Final Project, The Movie

It's done and ready to be viewed. What a relief

Final Project, Final Stretch

So it comes to this, my last piece of work due for Internet Studies. And while it certainly isn’t a thirty page philosophy behemoth; it’s no slouch of an assignment either. So what does the final project entail? Well basically, a 1500-2000 word essay with a specific theme and question with which to answer; and secondly, a 3-5 minute movie (made with windows movie maker or the like) which is supposed to illustrate some aspect of the more public aspect to life in Durban.

For the essay, I will stick close to the topic. And as this essay asks a question to which is looking for a specific (in a sense) answer, that is, every student got the same topic for which to write their essay; I will make sure I maintain a decent structure and composition. This will hopefully increase the strength of that of the essay’s argument and conclusion, and even more so, it will help in guiding my idea for the movie. Because while most are basing their essays upon their movies, I am basing my movie more upon the themes highlighted in the essay.

In order to write the essay, I concentrated on the duties to the filling of rights such that a state of equality is achieved for all citizens. So by concentrating on our Constitutional Bill of Rights, as well as the Mamphela Ramphele, I have attempted to bring up many of the rights and roles of citizens of South Africa. This is then compared to the role of a movie maker, and by extension my role; however, this does not completely answer the question at hand. So, by including my movie ideas and structure, a comparison is made between my movie and that of the general movie maker.

For the movie, I have chosen the topic/theme of the clear disparity in services, wealth and infrastructure. I will do this by creating a driven comparison between multiple circumstances and scenarios of disparity in the lives of Durbanites. And more than that, the failings of the government. Such as pressure as applied by large population increases.

So in the process of making the movie, I took pictures and located online images that would compliment by comparison. Such that the images would draw comparisons between the extremes in the cases of: housing, business and services etc. Then by means of subtle and hard cues, containing specific connotative questions, I aim to deliver my point behind the essay. The point being that the government elect needs to equalise the situation, but more than that, needs to focus on the less fortunate on a much more serious way.

Third Article’s the Charm

Third article, new theme; in choosing to stray from our usual Early Morning Market theme, I hope to add a bit of variety to the mix. Ok, so some aspects of our article writing process have remained a constant. Firstly, and as expected, I have retained the job of writer and article devisor. The other group members, as usual, prefer to take a less constructive approach to the article. And so that they may contribute in some way, I have assigned them to the pain staking task of taking pictures.

In the pursuit of insightful tactics, I decided to remain within close proximity to our last article themes. Not so much the Early Morning Market, but more than that, the people being affected by the changes of the FIFA World Cup. And while I’m not one to milk a theme for all that it’s worth; the theme of the World Cup, as far as our group sees it, will remain relevant up until and soon after the World Cup has occurred. Moreover, owing to the simple fact that this article is of course for a Durban centred news portal; we had to stick to something within the limits of Durban. What we chose, well what I chose in fact, was a brief story on the Moses Mabhida Stadium. The stadium is currently being built in Durban; its job is to accommodate the Durban stages of the World Cup, as well as, any future events that might require its size and nature. Especially since it is meant to replace the ABSA Stadium.

The article is simple in essence, and even simpler in research. We decided to concentrate on the stadium and its beauty as, unfortunately, compared to its cost. Its cost shouldn’t be that important, but once you consider the facts and put 2 and 2 together, you see it as it is; and it is most definitely not the lesser of two evils. The facts being: the money comes largely from taxes, this prevents funding from reaching other important projects, and will probably not produce enough of a profit (at least in the short run) to completely repay the exorbitant expenses. So we had found our angle, and I was able to write an article which complimented the pictures the group had collected. It is in my opinion a pretty decent article. So the only thing left is to post it.

Article 2, and Half Way Home

Progress report, so what about the second article? Well for the second article, with regards to essence and theme, we had decided to achieve a close similarity with that of our first article. This was an easy choice to make, as it played into one of my preferred writing styles. With a little bit of reasoning and my previous sentence, you have almost assuredly guessed what my role in the article was. That’s right; I’ve been promoted to writing duty again. A self promotion I must confess, but I felt it to be both necessary and logical to take such a position. Not only am I the most capable writer of the group (no offense to my fellow group members), but I’m not exactly the greatest choice for picture sourcing. It worked out well for everyone, so let’s move on to a brief discussion of the article.

