tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81977785629739408172024-03-14T05:20:44.374+13:00Ragged EarthDamn ragged world we live in. Some people are connecting internationally through Web TV series. A distraction or an aid to a better better way…?Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-8599038804479913732010-08-26T13:14:00.006+12:002010-08-26T13:22:03.274+12:00Nexus Analysis by Ron and Suzie Wong Scollon (2004): A review<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@PMingLiU";
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:10.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@PMingLiU";
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:36.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:36.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:36.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:36.0pt;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:10.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;}
@page WordSection1
{size:595.3pt 841.9pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:2114548596;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:602021592 336134161 336134169 336134171 336134159 336134169 336134171 336134159 336134169 336134171;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-text:"%1\)";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
-->
</style> <br />
<div class="WordSection1"><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 14" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@PMingLiU";
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
span.EmailStyle15
{mso-style-type:personal;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>I have been reading on research methodologies that are potentially relevant for researching web series. Unfortunately, due to the care required for doing valid research, and then for the cross checking of peer reviewed publications, such research is always behind the eight-ball when it comes to developments in new technologies. What follows is a review of the book, and will probably only be of interest to a very select group of web series fans. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-size: small;">I have just read <i>Nexus Analysis: Discourse analysis and the emerging internet</i> by Ron and Suzie Wong Scollon, London and New York, Routledge, 2004, which is a kind of classic text in the field. It really continues the kind of approach to social research that I have followed for quite a while: i.e. puts researcher biases and interests up front as part of the research process; requires that the researcher is a participant in the area being studied; is focused on making things better for a group/s of people who are marginalised or disadvantaged in some way; and is doing research in the hope of making some positive contribution to change. (My interest is in the relatively poor provisions of women-centred and lesbian-themed stories in mainstream serialised screen fiction, and the hope that web series may find a way to provide better stories and for a fairly wide audience.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.otaliasocial.com/images/embrac_kissw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.otaliasocial.com/images/embrac_kissw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Scollon and Scollon see the contributions to change, coming as much from the questions they raise for people active in the field being researched. They don’t think the researcher can make hard and fast conclusions of the way forward, but can throw some in-depth light on the processes involved in the activities being studied.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This book provides a detailed analysis of Scollon & Scollon’s own research into education of native Alaskans, comparing traditional courses and online, distance learning. It has an extensive fieldguide in the appendix, which looks pretty useful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">When it comes to researching interactive web series today, some of the major problems are the shifting and continually changing nature of the Internet and the complex networks that operate through it. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.icrossing.co.uk/uploads/pics/NSMap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://www.icrossing.co.uk/uploads/pics/NSMap.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Nexus Analysis</i> provides a way to manage, potentially unmanageable material around three axes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">selected <b>scenes</b> (locations, or sites of interaction – this is the main focus of any nexus analysis);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the interaction order </b>(the structure, format and organisation of interaction eg in pairs, groups; informal rules developed by participants);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>body history</b> of participants (i.e. how do past experiences of individuals, and the discourses that they have engaged, with influence the ways they interact in the selected scenes).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">They also provide guidance in how to expand the range of discourses from the main area of study to the wider society – so in the case of lesbian-themed series, it would require looking at the kinds of discourses of sexuality in mainstream TV, in various web series and then in the wider society.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">In order to do nexus analysis, it’s recommended that a mixture of methods is used as a kind of cross check: this would include, observation, participant observation (of interactions and the media involved in, or related to the interactions), interviews, surveys, focus groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The weakness of this method seems to me to be:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">1) Research selections could be a bit random: because online networks are so extensive, it requires the researcher to make choices about what is relevant. Although, Scollon and Scollon also recommend that the main participants are asked for their views on what is relevant to the research. Consequently, there should be flexibility in shifting the focus of the research, based on input from the main participants in the study.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">2) This research was done in educational settings and at the turn of the century. It consists of relatively small networks, and since then the multiplicity of media and social networks now available online make everything so much more complex.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">3) Scollon and Scollon focus on educational practices and discourses of ‘race’ ethnicity, and my interest is more in identities, especially gender and sexual identities.</span><o:p></o:p></div></div>Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-84434978356819665002010-07-08T09:49:00.002+12:002010-07-08T10:23:12.626+12:00Filming Venice, @bidforvenice, and Web Series InteractivtiyI like the interactive element that can be built into a web series. There are different kinds of interactivity, and with <i>Venice</i> interactions between producers and fans tend to focus on people & personalities. Some of the online social networking facilities and web sites are ideal for this.<br />
