Topic 3 - Alphaville

Lecture-

The Lecture this week was a screening of a French new wave movie called "Alphaville" at first impression all i could think was that it appeared to be a rip off combination of perhaps the original mars attacks and the Maltese falcon with its story line being based on an unbelievable plot line which at the time would have been completely avant garde. The story was based on the premise of a computer controlling a society in another galaxy, in which it controlled human emotions as well as a multitude of other common human features. Women as a gender were classed separately to men usually referred to as objects or purely sexual beings. But as the movie continued its abstract plot line began to make more sense, perhaps the purpose of the movie was to not confuse you but to make you see that there is a new vision coming something so incredibly unbelievable in the world of film. In terms of structure the movie followed your general structure with your beginning middle and end, although i didn't view the end it was in my opinion obvious that he would save the girl after the extreme length he went to to get her free. To sum it up the movie was as good as could be expected for a movie of that time, but in the context of when it was created it did show great potential to lead the world in the new wave direction.

Tutorial-

I will admit that I use new communication technologies a lot, varying from: my computer, cellular phone, iPod, DVD players and television. I may be part of a small percentage of people who does have the ability to watch tv, listening to an iPod, use the internet and talk on the phone at the same time. In relation to friends I have on the internet, a large cluster of my current friends I met in person briefly first and we exchanged “MySpace” pages and then I became good friends with them. Some people I know purely on the internet but have still made a strong friendship them on the basis of talking online. Being only 18 years old I’ve been using these communication technologies maybe since I was 9-10yrs old. I first began the internet in primary school to talk to my friends on MSN, l but before that was taught to touch type in primary school. Privacy appears to be a current issue on the internet currently with predators and people posing as individuals who they clearly aren’t. To combat the abundance of weirdos on the internet I have a private MySpace page and only accept people I know. I still use new communication technologies currently and will most likely continue to in the future.

Readings-

This weeks reading was an array of information regarding the in class screening, varying from IMDB to critical essays it all appeared to be based on how impressive this movie was viewed as at this time. As i had written above in regards to the lecture it did appear like the movie was an opening into a new direction for movies of that era and after reading these sources it appears correct.

Topic 2 - Is email dead?

Wk 2 -Lecture

Lecture-

This lecture was based on the question ‘is email dead?’, I believe one of the main reasons this lecture subject was chosen was to make us wonder how much we used email in comparison to other forms of communication eg. Cellular phones or letters. After a brief discussion the topic of spam emails arouse as a common problem for most email users with the variety of spam varying from a multitude of sources including fake banks, names databases, chatrooms, dating services and advertisers. We then went on to discuss the results of a survey we had previously taken and compared it to results of other countries, and in turn found the answer to the question that once plagued our minds – email is not dead. From the results we could see that even though not everyone referred to email as ‘god’ no body had denied using its features within there everyday life. To conclude the lecture we watched a segment from the daily show on blogging and how other countries react to it and view it as a form of journalism.

Tutorial-

During the tutorial we began the first process of creating a blog; we started this process by joining a site called blogger.com. The main reason for creating this blog was to post weekly blogs regarding the content of the course, or really how to make a blog. Setting up the blog was simple process, enter your details here… select a layout and so on. At this stage some of us linked our pages to each others and began typing up our main blogs and putting the finer details onto our pages. We then spent the rest of the tutorials time discussing blogs, how we preferred to blog and if any of us had blogged before.

Readings-

The reading of the bloggers handbook continued and i read more into the aspects of blogging and the ethics which bind certain materials from being excluded from certain blogs.
The reading of the bloggers handbook continued and I read more into the aspects of blogging and the ethics which bind certain materials from being excluded from certain blogs. It then went on to further explain how a blog should be set out, the usual setting of the content in a blog, how to show your personal point of view whilst stile remaining to your main point. The blogging handbook seems to be a good source of information regarding blogging and how the world of blogging works.

Topic 1- Second Life

Wk 1 - Lectures, Readings and Tutorials

Lecture-

My first communications lecture kept in format with the general first week lecture structure we begin with the introduction of the course teachers followed by the inevitable course outline. To my surprise this was followed by a documentary featuring a game known as “Second Life”. The documentary followed the usually format with an introduction into the game, its basis, general components and creator. About half way through the main question in which this documentary was based became apparent-“Can virtual reality replace real life?” After a display of characters and slightly disturbing images the documentary came to an end, concluding with a general round up of characters, avatars and the prospective future of the game.

Tutorial-

During the tutorial I was pleasantly surprised by the content of the course being so steadily paced, as I was led to believe by friends that I would be left bewildered and neglected all semester, however contrary to there suggestions I was clearly told how to access the ‘learning@griffith” page, such a task had before worried me. The two hour tutorial then proceeded to introduce me to the basics of the study patterns of university and how the marking system works. We were then given a brief description of the next week’s tutorial outline before our tutor was thoroughly questioned on a number of different aspects of the class.

Readings-

The reading entitled “Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents Contents" appears to generally assess the issue of the blog. It begins by explaining how anyone can create a blog no matter what your personal background in journalism or in most cases lack of background in journalism. The basis seems to be that if you create content that people are interested in and can rely on then you have created a successful blog, it doesn’t matter if your reflecting on what you had for lunch, your political views or Britney’s latest breakdown as long as someone’s interested you’ve succeeded. The article also offers helpful advice to first time bloggers instructing that if your content is questionable an alias should be used to avoid ‘cyber police’. As far as I have read into this lengthy article it appears that the main idea is to teach you the basics of blogging and how to create a successful blog whilst still keeping intact your own beliefs.

Until Next Week....