Course Summary

Ok, so time for my summary/impressions of New Communications Technologies!

What did I like about it:

I liked that, despite my initial thoughts, the subject was not for people who already know a lot about technology. I knew pretty much nothing about it at the start of the course, but it didn't matter because everything was explained, and even if it was hard to understand, all I had to do was ask my tutor or someone else and it was explained in an understandable way. I also really liked the freedom of choice of the essay topic. When I first learnt we had to do the essay, I was really worried about it. But since there was such a broad range of areas to focus on, I was able to find a topic that genuinely interested me, so doing the assignment was actually a really interesting and even educational experience! I also liked that the blog tasks where we had to use word and excel were directed by simple instructions, but not so simple that I didn't constantly need help! But there was always help available! So it was all good. Also, if I sent an email to my tutor with a question, it was always replied to soon after (good netiquette!) which is good because they were about assessments etc, where I didn't want to be kept waiting for a reply. To quickly recieve a reply is way better than not getting one at all, and still being confused about what I have to do!

What I didn't like about the course/what didn't work:

I don't really have many complaints here, but I would have to say that the main thing was that some of the films (most of them) were really confusing. Maybe it was just to me, but from watching them I never grasped the concept; I always had to read about them afterwards to understand them. Maybe if they were just generally explained to us first, then we could have watched them and had a better understanding of them. I'm not just saying this because I'm lazy and didn't want to have to spend my time reading about them, it's because if we knew first what was happening in them, then we could see the actual parts of the film in which certain/pivotal moments occured, instead of having to try remember them later. This was especially the case in 'Primer.' I had no idea of any of it while watching it, but when I read about it and it made more sense to me, I couldn't relate all the important parts to when they actually happened in the film.
But having said that, the films during the lectures were good; they explored interesting concepts, and it's good to see 'art house' films like those, instead of big Hollywood ones all the time.

Well that's about it, but overall it was a good course!

week 12 lecture

Hi!
Week 12's lecture was about 'Free Software, Open Source, Creative Commons, Electronic Frontiers Foundation.' So the gist of free and open source software, including the 'copyleft' concept of having free stuff on the Net, was founded by Richard M Stallman, and it is basically software that anyone can access and share for free. This is a nice change to having to pay for your proprietry software. So everyone can benefit from free and open source software, unlike proprietry software, where only its makers can benefit, and I guess the people who pay loads of money to get it. The creation of this free and open software is obviously hugely beneficial to the many people who use the internet, as outlined by Adam in the lecture as being anyone who has a blog, so anyone in this course, and anyone who even uses a computer and the internet.

The Creative Commons are people who issue licenses so that we can use them on our blogs and various other things, and use information (sensibly of course) without the prospect of being sued by the mega-rich people who can sue us, and belong to 'big corporations.' This has implications for the whole e-democracy concept-the right to freely generate information, leading to discussion and debate, but not having to worry about legal repurcussions.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an organisation dedicated to maintaining freedoms on the Net. As they say; "when our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense." They are concerned with issues like free speech and internet privacy. The internet privacy thing is relevant for their case against AT & T/US government, who they were suing because it was revealed that AT & T (a company like Telstra, from what I can gather??) are allowing the US government access to private records of their customers. So the work of the EFF is doing important and relevant things for rights over the internet.

That's all for now! See ya!

week 11 lecture on cyberpolitics

Hello!
Cyberpolitics was the topic of week 11's lecture. The digital divide was mentioned; so the fact that not everyone has equal access to computers, especially the internet, and as the lecture notes read, how can everyone be represented in on-line debate? It then said access is easier to gain now through friends, libraries, cheaper costs etc, but what about people living in, say, slums in Africa? I don't think they have access to libraries with internet connection, or friends with net connections etc, which is also refered to in the notes. But then it reminded me of something I read in the text book for this subject. On page 189 it talks about 'digital optimist' Nicholas Negroponte, and his goal of providing every child in Third World Countries access to a laptop computer. It's definitely good that he's doing something to benefit others, but as I read it I just thought, what would those kids do with a laptop? What would they look up on the net if they had access to it?