<br />
The second season of <i>Venice</i> is being filmed at Venice Beach, California this week, with people involved providing a steady stream of tweets and <a href="http://tweetphoto.com/30998406">tweetphotos</a>,<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTyd3NEREI/AAAAAAAAAGY/d81KjF4PZeQ/s1600/1st+twitpic+from+season+2+shoot+of+venice+5+July+2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTyd3NEREI/AAAAAAAAAGY/d81KjF4PZeQ/s320/1st+twitpic+from+season+2+shoot+of+venice+5+July+2010.jpg" /></a></div> plus <a href="http://www.venicetheseries.com/blog/category/vblog/">the official blog </a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTzwT7bulI/AAAAAAAAAGo/NOnNpAfilXg/s1600/Venice+season+2+set+pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTzwT7bulI/AAAAAAAAAGo/NOnNpAfilXg/s320/Venice+season+2+set+pics.jpg" /></a></div><br />
and <a href="http://www.venicetheseries.com/vblog/on-the-set-day-2/">vlogs</a> posted during the days of filming.<br />
<br />
It's so cool that <a href="http://bidforvenice.webeden.co.uk/">bidforvenice</a> scored a part in the show & <a href="http://twitter.com/bidforvenice">is tweeting</a> and reporting from the set. "bidforvenice" is <a href="http://www.anitacrisinel.com/">Anita Crisinel</a>, an expat kiwi actor, now based in London.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDT2TeszxJI/AAAAAAAAAGw/v9Prk8-eAVY/s1600/Anita+Crisinel+web+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDT2TeszxJI/AAAAAAAAAGw/v9Prk8-eAVY/s320/Anita+Crisinel+web+page.jpg" /></a></div><br />
During the first season, she started pitching for a part in <i>Venice</i> on the VComm forum on the official <a href="http://www.venicetheseries.com/"><i>Venice</i> website</a> and on her own website, as well as making good use of Twitter and <a href="http://bidforvenice.webeden.co.uk/#/my-vloggs/4536270696">youtube videos</a>.<br />
<br />
Like many of the <i>Venice</i> cast and producers, she has a lively and fun kind of personality that thrives on these social networking platforms. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTvjIOXPgI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/YBsLit1Su0M/s1600/bidforvenicetweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/TDTvjIOXPgI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/YBsLit1Su0M/s320/bidforvenicetweet.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Interesting also to see that <a href="http://www.anitacrisinel.com/#/resume/4529122227">Anita did her apprenticeship</a> with an appearance on Shortland Street, short films and various parts in plays in Auckland theatres.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to see what her part is like in the show.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-48143876820094209782010-02-15T10:48:00.012+13:002010-02-15T15:21:13.957+13:00Butching the Femmes: US & UK (web) soaps/drama - VENICE & FAR OUT<div style="color: #660000; text-align: center;"><b>Web soaps/dramas and lesbian representation</b></div><br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">From <i>Guiding Light</i> to <i>Venice</i></b><br />
In the final months of the long-running US DayTime soap <a href="http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://lesbicanarias.es/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/otalia-0002.jpg&imgrefurl=http://timeaftertimeonlinedrama.webs.com/apps/blog/show/1513994-the-diversity-index-soaps-as-they-stand-&usg=__nfrKjmY0YrlLnBrhHsNsq0wrkfM=&h=460&w=620&sz=115&hl=en&start=69&itbs=1&tbnid=mfKlKXIIB0JIkM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3DOtalia%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D60"><i>Guiding Light</i></a>, I got hooked on the Otalia same-sex romance. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3e0wuG-TWI/AAAAAAAAAFw/tYNtH_tU3yw/s1600-h/otalia-0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3e0wuG-TWI/AAAAAAAAAFw/tYNtH_tU3yw/s320/otalia-0002.jpg" /></a></div><br />
When the show was coming to an end, I became an instant fan of a web show in-the-making, hooked on Crystal Chappell's highly public approach to creating the web series <a href="http://www.venicetheseries.com/"><i>Venice</i></a>. I liked that she and her co-producers used social networking as a way to connect with and get feedback from fans, and were aiming to cater to a perceived unfulfilled, international desire for realistic, lesbian-themed drama.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3e5lG_E-II/AAAAAAAAAF4/grGe7GXr61k/s1600-h/Venice+series+beach.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3e5lG_E-II/AAAAAAAAAF4/grGe7GXr61k/s320/Venice+series+beach.png" /></a></div>And I liked the premise of the show: centred on Gina (Crystal Chappell), a successful interior designer, her family and relationships within a network of people living in Venice Beach, CA. <a href="http://mindschmootz.net/2009/12/the-schmootz-on-venice-premiere/">(MindSchmootz has a great review of the premier episode.)</a><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Venice </i></b><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fan Expectations</b><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">: supportive energy or conflicting demands?<i></i></b><br />
Now it seems many fans had/have different expectations of the show, and they may be pushing it in a different direction from what I had anticipated. Unlike many fans, I have had no expectations of seeing another same-sex pairing played by the Otalia actors, Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia. While I do favour watching some actors more than others, my interest tends to be more in specific characters and their stories. Knowing which actors will be paired for an on-screen romance amounts to a massive spoiler - and I am SO anti-being spoiled in any way.<br />
<br />
