Week 10 - Response to Content

Week 9 - Tutorial Task

Internet and political participation
In this weeks tutorial task we were to find opportunities for political participation via the internet.
1) The first task was to sign an e-petition of your choise, and I signed the Amnesty's e-petition "Not In My Name" against death penalty as regards to the Troy Davis case.

Picture reference: Amnesty International, "Not in my name", 21 Sept 11. Located at:
 http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/c.6oJCLQPAJiJUG/b.7741827/k.62FF/Not_in_my_Name_Pledge/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=7741827&en=dmIPI6PPJcIYLgOSLbKULiM9LvL9KmN4LtI9LqNaIAK




2) To respond to a professional blogger at a major news site, I found a celebrity blogger for CNN that I chose to give a comment.

Picture reference: CNN Blogs, "Arrested development cast reunion in NYC", 21 Sept 2011. Located at:  http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/arrested-development-cast-reuniting-in-nyc/#comment-639682

3) To find out what Barack Obama was up to today, I went on his Twitter acount and found out that he is speaking at the United Nations General Assembly.

Picture reference: Twitter, Barack Obamas News Feed 09 Sept 2011. Located at: http://twitter.com/#!/BARACKOBAMA

4) The Australian Government plan to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed"), and they are pushing forward with a plan to censor the Internet for all Australians. This is so that they can filter out a prescribed list of websites deemed prohibited by the Australian Communications and Media Authority with the apparent aim of ensuring children are ‘protected from harmful and inappropriate online material.
Karina Travaglione, 2009. Mannkal Essay Competition, "Internet Censorship in Australia - A ‘clean-feed’?", 21 Sept 2011. Located at: http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/scholars/internet-censorship-in-australia.pdf.


5) When will the NBN get to your place?
The NBN will come to Brisbane on the second release.
NBN, 2011, "Our Network". Viewed 21 Sept 2011, located at: http://www.nbnco.com.au/our-network/maps/qld.html.


- What are the benefits?
It provides better business solutions, better education for a brighter future, it assists the medical community and provides endless entertainment.
Chesher, C., 2010, " Benefits of the NBN go beyond the individual". Viewed 21 Sept 2011, located at http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/benefits-of-the-nbn-go-beyond-the-individual-20100812-120zv.html.

6) Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are and look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
I live in Surfers Paradise and the local representative in the Queensland Parliament is John-Paul Langbroek.The last time he spoke in the parliament was Thursday, 8 September 2011.
Parlament QLD, "Explore your parlament" viewed 21 Sept 2011, located at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/en/explore.

Week 7 - Response to Content

Where is the profit to be made in produsage?

The therm produsers refer to a participatory environment where the customers works as both producer and consumer constantly contributing and extending the by re purposing the existing content to achieve further improvement. This way of working promotes immediacy and breaks down the boundaries between producers and users (Produsage: A Worikng Definition, 2007).

Picture reference: Produsage.Org, "Produsage - A working definition" 2007. Located at http://produsage.org/node/9.

An example of produsage is Youtube, where millions of users contributes every day, and where 24 houres of video is uploaded every single minute (Press Timeline, 2011). The key distinction between producers and produsers, is that producers have an end date, while produsers don't.

To make money of produsage it is common to display advertising on the program/sites platform. Continuing with the Youtube example, they have at least two advertisement on every page, whether it's under, before or above the video.  They invite all types of advertisers whether they are local or multinational to broadcast their content on to the largest online video community in the world (Advertising overview, 2011). The original producers to the produsage-pages also gain a strong reputation due to the public participation, as well as continuing improvements on their platformswhich can lead to profit for the companies in the long run (Produsage: A Worikng Definition, 2007).


References:
Produsage.Org, "Produsage : A working definition" 2007. Located at http://produsage.org/node/9.

Youtube, 2011, "Advertising Overview". Viewed 16 Sept 2011. Located at: http://www.youtube.com/t/advertising_overview .

Youtube, 2011, "Press Timeline". Viewed 16 Sept 2011. Located at: http://www.youtube.com/t/press_timeline

Week 6 - Response to Content

Is crowdsourcing diminishing the gap between professionals and amateurs?


