Week 8 Tutorial Task- CyberPunk

Negative Impact of technology on humanity: In a cyberpunked near-future, technology runs rampant, and usually manipulates most societal interactions. Dystopian near futures are very common, but so are futures where the impacts of specific technologies are played out in a world only slightly different from the present. Sacred societal boundaries are often crossed with regularity. Often the earth is severely damaged. Crime and drug use are often key supporting the

A recent new story from news.com.au discusses the way in which "Computer use has 'persistent negative impact' on child's maths, reading test scores". It presents the theory that technology is diminishing the reading and maths results of young students. It is also suggesting that recent technology is in fact counter-productive in improving student achievement. 

The following is my attempt to reconstruct this story:

Computer Technology: Is it doing harm to your children's academic results?

Recent studies have shown that modern-day online learning may in fact be hurting your child's academic results rather than helping improving them. Although it is clear that with the internet, in today's society we are able to access information much quicker and in a much more simple way than previous decades. Many people would view this is a postive advance on society with much more accessible resources, but what it may really be doing is causing the academic downfall of your children.

A study conducted by the US National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that
a program of broadening home computer access would be counterproductive for students as they tend to get easily distracted by social networking sites, computer games and any other computer program that is likely to be a lot more enjoyable than any school homework that they may have.


So how is the continuation of this at-home computer use going to impact not only the youth of society in years to come but also the way in which the planet develops?


In the worst case scenario, if the youth of our society continues this dependance on computers and academic downfalls continue to decline, we could eventually see a world that is led by the non-practical. Although through advanced technology, it would seem that we are learning more and accessing information quicker, dependance on technology enourages us to be lazy. And our world cannot advance to it's full potential if our generation and future generations are too busy updating their facebook status and playing world of warcraft to develop a better and ever-advancing world for us to live in.
( http://www.news.com.au/technology/computer-use-has-persistent-negative-impact-on-childs-maths-reading-test-scores/story-e6frfro0-1225902566080#ixzz12OL9IMmm- news story)


http://. (basic research)www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/negative-effects-of-modern-day-technology-1106666.htmlmes

Week 7- TuteSpark- Free Software.

For this task, I chose to download the following Free Software: Gimp Photo Editing Software, Mozilla Firefox and Limewire.


I found Gimp a lot of fun. Being someone who is frequently editing photos, this is a very helpful program to help me do so...at no expense. It's straight forward, has all the necessary tools to do simple editing taks and best of all, it's free!


Mozilla Firefox was another story. Being someone who has always used either Internet Explorer or Safari, I didn't like trying to adapt to a new internet browser, even thought they're all very straight forward. 


And last of all, Limewire is obviously an incredibly popular music downloading source for music lovers, myself included. Although it's software that is very much frowned upon in the music industry and on an even more serious note, it encourages the illegal downloading of music, there's no denying that it's a great source to download music for free. Who could say no to that?

Week 7 Tutorial- Creative Commons

1. What is creative commons and how could this licensing framework be relevant to your own experience at university?

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting reasonable copyright. This licensing framework is relevant to our University Work in the sense that if were to write a story/essay/report or take our own photos/videos, we need to know that we are safe from other students trying to steal our work without us receiving the credit that we deserve.

2. Find 3 examples of works created by creative commons and embed them in your blog.

3. Find an academic article which discusses creative commons using a database or online journal. Provide a link to and a summary of the article.

Through the griffith online Library, I found a jounrnal written by Junko Yoshida on Creative Commons and it's contribution to the computer and consumer electronics industry and it's clash with record and movie companies. It discusses the way in which Creative Commons has replicated the success of the free-software and open-source movements.

[http://hy8fy9jj4b.search.serialssolutions.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Creative+Commons&rft.jtitle=Electronic+Engineering+Times&rft.au=Junko+Yoshida&rft.date=2008--0-3-&rft.issn=0192-1541&rft.spage=60&rft.externalDBID=ELET&rft.externalDocID=1447636751]

4. Have a look at Portable Apps (a pc based application) – provide a brief description of what it is and how you think this is useful.

