Lecture 5 - Telling Stories for Radio

Welcome everyone to lecture number five! Now this particular lecture was done completely different to the others as instead of attending the class and listening to the lecturer discuss the topic, we were asked to listen to it on an audio recording. This particular recording was about an interview on a radio show and a radio host was asked numerous questions regarding what it takes to speak on radio when interviewing or talking to another person live. A discussion of how Richard (the person who was interviewed) first came about into Radio was initially talked about, followed by how he transitioned from Radio in Television. Radio is a completely different medium to television and you can not put them together, they are two separate forms of media. Radio is also a much more intimate medium than television, you watch T.V. from a distance whilst skipping shows, on the other hand with radio, you can listen to it whilst carrying on other chores/duties. The voice comes from inside your head not at you when listening to radio and radio also makes listeners feel as if they are included within your conversation. 

The elements within having a conversation on radio were next analysed and discussed. The conventional interview time on radio is seven minutes maximum otherwise the listener will become bored of the content spoken. Conversations on radio are completely different where the speaking can go for an hour with one or two guests, the conversation is mostly biographical in nature. The factors involved with a conversation on radio is if the actual chatting will sustain for the full hour and that the interviewer is genuinely interested in the person they are conversing with. Pre-production of the radio show is very important as this is a chance to understand what the interview will encompass and if the "journey" of the conversation will be successful. A lot of preparation is done before bringing the guest onto the show so the interviewer is aware of the background of the interviewee and what is going to happen during the show. It is all about trusting the program and show and feeling comfortable.

Richard continues to explain how a person is under no legal obligation to answer certain questions and they must feel comfortable and safe enough to be on the show. Teasing and joking and bantering is also recommended to add a light tone to the radio conversation. Use humour to engage and bring fun to the radio piece and perceive the interviewee as a "real person". He then went on to talk about his most memorable guests he has ever had on radio and interesting stories associated with his interviews. Richard expresses his love for how a simple interview can in turn, make people remember certain events and memories when discussing their life during an interview on radio. When interviewing a person live on air, you must provide time for them to reflect on their past life and simply listen to what they have to say, instead of trying to comfort or interrupt their thought process. One key element that was mentioned during this discussion was that on radio, silence is powerful, never be afraid of it. There doesn't have to be constant talk or chatter all the time.

The question that was next asked was the amount and types of radio Richard listened to on a daily basis, he mentioned a few such as Planet Money, The Moth and Fresh Air. He then went on to state that Public radio is thriving in this environment due to the evolution of technology and the death of old media such as newspapers. Radio uses podcasts and is able to project information and connect to listeners all over the world. Another intriguing question that was asked during the interview was in relation to maintaining the warm manner when speaking on radio even though you can't see your audience. How is that manageable? Richard replied by saying he visualises his listeners when he speaks to help him maintain his energetic behaviour when interviewing and speaking.  He finally ends off by saying he wants to give something to his listeners, something for them to enjoy and laugh at and love. Richard gives us journalists some great tips at the end of his interview, explaining how we need to understand and learn more about worldly affairs and read up on events happening, as much as possible.

The next interview discusses the way in which radio expresses pictures with words and that "radio is the theater of the mind". Vocabulary and language are extremely important elements on radio when describing certain events and painting the picture for the listeners. When working on radio, one can not have a narrow viewpoint on certain topics, there needs to be an open mind for everything and it is important to note that some listeners may not have the same mindset as you do. It is not whether you're right or wrong, it's about who you are speaking with. The focus switches from yourself to the person you're interviewing and your audience's needs. When asking questions to your interviewee, it is very important to pursue the question to gain an answer in order for the audience to be informed. Another very interesting point raised during this interview is how lies are more obvious on radio than on television due to the lack of visuals to distract the audience. Therefore, if a person is fake on radio, the listeners can tell straight away. 

Body language is a major focus when it comes to determining how well an interview is progressing for example, voice raise, eye movement, leaning forwards or backwards etc. It is all about keeping trust with the person you're interviewing, whether this means changing your own interviewing techniques. Don't do anything on radio you wouldn't do in real life! Next, the process of keeping the interviewee interested and engaged was talked about, for example: the less complicated a question is, the faster the person will respond during the interview. It is all about response from the person you're interviewing, whether they become frustrated on a topic or speak passionately. Emotional responses are the best responses.

