MY FEELINGS OVERALL....

NCT for me has been challenging yet extremely thought-provoking. Prior to this subject I was definitely very close minded in regards to technology. Despite actually using numerous sources of technology and being constantly and intensely engaged in a diverse range of Communications, prior to this subject I was definitely very close minded in regards to technology. This subject has expanded my knowledge as it actually gave me a deep and thorough insight into the orientation of certain technologies, and all their various components and functions.

At the beginning I was extremely overwhelmed by the course content and felt there was no way I could possibly understand any of the technology jargon and complex subjects. I felt BOMBARDED and was fearing failure! YET as I progressed through the course I began to understand that further research and going over and over my lecture notes would see me with a clearer understanding of key concepts.

NOW...the movies....VERY CONFUSING...AT FIRST! But what I realised that by actually going home and googling or using other search engines :P I could get plot over views and the themes of the movies. This enabled me to actually watch the films with a knowledgeable insight into what was ACTUALLY HAPPENING and perhaps even why.

One idea that still remains at the front of my brain is about content on the internet and how there is a whole lot of sh*t out there! Especially when searching for key dates, times, numbers etc...therefore I have learnt RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH and definitely try to suss out the credibility of the web pages you are accessing!

The most interesting concepts for me:

• Virtual Reality idea such as 'Second Life' and in particular the physiological effects it can cause and also the different types eg. projection and immersion
• open source software...I HAD NO IDEA THIS ACTUALLY EXISTED! I must invest in this!!!!!
• I thought the internet and www were the same thing... :P but now Im INFORMED!
• the whole idea of e-democracy and how media restrictions effect our democratic society.

ALSO, being given the chance to devise my own subject topic for the essay in the end was very beneficial. This is because I actually got satisfaction and pleasure from researching and writing about something that interested me! Don’t get me wrong...it was a difficult process in actually find a topic to write about!! haha but in the end...it was very rewarding!

I want to say that the blog assessment is great, because it actually forced me to create lecture notes which were very beneficial for my exam preparation! Without this blog...I honestly believe I would have been very far behind! DEFINENTLY gave me some motivation to WORK WORK WORK!!!!

I CAN USE PHOTOSHOP NOW!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!

The only suggestion I have is, for dumbies like me or for those who take a while to get a grasp on new, complex ideas/concepts...maybe as a part of the tutorial we could have a discussion of sections the students don’t understand?...Just a suggestion though! But also by reading through the textbook it did very much help...and you were a great help as well Jules :)

But despite my feelings of doubt at the beginning, I am very much pleased with the course content and surprisingly I did get something out of learning about technology. And it is definitely information I can apply to everyday life!

.......so yes TOP COURSE!!!!!!!!!!! I learnt quite a bit actually :)

THANKS JULES

ps. I hope you got your car back..

WEEK 12 notessss YERRRHAAAAA

GREAT LECTURE....

I ACTUALLY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS HAPPENING! YAY!

Go Adam Go!

HERE IS WHAT I GRASPED FROM THE LECTURE...

Free Software, Open Source, Creative Commons, Electronic Frontiers Foundation

• 
  The more we use computers to create things, the more we put our lives up on the internet, the more important it is to be aware of how the law affects our choices.
• 
  Commercial software that is extremely expensive is known as proprietary software- software that is owned by the company that sells it.
• 
  Computer programmers- the people who write the instructions that make computer programs work. The instructions that programmers write are referred to as source code, or code. This source code that commercial companies write is usually locked. You can't change a program without getting access to its code. You can't fix problems if you find them, so you have to wait for the owner to put out updates and patches- Windows. You could reverse engineer the software, but it is illegal to reverse engineer that code to find out how it works.
• Free and Open Source Software refers to a kind of software that is different to Proprietary Software in a number of significant ways
  
  Founder of the Free Software Foundation- Richard M. Stallman.
  · Users can run software for any purpose.
  · Users can closely examine software and can freely modify it to meet their needs.
  · Users can give copies of software to others.
  · Users can freely distribute their improvements to the broader public.
  
  
• Part of the way that Open Source software works is the idea of Copyleft (Stallman- "copyright flipped over"). It is concept behind putting stuff on net for free. The legally-binding contract that controls FS is called the GPL (General Public License), it protects those who invest time into making really good programs that are not sold for commercial gain.
• 
  The FS model was the computing community until Microsoft said proprietary software was the best business model for making profits. Economically, legally, and morally FS allows you access to software that does what it says it will without having restrictions.
  The internet would not exist if it wasn't for free software.
• 
  Some common examples of open source programs:
  · Alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer you can try ‘Mozilla’s Firefox’. It is quicker at loading pages. It's available for all operating systems. You can customise it.
  Alternative to Microsoft Office there is 'Open office'.
• 
  The 'GNU/Linux operating System is free alternative to Windows or MacOS. You can do anything on Linux that you can do with windows. CD versions available so you don’t have to install anything on hard drive.
• 
  MSN messenger,- there's different programs you can get which are available that will let you use any of the IM networks.
• 
  Photoshop alternative- GIMP.
  
  The Creative Commons
• 
  People have used FS and copyleft and applied it create what they call 'The Creative Commons'. If want your work to be free from copyright but still be subject to legal protection as original creator, you can apply a creative commons license.
• 
  You can use Creative Commons licenses on your blog content, on your photos and images, on your music files, on your home page. It gives us the freedom to use information responsibly, morally and legally without fear of being sued by big corporation who has enough money to hire a team of lawyers to make full use of the legal system.
• 
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation
• 
  The EFF deals with the law and digital media across the whole spectrum. They are concerned with keeping the internet open for people to have access to, without being restricted by govt and corporate interests.
  EFF and the Creative Commons are non-profit orgs.
  

Week 11 - CYBERPOLITICS

I struggled to grasp any of the concepts raised in today is lecture...

Therefore I shall try to collect my notes together.....

DIGITAL DIVIDE-

Major issue- only some have access to computers and less to net- how can all interests be represented in on-line debate? Solution: improved access via cheaper computers and internet time at more public places- libraries.

ON-LINE DEMOCRACY-

It is important to distinguish between the idealist view of a democracy on the web encompassing all citizens (cyberdemocracy) and the democratic uses of the internet to improve the quality of access to existing democracy. The net has become a valuable addition to the ways that debate occurs in our society.

DEFINING DEMOCRACY-

- the rule of the many ; the rule of the majority and; 'government of the people, by the people, for the people'.

Do these simple accounts of democracy measure up to the actual practices of representative democracy which governs us now? The last 200 yrs, representative democracy has broadened (free speech) and narrowed (the power of parties).

Although D is nearly accepted, the political process is still questioned: 80% adults in Aust and US express an interest in politics etc. Despite compulsory participation in elections almost 1 in 5 fail to vote. This show it is difficult to avoid Moira Rayner's- that there is 'a genuine crisis of faith in the processes of democracy'.

