Final Wrap Up

The end of the semester four work is rapidly approaching and what happens to the Zeal team after that is anyone’s guess. We still have some minor work left with the film, notably adding music, but for the most part we have almost reached the end of the line. Maybe this blog will be maintained afterward, but in all likelihood it will remain a distant and forgotten backwater in the internet.

Of more interest is what will happen with the Censorship debate. The last note of today was that Optus was now joining in, it remains to be seen what exactly convinced them to support it. Despite the efforts of numerous activist groups the internet filter proposal has only been slightly set back and whatever force is driving it appears to be more determined then ever.

So I leave you on that note, the semester is virtually over but the internet filter controversy rages on. To what end is yet to be known.

5 things i’ve learned from blogging about internet censorship.

1. I’ve learned how to upload podcasts after recording them. I’ve learned a lot about advertising on the radio from research about how radio is still a dominant form of advertising even in today’s internet age.

2. Group work is an amazing thing when you’re working with people you know and like which i’ve been lucky to have happened me.

3. I’ve learned how to go from 7 hours of film to 1 hour and then to 6 minutes. We also learned about shot styles, interview techniques and the challenges involved. Also not to be too involved or attached to your own work, otherwise you end up with only your opinions.

4. The mandatory internet filter has no absolute guarantee to completely abolish child pornography. The $44 million, will be better spent being halved between the Australian Federal Police help stop child pornographers and pedophiles and the other half to begin an internet education programs for Australian parents to make the internet a better place.

5. Blogs are a great way to get information, opinions and news across to people with the same interests. I’ve learned to love the informal but mature nature of them. I’ve also loved making fun lists summarising the ways i’ve developed an understanding on all the material i’ve learned about

Romy.

Optus is Evil

Once again I was beaten to the punch but Optus is planning on taking part in the internet filter trial. Well it was only a matter of time before a major internet player decided to get involved with the joining the government in screwing over the Australian internet population. If that sounds bitter, then it should, my Internet is currently capped at home thanks to Optus. We are only allowed to have 20GB of internet access for a month. What is the Internet such a rare commodity now that we must ration it?

Of the internet providers involved now with the censorship movement, I’m not surprised it’s Optus

Another ISP, supporting the government!

Optus has joined the band wagon to enforce the mandatory internet filter over Australia. From May 22nd Optus will join the 6 small ISP companies to censor the internet. Optus users living in Sydney and Newcastle will undergo and internet filter trial which is expected to last for up to six weeks. Optus will be emailing the selected participants shortly and they have the choice to opt-out of the trial, unlike the governments internet filter.

My advice is opt-out now while you still can. Slower internet speeds due to an unsuccessful filter- what’s the point?

This is when you should be thankful for not being with Optus!

On the topic of films….

Ah film editing, a truly delightful task. In case it was of interest to you, the previous statement was both equal parts sincere as sarcastic. For you see I have learned much in the joy of editing this past month but also much in the frustration it can bring. There is something delightful in putting hours of effort into a project and then receiving something quite substantial. Even if no-one in the world was to see, the end result is still worth it. However this editing process has not been without some difficulty. Unfortunately our camera work and filimg skills were passable at best and as a result many clumsy and amateurish mistakes were made. Alas, this is how we learn.
Though trying to find solutions to these problems has proven to be a useful learning experience in itself. If anyone of us desire to work once more film in the future it is clear we have much to learn, but at least we are one step closer to Spielberg.

The last days

So, we’re in the last couple of weeks of semester (Thank God!), and we’re just in the midst of wrapping everthing up – film, treatments, research reports etc.

Film is looking really good. Congratulations to Sara and Michael who spent a lot of time cutting the doco from 7 hrs to 1 hr – and then again to 8 mins. Not a small feat! I’d say they dealt very well with Em, Romy and my very constructive criticism.

I think one of the biggest problems with the film is that we were very involved in the topic and didn’t sustain an outsiders look. Although we had some great footage of speeches, our audience would perhaps not appreciate it as much as we would, as they didn’t have the personal attachment we did to it. Basically they would have gotten bored, and that was certainly not our goal.

