End of New Communications Technology

New Comm Tech, New Comm Tech, New Comm Tech!!!!! Hmmm, what can I say about this course. It was brilliant, awesome, fantastic, exciting, cream of the crop........Haha....am I exaggerating too much.....welll, yea, kinda.....It was not all perfect but it served its purpose. It was able to deliver to us what it promised at the very beginning: "An introduction to the theory and practice of New Communication Technology."

Learning was structured in such a way that we had to go to weekly lectures and tutorials and were assessed based on updating our weekly Blog, an Essay and 100 Multiple Choice Questions. We also had to read this really HUGE, BULKY and DREADFUL Textbook to further complement our learning. At the end of the day though, I think it was pretty manageable.

A key point to note however is not to leave everything to the last minute. Follow your course outline given to you and study every single week. Do your readings, blog, whatever, but just ensure you learn the stuff for that week. Also, start planning your essays early so that you have enough time to perfect it. Trust me, it helps because when you reach the end of the semester and find that you have so many deadlines to meet, it can be daunting.

On a last note, I wanna thank all the lecturers and tutors for a wonderful semester. Other than the fact that lectures were somewhat boring, well at least to me, there is really nothing negative about this course.

Do enrol in it and learn how the communication technologies are affecting our lives. Till next time, I wish everyone the best in whatever they plan on doing.

Kev

Week 11-Using Microsoft Excel

Unlike Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel is pretty alien to me. The last time I remember using it is probably when I was working as an administrative assistant and all I had to do was key in results into the boxes provided. The exercises in this week's tutorial were easy to carry out except for the one on macros. Prior to this, I had no clue what that word even meant. Nagivating through the advacned task was a bit of a hassle but I did manage to get through it, I guess. Anyway, I learnt from this tutorial how to constuct equations for tabulating results easily though it seemed like so much more work. Overall though, I will still probably not use Microsoft Excel unless I really have no other choice. :)

Week 10-Using Microsoft Word

Nowadays, people use microsoft word to type letters, essays, articles or any other sort of documents. I am no greenhorn to Microsoft word processing but after this week's tutorial task, I realsied that I still have much to learn. Exercises 1, 2 and 3 were pretty easy to do, however, it was the first time I actually carried out those tasks. The instructions were fairly easy to navigate through and I managed to complete the task relatively quick. Previously, when I prepared a letter on Microsoft word, I would not have used the tools shown in Advanced Exercise 1 and 2. Instead, I would prepare a separate document for each of the different recipients I was going to send the letter to, which was time-consuming and tedious. By using track changes and mail merge, I can easily make changes, and key in my recipients information after which, multiple copies of the letter are generated with the names of all recipients printed on each document. This greatly saved time and allowed me to accomplish my task much more efficiently. I believe that Microsoft word still has many other applications that I may not be aware of, so I am definitely going to make an effort to master them in due course.

Essay for 1501ART New Communication Technologies

Media Ethics

Journalists and editors working in media industries such as advertising and newspaper publishing are bounded by moral rules and regulations, commonly known as Media Ethics. Media ethics usually determines what kind of materials are appropriate and thus can be published for viewing by the general public. This essay will discuss briefly the three main approaches in thinking about ethics: Deontology, Teleology and Virtue Ethics. I will start by defining each term and then explaining its approach, followed by how they relate somehow to the application of media, particularly, journalism.

