Europe in (some) pictures

Notre Dame de Paris

Paris Disneyland

Dome of St Peter's Basilica 

Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

Colosseum, Rome

Eiffel Tower, Paris 

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

London eye

Travel buddies 4 lyfeeeeeeeee.

New Artist on the Block! : Sid Sriram

Okay, I am a HUGE fan of acoustic versions of songs!
When they tone it done, just them and the guitar/ piano...pure love!

And I promise, this doesn't disappoint.
Wait till the ending for a special "surprise"!

Currently, I'm...

Call/Chat me, Maybe?

So if you haven't realised, I am a little obsessed with "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jespen- okay little is an understatment :p
but, look what I found!

I am trying to control my laughter in the library right now...
Yeap, no luck :x

Entry #6: Commercial Media

Define Commercial Media: Media which derive part of their income from advertising

This lecture talked about different types of Commercial Media available in Australia, which includes Channel 9, Channel 7, Yahoo MSN etc. It also talked about the form and function of Commercial Media. The lecture also discussed about the ways which commercial media is kept under control. This includes 1) Formal State Requirements, 2) Legal Prescription and 3) State Oversight. In Australia, there is the Australian Communications and Media Authority and Australian Press Council.

Okay, all these just sound wayyyyy too formal and lecture-yyy. So, let's break it down!
Basically, for any type of media to be aired or delivered to the public, it has to be reviewed by those organizations mentioned above.

I'm from Singapore, where chewing gum is banned and if you're caught spitting- you'll be fined 1000 bucks - no, I'm not joking. So you can expect Media censorship to be... strict. In Singapore, the Media Development Authority is the "middle man" before anything is aired- be it TV shows or even a commercial. So, what is considered out of bounds? Anything involving politics, racial and religious issues. Personally, I think that the media in Singapore is controlled- and when I say controlled, i mean tightly, by the government. Every-single-thing has to be reviewed before we (audience) watch it. Even when a certain movie is shown on TV, certain parts of the movie would be cut out- as it is "inappropriate".
So when I came to Australia, 11pm TV shows weren't...exactly what I expected them to be, I must say. I remember once, my friends and I were having a sleepover. After all the ritual stuff- popcorns, hair braiding, nail paintings, gossiping- were done, we decided to watch what was on TV.
Oh, you guess it- naked guy showing off his "pe-pe" to the entire world. Obviously we laughed about it, but now when I think about it, I realised that different countries have different censorship rules. I think it depends on their culture, and whether the country has a "conservative" image to keep up with. I can imagine how tightly controlled would the North Korean media would be. I remember watching a show about North Korea, and it mentioned that all media outlets were controlled and owned entirely by the government. They are so strict about media broadcasting that every media equipment (television sets, radio, etc) bought from North Korea has to be approved with a SEAL (i know right!) to prevent tampering with equipment to obtain broadcasting outside of North Korea! And guess what, internet connection is illegal in North Korea! Yeap, I am actually speechless right now...
So, Singapore isn't that bad after all! (y)
When I was in Paris, nothing was censored! Yeahhhh, it was "my eyes! my eyes! " moment. But hey, at least the cute French men walking about the streets weren't censored. Or else, my poor heart...

Ellen's Dance Dare DESI EDITION

Oh boy, I am so doing this one day!

Entry #5: Pictures, Images, Photos photos photos

I loved today's lecture!
Everything was about pictures. I am such a visual creature.
Pictures are a huge part of social media. We are visual creatures.

The lecture talked about picture stories in Australia, where the Indigenous people of Australia craved and painted on stone, and in France as well.

It just reminded me of my roots.
The Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, India has one of the most elaborate paintings and carvings about the life of Buddha. They are considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art! Imagine, a picture story which would be able to re-tell the life of the founder of Buddhism! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

When I was at the Vatican City, I saw many beautiful painting, and I've always wondered "Why paint when they could have written it out?!" After today's lecture, I found the answer: BECAUSE THEY COULD READ.

( if only i gave this excuse during my exams, i would be able to draw my answers out and ace the exam! pfft.)

"What makes a great photo?" section was interesting.
As an avid photographer myself, I find myself always trying to find the perfect shot. And it was great to find that individuals have different taste and likes when it comes to their visuals and pictures. To take good photo, framing, focus, angle and point of view, light exposure, shutter speed and "capturing the moment".

I love taking photos of building and architecture. It makes me wonder about the hard work put into building a fantastic structure. Maybe, I might switch Zoology for Photography... who knows? :)

Eyeing London

Colosseum Faces

Entry #4: Sound Lecture

This online lecture was rather interesting.
Listening to an actual radio interview! When I was young, I've always wanted to work in the Media Industry, especially in the Radio. Being a DJ was such a "cool" thing, until Science and Zoology took over :)

From this lecture, I discovered my passion for being a DJ again!
I learn that Radio and TV are two different medium- exact opposite! Radio is much more intimate, and can be used for multi-tasking. When I was studying for my GCSE, I used to listen to radio while I was studying. It helped me to concentrate much better! (Pro at multi-tasking aye!)

