Aesthetically Savvy?

Do looks really matter, or is it what’s inside that counts? I’m starting to become concerned and self-conscious about whether my web page is ‘pretty enough’. Let’s face it, if there isn’t lust at first sight, are you going to be compelled to explore further? I know when I’m procrastinating, I mean researching, if a website doesn’t present well I’m hitting the back button or the nearest recommended link. Internet users can generally afford to be picky when it comes to visiting your web page, especially with search engines as vast as Google and Yahoo. There are just so many other, perhaps more beautiful, options.
So, how do I make my page alluring, but not so over the top that it detracts from the content? My personal style is minimalist; I can’t handle clutter. In fact, similarly to my friend Tess, my work area needs to be free of mess and non-essentials before I embark on anything. Studies show that ‘white space’- that is the clean and chic look, is inviting, so long as it involves the use of colour, image and an air of consistency.
Keeping this in mind, I visited a website that provided a range of layouts that I might use for Savvy Plonk. It was an exhausting search, with over fifty pages, full of eclectic options. However, as I slowly trawled through the seemingly endless choices, I kept the faith that I’d know the right one as soon as I laid eyes on it. An hour into the search, Savvy Plonk had a clean, inviting and functional new look that would complement my all-important content.
In all honesty, the colours aren’t in sync with the wine theme, an expense of utilising the navigational benefits the design has to offer. However, in my utopia, the ideal job would include the presence of a graphic design and IT team to solve such dilemmas, whilst I was able to focus on the public relations functions of the web page. A little precious of me, I know. I guess I’ll just have to be content with being an all-rounder

Welcome to Savvy Plonk….

As a 22-year old uni student, I feel like I am expected to know more about ‘Goon’ than Grenache, counting my drinks by the inflatable bag, rather than by loose corks. Now, there is no denying I have mixed the odd cask of ‘Fruity Lexia’ with some sickeningly sweet juice- it’s a right of passage, similar to drinking a Guinness in Ireland. However, I feel the average uni student gets a bad wrap when it comes to stereotypical alcohol consumption- well at least when it comes to product.

It has been my experience that uni is a time of transition regarding the development of alcoholic tastebuds. It reminds me of that awkward ‘tweenage’ stage and fashion choices. I remember being small enough to still shop in the children’s section, but had the swimmer’s shoulders that meant I was ready to move into ‘grown-up’ clothing. The children’s clothes were girly, all flowery and frilly, yet cheaper. Then again, the older clothes were a little too mature, bordering on sexy- mostly importantly they were an unknown mass.

Fresh, first year students have most likely just moved out of home and are still working out budgets, discovering diversity, yet still going with the crowds to feel safe. Therefore, the cheap, cheerful cask wine is prevalent on drinking agendas, adjusting the taste according to fruity or dry wine and mixer drink. Many inventive party punches are a shining example of this. After one too many shocking hangovers, they start to branch out- perhaps drinking a bottle, rather than a bag of wine, an important catalyst of wine discovery and education.

The next challenge, generally coming into play around the late second year of study, is finding a good wine, a wine they enjoy to sip, not chug, mostly within the restriction of a student budget. It is here that a lucky minority, a community of wine loving students, are afforded the opportunity to guide their friends, and watch as they come to develop their own appreciation for wine.

I feel that recently, many of my friends have reached this stage, and I’ll often be on the receiving end of random phone calls to discuss a wine they just purchased or tried. This can also take the form of a food and wine matching hotline on occasion, something my parents are also guilty of utilising!

Savvy Plonk has been developed to help assist this transition into wine culture, after all, knowledge is power. Also, I find it starts a lot of good conversations. Some of the wines suggested here are a little hard to come by, some perhaps more than a student budget allows, but all are fantastic varietal examples that will provide an excellent basis for wine education.

Enjoy all that the wine experience has to offer. Grab a bunch of mates and a bottle of wine, cook dinner and share some laughs. Better yet, rock up to the nearest pretentious wine bar and tell them what’s what! Most importantly, never stop tasting.

Farewell trusty laptop?

Ok, I’m in the middle (hopefully closer to the end), of a bout of laryngitis- so it’s blog central right now as I’m not able to do much else. Anyway, as I sit in bed I’m surrounded by ‘must have’ technology- laptop on my knee, iPod in my ear and phone within reach. Take one of these out of the equation and I’d probably develop a slight separation anxiety, and I’m constantly checking each of them making sure they are charged, ready to go.
I recently caught up with a friend who has returned from a lovely European vaction and during the manadatory photo showing, I was suitably wooed by a sexy new foreigner, soon to be moving to Australia- it was love at first sight. Sadly, it wasn’t a gorgeous Italian man….but it was dark and handsome.
Of course, I’m talking about the new and very sleek iPhone. The entirity of my friend’s photo collection from his holiday was stored on this device, on top of his music library (vast is an understatement), phone contacts as well as internet access. This one palm sized device could soon make my gorgeous little laptop redundant! The most popular catch phrase we can attach to this is “technological convergence”, and I suppose to another extent “media convergence”.
One step at a time, let’s start with technological convergence, pretty self-explanatory here. Basically the iPhone is combining the best elements from the telephone, MP3 players, cameras and
computers, a 4-in-1 jackpot of convienence.
I cannot wait until i can get my hands on this lovely piece of equipment, hopefully after it drops in cost a little, and work my way around all of its handy features. It worries me however, that eventually technologically converged communication devices will become and the norm, and people like my mother will struggle to come to terms with so many facilities in one- lets be honest, she’s only just learnt how to text message and email, mostly because she was so scared of breaking whatever she was trying to use.
Technological incompetence can occur as consequence of fear, often referred to ‘technophobia’ and can be identified particularly in an older demographic, where familiar technology is upgraded, via technological determinism, and becomes the unfamiliar. Fear then sets in as the technophobe does not want to break or damage the new technology. A divide then occurs between generations as the new becomes familiar to the younger generation, the older generation becomes separated.
Analysts such as Lee & Tan see this as a “socio-digital divide”, where inequalities in use, access and knowledge of a technology limits the means in which generation can communicate. This leads to the segregation between those who can use technology( the children) and those who can’t (the parents), often resulting in older members of the household finding themselves increasingly alienated.
Socially this can lead to a break down of communication between generations, however, I’m sure when I build enough patience, I’ll be able to host a tutorial for my parents on using Facebook, or Messenger. On the other hand, this socio-digital divide might just be there for a reason- do I really want my parents to be able to montior me as a young adult through my digital dirt tracks?! Daily phone calls and messages will suffice for now…

