Logging on helps the brain ‘log on’

The Advertiser’s online site- AdelaideNow, on the 27^th October reported that social networking sites, such as Facebook help improve productivity for workers, despite businesses banning the site for employers.

Adelaide Now reported that up to one-third of Australian workers admitted to using ‘Facebook’ while at work.

A report from the University of Melbourne stated that staff who were permitted to access the internet for ‘fun’ (including Facebook); were actually more productive than those prohibited. However there were limits as to how long being logged on could help productivity, the report stated usage no longer than 20% of their work time.

Adelaide had the lowest rate of employees checking Facebook at work, however, Adelaide also has the highest number of employers (just under half) that have banned the site from their employees.

Men were slightly more likely (37.1 per cent) than women (33.8 per cent) to access social networking websites in the office.

Being a teenager and an active user of ‘Facebook’, my experience has shown me that quite a large number of teenagers waste time on these sites when they should (and have originally intended to) be studying or completing assignments. Friends have confessed to me that while they should have been doing assignments they logged on Facebook intending to only be on for ten minutes but ‘accidently’ wasting two hours on the site as it is so easy to become distracted.

Therefore I think in the workplace, with adult employees, allowing them to access such sites is a positive move, however, teenagers that have become ‘addicted’ to such sites  lack self control and ultimately do waste time. Teenagers find it easier than doing actual work on days that they are tired or lack motivation simply because socialising is easy and requires little effort. Teenagers have come to rely on these social networking sites, just as they rely on their mobile phones.

In fact, Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggests many teenagers are spending more than 20 hours a week online, staying up into the early hours of the morning and leaving their mobile phones on all night in case they receive a text message.

The Byron Review of children and new technology, set up by Gordon Brown in 2007, reported that four out of five children aged five to 15 have access to the internet at home. Almost half of these (49%) between ages 8 and 11 have their own mobile phone. More than two-thirds (71%) of 12 to 15s say they mostly use the internet unsupervised at home.

From my experience, logging onto Facebook for about ten minutes while doing uni work has stimulated my brain and increased my motivation, however I have had the odd occasion when I got distracted and spent an hour on the site, and I admit my motivation dropped even more than when I had first logged on. So it seems as though a break every now and then does help productivity, but above all, self control is the key.

And a poet will know it..

Part of studying ‘Issues in Publication and Design’ is obviously, being given various documents and redesigning them, using the knowledge we have gained about publication and design throughout the course thus far.

This is a rather enjoyable exercise, and a productive way of putting our knowledge to use. This week we were given a poster aimed at poets, informing them that the magazine ‘Piping Shrike’ is taking entries of poetry and will be publishing the work of the winner in their magazine.

The poster is aimed at university students, which is a consideration I took into account when redesigning the poster. We were allowed to change colours, pictures, anything that is necessary so long as we included the information needed.

Poetry has been defined as:  

“an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.”  (http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/poetry.htm)

My aim was to create an elegant artistic design, as a representation of the magazine and of poetry itself. While poetry comes in all different genres and various forms, it is a well known fact that poets are creative so my intention was to reflect this.

I chose to use grey, black and white, but in a way to make the poster look elegant, rather than boring, which can be associated with those colours. Using Google images I found the image with a pen, and a definition of ‘poetry’ underneath it, which was written as a poem itself, using poetry to define poetry. Which I thought was a relevant creative image to use. 

I used the font ‘Edwardian Script’ as I believe this reflects creativity, as block fonts such as ‘Calibri’ seem ‘inside the square’. They do not leave room for imagination and do not grab the attention of a person walking by, which is the aim of a university poster; considering the pin boards are generally crammed already it is a strategy in making yours stand out from the rest. I also chose this font as it was similar to the font already used on the image to define poetry and therefore would suit nicely.

In order to have the white font stand out against the grey, I lessened the contrast of the image, therefore making the image a duller, darker grey.

While some may interpret my redesign of this poster as feminine, my aim was to make it elegant and artistic.

 

Here is the original poster on the left and my redesign on the right:

                        original:                                                               Redesign:                                                                   

                                                                                                            

Exegesis draft

　　

"good manners are, after all, nothing but courteous consideration of other people’s interests and feelings." (Post 1922, pg 532).

