First Impressions

First of all, welcome to my blog. This blog is dedicated to my degree course about Internet Cultures. We were presented with the brief which contains 6 topics that we could choose from. In this post, I will be trying to brainstorm any ideas that I could write about for any of the topics. Right, let's get started.

1. Investigate a major controversy that unfolded online. Discuss its relevance to creative professionals. 

The controversy that first popped into my head was major fashion brands stealing designs from designers. One of the cases was Zara stealing the artwork of Tuesday Bassen, an independent artist based in Los Angeles. Tuesday found out about it from her followers on Instagram. Baffled by this news, she decided to investigate it herself firsthand and saw her designs being used when she visited one of the stores. She took action immediately after this. Zara's legal team decided to just shrug it off with the excuse of Tuesday not being "famous" enough. There are other cases as well of plagiarism of lesser known artists, which is sad. I've seen people claiming that since they have paid for a certain artwork, they have the right to do whatever the f*** they want. Such as removing the artist's watermark and printing it on t-shirts and totes to sell them. What the heck. 

2. Cyberspace is vital for protecting and spreading democracy. Explore this idea and question it's effectiveness. 

I'm not very confident with this topic and I will put this topic aside. 

3. How did mobile devices change the way people use the internet? Consider its consumer impact and relate them to a specific creative industry / profession.

I had a lot of ideas when I first read this topic. I think this topic will be my final choice. In the age of technology, there are so many things to talk about that currently has an impact on the creative industry. Mobile devices, apps were introduced because of smartphones and there are different kinds apps that are useful for people in the creative industry. I've used an app called NeonMob that allows you to collect these "packs" that contain cards/artwork by designers. They're like blind boxes. You never know what you're gonna get. Some of the collectible cards are rated as common, uncommon, rare, very rare and extremely rare. Users can collect and trade their cards to complete their collection. Artists, on the other hand can create their own packs to be sold on the website for users to collect. There are a lot more apps to talk about but I have to choose a specific creative industry to focus on. I will need to do more reading so I can elaborate more on this topic. 

4. Compare and contrast how two different communities or social groups use a specific social media platform. Which of the two groups has more to gain from it and why?

This is a complex topic. The most obvious way to write about this is probably comparing the younger generation and the older generation. There are of course other types of communities or social groups that I could use as an example, but in order to get better results from it I have to put myself in both side's shoes. I am not considering this topic to write.

5. Malaysians are so uncreative that they cannot even make 'dank' memes. Argue for or against the statement. 

“Dank Memes” is an ironic expression used to mock online viral media and in-jokes that have exhausted their comedic value to the point of being trite or cliché. In this context, the word “dank,” originally coined as a term for high quality marijuana, is satirically used as a synonym for “cool.”

So dank memes actually mean cool memes or cool memes that are outdated? I don't know. I don't even use this word very often but I'll settle for it being known as "cool meme". What does the topic mean? Malaysians can't make memes that are funny enough to be recognized and used globally or we just can't make good memes? Is there a ''dank-o-meter'' to measure how 'dank' our memes are? This is very confusing.

Well in my opinion, Malaysians have made their own 'dank' meme, well most of them are political satire and others are just very bad puns that uses some Bahasa Malaysia terms or other languages and slangs used in Malaysia. Like when Pokemon Go finally arrived at Malaysia and people had fun renaming Pokemons with Malaysian inspired names. What makes Malaysian memes special is that a lot of them are only #relatable to us Malaysians. There are Malay memes, Indian memes, Chinese memes, Hokkien memes, Hakka memes and many others. This could be a very fun topic to write, I might consider this. Check out Malaysia's very own 9gag for some 'dank' memes.

6.  Identify a figure who is generally known to have played a major role on the internet. Evaluate if his/her contributions are justified or mythologized.

Oh my, this topic. Where do I start? There are so many social media influencers that I look up to! From PewDiePie, Tyler Oakley, Hannah Hart, Anna Akana, Domics, Cranbersher, Ariana Grande and much more. The Shorty Awards website is a great place to discover people who have been contributing to the online community. The Shorty Awards honor talented agencies, brands, and industry leaders behind the best and most innovative work on social media channels, campaigns, websites and applications. Ther are people who support and defend the rights of the LGBTQ community, people who encourage loving yourself more, ending body shaming, someone who encourage kids to stand up to their bullies, people who highlight the issues of whitewashing in the film industry and many others. This is a very vast topic that can be expanded in many ways.

References

Facebook.com. (2016). MGAG | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/mymgag/ [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016].

Kirkhope, T. (2012). How the internet is transforming democracy. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/how-the-internet-is-transforming-democracy-8411474.html [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016].

Lim, J. (2016). These Malaysian-Inspired Names For Pokémon Characters Are Just Too Accurate!. [online] SAYS.com. Available at: http://says.com/my/fun/pokemon-puns [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016].

Puglise, N. (2016). Fashion brand Zara accused of copying LA artist's designs. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jul/21/zara-accused-copying-artist-designs-fashion [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016].