Hello hello! Welcome again to blog 4!
As usual I’ll be discussing the lecture, which this week was titled ‘Why I hate Wikipedia’, as well as the tutorial and the tutorial task.
Wikipedia is an online user generated information website that gives users access to an endless amount of information articles. The information provided on Wikipedia can be uploaded and edited by anybody who chooses to do so, resulting in information that can be truthful and well sourced or fictitious.
The site has been designed to allow anybody with knowledge on the topic to create or edit a page and add to the information, regardless of fact. This information could have been written and edited by someone that might be considered a credited source but Wikipedia makes no promises that it was. Because of that it has been repeatedly hammered into my brain by all of my teachers: Wikipedia is not to be used as a reference.
So then how do we know the truth? Well there are 4 theories that can be used; The Correspondence, The Coherence, The Performative and The Source Theory.
We also had a look at a couple of other websites that are considered reliable sources, Factiva and Informit.
The tute task this week was a few questions so I’ll tackle them first then get to my essay topic?
-How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?
Walter Benjamin says that mass production lets everyone view digital media and not just ones selected. Quality is applied to digital media rather than just quantity.
-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"?
I think it is good thing for art. Art is continually evolving and exposing itself in new ways and with the evolvement of digital art there are more facets to ‘art’ then ever. To say that ‘anyone with a computer’ can create things implies that all those who never had a computer were particularly skilled or gifted and if you look at it that defiantly isn’t the case. There are those that will disagree with me, but, art is about many things and being skilled isn’t a necessity.
-Is a photoshopped image "authentic"?
I think it is tempting to say that no a photoshopped image isn’t authentic but it really depends on what is done to the image. Altering an image by say airbrushing it probably wouldn’t be considered as authentic but at the same time if you use Photoshop to combine or alter an image than you create an original and therefore authentic image or piece of art. Others might disagree but I’m a big fan of Photoshop and that’s how I see it.
-Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?
The “aura” refers to people’s sense of awe they have to these productions. These digital Medias provoke feelings and opinions, and so are considered to have an aura.
Now since this has gotten a bit long I’ll just brush over my essay topic. I’ve changed it from semiotics (way to broad) and now I’m looking at Second Life. I did some research and found that there had been an incident referred to as the ‘Wonderland Scandal’ where users were creating avatars that looked like children and engaging them in ‘sex’ with adult avatars. The media caught wind of this and Second Life again got some bad publicity but I found it really interesting. So, I’ll be looking at policing within world> whether this behaviour is illegal or just immoral> whether there is any real protection for children on the site> if this is even an issue because it’s all fake.
The exact angle hasn’t been decided but with some brainstorming I’ll get there, cya!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Week 4 is well underway as I’m sure you all no by now and there’s plenty to do so I will just jump right in.
I’ll begin with Wednesdays lecture because there was quite a lot covered in it that I didn’t really know anything about so I’ll use this as a chance to hammer it into my brain. The topic was Old Communications Technologies so naturally we began at the oldest form of communications: rock art. Or you can call them cave drawings or whatever term you want use, these are the first ways that we began to communicate via images, letterings and symbols. As this developed through time, dance, music and more elaborate symbols were used in tribes. Keep in mind that they weren’t communicating to remind that ‘we need milk’, these practises were deeply rooted in faith and religion and represented mythological beliefs. From here we went on to look at the development of the alphabet through hieroglyphics and the Ugarit culture.
Fast forward to the 15th centaury where the development of the printing press is introduced via the first form of newspaper, the Gutenberg Press, which first printed passages from the bible. Through time communications developed to more familiar forms such and the telegraph, radio, telephone and television.
Also touched on was the topic of semiotics, which I vaguely remember being interested in high school English and Media. As a refresher I read through the ‘semiotics for beginners’ link that was provided on the lecture notes and I think after a bit more investigation it might prove to be the topic or theme of my essay. Theres no basic definition for the term semiotics, it is known as the study of signs and had a lot to do with representation.
The reading for this week, and the last couple of weeks has been the Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction paper. I followed the advice and read it quickly and didn’t understand the bulk of it, then went back into it with some more depth and I have to say I haven’t really wrapped my head around it. Still, the discussion we had in the lecture about Benjamin’s’ work and life did shed some light on it. While on the subject of Benjamin we discussed some other major theorists and their ideas including the Frankfurt School, Habermas, and Louis Althusser who were all from different times.
The tute task this week was to answer 10 posted questions without using Wikipedia or Google search engine. So, assuming I could still use other search engines I went to the faithful butler at Ask.com. Here are the questions and answers as well as the links I found through Ask.com.