Most obvious alternative to RD is participatory or direct D- where all citizens have right and duty to be involved in all decisions made. PD argues D only works where citizens understand that they have a duty to foster democratic processes as a common undertaking.Participation is crucial.

Democratic theory requires constant renewal as new conditions, social formations, technologies and complexity arise.

GAPS IN MASS MEDIA

The increasing concentration, centralisation and commercialisation of the mass media have restricted avenues for democratic participation in currently existing representative democracy.

Theorists believe theres potential to remake what Habermas calls 'the public sphere': domain where 'public opinion' forms. He says commercialisation of press in the 19th C saw transformation of public sphere.

McLuhan raised possibility that electronic media might extend opportunities for involvement in a space similar to the public sphere. Mark Posters says we are presently witnessing 'the second media age'- centralised broadcast media, from a few to many consumers.

While the Internet is an open system. But the rapid commercialisation of the space, along with the potential to record and analyse all information transmitted, suggests that the Net may quickly become open to more invasive manipulation than older media forms.

Stuart Hall argued that the message intended by the producers may be read in a variety of ways by the audience: they might accept, negotiate their own reading, or produce an oppositional reading by rejecting.

John Fiske argues that viewers appropriate media output for their own purposes, that they talk about it, subvert it and 'read between the lines' to produce their own interpretations.

John Hartley notes post-modernity has seen the transformation of what constitutes 'knowledge'- meanings are now liable to constant negotiation. This shows that media theory is the negotiated meaning which produces two-way communication.

Public sphere located in 'the private domain [of] home, suburbia and television'- 'engage readers not only in self-expression and communication, but also in truth-seeking description and critical argument'. TV provides 'a mechanism for communicating across class, gender, ethnic, national, and other boundaries', allows audience to be citizens of a symbolic community.

How 'citizens of the media' might create greater deliberative participation in existing representative institutions and how citizens can gain the necessary skills to intervene effectively in the mass media in order to realise their demotic voice.

FREE SPEECH & CENSORSHIP

Deliberation and discussion are key attributes of democracy. In Australia we don't have the constitutional right to free speech. In using free speech people make democracy happen.

CITIZEN-HACKER: DOING GLOBAL DEMOCRACY

Where are the opps to liberate the world when technology requires us to think like machines? Hackers, comp programmers, desire to understand the intricacies of computing systems to find obscure/hidden info. They see computing systems as part of common wealth and dont believe it is wrong to break in and look around and understand.

The 1986 Hacker's Manifesto- 'We explore... We seek after knowledge?' Hackers created the space for a free exchange of ideas down to the level of data.

Hackers= bad name. Chasing hackers gives the authorities the illusion that they are doing something about computer crime. Hugo Cornwall notes 2 uses of hacker: 'those involved in the recreational and educational sport of unauthorised entry into computers and the enthusiasts 'who love working with the beasties for their own sake, as opposed to operating them in order to enrich a company?' They seek to free info & are at pains to distinguish themselves from crackers, intruders who damage or steal data.

They are anti-authoritarian, anti-bureaucratic, anti-centralisation and really believe that information wants to be free. They are both opposed to and utilise both anonymity and security weaknesses in computers. They exist because of the gap between expectation about and actual performance of any given computer program.

PRIMER & PRE-HISTORY OF TIME TRAVEL

It addresses time travel as a plot device and raise the ethical issues inherent in crossing time. As a yet unrealised form of new communication technology, time travel raises political and philosophical issues that apply more broadly to technology itself.
The possibility that we might traverse through time as we travel through the other dimensions has been of recurring interest to thinkers, writers and film-makers.

BLACK HOLES

Although it is theoretically possible to slow time by an infinite amount and almost bring it to a standstill you can never reverse it. Time is halted, however, in BH.
If you were in a BH you could never get out because you would have already traveled beyond eternity. If you were to go on inside the black hole you would be in a region of space and time that would appear normal to you. The only thing is you would never get out. You'd hit the 'centre' of this unknowable object and then you would leave space and time. At the center of a black hole, space and time do literally have boundaries.

ONE MORE POSSIBILTY

Computers do not have memories in the same way that humans do. Past events do not grow dim with age. Therefore time never passes - it is simply continually expanded. If you could link in to a memory by means of a device which triggered all of your senses you could relive past experiences as constantly new, constantly present. There would be no division between past and present experiences - yours or other peoples. You could experience the lives, the memories, of other people. You would travel in time.

Excel is EXCELlent..... :)

My experiences with this exersise were....

GREAT FUN RIVETTING INTERESTING......??

I have learnt a majority of these excel activities in High School.

PROBLEMS:

The only problems i encountered were towards the end of the advanced section when i had to customize my macros!

SOLUTIONS:

i was patient and re-read the instructions over and over and over again


SIMPLE BUT COMPLEX.....EASY TO FOLLOW!

Week 10- Debra Beattie

GUEST LECTURER......woooooooohooooooooooo!

Debra spoke about how new technologies are being utilised. She has had direct involvment with kids help line's web counselling service, she used this has an example.

Online Counselling Services, providing access by email or direct chat, were created as a response to the emergening trend in today's society. It has been found that young children have more skill and knowledge of the internet and computers than their parents. Today the word 'literate' includes reading and writing but also the term 'computer literate' has also surfaced.

Research conducted has illustrate that due to the impersonal, anonymous nature of the internet youth are more likely seek counselling and assisstance online. Internet is popluar as the children do not have to seek help in a face-to-face situation, they can be safe in their own home, and it has proven to be highly accessible.

It must be realised however that arguments and debates have risen regarding this new form of counselling. People argue:

• lack of personal interaction is a negative.
• Tone and pitch of the child's voice must be examined to understand their mind state and emotions.

It should also be noted that figures, diagrams, drawings have been implemented as a substitute for actual personal contact- allowing the counseller to understand how the child is feeling.

VERY INTERESTING LECTURE!

I have been pretty close-minded about the nature of developing technologies and how they are all causing the world to become unnatural. But this lecture showed me how technology can actually be used for a wirthy and rewarding cause.

CYBERPUNK- Week 9

WHAT IS CYBERPUNK?

- a science fiction genre based on the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future.

The word comes from forming of 'Cybernetics' (study of communication, command and control in living organisms, machines and organisations) and 'Punk' ( style of fast, loud, short rock music with an anarchist political philosophy and a DIY, anti-expert, 'seize the day' approach to life).


It developed as reaction against the over-blown and predominantly safe stories of 'space opera' such as George Lucas's 'Star Wars'. The precedents for cyberpunk can be found in reality-challeging literary work of Phillip K.Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep made into 'Bladerunner').

