Up for adoption: NCT

{ October 24, 2009 @ 5:45 PM } · { Mass Communication }
{ Comments (20) }

As the globalisation of technology continues to expand, the world trade in television programming has become the fastest growing media business throughout the world. One of the contributing factors to this phenomenon is the fast development and wide adoption of the new communication technologies (NCT).

As  my title suggests,  the adoption of NCT seems to be like adopting  a dog or a cat. There are both advantages and disadvantages to accepting NCT into our lives. Increasingly, television markets worldwide are fueled by the proliferation of 1. New transmission and distribution of technologies 2. Capitals in search of new markets for cultural products. So, is NCT really good for us? Should we embrace its significant influences on our lives or should we avoid it at all costs?

The main benefits,that all of us are exposed to, are the usefulness of NCT. With the advancement of technologies, we can save a lot of time from doing our chores and unnecessary tasks such as sending letters by post (snail-mails). We can also get the most updated news and entertainment from almost everywhere, including toliets and buses. Media production companies can manufacture their products at a faster rate and at a lower cost. Government can convey its message to the people with different kinds of means so as to ensure a higher percentage of receiver rate as compared to using only a form of media. Even as you are reading this, you are already using a product of NCT – the Internet. The advantages of NCT are just too many to be covered.

Next, with the uprising of NCT brings better quality and higher affordability for all consumers. Cable and multi-channel media technologies help to create the provision of new media. Consumers can have a variety of options to enjoy media products. Examples such as Fibre-optics and satellites give us more choices to picking different television channels to watch. Handphones, PDAs and Ipods allow us to communicate and be entertained while on the go. Furthermore, computers are not just limited to individual usage; it can become a tool for interaction with the invention of computer tablets such as ITablet (Apple), Microsoft Courier and Crunchpad (TechCruch, Singapore) . The clip below shows Microsoft Courier and ITablet (it was one of my CSE research :P ): 

On the other hand, NCT may not necessary be always beneficial. With the rapid pace of technological advancement, many people will come in contact with the syndrome of ” Bypassi-ness”, of which we tend to bypass certain generations of technology. This is evident, especially for developing areas, which had limited connections with the world until recently. As such, people in rural lands of China may face this syndrome when they get faster access to the usage of handphone as compared to getting landphones. This is because a handphone does not need workers to construct underground pipes for connectivity as compared to landphones.

To add-on, our reliance on NCT may become our path to failure. With technology progression, we no longer need to have face-to-face relationships as we can easily get friends and the latest updates from the cyberspace. We do not need our traditional media products to fulfil our curiosity. We can literally find them in public toilets! So what if NCT  goes awry from its original aim? NCT can also aid in bringing messages of imperialism and ideological propaganda. Our way of living may become homogenous as compared to people living on the other side of the planet as we are being bombarded with the same media culture every single day.

Moreover, NCT can also influence the demand for traditional media products. Younger generations may turn to new media for the latest news and entertainment such as the Internet.

Internet’s impact explored (heraldonline, 24/10/09)

What about the sales of newspapers and broadcast of radio stations? In addition, larger media production companies will start to acquire other media-related companies for vertical, horizontal and complementary expansion. Their ultimate goal? To lower their costs and increase their profits (sound anything like what you learnt in Economics?)

 But alas, it may not be good for consumers like us. Without competition, the dominating company may not progress to search for better quality productions and the in-air programmes may be bombarded by long advertisements. Imagine how would it be if we watch a half-hour program for three hours due the interventions of advertisements in between. Exasperating, right?   

It is one of the longest advertisments (3.30 mins) ever aired on TV (ITV1) 8th March 2009. So unless you are a MJ fan, I think most of us would have probably lose our patience long gone before this ad finishes.

Thus, my view is that since we cannot run away from NCT , we might as adopt it in such a way that it does not take over our lives entirely. Avoiding NCT in an extreme way is certainly being stubborn as NTC does gives us the benefits to comfort in life, while embracing NCT over-enthusiastically is not a good way either as we may over-rely on it.

Extra readings on impact of NCT: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=52164

Food for thought: Censorship

{ October 16, 2009 @ 11:37 AM } · { Mass Communication, Perceptions }
{ Comments (22) }

Censorship- the hottest topic around to talk about for ages, at least that happens in Singapore’s context. One cannot deny that we are receiving messages from the media everyday through- newspaper, magazines/books, random leaflets/brochures, television, radio, internet, etc.  

