. London,    England: Sage Publications Ltd.

Shakespeare, W. (1611). The Tempest. London, England.

Tuan, Y-F. (1991). Language and the making of place: a narrative-descriptive approach. Annals of the  Association of American Geographers, 81, (4), 684-696.

Wilkinson, R. (2013). BA1002, Our space: networks, narrative and the making of place, week 8 notes.  [PowerPoint]. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1260445-dt-content-rid-  1022605_1/courses/13-BA1002-TSV-EXT-SP2/Stuff_Part1.mov

Image Credits

Stratford Festival. (2013). Prospero and the storm [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/OnStage/productions.aspx?id=8558&prodid=31468

A hitchhiker’s guide to my galaxy

A hitchhiker’s guide to my galaxy

Without genre there can be no communication and without communication we would not survive. They are the premise of our conversations in all forms as ‘genres are dialogues; they form links in the chain of speech communication’ (Van Luyn, 2013).

Goodreads has very few rules in regards to what its users can and cannot do. It has an administrator and moderators that look after the site and deal with any major issues.  It relies on its members to practice socially acceptable behaviour just as they would use in their everyday lives. However it also allows its groups to set up their own rules and regulations which are usually a lot stricter then the main site. The groups have their own administrator and moderators who work in conjunction and not only run the page but also deal with any infractions of these rules.  This gives groups a feeling of control and ownership of the space that they have created for themselves while helping the site by taking some of the responsibility for keeping it in order. Both on the general site and in the group forums members have the ability to flag content that they deem inappropriate and then it is up to the administrators and moderators to decide if it breaks the rules. Most groups give warnings to members however they can kick out and block anyone that they deem has seriously breached the rules.

Most of the groups run weekly questions based on certain genres and ask their members to research the question, whether it is from a book or another source, and then come back and discuss it between certain dates. You can write what you like however you should be prepared to back it up as many of these groups are full on discussion boards and your statements will be questioned. A number of the very dedicated groups also require you to reference if you are quoting sources just as you would expect if you were at school or university. These forums are great to read but it is best to think very carefully before participating if you are not fully prepared. Good grammar and sentence structure is also expected and generally used and although the Goodreads site allows some swearing it is banned by many of the group pages.

Many of the responses throughout the various blogs could be classified as essays. The word ‘essay’ suggests less a formal and systematic approach to a topic then a casual even random one (Di Yanni. 2005) and this is a good description for quite a number of the posts on the forums I read through. Not all are like this but the more interesting ones had many of these elements.  Essays evaluate like a number of other genres however ‘Their manner of going about offering information, making a case, and providing an evaluation differs from those less variable genres’ (Di Yanni, 2005).

Adams, D. (1979) The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, Image retrieved 20/09/2013 from: http://storiesbywilliams.com/2013/03/12/remembering-douglas-adams/

Di Yanni, R. (2005). ‘Introduction: reading and writing essays’. In. Twenty-Five Great Essays. 2nd ed. Pearson Longman: New York.

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002. Our space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of place. Week 6. Retrieved 20/09/2013 from: http://learnjcu.edu.au

 

  

Every shoppers’ dream!

Love going shopping with your friends plus learning all the great gossip but hate lugging your shopping around and walking all those miles? Well Facebook is your answer!

Despite Facebook appearing to be just a social networking site, it in fact contains substantial advertising from a broad range of organisations.  As a user you can purchase, exchange or sell goods to other users around the world – it is like an online pawn shop. Clothes, shoes, makeup, games, cars just about any “real” product can be purchased or sold on Facebook anywhere in the world. Whilst interacting with your friends or stalking your boss, friends or that secret crush (admit it, you have done it at least once!) you can still shop around for great bargains.

