There is one final assessment for my class and it is an essay that I will write on the topic
Is the “virtual community” (Rheingold, 1993) a useful way of understanding contemporary online life? Discuss using one example of an online community OR a video game world (Virtual community is not to be confused with a “social network” site).
I really enjoyed the class and everything I have learned over the last two weeks. It is definately informaiton I will keep with me. Thank you for joining me on my journey of blogging and thank you to Adam, our teacher, for sharing his knowledge on communication technology!
Loppy
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Session 9
My media inventory on a typical day is as follows
- I wake up to a siren sounding alarm on my cellphone, irritated I usually throw it into my laundry pile.
- Turn on my computer and log onto World of Warcraft, check auction house market prices.
- Contemplate on checking my email.....decide its a waste of time since I have over 8000 new emails mostly being viagra advertisements. How they got to my mail I have no idea, but I gave up blocking email. No matter how many I block I still get em.
- Light a cigarette, on the pack are signs stating smoking will kill me. Do I pay attention? Not in the least.
-What is the day today? Check the calendar...
- Turn on the radio as I proceed into the shower and sing/dance.
- Do not eat, if exposed to eye rinse thoroughly. If eaten contact medical services. "Who on earth would eat their shampoo?" I wondered as I proceeded to taste a tiny bit of shampoo.
- Watch tv as I have my breakfast, once I was done I placed dishes in sink. Do not eat sign again on the detergent......sigh
- The shampoo tasted better
- On the way to University I passed by a billboard with adverts on it.
- Walked by a person who was wearing a shirt saying "Hi, how are you doing? And why are you still reading my shirt?"
- At my university building it says "pull" on the door. Im sure if it wasnt there I would see alot more forehead imprints on the glass.
- In the lecture I focus on the lecture slides from the projector. Then my eyes wander off looking for the fire exit sign.
- Once lecture was over decided to grab some food with a classmate. Walked to the cafe and examined the menu. Hmmm beef or chicken?
- On the way back to the tutorial we realised she forgot her handbag. We went back to the cafe but it was gone. I looked around and saw "lost and found property please go to security office"
- The office was closed sadly. Decided to check the student guild office, followed the arrows leading the way.
- Once we were there, the lady behind the desk said we should go to the cashier at student service building. I was distracted by the posters all over.
- Head to student services building, and waited in line at the cashier section. As I was waiting I just read all the signs around me. "be back in 5 minuites" was on one counter, and transaction receipts with instruction on how to fill them were on a desk on my right.
- The cashier had the bag, it was apparantly just given in and nothing was missing inside it.
- We were late for class, as we approached the tutorial room I hear a beeping sound in the hallway. Maybe it is an alarm for one of the doors, it is annoying either way.
I have always looked at the little details of things. Realised the little cracks and the difference in colors. Due to this, actually taking into account all the media that exists in every day life was not hard at all. However realising the media that exists around you can be overlooked.
There are messages everywhere, surrounding us in every moment of our lives. From telling us what we can and cant do, to being simple descriptions or advertisements, messages is in fact part of our culture. The media today actually camouflages itself in our world, hiding behind our realisation of their existance.
Saying this bring about the thought of subliminal messaging in my head, and therefor I have attached a video demonstrating the forms of media that can exist in everyday life, how we take it forgranted but then showing how our minds actually realising its all there.
This really bring about the realisation of the power different forms of media has in influencing us not only as an individual but as a society.
Very interesting to watch and I do hope you enjoy!
- I wake up to a siren sounding alarm on my cellphone, irritated I usually throw it into my laundry pile.
- Turn on my computer and log onto World of Warcraft, check auction house market prices.
- Contemplate on checking my email.....decide its a waste of time since I have over 8000 new emails mostly being viagra advertisements. How they got to my mail I have no idea, but I gave up blocking email. No matter how many I block I still get em.
- Light a cigarette, on the pack are signs stating smoking will kill me. Do I pay attention? Not in the least.
-What is the day today? Check the calendar...
- Turn on the radio as I proceed into the shower and sing/dance.
- Do not eat, if exposed to eye rinse thoroughly. If eaten contact medical services. "Who on earth would eat their shampoo?" I wondered as I proceeded to taste a tiny bit of shampoo.
- Watch tv as I have my breakfast, once I was done I placed dishes in sink. Do not eat sign again on the detergent......sigh
- The shampoo tasted better
- On the way to University I passed by a billboard with adverts on it.
- Walked by a person who was wearing a shirt saying "Hi, how are you doing? And why are you still reading my shirt?"
