Week six

'Techolotics'!

This week in Communication Technologies one of the required readings was a blog post by Brian Whitman also known as the co-founder and CTO of The Echo Nest. The blog post discusses the various types of music that people listen to and if/how it relates to their favoured political party. I found it quite interesting to read Whitmans blog as I am a strong believer that a persons music taste says a lot about their character. With that being said however, I do believe that in many cases, a persons taste in music varies significantly and changes over time, which generally makes it hard to pinpoint their political preferences based on this theory.

During this week we touched upon ‘Democracy and the Future’ to which I would like to focus predominantly on the idea of ‘free speech and censorship’. In my opinion we are lucky to be privileged with the right to freedom of speech, however I believe that many people take this for granted. In regards to ‘intellectual property theft’, an ever-growing threat due to the development in digital technologies and internet file sharing networks, I believe that with the amount of unnecessary information uploaded onto the net daily, there is no wonder why stealing is a huge issue on the internet.

In relation to what has already been said, I strongly agree that regulations regarding what can be posted on the internet is a necessity in order to control and reduce risks involved.

- Milli Marryat.

- Whitman, B. (2012) "How well does music predict your politics?"

Week five

'Social Media'!

‘Social Media’ was the topic of discussion in New Communication Technologies this week and whether or not it is destroying today’s society. The term ‘Social Media’ indeed covers a rather broad spectrum involving that of publishing, sharing, playing, networking, buying and localization. In modern day society, there is no doubt that people look to social media, such as facebook and twitter in order to communicate with others. In my opinion, I do believe that social media has had a rather negative impact upon society, however, it is and always will be appealing to us as it allows people to express themselves to the public eye in ways that they would otherwise struggle with in the real world.

Personally, I would say that I use both sharing and publishing social media quite regularly, including facebook, instagram and tumblr. The reason for this being, mostly for my own enjoyment, however I do admit that a great deal of my time is most certainly wasted on social media, time that I could be doing something more productive. Social media is however, a great way to communicate with others, although I feel that with online communication available, people don’t put in as much effort to meet in person to communicate as much as they would if social media did not exist.

Moving on now to discuss both web 1.0 and 2.0, there are definitely a number of differences that can be identified. Web 1.0 involves rather limited interaction between both site and web user. It does not give the user the authority to add or modify content, however does allow for the use of web sites to retrieve information. In comparison, web 2.0 allows its’ users to interact more freely with one another and grants them with the opportunity to conduct modifications to already existing web content.

Web 3.0 involves computers that have the ability to interpret information on the same scale as humans, thus the reason why web 3.0 is referred to in relation to the future.

This weeks tutorial task asked us to create our own survey consisting of five questions relating to Social Media. The following are the questions to which I included within my survey:

    1.Which out of the following Social Media do you use?

    2.Why do you use Social Media?

    3.Would you say that you rely heavily on Social Media?

    4.What are the benefits of using Social Media?

       5.Do you think that Social Media has had a negative impact on todays society?

Personally, I found it rather interesting to see what other users (via facebook) had to say about Social Media. There were a number of trends that I noticed when reviewing the results.

Q1. Facebook seemed to be the most favoured, followed closely by instagram and youtube.

Q2. The most common reason for using Social Media included easy communication with family and friends.

Q3. Majority of users claimed that they only relied on Social Media ‘sometimes’.

Q4. Again, communication and keeping in contact with friends and family was a significant benefit as well as educational reasons.

Q5. 66.67% of people voted yes, while 33.33% voted no, in regards to question 5. The significant reason for those claiming ‘yes’ was due to the fact that people are ‘losing their ability to communicate with others in person’ as well as ‘cyber bullying’.

- Milli Marryat.

- WittyCookie (2012) 'What are the major differences among Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0?'.

- Paul Sheehan (2012) 'Internet giants can earn with ease, it's the churn they must fear', Sydney Morning Herald, June 7.

Week four

Cyberspace and Cyberpunk!

In this weeks lecture we had a rather fascinating discussion upon both cyberspace and cyberpunk to which are an ever growing and important piece of the puzzle in each and every one of our lives.

In todays’ society, technology is everywhere we turn, making it extremely difficult to stay away from, even if we wanted to. Cyberspace, a realm involving electronic communication, is something that most of us would undoubtedly spend a great majority of our time glued to merely for it’s social networking sites such as facebook, twitter and instagram as well as other popular sites such as youtube. Information on the internet is constantly changing with new updates available and new websites being created, making it hard to avoid when everything you can ever imagine and need is already up for grabs just by the click of a button.

All in all, cyberspace is part of reality. It is an ‘information superhighway’ (Al Gore), to which we are all addicted. The world is changing as it becomes more and more technologically advanced everyday, it’s almost hypnotizing. 