Common themes include hackers vs corporations, artificial intelligence and cities out of control and and post-industrial dystopias dissected with a film noir sensibility.

WILLIAM GIBSON

- is a US/Canadian writer whose fictional work has spawned a number of key concepts like 'cyberspace' and 'virtual reality'- His work sits uncomfortably in the sci-fi genre because its gritty realism about the near future makes it too close to the truth- dystopian.
His writing is hard to understand. He takes ideas from science and theory and reinvents them, he jumps right into the middle of a story and provides the reader with few clues to understand what is going on. The only way to appreciate Gibson is to re-read his stories until you 'get it', if there is anything to get.


MATRIX

- pushed the limits of cyberpunk.

It pushes the boundaries of computer-generated effects as it explores a possible future world where machines dominate humans but keep them in ignorant bliss of their real state. The machines in Matrix create a totally illusory reality for people, constructing their identities to suit the purposes of the machine.


CYBERPUNK THEMES


Utopia and Dystopia

Some of the most powerful myths for and against technology have been intertwined with utopian writing. Utopias tell of imaginary places where everything is perfect, usually because people and technology are in harmony. The last two hundred years have seen a large number of Utopian experiments where people have attempted to live out the literary myth.

Technology itself has often been visualised as Utopia - somewhere we can create, a microcosmic recreation of nature sanitized and optimized for human enjoyment. All the hazards of life will be screened out of the technological 'program'. Technology will provide us with something 'nicer' than the real world. Once we've recorded nature in some hyper-real form, the real thing will no longer be necessary. We can dispose of nature.
Cities as Machines

The City in Bladerunner is post-modern where people are moving to the Off-World. Sometimes it is crowded, sometimes it is lonely - which is what cities are like: you can be anonymous in the crowd. It is LA; it is noir sci-fi.

Three non-exclusive alternatives:

the city is a machine for living ... it creates human life just as humans create it
the city is a natural thing, created by natural beings just as bee-hives and ant nests are created by natural beings
the city is a living being ... a cyborg which combines human tissue with synthetic infrastructure.

In the 1960s, a group of English architects designed a new type of city. Their dream was of a city that built itself unpredictably, cybernetically, and of buildings that did not resist tvs, phones, air con and cars but played with them; inflatable buildings, buildings like giant experimental theatres, buildings bedecked in neon, projections, laser beams. This project called ‘Archigram’ was detailed in a set of posters called ‘Architectural Telegrams’.


Technological change

-Mark Poster says the first electronic media age was characterised by the use of one source and many receivers.

One person could write a letter, make a film or television program, record an album and thousands could receive that message. Only certain groups of people could produce and send messages as there were educational, financial and technical restrictions to those who could produce- 1st electronic media age.

Telephone was different because anyone could both send and receive messages with a minimum of technical and financial resources. The latest development to mimic the telephone is the Internet- made it possible for an individual to 'publish' to a huge audience.

In Aust household accessing the net has gone from 286,000 in 1996 to 1.1 million in May 1999. By mid 1990s there were + 30 million users around the world. Early 2000, was estimated there were 262 million net users world-wide.

Modernism to Postmodernism

Shadowing this split between the technologies of dissemination and the technologies of interaction is the shift discussed by a variety of theorists from moderism to postmoderism.


But who controls the switches?

Just as postmodernism is built upon modernism, second media age is built on the first, therefore is largely dependent on world view inherent in existing technologies. It is through the combination of old and new technologies that new industries, uses and expansions have occurred, and continue to emerge. The new media brings with it a need for new understandings.

Virtual reality brings with it even more complex questions about the nature of society. Remember that, in virtual reality, a type of cyborg structure exists in which your body - your mind and senses - is part of the medium. Virtual reality duplicates and warps reality. It multiplies the experiences you can have and therefore the memories you can have. It alters the ways in which you construct yourself as a person. If the individuals are changed, then so is the society. This opens up space for new forms of culture to emerge.

FINAL ESSAY

Old wine in a new bottle?

The advancement in technology available in modern society has provoked significant concern and research among experts and community bodies. “Is modern technology desensitising Gen Y to violence, sexual abuse and humiliation? Is it feeding a growing culture of cruelty? Is modern technology normalising otherwise unacceptable behaviour?” (is this generation).

Technology has instigated the transfiguration of our means of information sharing. Now increasingly accessible, technology has created a domain for youth in which bullying and cruelty is rampant. “Technology has turned the traditional image of the bully waiting at the school gates on its head. Now a 24-hour, wireless, faceless, version 2.0 of the school bully hides behind text messages, MySpace, YouTube and social networking sites” (Dubecki 2006).

The term Cyber Bullying implies the willful and recurring act of inflicting harm and harrassment on others by the medium of electronic text: instant messaging, email, text messages, mobile phones, blogs, pagers and websites (Stutzky).

‘The stealthy nature of the Internet can motivate some youth to do and say things on-line that they would never attempt in person or face to face with another student” (National School Safety Centre, 2006). “The perpetrator can choose to remain anonymous but the victim's humiliation is compounded by the often very public nature of the bullying” (Dubecki 2006).

Modern interactive, networking technologies allows today’s youth 24 hour access to one another so that when tension and disputes do surface, they can bully their peers with ease through these electronic devices without reprimand from adult figures (Simmons 2003).

“The aim of bullies is power, control, domination and subjugation” (Bully Online 2007). Exercising dominance and power over their victims, bullies gain an immoral and vicious sensation of satisfaction (Bully Online 2007).

Perpetrators of bullying are inclined to use whatever media is available. Just as the types of medium that they adopt are diverse, so too are the methods that they use. “Texting derogatory messages on mobile phones…sending threatening emails, and forwarding a confidential email to all address book contacts” are all methods of cyber bullying, so is the practice of setting up an insulting web site targeted at a particular student and then emailing others the address. “Web sites can be set up for others to vote on the biggest geek, or sluttiest girl in the school” (Snider & Borel, 2004 in Campbell 2005, p.2). Attacking victims with spam email messages, computer viruses and conducting online impersonations of the bully’s victim are also forms of cyber bullying (David S. Wall 2001, p.141).

“Now treated as a distinct form of social aggression, the consequences include acute anxiety, depression, truancy, self-harm, eating disorders and, in extreme cases, suicide” (Dubecki 2006). These severe effects are illustrated in the case of 17 year old Kentucky girl, Rachel Neblett, who is alleged to have taken her life with a shot gun after experiencing harassment via her Myspace page. It is also demonstrated in a case in New Zealand whereby multiple teenagers were accused of being the distinct cause of a 12 year old girl’s suicide, by attacking her with menacing and aggressive text messages. (Dubecki 2006).