In addition, the balance between the degree of influence of media and the audience’s selection skills (made by decisions) equates to the impact of media in our everyday lives. Our authorities, as our “Big Brother”, aid us in filtering useful information. (And useful information is defined as what we just need to know and not the rest, in this context)    

That is when censorship comes in. It is a process that happens during the review of the messages (that are going to be publicised) by the gatekeepers. Censorship mainly involves the editors of the widely read newspapers and magazines. These people take precaution to abide both the visible and invisible rules of censorship in Singapore in order to allow their products to be legally sold here.  From my observation, so far it has been fine as not many of us are complaining and the news that we received are one of the most accurate around. (perhaps it’s due to censorship so that’s why our news is THAT accurate?)  

But is that really true?

Take for example, our locally made productions. There’s the famous Royston Tan and his several “cut” films and on the other side,  Mr Brown and his outspoken (but long gone) columns in the TODAY newspaper on Friday.  It shows that there are people who are not exactly on the side with the government and its censorship rules. Are our authorities are too strict with us on expressing ourselves or are they trying to avoid internal conflict amongst ourselves?

I do agree very much on the rules regarding the races and religions, and security issues. It’s important and anyone knows it. But, what about artistic expressions and societal views about the environment we are living in? Surely, that does not interfere with anything that poses dangers to our harmony or security? Some may argue that our Big Brother imposes the invisible rules due to our “deeply conservative” culture. However, with the access to Internet, isn’t it a bit irrelevant to say that we are still very conservative about our way of living?

For instance, our ERP…

This film was reloaded 2 weeks ago, after the original was asked to be taken down due to a notice by Singapore distributor for the German films. This film consists of a sarcastic view on the ERP and the transportation systems here (read the subtitles and ignore the vulgarities used). However, it did not talk about our national security or racism, so why was the “original” film taken down? Maybe, it is because of copyright issues.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer. As the technology advancement progresses, we are all exposed to different types of media through mainly the Internet and it is hard for our “Big Brother” to continue to look after us. True, our traditional media maybe still censored but people may start tuning to other sources if they know that what they are looking is just the “nice” portrayal of the authorities and not the truth.

The balance of media censorship and its audiences’ rights must be redefined once more.

Money, money, money!

{ October 10, 2009 @ 3:21 PM } · { Group Communication, Interactions }
{ Comments (18) }

 Money, an ordinary piece of printed paper, has accelerated its worth over the centuries. People are willing to die for it as it can buy anyone almost anything they want in terms of goods, fame and power. Because of its worthiness, certain societies have built their collectivism cultures around money.

Cultures are the ‘templates” for living. We are all subscribed to certain thoughts within our specific culture groups and risk criticism if we act out of the “norms”. Collectivism is a form of social behaviour that is determined by the society.  Saving part of our income has always been part of our Asian moral culture and a source of consumption.  We try to benefit those around us by being thrifty so that others can enjoy materialistic pleasures too and our nation won’t sink into debts (if we were to save all our money in banks as investments). In other words, the whole economy gains from our actions. 

I’m sure most of us have been taught by our parents from young to save up for the “rainy days”. And, if we were to spend a lot of money on something that is deemed as “unworthy”, we will get scolding from them. (leakage of income flow for buying imported goods) This form of act represents the rejection of spendthrift moves. We are also constantly bombarded by advertisements from our local banks with delicious incentives or paybacks if we were to recruit their services in handling our hard-earned money and the governmental institutions on how to be financially independent.

                                                                                                                                    

                                                                               

                                                                                             

 

 

MONEY SAVER managing your money from “ The Survival Guide” , The Central Singapore CDC)    

However, in recent times, the trends of saving ( into the bank)decreasing due to the economic recessions. People are losing hope in the financial industries as investments go down, followed by profits and eventually the interest of savings. This is shown in the article from channelnewsasia.com, 9th October 2009:                                                                  Risk of losing money preventing Singaporeans from saving and investing more

This brings us back to the definition of our culture. So, when there’s an economic downturn, most people will avoid saving a large sum of money into the bank (regardless the type of account), leading to decrease in the amount of consumption. As compared to the uneventful periods, this act is against the normal norm. Yet, no one says anything (other than the media’s observations). Why? This is because of the dynamic factor of the culture. Culture changes over time, according to the cost and benefit analysis.

