Cbeebies!

Our visitor today was Jim Fleming from Cbeebies to discuss how to make a safer online environment for our children to enjoy and be a part of. More and more children are learning how to use the Internet and be a part of online websites such as Cbeebies and game websites and in reality, the Internet is not a very safe place.













People can easily can access to any information with simple clicks and tricks. Many children aren't really taught the real side of the dangers of being online such as hacking, paedophiles and scams. Some children don't really understand not to put names, locations and information about themselves online as people can be not what they seem and this is also known as 'stranger danger'.

During some research i discovered these reasons as to why children use the Internet;

'Children use the Internet in different ways and for different reasons, depending on their age and particular circumstances and interests. Although children as young as two or three can be introduced to the computer, many kids are about seven or eight when they begin to enjoy the Internet on a more practical level, through activities such as searching online encyclopedias, downloading pictures for school reports, or writing to pen pals'


Cbeebies website is mainly aimed at children ages between 6-12 and they encourage them to sign up and take part in online games and competitions. They believe that parental control is starting to diminish when it comes to being online and it is more focused around television. Cbeebies believe that there is a perfect gap in the market for their website as there is no real website or children of that age to go on and be safe on. Cbeebies realise the need for a safe environment for kids to enjoy and their parents not to worry.

They have tried to discover what ways in which they could create a safe environment online but still encourage participation. They allow people to become friends and still have message boards but it is all still monitored to make sure it is still safe. Children are still able to have their own profiles and they are still offered rewards. More ways in which they encourage people to still join are they offer up to date games, ideas and interaction with friends.
















Cbeebies shown us examples of people wrongly using the site such as sending bad messages and people of the wrong age using younger peoples accounts to gain access and send messages. This just shows that they are on the ball and are very quick at picking up on bad things making it very safe. I really do applaud the work that they do! They really are trying to make the Internet a fun safe environment while still managing to encourage user participation.

The ways in which I would help encourage users to still participate is too offer gamer points for signing up which they can get onto higher levels and buy games with. Also I would maybe even take away the message boards as they can still encourage older people to write things that younger people can see. Also I would use an age checker to clarify that the user is of the right age.

Ways in which I would gain more help and ideas on how to make it a safer place I would get a group of parents together and see what they personally think would make a safer environment for their children to be on. This would give me a great insight into what parents already think and a personal view on things we could improve on.

Rebel Play

Today we were visited today be a gaming company 'Rebel Play'. The presentation they made based around the question 'Do media platforms and genres have specific gender appeal? Why don't more women play console games?'.

There presentation proved many good points such as;

• Could it be down to our ancestors?



• Are men more prone to violence?



• Are they a waste of time?



• Are men more likely to waste time and women don't? so is that why they enjoy it more?

During some research I came across this graph which shows the amount of video games that men play that also involve women playing. There wasn't many games in which females joined in and mostly it was left to men to play the games.

Some other research I found was from http://www.spiked-online.com/. They stated that;

'First, it is argued that there are not enough women working in certain roles in the video game industry: that occupational segregation, or a gender gap, exists in the process of making games. The BBC laments how the University of Derby's new degree in games programming has failed to attract a single woman among 106 applicants (2). Moreover, women make up only 16-17 per cent of the UK games sector's 8000-strong workforce, and only two, three, five, eight and nine per cent, respectively, of its programming posts in audio, design, production and art.

Second, it is alleged that, in use, today's games products lack appeal to female gamers. As Doug Lowenstein, president of the US Entertainment Software Association (ESA), said in May 2005, at the start of the world's largest video games show, the E3 expo in Los Angeles:
'We need a cultural shift so that young girls and women feel that playing games is not a testosterone monopolised [sic] hobby reserved for their boyfriends and husbands'.

It is very true that most games are aimed at men. From a young ages boys are brought up to play with footballs and watch football with males in their families which girls aren't likely to do therefore they wouldn't have an interest in it. Also females would not enjoy sitting around for hours on end playing games as they have more things to be getting on with in their daily lives. Call of duty is mainly about war and shooting the opposing team dead. Rebel play said that men's enjoyment of this may come from our ancestors as the males used to shoot targets and kill for food for their families. Also men are always taught to protect females and stand their ground which may also be a reason why they like games as they feel powerful when they win and shoot someone dead.

I found Rebel Plays points extremely interesting as I do believe certain media platforms such as games do have specific genre appeal and it really got me thinking about it.

Rebel play would like to get more females involved in the making of the games and playing them. Although this would be a very difficult task, Rebel play said they love to challenge the norms! I personally do not like console games as i feel they promote violence (like Call of Duty, above) but even this question made me listen about them and what people think of them.