The term crowdsourcing is a mixture of the word crowd and outsourcing. As the word indicates, this is a method that can be used to outsource tasks that are usually dedicated to agents or similar sources, over to a large crowd of people or a community through an open call (Alsever, 2007). One example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia. This is a user generated site based on ordinary people’s contribution through intellectual sharing, and it invites you to create encyclopedic articles for the page. This gives Wikipedia access to millions of people’s free labor. This shows that cheap labor does not need to come from outsourcing to other countries or agencies. With crowdsourcing, the labor could just as easily come from someone in your neighborhood as a professional (Howe, 2006). To do crowdsourcing successfully you will need a proper safety net to exclude illegitimate contributions. Wikipedia has a long and comprehensive qualification control to ensure that all the articles are appropriate before being published (Wikipedia, 2011).
  Howe explains that because technological advances have allowed for cheap consumer electronics, the difference between professionals and amateurs has been diminished (Howe, 2006). Almost everybody in our society has access to a computer, and can therefore respond to the open call from businesses. Companies are consequently able to take advantage of the talents within the public, and Howe states that "It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing" (Howe, 2006).  

Howe, J., 2006, The Rise of Crowdsourcing – Clickadviser, retrieved 15.sept 2011 at  http://www.clickadvisor.com/downloads/Howe_The_Rise_of_Crowdsourcing.pdf

Alsever, J., 2007, What is Crowdsourcing? – Bnet, retrieved 15.sept 2011 at  http://www.bnet.com/article/what-is-crowdsourcing/52961

Wikipedia, 2011, Editing Wikipedia Pages - About Wikipedia retrieved 15.sept 2011 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About#Editing_Wikipedia_page

Week 6 - Tutorial Task

Audio-Visual project, Part 1
For the next three weeks we have an audio-visual project where the aim is to produce a short length movie with new communication as a theme.
After throwing out a few different ideas, we came up with a plot about the issues around identity theft and the problem that anybody can pretend to be whoever they want on the internet. We are planning to shoot video clips from our own video recorder to ensure that we use footage that is not copyrighted, and we are editing the film in Sony Vegas Pro.

Concerning copyright there is some subjects we need to be careful with.
One problem could be that we intend to use music that is ripped from Youtube in the film. We are not sure yet of this is a possibility, but if not, we intend to use music from Creative Commons that is free from both cost and strict copyright rules.

We are planning to use Facebooks logo in the end of the movie that could possibly cause some copyright problems. Here we reasoned with that anybody could make a replica that resembles the logo, so that if we get any problems we’ll claim it’s our own.

Another danger with our concept is that it evolves around Facebook, and  may  present their business in an unflattering manner. We concluded that this would not be a too big concern for us, because the movie is to be used in a scholarly setting, and it's also thought to be ironic and comical without offending anyone.

Week 9 - Response to content

Essay Skeleton

My topic for the essay is "Is extensive gaming leading to undesirable health issues?".

I plan to start with an intro with background information that will stand for about 20% of the essay. This section will include basic information about extensive use of computer and video games that I will find from journal articles and other relevant readings.

Afterwards, I will give a more detailed overview of the subject. This part will be about 55 % of the essay and it will contain elements such as arguments from both sides of the issue, followed my reasoned opinion. I will address the adverse impacts on younger people’s health by using the most recent papers on the subject, then see if I can find established facts about the positive effects one can get from extensive use of computer and video games. I plan to divide the research into two sections concerning physical and psychical effects of gaming.

Lastly I will give my conclusions containing key findings on the subject and the answer to the introduction question. This will be about 25 % of the essay.

Picture reference:
Kido - "Human Skeleton" Located at http://www.kidopo.com/coloring-pages/learning/body-parts/human-skeleton/, 23 Sept 2011.

Week 8 - Tutorial Task

Audio-Visual Project, Part 3

This week we learned that we weren’t allowed to use any form of the Facebook logo in our film due to copyright. This was a major problem for us, seeing that all of our film is based around Facebooks pages. If we were to do this process more thoroughly we would have to apply to Facebook and get a permit to use the logo to do this in a legal way. As Facebook states; "You will not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F Logos, FB, Face, Poke, Wall and 32665), or any confusingly similar marks, without our written permission (Facebook, Terms, 2011)". 