Deontology is primarily based on ethical principles. When a deontological position is adopted, judgements over our actions are passed as being independent of the results or outcomes (Faculty of Social Sciences 2007.). There are basically five types of deontological ethics namely Divine Command, Duty Theories, Rights Theories, Contractarianism and Monistic Deontology (Cline 2007). Deontology is commonly associated with the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant whose philosophy is best described by the dictum: ‘Act on that maxim which you will to become a universal law’ (Tanner, Philips, Smyth and Tapsall, cited in Christians, Rotzoll and Fackler 1991, p. 14). This is what is defined as the ‘categorical imperative’, the idea that we should always base our actions on maxims or rules we believe ought to become universal (Eklof 2004). Kant’s philosophy can be seen in great deal in the current MEAA/AJA Code of Ethics, in clauses 1, 4 and particularly so in the second part of clause 8. Clause 8 reads: “Never exploit a person’s vulnerability or ignorance of media practice’ (Tanner, Philips, Smyth and Tapsall, cited in http://www.alliance.com.sg). This works closely with Kant’s theory that everyone should be treated with basic respect and not exploited in any way for a journalist’s personal achievement (Tanner et al. 2005, p. 18).

However, as with all theories, deontological ethics have several problems. Firstly, they do not provide a sure way of resolving the conflicts between moral duties, and are argued to be consequentialist in nature. The question of are we supposed to abandon the duties of the 18th century or deem them valid today is also raised. Secondly, deontological systems appear to be absolute in nature, whereby they do not allow for exceptions once a decision has been reached (Cline 2007). For example, Tanner, Philips, Smyth and Tapsall (cited in Christians, Rotzoll and Fackler 1991, pp. 14-15) states that deception in journalism is an inexcusable action, which in turn renders redundant a journalist’s flexibility in treating cases based on their merits. As Cline holds, deontological systems are usually developed based on their ability to explain how and why particular duties are valid in any point of time and informs us of that ability.

Another approach to ethics is Teleology, that defines the good independently from the right and then defines the right as that which maximizes the good (Velez 2007). In contrast to deontology, teleological theories are based on consequentialism, a term by Elizabeth Anscombe(1958) in the late 1950s (Hirst and Harrison 2007, p.177), where consequences determine whether an action is correct or wrong. There are three aspects of consequentialist theories, namely ethical egoism, ethical altruism and utilitarianism. All three aspects hold that if the consequences of action are deemed more favourable than unfavourable, than that action is morally right. However, ethical egoism only attends to the agent performing that action while ethical altruism attends to everyone except the agent. Utilitarianism on the other hand attends to everyone including the agent (Tanner et al. 2005, p. 17). An example of ethical altruism is apparent in death knocks (visiting the house of a bereaved relative/friend to report the death) performed by journalists where they show more concern for the dead person’s family then for themselves (Tanner et al. 2005, p.14).

Utilitarianism is the most popular theory of the three and is often associated with British philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It is usually divided into act and rule utilitarianism, which deals with individuals and the common good respectively. In journalism, exposing a corrupted political leader is an action considered as utilitarian. By exposing the wrongdoing of the politician, the maxim underlying utilitarianism: “the greatest good of the greatest number” is achieved (Tanner et al. 2005, pp. 17-18).

The last major approach to thinking about ethics is Virtue Ethics or what is sometimes referred to Eudaimonist Ethics. Virtue Ethics refers to an approach in ethics whereby the virtues of an individual are considered first before analyzing their acts and consequences that follow (Louden 1998). It has been the mistaken notion among many people that virtue ethics differs from deontology and teleology in that it is more agent rather than act centred. However, eudaimonist ethics not only represents our personal identity and the lives that we choose to lead, but provides a critical analysis of our daily actions and decisions. In other words, it is important to take into account our characteristics, as well as our individuality and our successes in life (Cafaro 2007).

A key figure to note in the discussion of Virtue Ethics is Aristotle, who believes that people should pursue “eudaimonia”, which represents happiness in a person (Tanner, Philips, Smyth and Tapsall, cited in Stocker and Langtry 1986, p. 26). From the evaluation of his writings, it was interpreted that people should also live their lives in accordance with virtues such as courage, justice and friendliness (Tanner, Philips, Smyth and Tapsall, cited in Stocker and Langtry 1986, p. 27). Perhaps, one of the most important contributions of Aristotle was his mid-point theory known as the “Golden Mean” that is used in problem solving. This theory holds that many virtues are located in the center of other character extremes. For example, journalists may decide to apply the “Golden Mean” theory when they find that their reporting of news appear too sensationalist and they want to counter it without being too boring. Another situation in which this theory applies is when journalists decide to liven up their interviews without coming across as too aggressive (Tanner et al. 2005, pp.18-19).

