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Digital Geography is the study of digitalised geography through the media. This theme looks at how media and mobility are used in everyday life and can be made up of three different concepts which are:

Geographies produced through the digital this is the idea that using a digital tools to produce and share a range of geography research. The use of digital technologies in the production and understanding of space in everyday life is examined in geographies produced by the digital. With using geography methods to make sense of the digital and post-digital world would be how geographies produced of the digital would studied.

Digital geography is also involved with the idea of the mobility side of geography as well. This involves how the world has become more highly digitalised and therefore mobilised. Everyone with a technological device can simply travel anywhere, can technically traced where ever they go and can research, and witness cultures from other countries using the their device.

Globalisation is a major part of digital geography as it brings movement of human, goods and cultural conventions. This could be done using technologies, often networks have some form of maps such as Google maps that can allow the user to experience a virtual world and seeing the virtual scenery, this is also enhanced using 3D imagery to create scaling.

Hybridity, which brings shared meanings, takes a role within a lot of different places within the world, within their cultures, identities and even languages.

McDonaldisation doesn’t not really allow a person to experience the culture of another country and gives this idea that you have the ability to not change anything or effect anything, including environments, even if you travel.

The idea of digital geography has many different concepts and one of the main ones is Mediascapes. Mediascapes makes up a large portion of digital geography as it is the representation of space and place in terms of media. This allows consumers to connect with different spaces and places using media such as people can virtually visit other countries and their cities like South Korea’s Seoul or Paris the capital of France.

This can allow people to try and experience places without traveling to these places and having the ability to not change anything. However, it could most likely end up giving them a completely different experience to those who go to a country and place to experience these different cultures or to the people that actually live there and have created deep attached meanings to the location.

A street view, a digital geography, within Japan – https://images.app.goo.gl/R4ik3ptBU8EQ7ECz9

Users of digital technologies are subject to, and participants in creating, innumerable digital changes, while corporations continue to render devices and software obsolete to increase profits, and governments are slowly becoming involved in regulating the digital.
(McLean, J. 2020)

A digitalised version of the Earth – https://images.app.goo.gl/4h8nfRcAf69bwYT39

Mobility combines physical movement, representations that give meaning, and the experience that embodies mobile practices.

There is the idea that within this almost digital world and with a lot of the current world issues, such as the pandemic, we are starting to depend more on aspects of digital geographies to experience some of the cultural geographies that we are missing out on. An example of this would be going to see a movie that had a lot of culture within it or researching and looking into other cultures or places to see what the location is like such as using Google Maps to look at other locations.

Technology has created a range of ways to try and experience a place and space without actually being there and they have done this using a range of different technologies from mapping out the streets to digital satellites taking photos of the Earth. ‘Digital technologies are providing new opportunities for communication and connection, while simultaneously deepening problems associated with isolation, global inequity and environmental harm, contributing to shifting digital geographies’ (McLean, J. 2020), McLean suggests that despite technology advancing and being a positive change it increases the chances of isolation and less communication within peoples everyday interactions and life in general.

Place appears to involve some notion of stability
and permanence while mobility appears to necessitate constant change and process.
(Cresswell. 2014)

References:

Cresswell, T. (2014). Place in a Mobile World. Cresswell, Tim. Place : An Introduction. https://files.coventry.aula.education/63ca2b91f31de63aeef0af64d48fb8ffcreswell___place_in_a_mobile_world.pdf

McLean, J. (2020). Changing Digital Geographies. Changing Digital Geographies: Environments, Technologies and People. https://files.coventry.aula.education/6b966d8e9e1d5ee15cc2156a08977bbdintroduction___changing_digital_geographies.pdf

Cultural Geography

By Freya Glenton

On 16 February 2022

In Postdigital Nations: Systems and Networks and Podcast, Year 2

Cultural geography is the study of place and space and how these particular places hold different cultures that are composed of everyday interactions and meanings. This study demonstrates how parts of locations are peoples lived experiences and is a representation of particular places and spaces. Cultural geography looks at how these places can affect our identities and how our identity effects the people within different cultures.

