Synthetic Personalisation - Advert

In the advert, it is written in bold what the phone being advertised will do for the customer. It says 'your music' and 'your life' at the very beginning before the customer begins to read further information. This shows how the advertiser is using synthetic personalisation to address the customer personally and create a relationship with them in order for them to feel more comfortable and maybe convince them to buy the product. It also makes the product seem more individual to the customer as it uses the word 'your'. Using 'your' may make the customer feel like they can make the product unique to fit their personality, etc.

Text Investigation Continued...

As I collected more data for my investigation, I had realised that the majority of the text samples that I have collected, do use some kind of 'text talk'. However, this does not just include abbreviations, but the use of 'u' in the place of 'you'. I have also noticed with the older age group of texters that rubuses are used very frequently, such as 'c u' (see you) which was quite commonly used throughout most of the texts I had collected but had not occurred in the younger age group of texts. As well as this, the over 40 texters have also shortened many of the words they have written such as 'txt' instead of 'text'. This may be because of the types of phones being used by the different age groups like I had mentioned in my earlier post, the younger age group may have more up to date phones while the older range group may have stuck with phones that they know and have an older model of phone. This could also be because of the issue of speed when texting.

Not all of the texts in the older age group data consisted of rebuses, abbreviations, etc. There were two out of the ten texts that had been written with a more standardised style of language so my hypothesis wasn't completely correct, however the majority of the texts that I had collected showed my hypothesis as true due to the fact that nine out of the ten texts from my data has shown that the younger texters under the age of 20 have used a standardised style of language in their text which does support my hypothesis much more. However, what I have also noticed from the under 20's texts, is that they have written in an exclamatory manner but most tend not to use commas in between sentences to make the sentences grammatically correct. This may be an issue of speed where the texter finds it quicker if they don't add certain punctuation.

Language and Technology - Text Talk

After reading the article '2b or not 2b', written by David Crystal, I have been interested in researching how often the use of abbreviations and rebuses are used in text messages today. Many people have said that the youth abbreviate in their texts and use 'text talk' and that since older people have started to text more, a more standardised style has appeared. However, what I have noticed is that older people abbreviate and use rebuses much more than any other teenager that I have ever texted.

Due to this, I have decided to carry out an experiment on whether or not teenagers are the main culprits of using 'text talk'. To do this, I am collecting quite a large amount of data of a group of people under the age of 20 and also a group of people over the age of 40. I will collect this data from ten people for each age group and ensure that they around the same age to create a more concise and reliable amount of data.

I have collected a small amount of sample data consisting of texts from someone who is 17 years of age and someone who is 49 years of age. From this, I have noticed that the younger texter has used much more of a standardised style of language with a small amount of abbreviations such as 'lmao' (laugh my ass off) and 'tbh' (to be honest). This standardised style of language used could be due to the type of phone that has been used, for example and iPhone has a keyboard on the screen to make it easier to type 'correctly' and also has autocorrect where any misspellings or grammatical errors are changed to what is correct. However, the abbreviations could have been used out of habit which could be due to a previous phone or that they had seen other people saying it.

The data I have collected from the older texter shows many rebuses rather than abbreviations, for example 'r' (are) and 'u' (you) are used quite frequently in the texts. The reason for this may be due to the type of phone as some of the older phones have the keys with four letters on them, so to save time and the effort of having to click on a button four times to type an s, it would make more sense to just type the one letter. As well as this, they may use this 'text talk' as they might think it makes them seem 'cooler' or 'down with the kids'. This may also be the reason for the abbreviation 'OMG' (oh my god) used in the data sample. This person might have used this as they had seen younger people talk this way, therefore making themselves seem younger if they talk in the same way.

From the data samples I have collected, it shows how the younger texter, even though had used a few abbreviations, it was not as much as the older texter who has also used many rebuses throughout the text messages as well as the abbreviation. Therefore, from the data sample it shows that older texters use much more 'text talk' which is completely opposite to what the article '2b or not 2b' had said. However, this data only shows one person from each age group so it is not reliable enough to make a full conclusion. This is why I am collecting a much larger data pool for my results to be reliable and a fair experiment.

Transcript

J: across from the Christmas tree \/ yeah /\

B: no (.) from the bauble /\

J: yeah yeah ye:::ah /\ (.) but then you said go up/\

B: right \/ (1) kay \/ so then go four (.) thumb marks across \/ /

J: /yeah \/ but then/

B: /from the (.) from the bauble/

J: /yeah /\

B: and then four thumb marks/ up

J: /but that brings me to the Christmas/ tree /\

B: no it does not \/ no/ it doesn’t \/

J:/yes it does \/ /

B: /it gets me to the bottom of the Christmas tree \/

J: okay (.) fine /so just say the bottom

B: /okay/

J: /the bottom of the Christmas tree

 

 

This task was much harder than I expected, especially when trying to describe where each drawing was on the page and to describe exactly how I had drawn it. However, because of the way that Josie spoke back to me after I had given an instruction to get a further understanding and how we double checked with eachother to make sure the pictures were correct meant that they came out pretty accurate. Even though it was quite difficult to start off with, Josie managed to re-create a similar piece of paper as I had.