The components that make a good radio story were next discussed and these included: Being human and searching or exploring for the full gamet of human experience. Human beings are emotional creatures driven by personal experiences, therefore when interviewing a person, you need to talk less and listen more to what they have to say. Showing respect is through listening, people respond more when they are listened to. Finally, the way in which media is changing and altering in society was a large topic brought up during the interview and how radio has continued to keep its audience and build its audience. This is mainly due to people being "time poor" where society do not have enough time to read up on news therefore radio is a quick and easy way to listen to world affairs and events. Radio is also more real to a point and raw with its information.  A final point added at the end, is that truthfulness is very important in radio and to never give up when trying to be a radio presenter!

Bon Iver - My Hero and Inspiration

For those of you that don't know me, I love music, especially when there's raw and real meaning behind the lyrics. My all time favourite artist though (if I had to choose one) would have to be the amazing and truly talented Bon Iver. If you don't know him already SHAME ON YOU, but he is a truly inspirational man who has composed countless beautiful yet heart wrenching pieces. Each song he sings, I believe, conveys a message whether it be about his past memories or a dream. Bon Iver never ceases to emotionally connect with the audience and I was lucky enough to see him live last week at the Tivoli. Standing on the balcony and watching my hero belt out my favourite songs of all time (such as Perth, For Emma, Skinny Love, Holocene and Stacks) was truly mind blowing! So many emotions flooded over me that eventually I ended up in tears. The way he was completely engrossed in his music by the closing of his eyes and swaying of his body was so beautiful to see. He was entirely engulfed; nothing could break Bon from this trance. The musicians that accompanied him were equally as involved with the sounds they were playing. I remember when the final song was playing, the mezmerising silence and awe was felt by all. It was as if he was hypnotising the audience with the sweet melody arising from the single guitar and voice. This was truly one of the best nights of my life!

What I love most about the songs Bon Iver creates is that there is so much meaning and truth behind every word. This is especially the case in his most famous piece, Skinny Love. He explained during an interview what the meaning behind this particular song really was about; his former girlfriend: "We dated and she's an incredibly important person that I lived with for a long time, but it's about that time in a relationship that I was going through; you're in a relationship because you need help, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship. And that's skinny. It doesn't have weight. Skinny love doesn't have a chance because it's not nourished. Part of the trouble with the old haunting love, is that it messes with your future loves, and can damn and ambush your relationships." This insightful meaning made me ponder a lot about relationships and the power one song can have on your thoughts.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you all my love for Bon Iver and leave you with the song that I fell in love with :)

Reflection on Four Lectures

Hello fellow followers! I hope you are having a great week and day so far :) As you have seen previously, I have summarised the last four lectures into what we have learnt so far. I would now like to give a quick paragraph on each lecture and my personal opinion and interpretation on the topics presented and how these have affected me.

Lecture  1

This was the very first lecture (introduction) to the topic. Basically a quick overview of what was to come throughout this course was given, with the assessment items quickly listed. The question was asked "what is journalism and communications?" and a very interesting quote stuck with me when the response was given to this question. "Journalism is the first rough draft of history" Let's just ponder upon this statement for a moment. I believe that when studying Journalism and learning about its origins and why this particular study came about, one needs to delve into the true meaning behind communicating through journalism. There is no right or wrong communicating style, history itself can be transferred to the public in many shapes and forms and can therefore have a particular viewpoint on a matter. "Journalism is the first rough draft of history" as this study may not exactly define the meaning behind worldwide events but provides the framework of historical events to come.

 

Lecture  2

As I have discussed before, this particular lecture was about new and old media and the implications of people paying for something they believe they are entitled to continue to have for free. Whilst the lecture continued, I began to question our society's use of media and how people are so reluctant to pay for news online in this day and age. There needs to be a monetising scheme established and old media such as newspaper need to be brought back from the dead. There is an increase of ignorance and a lack of knowledge surrounding news that is published online (ethnocentricity). Readers believe they are entitled to news and this could most definitely result in the death of Journalism. Cheap Web news is in, and newspapers and the classifieds are out!

Lecture  3

This particular lecture was all about the structure of text and how formatting is extremely important when grabbing the reader's attention. The inverted pyramid technique most interested me when listening to the lecture. It is an extremely helpful and clever diagram in regards to the formatting of information. The most important information is always at the top of the pyramid and as the pyramid continues, the least important information starts to form. This pyramid is a very useful tool in the field of journalism, readers need to be captured and interested from the moment they read a story or piece of information. The more defined facts and figures can come into the picture later on but a hook needs to be established from the moment an article is read. Even though the content of a journalist story is very important, the structure and formatting of the information provided is just as important!