Discussed above are basically 3 major approaches in thinking about ethics. Journalists in the media world today need to educate themselves of these approaches, which may directly or indirectly address the moral or ethical problems they might face. However, they should not worry of having to limit themselves to belonging to a particular approach but explore the possibilities of complementing one with the other. They need to be able to adopt a “practical model” that they are comfortable with (Tanner et al. 2005, p.19). After all, ethics is about asking ourselves what and how we ought to act to do the right thing and are able to put that into practice?

Reference List

Cafaro, P n.d., Theoretical Ethics: Virtue Ethics (Not Too) Simplified. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Teth/TethCafa.htm

Christians, CG, Rotzoll, KB & Fackler, M 1991, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 3rd edn, New York, Longman.

Cline, A n.d., Deontology and Ethics: What is Deontology, Deontological Ethics? Retrieved April 24, 2007, from http://atheism.about.com/od/ethicalsystems/a/Deontological.htm?terms=deontology

Eklof, TF 2004, The Christian Ethics of Joseph Fletcher: Love as Predicate, Retrieved April 23, 2007, from
http://www.cliftonunitarian.com/toddstalks/christianethicsofjosephfletcher.htm

Fieser, J n.d., The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ethics, Retrieved April 22, 2007, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/ethics.htm#SH2

Hirst, M & Harrison, J 2007, Communication and New Media, From Broadcast to Narrowcast, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

Lancaster University Faculty of Social Sciences Committee on Ethics n.d., Ethical Theories. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/resources/ethics/theories/htm

Louden, RB 1998, VIRTUE ETHICS, In Encyclopedia of applied ethics, Vol 4, pp. 491-498. Retrieved April 22, 2007, from Griffith University Electronic Resources.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance 1999, ‘AJA Code of Ethics’, Retrieved April 22, 2007, from http://www.alliance.org.au/

Stocker, M & Langtry, B 1986, ‘Aristotle and Polity’, in Political Thinkers, D. Muschamp (ed.), Melbourne, Macmillan, pp. 26-38.

Tanner, S, Philips, G, Smyth, C & Tapsall, S, 2005, journalism ethics at work, Pearson Education Australia, French Forest NSW.

The Essential Site For Journalists n.d., Journalism Glossary. Retrieved May 4, 2007, from http://www.journalism.co.uk/glossary.shtml

Velez, EA n.d., The Axiological-Deontological Spectrum: Logical Possibilities for Normative Ethical Theories, Retrieved April 23, 2007, from
http://global.cscc.edu/phil/101/Ethics%20files/axiological-deontological.htm

Week 8-IM and 3D Chat Environments

The online chatting environment has changed so much that it is now possible to chat in 3D. However, what really are the differences between regular Instant Messaging(IM) programs and a 3D environment? For IM programs such as MSN, we are able to log on and chat as if we are having a telephone conversation. However its different from an actual conversation in that we do not necessarily have to reply immediately. In IM, we are able to choose who we want to include in our contact list and converse with at any point of time. This in turn, eliminates any unwanted conversations with strangers and we are assured of our privacy in one way or another. In a 3D environment, we can do many more things than on a regular IM program. For instance, we are able to create our own avatars that represent our very unique traits. After doing so, we can move around, make friends, play games and even create our very own virtual homes, something that cannot be done in IM. This can be done in programs such as Active Worlds and IMVU. In Active Worlds, we can even use its 3D technology for businesses where we can sell products to consumers and carry out on line training and e-learning programs. In a 3D world, we can also choose who we want to converse with but its different from IM in that virtually anyone in the world can make contact with you. This can get pretty annoying when you are not interested in speaking with certain people. 3D represents an upmarket form of chatting online today. Though it may be perceived as a more interesting channel to converse by some people, IM does still have its advantages. It ultimately boils down to an individuals preference and what programs they are comfortable with using.

