All evaluations complete:

I have now finished and submitted all 6th of my artefacts and their evaluations. I have already began constructing my conclusion. The artefacts rounded of really nicely and I feel I have covered the area with good results to be able to make an informed conclusion.

AMBUSH named "ESSENTIAL NIGHT OUT" by iDJ magazine.

The international iDJ magazine featured an "essential night out" section to this months magazine.
They have explored all areas of the UK and named the top 5 nights of each region (North, South, London, Midlands etc..)

In the Midlands section AMBUSH made it as one of the top 5 essential nights with a colum that featured a review of our night!!

this is very exciting press coverage for us as we are such a small night - and is nothing but a positive step in the right direction!

blaps

6TH ARTEFACT EVALUATION:

The sixth artefact that I have completed is an interview with a man who is a retired home.

I wanted to find out the take of the older generation on the Internet and its effects on community spirit and community activity. I found an article in the Nottingham Evening Post that covered the story of young GCSE teenagers who attend a retired home to teach the residents how to use the internet.

This was a perfect scope for me, as it combined the older and younger generations using the internet for common ground and almost bringing my research in conclusive end.

I decided to first question the subject on his Internet use and what positives he had drawn from the Internet. He explained that he enjoyed the knowledge he could access as he loves to read and research subjects. The internet had made this a lot easier and accessible for him. I asked him if he uses the internet for communication purposes and socially and he described that he preferred to use more traditional methods to communicate as it felt more personal to him. The idea of chat rooms and forums did not appeal to him.

I moved on to questions about the internets negative effects and how this has related to society. He re-alliterated the point that he thought there was too much un-censored information available especially for young people and that this could have negative effects on behaviour etc. He also noted the amount of young people who now stay “inside on computers” rather than exploring the out doors and this, he thinks, has had down-ward effect on social behaviour. He thinks that the younger generation have fewer interests in today’s society compared to when he was younger.

He expressed his worry at the lack of social interaction within the community compared to when he was young, when community interaction was ripe and a lot more important. However we did both agree that this is due to many reasons, over-population, new migrant communities etc – but the internet and its technologies do play its part in it.

I was interested by his take on things and asked him if he could see a bigger distance between younger and older generations in recent times compared to in his day as a youngster. He said he has noticed a much bigger divide and we discussed the possible reasons and one was the internet or computer technology divide. He thought that younger people brought up on technology were more distant to the older generations who were not. I found this ironic especially because he was being taught by younger children how to use the Internet.

It appears that internally and online the internet may cause negative effects but in this case it has brought a generation and social divide together in the real world. A strange outcome.

5TH ARTEFACT EVALUATION:

My 5th artefact was to discover the reaction of the modern youth generation to its role in community and effects of the internet. I met a group of 15-16 year olds from Nottingham at a youth club. I decided to interview a boy called Tutu. I chose Tutu because he had recently moved to the UK from Africa, where his father still lives. It interested me how Tutu found the British youth culture and its role in community compared to that in Africa and how he uses the Internet differently here etc. I first asked him about his Internet use. I got the impression that he was a lot more excited about the Internet since coming to the UK. He told me that every night after school he would spend around 3 hours on the internet playing music and games but mostly chatting on msn. He found this the best thing about the internet because he was still able to chat regularly to his father and friends back in Africa. He told me that in Africa the internet is not so widely available so he has started to use it more; whereas in Africa he spend a lot more time outside playing. I found from Tutu that in his home town in Africa it was a lot safer playing outside than in England which contributes, but he also said that he did prefer to stay on the Internet in doors. From this I gathered that Tutu may have been finding it hard to make new friends and the internet offered a sanctuary to his old life. This is arguably good. I would argue that it could be destructive as people need to be forced into challenging situations socially to find their feet. We began to discuss the effects of the internet on young people and Tutu straight away commented on its negatives. He told me that he thought young people good now access any information they wanted and this has lead to them knowing more about the wrong things. I was surprised by this reaction; but maybe a young person from an outside community where internet is not as ripe can see the effects that his had on his peers. It was interesting because not many teens would tend to agree – most probably defending the internet. He then went on to tell me that in a short space of time he has now become dependant on the internet – feeling the need to access it everyday and sure that he could not live without it. This again is something I have experienced through my study. I will discuss more in my conclusion but I think there is a similar correlation between mobile phones. Finally I wanted Tutu to tell me about the cultural differences between community’s here and in Africa. He told me that community was a big thing back home – every body still relies on each other and they regularly have meetings; mainly based around the church. It appears that religious organisations that span right through a community have a big impact in creating community spirit. He noticed there was not as much of that here, with his mother seeking a new church etc. He also commented on the amount of different cultures in England. He thought that there was a lot more separation between groups of teens in his school compared to where he lived in Africa and also between young people and adults. This interests me to discover if the divide between the young and old generations is greater than previous times, if this has any relation to modern technologies like the internet and if this could be reason for negative effects on community. The 6th artefact will address this.

