Thursday, May 24, 2007

New Comm tech hmmmmm



The course has been a pleasant breeze up until now. Where 15 chapters are demanded to be read and I have less that a week. I must say vector, dialectic and meme does not phase me as such. However, finding out that using my daily communication technologies like myspace has become of use to me. I never knew that the quizs we took that told more about ourselves were memes!!! Wow, I actually find such definitions useful and when it came to simple definitions like technology that we use everyday, I struggled to come to terms with what it was...shame.



Similar courses like culture, media and society use similiar terms to this book and that makes it a whole lot better. Topics I found interesting in this course was about video games and questions like are they simulations or representations. I still haven't made up my mind. I think they're more simulations but who knows. I'll probably go good in this area of the test.



to be continued...





maybe lol



I have to go study now for the exam

I'm back and today was the day I completed the exam, i took my time but i think i passed lol. It was easier than I had expected.

I enjoyed the questions about the movies, as i found the movies interesting, something i'd usually never watch. My favourite was Alphaville and i didn't mind the voice over lol. La Jetee scared me and Primer was a little boring and hard to understand but I enjoyed the idea that they watched to make a time machine, the movie was so realistic which i enjoyed a lot unlike other movies such as Back to the Future that don't look realistic one bit.

I did enjoy finding out how technoligies work and how they developed over a period of time.

Writing blogs each week was fun, photoshop was enjoyable, the activites was quite easy.

All the theories in the book were interesting but trying to remember all the names is just to hard, i had trouble remembering who produced, directed, theorized what. I'm not good which dates either.

Yes, overall the subject was ok, not my favourite one i'm sorry.

I'd prefer to just buy new technologies rather than having to question how they were made, i think it's because I'm a little lazy, but who isn't these dahys in this century?

Thanks

Natasha


Thursday, May 17, 2007

Tutorial Task: Complete the Exercises below, and then write a report in your blog about your experience doing the exercises; were there any problems? what were your solutions? Did you find it too simple, or was it confusing? Can you see how this software might be useful to you?

This excerise like the other one, started of simple and it actually remained simple throughout the excerise. There was a lot of reading involved which i didn't like reading and it consumed a lot of time. In result of this, I tend not to concentrate to the best of my ability.

There were no serious problems, lazy me forgot to press the arrow down where the bar names are is that makes any sense. I was looking for macro and couldnt see it straight away and didn't press that black arrow down to reveal everything so I asked Hannah who was sitting next to me to help me and so she told me i had to click "down arrow" and there I found it!

It was pretty simple. I don't like graphs in particular, these confuse me but when it comes to doing it yourself, you seem to understand it more.

Doing graphs might be of use to me where I have to do statistic graphs and such. I don't do busine or maths so it won't be of use to me there. I also like the idea of putting equations in aand pressing answer to get your result. When the numbers start to get high, that technique becomes very useful. Creating buttons was very neat too and it was interesting to see quickly which clients created gains and which incureed losses. I didn't understand what the recording button did. I didn't know if it worked or not, obviously it must have down something if i was able to get through the hole excerise.

It would be good if the excerise told me what the recording buttons purpose was so I would undertand why I'm clicking the buttons that I'm clicking.

Good tips that I hope to use, if the chance pops up!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Tutorial Task: Complete the Exercises below, and then write a report in your blog about your experience doing the exercises; were there any problems ? what were your solutions? Did you find it too simple, or was it confusing? Can you see how this software might be useful to you?

Microsoft is a very useful source, I use it for everything, I not only use microsoft word but microsoft powerpoint. This weeks tutorial class was pretty simply. I followed ther instructions and when ok. The question marks that were meant to be inverted commas confused me, i think it was a typo. The exercises were easy upto advanced exercise 1. Advanced exercise 2 was easy to start of with then i followed the prompts and looked for "create" and I couldn't find it. I took me maybe five minutes to find it. You had to go into "type a new list" and this wasn't said in the instructions. My bullet point was kept on "existing file". So yes after trying to fiddle around I found it.
It then said to go to add new but it was actually "new entry" however, I got in straight away.
When showing the tool bar, I couldn't distinguish the difference so I did it again and noticed that there was an extra grey bar, silly me!