Week 6-Working with Photoshop, part 2

Jennifer Lopez is 1 of the most influential celebrities around today. She is someone who exudes confidence and flair that makes her stand out from the rest. She also owns her own clothing line, perfume, make several records and acted in a number of movies. The original image was cropped to focus as much as possible on Jennifer Lopez alone to emphasize her celebrity presence.

The above picture represents a game which I believe is called Mankind. I just used the clone-stamp tool to make the bottom part of the picture which was all black look brown so the picture looked kind of continous. Also, I went to Filter, Artisitc and selected Poster edges to give the picture a more cartoon feel which looks nice as graphics for the game.

Being popular usually means being liked by everyone. In high school, being popular can make your life so much easier because everyone looks up to you and wants to be your friend. Thats what I believe the above picture represents, hopefully. As I did not know what to do with this 1, I just enhanced it by going to Filter, Artistic and choosing Film grain to make it look different from its initial picture.

I guess that the Knagaroo is 1 of the most symbolic animals of Australia, thus the reason for chooding the above picture. For this 1, I only enhanced it by going to Filter, Artistic and then selecting Rough pastels. It was just to turn the plain picture into something more interesting and eye-catching I guess.

One of the most news-worthy stories today is about floods, especially in third world countries. The above picture clearly illustrates the seriousness of floods whereby property, life and nature are destroyed. For this image, I only used the clone stamp tool to get rid of any unwanted information to focus on the flooding.

Communication requires the receiver to effectively and intently listen and understand the message that the sender is trying to get across. The above picture shows just that. I used the clone stamp to get rid of a circular stamp like feature on the picture which served no purpose. I also removed small picutres of birds from the person's mouth to the other person's ear as it was kind of distracting.

Displayed above is a picture of 2 young girls hugging which symbolises the close friendship that both of them share. I chose this picture becuase they seem to be from different races and friendship is all about seeing past each others backgroud and accepting one another for who they are. I cropped the initial image which showed the full body picture of the girls into the 1 shown above to emphasize the closeness that they share with each other as friends. I also included the words "Friends Forever" to add a little colour to the picture.

Week 5 Tute-Photoshop

Univerity is supposed to be 1 of the best times of your life. It is where people from all walks of life come together to accomplish 1 common goal, to enrich themselves with knowledge so that they will be able to become somebody later in life. In the above picture, it shoes that university life is more than studying, its about having an all-rounded life. It promotes individuals to take up sports and have fun with friends yet at the same time, be academically sufficient.

I couldn't really find a picture representing uncoventional. However, it means something different, something that you do not see everyday. Something that captures your immediate attention once you lay eyes on it. In other words, it represents something extraordinary.

Summer can be perceived to be 1 of the hottest time of the year. However, it is also 1 of the funnest seasons. Its the time when people dress in their best summer attire and head out to the beach as shown above to have some fun in the sun. They engage in activities ranging from picnics to surfing to sun tanning, almost anything fun you can think of. Oh, and you would be able to lose some weight too due to the terrible heat....hee...

Newspapers and television are where we get the latest information on whats going on in the world. From how the worlds economy is doing to threats of terrorism, everthing can be assessed via newspapers, the TV and the Internet. News keeps us up to date of global events and makes sure we take the appropiate measures to respond to them effectively.

The computer has been transformed from a mechanical tool in Charles Babbage time to something so much more sophisticated. It is now capable of proceesing documents in programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Photos can be uploaded, saved and printed. Poeple can also be contacted all over the world with a click of the mouse. It has made our lives more convenient and exciting.