MY PAGES FOR THE EXHIBITION BOOKLET. THEY REPRESENT MY WORK IN ORGANISING AND PROMOTING EVENTS, THE MUSIC THAT I MAKE, THE WORK I DO AS A YOUTH WORKER RELATED TO MY UNI PROJECTS.

I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

THIS IS MY HIP HOP GROUP, RECENT TRACK "TAX FREE"

check out www.myspace.com/taxfreesyndicate

ARTEFACT 4:
This is an Interview I did with a community help group that deals with all kinds of recovery. Ive chosen the best subject that I interviwed and taken a snippet of the interview.

I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

ARTEFACT UPDATE:

I am currently working on securing Artefacts 4 and 5.

Shaun Belcher my supervisor has pointed me in the direction of Double Impact, a support group held in the YMCA of Nottingham in town. I was unaware that I already know one of the volunteer staff who work there so I have used this as a link to arrange some meetings to meet the groups who attend Double Impact and therefore conduct some interviews.
In this artefact and the next I want explore the importance of "Real World" communities and how support groups located in it touch peoples lives. It is interesting though that Double Impact is a place which allows users to explore the Internet and in some ways is the attraction to its group.
However in the previous artefacts I have explored Internet use and perhaps try to uncover some of its disadvantages. For the next to I want to concentrate more on the real community and how that has suffered/benefitted from the Internet and how the people who still engage in these community activities feel about Online community.

For artefact 5 I have been in contact with Masfield Rd Baptist church who host a wide range of support or meeting groups which I hope to engage in. Again I want to find out more about how the real community is being uphold - this time with more traditional means, i.e the church, probably one of the longest standing spines to any community, but how has the church and its importance been effected over the years and does the Internet help or discourage churches? This is what I want to find out.

Evaluation of Artefact 3: Seond life

To consider the real effect of on-line community on people who do actually extensivley use it I decided to join the social “world” Second Life.

It wasn't such an uplifting experience as described on the site but I did learn a lot about interesting factors of on-line and virtual communities. I spent the majority of my time in Second life trying to find people who were engaging and interesting to talk to. I found most of the people who were members were in fact active in Second Life for the same reasons as many of the other social networks (promotion, money making, chit chat).

The majority of users were older people which was surprising but makes sense. There is also a big separation of users just like in real world – there are users that want to meet people of similar interests and socialise but there are also people who abuse the network or engage in acts that aren't generally deemed acceptable. A lot like other social networks SL has been commercially exploited, this is again a corresponding factor that is share by popular social events in the real world. In fact SL is almost an accurate Virtual Reality of the real world – with one worrying difference. The fact that you can physically see the person you communicate with leaves a huge level of mistrust – something that SL seem to except many commenting the fact that their appearance age etc. inside SL is completely different. With this in mind you can never believe 100% of anything said or seen in SL.