After and other than that, I had no problems. It was a little time consuming which makes it a tedious process, but I got their in the end. I didn't find it too simple and it wasn't confusing at all, it might have been a little tricky. You just have to play around with it a bit and start to familiarize yourself with buttons that you usually next use. So throughout the end of the excerise I really had to concentrate on the instructions because I had never perfomed them whereas, the first three exercise I always do so I was just skim reading, asuming I was doing it right.
I didn't ask for help because i knew they were simple instructions, you just had to concentrate a little at the end.

Using letter and mailing has never been used by me, but I can see that it will become very useful. I like the idea that it makes copies of my letter into documents to as many as I want. It looks easier than trying to send copies via hotmail so i think that I mmight give it a go, especially when I comes to my resume and I want everything to go perfect.

Some useful tips!!!
Thanks
Video games success

Film characteristics have, to some extent, influenced and converged into video games. Some Hollywood blockbusters are routinely turned into video games as part of a wider process of developing successful franchises. (King and Krzywinska 2002:1). However, how might they offer their own distinct approach and pleasures that are currently making them more successful than film?

Watching movies, we enjoy obtaining the sense of escape and inspiration from the actor’s lives, imagining becoming them in their worlds. In video games, you can become them through... “Becoming actively involved agents in the world we escape into. This is what makes 3-D virtual worlds so compelling” (Christopher cited in Vorderer and Bryant, 2006: 92). Becoming someone different to ourselves and escaping to a world different to ours, we become the actors we watch on screen, experiencing the feeling and adrenalin we can’t in film.

Video games might share the same visual features as movies but their entertainment content is quite different. Films lack the element of control (Grodal 2000 cited in Vorderer 2006:43). Control gives us the chance to make a series of interesting and important decisions while simultaneously witnessing our consequences and outcome while navigating an open-ended world (Prensky 2006:61). A large satisfaction of control is when players feel themselves improving in their decisions, while aiming to a rewarding conclusion (Prensky 2006:59). Video games are a learning process and “ The secret to why people spend so much time on them is that they are learning things they need for the twenty-first century lives” (Prensky 2006:5). Control also causes a user to identify with a character to a greater degree than is possible with characters portrayed in film because the user is the central character in the game (Vorderer and Bryant 2006:43). Becoming identified with your character through the possibility of control is what makes video games a more exciting entertainment package than film.

Video games don’t need to encourage players to blast everything in order to become popular, neither do they need to be dramatic or consequential. One of the most successful video games is Will Wright’s The Sims, scoring 17 million fans (Thompson, 2003 cited in Paulk 2006). Why do people thrive for the virtual domesticity in Sims when they don’t in films? According to Psychology Today, it’s not the Sims themselves that go about their day-to-day routines but the spaces they inhibit (Thompson, 2003 cited in Paulk 2006). People can easily mirror their real-world homes by projecting aspects of their lives into the Sims characters (Thompson, 2003 cited in Paulk 2006). Will Wright states, “Sims is a laboratory for understanding not only our personalities, but also our personal spaces” (Thompson, 2003 cited in Paulk). Through playing video games, people understand more about them and this is an exciting journey that makes video games more popular than film. People can always pull back from film and criticize characters when they cross certain boundaries. In video games you understand your character since it’s possibly the only medium that allows players to experience guilt over the actions of their characters because they choose what happens to them (Jenkins 2007).Through such engagement we start to understand ourselves and this is why they are more as successful than film.

We cannot contribute to the narrative in films, but rather follow and accept what’s shown. The producer has all power. It is clear then, that there is a line between producer and the consumer (Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan, 2004:153). Video games blur the boundary between author and consumer… “They are a two-way dynamic medium that have earned their own unique discourse” (Mark Bernstein cited in Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan, 2004: 153). Games don’t ask the player to interpret what the author is trying to tell them (Pearce cited in Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan, 2004:147). Instead, “The author shifts into a role as facilitator, and the audience now takes over the role of storytelling and create their own narrative” (Pearce cited in Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan, 2004:153). Having this authority given to them, the line between audience and author becomes un-noticed and they are free to create their own entertainment in the game. It is clearly evident then, that having this two-way medium, makes us enjoy video games more than film.

