Television as a Ritual

After extensive research on the topic of television as apart of everyday life, i decided to tackle the issue with the idea of television as a ritual that creates routine and structure. When i say ritual i'm talking about subconscious guidelines in which people follow by have no idea why they follow certain rules and regulations. Television has the resource to create an identity this can be accomplished through television viewing. I would like to give the example of the evening and morning news to prove this point of television as a ritual. After a long day's work, individuals instinctively turn on the evening news and this symbolic order allows for the individual to feel relax, as this idea of "switching on" the television can symbolizes relaxation and leisure time. The same can be said for the morning news. Many people while eating breakfast will watch the the morning news in order to gather information about traffic, weather, sports highlight, etc. At 7:10 when sports highlights are viewed this may act as a reminder for the individual to feed the dog, wash the dishes, take out the trash, etc. Television creates a symbolic order, in which people unknowingly follow. This is the basis for creating routine and structure in the lives of people. Even though television is being viewed on different media platforms, television is still apart of everyday life. Mobile TV content is quickly becoming a favourite among commuters and travelers. In a big city like Toronto, many people use public transportation like buses, subways, or go trains. Smart-Phone technology has allowed for individuals to take television on the go as people will will use mobile TV content as a way to kill time or entertain themselves while they wait for their desired destination to arrive. This is the basis for John Kelly's assumption that mobile phones allow for personal connectivity as the individual is connected "anytime, anywhere". Television has become more personalized and has shifted away from a group experience to more of an individual experience.

Individual Television Experiences

For my mid-term project, i decided to answer the question, "Is Television still apart of our everyday life?" For the purpose of this essay, I want to convince the viewer that television has moved away from a family/group experience to more of an individual viewing experience. When i was growing as a young child, watching television with my family was a way for me and family to bond and come together as a family to spend quality time together. After dinner, me and my brother would be spend hours watching the tube before beginning our homework and school projects. We had limited channels, so content was limited to what our basic TV package had to offer. My dad would read the paper, while the children would waste time, watching our favorite prime-time shows and after school specials. My friends and I, would watch popular television shows together and spend afternoons debating issues of the latest episodes. The Internet at the time was not popular, so watching T.V. was a way from everyone to come together to spend time together.

However, with the advent of smartphone technology and the Wolrd Wide Web, TV is now viewed on different media platforms. These platforms include watching Television on our blackberry's, Ipods and Ipads. Many would argue that watching television on mobile devices is an inconvenience because of the size of the screen. People on the way to work or school, will upload news programs to their cellular devices and watch the news and other entertainment programs to kill time before they arrive at their destination. Television is now on the go and the viewing experience is subjected to our pockets. I found a great article called "podracing", in which it argues that television content on smartphones has created a personal viewing experience, along with public transportation mobile content has created a feeling of being up to date with the latest news and events.

The Internet has now created isolationism because children and teenagers will go to their rooms and turn on their laptops and download television shows off websites that offer Divx movies. Divx movies allows for the streaming of live content. Families, instead of gathering in their living rooms to watch a program will turn on their computers in different parts of the house to watch content via the World Wide Web.

The only time that television is related to a group experience is when a major event is on national Tv such as the Superbowl, World Series, World Cup, in which people gather to throw parties to celebrate the event. However, even with the WORLD CUP, Rogers Communications, offered its customers live streaming through their computers of the soccer coverage. Will mobile tv and internet streaming create an isolated society or are we just more intimate with our viewing experience?

Digital Archiving-Alexander Costaris

I would just like to discuss another research article that obtained during my library database search at the Ryerson Library. The article is titled, "Preserving Digital Public Television" and i have included this on my annotated bibliography section of our collaborative research project. I believe this will be useful to me and my group when researching a community like the Junction Triangle that utilizes digital media and video production.

Television Production has shifted rapidly from an analog process to that of storing digital video files. However, as we enter the digital preservation age, video files are deemed to lose its authenticity and trust. Nan Rubin and his research team have created a systematic method that challenges current preservation techniques. Preserving digital public television requires a collaborative effort and this research methodology creates basic goals that identify the problems that need to be resolved when storing video files. He concludes that digital preservation cannot be an afterthought and public education is the key to preserving digital data.

For me this article really rang true because of all the articles that I've obtained regarding digital preservation...the future looks bleak for our future generations to come. Without a educating the masses about the possibility of losing digital data, our children will have no historical record of our past. We are losing our heritage and hardly anybody is aware of this matter. Nan Rubin and his research team are currently devising a strategic plan on how to preserve digital media such as public television production. I would recommend to everyone to educate themselves on the downfalls of digital preservation? Is Analog archiving better than digital?

Research Blog #5-Challenges in the Digital Preservation of Society’s Cultural Memory Archive

Challenges in the Digital Preservation of Society’s Cultural Memory Archive.

