Essay

Haha, just when I thought I was finished with this blog, I realise we have to post our essay into here as well... whoopsies!
And after researching the topic further I decided to change topic as well, so as for my Week 9 post, it has nothing to do with this.


Jessi Markham
New Communication Technologies
Due Date: 22nd October 2010

Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users? Discuss with reference to at least one social network service.

The word 'privacy' has become a loose term in today's culture and has become a contentious issue for many internet users. This essay will be discussing the lack of knowledge people have on the subjects of privacy and ownership in regards to their social network pages. It will also then talk about the implications that this lack of knowledge can create regarding identity. It will further discuss how a lack of privacy settings makes one more 'search able' on the internet and the negative occurrences that have resulted because of the information that people have posted online. Social networks were originally intended to create an easier way of communication between others but it can be questioned as to whether they are really doing this or creating more issues.

Social networks has been quoted as "the way the 21st century communicates today" (Social Networking, http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/, Accessed 18/10/10). Social networks are websites that have been created for people to stay in contact, via the web. People have the ability to blog, post pictures, comments and photos, play games, personalise their page, chat, etc, depending on which social network site one is using (Social Networking, http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/, Accessed 19/10/10). Because of the introduction of Web 2.0, it has resulted in "an explosion in the use of social networks..." (Brooks, 2007, pg1). Social networks have been developed into being a part of the social norm. To put in perspective how important these websites and way of interaction is in our culture, there has recently been a study that has reported that there have officially been over one billion virtual world users, and over half of this statistic comes from users under the age of 15 (Audrey Watters, October 1, ReadWriteWeb.com, Accessed 19/10/10). According to Hui-Yi & Hung-Yuan (2010) the social network website Facebook is first on the Top 20 social networking websites across the globe with a 54.76% of use. Facebook has over 500 million active users currently (Facebook.com, http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet, Accessed 19/10/10). These statistics show how important these websites are in our culture, and therefore how important the way one represents themself is going to become an issue.

Now that it has been established as to how many people use these networking sites, it can be discussed about the privacy issues that surround these websites. When people join a social networking website, most people neglect to read the terms and conditions or the statements of disclosure. But in regards to valuing safety, privacy and ownership, this is a norm that needs to be shifted. Using Facebook as an example, when reading the 'Privacy Policy', it states that Facebook is a website that is based on content (Facebook.com, http://www.facebook.com/policy.php, Accessed 19/10/10). It states that the website uses the content that someone posts on their page, to find out one's interests and then send them applications, events or other information about these findings. This is a demonstration as to how these social network pages are truly owned by the company, not the creator of the page. The content doesn't belong to the uploader, and nothing is actually private. This enhances the example as every part of content that someone posts, or like page, etc, you are working for Facebook and demonstrates why privacy is a contentious issue.

Privacy and safety are closely linked as without privacy settings a person is "less safe". The original intent for social networking sites was for people at college campuses in America to associate with one another. It was not about adding people that were not known to you or seeing how many friends you can add. Without privacy and being discreet about a profile, safety becomes an issue, especially with the younger generation. An example that caused great controversy and many parents to monitor their children's internet usage or force them to delete their profile happened over Myspace, (Myspace, http://www.myspace.com/, Accessed 19/10/10) in October 2006. Megan Meier, a 13 year old who made cyberfriends with a 16 year old boy named Josh, committed suicide because of his comments against her and him dumping her online. Unfortunately, it turned out that Josh was a made up character who was a neighbour. The woman had created Josh to see if Megan was being mean to her daughter. (Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312018,00.html, Accessed 20/10/10). This lack of safety and privacy can result in serious issues if not attended, and although this was an extreme case, it was valid and true. According to Elham and Nehmad (2008) there have been many cases of people adding strangers and it resulting in them knowing their timetables and finding out where they live. This is an additional result of lack of privacy.

An additional negative occurrence, that isn't so severe, but extremely common is job loss due to social networking sites. According to Brooks (2007), employers increasingly are looking at a job applicants' profiles on social networks as part of the recruitment process. The information that is posted, the comments displayed, language used and the pictures that are available to view can prevent applicants from receiving a job based on their behaviour, representation and attitude. Not only do social networks deprive people of receiving jobs, but it also has resulted in people losing their jobs. Examples of this are displayed all over the web. One example is, (Applicant, http://applicant.com/how-to-lose-a-job-via-facebook-in-140-characaters-or-less/, Accessed 21/10/10) a girl expressing her hate for work and boss on Facebook. She was oblivious or forgot that she had her boss as one of her friends. This resulted in her boss commenting on her status and she got fired. This again proves that privacy is a current issue on social networking sites.

In conclusion, privacy is a contentious issue at hand that needs to be thoroughly addressed. There are many pitfalls to the knowledge of privacy and ownership and this leads to things such as job loss, and in extreme cases death. Being oblivious to terms and conditions or who people are friends on social networks, have been ending on bad terms. Social networks are the way of communicating for the future, so warning people on the importance of privacy is clearly something that needs to be addressed.