What does the article entail exactly? Like I previously mentioned, we had decided to stick with the Early Morning Market. But more than that, we expanded to the area surrounding the market; we did this in order to discuss the renovations of Warwick Junction’s infrastructure. Being the writer, I compared the pros and cons that may be experienced by the loss of the Early Morning Market over the (supposed) newly planned mall. To fully grasp this concept, I read a short analysis on the successful placing of malls. And by choosing to focus primarily on the Early Morning Market and the effects it might face, while managing to maintain a more broad scope throughout this article. It tried to illuminate the very real possibility that the FIFA World Cup world cause more loss than gain. However, I did make an attempt in presenting both sides of the story; this was only to a limited degree, owing to the short nature of the article.

In the end, we managed to churn out a half-decent article that I am in no way displeased about. I have to admit to doing a majority of the work, moreover, I don’t see that changing for the next article. But there is a silver lining to this cloud. At least I get to completely control my mark, which is what I wanted in the first place.

Internet Sanctions, Boundaries where there were None Before

After a lecture on the filtering of the internet, as practiced mostly by authoritarian or totalitarian countries; I began to consider the virtual sanctions (internet filters) that government and their appointed agents enforce or place over national internet access points. I realised that our governments, constitution and policies on the freedom of an individual in both the public and private spheres is extremely accommodating. I am in no way condoning the approach to which this country is run; for then we must necessarily consider service delivery and cost, policy guidance, and promise achievement. And in this regard, our government not only hangs by the way side, but is on a steady decline to failure. This is a digression however, for the simple reason that this post was not created for the purpose of slandering and criticising the government. But instead, was created for the purpose of demonstrating my point, to the effect that we live in a country of comparatively and relative freedom. If this was not the case, this post would not exist.

Case and Point :

1. China
2. Iran

Durban Smiles Back At You

Friendly city is an understatement; in fact, I’d say that in a comparative analysis between Durban and any other South African city, moreover, any other city I have visited (which is not a small amount by any means) Durban is hands down the warmest most welcoming city. Pre-emptively, and to quell the almost certain objections regarding my previous statement; everything I write is obviously and entirely my opinion, furthermore, I do not intend on adding empirical facts and statistics in the hopes of providing groundwork for a factual argument or debate. This for two reasons; one, how inviting a cities people are is almost entirely circumstantial and contextual, secondly, any statistics that could be raised regarding this topic would for many reasons be subjective as well as inaccurate in many cases. Anyway, here’s the reason as to why I believe my introductory statement.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been to many foreign cities; London, Calgary etc. In many of these cities, the energy, by that I mean the X-factor with which a city greets you plays an important role. Now bearing this in mind, and similarly bearing in mind that I’m actively comparing Durban, when it comes to ‘energy’ if you understand what I mean by energy, Durban swallows all its competition. From the atmosphere to the general weather, and more importantly the willingness of the people to chat or talk for any reason, it’s all really inviting. When it comes to people, specifically in other (non-South African) cities, they can usually ruin a trip with their dreary or angry/violent demeanours and this when compared to the inviting nature of durbanites, is how I came to my conclusion. And again, even in the places and at the times when one wouldn’t expect any positive attitudes, the people of Durban are always willing to give a helping hand, unlike in foreign cities where I have met many an unhappy or negative reply.

This is by no means a detailed analysis of the subject matter, but instead it’s a small post that makes up a larger part of my blog’s overall theme. It is my hope that after reading everything I have to say, you will have at least (and if nothing else) a small understanding of what I like to call the advanced driving course, a.k.a. life.

Finally, Some Bandwidth

In my last blog post I talked about the many downfalls of the FIFA Wold Cup, today I have decided upon a considerably lighter topic, it’s also a topic with which I find much relation to. Yes the FIFA World Cup is going to change a lot of things in our country, and while jury is out about whether these changes will be mostly positive or negative. I am absolutely ecstatic about one of the decided upon infrastructural changes, this being the countries and more importantly Durban’s monumental bandwidth increase. The fact that the government and along with other company’s (both local and foreign), are finally addressing this issue means the world to me. I am a geek, a nerd, a gamer and techno buff, I always was and always will be, so it comes as no surprise that I need and cherish the idea of a faster internet connection.