Another thing we did wrong was having cartoon characters from Warner Brothers Inc. as profile pictures for the two roles. We could have avoided this by using a picture taken ourselves or with a permit from someone else.

The copyright rules on these points are very important for us because Facebook or Warner Brothers Inc. could possibly sue us for using their property in our film. The likeliness of this happening is actually higher for us that the regular individual, as we, students from Griffith University are representing this big and well known institution.

As a result of this we weren’t able to put our film up on the internet, and had to send the movie to the teacher via E-mail instead.

Week 8 - Response to Content

Why doesn't strict copyright make sense for some things?

We live in a society where sharing is part of our culture. We create products for the purpose to share and distribute among ourselves, like the fact that a film is being produced so that it can be shared and watched by others. (U.S Copyright Office, 2008). There are some restrictions to the sharing, as music, videoes, images and programs are all generally copyrighted. Copyright restrictions are designed to protect the intelectual property of an individual or a company. This is so that other people can't claim the work as their own, or make money out of it (U.S Copyright Office, 2008). Although, some people argue that the rules of copyright are too strict. John Oswald stated that "If creativity is a field, copyright is the fence" (Detritus, 2010). This is supported by two reasons, firstly, those against the strickt copyright rules claim that the laws havn't cought up with the technology, and secondly, for certain companies, there are economic factors that make it profitable to leave the copyright rules as they are today (Detritus, 2010).

The biggest argument to loosen the copyright rules is that the users should have the freedom of expression, meaning that we should be able to share copies of the intelectual property as long as it's not for comercial use (Creative Commons, 2011). This will encourage creativity making users able to re-use, remix and recycle the material (Creative Commons, 2011). Creative Commons is an innovative platform that is designed to do just that. It is a site where creators and users can share and download all the material that is available, as long as they give credit to the creator. 

As Creative Commons explains it on Twitter;

Picture reference: Twitter, Creative Commons, 2011. Located at http://twitter.com/#!/creativecommons.

Reference list:
Detritus, 2010, "The Viral Communications Anti-Copyright Policy". 22 Sept 2011, located at

http://detritus.net/vircomm/projects/anticopy/.

U.S Copyright Office, 2008, "Copyright Basics". 22 Sept 2011, lovated at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf.



Creative Commons, 2011, "License Versions". 22 Sept 2011 Located at: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/License_Versions

Week 7 - Tutorial Task

Audio-Visual Project, Part 2
Today we filmed the actual action for the movie and got at least two thirds of the filming done. We also wrote the full script for the Facebook conversation and agreed upon cinematic effects.

Some effects we used, was to vary our filming by switching between full shots, mid shots, close shots and extra close shots. We did this to make the movie more dynamic and interesting to watch (Film Techniques, 2011).

One dilemma we need to reflect upon is whether we own all the content we use the movie. We do own all the video footage since we filmed it our self. One thing we do not own is the music we used. We downloaded a track from Creative Common, after finding out that it was illegal to rip music from Youtube. By using music from Creative Commons, we don't own the music, but we have the right to re-use it as we like in the film.

References:
Film Techniques, 2011, Skwirk, retrieved 14.09.2011 at http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-54_u-251_t-647_c-2411/camera-shots-angles-and-movement-lighting-cinematography-and-mise-en-scene/nsw/camera-shots-angles-and-movement-lighting-cinematography-and-mise-en-scene/skills-by-text-type-film/film-overview.

Week 5 - Tutorial Task

Scavenger Hunt

1) Where was the first University established and in which year?

- The first University was established in Cairo, Egypt and is called Al-Azhar University It was founded roughly the same time as the city of Cairo, in 969 AD.

Found at <http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060729054252AAiUY0V.> via the search engine Yahoo! by typing the words "Worlds first University".

2) What is Stephen Stockwell's band called and what does he play? Can you name a couple of their songs?

- Stephen Stockwell’s band was called "The Black Assassins", and he plays the Keyboard and do the vocals. "Pain Barrier", "Barricades", "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" is a few of the band’s songs.

