Reflective for the Website Project - Essay Example

Reflective Essay for the website project Introduction Media activism involves activisms that make the use of media as well as communication technologies for various forms of movements such as social and political movements. There are various methods of initiating media activism. Some of methods include the creation of audio and video investigations, publication of news on websites, spreading protest information, and organizing campaigns that are related to media policies and communication. This paper is a reflective essay on a website project. The website analyzed in this case contains information about Chinese retired athletes. The websites project in this case is solely based on retired athletes from China. Compared to other economic giants like the US and the UK, Chinese athletes may be competitive in international sports, but their low literacy level and lack of government support creates a significant different after their retirement age. The website project information provides that most of the Chinese athletes end up being poor due to lack of skills or educational basics that can guide the retired athletes through other income generating activities (WordPress.com., 2014). This case has been evident through Zou, who joined the athletic career at the age of thirteen but ended up as a poor retired athlete. Her situation is not unique in China since there are many other going through the same problems. Poor governance in the country’s sports sector causes all these problems (Jinxia, 2002). The good news about the information provided is that future athletes including those in training have a possibility of benefiting new regulations that are being considered in the sports bureau of the country. Young athletes would never find a chance to the career until they graduate from high school (WordPress.com., 2014). Besides, athletes can now join university education during the training. Zou’s suffering has been a call for changes especially given her decision was based on ignorance, deception, and false promises. Her suffering is a wakeup call that could benefit many Chinese athletes of today and the future generations (WordPress.com., 2014). Background of the Problem Part 1: Chinese Retired Athletes The statistics about the Chinese retired athletes is a bit shocking. It is asserted that half of 6,000 professional athletes, who retire from their career in every year, end up becoming jobless. These athletes also are found to have no plans for further schooling (Xu, 2007). According to Xu, the 1999 Beijing International Marathon is among these athletes. Other than the 6,000 athletes who retire each year, it seems that the trend is worse for the already retired athletes from the profession than these retiring each year. Today China has about 300,000 retired athletes. About 80 per cent of these retired athletes are jobless (Xu, 2007). Registered athletes are about 50,000 in China, but according to Shangwu (2012), only 3,000 retire from the profession with about 40 per cent becoming unemployed. The problems facing Chinese athletes are immense. While most of the problems are general to other athletes around the world, some can be specifically associated with the Chinese sports system. One of the reasons athletes face problems in their future is because the career is shorter than any other career or occupation (Padgett, 2002). Athletes in China retire voluntarily or involuntarily after attaining a certain age. Some of the causes for retirements are injuries and other related health factors, which would otherwise affect the performance of the athletes. Most of the Chinese athletes are hardly prepared for this sudden incidence. Their unpreparedness leads to even more problems like stress, trauma, and financial stress. Besides, the cost of managing the athletes’ health is mainly personal. Even after retirement, when these athletes are unable to support their financial needs, the government is hardly available for assistance. Another main reason why the problem facing athletes is persistent in china is the lack of adequate education among athletes. This lack of substantial education makes it difficult for the athlete to lead a good life after their retirement. They can hardly find a good job that can provide them with equal or higher level of income as their ended athlete career. Among all these causes, lack of government support and poor education background are the major causes of problems among the Chinese athletes. Today, the number of people interested in the athletics career has increased despite the criticism in most of the activities that prevail before a person becomes a competent athlete. Most Chinese people have considered sports a serious form of business, a major reason why many have to withstand any unethical treatments they receive from their authorities. In some case, the training of athletes starts at a very young age without any significant consideration of the importance of formal education the individuals being trained. The training is hardly easy for many, but the only motivation is the economic impression created on the career. Many athletes however ignore the fact that the career is usually short-lived and that they need a backup plan that could sustain them after their retirement. With the training, children are trained under poor conditions with most of them being scouted at the age of six years old (Kaushik, 2011 ). This means the case of Zou was even much better given that she joined the career when she was about thirteen years old. Nevertheless, her decision was based on lies and misleading promised that were never fulfilled, but only lead her to much suffering after her retirement. A case is only an example of many other disappointing situations. While some young children are sent to seemingly special sports schools to become professional athletes, the pressure in such schools can only be accommodated by a few (Jinxia, 2002). The few remaining learners end up becoming miserable in future especially if they take the career lightly without any plans after the services are no longer required by their sponsors. The case of Zou has been extremely disappointing and a source of discouragement among many aspiring Chinese athletes. Her decision to leave school at a tender age to pursue an athlete career was based on false promises, but she had to build much trust on whatever she was promised (WordPress.com., 2014). She worked hard for her dreams in this new career in order to make up for the time she lost in schooling. Zou had to follow the advices of her coach for about a decade. She turned out to be successful and worn some key awards such as the 48-kilogram weightlifting title in the year 1990. Her life seemed to be in line with her big dreams of pursuing the athlete profession especially after winning several other national championships before retiring in 1993 (WordPress.com., 2014). She only discovered that the promises were hardly going to be met by the coach. Her problems started barely three years after her retirement when she was even asked to leave the women’s weight lifting team. The news presents many critiques about the government and the sports authorities because the major goal is to extract the best out of people’s talents without considering their future survival or success. This is attributed through the existing system, which sees children as young as six years of age joining sports training without