(Yes, it's over!)

References

Audrey Watters,
Read Write Web,
Written 1st October,
"Number of Virtual World Users Breaks 1 Billion , Roughly Half Under Age 15",
Copyright 2010,
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,
Accessed 19/10/10

What is Social Networking,
Copyright 2009,
http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/,
Accessed 18/10/10

Facebook
Facebook Fact Sheet,
Copyright 2010,
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet,
Accessed 19/10/10

Fox News.com
Written 16th November 2007,
"Mom: Myspace Hoax Led to Daughter's Suicide"
Copyright 2010
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312018,00.html
Accessed 21/10/10

Today People,
Mike Celizic
Written 19/11/2007
"Parents of Myspace Victim Hoax Seek Justice"
Copyright 2010 msnbc.com
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21882976
Accessed 21/10/10

Facebook
Facebook Privacy Policy,
Copyright 2010,
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
Accessed 19/10/10

Hui-Yi & Hung-Yuan, 2010, "Use Behaviors and Website Experiences of Facebook Community", 2010 International Conference on Electronics and Information Engineering, Taiwan, Copyright 2010

Lewis Goodings, Abigail Locke, Steven D. Brown, 21sy May 2007, "Social Networking Technology: Place and Identity in Mediated Communities", Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, Volume 17, Published by Wiley InterScience, Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd, http://www.interscience.wiley.com/

Fogel & Nehmad, September 2008, "Internet Social Network Communities: Risk Taking, Trust, and Privacy Concerns", Elsevier Journal: Computers in Human Behaviour, Copyright 2008 Elsevier Ltd.

Luan Goldie, 7th October 2008, "Social Networks Open to Support Over Privacy" News Media Age Newspaper, Page 2, nma.co.uk, Copyright 2008, United Kingdom

Gary Brooks, 8th February 2007, "Friends on Social Networks Can Be a Threat to Your Privacy", News Media Age Newspaper, Page 16, nma.co.uk, Copyright 2007, United Kingdom

Jennie Starr, "Social Netowrks: Another Avenue to New Books and Friends", Searcher 16.6, (2008), Expanded Academic ASAP, Web, 19th October 2010,
http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=EAIM&docId=A179978774&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=griffith&version=1.0

Lecture Summary Week 10

So week 10. How exciting, the last post for this assignment.

Media/ Technology- Environment

It isn't just all the trees and birds, it is everything that surrounds us. It is where we live, what we do, etc. It is practically everything.

We have to stop and look at what we take for granted. We have to learn to appreciate the environment around us. Ha. We took take the literal approach to "stop and smell the roses".

The Invisible Environment is was a big factor of this lecture.

It is what I got out of it most.

An intelligent man named MuLan in 1969 said, "Present is always invisible because it is the environment."

It is like that when we are breathing, we don't even notice it until someone points it out.

When something changes, it changes our reaction. Going on with the breathing example, when we are out of breathe, it changes our breathing pattern, and we notice because we are louder and we are puffed and cannot talk and breathe how we would like/prefer to.

According to MuLan, the invisible environment needs to become visible to us.

We are all producers and consumers of content. Due to the open idea of the internet. We can all upload and download, edit, post, explore, etc.

The internet encouraged the idea of creative commons and free software and it has made life a lot more accessible for people. These products are not under the control of everyone and it gives the idea that you, as a consumer, have choice.

This is the main points I got out of this lecture

Course Evaluation

Well, well, well...

Time to evaluate this course.
I could take the approach and suck up and say that I loved it but then I would be lying.
Being blatantly honest, these three hours a week were probably the most mind boggling and confusing hours of my university life.

The Lectures:
The lectures were very entertaining and motivated you to stay alert. I did not understand why we discussed some of the content that we did and it did take me some outside research to understand what most of the concepts were.
It was refreshing though to see some lecturers that were generally passionate and relaxed about their content, which made the presentation of the lecture not so typically boring.
I did learn a lot in the lecturers and I am glad that I actually attended all of them as without the lectures I do not understand how you would pass this course.

The Tutorials:
I liked the structure of the tutorials. It was awesome that we had access to the computers.
It was good to be challenged and I did get to learn a lot of new skills. Firstly, I had the opportunity to learn how to use an IMac, which is completely different to the typical PC.
I never would have considered ever doing a blog, so although I found it more frustrating then anything, it was good that I got to have a go at doing one. I learned that I would not bother making one for personal use because they constantly come up with having technical problems, or having a HTML error.
I also enjoyed when we debated about certain topics that we had to evaluate in the TuteSparks. I found it really interesting to see what others thought on the issues, especially the people in our lectures that were from other generations.

Overall:
It was a pretty good subject and was glad that it turned to be compulsory as I would have missed out on these opportunities if it wasn't.

Week 9 Tutorial

The tutorial task this week was to look at the essay topics and to discuss the ideas about it.

