Our lives have become mediated to an extent never before encountered. A concert? A kids’ play? A birthday party? Everyone’s got some sort of technology recording every moment. So much so, they’re only ever living the moment through a lens – from the moment it’s recorded to every revisiting of it, the same view and memory will be had. We carry the tools of media with us everywhere, every... 

Tonight QANTAS decided it was time to turn things around. The world’s leading safety airline (we’ve never crashed, mum!) is moving onward to try and get Aussies back on board, trusting the airline to be as true blue as ever. The company decided to launch a little twitter comp, with the requirement being to tweet what would make your inflight experience the most luxurious ever, with #QANTASluxury... 

This week, men are being sent to their deaths. Yep, there was more than one, but most people are talking about just one man. Troy Davis. This man, convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, has had multiple stays of execution. But today he was supposed to go to his death – as the jury and courts decided he should. Now, I’ve said it before, so I’ll simply reiterate – I’m... 

The difference between a natural hazard and a disaster comes from the effect it has on people. More and more everyday people are turning to social media to find out what is going on within their area and community of friends as well as their traditional information sources such as mainstream media. Through the work we’re doing at Project EPIC at the University of Colorado at Boulder, we are... 

Privacy and anonymity are two hot button subjects. But for all the moral panic associated with it, very few people are making use of the privacy options available to them. On top of that, at the end of the day, privacy is not something you control anyway. It’s something contained within your network. Facebook Privacy The social network all of us are on (except for my friend Meg, whose graduate... 

There are stacks of flaws in proposed business models for traditional journalism as it attempts to move into a new sphere. All of them are cloaked with a decent dose of assumptions – that people prefer traditional media, that people will pay for content, that they are the only entities producing good ‘quality’ journalism. So on and so forth. None of the models offer any kind of real... 

I’m pretty tired of the women in tech ‘debate’. Why? Because I think we fail to appreciate how women are demonstrating their tech involvement in a space they are creating themselves. Women are in tech, in huge numbers – they’re just not seen unless they are in traditional tech roles that involve a cubicle and 9-5 work day, and that shows how limited the debate really... 

Erika Doss’s work on memorialisation is an interesting foray into how western societies consider death. We are used to seeing memorials offline, from crosses at the sides of roads through to war memorials, and everything in between. We even see memorialisation happening online. But do we carry the human values of our offline existence online? Do our values look the same online as they do offline?... 

It’s time to stop acting like life is always cute and cuddly. Some bloggers are walking advertisements for Stepford, but the best bloggers – the ones who you feel most connected to and passionate about – are the pre-robotic ones. These are women who blog about topics they decide, because they want to – FOR THEM. They’re not out to impress you. They don’t want to... 

My dissertation topic is coming together. What a fun little journey (also known as screwing with my mind) this is. I research social media. I’ve written a paper on the best way to construct a tweet. I watch how people use their streams. I’m interested in how they construct their online lives, communities and identities. The stories (lies) people tell; the release people feel in ‘oversharing’;... 

Like many of us, I get tired of some (many, no… most) lists of “best”, “Top” or “most influential” bloggers, which are always seemingly pulled together from a very limited bunch, with no substantial formula behind them, and always featuring the same people. Yes, we know those bloggers are awesome, but heck with literally thousands and thousands of bloggers... 

Recently a guy claiming to be the author of myriad types of scholarly pieces which are being paid for by students received some decent amount of attention. He claims he writes stacks of work, faking his way through credentials for both himself and the students he writes for. Right through to thesis work, he claims he writes it all. Well, of course, he does. He writes lots of work. I’ve seen... 

Yesterday I received an email through the Aussie Mum Bloggers network, inviting me (and every other Aussie mum blogger) to write a post here on Mediamum.net about how to get the best value out of $20 at K-Mart. If I did it, and sent the link in, I would be in the running to be one of 20 people to win… a $20 K-mart giftcard! K-mart's offering a carrot. You deserve better. Now, I know that... 