To study cultural geography you have to look at three concepts and how they contribute in making up the complex system of cultures, identities and meanings. These concepts are: space, place and landscape. Each one of these concepts are the main way to comprehend this study and relate to peoples everyday life experiences and how people live their lives in completely different ways.

Space: this is the idea of things, an area, existing somewhere. This is an area without any form of meaning. This is often a an area that has no connection to a human and is a space that simply just exists completely without any form of meaning.

Place: this involves particular locations within space that are given meaning by people. This often can be depicted by how people interact, create lifestyles and cultures within this location which end up making it a place. This concept of a place is full of human experiences, representations and identities. Places are experiences differently depending on the persons identity and history such as Mexico’s Day of the Dead also known as Día de los Muertos which is a symbolic celebration and represents a day or mourning and a way to show respect for deceased family members, so for people within this culture celebrate along with honour people and is a deep rooted tradition. Whereas this event is simply a celebration of festivities, face paint and is a representation life and death to most of the rest of the world and doesn’t hold much meaning, which shows that different places have different lived experiences and meanings.

The day of the dead- National Geographic. (2017). What is Day of the Dead? | National Geographic. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sSawpU81cI

Landscape: A representation of a place or space. This is often shown as themes such as skylines, countrysides and city-lines. This can be represented through paintings, photos or through an actual location.

This can involve a more virtual version, social media apps has not gone
unnoticed (Cresswell,2015), which would then link to digital geographies. However, one of the main theorists Cresswell talks about the difference between the two geography concepts and both the positives and the negatives of mapping out the world in digital, ‘Recognizing the danger in Google mapping the world, others are producing an open source map‘ (Cresswell, 2015).

Struggle over virtual place reflects longstanding struggles over place by protest movements around the world.
T. Cresswell, 2015

Human geography is study of people relationship with places and can often involve peoples relationship with places, health and human interactions with their environments. ‘Human geography is therefore all about understanding why the spatial nature of ‘social things’ matter.‘ (Jones, 2012), which demonstrates that this concept of human geography heavily links to social aspects.

Place names have high levels of importance and are often a necessary when it comes to cultures. Examples of this would be Canada’s history of colonization exertion of nation and power building, with the use of shared meanings such as them decolonizing place names which will shift a shared meaning.

Other ideas of cultural geographies involve around identities within cultures and how this aspect likes to places such as the highly popularised film: Black Panther, which has high representation African landscapes and places. Another example would be Coco which is based on the culture of Mexico and the festival of el Día de los Muertos.

Marvel’s Black Panther – an example of cultural geography identities. – Marvel Entertainment. (2017). Marvel Studios’ Black Panther – Official Trailer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU

Disney’s Coco – Disney UK. (2017). COCO | NEW UK TRAILER | Official Disney UK. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=969WVyvgzx4

Undoubtedly, this reversal in geography’s fortunes reflects a wider recognition that many of the current and ‘big’ challenges that face the world today are well addressed by the subject: globalization, climate change, sustainability, economic development or poverty reduction.
A. Jones, 2012

References:

Cresswell., T. (2015). Defining Place, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://files.coventry.aula.education/ce980315f83da93d9cb62306de166a61creswell___defining_place_in_place___an_introduction.pdf

Jones, A. (2012). Human Geography : The Basics. ProQuest Ebook Central,. https://files.coventry.aula.education/b6a3641cd1074a3cd3ab9454ba8e80e1jones___introduction__human_geography___the_basics.pdf

Media Ecology

By Freya Glenton

On 16 February 2022

In Postdigital Nations: Systems and Networks and Podcast, Year 2

280mapa

Media ecology looks at media as environments and how digital environments and technology has effected the everyday human experiences. This theory describes the complex interaction between humans and technology as well as media. According to media ecology theories, media are extensions of the human senses, while communication is the primary cause of social change.

Ecology looks at the digitalisation of the media as a means for society as a whole and how it could relate to general change this includes the socio-cultural aspects such as values, lifestyles, economics, politics and more.

The future of ecology looks further into social consequences of the ‘media disruption’ as well as the idea that social consequences of media have been neglected. Ecology demonstrates an idea that technologies also ‘do not determine social change, but are implemented and evolve in certain social, cultural, political and economic contexts‘ (Ruotsalainen & Heinonen, 2015).

