One last little word...

I just wanted to do a final post and say that this was the hardest essay I have ever had to do! I literally spend hours and hours on it just trying to get an idea of what the question was asking and what it all meant as I am not very technologically savvy so please be kind! :-P

Reference list Essay

References

Agre, P 2002, 'The limits of Cyberspace', Science as Culture, vol. 11, no.2, pp. 149-153.

Dodge, M & Kitchin, R, 2002, Mapping Cyberspace, Routledge London, New York

H- Ref 1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 8146.0 – Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2007-08, viewed 17th October 2009.
<http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0>

H- Ref 2. Dictionary.com viewed 19th October 2009.


H-Ref 3 Tech Crunch 2009, viewed 19th October 2009
<http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/facebook-now-nearly-twice-the-size-of-myspace-worldwide/>

H- Ref 4 Dr Phil, Virtual Chaos , viewed 21st October 2009<http://drphil.com/shows/show/1149/#>

Ikeda, D 2001, Soko Education, Middleway Press, Santa Monica

The Oxford Large Print Dictionary 2007, Oxford University Press Inc, New York

Oxford Dictionary of Computing 2008, Oxford University Press Inc, New York

Slouka, M 1996, War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the High-Tech Assault on Reality, Basic Books, New York

Essay.

The relevance of Cyberspace in todays contemporary society.

Cyberspace the most over hyped term of the late 20th Century is really transforming our lives. The way we work, find information, find entertainment, how we do business and how we communicate with each other. It has created many beneficial aspects in terms of the Internet as a tool for communication and research but also an escape from the reality. With both positive and negative connotations that the idea of escaping from reality suggests such as escape from limits, institutions and responsibility. 'Far from a vision of the future, the vision of Cyberspace is an attempt to make the future literally unthinkable.' (Agre 2002, p.149) So the idea of Cyberspace is for it to be something intangible but with the creation of mainstream movies such as the Matrix and irobot bringing the idea to life it has resonated with people a bit more. Everything it encompasses and represents is relevant today as we are almost totally reliant of things such as the Internet and World Wide Web. 'In 2007-08, 67% of Australian households has home Internet access and 75% of households has access to a computer'. (H-Ref 1) Cyberspace is also widely thought of and seen as an extension of the idea of virtual reality.

Cyberspace is defined as the 'realm of electronic communication.' (H-Ref 2) The first thing that jumps to mind when thinking about 'Cyberspace' is of course the Internet. Cyberspace used to be very much an abstract term and feared by a lot of people as it was not well understood but as the Internet has gained in popularity, it has been accepted into mainstream life. The Internet is defined as 'an international computer network with information accessible to the public via modem links.' (Oxford Dictionary 2007) So the idea of Cyberspace now becoming the Internet has been widely accepted in todays society and it is still very relevant today.

The relevance it has to contemporary society today is monumental. Just think about the uses the Internet has when before if you had to run errands, buy things, pay bills and meet people to name just a few it would entail that you leave your house, now you can do all of this and more from the comfort of your own home.

'One of the most essential human needs is the communication among people, and Cyberspace created new media by means of which people communicate everyday with each other.' (Dodge & Kitchin 2001, p. 30) People can interact socially over the Internet with social networking sites like Facebook which has soared in popularity and at the start of the year the total amount of users came in at 125 million and its still growing. (H-Ref 3) Other popular social networking sites include Twitter, MSN, and also Skype which is a unique service that incorporates convergence technology very well. Skype allows you to talk to people in real time through your computer anywhere in the world for free computer to computer and you can also buy credit to make low cost international mobile calls. Using Skype you can hear the persons voice through the computer speakers and if you have webcam it allows you to see who you are talking to in real time.

Another form Cyberspace has taken is the in the context of virtual reality. Virtual reality is defined as 'The creation and experience of environments. The central objective is to place the participant in an environment that is not normally or easily experienced.' (Oxford Dictionary of Computing 2008) Virtual reality is placing the individual in a fake or 'virtual world' that has been created. A virtual world is defined as ' A representation of an imaginary world created by a program.' (Oxford Computing 2008) The user generally views and interacts with the world from the inside, often via an avatar.