But here I seem to be out of step with the majority of posters on the forums, who have filled long strings of topic threads speculating on future hot-romantic couplings, often enflamed by any hint of any spoiler that drops off their cyber-screens. Many fans are happy to have had their requests fulfilled with <i>Venice</i>'s latest addition of promo/teaser clips a week in advance. But to me it just taps into a culture of never-fully-satisfied desires, where instant gratification is accelerated into the future - a place where there will always be new desires to be satisfied. My main satisfactions come from taking more time to enjoy any (often unexpected) pleasures that I come across, by discussing what's actually IN an episode.<br />
<div style="color: black;"><b><br />
</b></div><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hot or Not? Desire & lesbian representation? </span></b><br />
However, I guess I'm not totally free from the infectious giddiness of the expectation of unfulfilled desires: I had thought that FINALLY <i>Venice</i> would be the show that integrated lesbian and heterosexual stories while including characters of diverse ages, and not only ones who are conventionally pretty. Yet, there seems to be a trend amongst fans, and supported by the producers of <i>Venice</i>, to celebrate the appearance of youthful and conventional feminine attractiveness. But for me the promise of an excess of "pretty" (as often tweeted by the <i>Venice</i> producers) was more a turn-off than an incentive to watch. Conventionally feminine & pretty women are not always the hottest, or the most charismatic on-screen.<br />
<br />
Unlike many fans, I'm quite enjoying the flirtation between Gina & Tracy (played by two talented and experienced 40-something actresses, Chappell and Lesli Kay). Many fans complain about the lack of "chemistry" between the two characters. (Please, can that word be banished from the soap fan lexicon? Over-use breeds aversion!) The "chemistry" can be created in the writing and directing, as much as by the actors. Often the focus on Allan's (Michael Sabatino) story in the same scenes, sucks some heat from the Gina-Tracy flirtation.<br />
<br />
Having seen some of the excitement that preceded the first appearance of Lara (Nadia Bjorlin) in <i>Venice</i>, I wonder how much the intense speculation about some (potentially hot?) pairings, eg the Ani (Jessica Leccia) & Lara one, influences people's perception? And, in spite of my attempts to avoid speculation, did I get caught up in some of the excitement?<br />
<br />
On first viewing, I really liked both parts of episode 9. I particularly appreciated the fact that, for the first time in <i>Venice</i>, we get to see a (potential) couple meet, and meet "cute" - as we are very used to in mainstream productions. And the cuteness level is raised a little by some snappy repartee (Ani: "Do you take a Metro card?" & "I'm usually so together." Lara: "Yeah, I can see that." - the show could do with more of this).<br />
<br />
While I tend to to be turned off by a whole cast of pretty, Lara has a major dose of it, and it is mesmerising. In episode 9 she has a strong screen presence that goes beyond a conventional feminine prettiness: it hints at a restrained but powerful personality, and a quirky kind of fun. But, on re-watching episode 9, I'm just not feeling a gay vibe in the Ani-Lara interactions, expecially not from Ani. Leccia plays a very charming, down-to-earth Ani, one who successfully conveys many emotions - hurt, caring, frustration and deep attachment, for instance. But I'm not seeing any (woman-to-woman) passion or desire in her feelings for either Gina or Lara.<br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">US Glamour: UK 'realism' - </b><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Desire, diversity & lesbian representation?</b><br />
Perhaps I'm a bit out of step with much of the <i>Venice</i> fan energy because I have more of a background in watching and enjoying British soaps and dramas, which lean more to 'social realism'. US soaps have tended to focus on excessively perfect people in an enticingly glossy world. In contrast, British soaps tend to create a familar, everyday world with characters that engage because of they are very like the viewers - and with varying degrees of the 'pretty' and the 'plain'.<br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hot, exciting & 'real': can we have it all</b><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">?</b><br />
Maybe different viewing histories at least partly explain the differences amongst lesbian and bisexual fans, in the ways we want to see lesbians portrayed on the screen? Some want to see conventionally feminine & pretty lesbian characters, because they undermine the stereotype of 'unattractive' mannish lesbians. Others, including me, want to see lesbian characters more like ourselves and ones we know, and/or that have a less gender-conventional kind of sex appeal. We ask, why is it that the standard idea of female attractiveness lies within traditional femininity? When will we get more lesbian soap/drama characters with the sex appeal and/or magnestism of<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/01/rachel_maddow_on_being_enraged.html">Rachel Maddow</a>, or <a href="http://perezhilton.com/?p=5906">Jeanette Jenkins, or Queen Latifah</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewz36aCTI/AAAAAAAAAFg/DPFcSHvdw4Y/s1600-h/Jeanette+Jenkins+%26+Queen+Latifah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewz36aCTI/AAAAAAAAAFg/DPFcSHvdw4Y/s200/Jeanette+Jenkins+%26+Queen+Latifah.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewaDGut5I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/_XICuFwJsU4/s1600-h/20090120_maddow_250x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewaDGut5I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/_XICuFwJsU4/s200/20090120_maddow_250x375.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewhYpFdcI/AAAAAAAAAFY/pYnwYBmvVqE/s1600-h/helfer_sackhoff_bikes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ewhYpFdcI/AAAAAAAAAFY/pYnwYBmvVqE/s200/helfer_sackhoff_bikes.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> or <a href="http://www.doubledumbassonyou.com/?p=482">some of the </a><a href="http://www.doubledumbassonyou.com/?p=482">Battlestar Gallactica women</a>,</div><br />
The pilot epsiodes for the British web series <a href="http://www.farouttv.co.uk/"><i>Far Out</i></a>, (created, written and directed by <a href="http://themostcake.co.uk/we-like/interview-far-outs-faye-hughes/">Faye Hughes</a>: Inner Sanctum Productions Ltd.) makes a strong contrast with <i>Venice</i>, in being more within the British social realist tradition. The characters are not especially glamorous or overly pretty. I have seen them described as ugly and poorly acted on afterellen forums. However, this show has potential. As with <i>Venice</i>, I like it's premise and cast of characters.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ezeK8VspI/AAAAAAAAAFo/iCl6UrCV_5Y/s1600-h/Far+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/S3ezeK8VspI/AAAAAAAAAFo/iCl6UrCV_5Y/s320/Far+Out.jpg" /></a></div><br />
