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... :)
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Thursday, 15 March 2007
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.
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...
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...
Thursday, 8 March 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)