Lecture 4

The fourth lecture was probably one of my favourite over this month. It was all about pictures and how one picture can speak a thousand words (as cliche as that sounds!). There are many elements that surround capturing a good picture to match the story told such as framing, focus, exposure etc. However, one point raised in the lecture that got me thinking was the photo shopping or Faux - tography aspect of pictures. Is natural beauty or keeping a picture simple not enough to attract viewers? When did our society become so obsessed with trying to achieve perfection through manipulation? It is time to keep the naturalness of people and photos to achieve a more believable image, rather than faking our way to this so called "perfection".

  

Media Usage Diary

Old Media VS New Media – Keeping up with the Trends

Over the past ten days, data and figures have been collected and analysed in respect to the amount and types of media that has been utilised. This includes using social mediums such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter; watching news and videos online; reading newspapers and magazine articles and so on. A separate survey was also conducted within the Journalism class in order to discover the media usage of larger populations. Both the personal media usage diary and survey results were discussed and examined in order to compare the data and determine any connections between the two outcomes. Graphs, tables and pie charts have been created to display the figures gathered and an in depth summary of why particular media is utilised more than other media forums has been explained.

The two tables below represent the tallying I have recorded of my particular media usage over days 1 – 3, 4 – 6, and 7 – 10 and then the overall total. The graphs following display the total media usage over the last ten days.  

As observed, Facebook and texting/calling have the highest media usage numbers whilst reading a newspaper, blogging and watching television have the lowest amounts of usage. It is interesting to note that the most popular and common forms of communication (such as Facebooking and texting/calling) have the highest numbers whilst the older forms of reading about world affairs (newspapers) has the lowest number count. This first diary entry could explain the technological change of society and how popular media sites are quickly overtaking older media devices. To investigate this theory further and why this is happening, further analysis of data shall be examined. 

The next set of data displays the amount of hours invested into each of these media devices over a period of ten days. The graph demonstrates the total amount of hours dedicated to each media forum.

As observed, a significant amount of hours is spent on Facebook and Tumblr, two popular and up-to-date communication mediums. On the other hand, a minimum amount of hours is spent on reading newspapers and magazine articles, two slightly older forms of media which come in physical form rather than found online. Once again, these particular statistics display the large emphasis that is placed on technology and how both communicating to others and reading up on current affairs is usually through online sources. The evolution of communication and journalism is rapidly evolving and technology and media sources are entering into a new age. Both graphs and tables have depicted my personal media usage over ten days, however to completely grasp and understand the concept of this technological change, comparisons need to be made against other peer groups.  

The three tables and pie charts below demonstrate the amount of hours spent on the three dominant sources of media daily, used to communicate and learn about current news events: Internet, Television, and Radio.

As observed from the data collected from Journalism students in a media usage survey, the most common amount of time spent on the internet was 2 – 3 hours, watching television 1 – 2 hours and listening to radio under 1 hour. This is a perfect indicator of the amount of time we invest into spending time on the internet to gather information on world news and communicate and interact with others. Watching television and listening to radio is declining and becoming out-dated due to the ever increasing technology allowing information and other communicative devices becoming readily available to the public. So far, the data collected has established the large amount of time spent on media mediums, however, further investigation into why we as a society are rapidly altering our communicative processes and are moving into the technological revolution needs to be explored.   


When comparing my personal results and data with the media usage survey conducted within the Journalism class, there are some very interesting differences and similarities. For example, within the survey conducted, 91.9% of the peer group responded to the question “What do you spend most of your time doing online?” by saying: Social Networking – Facebook. This was then followed by general surfing and browsing (61.3%) and then emailing (53%). In regards to my findings, I also spent most of my time on Facebook or Tumblr, both social networking sites. When observing the results, it seems a large significance is placed upon using the internet on either computers or phones to access websites for studying, communicating with others, emailing, blogging, watching news and so forth.

However, there are two interesting differences between my particular media usage diary and the survey data.  Firstly the larger amount of time that is spent watching television. Whilst a third of the students within Journalism spend 1 – 2 hours a day watching television, I spent 4 hours over ten days watching television. Therefore, on average I am watching television 10 – 15 minutes a day. This is a particularly intriguing statistic due to the revolution of technology changing rapidly and therefore allowing more and more media mediums to become available that are both faster and more efficient. Hence, it is quite interesting that television is still consistently viewed each day instead of watching news and shows online. The second intriguing difference is the newspaper usage. According to the survey, is the third most popular media form to access news. However, compared to my results, I read a newspaper for one hour in the ten days that the study was conducted. Once again it is extremely interesting to observe that “old” media such as newspapers and even television to an extent, is still utilised regularly for news and entertainment value.