I also think we should have remembered our research on interviewing skills when we ventured to Canberra. A lot of our footage was unusable because we kept talking over the interviewee. Some of our questions, as Toula pointed out, were very leading questions. Although we knew a lot of the people there held the same views as us, our questions were not completely objective, and therefore limited the interviewee’s response to a somewhat predictable answer. We’re not 60 minute or today tonight reporters!

Aside from that, I’ve had a fantastic semester so far. Having mostly dealt with the research side of things I’ve discovered a lot of interesting things, as well as picking up some more research techniques. I particularly enjoyed not only the research into voice preferences for our radio broadcast, but the creating of the broadcast itself.

Although we’ve nearly finished the semester and the campaign, I will continue to keep track of the internet bill and a lot of the content we’ve come across this semester. I feel very strongly about it and have enjoyed working on something that I am passionate about. This I think has certainly helped and motivated our group to work extremely hard this semester.

Cheers.

To Censor is to Control

“The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.”
(Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 121-180 A.D. and Stoic philosopher).

Unfortunately Stephen Conroy and the Rudd government are still in favour of making the Internet filter mandatory. Following Conroy’s appearances on Q&A, SBS Insight and Sky News awareness of the Internet filter has increased and people are becoming more aware of the futility of the filter.

We want people to know all the facts so they can object to the filter before it is imposed on all Australians. Making the filter mandatory is something which has highlighted issues to many people because we are unaware of which websites are going to be deemed as inappropriate. This could be a very dangerous filter in the future as the government have the power to censor anything they wish.

Please keep opposing the internet filter and you can do this by writing to senator Conroy explaining that it should not go through followed by your personal reasons why. Keep up the good work because Conroy is beginning to crack under the pressure!

- Emily Ackew -

Somebody Think of the Children’s latest

I’ve been reading up on the latest happenings of the Somebody Think of the Children’s blog. And I have to admit I had a bit of a laugh. I suggest you go and check it out.

The first page of articles features bans, bans, and bans. From computer games to Lady Ga Ga’s latest video clip. Thank god we have these people looking out for our safety. I don’t know whether I could have lived through another Lady Ga Ga video clip. Perish the thought!

Anyway, I found an article on ACMA declaring an anti-abortion website prohibited. I figured as none of us have said much about it I would mention it today. It says that after a complaint they’ve added an anti-abortion website to the blacklist.

First of all, if they’re going to add websites based on complaints, then I think we would have quite a big list. And second, isn’t this blacklist supposed to be a secret?

How many more things can possibly go wrong till these people realise this bill is doomed to be a failure?

I thought I had more then that

Apparently I had only made six previous blog posts before now. I could have sworn I had made at least eight but it would seem otherwise. In general I have only made an effort to post when there is something to add, and even then only if the topic has not already been covered by someone else. Unfortunately this means that available topics of any interest or value become quite thin on the ground. I shall have to find some other interesting topics to add before the day is out. Perhaps a sea shanty about Conroy? Or maybe a rap battle between my self and Kevin Rudd?

Or I could just post something relevant……

Wrapping up the film

The film is coming a long nicely.
We’ve had to cut it from an hour and a half to about 6 minutes…
which was really hard for Sara and Michael to do, but i think is worthwhile in the long run.

Some of the things in the film were extremely detailed in opinions and would be worthwhile to watch for those who know a lot about the Filter Bill, but because the film is aimed at students and we are trying to make them aware of the issue, i don’t think they’d be interested in watching an hour and a half of stuff they don’t quite know about and might find it boring.

The new 6-8 minute version is prompt with points and politically sarcastic adding a bit of fun and humor i think students will appreciate. Sara just has to get the music on parts of the road trip and we have to come up with a quirky name and then its DONE!

It will be interesting to read everyones treatments of the film later next week to see how the whole team interpreted it differently.

Romy.