Every page you or your friends ‘like’ expands the customer range for corporations allowing their products to be viewed throughout the world. You are participating in the virtual market of the third industrial revolution (The Economist, 2012, p. 2) and with this demonstrating that consumers now “have little difficulty in adapting to the new age of better products, swiftly delivered” (The Economist, 2012, p.3). These are transnational companies, those who control and coordinate production throughout the world (Dicken, 2007, p.437 – 438) and who have the power of a place able to change its products with the global market (Wilkinson, 2013, n.p).

Not only can you spend all your money because of Facebook but it can help

you to earn an income through self-employment. Roger Wilkinson (2013, n.p) stated that the early department store allowed women to progress into great long lasting careers with options of becoming a manager or higher. Now, many new businesses have been created right out of peoples’ homes and are growing into popular corporations due to the ability to advertise on a large somewhat public run company, like Facebook. Facebook even has a program going in which it is gathering data to support its claim that being the “largest social leadsto large world sales” (Reuters, 2013). Facebook moves the “real” store into the virtual world and helps to combat the “rise in global inequality and vulnerability” (Dicken, 2007, p.440) through creating jobs and allowing access to a variety of products no matter where you live.

But are you really a winner in this situation if you live in a place without internet therefore no Facebook access? For Facebook to really make a difference in combating unemployment and lack of access to a variety of stuff then it must make itself more readily available to all because at the end of the day who doesn’t like shopping?

References

The Economist. (2012). The third industrial revolution. The digitisation of manufacturing will transform the way goods are made – and change the politics of jobs too. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/21553017/print

Dicken, P. (2007). Winning and losing: An introduction. In Dicken, P, Global shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy. (5^th ed.). (pp. 437 – 453). London: Sage Publications Ltd

Wilkinson, Roger. (2013). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: Stuff. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Reuter. (2013). Facebook broadens effort to show ad payoff. Retrieved from: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/9/20/technology/facebook-broadens-effort-show-ad-payoff

Image:

Constine, Josh (Artist). (2012) Facebook small business. [Image]. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/facebook-small-business-ads/

The language of perception

 

The language of perception

Language shapes the way that we perceive things (Van Luyn, 2013) and what a person writes or posts has the power, even if only read by one other person, to have an impact. The internet and social networking sites have broadened the horizons for many and has exposed them to different cultures and to a new sense of what is space and place. It has created a whole new form of communication that allows users to not only be influenced by a greater number of people but also given them the ability to express their own thoughts and opinions to a wider audience. This week I delved further into the many groups that reside on Goodreads in an effort to see how people were using these new spaces and how language was being utilized by its participants to express themselves in it.

On Goodreads I can find a review or discussion group on almost any book or topic I desire and most contain not only people’s opinion of books but also their thoughts and feelings on various issues that stem from the subject matter. ‘The unique qualities of fiction have allowed novels to explore moral and social questions’ (Van Luyn, 2013) and it is these questions that many of the discussion groups have started from and then expanded on. The groups provide people with a ‘virtual’ space in which they can discuss anything they like. There are guidelines for what can and cannot be written in the groups and the administrators of the groups and the moderators of the site have the right to modify or remove anything they deem inappropriate.

Being a book site there are a lot of reviews and for one book ‘The Help’ I found a review that complained that the language the author used did not match with the character descriptions and affected their ability to grasp what the author was trying to convey. They felt that if the book stated a person spoke in a certain way then the writing should be done in that style. This showed how the use of language can affect a person’s sense of place and their ability to put themselves where the author is trying to lead them. Taun (1991) wrote ‘language is a force that all of us use every day to build, sustain, and destroy’. I found it fascinating how people responded to the review and how they used their language to portray their feelings. The virtual space they were exploring turned into a place that provided them with the opportunity to do so.

Taun. Y  (1974) Space and place. Image Retrieved 20/09/2013 from: http://blog.sfmoma.org/2011/06/positive-sign-28-29/

 

 Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the      of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696

Van Luyn, A. (2013). ‘Our space: Networks, narrative and the making of place’, BA1002 Lecture: Week 5, retrieved from http://learn.jcu.edu.au