even any firm grounds for their basic educations. The government and the sports sector had no incentives to initiate plans that can help further athletes’ education for their respective future security, except the undergoing plant to restrict athletic training based on age and level of education. This aspect brings the possibility of bright situations for future athletes including the ones under training now. The situation of Zou has been criticized greatly with a sad impression for the Chinese athletes who have faced or are facing similar problems. It criticizes the life she lived even after having contributed a lot to the Chinese community as a whole. She even went to an extend of risking her future by abandoning her education for a career that could only last her youthful life, after which she would face the world of problems if not supported as promised. She was pushed to making a costly decision out of pure ignorance. She had to turn to physical labor after her athletic career collapsed (WordPress.com., 2014). She had no other choice give the little education she had, but her case is considered only one among many other cases of retired athletes who suffer the same fate. To curb the problems, collaborative efforts are being employed by both the government and the athletes. First, one of the government efforts involves the decision to to increase its support to upcoming athletes and setting the minimum education level for any person willing be venture the career. A good education background can offer an athlete various economic opportunities especially after retirement, which means that with such measures, the government can help improve the situation. The government has also put much more attention on the wellbeing of its professional athletes than ever before. Athletes on the other hand are urged and encouraged to increase their social skills. This would improve their relationships in the society and improve their societal position even after their retirement. Charitable activities are also promoted with a view of improving the lives of athletes in general. Part 2: Techniques/Processes (The Project) The use of website to pass information about the issues facing Chinese athletes was based on a failure in the initial plan. Reaching more people could have been made possible through a cartoon video, but due to inadequacy of skills as well as professional software that is required to develop it. The use of website was the best option in this case it was possible besides the ability to display much information with less time and space. Again, with the given increase in the number of people using the internet for communication, the internet has increasing developed as a community. The role of the internet has initiated a new form of individualism family life (Virtual Community or Network Society). This comes from the idea of internet as a community in which limitation of time and space have been broken to link more weak ties for easier communication. The social reality of virtuality of the internet makes the website project an effective tool in passing the intended message. The techniques and processes used were as follow: News The project analyzed in this paper is a website presenting information about the horror facing Chinese athletes today and in the past. Obtaining the information was a bit difficult especially given the law protecting other people’s property including the use of information. Typically, making use of other people’s information as if it were your own information is against the intellectual property rights in China. Intellectual property rights have been acknowledged since 1979 and since then, they have been protected. When gathering the information about the athletes, I understood that websites are too covered by these laws, but the Chinese people usually violate them knowingly or unknowingly. A comprehensive legal framework exists to protect both local and international intellectual property. It is certainly true that the information came about after a primary research conducted by individuals who had a meaningful objective. The information analyzes the situation in the Chinese society from the perspective of the primary research that was initially conducted. The main account is on the problems that most Chinese athletes have faced in the past, as well as what many others are facing today, which could have been achieved only through an exhaustive study. The story is centered on Zou Chunlan. Zou Chunlan is said to have left school in order to become a professional athlete. She was too young by the time she gave up her education for an athlete profession. Her coach had given her adequate assurance that the national sport’s bureaucracy would take care of her problems including her health until the end of her life. The aspect of this website being an activist media site is that this promise never came to be especially given that the encouragement she received was meant to have her talents benefit other people in the expense of her life (WordPress.com., 2014). The nature of the information made it even more difficult to use especially given its concentration on a particular individual. Zou is one of many athletes whose lives have been compromised for no good reasons. Their efforts towards achieving huge dreams have been diminished through false promises. Besides, the government of China seems to support them only when their services are needed from the national purposes, but this support ceases to exist immediately after their retirements just like the case of Zou (Brooke, 2014). Zou’s case is sensitive in this case because it touches her personal life, in which case almost anyone will have access to the website news. Nevertheless, the enlightenment comes in the case where the information entails a critique showing the way Chinese athletes are misled by the existing sports system making the government appear as if it has little concern for those who struggle to make China a better place. This means that despite the sensitivity of the information used, many people will benefit. Investigations and the news about Zou among other athletes have contributed to a better course by the government as far as Chinese athletes are concerned. Video There were some problems with using the video in this case as well. To obtain the video, I had to use the right way by seeking permission that can offer the chance of using the video on my website. Like the news, the video is sensitive since it touches a part of the athlete’s difficulties and personal life. I can hardly present the video as my own, so I had to provide a link to show where I obtained the video (Gregory, 2003). I had to act differently from many of Chinese students who download and use videos without the consideration of any property rights. The trend has nevertheless changed today where permission has to be provided before downloading internet contents. The main problem is my website is that any audience can watch the video without restrictions (Yang, 2008). Pictures The website has several graphics to accompany any information indicated on it. The graphics mostly include images of the main athlete discussed on the website and other individuals whose facial expressions communicate a lot about the problems they could be facing or they have faced at some point in their lives (Bhutani, 2014). Like the video case, the images in this websites are from other people or organizations’ websites. I had to seek permission in