Week 3 - Response to Content

"How do you know you're not an onion?

Because I don't feel like one.

How would you know how it felt to be an onion?

Because if I were an onion I would know.

You are claiming an onion is conscious of itself?

I didn't say that.

Well you did.

No I did not.

I'm sorry, but you said you would know if you were an onion.

I would feel it.

How could you feel you were an onion without thinking?

Maybe I would bring tears to my eyes.

No, I think you would bring tears to my eyes.

If I were an onion, I would be a human onion.

A human onion?

Of course.

How could you be both human and an onion at the same time?

Well you brought up cyberspace.

And?

I could be both human and cybercreature."

The psychoanalytic review Vol. 94, No. 1 feb 2007

Bollas, C 'Cyberspace'

The above is only a segment from a large anecdote about the possibilities in cyberspace from a psychoanalytic viewpoint, and I thought it was an amusing way to simply yet cleverly discuss a very complex, intangible concept.

So what is cyberspace? When I looked the word up on Oxford Dictionaries online this is what I got: "the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs." This explains it in a way that both confuses and helps me. Just using the word "notional" is tentative, not definitive.  Stephen in his lecture described it better, but admitted it is a hard word to pin down and define. I find this occurs with language in general, but when it comes to something as immense and quite recent as the cyberspace forum, it's quite understandable. I think the lack of consensus on a definition is because it's an ever-changing, ever-expanding hyper reality which appears to be limitless in capability as technology advances seemingly in the background.  I say in the background because people appear to attach value to a new communication technology in regards to how much it enables us to connect with and join online or offline communities. I think I once saw an ad for a fridge that connects to the internet?! Somehow the fact that it has the ability to access this 'cyberspace' makes it more attractive of a technology.

William Gibson, who coined the word cybernetics and in turn the word cyberspace reflects on how Google has changed the way we interact with cyberspace.  He states that it "was a specific elsewhere, one we visited periodically, peering into it from the physical world. Now cyberspace has everted. Turned itself inside out. Colonised the physical. Making Google a central and evolving structural unit not only of the architecture of cyberspace, but of the world.” I chose that quote in particular because it the perfect example of the way new communication technologies have created new worlds, and how those worlds now effect the physical world to such a startling degree. He’s right. Google has changed the world, especially in how with interact with it. Cyberspace is now essential thanks to the creators of Google. I know I couldn’t live without it, especially at university. Could you?


Bibliography

Gibson, W 2010, The New York Times, 'Google's Earth: Op-Ed', 10th September, viewed 19/08/2011 via ProQuest Central

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cyberspace
 

Week 2 - Tutorial Task

Part 1: B) When asked to find a clip about NCT this instantly popped into my head. An amusing parody by the Futurama team (created by Matt Groening) about the iPhone 4. I find this highly relevant to this course as the Apple brand is a technology that is dominating the market, and it shows the mindlessness of people blindly following media advertising. 

C) The application I found to better use and analyse one's own business website was Yahoo Web Analytics. If you go to this URL: http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/ you will get a comprehensive outline of it's capabilities and even a walk through video of your account once you join. The most innovative aspect I saw in this was the ability of this tool to view in real time when people are viewing your website, collecting this data and putting into graphs to show you visually how many hits you get. They also combine this with a revenue graph as a comparison of how much is coming in to who visits and when. Amazing!

Part 2:

Well the main communication technology I utilise to connect with family and friends at present is a mobile. Mainly via text, except with my parents who find this method painstakingly slow. But even then this is infrequent, as I am struggling with money and the recharge that lasts only a month is a bit of a strain. So I rely heavily of Facebook on wireless broadband and my partner's HTC Mozart. His phone is our "home phone", we have no land line connected as we would never use it; it being a waste of money. 

How long have you been using these communication technologies?

I have had a mobile since about 16 (2005), and have been on Facebook since later high school years.

What influenced you to start using these particular technologies?  How did you find out about them? 

For mobiles it would have to be peer pressure, as everyone around me were purchasing the Nokia 3315, which was all the rage back then. You could customise the outside with new cases and accessories, and inside allowed you to fiddle with ring-tones and even make your own. When it comes to Facebook I found out and joined up due to a Canadian friend of mine who was living in Australia for 10 months. It seemed everyone over there was using it, while all of us here were still on Myspace. It was a slow process but I eventually gave up on Myspace all together as no one was on it, having converted to Facebook. 

Is privacy an issue for you when using new technologies?  What do you think of companies like Facebook and Google who collect information about their users?   (How do you deal with issues around privacy?)

Although it's not a concern at the forefront of my mind, I do crinkle my brow now and then in concern of the rights Google and Facebook have over my personal information. Especially when it comes to photos, as I have posted up hundreds of my travels and many I would consider portfolio worthy. I know they're compressed images, not at all close to the quality of the real files, but who knows what they might use them for? 

Do you have friends whom you know only from the internet and have never met in person? Is this different to people that you know in person?  Describe the difference.

