Online Documentaries.... enabling voices to be heard....

Online documentaries enable individuals to express their opinions on specific topics. It allows for freedom of speech that may not be evident in mainstream media productions. Many of the amateur documentaries can be found on platforms such as YouTube.
The documentary below is an example of one that is directed to a particular audience, to those who are interested in Meteorites. My partner made this as he has a great interest in Meteorites and decided to make a documentary explaining the basic information in order to inform people further. He used many of his own photographs of the Meteorites and provided a link to his website at the end. The video was uploaded onto the Facebook and YouTube. As he is involved with the Worldwide Meteorite community he has since had many Universities and scientific organisations contacting him wishing to use his documentary in their teachings. It has also lead to an increased interest in his already highly regarded website.

Below is the amateur documentary made by a holiday maker who was able to capture his experiences in a remote village in Ethopia. This provides an insight to viewers that would otherwise be hard to see unless one was able to experience it first-hand. This is just an example of many documentaries that can be found on YouTube of how holiday makers have filmed their experiences but it certainly allows people to experience various cultures and different ways of life through the viewing of these videos.

Anyone is able to create an online documentary providing that they have the technology and some basic knowledge of how to use it.

MISHACHARLIE ACKNOWLEDGES THE USE OF CONTENT:
http://www.youtube.com

Mobile phones-- making life more convenient or just a hassle

The mobile phone has become such a dominant piece of technology that we have become so reliant on. The primary use of a mobile is to make calls and send text messages. However this has changed and developed with evolving technology. The smart phones and iPhones that are available now are so advanced that they allow the user to do multiple tasks which were once limited to other devices such as the television, computer, or MP3 player. This is an example of media convergence where these features have been integrated into the one device. These tasks include accessing the internet, taking photographs, filming and watching  movies, and listening to music and radio. The most appealing aspect of having all of these features on the once device is that it is extremely portable and able to be accessed anywhere at any time. As levinson (2009) ponts out that such devices 'make useless places useful.'

However apart from the portability and accessibility of such owning mobile phones there is also a downside of owning one. It seems that it is just expected that if one owns a mobile phone that they 'should' carry it on them 24 hours a day and be available to be contacted at the drop of a hat. This eliminates the time that people once had to themselves in order to escape the world and just relax free of disruption. Of course there is always the option to leave the phone at home or even turn it off on such occasions. But there is still this expectancy of always being available. Going back about five years ago my old Manager would call my mobile, if for some reason or another the phone was turned off and her call had gone unnoticed I would never hear the end of it. There was this expectancy that I was available whenever she felt necessary to call- whether it be at 7am in the morning or 11pm at night. Then there was the friend who felt it necessary to send text messages up to 20 times a day. God forbid if there was a delay in replying to a text, or the text was too brief and not in the 'right' tone. After all with text messaging it is very hard to depict the tone in which things are written. After about the tenth text message and countless interruptions sometimes I felt it would have been much more convenient just to pick up the phone and have a ten minute conversation where things could not be misinterpreted or go unnoticed.

Even now if I miss a call from work (or anyone for that matter) when calling them back I always find myself give a reason as to why I didn't answer their call.... Do I really need to explain why I am not at their beck and call 24 hours a day though??

MISHACHARLIE ACKNOWLEDGES THE USE OF CONTENT:
Levinson, P. 2009 New New Media, Pearson, Boston, Chapter 13 pp 186-191.

Political campaigns and Social Media

There are many positive and negative aspects of utilizing social media such as YouTube for political gains. YouTube has allowed people to share full-motion video online which has enabled a much wider audience of varied demographics to access and contribute to the political sphere. With increasing technology which is targeting a younger audience platforms such as YouTube are lower cost and have a higher impact than traditional media forms such as television. The downfall to platforms such as YouTube is that it allows the individual to manipulate materials through freedom of expression which can have a negative impact on the content at hand. For example political figures can become the subject of ridicule through satire and parodies. With mainstream media outlets such as news channels they are often biased and although they can and do portray negative sides to political figures they are not usually in the same form as that of parodies and satire. Germany (2008) which looked at the politician, ' John Edwards,' revealed that on his website only approximately 166,000 people viewed his video launch in the two years prior to election. Whereas with Obama a video that was released on YouTube, 'Robots Attack,' attracted this amount in the first 24 hours of its launch.

It just goes to show that by releasing a political video on YouTube can reach a far greater number of people than that on a political website. Now of course this does compare Obama who was and is of great interest and Edwards who was running for Presidency but it still goes to show that people are much more likely to access YouTube for videos. However perhaps there should be concern that the most popular video on YouTube with John Edwards is the one below..... what does this do for his reputation??!!
(Note that this is not the original video with the high views as it was not available for embedding!)
There is a decline in political awareness and following in younger generations and as YouTube is popular with younger people it does make accessing the information more appealing.

MISHACHARLIE ACKNOWLEDGES THE USE OF CONTENT:

http://www.youtube.com

Germany, J. B. 2009, ‘The Online Revolution’ in D. W. Johnson (Ed.) Campaigning for President: Strategies and Tactics, New Voices and New Techniques, Taylor and Francis eLibrary, UK. pp 147-159 (Electronic Resource Library Catalogue)