One of the major theorist in ecology is Marshall McLuhan who is defined as a visionary that understood the future of communication. McLuhan predicted that ‘due to the speed of communications evolution, the complete human society would start to transform‘ (McLuhan, 1962) and he talked about the phenomenon called the global village (McLuhan, 1996).

Along with this McLuhan had a communication theory, the idea of ‘the medium as the message’ which indicates as important as the message itself is just as important as the medium used to convey it.

All parts of social media are important aspects of media ecology and demonstrate the idea that media, particularly social media has an important role in creating the change or awareness to everyday situations or big/cultural events. Examples of this would be the evaluation of publication of events such as LGBT+ rights and along with that the Trevor Project Campaign, Black Lives Matter and raising awareness on big cultural events such as the updating on the status of Ukraine’s situation and Black Lives Matter Movements with due to social media such as Twitter, TikTok and Instagram has highly increased the awareness on these social situations.

The Trevor Project.

The idea of these cultural events are giving out this intended message through the use as social media being its medium. Despite how different audiences could take this message could vary depending on the consumers life however the result will still end with the message being seen and eventually spread.

References:

McLuhan, M. (1964). The Medium is the Message. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf

Ruotsalainen, J., & Heinonen, S. (2015). Media ecology and the future ecosystemic society. CrossMark. https://files.coventry.aula.education/41c0b795e1490986713f46dd0d0e9a8bmedia_ecology_and_the_future_ecosystemic_society.pdf

Velasquez, A., Renó, D., Beltrán, A. M., Maldonado, J. C., & Ortiz León, C. (2018). From the mass media to social media: reflections on the new media ecology. ResearchGate. https://files.coventry.aula.education/b8f14754c6b13d1c53a1bf9c7d91719bfrom_the_mass_media_to_social_media__reflections_on_the_new_media_ecology.pdf

The Final Result: The Media Careers Podcast

By Freya Glenton

On 16 February 2022

In Media Careers Podcast, Year 2

MCP Website

My BTS of MCP

The podcast:

MCP PODCAST – YouTube

ScreenLife and IMR

By Freya Glenton

On 8 February 2022

In Films and Screen Cultures, Year 2

Open Windows:

I have watched this screen-life film called ‘Open Windows’ and ‘Searching’. I think ‘Open Windows’ showed a unique way of presenting film through the use of a computer camera, in this screen life fashion, using the different tabs to present different shots which is a fascinating use of editing switching between the windows to the shots and then eventually to the antagonists POV shot still whilst keeping the concept of being on a computer right to the end where the main female character closes her computer. This experimental type of film created an interesting creative approach to a style of film that is not often seen within mainstream media which made the film stand out slightly to other films however i believe that the way that it is structured made the film slightly contradict what we have learnt about IMR as the the film lacked the continuity of editing but does use some elements that creates the classic Hollywood cinema such as the point of view shot near the end and some of the other “camera” computer shots throughout but it does not really demonstrate IMR rules well within the film.

The film is innovative and creative for trying to use this idea of showing the audience all of this happening through a computer as though they are trying to create a sense of paranoia or connect with the audience with the realism of seeing through the computer as if they are part of the experience by seeing similarly to what the main character does but the overall narrative and structure lacked slightly when it came to keeping the audience engaged.

trailer of open windows

There are a few films and shows that come to mind when I was watching ‘Open Windows’ as well as ‘Searching’ that use similar concepts of the screen life elements in them. The main two that i first thought of when i saw this style of film was ‘staged’ which basically centres around David Tennant and Micheal Sheen who uses a platform in the style of zoom to create an entire sitcom series. This is similar to the effect that ‘open windows’ has when showing the main characters through the idea of a face-time type element. However, ‘Staged’ does not overwhelm the audience with the many windows and creative elements.