- At my university building it says "pull" on the door. Im sure if it wasnt there I would see alot more forehead imprints on the glass.
- In the lecture I focus on the lecture slides from the projector. Then my eyes wander off looking for the fire exit sign.
- Once lecture was over decided to grab some food with a classmate. Walked to the cafe and examined the menu. Hmmm beef or chicken?
- On the way back to the tutorial we realised she forgot her handbag. We went back to the cafe but it was gone. I looked around and saw "lost and found property please go to security office"
- The office was closed sadly. Decided to check the student guild office, followed the arrows leading the way.
- Once we were there, the lady behind the desk said we should go to the cashier at student service building. I was distracted by the posters all over.
- Head to student services building, and waited in line at the cashier section. As I was waiting I just read all the signs around me. "be back in 5 minuites" was on one counter, and transaction receipts with instruction on how to fill them were on a desk on my right.
- The cashier had the bag, it was apparantly just given in and nothing was missing inside it.
- We were late for class, as we approached the tutorial room I hear a beeping sound in the hallway. Maybe it is an alarm for one of the doors, it is annoying either way.
I have always looked at the little details of things. Realised the little cracks and the difference in colors. Due to this, actually taking into account all the media that exists in every day life was not hard at all. However realising the media that exists around you can be overlooked.
There are messages everywhere, surrounding us in every moment of our lives. From telling us what we can and cant do, to being simple descriptions or advertisements, messages is in fact part of our culture. The media today actually camouflages itself in our world, hiding behind our realisation of their existance.
Saying this bring about the thought of subliminal messaging in my head, and therefor I have attached a video demonstrating the forms of media that can exist in everyday life, how we take it forgranted but then showing how our minds actually realising its all there.
This really bring about the realisation of the power different forms of media has in influencing us not only as an individual but as a society.
Very interesting to watch and I do hope you enjoy!
Session 8, Come on and meet your maker....
Upon first opening the site, two things popped into my head. "What was he on when he was making this?" and "what do I have to be on to understand this?". To add to the confusion that I was engulfed in was the music or sounds that were looping in the background.
Music and sounds are indeed a very powerful tool that can be used to trigger many emotions in people, have you ever wondered why a horror movie is not scary when the movie is muted? Well its because the sounds is what triggers those emotions. I could say the music (or sound loops) used on Jason's site each had their own purpose to have the viewer feel certain thing. I tried all the links available and have to admit on the game, game and game again one the sounds along with the texts popping up everywhere did create an interesting artpiece.
I was still lost however, each level seemed to be talking about a particular issue but why and what was being said exactly I could not grasp. The only one I think I understood a little was the skyscraper level, where it seemed to be portraying modern living (or city life at least) to be like a prison with walls everywhere and everything so bunched up.
From here I went on opening every link available, and I really tried hard to understand what was being portrayed but I could not pick up on anything. This is how you will die, evidence of everything exploding this, hymns of a drowning swimmer and conversation were memorable though. Where I had the occasional chill run down my spine from reading such weird text to go along with the sounds I was hearing.
"This is proof, of course, that we are all ruled by wooden men"
Playing a game where all the flashing lights and demented sounds were already distracting enough, but having statements like the one above crowd up your screen as you try to not meet your maker really had it hard for me to enjoy things. Maybe enjoying wasnt the point, but yeah I was constantly saying "what the **** is this?!" So from here instead of looking at the picture as a whole, I tried analysing things bit by bit. But wilde and the wildly branded got the best of me, even trying to interpret each individual sentence along with the background video playing......I could not find meaning.
I have done many english literature and analysis classes in the past. Taking looks at so many poems, books, short stories and then writing essays on them. When it comes to Jason's work, I find it difficult to interpret things. It is as if the whole point of the site is to mess with your head, or that is the impression I got. It is not poetry I am used to, I have to take in the messages not only by reading but from the sounds played and crazy visuals presented. Everything is so random and abstract that it seems as if there is no order in reading things.
Non the less, this was an interesting and unique experience that I never before had online.
Music and sounds are indeed a very powerful tool that can be used to trigger many emotions in people, have you ever wondered why a horror movie is not scary when the movie is muted? Well its because the sounds is what triggers those emotions. I could say the music (or sound loops) used on Jason's site each had their own purpose to have the viewer feel certain thing. I tried all the links available and have to admit on the game, game and game again one the sounds along with the texts popping up everywhere did create an interesting artpiece.