The majority of the population or the highest power holder (usually the government) will decide if the culture should be changed for betterment of everyone or should it remain as the disadvantages incurred is more than the advantages. But, in this case, the people within the culture are swaying their stand towards a more individualistic outlook and focuses on their personal goals of materialistic enjoyment as their foremost priority. Hence, in a sense, these people somehow create their own in-group of thinking for themselves and not contributing for the society’s well being. i.e.  Saving money into their own deposit box and not into bank, causing the flow of money to become a stand-still. This is illustrated in the video below(macroeconomics):

After breaking down all the theories behind the potential phenomenons of money, I cannot help but noticing that money seems to be “governing” a very large part in our culture and daily lives. Or is it the other way round? Is it beneficial to sacrifice our time, effort and even lives for a piece of paper just to exchange something with others? Is it worthwhile to even consider money when we want to set our cultural rules or should we focus on behaviors that  are more important such as filial piety?

You decide.

Say “I Do!”

{ October 3, 2009 @ 8:49 AM } · { Interactions }
{ Comments (18) }

In this week, we learnt about the Knapp Model of Relational Development. It consists of 2 main parts (Coming together and coming apart) and 10 stages: 1. Initiating 2. Experimenting 3. Intensifying 4. Integrating  5. Bonding 6. Differentiating 7. Circumscribing 8. Stagnating 9. Avoiding 10. Terminating

Love is sweet, love is beautiful. But when it’s time to break off, it can be painful. This is shown in the recent movie-  Chéri

In the first clip, it shows Chéri, a son of a courtesan, falls in love with his mother’s ex-colleague and friend, Lea de Lonval. It was a wide age gap relationship as Chéri was 19 and Lea de Lonval was as old as his mother. It was a forbidden love in the late 19th Century France as it was culturally unacceptable for such couples to exist. Hence, they only managed to get to the stage of Intensifying as they could not encompass themselves into a relational unit within their social networks.

The next clip illustrates the coming apart sequence.  They start to reaffirm their roles and individualities-  Chéri as a husband in a forced marriage to another young girl and Lea de Lonval as an aging women planning for her future. They progressed into the Avoiding stage of sealing all communications but  both of them were hurt from the separation.

This is a classic formular for a relationship breadown :  1.  wide age gap (especially if the woman is way older than the man)  2. social expectations( from friends or family). But, I truly believe that if an interpersonnal relationship is strong enough, there is a possibility that the couple can overcome everything.

With people’s mindsets ever changing, we are all more open-minded about our relationships. Roles within a family structure is interchangeble such as  women can be the breadwinners of their family. People are willing to accept their soulmates not based solely on their pride but on the stability of their relationships. It is more common nowadays that people get together despite their background, fianacial status or age group as shown in those idol dramas.    

Secondly, an interpersonnal relationship consists of a dyad (a unit of 2 people) . No outsiders can influence their connections as a pair if the couples have the determination to overcome rumours and pressure from other. One can see from the strong determination of gay and lesbian couples.  In recent years, more and more countries have come to accept their marriages in contrast to a few decades ago, where these couples are deemed as socially unacceptable. It is also shown in the recent news (02/10/09) from Las Vegas Review Journal:  

Couples celebrate new law

However, practical couples may tell me otherwise.  Social pressure, especially within a Asian culture society, has a large part to play in our interpersonal relationships. We frown upon those who are not up to our expectations and forced ourselves to follow certain criteria when looking out for potential soulmates. The age gap issue is very important to most of us although most of us will not mind a gap of up to five years. On the other hand, if the age gap is more than 10 years as similar to the movie, Chéri, one will probably see the disapproving looks from relatives and even abandonment from his/her family.     

Despit this,  I still want to believe in true love will come true ( an after-effect from those romance stories) ,and there is still a chance which people can get over social pressure and be who they are because the society’s mindset is ever-changing with globalization.

Thus, I do believe that we can make our own choices.  I do! :)

Friend or foe?