But also like <i>Venice</i>, the faults are more in the execution and the details of writing, directing and cinematography, than in the main ideas and stories. I wasn't surprised to see that the <i>Far Out</i> actors have had more stage than screen experience. The show comes off as quite stagey, which makes it seem 'over-acted'. But I do feel that, at least, one character has an attractive screen presence (Jen Stuart - played by Fliss Waldon - seen in the pic above leaning against the wall in a dark suit and specs), even though she isn't conventionally attractive.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, the <i>Far Out</i> cast is largely young, unlike <i>Venice</i> with its appeal to my no-longer-very-young self. And HOW GOOD was it, to see Gina and Guya (Hillary B. Smith) playing so well off each other without a lot of glamourising make-up and Dos? They looked so delightfuly trashed and playful, enjoying a bit of 'everyday' fun and interaction that cuts across some genre-dependent, screen stereoptypes of women.<br />
<br />
Some say Venice's frequent inclusion of booze and profanities jar. They see them as an immature attempt at rebellion, unrealistic for characters of their age - throw backs to college days that they long ago left behind (ah, but weren't they some glorious times? And did we have to leave all the pleasures and progressiveness of those days behind in order to be, what is often regarded as, staid, mature and grown-up?) I like that the <i>Venice</i> creators are trying to take a little walk on the wildside rather than stick to the more conventionally femininised decorum of US soaps. And the swearing and booze don't seem out of place in my world. Growing up is SO over-rated (and I never said I wasn't contradictory - like most people!).<br />
<br />
So I will be interested to see how much these two very different web shows engage me in the future.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-68947456414542711152010-02-12T19:05:00.002+13:002010-02-12T19:17:47.468+13:00Destini's Indie Intertube, web series and soap operas: history, women and change<b>Indie Intertube & the History of Web Series</b><br />
<br />
I have been listening to Destini's first <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bigpurpleradio/2010/01/21/indy-intertube">Indie Intertube</a> podcast on Web Series. There is a lot of great information there about the history of web series, format, funding issues and the connection with TV soaps.<br />
<br />
I learned about the first web series <i>The Spot</i>, made in 1995. Sadly neither Destini or I have found any videos of it, but there is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYAwLvWK-NE&feature=related">this one about it.</a> Fittingly this also was a soap. There also is another early one, <i>Eon 4</i>. If anyone has a link to videos of either of these series, some of us will be really interested to see it.<br />
<br />
<b>Soap Operas: Gender and broadcast drama series</b><br />
<br />
While some look down their noses at soap operas, it was actually a defining format for serialised broadcast drama, first on the radio and then on TV. And most other TV genres have regularly borrowed from features of soaps to engage viewers with the characters and their stories - from crime shows and sci fi, to reality TV. <br />
<br />
I think the reason that many see soap operas as a low status art form, has to do with the fact that they have always primarily appealed to a female audience. DayTime soap operas targetted housewives at a time when that was assumed to be women's primary role. For the soap sponsors it was a means of advertising to the people who were most likely to have control over the household budget. For the women listeners/viewers it often had a different role, connecting them to the people outside their homes, and providing content for chatting to other women over coffee/tea or on the phone.<br />
<br />
<b>The Evolution of Soaps: from TV to the Web </b><br />
<br />
Consequently, soaps always have tended to encourage a kind of interactive viewing. Women have often used them as a focus to discuss relationships and the rights and wrongs of human behaviour - a very important way of improving their ability to conduct and support inidividuals and their relationships. <br />
<br />
Now US DayTime soaps are under threat with the longest running soap, <a href="http://www.tv.com/guiding-light/show/445/summary.html"><i>Guiding Light</i></a> being axed last year, and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/08/entertainment/main5937913.shtml"><i>As The World Turns</i></a> also being cancelled. This has to do with the fact that these days many women are in paid employment, and there isn't the same home audience that there used to be for soaps. So, as is discussed in Destini's Indie Intertube podcast, many are looking to the Internet to find a new audience, or re-connect with long-term soap viewers, and to try to re-create soaps on relatively low budgets. <br />
<br />
The interactive potential of the Internet is ideal for soaps, or dramas that focus on characters and their relationships. It provides an environment where viewers can engage with other viewers to discuss their favourite characters and stories, to give feedback to the producers on audience reactions and desires, for viewers to provide creative responses to the characters and stories that engage their imaginations, and to enjoy the fun of doing this easily and quickly.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-16864769485509319882010-02-12T14:31:00.003+13:002010-02-12T15:03:40.773+13:00Jacking-In To Online Fiction: how I became a web series fan.<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CCarolyn%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:PMingLiU;
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:新細明體;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@PMingLiU";
panose-1:2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:136;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611969 684719354 22 0 1048577 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU;