Portable Applications are applications that can be downloaded from the web and stored onto portable devices such as a USB stick, iPOD or Hardrive so that you are able to transfer the apps that you use regularly from one computer to another. For instance, as a Uni student, I always use my Laptop when working on assignments at home, but if I am in a tutorial, I tend to use the Uni desktop computers. In such an istance, if I were in a Photography class, I could transfer the GIMP photo editing app from my Laptop to the Uni desktop computer. This is very useful for people like myself who are constantly swapping computers and tend to lose data very easily as it's often hard to keep track of what program is available on what computer.

http://portableapps.com/

WEEK 6 TUTESPARK- Privacy and Social Networking

Who owns the content you put on the internet on various sites? (This includes pictures, video, text, etc)

Majority of the content that I post on the internet is owned by many different sources from all over the internet. For instance, the photographs and videos that I have previously used for this weblog all belong to people who have posted them on such websites such as google image, photobucket, youtube, etc.

Think about all the content you upload onto social networking sites - Do you own it?
When i think of myself and my own personal use of social networks such as Facebook, majority of the content that I publish is in fact, not my own. I am someone who is always posting Youtube videos of filmclips, short-films, funny home-made videos etc which all belong to somebody else. In terms of photos, majority of the time I only use my own photos but there have definitely been times where i have posted images from the internet that are not my own. Coming hand-in-hand with these videos and photos, I also have incorporated quotes on my website that are not my own. So it is apparent that while it seems like my Facebook is my OWN, majority of the content is in fact not mine at all.

Who has the right to use your creations?
If we're not careful with work we create/photos we take etc, anyone could steal the content that we post on the internet. For example, if i were to post a weblog on here and anyone was able to access it, they would be able to copy and use it as their own. An example for how we would avoid this is if we were to post photographs which we have taken and edited on our own, we could protect them by giving them a watermark, so that if people try to claim is as their own, our name would be on it.

WEEK 5- CULTURE JAMMING RESULTS.

For our Culture Jam, Bec, Desma, Louise and myself manipulated a flyer for Sin City Nightclub's second birthday to convince the public that Jay-Z was appearing at the nightclub. To achieve this, we used several different marketing strategies to lure the youth into believing this media lie. Our main source of marketing was the manipulation and distribution of the Sin City flyers which we posted all over the Griffith University Gold Coast campus. This tactic proved to be successful as only moments after we posted them, we were all already getting messages from friends letting us know about this exciting event. We also received a lot of response on the Facebook and Twitter accounts that we created. These were established to promote the event, post updates and hints as to who the celebrity guest was and receive feedback from the public to see if our Culture Jam was successful enough. With the time limit we were given, I believe that we were very successful in achieving a Culture Jam that did in fact create an impact upon the youth of the Gold Coast.

Week 5 Tute Exercise- Culture Jamming. Planning Process

Culture Jamming...a term I've grown to really appreciate, and have a whole lot of fun with!

For this particular exercise, we've decided to delve into the clubbing scene and mess with the minds of young, naive club-goers by convincing them that famous Hollywood rapstar, Jay-Z is making a special guest appearance at popular Gold Coast nightclub, Sin City.

Why did we choose to do this?

Because the target audience is way too easy a target. All of these young hollywood-obsessed superficial adolescents seeking any chance to make their brush with fame...Why wouldn't we do it? I think that this will be a relatively easy Culture Jam to pull off as Sin City is notorious for having special celebrity guest appearances without much advertisement about it at all. And the youth of our nation tend to be the ones who overlook the fine print and forget to read into the facts. In other words, they'll believe ANYTHING as long as it comes off as somewhat legitimate. And what better way to promote this 'special event' then through the very portal which our youth depends on for communication and information: Facebook! Through not only Facebook, but also Twitter, we have created fan pages masked as actual 'Sin City' Fan Sites. Through these social networks we will post legitimate information about the club and its upcoming events. To create a subtle approach to the Jay-Z Appearance, we'll ease into it by posting 'hints' each day and simply starting off by just stating that a 'special celebrity guest' will be appearing for Sin City's 2nd Birthday next Friday September 10. Eventually once the final hint has been revealed, we will distribute flyers announcing the appearance of Katy using one of Sin City's own flyers but simply altering it and adding Jay-Z's name onto it. 