Found on <http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm>, via the search engine dogpile.com, using the search term "Stephen Stockwell's band".

3) What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?

- The worlds largest machine wights 45,500 ton and costed 100 millions to build.

Found on <http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Trencher.htm> via the search engine Bing.com, using the search term "Worlds largest machine".

4)Who is Justin Bieber's awyer, and what is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact the lawyer?

- Justin's lawyer is Scooter Braun and you can contact him by going to one of his many websites. It will most likely give you his business email address. You can contact him from that.

Found at <http://answers.com/Q/Who_is_Justin_Bieber>
and <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_you_contact_scooter_braun> via the answers.com search engine, using the search terms "Whi is Justin Biebers Lawyer" and "How to contact Scooter Braun".

5) What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?

- The cheapest way to travle between Gold Coast and Melburne is mostly by taking a plane.

Found on <http://www.bug.co.uk/forums/17-transport/4605-cheapest-way-travel-gold-cost-melbourne.html> via the search engine Bing.com, using the search term "Cheapest way to travle from Gold Coast to Melburne".


6) Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?

- Hatsune Miku is the first and most popular installment in the Vocaloid Character Vocal Series, a singing synthesizer application produced by Yamaha. She was born/released in 2007.

Found on: http://dumbotaku.com/2009/01/17/who-is-hatsune-miku/ and
http://kyourankyodai.com/2010/08/31/happy-3rd-birthday-hatsune-miku/
via the search engine kvasir.no.

7) Find a live webcam in Belarus. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.

- By following this link, you can find a live webcam from Minsk in Belarus -
http://www.webcamgalore.com/EN/webcam/Belarus/Minsk/498.html.

- You can stay at the "Antarctic Dream" in Antarctica. http://www.mapsofworld.com/antarctica/hotels/cheap-hotels.html

Found by using the search engine Bing.com, using the search words "Live webcame in Belarus" and "Hotels in Antarctica".


8) What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1991?

- Bryan Adams with “Everything I do, I do it for you”, was top 1 on the Australian pop charts in 1991.

Found on <http://tsort.info/music/yr1991.htm> via the search engine yahoo!, using the search term "top 1 Australian pop chart week 34, 1991".

9) What type of car is used to make ‘Google Street View’?

- The google streetview car is a Volkswagen New Beetle.

Found on <http://autoblog.com/2007/06/01/take-a-look-at-the-vehicle-thats-taking-a-look-at-you/>, via the search engine Kvasir.no, using the search term "Car type, google street view car".

10) Transeate these questions into Spansih and then transeate them back into English.

- ¿Dónde estaba la primera universidad establecida y en qué año?
¿Lo que se llama la banda de Stephen Stockwell y lo que él jugar? ¿Puede nombrar un par de sus canciones?
¿Cuál es el peso de la máquina más grande del mundo? ¿Cuánto cuesta para construir?
¿Quién es el abogado de Justin Bieber, y cuál es la mejor forma para ponerse en contacto con el abogado (más rápida, más fiable)?
¿Cuál es la forma más barata de viajar desde la costa de oro a Melbourne?
¿Quién es Hatsune Miku? ¿Qué empresa ella pertenece a? ¿Cuál es su cumpleaños?
Encontrar una webcam vivo en Belarús. Encontrar un lugar para quedarse en la Antártida.
¿Qué canción fue cima de las listas pop australianas esta semana en 1991?
¿Qué tipo de coche se utiliza para hacer 'google Street View'?
Traducir estas preguntas en español y, a continuación, convertirlos en inglés.

English:
Where was the first University established and in what year?
What is called the band of Stephen Stockwell and that he play? Can you name a couple of their songs?
What is the weight of the world's largest machine? How much is it to build?
Who is the lawyer of Justin Bieber, and is the best way to get in contact with the lawyer (faster, more reliable)?
What is the cheapest way to travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?
Who is Hatsune Miku? What company it belongs to? What is your birthday?
Find a live webcam in Belarus. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.
What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1991?
What kind of car is used to make 'google Street View'?
Translate these questions in Spanish, and then convert them into English.

