This post was created in response to Heironymusix (a fellow NMPer) on the readings for that weeks tute. It illustrates a dialogue between him and myself and to be frank is the only bit of contact I actually received from a classmate. In this post I analyse the readings and elaborates on connectivity, technology and human relations within the context of these two. You could say that my first project “This was the future” is an elaboration of the ideals in this post.

The second post is “Lies! Liar!”

This post has not much to do with anything let alone networked media except that it is post that received the most responses of all posts posted. This only really demonstrates how devastatingly unpopular this blog is, and the only people who are interested are close friends and even then they only care about meaningless rants when I’m overseas and out of my mind with self-loathing.  This is probably more an indication of the loyalty of my friends rather than the awesome power of online publishing.

The third post is “This was the future”.

Just an example of project planning for project A, it outlines my idea and details why a blogging platform was my medium of choice. It also refers to some existing examples of sites that I used as references for layout in my project.

The content of my blog is a split between course related posts and personal posts. Halfway through the semester I left for an international exchange in Japan, and while away I continued using my blog as a forum for personal updates, for the most part created as a means to keep in contact with friends back home in Australia. Several posts were also created recently and dated back to fit within the timeframe of the 2008 semester.

So to begin, let’s review the stats!

The most distinctive trend within the data corresponds with the timing of my student exchange. In October, 2008, I packed up shop and left for Okayama, Japan. At this time NMP course related content ceased and my blog was flooded with non-sensical personal ramblings. Interestingly enough, traffic spiked and within that month and I received over 240 hits, with an average of 8 hits per day. Contrasted with August of the same year where content was, for the most part, unit based, the blog received only 88 hits with an average of 3 hits per day.

Most of this traffic had been referred from either the Icelab unit website or from facebook where I had been personally referring the blog to friends. Prior to that I had made no particular effort to tag posts or refer others towards the blog.

Supporting this trend is the data from my top posts. Excluding the home page, the most visited posts were from personal rather than unit related posts. The exception is a reposted news item about Golden Gate bridge jumpers, which had the second highest number of hits. This is because it is neither unit related or personal, but a generic news item that was picked up and referred to by search engines.

Over the course of maintaining this blog, the main lesson that I’ve come away with is that the amount of attention the blog receives is directly proportionate to the amount of time I invest in promoting, maintaining, and networking with other blogs. The periods in which I had the heaviest traffic flows were not only when I had the most posts, but when I had promoted the blog (either on facebook or by encouraging friends to subscribe to rss feeds) and had taken the time to tag and categorize each blog posts. Online interaction with other students also proved rewarding, though there were few instances of it happening whenever I did comment on other students posts they would generally oblige by commenting on mine.

They seem like very crude lessons but I did take the time to apply them to my production projects, especially project A where the navigation of my website was directed by tags and categories. The success of the project also managed to direct traffic towards this blog.

To view the pdf click here. To view the online version click here.

My project is a datavisualisation comparing the factors of ‘quality of life’ between Vietnam and Australia as defined by the Economist’s Intelligence Index. It is originally designed as print poster with roughly A3 dimensions, the online version can be accessed here. The accompanying rationale reads as follows:

In the years following the Vietnam War my parents immigrated to Australia where I was born. As a first generation immigrant, it is impossible not to speculate about the differences between my life and those of girls of my generation who remained in Vietnam.

It is an ideological fallacy that the world is divided into two groups; the rich West and the poor East, with the former possessing a higher ‘quality of life’. When comparing ‘quality of life’ we are burdened with the preconception that material wellbeing is the sole indicator for utility. This is the misnomer of the developed world. In the field of economics, it is now widely recognised that several factors, be they social, environmental, or political, are needed to gain a broader definition. These indicators are, by necessity, an arbitrary measure. Any attempt at quantifying happiness and wellbeing is prejudice to a selection bias, affecting not only the factors of assessment, but also the units of measurement. On what scale can these indices be accurately compared? There is no empirical solution.

With these factors in mind, the aim here is to present a tentative comparison based on the tangible indicators of ‘quality of life’ between Australia and Vietnam. The data represent five of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s nine indicators for ‘quality of life’; these are geography, represented by people per square km; material wellbeing, represented by quintile income distribution; health, represented by causes of infant mortality; job security, represented by unemployment rate; and gender equality, represented by female representation in work sectors. To present a neutral image the data is not accompanied by any supplementary commentary. It can be interpreted openly without prompts or bias.