I tried to discover whether users felt that SL could actually break down Real World community and contact with people or whether it merely filled a gapped that already existed for people who were not socially inept. Most thought it depended on the person and so you cannot answer the question – most members did not think SL broke down RL (but this is maybe expected seen as they are members) but thought SL just brings more people together just the same as Facebook etc.
In my opinion it is probably better than face book and Myspace – this is because you do actually meet new people and not just relate to your RL social network on-line. However the negatives of SL are far more extreme and perhaps more socially dangerous than the others. More addictive, more scope for anti-social behaviour, more breeding for negative social views, not as passive communication so a lot more engrossing. But these negatives do only apply to a minority, which in reality is the same as the RL.

For those genuinely looking for new friendships SL is a good tool – but is also a tool for those wishing to escape reality and re-create themselves sometimes for inappropriate behaviour. I don't think governing them more strictly on-line is the answer as that implies that these social networks are reality – they are not – the governing needs to be done in our real world society, if society understands what is acceptable and what is not, then that should carry into VR. It could also be argued that SL could distract some people from carrying out their wring behaviour in RL!

Some pics from second life.

EVALUATION OF PRACTIONERS:

The first of the practioners I have looked at are Zetia productions. These are a duo of music producers from nottingham. I have had the pleasure of working with these producers on personal music ventures and their style of Hip Hop music is very original and elcetic. I felt they were valuable to look at as practioners as i'm familiar with their work and know that they use a great range of production methods to deliver their exceptional blend of underground music.

see: www.myspace.com/zetiafamilia

The second practioners I have looked at are the Cohen brothers. I have been a fan of their films for a long time with big favourites such as "The big Lebowski" and "O brother where art thou" their new film "no country for old men" was not a dispapointment. The stylistic approach to their films is something I would love to emulate in my own work - or if I were to venture in Directing for film.

"Owing a heavy debt to film noir and other film styles of the past, the Coen brothers' films combine dry humor with sharp irony and shocking visuals, most often in moving camera shots. The Coens prefer not to put the opening credits at the very beginning of the film. The Coens are also amongst the few contemporary filmmakers who have shown a great affection for the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, and have incorporated their influences with varying degrees of subtlety, ranging from entire movies in the screwball mode like The Hudsucker Proxy and Intolerable Cruelty to occasional fast-talking wacky characters like Steve Buscemi's cameo in Miller's Crossing. Their style of characterisation creates a world in which even characters with small speaking parts seem to have exaggerated traits or characteristics. This can be attributed to the settings of many of the films (for example the weird and wonderful characters in The Big Lebowski do not seem out of place in the many niche communities of LA). "

In the latest film I found it really refreshing to engage in a film that did not stuff itself full of cheesey dialogue and fake emotion filled music. The film lacked both completly which really allows you to watch and digest the visual masterpiece they bring to their films.

The third practioners I have looked at recently are graffiti and artists OXYEN THIEVES.

These guys are collective of street artists and illustrators from Nottingham. They recently had an exhibition titled "Fat people are harder to kidnap". It was showed various black and white illustartions and canvas paintings done by each member of the crew. I am good friends with these artists and have been a keen fan of the street art and urban graffiti they have done over the years. The main member of the group Kid30/Smallkid is a well respected artist across the UK and also does workshops for young people similar to those who I teach. I have chosen him as a practioner to show because he has given me alot of help in my career as a tutor and is someone I respect as a self made artists - something I hope to achieve.

Small kid took part in a "draw off" artist battle in london.

you can see their designs all over Nottingham city or visit www.smallkid.co.uk

SAMPLE FROM PDP WORK:


Name: Ed Walsh
Address: Flat 3
Merrivale Court
Mapperly Park
NG3 5DL
D.O.B: 22/10/85

Profile
I am a hard working, self motivated and responsible individual with an outgoing personality and excellent communication skills. I enjoy meeting challenges and seeing them through, whilst remaining confident and good-humoured under pressure. I adapt well to new situations and am able to work well as a team member.