Video games, whether designed for single or multiple players, simultaneously offer action on screen and the cooperation and friendship between the players. Video games are significant because “Players help others learn, by sharing information on strategy and technique through talk and observing the play of others.” (Newman, 2004). Movies don’t give you the opportunity of interacting with friends to that extent because you’d be missing parts of the movie’s dialogue.
Video games tend to set new goalposts or unveil more spectacular worlds that invite players to “just one more level”, making them reluctant to quitting until they’ve met their goals. (Jenkins, Henry, date unknown).This tactic is used as a reward for having survived the previous environment, making video games more attractive than films. Since video games are not finalized products like films, they are open to extension, repeatedly re-releasing upgraded versions. (Flynt, 2006:188). People who like a particular video game are sure to buy the upgraded version and therefore, video games succeed in the long run.

Time operates differently in video games then in film. (Joshua Meyrowitz 1997 cited in Cover). A video game can narrate the events of a thousand years but be played in a couple of hours. They give you no sense of knowing how long you’ve been accessing the virtual world and how long you can expect the program to continue (Kermode, 1967 cited in Cover). Time is unknowable and the situations are always un-expected. Unlike movies, you always have a sense of what’s coming in a structured time and this is why they are not as successful as video games.
On the whole, there are many contributing factors that make video games more popular than film. Firstly, you turn into a character who becomes actively involved agents while escaping to the world of your choice. Secondly, the element of control gives you power to make decisions and help you identify with your character to a better degree. Thirdly, the removal of the author gives you the freedom of storytelling. Socializing effectively and the irresistibility to play longer due to play value, along with the satisfaction of narrating events of a thousand years in a matter of hours, all contributes to an overwhelming, enjoyable experience, that make video games more popular and successful than film.




References

Jenkins, Henry, 2007 Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about video games debunked Online Available: http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html Kcts Television

Jenkins, Henry, (Date unknown) Complete Freedom of Movement”: Video games as gendered play spaces. http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/complete.html

Fromme, Johannes (2003) Computer Games as a Part of Children’s Culture (1. The cultural and pedagogical relevance of electronic games) (Online) Available: http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/ GameStudies

Drucker, Steven, Li-wei He, Michael Cohen, Wong, Curtis, Gupta, Anoop (Date unknown) Spectator Games:A New Entertainment Modality for Networked Multiplayer Games (Online) Available: http://research.microsoft.com/~sdrucker/papers/spectator.doc Microsoft Research

Cover, Rob, (2006)Gaming (Ad)diction: Discourse, Identity, Time and Play in the Production of the Gamer Addiction Myth (Online) Available: http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/cover Game studies

Paulk, Charles, 2006, Signifying Play: The Sims and the Sociology of Interior Design. (Online)Available: http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/paulk Game studies

Vorderer, Peter, Bryant, Jennings (2006) Playing Video Games (motives, responses, and consequences) Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers London.

Prensky, Marc (2006) “Don’t Bother Me Mom-I’m Learning” Paragon House, Minnesota

King, Geoff, Krzywinska, Tanya (2002) Screen Play (cinema/videogames/interfaces) WallFlower Press, London and New York

Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, Harrigan, Pat, 2004, First Person (New Media as Story, performance, and Game) MIT Press, London, England.

Newman, James, 2004 VideoGames, Routledge, London

Flynt, P John, 2006, In the Mind of a Game, Thompson Course Technology PTR.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

differences between IM programs and 3d environments

what are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?
What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference? In other words, are there things that are possible in one space that are not possible in the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?

In these worlds, you could be a totally different person and at the same time be yourself. In msn messenger, you usually come across as yourself. It is very quick access however where the other ones a more time consuming. When it comes to socialisng, such worlds are more exciting becasue you can actually see yourself interacting with other people. Where in msn messenger, you can't. The 3d aspect definitely makes a difference, you can control yourself to do actions around the surroundings. It is exciting because it allows you to see things in a different perspective. Its somewhat like a video game, the only difference is you chat and socialize and it isnt a game. In saying that however, there is this trick that encourages you to chat more. In worlds like IMVU and Habbo, you can receive free credits, depending on how you often you chat. This enables you to buy things and so on. Having the advantage to win stuff for your character also excites you.
Having the opportunity to go inot different worlds spices up the sitution, if your on msn messenger at home at your upset whilst talking to friends, you can't really escape that situation. Whereas in these 3d worlds you can make yourself feel better by escaping your 'real' situation and current location to somewhere you wish you could be. Also is your feeling down, it could be possible that youyrt friends send you gifts such as in IMVU. This cannot be don't on simple msn messenger.