People need friends in order to function properly in this world, or at least I think so. Friends are people who will stick with u through the good and bad, and not make judgements about you. They are there for u to have fun times with and to enjoy life to the fullest.

Weeks 3 & 4 Lecture Summary

In week 3 Lectures, we learnt about the birth of the computer. Several prominent people mentioned included Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing and Gordom Moore.
Charles Babbage developed the Difference Engine in the 19th century which could be used to calculate and print mathematical tables. Ada Lovelace aided Charles Babbage in his wonderings about the Analytical Engine. She also 1st conceived of a machine which would be able to compose and play music, produce graphics and be of use everyday. She also conceived the 1st computer program.
Alan Turing worked at Bletchley Park with mathematicians and cryptographers to devise the 1st working computer, The Bombe, used to break secret German 'Enigma' codes. After World War II, he investigated programming, neural nets, and the prospects for artificial intelligence.
Gordom Moore propounded Moore's Law: the capacity of microchip's doubles every 2 years. His 2nd law states that as capital costs are rising faster than revenues, financial feasibility will limit the rate of technological development.
Then, we were taught about the beginings of Apple, IBM and Microsoft and how each of the comapnies worked with each other to be what they are today.

In week 4, we were introduced to the Internet, Web and Cyberspace. Internet is the sum of interconnected computer hardware and the software that runs it, the Web is a particular application of the Internet that is particularly easy to use and Cyberspace is the sum of users' imaginations as they use the Internet.
Also, we were presented with some ealry internet applications such as the email and IRC and recent ones such as Instant Messaging, VoIP and Voice chat and 'Virtual Worlds'.
Then there was the term Netiquette which represents etiquette on the Internet. It is based upon the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do to you. Another term, Cracking referred to computer crime and is different from hacking. An example of a cracker was Kevin Mitnick who got into the US Air Defence System in his youth and later did a year for reading a computer company's email. Yet another term was Viruses, which have the potential for massive damage for little input.
The topic of economics cyberspcae was also touched upon whereby it stated that Information:
a) is an activity, experienced not processed, propagated not distributed.
b) is a life form, it wants to be free, replicating in the cracks of possibility, perishable and always changing.
c) is a relationship between sender and receiver, the meaning generated has a unique value to both.
d) and that it can be commodified, but most importantly it is its own reward.
An important aspect of economics of cyberspace was copyright which applies to the expression of ideas and the material on the net. Lastly, there was the possibilities and probelms of the Information Economy. It touches on questions such as what is our product, market and how do people pay for what we've got and how to make a living out of an idea?
Information technology is converging so that all forms of it, which includes telephone, radio, television and print can be accessed from 1 point.

Over the past 3 weeks, we also watched Alphaville, a film about that combines the genres of dystopian science fiction and film noir. It was shot in real locations in Paris and touches on the technocratic dictatorship. For a full account of the plot summary and influences, see the website below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphaville,_une_étrange_aventure_de_Lemmy_Caution

Next up are pictures and a short summary explaining their meaning...

Week 4-GU Library Catalouge, Databases, and Internet Searches

Topic for Essay

Choosing a topic to write an essay on has been pretty challenging. There are so many key areas in New Communication Technology that can be discussed about. After much consideration, I fianlly narrowed it down to 3 areas. Media Law, Media Ethics or Media Law and Ethics

From the textbook, Media law is basically common law. Media content usually is subjected to laws that regulate defamation, privacy and copyright. There is also the corporations law and Trade Practices Act that binds commercial media operators. There is also law that restircts ownership of media assest by foreigners as well as those that restricts cross-media ownership.

Media Ethics, however, deals with what is deemed acceptable and what is not. There are bascially 3 approaches to thinking about ethics as wriiten in the texbook, namely Deontology, Teleology and Virtue Ethics. Then, there is the institutionalisation of ethics as well as ethics and public relations.

Then, there is also Media Law and Ethics which deals with the relationship between both of them.