I also learn that the most important thing about being a DJ, is to ensure that listeners are always felt included. I mean, what's the point of going on on on and on about a certain topic when no one is listening to you?!
I have realised that I have never listened to a PODcast before (well, before this- that is). I am always into listening to FM radios- pop radio stations, BBC Asian stations. Even when I was in Paris, I even tuned into the French radio station- even though I don't understand anything.
But everything sounded so sexy and yummy ;)

Radio channels in London were...different.
For one, they had HEAPS of radio stations, so it got alittle confusing to which one to choose. As for me, I am guilty of always switching between radio stations depending on the song :/ Yeap, if it's "Call Me Maybe" on the radio, I am not going to switch the station until the song ends...even though I hate the song...with passion though. :D

Grace Ball 2012

best night everrrrrrrrrr.

My Media Usage Log

I must say that doing a Media Usage Log made me realise how reliant I am on the Internet. Technically, my life revolves around the internet, and sometimes I wonder what I will do without it…Probably leaving my room, into the outside world (beyond Uni, of course) and get involved in awkward social interactions. My Media Usage and Production Log was done over a period of 10 days: from the 1st to 10th of August.  

Date, Day	Time Spent	Medium used	Location
August 1, Wednesday	5 hours 20 mins	Facebook Tumblr Sciencedirect.com YouTube	College
August 2, Thursday	5 hours 40 mins	Facebook Tumblr Spotify Skype Scienedirect.com DC+	College
August 3, Friday	6 hours 30 mins	Facebook Tumblr Sciencedirect.com Spotify	College
August 4, Saturday	6 hours 16 mins	Facebook Tumblr DC+ Spotify Online Banking Youtube	College, University Library
August 5, Sunday	3 hours 10 mins	Facebook Tumblr iTunes	College
August 6, Monday	4 hours 29 mins	Facebook Tumblr Spotify Pinkisthenewblog.com CNN.com	College
August 7, Tuesday	6 hours 12 mins	Facebook Tumblr Sciencedirect.com Blogshopping Youtube	College, University Library
August 8, Wednesday	6 hours 10 mins	Facebook Tumblr Blogshopping Skype Sciencedirect.com Blog iTunes	College, University Library
August 9, Thursday	5 hours 30 mins	Facebook Tumblr iTunes DC+ ChannelNewsAsia.com Sciencedirect.com	College
August 10, Friday	3 hours	Facebook Tumblr Spotify	College, Handphone

Table 1: Types of Media used over a period of 10 days.

Figure 1: Comparison of the different types of media I used from August 1 to August 10, 2012.

My Media Usage Analysis
Oh well, the usual suspect- FACEBOOK.
I have spent at least a few hours a day on Facebook for the past 10 days. But what I found about my Facebook usage was rather interesting. I don’t spend the ENTIRE day on Facebook, going through my feed, waiting for something interesting to happen. I actually keep it on in the background, appearing offline while I’m doing my assignments or infact while I’m typing this out! Since I am an international student, Facebook is the only way to get instant updates about my family and friends- I mean, with my Mum on Facebook, I don’t have to call/ text her all the time!

Figure 2: Most common source of news voted by the cohort of JOUR 1111

Other than that, latest news and happenings are always updated on Facebook- which is why I rarely visited any Online News Websites in the 10 days. The only days when I visited a “Online News Website” was 6th August and 9th August. 6th August, as I heard about the shootings at the Sikh Gurdwara in Wisconsin. Since Sikhism is very close to my heart, CNN.com was rather efficient in letting everyone around the world know about the situation. The next time I visited an “Online News Website” was on the 9th of August, which was Singapore’s National Day. Despite being away from home, ChannelNewsAsia.com kept me updated about the happenings and everything about the National Day Parade which will be held every year, on the 9th of August.
Comparing my usage of Facebook as a new source, I am glad to know that I am not the only one! Althought most of the them voted “online newspapers” to be their “go-to” source for current news, 13.9% voted Facebook to be their source of “online newspaper”. I guess, since most of us are on Facebook most of the time, why not get updates about the happenings around the world from there as well?! From this survey, I have learnt how reliant I am on Facebook to provide me with all the latest happenings.
I have learnt so much more by visiting CNN.com for A DAY. Imagine, I’ll be updated with current happenings if I just spend 30 minutes out of 6 hours to read some online news platforms.


Tumblr was ranked the 2nd highly used Media platform in my log.
I love having a Tumblr as I get to share photos, reblogged some pretty cool GIFs and meet new people around the world. And in the 2 years of having a Tumblr, I have made heaps of friends around the world. Also, I have a fitness blog on Tumblr. After getting to know some girls who are extremely into fitness and love working out, I decided to be part of that community. From then on, I’ve never looked back.
Despite the time differences, my friends and I always send messages via Tumblr to one another- for motivation, sharing training tips, wonderful recipes etc. Thus, like Facebook, I’ve always kept Tumblr in the background while doing my assignments and other stuffs.