Found via the search engine Bing.com, using the Bing Translator at <http://www.microsofttranslator.com/>

Week 5 - Response to Content

“Rubber” is a film that emphasises on the element of “no reason”. The action is set around a tire that has the ability to blow things up, simply by using his (or it’s) mental power. The film starts with an introduction where a policeman, placed in an American dessert, explains how the movie isn’t going to be your usual Hollywood film. It sets the scene for the movie and gets the audience ready for a different type of film.10 minutes into the film the main character (protagonist), the tire, is introduced.

After blowing up a few things he realises that he is lonely and want somebody to love. This is the movies first plot point and is given away by the audio choice of the scene. The background music is a love song and it is used as a symbol of the tire's thoughts. This is also the point where we build some sort of relationship with the tire, feeling sympathy because of the fact that he is lonely. The action thereby spins around and creates a new direction for the movie.

Week 4 - Tutorial Task

By agreeing to sign up to Facebook Inc. there are some rules stated in the "Terms of Service" for Facebook that users should be aware of. For instance, that Facebook has the right to save all the information, pictures and videos that you share. If you accept the terms, everything you post will be kept on a backup copy, which they can store as long as they like.

When you delete IPcontent on Facebook it doesn't either automatically disappear. In Facebook's own terms the information is "... is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer" (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf). That means that the information is still available to the administration of Facebook, even though it's deleted by you personally.

One reason why Facebook keep and track information about you, is so that they can sell it on to different companies that wishes to advertise directly towards you. The companies use the information to personalize their advertising and reach their target market more efficiently.

Another thing users should be aware of is that these rules aren't constant. Facebook has the right to change their terms of agreement without notify their users outside of posting the change on the "Facebook Site Governance Page". In addition you have to become a fan of the page to get a proper notification after a change has occurred.

By following this link you can get a few quick tips on how to ensure your personal data, stil stays "personal":
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109538/7-things-to-stop-doing-now-on-facebook

Facebook, 26 april, 2011, Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, viewed on 25. aug 2011, <http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf>.

Week 4 - Response to Content

The great escape

" Ted (after playing the game "eXistenZ"): I'm feeling a little disconnected from my real life. I'm kinda losing touch with the texture of it. You know what I mean? I actually think there is an element of psychosis involved here."
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/quotes/)

eXistenZ is a science fiction movie from 1999. It's about the famous gamedesigner Alegra who gets attacked while presenting her new reality game "eXistenZ". While running from her assassins with a a huge price on her head, she has to play the game she has invented along with a media student, Ted, to get everything back to normal.

The ultimate dilemma of the movie is about knowing the difference between reality and created reality. Playing the game causes disorientation, and the lines between truth and fiction are getting more and more blurry. Which reality is the real reality? How can you tell them apart? Can the alternate realities multiply?

Kevin Robin defines cyberspace as an ideological construction. He describes it as a tunnel vision, where cyberspace is a place helping us to create a reality which is more desirable than the one we currently live in, what we see is different from what is actually present. He predicts that in the future, people will want to escape into this "made up reality" for good, and forget about the real world and the context we live in. (K. Robins, 2000).

The plot of "eXistenZ" is therefore getting hugely relevant to our society. We tend to get more interested in the world of virtual reality than the real reality, and thereby loose touch with the problems that actually is present, still in the belief that technology is a socially shaped phenomenon and not the other way around.

"Allegra: So how does it feel?
Ted: What?
Allegra: Your real life. The one you came back for.
Ted: It feels completely unreal."
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/quotes)


Sources:
K. Robins, 2000, Cyberspace and the world we live in, The Cybercultured Reader, found via Google Books, viewed 20 August 2011.

Memorable Quotes for eXistenZ, 1999, IMDB, viewed 20 August 2011, located at <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/quotes>.

Week 3 - Tutorial Task

Task 1

Familiarise yourself with the data bases available through Griffith University's databases and find the answers to the questions below.

1) Stephen Stockwell's first academic journal was "The Brisbane Model - Considering A Unike Experiment", in 1995. Found via the Griffith Library search database.

Source:
Stockwell, S. 1995."The Brisbane Model - Considering A Unike Experiment", Urban Policy and Research.¨Volume 13, Issue nr 2, Page 89 - 96.
Viewed 11 August 2011.