As I was so intrigued I questioned one of my male friends who is 20 about why he likes playing these games and how he feels when he plays them and this was his reply;

'I feel amazing when I play games, It lets me forget everything and its a way to socialise even when your on your own. I don't think when i play, I don't need to think! Me personally, I don't take anything in from playing games even if I'm hurting someone on screen, it doesn't make me want to hurt real people'

When I asked him why he thinks girls don't play games and how he would get them to play he answered;

'Because girls enjoy socialising more and lads are less emotionally free so they play games instead of socialising. I'd bring out games that don't include violence, because they are all either sports, violent or for kids'

The ways in which I would approach this question are as follows;

• Firstly I would do a questionnaire for men aged between 15-30 and I would find these men in gaming shops, Internet cafes and game forums. In this questionnaire we would be using similar questions I used for my male friend such as why do you enjoy playing?, what do you get out of it? and why they think females don't play console games? I would also create a questionnaire for females to find out why they don't play and what they think of games. This would give a good insight into both opinions about games and playing them.
  


• Secondly I would contact a gaming company and maybe ask them about if they do make the games with gender appeal in mind and who do they mostly aim their games at? I would also ask them why they think females don't play games and what they would do to change that? would they being out more games that would appeal to females or would it be a waste of money?

Hurricane Films

Today we were visited by Hurricane Films, a very well known independent production company based in Liverpool. They told us about their company and bits of what they do and create.

They told us that they like to tell peoples stories and show the country about peoples history. They showed us their website 'Peoples stories : Liverpool lives' in which they took peoples pictures and films and created them into a story. The main aim is to encourage people to share images, stories and films of their lives in Liverpool and show how lives have changed over the past few decades.

















This is a screen shot of their website were they show their work and their stories and also were people can leave comments and feedback.


During some research I found this graph which was interesting as it shows what older people use the Internet for:





















I found this lecture extremely interesting as I really enjoy looking back on old photographs as you can actually get a whole story just from one photo.

'A picture speaks a thousand words'














What they do is fascinating and inspiring. They really encourage people to take part and share their special moments from childhood up to adulthood.

The question they proposed to us was 'How can you encourage an online audience in storytelling? - How do you encourage users, especially those from an older generation to participate?

There are many ways in which I would go about answering this question;

Firstly I would find out about the older generation and how much they use the Internet. I would ask my Grandparents and their friends if they interacted with the Internet at all and if so how much? I would also create a focus group at a day centre and invite local older people and find out the reasons why they don't use the Internet.

I could use a questionnaire but they are very time consuming and would be hard for the older generation to fill out and could be very confusing.

Secondly I would find out what it would take for them to use the Internet whether it would be classes to help them understand how to use the Internet or whether its paying for the resources such as the Internet and a laptop. I could offer some of them classes to help them understand how to participate and be able to share their stories and history with the world in an 'Internet cafe' style. I would teach them the basics of how to use the Internet, become a member and upload pictures to the website. This also may be time consuming but i feel that creating classes would be the best way to encourage the older people to use the Internet.

For the older generation the way in which I would encourage them to share their stories are to tell them how worthwhile it can be, how much they would enjoy being able to tell thousands of people about their history and tales from the past and how interesting they will find it being able to search for local people in their areas and maybe finding people from the past they lost contact with.

Also I would hand out leaflets in supermarkets, bingo halls, society clubs, cafes and shops and advertise in local papers to spread the word around about the website and get the name around.
















It is defiantly a great and worthwhile experience to join the website so I really would encourage people to join it and share their pasts!

The Very Beginning

Welcome to my world of Media...

I do consider myself as sort of a media geek :)



Today was the start of my module - Applied Media Research. My interest in media has been around since I was younger as one of my family members, Nigel Lythgoe, is a producer of many television programmes. This is Nigel;







I have always wanted to follow in his foot steps as really inspires me because he has created some amazing and extremely popular shows and he came from my family and now by doing my degree in Media Professional Studies, I feel like i can. I feel so proud of what he has achieved and my dream for the future is to be like him.

I really discovered I had a love of media whilst doing my A levels as i started to explore new areas such as Photoshop and Adobe and that is where I made my first documentary on tattoos. I really loved being part of a team to make a project happen and also I love creating new pictures on Photoshop and being able to manipulate them into anything imaginable. The logo of Photoshop 'See whats possible' really does relate to media as anything is possible to create, you just have to do it!

I love creating new things and turning ideas into my head into actual films. I also really enjoy the editing side as I like making the pieces of the puzzle fit together and seeing my creation finally coming together. I also really enjoy being behind the camera and watching the action happen live. I'm interested in all aspects of media whether it be radio, television, being part of an audience or creating it myself. I feel in some way free when I create a form of media as I can really express my thoughts and ideas, kind of like shouting in a field when no one is around!