Anyway, on to Habermas' theory of 'the public sphere.' By this he meant the area of social life and existence where 'public opinion' forms. Also, McLuhan's argument that the electronic media could provide opportunities to people of involvement in the 'public sphere.' I agree with this, because I definitely believe in the power of the media to provide people with facts, knowledge etc that can help people to form opinions. I think it is an incredibly important that the media and communication technologies like the internet, allow people easy access to information. For example, when I'm doing an assignment, I can go onto the Australian Government or Parliament website and get some legitimate info. I also agree with what the lecture notes say about John Fiske's argument-that people come up with their own interpretations of what they read of the media, and, I believe, everything in general. And, what John Hartley said about television communicating to all different people, things happening all over the world. Just turn on the news and that's what you'll see.

The free speech and censorship section was relevant and interesting to me, because it was an issue focused on in my essay. I'm all for democracy and the practising of democracy by the citizens in that I appreciate all the privileges it brings, but I don't think people should be able to put anything they want on the net; somethings should definitely be censored. But of course that's just my opinion and there are a lot who disgaree with it.

Reading about the hackers reminded me of Jason Nelson's lecture, and what was put on his site when hackers got to it. I had always, until now, thought hackers were in fact involved in computer crime-just messing with people's sites abnd putting inappropriate things there etc. But the lecture shows another side of that, and this leads me to ask, are the type of people Jason Nelson was talking about actually not hackers, but crackers? I guess so, because according to The Hacker Ethic, no content can be damaged, they simply want to share the info. But that's not what Jason Nelson's hackers/crackers did...so I guess they were crackers. And the hacker contribution to democracy is significant; especially 'providing access to debates for a multitude of voices that could never be heard through existing mainstream, broadcast media.' Debate is a crucial aspect of democracy, therefore something providing people with a voice is important to the practising of democracy.

I won't lie and say I fully understood Primer because I definitely didn't! I wasn't sure of the actual moment their invention became a time machine. So I was pretty lost. I read some spoilers as we were urged to do because the second half would be ultra confusing without them, but the sites google came up with that I looked at were blog conversations between people who were genuises and knew all this stuff about the issues covered in Primer, so that pretty much just confused me more! But, all the time travel 'possibilites' in the lecture notes were interesting, especially the part that pointed out that computers just expand time, and that experiences could be relived as new and present. It just goes to show how different a computer is to the human brain! Anyway, that's it for this week. 'Til next time!

I didn't see that I had to do this in week 3!!

Ok, I was just checking all the tute tasks we were meant to do since the start of semester, and I fully saw this task from week 3 that I never saw and therefore haven't done! I don't know if it's too late or anything, but I'll do it anyway. The task was to post a blog about my experiences with communication technologies, so how I use them, and which ones I use.

I use lots of forms of communication technologies; I use the phone often, as well as the computer and the tv. I also go to the cinema as well. However, these aren't all new communication technologies, although they have definitely been updated, which makes them new. But, there are a lot of actual new communication technologies that I use just as frequently.

These include, first and foremost, the mobile phone! I know it seems like such a trivial thing to say that mobiles are so important etc, but honestly, they are great for keeping in touch with everyone you know! The fact that you can just send a message as well is an effective way to catch up with someone and organise something etc, quickly. It's also handy to know that wherever you are, providing you have reception etc, that if you have your phone with you, you can contact people and be contacted. Think of how good they are for if you, or someone else, is going overseas. You can get international roaming put on your phone and stay in touch with everyone at home even when your on the other side of the world.

I also use my ipod. It's so convenient; it's small and can be taken and used just about anywhere. It provides entertainment, and because they are compact, can fit in your pocket or bag easily and hardly take up any room.

The task also asked how long have you been using new communication technologies, and what influenced you to start? Well, I guess I have been using communication technologies since I was basically able to. I've been watching tv since I was little, and been using the computer since, I guess, primary school. And as I have gotten older, the technologies I use and how often I use them and what I use them for have changed greatly. When I was young, I used to use the phone only when I had to. Now, I use my mobile to talk to people whenever I'm bored, or just feel like it. What influenced me to start using communication technologies would have to have been the fact that they offer entertainment. Like I said, it all started with the tv and movies, and I watched them because they were entertaining. I used to chat on msn messenger etc because it was something to do. And now I use the computer mainly for uni purposes, but I still use the phone, tv and my ipod for entertainment reasons.