I was looking at the topics, and this one appears to be the most appealing to me:

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

Well, this is just kind of a brainstorm:

• On social networks people can represent themselves in any way they like, to an extent by the pictures they post, the links they like, etc.
• People represent themselves even through small things like punctuation. You are usually seen as illiterate or 'cool'. 'Howes yu dai?' or simple 'how r u?' is different from 'How are you?'
  
• People may have different accounts that certain friends don't have to represent themselves in different ways. Like on Facebook, someone biography may be completely different to the biography they display on a dating website. And they can get away with it, because unlike Facebook or Myspace, their close friends who know them really well cannot tell that they are faking their identity.
• Does this create a type of schizophrenia or paranoia? And is it difficult to keep up with the different personalities?
• Does this relate to sociology and it's concepts to being able to adapt to certain environments?
• Do people refrain from saying certain things on their social networks in fear of offending people?
  
• People do have different groups of people on their networks. For example they may have religious friends or party friends or ethnic friends and therefore restrains them from expressing their personal and actual opinion.
  

Clearly this needs to be researched and built on but this is my brainstorm. :) Good start I think, now to execute the essay...

Week 9 Lecture Summary

CyberPunk and William Gibson

The lecture this week was about the genre of 'Cyberpunk' and an author of the genre named William Gibson.

Originally I thought cyberpunk was a person or a subculture that existed of some sort of technical speak for 'hacker'. But not quite. I was a tad far off.

To my personal understanding the concept of 'cyberpunk' is actually a genre. Like romance and drama, it is a genre. It is actually a sub-genre of sci-fi. It is a hybrid genre that tries to make sense of this world.

But back to the lecture...

Cyberpunk was described as a gritty aesthetic. It is surrounded by decay and lust. It is surrounded by high technology that humans are fused to machine.

It has a questionable morality. It revolves around opportunism, theft and murder. It is very selfish.

It is kind of like technology. Even new technology, something brand new and it still breaks or crashes.

There is no 'love' in cyberpunk. It is all based on seduction. It is all about getting what you want. You want information (in this case, technology) and this information is everywhere, yet no where, all at the same time.

Although cyberpunk is meant to make sense of the world it believes that the world sucks: existential malaise. We just live but there is no point.

William Gibson writes cyberpunk literature.

List of books: http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/books.asp

He is very important for this genre, as his books comprehend the idea of this genre properly.

He is aware that the world won''t get shiner or better and that once information is online, it can never properly be deleted. So he incorporates these ideas into his books.

PRINTED TEE DAY!!

So today has been a very successful 'Printed Tee Day for a Good Cause' to raise awareness of 'Supporting an Age Restriction (16) on Energy Drinks'.

We had 206 saying that they were attending and 65 maybes.

We took photos of some people with their supporting signs, which are posted on a group page.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122432564473500

It has been a really fun day, fun experience and all for a good cause.

Week 8 TuteSpark and Activity

This tutorial is really difficult because cyberpunk is still a foreign term for me. I understand what it is, but I am still finding it difficult to understand its depth.

Negative Impact of technology on humanity: In a cyberpunked near-future, technology runs rampant, and usually manipulates most societal interactions. Dystopian near futures are very common, but so are futures where the impacts of specific technologies are played out in a world only slightly different from the present. Sacred societal boundaries are often crossed with regularity. Often the earth is severely damaged. Crime and drug use are often key supporting themes.

Fear. It is a really common element in the world. The fear of sickness, death, etc.

Although millions of people communicate through mobile phones, many people fear their effects.

One negative impact on technology was through the video that went viral, about the popcorn.

'>http://www.youtube.com/v/V94shlqPlSI?fs=1&hl=en_US"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true">'>http://www.youtube.com/v/V94shlqPlSI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385">

This video went viral through emails when it came out, showing what the radiation of our mobile phones can do to us. This creates so much fear in people, that it actually created a small drop in the amount of calls being made, and text messages statistics went up slightly.

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/mobile-phone-makers-accused-of-hidden-health-warnings-10535

is an article about radiation and the hidden health effects that the radiation of the mobile.

Week 8 Lecture Summary

The Concept of:

Virtual Philosophy

This week's lecture was on "Virtual Philosophy". I managed to stay listening the whole time to this lecture but it was extremely difficult because I really didn't understand what he was talking about. His enthusiasm made you want to listen and follow along, but yeah, definitely over my head. Although a majority of it was over my head, I did understand some aspects of those.

Plato was bought up numerous times (pictured right >>) which I find incredible. I personally love the writings of Aristotle more so than Plato, but the fact that centuries later we still use their theories, philosophies and texts as guidelines and explanations today, shows how timeless and brilliant their work was.

The lecturer said that we can say that philosophy was created out of poetry. This can be see through the works of many Greek philosophers. When studying the texts it is seen that they "thread together".

Parmenides, another philosopher said that "whatever is, is". This particular philosophy has been passed down the centuries as people now quote it as "whatever will be, will be".