Overall, this particular study demonstrates that in this day and age, it is through using new media such as the internet and mobile phones that communication processes are becoming easier and much more efficient. As a society, we have become extremely dependent upon social networking with one another and gathering information and news from online sites rather than physically visiting someone or reading a newspaper. On the other hand, with the figures collected from the survey, it shows that media such as newspapers, magazine articles and television reports, are still utilised from time to time. The behaviour of valuing and manipulating “new” media over “old” media exhibits the behaviour of “following the crowd/trend”.

Due to the ever-changing technological evolution of media, more and more individuals have been converted, which therefore instigates popularity and a new trend to follow. This pattern of following trends and embracing the new and wide range of technology options to communicate, presents the argument that society’s behaviour is dependent on others. If a particular media device is embraced by one individual and has more potential and newer features than older media resources, the rest of society shall follow and hence the progression of technology begins. Journalism students are most likely to embrace these changes due to the nature of Journalism, the need to utilise new media options and the necessity to keep ahead of the game.  However, this does not mean that long-standing media such as newspapers are disregarded altogether. Ultimately, advanced media is embraced more and more today due to the ever changing technological age and large popularity surrounding new and innovative devices.

Fact of the day!


Now and again, I like to say something interesting about myself and let you into a small part of my life.
So today let's begin, Fact #1

I wanted to be a Vet when I was younger, I actually loved animals and would operate on all my stuffed toys. I had pet grasshoppers and snails and lizards and frogs. You name it! But right now, my favourite creature on this planet would have to be my baby dog, Dozer. Below is a picture of him :)

Lecture 4 - Picture Stories

Hello everyone! We are now onto the fourth lecture that was done today. The topic that was introduced was picture stories and what they represent. Picture stories are everywhere and can mean a thousand words. Firstly, we discussed the selected history of picture stories, starting with cave paintings found France and Australia. Plato described these as “shadows on the cave wall” and other examples of early picture stories were the holy books, stained glass, book of Kells, Diamond Sutra, Illuminated Letters and biblical scenes. The very first illustrated line drawings within newspapers were during the 1860's and the first published news photo was in 1880 in “Shanty Town”. The first Colour Reproduction in Newspaper was in 1936. Other developments in Photo-journalism were talked about such as Digital capture and upload.

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      Many interesting videos and photos were used as examples for digital manipulation and the question was          asked where it was good or evil? Faux-tography is basically photoshop to enhance or make a photo appear better than it originally was. Digital Publishing is access to pictures through media devices such as tablets and iphones etc and photo galleries have a number of pictures to tell a particular story.

·         The  question must be asked then, what makes a great photo? The Case Study Jonathon Thurston Uncle’s funeral, was analysed. What makes a great photo are the components of: Framing, Focus, Angle and Point of View (POV), Exposure (or Light), Timing (shutter speed) and Capturing “the moment”. One quote I particularly enjoyed was: “A picture has no meaning at all if it can’t tell a story.” Perfect examples of this saying are pictures such as the school shooting, Afghan Mona Lisa, Afghan woman with no nose and bull fighting. Photo framing contains the rule of thirds (Golden Mean), in order to frame and capture a good photo.

      Moving photos also encompass framing, focus, POV, Exposure (or light), Capturing “the scene”, Timing and Editing and Inclusion of sound dimension. Editing is involved with moving photos (eg. Battleship Potemkin, 1925), Newsreel at the cinema and propaganda films were also discussed and how news has always been a part of TV and is on a 24/7 newscycle. The first time seeing videos from phones was during the London Bombings and these days the new TV Journalist must also be a Video Journalist. To end in a quote from this lecture:

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     “If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture.”

Gay Marriage Article

Helloooo all :) I hope you're having a wonderful Friday, sleeping in and whatnot haha anyways, for one of my Communication assignments, we have to pick a controversial issue and talk about its strengths and weaknesses etc I read a very intimate and personal article by Cat Saunders and thought I'd share it. This piece raises some very interesting points and arguments and I believe everyone should read this and understand the debate over gay marriage. Below is the link, so enjoy and read read read! :D 

http://www.drcat.org/articles_interviews/html/Gaymarriage.html

What We Have Learnt In The Lectures So Far.. Lecture 3!

Lecture 3 - What is Text?