 

Back channel agreement was shown to be used quite regular throughout the transcript to show that we understood what was being told. There were times when describing the pictures whereabouts and appearance that I paused, this shows that I had to think about what I was saying in order to tell Josie the right thing. We both started to interupt and overlap eachother which could show that we got annoyed and frustrated that we couldn't see eachother.

Course Work - Opinion Article

Has the influence of today’s celebrities changed the way of society?

Are the celebrities to blame for the way that some teenagers feel that they must change the way that they are in order to fit into society?

Beth Thorne

The Guardian, Thursday 24 October 2013

Living in an era full of technology, we have more access to the media than ever before. But is all of this unlimited access to social networking sites, television programmes, magazines and many other media forms, brainwashing us all into what we think is what society wants us to be?

We are attacked by magazine covers shoving celebrity news in our faces every second of the day about their love lives and their drug and alcohol abuse, and if I’m completely honest with you I’d rather focus on my life (which is, at times, disastrous), rather than read about how celebrities can’t cope with the fame and the fortune and how it’s ruined what used to be their “perfect life” – when you perfectly know that they are loving every single second of the publicity and attention.

Is it just me, or are celebrities now-a-days getting more obsessed with sex, swearing and smoking? If you ask me, it’s the music business setting them all up to star spiralling out of control after their 21^st Birthday’s just like those of the past, *cough* Lindsay, Britney, Amanda, Paris *cough*. C’mon, who’ll be next then, Miley Cyrus? Who knows? Maybe it will be someone who isn’t in the public eye this time. It could be someone who looks up to one of these celebrities or maybe all of them and thinks its “cool” to take drugs and pose naked in photos and upload them to Twitter or Facebook. This actually brings me to the question, what are the effects of how celebrities act on the youth of today? 

Course Work - Travel Writing

When In Rome

Rome is a treasure trove of monuments and architecture with so much to take in and so many phenomenal views to gaze at while wandering through the city. While roaming through the ancient ruins, it’s incredible to imagine that this city was once at the centre of an enormous and highly cultured empire. With some of the most well-known and beautiful building constructions in the world – not forgetting the art, food, history and most of all, the culture – there  is no doubt that Rome will highly impress.

In the centre of Rome and at the end of the Aqua Virgo is where you’ll find the Fontana de Trevi, or in English, the Trevi Fountain. As Rudolph Wittkower once said, the historical monument was “late baroque classicism”, starring the stunning sculpture taking the spotlight and standing proud at the centre in the fountains façade, is the almighty sea God, Neptune, being pulled in a shell shaped chariot by two sea horses representing the changing nature of the sea as one shows the calmness while the other is showing fury. As well as Neptune, there are statues symbolising Abundance (on the left) and Salubrity (on the right), there is also Agrippa, the general who built the astounding aqueduct. No trip to Rome would be complete without tossing a coin over your shoulder; it’s said that this will bring good luck and a return to Rome. Visiting the fascinating landmark may just bring that magic to your trip.

Not only does the Italian Capital have the Trevi Fountain to offer, but other astonishing buildings that are a must see when in Rome, such as the colosseum, Castel Sant’ and what I think is the most impressive of Rome’s surviving buildings, the Pantheon, dating back to over 2000 years ago and sits in Piazza della Rotonda. Taking a stroll around the inside, it’s difficult to take your eyes off of the beautiful interior and structure of the dome making it hard to believe how long ago it was actually built. Still lined with the original Roman bronze, it creates the main source of light for the whole building adding amazement to the whole building as the earth turns and the light flows around the whole of the interior giving awareness of the magnificence and splendour of the entire architecture.

Bibliography

http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/trevi.htm

http://www.hoteldesartistes.com/rome-travel-guide/2012/06/ten-reasons-why-visit-rome/

http://www.insidersabroad.com/italy/blogs/tourist-blog/posts/a-guide-to-the-trevi-fountain-rome

http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0703/bcover.html

http://www.rome.info/pantheon/

Technology Blog Article Opening

thegardian


TECHNOLOGY BLOG

 
Twitter: is it worth the tweet?

 
How could a 140-character update lead to the anti-social world we live in today?

 
Beth Thorne

theguardian.com, Monday 13 October 2013

 

With over 100 million active users, Twitter has become one of the biggest social networking sites in the world. It enables people to post or “tweet” their thoughts and actions at that very moment, as well as following various celebrities to keep up to date with the latest in their life styles.

Accessibility to the site may be the cause of why Twitter is so popular. Signing up is an extremely easy process where anyone can sign up and start “tweeting” immediately, as well as following anyone who’s tweets catch your eye. Unlike Facebook, where you would have to wait for your friend to accept your friend request to contact them and access their page, you can just click follow and be updated by their tweets immediately. Twitter apps have also made it even easier to view your friend’s tweets by making the site accessible via mobile phone.

An article by S Johnson from TIME magazine has stated, “Why does the world need this?” and how he doesn’t understand how “alerting [people] about [their] choice of breakfast cereal” is amusing. Many people would agree with this as if “50% of these 100 million users log in everyday” and are writing about their choice of breakfast that morning, it could get quite boring in years to come.