order to download them for my website (Gregory, 2003). Despite my choice to use such images, I do not have any right over the images that I used for my website project. To depict this, I have proved a link for each image (Yang, 2008). Interview Conducting interviews is hardly an easy task. Many resources and time have to be sacrificed. Interviews about the website and its content can be contacted online through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which are indicated on the website. People can also post their views by leaving comments as suggested under each section (Castells, 2001). The site visitors would always have a chance of posting comments as well as liking or disliking the contents. This is however not guaranteed, as most visitors would not want to spend their time posting comments or participation in the interviews. I think the site can be improved to include the missing aspects like icons where visitors can like the site, additional and viable links, and more linkage to social media sites. This way, the site will be liked and commented through social media sites thereby attracting more visitors (Castells, 2001). Interviews can then be linked to these sites so that people can present their views about the site and the information presented their in. Chinese Athletes Compared with UK athletes Chinese athletes have always had equal chances or better chances of succeeding in international competitions. Typically, Chinese athletes are said to train harder than any other country in the world (The Guardian, 2012 ). This argument is based on the 2012 Olympic Games. This aspect brings the first and obvious difference between Chinese and UK athletes. The hard training efforts between the Chinese are paid off through their higher chances of winning than the UK athletes (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2014). The Britons have a perception that Chinese athletes as cheats, robotic, or hard to defeat, but the hard training programs in their brutal training factories within their country cause this success (ONeill, 2014 ). Unlike in other countries including the UK, Chinese athletes also work harder to win various awards. In China, rewards include cash with local governments offering the athletes with apartments and luxury cars (Black, 2012). These awards could however end up being meaningless when the Chinese athletes retire from their career with nothing else to do for a living. The UK athletes have a rich education background, which can offer all UK athletes a promising future even after quitting their career. This case creates the largest difference between athletes from the two countries. While the two countries encourage hard training among athletes, the UK has a firm training base, but China seems not being concerned about the future of its athletes. Online Survey Generally, contacting surveys is a hard task. However, online surveys are employed mostly due to their ease of use and the high possibility of acquiring a broad range of responses from many respondents. An online survey would be necessary to gather adequate data and information regarding the applicability of the website project. The survey would target social media users, blog users, and the website visitors (Castells, 2001). Personalized emails would also be used to reach respondent from an individual level. This technique is however difficult because of the challenges encountered to obtain personal conducts of various people. The use of online survey is mainly meant to generate ideas about improving the project and analyzing the usefulness of the content. Positive responses would imply that the project is good enough while negative comments will provide grounds for possible adjustments. This way, the project would be of great help than it is now. Problems In coming up with the project, I encountered numerous problems. First, designing the website was tedious and time consuming. I had to come up with a specific theme that would appeal the audience. The information was also hard to find. I had to use the information collected from other sources (Castells, 2001). This was also problematic. Aspects like picture and video was technical. My initial intention was to present the information through an animated format, which was difficult. I therefore had to choose an online article for the source. Nevertheless, the website project is not ultimate when it comes to the problems encountered especially with the images. It has many opportunities for improvement. The images presented are inefficient in communicating with the target audience because they lack some major features that can give clear information about what they really represent. The images lack titles (WordPress.com., 2014). Only the provided link can guide the audience on what they are by accessing some information regarding them. Although the news and information written can provide a clue on the people presented, they can be improved accordingly (Xu, 2007). Reason for the Web Design The web design was meant to provide information about the problems facing Chinese athletes and the future plans to solve the problems. People across the world can access the website because it has no geographical restrictions. Mostly, people using social media sites linked to the website will have easier access than the people without social media accounts will. The website is however limited to literate and English-speaking audience (Castells, 2001). The aspect of the information presented in websites being in English provides a chance for a broader audience. Language barrier could have been the main limiting factor, but since the largest portion of the world population speaks English, the content would benefit people beyond China and the UK. The UK audience would benefit as well since the problems faced by Chinese athletes are also experienced by some UK athletes (Brooke, 2014). Some links are explained in the Chinese language thereby giving access to the Chinese literate individuals as well. Sources are vital in the site to provide detailed information about the website content. The website owner is also reachable as the website has contact information, which is also critical for further investigations by the audience (Althusser, 2006). Conclusion Women have been facing many problems under the leadership of men as seen in the case of Zou. The field of sports especially athletes is mainly dominated by males, but their domination brings nothing good the Chinese athletes. Besides, women like Zou seem to join the career under the misguidance of men who wish to benefit from their careers more than the female participants themselves do. Their efforts are never recognize after they stop delivering their career benefits to the government. The website project analyzed in this reflective essay will be a link to many people who may be willing to push the Chinese government for a program that ensures a secured future for its important national figures like athletes. The website will provide a basis on which people around the world can review the problems facing Chinese athletes and make the necessary adjustment for personal, national, and global gains. Focusing on a child’s education is much better than exposing the child to early ways of earning money, while the child’s future remains unpromising. China can adjust its strategies to ensure that only people with high school education can train as athletes. 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