Education

2004-Present Nottingham Trent University, NottinghamBa(Hons) Multimedia
1997 – 2004 Caerleon Comprehensive School, Newport
10 GCSE’s
3 A-Levels
1 AS level

Previous Employment

2007 – Present Stone Soup Project
At this community based charity company I work as a tutor and mentor to young people with problematic educational backgrounds and learning difficulties. This job has been the most rewarding to date. I regulary give life advice to young people and see them change from bad to good. This has given me a real sense of responsibility as working with children is not something to be taking likely. The environment I work in is also testing. The children have extreme behavioural issues and personal problems which means everyone has to be approached differently in order to reach them and help them discover passions that will help them succeed in life. My communication skills have improved greatly since at this job, I now know how to speak on a level with people that many organisations find it impossible.

2006 Rescue Rooms Nottingham
Here I worked in a kitchen preparing and cooking food for customers and bands playing at the venue. It was a very pressure intense job as I was on my own in a kitchen and often had orders exceeding 45. This job was again a chance to develop my organising skills as lack of organisation meant I would fail to meet the expectations. I found it invaluable in developing my working under pressure skills and found I did perform well under the pressure. I left the job due to its late hours that effected my studies. This was a positive move showing that I am able to shift my responsibilities to meet priorities.

2006 – present Ambush Promotions
This is a company that I set up in January 2006. Following the success of working for Detonate promotions I took the skills learnt to develop my own events company. Since its establishment we have organised over 30 events and successfully sustain the company into all aspects of event
organisation and management.

2004/2005 Detonate Promotions
I did promotional work for detonate club night. My duties include placing promotional material in and around the city area and organising a street team to do more promotional work. I was giving a lot of responsibilities in this role as the promotion of the event was key to its success. I developed a lot of skills from this job, this helped to move on set up my own event company.

2004 – 2004 Ocean Night Club Nottingham
I worked as a member of the restaurant team which involves mainly bar work. I did also get moved around to the club bars, which was good bar experience under such a busy environment.

2001 – 2004 Celtic Manor Hotel and Resort, Newport
I worked as a silver service waiter, bar staff and golf club staff member at this five star hotel. I was an extremely valued member of the team and worked on high profile occasions such as serving PM Tony Blair and Prince Charles. The environment of the resort allowed me to develop the skills of communicating with people from areas of life unlike my own. I quickly moved up the ranks and was constantly in charge of wedding and conference functions – this not only tested my leadership skills but also showed my how to handle responsibilities.

Extra Curricular Interests
A lot of my spare time is taken up by running my company Ambush Promotions. This has given me focus and a real sense of direction in to what career paths I may go into. Most of my other activities I have tried to relate to the work I do for Ambush/University/Stone soup. I make music in my spare time and I am part of a music group which performs live, this is linked to Ambush and the work I do as a tutor. I am currently in full time education and have two jobs – this means I do not get much social time (I work 5 days a week and university 2) but when or if I do I like to do activities that most enjoy (the cinema, music nights etc).
A strength that I have developed to maintain that I am always active in a positive direction is tie my extra curricular activities with what I do in education or at work. This gives me real direction and is also vital to understanding where I fit in society.

Strengths
By far my biggest strengths are organisation and communication, this is reflected in the jobs I have and what I currently do in and out of education.
I have a real passion for the things I do and like assert myself fully on any task taken, no matter its size or importance. My work experience has allowed me to really develop holding responsibility. I am constantly in charge of decision making and carrying out tasks that require trust from those setting them. From this I have found myself a natural leader in teams and groups, being able to motivate those around to achieve.

Weaknesses
I would say that my weaknesses are getting to carried away with things and taking to much on. As I mentioned earlier I am very passionate, this sometimes blinds me from seeing new or different ways to approach tasks, I tend to stick to my original goal and keep trying to pursue it even if sometimes a re-think is needed. However I do feel I am a quick learner, because I am young I feel that it is the right time to sustain my passion.
Also taking to much on. I am extremely good at organising so I never let one thing shadow commitments to another, this point is more to my own personal health. I sometimes think I engage in too many responsibilities and tasks which does leave me tired and often stressed. Again I don't feel this is too much of a problem at my age – I believe that when you are young you must push yourself so achieve a standard you're content with when you get older.