2) Governor Slugwell appeared in "Flaming Carrot Comic", in issue 7, 10 and 11. Found via the trial databases at Griffith Library, "Underground and Independent Comics, Comix and griphic novels".

Source:
Burden , B, 1985 "When The Shoes Arn't Worth Shining", "Flaming Carrot Comic" no.7. Page 3-31, Renegrade Press.
Viewed 11 Aug 2011.

3) The latest research on medical thinking on the dangers of mobile phones is called "Long-Term Mobile Phone Use and the Risk of Vestibular Schwannoma: A Danish Notionwide Cohort Study". Found via the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Source:
Schüz, j., Steding-Jessen, M., Hansen, S., Stangerup, E., Cayé-Thomasen, P., Poulsen, A. H., Olsen, J. H. and Johansen, C., 2011, "Long-Term Mobile Phone Use and the Risk of Vestibular Schwannoma: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study", The American Journal of Epidemiology, viewed on 24 August 2011, <http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/06/28/aje.kwr112.full.pdf+html>

4) In Blade runner, what is Leon's reaction when Holden asks him about his mother? Quote the 1982 draft script and provide a full reference (check the trial databases).

"Holden: Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother.
Leon: My mother?
Holden: Yeah.
Leon: Let me tell you about my mother.
[Leon shoots Holden with a gun he had pulled out under the table]"

Source: Hampton, F., Peoples, D. W., Roland, K., 1982, Blade Runner, Draft script, electronic edition by Alexander Street Press L.L.C., 2007.

5) What does Paul Soukup say Walter Ong saw as the main paradox in 20Th century communication? Cite your source

Paul Soukup said that “Media Ecology” was 20Th Century communication and ”the new philosophical attention to openness appears not unrelated to the opening of previously isolated human groups to one another fostered by electronic communications media, telephone, radio and ultimately television”.

Source:
Soukup, P. A., 2009, ‘Contexts of Faith: The Religious Foundation of Walter Ong’s Literacy and Orality, Journal of Media and Religion, Vol 5. No. 3 pp. 175 – 188

Task 2

BBS - The Bulletin Board Systems
In 1978 Rudy Suess and Ward Christensen launched the first computerized and public Bulletin Board system. The system enabled users to interact through online messaging and the platform’s popularity grew rapidly into the 80’s. The general users were largely consisting of computer enthusiasts, this because of cost, complexity and limitedness. The information that was shared on the platform was consequently, mostly containing technical postings, software downloads and primitive online games, shared through E-mail systems, libraries and forums that people could chat on. However, when the computer prices fell in the mid 80’s, the Bulletin Board System became more common to the general society (Sulski, J., 1990).

Along with the evolution of new technology, the BBS system faded to the back and gave way for the new and exciting World Wide Web. Although it faded, it didn’t disappear entirely. In Taiwan, Bulletin Board System’s are still popular with the young generation as a communication platform (Gilbertson, S., 2010).

Sources:
Gilbertson, S., 2010, Bulletin Boards Goes Electronic, This Day in Tech, viewed 20 August 2011, <

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/02/0216cbbs-first-bbs-bulletin-board/>.

Sulski, J., 1990, The Rise of Bulletin Board Systems, Chicago Tribune, viewed 20 August 2011, <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-02-16/features/0302160428_1_bbs-computer-bulletin-board>.

Week 3 - Response to Content

Our Future as Human Cyborgs

In the text "Mind control and the Internet", Sue Halpern writes about technological innovations designed to improve and extend our human capabilities. As examples she looks at how scientists has been able to make machines that works as neural prosthetics and implants, and synthetic brains, suddenly making problems like memory loss, brain damage and paralysation a minor issue (Halpern, S.)

Jesse Sullivan is one of the persons which has benefited from this type of new technology. At the age of 54, he worked as a high-power lineman and was badly electrocuted in a work accident and had to amputate both his arms. He was rehabilitated at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the scientists there fitted him with two prosthetic arms. Using electrodes that picked up thought-controlled nerve impulses they were able to control Sullivan's prosthetic arms with the power of his mind.

