Wednesday 21 September 2011

Monday 12 September 2011

London riots: police could get powers over social media

London riots: police could get powers over social media

Users of social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), could see their access to services blocked if they are “plotting violence, disorder and criminality”, David Cameron told MPs.

Youths throw rocks at police officers in Peckham
Youths involved in riots have used social media to organise their campaign of violence Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The Prime Minister said that “everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.”
He said that he has asked the police if they need new powers, and that Government is “working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services".
The Home Secretary later told Parliament that she will convene a meeting with the police and representatives from the social media industries to to discuss how to improve the technological and related legal capability of the police. They will discuss "whether and how we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services", she said.
David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, had called for BBM to be suspended so that rioters, many of whom were using the free service, would be prevented from planning further attacks.
The police have also made a number of arrests after people made statements on Facebook that were allegedly inciting illegal behaviour.
A No 10 source said that the Government would examine the technical and moral questions of blocking users’ access to a service, as well as looking at whether police powers had kept pace with modern technology.
The Government is thought to be looking at how to block individual users, rather than shutting down entire services.
Earlier in the week, a top twitter topic in London was “#blockbbm”, but after the Prime Minister’s statement Labour MP Tom Watson called the suggestion “Luddite”.
Users of Twitter claimed the positive aspects of the service, such as to organise clean-up campaigns after the riots, demonstrated that the technology itself was neutral.


"The Prime Minister said that “everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.” 
“working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services". 

The police have also made a number of arrests after people made statements on Facebook that were allegedly inciting illegal behaviour



Wednesday 7 September 2011

Summer Research Project

Doghouse
Media Representations
Dog house is a bristish movie that came out in 2009. It consist of british based actors and in a british based society. There are many representations that are shown within the film regarding gender. The males are firstly shown to be masculine and quite sexist . They are dominating and disrespect females in many ways. For example one of the characters ignored his wife by ptting in headphones and ignoring what she was saying. Another character wants to go on a trip with his best friends , however his wife doesnt want him to go , as she trys to take her wedding ring of in angry , she finds that she cant as her husband has glued it on . This expresses that he can do what he wants and he will have a hold on her.
Another scene that shows gender represenation is when the guys go to the pub , the female bar maid tells them that its a no smoking policy in the pub , the guys challenge her and ask her " what are you gonna do about it ", this shows a challenging behaviour and how the men know shes harmless.

The females have a mixture of representations within the film. For example in the begginning of the movie , the films are shown to be clingy housewifes tha donht want their husbands to leave. They are also shownh to be nagging and arguing alot as well. Later on in the movie the representation of the females changes and the females are shown to be tough and dominant. There is a bus driver in the movies and is shown to tough.
The males in dog house are quite misogynistic and have different values of respect for the females in their life's.The males are disrespecting their partners in the beginning and then are taught a lesson later. 
The females are shown to be quite spiteful and revenge seekers.
The females in the film look like “man eaters” and seeking to teach men a lesson to treat females better. The females are acting like the typical female image and description and are more stronger , braver , violent and powerful
This is unusual for the females in society as men always look stronger than females unlike this movie where the females are stronger than men.
This film was showing a contrast of genders , firstly showing the hard side of the males and the clingy and emotional side of the females. After the trip , the genders changed and the females were shown to be stronger and the males were running away from the females
 


Media Languages and Forms  
By using the props , facial expressions ,the message of the film can come across to the audience in a stronger way. Firstly , in a gender respresentations  crying is seen to be done by females , however in the film when the males are scard of the females , they start to cry and have alot of female facial expressions and being extremely scard. 

Narrative
The narrative of this movie is basically like a story. There is a equilibrium in the begging of the movie where all the guys are going out for a night out of town for a fresh start. The disequilbruim is when the men are treated badly by the zombie females andthe new equiblrium is where the men relase their mistakes of how they treat females and want to be nicer humanh beings. This is a movie that was publish in 2009 and has no curent sequel. There are different camera angles in order to show the intensity of each shot , the action part of each shot and the emtional part of the shot where the males have a close up camera shot of their expressions. By having these camera angles in the movie can help the audience feel more connected to the character and understand their feelings more. Music is also used in order to give an insight of how each charactr is feeling in the shots and to give dramatic scenes within the movie.

Genre
the genre of this movuie is comedy ,and action , this can appeal to a large target audiences as it is divourse and can appeal to different audiencesa , there is also scees of grusome horror within some shots which can appeal to other target audiences that may enjoy these scenes.

Media Audiences 
The target audience for this movie is a C2DE audience. This is due to judging upon the language and the dressing of the males. By having characters thjat connect to the audience can help the audience understand the movie better .  Both men and women can enjoy this film as females can get a thrill of watching males suffer in the movies. Males can also connect with the "macho man" image that is shown in the begging of the movie and can see how they may be protrayed in society.