To suit my (and the many others out there) needs, two things are required; high bandwidth and reliable connections. Now considering the obscene unreliability of wireless sources in this country, DSL is my only option; this is where Telkom, Neo Tel and the ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) come in. The ultimate underlying factor for internet speeds (and as you may have gathered from the definition of bandwidth) is international bandwidth, especially when you consider almost all servers and sites that cater to me are foreign. And unfortunately due to the short nature of this post, I doubt I would be able to fully explain all that is and that will be happening in South Africa. Fortunately, I believe this article will better explain the investments and work that is going into our country’s bandwidth infrastructure.

If you’re anything like me, the good news I bring is just what you’ve wanted. And even if you aren’t, rejoice in the fact that many new services and benefits you had never imagined will soon be available to you. Honestly, if this is done right and maintained correctly, this could be one of the biggest infrastructural changes this country has made in recent years, and to my (and my fellow geeks), this is in fact the most important change and we’re glad to see it happen.

My First News Article

My first news article went pretty well I think. Sure, our group had its problems, but then you would’ve guessed that from my last post. Choosing a story is usually an easy task for me, I had to choose one with which I would get a first and meet my varsities DP requirements. This however did not complicate things much, what did complicate things was the fact that it had to be posted on an active internet site, so now it needed relevance, not something I’m so well known for. After a lot of brain storming and gut clenching thought, we had made our final choice, for the first article we chose the ‘Early Morning Market’. Before I continue, I should probably explain that the aforementioned ‘Early Morning Market’ was a local CBD based market; its main focus in what was sold was a number of miscellaneous items you would expect from street vendors, cultural clothes and crafts, food and muthi (a local traditional medicine).

Why the ‘Early Morning Market’? We chose it for a number of reasons, but these, at least to us, seemed like the most important criteria with which the ‘Early Morning Market’ obviously met. First of all, it had to relate to the subject matter of the news portal site, that of course being the FIFA 2010 World Cup which is to be held here in South Africa. And due to the infrastructure improvements that our cities require in order to cope with FIFA, much of the old is being demolished in order to make way for the new. Unfortunately, that means the possible moving (abolishing) of the ‘Early Morning Market’ and its immediate area in order to make way for a new shopping mall. Secondly, the subject(s) of our article had to be associated with Durban, alone this would have been completely reasonable, especially considering the sheer amount of possibilities with which we could choose. Our problem came in our groups sub-choice, such that, our group had to try stay within the confines of the ‘stuff’ category. I bet your now as confused as I was, let me explain, each tut group consisted of multiple smaller groups who would have to separate articles within the range of our chosen category. Sounds simple enough, unfortunately being tut group five, we got stuck with the category so creatively named stuff, and in other words miscellaneous (left over’s). Hmm, so we had to try stay away from the categories of transport, livelihoods, food or fashion; is there anything left? Regardless of the leash we found ourselves in, and regardless of the fact that we were chained to a fence, we found a topic.

The ‘Early Morning Market’ did in fact turn out to be an interesting topic. So we set about getting this article together, I, being the writing genius that I am (sarcastic laugh), was allotted to writing this story. And with enough research, we had found our angle; because regardless of the promises that our government made to us, many of the informal businesses (hence the ‘Early Moring Market’) won’t be effected in any positive way. And in fact, if the plans for the mall are put through, the only effects will be seriously negative ones. So, what did I need to make this article viable? Well photos would be a good start, and here they are, I was hoping for more surrounding area shots and more concise angles, but considering that the other group members left me to my own devices, this one time I would do the same for them. An interview would be the next step; we got one in that we interviewed a Miss Mguni, who at the time and for the foreseeable future, a market vendor was selling clothes, muthi and other handmade craft items. And as she conveyed to us, even if the ‘Early Morning Market’ remains, she would not be at all surprised if her business did pick up at the time of the FIFA World Cup. Because this is all in my relatively short article here, I won’t repeat myself.

