So its week 2 of blog creation! And we're thinking about how we use new communication technologies to communicate with our friends and family.... Weeeeellll! Without my phone I pretty much wouldn't function properly AT ALL. With my family living over in Perth and me not having a land line at home on the coast I wouldn't be able to speak to them, let alone organise things with my friends over here. Mobiles have dominated communication in recent years and i'm definitely a part of that, given how much i rely on it! I could probably survive relatively normally without the internet if it wasn't for all the info from uni that so heavily relies on the internet being accessible for its consumption. If other people who need to communicate with me didn't rely so much on the internet to get in touch with me (for example if they called me instead), I wouldn't need to rely on it so much either. It's kind of a chicken or egg thing i guess...
Another thing about the internet... So often it just doesn't work! "Page cannot be displayed" is probably the most visited site on the world wide web! And all those little boxes with the red x in the middle telling you that theres a picture there but you can't see it - gee thanks!

I don't have MySpace and really only use the internet for uni research, looking at competition photos and emails! If I had MySpace I'd probably waste waaay too much time on it and face to face communication is usually better than text anyway. Things can be misinterpreted and theres no text for signs of tone or sarcasm so its pretty one dimensional. Isn't it something like 90% of how we talk to people is non-verbal? And texting is really only relying on that 10% verbal to get a message across - theres a lot left over there!

And meeting people on the internet? *cough* well it seems to work for some people but if you'd only met someone on the internet you'd have this idea of who they were and how they acted etc. in your head that could be so far from the truth! Doesn't appeal to me thats for sure.
But hey, who am I to argue that you can't find true love on truelove.com? I mean, they can do all sorts of things with the letters in your name work out who is 'the one' for you and there are so many honest testimonials and thank yous from happy couples that it must work! And if SexySam7 just happens to have all the same interests as you, is super good looking, really fit, smart, funny and a genuinely nice guy in his profile then a face to face meeting would certainly be love at first sight! Definitely start planning the wedding now (even before the meeting - go go go!) and can the genius behind that perfect match - the administrator at love happens.com - be top of the guest list? It was all thanks to her matchmaking skills afterall! Oh! and all that numerology and compatability training!
*Cough* That was all sarcastic incase you didn't know!

So the beginning of the uni year starts with a blog. I'm writing it somewhat tired and a tad sunburnt from a weekend racing at the State Titles at Kawana on the Sunny Coast :-) Good surf and sunny days always a good combination!

Weell onto my thoughts on the course so far! I couldn't go to the lecture because of having to race on the weekend (again) so content wise i'm a little (make that a lot!) in the dark. So there's some reading that i need to catch up on!

Everyday life is incredibly dependent on communication. How people and cultures communicate and interact with one another is essential to the smooth running of things - pretty much everything when you think about it. Global trade, media, families, friends. If we couldn't communicate with one another how would we function? If we couldn't convey to someone how we were feeling or what we were trying to say, what would eventuate? Frustration and confusion would be everywhere. But then there's also how easily means of communication are manipulated to mimik the creators' intention. Propaganda throughout history has changed how people act, how they communicate with one another and in turn what they do. The media laws in Australia now are increasing the amount of power that a few high profile people possess to control and distort messages and information - it's actually kind of scary how much these people (eg. Packer, Murdoch) can manipulate and govern what information we consume.

The study of communication is interesting and relevant to my future career as a journalist. Being able to clearly communicate information and knowledge to readers or viewers is essential to a journalist's success. However the way this is done is also important and I am looking forward to enjoying a few years at uni while I try to master it!

I've definitely got a long way to go before I master this blogging thing though! Not exactly the most technologically advanced person going around, my computer experience is basically Word and Hotmail so this subject could be a rather steep learning curve!