lecture 10 on cybertherapy

Week 10's lecture on Cybertherapy was taken by Debra Beattie. She spoke about things like kids helpline, and how they now operate over the internet. Kids can log into kids helpline chatrooms and have internet conversations with counsellors. Debra said that they were fairly controversial and had been subject to criticism. However, I think they are a great idea, and there was plenty of things said in the lecture that proves their success. As the internet is generally a less-personal approach, I think kids, and people in general, would feel so much more comfortable talking in a chat room. That way, they wouldn't be nervous to say things that are harder to say to an actual voice, or if they were worried they would start crying over the phone, that wouldn't be a concern for them on the net. Debra has researched this, and found facts that support why these services are good. For example, the counselled felt safer online and were more likely to stay on the net and talk than the phone. Also, there's a whole lot of things on the net that can be done that can't be done on the phone. Things like e-messages can be sent from the counsellor to the counselled, of affirmations and things like that, so it's not as if they just had one conversation then the counselled is on their own. Debra also introduced the concept of art therapy, where the counselled draw how they feel, which also allows the counsellor to see what the counselled's issue is, sooner than when on the phone. The example was a picture someone had drawn of her and her mum on one side, then her dad alone on the other side. That's pretty insightful and helpful to the counsellor. I think if it helps people, which it obviously does, then it's definitely worth doing.

We also watched a film by Debra called 'The Wrong Crowd,' which I thought was interesting. It had narration throughout it, of the character in it, and it was about Debra's life, I think. It explored themes like police corruption and brutality, and was set in Brisbane from I think the 1950's or so onwards. Anyway, I enjoyed it.

week 11-excel tute task

I haven't used excel in so long, I vaguely remember doing it in year 10 but still, I have no idea how to use it. We had to work out costs and things for three people. Being as I didn't really understand what excel was for because I had never used it outside of school before, I was pretty confused as to why we were entering these values. Anyway, the first steps were basic and easy, just typing names and amount etc. So that was simple enough. When we progressed onto harder things, it was more confusing. The instructions helped heaps, but sometimes didn't explain little things you had to do, so I would do it slightly wrong and it wouldn't work like the instructions said it should. Those were the main problems I experienced, and the solutions to them were just to get Adam to help me and explain it to me and get help from people around me too.
It wasn't too confusing but because I have no idea about it I'm sure other people would have found it easier than me. I can definitely see how it would be useful, as Adam explained it to me, it saves a lot of time when you're trying to work out finances etc. So although I would have to get a better feel for it, it would be very beneficial to people who know how to use it and who do use it when they are doing spreadsheets etc.

week 9 lecture

Cyberpunk was the topic of week 9's lecture, and during the lecture we were introduced to William Gibson. He sounds complicated, and normally I don't like it when I can't understand things, therefore have to re-read them, which is what you would have to do with his work. But it also sounds like he has some interesting ideas, especially the "merging of organic and mechanical elements in the human body." We saw a steady flow of Keanu Reeves as well. Ha ha, not really, only twice. But anyway, the Matrix came up again as I recall it did weeks ago, to compare it with Alphaville, which I found extremely helpful to me to better understand what Alphaville was all about, not that I really understand either one now, but I'm getting there! The whole cyberpunk thing refered to the utopia and dystopia themes that we've heard of before; they were also brought up in the course of Alphaville. It's strange to me to think that people think of tecnhology as being utopia...as seen in the lecture notes, if you percieve technology as being a utopia, what happens when you are forced to go back to reality; what will you have then? The cities as machines theory is something to think about. All three alternatives (the city is a machine for living, the city is a natural thing created by natural beings and the city is a living being) all have elements of truth to them. I especially agree with the first two-the city is both of these things, but it's funny that all through life I was taught the difference between 'man-made' and 'natural' developments, and here it says that the city is a natural being, even though I would originally have thought of it as un-natural and man made, although really it is both. The Modernism/Post-Modernism section brings up the discussion on freedom of speech, which is a large theme in my essay. The lecture said that new media needs new understandings, and especially political ones. I agree with that after doing my essay, but I'm not all for freedom of speech with new media, even though before this I have always been pro-freedom of speech! So I guess I'm not bringing a needed political understanding yet. Anyway, that's it for this week.