We're hoping that by promoting this event, we can prove that Culture Jamming IS a very common and successful form of false promotion. We're planning on rocking up on the Friday to monitor how many people actually show up to see Katy. We will also monitor the success by the responses that we receive on both Twitter and Facebook. Let's hope it all pulls through, for the sake of a good giggle!

Week 5 TuteSpark- Culture Jamming

Culture Jamming has proven to be a very effective form of damaging and exposing companies through their own ad campaign designs. Some examples of these are as follows:

The most damaging Culture Jam: 

Ipod: IRAQ Culture Jam- a very clever and also damaging recreated version of the very popular iPod advertisements:

"The most effective and disturbing of the images above is the iPod subvertisement. The well known colorful background, black silhouette of a person jammin' out, and what looks like iPod headphone cords remains the same as the actual iPod advertisement in order to initially appear to be ad itself. When examined further, the viewer will see that the person is a replica of the famous yet haunting photo taken of an Iraqi detainee at Abu Ghraib. It portrays a man being physically and psychologically tortured by being made to think that if he were to move from this stress position he would be electrocuted. This gives us the message that Americans spend too much time concentrating on consuming and obtaining physical "things" that we cannot even recognize the horrific, torturous, inhumane acts some of our soldiers are carrying out overseas. "
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c8BLgIFPhn8/SwLmO8RQlMI/AAAAAAAAACk/MiHsteTkz3k/s1600/abughraib.jpg)

I believe that another one of the most damaging would have to be the Burger King and or McDonalds Culture Jams. Designed to influence people to STOP eating junk food, these Culture Jams are incredibly damaging to these large fast-food corporations.

These Culture Jams have created a very effective and informative way of making a statement about certain brands/people/corporations that are believed to be in some way manipulating or misleading. Culture Jamming is an excellent for of exposure and continues to be used throughout society to convey very strong political statements.

Week 4- Tute Exercise: Video or Film Online.

Question 1: 1.Where and when did usable online video start?


Usable online video first started in 2002. This is when Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. established the much anticipated MovieLink. 


Question 2: What recent innovations are being used to lure us into the movies? What are they luring us from?

Examples of technological innovations used to lure audiences to watch movies and television series include: Online Movie and Tv Trailers found on websites such a YouTube- This allows internet users to acces YouTube and view the full-length movie of episode trailer. These trailers are used to show parts of the movie or show (usually the parts that show the most funny lines or the beginning of the climax) that attract the viewers so that they are left NEEDING to see what happens next.  These trailers are also aired on television, at the movie theaters prior to a movie commencing and nowadays, these previews can also be accessed via telephone through mobile internet.


Question 3: Are short films still being made? Why? Who pays for them?

Short films are indeed still being made in modern society. This is made apparent by the large number of Short Film Festivals that are still being held in honour of the short film industry. Such festivals include the Sydney Film Festival and the world's largest short film festival which is TropFest. Short films make money from festivals such as these through prize money. Another way that short films make money is through the internet. 


Question 4: The term viral is thrown about a lot but what does it mean in film/movie arena?


The term 'viral' refers to a film/show/videoclip that is made popular through the process of internet sharing. These videos can be shared via email or video websites such a YouTube. The popularity of these videos is often determined by how many 'hits' it makes: in other words, how many views it has by the public. A great example of one of these videos is the ever popular YouTube hit "David after Dentist" which since it's release one year ago has received 66,416,848 views!





Question 5: Online video distribution isn't limited to the short film format. We are now starting to see television styled shows made solely for internet release (webisodes). Find an example of this style of content and discuss how viewing television content in this way can positively and negatively affect the viewer's experience.


3 examples of online webisodes include:
*Fred
*Smosh
*Red vs. Blue


All of these online tv series are found on a website called mashable.com. I believe that the invention of these online webisodes can be negative and positive depending on the user. For people who have little access to the internet or simply have a very slow internet modem, it can be very hard to access and download such webisodes. In the case of someone who has very easy access to fast internet, I think this is a great way to air series as it is easily accessible and can be watched whenever one pleases as opposed to having to wait for a certain time when a show airs on normal TV.