1.Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
-Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
2. Who invented the paper clip?
-William D. Middlebrook, he was not first to have the idea however he was first to patent the paper clip and created the macheine that made the paperclips.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
- virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Africa/04/burton/burton.htm
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
-1960 Chile
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763403.html
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
- 1 terabyte = 1 073 741 824 kilobytes
www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ - 43k
6. Who is the creator of email?
Commercial Email. In 1988, Vinton Cerf arranged for the connection of MCI Mail to the NSFNET through the Corporation for the National Research Initiative (CNRI) for "experimental use", providing the first sanctioned commercial use of the Internet. Shortly thereafter, in 1989, the Compuserve mail system also connected to the NSFNET, through the Ohio State University network.
www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
A computer visus that began attacking windows computers in jan 2007, usually with the attatchment names ‘230 dead as storm batters europe’. It effected thousands of computers.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/valentine.asp
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
To contact the Prime Minister it must be done through the Australian Government website.
http://www.australia.gov.au/
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins.
No Source, heard him say it in the lecture yesterday, but it can also be found at http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm.
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Web 2.0 is a term used to refer to a movement concerning the next generation of the internet that created a more user-based internet.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Using Ask.com was generally pretty similar to using Google although I do find the recommended pages to often be way off, I still feel like anything on the internet from independent sources, half of those answers could be made up and I would never really know. I suppose the best way to get around that would be to double check with reliable databases such as informit.com and factiva.com.
Thanks!
I’ll begin with Wednesdays lecture because there was quite a lot covered in it that I didn’t really know anything about so I’ll use this as a chance to hammer it into my brain. The topic was Old Communications Technologies so naturally we began at the oldest form of communications: rock art. Or you can call them cave drawings or whatever term you want use, these are the first ways that we began to communicate via images, letterings and symbols. As this developed through time, dance, music and more elaborate symbols were used in tribes. Keep in mind that they weren’t communicating to remind that ‘we need milk’, these practises were deeply rooted in faith and religion and represented mythological beliefs. From here we went on to look at the development of the alphabet through hieroglyphics and the Ugarit culture.
Fast forward to the 15th centaury where the development of the printing press is introduced via the first form of newspaper, the Gutenberg Press, which first printed passages from the bible. Through time communications developed to more familiar forms such and the telegraph, radio, telephone and television.
Also touched on was the topic of semiotics, which I vaguely remember being interested in high school English and Media. As a refresher I read through the ‘semiotics for beginners’ link that was provided on the lecture notes and I think after a bit more investigation it might prove to be the topic or theme of my essay. Theres no basic definition for the term semiotics, it is known as the study of signs and had a lot to do with representation.
The reading for this week, and the last couple of weeks has been the Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction paper. I followed the advice and read it quickly and didn’t understand the bulk of it, then went back into it with some more depth and I have to say I haven’t really wrapped my head around it. Still, the discussion we had in the lecture about Benjamin’s’ work and life did shed some light on it. While on the subject of Benjamin we discussed some other major theorists and their ideas including the Frankfurt School, Habermas, and Louis Althusser who were all from different times.
The tute task this week was to answer 10 posted questions without using Wikipedia or Google search engine. So, assuming I could still use other search engines I went to the faithful butler at Ask.com. Here are the questions and answers as well as the links I found through Ask.com.
1.Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
-Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
2. Who invented the paper clip?
-William D. Middlebrook, he was not first to have the idea however he was first to patent the paper clip and created the macheine that made the paperclips.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
- virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Africa/04/burton/burton.htm
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
-1960 Chile
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763403.html
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
- 1 terabyte = 1 073 741 824 kilobytes
www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ - 43k
6. Who is the creator of email?
Commercial Email. In 1988, Vinton Cerf arranged for the connection of MCI Mail to the NSFNET through the Corporation for the National Research Initiative (CNRI) for "experimental use", providing the first sanctioned commercial use of the Internet. Shortly thereafter, in 1989, the Compuserve mail system also connected to the NSFNET, through the Ohio State University network.
www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
A computer visus that began attacking windows computers in jan 2007, usually with the attatchment names ‘230 dead as storm batters europe’. It effected thousands of computers.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/valentine.asp
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
To contact the Prime Minister it must be done through the Australian Government website.
http://www.australia.gov.au/
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins.
No Source, heard him say it in the lecture yesterday, but it can also be found at http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm.
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Web 2.0 is a term used to refer to a movement concerning the next generation of the internet that created a more user-based internet.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Using Ask.com was generally pretty similar to using Google although I do find the recommended pages to often be way off, I still feel like anything on the internet from independent sources, half of those answers could be made up and I would never really know. I suppose the best way to get around that would be to double check with reliable databases such as informit.com and factiva.com.
Thanks!
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