I was still lost however, each level seemed to be talking about a particular issue but why and what was being said exactly I could not grasp. The only one I think I understood a little was the skyscraper level, where it seemed to be portraying modern living (or city life at least) to be like a prison with walls everywhere and everything so bunched up.
From here I went on opening every link available, and I really tried hard to understand what was being portrayed but I could not pick up on anything. This is how you will die, evidence of everything exploding this, hymns of a drowning swimmer and conversation were memorable though. Where I had the occasional chill run down my spine from reading such weird text to go along with the sounds I was hearing.
"This is proof, of course, that we are all ruled by wooden men"
Playing a game where all the flashing lights and demented sounds were already distracting enough, but having statements like the one above crowd up your screen as you try to not meet your maker really had it hard for me to enjoy things. Maybe enjoying wasnt the point, but yeah I was constantly saying "what the **** is this?!" So from here instead of looking at the picture as a whole, I tried analysing things bit by bit. But wilde and the wildly branded got the best of me, even trying to interpret each individual sentence along with the background video playing......I could not find meaning.
I have done many english literature and analysis classes in the past. Taking looks at so many poems, books, short stories and then writing essays on them. When it comes to Jason's work, I find it difficult to interpret things. It is as if the whole point of the site is to mess with your head, or that is the impression I got. It is not poetry I am used to, I have to take in the messages not only by reading but from the sounds played and crazy visuals presented. Everything is so random and abstract that it seems as if there is no order in reading things.
Non the less, this was an interesting and unique experience that I never before had online.
Session 7
The Australian Government's plans to censor the internet is something I do not agree upon, nor is it something that I think would 'solve' issues with the usage of the internet for obscene things like child porn. Internet censorship has been implemented heavily in China, but thats also due to the fact that they are under Communism rule, so one of the main reasons to filter the internet there will also be to limit the media exposure of people to ensure a 'common' ideology to exist.
Australia is a democracy and implementing internet censorship goes against one's freedom of speech and expressing ones opinion. This analogy I will state now is my own personal interpretation of having internet censorship.
Imagine there is a family which consists of a mother and a son, the mother in this case would represent the Australian Government and the son would represent the Australian people. So ever since the son was born, the mother wanted to limit the son's exposure to everything that could potentially harm him, even if it was so minor. Every little cut he had, she cleaned it excessively with disinfectants, every little cough he got she made sure he took medicine.
So, 20 years later the son is grown up, and has an immune system that is terribly weak. How does this relate to internet censorship? By the simple fact that it takes away our ability to make right decisions on our own, which is a very important thing to enable society to move forward in the long run.
Even then, censorship wont really prevent anything. There will always be a way around it, and a perfect example of this is peer to peer sharing and downloading. In the end, censoring will not solve the problems and will instead prevent us from fully utilising one of the most resourceful and important tools in existance. Every tool can be used for good or bad, but taking away our means to use the tool also takes away our rationale and responsibility to use it properly.
-Sign an e-petition
So I went over to Queensland Parliament Petitions to try and sign one, decided to choose the 'Stop mining on the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve' however due to terms of use requiring me to be an Australian citizen or residents, which I am neither, I didnt end up signing it.
Instead I went to a different site and signed the "internet censorship" e-petition. http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442
- Blog http://digihub.smh.com.au/node/1993
- What is Obama up to today?
Obama speaks on ramping up Innovation, more details can be found at http://ochairball.blogspot.com/.
- Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.
Local representative is
Rudd, Hon. Kevin MichaelState representative is
Langbroek John-Paul, Honore
Federal representative is
Hon Teresa Gambaro
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mi-state.asp
http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/attachment/factsheets/fs357_government_members.pdf
- Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr251110.pdf
- Let your local member know what you think about their last speech.
I really dont have anything to say....
Session 6 Games Studies
Today's lecture covered an interesting topic for me, in fact I for a moment felt like I was doing the wrong university degree! Video game studies was the topic, and it takes a number of different approaches into looking at games more in-depth. Social science approach concerns itself with "what do games do for people?", humanities approach concerns itself with "what meanings are made through games?" and finally the engineering approach concerns itself with the actual design and development of games.
Personally games have been a part of my life ever since I got Super Mario World on an Nintendo. And with todays technology, there are games with such advanced artificial intelligence that no matter how many times u finish it you will never have the same experience. Everything will be different, your actions cause different outcomes, bring about different possibilities and even possibly different stories told. In my view, games can be like you favourite book or movie where the story is acted out and experienced first hand.