Characteristics of the personal computer, allow for cyber bullies to exploit these modern electronic technologies with immoral intentions. “They can hide behind some measure of anonymity…which perhaps frees them from normative and social constraints on their behavior” (Patchin & Hinduja 2006). False names employed in chat rooms, and instant messaging programs and the availability of short-term email accounts provokes difficulty in exposing the rightful identity of antagonists. “It seems that cyber-bullies might be encouraged when using electronic means to carry out their antagonistic agenda because it takes less energy and courage to express hurtful comments using a keypad or a keyboard than with one’s voice” (Patchin & Hinduja 2006).

Another feature of today’s technologies which has contributed to the emergence of the cyber bullying viral phenomenon is the lack of supervision. In regards to insulting, inappropriate content present in text messaging and electronic mail, there is no monitoring system present to censor this behaviour. Despite efforts to monitor conversations in chat rooms, personal messages, only seen by the sender and recipient, are beyond authoritarian control (Patchin & Hinduja 2006).

From 1500 Internet-using adolescents who partook in a 2005 study by Hinuja and Patchin, over one-third disclosed that they had fallen victim to bullying via electronic technologies, whilst a staggering 16% pleaded guilty to having engaged in cyber bullying on their own behalf. It was revealed that of these victimized, 18% were bullied through name-calling, 40% were disrespected, 12% were physically threatened, and 5% feared their safety (Hinduja & Patchin). In accordance with the National Children’s Home charity survey conducted in 2005 of 770 youth between 11 and 19, 73% were conscious of the aggressor’s identity whilst 26% stated their bully was a stranger (National Children's Home 2005).

The cultural shift which has seen the youth of today engaged intensively with computers and mobile phones, has seen the emergence of a technology which has “the capacity to quickly, efficiently and anonymously deliver messages of ridicule, put-downs, threats and exclusion throughout a ‘connected’ community” (Nickson).

Being able to easily “obtain an anonymous web-based e-mail address”, create a website, and “given the number of sites that allow you to send free SMS messages”, cyber bullies operate under minimal risk of being caught (Nickson). The developing complex nature of modern mobile phones of now being able to call, text, instant message, have internet access, mp3s and videos also adds to the growing cyber bullying phenomenon.

The modern behaviour of having the cellular phone on the person at all times sees spiteful, unsolicited actions such as harassing, threatening and insulting text messaging and telephone conversations emerge. Text messaging poses as “pervasive and intrusive, a much deeper violation” as emails and online users can be obstructed, yet youth keep their mobile phones on their person enabling them to receive texts instantaneously (Nickson).

Myspace, that has accrued 54 million users in just three years (Powel 2006), “is a cyber social phenomenon that elicits a full spectrum of reactions - from pure delight to disgust, addiction to downright hatred” (Staats 2006). This very public social networking site, encompassing music, videos, personal profiles, photo galleries, blogs, chat rooms and instant messages (Staats 2006) , sees the posting of cruel gossip and rumours, harassing antics and racial insults for millions worldwide to view (Powel 2006).

Kathleen Gardner, mother of 13 year old epileptic daughter Olivia of Novato, was utterly shocked and traumatized after learning of the "Olivia Haters" club pages created by fellow Hill Middle School classmates (Staats 2006).

YouTube is the latest concern as more than 65 000 videos are uploaded daily for worldwide viewing, capturing humiliation, degradation and cruelty on an enormous scale (Haywood 2006). This site has recently be banned from 1600 Victorian public schools after a video featuring 10 male students attacking a teenage girl was uploaded onto YouTube (The Australian News 2007).

The father of the assaulted 17 year old confirmed his daughter encountered two young men in a chat room and arranged to meet them in person. Months later the young men and several other males filmed themselves harassing, assaulting and humiliating the girl on video and allegedly sold the tapes in Melbourne High School and uploaded the film on various internet sites (ABC News 2006).

Due to cyber bullies lacking in-person communication skills, the “impersonal nature of email” and Instant Messaging is perfect for oppressors to terrorize and intimidate their victims with ease and minimal effort (Bully Online 2007). Passwords being stolen in order to access other’s personal accounts and profile pages are actions that cause the development of “forums where students vote for the ugliest, fattest or most hated person in school” (Dubecki 2006).

Although there are positive areas regarding modern technologies, “socially-anxious individuals being able to communicate better and deeper self-disclosure between people have been claimed” (Kraut et al 2002; McKenna & Barge 1999 in Campbell 2005), the fact still remains that technology has caused the unwanted emergence of a new face of bullying. As long as advancements in electronic devices continue, cyber bullying and its severe, disquieting and brutal effects will develop and worsen.

REFERENCES

JOURNALS

Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2006). ‘Bullies move beyond the schoolyard: A preliminary look at cyberbullying’, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, vol.4, no.2, 148-169.

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. ‘Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and Victimization’, Deviant Behavior.

Staats, Jim 2006. ‘MySpace.com: Why parents and cops fear a hot site's dark side’, Marin Independent Journal.

Campbell, Marilyn. A 2005. ‘Cyber Bullying: An old problem in a new guise?’ Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001925/01/1925.pdf

BOOKS

Wall, David.S 2001, Crime and the Internet, Routledge, London.


ARTICLES

Dubecki, Larissa 2006, ‘Technological trauma: cyber bullies more powerful than schoolyard thugs’, The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/technological-trauma-cyber-bullies-more-powerful-than-schoolyardthugs/2006/10/27/1161749315262.html.

Nickson, Chris, Cyber Bullying: The Dangers and the Cures, Heartland News,
http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=4944916

Haywood, Ben 2006, ‘Totally tubular technology: Issues in the news: YouTube’, The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/news/education-news/totally-tubular-technology/2006/10/27/1161749321299.html?page=2

2007, ‘YouTube banned in Victorian schools’, The Australian News, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21306209-1702,00.html

Powell, Kimmy 2006, ‘The Facts About Myspace’, Bigbruin,
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/article.php?item=myspace&file=1

Simmons, Rachel 2003, ‘Online bullying the next challenge for the web masters’, The Age,
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/06/1065292524799.html

ABC News 2006, ‘DVD of girl attack sparks cyber-bullying warning’, ABC News Online,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1772378.htm

WEBSITES

National School Safety Centre, 2006, Meet Hilda Clarice Quiroz: Keynote Presenter, Program Developer and Training Specialist, http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:qh00S-_NaJAJ:www.schoolsafety.us/pubfiles/talking_with_hilda_about_bullying.pdf+has+technology+created+bullying&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=au

Bully Online 1997-2007, Bullying by mobile phones and abusive text messages, http://www.bullyonline.org/related/mobile.htm

Be Safe Online 2002, Bullying online,
http://www.besafeonline.org/English/bullying_online.htm

National Children’s Home 2005, Putting U in the picture. Mobile Bullying Survey 2005,
http://www.nch.org.uk/uploads/documents/Mobile_bullying_%20report.pdf


Stutzky, Glenn, Cyber Bullying Information, http://www.ippsr.msu.edu/Documents/Forums/2006_Mar_CYBER_BULLYING_INFORMATION_2006%20--%20Provided%20by%20Mr.%20Glenn%20Stutzky.pdf

VIDEO GAMES- Week 7

VIDEO GAMES- 23rd April Tutorial


‘Both games and technologies are counter-irritants or ways of adjusting to the stress of the specialised actions that occur in any social group.’