IMV is created by the same person who made Sims. There you have the advantage of creating yourself to whoever you want to be. You can pick ur name, and search people whereas in msn you cant. Along with this, there are advertisments in the world and things for sale where you can buy. People might prefer this better than msn because it gives you a reason to chat. If you chat there is a deal that you can get credits. With your person you can make him have an expression, or tell him to jump or clap and he will.


Habbo has a lot of distractions, you can look at games, win stuff, its not really a world but your room where you can design it and express yourself.
Activeworld you can pick your worlds.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Australian


This is a picture I took of my friend who was at the cricket match with a really tall man. This image was originally very Australia. Firstly, all Australians love their sport, secondly, there was a picture of the 4x beer; Australians love their beer, beer+sport= the perfect Australian day out. Thirdly, the colours yellow and green that they were wearing are very Australian.
Using Photoshop I tried to emphasize Australianess. In this picture I used the clone stamp to transfer the Australian flag in the background, making it look like it was pinned up there and also transfered a picture of a kangeroo onto the mans t-shirt. I'm sure I have made it clear that the picture is Australian, especially the Australian flag. It gives it away automatically.


Celebrity






This picture, I think represents celebrity. She has the whole package. Firstly i just took a photo of my sister with the simply materialistic things like sunglasses, phone, bags and a pet dog ( I didn't have a dog so I put my cat in the bag).
Using Photo shop I made celebrity look more realistic. I had to find pictures of bags because I had some cheap bags in the photo and copied and pasted the juicy couture bag on the left hand side, i touched it up by using eraser. Then, since celebrities on buy branded clothes, I went to find a label to put on her t-shirt, again, using copy and paste and touching it up with the eraser. To turn my cat into the dog I had tocopy and paste it onto my image, resize it and frame it so it covered my cat. I erased the messy bits at the end.I used the burberry pattern on my other bag to make it look expensive.Overall I think I went quite well representing a celebrity. (Paris Hilton was my inspiration haha)


Friends





Theirs not much you can do with photoshop to emphazie friends. I wanted to take a picture of a present and that could represent friends and then I could transfer my friends to the picture but I am running out of time so I grabed a photo I already took. Putting a different face in there, enables me to put in more of my friends if they were missing or not having been able to make it. I also used the magic wand I think it was to erase a girl in there, that I'm not that close to and replaced it with a girl that is already in there as you can see if you look closely up the top. I also put in a message that emphasize the meaning of friends: "We love you" ahhhh Isn't that nice of the?"
Sports
I took this photo of my sister in a dancing competition . I think that dancing is a kind of sport, however, using photoshop I had to emphazie the meaning of sports, so, I put in a couple of soccor and tennis balls. These sorts of balls represent sport more effectively. Having these balls put in there (cutting, pasting, transforming the size, then erasing) might make you think that there are balls involve in what might look like as gymnastics since balls can be used in gymnastics
COMMUNICATION
I like this photo hahah. The sign that I put in there was one I took last year at biology lake. It was the funniest thing. We went to South Stradbroke and there was this lake called brown lake and infront of it had this sign: Bathers only. I was like what is that supposed to mean hahahah. It could mean many different things and shows how unclear some communication can be. I thought maybe this means we weren't allowed to swim naked, or no car washing or container washing lol because Aboriginals live there and might wash there stuff. Anyway I thought it was funny hahahahahahaha. Moving on, I took a photo of my sisters communicating on the couch. That communication represents speech and the sign represents written communication. I think both represent communication and by putting the sign in emphasizes the meaning of communication even more.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Discovering how to post pictures on my blog

Friends

















I accidentally photo- shopped it and I hope you forgive me!