I have always wondered the steps taken into creating games, which is why I had such interest into todays lecture. The steps taken to make eveything about a game 'click', to have it so interesting and have the story so well told that the persistence of effect is achieved. It really is hard to get everything right, as was described in the video presented in the lecture. Games have a major impact, being an industry that is now even bigger than movies and attracting a wide variety of demograhics. Studying not only the impacts but also how they are made is a necessity, for it is an artform.
Personally games have been a part of my life ever since I got Super Mario World on an Nintendo. And with todays technology, there are games with such advanced artificial intelligence that no matter how many times u finish it you will never have the same experience. Everything will be different, your actions cause different outcomes, bring about different possibilities and even possibly different stories told. In my view, games can be like you favourite book or movie where the story is acted out and experienced first hand.
I have always wondered the steps taken into creating games, which is why I had such interest into todays lecture. The steps taken to make eveything about a game 'click', to have it so interesting and have the story so well told that the persistence of effect is achieved. It really is hard to get everything right, as was described in the video presented in the lecture. Games have a major impact, being an industry that is now even bigger than movies and attracting a wide variety of demograhics. Studying not only the impacts but also how they are made is a necessity, for it is an artform.
Session 6
Scavenger Hunt!!!
Time to put my game face on. But first I will follow what was written on the notes about Boolean Searching and actually load up Google and search for my name in inverted commas. (alt + tab brb).....
Well what I managed to find was a bunch of my Myspace and Facebook photos, pictures of my ex (sigh) and link of website I am in because of my trip to Israel last year to take part in combat training for my instructors license. Ill provide the link and image below, feel free to check the website for an interesting short read.
http://www.your-krav-maga-expert.com/krav-maga-instructors-Australia.html
Alrighty! Now back to the scavenger hunt, Ill have to search for these things without the use of Google or Wiki. I chose to use Bing, why you ask? Well because it was the first thing that popped in my head.
1. What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
The world's largest machine is a supertanker weighing 564,763 tons. My mind cannot even comprehend how heavy that is. Cost to build the ship is an estimated $9 Billion, my mind cannot comprehend that much money either....
http://www.vincelewis.net/viking.html
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built
2. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Can you find a place to live in Antarctica?
Macquarie Island seems to offer a place to stay that is least covered in snow, so I would choose to live there (however the -67 degree weather has me hesitant)
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/macquarie-island
3.When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
In 1832 a man called Samuel Morse created the most wellknown and sucessful electric telegraph machine. In 1844 the first long distance telegraph was constructed between Baltimore and Washington. By the 1870's the realisation that communications could be transformed from one type of medium to another and this lead to a global telecommunications network being established due to telegraphs written in word transformed into electrical signals then back to telegraphs in words.
http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html
4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?
The cheapest form of travel would be by air, costing about $56.00.
list of transport in order of cheapest to most expensive is below :
- Air plane
- Train
- Coach
- Own vehicle
http://www.flightcentre.com.au/product/1032354?ysmwa=oxsrN5qrszpiX-nOcmeNFA_WsVodYdlAmd2HN2PZhf7W2MhO_p8_EMJntxiXg8xs
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090608074131AAyAcWV
5. Who is Douglas Engelbart? What is he know for?Douglas Engelbart is a computer scientist from the United States. He has a Ph.D in electrical engineering. In the 1960's he set up the Augmentation Research Center and he was responsible for the invention of hypertext, multiwindow display, the mouse and groupware.http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/engelbart.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/douglas-engelbart
6.What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Stephen Conroy? (who is this guy?)
Senator Conroy is the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity. The quickest and most reliable way to contact him would be to call him. Possibly also by the means of email, however it may be ignored, sent to junk mail or replied in a slow fashion.
Parliament Contact:
Phone : 02 6277-7480
Electorate Office:
Phone : 03 9408-0190
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/senators.asp?id=3L6
http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/
7.What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1990?
The B-52's - Love Shack
This was a hard one to find, had to use multiple sites and even search stats on each song because nothing was accurate...
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=692
http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1990.htm
http://www.retro80.ru/music/Australia/1990.htm
8. How would you define the term 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
Ontology is generally concerned with the metaphysical nature of 'being'. In other words it is a theory behind "What exists", "What is", "What am I", "What is describing this to me".
Ontology is a part of philosophy that baisically means the study of existance and reality in attempt to determine what exists and what can be said to exist. I personally think this was the means of tryin to bring about purpose to our lives. The thought of "we are here to live, eat, multiply, then become fertilizer to the ground we walk on (personal thought)" maybe was not easily accepted. So this brought about the philosophical method of trying to answer "why am i here, what is the meaning of my existance".http://www.handicraftgifts.com/Junk_Gene/Metaphysics.htm
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ontology
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Ontology
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Ontology
9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?
