Swerve Facelift

My group’s idea for swerve was that we would encourage readers to sign up, they would not have access to the complete stories without doing so. Once they signed up they would give us some personal details which would enable us to offer specialized advertising for companies. This would increase our revenue from advertising as businesses would be willing to pay more than they currently do if they now they are reaching their target audience. This method is already used by the likes of gmail so the public would have no problem with this and it would also be included in our terms and conditions so members would not be able to fight it.

Members would then be able to communicate with each other on like issues so if they have the same views on certain subjects they can build up a rapport. Additionally another feature our website would have is the ability for users to select a part of Australia (or perhaps this could become a global function) that they are interested in reading about. They would then be given a regional page with information such as weather, news, events e.t.c. This helps the reader to engage with their own community.

We also decided that we wanted to build up the websites image, and since it was founded by UTS and was originally students writing based, we decided to become a host site to the theses of professors so that when people are writing essays or reports they can come to swerve for the latest in developments in most areas. Scientists/professors e.t.c. pay a small fee of just $5 for us to host their work, and because we are such a highly valued website this is in their benefit to gain a greater audience for their work. We people employed to check the authenticity of these reports so swerve hosts only quality work. Hence we become the place to come to for references and they have to become members to do so.

Does advertising get through to us?

Continuing on from the previous post, I spoke to some young drivers and their thoughts on dangerous driving, particularly texting whilst driving.

A.R – female, 19, Sydney

‘I will occasionally read a text message whilst I am driving, but I will never write a message unless I am at a set of lights or stationary, it is extremely distracting and I think it is of huge concern on our roads’ says A.R.

Even this is breaking current NSW law which states that is illegal to drive any vehicle whilst using a hand-held mobile. This includes sending and receiving messages, taking photographs and talking, either whilst driving or stopped at a set of lights.

Of some encouragement to the NSW government, A.R claims ‘every time I hear my mobile ring whilst I am driving, images of the advertisement where a young child is hit as a result of someone reading a message run through my mind’.

A.R suggests that whilst she is aware of the distractions whilst driving, not all of her friends realise the implications of their actions whilst behind the wheel and believes they do not understand how distractions can have disastrous consequences. Perhaps more worryingly, they do not appreciate what constitutes illegal activity when they are behind the wheel of their vehicles.

N.K, male, 23, Sydney

N.K, states that although he rarely text messages whilst driving, it easy to do so with subtlety and therefore believes it is more likely to go unnoticed by the police and easier to get away with. Klujin also says that he does not notice that some is illegally texting whilst driving, until they behave erratically, then when glancing at the driver he notices they are texting or engaging in some other activity which distracts them from their driving.

Although A.R. and N.K. express an understanding of the dangers of driving distracted, a more thorough and dynamic examination of the understanding of drivers is needed to really engage with them and tackle the dangers currently posed on our roads.

Further studies would perhaps help the government to hone their advertising to relate to youngsters. Jacqui Triffitt (previous post) believes many drivers are of the ‘it won’t happen to me’ mentality and remain unaffected by graphic images splashed across billboards and television screens. Suggesting that takes a first hand experience to shock drivers into amending their habits.

Driven to Distraction

A recent NRMA survey found 8% of men admitted to crashing whilst distracted compared to 5% of the women, in addition 30% of males revealed they had narrowly avoided a collision in comparison to 20% of women.

I wanted to look into why this difference occurs. Is it an ingrained characteristic or a mere disregard for safety?

The scientific view:

Anthropologist, Stephen Juan says ‘in general, women multitask much better than men’, a characteristic which is ‘hard-wired in the brain’ and thus makes women more capable of driving without their full attention devoted to the road without having an accident.

The NRMA also found that when driving, the male attention is particularly diverted by the stereo whilst women are guiltier of applying make-up and talking to a friend. This is because the ‘concerns of the two genders are different, women are much more interested in their ability to be attractive at all times, even while driving, compared to men’.

‘Such differences may have to do with evolutionary biology, whilst women tend to nest and be more concerned with relationships among people, men tend to hunt/forage and be more concerned with things. Hence women gravitate towards words and men gravitate towards machines’ says Juan.

Tracing our modern day ‘distractions’ back through evolution ‘the hunter must more actively search for prey, hence looking (i.e. eyes off the road) is more common among men than women’ hence the understanding that our behaviour, not only whilst driving but in every aspect of our lives is a predisposition engrained in our genetics.

NRMA:

NRMA director Coral Taylor says ‘Motorists clearly understand which behaviours are dangerous but 75% admit taking their eyes off the road to do something other than driving’ and in doing so disregard their own safety and the safety of others on the road.

Psychologist’s point of view

Clinical Psychologist and developer of the ‘Back in the Drivers Seat’ programme, Jacqui Triffitt, proposes that reason a larger proportion of men are distracted whilst driving than women is because they are conducting business on the way to work. Trying to accomplish as much as they can whilst commuting, drivers may hold complex business discussions or text colleagues which causes them to take their focus off driving.

Triffitt suggests that not only might the figures be slightly askew as data collected is reliant on honesty, but also that the fundamental issue of distracted drivers must be diminished and any campaign launched by the NSW government should target all drivers, not only the groups highlighted by the NRMA.

‘People have the knowledge [of the dangers] yet are still willing to take the risk’ of not paying attention when behind the wheel of their vehicle. The sustained nonchalance of motorists towards these dangers will be maintained so long as ‘they can get away with it without consequence or implication’.

