Big Brother

Hey all. I thought that the Big Brother website (www.bigbrother.3mobile.com.au) was a really good example of the sort of site that is becoming fairly popular in public internet sites today. It seems boring for me to write about this I know but for me this makes understanding some of what has been said in the lectures a little more simplified, if not just giving examples of what we have been learning. It offers links to video communication between you (in the private sphere of your home) to the Big Brother house. It creates in a sense a one-way communication of the audience being able to see house mates, but housemates unable to see them, a form of surveillance as mentioned in the lecture in some sense. However this is not completely limited as housemates submit an online diary, communicating to the public with their thoughts or ideas. The 'live cam' allows for mediated live viewing. There are daily postings of videos, recording interesting events in the house to interest audiences as well. The public can be involved in a forum in a sense, by being allowed to instant message evicted housemates at an allocated time. While this is not a blog, I think it is still a good example of communication barriers being broken due to digitisation and the internet. Like Luke said in the lecture the renaissance of the diary in terms of both the housemates online diary, and the live web chat. This site offers multiple examples of digitised forms of communication, giving access to things such as online bidding for memorabilia, photos, contests, online posts, video diaries, it even includes ringtones in relation to housemates and Big Brother and more. Check it out if you want, I think its a good place to start in terms of following a few of the terms laid out in the lectures, if not for just interest in the site's many links, and different forms of media.