mso-ansi-language:EN-NZ;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:595.3pt 841.9pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">I have been interested in web series since developments in technologies enabled posting of short videos online. Two of the first series to catch my attention were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_%28TV_series%29">Sanctuary</a> <a href="http://www.sanctuaryforall.com/">(later to be shown on TV)</a> and <a href="http://www.lg15.com/">lonelygirl15</a>. Both were ground-breaking in their own way. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary used <a href="http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12916.html">high definition technologies</a> when they were first being used by significant numbers of people online, although, unfortunately not me. I was a mature postgraduate student on a limited budget. I also couldn’t afford the subscription for it. But I was impressed by the look after the hours it took to download the first free episode.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Lonelygirl15 excited me a lot because the producers attempted to slot it into the recent developments of youtube and personal vlogging. It caught people’s attention by linking to and commenting on other personal vlogs. The aim of the makers was to blur the boundaries between fiction and “real life” vlogging. It got a following for this lonely girl vlogging from her bedroom (Bree, played by Jessica Rose). In keeping with gender conventions, the voyeurism of such an intimate format is more often successful with a focus on a young attractive female. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Very quickly followers made good use of online technologies to discover that the Lonelygirl was played by an actress. This is not the<a href="http://cbs5.com/seenon/Matt.Foremski.Bree.2.447148.html"> hoax that mainstream news media</a> often made it out to be (perhaps because they see the extensive potential of the internet as a threat). <a href="http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=The_Creators">The creators</a>, Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda were happy to be “outed” and <a href="http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Main_Page">welcomed the interactivity with fans</a>, sometimes incorporating fan videos in the story, having online chat sessions with the shows “characters” and including clues into the show videos that the fans helped characters to solve. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ"><a href="http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Portal:KateModern%20">KateModern</a> spun off from LG15, extending the global reach of the LG15 fictional world to a London setting, and focusing on slightly older characters, with more of a woman-centred focus than LG15. By then LG15 had come to focus on male characters saving young girls from a vampirish cult, who needed transfusions of the specific kind of blood in the bodies of their victims.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">I was excited about this new form of interactive storytelling and the way it adapted to the changing technologies of the Internet. My main criticism of most of the web series I saw at the time, was that they tended to be very heterosexual, focus on the very young, and conformed to fairly conventional gender conventions (though Sanctuary centred on some older characters).</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">Then I discovered that the <a href="http://www.afterellen.com/taxonomy/term/2689">afterellen website</a> <a href="http://afterellen.com/"></a>was hosting and/or posting about a range of screen stories online that either centred on a lesbian character/s or were lesbian-themed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-NZ">More to come on this and various other web series later.</span></div>Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-10308373197221783342009-01-06T06:52:00.006+13:002010-02-12T11:41:53.850+13:00An Outrage in Gaza; a feminist issueEvery mornning I wake up to yet more news of brutalities and deaths in Gaza. It is unbearable to watch such suffering and see Western governments sit on their hands and allow it to happen. While I don't condone the Hamas rockets, they are no match for the unequal and overwhelming might of Israel and its US military, political and economic support. Without that support Israel would need to enter into dialogue with Palestine on more equal terms.<br />
<br />
I call on the NZ government to make explicit statements condeming the unwarranted use of force by the Israel government, and its policies that imprison and starve the people of Gaza of resources. An Israeli government that, it seems, is allowing its military to controversially (perhaps illegally) <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5447590.ece">use phosphorous in its attacks on Gaza</a>. This is something that can cause "horrific burns" for anyone, including civilians, that it rains down on.<br />
<br />
Amongst other things this brutality agains the people of Gaza is a humanitarian and a feminist issue, <a href="http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2009/01/protest_against">as outlined by a post on the F-Word website</a>.<br />
<br />
They quote<a href="http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/sites/cw4p/home/english/articles/women_gaza010109"> the Coalition of Women for Peace</a><br />
<blockquote>We women’s peace organizations from a broad spectrum of political views demand an end to the bombing and other tools of death, and call for the immediate start of deliberations to talk peace and not make war. The dance of death and destruction must come to an end. We demand that war no longer be an option, nor violence a strategy, nor killing an alternative. The society we want is one in which every individual can lead a life of security - personal, economic, and social.<br />
<br />
It is clear that the highest price is paid by women and others from the periphery - geographic, economic, ethnic, social, and cultural - who now, as always, are excluded from the public eye and dominant discourse.<br />
<br />
The time for women is now. We demand that words and actions be conducted in another language.</blockquote>They also quote from <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129153">Arutz Sheva</a><br />
<blockquote>A broad coalition of Israeli women's groups is organizing the first large demonstration against the IDF's counter-terror operation in Gaza, "Cast Lead." The demonstration, which organizers believe will be "huge," will take place in Haifa Friday and will call on Israel to accept the international initiatives for an immediate ceasefire.The organizers number 18 groups, including the <a href="http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english" target="_blank">Coalition of Women for Peace</a> (itself a coalition which includes groups like Machsom Watch and Women in Black), Ahoti, <a href="http://www.ruach-nashit.org.il/page.asp?p=8" target="_blank">Ruach Nashit</a>, Isha L'Isha, Bat Shalom, The Organization for Women's Economic Empowerment, Women's Parliament and other groups.</blockquote>These groups compain that the approach of the Israeli government and related institutions are very male dominated and this is contributing to an intensely masculine approach to using disproportionate force and violence. I am not totally convinced that all women are "naturally" less violent than all men. But as far as I can see, large numbers of women and children are "innocent" victims of the Israeli violence against Gaza.<br />