- Milli Marryat.

Week three

Our thirst for technological improvements!

This weeks reading, ‘Mind Control and the Internet’ by Sue Halpern, discusses the future that technology may bring to us in relation to biochips. Biochips, described as a microchip computer, are inserted into the human brain and may provide us with the ability to download and store in our brain, any information that we desire. As I read through this article, I felt quite uncomfortable at the very thought of such a thing and that one day this may very well become a reality. I struggle with the idea and how anyone could possibly wish this upon themselves, despite the numerous advantages noted. Personally, I find it a little disturbing to think of the direction in which the human race is headed, I fear that humans will one day lose their natural abilities with the introduction of such technologies.

Despite the opinion of myself, I do believe however that the idea of microchip computers being inserted into the brain may not be as far off as we think, which doesn’t surprise me one bit. Researchers have made claims that these microchip computers may have the ability to cure diseases such as diabetes and epilepsy as well as conditions following obesity and depression. If this is indeed the case, then I would say that it is more than likely that sufferers of such diseases would be more than willing to go forth and take on this new form of technology. The thing that has got me most worried is that yes, we are well educated on the advantages that microchip computers can offer, however, not much thought has been given into what the negative consequences may be.

During class, we fell into a rather long discussion regarding both the advantages and ethical dilemmas to which the birth of such a technology would bring. A point raised by another student, that I found extremely relevant, concerned that of school. School is not only a place to learn new things and become educated, but it allows us at a young age to develop our social skills. The point that I am trying to make here is that if we become these micro-chipped robot like ‘things’ per say, then we may very well lose our ability to interact with other human beings and/or to feel emotion the way that we once did. In conclusion to what has been so far said, I do admit that such technology may be beneficial regarding the medical side of things, however more research should be undertaken into the negative consequences it will and may pose towards future generations.

On a much lighter night, I found this weeks’ lecture to be extremely captivating, as we discussed the development of computers over the past few decades. It is funny to think that in the 1950s there were just six computers to satisfy the world’s needs, a major difference in contract with todays technologically advanced society, don’t you think?

The truth is, technology is moving at such a rapid pace as our thirst grows ever so strong and I’m sure that one day humans will look back and ponder over today and wonder how we managed to survive with the knowledge that we currently lack in.

- Milli Marryat. 

- Halpern, Sue (2011) 'Mind Control and the Internet', New York Review of Books, June 23.

- Synder, Michael (2012) 'They Really Do Want To Implant Microchips Into Your Brain', American Dream, Aug 2.

Week two

Communication Technologies!

Part 1:

b) Our lives are continuously changing over time as technology makes further developments. We were asked this week to find a video of our choice that relates to Communication Technologies in one way or another.

I found this clip regarding technology and how it has helped sufferers of autism to communicate to be quite incredible as it is a terrific example of just one of the many ways that technology has benefited us significantly. Technology has improved the quality of everyday life for those with autism and has given them many opportunities that they otherwise would not have had, such as the ability to enter into the workforce.

The reason why I chose this clip is because I believe that a number of people in todays day and age take technology for granted and overlook the real benefits that it has provided to us apart from your everyday social networking site.

Here is the link to the youtube clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-8lsDH3O5Y

c) This week in Communication Technologies we were asked to find an application that we use to analyse an aspect of the web more effectively.  For me, I would have to say that the ‘Commbiz’ app has benefited me significantly as it allows me to access my online banking anytime and anywhere without having to lug my laptop around with me everywhere I go.

The role that Communication Technologies has plays in my life!

Part 2:

Communication technologies, has enriched us with the ability to communicate with both friends and family at the click of a button all in a matter of seconds. Personally, I make use out of a number of social networking sites including my phone, facebook, skype, instagram and tumblr. I have been using communication technologies for a number of years now, which is, I would say, a choice that has been heavily influenced by friends and over all, todays society.

Facebook, which I have had for around four years now and use quite frequently, not only grants me with the opportunity to chat with friends, however, it involves many other advantages including the ability to organise group events. Skype, which I also use from time to time, is a great way to catch up with others as it enables me to video chat my friends living in other states. In contrast, tumblr, which I have been using for two years now, is more of a leisure activity for me to kill spare time.

Privacy is something that I take seriously and for this reason I don’t feel incredibly comfortable sharing a great deal of my personal information online, however, I do believe that anyone who creates a site such as facebook, are entering into another world at their own risk and should be aware of its dangers. I personally feel much more comfortable meeting face to face before any further contact rather than introducing myself to someone for the first time over the internet.

In conclusion to the above, I believe my friends have predominantly influenced the choices that I have made regarding communication technologies. 

- Milli Marryat.