Lecture 6 - A brief history of the computer and internet

Lecture

This weeks lecture was regarding the history of the creation of computers and the internet, we began the lecture with an introduction into the creation of the first computer and how that began the production of other forms of computers. IBM originally sold large computers to business as investment pieces that could work out the math behind there work, while at the same time "apple" was creating smaller computers for individuals using people they met at "Home Brew" meetings. After apple became popular for the creation of its smaller computer IBM started to make there own version of the smaller computer and used Bill Gates to help create the software and the platform for the new computers so they could be sold as a package. We then later went on to view several movies about how the past viewed what the internet would become aka virtual reality and also about how requesting a web page works from the point you click the link to the point where your page loads. Overall the lecture was very interesting regarding the history of the internet and how it has evolved into what it is today.

Tutorial
Wikipedia task - The Academy Is...

Is this an accurate article?
the article in regards to general information about the academy is... in the article is correct, however it does go into further detail instead it merely skims the surface regarding general knowledge of the band.

Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?
the article does cover the basic facts that are known about the band but lack in further information regarding there EP album "from the carpet"

Does this article follow the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?
the article does follow the guidelines for a useful article however much of it does not appear to have a plausible source and most is just rumoured or common knowledge.

Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?
this article does appear to be slightly bias as it appears to acklowedge the old guitar player as a main song writer, however the lead singer william beckett wrote the main lyrics and riff for both the sophmore album and EP.

What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community ?
to improve this article for wider use more background information could be added as well as more indepth detail into there previous and current tours. Portions should also be added in regards to there previous television show "TAITV" and there current fansite "SANTIS LITTLE HELPERS".

Reading
This weeks reading New Media: An Introduction was an article which asked the question what can be regarded as new media. It speaks about how in comparison to older technologies the less "new" technologies still seem high tech and are qualified as new. For example a DVD player seems newer when compared with a VCR rather than a CD. The reading also goes into the point of some new creations and if they are really needed when there is already a peice of technology which can do those functions easily, creating digital downloads for music which in most cases gets burnt to cd instead of just releasing a cd in a music store. Some people would prefer a tangable peice of technology like a CD but with the new age of digital download it appears that CD's are slowly becoming a thing of the past. But as these technologies continue to develop new features are being created and with that allowing us to reduce the use of old technologies but still increase human interaction and communication.

Topic 5- Why I Hate Wikipedia

Lecture

This weeks lecture was on the topic "Why I Hate Wikipedia", it wasn't so much on why our lecturer hates wikipedia but rather on the premise that the internet can lend itself to create pure lies or untrue facts in a way in which they could be deemed reliable. The discussion began over a wikipedia article regarding Lee Cox, a former student who now teaches, however on wikipedia he is a well known doctor who has had a large dispute with another well known professor Steven Stockwell. Although neither of the articles main "characters" as such knew of there supposed involvement the way in which the document was structured would lead an unknowing web surfer to believe the "facts" included in the article. Although Wikipedia holds no real tangible source of fact for its articles it can still be viewed as a simple and semi reliable source for the basis of an assignment.

Tutorial

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

Benjamin’s ideas in regard to art can be applied to contempory digital media in some aspects depending on the situation. It can be agreed that anything can be considered art, but only some may view the work as art. If a photograph is of a sculpture then it could be considered art, if a photograph is of a blade of grass it could also be considered art if it displayed emotion or even an alternative view on what we may consider the purpose of grass. In theory Benjamin’s ideas apply to digital art but the way in which they do is complicated and confusing in some ways.

There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

As the age of art has evolved so has the definition of an artist, what once was defined as an extremely talented artist who depicted the very lows and highs of life (Picasso, Van Gogh) in abstract or life like art has now become a generalised term for anyone who creates a piece or work which could be considered in some light art. The evolution of art has no negative side effect for the term “art” as even what we consider classic art had at some stage evolved from the original stages of art like rock art. In turn art will always remain art even if its true definition is deviated from as even the evolution of art can be considered art in itself.

Is a photo-shopped image "authentic"?

A photo shopped image in Benjamin’s theory is not truly “authentic” as it does not hold a tangible past or history of the piece. Although in some ways the history of the image could be traced its raw value or its original state would be considered the authentic piece of art. In the same reasoning however an animation could be considered a less authentic piece of art as it does not have the raw authentic background to it.

Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

Benjamin discusses the fact that in regards to aura – “the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition”. In the theory of this an original piece of digital art could have an “aura” however if it was continually mechanically reproduced it would loose its history and its “significance point beyond the realm of art” (Benjamin, 1936, 4).

Reading

This weeks reading was entitled "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" talked about how information that is false can be perceived as true as long as a small amount of correct information is also given. In turn any lie can be seen as true as long as it has a portion of correct supporting evidence.

Topic 4- Old Communication Technologies

Lecture

This week’s lecture was about Old Communication technologies, it went into detail in regards to old communication practices and how they evolved into what we now use. We viewed many examples of different forms of old communication technologies including, rock paintings, hieroglyphics and body painting. The subject of semiotics also arouse as not only do we communicate with each other through written text or vocal words we also use body language and semiotic systems to help portray messages. The premise of semiotics is based up general assumptions for example a tribe that wore more red body paint than yellow would be considered more dangerous as we associate red with danger or haste. Some more modern communication practices in which we discussed included the use of the telegraph, radio, morse code, telephone, radio, cinema and television which are still currently used not only to help individuals communicate but to assist in the spread of media propaganda. From the lecture we could see that not only do we still adopt some techniques from the older forms of communications but it is these techniques which created the backbone for the technologies we now rely on so much in everyday life.

Tutorial

Who was the creator of the infamous "love bug" computer virus?

The creator of the love bug virus was Reomel Ramones.

BBC news- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/740558.stm

2. Who invented the paper clip?

William D. Middlebrook- The Great Idea Finder- http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?

The Ebola virus gets its name from the Ebola river in northern Congo (Zaire)

Sci-Tech Encrclopedia: Ebola Virus-http://au.search.yahoo.com/search?p=How+did+the+Ebola+virus+get+its+name%3F+&fr=yfp-t-601&ei=UTF-8

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

The largest recorded earthquake in the world was a magnitude 9.5 (Mw) in Chile on May 22, 1960

Earthquake Facts- earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids/facts.php

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

1,073,741,824 KB = 1TB

Conversion Calculator- http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/

6. Who is the creator of email?

I DO NOT KNOW. MAYBE YOU?

7. What is the storm worm and how many computers are infected by it?

The so-called Storm worm is actually not a worm, but rather a family of Trojans(viruses).

What is the Storm Worm?- http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm

8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly,
what is the most efficient way?

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600

Or

http://pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

Prime Minister Of Australia- http://pm.gov.au/

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School
of Arts) a member of?

Stephen Stockwell writes music for the band Black Assassins

MySpace blog- http://blog.myspace.com/daniko

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

The term Web 2.0 refers to the world wide webs second generation of services, it allows information to be shared online through out different media forms.

What exactly does Web 2.0 mean?-

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/11/05/BUG78M5PHL1.DTL&type=business

Reading

The reading by Walter Benjamin entitled " The Work Of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" discusses the question when is a work of art completed. The question plagued leads us to wonder at what stage does a piece of art become art for example in a movie is it art when its a screenplay, a scene, a trailer or perhaps when the whole work is complete. The article also discusses what is an authentic piece of art and how true art can depict an "aura" of significance point beyond the realm of art. He discusses the fact that on any level it could be considered a form of art work it just depends on the way in which it is viewed at that time. In essence anything could be considered art it just follows the premise that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

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....