Hi guys, this is the last episode of my video blog. Remember to watch till the end for bloopers

“The model provided by the Internet- with power at the edges and in the connections between them, as opposed to vested in one centralized hub- makes intuitive sense in the political arena, where the aim inevitably is to reach out- to voters, to local organizers, to donors. The puzzle is to pull apart what’s real from what’s hype”. John Palfrey (2004)

This excerpt from John Palfrey’s (2004) article on the outcomes of Internet Politics clearly articulates the premise I had hoped to explore with my Vlogovists series of video blogs.

In Episode 1, I wanted to establish a broad overview of how political activism plays out on the internet by showing images of different activist websites such as Crikey, New Matilda, Future Farmers and the Chaser. These are all sites which allow grassroots activists to take part in political debate. I also included footage of the Kevin07 website to show that it is not just activists but also politicians who are engaging with the internet and digital technology.

In my first post from a few weeks ago, I wrote with the illusion of being able to break Ulysses into a new medium, projecting it from a text into a distributive narrative. Facebook offered itself as the perfect closed network; by being able to control who can take part, I can manipulate the online space to align with the landscape of the narrative. Yet, my delusion in wanting to explode the text entirely were realised only in theory. I feel as if I have failed. Despite my best efforts, Ulysses is still very much a universe stuck inside a novel, no matter what I try and do to it on Facebook.

I was initially a little bit disappointed when I spoke to friends and they all seemed to say that they hadn't been politically active online. However, when we spoke further they were all enthusiastic about various causes they had actually forgotten they had been involved with, from simply reading an email to chatting with friends about images or video they'd seen online. Again, the great theme song is from ccMixter "Language of My Reality (ft. Colin Mutchler)" by Etherdust.

“The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” Mark Weiser [1]

Mark Weiser’s statement on the notion of “invisible technologies”, that technology can become invisible to people to the extent that we are no longer aware of it, is pertinent as we think of the ways we use the internet in our daily lives; we respond to online surveys, download software extensions and forward on emails, images and videos to friends without even a second thought as to the interface we are using.

The Impact of Technology – Portable Gaming Consoles: Nintendo DS Lite VS PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Portable gaming consoles provide entertainment to consumers on the go. There are many brands of portable consoles, but we will focus on two main consoles that is popular in 2007, the Nintendo DS Lite and the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Both provide interactivity with regards to the games that require user input, have the ability to support Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and connect wirelessly for multiplayer gaming both locally and over the Internet. The DS Lite can connect wirelessly to a Wii console, which is meant to be used in conjunction with a television for game play. The lower half of the DS Lite has a touch screen that enables the user input, as opposed to a PSP that only has buttons.

Name: Teong Jin Hui
Student Number: 10450242

Title of project: Partculfafic

Word Count: 1158

Synopsis of project in 20 words:
This video blog aimed to explore the various ways in which technology convergence and media consumption influenced fan culture.

Introduction: (discussing initial aims for project)
This project aimed to introduce people to the growing participatory culture, a contemporary cultural phenomenon in today’s society. Still recognised as a subculture rather than an integrated part of the wider culture, I hope to explore the different ways fan culture is starting to get integrated into different forms of contemporary media. For example, the game industry – The Sims and Warcraft; the film and television industry – blockbusters spoof movies and parodies; and various published works that include fanzines. In the first episode, I introduced fan culture as part of participatory culture and during my research, I’ve learnt that fan fiction now exists in many forms – song fics, chat fics; script fics and in literary text. In the second episode, I paid attention to the doujinshi phenomenon in Japan and also looked at the commercial educational short films that were inspired by Star Wars and The Matrix. In the third episode, I looked at the game industry and how game developers are encouraging fan participation within the field. As a conclusion, I researched on how the grassroots community thinks of fan culture as part of the society, and also the fundamental benefits of participatory culture. Using semi-formal documentary style, this project was created by incorporating videos that illustrate the ideas mentioned above, together with interviews conducted with people.

Politicians can be some of the most frustrating people to watch. They seem to be inhumane for the most part, so in this episode I wanted to explore how much they're making themselves more available to us online. It seems that while they are making small steps towards the virtual they're still very much protected by their PR think tanks. While digital technology is breaking down communications barriers between us, we're still skeptical about the online motives of politicians. Again, the great theme song is from ccMixter "Language of My Reality (ft. Colin Mutchler) by Etherdust.