Final Essay

Why privacy is such a contentious issue for internet users particularly for young people who use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook


Privacy is not a new issue, long before the digital age of technology and prior to the invention of social media sites young people were concerned about who knew their confidential information. In the school yard we worried about who we told our secrets to and only certain stories we divulged to our parents. Parents were also concerned, their children had strict curfews and we were always warned as children, never to talk to strangers and never to hang out with the wrong crowd. So why are we so obsessed with privacy in recent times? This essay will examine why in our technological age, privacy has become such a debatable issue, particularly due to concerns with the internet and social networking. This paper will look at two social networking sites commonly used by children in Australia, MySpace and Facebook and if the growing concern is warranted.


Social networking sites have arguably changed the way young people in Australia interact. According to influential social media researcher Danah Boyd ‘Socialisation is forced to shift out of shopping centres and parks, and into “networked publics” (Boyd, 2007). Social networking is the norm for young people today; not participating can make them feel isolated. Senior lecturer at Griffith Brady Robards conducted a small research project on the Gold Coast. He explains ‘abstaining can often equate to social exclusion, given that many offline social events are organised through social network sites (Robards, 2010). This means that parental responsibilities and concerns are different today is different compared with those in the past. Nowadays parents have less concerns about their children’s whereabouts, they have to worry of knowing what their child is up to on social networking sites in the home.


The media has played a huge role in bringing the privacy on social networking sites debate to the forefront of our attention. Just this month the Courier Mail ran a story headlined “Queensland Premier Anna Bligh speaks out on the unsuitability of Facebook for pre-teens” this story explains how the premier advises parents to be vigilant as children may pose as adults to sign up for an account. In the article John Fison (2010), Chairman of Brisbane IT firm NetboxBlue explains how social media can be a great tool for young people, however warns of the hazards ‘Social networking can be a great tool, it is a lifesaver for children at boarding school or in remote areas but there can be serious dangers’. The internet can prove to be a very dangerous place, not because social networking sites themselves are perilous rather it is simply the volume of people who can potentially connect with yourself or your child. Dwyer et. Al (2007) begs the question ‘Is it possible to join a network of millions of people and be able to trust all of them?’ We would to be naïve to think so.


Social networking in Australia is extremely popular ‘On a per capital basis Australia has one of the highest uptakes of social media in the world’ (Social Media News, 2010). As mentioned earlier this is where the issue of privacy becomes extremely important as exposure to large audiences has associated risks. Until recent years Australia was reality unscathed in the online social networking revolution however some tragic horror stories have emerged in our own backyard as a result of using social networking sites. A 15 year old girl, Carly Ryan was murdered after being lured by an older predator posing as an alter ego on MySpace. Carly Ryan’s mother is now campaigning for parents to exercise extreme caution with what their children are doing on social networking sites ‘They need to be more actively involved and checking their children’s websites’ she said (Adelaide Now 2010). Danah Boyd agrees with this notion in her presentation at the annual Music, Film & Interactive Conference however, she draws a fine line between parent’s being concerned for their child’s privacy and invading it themselves. Ms Boyd suggests opening the issue for discussion rather than being totally against social networking, ‘please consider the value of opening up a dialogue’ (Boyd 2010) she says.


Strangers are not the only individuals who put our children at risk by invading privacy on social networking sites. A Melbourne teenager Allem Halkic, committed suicide after he was a victim of cyber-bullying by a former best friend on MySpace. This particular case was a landmark prosecution in Australia. In an interview with the ‘Australian Newspaper’ Police Prosecutor Glenn Collins referred to bullying on social networking sites as ‘a plague in our community’ (The Australian 2010). The dangers with social networking are very real, so as expert researchers have suggested parents need to engage in active monitoring of their children’s involvement in shared media on the internet. Privacy is always jeopardised on the walls of social networking sites as the content is public. Young people can read conversations between their peers and draw whatever conclusions they like from them. They are also free to write whatever they like about each other, a perfect platform for bullying. This case highlights the need for parent’s to exercise vigilance over their children’s privacy. Young people need to be educated on the dangers of writing certain things on their MySpace or Facebook.


This essay has examined privacy concerns associated with social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. There are many risks related to the use of both of them, however youth of today must utilise and engage them in order to have a feeling of belonging and social acceptance among their peers. This essay concludes that there are significant benefits as well as risks for young people engaging in social networking. This notion is well summarised by German sociologist Giddens as follows ‘for today’s teenagers, self-actualisation increasingly includes a careful negotiation between the opportunities (for identitiy, intimacy and sociality) and risks (regarding privacy, misunderstanding, abuse) afforded by internet-mediated communication (cited in Livingstone p12). The issue of privacy and risk on social networking on sites such as MySpace and Facebook is only predicted to grow further in the future. Parent’s and young people should exercise caution and utilise privacy settings so they can successfully use these sites without threat and realise the social rewards from using them.