Yes. A person over in the UK with the same name as me added me on Facebook. But I don't know if I would consider her a real friend. I don't. Of course online and face to face friendships are different; there's no way you can achieve the same level of intimacy and camaraderie as when you have the physicality of the person. You don't just communicate with words on a screen, or even a face on Skype. There's the tactile - the hug, the playful push. And the olfactory - their musk, their breath. These are unavailable in a cyber relationship, and I find the physical essential in building a long lasting, real friendship. 

Week 2 - Repsonse to Content

When I first began this subject I didn't realise it would encompass so much. The amount of disciplines under communications is mind boggling, but not unsurprising. I read through Stephen's article "Theory Jamming: Uses of Eclectical Method in an Ontological spiral" and at first found it hard to read, with a lot of jargon being used. But by the end I got the feel of it (thanks to many forays to dictionary.com) and enjoyed it. Perhaps we are communication; aren't we as humans constantly seeking out new ways to operate in and create the world via traditional modes of thinking and doing? The idea of "theory jamming", an interdisciplinary moulding of factions to bend and twist into something new and innovative, is current in everyday life, not just in the field of academia. His reference to musicians jamming displays this beautifully. We are constantly working with what we have, because we cannot fully step outside of convention, out of everyday discourse and intertextual meandering. So we subvert it, bend it to our wills until the impossible becomes possible. Eclecticism, I believe, is fundamental to the solving of problems at hand, whilst never being restricted by any discipline. Many masters means many minded.

Bibliography

- Stockwell, S 2006, Theory-Jamming: Uses of Eclectic Method in an Ontological Spiral, A Journal of Media and Culture, vol. 9, no. 6, viewed 4th August 2011 < http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/09-stockwell.php>

Week 1 - Tutorial Task

I'd like to introduce you to Lisa, last name Townley. She's a person who enjoys the little things; a cup of tea in the morning; a good book; a picture perfect moment when you have your camera handy; and a pen or keyboard when inspiration strikes (albeit infrequently). So why did she choose New Communication Technology? Well despite the fact that it's mandatory...actually, I can't think of any other reason. Though now that I, Lisa, switching into first person, have attended the lecture, and realised what it's all about, look forward to venturing into new domains previously unconquered by my fingers feverishly poking the keyboard.

I have always thought the progress of technology a wonderful thing, never paying heed to the risk it forms in concern to individual privacy. I would mention government agencies and media conglomerates but to be honest I applaud those who cause a little mayhem in governing bodies, official or no. Got to keep them on their toes, or who knows what will happen. But, opinion aside, I would never consider myself that technologically savvy to use it against those I deem to be the prevailing dictators of our lives, like so many activists out there today. Doesn't mean I wouldn't relish the act!

I digress. I just like to go off on tangents sounding intellectual when I'm not really, I just like to play around with words, and the images and ideas they create in one's mind. Speaking of images, I am also studying photography. And speaking of words, I would like to improve upon and mayhap become a writer. A writer/photographer, wouldn't that be dandy? So I guess what I'm driving at (I'm driving now? Where am I going with this?) is that technology, especially new technology, helps and accentuates what I do. Digital SLR's are AMAZING in the control you have over the image, even before pushing the shutter release button. To resort to a cliché, the possibilities are endless.

Week 1 - Response to Content

So how do we define between old and new communication technology? To avoid confusion, old equals analog, new equals digital. But to me, when a device is surpassed nowadays, it's pretty much dead, or a kinder word would be 'old'. It didn't take long for the regular mobile to be overrun by its smart counterpart. The pen and paper is now replaced with a word processor on computers and laptops. It is a big fat NO to hand in anything at university that is hand written; so to me, that communication art is antiquated. The march of progress will always leave forms of communication technology all alone, covered in dust. Lauck states that according to the National Recycling Coalition of America, there was close to 500 million personal computers to become obsolete between 1997-2007 (2004, p.1). Moore's law is sealing the fate of our environment, as there are various toxic chemicals within computers which make them hard to dispose of.

Environmental concern is just one issue. Privacy, one of the holiest ideals of liberal society, is at stake. Multitudes of information are at everyone's (who can access the internet, of course) fingertips, and this poses a serious threat to individual and institutional privacy. Hacktivism, mentioned by Stephen in lecture 1, is on the rise. Oxford online defines hacktivism as "a person who attempts to gain unauthorized access to computer files or networks to further social or political ends" (2011, p.1). Karasic states that the fundamental motivation of hackers is always liberatory (as cited in Muhammad 2001, p74).  But despite the cause being just in their eyes, ideological motives to sabotage or steal data can negatively affect many not in their cross-hairs. Jobs are lost, which in turn means the livelihoods are stripped of those unaware of the anger they induced.

Detrimental issues aside, there appears to be little one can do about the free-for-all new communication technology provides in terms of access to information. The constant transformation of the new into the obsolete will remain a constant until, I don't know, we are all enslaved by robots? I welcome whatever the future of communication technology holds...except the aforementioned enslavement. Nobody wants that.

Bibliography 

Lauck, S 2004, 'New technology leads to old junk', St. Joseph News Press, 14 November, p. n/a 

Muhammad, E 2001, 'Hacktivism', Ms., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 74-76, viewed 29th July 2011 via Proquest Central.

Oxford Dictionaries, viewed 29th July 2011, <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/hacktivist>