Digital Natives

This article by Marc Prensky is about the changing habits of the Internet generation and how it is becoming the norm to interact on the web. There is an unprecedented feeling of ease portrayed in the attitudes of modern surfers with their own customs and even language developing. The title Digital Natives is a clever way of summarising the content of his article. On the whole this is an interesting and informative read but I think it isn't quite as deep as the other article Small Pieces. It mentions mostly the same ideas and introduces a few more along the way but the only thing this really adds that could be said to be lacking from the other one is on the second last page where it states how this technology has changed the way an entire generation interacts and that those not of this generation should ACCEPT it and to LEARN as much as they can (me included) about it. I couldn't agree more. It tends to be those with a lesser understanding that hold the reigns and make the rules. Any rules based in ignorance make a mockery of the systems put in place to run society. Knee jerk reactions don't have the best track record when looking back through history.

Small Pieces

I'll break this into sub headings as the article is a bit long.
Being John Malkovich.
The first part of this article tells a story of "Internet intoxication" which involves a boy who made a comment to another on line person about a future second massacre at Columbine. His defence for this was that he had this intoxication and was acting as a character like his favourite actor John Malkovich. Four months in prison and a three year ban from using the Internet seems fair when you think about the distress that would of been felt in Columbine, the dragging up of old memories would have probably brought many to tears. Hopefully it should act as a deterrent from anyone else making such terrifying claims.
Anonymously Shopping & Learning In The TARDIS
The next part of the article dealt with purchasing a quilt on eBay. The story was told in relation to varying aspects. The first was preconceptions in that if it didn't cost enough it wasn't good enough. Next was the fact that there was no geographical boundary as there would be if buying from a shopping centre. After this the topic of time revealed how the bidding could be monitored in increments measured in hours. Try that at Christies. The anonymity of both the vendor and buyer are an apparent difference from shopping in the real world. Finally the buyer realised how much they had learnt from the whole process about quilts that they had not known before, and all from the confines of whichever room the computer is kept in.
The Web: Modern Day Mayflower
This section compares web surfers as modern day pilgrims. The only difference acknowledged between Internet enthusiasts and those that landed at Plymouth Rock is an understanding of geography. The author talks of the unfamiliarity of the new phenomenon that is the Internet. He then discusses the way this effects us depending on our personality "If we're egotistical, then the world appears to center around us. If we're gregarious then the world appears to be an invitation to be with others. If we're ambitious then the world appears to be awaiting our conquest." The main point to come from this is that the user can improve at will. This means increasing traits deemed desirable and lessening those not.
A Different Type of Social
Comparing two different studies, both reported widely in conventional media, that were poles apart in their findings. The first one basically stated that the Internet was a causal factor in significantly reduced social interaction. The second stating that this may have been so in the physical sense but the net gave a wider social circle to those who participate, therefor showing increased social interaction. Although I don't have access to the exact methodology of both studies, I feel fairly safe theorising that the second study would be much closer to the mark if carried out reputably today. Unfortunately this lack of understanding of new technologies has had a negative effect in many cases the funniest of which involved a rogue politician with a few left of centre ideas. To be honest, this blog is getting a bit long, and the rest of the article is more entertaining than informing so I'll end with a quote that I think sums up the rest of the article nicely "... the Web upsets our expectations".

Utopia And Dystopia

The final part of the lecture was called CyberUtopia. We learnt of the first electronic media age in which information generally came from one source to be broadcast to many. The second electronic media age was the decentralization of the source which meant one person could broadcast to an enormous audience. I also learnt a new word dystopia which is simply the opposite of utopia. These were discussed in the context of new media studies in so far as the technology has been viewed as utopia because it can create perfect and sanitised scenarios full of enjoyment but without the danger.

Virtual Philosophy

Although we were talking virtual philosophy all the references to The Matrix were lost on me as I am probably the only person not to have seen any of the series (although I met Keanu Reeves in Sydney when he was filming the third one) and was more interested in the philosophical views of the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari and their theory that in front of every moment in time (the actual) is a virtual which is like a cluster of possibilities and choices. Something else I found interesting was a quote by Benedikt "TV is images of a life not really lived anywhere but arranged for the viewing". I'm not positive of his intended message but to me it really states well the fact that people can get too immersed in media rather than just using it as a tool. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it but I have heard people talking of characters in soap operas as though they were close personal friends rather than a two dimensional representation of a writers imagination manufactured purely for entertainment.