{ September 26, 2009 @ 2:27 PM } · { 1, Interactions }
{ Comments (17) }

Friends or foes?

Friends or foes?

In this week’s post, I would like to introduce a new term- PROXEMICS. What’s that? It is the study of space and distance in communication.(according to my com notes) Admit it or not, everyone does have at least 4 invisible social “circles” surrounding us. It is within our human nature that we allow only certain groups of people enter into certain boundaries of our social comfort zones. These zones include: Intimate, Casual, Social and Public. A friend would definitely reside in one’s intimate circle while a foe would be prevented from entering the casual zone or even beyond.

Anyone who have friends will tell you that finding a true friend is harder than finding a foe as the first impression matters over everything. At the first sight, one’s mind will automatically “categorize” the other party into 2 main groups: 1. People I can get along with 2. People I can’t even bother with. Then, one will pick up a conversation with group 1 on perharps from a casual distance ( about 1.3m and below) while forcing the second group to his social distance( about 4m) or even more.   

However, in my opinion, a true friend may not necessary appear in Group 1 as I feel that a true friend does not need to have similar tastes or traits as I do. In fact, opposites might just attract and blossom into true friendship.

 With friends like these (BBC online Magazine, 25/9/09)

In the article, the author, Taylor, wrote about how he tried to change his group of friends (who have their own unique traits) by making acquaintance  with someone who have almost similar tastes and interests as he does. In the end, the new relationship did not work out as he found that it is “boring” to be around with people of the same ideas as he does.

Usually, there are high chances of opposite attractions because new ideas or viewpoints can be brought into a conversation, making it more interesting.

In addition, it cannot be denied that human beings like “new” things and if the other party always agrees with all your points made, there will be no excitement at all. A very good example is the relationship between men and women. As men thinks differently from women, we get attracted to the opposite gender within an interpersonal relationship.

On the other hand, people with similarities may cause conflicts among themselves, especially if they are the dominant sort of people. This can be seen in even bigger picture such as the trading between China and USA.

These two countries have the same aims of becoming the frontier country of the international trade. Because of their aims, tensions are created from envy and criticisms resulting foes. Of course, they can become best friends if they were to complement each other but it will be a rough road as each of them wants to be the best.

China says US must avoid triggering trade tensions (AFP, 14/09/2009)   

Therefore, the point of opposites attract better than similarities  can be seen everywhere to a large extent. Despite this, there will always be exceptions of people having close relationships with others who have some similar traits like themselves. 

Afterall, it is up to fate.   

A really nice video on best friends (opposites do attract) . Enjoy! 

Gone Bananas?

{ September 18, 2009 @ 2:20 PM } · { Perceptions }
{ Comments (23) }

                           Bananas 

      To have successful verbal communications with others, one needs to equipped oneself with the skills of using language to express himself/herself. The more types of languages you know, the better it will be for you to communicate with different groups and societies. This is a common knowledge for all but it has also brought to the attention of the local media on Singaporean teens. It was said that these teenagers are increasingly turning themselves into “Bananas” (in this case, this term describes about the Chinese youths here in Singapore).

  So what is this “banana” thing? I’m sure most of you have heard about the endless news on how to make our Mother Tongue classes less boring and more enjoyable. This is because our society has deemed us as westernised youths (similar to white people) with “yellow” skin on the surface which is equilavent to bananas. In short, we tend to avoid using our Mother tongue language in our daily lives and this has led to further weakening in our skills.  

Make mother tongue fun, ST 18/9/09 (An attempt by MOE to make the classes more interesting) 

  But is this really true? Are we, the youths of Singapore, turning our backs against the language that holds our very roots? Or are we, in the case of the Miss Singapore Universe accident, a group of youths who cannot speak proper English either? 

  As a student who is currently in an English-medium faculty but comes from a Chinese-speaking family, I would definitely beg to differ with the previous view. This is because I am lucky enough to have the exposure of the two main languages in my everyday life. Thus, I am able to communicate with different groups of people quite well.

 However, this cannot be say for the rest of the teens in Singapore. Many of them do not have the chance of practicing their own Mother Tongue  as frequently as I do. This maybe due to the large emphasis placed on the English Language both at home and in school. Moreover, Western entertainment media forms are more popular among teenagers and the English Language is a more convenient  form of language to communicate with people of different races. Thus, this has caused a phenomenon of young Singaporeans prefering to speak English rather than their own Mother Tongue. 