But back to Plato. One of his philosophies were that stuff is there, but it has different appearences. For example: A chair. But there are different types of chairs. And does a park bench classify as a chair? We sit on it. So it must be?

We also went through the "Allegory of the Cave". I found a website that helped explain it in clearer, simpler terms. http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm

I won't deconstruct the allegory all over again, but basically it is just an easy explaination as to what we do with the concept of reality.

One last point I found really interesting was anxiety. I suffer from anxiety at time to time when I feel I cannot handle a situation. But really what the lecturer said is very true. Anxiety is the fear of being afraid of fear. He said how people need to treat the reality in our heads and manipulate the material message to another.

To me as interesting as philosophy is, questioning the world and all it's antics, is just....stupid and only leading to trouble.

Week 7 TuteSpark

Wow... keeping up with this blog is crazy!
It is ridiculously hard to use. Kind of looking forward to this assignment being over. Just saying. I am not tech-y...

Alright. TASK.

Try some free software.

Well. Sounded simple, but it was not. Ha. Not with my dad.

Anyway, I did manage to find some free software.

I used Firefox opposed to the Internet Explorer. This was really interesting but I didn't realise there were different types of explorers. Like many people, I assumed that the 'e' (pictured below) meant the Internet. I didn't actually know that it was optional.Anyway, Firefox I can't say I liked or didn't like. It acted no different to how I was used to. It worked fine/ great. I am not planning on deleting my Internet Explorer anytime soon, but to prove a point, Firefox, a FREE software option, worked just as well as something people pay for.

I also used the OpenOffice program opposed to the Microsoft Word/ Publisher/ Powerpoint, etc.
This was noticably different. But like any program, it just takes a bit of getting used to. Like I still can't use Macs, they take time to figure out. OpenOffice was okay. I still definitely prefer Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. They have more options as to what I can do and like to do, but id I got stuck only using OpenOffice, it wouldn't be awful because it is a decent program.

Week 7 Tute Activity

1. What is creative commons and how could this licensing framework be relevant to your own experience at university?
Creative commons, which is something I have been able to talk about in a previous blog, just to outline what it is.
Copyright is when someone owns their work, so "All Rights Reserved", while creative commons is "Some Rights Reserved".
It is the way cooler restriction actually because it gives you the ability to
share, expand, revise and remix.

It would be really good for university students, like myself, to "enhance our experience".
Knowing about the CC licencing framework, gives us the ability to know where to draw the line. We can use CC licenced pictures, videos, etc. to help us with our assignments but we know not to tamper with the copyrighted projects are artworks.
I have had to do a few YouTube videos as assignments for various subjects in this course so far, and one problem we did have was with copyrighted music. I didn't know you couldn't use it, because everyone else uses it. Haha....good excuse. But with this sort of new knowledge you can figure out as to what you can use, upload, share and remix.
I now also know that without a C symbol on it I am not allowed to distribute and tamper with someone else artwork on these YouTube videos.
Knowing about the licencing frameworks is going to be handy, not only in the process of making YouTube videos, but through many assignments as well.

2. Find 3 examples of works created by the creative commons and embed them in your blog.

Ooo. So this is harder than I thought.

Well I am going to have to go with the amazing band, "Radiohead". They are a prime example of using the CC licence. I remember when their song 'House of Cards' came out, and it was announced that they did it all under a CC licence. Not that I actually knew what that meant...but that is completely beside the point.

<>'

This is a website that just clarifies what they actually did under the CC licence. http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8476

Example 2:

Alright. Well Flickr. I personally love this site. For my friends I will write a poem and add matching pictures from this website to the powerpoint. So this website is just great for people to be able to show their artwork.

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

Okay, so the aim of that picture was to show that on the attribution creative commons part.

There are 21851115 photos under that creative commons license alone of this website.

Example 3:
Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is a site that is uses creative commons.
http://www.wikipedia.org/

People write on it and then others have the ability to expand, edit, etc. on this site. So it is a good place for people to congregate and exapnd off each others ideas.

3. Find an article about Creative Commons

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/idea46&div=22&id=&page=

Summary of the Article:
This article goes into the negative implications and pitfalls that Creative Commons have. The impacts are mostly on our cultural environment really. It will change the distribution and production of the future creative projects that will come.
It also, as the title states, analyses the creative common licensing framework.

4. What are Portable Apps. What is it and is it useful?

http://portableapps.com/

It is a program that is perfect for storing all your favourite bookmarks, emails, programs, etc without leaving all your personal information and passwords all over the computer.

It is a really useful program because it is everything people have, all in one place to make it all really convient and easy to locate. It is also really good because it is free. So a free software and a perfect alternative to programs that charge.

Week 6 TuteSpark

Leading on from the lecture on online privacy & social networking....

Who owns the content you put on the internet on various sites?
Well the website does. You are uploading your content onto their website. They can use it and distribute how they please. It most likely would be on their terms and conditions, that these days nobody reads.

This includes pictures, video, text, etc?
Yeah, I mean it is their website. They have the right to take down anything they don't like one there as well.