Bibliography:

Boyd, Danah 2007, ‘Why youth (heart) social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life’, in D. Buckingham (ed.) MacArthur foundation series on digital learning – youth, identity and digital media: 119-142

Boyd, Danah 2010, ‘Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity’ SXSW Music, Film & Interactive Conference’ Austin, Texas, March 13 2010

Livingstone, Sonia 2008, ‘Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers’ user of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media & Society, 10(3): 393-411

Robards, Brady 2010, ‘Randoms in my bedroom: Negotiating privacy and unsolicited contact on social network sites’, PRism, 7(3)

Sinnerton, Jackie 2010, ‘Queensland Premier Anna Bligh speaks out on unsuitability of Facebook for pre-teens’, Courier Mail October 10 2010, viewed October 10 2010 <]http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland-premier-anna-bligh-speaks-out-on-unsuitability-of-facebook-for-pre-teens/story-e6freon6-1225936496248 ‘Social Media Stats in Australia – Facebook, Blogger, Myspace’ Social Media News.com.au June 11 2010, viewed 5 October 2010 http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-stats-in-australia-facebook-blogger-myspace/

Further references:

Boyd, Danah 2008, ‘Facebook’s Privacy Trainwreck: Exposure, Invasion and Social Convergence’ Sage Publications, London, Los Angeles, New Delhi and Singapore Vol 14(1): 13–20

Baumgartner J, and Morris, J 2010, ‘MyFace& YouTube Politics, Social Networking and Political Engagement of Young Adults’ Social Science Computer Review, 28(1)

Cassell, J and Cramer, M 2007 ‘High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online’ MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. (pp. 53-75) MIT Press

Dwyer, C. , Starr R. & Passerini K. 2007, ‘Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and Myspace’ Americas Conference on Information Systems , Colorado August 09 -12 2007

Dunlop, W.G 2010, ‘Privacy a priority, says Facebook director Randi Zuckerberg’, viewed October 18 2010 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hiIK2tpygMx0K3NMwARTZ0DwHMCQ?docId=CNG.39d86b87288610357aedef0bdb96a13e.4f1

Evans, David and Felt Adrienne 2008, ‘Privacy Protection for Social Networking Platforms’, Workshop on Web 2.0 Security and Privacy. Oakland, CA. 22 May 2008

Fewster, Sean 2010, ‘I won’t let Carly’s death be in vain’ Adelaide Now January 30 2010, viewed 8 October 2010, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/i-wont-let-carlys-death-be-in-vain/story-e6frea83-1225824877039

Hunt, Elissa 2009, ‘Jordan Parker jailed for sex with underage girls after befriending them on Myspace’, Herald Sun December 3 2009, viewed October 8 2010, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/jordan-parker-jailed-for-sex-with-underage-girls-after-befriending-them-on-myspace/story-e6frf7jo-1225806546765

McDonald, Brendan 2010, ‘Don’t revel in virtual reality’, Herald Sun, July 21 2010, viewed 8 October 2010 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/dont-revel-in-virtual-reality/story-e6frfhqf-1225882005697

Pearson, Erika 2009, ‘All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks’, First Monday, 14(3).

Raynes-Goldie, K. 2010, ‘Aliases, creeping and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook’, First Monday, 15(1) http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432


‘2010 Australian Social Media Compendium’, Australian Media Blog, viewed 7 October 2010 http://digitalmarketinglab.com.au/index.php/2010/03/28/2010-australian-social-media-compendium/


‘Satanist uses MySpace to feed desire for teen girls’, The Daily Telegraph October 30 2009, viewed October 8 2010 http://www.news.com.au/technology/satanist-uses-myspace-to-feed-desire-for-teen-girls/story-e6frfro0-1225792626406

Course evaluation

Overall, I have to say I have really enjoyed the New Comm Tech Course!

I did learn alot about the digital world that I never knew existed.. and I had underestimated the power things like culture jamming. I do feel that there was too much time spent discussing certain themes such as cyberpunking and culture jamming. I was really lucky to meet a great group in our tutorial and we all worked really well together on our set activities.

In my opinion the course could be improved by teaching us more practical skills and letting us put them in to practice in tutorials...rather than the weeks where we spent most of the tute time just discussing themes and ideas e.g cyberpunk it is really just a sci-fi genre ...I thought the short interactive tasks like making a film and uploading it to the net.. and setting up our blogs were the things I found most useful. I would suggest some website building or photoshop tutorials... things like that.

I also must add that I only enjoyed about half of the lectures I attended. I enjoyed the lectures given by Josh and Jules... but the guest lecturers were as exciting as watching grass grow or paint dry. The guest lectures focused a little too heavily on conspiracy theories and speculation rather than actual facts and knowledge we will take with us to the workforce.

I think with a little tweaking the course could be slightly better.. but you guys have still done an amazing job!