The camera used is called Dodeca 2360 made by Immersive Media. It looks like a disco ball, and has 11 lenses. The camera costs about $45,000.
http://gizmodo.com/264972/the-google-maps-street-view-camera
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9724604-1.html
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5295795_google-create-street.html
10. Name three computer operating systems (not for phones) that are NOT Apple OS or MS-Windows operating systems?
- BeOS is an operating system for computers, initially developed in 1991 by Be Inc. This operating can be easily obtained at their website which is http://www.bebits.com/app/2680.
- Ubuntu created by Mark Shuttleworth in 2004 to try and make and easy-to-use Linux OS. Linux itself was created back in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The operating system is free and can be easily obtained from http://www.ubuntu.com/.
- ReactOS was released in 1998 and was developed by ReactOS Foundation. The project founder is Jason Filby. This opersting system is almost exactly like Windows, but it is free. This operating system can also be downloaded and the site that provides the link is at http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html.
http://www.bebits.com/app/2680
http://romantic-love.info/index.php?q=BeOS
http://www.zyra.org.uk/os.htm
http://alternatives.rzero.com/os.html
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu
http://www.newtolinux.info/
Hilarious video on communication technology! However what was once a mere fictional joke is now reality. A Japanese company are in development of a device called "FingerWhisper" which consists of a watch like cellphone worn on the wrist that converts sounds to vibrations and uses the bones in the hand to conduct it to the tip of a persons index finger. User can hear conversation by placing their finger in their ear, the mic is placed on the watch unit.
Time to put my game face on. But first I will follow what was written on the notes about Boolean Searching and actually load up Google and search for my name in inverted commas. (alt + tab brb).....
Well what I managed to find was a bunch of my Myspace and Facebook photos, pictures of my ex (sigh) and link of website I am in because of my trip to Israel last year to take part in combat training for my instructors license. Ill provide the link and image below, feel free to check the website for an interesting short read.
http://www.your-krav-maga-expert.com/krav-maga-instructors-Australia.html
Alrighty! Now back to the scavenger hunt, Ill have to search for these things without the use of Google or Wiki. I chose to use Bing, why you ask? Well because it was the first thing that popped in my head.
1. What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
The world's largest machine is a supertanker weighing 564,763 tons. My mind cannot even comprehend how heavy that is. Cost to build the ship is an estimated $9 Billion, my mind cannot comprehend that much money either....
http://www.vincelewis.net/viking.html
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built
2. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Can you find a place to live in Antarctica?
Macquarie Island seems to offer a place to stay that is least covered in snow, so I would choose to live there (however the -67 degree weather has me hesitant)
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/macquarie-island
3.When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
In 1832 a man called Samuel Morse created the most wellknown and sucessful electric telegraph machine. In 1844 the first long distance telegraph was constructed between Baltimore and Washington. By the 1870's the realisation that communications could be transformed from one type of medium to another and this lead to a global telecommunications network being established due to telegraphs written in word transformed into electrical signals then back to telegraphs in words.
http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html
4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?
The cheapest form of travel would be by air, costing about $56.00.
list of transport in order of cheapest to most expensive is below :
- Air plane
- Train
- Coach
- Own vehicle
http://www.flightcentre.com.au/product/1032354?ysmwa=oxsrN5qrszpiX-nOcmeNFA_WsVodYdlAmd2HN2PZhf7W2MhO_p8_EMJntxiXg8xs
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090608074131AAyAcWV
5. Who is Douglas Engelbart? What is he know for?Douglas Engelbart is a computer scientist from the United States. He has a Ph.D in electrical engineering. In the 1960's he set up the Augmentation Research Center and he was responsible for the invention of hypertext, multiwindow display, the mouse and groupware.http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/engelbart.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/douglas-engelbart
6.What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Stephen Conroy? (who is this guy?)
Senator Conroy is the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity. The quickest and most reliable way to contact him would be to call him. Possibly also by the means of email, however it may be ignored, sent to junk mail or replied in a slow fashion.
Phone : 02 6277-7480
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/senators.asp?id=3L6
http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/
7.What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1990?
The B-52's - Love Shack
This was a hard one to find, had to use multiple sites and even search stats on each song because nothing was accurate...
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=692
http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1990.htm
http://www.retro80.ru/music/Australia/1990.htm
8. How would you define the term 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
Ontology is generally concerned with the metaphysical nature of 'being'. In other words it is a theory behind "What exists", "What is", "What am I", "What is describing this to me".