Think about all the content you upload onto social networking sites - Do you own it?
No. They do. They own the pictures that you decided to upload. You may have taken the photo and may have copyright to taking the picture, but you don't actually own the picture.

Who has the right to use your creations?

The company or owner of the website does, as you have uploaded your information, photos, creations onto their website.

This is an example of an enraged person who has discovered that Facebook has specified in the Terms and Conditions that once uploaded, the photos then belong to them.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6314950779

Assignment Update

So we currently have 188 people attending our event, which is pretty exciting as it is only 2 days away!

We got some pictures plastered on our group,
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=122432564473500

It was really hard using photoshop, but we did it! Ha.

It is in the Photos folder.

Week 7 Lecture Summary

Free Culture, Free Society

This week in the lecture we once again had our Guest Speaker Adam Muir.

We learnt about Creative Communities.

Basically there are three key words in this.

Community-> Collaboration -> Choice

I learnt the different between copyright and creative commons.

We have all seen these symbols before but I finally learnt what the CC stands for. CC= creative commons

(Images thanks to google images)

Copyright is basically "intellectual property". It is "all rights reserved" while creative commons is "some rights reserved".

The additional part we learnt was about the Source Code.

The source code is like a recipe. It is all those weird letters, symbols and numbers that come up. It is pretty techy. Way over my head...

It is compiled information that aren't given out to people, because OTHERWISE the techy people who actually understand how to do that sort of stuff, will be able to change the program or give the program or sell it, etc.

There are numerous programs these days that are 'free or open' software.

They are like free versions of programs.

Community- Work together to find solutions

Collaborations- Doing this within the law.

Choice- It is your choice, the alternatives. There are books that are legally available free as well.

Update Update Update on Assignment!

SO...

for this assignment so far we created a Facebook page called Support Age Restriction on Energy Drinks and so far we have 9 members, which is pretty lame really but still, we are getting there.

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=122432564473500

I also created an event for a fake protest on facebook which is plastered on the page.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122432564473500#!/event.php?eid=155471687798967&ref=mf

Then today I created a blog :)

So we should be updating regularly on the health issues, etc.

http://energydrinkagerestriction.blogspot.com/2010/09/energy-drinks-are-they-safe.html

And I created a group for people to 'Like' on Facebook! Immediately I got 4 people to join!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Who-thinks-that-energy-drinks-should-have-an-age-restriction-of-16/112113725512798

So, yay for progress!

Week 6 Lecture Summary

Lecture Summary

So I learnt quite a bit this lecture.

Adam Muir was our guest lecturer and he helped define a few things.

Technology- 'Scientific study of mechanical acts and their application to the world'.
But what he pointed out that I found really interesting was technology is useless if you don't have the knowledge to use it. This was a really valid point. This is a major generalisation, but mature people usually have difficulty using technology because they haven't got the knowledge.

Media- 'When technology is used for social and cultural communication that technology becomes a medium of communication'.

Virtual Community

• way to explain a group of people who communicate via the internet.

while

Individual Identity

• way to explain how people express who they are via the internet. Examples- are like nicknames.

So this is how I came to understand.
The Virtual Community, was especially popular when the internet was not as popular as it is now. People got to socialise with other people with similar interests, so it was creating a community.

The Individual Identity follows the same concept that our current generation follows. It is all about 'me'. The internet and social networking is about people "promoting" themselves. People have the websites pages to show everyone their opinion, their pictures, their life. This apparently has a name called the ego-centric social network, which is pretty self-explanatory.

This is what I really got out of the lecture. There were heaps of other points, but this is what I really took away from it.

Week 5 Task

Task: We are to devise a plan to get noticed by 'normal media'.

So we formed a group of four to complete the task. We all are very different personalities and we were trying to use all our "creative juices" to come up with a good idea to do this, but we kept failing with good ideas. We thought we had one and we left the tutorial thinking we were onto something. Then we were thinking about it, and although it sounded fun and like a good idea it wasn't enough to get noticed by normal media. So we came back together this week and came up with the idea of making an age restriction on energy drinks.

TuteSpark 4

We have to find 3 short films made for internet distribution.

The iMac's at uni allow me to embed the videos into my blog, but my pc at home doesn't, so I apologise for the links.
I don't know if the computer of the security settings or what not (I am not computer savvy), but I do apologise.

Short Film One:

Black Button

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrKnhOJ-R80&feature=search

This video is I think personally awesome. The message it had was pretty impacting.

Once again, due to my no-computer-skills, I originally found this short film on a website, but typically, I lost the web address and couldn't find it again, so I resorted to ol' ye faithful YouTube.

The short films main pitfall was that I think they dragged the beginning out too long, as it was getting boring and I was tempted to close it, but the ending was extremely good.

It won't become popular, I think, because it is drawn out so long.

Short Film Two:

Llamas in Hats

http://www.filmcow.com/movies.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZUPCB9533Y&feature=search

Llamas in Hats.