I would probably go for Media Ethics though as it seems much more interesting then the rest. We shall see how it goes...

Scavenger Hunt

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
Ans: 1,502 lbs by Ron Wallace.
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.49abcnews.com/news/2006/oct/09/worlds_heaviest_pumpkin_weighed/

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
Ans: The Australian incumbent Telco,Telstra, is Australians largest ISP
(internet service provider). It is called BigPond, which is advertising famous Australian people such as Grant as members of their on line blogging community, called Big Blog. You can leave comments etc for Grant so this may be the best way to communicate.
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://granthackett.bigblog.com.au/index.do

3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
Ans: Can reach lengths of 18inches.
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/ks3/merickson/Animalia.html

4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
Ans: The study or concern about what kinds of things exist-what entities there are in the universe. It means the comprehension of the existence of stuff such as technology.
http://www.icerocket.com/
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212702,00.html

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
Ans: "Transfer" in 1966.
http://www.icerocket.com/
http://www.northernstars.ca/directorsal/cronenbergbio.html

6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
Ans: Shortly after the author's arrest on January 8, 1986.
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~soules/media112/hacker.htm

7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
Ans: To prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen.
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.omegarobot.com/article/555.html

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
Ans: Both are islands in Greece. There is a normal ferry service that travels between the two island and it would be the cheapest mode.(There are also super ferries which cost twice more than normal ferries and comparable to an economy flight ticket).

http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.greektravel.com/

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
Ans: " I'll never find another you" by The Seekers.
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www2.blogger.com/9.%20What%20song%20was%20top%20of%20the%20Australian%20Pop%20Charts%20this%20week%20in%201965?
http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/topspot/1965.htm

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
Ans: Black Assassins
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/2005/content/standard.asp?name=StockwellS

What is a search engine?
Ans: "A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found."
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/search_engine.html

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
Ans: They are ranked in order of relevancy.
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://websearch.about.com/od/enginesanddirectories/a/searchengine.htm

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?
Ans: Relevance scores are given to each document that is found from the query. These scores reflect the number of times a search term appears. For example, "if it appears in the title, if it appears at the beginning of the document, and if all the search terms are near each other". Search engines usually use alphabetical order at some point in their display algorithm.
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.webreference.com/content/search/how.html


What are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
Ans: I usually use Yahoo! or Google to do my searches on the Internet. Firsty, it is the most commonly used search engines by many people. It also allows me to find the relevant information I need most of the time.


Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).
Ans: Yes. Stories such as "The freedom to disallow speech in Cyberspace", "Search Engine Text Ads Aren't Going Away Anytime soon" and "Google says Paid Links OK, but they may punish you" can be found at the following website.
http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.netscape.com/tag/search+engines

There are many other interesting stories posted there so take a look and expand your knowledge.

These are 2 other websites you can look at for news on search engines.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6107048.html

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,58971,00.html

Have fun and enjoy... :)

Dialectic of Technology

Last week, we were introduced to how the 2oth century develpoed our mass society and brought about broadcast media forms. This eventually brought about academic disciplines such as Communication, Media and Cultural studies which aided in the study of communications in the past and future.This all first began in France about 100yrs ago. Specific countries related to the study of Communication, Media and Culture included the USA, Uk and Europe respectively. We were also presented with the Le Jetee video, which told us the story of how a survivor of world war III was used in time-travel experiments. What I want to talk about though is the "Dialectic of technology" from the readings in chapter 4 of the textbook that we are supposed to read. Here is what I learnt...

In order for us to understand how convergence plays an important role in digital revolution today, it is essential for us to bring together the dialectic and definitions of technolgy. Technology can best be understood as a means of production, whereby technologies and natural resources combine with human labour, including its knowledge and congealed labour to form what the Political Economy refers to as the mode of production.

