Technology is supposed to be a young person’s game. I am young and technology is hard. So many new forms of technology are being created to make everything ‘easier’.But for me, Periscope was a platform that didn’t come naturally to me. Perhaps the entitled youth of today (including myself) assumes that the world is theirs- or in my case, the assumption that everything happening in public is free for me to take. This lesson was embarrassing for me as a journalism major, simply because I thought I knew better.
My initial story fell through, I had planned to capture the AFIS (Australian Federation of International Students) and their amazing race that was taking place at federation square. This didn’t turn out to be possible. The event was difficult to find, when I was leaving I stumbled on it by accident and it seemed to be a smaller and more private affair than I had anticipated. So, at federation square on Saturday morning I captured the crowds of Melburnians , watching the opening of the 2016 Olympics LIVE. The Olympics- the most newsworthy event happening in the world at this moment. I thought it amazing that people had brought beach chairs to federation square to watch it. So I videoed it. It’s in public- one of the most public places in Melbourne- so it must be free? WRONG. Hours later when I went to download my video I found that it had been deleted under copyright laws. Obviously the Olympics was onto media copyrighting. I was underprepared for this assessment and hadn’t given myself enough time to find a story if the AFIS amazing race didn’t work out. In my mind the screening of the Olympics opening was gold.
Now I’m the girl who doesn’t have a video to submit. Except the screenshot (best thing about technology) that informs me that my account on Periscope was temporarily disabled and my video taken down.
It was harder for me to engage with this assignment in comparison to many others i’ve done this year due to my genuine disinterest in Periscope. I have snapchat, which is similar, but not nearly as much as the majority of people my age. I’ve have never used a snapchat filter. I don’t know why. My lack of involvement with video-based social media left me unprepared for periscope and quite lacklustre about the platform itself. Truthfully I just said yes to periscope when we picked social media platforms, without understanding what it was. Now I know what periscope is and does. I respect it’s useful dynamic in the social media world but it is most definitely not for me.