Cheers,

Sherie :)

Creative Commons *S*p*a*r*k*

Creative commons are a type of licence that enable the legal sharing, reixing and reusing of content such as images, knowledge, text, music.

They can cover everything a copyright can like can you reproduce it, can you alter this, can you put this in an assignment or text book. An individual or organisation can tailor creative commons to suit their individual needs.

"Creative Commons is much needed ammunition in the battle against digital theft or “borrowing”." — =SeverinaSnape, deviantART

"Each Creative Commons licence comes with the same baseline user rights and restrictions. These allow the material to be copied, distributed and reused, at a minimum in its current form, for non-commercial purposes, and as long as the original creator/s are credited". (Creative Commons.org)

You would already be using some of the biggest creative commons licence users and not even know it..

think:

WIKIPEDIA!

Here's an awesome video that easily explains CREATIVE COMMONS

I found this really great article by a Griffith University Academic Paul Draper called "Who’s really doing the stealing? How the music industry’s pathological pursuit of profit and power robs us of innovation". http://www29.griffith.edu.au/imersd/draper/publications/research/draper_whos_really_doing_the_stealing.pdf. Paul explains how difficult it is to teach music studies at a university with all the contrainsts, copyrights and licences put on music due to it's commercialisation.

Paul is an advocate for creative commons licences, he states: "CC licences have provided a efficient pathway into understanding the basic rights of creators and have been successfully used in Conservatorium classes and projects" (Draper, 2006).

It is absurd to think that academics themselves must check each and every peice produced by a student against licence databases and copyright checks to ensure that their work is legal. Society has gone made with its ownership of things.. a company can patent a colour for crying out loud!

I struggled to find an academic article which discussed online journals or databases however I did find a really great article analysing the benefits and pitfalls of creative commons licensing:

http://law.unh.edu/assets/pdf/idea-vol46-no3-katz.pdf
This article concludes that creative commons may prove negative for the owner of content as it may be reproduced in ways they had not envisaged or intended.


Here is a great, simple FACT SHEET on creative commons in Australia published by the Australian copyright council:

www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/g094.pdf

Works using CREATIVE COMMONS



Elephants Dream is a film made entirely from open / shared graphics and images by The Orange Open Movie Project studio in Amsterdam.

The website comes complete with loads of production images and music all free to share under creative commons licence.

Its really interesting to see that this entire movie was made from shared files, heres a link to the website:

http://orange.blender.org/

I also found a music video by "Changing Clocks" made entirely from open flickr images:



The band RADIOHEAD even created a music video using creative commons licensed data, heres a link to the article and video:

http://boingboing.net/2008/07/14/radioheads-new-3dviz.html


PORTABLE APPS!

I had heard this term used before an never actually twigged what it meant. The term portable applications basically refers to computer programs which can run straight from a USB without having to be installed on a computer.

Once I understood the term I do remember students relying heavily on portable apps to be able to play their bloody, gorey war games at school. They used the portable apps to dodge the department of education & trainings firewalls and blocks on their PC's and student access logons.

I decided to try some apps from portableapps.com. I was surprised to find loads of useful apps, not just games. You can get all sorts of programs from music players, word processor to image manipulation software.

I downloaded AssaultCube Portable, http://portableapps.com/apps/games/assaultcube_portable these apps downloaded in a couple of minutes and open instantly by opening the .exe file on your USB. Assauly cube was like an old school 'DUKE NUKEM' game, it may offer a place to take out some frustration during essay writing! hahaha


References:

http://www29.griffith.edu.au/imersd/draper/publications/research/draper_whos_really_doing_the_stealing.pdf

http://creativecommons.org.au/learn-more/licences

http://creativecommons.org.au/

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/g094.pdf

http://portableapps.com/

Thoughts on the essay.... week 9 s*park :)

For the essay I have chosen...

How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?

When I read through the essay topics, this question really jumped off the page at me. Mostly because I have a keen interest in sociology and I engaged with many of the themes I will need to engage with in this essay in a course I completed last semester called 'Youth in society'.

I intend on getting in touch with a lecturer from last semester 'Brady Robards' who completed a PhD on how young people on the Gold Coast use social network sites (like MySpace and Facebook). Perfect!!! Im sure he will be a wealth of information for my essay..and he will definitely be able to steer me in the direction of some authors on the subject.

Ive started my research online also by reading a few journal articles.. I find it easier to find literature on this topic online rather than in books because the whole social media realm is such a new concept. I have chosen to focus my essay on how in particular 'Youth' are affected by social media as I feel this is where it has it's greatest impact and consquence on individual identity.

Ive found one awesome article already called 'Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites' by Esther Hargittai which analyses how people's demographics, background and the social surroundings relate to the social networking site they choose and how it impacts on them.