Quoth Barthes, “The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author” (Roland Barthes in ‘The Death of the Author’), that is; narrating a text imposes a limit to the final signified. This restricts the range of meaning that can be drawn by the reader. They are not passive receivers of texts but active players in constructing meaning. Thus, here, to promote the functions of the reader the data is left bare so that the reader may evaluate it using their own standards for ‘quality of life’.

Within this project my aim was to emphasis the natural biasness of data. That there is a prevailing ideology of the rich West dominating over the poor East is a contributing factor in my choice to present the data without prompts or commentary. As stated in the rationale, the project only attempts at presenting a neutral image for readers to interpret as they see fit using their own definition for ‘quality of life’.

The final document is designed as a print document rather than an online document to best present the data without the restrictions of monitor size, resolution, etc. It is not interactive display and so an online version is rather benign, it restricts the viewer and compromises quality without delivering any extra, complimentary benefits of the medium.

The majority of the data was collected online via the WHO website as well as the UNICEF website (a full list of references can be found below). Collating the data was the most challenging part of the project as the two countries very rarely had corresponding records to draw from. For example, census data within Vietnam was generally incomplete or missing for the most part of the 80s and early 90s, finding credible data was also an issue as on more than one occasion I found conflicting data sets for the same country. As a result I had to be very critical in my research and when analysing the data, to best discern between credible and non-credible data.

Data Reference List:

References:

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008) Australian Bureau of Statistics [Online] Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ on the 5^th November, 2008

Economist Intelligence Unit (2008) The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life Index [Online] Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/quality_of_life.pdf on the 9th of December, 2008

General Statistics Office of Vietnam (2008) General Statistics Office of Vietnam [Online] Retrieved from http://www.gso.gov.vn/default_en.aspx?tabid=491 on the 28^th of November, 2008

Unicef (2008) Statistics and Monitoring [Online] Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/statistics/ on the 9^th of December, 2008

United Nations Statistics Division (2008) UN data: A world of Information[Online] Retrieved from http://data.un.org/ on the 29^th November, 2008

World Health Organization (2008) World Health Organization: Data and Statistics [Online] Retrieved from http://www.who.int/countries/en/ on the 29^th November, 2008

Click here for online viewing.

In the years following the Vietnam War my parents immigrated to Australia where I was born. As a first generation immigrant, it is impossible not to speculate about the differences between my life and those of girls of my generation who remained in Vietnam.

It is an ideological fallacy that the world is divided into two groups; the rich West and the poor East, with the former possessing a higher ‘quality of life’. When comparing ‘quality of life’ we are burdened with the preconception that material wellbeing is the sole indicator for utility. This is the misnomer of the developed world. In the field of economics, it is now widely recognised that several factors, be they social, environmental, or political, are needed to gain a broader definition. These indicators are, by necessity, an arbitrary measure. Any attempt at quantifying happiness and wellbeing is prejudice to a selection bias, affecting not only the factors of assessment, but also the units of measurement. On what scale can these indices be accurately compared? There is no empirical solution.

With these factors in mind, the aim here is to present a tentative comparison based on the tangible indicators of ‘quality of life’ between Australia and Vietnam. The data represent five of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s nine indicators for ‘quality of life’; these are geography, represented by people per square km; material wellbeing, represented by quintile income distribution; health, represented by causes of infant mortality; job security, represented by unemployment rate; and gender equality, represented by female representation in work sectors. To present a neutral image the data is not accompanied by any supplementary commentary. It can be interpreted openly without prompts or bias.

Quoth Barthes, “The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author” (Roland Barthes in ‘The Death of the Author’), that is; narrating a text imposes a limit to the final signified. This restricts the range of meaning that can be drawn by the reader. They are not passive receivers of texts but active players in constructing meaning. Thus, here, to promote the functions of the reader the data is left bare so that the reader may evaluate it using their own standards for ‘quality of life’.

I think the cold is messing with my ‘grip on rationality’ function.

Oh dear, I think this going to end up quite the gloomy post, this. Apologies in advance, I think it was the terrible dinner I made myself. I tried ever so hard. I hate ruining perfectly good ingredients…they were so fresh, so succulent, they could’ve made a perfectly good stew before I got my mitts on them. I wouldn’t have even fed it to my dog if I had one, I’m quite sure he’d prefer the taste of his own nonexistent anus than to my cooking. Dammit, I used a bay leaf and everything.