Cyberspace as virtual reality is relevant today as people use these imaginary 'worlds' as forms of entertainment and escape and they have become so popular that they are now a cause of a host of problems arising from their creation.' If illusions generated in the artificial environments of Cyberspace can supplant common sense and reality, a potentially dangerous precedent is set – the creation of an amoral universe where people have no limits or responsibility.' (Slouka 1996, p. 23) The concern here is that people will start blurring the lines between virtual reality and actual reality with detrimental effect on themselves and others. 'The overpowering stimulation and excitement that virtual reality produces can lull the imagination and numb sympathetic feelings for pain and suffering.' (Ikeda 2001, p. 53) Keeping in mind that the 'average player is 35 years old.'(H- Ref 4) The concern has become so relevant in todays society that popular shows such as 'Dr Phil' been inundated with queries on the subject and coincidently done extensive segments on the topic, revealing not only the problems it causes the individual when it becomes an addiction but health, financial and even social problems including the distress and impact it has on others.

My experiences with contemporary media is mostly pleasant, personally I can not live without the Internet, I use it for everything that I do in my life. I use it to shop for clothes, cosmetics, books, birthday presents to send flowers, find services and phone numbers, to get directions, talk to friends and family, see what my favorite celebrities are up to, catch up on news & current affairs, book travel, online banking and research and the list goes on. I think its the most fabulous time saving thing ever thought up. I can not tell you how many times 'googling it' has helped me out, I ask my computer anything and it never fails to give me an answer, pure genius. Suffice to say I would be totally lost without it so the personal relevance to me is huge. Now there are some things that I think have gone too far or are on the verge of going to far and this has a lot to do with convergence technology in my opinion - on steroids. For example the Blackberry, I had one of these for about 6 months and then I sold it, there are just far to many functions and applications its plain confusing. Are we supposed to actually comprehend and use on a daily basis the millions of things it is capable of, after all its supposed to be a phone. Another example the iPhone phenomenon, I get that it makes calls sends messages and emails and you can use the Internet but do you really need any of the other applications. Possibly the most pointless application I have heard of and my final point in applications gone to far and beyond purpose is the 'Hold On!' application. The purpose of this application is to see how long you can press a virtual button. The timer will measure your endurance levels, and then you can submit your score to your own personal mini league. Ah, the satisfaction of beating your own personal best... I rest my case.

Week 9 - The Arty Thing

So for this weeks task we had a kind of arty task to complete and that was to post up some form of art we had created, so as I just went on a recent trip to LA and Vegas I thought I would post up some pictures that I had modified.

This is the orginal image:

And this is my art work after:

I used the GIMP programme to create my art work and its so much fun I may just try another! Actually I must admit that I accidently created the above masterpiece cos I find the programme kind of hard to use and I am not very up with the whole editing thing never the less I shall try another...

Original image:

After my artistic touch:

ok I think this is enough for now as that all took me hours!! fun though, I kind of just clicked around everywhere until I made a difference or could you say I "felt" my way through the software!

week 8 tute task

Opportunities for political participation via over the internet

1. Sign an e-petition.

Today I signed an e-petition to stop the bull-fighting in Catalonia, the sport involves men on horseback or foot repeatedly stabbing bulls with knives and spears and after 20mins they are normally dead - I think this is horrible and disgusting.

The petition was on the WSPA website and I regularly sign petitions through this website and up until 2 months ago when became a uni student I was a regular monthly sponsor of this organisation.

2. Respond to a professional news blogger.

I went to News.com.au and found the blog of a journalist called Jack Marx, he has a pretty funny take on a few issues.

responded to his blog on Airport Beggers: "have a nice day"

This is the basic run down:
Airport beggers: “Have a nice day!”
29 Comments 0 Trackbacks Permalink
Jack Marx Live Blog
Jack MarxSaturday, December 13, 2008 at 12:08pm

A Qantas check-in attendant has been assaulted by an irate traveller, whose only punishment has been a 24-hour ban from the airline. I’ve writtten before about these sorts of dumb arseholes, and I’m both surprised and disappointed at the fact no charges have been laid. Which is not to say that airports can’t be annoying places, and they’re made even less pleasant by the strange trend in corporate hawking that has been infecting the concourse for years - those smiling bastards from American Express, for example, who leap out like the beggers they are the minute one has passed the security screen.

My comment : I am curious about what prompted the passenger to slap the check-in attendant. For all we know the check-in attendant also slapped the passenger.

3. What is president Obama up to today?

He Twittered today:

In New York, meeting with world leaders at the United Nations. Watch the speech: http://bit.ly/2Z4d3J

4.. Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.

Local: Ron Clarke

State: Anna Bligh

Federal : Kevin Rudd

and because he is so important I decided to super size him!

5. Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local mamber spoke in parliment.

Ok so I tried to look but coulnt find a thing about Ron Clarke? not sure why that is as I have NO idea about politics whatsoever and that last question above took me ages. Is he even allowed to speak in parliment? isnt that only for federal MPs or what ever MP even means.... all WAY over my head on that one!!

