Personal Media Journal

Please Note: Because I needed to convert the graphs and tables into image files, their quality has lessened as a result.

Media Logging

The statistics shown below were recorded and collated over a ten (10) day period between 13/03/12 and 22/03/12, the purpose of which was to identify personal media-usage and compare this data with a corresponding survey taken by my JOUR1111 peers.

NOTE: There are a number of notable inconsistencies in the survey data that must be addressed. The survey was taken BEFORE students were required to create Blogger and Twitter accounts. Questions 6, 7, 8 and 9 were directly affected, while question 13 was indirectly affected. For the purposes of comparison within this report however, I will be using the data as provided by the survey document.

                10-day Media-Use Comparison (Minutes)

(See: Appendix A)

As the above table shows, I used Facebook almost twice as much as my second-highest media source (Blogger). This corroborates data represented in the survey, where 91.9% of students claimed they spent a large amount of their time using Facebook (much higher than the 61.3% for ‘General Browsing’).

What is even more interesting however, is that the top four highest forms of personal media-use are all associated under the same medium; the Internet. This is further highlighted by the survey data, which shows that 96.8% of surveyed students spend at least 1 hour each day using the internet, as opposed to 68% and 29.4% for Television and Radio respectively, over the same time period.

Personal Media-Use Comparison

This graph compares my time spent using each of the four ‘main’ mediums. As is clearly evident, an overwhelming majority of my time was spent using the Internet (86%), while Print and Television usage shared 7% each. This shows the dominance of ‘New Media’ in relation to ‘Old Media’. (See: Appendix B, C)

After considering how effectively my personal data corroborates with the survey data, a relative conclusion may be formed which suggests that, as a group, my peers and I spend the majority of our media-related time using the Internet, as opposed to other forms of media.

At this stage, it is important to note a number of reasons as to why this data may be slightly misleading. My media-use has changed significantly since I moved away from home and settled into college life at University. Access to Newspapers, Television and Radio has significantly decreased, resulting in the far lower usage numbers that have been detailed above. Not only this, but due to the requirements of a number of my University subjects, my Internet usage has increased to accommodate this, most notably through Blogger and Twitter (of which I had never used previously).

Another reasonable assumption therefore, is that a number of my peers may be under similar circumstances. This makes the survey data difficult to interpret, as this is impossible to distinguish, while the ability to provide more than one answer to certain questions proved difficult when trying to compare media-usage across mediums.

In collating and comparing this data, it has become obvious that the Internet has become the leading source of news, information and correspondence. Personally, this assessment has shown that I am pursuing a career in which the Internet has proven to be a beneficial and necessary tool, providing confidence that I am on the correct path towards a career that both suits and interests me.

 APPENDIX

Appendix A:

 | Facebook – 24% | Blogger – 22% | Twitter – 16% | General Browsing - 13% | Newspaper – 8% | Television – 7% | Email – 5% | Youtube – 4% | Podcast – 1% | Radio – 0% |

                Appendix B:         

| New Media – 86% | Old Media – 14% |

                Appendix C: