At RMIT I have studied communication and political theory, produced radio, focussing on creative community engagement.
I was introduced to communication theories and politics alongside an introduction to current industry standards in media editing and creation software. I also dabbled in HTML and non-linear story-telling.
"Paper Dreaming" Writing Media Texts Assignment 3, — "Single Shot", A Misunderstanding Production, FIlmed on location at RMIT University, 1/6/2011.
"The Royal Australian mint fails to identify the individual depicted, or even give justification for using a "generic" image. Whilst the individual has since been 'identified', his story is one of false recognition, and "unwanted association". (Barnes 114) It is an image that in various forms, has been fixed in Australian consciousness since federation. An image which communicates not only an oversimplified depiction of an individual and people, but a time of great misrepresentation— despite any political and societal reform."
Excerpt from "Aboriginal stereotypes as communicated through the Australian two dollar coin."
Social Relations, 2011
"People People" RMIT Broadcast Media Radio Project by Jonathan Leschinski and Kristy Deng, 2011
"I would argue the value is not in the exploitation of the ownership aspect of the 'property', but actually derived from a credited innovation. Intellectual property law's role, therefore, should be in place to enforce an 'acknowledgement of innovation', or creation, as appose to a misguided and misinformed approach of claiming and 'protecting'."
Extract from "The role of digitisation in the proliferation of free culture"
Histories and Technologies, 2011
"Succulent Success" Filmed in Footscray, Victoria, Australia, August 2011,
Produced by Cinzia Sammassimo, Jonathan Leschinski, Doreen Neo
"What if reading and writing changed? What if texts were no longer confined to a page? What if being a reader meant you were also a writer, freely paving your own path through a text, leaving your own marks? What if every text was linked to another, and another and another ..."
Constructing a non-linear essay by way of HTML.
Networked Media, 2011
"We talk much about ‘digital footprints’ these days, and many people are scared about the size of their ‘presence’ on the internet.
I see it as a more empowering force.
To be able to be held ‘accountable’ for your actions, and gaining recognition for your efforts. In a positive way.
Let’s just hope my opinion on this doesnt change any time soon."
'Papertrails" - Extract from a blog post for Networked Media
I elected Radio as a focus, and co-produced the show Room With A View on RRR for a semseter. I was responsible for establishing the shows first digital media strategy and Twitter profile.
One of the major group projects I led was an innovative social engagment campaign, #2PLYCRY.
Frustrated with current norms in the RWAV team towards accountability and content coordination, I introduced an online collabaoration tool (Trello) to aid in streamlining the production of our show. Over the course of the semester I oversaw training and adoption of the tool.
The tool was so succesful, it was used as a case study for the rest of the course, and adopted by several other groups.
"At the crux of the Occupy movements’ actions and ideology is the need to extol the virtues of public debate and discourse for the common good, while simultaneously shifting governmental focus back to public interest. These notions are very closely paralleled in Habermas’s theory of the 'Public Sphere;' in which an abstracted model of rational debate is deemed the basis of social coherence and civil governance."
Excerpt from 'Occupy Habermas - The Occupy movement and 'The Public Sphere''
Debates and Approaches, 2012
Expermental video project
Integrated Media 1, 2012
View complete project here: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328308/final_kor/index.html
And accompanying blog; http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328308/blog2/?cat=61
"Through the historical analysis by Mitchell, and White of "The Economy" and "Economic Man" respectively, we can see the way in which economies are communicated is always in flux. Each offers an insight into how particular economic doctrines and truth regimes are conceived, implemented, criticised, proliferate and ultimately communicated."
Exerpt from "Economic Man'"
Economies Communicated, 2012
Economies Communicated, 2012
'Buzzcuts is Express Media's annual arts reviewing project, presented in conjunction with Melbourne Fringe Festival'
Radio 2, 2012
'A discussion about community life in Melbourne, based on different communities within Melbourne.'
Produced by Jonathan Leschinski, Nadia Petrov, and Matt Bendall
Radio 2, 2012
"There is a huge and vibrant market for the vegetables and fruits in Australia. They gain a total of more than $350 million (The Australian Chamber of Commerce, 2010). However, feijoas are currently only popular in some countries, such as New Zealand (Feijoa Australia, 2012). They are not very common in Australia. Most Australians haven’t even heard of this fruit."
Hypothetical Advertising Campaign and Media Plan for Feijoas
Introduction to Advertising 2012
"RMIT University made a $55.3 million profit in 2011.
Time to show we give a shit where RMIT spends its profits.
We are crying out for a university that places the welfare of students before its profits— this is more than toilet paper."
Time to show we give a shit where RMIT spends its profits.
We are crying out for a university that places the welfare of students before its profits— this is more than toilet paper."
Viral participatory story telling experiement, with a social conscience
Integrated Media 2, 2012
A highlight of second year was a wildly succesful campaign for Integrated Media 2; '#2PLYCRY'
The brief was to develop a ‘small scale’ project that was collaborative and public.
I was team leader to an 'anonymous' campaign that recognised local needs in the student population, tapped into that, and channeled it into a positive outcome.
This in many ways, was the crossover of my political studies into personal agency, combined with participatory media and online activism.
The campaign was so successful that we were approached by several media bodies who wanted to cover the story unfolding its social objectives, and the methods we employed to encourage public participation.
"#2plycry interview: Can Social Media Initiate Social Movements?
Cassie and Rian sit down with 'A', one of the members of the collective who initiated #2plycry, a social movement at RMIT which sprung up over students being unsatisfied with 1 ply toilet paper. We look at their use of a hashtag, with next to no information on it, has spiked such interest, and could even lead to collective political action on the part of the students."
The inverview was organised after we were sought out via social media by the journalist.
(I am the one being interviewed)
Read full article here:
We were approached by the journalist via social media, completely unprompted.
Twitter search of #2PLYCRY
None of our online content was generated by our team. We simply placed some stickers "in the right place at the right time" (seeding) and conversations flowed into the online sphere. As hoped. (demonstrated on the right by RMIT Student Union)
Including 3 seperate organic facebook communities around the cause!
Even our fellow students didnt know it was our doing until the final presentation.
"This collapse of boundaries, in turn, gave filmmakers license to use their own lives as vehicles for conveying large truths, for making statements that might transcend the purely personal."
Excpert from reading logs
Documentarty Studies, 2013
"These tensions between work and life are at the core of challenges for my future as a 21st century knowledge worker and present a great shift in how work is defined (Thrift, 2008). My own agency within this framework is determined by many governing bodies and principles, but ultimately is also framed in an environment that gives me great self-determination. I am bound by the rules and regulations of which my field is determined, but also regarded as a bit of a 'Guinea Pig' in shaping what exactly the conditions of my employment are. My agency, is in leading by example."
Excerpt from "What is work in the 21st century for knowledge workers/communication professionals?"
Social Applications of Communications, 2013
I also completed SPANISH 5, graduating with the linguistic grounding and cultural knowledge for communicating with native Spanish speakers.
During the second half of 2013 I completed a semester at the Centro de Lingüistica Aplicada (Centre for Applied Linguistics), (CLA), Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
The course included: Spanish Syntax, Spanish Morphology, Lexicon, Cuban Literature and excursions to sites of cultural and historical significance.
RMIT had no prior partnership with this institution, nor is there any history of any Australians attending the research centre. It was of my initiative to engage CLA to facilitate my semester abroad.
My reasoning for applying was not simply to enhance my Spanish, but to experience and study communication first-hand in a country where Internet is virtually non-existent (<5% penetration rate), but with highly regarded tertiary institutions.
Indeed it proved to be an incredibly valuable experience, and I learnt a great deal with regards to intercultural communications but also gained a refreshing appreciation for libraries and hand-writing once more!