I think it’s about time for quarterly assessment. Come on now, you did cool stuff, you’re cool… let’s go through the list

1. Had Christmas in Kyoto spending time in jazzclubs, extravagant and delicious restaurants, and various temples and shrines
2. Ate succulent oysters the size of my fist and petted deer in Miyajima
3. Browsed through skin samples of A-bomb victims in Hiroshima
4. Saw Ki-chan in Nagoya in a bar filled with the lost souls of American tourists
5. Shopped in Harajuku through streets bustling with gothic lolitas
6. Went to host club
7. Explored the backstreets of Shibuya and the messed-up sex culture in Akhihabara
8. Woke up absurdly early to go to Tsukiji fish market to see the most messed up see creatures, ever
9. Had New Years in a giant club, amongst people I didn’t know, seeing a band I’d never heard of, drinking something I can’t remember
10. Spent hours in hot springs and karaoke joints
11. Stayed in the hotel from ‘The Shining’ in Nikko and was too scared to sleep lest the hotel warden his man servant hack us to pieces in the night
12. Harassed by a white-man-in-denial-has-awesome-case-of-Japan-envy ryokan manager in Nagano, but on the plus side trekked through beautiful national park covered in blankets of snow to see macaques bathing in hot springs
13. Went to see a geisha drag show starring a Japanese Tom Jones
14. Consumed my body weight in sushi and plum wine in Osaka. I am now composed of 1/3 marine animal.
15. Stayed in capsule hotels which were not completely dissimilar to the interior of red dwarf
16. Saw Don Cab. YES.
17. Played host to Nixon, Crumpet, Frin and Ruuku

And of course the wonderful Kieran.

… that is a list. A good list. Yes. I think so. I feel better already. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Yeeeeeeaaaaaah. I think my jadedness has temporarily subsided, I shall take this time to indulge in some long overdue optimism. Good times ahead methinks. Fuji rock is on the cards, the S-bomb comes to play next week, birthdays (21), Cherry blossoms, naked man festivals, and of course… back in Canberra in March. See you then?

Okayama is one of those frustratingly mild cities; mild climate, mildly populated, if it were a pizza you’d say “There’s not enough salami and they left out the olives, but it was surprisingly cheap and big enough to feed us both. Overall, not completely an unwaste of money”. What I’m saying is that it’s the Canberra of Japan. And in winter this is all especially obvious when it becomes kindof mildly cold, and you succumb to a kindof mild depression. Not a real one with sorrow, and anguish, and Nirvana and stuff, but the kindof disdainful one where you spend most of my time squatting in your room thinking of elaborate ways to tell people to fuck off, wherever possible incorporating “and the horse you rode in on”.

I for the most part blame the post-war-bleak-exposed-concrete motif that the council has for the city. Everything is grey; all the buildings are grey, and the streets are grey, and the trees are stripped grey in the winter, and the sky is always grey. And as a result all the food begins to taste a bit grey, and the water is grey, and you yourself begin to look grey and you think “Jesus, what I wouldn’t do for a big red tomato.”

I don’t mind the cold so much as long as it is properly cold and properly winter. Blankets of white instead of these hideous expanses of grey! White is like a canvas that frames everything on it making beautiful things profoundly more beautiful. Compare: deer nibbling on moss…vs… deer nibbling on moss on snow capped mountain. Bloody beautiful…unlike grey, which voids everything of colour! of life! of vitality! It adds nothing and takes everything. It dulls, it tarnishes, it blands.

(It leaves the toilet seat up. It puts the lotion on its skin…)

But I digress… what I’m saying is…for those of you at home, sweltering in the summer heat, exhausted from nothing and sticking to your couch, spare a thought. At least you’re seeing more than grey.

How will I return to Australia with exotic tales from the oriental when you’re acting just like me? Come on Japan, you’ve got a horrific racial stereotype to live up to.

I’ve never been, but as far as I’m aware, France is exactly as Pepe-le-peau would have me believe. Frenchman, fornicating with pastries in baguette huts, strolling the streets of ‘Pa-ree’  wearing only a blue and white striped shirt. Naked from the waist down to emphasis their nudity. Bathing in beure-blanc and red wine, smoking poodles through a filter… or so is my understanding.

Lift up your game Japan.

Tokyo was supposed to be like the future. It’s not the future; it’s a slightly more expensive present. It’s like being trapped in a neon labyrinth where the goblins are all well dressed and Japanese David Bowies try and lure you into a host club.

