Media Progress 2010.

This year I feel my progress has expanded and developed alot. I have learnt alot recently, especially surrounding collective identity. I have learnt about how individual identities are created through tastes and media influences for example what types of magazines and music a person listens to plays a huge influence on how a person's identity is created, shaped and portrayed. Collective identity can be created by aspects of a persons individual identity being similar to a group of other individuals for example same music tastes and fashions. Collective identity unites individuals and is a shared identity and ideologies by a group of people, Collective Identities can cause be the cause stereotypes of certain groups. Being or becoming part of a collective identity can link in to Maslow's hierachy of needs in which people need to feel a balance of the elements which create their individuality and their needs to feel accepted and fufilled as a human being emotionally and mentally.

Regional Identity is also very important to feel linked to a individuals heritage for example in class we watched a film about south waelian regional identity and demographic factors which create the ideologies, in this case unemployment and lack of jobs and the closure of the dockyards and factories causing a severe economic decline and the effects of this to regional identity behaviour and attitudes of the characters and how they percieve their own regional identity and how it shapes their own identites as individuals and as a whole collective identity for example in the film the characters seem unaware of their regional identity whilst taking the micky out of a traditional welsh hym however whilst referring to them self as welsh they feel their welsh identity is being taken away from them because of other ethnicities and cultures within their region.

We have also looked at how identities are much easier to shape edit and create through social networking sites anybody can create any type of identity they wish through personal information,images, videos and posts. New Media technologie such as hand held video camcordas and websites like YouTube have made it increasingly easy for anyone to become a media producer and showcase their work, this may also play a big part in creating identities and the types of consumers of a piece can create a collective identity for example band fan websites a collective identity through shared ideologies and identities in this case musical tastes.

Here is an example of the way fan sites create an identity and share ideologies with the audiences

Media + Collective identity

Because media technology is developing and progressing there are more ways to express collective identity and create ideologies and identity around the self through technologies like web and social networking sites for example sites like Facebook,Youtube,Blogger,IMDB and band appreciation webpages. Most people are exposed to the Media and have internet useage and this has enabled anyone and everyone to become a media consumer and producer. It is easy to upload and share videos and posts and broadcast them to the world without particuarly specialised equiptment. People can construct identities and collective identities and feel united through intrests and lifestyles, there are many websites that are exclusively designed for specific intrests which people can join and discuss creating a feel of a shared and collective identity.

Facebook, a social networking site allows users to express and participate in a collective identity of being a Facebook user, it allows users to have access to games, photos and add friends there are many applications and groups about causes and events which give the users a sense of togetherness and shared ideologies and intrests. Users feel a sense of shared identification within there "friends" on facebook, comments are shared on eachother's page which engage the users and make them feel connected and creates a collective identity. This links in with Foucault's technologies of the self in which we try to attain a state where we are happy and accepted. Facebook seeks to do this by friends, "liking" posts, comments and statuses and joining groups and even being invited to events. Users can create videos and post/share hyperlinks on facebook to be viewed by friends.

Youtube creates a collective identity for the user by creating a comment and rating system for audiences. It allows anybody to create a youtube account and upload videos, whether music or instructive and creates a collective identity for the audience and creator by linking similar videos it connects everybody through one media technology. Important global news and television highlights, for example football matches are broadcast on "Youtube" people can express their creativity through film making and work can become "followed" through ratings and groups created within Youtube. Audiences can save their favourite videos and watch them whenever they want to. Creative identities can be created through viewing statistics and common intrests within audiences and producers.

IMDB (Internet Movie DateBase) constructs a sense of collective identity through out users rating and commenting on films, audiences can watch films and read reviews. It creates a collective identity of people who are interested in the latest and classic films, users can share and view their opinions on films and find out further information about films. The website features a "community message board" and a "contributor zone", it lists top biography contributors and allows all to read them.

Blogger, allows its users to create a profile in which they share details about themselves and factors about their lives like intrests, hobbies and music tastes. Users choose to "follow" other users blog posts and comment on them. Blogger is about creating posts about them, their lives, causes their interested in. like other networking sites users can post pictures, videos and hyperlinks. It creates a collective identity by users following eachothers posts and analysing them, creating their own identities and topics of blog posting.

Band fan websites and tributes create a collective identity through one common intrest, most band fan websites include pictures, music previews, factfiles on the bands interviews and forums in which fans and users can interact about the band and comment on pictures, they have a collective identity and intrest in the band and share ideolgies and may link into eachother with other intrests for example fashion, ideologies and political views.