Democratic Censorship?

The first of today's mini lectures was about cyber democracy. It's amazing how democratic governments can propose such censorship. The Internet is a source that holds information indefinitely. People have been prosecuted for content that still exists on line. As John Gilmore said "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it". Whether or not you have democracy such as the ancient Greeks, one man one equal vote, or whatever Australia's system is where you vote is worth more or less depending on where you live; whether or not you have a constitutional right to free speech such as America or not; whether or not it's truly representative is all irrelevant. When the basic nature of the internment works against censorship the argument should be more towards education and informed decisions.

Where's Peter Lalor When You Need Him

Today we learnt about some of the government restrictions trying to be enforced by Australia in the form of a content filter. We also found out that America has been "allegedly" filtering phone calls and emails. If this remains unpunished by the American court system the implications for it's replication in this country are scary. Also if this filter becomes law in this country it may just be the tip of the iceberg. There may be no problems I would encounter immediately if at all because I' not about to go onto Rotten.com or Boobies.com but I believe that as an adult I have the right to. If my Internet is accessible to children then it's my responsibility to police their viewed content. Another thing is what exactly will the government be filtering? It may or may not be fairly innocuous now but who's to say that it won't end up with the type of censorship found in other countries? Commercial interests could also come into the equation through back door deals. Governments always need campaign funding. I may sound a bit alarmist but in my 40 years on this planet I have seen many freedoms eroded through policy makers "good for you" decisions. Anyway let's all be a bit more aware of what's being done to "protect us" and use a bit more critical thinking and people power. Viva Le revolution! (I wonder if a filter will flag me as a dissident for saying this?)

All Fun And Games

Today we learnt about video games from a more academic perspective. It started off easy by stating that their played on bulky arcade machines, consoles hooked to the telly and computers. It started getting a bit heavier after that introducing a couple of new words to my vocabulary. The first is narratology which is quite simply seeing them as and through the story line. This works fine for some of the games that have a story such as the Spiderman games or television based games such as The Simpson's or Family Guy. I have these on my XBOX and know that the character you're playing as has tasks to perform to get further into the story. Although I'm not 100% sure, I would place my NRL and cricket games in this as in the game you have a certain role and a logical task to follow. The other word was ludology which is concerned with the game play aspects itself such as my first console Pong. Even though this may seem to contradict my previous statement about NRL and cricket, but Pong was very different in that you couldn't relate it to the real world with the same tangible aspects. Although you were performing a logical set of tasks, you couldn't feel the same attachment. There are those of the opinion that the story is only secondary to the game play making the idea of narratology redundant. I don't agree with this as the story is what gets me into a game whereas the game play is what stops me finishing. Even with the sports ones I feel I am a cricketer or a footballer during the course of the game. It's the role I play that makes it enjoyable. Conversely the role of the mindless shooter in other games would see me placing them in the ludology basket as the task doesn't follow a story or seem at all logical to me. I suppose at the end of the day your own preferences and perspectives play a major role as how certain games are classified.

No Cost & No Virus Worries

Software was originally free when computers were in their infancy in the late 70's early 80's. Programmers would share all the programmes they had written including the source code which is the computer language that commands the programme. Having access to this source code meant that anyone could fix any faults they found, make improvements or tailor the software to better suit their own usage requirements. Then came Windows. Bill Gates decided to sell software packages as finished commodities restricting access to the source codes. This quickly became the norm with other companies too until Richard Stallman had enough one day and started GNU. This was going to be completely free to anyone who wanted it but was incomplete. It needed the addition of a core component which coincidentally had just been written by Finnish programmer Linus T. These were combined as GNU/Linux, a platform that can run all sorts of other free software as equally well as windows but free of charge, with access to the source code and therefor refinable but most impressively untouchable by viruses.

Actiview.com

The tutorial task for Friday was to enter one the virtual 3D worlds available on the Internet that looks like a console game. I found the graphics a bit like Morrowind on my XBOX. It is in fact more like a chat room were you are given an avatar (a caricature of a stereotypical tourist) that can move around and interact with the surroundings. You communicate with the other avatars via text typed in to the keyboard. Your chosen name is displayed above your avatar so that you can chat with people you meet and recognise them (and they you). Whilst I was on there were avatars being driven by players, or chatters I'm not sure, who were in America. Funnily enough though I tended to only talk to my class mates who were all well within talking distance in the real world. Admittedly I spent more time on my own just having a look around. There was a bit of deliberate product placement around, obviously paid advertising. If advertising in the real world meant I could ride a Sea-Do as I did in Actiview, I would have a completely different opinion on it. I'm not sure that I could get hooked on it but this experience certainly piqued my interest.