References:
Journal Articles

Boyd, D. M. and Ellison, N. B. (2008), Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13: 210–230. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x

Sexing the Internet:
Reflections on the Role of Identification in Online Communities
http://www.danah.org/papers/SexingTheInternet.conference.pdf

Social networking sites and teens
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2007/PIP_SNS_Data_Memo_Jan_2007.pdf.pdf

Week 8 - CYBERPUNK - Response

Understanding the concept... Cyberpunk

At first I found the concept of 'Cyberpunk' really hard to get my head around! This is, because the term can not be defined as a certain thing, rather it is better to talk about it as common styles, themes and ideas such as: corporate control, mutation, negative human behaviour, technology.

These ideas are combined in science-fiction to raise awareness of certain issues or get you thinking. The first movie that sprang to mind for me.. although it did not involve robotics or mutation was one that Will Smith starred in called "Enemeny of the State". The main ideas of the movie focused on the American Governments control of society through technology, although I wouldn't call it sci-fi for me I would put it's themes into the cyberpunk category. What do you think?



The cyberpunk nerds on cyberpunkreview.com (the most comprehensive resource site I found) failed to name Enemy of The State as a cyberpunk movie.. perhaps they missed it. However well known movies that they do name include: The Terminator, Alien, 12 monkeys, Robocop, Irobot, The Matrix, Total Recall & most recently AVATAR.

I really like the cyberpunk genre as I feel it even though in most cases it is just weird and wonderful fiction, it highlights the way technology, government and commercialisation are rapidly taking over our lives. If we are already creating robotic animals where does it stop?!


"Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body." – Lawrence Person

Who is WILLIAM GIBSON?!



William Gibson is one of the most well known and respected science fiction writers. He is often labelled the king of the cyberpunk genre of science fiction and is credited with predicting the rise of reality television.

Gibson began writing sci-fi novels in the 1970's. The cyberpunk movement emerged in the 80's "with Gibson at its helm, as an apparent manifestation of countercultural art (Vogler, 2010). Gibson's success was due to his first hit book "Neuromancer" which hit cult status and created the genre of cyberpunk.

IDEAS WE DEFINED IN THE LECTURE AS CYBERPUNK:
- Fusion of man and machine - Robots, cyborgs
(The Terminator, Robo cop, Hancock

- Corporate control over society - Large corporation, government (conspriacy theories), removal of civil liberties.

- Story focuses on the underground - Unground society, anti-hero, uprising
(Avatar)

- Ubiquitous Access to information - Hackers, internet, viruses, blurring of internet & reality

CYBERPUNK STYLE: charcters are dirty, hyper-realistic, neon colour schemes, slick tyle
(12 monkeys, the chick with the orange hair)

Source: http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/

No dicussion of CYBERPUNK is complete unless we mention Boston Dynamics Robotic Dog:



or what about Toyota's violin playing robot... call me crazy but WHAT THE??!!!!

'

It creeps me out! and to think with all the millions of dollars this robot took to develop, you think they would have made him do something a little.. I dunno.. USEFUL!

CYBERPUNK NEWS STORY

ROBOT SOLDIERS TAKING OVER WAR!



http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/811174-stephen-sackur-how-robot-soldiers-are-taking-over-war

ALTERED NEWS STORY!

ROBOTS TAKING OVER WORLD WAR III

June 15th, 2035

The nanobots are now the U.S military's strongest force in the war. In the air, robotics is pretty well advanced. Drone planes being used in Afghanistan are using technology which has been around since the mid-1990s. They were initially designed for surveillance but are now armed with potent missile and bomb systems to annihilate al-Qaeda.

They don’t get tired, they don’t get bored and thousands of significant terrorist leaders have been killed by them. The nanobots were originally developed as a bomb disposal robot for IEDs (roadside bombs). But the US subsidiary of the company has now weaponised it, either with an M16 or a grenade launcher, to make the first real ground-based robot soldier.

This generation of robots have much more autonomy. Once you introduce real autonomy the machine itself, with highly sophisticated computers is, in a very real sense, making its own decisions. These robots are so sophisticated they can identify the enemy before opening fire, they can also analyze a persons biological age from 200m away. There are designed not to fire upon anyone under the age of sixteen.

The US plans to have 80 % of its military aircraft unmanned. It has trained almost all incoming pilots to never leave the ground. This war has become a war fought by electronic counter-warfare and hacking into satellite links and communications.

References:
William (Ford) Gibson Biography

http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4355/Gibson-William-Ford.html

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/williamgibson.html

http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/

Robert K. J. Killheffer, an Interview with William Gibson in Publishers
Weekly, Vol. 240, No. 36, September 6, 1993, pp. 70 1. online: http://www.library.spscc.ctc.edu/electronicreserve/swanson/InterviewwithWilliamGibsonFall2002.pdf

http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/

Week 6 - SOCIAL NETWORKING! Response & spark

Almost all of us are victims to the EVIL social networking realms these days... In my opinion if you are going to put your pictures, videos and text on the internet you have to take into consideration that it can be viewed by anyone! and is ultimately property of the social networking site itself. The social networking sites do have laws restricting

I had a scary experience myself when I was working as a teachers aide, where students googled my name and found photographs of me which I had posted onto myspace when I was a teenager. This proved how social networking sites can come back and haunt you, so ever since I have been extremely careful with what I put on my social networking sites, especially because I intend on being a teacher one day.