Ignoring the words, this image represents friends because they are people who accompanied me on my birthday, choose to spend time with me that night and most of all enjoy the time they had with me. They also helped me finish my drink! Overall the people are my friends because they spend time with me, enjoy being around me and are also very helpful towards me.



High-tech



















I believe this is high-tech, because of the version of the computer. It appears to be a highly developed equipment and very stylish and thin when comparing it to the old, thick computers that were accompanied with their big towers. The Cd could represent a lot of things; everything you want to find will be as easy as finding it on a disc, the computer is as thin as the disc. All this requires high-technology and everyone knows that computers are high-technology, since everything they want and need can be found on the computer. If the computer wasn't high technology than people wouldn't spend most of their time on them!!


News




















This is a very traditional representation of the news. It looks like a television, radio or newspaper station that transmits information to the public. You have your journalists, bosses, technicians and so on. The news is printed on paper as seen in the image, you have your recorders, and machines that control the printing press or whatever it seems to be.
Summer















How can this image not represent summer? It has all the necessities that makes it summer, the sun, the lunch shades, the people sun-baking,the beach, the sunglasses, the hotel resorts, (holiday destinations are usually always at the beach), the sand, the gorgeous women in their bikinis and not to mention hot bods!! And I have to mention Borot, his togs are as summer as you can get, if that's not summer, I don't know what is.
Unconventional


















How often do we see this in our daily lives? This image is very eccentric and looks very artisitic. Someone with a good imagination must have designed this. I like the idea of the weeds growing out of the toilet bowl becasue it is very unconventional and I have seen such an idea before.

University life











I strongly beleive this represents University Life. At Uni you will usually see me doing what is shown in this image; sitting in the library, studying at one of the desks. I walk in the library and always see the desks taken. Study is one of the most important priorities for a University student and in most cases, you will find that they spend most of thier time studying, alone and with friends.











































Thursday, March 22, 2007

Scavenger Hunt

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
The new world record pumpkin, weighing an incredible 1262 pounds, was grown by Geneva Emmons of Washington state.
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/10/102201t_pumpkins.jhtml
www.yahoo.com

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

The quickest way to contact Grant is to write to the Miami Swimming Club, their address is:Miami Swimming ClubPO BOX 2461BURLEIGH QLD 4220 http://granthackettonline.free.fr/?page_id=107

seekers
3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?

A giraffes tongue can be as long as 22 inches in length! http://www.bellsouthmspioneers.org/ZooGiraffes.htm

www.hotbot.com


4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?

Ontology is a vocabulary that describes objects and the relations between them I'm pretty sure, something to do with the existance and being.

Ontology: What is real??

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?

David Cronenberg's first 'feature' film (at 63 minutes it is as long as many B-features) was called The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
www.amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Artist-Monster-Cinema-David-Cronenberg/dp/0802035698
6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
1986 by the mentors.
http://www.technozen.com/manifesto.htm
7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
Due to the "low fill" of the 555 code, Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen. Generic and satirical advertisements and commercials often used 555 numbers. In the early days of exchange names the prefix KLondike-5 was used as this exchange did not exist.
Of course, there was a 555 code in each city (or each locality with its own area code). Therefore there were a lot of 555 codes around the USA being under-used. And with the advent of long distance dialling, anyone could call anywhere by adding an area code to the 555 number
www.ai.com
http://www.omegarobot.com/article/555.html
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
The cheapest way to travel to Rhodes from Crete is by a Ferry
http://www.athensguide.com/ferries.html
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?

Seekers
Source: onmc

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?

Black Assassins.
http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/2005/content/standard.asp?name=StockwellS


2b Questions
What is a search engine?

What is a search engine? Internet search engines (eg Google, AltaVista) help users find web pages on a given subject. The search engines maintain databases of web sites and use programs (often referred to as "spiders" or "robots") to collect information, which is then indexed by the search engine. Similar services are provided by "directories," which maintain ordered lists of websites, eg Yahoo!www.liv.ac.uk/webteam/glossary/

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

This depends on the search engine, there are mutiple ways of doing so... many search engines count the numer of times that the search criteria is included in the article / on the website.Google does it by using their PageRank technology which is able to find out how important the matches are and how much relevance they have to the search criteria.


who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?

