Friday, December 11, 2009

Attention Adam
I have emailed you the essay as i could not copy and paste it on my blog.
I hope this is ok i have sent it under another name also 'beau annabelle' as my student email was not working

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Course Evaluation

The course has taught me a number of important things including issues regarding :

  • the possibilities of the internet including the creative uses of the internet and political possiblities
  • ethical issues such as privacy, and internet censorship
  • dilemas pertaining to file sharing and propriatary software
  • philisophical and theoretical considerations regarding virtual reality and the consequences of the technological age
  • and the impact of media on society

The course was interesting and provided me with an understanding and appreciation for new communication technologies, in an area in which i had limited knowledge. I will take a way from this course a new way of looking at and questioning media.

Tutorial task 6

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf
This article highlights the ways in which the ‘Digital Natives’ are using media. Furthermore this media effects the way individuals approach life and the many possibilities that are out there. The article also distinguishes between ‘natives’ and ‘Immigrants’ in how they use media, and the sometime tension this gap brings. The article discusses how many areas are changing including Communication, Sharing, Exchanging, Relationships and many more. A really interesting point was made about sharing; how the traditional diary, in which individuals keep their feelings- is being abolished with blogs, in which it is all put out there.
They article notes this is the way society is headed, and highlights how quickly it is, and is going to, change.
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
I read this article to get a better understanding of the terms “Digital Natives”, and “Digital Immigrants.”
Digital Natives are the students of today, they have grown up with technology and are experts in the area of computers, internet, and other media forms. Digital Immigrants refer to people who were not born in the digital age, but nevertheless are interested in and have acquired some of the needed skills.
http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html
This article begins with stories relating to the challenges and peoples experience with media. It portrays media in a negative light, and (as apposed to Prensky work) as a confusing and unknown area.

Tutorial Task 10

The old medium I choose was television

Television introduced visual data, it provided vieweers with moving images that up until its introduction were left to the imagination.It provided audio also, therefore extending on the radio. It further extended on radio and newspaper with regard to content, in that its purpose was both to inform and to entertain. Television retrieves information and creations and distributes it to the vieweer.When pushed to the extreme i think television has a negative impact on the way people function as not just a supplement to life but a lifestyle. If one is spending to much time on television they are being engrossed in it and not living their lives.Reality television may also be included in this category, as the dividing line between reality and non-reality is blurred. I dont think television has made older forms of media (radio, newpaper) obselete in that television was introduced along time ago and there is still a place for these technologys today.However as technology like mobiles are becoming more advance people will begin to use this type of technology to view programs and access information. Its almost impossible television will be replaced by radio completely, as peopple listen to the radio whilst driving, when there visual space is occupied.

the new media i choose Facebook

It enhances communication betwwen people across large geographical ranges. It enhances creativity as people can make a personalized home page.

It extends up other social media like myspace as it adds an additional element similar to blogging-posting information.

Pushed to its extreme people are relating to people and communicating with people in a false way, they are creating identitys and dont really know the person, if it is someone they only meet online. I think to some extent it has made myspace obsolete, by not entirely as people have different prefrences.

Day 10: Media Ecology

The lecture began with discussion on the invisible environemtn. Media ecology refers to the study of how media effects and impacts both the individual and at a societal level. We were reintroduced to the witings of Mark McLuhan in that media is an extension of the human body, with media things are made possible beyond human capacity. Mark Mcluhan idea of median as the message, refers to the fact that the content is not so much important as the way in which the media used. McLuhans Media tetrads are rules or ways of examining media which include how it extends, makes obsolete, retrieves from old media, and what its reverse does when pushed to the limit. Neil postman another media ecologist focused on media in literacy, language and education and also extended on the work of McLuhan.

Day 6: The Academic Study of Video Games

Video games are a form of entertainment, like virtual worlds they allow the player to be engrossed in a world of fantasy and possibility, allowing the player to interact and create an experience. Video games in a primitive form, reach as far back as the mid 1950’s and are growing an expanding at a rapid rate.
Other applications of video games were discussed, with video games being useful as simulation games for military, training, and medical purposes. Another interesting question brought up in the lecture was about the aesthetics of video games, what makes a video game good or enjoyable.

With video games theoretical considerations must be made, including their effects on people,and questions relating to that of virtual reality, what is real? One question asks are video games a new form of cultural practice? Are we able to experience and express ourselves in different ways than by traditional means? Two views in the academic study of games are Narratology and Ludology., however these are not the only views. Narratology focuses on the story games tell, whilst Ludology focuses on the graphical elements of a video game.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Day 8: Being a Digital Citizen

Internet censorship
The government are planning to put bans on particular websites, which restricts our rights as citizens to access information and our freedom of speech.