There is a way to protect yourself, most reputable sites e.g facebook do have extensive privacy settings to ensure that only certain users can access your information. My advice to others would be things like only add people to friends that you are sure you know and trust, always keep your images set to private, do not divulge your mobile number or address.

I thought another dimension of social networking I must mention here is CYBERBULLYING! I think parents in this day and age parents need to be extremely vigilant, especially in the impressionable teenage years from 14-17. When researching I find a very tragic landmark case about a 17 year old boy named Allem Halkic who chose to take his own life after being bullied on MYSPACE by another teen.

Here is a link to a story on the court case ran in the Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-avoids-jail-in-first-cyber-bullying-case-20100408-rv3v.html

This tragic case highlights the darker side of social networking sites.

I found a disturbing article on cnet.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20018783-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20on how Facebook has been awarded further intellectual property rights with its new geolocation space. This is where you can "check-in" to a certain destination.. Its all a tad scary and invasive if you ask me, it's far too easy for someone to set up a fake profile and pose as a friend for my liking. I certainly won't be "CHECKING IN" anytime soon.

Further references:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/cyber-bully-convicted/story-e6frg6nf-1225851590486

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tragic-allem-puts-spotlight-on-bullying-problem-20090407-9xnx.html

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/number_of_virtual_world_users_breaks_the_1_billion.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29

Week 7 - Tute*spark - Free software trial

Free Software Trials..

For my software trial I decided to try LIMEWIRE. I have never been into downloading anything of the internet so I thought Id give the old music downloading a go! I went to www.download.com and downloaded the free version of Limewire 5.5. I was surprised at just how easy it was to download music. I really like the program but it did slow my whole computer down whilst it was downloading. The other negative is the volume and quality of the tracks I chose, there does not seem to be any uniformity. I was also frustrated at times when I thought I was downloading a full track and it was a stupid intro or parody.

I conducted some further research into the program and many sites warned against using Limewire because of the risk of it downloading viruses and trojans.. when I looked at various reviews this seemed to be a fairly common complaint. Another common complaint was the reduction in computer speed, which I also experienced when I downloaded the program.

I guess for me, you can't beat anything but the real thing... Ive tried Gimp and theres no comparison in quality.. like anything.. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR :)

References

http://www.download3000.com/limewire-user-reviews-18957.html

http://www.kokeytechnology.com/free-softwares/file-sharing-programs/beware-of-limewire-viruses-and-trojans-sample-limewire-virus-video/

WEEK 6 - Culture Jam! Griffith Uni Parking Nightmare!

SO YOU WANTED A CULTURE JAM?!
WE GOT IT!!!

COURIER MAIL WANTS A STORY!

So Jules told us in tutes that the aim of our culture jam was to get out there and get noticed.. so WE DID!

A couple of facebook groups.. a little commotion and a bogus email and one of Queensland's leading newspapers are calling up to run a story. This just goes to demonstrate the power of cyberpunking.

This hoax could have been orchestrated by a 7th grade high school student quite easily... scary the way we are manipulated by the media isn't it.. do they really know what they are talking about? The flip side of this is if you do wish to raise awareness about an issue technology and social media give us the best platform to get mass exposure in a short period of time.

Ive posted a pic of the email from the Courier Mail below:

Long live media watch!

SOME EARLIER STUFF ON OUR PUNK...

Parking Fees increase to $10 at Parklands... say what??!!!



It seems clear that this lady we snapped above has been trying to find a god damn park at Griffith University! To make matters worse we have just uncovered a leaked Gold Coast City Council document which says matters are going to be getting a whole lot worse.

We are going to have to start a MASSIVE student revolt against this!


Heres the link to the facebook group we created... we currently have 150 members and counting... people think this is real! tee-hehehe



http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=153480694680777&ref=ts

Lecture reviews 4 & 5 :)

Lecture review 4 - Big screen to small

This week we again talked history, this time something alot more interesting for me. 'The History of Film'. Its incredible to think that the cinema was born in 1895 yet we didnt get television in Australia til the 1950's. I found it really interesting that good old 'Snow white' was the first animated feature film.. and the fact that it grossed 8 million dollars way back in the 1930's is absolutely unbelievable! That sort of money in those days is totally & utterly unheard of.

We also looked at the impact that the internet is having on film makers. It is quite to the detriment of the Film Industry that anyone can post a dodgy film on YouTube these days and call themselves a film maker. The fact that YouTube managed a whopping 100 million views daily in its first year exemplifies just how much impact the internet is having on video & film.

