Research Essay

I am thinking of doing this question for the essay....
What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? Should we rethink the nature of the political? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span the whole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media? Discuss with an example.
I have found 6 references that appear to be relevant to this topic.
1. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere. New Media and Society, 4, 9-27.
This journal discusses both sides of the argument over internet access promoting and facilitating contemporary democracy. The main argument is; for those who have access to computers, the internet is a valuable resource for political participation. This seems to be a standard point made across numerous research papers on the same topic.
2. Levine, P. (2002). Can the internet rescue democracy? Toward an on-line commons. In R. Hayduk & K. Mattson (Eds.), Democracy's movement: Reforming the American political system for the 21st century (pp. 121-137). Lanham: MD.
This chapter discusses the unjusts in America's democracy, paying particular attention to the poorly educated. It argues that many of America's poor do not vote thus there lies a major bias in elections, where powerful officials dominate voting. With the internet and the relatively easy access it provides American citizens there lies hope that these voices will be heard.
3. Srinivasan, R. (2004). Reconstituting the urban through community-articulated digital environments. Journal of Urban Technology, 11, 93-111.
Social, economic, and political factors dynamics influence the environment and create a sense of community that extends the neighborhood and geographic location. Digital environments all an individual to be a member of multiple social groups.
4. Jankowski, N. W Creating community with media: History, theories and scientific investigations.
This chapter explores the relationship between new media and community. It provides a historical overview of traditional forms of media and their relationship with community and discusses the transformation of new media with relevant case studies.
5. Clift, S. (2000). An internet of democracy. Communications of the ACM, 43, 31-32.
Raises question to: Do we want to build the Internet into the very nature our many democracies? Or will we maintain the default course where democracy is a burdensome add-on and side application that happens to run on the Internet? Just as we spend time and resources to make the Internet safe for e-commerce, shouldn't we do the same for e-democracy? Article is extremely short, but brushes over the author's answers to these questions. Very subjective. Do not think I will use this article for my assignment.

Virtual Philosophy

Taken from The Matrix character Morpheus:
"What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

This lecture is my favorite so far...... I found the content challenging and extremely interesting.

Adam related the concept of virtual philosophy back to Plato and his writings on the "essential truths." Plato suggested that "essential truths" relate to objects in the world having an ideal form. We do not see what is truly there, instead we see a shadow of reality.
Following discussion about Plato and his allegory of a cave the lecture then moved on to philosopher, Guy Debord. Debord wrote "Society of the Spectacle" which grounds itself firmly in teaching the individual how to become accustomed to mediated life.
Following this Adam discussed the ideas of Eco. Umberto Eco wrote of a "hyper-reality" which builds upon McLuhan's idea of the media being an extension of ourselves. Thus, virtual worlds of the internet allow us to experience reality like never before.
The lecture concluded with the ideas placed forward by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. They perceive reality as a string of moments (Platonic essences) in which all the different paths and outcomes (possible forms) make up the virtual reality.

Free culture, free society.

Creative commons: Creative commons started in December 2002. It's sole purpose is to create copyright agreements that are fair and just. It allows for the individuals creative and intellectual property to be used however they wish. It is a "non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting reasonable copyright. Instead of "all rights reserved" creative commons prides itself on it's content being "some rights reserved." Individuals can determine the extent to which their property will be bound by commercial rights, derivatives and share a like functions.

Free software movement: "Free/ libre, open source software." Free software was founded by Richard Stallman in 1981 well before propriety software came about. It allowed its users to operate the software how they chose and also gave them access to the source code. A source code is instructions written in programming languages. It basically tells a computer how to do certain things. Open or free software programs include, gimpshop, open office, mozilla firefox, VLC and many many more.

What is interesting is that many of these programs run almost identical to the proprietary software of the same nature, in many cases even better, and it's FREE!

Taking an internet field trip....