Ello ello!
We are now into our third week of lectures and tutorials and this week, the class learnt mostly about what text is and how it is used in the media. This particular lecture was very informative and sometimes a little hard to absorb but I enjoyed it nonetheless. We first learnt that text is fast, flexible, has complete control, portable, searchable and dominates online. The inverted pyramid was next discussed and how it is organised from the least important to most important information and that the news value stories are at the top of the pyramid (eg sex, drugs and entertainment etc)

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·       Hypertext (links) takes the story into different directions altogether. Text is also organised into different segments such as story content headlines, standfirst, captions, pull quotes, break-out boxes and links. A Poynter eyetrack was defined as dominant headlines most often draw the eye first upon entering the page especially when they are in the upper left, and most often (but not always) when in the upper right. Photographs, contrary to what you might expect (and contrary to findings of 1990 Poynter eyetracking research on print newspapers), aren’t typically the entry point to a homepage. Text rules on the PC screen — both in order viewed and in overall time spent looking at it.

·         When writing a news article, the organisation structure of this is: strap, nav head, head, head, long lead, short lead, images and story. Text is also: emails, blogs, tweets, Facebook updates etc. Next,"Bloggers” use of and engagement with various social media tools is expanding and the lines between blogs, micro-blogs and social networks are disappearing. Text also uses metadata, excerpts and tags and a post summary has two main uses: 

·         1. It replaces the full content in RSS feeds

·         2. Can be displayed in places where quick summaries are preferable to

·         full content.

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What We Have Learnt In The Lectures So Far..

Hello all!

As you know, I have just started University and am into my 3rd week of studying JOUR1111. I have already learnt so much from this course as the lectures have been both interesting and informative. In the first lecture, the course and assessment work was outlined to the class and what was expected when taking this particular subject.

      In the second lecture, many points were covered such as Web Iterations and Old Media. We also discussed what  media platforms were and how they were essentially derived from the industrial paradigm, developed in late 19^th century. Examples of these instruments of mass communication, targeting large audiences within their own specific markets are newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Also discussed WEB 1.0 and how it is advertising friendly, full of content, surrounded with ads, an  extension of offline media and uses print and television. Its focus is on big co-operations and companies. 

n    Next, WEB 2.0 (new media) was analysed and what it incorporates. This included the social web and how it is interactive, user generated, and utilises social networking. For example, facebook, skype, myspace, youtube, foursquare. Prod users and Produsage was defined as modes of production led by users or involve users as producers and is a Hybrid between a user and producer. Users are always able to be producers of content.

WEB 3.0 (semantic web) was discussed and what it involves such as: Making sense of information and multi-layered questions aka Meta Tagging (which is a special HTML tag that provides information about a Web Page and provides information on who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about etc.) The focus is on individuals. The term hyperlocalisation was defined as news specifically for the individual's interests.  

·       Specific Content Delivery was mentioned during the lecture and the pluses and minuses associated with it such as advertising specifics and ignorance and lack of general knowledge (ethnocentricity) an example of this is America. 

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The final topic talked about was web news. Questions were asked such as is entitlement the death of journalism? Web news is cheap and available and it is time to pay for this! However, can Rupert Murdoch save Journalism with a monetising strategy? And will people pay for something they believe they are entitled to continue to have free? What we need is a subscription model (eg original newspapers) due to the  reluctance to pay online. More questions were thought about such as: Is changing perceptions all in the business model? Will people pay for quality journalism if you can value-add? Everyone knows that the future is NOW! Technology is changing rapidly. Also, membership was also talked about during the lecture and the privileges associated with it. Nowadays, there are apps for news online such as mobile devices. Finally, the paywall was discussed and examples such as the Brisbane Times were given for newspapers not going behind the paywall. 

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello everyone!
My name is Hannah Twiggs, I am a Journalist at heart and love to talk to people constantly! I was originally born in England and moved here when I was 13. I am currently studying a dual degree in Communications and Journalism and am staying at college. My hobbies include watching movies, swimming, singing, drama, talking (duh!), eating chocolate, debating and listening to music. I would LOVE to be a news reporter when I finally finish University and would love to travel the world :) My favourite artists include Bon Iver, Florence and the Machine, Boy and Bear, The Wombats, Coldplay, Muse, Radiohead, Queen, Two Door Cinema Club, The Kooks and Death Cab for Cutie. I love to write and read poetry, but going to the theater is probably my favourite pastime.

My Blog will not only have my own personal opinions and ideas on particular topics but will also discuss lectures that were attended each week and will also include my own media usage diary recorded over 10 days. The Chatterbox will be an informative yet fun and interesting blog that will hopefully provide something new for people to think about. So happy reading people! :)

Hannah xx