Source: Lecture material

Image: Google images

Lecture Review 5 - Consumption and production

This lecture really made us stop and think about the how much the way in which we consume content. I looked at the way I consume media and how much it has changed in say the past 5 years or even 1 year.

5 years ago - My mobile phone would have sent text messages and had a basic camera. I would have only consumed the internet at work on the computer there, no home internet access, only myspace for social networking & that was very limited use. I would have never have watched a video or streamed radio online.

Today - I have an Apple Iphone which is linked to my facebook which updates me about 5 times a day, sometimes more if I check it. Same for both my Griffith Gmail and hotmail accounts. I have wireless internet on my small laptop which I take with me to uni and am on most nights. I am constantly on Youtube and my friends have started getting me into downloading videos off the net.. True Blood has me hooked.

What a massive difference! Im no computer addict.. or am I? The internet and computers are infiltrating our lives and we don't even realise its happening!

Source: Lecture material

CULTURE JAMMING!

Think anit-consumerism, social activism, transforming mass media to poke fun at itself, parodiesm think facebook groups against big companies..

Check out http://www.adbusters.org/



Definition:

Culture jamming is the art of hijacking the mainstream media, corporate advertisers, and the public domain to get across a message against one-way communication. Basically, culture jamming is sabotage of corporate or public property for political purposes. (Wikihow.com)

A masters thesis on culture jamming, worth a read:

http://www.nassio.com/sven/
Sven Woodside (2001) Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, Final M.A. Thesis

ABC Link - How to make trouble and influence people:

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/headspace/rn/bbing/trouble/default.htm

END OF THE WORLD - DECEMBER 21St



12,597,870 views on Youtube!

Tute*spark - Internet videos!

CODY SIMPSON - RISE TO STARDOM VIA YOUTUBE

Cody Simpson was a regular Gold Coast twelve year old.. until he posted a YouTube clip of himself playing music online. The clip had hundreds of thousands of views in a few weeks. A record producer in the US viewed the clip & invited the young boy to the US to record. Within a few short months Cody has been shot to stardom, has recorded a music video with the famous artist FLOWRIDA and is said to be the next JUSTIN BEIBER. All of this demonstrates the immense power of YouTube and internet videos.

Cody's original single he posted online, 'One' can be seen below:


Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ZuRlvggMo

ABC's Australian Story covered his rise to stardom & the power of internet films in this episode:


Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2s5Gh9lWXs

The video Cody recorded in the US "IyIyIy" has had a whopping 2,918,654 views on YouTube to date:


Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAHDtzeC_AU

6,000,000 VIEWS ON A HOME VIDEO?!

You don't have to be an aspiring star to have huge exposure on the internet.. the parents of this toddler have had over 6,000,000 views of their funny home video.


Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCOPNuuGeKA

MY EXPERIENCE MAKING AN INTERNET VIDEO

I had some experience making a digital video in a sociology course 'Youth in Society' last semester. This is the video we made:



Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hb0mSfFIh8

So are these videos good? Well... the answer is they don't have to be. Internet videos have to the power to reach such an incredibly huge audience that if your exposure is great enough, someone out there will. As you can see in the 'Cody Simpson' example his first video was not fantastic quality but he gained the right exposure to launch a career.

Treasure Hunt! Some useless facts for you... & Lecture review 3

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

In the coal stripmine Hambach in Germany, there was a machine so big that it boggles the mind.the Bagger 288:

This is the 45,000 ton Bagger 288 digger built by Krupps in Germany, and it is the largest land based machine built by humans on the face of the planet.

It’s not fast, moving at about 2 meters a minute, but boy can it shift rubble.

It can dig up 240,000 cubic meters of dirt a day. That’s about the same as a football field sized hole that’s 30 metres deep.

And why do you need a machine so absurdly big? So we can strip mine coal out of the ground, transport it hundreds of miles on massive trains and take it to power stations where we burn it to make electricity. And where does quite a chunk of this electricity go? Strangely back to the digger, as it requires 16.56 megawatts of electricity to operate. You’re not going to find a lot of solar panels on this leviathan.
Once it starts digging, it literally will not stop. Anything in its path will be chewed up, including this 60 ton bulldozer. How, I ask you, do you miss a 60 ton bulldozer?

Source: http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/26/bagger-288-the-worlds-biggest-machine/

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

Well... from my research 'just call up his manager!' his wife Sharon, or his agents...

Ozzy Osbourne's Manager:
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne Management
9292 Civic Center Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Phone: 310-859-7761

Ozzy Osbourne's Agents:
Ari Emanuel or Ari Greenburg
Endeavor Agency
9601 Wilshire Boulevard
3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Phone: 310-248-2000

Ozzy Osbourne's Music Agent:
Rob Light
Creative Artists Agency
2000 Avenue Of The Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone: 424-288-2000

Ozzy Osbourne's legal representation:
Manatt Phelps & Phillips
11355 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Phone: 310-312-4000

Contact information for Ozzy Osbourne is obtained from the internet largest contact database - Contact Any Celebrity.