‘As extensions of the popular response to the workday stress, games become faithful models of a culture. They incorporate both the actions and the reactions of whole populations in a single dynamic image.’

Marshall McLuhan


EXAMPLES OF VIDEO GAMES:

· Arcade Games
· Consoles- ps2, x box, nintendo
· Computer Games
· MUDs- world of war craft
· MMOGs


The Video Game industry rakes in more money than the film industry, even despite piracy.


ACADEMIC APPROACH TO VIDEO GAMES

Media Effects and Games- do they shorten attention span, cause shootings and increase aggression?

The Persistence of Effect- if play hotted up racing car game for 6hours and then get into real car, psychology suggests we still think we are in the game.

Games and Utopia; video games create worlds that are magical.

Thinking about video games as a new form of cultural practice... in the same way we now think about old media like newspapers, radio, television, films...- do VG have their own history?

what are some ways to approach thinking about games that might be unique to this genre?

Are there questions that are specific to video games that don't apply to any other form?



NARRATOLOGY- is the study of video games from the perspective of them being stories or literary works. Can we study VG like texts? Eg. Is it interactive fiction?

LUDOLOGY- Concerned with the Game Play elements.



The Aesthetics of Video Games:

· Game/play elements
· Fun elements
· Story elements
· Virtual world elements

SHORT HISTORY OF THE INTERNET- week 4 March 30th Lecture


Great lecture this week! BECAUSE I actually thought that cyberspace, the web and the Internet...so now i know MORE! ! ! !


Benedikt-

‘Cyberspace is…a territory swarming with data and lies, with mind stuff and memories of nature, with a million voices and two million eyes in silent, visible concert of inquiry deal-making, dream sharing and simple beholding.’



THE INTERNET-

Is the sum of interconnected computer hardware and the software that runs it- practical material construction. The internet is a network of networks. These networks include servers and personal computers and other devices that use CMC (computer mediated communications) technology. They are loosely connected by telephone system, broadband cable and satellite services, linking people around world into an information-sharing system.

The internet, created in 1960’s. Researchers in Us were working on ‘Packet Switching’ which is system that breaks down messages into small chunks and transmits them from one computer to another. So then RAND struck a deal and set out to apply these concepts to utilise connections between computers and phone lines.

Us Dept of Defence originally funded project to connect computers working on defence matters through phone lines. ARPANET was developed. This was about downloading academic data, but then functions such as email were added as hobbyists, hackers and counter-culture turned ARPANET to own purposes.


WWW-

WWW is particular application of the net. In 1990’s researchers from ‘Cern’, a physics lab in Switzerland, were looking for better way to share info. They developed html and the first web pages.

The web merges techniques of internetworking and hypertext to make easy, global and powerful system that shares info.



CYBERSPACE-

Is the sum of users’ imaginations as they use the Internet. Cyberspace is a contrast with the tangible products of the web and internet. It is way people interact with pictures/ words, making them think they are in a different space/ place. William Gibson’s quote suggests the idea of hallucination, that people agreed to imagine they were in a new place- another form of reality.

It is a conceptual space where words, relationships, data, wealth and power are manifested by people using CMC technologies.


EARLY INTERNET APPLICATIONS-

· Electronic Mail (email)
· File Transfer Protocol (FTP)- move larger files more directly than just to emails
· Internet Relay Chat (IRC)- early version of msn.
· MUDs (multiple user domains), MOOs, MUSHs- simple approaches to net.


RECENT INTERNET APPLICATIONS-

· Instant messaging
· Peer-to-Peer file sharing- ppl share programs that are on their comp eg. Windows
· Blogging
· Portable Audio (ipods, MP3s)
· VOIP (Voice over internet protocol)- use net as phone system
· Virtual Worlds- ‘Second Life’
· ‘Web 2.0’- YouTube


NETIQUETTE and BAD BEHAVIOUR-


The internet rapidly changes therefore so does netiquette, but always based on ‘do to others as you would have them do to you.’ The social construction of reality requires civility between participants.

Need for netiquette arises mostly when sending or distributing e-mail and or chatting. The practice of netiquette depends on understanding how e-mail and chatting actually work or are practiced.

Practices as spam (unsolicited email) and flaming(abusive communications) are bad behaviour that disrupts other people's use of the internet.
Cracking, is not hacking - hackers are computer experts and programmers, crackers are computer criminals. Cracking is computer crime.
Kevin Mitnick, notorious cracker, who got into US Air Defence System was jailed for reading a company’s email. Never hurt anyone, he just showed how shoddy security systems were.
Many of the rules of this virtual society mimic those of non-virtual life; call back, don't insult people always reply to personal email quickly etc. In a chat environment, for example, if someone is operating outside the understood rules of Netiquette they are removed from the site until further notice.

Many of the rules of this virtual society mimic those of non-virtual life; call back, don't insult people,always reply to personal email quickly etc. But they are often more quickly and effectively administered in the virtual world. In a chat environment, for example, if someone is operating outside the understood rules of Netiquette they are removed from the site until further notice. It's almost medieval! Rudeness is grounds for banishment.
It appears people are much more polite and caring compared to how they are in their non-virtual community. People who have never passed a word with the guy next door will maintain a network of relationships within a virtual community, ranging from close friends and lovers to acquaintances.


ECONOMICS OF CYBERSPACE

John Perry Barlow’s ‘Economy of Ideas’ gives utopian account of economic possibilities inherent in cyberspace and info economy:

· Information is an activity, experienced not possessed, propagated not distributed.

· Information is a life form, it wants to be free, replicating in the cracks of possibility, perishable and always changing.

· Information is a relationship between sender and receiver, the meaning generated has a unique value to both.

· Information may be commodified, but most importantly it is its own reward. -

As early utopian goals of the Internet (that net will provide revolutionary break with past economy) meet the financial forces of convergence we can expect to see further rapid change and a lot of instability.

The most important commodities on the Net are credibility, a distinctive point of view, familiarity and exclusivity.

There are vested interests that oppose cyberspace becoming the scene of economic activity, referring to it as a 'black economy'. What they are really mourning is the lack of bureaucratic/government control over the Net. As always with new technologies, the issue of who controls the buttons is of particular interest to governments and big business.