The search engines list the hits according to how closely they think the results match the query. Most search engines use search term frequency as a primary way of determining whether a document is relevant. If you're researching diabetes and the word "diabetes" appears multiple times in a Web document, it's reasonable to assume that the document will contain useful information. Therefore, a document that repeats the word "diabetes" over and over is likely to turn up near the top of your list.
http://www.monash.com/spidap4.html

what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others? My most favourite one is Google. Google is the first search engine I was introduced too. I have chosen to stick with google because it gives you the most about of answers form your search research and I find them to be the most relevant. Even in todays course I was asked to find answers to questions from other search engines like a9, mooter, altavista and there was no comparision between them and google. The questions i typed into them resulted in irrelevant answers and a couple showed "no results".

If i wasn't allowed to use google, my next source would be yahoo, it is not as good as google but it's close enough.

Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).

March 22, 2007 4:32 PM PDT
Analyst: Google doing mobile phone software, not hardware
Despite all the rumors and speculation about a Google Phone, the Web search company is working on software to run services on mobile phones rather than building its own phone, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray says.
The Google mobile phone software would work with, not compete with, Apple's iPhone and other mobile phones, Munster wrote in a research note on Thursday reported on by Reuters.
The head of Google in Spain and Portugal confirmed last week that Google is working on a mobile phone, but she gave no details. Google spokespeople in the U.S have refused to provide further comment, except to say: "Mobile is an important area for Google and we remain focused on creating applications and establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide. However, we have nothing further to announce."
There have been reports that the Google Phone would be a Blackberry-like device and that Google was partnering with Samsung, and other reports that Google was in talks with France Telecom Group's mobile-telephony division Orange. Google bought mobile software maker Android in 2005, among other mobile software companies.
Posted by Elinor Mills
Permalink Post a comment
March 20, 2007 5:24 PM PDT

More current news found on http://news.com.com/2060-10812_3-0.html


A new alternative to Google’s YouTube
News Corporation and NBC Universal to launch new video distribution service.
Google’s YouTube has become the major portal for publishing and searching for online video content. Google bought the site for one major reason: access to eyeballs. The number of visitors represent a huge audience for online advertising.
YouTube is mostly known for all the amateur videos available, but Google is also trying hard to get access to syndicated footage, TV series and such.
Now wonder other parties would like to get a piece of the pie. News Corporation and NBC Universal is to “launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled”. And the goal is to distribute TV programs and movies.

The content will be distributed via AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo!
It is unclear whether there also will be a separate site giving users access to all this free content. Probably not, as the main point seems to be to skip the site and brand building altogether:

continued on webpage: http://www.pandia.com/sew/402-video.html#more-402



Google defies US over search data

Google has been resisting the government request since AugustThe internet search engine Google is resisting efforts by the US Department of Justice to force it to hand over data about what people are looking for.
Google was asked for information on the types of query submitted over a week, and the websites included in its index.
The department wants the data to try to show in court it has the right approach in enforcing an online pornography law.
It says the order will not violate personal privacy, but Google says it is too broad and threatens trade secrets.
Privacy groups say any sample could reveal the identities of Google users indirectly. And they say the demand is a worrying precedent, because the government also wants to make more use of internet data for fighting crime and terrorism.
However, the Department of Justice has said that several of Google's main competitors have already complied.

continued....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4630694.stm

Thursday, March 15, 2007

My experience with communication technologies

My experience with communication technology?

Well, I hadn't had the chance to use my home phone much when I received my first mobile phone at age 13. Even before then, I never kept in contact with friends as much as I did with my mobile phone. I guess becauseI didn't have any privacy, your whole family could hear what you and your boyfriend where up to, let alone allowing them to know I had a boyfriend. Mobile phones where just more privite.

Texting was my primary source of communicating because phone calls were expensive. Having a phone was also very helpful in contacting my family to tell them where I was, or that I'd be staying after school, or if I got lost in public places, we could always find each other. My Dad lives in Sydney so it was always good to have a phone with me, just in case he needed to contact me and I wasnt home.