Source: http://famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Ozzy_Osbourne/Contact.asp


Source: http://famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Ozzy_Osbourne/Contact.asp


3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication?

My research found that the first real evidence of Global Communication was Morse Code.

Samuel Morse (1791-1872) demonstrated a series of short signals to communicate over wires in 1836.

Source: http://www.wrvmuseum.org/morsecode/morsecodehistory.htm)



4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?

The cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne for a single person is $59 one way if you can snag a sale on Tiger Airways.

Source: http://www.webjet.com.au/

or four people could drive a cheap 4 cylinder car for approximately $160 in fuel. Thats only $40 each! ROAD TRIP!!!

5. Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?

Hatsune Miku is a female anime character on a singing synthesizer application, she was developed (or belongs to) Crypton Future Media. Her voice is sampled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita. Her release date (or birthday) was August 31, 2007.



6. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.


The Australian Government's department of The Environment, Water, Heritage & The Arts has 4 live webcams streaming at its Antartica project website:

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/

There are no official hotels or accommodation in Antartica. The The Frei Base (established in 1980 under the name of Teniente Rodolfo Marsh) is the only accommodation available.

Source: http://www.chipsites.com/Travel/Antarctica/i_antarctica.htm

7. What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980?

In the 1980's our current Aria Charts were called the 'Kent Report' the number one song on the 11th of August was "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc.

Source: www.wikipedia.com



8. How would you define the term 'nano technology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?

Wow.. this was a difficult concept to get my head around!

My understanding of 'nano technology' is it is the science of building something from starting at it's smallest atom or molecule. This technology is becoming widely used by engineers, chemists, biologists etc.

How it works:

At the nanoscale, objects are so small that we can't see them -- even with a light microscope. Nanoscientists have to use tools like scanning tunneling microscopes or atomic force microscopes to observe anything at the nanoscale. Scanning tunneling microscopes use a weak electric current to probe the scanned material. Atomic force microscopes scan surfaces with an incredibly fine tip. Both microscopes send data to a computer, which can assemble the information and project it graphically onto a monitor

Source: Encyclopedia Brittanica

Useful links on nanotechnology:

http://www.nanotech-now.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology

These YouTube clips helped me understand the concept:









Source: www.youtube.com

9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?

The camera used was Dodeca 2360, a camera had the shape of a ball that his measurement almost was the same as the measurement of the ball softball.
This camera could take the picture in several angle (the corner) at the same time (consisted of 11 lenses) with the resolution 2400 x 1200 pixel with the speed until 30 frame per the second (fps).

Source: http://www.itechdiary.com/camera-to-make-street-view-technology-in-google-map.html

10. Translate these questions into Klingon.

Q1: nuq 'oH vo' 'ar ta'ta' 'oH Daq chen
Q2: nuq 'oH HochHom Daq
Q3: ghorgh 'ej nuq ghaHta' wa'DIch vo'
Q4: nuq 'oH vo' vo' SuD baS Daq
Q5: 'Iv 'oH nuq ta'taH ghaH Daq nuq 'oH Daj qoS
Q6: tu' yIn Daq tu' Daq Daq Daq
Q7: nuq bom ghaHta' vo' vam Daq
Q8:chay' SoH Daq lIj ghaj mu'mey nuq ta'taH 'oH
Q9: nuq vo' 'oH Daq chenmoH
Q10: Dochvammey Daq tlhIngan

Source: www.mrklingon.org/

Lecture Review Week 3 - Short history of computing & the internet

Hmm... this has been my least favourite lecture thus far.. history, especially of the internet and computers is as rivetting as watching paint dry. Lucky I have been enjoying the rest of the course!

Nethertheless I did learn something! learned that computers originated from basic adding machines.. well at least thats where the concept has evolved from. I also learned that 'The World Wide Web' and 'The Internet' are actually 2 different things.. the web is actually just a 'use' of the internet.

I still cannot seem to grasp how the internet actually works, even though I have been brought up with all of this technology at my disposal. I do know that the internet and our new technologies are amazing, but I would have a lot more time to study if it wasnt for the invention of Iphones & Facebook!

I started a timeline below which I have started adding to, I will use this for reference and revision as the course goes on:

1950's - IBM first commercial production

1965- Gordon Moore - Moores law - the notion that the power of a microchip doubles every 2 years

1975- First PC released - Around this time Bill Gates starts Microsoft in his garage

1976- Apple 1 goes on sale (source: library.thinkquest.org)

1977- Commodore PET born (souce: library.thinkquest.org)

1978 - Apple 2 released

1990 - Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web (Source: webopedia.com)

1994/1995 - First online videos emerge

2002- Blackberry born (source: library.thinkquest.org)

2004- YouTube is born, online video now available to the masses

Lecture review 2 - Cine-speak

This week's lecture was all about 'Cine-speak' or 'learning the language of the cinema' (nicholas 2010). In a nutshell the concept relates to what story or narrative we can tell from a shot without writing it in words. We can add so much extra to a story by simple using the right camera angles, poses and shots at the right time.