Cyberspace’s interactivity suggests new ways to think about capital that reflects new ways to do things with each other:
o Social network capital - the value in person to person interaction though we might never meet

o Knowledge capital - the value in ideas means that sharing information equals sharing power

o Cultural capital - the value in the values we share and that allow us to live creative lives in a civil society.


CONVERGENCE

The last ten years have seen a growing tendency to Convergence as the possibilities of communication technology develop.

Information technologies are converging as computer technology provides the means to draw together telephone, radio, television and print so that they can be accessed from the one point.

Lecture 3 - THE BIRTH

BIRTH OF THE COMPUTER- Week 3 March 19th Tutorial

Well, I found this lecture rather interesting BECAUSE, until now i had no idea in the world what Bill Gates actually did to be so $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. BUT NOW I KNOW. So here are my notes on what i now udnerstand about the birth of the computer!

Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace

Charles Babbage was born in 1791. As the inventor of the first digital computer, a mechanical rather than an electronic device, he sketched out the logical structure of the modern computer. He made parts of the Difference Engine, but was not completed in his life time. Later, he conceived of the Analytical Engine: a massive, brass, steam-powered, general-purpose, mechanical computer.

Babbage was aided with Analytical Engine by an aristocratic woman with a creative approach to mathematics, Ada Lovelace. Ada saw herself as a metaphysician in search of poetical science. She conceived of a machine which would be able to compose and play music, produce graphics and be of everyday use. She also conceived the first computer program.


Turing and the Birth of the Computer

The serious work required for the development of the computer was done by Alan Turing. He studied quantum mechanics, probability, logic, and wrote a crucial paper clarifying the computability of numbers and the possibility of a machine to compute them.

During WW2 he worked with teams of mathematicians and cryptographers to devise the first working computer,The Bombe which they used to break secret German 'Enigma' codes. After War, he investigated programming, neural nets, and the prospects for artificial intelligence. His philosophical paper on machine intelligence suggested the Turing Test: a human sits at computer terminal and interacts with both a computer or a human by written communication only; if the judge cannot tell which is which then the machine has passed the test and it would be reasonable to call the computer intelligent.


Moore's Law

Computers were first commercially produced by IBM in 1950s- they were large and expensive used for military, government and corporate work. In 1965, Gordom Moore propounded Moore's law: the capacity of microchip's doubles every two years. His 2nd law claims because capital costs are rising faster than revenues, financial feasibility will limit the rate of technological development.


Xerox PARC

At Xerox PARC in the early 70s, a think-tank developed concepts such as the mouse, the graphical user interface (GUI) and pull-down menus that made the personal computers of today possible and approachable by the general user.
The first PC was released in 1975. It was called the 0 but didn’t do much, just got tech-nerds excited. But the Altair didn't have a language - a set of terms by which the user could communicate with their computer. Bill Gates dropped out of uni and began writing a language called BASIC so it could be used for word processing, basic accounting and games. In order to market his program he started a little company in his garage - Microsoft.

Apple

Computer nerds got together at meetings to exchange ideas and display their latest and greatest home-made PCs. Here, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started their own company - Apple. They produced the Apple I - machine with single circuit board, no case and no keyboard. They sold 50. Their dream was to produce/sell the 1st self-contained PC for people who weren't techies. Wozniak set to reducing the size of every component he could while Jobs went out to find some money.
Two years after the Altair, the Apple II was launched in 1978. Next two years saw Apple grow like crazy- they had made enough money so neither would ever have to work again.

IBM and Microsoft

At this time, IBM ( large ultra-conservative firm and slow to move) noticed what was happening. By 1980 they were determined to get into the PC market. Chairman, Frank Carey, called Bill Lowe, who promised IBM a product within one year. His product basically involved buying shelf products from a range of other companies and putting them together as a package.

To run computers, there are two types of software required: the language and the Operating System. As Gates/ Microsoft did not produce an Operating System, they directed IBM to Gary Kildall- but Kildall wanted a signing of a non-disclosure agreement before conducting a meeting. IBM walked back to Microsoft.

Gates promised an Operating System. They bought an OS developed by Tim Patterson called Kudos. Microsoft paid Patterson's employer $50,000 for it. In four months IBM had it running as PC DOS 1.0 and in the marketplace at $50 each. GATES WAS RICH.

IBM gained more and more of the market share through its association with Microsoft. For a long time Apple believed they owned and could rely on their position in the marketplace due to their user-friendly technology (GUI). But then IBM and Microsoft came up with their own GUI - Windows. By the time Windows 3 was launched, Apple was on a slide. Steve Jobs quit Apple. Pushed in a niche market by the convergence of IBM and Microsoft, Apple was on a downward slide. But the 1998 return of Steve Jobs and the success of its iMac line turned the fortunes of the company around.

INTERESTING WEBSITES.......YERHA!

So....interesting websites is the topic of todays tutorial....YERHA COWBOY...how exciting...lets see what i can find.....

i went to www.scroogle.org then typed in 'plot generator' and a website came up where you can be a MOVIE CREATER and devise your own plot. It asks you:

ENTER TITLE
THE GENRE
MAIN CHARACTER
SIDE KICK
THEIR GOAL
CHARACTER GROWTH
WHAT IS THE MOVIE LIKE?

etc etc etc...it gives you options to choose from.

THIS IS MY NEW FILM

Susan
An original screenplay concept by Kate

Comedy: A pimply computer nerd teams up with a kind hearted prostitute to save the earth from aliens. In the process they deflower a gay interior decorator. By the end of the movie they run away from 7 oogly aliens and end up winning the admiration of their 3rd grade teacher, living happily ever after.
Think Titanic meets Happy Gilmore.

DEFINENTLY WORTH MAKING!


THEN

I typed in 'nickname generator'

It is a website where you type in your first and last name and if you want your nickname to be 'G', 'PG', or 'X' rated!

my new nickname is...

FAIRY BALD SMILE

That is all....

NEXT ATTEMPT

SECOND ATTEMPT...im so good at photoshop now....the little man looks like he belongs.....sorta....kinda....hahaha next week i shall advance to a higher level. horay! im learning....

Doghead.

My first attempt at photoshop.....this sucks. I have no idea.....

Lecture Notes Week 2!

INTRODUCTION

20th Century saw development of mass society and explosion of broadcast media where messages from centralised sources were distributed around the world. Academic disciplines have appeared to investigate issues around C:

COMMUNICATION STUDIES
MEDIA STUDIES
CULTURAL STUDIES

At the same time a number of more job-focussed disciplines emerged:
JOURNALISM
PR
ADVERTISING
MARKETING DESIGN

In last decade, rise of computers etc has spawned new areas of investigation:
NEW MEDIA STUDIES
CYBERSTUDIES
INTERNET STUDIES
CYBERCULTURE STUDIES
WEB STUDIES

These mass of disciplines is what academic study of C has became to after a century. Began in France 100yrs ago.