(http://www.ric.org/research/accomplishments/Bionic.aspx)

Michael Chorost is a man that has also benefited from brain-computer technology after turning deaf in 2001. After getting his hearing back using neural implants, Chorost has become a spokesman for technological innovations. He states that technology is evolving too fast for our natural capabilities and that our brain is too limited, increasing at a much slower rate than the technology. He supports his theory by referring to Moore's law saying that "There is no Moore’s Law for human beings", Mores law stating that the number of transistors that can be placed on a silicon chip doubles every second year, and that we should use the new technology to extend our human capabilities.

This is all a step closer in making mankind into human cyborgs, and in time, perhaps evolving us all into super humans.

For further reading on this subject i recommend these links:
http://www.stanford.edu/~palanker/publications/prosthesis%20design.pdf

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/meet-the-real-life-human-cyborgs-600543

Sources:
Marshall, G., 2009, "Meet the real-life human cyborg", Techradar.com, viewed 12 August 11, located at <http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/meet-the-real-life-human-cyborgs-600543>


Halpern, S., "Mind Control and the Internet", The New York Review of Books. Located at
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet/?page=3>, 17.August 11.

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 2011, "Introducing Jesse Sullivan, the Worlds First "Byonic Man"", Viwed 17. August 11, located at <http://www.ric.org/research/accomplishments/Bionic.aspx>.

Week 2 - Tutorial Task

A:

Please see the list of blogs I'm following.


B:

Futurama	Thursdays 10/9c
31st Century Internet
http://www.comedycentral.com/
Comedy Central Funny TV Shows Roast of Charlie Sheen

Futurama is an American science fiction sitcom that is set in New New York, in the 31st century. I chose to post a video from this show because it displays an illustration of how the society and new technology possibly could turn out in a thousand years. The writers has been highly creative and the future is filled with numerous of technological advances made between the present and the 31st century. For instance, the Internet is its own digital world, which is being fully immersive and is encompassing all your senses (similar to The Matrix). It is very slow and largely consists of pornography, pop-up ads and "filthy chat rooms" - Some of them edited to include educational material, seemingly for youth.


C: http://www.paper.il/ - The future newspaper?

Internet based newspapers is the future, and new and creative solutions is definitely rising. Trough a friend I found a site called paper.il, which is a site where you can build your own newspaper completely based on your interests.

This site uses your Twitter account as a source and then gives you personalised news articles that is based on your profile and the people that you follow.

It is a very new site and therefore it also has it's disadvantages. The most annoying one of them is probably that it only updates itself every 24 hour. This is one of the same downsides that regular newspapers struggle with; the news get old before it gets out to you. But at the same time, maybe you can update the news right before your morning coffee and efficiently catch the latest news that appeals to you!

I'm not sure about how they choose what to post and what not to post, but with smart technology, this could be a service that really has something going for it!

This is how my newspaper turned out:

My recommendation: Try it!


Questions:
I got my first form of new communication technology when I was about 9 years old. It was a large Samsung mobile phone and I got it when me and my family was going on a vacation to Spain. The purpose of it was to make my parents able to keep track of me, if / when I got lost (which apparently happened quite a lot). I have since then tried almost every new technology that is developed. My old web page was one of them that I spent a lot of time using. The site was created when I was about 13 and it was called http://www.turborosin.piczo.com/ (at the risk of being humiliated, please keep in mind that I was only 13). I don't know how many hours I used on this, but I don't think I really want to know..

My dad is the one that has introduced me to most of the technology I have tried. He loves being first and discover new things, so he can be the one teaching others how to use it. I guess it runs in the family.

I don't think that privacy is a big issue for me. I'm fully aware of the fact that everything I post online is kept and stored somewhere in the world and that it can be used against me later in life. In fact I think this is a small price for using the social platforms for free.To minimise this problem I always keep my privacy settings as private as possible and regularly checking the account settings to see if something has changed. Knowing that facebook often changes their privacy settings on order to get the most out of their users.

Both facebook and Google keep information about their users so that they can make a profit selling it to companies, which for instance uses the information to personalise advertising with you as a target.