<br />
This bloodshed and violence is an outrage, and I add my voice to those asking for it to stop now.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-35674378490790728982008-12-02T18:35:00.012+13:002008-12-03T08:35:11.172+13:00Dude, where's my safe space gone? Google mapping my (in)securityToday I'm not happy with Google. They've made my little home, which I had alsways felt was fairly invisible, and safely so, viewable by the entire world.<br /><br />Yesterday I mentioned the way continuing technological developments are making it easier to carry out surveillance of people's daily activities, which renders many people vulnerable to control by authorities. I also referred to <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1371&context=infopapers">Michael and Michael's (2006)</a> idea of the "cool" factor, which means large numbers of people are happy to put their personal lives on view in publicly accessible digital spaces like myspace and youtube.<br /><br />Well, as most people realise, today <a href="http://maps.google.co.nz/">Google Street View for NZ</a> went live, with many people welcoming it, and some feeling cheated if their home isn't visible (like a lot of the people <a href="http://www.publicaddress.net/system/topic,1552,hard_news_they_can_see_your_house_from_here.sm?i=0#forum-replies">commenting on Russell Brown's blog</a>). Others have concerns about privacy issues (as shown on <a href="http://www.3news.co.nz/News/Is-Google-watching-you/tabid/209/articleID/82510/cat/41/Default.aspx">TV3 news tonight</a>).<br /><br />As soon as I heard this images were being collected for Google Street View I was uneasy. I am a (no longer young) woman who lives alone in a very nice, secluded space amongst some trees and hidden away from the street. This has given me some pause with respect to my personal safety, especially when home alone at night. However, the place is within my price range, is in a beautiful spot, and my nearest neighbours are pretty close. But, more importantly, my sense of security has always been aided by my knowledge that few people know that my place even exists.<br /><br />So, today I went to check Google Street View, in their maps section, to see exactly what it showed of my living space. Obviously as I can't be seen from the street, my home is not on Street View, and I'm very pleased about that. However, I did discover that my place is visible on the Satellite view. This really p***ed me off. A few years back when I first checked Google Earth, that level of detail didn't exist for my area. So, even though I had to look hard to work out which geometric space was my roof, I wonder how much more visible my home will become in the future. It feels like gradually encroaching surveillance of my personal space.<br /><br />The TV3 News items said people could report any privacy concerns to Google, through a clickable link at the bottom of the Street View images. That option doesn't seem to be available for Google Satellite maps. Furthermore the links to information on Google's privacy policy didn't readily expose anything relevant to my concerns.<br /><br />So I used the contact link and emailed Google. But I'm not holding my breath that they'll be interested in my concerns, or that they'll get back to me any time soon.<br /><br />But surely such surveillance does raise both security and privacy issues, especially for women at home alone, and others amongst the more vulnerable in society. And how much longer before such technologies of surveillance develop so that we all perform our entire lives on a world wide Big brother set?<br /><br />Furthermore, it seems to me like an invasion from a distant and foreign place. Google is a US company, although I guess they have offices in NZ. Presumably they are also making money from putting our personal and, for some of us, once safe spaces, on view to the world.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-6409699112492057872008-12-01T16:45:00.006+13:002008-12-03T08:36:12.897+13:00Cylons, cyclic capitalism and technologies of changeThere's an interesting piece on <a href="http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2008/11/kondratiev-comes-full-cycle.html">Chris Trotter's blog </a>about Nikolai Kondratiev's theory of the way capitalism, rather than promoting continuous growth, follows a cycle of peaks and troughs. Not a particularly new idea, but it's pretty depressing, both because it indicates that we are entering a very deep trough, but also because we seem locked into these boom-bust cycles. This theory also links each rise towards a peak in capitalism to a new technological development:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1st wave </span>18th Century – steam engine.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2nd wave</span> 1830s – steam engines, railways.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3rd wave</span> 1880s - steel, electricity, chemical and heavy-engineering industries.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4th wave </span>- petrochemical, automobile manufacturing, and other mass production industries.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5th wave</span> – 1970s - revolution in telecommunications and information technology - personal computer, cellphones, and the Internet.<br /><br />So, it seems to me that the current down-turn into depression could result in large numbers of people realising the extent of the destructiveness of these cycles of capitalism and start trying to develop a system based on sustainable production, social justice, supportive communities etc. Or the forces for a new wave of capitalism could already be marshalling within the current chaos. If so, what new technological development will it be harnessing to fuel the next capitalist growth cycle? A very likely contender could be the diverse developments occuring in relation to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnology">biotechnology</a>.