Is it possible that your online communities (Facebook, Twitter, etc) are more important to you, and that you share more with them than the offline communities you are part of? Research has shown that we feel more strongly about people online than we do offline. Sometimes, I suppose those feelings are based on very little detailed information. Nevertheless, the (somewhat disputed) assertion that today,... 

I was delighted to have presented at the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology conference at the University of Colorado yesterday. This was my second year at this conference, and it was incredibly well attended. As usual, some of the best moments came in the smaller discussions and conversations had over the lunch break. In Australia, the curriculum in K-12 includes aspects of Media Literacy.... 

News flash: I’m not your average mom blogger. I do research in social media and post that along with my posts about my family, my work, my life and beliefs. Like most women I wear many hats, and I blog a little about them all. Sometimes it’s academic (like this one could be if I hadn’t just had 3 hours sleep), other times it’s more focused on how many things people throw... 

Boycotting a company is like being committed to something in a big way. It’s like getting married. Like marriage, you are making a declaration that’s public. A formal representation of something you’re standing for. It’s no longer just a private aggravation. Deciding to actively, publicly boycott a company is a big deal. When you take that stand, and have a public presence... 

I’ve been asked why mom bloggers seem to have a fascination with laundry? (What is the most polite way I can say this?) Because it’s a pain in the arse. (There ya go. Actually, that was easier than I thought it would be.) Just because we tweet/blog or otherwise about different detergents doesn’t mean we love laundry. (Exceptions are the psycho pretenders who say they love laundry... 

The ongoing antics of Nestle as it continually trips itself up in all forms of social media (Facebook, viral Greenpeace videos) have led me to ask if some companies should just stay out altogether. Even Satan or Lex Luthor would have a better time on social media than Nestle. There are legions of people wanting to embrace evil. Nestle Killer-Asesino Facebook page, one of many opened in response to... 

Mass media (and some mom bloggers) would like to lump all mom bloggers into the same shoebox. As a result, it’s hard for marketers to navigate these waters without recognizing the differences between bloggers in the space. Just as there are different types of magazines and newspapers, so there are different types of mom blogs. I’ve been researching the sphere of mom blogs for more than... 

The hot thing at SXSW is location-based anything. (I’m so cool, I don’t even need to be there to know this.) But I’ll bet every single geek pushing a location-based app at SXSW is missing the point. You should sign up for location-based social media. So cool people can avoid you. Here’s the deal – there are some people I’d rather not see. (Oh come on, don’t... 

Dear SXSW attendees: I know you’re all excited. You’re going to spend a whole heap of time being all geeky and fun, and drinking and stuff. Talking about startups, design, innovation, music… ooh I’ll bet you’re all tingly. My husband is one of you. He’s kid-at-Christmas excited. He loves Texas and had a ball there last year. As a startup geek guy, he can’t... 

An American woman named Angie Jackson has decided it was a good idea to share her experience of aborting her pregnancy with the world, via YouTube and Twitter. A mother of a four-year-old who goes to the trouble of outlining the reasons why she decided on an abortion with RU486, Angie says her social media posts are her attempt to “demistify” the process, and let everyone know that for... 

Company A says, “Let’s create an event, sponsor some bloggers, and they’ll create a hashtag around it and we’ll give out some prizes. It will be great, Twitter will be buzzing with our company’s name.” Or a group of bloggers might come up with: “Every week we’ll be ‘meeting’ on twitter, using this hashtag.” Sound like good ideas? Sure.... 

Word of Mouth has always been a double-edged sword for small business. I remember the saying  a local fish and chip shop had on their wall. “If you like our food, tell your friends. If you don’t like it, tell us!” Once upon a time, the worst that could happen would be a letter to the editor of the local paper. With a 24 hour news cycle, the bad news would pass and your business... 

While many people align technology adoption and use with age, the facts show it’s not all that easy to stereotype the creators of content in the online media. Today’s Pew Report on Teens and Social Media amplifies a very real issue in the US. Our teens and young adults are engaging in “new” media, but on a very limited level. The majority of them are not creating new content. In...