A snip-it of Staged

One of the other films that came to mind when watching this was the horror/mystery film ‘Host’ which uses similar ways to create paranoia and tension however is similar to ‘staged’ where it takes place using a zoom like structure which is done effectively and does not overwhelm the audience with too much going on at once. I believe that the screen life style of film is difficult to create within the IMR rules as it doesn’t use the same traditional camera and narrative ideas that normal film uses to attract an audience. But ‘Host’ still manages to create an effective narrative and characters that todays audience could relate to due to the current situation of the pandemic. This film uses a lot of similar elements to ‘open windows’ with the concept of only seeing these characters mainly through the zoom call (instead of windows) and gives the audience the sense as through they are in the call as well and doing this it allows the audience to feel the tension and eeriness that happens within the film.

Host Trailer

Some Examples of films similar can be seen in the image below:

Blue Velvet (1986)

By Freya Glenton

On 25 January 2022

In Films and Screen Cultures, Year 2

‘Blue Velvet’ – 1986

(https://images.app.goo.gl/MrLpdiKpHsSs1abbA)

Going into watching the film Blue Velvet I was intrigued as to what this film was going to be about and how the director would portray the plot, as older films can sometimes have really bizarre plots or camera-work/effects within them depending on the different styles and genre of film that is being portrayed. As I did not know much about this film going into it I was interested in seeing what this cast and director had to offer.

During watching this film there were moments that I thought were fairly laid back or mundane and had very little interest in them, plot wise, however the camera work and editing was done well within the film. I do think there were moments in the film that were too mundane and I felt like the director did this to balance out the more graphic elements of the film. However, I thought they did an interesting job building suspension and uneasy feelings in some scenes with the lighting and music. But for the most part I felt disturbed with the graphic elements and sexual assault within the film. The disturbing elements built up more and made me feel slightly uncomfortable within certain scenes.

However, I do admire that the film had some unique qualities to it such as the the mise-en-scene and camerawork, as the now considered ‘old fashioned style film’ made the film have some interesting visual elements to it. Such as the impactful scene of the women singing ‘Blue Velvet’ which added to the plot slightly and highlights why the film title is Blue Velvet, along with the robe that the women wears. Along with this the music within the film sometimes came off as eerie and sinister to build tension and create atmosphere and would fade or cut off to add to this which I thought was really well done within the film. So, despite there being a few hard scenes to watch I don’t regret the experience of watching the film purely based on a media stand point, I think that this film had some unique visual representation, such as the candle shots, that would be interesting to analysis and see why the creator made specific elements and scenes the way they did.

I believe that this film is a Crime and thriller mystery due to having a range of the typical tropes and conventions that are within the genre, although it had a hint of romance due to Jeffery (main character/protagonist) and Sandy’s relationship at points in the film.

As for whether I would recommend this film, the answer is no I would not due to its graphic nature and sensitive topics within the film, especially as it has graphic scenes and can be triggering for some people particularly those who have been through/are sensitive too: sexual assault, abuse or violence/gore. Although this film does have some interesting elements I personally think you have to have a particular taste to watch this film more than once and it wasn’t something I personally enjoyed or would want to see again.

https://images.app.goo.gl/edLvXTR6GPHLhWUe9

Iconic scene from Blue Velvet

My Favourite and Best Films

By Freya Glenton

On 25 January 2022

In Films and Screen Cultures, Year 2

(https://images.app.goo.gl/SHc94ZJXkbH88Ypu5)

I personally found the task of picking out my favourite film and the best film I have ever watched challenging as I adore so many films and have so many films that come close to being my favourite, from films that have stunning cinematography such as ‘The Aeronauts’ to other films that are beautifully nostalgic like ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, ‘Wall-e’ and ‘Up’ or even a more recent film that has stuck with me such as ‘Encanto’ which is gorgeously animated, has high quality musical elements and has great representation.

(⚠️Tw: This film covers mentions of suicide and mental health) So, picking just one was a difficult thing, however one of my favourite movies as of right now is a spectacularly gorgeous animated film called ‘The Silent Voice’ which follows the life of two main characters one who was picked and discriminated on for being deaf and her dealing with mental health as well as her bully who struggles with social anxiety and depression and we, as an audience, get to see how he views the world and people in it. This is one of my favourites as it was a film that stuck with me and I would often go back to. The way the style and characters are portrayed are striking and the storyline is emotional and moving in a way that allows an audience to connect to the characters. The film also is animated in such a beautiful style and this really makes an impact as I grew up with, and still enjoy, animated films and I admire the work that goes into them. The film also really connects to the viewer on personal level as we get to see this characters struggle and be vulnerable with their trauma and mental health.