When we were filming our 30-shot short film we tried to use as many variations of camera angles as we could. We also tried to use shots that imply things or use 'pictures as words'.

You will be able to see this in many of our shots. You can see shots where we use just Jay (the stalker's) legs and myself (the victim) is off in the background. Or a very long camera angle from behind Jay looking at Sherie in the distance to create this sense of stalking. Another good example of pictures telling a story is the shot after Jay is punched. Here just from using a close up and facial expression you can tell he has been wounded.

I found this lecture really useful. I wish my mum had learned the rule of thirds back before we had digital cameras.. we have so many old family photos with copious amounts of sky and tiny little people in the shot! We are fairuly spoilt these days as we have so much editing software at our fingertips that if we stuff up a camera angle or position we can easily move and crop things.

Heres an image which demonstrates the rule of thirds:



Source: Lecture material
Picture: Google Images

The following link is a really really great website on camera shots and angles:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Creating a short video to display on YouTube!

Our week two task in New Communication Technologies was designed to show us just how quickly and easily you can collect data and display it to a wide audience in a very short time.

Our group of three Myself, Mitchell and Jay were given the title 'Trapped' to create a 30 shot narrative to be created and displayed within a one hour tutorial.

We took 10 minutes to brainstorm our storyline. Our storyline begins with Jay following myself into the bathroom... the story appears to be a horror throughout the video but the conclusion is that Jay is simply trying to return my wallet which I had lost.

Using an Apple Iphone we shot 30 images around the university. Then we uploaded the images into Iphoto, created a slideshow added sound and voila!

The final stage in creating our video was to upload the video onto YouTube.. the results can be seen below!

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHmWn7jPdzY&feature=player_embedded

Lecture review 1 - Old Communication Technology vs New Communication Technology

New Comm Tech was my very first lecture this semester! This course sounds really interesting & up my alley… even if I’m not a computer nerd. We are going to be doing a ‘Tutespark’ each week, which is like an interactive activity/question…like answering questions & combining your response with a short film, blog etc. I’m really looking forward to it rather than a stack of boring, dry essays like most subjects require.

The two lecturers Josh & Jules seem a little quirky… but it sounds like they like a bit of fun! I like their conversational approach to the lecture material, keeps me from almost nodding off like I do in some others and… I love the fact that Josh said there’s not much point taking lecture notes, woohoo!!!

Today’s lecture provided an overall insight into the concept of technology, Josh defined this as ‘The scientific study of mechanical arts and their application to the world’. Then we looked ‘Communication Technology’ and distinguishing ‘Old Technology’ vs. ‘New Technology’. I learned that communication technology does not have to have any relation to computers or technology… rather it is ANYTHING that helps humans communicate with each other.

Our Tute*Spark this week is:

How do we distinguish between old and new communication technologies? Under what circumstances will new communication technologies become old communication technologies?

I created these two images below to help you easily compare 'Old Comm Tech' and 'New Comm Tech':

Old Communication Technology:




New Communication Technology



I thought this 'Did you know' video was really interesting to show how rapidly changing technology is affecting us all.

I found this interesting article on Google Scholar which emphasises how buy investing in new technology we become more productive and efficient:


http://www.jstor.org/pss/2647074http://www.jstor.org/pss/2647074


Then on the flip side I found this article on how 'Old reliable items are being phased out by new technology' (Sixbear 2009)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1452341/old_technology_vs_new_technology.html


Although the second article is not scholarly, she does raise a few valid points.. worth thinking about

A little introduction...

HOW I LANDED IN NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

So I was working in Real Estate for 8 years (far too long) and absolutely got the jack of slaving my backside off on weekends. I had just turned twenty five and realised tonnes of my friends had graduated university and now had high-paying careers, here I was hating my occupation and no real qualifications. What a dilemma...

So.... I QUIT! what? quit? yes!

So I went straight out looking for a new job, right? NO! I booked a holiday to South-East Asia for a month and on the plane I hopped to do some soul searching.

Whilst on holidays with my best mate Bianca she came up with a nice solution to all my problems. Why don't you go to uni & become a teacher?!!!

So.. here I am.. completing a Batchelor of Journalism / Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education. I chose New Communication Technologies as a prerequisite for Secondary Computing Studies Teaching.

So far I am thoroughly enjoying the course, it is a fresh change from dry exercises in some other tutorials. Tutorials in New Communication Technologies are fresh, engaging, teach you new skills, get you actively interacting with other students and allow a bit of creativity!