By far, my favourite short film ever. And with its sequel as well.

This is an ideal example of short films, made for internet, gone viral. It became so popular it was amazing.

It is simple, yet effective. People love the voices and the quotes.

Just, what I thought was the perfect example.

Short Film Three:

Signs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy0HNWto0UY&feature=search

This one is pretty awesome I thought. It was like a movie, had a storyline, an introduction, complication, climax, resolution. Real story like.

It was cute too.

This would be really awesome to become popular, because it really is a short version of a movie. It would be awesome if it became huge. I like it!

Short Film Four:

Hands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQDjynOzgCk

I don't know if this actually qualifies as a short film, hence why I didn't put it as my top 3, but I just thought it was pretty awesome. And it is something that will become popular and has a point to it. It probably is made for television, although I wouldn't know, I don't get to watch it often. But it is funny, clever and has a message, so it will be successful.

This subject really is teaching me how to use the internet.

Apologies

Hello.
I got emailed about a "HTML issue" for the post titled 'Treasure Hunt'.
That is the reason it is so ridiculously spaced out, so I am sorry.
I would also like to ensure that is it correctly hyperlinked, as for question ten it does link you to my reference.

I used this website
Mr Klingon.org, last updated March 2010,
http://www.mrklingon.org/
Accessed 10th August & 26th August 2010

TuteSpark Week 5

Culture Jamming

A colloquialism referring to a species of media activism usually presented in the form of a fraudulent mass media event.

(www.thebookman.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/postmodern-terms-absence-to-curtain-wall/, Accessed 25th August 2010)

To me, it is making the unrealistic, realistic.

Rather than the rest of our world, that is so scared of offending everyone and stepping on people's toes, culture jamming breaks down the barriers and shows the truth. It is a reality check in this world that covers up the real issues at hand. Culture Jamming can be demonstrated in numerous ways, not just by edited pictures. An example is a video Fall Out Boy did a few years ago to help make people aware of child soilering in Uganda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAgbZdrWiN4

First Cultural Jamming:

It is hard to pinpoint the "first" instance of cultural jamming as it can be argued it started in the late 1800's or the 1950's. I vote, it started to became a confrontation in the 1950's. (Studies in Art Education, 2004, http://thedepartmentofaesthetics.org/VisCultJAM.pdf, Accessed 26th August 2010)

Most Influential Jamming:

An extremely good example of influential culture jamming was the iPod mock posters of the Iraqi war that is currently an issue. In America these posters kept showing up on billboards and across many. (TUAW, http://www.tuaw.com/2004/06/11/more-ipod-iraq-mock-posters-showing-up/, Accessed 27th August 2010) It caused necessary alarm. It caused a lot of attention because the iPod advertisement is such a popular and well known one. People would look at the picture to the left and not even realise the mock posters were embedded unless they took another look. The picture on the right (>>) demonstrates four of the pictures that were being displayed, especially around New York City and LA.

This personally was my favourite example of culture jamming as well. Bringing the realistic into the unrealistic world.

Most Damaging Jamming:

Cultural Jamming is a very powerful tool. In the case of Nike, using slave and child labour to manufacture their shoes was a huge example of how powerful culture jamming is. It erupted in 2001. Pictures were posted on billboards, sent through emails, and in the newspapers. Documentaries were made and schools were taught in Geography and Social Science subjects about how Nike was abusing the lives of children, and underpaying those less fortunate. It again erupted into a worldwide known issue in 2004 and 2006 as it was seen that Nike had not fixed their child and slave labour issue and the appalling conditions of their working environment.

(Not My Tribe, http://notmytribe.com/2000/slave-labor-in-modern-times-89.html#more-9, Accessed 27th August 2010)
(Child Labour, http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=32, Accessed 27th August 2010)

Lecture Summary Week 5

In this weeks lecture we learnt about "Production and Consumption".

Points I learnt-->

• In order to consume, someone needs to produce.
• The media has a huge role in society and watches and influenced what we watch.
• The news we se, isn't all the news that happens.
• Citizen Journalism- what is it?

Citizen Journalism appeared to be an important factor-

Positives-

• Every individual person has the ability to have a voice
• We can see news events that we may not have been able without a news crew- Eg Boxing Day Tsunami and 911

Negatives-

• Ruining the quality of journalism
• People could manipulate a photo or story and no one would know
• People can start rumours- like actors dying
• Bias

Tute Exercise Week 4

1. Where and when did usable online video start? (provide some refs. and an example if possible)

According to Dembot site, usable online video started ten years ago and we are now “celebrating” ten years of online video. (http://dembot.com/post/310798115/a-decade-in-history-of-online-video, Accessed 18/8/10) Although it wasn't a convenience to watch these videos until the creation of broadband, which was 2004 in America, and then populated across the globe.

There were many sites of course, pre-youtube.com but youtube.com is globally and most popularly known for people to be able to watch, access and download videos and parts of films. The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 15, 2005 (http://www.articlealley.com/article_1482289_81.html, Accessed 18.8.10) and ever since has been the most popular website for the general public.