My first social interactions with others via the internet was through msn messenger at age 14. There I added all my friends from school and experienced customising my msn page. For example, I experimented changing my font, background colour, learning how to add emotions and so on. Adding friends from other schools was also really great because it gave us a chance to catch up. I started using msn messenger a lot more often and wasn't dependant on my phone as much.

Through much persuasion from friends at school, I became a member of Myspace at 17. Myspace is probably where I spend most of my time socialising with everyone. Through the phone, I was talked through on how to set up my page. This took hrs and hrs. Soon I had added numerous friends I knew from school, and it became a social time for us. Myspace gave me the opportunity to talk to some friends I wouldn't have had the opportunity to talk to at school. Commenting on myspace was just a more comfortable way to talk to people. You didn't have to feel intimidated, worried,under pressure, you just went ahead and wrote to anyone, feeling very comfortable in the process.
Communicating through myspace and in person had it's differences. You had the time to think of what to say when commenting them. You didn't need to feel pressured in person to strike out a good conversation then and there. You didn't need to worry about how you looked, smelt or what you wore which for some people, not me in particular, makes a huge difference.

You'd sometimes come across strangers who requested to be added as one of your friends. I usually don't accpect, but there have been some exceptions. Myspace gives you the opportunity to make new friends. Meeting new people through friends is also a great advantage on myspace. I have used myspace ever since, which is around 5 months now. There are times when I even used myspace as my primary source for contacting friends because some people never have credit on their phones, so I use myspace instead!!! Myspace is also great for advertising social events which contacts you with friends.

In conclusion, I have only experienced three communication technologies that I used in order to contact and communicate with friends or family, I dont know any more. Are there any more ways to communicate with friends???

Let me know if there is!

Other than that, I have to say, I am very glad I joined to myspace and have a phone. Without them, I would never have had the chance to make new relationships and fix old ones as much as I would have in person. Life would have been more difficult to me.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Beginning of New Technology

Hello!!!!

Welcome to my blog.

I'm Natasha and already I make myself think that I am dependant on someone else to help me set up my blog. I am quite frankly, too afraid to work independantly on my own computer. I find working on Microsoft word, browsing myspace and google a great ease but that's probably about it.

I'm a first year student who is studying a Bachelor of Journalism. New Technology is a compulsory subject I must complete. I'm not and never was or will be, interested in computers, I find them frustrating and confusing at times. My house had its first computer when I was eight years old. New technology has dramatically revolutionized, and I feel as if I am never up to date with the latest trends on the Internet. Computers were just never in my domain.

I'm mostly interested in very social and active activities, such as performing arts, sport, dancing But I realise that learning about New Communication and Media from this course will help me acquire the skills necessary to survive as an affective journalist.

Technology such as the Internet, is widely used by everyone, everywhere. Digital revolution has as stated in the text book, fundamentally transformed modern life. Becoming a journalist, I must be up to date with the modern life and learn how to set up, write and publish my work, or the work of others on the Internet if asked. I think this course is very useful not just to me, but to everyone, Regardless who they are, where they work and from what generation they are from. This course will help me to extend my skills in communicating to the world.

Week ones lecture had its pros and cons. Firstly, Steve is a terrific public speaker who can communicate effectively to the audience. Some of the lecture notes however, involved definitions and the process of discovery of new technology, or how technology was invented and that seemed to be tedious because I wondered how I was going to remember such facts.

Steve told us to read the first four chapters of our text book called 'New Communications and Media'. When I read it, I found it difficult to understand compared to Steves Lecture which I found easy. I came across words such as dialectic, meme, political economy, vector, convergence. At first I thought this subject was going to be about how technology and media affected, influenced and changed the society during its own epoch and from decade onwards, however, I was wrong, I realised it won't get that easy. I am sure to find out what this subject will offer, or maybe, I should really go and read the course outline, which I have only just now, found out where to find and how to print off.

From weeks two lecture, the movie that was shown was the only thing I remembered (I think I response well to visuals rather than verbal) I enjoyed the movie and compared it to today's technology and I thought to myself,
"My God, how much has technology improved and from all aspects; colour, shots, quality of the screen, movement, voice........"

I am looking forward to finding out if technology has changed society, or has society changed technology. I hope I can make sense out of the topic because the text book confuses me and learn as much as I can!!!