1900 semiotics- Ferdinand de Saussure

Studies the role of signs as part of social life
Signs are:
· SIGNIFIER- Sign saying ‘Griffith Library’

· SIGNIFIED- Actual library

· DENOTATION- literal account. ‘bumping roads’

· CONNOTATION- draws out cultural associations. ‘sexual’

· SEMANTICS- relationship of signs with what they stand for- appreciation of words, their meanings

· SYNTACTICS- formal structural relations between signs- rules of grammer, spelling, sentence structure. They way we read and carry messages. The way we decipher the symbols of a page

· PRAGMATICS- relationship of signs to interpreters of sings- perhaps arguing meaning of a sign.


COMMUNICATION STUDIES (USA)


1920s - Bullet (Inoculation) Theory = Maximum effects

The mass media is a vehicle through which selected content could shape opinion and belief, change habits of life, actively mould behaviour and impose political systems.
Example: Movie showing singlet- next week singlet sales increase.


1930 - Application of Statistical Method

Kolmogorov systematised probability theory so small but random samples could predict large social effects. EG samples of populations eg ratings. Take small random sample of ppl to understand large social effects- the mathematics.


1940 - Minimum Effects

The resistance of US soldiers to Nazi propaganda and Lazarsfeld's studies of voting behaviour showed exposure to propaganda communicated through the mass media had only 'minimal effects' on citizens. Nazi propaganda had no effect- so maximum effects theory not true. More effect from family community connection on voting habits.


1950s - Looking for effects - connections to psychology

Ppl set out to see what nature of media effects was- looked at these areas : Advertising* Kids* Violence* Politics. Result: there were conflicting/ mixed findings as there are a range of ways to study media effects.


1960s - Marshall McLuhan

McLuhan defines media as technological extensions of the body. He frames media effects as 'hot' to 'cool' in terms of the intensity of different media on the physical senses - radio and cinema are hot because their dense information consumes the audience, telephone and television are cool with less intense information.


1970s - Mixed Effects

*George Gerbner and Larry Grosss 'cultivation hypothesis' identified the way the public's perceptions of a crime 'problem' were shaped and cultivated by the ways in which the media reported and portrayed criminal violence.

*Media set agenda for what ppl talk about. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw's observations on agenda setting indicated that the rank order of issues voters nominated as important in an election closely correlated with the rank order of issues raised in the press. Eg enviro concerns arouse from mainstream media

'spiral of silence' theory suggested that presentation of viewpoints in the media produce a decrease or increase in the willingness of citizens to express those viewpoints. Eg. Ppl are validated.


1980s - Return of Maximum effects

Media v. powerful in establishing nature of debate in society



MEDIA STUDIES (UK)


Raymond Williams

How media works with culture in people’s lives. Not literary, systematic methods- CULTURAL. ‘u can study media product….but what is interesting is how media works with culture in ppl lifves’.


Stanley Cohen; Moral Panics

Media creates moral panics.


Glasgow School

Through close analysis of news programs, they revealed their ideological content. Observing closely content n use of content of news.


Stuart Hall, Birmingham School

Understood that effects of media msgs are in hands of viewer who decodes the msgs. Audience has power to decode then use.
Argued that the message intended by the producers may be read in a variety of ways by the audience: they might accept the preferred reading; negotiate their own reading by contesting the preferred message or; produce an oppositional reading by rejecting the preferred strategy.


Active Audiences

Ien Ang clains that only ‘a perspective that disp[lays sensitivity to everyday practices & experiences of actual audiences themseleves’ can supply any true insight into TV viewers.



CULTURE STUDIES (Europe)


1930s Walter Benjamin

How reproduction of posters/ paintings to reproduce moments have benefits and dangers. Eg anyone nowadays can have mona lisa- destroys integrity of art and also democratizes it.


1940s Frankfurt School

"Real life is becoming indistinguishable from the movies. The sound film, far surpassing the theatre of illusion, leaves no room for imagination or reflection on the part of the audience- hence the film forces its victims to equate it directly with reality. Trying to make sense of Hollywood.


1950s Situationists – Society of the Spectacle

Consumption of spectacles most Important part of life- eco rationale for lide where personal things most imp to society used to be regarded


1960s Habermas

Pub sphere where pub opnion forms.


1970s Louis Althusser

Louis Althusser theorised the media as Ideological State Apparatuses which, he argued, institutionally produce and reproduce "the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence" and so constrict the opportunities for uncoerced debate between those individuals.


1980s Baudrillard – Simulacra

The real was represented, now the hyperreal was simulated… this is the world that we live in.


1990s Fraser - Subaltern counterpublics

Pushed for femi in mead- to effect our lvies. Interesting contribution.




NEW WAVE & FUTURE OF THEORY

Not one sub-discipline of C is going to tell the whole story.

SEARCH ENGINES....WOOHOOOOOO!

What is a search engine?

A Search Engine is a computer program that electronically searches the contents of a database to locate specific information.

The search engine allows one to ask for content meeting specific criteria (typically those containing a given word or phrase) and retrieves a list of items that match those criteria. This list is often sorted with respect to some measure of relevance of the results. Search engines use regularly updated indexes to operate quickly and efficiently.

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

When a user comes to the search engine and makes a query, typically by giving key words, the engine looks up the index and provides a listing of best-matching web pages according to its criteria, usually with a short summary containing the document's title and sometimes parts of the text.

The algorithm is a set of rules, search engines follow when ranking web pages.
The most important rule is the Location/Frequency Method:
This is where the Search Engine uses keywords from your search and ranks them by their location and frequency in the text on the different webpages.

What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like one more than others?

GOOGLE GOOGLE GOOGLE GOOGLE GOOGLE! definently! i guess it is because it is so well known and i follow the trend. But also because i actually find it the most effective. I sometimes use yahoo or dogpile but dont find it as accurate and effective. THEREFORE google all the way!

Can you find some current news stories about search engines?

This is a recent article I found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4645596.stm


Google censors itself for China

Leading internet company Google has said it will censor its search services in China in order to gain greater access to China's fast-growing market.

Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been frustrated by government blocks on the site. The company is setting up a new site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing.

Google argued it would be more damaging to pull out of China altogether.

Critics warn the new version could restrict access to thousands of sensitive terms and web sites. Such topics are likely to include independence for Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The Chinese government keeps a tight rein on the internet and what users can access. The BBC news site is inaccessible, while a search on Google.cn for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement directs users to a string of condemnatory articles.

Google's move in China comes less than a week after it resisted efforts by the US Department of Justice to make it disclose data on what people were searching for.

Google hopes its new address will make the search engine easier to use and quicker.
Its e-mail, chat room and blogging services will not be available because of concerns the government could demand users' personal information.