2.In the lecture we heard about technological innovations that were used by the studios to lure audiences (mostly to combat the popularity of TV). What recent innovations are being used to lure us in the movies? What are they luring us from?

The movies are using the same method that they attempted to do in 1952, which was creating everything in 3D. Companies and cinemas also try advertise heavily and also make the premieres of movies seem so much more appealing by having special guests. Cinemas are also known to have a 'cheap day' like Cheap Tuesday, to bring people in on a day that wouldn't normally bring people in. Any method to save money in recent times, people are gullible. They will fall for marketing techniques if they believe that they are saving money.

The cinemas are trying to lure people to come to the cinema, purely because they do now want to lose the company. The internet and downloading free or cheap movies has become such a popular phenomenon that it is a constant fear and risk of the cinemas. Why pay for a movie when you are going to have to sit through ads, be accompanied by screaming children, uncomfortable seats that you actually paid for, when you could watch a movie in the comfort of your own home for free or cheap? You can pause or rewind it whenever you want and you are watching it as the same time or before it is released. The cinemas are aware that this is reality and they have to combat it.

3. Are short films still being made? Why? Who pays for them to be made?

Short films are still being made. They are most of the time cheaper to make, as one person can afford to put the debt on a credit card, opposed to many, like an independent film maker would. Short films are made because people have ideas and want to demonstrate them, but large companies don't listen. So a short film may be an achievement, or it may be like a prototype to advertise their films which they want to make into a feature.

Short films are also great for advertisements. To get a real message across it appears that ads use the short film technique to make it really impacting. Some examples are Chanel no.5 perfume ad, Old Spice Ad and a UK Seatbelt Ad.

Short films additionally are great for "before" feature films. Pixar uses this technique before every movie. Example. It helps people get into the mood of the film and is some funny entertainment.

Most short films are self-funded, hoping to get picked up by a studio.

Airlines also use them to advertise the country and introduce the culture, nationality, etc.

4. The term viral is thrown about adhoc but what does it mean in film/movie arena?

Viral is the worldwide spreading of a video/ film/ etc. It is spread by word of mouth, people talking about it due to popularity, sending links, social networking, etc.

Examples are like Llama in Hats, Perez Hilton, Lazy town, and even the Old Spice ad that was shown above.

5. Online video distribution isn't limited to the short film format. We are now starting to see television styled shows made solely for internet release (webisodes). Find an example of this style of content and discuss how viewing television content in this way can positively and negatively affect the viewer's experience.

An example of a webisode would be 'The Awkward Man' which is a 9 part TV show for the web. http://www.theawkwardman.com/

A lot of anime would be distributed this way, as so many people enjoy it, but not enough to distribute on television.

There are positives and negatives when viewing television this way.

Positives- People can watch shows that they like.

Negatives- People will not watch programs pointlessly, and therefore the TV networks will suffer.

Week 4 Lecture Summary

Well practically everything that was said in this lecture was something I learnt this week. I was clearly oblivious to the history of television and the cinema.

I watched a documentary a couple of months ago called The Brothers Warner,

(http://www.warnersisters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1:the-brothers-warner&catid=13:the-brothers-warner&Itemid=20)
clearly about the Warner Brothers, so I knew of their many achievements in the cinema, but outside of their world, I had little knowledge of the history.

What particularly amazed me what the fact that it was 1952 that they created 3D movies. I thought that it was a recent phenomenon created in the last 15 years.

But looking over this history, it shows that history does repeat itself. even within the century. In 1952, according to our notes on learning@griffith they created this 3D television to avoid losing the battle against television. This issue that was occurring in 1952 is happening again in 2010. The television industry has bought out the '3D television'.

Therefore movie cinemas are feeling the ridiculous pressure to bring out a majority of movies out in 3D now, which is in my opinion stupid. I liked the idea of 3D being a treat but now it is just part of 'the movie experience'. But the movies have also gone from being made for 3D to just being able to be in 3D.

Example: I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D and to be honest I am so glad that I didn't pay for my ticket... It had absolutely no need to be in 3D. I also saw the movie in 2D and the experience was exactly the same. The movie had nothing popping out at me, it was hardly any different. The only real difference was that the background had more depth of field. But other then that, it was only a money making scheme.

Week 3 Lecture Summary

Week 3 Lecture

What did I learn?
I learnt that the internet is not just hte www (world wide web), as that is only a small portion.
I thought the www was all.

We also watched this video http://apple2history.org/ watching how slow the computer screens used to take to load. It makes you extremely thankful that thye have sped up, because otherwise assignments and researching would take a lot longer than it does now...

I also learnt that Bill Gates was a university drop out and that there was originally a Steam Powered Calculator that was created in the 1800's!

treasure hunt

So, we aren't allowed to use Google or Wikipedia. Who doesn't use Google -_-

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

Answer:

Large Hadron Collider

27kms long and weighs more than 38 000 tonnes

It cost 2.6 billion pounds to build.