<br /><br />Looking back, the whole IT revolution was pre-empted in a lot of sci fi of the 1960s: eg it was a common theme in the TV programme <i>The Avenger</i>s, in which evil computer scientists, linked with foreign capitalist corporations attempt to dominate the world.In some of the most popular sci fi TV programmes of today, there is a common theme of biotechnologies and cyborgs: <i>Heroes</i> (super-human genetic mutants – could use their powers for good or evil, but the powers often corrupt), <i>Battlestar Galactica</i> (human made robots, self generate human-like cylons, so that now many cylons and humans don't now whether they are one or the other), T<i>erminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles </i>– also features human-like robots).<br /><br />I was particularly thinking of things like microchip implants that are already being developed, and look likely to follow a trajectory that has gone from desktop home computers, through mobile and wearable technologies, to implants used for medicine, surveillance, <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2034">policing and military operations</a> (The Center for Global Research on Globalisation, Canada), and art and communications. It could see a shift from microchips in our passports, to microchip implants as personal ID, and communication device.<br /><br />It could result in whole populations being physically jacked into networked systems. It reminds me of some <i>Doctor Who</i> episodes, where they move from the Emma Peel <i>Avengers</i>-type Robots (Cybernauts)<wbr>, as clumsy robots manipulated by an evil genius, to <i>Doctor Who</i>’s cybermen, the result of human upgrades. And this is related in <i>Doctor Who</i> to alternative realities, where the communication systems infiltrate bodies, eg the TV set during the Britiish queen’s coronation, and realities where people are physically networked through mind-controlling ear attachments.<br /><br />It’s <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1371&context=infopapers">already moved beyond sci fi</a> (K & M.G. Michael, 2006) and I think also could include a “cool” factor that would mean increasingly overt forms of repression may not be needed to control populations, while simultaneously fuelling capitalist accumulation and inequalities: think of how myspace, and mobile phones etc are embraced as cool while also making surveillance and control potentially easier for authorities.<br /><br />So how should we be responding to the developments in biotechnology in a way that challenges the way they could fuel a new cycle in capitalism? Proposals for a <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/greennewdealneededforuk210708.aspx">green new deal</a> (New Economics Foundation) have possibilities.<br /><br />I was thinking to include changes in gender constructions and relations in this post, but perhaps that will best be kept for a future blog entry.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-2867467814010685012008-11-12T19:26:00.006+13:002008-11-19T10:52:40.859+13:00Women, Power, and the Casual Circulation of Misogyny & Lesbophobia<a href="http://www.policy.net.nz/blog/2008/11/11/chris-trotter-the-night-mmp-couldnt-save-us-from-ourselves/#more-2814">Chris Trotter published</a> a much discussed response to the NZ election last weekend, in which he presented his views on the change from a centre left to a centre right government. He concluded that:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">It was these: the men who just couldn’t cope with the idea of being led by an intelligent, idealistic, free-spirited woman; the gutless, witless, passionless creatures of the barbecue-pit and the sports bar (and the feckless females who put up with them); who voted Helen Clark out of office.</span><br /></blockquote>Many people posted criticisms. My responses were:<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>I do find it dispiriting that there has been so much mysogynistic and homophobic invective directed at Clark. It’s not something I hear among people I know, but it seems to be quite pervasive online & in talk-back radio. I had thought NZ society had generally become more enlightened. Many people overseas that I know, saw Clark as a sign MZ is a forward-thinking and enlightened country, and are sorry to see her voted out.</p> <p>I have come across several despondent people in the last few days in the places I work, and they generally can’t believe we have a change of government. Some of the most despondent are men. They don’t follow political blogs online or, as far as I know, listen to talk-back radio. But one youngish man expressed similar ideas to Chris above, though he expressed it in a more subdued and less accusing way. He said he thought the people that voted Labour/Clark out must mostly be older men who don’t like having a woman PM.</p> <p>I don’t know how true that is, but it does feel like 2 steps forward and (hopefully only) 1 step backwards, before the country moves forward again in relation to attitudes to gender and sexuality.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>And this:</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p>It only takes a shift of maybe up to 5-10% of voters to swing an election. So the mysogynistic elements who swung to the right in this election aren’t the majority of National/right voters. Thus the men Trotter is criticising does not need to be more than this 5-10% of voters.</p> <p>Of course there are plenty of National/Right supporters, who, along with their MPs don’t express their criticism of Labour/Clark in msyogynistic terms. However, those elements do exist in fairly substantial numbers, and have been pretty evident within the campaign against Clark/Labour.</p> <p>Sexism, homophobia and anti-woman invective is fairly common in the comments on a couple of prominent right wing blogs, and over the last few years such expressions have fanned some of the angst on talk-back radio & campaign heckling. They would never be allowed to remain, and/or exist unchecked in left wing organisations. Yet IMO, the more official face of National/the right, while not using such terms themselves, do not seem to express their distaste for it, benefit from it, and in some ways seem to actively fan its flames.</p> <p>The National party has supported the above mentioned right wing blogs/blog owners by working in concert with them in some ways, and by National MPs candidates publicly saying they regularly read them, without any criticism of the mysogyny & homophobia threaded throught them.</p> <p>As long as those sort of elements have a fairly prominent visbility amongst right wing supporters, and remain unchecked by the majority on the right, then the right will be seen as supporting and benefitting from such mysogyny and homophobia.