I have been to some beautiful places, but like most beautiful things they’ve been subverted by the evil hand of the tourism industry. Miyajima for example, world heritage listed shrine and possible  Shinto Disneyland. Couldn’t hear the birds for the frantic opening and closing of camera shutters. The majesty of a deer nibbling moss off a shrine in the hills was detracted somewhat by the obese German tourist eating an ice-cream shaped like hello kitty and walking a beagle in a jacket.

Dammit Japan! Why the lies? Why the treachery? Note to self: never trust again!

On the plus side, I’ve never eaten so much pocky…

Golden Gate Bridge to get suicide net to catch would-be jumpers

Los Angelas Times | 11 October, 2008

Stainless-steel netting costing up to $50 million will be placed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to catch would-be suicide jumpers, San Francisco officials decided Friday.

The decision by the board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District follows several years of controversy. The agency has yet to determine how to finance it, said spokeswoman Mary Currie.

The netting was the “locally preferred alternative,” Currie said. More than 5,000 comments came flooding into the agency as part of its environmental review process.

About 2,000 people have jumped from the storied bridge since it opened in 1937. So far this year, 19 have made the leap, which is almost always fatal. Whether public funds should be used to prevent additional suicides has been passionately debated.

Writing to the board last summer, San Francisco resident Paul J. Miller expressed a view that many others had raised: “Attention should be given to mental health assistance,” he wrote, “not paying tens of millions of dollars to contractors who are just trying to milk money from citizens.”
On the other hand, the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California has supported the idea, contending that the effectiveness of barriers has been “dramatic” at such landmarks as the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower.

The group also cites a study of 515 people who were stopped from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. It concluded that 94% of them were alive or had died naturally long after their thwarted attempts.

In its 14-1 vote Friday, the agency’s directors determined that a net would be the least visible of five alternatives.

The others included extending the height of the bridge’s railing from four to 12 feet — an option widely criticized as too obtrusive.

All of the possibilities — except doing nothing — would cost $40 million to $50 million, Currie said.

The plastic-coated steel cable will be seen from only a few spots on the bridge’s walkway. Hanging 20 feet down and extending 20 feet on either side, it will be the same color as the Art Deco span.

It also will cost $78,000 a year to maintain, compared with $500,000 for the railing, according to the district.

James Eddie, the one board member who voted no, raised the issue of the barrier’s cost.

The agency will draw up a final environmental plan, examining, among other issues, the danger the net might pose to birds flying into it.

steve.chawkins@latimes.com

Oh, well thank you

Anything new happening?

Nothing really, did a little bit of reading this morning… oh, I also MOVED TO JAPAN

Flew out from Sydney Sunday morning; 10 hours, 3 crying babies, and the shittiest airline meal I`ve ever had later arrived in Osaka. (Note to Jetstar: your meat pies taste like shit. Sorry I didn`t mean to be so blunt… I just thought you’d make it using meat, not shit.)

My home town is called Okayama, it takes 2 bullet trains and 2 hours to get here. Since coming here I’ve been mostly feasting on cheap sushi and discovering how much Japanese I haven’t learned in the last 3 years of study. I talk mostly with my hands and pointer finger. I think, they think, I’m retarded. Maybe I should stop asking if they’ve seen my baseball and clapping with my wrists.

It’s been quite an intense journey so far…I did have a bit of a freakout on the plane, and at the trainstation, and then I cried myself to sleep.

I’ve been a little lonely…

There are two kittens on campus who I play with, one has no tail… his name is ‘stumps’. I also met a tiny Japanese guy named melon who spent a year in the states so talks like a black man. He grabs his crutch alot and is insecure about his height so takes drugs to help him grow… i don’t think he likes it when i laugh at him.

more supercrazyfuntimeadventures in beautful land of country Japan to come. peace.

p.s. I haven’t seen any robots yet.

p.p.s. There aren’t any hugs in Okayama yet though, I think you guys should bring some over to me…

xoxoxo

So, this is kind of the inspiration behind the project. I plan to (in some way) compare and contrast data for quality of life between Vietnam and Australia as to give a tentative analysis of how life may have been different.  To do this I’ll have to consider:

-Indicators for quality of life: where from? are they valid?
-Raw Data: Where can I get it from? Is it credible? Is it up to date? By whom was it collected by? variables between data collection
-Presentation: Do I want to do an interactive online project? Static? Printed?

These things I will address a little later, but for now I might just research for a while.

Starting with: Critique on the conceptualisation of quality of life