Todays lecture and tutorial content surrounded the philosophy of virtual communities. I really enjoyed this lecture and the tutorial task as it allowed me to theorize using my knowledge in psychology to help understand the motives behind people using 3D environments.
In comparison to traditional communications over the internet i.e., msn and other IM programs I think that this offers a more realistic approach to communicating through the internet. By realistic I mean something that is more tangible than text. The individual using 3D programs creates an avatar that can either look like the person or something completely out of an individual's imagination, filling voids and fulfilling fantasies. Although the avatars still communicate via text, the supporting graphics which are basically everything you find in the real world and more, allow for individuals to escape the realities of life.
The video in the lecture suggested that 3D worlds can lead behavioural researchers like psychologists into new discoveries about human behaviour that due to ethical reasons was not possible in the real world. It may also come to be very useful for marketing teams that want to try a new product out on a virtual world before they present it to the real world.

Lecture Summary # 3

MEDIA, NEW MEDIA & SOCIAL MEDIA

• "Virtual communities: When people carry on discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships. " H Rheingold (1993).
• Ppl can experiment with being someone different to who they are now. When the internet first started to become popular it mainly consisted of text, people communicated through online "chatrooms." Turkle (1995) explained that virtual communities allow ppl to express themselves in a particular light that they find desirable.
• Initially virtual communities allowed ppl to meet ppl from other geographic locations that share similar interests. Now it is more ego-centred, a shift that saw the "self" as the focus of networking.
• The World Wide Web (Web 2.0): In 1993 the www was first introduced to the world.... in 1995 Australia first came to know about the www.
• Web 2.0 created a new way we think about and use the www. It introduced

1. Tags
2. The start of words being written in new and innovative ways i.e., flickr
3. User generated content: photos, images, videos, text. Henry Jenkins (2006) noted this shift as the "participatory culture."
4. Open API: meaning, sharing data openly between services on the internet i.e., facebook applications

• Social media:

1. Web blogs: vlogs, twitter, moblogs
2. Social network services: facebook, myspace
3. Content sharing communities: flickr, deviant.art, youtube, photobucket

The creation of this saw individuals feeling the need to join such sites to feel a sense of belonging as stars around the world conform.

• Attention economy: refers to the advertising sites like facebook use.
• Economy of accumulation: refers to how sites like facebook can use the information you give them and sell it for marketing. (Ppl agree to this right when they sign up to facebook).
• The lecture today raised the question "Are we consumers or creaters?" I believe the internet today allows us to be creators IF WE CHOOSE TO BE.

Tutorial Task Day # 3

1. What did Allan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?

http://www.historyarticles.com/new_page_5.htm A gas mask! Found using yahoo.

2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?

http://www.web-friend.com/help/general/pc_history.html 1969, the computers were located in California and Utah. Found using yahoo.

3. What is Bill Gates' birthday? And what age was he when he first sold his software?

http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/bill-gates.htm He was born on the 28th October 1955. He sold his first piece of software in 1975. Found using yahoo.

4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?

http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/history/inventedwebwhere.html Switzerland. Found using yahoo.

5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare to the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/cpu/fam/g1I8088-c.html and http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37148 In 1979 a computer's power was 8-bit 4.77MHz, today it is roughly 64-bit, 3.2 GHz. Found Using dogpile.

6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?

http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/holden-growing-more-giant-vegetables/1570577.aspx?src=rss 2.3 kg. Found using altavista.

7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/mapping/index.html In 1859 Queensland and New South Wales separated and Queensland became a state. Found using altavista. http://www.tweedstay.com/ The Tweed River is in New South Wales because it falls just over the border from Queensland. Found using yahoo.

8. What was the weather like in South East Queensland on the 17th November 1954?

http://weather.ninemsn.com.au/station.jsp?lt=site&lc=40284&list=ds&of=of_a&ot=ot_a&mm=11&yyyy=1954&submit=go Min = 19 degrees celsius Max = 39.5 degrees celsius with no rain. Found using yahoo.

9. Why is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/byron_lord.shtml He wrote some of his most famous works in Venice, including Don Juan. Found using altavista.

10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?

http://web.revolutionrock.com.au/oral-hist/index.php?id=36 The Black Assassins. He did not want his real name published. Found using yahoo.