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Anna on the handmirror blog, <a href="http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2008/11/phil-goff-cant-get-excited.html">both agreeed and disagreeed with Trotter</a></p><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Jenny Shipley wore a lot less misogynist crap than Helen Clark did. I think it was not just Clark's gender which got her offside with some - rather, it was the fact that she was a woman advocating socially progressive politics. Jenny was cut some slack because she was a mum - she fit the expected female career path better than the 'childless lesbo', as Young Nats called Clark - and advocated policies which did not challenge gender or family norms, as civil unions and the repeal of section 59 have done.</blockquote><p></p>Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-39176671175785102192008-08-18T11:55:00.003+12:002008-08-19T09:01:27.656+12:00Golden moments<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/SKi6nkW5XLI/AAAAAAAAAC4/1w1FjeBmrZw/s1600-h/vili_win_flag_z.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75_e6lTGgGM/SKi6nkW5XLI/AAAAAAAAAC4/1w1FjeBmrZw/s400/vili_win_flag_z.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235639755755576498" border="0" /></a>It is just soooo cool to see NZ celebrating a hard-won achievement by such a beautifully assertive, straight-talking, cheeky and talented woman!!!!<br /><br />Go Valerie!!! 'Smack the crap out of it" indeed!Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-60276170294701094972008-08-12T11:13:00.003+12:002008-08-12T14:29:53.575+12:00Pushing the polls? Subliminal Nats' promotion?I got a phone call just as I was about to start watching Women's Murder Club on TV. I agreed to do this phone poll, even though it meant missing the beginning of the programme. I had always wondered why I never got contacted for the widely publicised political polls, so wanted to be able to give my views. However, as it turned out, the questions made this hard to do.<br /><br />The young woman asking the questions said she was from a company that sounded like <em>Courier</em>. I tried to get some information from her about who had commissioned the poll, but all she could/would say was that they did political surveys.<br /><br />As the survey progressed I became increasingly unhappy with the questions. I said so to the interviewer. She said others had made the same comments "this evening". Too many of the questions seemed to be based on right wing assumptions, and many were far too simplistic for me to easily provide an answer.<br /><br />She began by asking if I was planning to vote in the parliamentary elections, and if so, who for. Some of the questions went something like this (based on my memory):<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Which party did I think would be most successful in "cracking" down on<br />crime?<br /><br />Which Party did I think could "fix" the health system?<br /><br />Which party would have a tax system that would "reward hard work"?</em><br /></blockquote><br /><br />These were some of the questions I criticised, explaining why I couldn't give a straight forward answer.<br /><br />The first assumes crime is out of control, pandering to the kind of moral panic the political right and much mainstream media tend to promote. The second assumes the health system is broken. I said I didn't think this was the case for either, though I did think they could be further improved.<br /><br />The tax questions seems to tap into a right wing assumption that all higher paid people always work harder than all of those on lower pay, and that they therefore deserve tax cuts.<br /><br />There were similar slants to questions on welfare, mortgages, and too many questions asking for the "best" party generally. There was a whole bunch of questions asking to compare party leaders, especially Labour/Clark and National/Key, indicating a first past the post slant to some questions. I complained that it often depended on the issues, though I always tended to answer in favour of one or more than one left leaning parties.<br /><br />At the end I told the interviewer that I wasn't criticising her, but that I thought it was a poor questionnaire. I basically was saying that whoever designed it, didn't do a very good job.I did a bit of a quick search online, but could find nothing on <em>"Courier"</em> company that does surveys, so I'm a little suspicious. Such a questionnaire could easily push people who didn't have strong political views and/or knowledge towards thinking we needed a right wing government.Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8197778562973940817.post-76392768267972663192008-08-07T09:38:00.002+12:002008-08-07T10:05:30.053+12:00Trains are cool: hurrah for the tax increasesI regularly go by train to work in Auckland. I like that it is less stressful than coping with some car drivers who are aggressively self-centred in their driving, and who take every opportunity to get an inch ahead of other drivers<br /><br />I like that, when necessary, I can do some work on the train. I like the sense of community. Some days there's lots of lively chatter on the trains (and not just by people talking loudly on mobiles). And I like it when the train runs on time.<br /><br />I don't like the frequent delays. (Last night there were major delays due to some unnamed incident in Otahuhu). Often a train has to wait for an oncoming train to free up the line so it can continue. This means the 'express" train is not so express. Like last night, the express (running late) made unscheduled stops at stations. One or two people stood hopefully outside the closed doors, becoming increasingly frustrated that the doors never opened.<br /><br />So the train system desperately needs an upgrade. Though I like the rather quaint system of "conductors" who collect our tickets; especially the cheerful and friendly ones. Sadly, I think an upgrade will do away with them.<br /><br />There was some angst yesterday about the increase in Auckland Regional road taxes to help pay for the rail upgrade.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10525531">New Zealand Herald: Motorists hit with new fuel taxes</a><br /><blockquote>Auckland motorists face new fuel taxes of up to 10c a litre from 2011, to pay for electric trains and other congestion-busting public transport investments.</blockquote>As the above article says, the Automobile Association is complaining about lack of consultation with motorists and other Aucklanders. Well as an Auckland motorist, and train traveller, I am happy to see this money being raised for improvement of the rail system. This is going to be increasingly important form of travel in the future. People need to get used to the idea that, in the future, private cars will no longer be the dominant form of transport in NZ.<br /><br /><h1><br /></h1>Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11140142800525092834noreply@blogger.com0