File sharing
A brief overview of how file sharing effects the content distributor was given. With CC and the internet the ‘middle man’ is cut out of the picture. The ‘middle man’ are the Music and Film industry’s who make profit from putting copyright on creative works. File sharing is basically an issue of ownership, as the internet has taken over as the distributor of creative works.
An issue arises in that the sole purpose of the internet is to copy, so then why when it is possible, can we not download what we want, when we have paid for the internet..
The Video steal this film 2 communicated the same issue in history with the printing press. Initially the publishing houses were very angry about books being copied and freely distributed, however there was nothing that could be done to stop it and they gave up trying.
Similarly with the internet its impossible to control file sharing, once 1 copy is leaked, millions can be copied and distributed. Furthermore there is no owner/gate keeper of the internet. Creative solutions either technological or legal are going to have to be made to keep both the consumers and the content publishers happy

Day 7: Political Possibilities

The gap between the goal of a representative democracy and how things actually are, is evident in the number of people who participate in voluntary voting.
An alternative to representative democracy is participatory democracy. Participatory democracy refers to a system in which people don’t merely vote, sit back and passively accept the outcome, but one in which people are actively involved in making sure the system works.
With the new media age and the decentralization of the internet brings the possibility of participatory democracy. For people to seek out information and put there views and opinions out there to be heard, to effect change and political opinion.
In the lecture Steven Stockwell brought up an important issue one that should always be at the forefront of democracy, how can democracy be improved?
For something to be improved people must be educated and given opportunity to gain skills. For democracy to be improved for the citizens of the future- individuals need the literacy skills of the internet. They need to be able to understand how to use the internet to find information and present arguments.
Cyberpunk, of the science fiction genre was a new outlet of political expression in the 1980's.
Cyberpunk commented on societies technological obsession and the possible outcomes of this.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Day 9: Network Creativity

Today’s lecture by guest speaker Jason Nelson was about creative uses of the internet.
First up Jason introduced us to cites like Disaster map and speed test, that represent information/data in a visual way For example with disaster map we can see what’s going on in the world represented by symbols/images rather than just reading text in a newspaper. As viewers we look at these sorts of cites but don’t really think about how information is presented in a different way. The point was made about how we experience things on the net in small time frame jumps, we go into a cite quickly have a look and then move on. This point was illustrated by taking a look at generators: little applications or tools in which things can be created automatically.
Jason dismissed the myth that anyone can become famous nowadays with the internet, as we saw with the cartoons of home start runner, being successful is dependant on being continuously creative. Portabableapps.com further illustrates the ways in which our use of technology is changing and being used in a new way. This idea of portableapps is based on taking away the importance of computers, replacing it with portable applications stored on memory sticks. The point was made about the gap between people who understand the uses of technologies and those who don’t. Key logging was used as an example of how technology can be used that people aren’t aware of.
Jason introduced us to Google wave and how it works.

Jason’s Poetry
Confronting, Chaotic, multiple elements.
Jason work related to a piont brought up earlier in the lecture, in that some are visual representations of information for example in the weather visualiser: numbers relating to speed of wind, humidity ect are expressed as images and effect how the images are presented.
I thought a particular interesting point that Jason made was how traditionally we are asked to dissect a peice of art, to find its meaning and to understand it. But what’s also and maybe even more so important is in ones experience of the work, in how it provokes the viewer to think and impose there own meaning onto the work.
With net art the browser takes the place of the canvas, the viewer’s experience of the work becomes interactive. This idea parallels the way in which the internet has become decentralised, we are not just handed a peice of work and told how to view it, the individual is now involved in the process.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Titorial task 9

POEM CUBE
This was my favourite of the pieces I looked at. I liked it because I though it was relevant to what we discussed in todays lecture, in how things are created on the internet. Whilst viewing jasons poetry, the viewer is asked to write their own poem.Im taking jasons work editing it, creating my own work, like a type of collaboration

I MADE THIS. IF YOU PLAY THIS. WE ARE ENEMIES.
I like the pop ups and article titles and things, its as though you are searching info on the web. I like the title- I don’t know if its meant to be a satire of copyright or not but I like it.
Its quite confronting the screaming and stuff it sort of makes me nervous.

BETWEEN TREACHEROUS OBJECTS
Negative undertone/dark- repetitive music, this piece made me feel abit uneasy.



Jasons work use various forms of media including text, video and audio. With traditonal poetry we are given a piece and all read it in the same way, from start to finish, but with jasons work we are interacting with it, moving through it in different ways. I think you read the work, through how you interact with it.