Anther Guest Lecturer

Today we had another guest lecturer, Brady, who discussed the social networking aspects in a bit more depth. I discovered there is a major difference between Facebook and Myspace. It's all to do with how much your profile is an honest and truthful representation of who you are as opposed to putting out an improved persona, more like what you wish you were. Myspace allows more creative descriptions of yourself than Facebook. We also watched a couple of videos. The first one was an interview with an American academic who shed some insight onto the history and the human side of networking (the interviewer however shed light on bad shirts and ridiculous shaving). The second was much more interesting in that it showed the naivety of people about the possible consequences of your digital footprint. The access to information to create a stolen identity is very, very obtainable. Employment prospects can also be hampered by your postings of less respectable photographs and event descriptions which was roundly castigated by some of the participants in the discussion.

Tutorial Question for Search Engines

1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student.
2. What is the world record for the largest watermelon?
The world's biggest watermelon weighs 122kg, and was grown by the Lloyd Bright
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The Ebola river in Africa, that runs through Zaire and the Congo.
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
Chile.
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1073741824.
6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson.
7. What is the "storm worm", and how many computers are infected by it?
An email that offers a link and if you open it someone else can control your computer that has infected between 2 and 5 million.
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what would be the most efficient way?
www.pm.gov.au/community_cabinet .
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins.
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? What are some examples?
The Internet as a platform for tasks rather than just a flat page on which to publish. Some examples are BitTorrent, Napster, Wikipedia, Flickr and of course blogging.

Studying Cyberculture

Today's lecture was on how the studying and reporting on how people interact with each other over the Internet has evolved over the years. The main reason seemed to be that initially researchers were from other fields such as psychology. This would obviously mean that their involvement in cyberspace had been very limited, only using the information from a small snapshot with an outsiders point of view. As the technology became more widely accepted and used specific studies were undertaken in this field by people with more experience and a real interest. These studies are much more balanced and reliable. We also watched a couple of videos. The first one, Epic, was in the form of a history lesson from the future. It portrayed a time where big business had battled and/or merged amongst themselves for domination of information technology and popularity. The decrease in the possibility of any anonymity was a bit reminiscent of Orson Wells 1984 with big business replacing big brother. The second video was about the virtual world of Second Life. It was pretty amazing the commerce that happens on line. People in the real world are making real money from this. The reporter interviewed a virtual fashion designer who works ten hours a day designing clothes for the characters on line that are paid for just like real clothes. Another lady in Germany employs fifty people that digitally build houses that she sells online. There is also a man in Melbourne who invested $260- to build a stock exchange that he estimates is now worth $48000- in the real world. By far the strangest though is the man who runs the virtual sex industry. The online characters, or avatars as they're known, spend a fortune with him. This really makes me agree with a line from the story that some people on Second Life should get a first one.

Warriors of the Net

This was a great little film we watched that really gave me a better understanding of exactly how information is distributed physically through the Internet. The information packets were shown as something similar to trucks with their load being a piece of information. It showed the perils of the router and the firewall and almost personified the process a Little. The best part was that it was dumbed down enough for me to understand. It was a lot more entertaining too, especially after learning of the commercial rumblings involving Microsoft, IBM, Digital Research Inc. and Apple. I did learn however that the Internet refers to a network of networks, whereas the Web is like just one strand on this Internet. Cyberspace is a bit different again and was best described in the lecture notes as "the interconnection of reality and imagination"

The Computer Goes back A Long Way

Charles Babbage, born in 1791, invented a machine for working out and printing mathematical tables called the Difference Engine. Ada Augusta Byron the Countess of Lovelace was born in 1815. She the daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron. After translating then reading an article about Babbage, she conceived of a device that had the ability to compose and play music, produce graphics and be used daily. She was also the first to conceive the idea of a computer program. Alan Turing was born in England in 1912 and wrote a groundbreaking paper, On Computable Numbers, whilst at university then later went on to contribute to the first working computer. This was called The Bombe and was used by the army to break the secret German 'Enigma' codes. By the 50's the first commercially made computers were available.