96% of the people surveyed recognised texting whilst driving as the most hazardous and distracting activity undertaken whilst driving, yet 1 in 5 people admitted to doing it. This is evidence that despite being able to identify what constitutes dangerous behaviour, motorists are not willing to modify their own conduct to reflect that knowledge.

Pictures speak a thousand words..

I had to include this picture, for no reason other than it captures the essence of music in my opinion. As if this hand is reaching out for a life line, it reaches out for the music.

The Festival launch pad

Sydney band, ‘Faker’ spent five years doing gigs, such as the Purple NYE party, before
they hit the big time this year with ‘Heart Attack’ from album Be The Twilight. The
track did the rounds on non commercial radio stations such as Triple J and Sydney’s
FBi before being picked up by the likes of Nova which has seen the band lifted into
the mainstream.

Pictured above, left, ‘Lost Valentinos’ at Splendour in the Grass 2007 is supported
by the crowd during his performance. With an interactive performance the singer,
bored of the confines of the stage decided to sit upon the shoulders of the crowd.
Not to be an absolute pain in the arse for the tech guys but it drove the crowd crazy
with a surge forward all wanting to reach out and touch band member.

Festivals such as Splendour in the Grass pictured above, are a good way for up and coming
bands to reach their target audience. The first line-up is the one with the big stars, but
it is the second line-up announcement which gives rise to the smaller bands, albeit not on the
'it' stage but nonetheless guaranteed to pull a crowd. Despite the face the rush of summer
festivals is over, line-ups for next years festivals are already being announced, hopefully
giving some local talent the ability to get their sound out there.

Sydney's Live Music Scene

The recent dramatic increase in the cost of playing music in clubs, bars and pubs,

it is predicted that such venues will look have more live music to reduce running
costs.
Sydney already has many venues which have live music nights which draw in crowds.
Whilst live music has generally been confined to Friday and Saturday nights venues
there has been a noticeable expansion in these dates with the Annandale hosting an
extensive line-up on Sunday nights for just $5, as well as other venues such as The
Metro on George street offering more well known acts throughout the week.
One would hope that this increase in the charges associated with playing recorded
music will boost local up and coming artists who struggle to gain an audience. The
Mona Vale Hotel and The Exchange Hotel are venues known to support such artists, with
bands regularly performing throughout the week, gaining support and recognition in
the music-listening community.
Indie night-out ‘Purple Sneakers’ hosted at the Abecrombie Hotel branched out for
it’s New Years Eve ‘House Party’ 2007-08 which took place at Sydney University’s
Manning bar. Live bands performing all night in conjunction with its regular D.J.s
providing a much more diverse experience for patrons from the bog standard D.J.
sets one can hear week of the year.
Australia is a country which a strong patriotic pride and by seeing local acts perform
it allows them to not only diversify music tastes but to allow people the ability to
support local talent rather than mainstream American musical influences. 

Blog translations..

I have decided that today I am going to be look at not only the blog itself but its host, Global Voices.

Global Voices, translates these blogs into up to thirteen languages so that everyone has the ability to access and understand the content. This is a great feature which allows the messages people are trying to get out there to gain support for their cause, can reach a much larger audience.

However I am not really sure how this function operates as when I typed ‘John Kennedy’ into the French, Spanish and Portugese versions of the website, I could not see his name appear, and am unfortunately bi-lingual.

After further investigation, I have discovered that Kennedy’s work has indeed been translated into several different languages. I think this is a great feature, allowing a greater access to the blog. Unfortunately this function seems to be a bit slow, there appears to be no stories translated for, arguably hindering the benefits of the service quite a bit. It would be interesting to see if this affects the number of hits he gets to his website, however there does not seem to be an obvious ‘hit counter’ obvious on the global voices website.

Analysing John Kennedy

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/index.php?author=227&m=200804

Kennedy has been blogging since March 2005 and has examined many political issues with a focus on East Asia, and more particularly China. Recent posts have focused on the conflict between China and Tibet and the focus this has gained throughout the world as a result of the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.

Kennedy’s blog comnatins links to facebook groups campaigning against some of the ongong issues in China, including environemental degradation, a petition against a young woman Zeng Jinyan, being held hostage with her daughter due to her husband’s actitivism and also a link to a petition to ‘free Hu Jia’, Zeng’s husband.

The post China: We need a consistent and pro-trade US president explains Chinese views on the lead up to the American election, Kennedy allows Michael Anti’s word to make up his argument. I like that Kennedy does not just focus on the human rights issues within China but also looks at their political alliances. Yet these views, even whilst saying that the Chinese people would applaud the first African-American president, there is a greater focus on future of the Chinese nation as a communist unit itself, and therefore government would look to support Hilary Clinton.

Each of Kennedy’s blog posts lead on to length discussions between its readers, a recent April 2nd post had 87 comments. These came from people on each side of the argument, both Chinese and Americans commenting on the plight of Hu Jia in the lead up to his sentence. The post gives details of Hu Jia’s story, the petition against his arrest and the crimes he committed, disobeying the strict Chinese regulations by speaking out against the regime.

This has led to many readers debate over the issue, some Chinese readers show anger at Westerners thinking they are ‘superior’ and know everything about China, more so than the Chinese man who lives there. John Kennedy steps in on the discussion, asking those who come out with arguments regarding Hu Jia to provide the evidence to support their claims. No one gets away with an unfounded generalisation. Whilst opinions are expressed, any statement about the trial or events in China is often challenged by other readers. Thus the discussion becomes regulated by the readers themselves and allows others to develop an understanding of all perspectives of the debate.

My tester blog

Welcome to my first blog.