Basing our work on Emily Post's book ‘Etiquette in Society, In Business, In Politics, And At Home’, we were asked to create three artefacts for IPD; each being a representation of a different etiquette, and each design being influenced by such theorists as: Kress, Parker, Reep, Walsh and Schriver. These theorists provide knowledge on communication, genre, interpretation and representation of text and graphics, of which we were to apply to the creation of our multimodal artefacts.

Emily Post was an American author who, in 1922 published a book on etiquette titled ‘Etiquette in Society, In Business, In Politics, And At Home’. She firmly believed that there was a right and wrong method of how to act in almost every occasion of life. The book was set out into chapters, advising the reader on manners of behaviour, dress and speech in certain life situations including formal events, greetings, and even the household. Post described etiquette as "merely a collection of forms by which all personal contacts in life are made smooth" (Post 1922, pg 535).

The etiquettes I chose to base my artefacts on are bar etiquette, church etiquette and job interview etiquette. The aim was to design and create these artefacts so that they are multimodal, meaning they possess more than one ‘mode’ (Walsh 2006). Therefore, a multimodal text may incorporate written or verbal language, moving or still images, they may be produced on an electronic screen or paper and may include music or sound (Walsh 2006).

Artefact 1: bible, visual, text and audio.

　

The first artefact, representing church etiquette is in the form of a bible, as the Holy Bible is a commonly associated symbol of church. The visual aspect of this artefact is the Bible itself. The cover and pages within are made of white cardboard. I chose white cardboard as white symbolises purity and good (Sherman & Clore 2009), which is what the Holy Bible represents. I considered adding more detail on the cover of the artefact, however took into account Reep’s (2006) rule of white space under ‘balance’ in document design and decided the words ‘Holy Bible’ were effective enough.

The text element of the artefact is found within the bible, and is a creative writing piece titled ‘the ten commandments of church etiquette’; this is my own piece of etiquette, written with the influence of Emily Post and the actual Ten Commandments in the Holy Bible. I ensured my creative piece reflected the artefact it was on. This is because the two need to complement each other so that the reader can comprehend and decode the reading quickly and simply, in order to maintain the readers interest (Walsh 2006). For the formatting of the artefact, there is one commandment on each page to ensure there is enough white space on the page to avoid cluttering, as too many items on a page can diminish the appeal and effect of a document (Reep 2006). The ‘ten commandments’ are as follows:

‘Thou shalt not attend church intoxicated;

Thou shalt not eat during the sermon or time of worship;

Thou must turn phone off or on silent during sermon and worship;

Thou must take crying baby out of room during sermon and worship;

Thou shalt be dressed in their ‘Sunday best’ attire;

Thou must bring their Bible to follow sermon;

Thou shalt not put their feet on the seat in front of them;

Thou shalt not chit-chat at any point during sermon or worship;

Thou shalt stand during worship unless disabled or injured;

Thou shalt remove any form of headdress when entering church’.

The commandments were based on Post’s writing of etiquette in public gatherings, as an example commandment number 8 is based upon this quote: "It would be shocking to enter a church and hear a babble of voices!" (Post 1922, pg 19). All text elements written on and within the bible are written in gold pen; again as a means of keeping consistency and to signify not only the importance of church etiquette, but as a representation of the actual Holy Bible, as the colour gold symbolises precious connotations (Wood 2009), and the Bible is deemed to be precious to its followers.

The audio element for this artefact will be I, reading aloud ‘the ten commandments of church etiquette’. I chose this to be my audio element as verbal communication of the text can maximise engagement with the information and create effects such as humour (Walsh 2006, p.34). Together, with the visual of the bible the text on and within the artefact, and myself reading aloud the commandments, means that this artefact is multimodal.

　

Artefact 2: suit jacket and resume, text, audio and visual.

The second artefact is a small suit jacket with a resume attached to its arm, to represent the etiquette of a job interview. I chose a suit jacket as part of the dress etiquette element of a job interview, as presenting a polished image is a basic key element to making a good impression on the employer (Usitalo 2004). The suit jacket, being the visual element, is made out of black cardboard, as black clothing within fashion is stylish, timeless and symbolises power (Wood 2009). The collar and arm lengths were measured to ensure Reep’s (2006) principle of consistency.

For the text element of this artefact I printed the text already provided for ‘job interview’ onto a piece of paper with the heading ‘RESUME’ and glued it to the suit jackets arm. The text resembled a resume, which is an expected item to have at a job interview and therefore reflects the etiquette.