MV5BZGRkOGMxYTUtZTBhYS00NzI3LWEzMDQtOWRhMmNjNjJjMzM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxODk2OTU@._V1_.jpg

The best movie I have ever watched as of right now is torn between a film called ‘Hidden figures’ which is a film based on true events that has a impactful plot and the film also has strong cinematography as well as high representation of strong, black, intelligent women as the main characters within the film. Along with this the film covers important topics and issues that are still needing to be to be talked about today such as racism and feminism. Along with a film called ‘Over the Moon’ which is based around a Chinese family, that uses strong music and visual elements, such as the use of colour and style, to demonstrate how this main character deals with the loss and grief of a loved one, her mother, and how she deals with change and new family. These two films are two of the best films I’ve seen due to their high representation, mise-en-scene, sound and cinematography/visual elements. Along with this the characters are relatable and will allow the audience to create a connection with them. From my media perspective these are two films are ones that keep me interested in analysing and developing my ever growing interest in the film industry.

MV5BMzg2Mzg4YmUtNDdkNy00NWY1LWE3NmEtZWMwNGNlMzE5YzU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjA5MTIzMjQ@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg — Hidden Figures – https://images.app.goo.gl/z3Gv3khBBfdpxPDA9

MV5BYmQ4OTUyNzUtNGJmYi00NjE0LWJmNmQtNjFlYzY3MWVkYTFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg — (Over the moon) – https://images.app.goo.gl/7u9DMAYcLUetYTdp9

The main difference between my favourite film and the best film would be that my favourite films are typically ones that I go back to, that tend to be emotional or nostalgic, that I connect too and would watch multiple times. However, my best film are ones I more appreciate for the technical and creative way it was done and are often films that I would want to look at in further detail and I don’t have to particularly like the film to know that it is a good film, however in this case both of these films were enjoyable and amazingly done.

Reflection on the Portfolio

By Freya Glenton

On 8 December 2021

In Building and Creating My Portfolio, Year 2

201MAPA - Planning for Professional Experience

Creating this portfolio was a challenging and time-consuming process and each section had me exploring aspects that I had previously not thought much about. This ended up being a difficult process as I had to experiment and research into different aspects of making an effective CV as well as other employability aspects such as placements. When going through this I really had to evaluate my professional experience and how I wanted to present each aspect of my experience. I did this by creating a website for my portfolio that goes through each of my experiences, how they were created and why I presented or included each section.

This was difficult to do as I started this project a lot later than I really should have which ended up making this massive project a lot more difficult than it needed to be, this was purely due to my time management skills and if I was to do this project again I would consider how much needed to be done and how much time would need to go into each section, by doing this I would be able to be more organised and therefore I would have better time management skills to be able to complete this portfolio to a better standard.

When doing this portfolio, I focused on different sections and the process behind each one. These included: researching placements, further engagements, examples of other work, creating a CV and Cover Letter, employer exchanges, creating a network map, SWOT analysis and skills audit as well as building the actual website. Each section of these had their own difficulties and I believe if I were to improve upon them, as a collective, I would make each of the posts on the website look more visually appealing by either adding more of a captivating look to them by how I presented the images or by creating/producing more images to go alone sides some of the posts.

Within this project I managed to show an understanding of the main employability skills and present them in a way that demonstrates them all in a clear, detailed, and efficient way and I have gained more experience when it comes to website building and how each set of presenting a website must be developed to draw in a viewer.

One of the main aspects that I would like to work on would be producing more innovated images to captivate the consumer and try to take more time to enhance my skills and look more into further engagements to accomplish this. I believe that even though this portfolio effectively shows the main aspects that were necessary for a viewer or even an employer to see, that this overall website has a lot of work that needs to still be done to make it more effective in presenting my skills. However, despite this I need to keep gaining skills, knowledge and experience using this software to be able to present a more effective and engaging portfolio in the future.