A trend regarding the usage of DC+ is evident.
DC+ is a program which is kind of…the life of every College kid. Being in College, TV is not always available. Either someone is watching a show, or you have to watch it quietly or- this is my reason- you’re just plain lazy to leave the comfort of your room. That’s why we have DC+, which allows us to share multimedia- E.g. Songs, Movies, TV shows, Photos, eBooks etc (I bet you wish you were in College now ;) ) Only on Thursdays, is when I used DC+. This might be so as on Thursday is when “Suits” get upload on to the site. 

As a Science student, research and getting reliable information about a certain topic is part of our very day (sad) life. Which is why, Sciencedirect.com was a frequent site which I visited at least 4 times in the 10 days. I was working on Research proposals and Laboratory Reports when this Media Survey was being carried out, which suggests the frequent visit to the site.
Least media usage was observed on the 10th of August. This is so as it was Grace College’s Annual Ball. With Uni ending at 2, I had to pretty much get ready in 3 hours- and as girls, we know this is not an easy task! This explains my limited usage of the media that day. Since I do not own an iPhone, Instagram was not included in the medium used- if not, TRUST ME: Ball + Instagram= total flooding of your Instagram and Facebook updates!

Figure 3: Different media usage by Cohort  

Comparing my media usage with that of the cohort, Facebook was obviously our Numero Uno. General surfing and browsing ranked second, while YouTube ranked third in the cohort survey. I do experience the whole “General Browsing and surfing” thing. I always wonder how I end up at certain sites. For example, after watching “The Tunnel”, I started googling about the Tunnels in New South Wales and ended up at this weird website about trolls (i know!). From this, I learnt that the internet is a huge place and it is so easy to get lost. Therefore, BE CAREFUL, MY YOUNG PADAWAN. :P
Youtube is my “to-go-site” for procrastination. The amount of cool videos, weird ones...OMG. It’s the perfect place to go if you need a laugh, a tear-jerker movie or just watching a girl putting her make-up on for millions of people to see. Over the 10 days, I visited Youtube thrice. Due to the amount of assignments I had due that week, procrastination was definitely not on the to-do list. But on weeks were I’m free, Youtube would be on my “must visit” sites of the day.

 Figure 4: Types of music platforms used in JOUR 1111 2012. 

Comparing my usage of music platforms with that of the course, I found that I was a frequent user of Spotify compared to iTunes. This is so as Spotify is FOC! And we can learn about new and upcoming artists without having to buy their music first. 83.6% of students who did the survey claimed to listen to music from their computer. I am not a big fan of storing music in my laptop as one album would lead to another, and another, and another… you get the idea.
And with the amount of articles, photos and TV shows (ahemmmm, from DC+) I have to store in my computer, listening to music via Spotify saves a lot of space. With Spotify, I frequently listen to playlist created by my friends- a great way to learn about new artistes.

My Media Production

Date, Day	Task	Medium
August 1, Wednesday	Uploading of photos	Tumblr
August 3, Friday	Uploading of photo	Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr
August 5, Sunday	Uploading of photos	Tumblr
August 8, Wednesday	Uploading of photos	Blogger
August 10, Friday	Uploading of photos of Grace Ball 2012	Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr

Table 2: Media Production Log

My Media Production Analysis

From this log, I realised that I don't produce much media of my own. Most of them are just random photos of my recent travel to Europe, random Uni photos during breaks. On the 10th of August, I uploaded heaps of photos on Facebook and my personal Tumblr- which is a form of Media Production. I think, despite having a personal Tumblr, I rarely "produce" anything of my own. Only when I have something interesting to upload, I would. Otherwise, I am mostly "reblogging".

I upload some of my photographs on to Flickr, which is Photo-sharing website. However, I am not always on Flickr as the uploading takes WAYYYYY too long. Uploading on Facebook and Tumblr seems the easiest to me.

I've got friends who are into uploading their music on Youtube and on iTunes, which is such a great platform for exposure. I wish I was talented enough to upload my singing/dancing/ random movements on Youtube.

How the different use of media affects my Journalism? Hmm, let's see.
Some of the last things I do almost every night includes checking my Facebook and Tumblr. My wake-up ritual consists of checking my Facebook for any new likes (y), replies on Tumblr, important emails, etc etc.
With Facebook and Twitter, everybody can be a content producer. Everybody can join in the conversation. It has helped me understood that Journalism is more than one dimension. It is not all about writing. It is also about "producing" media- songs, photos, videos,text and so on.
When the Time magazine announced “YOU” as the person of the year in 2006, it seems right to point out that communication revolution is taking over the world.There is a thin line between those who produced and distributed news and those who received them.

In all, this Media log was interesting, in a sense that I actually learnt alot about my Internet usage and Media Production. I feel like we are all so reliant on Social websites and other social mediums that we actually forgot about the "old-fashioned" interaction- using our voice. Gone are the days where we will get excited if a rather so-so looking boy (ahemmm, he better be GORGEOUS!) asks you out for coffee in person. Now it's more like this:

"Hey, i just met you
And this is crazy
But, you looked adorable today
So, coffee- with extra shot, maybe?" -over Facebook chat.