Creation of new technology is bascically based upon complex human social conditions. The development of these technologies in turn, causes our society to become wealthier. Thus, we are able to manufacture more advanced technologies with part of this wealth that we have obtained, presenting us with the dialectic of technology in motion.

Dialectic of technology not only determines how convergence is put into effect in a mode of production but represents fragmentation as well. This leads to the Objectification of Technology which sways our attention away from how social relations developed a commodity to our perception of it in terms of personality or social position.

Digital revolution has evolved so much that it has taken a big part of our lives, to the extent of becoming more important than our religious beliefs (Mosco 1996, p.143). This has resulted in us indulging in "commodity fetishism", which will eventually lead us to the dialectic of the digital future.

Let me now end with several questions for all of you to ponder upon. How important is digital revolution to you? Will you go to the extent of making it more desirable than religion or even the social relationships you have? As for me, it is basically convenient to have all the new gadgets around to help out in our daily activities such as researching a topic on the internet or contacting someone thousands of kilometres away via the mobile phone. However, I will NOT indulge in it to such an extent that it consumes my life, be it my beliefs or values. This is because new technologies can be created anytime and anywhere but having a religion or a dependable social relationship comes only once in a blue moon. Lose these and you will lose meaning and direction in life. However, if you lose technologies, you will still manage to survive somehow or other.

My experiences with Communication Technologies(Tutorial Task-Week 3)

Communication technologies are evolving at such a rapid pace that it does not leave one with the space to "breathe". The creation of new programs over time such as instant messaging and other web-based chatting tools have now enabled us to make new friends via the net. However, this brings with it plus and minus points. On the one hand, it allows people who are naturally shy to open up more and reveal more about themselves. On the other hand, some of these"new" friends that you make might come across as "fake". This is due to the fact that when we chat over the net, there is no necessity for us to meet and thus we are able to create an environment that is artificial and interests us in our very own context.

I have personally been thrown in the bandwagon and chatted up with some people over the net. It has gone pretty well most of the time but I do feel that they tend to exaggerate a tad too much. If I were to meet them in person, I may be presented with the fact that they are not what they described themselves to be at all.

Nonetheless, to make friends in person is much better than making them over the net. There are a few reasons behind this. Firstly, you get what you asked for. A genuine individual who tells you the truth about themselves. This is important because it sets the base for future interactions with one another. It also creates that basic level of trust that is needed to maintain lifelong friendships. This cannot be done over the internet.

I have been using these new technologies for quite awhile and plan to continue doing so for a very long time. Personally, I am interested to chat up with someone via the net, meet up with them and see if they really measure up of how they descirbed themselves virtually. If all goes well, then I may continue using this avenue to meet new people. If not, then I will stick to making new friends from real life situations.

Communication technologies has its pros and cons. It is up to the individual to use it in the most effective manner without causing harm to themselves. If done so properly, it can definitely aid us in improving the conditons of our lifes and help make the most out of it.

Till next time...

Week 2, Thursday 8-10am

Coming to the Gold Coast from Singapore to pursue my undergraduate degree has been a rollercoaster so far. It forces you to be independent, a word that has not been in my vocabulary for all my life. Oh well, a new begining brings with it a new experience and hopefully I will be able to adjust and adapt. I am currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Psycholgy. It was not what I always wanted to do, but its the closet to pursuing my dream of becoming a doctor. The course has been pretty interesting thus far and I have no regrets whatsoever. My interests bascially includes going to the movies, listening to all sorts of music, eating(my biggest weakness), jus hanging with friends at clubs or pubs and all sorts of fun stuff. I really do want to try wakeboarding or surfing though and probably bungee jump while I am out here. I also love computers and the internet, thus me taking up this course. It has been pretty engaging and I am starting to learn things that I previously had no idea of. The only downside is the reading of the textbook. The endless sea of words kinda makes me dizzy sometimes but I will get through it somehow. Hopefully, I will be more computer-savvy by the end of this course and know more about the Communication and Media world.