Ontology is a part of philosophy that baisically means the study of existance and reality in attempt to determine what exists and what can be said to exist. I personally think this was the means of tryin to bring about purpose to our lives. The thought of "we are here to live, eat, multiply, then become fertilizer to the ground we walk on (personal thought)" maybe was not easily accepted. So this brought about the philosophical method of trying to answer "why am i here, what is the meaning of my existance".http://www.handicraftgifts.com/Junk_Gene/Metaphysics.htm
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ontology
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Ontology
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Ontology
9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?
The camera used is called Dodeca 2360 made by Immersive Media. It looks like a disco ball, and has 11 lenses. The camera costs about $45,000.
http://gizmodo.com/264972/the-google-maps-street-view-camera
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9724604-1.html
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5295795_google-create-street.html
10. Name three computer operating systems (not for phones) that are NOT Apple OS or MS-Windows operating systems?
- BeOS is an operating system for computers, initially developed in 1991 by Be Inc. This operating can be easily obtained at their website which is http://www.bebits.com/app/2680.
- Ubuntu created by Mark Shuttleworth in 2004 to try and make and easy-to-use Linux OS. Linux itself was created back in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The operating system is free and can be easily obtained from http://www.ubuntu.com/.
- ReactOS was released in 1998 and was developed by ReactOS Foundation. The project founder is Jason Filby. This opersting system is almost exactly like Windows, but it is free. This operating system can also be downloaded and the site that provides the link is at http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html.
http://www.bebits.com/app/2680
http://romantic-love.info/index.php?q=BeOS
http://www.zyra.org.uk/os.htm
http://alternatives.rzero.com/os.html
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu
http://www.newtolinux.info/
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Session 5
Todays meeting covered the topic of free sofware. When computers were first made people were free to share software, anyone could share and reuse the source code. However, due to computers gain in popularity companies started selling software and made free sharing illegal. A man called Richard M. Stallman then started a Free Software Foundation under the name GNU to allow users once more to share and reuse software. In his goal to keep free software free, he created the GNU Public License to ensure that users do not steal and sell free software.
Open Source was the attempt to have free software used in the business world. The name Free Software was changed to Open Source to counter proprietary (closed source) software. Closed source software essentially means that one cannot freely see, use and modify the source code. You do not own it either by purchasing, you just have a license to use the software. However with free software anyone is able to see, use and edit. Software is usually developed by people within the community which is why I would assume free software is more suited for the community.
I actually am a user of free software for many years, to be exact I have been using Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird for about six years. I originally moved away from Internet Explorer due to it crashing so much, and the need to download so many addons and random things in order to view web pages properly. Mozilla was so much smoother and dependable, and when they released the update with "multiple tabs on one window" I was hooked! That function was not implemented into Internet Explorer for a while which kind of shows how free software seems to follow the "from the people for the people" line. Next I might actually try Linux, who knows?
Open Source was the attempt to have free software used in the business world. The name Free Software was changed to Open Source to counter proprietary (closed source) software. Closed source software essentially means that one cannot freely see, use and modify the source code. You do not own it either by purchasing, you just have a license to use the software. However with free software anyone is able to see, use and edit. Software is usually developed by people within the community which is why I would assume free software is more suited for the community.
I actually am a user of free software for many years, to be exact I have been using Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird for about six years. I originally moved away from Internet Explorer due to it crashing so much, and the need to download so many addons and random things in order to view web pages properly. Mozilla was so much smoother and dependable, and when they released the update with "multiple tabs on one window" I was hooked! That function was not implemented into Internet Explorer for a while which kind of shows how free software seems to follow the "from the people for the people" line. Next I might actually try Linux, who knows?
My Video
This is my video for this weeks tutorial activity. All images are mine and the audio is from Jamendo.com which offers music that is under CC license. The video is on the pictures taken from the road trip my good friends and I planned last July. It was awesome to finally see more of Australia than just Gold Coast! We pooled our cash together, rented out three very dodgy camper vans (financial limits hahah) and drove to Fraser Island while making so many random stops along the way. I definately had a hilarious and memorable time, hope I put that through the video with the pictures I chose. Enjoy!
Session 4
The task I have chosen for today is discussing the Terms of Service for Facebook. As I opened Google to search for the terms, a wall of text hit me in the face. Found a comfortable position on my chair as I prepared myself to read what I was sure to have my head spin sooner than later. Having ignored these terms before while I was signing up and instead was just clicking the 'next' button, I knew I was in for a surprise.