  On the other hand, a worrying trend has appeared in these recent years. The news has reported that our English standards are dropping and it has catch the attention of the public especially after the “famous” English pronounciation blundders in an interview made by our very own Miss World, Ris Low.  Let’s see how we fare (with our Miss World) against other people (European beauty queens):

           

At this rate, I guess we will have a major problem in competing with others in this globalised world in future just because we  speak our own Singlish unknowingly, even under formal circumstances such as interviews.

However, I do not have any complaints on having our very unique style of speaking English (Singlish). In fact, I am proud of it. Singlish is a language that brings out our own identity as Singaporeans, something that we can relate to within a particular society that limits only to truly Singaporeans. It is something that is similar to other countries with their accents.

At the end of the day, we come back to the question of “ Have we gone bananas?” I am not sure either as in this very complicated society of ours, we are exposed to many kinds of languages. It is going to be really hard for anyone to find a balance between all of them. My guess is that we should be called as plates of rojak instead, a dish that has various ingredients and flavours in it.

Rojak, anyone?

                             

Prejudistic in nature?

{ September 12, 2009 @ 5:41 PM } · { Perceptions }
{ Comments (20) }

 I’m sure most of us will be able to confess that we are guilty of committing the seven sins in a way or another. But, many a times, very few of us will have the courage to confess that we do have prejudice against each other.

 Prejudice takes place in different ways such as having the wrong idea about the other gender, racial groups or even just plainly on appearances.  It is mainly due to our perceptions of the world around us. One wrong perception will ultimately lead us to a feeling of distaste and disapproval of another person.

There are many factors that help us to construct a wrong  perceptive of another and mass media, in my opinion, is the largest contributor that gives us the concrete “evidences” that stabilises our opinions. Why is that so?

The very thing that allows us to relate the most in mass media is the news. I’m sure that most of us would have read the gossips in the entertainment sections at one time or the other.  And, these news do” guide” us into having misconceptions and be judgmental about certain people.  

Take for example,  the photos and the scandalous news of the Miss Hong Kong 2009 have led to neutizens’ negative opinions of the contestant herself even though she has already claimed that the scandals are not true.  So what if she is a lesbian or not? Does it mean that people who are not within the social norm cannot prove themselves worthy in these contests?  

Miss Hong Kong 2009

Sandy Lau: I’m not a lesbian

Besides this, some media sources can protray certain groups of people into a bad limelight though it may not be intentional.  A simple advertisment may cause incorrect perceptions due to different cultural background. A Macdonald’s advertisement of a Singaporean waiting for the ERP(Electronic road Pricing) to end in order to save on his taxi fare may portray a light of  ” All Singapore white-tie professionals are thrifty or stingy (in extreme cases)” in other foreigners’ eyes. But, for Singaporeans, we know what is exactly is going on (perhaps some of us feel that the ERP is a huge burden in our daily expenses and that we should try to cut down on these costs if possible)  

Yes, I can imagine a number of you out there are trying to disagree with my view (No worries, I have nothing against this ad or Mac) 

On a personal level, everyone has their own viewpoints and anyone can relate and be swayed by the opinions of others.  Media comes in as a form of support via the internet. Websites that provide users to express their thoughts in blogs and videos can amplify the problems of the unknown and trigger the prejudist nature within people. Here’s a video clip that projects the viewpoint of the creator:

Here are some comments from the video:

1. Did anyone notice that the nigger looked just like a monkey in the way he hopped over the counter, maybe i’m the only one that noticed. and this goes out to shiam35 way down there , fuck you you stupid fucking nigger , i’d gladly met you anywhere any fucking day, knock the WHITE right out of your eyes

2. Typical black behavior, nothing new

Will the audiences know that this may be a video suggesting racisim when they watch it without knowing the environment in such places? They don’t.

So this rounds up my points of the media on having a larger influence on our prejudices as compared to the other sources. Therefore, I hope all of you out there will take extra precaution and evaluate critically on every media sources that you gather information on.  

You will never know when you will be the next target.

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