Google said it planned to notify users when access had been restricted on certain search terms.
The company argues it can play a more useful role in China by participating than by boycotting it, despite the compromises involved.

"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a statement said.

Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, said Google's decision to "collaborate" with the Chinese government was "a real shame".

The number of internet search users in China is predicted to increase from about 100 million currently to 187 million in two years' time.

A survey last August revealed Google was losing market share to Beijing-based rival Baidu.com.
Last year, Yahoo was accused of supplying data to China that was used as evidence to jail a Chinese journalist for 10 years.

SCAVENGER HUNT!

1. Weight of Worlds Biggest Pumpkin???

http://www.usefultrivia.com/holiday_trivia/halloween_trivia_006a.html - through dogpile
The world's record for biggest pumpkin is currently held by a gigantic gourd weighing a whopping 1,385 pounds!

http://www.verybestbaking.com/products/libbys/trivia_answers.aspx#7- through dogpile
Gerry Checkon of Altoona, Pennsylvania grew a pumpkin weighing 1,131 pounds from Atlantic Giant seed stock on October 2, 1999.

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/record.htm- through yahoo
The largest pumpkin ever grown is 1,502 pounds. It was grown by Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island. It was weighed in on October 7, 2006 at the Rhode Island Weigh-off.


2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?

Go to his changeroom at a swimming event?


3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html- through yahoo
18 inch (46 cm)

AND

A giraffe's tongue can be 29 inches (74 cm) in length. (Turin, M.S. Aardvarks to Zebras, New York: Citadel Press, 1995.) - Found via yahoo.


4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?

Searched through yahoo. Typed in 'Definition: Ontology'
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html

An ontology is a specification of a conceptualization.
I believe ontology is a branch of study concerned with the nature and relations of being, or things which exist. The study of what kinds fo things exist, what entities there are in the universe.


5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?

Search retrieved via Ask.com
http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=15821017&trkid=134852
Director David Cronenberg's first feature film, 'Shivers'.

http://home.comcast.net/~tatemanor/feature_makers/director_david_cronenberg.htm
First feature 'Stereo' (1969).

http://www.northernstars.ca/directorsal/cronenbergbio.html
In 1966, he directed his first short, 'Transfer', in which two men talk and eat across a table in a snowy field and end up engaged in a duel in which they flap their neckties at one another.


6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_Manifesto- through yahoo

The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym) of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship).



7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?s=aa9995345b0c739e04c9e7c823356e40&t=24980&page=3&pp=25
All phone numbers in the US depicted in film and on TV begin 555 beacause that particular 3 digit code doesn't exist, and no phone numbers in the US begin 555, therefore you don't get freaks phoning numbers they see on tv or at the cinema.



8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?

I dont know, i dont want to go.



9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?

Typed in 'Music 1965' in yahoo search engine and found the Oz Net Music Chart
'Honey Don't' - The Beatles



10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?

Search through yahoo.
http://s472216.tblog.com/post/439925
Black Assain

http://jojow.tblog.com/
Black Assain

I discovered from this search engine excersise that the internet is FULL OF CRAP!!!!!! There is NOT just one answer! There are sooooooooooooo many different answers! ANYONE can put ANYTHING they want on the internet!!!!!

Lecture Notes Week 2

COMMUNICATION: Any process that transfers, transmits or makes information known to other people.




· Basic model of communication explained by Aristotle in ‘Rhetoric’ about 2500 yrs ago:

1. speaker produces message that is heard by listener

The communication is face to face and communicators have common background.





· New complex model by Shannon & Weaver in book ‘The Mathematical Theory of Communication’:

1. speaker produces effect on transmitter that sends message (which is degraded by the noise of transmission process) that is intercepted by receiver which converts it into an effect heard by listener.




INTERSUBJECTIVITY:

· listener interprets the message and changes it as they send it along
· C between ppl and they always want to argue about things, interpreting them in light of own experience.
· active audience produces feedback



INTERTEXTUALITY:

· No msg is ever complete
· Any msg gains its meaning (for a particular person) from all the other messages that person has previously received and sent



Just as genes carry biological info required for survival, memes carry the social ideas that are also required for survival.




TECHNOLOGY:

Scientific study of mechanical arts and their application to the world. Technology arises form and carries ideas. T is apart of the material world. The constantly developing relationship between material world and the ideas humans have is at core of dialectic that acts as dynamo in development of human society and that produces the small-r reason, or logic, that we use to make the decisions required to get through day.


· Marshall McLuhan says technologies are extensions of human body. Book extension of eye, wheel extension of leg etc. Also C is extension of mind, and the medium in which that C occurs is the message.



ANALOG- technology functions by representing cariable forces that are continuous in both time and space through dials that allow the relatively imprecise modulation of those forces.


DIGITAL- technology relies on storing bits of binary info about forces by turning on and off currents of electricity or light in ways that allow for the precise modification of those forces.


Shift from analog to digital can be good or bad (tuning digital car radio while driving). While dig T is ascending, some find analog offers something more appealing than certainty & flat structures of dig domain.


McLuhan: in shift from A to D perhaps we moving from old C technology that allows many shades of grey to much more black n white that encourages us to C exactly what we mean.




OLD TECHNOLGY



Printing- 1452 when Gutenberg printed version of bible in Germany. Printing press 1st C technology to make info available to mass audience: books, pamphlets & papers were a necessary precondition to development of mass society.


Telegraph- 1837 Samuel Morse sent electrical impulses down wire in patterns that could be reinterpreted as msg at other end. First public telegraph in 1844. Morse’s code of dots & dashes was early binary system & prompted cable tween continents that allowed immediate C around globe.


Telephone- 1876 Alexandra Grahem Bell, allowed sounds transmitted over long-distances.


Phonograph- Thomas Edison in 1876 recorded & played back sound on wax cylinders. This led to development of cassettes, records, CD’s etc.


Radio- In 1930s radio was modified to transmit & receive all manner of sounds & thus radio industry established allowing immediate & simultaneous broadcast of info to mass audience.


Cinema- By using mechanical device to shine light through number of photographic images in quick succession the Lumiere Brothers created early forms of cinema which relied on the ‘persistence of vision’ to retain image for 1/16th of sec at a time. IN 1929 reliable system was developed that allowed simultaneous & synchronised transmission of sound.


Television- 1926 John Baird developed. By late 1930s Tv ready to be marketed to mass audience.

mankind vs nature

humans are plentiful.

animals are in jeopardy.

humans are dominating.

animals are vulnerable.

humans are brutal.

callous.

inhumane.

ruthless.

savage.

animals are powerless.

unguarded.

naked.

exposed.

unprotected.

humans are superior.

animals are inferior.

mankind vs nature?

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