My initial reaction was the confusion at how all these terms related to me, and through further analysis in trying to break down exact meanings I was saddened to see that my Lecturer was actually right about Facebook. Everything you upload onto Facebook was archived and stored, in addition to that deleting informaiton on your account was not actually deleting them, just has them unavailable to others.
"When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others)."
I personally know that when you empty your recycling bin, what you deleted is still retrievable because your hard drive still has it stored. So, essentially what Facebook is saying is that they have your material forever.
Another thing that particularly caught my attention was the fact that we gave Facebook permission to do practically whatever they wished to do with our intellectual property rights (videos, pictures etc). "You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook." In other words we allow Facebook to use any of our images, videos, messages, information that we have posted on Facebook or anything in connection. This is ridiculous, Facebook could in fact use my drunken party pictures in a magazine and get away with it!
Through some research I did manage to find out that there are a large number of people who do not support Facebook's Terms of Service, well the new one at least. The old Terms of Service at least stated "when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire." The new Terms states that Facebook as rights over all our content, even if we delete everything including out accounts.
Realising how my lecturer was right about everything he said regarding Facebook so far, there was one last issue he stated which I had to look further into. He said that the applications used on Facebook (which there are so many of) can actually gain access to not only my own personal information, but that of my friends also. Once you click the "allow" button to use the application, it has 100% full access to everything. The part of the Terms of Service that proves this is "When you use an application, your content and information is shared with the application, and your agreement with that application will control how the application can use, store, and transfer that content and information."
So here I am, sitting in a pool of disappointment as I come to realise that I let the application "How Good are you in Bed??" gain full access to everything on my Facebook account.....
I am really regretting uploading so many things, I dont even want to use the messaging or chat service offered on Facebook. Hmmm, I might move on to Skype now? I hope they don't secretly record you....(searches Terms of Service for Skype).
References :
Facebook Terms of Service
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
My initial reaction was the confusion at how all these terms related to me, and through further analysis in trying to break down exact meanings I was saddened to see that my Lecturer was actually right about Facebook. Everything you upload onto Facebook was archived and stored, in addition to that deleting informaiton on your account was not actually deleting them, just has them unavailable to others.
"When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others)."
I personally know that when you empty your recycling bin, what you deleted is still retrievable because your hard drive still has it stored. So, essentially what Facebook is saying is that they have your material forever.
Another thing that particularly caught my attention was the fact that we gave Facebook permission to do practically whatever they wished to do with our intellectual property rights (videos, pictures etc). "You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook." In other words we allow Facebook to use any of our images, videos, messages, information that we have posted on Facebook or anything in connection. This is ridiculous, Facebook could in fact use my drunken party pictures in a magazine and get away with it!
Through some research I did manage to find out that there are a large number of people who do not support Facebook's Terms of Service, well the new one at least. The old Terms of Service at least stated "when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire." The new Terms states that Facebook as rights over all our content, even if we delete everything including out accounts.
Realising how my lecturer was right about everything he said regarding Facebook so far, there was one last issue he stated which I had to look further into. He said that the applications used on Facebook (which there are so many of) can actually gain access to not only my own personal information, but that of my friends also. Once you click the "allow" button to use the application, it has 100% full access to everything. The part of the Terms of Service that proves this is "When you use an application, your content and information is shared with the application, and your agreement with that application will control how the application can use, store, and transfer that content and information."
So here I am, sitting in a pool of disappointment as I come to realise that I let the application "How Good are you in Bed??" gain full access to everything on my Facebook account.....
I am really regretting uploading so many things, I dont even want to use the messaging or chat service offered on Facebook. Hmmm, I might move on to Skype now? I hope they don't secretly record you....(searches Terms of Service for Skype).
References :
Facebook Terms of Service
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
Session 3
On this meeting we had a look at virtual community and individual identity. Virtual community explains the ways in which a group of people communicate via the use of the internet. Individual identity is a way to explain how people express who they are via the internet.
"The internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life. In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create"
(Turkle, 1995, Life on the screen).
WIth the lack of actual face-to-face contact that exists within these virtual communities, users have an unbiased freedom in the way they choose to portray themselves online. They are free from social norms and unbound by restrictions, coming together and meeting others with shared interests.
While we were discussing these today I was reminded of a virtual community I was once part of. Second Life is a virtual world where people from all over the globe are a part of. In this virtual reality, their avatars are free to create and design their own 'perfect world'. One can use real life money to invest in Second Life and buy houses, cars, clothes, start vitual businesses, baisically do anything you can imagine. The virtual community world has actually grown so massive, that many users in Second Life (for example) actually make a living and some lucky few striking millionnaire.