Being the writer that I am, and considering that it was indeed my task to do this articles writing, I decided to put an ethical spin on the article. This spin dealt with the negative effects that we might see during and after the FIFA World Cup, strange that the government doesn’t seem at all disturbed with these facts. When we consider the strangely and overly positive facts we’ve been hearing from the government, and again, taking into consideration the fact that academic studies and analysts have put an almost opposite view of FIFA and the World Cup, such that the balance of effects will in fact negative. It seems that the World Cup is only beneficial to the few rather than the many, this of course goes against everything the government has been telling us. The question we have to ask ourselves is, why would the government lie like that to us? We should carefully consider what I’ve said in this post, because people have a right to know why their futures are being compromised for something like the FIFA World Cup, which on the grand scheme of things is relatively trivial. I just can’t help but think that all these infrastructural improvements in transportation, bandwidth, municipal services, and everything else are definitely good. But much of the capital spent on the stadiums, advertising and measures to allow foreign company’s access (which could have been easily met by local alternatives) could have been better spent on the problems we already have.

Articles Can Be A Drag

My experience of our first news portal article was, as I expected a little exciting, unfortunately, it soon became a bit of an annoyance. When writing an article, I really dislike the notion of being forced into writing something in which I don’t enjoy writing about. Writing something I’m not keen about creates a pseudo distance between me and the topic. Now don’t get me wrong, while I am a journalist at heart, it’s the idea of electronic media (gaming especially) where my passion lies. My other blog demonstrates this fact, and while I was not completely unmotivated by the topic, which pertained to writing about an interesting event or place in Durban by the way. The sources, in which I would gather material for our group’s article, were unwilling to give us a chance.

For our article, we had chosen a curio shop for foreign tourists. This shop had the reputation of being the largest curio shop in the southern hemisphere. Naturally, when our article relates to the tourists of Durban in the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, this shop would have been perfect for our article. Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite the way we planned. I understand why they did not want to let us take pictures, for security reasons as far as I can gather, but their refusal to do the interview had no outstanding reasons to be declined. So in the end, what was achieved? Well, not only did they lose out on potentially very strong advertising, but we need a new topic and the deadline is approaching fast.

Durban's a Two Face

Social inequality, exclusion and disparity are inescapable global issues. Not only do these issues span the globe, but the sheer amount of people who suffer these conditions is frightening in itself. This problem is only made exponentially worse when we realize the vastness of causes. By conducting varying and numerous social and anthropological studies, researchers have concluded that no one key reason can be attributed to the cause of this global epidemic. As cultures, policies, systems and people vary from nation to nation, and city to city, so to, do the reasons for the immense amounts of social inequality. I am merely one person with only so much attention to give. And as I write these words, I feel South Africa to be more than just a country, it’s a green, open garden in which I play, and sure enough, settled on the edge of that garden is my home, Durban. It then makes sense, the most relevant and justified story through which I can highlight these specific issues of social inequality, is a more personal experience, in fact, its my experience of this home of mine. It may not be cutting news, it isn’t even what you would call press worthy. Yet from my own point of view, I believe it illustrates that each and every person experiences these issues; whether from living through them ourselves or by seeing them first hand.

To my mind, driving through Durban is like travelling through a time capsule; by this of course, I am referring to infrastructure, services, transport and the like. In places like La Lucia and Umhlanga, we find a proverbial sheltered grove of extravagant and discernibly large houses, this of course are for their equally rich owners. Compromises on expense and taste can rare if not extinct factors here, in fact, even the most pedestrian of houses can dwarf some of the highest earning and most expensive middle class houses. And in this ever developing time capsule, I move through too more familiar settings, these middle income suburbs like Morningside, Glenwood and Musgrave. Even in the humblest of these suburbs; luxuries resembling expensive cars, big homes and nearby multi-catering shopping centres are easily spotted. Take myself for example, if I were to take a walk on any given day from my home in Morningside; I would pass by medium to large sized houses, varying types of cars (ranging from Volvo’s and Ford’s to Porches’ and Ferrari’s) and high class centres like Musgrave centre and Windermere. Even in these desperate economic times; expensive brands of food and clothing, luxuries and cars are still being consumed by the numbers. In most of the families I associate with, when economic matters take priority over others, we don’t stop buying brands altogether (this is me recognising the negative and positive effects of branding and admitting to give into branding at least some of the time), instead we just drop to a brand of a level expense bracket. A great example of this is the petrol price increases, but even then, the only major changes that became noticeable to me were a few more bus and taxi travellers, the occasional saloon or sports car may drop in price, but even these problems are quickly solved.