Process:

So I tried searching through Yahoo.com, but it was mega frustrating so I tried AskJeeves.com

Both of the search engines are ridiculous and come up with the weirdest information.

I found this article, http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built

but it didn't appear to be very helpful, although it was at least on the right track and had big machines on there, unlike the one that came up on Yahoo which was about boys and their toys (cars).

Anyway. on ashjeeves it came up with this device called the 'Large Hadron Collider'. So I am on the right track. So I come up with this page http://www.lhc.ac.uk/ and I got everything from there.

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

Answer: The best way to contact Ozzy would be through contacting his manager, his Sharon Osbourne on 310-859-7761

Process:

On Ask Jeeves I found this website:

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

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

Answer: Telegraph in 1832

Samuel Morse, a Yale Graduate, built the electric prototype, but with the help of Joseph Henry, former New York Uni student and Alfred Vail a mechanic, the working telegraph system came together by 1838

Process:

Ask Jeeves and got http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html

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

Process:

Yahoo.

Plane- $72

http://www.flightcentre.com.au/fcweb/flights/domestic/

Car- $198 for a 4 cylinder car

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/tools-and-advice/petrol-prices?referrer=gtail&colseo=n&gclid=CPTdxJXosqMCFQMjbgodBF4K3w

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

Answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZOlipfjkQ

Process:

Youtube.com, type her name on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZOlipfjkQ

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

Answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ZoFkzX5zU

Intrepid Cruise and then you stay in the cabin.

Process:

Youtube.com

I found this site, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ZoFkzX5zU

Nothing came up when I typed in Hotels in Antarctica so I went onto Virtual Tourist, http://www.virtualtourist.com/hotels/Antarctica/Hotels_and_Accommodations-Antarctica-BR-1.html, a review sight to find out available cruises and then type then into askjeeves.com. I couldn't find a hotel as such and the huts they stayed in I couldn't find a name for, so I thought to get the closest thing to. http://www.intrepidtravel.com/landing/antarcticaship/index.php

Question 7:

What song was on the top of the Australian charts this week in 1982?

Answer: I Ran- A Flock of Seagulls

Process: Took forever! I went to Ask Jeeves, Yahoo Answers, Peoples search engines and then I went back to AskJeeves and found it on this website.

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1

Question 8:

How would you define 'nano technology'? In my words, what does it mean?

Answer:

Definition:
A basic definition: Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. This covers both current work and concepts that are more advanced.

My own words. Mmm well nano metre is a billionth of a metre. So nano technology is working with technology that is that small. (Good English...) It is samller then a cell and has up to four atoms. This technology can be really beneficial or really dangerous. It has the ability to by used for medical robots...or dangerous weaponry. Scary thoughts.

Process: Ask Jeeves. Nano Technology Definition and the site came up after clicking on four. The other ones were not basic enough for me to get my head around. So I used this website, http://www.crnano.org/whatis.htm, Accessed 10th August 2010.

Question 9: What camera do they use for Google Street View?

Answer: The Dedoca 2360 Camera made possible by Immersive Media. The camera is available for the reasonable price of $45000! If you want to stalk you friends and family by taking 360 degree photos with this camera that has 11 lenses and is in the size and shape of a softball.

Process: Ask.com

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5295795_google-create-street.html, Accessed 10th August 2010

Question 10:

Oh why did you put this question in! It is the most frustrating language because they hate our English words! By the way, whoever made this translation site...way too much time on their hands! Haha.

Translate all ten question into the made up language of Klingon!

Question 1: nuq ‘oH ‘ugh vo’ qo’ HochHom Dun vum ‘Iv chenta’ ‘oH ‘ej qatlh

Question 2: nuq 'oH [the] [best] [way] [quickest] HochHom [reliable] Daq [contact] [Ozzy] [Osborne]

Question 3: ghorgh ‘ej nuq ghaHta’ wa’DIch qo’ chu’ Hol

Question 4: nuq ‘oH HochHom mach Huch Daq tlhap vo’ [Gold Coast] Daq [Melbourne]

Question 5: ‘Iv ‘oH [Hatsune] [Miku] nuq vum ta’taH ghaH vum vaD nuq ‘oH Daj qoS

Question 6: tu' [a] yIn [webcam] Daq [Antarctica] tu' [a] Daq Daq [stay] Daq [Antarctica]

Question 7: nuq bom ghaHta’ HochHom QaQ vo’ [Australian] bommey vam jaj Daq

Question 8: chay' [would] SoH [define] [the] [term] ['nano] [technology'] Daq lIj ghaj mu'mey nuq ta'taH 'oH [really] [mean]

Question 9: nuq ‘oH chenmoHta’ vetlh vum Daq chenmoH [Google] [Street] [View]

Question 10: jatlh Dochvammey mu’mey Daq tlhIngan

Thankyou http://www.mrklingon.org/!!!

And it is overrrrrrrr!!!!!