The audio I chose for this artefact was a clip found on YouTube titled ‘Office noises’. I decided to include audio in artefacts one and two, as written text is merely an individual part of a message and not the dominant component (Walsh 2006). Using a sound recording to complement Post’s etiquette allows the audience more interaction with the text, maintaining their interest (Walsh 2006).

According to Walsh (2006) how we write, can mean more than what we write. For instance, using bold, italics, the font, size, colour and format all give a new level of meaning to the text. This is due to personal interpretation, as people interpret texts differently based on personal experience and individual meanings derived from their knowledge attitudes and values (Schriver 1997). Therefore I considered these theories when writing my piece on church etiquette and designing the resume sheet for job interview. I used the most basic knowledge on the Bible and church in order for readers to understand regardless of their religion.

　

Artefact 3: ID (licence), visual and text.

The third and final artefact to represent bar etiquette will be in the form of an ID, a driver’s licence. I designed the licence using the program ‘Microsoft Publisher’. I chose to use a computer program as a variation from my other artefacts that have been handmade. While the artefact is in the formatting of a licence, it will be presented on an A4 piece of paper, much larger than life size. I have chosen the form of an ID to represent the ‘age appropriateness’ section of bar etiquette, and the decision was influenced by Karen Schriver’s chapter ‘The interplay of words and pictures’.

The text element on this artefact will be the section under ‘Attire’ of bar etiquette, and will be printed on the back of the ID. I have designed the licence using my own details and photo. The photo of myself on the ID will represent this section of etiquette, as normally ID photos are a head shot of the person, I have chosen to use a photo of myself wearing suitable bar attire as stated in the etiquette, "an upper garment covering at least half of the bosom and a lower garment three inches longer than the bottom of the buttocks". I chose to keep the traditional formatting of a drivers licence as the audience will be familiar with the layout making the text easier to interpret (Schriver 1997).

As technology improves and means of communication changes, presentation of information needs to adapt (Kress 1997), technology allows me to make this adaptation, and is a significant aspect in the creation of this artefact. It allowed me to construct the ID, using text boxes to apply the personal information needed in the right areas, uploading the photo to represent attire in bar etiquette, and change various colours to imitate an actual driver’s licence.

Contemporary technology allow us to easily combine different modes of representation, as I have shown, image can be combined with language and sound can be combined with image (Kress 1997), making these multimodal texts. In order to interpret these texts, readers draw on multiple cues including their knowledge of the topic of etiquette, personal experience and other texts of the same genre (Schriver 1997). So in conclusion, each element included in your design should be judged on its ability to help the reader understand the text quickly and easily (Parker 1990) and remember, the first rule of etiquette is:

"Never do anything that is unpleasant to others. Never take more than your share—whether of the road in driving a car, of chairs on a boat or seats on a train, or food at the table." (Post, 1922, pg 34).

　

One mans trash...

Britain has taken the good old saying of 'One man’s trash is another man’s treasure' to a whole new level. The online site for the Advertiser reported that Britain will now be turning their sewage into biomethane in order to fuel their stoves and boilers.

Starting in Didcot, Oxfordshire, The £2.5 million ($4.14 million) project is said to reduce emissions by up to 350 tons a year, by making use of gas that is normally burnt off and wasted.

The process which takes around twenty days, consists of the waste being transported to the Didcot works and being separated into sludge and liquid with bacteria breaking down the biodegradable material to create gas.

A mother of two who lives in the area is supporting the scheme, with her childrens futures on her mind; she said "I worry about the future for my children, who may not enjoy the same freedom just to switch things on. It makes sense to make ourselves more energy-secure in this way."

An estimation by the UK National Grid stated that at least 15% of the domestic gas market could be supplied by renewable gas by 2020.

This is a great accomplishment, with the 350 tons a year being the equivalent of taking 130 cars off of the road. This can make a rather large difference when considering future generations.

While the idea of recycling peoples waste makes us all scrunch up our nose in disgust, the effects of the change will be remarkable and partners British Gas and Thames Water say that customers will not notice any difference.

While Australia is yet to make this change, scientists from Australia's premier scientific organisation CSIRO and Monash University in Victoria have made a breakthrough of turning paper waste and garden waste into crude oil which can be processed further into high value chemicals, bio-fuels, petrol and diesel ABC reported.

These amazing breakthroughs are one step at a time to a truly greater, brighter future for all us genY and future generations; we're not just thinking about today, but rather thinking about tomorrow.

I guess it is true that one man’s trash truly is another man’s treasure.