Second Life or No Life?

Ok, hands up who has a Facebook account? Yep, me too. How about those who have both Facebook and a MySpace page? Guilty again. Hell, I even have a uni email address, a Linked In identity, two Hotmail accounts and a blog (duh!) However, that’s where I draw the line. I have decided not to involve myself in the next social networking fad, Second Life.
Although it would appear that my current internet addictions would be time consuming, they do not even compare with the time commitment initially needed to decipher how to operate an avatar in Second Life, and then become skilled enough to enjoy playing in your new environment.
Now, living the uni lifestyle supposedly means I’ve got hours to burn, particularly being an Arts student- yes, I’ve cut out the middle man and am now taking the mickey out of myself. However, even with this oodles of spare time I’m meant to possess, there is absolutely no way I’m compelled to spend it in a virtual world, rather than stepping outside and experiencing the real world with all five senses (with the exception of camping, more than happy to participate in an online capacity there).
Clearly, Second Life provides the opportunity for escapism and self-gratification; however, I’m wondering where the fulfilment is in a virtual trip to Amsterdam’s Red Light District? No primary research here, I recently watched a doco that brought my attention to the presence of the sex industry in Second Life. Not only do you pay Linden Dollars, the currency in Second Life that can equate to real money, to enter and ‘experience’ strip clubs, you can also browse through ‘Adult Stores’ and purchase whatever takes your fancy.
Furthermore, you can visit nightclubs and chat to randoms, or perhaps meet real friends and Second Life acquaintances. It’s just no comparison to the real thing though. You can’t physically go dancing with your friends, jump around like idiots and take classic pictures, not to mention the all important pre-going out ritual of beautifying with the girls and having a few drinks along the way.
There is certainly potential to utilise Second Life as an educational tool. For example, Princeton University in America has set up a virtual campus, where students can attend class by visiting the university, listening to audio streams of lectures and access the accompanying notes. Personally, I think this is an ingenious idea- go to uni without having the timetable restrictions, whilst still obtaining all the relevant information at your leisure. However, education is one thing, virtually smiling at a cute guy instead of actually leaving the house and interacting with people in the flesh is quite another.
Why would you rather sit at an online bar, sipping a pretend glass of wine when you could step into a real bar, feel the warmth of an open fire and become mesmerised by the dancing flames and the silky liquid gold that pours from the bottle to your glass, and then coats your mouth with voluptuous flavours of ripe berries? A poetic experience.
In short, I’m just not wrapt with a program that is an operating oxymoron. How can a social networking site promote social behaviour when participation requires vegetation in front of a computer screen? ‘Nuff said.

Blog Me Happy

The term ‘I blog’ is certainly on the list of things I’d thought I’d never say. It’s not that I had anything against avid bloggers- in fact, I do subscribe to many a blog that I obsess over- to the point of hitting the refresh button every couple of minutes if a new entry isn’t posted.

It’s really one of those personal barriers- I’ve never been capable of doing a ‘Dear Diary’ type of record. I simply cannot talk in the first person to myself. This first became a real concern to me as I headed overseas for my GAP year. Every man and his dog was insistant that I keep a diary of my experiences so that I will have a fantastic momento when I’m grey and old.

Great idea, I even search for the PERFECT diary that would be worthy of capturing and storing such a journey. However, when the day came to exposed my deepest thoughts at the onset of my big adventure, not a word could be written. It was a classic case of writers block.

However, I did find that when I went to email all my friends and family back home, words were just spilling on the screen without abandon. Hence, I was able to keep an email diary, just as long as I knew I was writing to SOMEONE (Psychologists go forth and analyse). And so here I am, after a long day at the office, pretending that there are millions of subscribers to my blog, hanging on my every word!

As much as I may have whinged about having to create my own blog a few weeks ago, I can start to see the sense in it all- for instance, by sending my family this URL, I am excused from at least one or two phone calls out of the 7 a week, as my academic life is documented on here. Lovely. Hi Mum.

I also have a space that is mine- unlike something like MySpace that continually sends me advertisements for free ringtones etc. I don’t feel the need to post pics from the last night out on the town, nor do I think it should be used for leaving unrelated messages. In other words, this blog is acting as a catalyst for my academic ‘white line fever’. Sure, I love my Facebook account for social documentation, however as soon as I log onto here, I know its game on for relevant blogging. And I like that.

 SO, from here on in, I shall not complain about this blog, and have trust in the fact that it’s somewhat theraputic and will be a worthwhile experience to document my crazy year.

Mags x

Week One Transient Spaces

Since when do PR professionals actually have to publish their own stuff online?? Don’t I just write the important stuff and handball it to the IT experts to publish it? Rude awakening really. Baby steps Maggie, baby steps.