As I stated in past logs, our research group has formulated a research question about digital archiving and preserving memories of the Junction Triangle. I was doing research in the Ryerson Library and I came across this article about constructing a global time capsule and preserving cultural memory archives. The article written by Sarah Hamid, writes about the “acquisition, organization and distribution of resources to prevent further deterioration or renew the usability of selected groups of materials”. In other words, the author Sarah Hamid, talks about the need for future generations to have access to their ancestor’s “knowledge” and accountability. We are now moving away from analog archiving towards a more sophisticated form of digital archiving but this comes with more questions than solutions. With the shear amount of technological overload, we find ourselves asking “what can we save”…however we are also asking ourselves “what can we delete”, to make room for this accountability of information. Sarah Hamid proposes a global time capsule, in which information technology has led to the increase potential for the storage of infinite amounts of information. This global time capsule will prevent “natural amnesia” of knowledge and our human ability to gather all this information. The objectivity of the time capsule will focus on content, the medium and the people behind their choices. This article will allow for our group to further understand the preservation of cultural memories of the Junction as we can potentially create a local time capsule, through digital archiving for future generations to learn about the history of their community.

Research Blog#4-Junction Triangle Digital Memories

Research Blog #4: Junction Triangle-Digital Memories

On Saturday evening, P.J. and I booked out a camera and started filming an interview for Inuit Blanche within the Junction Triangle. I want like to give some background details about the geographical nature of the Junction. The "triangle" shape of the neighbourhood is formed by the three sets of railroad tracks on the north, west, and east sides. The community is literally bordered by train tracks, as a train roars by this small community every three minutes. We interviewed a local filmmaker (Jeff Winch), who used his documentary about “electric trains”, to create social change within his community. The Junction is facing a political uproar, as members of this working class community are becoming upset about the incoming locomotive traffic that is whistling by their town. A rail committee is set up on their website to promote the environmentally friendly use of electric trains. The increased diesel traffic surrounding the border can create health problems for the families who are living within the border. A website was developed to help fight the excessive use of diesel traffic and to give community members a voice, via the World Wide Web. This relates to our research question, as PJ, Joe and myself would like to examine the use of social media and how it preserves the history of a community.

However, we also developed a second part to this research question, as we would like to incorporate digital archiving and digital memories into our collaborative research project. For our documentary we would like to examine “memories” and what constitutes a memory through digital history. Our next step is to interview a local resident from the Junction community to give us a brief history of the Junction, along with a walking tour of the three intersecting railroads. We will ask him specific questions, relating to the use of archiving and how their history will be preserved for future generations to come.

Research Blog #3-Research Question

Research Blog #3

September 30, 2010

For this specific research blog, I want to discuss our research question that our group formulated this week. For our collaborative research project, our group was given the junction triangle as our documentary subject. Last blog, I discussed the industrial roots of the Triangle, now I would like to get some feedback on our possible research questions.

Research Question #1: How does the use of social media preserve and record the history and evolution of a community?

Here, we would like to discuss the social impact of media technology on the community members in the Junction Triangle. For example, the Junction has an up and coming websites, where members can log into and participate in social and community events. This website was also heavily involved in naming the Junction Triangle, along with creating a cultural identity.

Research Question #2: What aspects of community and culture within the Junction provide a unique framework for a documentary?

The main focus of this research question is to understand and develop further knowledge of the Junction’s underground arts culture. Here, our group members will look at community identity and how the industrial roots of the past, impacts its present day culture. Once again, cultural identity will be examined through its arts scene.

Research Question #3: How does the use of social media define a community like the Junction Triangle?

The main focus will once again examine the impact of social media on a community and this will be specifically linked to that of cultural identity.

Research Blog #2

For this specific research log, I want to discuss and possibly receives some insightful criticisms on my research presentation on focus groups. I would like to brainstorm some important ideas that I’ve been thinking about and writing down the last couple of days. For my presentations, which I have to deliver on November 5^th, my partner and I want to create an actual focus group for our presentation. Traditionally, focus groups are used for qualitative research in which a group people are asked about their opinions, beliefs, perceptions and attitudes towards a specific product. In this focus group, we want to gather about 5-10 students for an afternoon and show them an independent film that was created by independent producer looking for mainstream distribution. 18-35 will be our target demographic and what we are looking for is opportunity to create a research marketing strategy focus group and allow for insightful criticism of the film. However, we want to create a twist on the focus group, as we want the director of the film to be included in the group and we want to use him to stir up conversation, arguments and possible dissension towards the rest of the members of the group. Essentially, I want to create a focus group that reverses the traditional format of a research focus group. However, I’m concerned that this might be a massive undertaking for our 25-minute presentation. Are we creating a complicated research focus group? Should we just create a regular focus group that focuses on possible marketing strategies for the film? However, if we decide to just stick with the traditional format of a research focus group then our questions will be directed towards market theory of low budget independent films.

Secondly, I want to discuss our collaborative research project and include my own ideas for our research question that we have to create. For our project, our group chose the junction triangle as our subject matter. The junction triangle has its roots as a blue- collar community. Three intersecting railway lines surround its heavily industrial factories and graffiti mark buildings. However, the junction has an incredible arts culture that uses its industrial roots of the past to create a distinct cultural identity. A possible research question that I would like to focus on, is how the industrial roots of the past effects its present day arts culture? I want to focus specifically on the junction’s underground arts culture and how cultural identity is formed through their arts community.