6. Let your local member know what you thought about their last speech.

Ok so cant really answer this one as I couldnt find his last speech but he is in the news paper currently about spending all our money on silly ideas below is a link to the story in question.. and my thoughs on that are that I think he has started to go a little senile and needs to not have the authority to spend any of the tax payers money!! enjoy!

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/10/09/146275_gold-coast-news.html

7. What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")???

Ok so the idea of a"Clean Feed" is:

The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and slow down Internet access.
Despite being almost universally condemned by the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is determined to force this filter into your home."

ok so the type of things that will be censored according to the proposal are:

The filtering will target legal as well as illegal material.
The clean feed will censor material that is "harmful and inappropriate" for children.

Ok so my thoughts on the whole thing is... if its to censor material that is harmful or inappropriate for children then why should the rest of us have to suffer?? especially people who dont have children?? isnt that what parental locks on computers are for?? and I am sure you can buy programmes that are especially designed to restrict harmful material from leaking through, I remember at school in NZ they put this programme onto the computer systems there and it basically meant to block porn but I was trying to find a picture of a butterfly for an assignment and the porn filter blocked any website containing the word butterfly.. huh??!! ok since when has a butterfly been sexual? ok dont answer that! but anyway my point is I think its stupid hasnt ridiculous amounts of money been spent on making the internet and computers faster and now they want to do something to slow them down again?? is this sounding as retarded to everyone else as it sounds to me?

Week 7 news report

week 7 lecture - Software/Freeware Apps

Ok so today we talked about software applications and we looked at in particular : open and closed source software.

So just for clarity I shall provide a definition of each below using Wikipedia

Open source software (OSS) is defined as computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms. It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of open source development and often compared to user-generated content.[1] The term open source software originated as part of a marketing campaign for free software A report by Standish Group states that adoption of open source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion per year to consumers.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_sourced_software

Closed source is a term for software whose license does not allow for the release or distribution of the software's source code. Generally, it means only the binaries of a computer program are distributed and the license provides no access to the program's source code. The source code of such programs might be regarded as a trade secret of the company. Access to source code by third parties commonly requires the party to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_source_software

Closed source software is produced by one company its normally copywrited and you can not sell it or copy it and distribute it unless you have permission, it is normally sold by the company or authorised vendors, examples are Microsoft Office which I am sure we have all used!

Open source software is basically the opposite of closed source, its normally free to copy, use and distribute.

We also talked about freeware apps and there are a host of different website that offer these below are some that I discovered under a few categories:

First up audio & visual :

well I had better put the obvious... iTunes of course : iTunes Is an audio player for playing and organizing digital music files, and purchasing them from the Apple Store.

I think iTunes is brilliant! it so easy to use and organise your music, create playlist etc and I am pretty sure everyone I know has an ipod so I thought this one worth a mention.

Automation:

KeePass - KeePas is an opensource password manager which helps you manage your passwords in a secure way, very handy if you are terrible at remembering things like me!!

Compression, Backup, and File Recovery:

Mozy: Mozy is the perfect solution for online backup. Its offers 2GB storage for free. which is very handy if like me use have lost about 3 or 4 USB sticks.. yes seriously alomost defeats the purpose of even having them!

Also another one worth a mention is Recuva, it is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentaly deleted from your computer so basically awesome if you delete your essay before you have submitted it! but yeah probably not your best friend if you are trying to hide a weird facination or online porn addiction.. you could always blame it on your roomates right?!

Blogging:

ok so I have to totally take the opportunity to give Blogspot a good rap, where we would be without it! truth be told I didnt know what a blog was until I started New Com Tech but I have been pleasantly surprised by this application, it is super easy to use and understand even for someone as "technologically-confused" as me LOL excuse the pun!

Ok and I think I have done enough but another one I keep close to my heart and simply coulnt live without (being a poor student and all) is Skype, it is the best invention ever.. who would of thought you can call anywhere in the world for FREE!! awesome!! I was actually on it earlier tonight talking to my family in NZ, and if you have webcam its even better or better still I have a built in cam on my laptop and I can carry it around and show them new things around the house or the view from the balcony LOL possibilities are endless!! anyway getting off the subject a little now but yeah you get the point! it is free to call any "computer' in the world and you can also load credit onto your account for very resonable prices and then call landlines and mobiles for cheaper than if you used you phone.. BRILLIANT!! I dont know why it isnt HUGE I am still surprised that people havent heard about it!!