I have friends that I only know from the Internet. In fact, I worked with people that I've never seen in real life for almost a year. Back in Norway I worked in a student consulting group along with students from all over the country, where we used Skype as a communication platform. This made us able to work together as a team even though some of us had never seen each other before and we were thousands of miles apart.

Week 2 - Response to Content

Analog Vs. Digital technology

Analog technology is the process of making an audio or video signal and translating it into electronic pulses. Digital on the other hand is storing bits of binary information into a binary code where the audio or video data is represented by a chain of "1"s and "0"s (Stockwell, S., 2011)

Analog technology was the first of the two technologies invented, and it has been around for decades. Digital technology is the most common technology, although it is more expensive. Some people prefer analog technology because it has a richer sound quality. Another difference is that analog technology is limited regarding to data storage and size restrictions.(http://telecom.hellodirect.com/docs/Tutorials/AnalogVsDigital.1.051501.asp)

Here are some few important dates in history, regarding digital and analog technology;
1859 George Boole publishes treatise on binary algebra.
1872 Lord Kelvin develops analog computer to predict tides.
1941 Konrad Zuse produces digital computer, the Z3, in Germany.
(Some Dates in the History of Cultural Technologies, 2005).

Sources:
"Some Dates in the History of Cultural Technologies", 2005, viewed 14 August, located at
<http://worldhistorysite.com/culttech.html>

Wotel, P., 2004, "Analog. Digital. Whats the Difference?", Viewed 15 August, located at <http://telecom.hellodirect.com/docs/Tutorials/AnalogVsDigital.1.051501.asp>

Stockwell, S., 2011, Lecture notes week 1, Introduction - Communication Technology in the Everyday.

Week 1 - Tutorial Task

I’m addicted, addicted to technology, and the way I see it, our society is more or less run by it. We wake up to the sound of our mobile phones telling us to get out of bed, eat breakfast with the Morning show on TV, get on the bus to school by beeping our GoCard, pay for our dinner with our card chip and stay connected with old friends trough different social platforms.

Technology affects almost every aspect of our daily life. In my case, I didn’t really notice that before I moved to Australia, away from all my family and friends in Norway.

The first thing that happened when I got down her, was that my computer crashed. The computer that was pretty much my only connection to my life back home, with Skype, Facebook and Gmail keeping me updated. As if that wasn’t enough, my mobile phone did not want to take incoming calls, my Ipod wouldn’t turn on and Internet in the apartment was, and still is, currently down due to upgrading. What are the odds for that, really?

The hardest part was having no possibility to connect with my friends back home, especially with the big tragedy that just hit Norway. Apart from that, not being able to look for a permanent apartment, getting enrolled in the right classes and checking my bank account, was kind of frustrating too.

My conclusion is there for, thank God for the 3Gnet that booth of my flatmates have on their Iphones.

Week 1 - Response to Content

The most obvious issue regarding new communication technology, for me, is the lack of personal, face to face, communication. Instead of meeting a person to talk, we send IM, emails and blog about the latest news. When we are using a new communication device, like the internet or a phone, it's hard to express feelings. As a result, the messages are often misinterpreted and the meaning get's "lost in translation". It’s scientifically proven that over 90% of our conversations is completely based on our body-language and tone of voice. Only 7 % of the conversation is made up by our words, while our voice is 38 % and body language is 55 %. So when writing emails or sending text messages were actually missing out on 93% of the non-verbal communication. (http://www.dest.gov.au/nwt/hospitality/comm_non.htm).
I think new communication technology becomes old, when there is a new invention that replaces and exceeds the capabilities of the old one. But it is a relative subject tho, the things that are defined as old for a teenager may be completely unknown and new for a retired person. For instance, using a computer to pay your bills and read the newspaper is completely strange and unthinkable for a great deal of people, while others have adapted the new media and uses it on a daily base.

The technology is always developing, and the more we learn the further we will get on discovering new and improved technology that may (or may not) make our lives easier. And in a distant future, who knows, maybe this is how it’s going to end:

* Reference Common wealth Australia, 25 okt, 2001 - Communication in the Workplace, Commonwealth through the Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs, viewed 28 juli, 2011, located at <http://www.dest.gov.au/nwt/hospitality/comm_non.htm>