This however, is where the surreal comes in. Thinking back on the first paragraph I wrote; Durban is less like a time capsule, and by this I mean, that what was once considered for the wealthy becomes a more averaged middle-class thing, while the wealthy adopt a new thing or lifestyle that exceeds the former in every way. Going by this, it would be logical to assume the same adopted change for the middle to the more poverty stricken. Logical and rational as that may be, it is just as ludicrous and fictional in just about every city of every nation of every country in the world, well maybe not Luxemburg or Switzerland. In my experience, Durban is a more of a polar city than a capsular city. For any reason, travelling too an informal settlement or township, is as if I’m travelling into a different and entirely destitute country; by this I mean, service infrastructure almost completely disappears and on the rare occasion when it is available, it is of such a low standard that it is difficult (if not almost impossible) to compare to the rest of the city. The materials which many of these houses comprise of, are either metal sheets barely strapped together, or are built to such a low specificity that the idea of clay houses come to mind. Through ease of use, dependable access and efficiency, citizens of the upper income classes have become almost completely dependant on luxury (want) items like cars, boats and the like. Without a car (considering Durban’s current transport problems), I would battle to keep up with my current schedule, important to us as they may be, they are still primarily classified as wants and not needs. Back to the informal settlements, not only are things like cars considered luxuries, but more than that, they are considered to be extremist luxuries. In fact, while owning a car says almost nothing about class for us, owning one almost defines elitism in informal settlements. The saddest thing is that these people, the ones struggling to earn a living, are the ones who provide us with the most necessary of services and city functions. Not only are they getting the least pay for the most work, but the are being treated as unimportant second class citizens, ironic when we consider that they are in fact the cogs of our city.

R.I.P Dignity ?

Humanity is a social creature; this fact is becoming more and more prevalent in our modern communities. New and advanced forms of communication are being created each and every day, a greater part of this new communication form falls under the guise of what we call the media. What eludes many people is the importance of this new communication form; in this new form, images replace text and semiotics replaces symbolism. Our generation is witnessing the induction or genesis of a new binary language.

This shift has not only brought about a change in the way we communicate with each other; but more importantly, the way in which we treat one another. Human dignity, what is dignity? Is it an innate and imperishable human right? Or is it an unscripted social construct that forms out of need and necessity. Our government and parliamentary system certainly believes the later, this is clearly shown in South African Bill of Rights “Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.”

Our moral values are not indoctrinated into us; instead, they are a kind of guideline to the ways in which we can better ourselves and our community. Our community and families shelter us, love us and protect us; by following these guidelines, we are quite simply showing our appreciation for what we have been given. As the needs of our community and family change however; so do our moral guidelines, this allows us to better contribute to society.

This I believe is where dignity steps in. I think dignity changes its higher definition many times over, but the most basic of its conceptions does not change. It will always be created out of respect (whether earned or innate) for others. Similarly, as beings of reason and consequence, we should strive to treat others with dignity (respect, privacy etc.) so that they might treat us in kind. My earlier introduction into the media plays an important role in the recently mentioned point.

This is because, in my life, and as I’m sure in the lives of many others, the media as we know it today is largely to blame for the serious decline in human dignity. The media does this by creating a proverbial measuring stick with which we (consciously or unconsciously) judge all others around us. The media (with regards to looks, weight, tertiary activity and consumables) creates crowd norms. In this new media fueled world, when a person does not meet public expectations both their private and public characteristics become viewed in a negative light. Similarly, apparently and according to the media, a celebrity’s dignity means nothing; we see how obvious this fact is once we start to consider the paparazzi, stalkers and probing magazines such as Heat. A common term in South Africa known as xenophobia reintroduces a serious lack of human dignity. Put simply, as soon as people of a different culture move in and provide even the most basic of competition, whether in a rural struggle to meet basic human needs, or in contemporary industrial environment; they discriminate or violently act to remove said threats. This poses a serious problem however, South Africa’s people, being people that build their reputation upon grounds of multi-cultural acceptance and diversity, are violating the very human rights we stand for.

From this, it becomes clear that the ideal that we call dignity is both respected and enforced when we consider justice and moral value. However, as the media slowly replaces all other forms of local and global communication, or poverty and greed slowly strip away at our humanity; dignity as a public ideal slowly and withers dies. Whether dignity is in fact innate or socially generated is unclear, but what we do know is that without a common goal of restoring and maintaining the value that is dignity. Dignity and many other human rights for that matter, would surely crumble under corporate pressures