As I thought of all of these things, it all made sense at how much of an impact the internet brings on todays society. Communication is a necessity in todays culture and with the use of the internet, people who were isolated in different geographical areas are now unbound from meeting others. The creation and sale of virtual services and goods is becoming a bigger market in todays world. Virtual sales is not only limited to Second Life, it exists everywhere on the internet in today's world, where you can even buy a new cow to place on your farm in Farmville.
Below is an example of one of the largest virtual communities existing, and how anyone can be whoever they want to be."The internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life. In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create"
(Turkle, 1995, Life on the screen).
WIth the lack of actual face-to-face contact that exists within these virtual communities, users have an unbiased freedom in the way they choose to portray themselves online. They are free from social norms and unbound by restrictions, coming together and meeting others with shared interests.
While we were discussing these today I was reminded of a virtual community I was once part of. Second Life is a virtual world where people from all over the globe are a part of. In this virtual reality, their avatars are free to create and design their own 'perfect world'. One can use real life money to invest in Second Life and buy houses, cars, clothes, start vitual businesses, baisically do anything you can imagine. The virtual community world has actually grown so massive, that many users in Second Life (for example) actually make a living and some lucky few striking millionnaire.
As I thought of all of these things, it all made sense at how much of an impact the internet brings on todays society. Communication is a necessity in todays culture and with the use of the internet, people who were isolated in different geographical areas are now unbound from meeting others. The creation and sale of virtual services and goods is becoming a bigger market in todays world. Virtual sales is not only limited to Second Life, it exists everywhere on the internet in today's world, where you can even buy a new cow to place on your farm in Farmville.
Hilarious video on communication technology! However what was once a mere fictional joke is now reality. A Japanese company are in development of a device called "FingerWhisper" which consists of a watch like cellphone worn on the wrist that converts sounds to vibrations and uses the bones in the hand to conduct it to the tip of a persons index finger. User can hear conversation by placing their finger in their ear, the mic is placed on the watch unit.
Session 2
In todays lecture, we talked about the history of the computer and the internet. Having realised how computers originated from mechanical devices designed for calculations really amazed me. It made me look back when I was younger and remember the days when I used to have a Windows 3.1 OS and my pockets loaded with floppy disks. The advance in technology really is phenomenal and bring about a question in my head, "what comes next?". Computers came from being such primitive devices to a necessity in society and everyday life.
As for the internet, I honestly thought it was the same thing as the web. Like how shrimp in America is called "shrimp" and in Australia its called "prawn". I was unaware of the exact differences between the web and internet until today, where we discussed how internet is a network of networks and the web is a use we have for the internet mainly to communicate.
It was really interesting to see the advancement in both computer and internet technologies, and an eye opener to how dependant we as a society currently are to it.
The first video I chose is based around a reading I looked at personally, talking about how all wars bring about a demand for technological advancement. This demand is one of the main reason of advancement. That "edge" is what all militaries strive to achieve which is why their influences can be seen in the developments and creations of computers and the internet throughtout the years.
As for the internet, I honestly thought it was the same thing as the web. Like how shrimp in America is called "shrimp" and in Australia its called "prawn". I was unaware of the exact differences between the web and internet until today, where we discussed how internet is a network of networks and the web is a use we have for the internet mainly to communicate.
It was really interesting to see the advancement in both computer and internet technologies, and an eye opener to how dependant we as a society currently are to it.
The first video I chose is based around a reading I looked at personally, talking about how all wars bring about a demand for technological advancement. This demand is one of the main reason of advancement. That "edge" is what all militaries strive to achieve which is why their influences can be seen in the developments and creations of computers and the internet throughtout the years.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Introduction
Hey there, I am a student doing 1308 Double Degree program in Griffith University. Over the next two weeks I have been assigned to blog activities that are taking part in the subject I have enrolled in for my free choice elective 'Communication Systems'. As I am somewhat of a computer nerd myself I would hope that I won't have any difficulties with the tasks at hand.
As for more about me, my nationality is German however I am also half Filipino. I grew up in The Gambia, a small country on the west coast of Africa and when I finished high school I moved here to Australia where I plan to stay for the full duration of my four year program.
As for more about me, my nationality is German however I am also half Filipino. I grew up in The Gambia, a small country on the west coast of Africa and when I finished high school I moved here to Australia where I plan to stay for the full duration of my four year program.
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