Wikipedia 2

My second topic on Wikipedia was the movie Barfly with Micky Rourke and Faye Dunaway. This is a semi autobiographical released in 1987 written by Charles Bukowski using the named Henry Chanaski for the character portraying himself. As with the previous topic I looked up, this one was accurate, factual and within the guidelines but I did find it to be rather short. There would be lots of things I could add if I wanted to. For example it nearly starred Sean Penn who was Bukowski's first pick, but Penn would only do it if Dennis Hopper directed it. Since Bukowski referred to Dennis as a " gold-chain-wearing Hollywood phony" whom he despised, this was never going to happen. In conclusion I would like to admit that there were definitely facts I was unaware of but were nowhere near as relevant to the movie itself as facts that weren't even touched upon. I mean really, who cares if punk band NOFX wrote a song called Green Corn that was inspired by the movie?

Wikipedia

Today's task was to look up two articles on Wikipedia to rate their accuracy and/or content. The first one I looked up was the Evolution engine made by Harley Davidson. After reading I found the article to be accurate, encompassing the relevant facts. As it is a factual topic there appears to be no bias, just facts. It follows the guidelines which are fairly generic except with one interesting exception-"The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth....".This is the actual wording on there site. If there was anything I could add to the information provided is probably that although the year the engine was superseded being 1999 is correct, it doesn't mention that both this and the following engine were produced and sold in different models simultaneously that year. The Evolution was sold in Softails whereas the newer Twin Cam was placed in the Tourers and Dynas.

My Usage Of New Technologies

As I've already said in my first entry, I really don't utilise new technologies for communicating to their full extent. Mobile phones, emailing, and participating in a portal of poetry for both posting and reviewing are the three I use. With the mobile phone and email I only communicate with people I already know, however on the poetry website they are all strangers. Also the majority of the contributors I have noticed are from America. Even if I wanted to see them it would prove a rather costly exercise. The anonymity could allow me to be more harsh or critical than I would be in person but it doesn't work that way. All round the comments appear to be very supportive. That's probably why I have only posted three poems. If everyone is too scared to give constructive criticism, then what's the point? I tried to once, and I promise you not in a nasty way. All that happened was a privately sent message from the poet stating he had been writing poetry for twenty years and did not need to learn any new ways to express himself. I thought of replying he should try a new way called "well" but thought I don't need an argument and if someone has decided that they don't need to keep learning in a field they have a passion in, that's sad. I have only been using this portal for a few weeks but I don't think I'll continue. I mainly wanted to get some feedback on my work when I signed up and that includes critical feedback. My personal opinion on the privacy issue is to put out there only what you're willing to have for everyone and forever. It only takes a little bit of forethought. My biggest personal hurdle with the Internet is the lack of tactile, olfactory, audible and emotive involvement (although the latter can be beautifully portrayed if a good writer wishes to open up enough). Even over the phone you can hear a lie or a smile, on the net words are carefully checked before posting.

Guest Lecturer

Paul, the guest lecturer today, spoke using some specific terminology with quite alien words. However the concepts were easy to grasp and fascinating. I was captured by the ideas of youth subcultures mingling more than they used to. Being a mature age student I distinctly remember the solid boundaries of whichever group you were part of. The advancement in communication technologies appears to have played a major part in this phenomenon, hence the title of the lecture being "My Space Or Our Space". The dicussion boards that were made for specific groups on the internet have these set boundaries, but the personal ones such as "Facebook" and "Myspace" were given the metaphor of a blank canvas to reflect the individual rather than a subgroup. I also was made aware of companies profiling potential customers. It happened to me through "Amazon" and I hadn't noticed, let alone really thought about it. I also liked the terminology surrounding this, Broadcasting to Narrowcasting to Egocasting. Overall it was nice to get a few ideas on society and culture, especially as I am doing a psychology major.

New Communication Technologies

I have limited exposure to most modern technologies. Before today I didn't really know what a blog was (although I'm still not 100% sure). I do use a mobile phone but generally only for sending or receiving calls, and storing numbers. I pretty much never text a message, I don't have the patience and I refuse to abbreviate. I use emailing although not really to communicate new ideas, but to forward funny, cute or slightly disturbing emails that were forwarded to me. I use the Internet to purchase, bank and research for both my studies and my own personal edification. I have also posted poetry on Your Poetry but I am unaware as to whether or not this is classified as a blog.